Chapter Eight

-

The second weekend of August was quickly approaching and Keisuke began staying longer and longer at Akagi, hitting the mountain passes whenever he could spare the time. His visits to Ryousuke's room became limited only to times when he needed driving advice.

Keisuke knew that this next race would not be a challenge. The opposing car was a Turbo S15; not much of a match for the FD. Ryousuke was consistently researching new data on the team and keeping track of the outcome of the races. For this, Keisuke was every grateful.

He hadn't spoken with Kyoko for almost a month, but she had been on his mind almost every night.

Keisuke decided that he would call her after this next battle. It was too important for him to sacrifice his concentration over a small infatuation with a girl. He was no longer doing this for himself, either. Every since Keisuke had been in high school, he understood the constant pressure his brother was under to succeed academically. He understood Ryousuke's passion for driving and cars, knowing full well that his brother had a natural aficionado on the road that was rare among even professional drivers and not found in himself. He also understood that his father would never agree to such a career pursuit.

"So instead he used his talents and nurtured my dream," thought Keisuke. Until he joined the Redsuns years ago, he had always taken for granted Ryousuke's driving and analytical talent; never realizing just how extraordinary his brother really was, in both ability and character. Keisuke realized that if he were in Ryousuke's situation, he would have been bitter and rebellious. He would never have been able to conform to his father's demands, leave his own pursuits, and watch his brother achieve everything he wanted for himself.

"Aniki's living his dreams through me," Keisuke thought to himself. "I have to do well and make him proud."

-

Takumi slammed his hand into the steering wheel in frustration. In front of him, the blue WRX came to a stop, reversed, and backed up to meet him. Bunta's face appeared as the window lowered.

"Mildly better," he puffed his cigarette, "but still nothing worth congratulating yourself over."

"Must you rub it in all the time?" his son asked, scowling at his father. Shitty, boastful old man.

Bunta smiled, blowing a stream of smoke from his lips. "I told you a long time that you had a lot to gain from losing. It's just a pity that the skills of drivers nowadays have deteriorated to the point where none of them can beat you. Pity, pity."

"That's not true; some still can and most likely will."

Bunta thought for a moment. "You're probably right, but from what I understand, you won't be challenging him again."

Takumi realized that his father was referring to Takahashi Ryousuke. "That's not for sure."

"No it's not," Bunta agreed, "but what's the point if he's not going to do anything with the few skills he has?"

"Ryousuke-san's skills are not limited to driving."

"The full potential of a person's skills are limited to what they want to do," said Bunta, smashing his cigarette butt into the tray of his car. "But life doesn't always work around what you want, Takumi. Many factors can get in the way and sometimes, you have to compromise."

A burning question itched in the back of Takumi's mind. "Oyaji, did you ever want to race professionally?"

Bunta paused for a moment before answering. "Yes."

"Why didn't you go?"

Big brown eyes and soft brown hair flashed through his mind. He could still smell the jasmine on her skin and remembered how the right side of her lip curved just a bit more than the left when she smiled.

"Oyaji?"

Bunta came back to attention and answered his son's question. "Something better came along."

Confused and interested, Takumi met his father's gaze. For the first time, he saw a hint of sadness in his Bunta's normally passive eyes. It was obvious of what, or of whom, he was thinking. "Was it worth it?"

Bunta looked out his window and saw those same brown eyes staring back at him from a different face. She had left him physically, but her presence remained in their son. "Still is."

Unused to sentimental statements from his father, Takumi raised an eyebrow and stared on with his mouth hanging open. The Subaru tore down the road and stopped about fifty meters ahead of him, flashing its emergency lights, taunting him for another run.

Releasing his handbrake and putting in the clutch, Takumi accepted the challenge and braced himself for another loss.

-

"All looks well, Ryousuke," Nozomi declared, checking through the x-rays. "I think we can begin physical therapy in a week."

Ryousuke nodded, sitting on the examination table with Ryouichi standing near the doorway. "Arigato, Noriyazaka-Sensei."

Nozomi waved him off. "Your body did most of the work, we just kept tabs on its progress."

He picked up the clipboard again. "It shows here also that your wrist is completely healed, so I'd like to place you in a wheelchair for the week or so and then transfer you to crutches when your leg's strengthened some more."

The news was music to Ryousuke's ears. No more bed confinement. He nodded in understanding.

"I would recommend, though, Ryousuke," the doctor said, "that you either stay in the wheelchair or stay in bed. Too much movement will not only cause unnecessary pain, but delay healing. That leg is not at the strengthening stage just yet."

Ryouichi's pager began beeping and the older man, recognizing the number, excused himself to make the call.

