Well I'm back. Hopefully in the last chapter you gained a little insight into the character of Nicolas Sainz, I'd love more feedback on him as he isn't going to be appearing in this chapter, not in a speaking context anyway, and probably won't be for a while.

To Eric Shields, obviously to you (I'm assuming), like myself, Initial D is the side interest to real motorsports. I've been into cars (rally to be precise) a long time before I ever even heard of Initial D, as a result much of my writing concerning the cars and technique will be written from a driver's point of view. If anyone doesn't like that, well... tough. You'll thank me when you learn something.

Oh yeah, Rina isn't Mako's sister, guess again... though her brother is popping up in this chapter, he should put the puzzle to end.

Oh and as for Sainz and his racing sneakers, it's a bad habit that I picked up over the years from older speedway and rally drivers, so I figured, growing up in a similar but much more advanced environment, Sainz would exhibit the same habit.

Oh, a little warning about this chapter, the two points of view actually jump back and forward in the week, it's Monday with Kai and Rina and later with Takuya and Dysuke. I've done that for a few reasons but I just thought that I'd warn you before I confused anyone.

On to the show.

Learning Curves.

It took quick reflexes, squeeze braking and a little luck but Ohna Takuya managed to pull his EP82 Starlet up in time. Dysuke had spun his Altezza out. Again. Takuya gave his horn a quick beep to enquire about the health of his friend, and quickly received a reply before Dysuke's reverse lights aroused themselves. Dysuke quickly had his car in the correct direction again and, with a screech of tires, took off, Takuya struggling to stay in tow. The main problem was that although the suspension setting had been changed at Dysuke's local workshop earlier in the week, he had yet to accustom himself to the difference that this would create in his car. Also, as Takuya made quick and clever use of heel and toe and left-foot braking to eliminate the FF Starlet's understeer, he noted that Dysuke was pushing himself much harder than he did on the track. A dangerous habit. The thought came almost seconds before another spin. Dysuke, frustrated that Takuya was constantly able to close the gap between them in the hairpins had gone in to the entrance and accelerated too hard, causing the front and rear to exchange alignment. This time Takuya had to react faster, but with some fancy steering work and a good pull of the handbrake he had avoided the Altezza altogether and spun to a stop in front of Dysuke rather than behind him. Quickly Takuya, much more experienced at touge, hit his hazards and, with a hand out the window, motioned for Dysuke to pull into the shoulder lane in the galleries. On a popular touge like Enna, you could never know when someone else would flick around the corner and careen into them, particularly in the afternoon. Not a good introduction to the local team. 'Hi, we're new in the area, sorry for totalling your car, mind if we run your home pass?' No, there was no way that was going to fly. The slam of Dysuke's door brought Takuya back to reality and a string of inventive cursing firmly rooted him there. Dysuke was not happy with his progress. Not by a long shot.

Kai had had many pleasant surprises that mourning, two days after the battle, waking to find his girlfriend curled familiarly against his side in a thin silk wrap, having Rina insisting to make him breakfast in bed and then surprisingly when he had finished, having her ask if they could look at a car she had seen for sale.

"Sure, why not. Why don't we get changed and go this mourning?"

Though Rina was surely excited at the thought of seeing 'her' new car, regardless of the fact that see had yet to purchase it, she had to thank him properly. It was the polite thing to do after all. Regardless of how cute Kai was in the mourning with his little bangs of hair wild instead of parted neatly in the centre, it was simply the duty of a thankful guest. Yeah right. Smiling slyly Rina gently gave Kai a peck on one cheek, then the other, then his brow...

"Why don't we go this afternoon instead?"

With a nervous gulp, Kai complied to her advances with characteristic pliability.

"Much later this afternoon."

Guardrails were hardly very comfortable, but street racers had been making them into seats for years and Takuya and Dysuke were hardly bothered to attempt any new trends. They puffed away on their cigarette's in silence, Dysuke wondering when Takuya would scold him for his bad driving and Takuya wondering when Dysuke would tell him what was bothering him. They continued to finish their cigarettes, but the tension finally became to much for Dysuke. In a fluid motion he stood, threw his cigarette to the ground, stomped it out and turning to Takuya threw his arms wide.

