And yes, here's the ever-so elusive and quite shocking… Chapter Fifteen!

Follow The Leader

by BoomChish

Chapter Fifteen

Love Is In Danger

Jin was acting very strangely in the week that followed. At first, I'd dismissed it as simple worry over whatever it was he'd had planned for the Saturday when the rest of us would be at Happo for the race between Miyoko and Tomo. But then, I actually started to wonder what it exactly was that he'd had planned.

I asked him about it the afternoon before, on Friday. The both of us had been sitting at the kitchen table, calmly eating the remainder of Alex's homemade banana bread. Just watching the way Jin was slowly picking at his slice instantly told me that he had something on his mind.

"So really… where are you going Saturday?" I asked, as patiently and calmly as possible.

"To see some old school friends, Aniki… why do you ask?" was his reply.

I would've let it drop at that, if it weren't for the fact that his expression was way too guarded for it to be a mere visit to see old friends. "You seem too bothered for it to be that…" I glanced at the doorway which led to the main foyer, then I looked back at my little brother. "You know, you can tell me. I won't tell the others, if that's what you want."

Jin shook his head. "It's not that, Aniki… It's just…" here, he paused and let out a sigh, although there was a long moment of silence before he spoke again, "these friends… they're… well… people who Miyoko and Alex don't get along too well with… I mean… they don't really like Alex because he's American, and they don't like Miyoko because she's rich and spoiled. And the feeling is mutual on their side too. Hiro is one of them too… I never knew that he'd become a road racer, or that he'd been the one who'd defeated you. When I joined Evo Prime, I promised that I wouldn't associate with them, but… these are friends I've known for a very long time… and I…"

"I understand…" I cut in soothingly. "If you want, you can go ahead and see them. I promise not to tell the others."

He smiled, but it was a weak smile. He's still hiding something. I decided not to press the matter further. He stood up and sighed again. "Thanks a lot, Aniki. I feel much better now."

I stood up as well and cuffed him on the shoulder and shook him playfully. "Hey, it's what big brothers are for, no?"

I knew Jin would tell me the truth. Eventually, if not now.

Looking back, the night of Miyoko's race against Tomo marked several major changes in my new life as the leader of a street racing team.

First off, Tomoyuki Tachi had arrived at Happo with a Honda Civic EK9 he borrowed from Todo Racing School. He'd done the same thing against Fujiwara a while back. When he'd arrived, he stepped up to me with a small smile on his face and said, "So, you must be Seiji Iwaki, the leader of Evo Prime." He bowed slightly, then said, "So whom will I be racing tonight?"

I gestured towards Miyoko, who had been standing off to the side, waiting patiently. She raised her head and stared at him boldly. "Tomoyuki Tachi," she spoke smoothly. "I've heard of you."

"And I've heard of you too, Ieyasu-chan. I am indeed surprised to learn that not only have you decided to become a road racer, but that you were skilled enough to defeat Sakai on our home course of Enna." He chuckled lightly. "I'd like to see what skills you indeed possess behind the wheel."

She nodded, a smile beginning to form on her face. "I won't let you down."

"Yeah… the way you seem to like letting me down?" I teased.

Miyoko stuck out her tongue at me. "Well, you're not a professional racer!"

"Naw, I'm too ugly to be one, my dear," I mocked, then I waved my hand at her in dismissal. "Whatever. Just quit stalling. I'm sure Tachi-san is eager to race. Aren't you?"

She merely made a face at me, then went to her car, prepped herself and the race was off. I sighed and looked over at Kenji, Itsuki and Iketani (who had decided to show up that day). "Before you say anything, it's a recurring joke among my teammates to mock my ugliness every so often."

"Heh… Well, we're just younger than you are, Seiji. It's nothing personal," Alex reassured me.

"Well, there's no shame in being ugly," Itsuki protested. "It's better than being overly narcissistic. But I guess if you like joking about it, then that's just you."

I shrugged, then turned my attention to Iketani, who kept looking around nervously. I watched him for a few moments, until my curiosity got the better of me and I said, "What are you looking for?"

He went rigid at the question, as if I'd smacked him, then his cheeks took on a slight pink tinge. He seemed at a loss of words for a while until he managed to say, "Umm… did you… did Impact Blue show up tonight?"

I raised one eyebrow in astonishment. "Yeah," I answered casually. "They're over there." I gestured to a spot further up the road, where Mako, Sayuki and the Night Kids boys were stationed. Iketani didn't answer, so I spoke again, "So, you want to talk to them, or something?"

"No… I…"

"Oi! Mako-chan! Sayuki-chan! There's someone here to wants to see you!" Alex yelled out, cupping his hands around his mouth. Iketani, Kenji and Itsuki reacted almost immediately, looking back and forth at each other with worried eyes. "What the hell did you do that for?" Kenji hissed.

