DISCLAIMER: Neither Busigt-81 nor myself own Initial D...unfortunately

Author: Busigt-81

Editor: DreamSenshi


Chapter 2

Takumi opened his eyes and looked at the clock beside his bed, a quarter to four and time to get up. With a heavy sigh, he got out of bed and stretched carefully, he was a little sore but nothing he couldn't handle. He looked down at his throbbing wrist, it was dark blue and a bit swollen, Takumi shrugged, he had deserved it.

Bunta was waiting for him as he walked downstairs; the older Fujiwara looked at his son with blank eyes and offered him an icepack.

Takumi looked at him questioningly, Bunta motioned at his wrist Takumi nodded and accepted it. That was a close to an apology he would get, yet it meant alot to him but he knew what happened last night would happen again if he didn't do as his father told him to.

He let the icepack rest a few minutes on his wrist as he ate a small breakfast before he pulled on his jacket and went outside to his 86. Before he got into the car Takumi allowed himself to breath in the cold air and watch the snow.

It had snowed a couple of centimetres and it was beautiful, he heard the door open and close behind him so he walked quickly to the 86 and got in.

Bunta handed him a cup of water and he was off, delivering tofu yet again.

Takumi shifted into gear as he drifted down the mountain, his injured wrist was causing him some trouble as he spun the wheel. It prevented him from turning the steering wheel as much as he wanted and made him feel like he was in the gum tape death match again.

Even with his injured wrist, Takumi was able to make it home quickly, although it took him one or two minutes longer. Bunta was waiting for him as he walked into the room; the older man offered a new icepack before turning back to his newspaper. Taking the icepack, Takumi placed it on his wrist, mumbled a low thanks before he walked up to his room to get some rest.


"Takumi, phone!" He jerked awake as Bunta yelled up at him. Slowly he walked down to answer the phone. It was Ryousuke.

"Fujiwara, we will practice on the mountain this evening. We meet at the garage first and then drive up to Akina." Takumi felt his cheeks heat up at the sound of the deep voice on the other line.

"Okay."

"Good. Don't be too late." And with that the older Takahashi hung up.

Setting the phone back down, Takumi walked over to his father, who sat on the floor drinking and reading the newspaper. Takumi could smell the stench of alcohol on Bunta's breath as he sat down on the other side of the table.

"Project D is having a practice race this evening..." Takumi started, not really knowing what to say.

Bunta looked up at him with his eyes half closed and cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. After looking at his son for a couple of minutes, he grunted and went back to drinking and reading.

Takumi knew that he would do the run tomorrow morning as well, sighing he got up and walked to his room.

A couple of hours later, Takumi drove into the driveway at Takahashi house. Everyone was already in the garage working on their cars. Takumi got out of his 86, closed the door carefully and walked into the garage. Before he got out of the car he looked at himself in the rear view mirror, his small bruise had gotten a larger thanks to Bunta's second slap. But it wasn't too noticeable.

"To day will be the day that I beat you!" Keisuke greeted him as he walked into the garage.

Takumi just nodded and smiled a little. Keisuke and he were friends but the younger Takahashi brother still aimed to beat him on the mountain. He was getting faster, so it wouldn't surprise Takumi if he did.

"So you don't believe me?" Keisuke said as he saw Takumi's small smile.

"I do believe you." Takumi said.

"Don't mock me, little one. You get faster every time we race but I will beat you!" Keisuke said as he ruffled Takumi's hair. Keisuke didn't hand out many compliments, so everyone in the garage was staring at Takumi, but they already knew that he was one of a kind.

Takumi only looked down at the ground and flushed bright red, embarrassed by the attention and the sudden use of a pet name. 'Little one?' Takumi pondered, 'Since when does Keisuke-san call me anything but Fujiwara?"

"As long as both of you do your best, few people will beat us" Ryousuke said as he walked into the garage. He looked at his younger brother and then at the younger driver, who eyes were glued to the floor. "Let's get moving."

All the racers cheered at the last line and run towards their cars, challenging and making fun of each other.

Ryousuke watched as Takumi walked slowly to the 86, their eyes met briefly before the young man drove off. The older Takahashi brother got into his white FC and followed the 86 closely.

Was the bruise on Takumi's cheek bigger? Was he driving a little more stiff than usual up the mountain?

Ryousuke knew that Takumi had lied to him yesterday but had decided not to push the younger man. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to pursue the issue at a later date.

He got out of his FC and walked over to the drivers as they started to line up for the practice races. With Ryousuke's nod of assent, the two racers roared away; he walked over to the two technicians who helped with tuning Keisuke's and Takumi's cars. Ryousuke told them to ride with the top drivers to record how the cars reacted to the tuning they had done and the drivers were off.