"Well?"

Thoroughly confused Takuya stared blankly for a moment.

"Well what?"

"You know what!" Dysuke growled in frustration, "You've been waiting to tell me off about my driving for twenty minutes, how irresponsible I'm being, how I'm only bound to keep making a fool of myself at this pace, how..."

A feral roar of an engine and squealing tires took the words out of Dysuke's mouth. Turning to the sound out of instinct both Takuya and Dysuke were distracted by a headlight and spotlight combination flashing at them, making identifying the car almost impossible for a split second. Then in a blur of yellow and black, what they had quickly recognized to be a Celica, had run wide into the corner before initiating a drift at high speed and steep angle, barely a foot from Takuya's side door. Judging the aggressive reaction and driving of the driver as he passed, Takuya thought that he might be one of Enna's TRS members, a good reason for he and Dysuke to get going while the getting was good. Turning to Dysuke, Takuya nodded at their cars.

"Looks like our time is up, we'll finish this over coffee, I'm buying."

Although in a foul mood Dysuke was hardly going to turn down free coffee to reinforce his nerves after that experience. With a nod he stomped on his cigarette one more time and made for the Altezza. They had barely made it in their cabins when the sound of yet another tuned car drowned out their thoughts. In a flash a white Evo IV had sailed around the corner, although to Dysuke, the drift specialist, the car seemed unsteady in oversteer and it looked like the driver barely recovered at the exit. Now very much sharing Takuya's vibe of getting off that mountain before one of those two suicidal hillclimbers decided to come back down and have another swipe at them, Dysuke was impatient to be gone. By the looks of it the Evo hadn't even seen them, controlling the car and keeping their eyes on the road must have been too great a task for the driver. Not that you can talk, a little voice whispered in the back of Dysuke's head. With a snort he flashed his highbeams at Takuya to let the other driver know he was ready to go.

Rina said right, Kai turned right. Rina prompted left, Kai conformed. They were heading out of the residential centre of Nikko and for the industrial, though to where in particular Kai had no idea. Rina just blurted out left or right only moments before the corner, often forcing Kai to literally flick the car sideways just to get in without a car running into his behind. Thank you, no. Every time he was forced to do it Rina let out a squeal of delight. She was definitely going to be a handful to teach, well more specifically, she was going to be a handful to keep from killing herself. Kai sighed to himself and sunk lower into his seat. The things you do for love. Two seconds later, perhaps fuelled by boredom, Rina pinched Kai on the side and pointed ahead.

"That's it, that's it," she exclaimed.

Following her line of sight Kai was confronted with a plain looked garage with the words 'Ken Works' emblazoned over the doors in bold blue letters. Ken Works? How would Rina have managed to find a car for sale in the Ken Works garage? Then it hit Kai like backfire. Satou Ken! One of the drivers from the battle, Dysuke, was primarily a drifter, and he knew Rina. By the looks of it he knew Rina's brother better, and as a drifter in Nikko, who wouldn't? Satou Ken was a driver and mechanic that was constantly preparing cars for and pushing himself to compete in the national D1 grand prix. Although he had yet to break into the top bracketing he was incredibly skilled and as he was in his mid-twenties he had plenty of time in which to hone his technique to even greater heights. Kai pulled the SW20 up with his customary locking of brakes and almost instantly three heads poked out of the garage. One Kai knew from magazines to be Satou Ken, the other was the same drifter from Saturday night, Dysuke, dressed in a mechanic's overalls and another guy that Kai didn't recognise, but was, by the look of him not a employee. It was obvious they were expected as Ken quickly beckoned Rina over to the garage's heart, where she easily made her way about, dodging stray tools and parts as though it were second nature to her. Over in the corner, mostly out of the way, Kai noticed the Ken Works' D1 Trueno with it's distinct blue and red vinyl graphic down either side. The touge racer in Kai shudder involuntarily even as he reminded himself not to judge pro drivers as though he were their equal or superior. Besides, the vinyl art made the car so distinct that the judges and spectators were bound to notice it, really a clever business move, Kai decided. As Ken pulled Rina aside to talk to her in private, Kai poked about until his eye settled upon Dysuke's Altezza, up on axle stands, with a pair of legs sticking out from underneath it.