Alex shrugged innocently. "What did I do? You asked whether Mako-chan and Sayuki-chan were here. Seiji confirmed it. I just assumed that you wanted to talk to them, so I called them over. What's wrong with that?"

Second big thing that happened that night: Alex and I got stuck right in the middle of an unresolved situation. As Mako and Sayuki approached, with Takeshi and Shingo following curiously behind them, Sayuki gave a start and glared daggers at Iketani. "And what are you doing here?"

"I… ah… was invited by Kenji's cousin, Miyoko-chan…" he brought out lamely.

I watched him carefully and noticed that his gaze was not leveled at Sayuki, but at Mako. I then followed his gaze to note that Mako was staring back at him, her eyes wide with surprise and… filled with pain?

Then it hit me. Oh crap…

I shook my head and muttered out a low, "Oh God… don't tell me…"

That got everyone's attention. They all looked at me, and Sayuki let out a rude, "What's wrong, Seiji? What's bothering you?"

I let out a long sigh. "Okay… now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, so I may be wrong on this, but…" I gestured towards Iketani. "Iketani."

"Uh?"

I then gestured towards Mako. "Mako-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Did you two… have some sort of a relationship that fell apart somehow?"

Both of them turned a nice shade of pale pink. Mako was the one who managed a small, "Something… like that…"

I nodded slowly. "As I suspected…" I then let out another long sigh, clasped my hands behind my back, turned around and simply walked away, fully aware that everyone was watching me. Alex followed me, jogging to keep up. When I'd gone a slight distance, I stopped. Alex stopped beside me and spoke in a low voice, "Seiji, what's wrong?"

"It's just… awkward… I mean, I could tell that they're both still smarting from the breakup, but it's none of my business, so I don't think I have any right to intercede and try to straighten things out. Though even if I did have that right, I wouldn't be able to do it right…" I let out yet another sigh. "I wish Miyoko were here. She'd know what to do."

"But she's racing," Alex replied. "You know that."

"You think I didn't know that? Jeez, I know I can be slow-witted at times, but I'm not a complete - Hey, how come they're all quiet?" I turned around and I saw all of them staring at both Alex and myself, not saying a word. "Hey, were you guys listening in on our conversation?!"

"No. Although we were wondering how come you walked away so suddenly like that," Takeshi responded honestly. I merely made a face, then gestured to Alex that we rejoin the group. As soon as we got there, they were all burning with curiosity. Kenji was the first to pipe up: "So… why did you walk away like that?"

I let out yet another sigh. "Now I'm no expert on relationships, despite having more experience with the subject than most of you - and none of them ended nicely, I might add, so don't ask. I won't tell - but as far as I can tell, whatever circumstances resulted in your relationship falling to shreds in a bad way must've been a result of miscommunication. You have two choices. One, you can resolve this properly and civilly - not necessarily within earshot of the rest of us - or two, we can all stand around here in an awkward silence until Miyoko's race is done."

"Well, you're awfully blunt about it," Shingo spoke, somewhat harshly.

I glared at him. "Look, I didn't come here to play the role of the listen lady… guy… whatever. We're all adults here, right? So you can resolve this like adults would… by simply talking it out. Right?"

"You know, maybe there's a reason why you can't land another girlfriend," Sayuki declared, her face screwing up into a petulant pout.

I turned my attention to her. "I didn't ask you for your opinion," I growled menacingly, before I could stop myself. Alex was quick to interfere, as he stepped up and spoke, "Okay Seiji… calm down!"

"Jeez, what's your problem tonight, Iwaki?" Takeshi demanded.

I let out a frustrated sigh and simply walked away, kicking at a rock nearby. Within seconds, I heard footsteps behind me and felt a hand clamp down on my arm. "Seiji! What the hell is wrong with you tonight?" Alex blurted out as he spun me around to face him. "Your behaviour back there was horrible, not to mention inexcusable! Nothing at all like I'd expected, even for you!"

I took a deep breath before I simply said, "Everything. There's the fact that Kyouichi just won't leave me the hell alone; there's the fact that Miyoko's currently racing against a goddamn racing pro; there's… that," I snapped, gesturing towards where the Speed Stars, Night Kids and Impact Blue were standing (and staring at us in shock and surprise). I then let out another sigh and said, "And I'm worried about Jin. He didn't seem like his usual self this past week. I think he's hiding something from me."

"You noticed it too?" Alex murmured, his face a solemn mask.