Nozomi waited until the door shut to continue. "I know that you've probably questioned your future ability to race."

Ryousuke felt a small urge to protest and protect his carefully masked concern, but realized that it was useless. He chose not to react and instead, focused on a point beyond the doctor.

"I know also," Nozomi continued, ignoring his patient's apparent lack of interest, "that with your current medical expertise, you are not ignorant of the barriers which stand ahead of you."

He walked around and rolled the wheelchair to the edge of the bed. Motioning with his hands, he helped Ryousuke into the chair, propping his leg on the holder.

"You remind me of my older brother; constantly pushing himself to do the best in everything and never being satisfied with himself."

Ryousuke was now listening attentively, not quite understanding where the conversation was progressing.

"My future, Noriyazaka-Sensei, is…"

The doctor interrupted him. "Ryousuke, I'm not telling you what to do with your future. I know young men like you; I used to be one of them." He grinned. "When you want something, you go at it with all you've got." Nozomi latched the restraints on the extension of the chair which prevented unnecessary movement of Ryousuke's leg. "I'm sure you've covered this in one class or another, but I would just like to remind you; the healing process is different than driving. Push yourself too hard, and your progress could backfire. It's like swimming; move too much and you could sink, relax a little and you just might be able to float."

It was then that Ryousuke understood what Nozomi meant. When he was training Fumihiro years back, he had made a similar analogy about the acceleration of cars.

Ryouichi reentered the room before Ryousuke could make a response. Wisely, both doctor and patient remained silent. "Arigato, Nozomi-san."

"My pleasure Takahashi-Sensei," he bowed and looked pointedly at Ryousuke. "I trust that you know what's best for yourself. I'll see you in a week."

-

Keisuke was home when his brother and father returned. He winced as he saw Ryousuke's face pale while being lowered to the ground from the car and up the ramp his father had commissioned recently, leading to the doorway of their house.

"It's good to have you home and mobile, Aniki," commented Keisuke, pushing the chair into the house. He saw small drops of sweat fall down Ryousuke's sideburns and a muscle twitch in his cheeks. It was obvious that Ryousuke was in a great deal of pain.

"I'll grab some Vicodin." Keisuke walked into the kitchen and removed two tablets from the prescription bottle.

Ryousuke silently, but gratefully, took the caplets and placed them into his mouth, swallowing them without water. Keisuke wheeled him into the music room where his laptop was waiting on the wooden desk next to the piano. "Arigato."

"Aniki," Keisuke began, "there's something I should tell you before…"

Ryousuke clicked to receive his emails and suddenly, his inbox overloaded with hundreds of messages. "What the hell…"

"A nurse tattled."

Ryousuke rubbed his forehead. Sure enough, all of the emails were wishing him well and offering services. In addition, many fans inquired about the condition of the FC. "This is not what I need right now."

"I'm sorry," Keisuke said. "If it makes you feel any better, Otosan had her reprimanded and transferred to a smaller hospital immediately."

"What's done is done." Ryousuke shook his head. "We need to concentrate on your upcoming battle. It's only to weeks away and I don't need any media attention on this." He looked down at his encased leg. "I'm sorry to be cross, Keisuke, but one week is not enough time…"

"For what, Aniki?" Keisuke was very confused. "I've been practicing everyday and so has Fujiwara. We're both very ready to do whatever we can to win this race."

"You need to understand something, Keisuke," Ryousuke looked seriously at his brother. "These scouts are not looking for your victory; they take for granted that it will happen. Recall that when I first informed you of their intentions, I told you that you would have an easy race to showcase your skill and a difficult race to show how well you work under pressure."

Keisuke nodded.

"This is the race that will exhibit your skill," Ryousuke said. "You drive on instinct, and you push yourself as hard as you are pushed by your opponent."

"Is that a problem?"

Ryousuke shook his head. "My concern is that, without a worthy opponent pushing you, you will not be able to push yourself to the limit."

A dubious frown creased Keisuke's brow. "Aniki…"

"I want you to practice Fujiwara twice before the battle; downhill time trials, on Akina."

Keisuke's eyes widened. "But Aniki…"

"I'll talk to Fumihiro and schedule a time," Ryousuke turned to his computer. "Until then, practice cornering."

"Hai," Keisuke left the room slightly angry. The race was on Akagi; why was he going to Akina? More importantly, what did he have to gain from racing Fujiwara?

-

Her manager looked at her with concern. "Manaka-chan, you can't possibly work anymore than you already do."

She looked at him with pleading eyes. "My classes at the university have been going well and I get my certification at the beginning of next year. I really need to save up before then."

