FOREWORD: I, HashiriyaGDB, am submitting this Initial D facfic on behalf of Midnight Dorifuta, the author of this fanfic and a fellow user on the Initial D World Forums. The only things I've done to this is correct some (if not all) the typos.

All trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

Chapter 2: His Name is Akiyuki
"He's driving the eight-six today..."

It only took a second for him to figure that out from the note of the exhaust as the young man watched the "start line" of what was the uphill course of Haruna Hill. An eager eye carefully observed the entire sequence of the Eight-six in action, watching as the shadows of the rock-side in the early morning air were slowly blinded away by the growing headlight beams, then shifted to focus on the car itself. A black sign was on one side - the driver's side - that read "Fujiwara Tofu Shop (PRIVATE VEHICLE)". Yes, it was his car all right. And the right time, as well... 4:06 AM, right on the dot for this portion of the pass. For some, it would be hard to believe that the tofu run started at 4 AM sharp and ended at 4:15... but not this man. He saw, with his own two eyes, what that old dated Corolla hatchback was exactly capable of. ...and it more than impressed him.

The boy popped the clutch in, turning the ignition key, the car's reverse light coming immediately on. That wasn't surprising, though - he preferred parking in gear instead of using the parking brake. Pulling out of the lot, he pointed the nose of the car, which sported a black-colored triple-diamond logo, in the general direction of uphill. Grabbing for second gear, the driver started a slow, upward march up the mountain pass, studying the course once again, and taking note of a few corners that he misjudged and drove "too easy". The gutter also caught his eye as he made his way along the little mountain pass road, along with a few damaged sections of guardrail. Two, to be exact. And a bouquet of flowers still at either of them, along with a cross.

The graves of Hideo Sato and Takumi Sato, grandfather and father of the current-day Formula 1 legend... among Japanese drivers, anyways. He slowed his pace to look at the two of them, paying a bit of respect to either of the two, before finally coming to a rest at the "desired" corner, while he walked another 200 feet or so up the road, the car was at least safe there. Besides, why risk wrecking a car he already knew he would hop right back into once the task was completed?

-

Takumi almost froze in fear as from one extreme end of his windshield appeared a figure standing in the dead center of the road, one shoe on either of the two yellow lines that were supposed to designate seperate lanes... although Takumi usually ignored that. What Takumi couldn't' ignore, however, was the fact he was about to kill somebody. He almost froze in fear - almost being the key word. But at the moment was displayed before whoever may be watching - the almost object-like person standing in the middle of the road, in this case - the very unique gift... no, one of many unique gifts, that Takumi possessed.

Time didn't freeze, no... it slowed down, and in Takumi's head, he was able to quickly assess a line of "attack" - although in this case defense - to pursue, and followed suit in his almost unnatural manner. Quadruple-modulating the gas, brake, clutch, and steering, Takumi was able to let the car suddenly drift astray from its current course, being able to slide wide of the person and just barely miss him... although it was merely a defensive reaction, with no further plan of course... so, for only the second time on Haruna in nearly 5 years, Takumi found himself staring at the path he just traveled. He saw, clear as daylight, the person who was just observing him, having turned around as the 86 passed... nothing the previous emotionless expression fading away as the boy's thin-stitched lips slowly curved upward into a smirk... perhaps, even, a small grin.

The figure made his way towards the now silent 86, noting Takumi was so startled that he forgot to hold the clutch out, thus stalling the 86 in its place. Not like it mattered. At about the same time, Takumi
finally release the almost-crushing pressure on the brake pedal, his eyes slightly dialated, and cloudy. The slide itself - the full, four-wheel braking stop - brought him back 9 months, where the emergency slide was the result of his engine giving. The tire smoke that Takumi's nose caught a whiff was, through his internal time machine, transformed into the smell of burning oil, and Takumi's vision of the man was blurred by an imaginary cloud of white smoke.

