Instinct

Author's jibberish: It's been a long while since I've written an S+S! This story was actually going to be written by my sister, Xiaoyu Ling (Ms. Sakura + Syaoran writer) but she lost interest in it. However, I wanted to pick it up because it would be a shame to not share it! The creators of the characters are credited to CLAMP

The day was bright, with golden sunshine lighting the track. That day will forever be burned in my memory and every time I think about it, it seems as if it happened only a few hours ago. But, in truth, it had been about 3 months.

I finished a lap around the track already. It was around springtime. I just finished doing a photo shoot for the cherry blossom festival...so it was in mid-April: April 13. How could I remember an exact day? It was an important day.

I downshifted and pulled to a stop at my station of the track. In a fury, I yanked the keys out of my car and growled. "Stupid..."

"What's a matter?" came a voice. I looked up and saw the source. He was standing at the front row benches, hands casually in his pockets.

"Nothing, Hiiragizawa. It's my clutch," I explained. "I think I need to get a new one."

"Why? Are you slipping?"

"I might soon."

"Do you want me to look at it later?"

"Naw, it's alright I can do it." Hiiragizawa Eriol was my partner in everything. We met in college, during some of our college classes. I was in school for about a year when I decided to pursue photography. Then, I transferred to Japan around the same time he did; we attended the same classes. After graduation, we studied under the same person, Ojiro Shibuyo, a photographer for the local magazine, Tomoeda Streets. Tomoeda Streets covered trends, events and other things that involved the local tourism. Eventually, Ojiro-san retired and the magazine wanted us to work for them. It's been almost a whole year since we started working for T Streets.

We also developed a love for the same pastime: cars. And I don't mean just any 'look at the pretty mobiles' or whatever. I mean, drag-racing cars. The intense rush of competition is better than any drug. Of course, I didn't do it on the streets...much. There was a man who was passionate enough (and rich enough), so he developed a controlled track for racing. It was kinda like a club; we had to pay membership and that paid for use of the track. Of course, there would be races for prize money but only Hiiragizawa, me and about 8 other people would participate. There weren't a lot of racers in Tomoeda and it wasn't exactly a famous job. You gained enough reputation in the 'underground racing world' and some people in the bigger districts may actually ask you to join their clique based on what car you drive and how well you drive it.

Me? I drove a Nissan Skyline R34. It was a 2.6 litre engine with 280 horsepower and Nismo racing parts. Inside were racing bucket seats, mint green LED lights, a Nismo shortshifter, spearmint headlights, pearl green coat of paint...sorry, I'm going into a lot of detail. Just to make it short, I spent about 3 years fixing up that car to my specifications...

Hiiragizawa, on the other hand, drove a Toyota Supra. It was dark midnight with blue lights, TRD parts with a Trust blow off valve...Sorry, there I go again; babbling. As you can tell, racing was a strong passion of mine.

In fact, we both lived in a cheap boarding house because we spent all our money fixing up our cars. The landlady said it was cute we had a hobby...a very cute expensive hobby, but cute nonetheless. She said once "You're not in the yakuza, right? Okay, just wondering."

"I'll park in the garage and we can get out of here," I told him.

"Hurry up, we have 1/2 an hour." Hiiragizawa left the stadium.

I parked my car inside the garage, next to his car (We shared a garage because that cost less than one garage each). I secured everything and left.

Our 'ride' on the job wasn't as nice as our 'hobby rides'. It was a 1987 Toyota van. We needed a van to transport all our equipment since the magazine calls for us to take location shoots all over town. Gas money would be draining us completely; luckily, T Streets paid for that.

We arrived at the King Penguin Park around 2:00 pm. I noticed Hiiragizawa was looking particularly fidgety. "How do I look?" he asked, making sure his hair was straight. "I look okay...not poor and desperate right?"

"You look like you," I answered.

He groaned. "Like that's any better."

I just remembered that we were shooting for the T Streets first summer issue of the season. That day's schedule called for a photo shoot with Daidouji Tomoyo, a local model. We worked with her once for the winter Christmas shoot; Hiiragizawa was hooked ever since.

We started setting up all the equipment. When we finished, Daidouji already arrived. She was a young woman with light black hair, the fairest porcelain skin I've ever seen and dark purple eyes. She greeted Hiiragizawa and me with a hug and I was positive Hiiragizawa would die a happy man right then and there. She headed to the hair and make-up trailer while we sat around waiting. It took about 45 minutes for her to come out, fully dressed in a yellow slinky sundress and white sandals. "Ready," she smiled.

"Great," my partner squeaked. "Carry shall we on?"

I shook my head. Pitiful... "Ok, Daidouji, I need you to sit right here," I instructed, standing beside a swing. "Lose the hat, it gets in the way of your face. We can use it later for the railing shot." She gently took it off and handed it to her assistant, who was close by. The hairstylist came zooming beside her, readjusting her curls. " These first few shots look at me. Hiiragizawa will take care of the rest." I settled my camera in my hand. "Ok, here we go."

I snapped about 5 shots before I told her to tilt her head slightly to the left. I began taking a 3/4 view of Daidouji but then I heard Hiiragizawa say, "Wait!" I took a shot but through the lens, it wasn't the model. It was of another person, with short ginger hair, olive skin and the biggest, brightest green eyes I've ever seen. Her back was turned to me and her face was towards the camera.

She bowed in apology over a million times, but I just smiled and reassured her that it was all right. She kept saying she was looking at her feet as she was walking and didn't realize what she had walked upon.

That first image... I will carry it with me wherever I go...

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Author's jibberish (again): Thank you Super Street and Import Tuner for your resources. Also to my boyfriend, who loves cars like a religion. Your hobby now has come of use to me...and may you never read this because you'd probably be ashamed. I tried to make it simpler to understand in case there were readers who don't get the whole racing thing (like me!) If I did get anything wrong, give me the benefit of the doubt please!

Preview of next Chapter

I was such a fool. I didn't even notice it before it was too late. What if I was actually watching where I was going? I guess that if I was, I wouldn't be where I am today.

It was mid-April and I was walking through King Penguin Park when it all happened. I just got off from work and I was on my way home. I decided to take the shortcut through the park. There were some things on my mind; my boss got angry with me because I didn't sort the shampoo bottles on the bottom rack.

Oh, I forgot to mention. I work at a small beauty shop in Tomoeda named 'Beautiful'. It's run by Wari Okasaba, a strict beautician in her mid 40's. She's nice enough but strict to her employees; she expects the best. That's probably why a lot of people give up working there after a while. It's a nice little shop really.

The whole ordeal was bothering me, and I was watching the passing brick path as I walked. "Wait!" I heard someone called. I turned around and saw a camera pointing right at me. The man pulled the camera away from his face and I saw the most stunning amber eyes in the whole world.