He sat typing on his laptop, not really concentrating on the screen before him and when the two technicians walked up to him, he gladly put it down. They talked about the improvements and such things, Ryousuke listen carefully and every important information so he could use it in his simulations. He thanked them but the technician that had been driving with Takumi lingered so they could talk privately.

Takumi stood beside Keisuke, drinking some water and listening to the younger Takahashi brother as he talked about what had happened at the party after he left yesterday.

The young Fujiwara listened only with one ear as he felt some one watch him, he looked up and around only to notice Ryousuke and the technician speaking. Ryousuke was watching the younger man intensely, sending shivers down his spine.

Takumi looked away, shrugging a little and feeling a bit uncomfortable as he felt that they were talking about him. His driving hadn't been his best today because of his wrist but he didn't want to make excuses or tell anyone that he was hurt. He looked down at his hands, his jacket was in the 86 but he had big college sweatshirt on the sleeves were long enough to mask the blue and swollen wrist.

Had the technician seen it somehow? And was he telling Ryousuke-san about it? Takumi felt his cheeks grow hot as he thought to himself. Why would anyone care? He walked over to his 86 as Ryousuke walked towards them.

Ryousuke thanked the technician for the information and then walked over to his younger brother who was now talking to his technician because Takumi had gone to his car.

Keisuke looked at his brother as he walked towards him, he could tell that something was up and then he looked over to Takumi who was leaning on the side of the 86 looking a bit bored as he usually did.

"Keisuke, I'm going to ride beside you for a last practice race with Fujiwara."

"Alright, Aniki."

"Fujiwara, let's go for one last race before calling it a night." Ryousuke said getting into the passenger side of Keisuke's FD. Takumi nodded and got into his 86.

"What's up?" Keisuke asked his brother as they drove to the starting position.

"I want to see how Fujiwara is handling the car. Look closely."

Keisuke nodded not really understanding what his brother was meaning and they drove off.

After a few minutes of driving, he noticed something was off with Takumi's driving. Takumi was still driving fast and as good as always but something was different.

"It's like he can't turn the wheel fully..." He said out loud.

"Yes, his driving seems stiff." Ryousuke agreed nodding.

"How did you notice?"

"I saw something on the way here, but the technician told me something that made me want to see it for myself."

The race was soon over, Takumi winning but not with as much as he used to. Ryousuke walked over to 86 and got into the passenger side.

"Fujiwara, let's go and get my car."

Takumi only looked at first then started to blush as Ryousuke met his eyes, nodding, Takumi started up the mountain.

The older Takahashi watched the younger driver closely, Takumi felt his eyes on him and it made him press down on the gas pedal. Takumi pulled up behind the white FC, he turned off the engine and sat staring out the windshield.

Ryousuke sat and studied the young man beside him, he saw that something was wrong with Takumi's driving and the technician had told him that he had glimpsed a big nasty bruise on Takumi's wrist.

Keisuke pulled up behind them and got out of his yellow FD, Takumi glanced at Ryousuke before getting out too. He walked over to the guardrail and looked out over the valley, pushing his hands down his front pockets but changed his mind as the action hurt his wrist. He could feel their eyes on his back, watching his every move. The two brothers looked at each other then walked over to him.

"Let me see your hand." Ryousuke said holding out his own.

Takumi looked at the proffered hand for a second, then he sighed and pulled up the arm of his sweatshirt revealing the injured wrist.

"What the hell happened?" Keisuke exclaimed.

"Nothing.." Takumi mumbled quietly looking down at the ground.

"Nothing? If it compromises with your driving it's something!" Keisuke's voice became higher with each word. "Who did this to you?"

"No one" Takumi's voice was so low that it was just a low whisper, his hand still in Ryousuke's. God, he felt so embarrassed, they didn't know that he deserved it but it felt good to know that they seemed to care.

"Fujiwara, if you can't admit that you are injured you are a danger to us all. It will compromise the Project." Ryousuke knew right away that the cold words coming out of his mouth was the wrong ones. Keisuke just stared at him with disbelief in his eyes.

Takumi looked up at him, chilled to the bone and for a second Ryousuke saw the tremendous hurt he had caused the young driver. Snow started to fall down on them and the silence was deafening.

Takumi snatched back his hand, turned on his heel and stalked over to the 86.

"Fujiwara! Wait!" Ryousuke yelled reaching out and trying to stop him but the younger man was already at his car. "Fujiwara!"

The younger man slammed his door shut, ignoring Ryousuke's shouts and with a roar of the engine he drove off.

"You are so stupid!" Keisuke shouted as he walked over to his car. "Pray to God that he doesn't drive off the road, because if he does I'm going to kick your ass. Older brother or not!"

Ryousuke stood still in the snow as his brother sped off after Takumi. He felt sick in the stomach as remembering the look of hurt in the young man's eyes that he had caused. How could things go so wrong?