Author's note: Yippee, another chapter! Although not much happens in this chapter either. Sumimasen! Thanks for the peeps who are still reading this story and thanks muchies for your reviews! Hai! Arigato gozaimasu!

Disclaimer: Sean, Twinkie, Neela, and crew are not mine. They belong to the Universe. Or is it Dreamworky? Hmm…

Chapter 13

"What on earth are we doing here again?"

Sean rolled his eyes at Twinkie. They were cruising slowly down a seedy road in his S15, where rundown shops still sold old-fashioned rice dumplings, homemade ramen and rice paper lanterns and the nori was still a hot favourite. Here and there were the occasional vending machine selling mini Hello Kitties in a capsule and Sega video arcades.

"We're findin' a garage," he replied through gritted teeth.

"Oh. And, uh, who is this for again?"

"Stop acting stupid, Twink. I know what I'm doin'."

"First Neela, now this. Have ya ever bothered to consider the emotional rollercoaster ride you put me through every time you get caught up with a girl? It's enough to murder anyone."

Sean had to grin. "Shut up, Twink." He pulled over by the roadside and dug in his jeans pocket for the scrap of paper Yuri gave him in the morning.

On it was written neatly the general directions to the garage where the R32 she won the other night was kept. She'd suddenly changed her mind and decided to stay adamantly at home. He'd tried to get her to come along, because it would be just weird if he was the one who turned up and claimed a car which wasn't his, but that stubborn Jap of a girl kept insisting that she had to study for a (nonexistent) test. Eventually, the Lieutenant caught wind of it and ordered him to leave her alone.

"Man, I still can't believe she's related to you!" blurted Twink suddenly. "I mean, it's just weird, y'know? Sean has a sister. The D.K. has a sister. Lil' sis. I just can't imagine you looking out for anyone."

"What are ya talkin' about? I look out for everyone all the time." But Sean knew there was a scrap of truth in that. His recklessness hardly qualified him as a mature, caring person. "And she's my half-sister. Half."

"Alraight, alraight," said Twink moodily, "there'd better not be any trouble, that's all I'm sayin'."

Sean turned into a deserted alley. Twink eyed the cracked windows and the general hopelessness of the place. "Are you sure you got the right address? You know this city ain't got no proper street names."

Sean felt restless himself. For all he knew he could be driving into yakuza territory. "I know I'm right," he insisted.

Eventually, he was right. He turned at the end of the alley and a garage spread out before him, built into a warehouse. The place was humming with activity. Four out of the five car jacks had wildly modified cars upon it and males and females working on it. Inside the garage were parked more cars, Fairladys and Silvias and Skylines and RX-7 with an odd Acura NSX among them. Outside the garage a group of teenagers were throwing packet drinks at each other. They stopped when they saw Sean's S15, which he promptly parked just outside the garage entrance.

Sean got out of the car. The teenagers glanced at each other warily.

"I'm looking for Ming," he said in not-so-fluent Japanese.

The teens whispered among each other and one of them ran into the garage. Sean swallowed as he saw stares being directed his way and Twink's.

This had better not get ugly.

Ming sat on a bench and stared at the Supra sitting docilely in his garage. Her Supra. Yuri's. Even thinking about her name hurt. He took a sip of cold beer. The look on her face. It wasn't even worth it. And who knew what that slimy guy had done to her after losing the race. He knew guys like him who belonged to the yakuza, who treated women like animals and money like dirt.

Heck, he'd nearly been one of them.

"Ming," said Koto breathlessly, running up to him. "Hey Ming."

"Hmm?"

"Some people are here to see you."

Ming frowned. He didn't remember keeping any appointments. And he wasn't in much of a mood for any business negotiations. "Who is it?"

"Two gaijin. Shizu reckons it's the D.K. of Boshi."

Ming stared at Koto for a few seconds before taking another gulp of beer and tossing the can into a rubbish bin. "Let's go."

He walked out between the hydraulic jacks and smattering of tools, toolboxes, kits and stray nuts and bolts into the open air. He spotted the gaijin D.K. at once. As he approached him, he noticed something eerily familiar about the white gaijin's eyes. He had seen them somewhere before, the wary apprehensiveness and the seriousness of them.

"You're Ming?" he asked in shaky Japanese.

"There's no need for such formalities," he replied, holding out his hand. "Ming."

"Sean. And this is Twinkie."

"How can I help you?"

"I'm here for Yuri."

The mention of her name stopped his mind for a while. He stared back at the gaijin. "Who are you to her?"

Sean's head moved slightly, as if interested by that question. "Who are you to her?"

Ming clenched his jaw. "I'm just a friend."

"Yeah, a friend that she'd rather not meet even if she wanted her car back."

"You were at Boshi last night weren't you? You saw it yourself. She lost it."

Sean shook his head. "Not that car. The other one. A Skyline."

"So what are you, her tow truck?" Ming didn't mean to sound so harsh, but if Yuri had that much faith in him, to trust him with her car, he must mean something to her. Maybe he was a friend. Maybe. But it didn't look that way. He could see in the gaijin's face a sincere wish to stand up for her.

"I know what ya thinkin'," said Sean with a dry smile. "But I'm not her pimp. I'm her brother. Half-brother. I'm just lookin' out for my little sis and doin' her a favour, okay? I don't want any problems."

Ming's resolve to fight him off (wherever that came from in the first place) vanished. "Oh. Well in that case, help yourself. You got the keys?"

"Yeah," Sean fished the set of keys out from his pocket.

"I'm sorry I was hard on you. I just – I mean…"

"Yeah, I get that," the gaijin D.K. replied with a sincere smile. "She must mean a lot to you." He laughed shortly. "Girls. It's crazy what they can do to ya mind, huh?"

Ming managed a laugh himself. "I'm crazy about her. And I can't do anything about it. You know what, why don't you take the Supra for her as well? It means more to her than anything in the world."

"Yeah, except for you," said Sean, looking directly at Ming. "She cried all last night, just so you should know. And she's not the kind of girl who cries. But she gave me specific orders to not take her Supra back. She, uh, she wants you to take good care of it though," Sean suddenly fidgeted, "and she told me to tell you that she still wants the Veilside, but not the Veilside. Whatever that means," he added with a puzzled frown.

Ming, however, understood perfectly. He smiled to himself. "Then tell her that she's got my Veilside and she can have it whenever she wants."

Sean laughed. "You Japs." Ming led him into the garage and showed him to the Skyline. He tossed the keys to his S15 to Twink, who went to start the car and unlocked the door. Before he got in though, he paused for awhile and looked back to Ming. "I don't know why, but you remind me of someone."

Ming's eyebrows rose. "Oh yeah? Who?"

"A guy named Han. D'ya know him?"

Ming stared back at him. "Yeah. He's my brother."

Sean opened his mouth to say something, but Twink honked the S15 and Sean got into the Skyline without saying anything more. But as he drove out of the garage, he couldn't help but look back at him.

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