He looked doubtful. She was an excellent employee but he hated to see her overworked and yet, he knew that, for some reason, she needed the extra money.

"I don't mean to intrude," he started, "but can't any of your family help you with your finances?"

He immediately regretted his question when she looked down at her hands and started trembling. "I'm sor—"

"I don't have any family, sir."

He nodded sympathetically. "I'll give you an evening shift on the weekends. A lot of the time, we'll get some drivers going to the mountain passes and they tip well."

She managed a grateful smile, "Arigato."

As Manaka walked out of the restaurant and sat in her car. She was exhausted. Working more was tearing her body apart, but the thought of leaving Kintaro sooner was well worth the effort. Her debt would be quickly repaid, she was so close. Breathing deeply, she started her car and headed to the hospital for another six hours of field study.

-

Keisuke floored the accelerator of the FD as he sped past a corner on Akina's downhill. It was two days before the battle and the second time he and Fujiwara had 'practiced' together. A familiar feeling began to churn in his stomach.

No matter what Keisuke did, he could not keep up with the damned Hachi-Roku; what the hell was this! Was this Ryousuke's way of telling him that Fujiwara was better? That he wasn't good enough!

Back at the peak, Fumihiro and Matsumoto sat on a rock, stopwatches in their hands.

"Eh, Fumihiro."

"Hmm?"

Matsumoto cocked his head towards the road. "What's going on there? Why are they racing on Akina?"

The other man smiled. "Because it's the only place where Keisuke's almost assured to lose."

Matsumoto's eyes widened. "Why would Ryousuke-san set up something like this?"

"Sometimes losing a little means learning a lot," he mused. "Keisuke's gotten quite used to winning; since the conclusion of Project D, his opponents have never quite matched the same caliber as the ones we used to face."

Matsumoto began to understand. "And since Keisuke needs to push himself to the limit on Saturday, Ryousuke wants him to feel challenged again."

Fumihiro nodded and met his gaze. "When you're an instinctive driver like Keisuke, you can only drive as fast as your car allows, your abilities allow, and as hard as your opponent pushes you. It's no secret that Fujiwara and Keisuke have an ongoing rivalry and that on Akina, Fujiwara is almost unbeatable. Ryousuke wants to capitalize on this opportunity and turn some of Keisuke's excited energy into competitiveness."

The yellow FD sped past them, tearing aggressively down the road. Fumihiro looked at his stopwatch, chuckled, and said abstractly, "Even from a wheelchair, you know what's going on and what's going to happen," he murmured to himself.

Matsumoto bent over to look at the time and his eyes widened. He let out a low whistle.

Saturday would be no problem at all.

-

The race day approached and Keisuke began feeling more and more unsettled. On Friday evening, he walked into Ryousuke's room to see his brother dozing off in his wheelchair in front of his desk.

As he closed the door again, Ryousuke awakened.

"I'm sorry Aniki," Keisuke said lightly, "I didn't mean to wake you."

Ryousuke shook his head and motioned for Keisuke to sit down on his bed. "There are some things I need to go over with you before the race."

"I know…acceleration…cornering," Keisuke listed off the different techniques that he predicted Ryousuke would mention. He ground his teeth as he remembered the Hachi-Roku pulling away from him at the corner and passing him on the hairpins.

His brother smiled. "No, I know how hard you've been practicing." He wheeled backwards to face the bed. "Don't go out and drive tonight or tomorrow morning."

Keisuke's head shot up. "What? What do you mean? That's insane!"

"Keisuke," Ryousuke became very stern, "you are too tense; you need to take a break."

Keisuke felt his temper flare. Weeks of minimal sleep were beginning to creep up on him. The little "tour" of Akina had also weighed heavily on his ego. "What do you know about taking a break!"

Ryousuke looked up at his brother with a leveled gaze, but was interrupted before he could say anything to calm him down.

"You've never taken a single break in your life and look! You're fine! No," Keisuke continued, "better than fine!"

He got up and began walking to the door. "I can practice all day and all night and I still won't be as good as you."

"Otouto," Ryousuke began, "that's not true and you know it."

Keisuke felt stress turn into anger. "No…Fumihiro told me on Akina; that team from Tokyo? Mazda Dominion? That was the team you were accepted into!"

Keisuke rubbed his brow with both hands. "As a high school graduate, you were accepted into one of the best teams in the country and I was still grinding my gears at stoplights!"

His voice was rising. "I'm almost twenty-three and I can't even beat a nineteen-year-old driving an ancient metal bucket with a fancy engine!"

Ryousuke could tell that his brother's successive defeats on Akina were eating away at him.