"Finally changing the suspension settings huh?" Kai politely inquired.

In a quick slide, Dysuke had re-emerged from his cubby beneath the underbody of the car and was observing Kai somewhat warily.

"No, Ken-san changed them earlier today, I'm just finishing up a general service, I had to put the plugs for the sump and gearbox back in." Well, that made sense. "I'm going out later on in the week to test the new settings. Takuya is taking me to another mountain, Enna I think the name is." Kai's mind quickly turned over. Enna, home to the Todou Racing School, one of the most skilled teams in Tochigi, behind only Emperor. Enna itself was a series of steps, straightaways that led straight into tight hairpins. The course was really suited to the FF and 4WD layout, FR cars had real problems transferring speed from the long straights into the hairpins without creating too much oversteer.

"It's a difficult course for an FR to attack at speed. You should be careful and stay within a fairly safe pace..."

A hand on Kai's shoulder startled him and made him jump. Standing behind him was Satou Ken and Rina, Ken had a strange look as he regarded both Kai and Dysuke.

"You should listen to him Dysuke, you're not used to the touge, and even with the new settings, you'll need time to get used to them."

With a rude sound and a shrug of his shoulders Dysuke skated his creeper back under the Altezza to divert attention from himself. Ken chuckled and, with a slight squeeze steered Kai towards the office.

"Nobu, why don't you take Rina around to look at your car?" With an instant nod the third person who had been there at Kai and Rina's arrival led Rina, happily skipping even in the closed environment, out of the workshop. Once Ken had ushered Kai into the office he offered him a chair before sitting himself.

"Dysuke told me that you took Rina to see a battle at Irohazaka." Gulping, remembering instantly how aggravated Dysuke had been at Rina when they turned up at Irohazaka and what had been said about Ken's complete dislike for Rina being around street racers, Kai nodded. "I've been asking around about you Kogashiwa Kai, I know who your father is and I know that you yourself have quite a good reputation among the Tochigi racers. If it was otherwise I wouldn't have let Rina even look at buying Nobu's car. Rina is stubborn and she is going to continue to sneak out and participate in racing, even against the wishes of my parents, so I'm telling you only once. Look after her. She can go out onto the touge and on to the track with you, if you look after her safety. If you don't, every racer in Tochigi is going to be hunting you down, even your father." Ken let the threat hang in the air for a few moments for Kai to fully absorb before he continued. "Well, let's go and see this car that Nobu is so desperate to offload." Leading Kai out the office's front door the pair rounded the corner and found Dysuke looking in the engine bay of a car in which Rina was sitting in the driver's seat, turning the wheel back and forwards with mock seriousness, all the while the car's owner, Nobu, looked on with something between amusement and horror. At that moment though it was the car that had the greatest share of Kai's attention. An Toyota MR-S, the ZW30! Essentially the car was the newer version of his turbo MR2 SW20, although it was smaller, lighter and rather than a midship turbocharged 3SGTE engine, it normally sported a 1ZZ naturally aspirated engine, still in the midship position. Although Kai knew the cars were rather underpowered, he could see why Rina would have liked it. The standard red Toyota paint stood out starkly against the carbon fibre bonnet (which on a midship was actually the boot) and wing combination, and rather than having a solid roof like an SW20, or even the older AW11, the MR-S was a convertible. Quite the girl-racer car, though Kai didn't like the prospects of Rina in that car on the touge. Maybe he should say something to Ken? But Ken was conversing to Nobu and Dysuke, and Kai hardly wanted to interrupt, not after the speech the D1 competitor had just given him. Instead he approached Rina as she mock steered and shifted through the gears.

"So, what do you think?" she wheedled when Kai got to her side.

Thinking quickly on his feet, so as not to disappoint Rina, or insult Nobu as the owner, Kai responded.

"It's nice, but are you sure that it's the kind of car that you can drive on the track or on the mountains?" With a triumphant grin she pulled the bonnet release latch. As Kai lifted the bonnet and held it in place he noticed two things. The first, the word Tom's imprinted on the engine bay and the second was the engine's badgeing: TRD 2ZZ VVTi. An engine conversion!?

What had he just gotten himself into.