Snap out of it!, Takumi thought to himself. While Takumi's heart was still pounding as he faded out of the flashback and back into reality. He flicked the key to the start position, and the 20-valve turned over and gathered itself right back up, idling as roughly and eagerly as ever. Takumi then cut the ignition, taking a second to pull the e-brake and also take a few breaths, before finally slipping out of his panda hatchback and confronting the bystander. His poise was really screwed up, but he tried as hard as he could to sound concerned and irritated.

"Hey! What are you doing standing there in the middle of the road!? You could have died!"

Takumi let out another sigh - patting the hood of his 86, still caught between the past and the present, making sure it wasn't coated in a thin layer of used engine oil. But, nope, it wasn't. Takumi spent the next second or so shaking his head a few times - not at the pedestrian himself, but over how thrown back he was over the whole ordeal. Still, the young man - almost kid-ish - replied in a manner that completely caught him off guard.

"...but I knew I wasn't going to die."

The boy chuckled very lightly, taking half a step towards both Takumi and his Eight-Six. Takumi seemed to tower over the very thin and short... well, not rediculously short, but only 5' 2"... figure of the person who gave Takumi one of his nastiest scares to date. "Not with you behind the wheel, at least, Fujiwara-san."

Takumi gave the figure a bit of an uncertain glance before turning his head to face him directly, the headlights of his Trueno mainly illuminating the surrounding area, and the two of them. It was then that Takumi could easily see the boy's almost mop-like hairdo, his greenish-brown hair and eyes that seemed to match it perfectly. Those calm, cool, observant eyes, that, in the way he watched Takumi, closely resembled Takumi's mentor, no other than Ryousuke Takahashi. But his demeanor was definitely different.

"...how'd you know what my name was?"

This was very unusual to Takumi, having someone acknowledge him by his name before they exchanged names, because, Takumi was used to being almost laughed at, and not taken seriously. Let alone anyone directly stating his driving ability.

"...because I saw you race the 959 in person. You're talented perhaps even more than me. It was exhilarating to watch you keep up with the old pro. I was more than impressed, Fujiwara. The name's Akiyukli Suzaki. Pleasure to meet you, Fujiwara."

Akiyuki then held out a hand to the young driver, giving Fujiwara a completely content, honest smile. It was a uniquely different approach compared to anyone else he's ever faced... although Takumi did wonder if this was even going to result in a match. Takumi slowly shook the boy's hand, still taking note of his features.

"T... thank you..."

It was also the first time Takumi ever was complimented about his driving by anyone he's challenged before he begun. The fact that this kid was almost suicidal, just standing before Takumi's charging Hachi-Roku, suddenly seemed irrelevant. Takumi already had a level of respect for this driver, because his... his ways... were similar to his own, and unlike anyone else Takumi's met before. To be honest, Takumi was downright curious about this mysterious person who didn't flair his team colors, didn't cockily challenge Takumi, didn't do anything besides lay down all there was to see about him before Takumi's eyes, in a calm and friendly manner.

"Uhm, Akiyuki... did you walk this far?"

Akyuki chuckled just a small bit, shaking his head, before thumbing in the direction Takumi was in. It was a simple enough gesture.

"The Lizard is a little bit beyond our view... mind walking a few hundred feet?

"The... lizard... uhm, sure..."

Akiyuki suppressed a laugh, covering his mouth with his hand.

"The Lizard is my car... let's go."

Takumi nodded, and followed Akiyuki to the machine... before, kind of stopping as he overlooked the car. It seemed vaugely familiar, yet... a little different from any other car he's seen. And it had a carbon-fiber ho- ...no, the hood wasn't carbon fiber, just painted flat black. And the matching black stripe that rand down the side of the car, right on the belt line. In fact, Takumi has seen the paintjob somewhere, he just couldn't place where.

"Uhm... what kind of car is that?"

Akiyuki chuckled softly, as he turned to face the hood of his car, removing the two hoodpins.

"What kind of car? Well, I'm not surprised you've never heard of it before... it isn't exactly a car with a huge fan base..."

Akiyuki propped the hood up, before revealing its model name to Takumi.