"Yeah. He pleaded not coming tonight because he said he was going out with some of his old buddies… He'd also added that they didn't quite get along with you and Miyoko, and that you two felt the same way about them. He also said that when Evo Prime started, he'd severed all ties with them, as he promised you two, but that he wanted to go hang out with them for old times' sake. But I'd told him that it was fine by me, and he still had a wary expression on his face, so he must be hiding something."

His facial expression was not one I'd expected. "That's a load of bullshit. Sure, Miyo and I never got along with Hirotsugu and his gang, but we let Jin go off and hang with them whenever he wanted to. We'd never restricted him from doing that, even after we'd started Evo Prime. Why'd he say that? To you, of all people, who I'd assumed that he'd trust above all else in this team?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. And now that I know that that's not what he's doing, I'm even more worried as to where he is, and whether he's okay or not."

Alex made a face before he patted my shoulder reassuringly. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure Jin had a good reason for concealing it from you. Besides, he can take care of himself." He opened his mouth to say more, but at that moment, we heard the roar of engines approaching and we all saw Miyoko and Tomo pull up, followed by Daiki and Sakai in their respective vehicles.

Both Alex and I went to join them as they stepped out of their cars to join up with the rest of the group. The disappointed look on Miyoko's face told me one thing, "You lost."

"Yeah…" she mumbled, lowering her head. "I'm sorry, Seiji."

"Hey… you tried your best. And that's what counts. And besides, Tachi-san is a professional. You're still an amateur, as are most of us. To be brutally honest, you didn't stand a chance from the get-go. But as long as you tried your best, I have no reason to be angry with you."

"But still…" she began and was immediately silenced when Tomo put an arm around her and shook her affectionately.

"Put it this way, Ieyasu-chan… for an amateur, you did surprisingly well. You kept up with me for most of the way. That's very impressive, to me at least. You have a long way to go before you'll ever be able to compete at the professional level, but as you are, you're an excellent driver."

"I guess…" she replied hesitantly.

"What do you mean, 'you guess'? You don't think you're any good?" He then looked at me. "You must have a lot of problems with this one," he joked as he shook her affectionately again.

"Yeah, tell me about it." I was about to say more, but then I saw Miyoko's mouth crooked to one side and I knew she wasn't happy at all, despite the praise we were giving her, so I shrugged. "Well, I'm tired. What say we call it a night, huh?"

"Yes, let's," she agreed. She then disengaged herself from Tomo's grip and turned to face him. "Well… thank you for teaching me a valuable lesson, Tomo-san." She bowed.

"And thank you for an interesting race, Ieyasu-chan," he replied amicably as he bowed in return.

The drive home was a silent one, almost as if things were to get worse.

And I hate the uncanny ability of my gut instincts being right all the time.

When we got home, we saw that Jin's Evo was already parked in the driveway. What was peculiar about it was that both his taillights had been smashed in. We got out of our respective cars and stared at the damage in shock and confusion.

"What the hell happened to Jin's car?" Alex demanded.

"Maybe we should go in and find out," Miyoko suggested.

As I unlocked the front door and stepped into the house with Alex and Miyoko at my heels, I called out, "Jin? We're home!"

There was no answer.

"The kitchen light is on," Miyoko observed.

The three of us made our way in the darkened house towards the lighted kitchen. As we got there, we saw Jin seated at the kitchen counter, his back to us.

"Jin… what happened to your car? How'd your taillights get smashed in like that?" she queried.

Very slowly, my little brother turned around to face us… and we saw what else had been done.

"Jesus Almighty, what happened to you?!" Alex blurted out in shock, echoing the thoughts that reverberated in my (and Miyoko's) mind. Jin's face was a contusion of bumps and bruises. In one hand, he held an ice pack against his black eye, while his other hand rested calmly on his knee.

I slowly approached him. "Jin… what happened? Tell me…"

"Aniki…" he mumbled in a low, weak voice, "I'm sorry… I… I lied to you."

"I know about that, and I know it was a lie, but that's okay. Just tell me who did this to you."

"I… I didn't go to see my friends like I said…"

I let out a sigh. "I know that already, and as I said, it's fine. What concerns me is what happened to you. More importantly, who did this to you?"

He swallowed and winced before he spoke. "I… I went to Irohazaka…"

Irohazaka… That only meant one thing…

"Jin," I spoke slowly, my voice striving for calm, "why'd you go to Irohazaka?"

My little brother looked like he was about to cry. "After… after I'd defeated Hiro and avenged the loss that got you kicked out of Emperor, I thought… I thought I could go… and avenge those who'd wronged you… and so I went to Irohazaka to challenge Kyouichi…"

"You're not saying Kyouichi Sudou did this to you?" Miyoko cried out in a strangled voice.