"What the hell was that, huh?" Keisuke continued. "What, wasn't it enough that you are always better than me, but you needed to show me that Fujiwara, your little prodigy, was too!"

Ryousuke should his head and met Keisuke's gaze. "Sometimes it's better to display emotion on the mountain passes rather than through your words, Otouto."

Keisuke practically sneered at his brother before opening the door to leave. "Look where displaying emotion on Akagi got you."

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Keisuke wanted to take them back. What had happened? Why did he loose control?

"Aniki…"

Ryousuke shook his head and held out a hand to stop him. "I understand, Keisuke. Just know I have only your best interests at mind." He gave his brother a silencing look that booked no refusal. "Go to sleep; you'll need it for tomorrow."

Hesitantly, Keisuke closed Ryousuke's door and almost ran over his mother walking to his room. "Okasan! What are you doing awake?"

She raised an eyebrow at her youngest. "Not everyone is as lucky as your Otousan to be able to sleep through the clamor you just caused."

He looked down shamefaced. "You heard it all?"

Kiyori looked up at her much taller progeny. "I heard enough."

Wisely, Keisuke followed his mother into the kitchen where she began warming water. "You were out of line, Keisuke."

His shoulders slumped. "I know; I don't know what got into me…It's just…"

She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Ryousuke knows better than to take it personally, but both of you just need to calm down. I know you have a race tomorrow and that there will be important people there."

He nodded mutely.

"Your Aniki is just worried about you; we all are." He had been getting little sleep in the past weeks and his behavior almost reminded her of Ryousuke during medical school. The only difference was that while she knew Ryousuke was capable of juggling multiple tasks at once, whereas Keisuke was the type to fully dedicate himself to one pursuit and could rarely handle the stresses of two.

Keisuke accepted the small mug of lemon water his mother handed to him and took a sip. "I'll be fine."

Kiyori looked at his spiky blonde head and patted it affectionately. "I know, and so will Ryousuke, but know that inside, he is conflicted as well."

"That's not possible," Keisuke said between sips of hot liquid. "When does he ever get conflicted?"

"That shows how much about your brother you don't yet know."

Keisuke raised an eyebrow at his mother.

"It wasn't easy for him to give up driving, you know," she said. "I remember around the time he went to Tokyo for that team, he was so happy. He left barely able to keep his face from cracking into two pieces; I could tell that he was excited beyond anything fathomable."

She placed her cup on the kitchen counter. "When he got back, something in him changed."

Keisuke could tell his mother was on the verge of tears and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She covered it with her own.

"Ryousuke left to see if he could actually make it in the professional world," she explained. "When it turned out that he could, he not only realized how good he was, but also realized the extent of happiness there was in the life he could never have, and that, Keisuke, was the hardest thing for him to have to bear."

Keisuke sat numbly. "Okasan…"

She smiled at her son. "Finding your dream and knowing that it will never be yours is something that no one should have to deal with and no one comes away from something like that without scars. Not even Ryousuke. Some are better at hiding it than others, but in certain situations, if the events play themselves out in a certain way, you can see how much it tortures them."

Wiping an errant tear from the corner of her eye, Kiyori placed a hand on Keisuke's cheek. "Please, for all of our sakes, get some rest and be careful tomorrow. I don't know if I can handle going through…"

Keisuke gathered his mother in a hug before she could finish her sentence. "I will, Okasan. Please don't worry about me; I have something Ryousuke never had."

Kiyori looked up and smiled softly. "And what is that?"

Her son cocked his head and kissed his mother's cheek. "His own advice."

-

Ryousuke picked up his cell phone and dialed a familiar number.

"Moshi moshi?"

"I need a favor. Swing by my house before heading towards Akagi for the battle on Saturday."

Fumihiro was confused. "Hai."

"Arigato."

-

Wow! I'm so sorry for the delay on this one. My boyfriend came to visit me from his college and I got a bit behind onmy posting schedule. I hope you guys enjoy this Chapter...not too much action but I promise there will be more development in the future; I'm trying to build up some steam, hehe.

Additionally...thanks for all of your WONDERFUL reviews! And of course, I noticed the whole FC/FD mixup when you wonderful people brought it to my attention. Now...will anyone let a computer illiterate girl in on how to change it? It would be wonderful.

I'm so happy you guys are enjoying my story so far. I apologize for the lack of mechanical knowledge and if anyone EVER has any tips, etc, please let me know. Constructive criticism is ALWAYS welcome, whether by review or email. Thanks again for everything! I hope everyone has a great holiday and a lot of good, fattening, food. :)