"Two coffees please." With the waitress rushing to fill their order Takuya, remembering Dysuke's bitter words, offered his partner a cigarette, which he accepted, before lighting his own. Studying his friend for a little while Takuya finally found the courage to pipe up.

"So are you going to tell me what is bothering you? I'm not worried about your driving, you can do better in a heartbeat. It's what's instigating the driving that bothers me." Dysuke tapped his finger on the table, hoping the coffee would come and distract Takuya, but when he had no such luck, he figured it would be better just to tell Takuya and save the frequent badgering he would earn otherwise. No way around it really...

"Kogashiwa. He's the problem." Takuya's eyebrows raised involuntarily, it wasn't in Dysuke's nature to dislike someone from an initial meeting. In fact the Altezza driver could be accused of being too easy to get along with before he could be accused of being thorny. "He just doesn't get it, Rina-chan's family have kept her away from racing for a reason. She's intelligent, diligent and capable of becoming a great psychiatrist. And then, against the will of her parents, Ken-san puts himself out on a limb for him and if Kai isn't as great as he makes himself out to be, what then? Do you think Ken-san's family will take kindly to what he allowed Kogashiwa to do? And Rina, all the potential she has, gone, how can that be a good thing!?" Bustling back with a tray on her hip, the waitress put on cup of steaming coffee in front of both racers, allowing Takuya time to quickly formulate a response. There were two ways this could be handled, and they had two very different endings. Personally Takuya had nothing against Kai, he seemed a little forward, maybe even pushy, but really, so what. Everyone had small foibles that marred and enhanced their personality. In addition, this unexpected turn could be used to Takuya's advantage. Since the battle with Emperor Dysuke had changed his car's settings, ordered a Bride bucket seat and harness from Ken Works and even been the instigator in coming out to mountains (okay, a single mountain but still), all the things you would expect from someone looking to break into the touge scene. Still, two people alone were not enough to turn heads in the mountains, you needed a team. If Dysuke could be persuaded to spend more time around Rina, who had already made her interest in driving on the touge obvious...

"So why not look after her yourself? You're right, Kogashiwa Kai has a lot of responsibility in protecting Rina-chan, so why not be around yourself? I'm sure she wouldn't mind the company, and having more people around could make things safer for all of us." Seeing the light bulb go off in Dysuke's head, Takuya couldn't resist another dig. "As for potential, wouldn't the same go for a young man, studying to become a lawyer?" Dysuke flicked a sugar packet at his friend's face in response. He could never let on that Nobutachi Dysuke was hardly the grease monkey he made himself out to be. Despite the casual job at Ken Works, Dysuke's real calling was law. Something he tried desperately to hide from his fellow drifters and racers.

Takuya had to smile, with Dysuke now determined to keep Satou Rina safe, they were one step closer to a team of their own.

Five Fire Flame.

Okay, here we are, another chapter down in writing. A little longer than usual, but it makes up for the shorter one it proceeds. Obviously there is some tension brewing between Kai and Dysuke, I wonder if Dysuke is telling Takuya the whole story or not. Oh well, we'll soon see.

We finally know the identity of Rina, that is why her family name is familiar. Satou Ken is actually a real D1 competitor, considering the name so similar (well, okay, identical) to Mako, it was irresistible to bring him and his new sister into the story. And now she has a ZW30, yes that is a little corny, two lovers having the same make of car, but really the ZW30 is a car (like the earlier GT4, which I happen to own ;-)) that got the shabby deal in Initial D. You cannot tell me that there can be teams full of s13's and 180's but no ZW's, what's up with that? Okay, I could answer that s13's are incredibly cheap and common in Japan, but EG6's, DC2's, LanEvos, SW20's, EK9's, even AP1's and R34's (probably among the most expensive cars you could use on the touge) all make appearances, but not the car model that just recently humbled Tsuchiya's own Touge Monster 86. That all changes here!

Who oh who could possibly have been in that white Evo I wonder? It wouldn't have been Seiji and Miyoko of Evo Prime would it? So intent on practicing the Enna uphill that they missed our two heroes? Oh well. Anyways, your reviews are always appreciated, I hope it doesn't come to having to ransom chapters for reviews (because I'll do it! Lol). Be back with a new chapter soon.