I motioned for her to be quiet as I continued, "Then what happened?"

"He… he would not race me… instead, he sent some other guy… he had a really ugly face… and an even uglier blond mullet… I think his name was Satake… to race me instead. And I… and I won…"

"You won? But that's great! However that doesn't explain…" Alex began.

"Shut up, Alex," I admonished sharply. He fell silent. I turned my attention back to Jin. "Then what happened?"

"They… they started to insult the whole team, not just you… said stuff like Alex was a good-for-nothing gwai lo with too much luck on his hands… and Miyo was nothing but a spoiled princess with tons of money to burn… I told them to shut up… that we were better than they were… and then… they called you an incompetent moron… incapable of defeating any decent racers yourself… incapable of even leading a team consisting of little children… I told them that you had to have done something right if I was able to defeat him… and he had no right to brag if he still hadn't told Kyouichi about how he lost to Mako and Sayuki on Usui…" His expression became more aggrieved as he continued, "Then… then he and one of his friends… lit into me, while the others simply watched and laughed. Kyouichi eventually showed up… and he did nothing to stop his team… Then they smashed my taillights and… and they told me to take my sorry excuse of an Evo home…" He then started to choke on his words. "I'm sorry…"

I didn't say anything for a long while. When I finally spoke, my voice was low and controlled, but all three of them could detect the undercurrent of rage that was unmistakably there, "Listen to me, Jin. You did nothing wrong. In fact, I'm very proud of you that you didn't throw the first punch. The one thing that infuriates me the most about this whole thing… is that Kyouichi did nothing to stop it." My face hardened as I continued to speak, "He has more honor than that as a racer, and I definitely would not expect him to allow his teammates to physically harm another human being, even if you are related to me. And even then, if he really wanted to hurt me, then he should have come after me, or issued a challenge to me, not allow his teammates to beat the crap out of you."

"Well, to be honest, it was stupid of you to go to Irohazaka in the first place," Miyoko ventured hesitantly.

I wheeled on her. "You shut up!" I raged. Miyoko took a practiced step backwards. "I don't think you fully understand, but nobody… and I mean NOBODY BEATS UP ON MY FAMILY, do you understand! And that goes for both of you, too!"

Alex held up his hands in defense. "Okay, okay! We're sorry! But we weren't the ones who…"

I clenched my teeth so hard I could feel my jaw quivering, then I inhaled sharply and expelled the air slowly. When I spoke, I was calm again. "That's not what I meant. What I meant was… if Emperor or anyone else had beaten up on either of you two, I'd be in the same state as I am right now." They stared at me in mute shock, without saying a word, as I turned to my brother again. "Don't worry about it, Jin. I'll get them… I'll get them for you… and for Evo Prime. They're not going to get away with this."

… Those bastards…

Yes, that's how I decided to bring in the much-awaited showdown between Seiji and Kyouichi. I figured that since Seiji is happy as he is, being the leader of Evo Prime, he has no reason to go back to Emperor, be it for vengeance or just for a race to prove how well he's trained his teammates. He could simply go into other prefectures as guests of his newfound friends and maybe other local racers would deign to take them on, and he'd have no reason to bother Emperor. So, I decided to have Jin go to Irohazaka, afire with the zeal to avenge his beloved brother, and get into more trouble than he'd expected. Obviously, Kyouichi does have too much honor to personally attack someone who's wronged him, so I made it that it was Satake who would beat the living daylights out of the younger Iwaki. And what better way to arouse his anger than the threat of Kyouichi finding out after all these years that, in fact, his new second-in-command had also been defeated mercilessly in Gunma… by a pair of ladies? And Kyouichi, still full of himself over the fact that he'd kicked out Seiji with the intent of punishing him, only to realize that he'd bettered himself by the dismissal, does nothing to stop it. Hence Seiji's burst of rage at the end. He knows Kyouichi all too well, and even something like that is a shocker to him.

Also since Iketani actually did show up this time to the race, I figured might as well bring in some sort of confrontation between himself and Mako. And while I'm sure many people right now are thinking, "Oh, are they going to get back together?" I must say, Maybe, but not in my story. Thus why Seiji acts the way he does when he pieces together the reason why Iketani and Mako are so muddled. It's none of his business, it's none of anyone else's business, and it's not exactly the time and place to be resolving it. Much less is it his responsibility to play the mediator in a personal affair. So I humbly apologize to the Iketani and Mako fans reading this fic, but their issue isn't going to be resolved anytime soon. At least not in this story.

And, for obvious reasons, Miyoko lost against Tomo. All the luck in the world isn't going to make her miraculously become the victor in a race against a rally professional. But at least Tomo was nice about it.

-BoomChish