Chapter 2

Jin and Asuka thoroughly enjoyed the special dish their uncle had cooked for them. Unable to wait, Asuka dashed for the FD and kept staring at it as a kid stares at his birthday gift. Jin came along and just smiled at the way his sister looked at the FD.

"I am rather surprised by your interest in the car, Suki."

"You see Aniki, my friends just go on blabbering about their cute looking kei-cars and often tease me I don't own a car! You see, if you had come here a bit earlier with that monster of a car, you would be very popular! I just can't wait to see their faces when they see it! Can't we go for a ride?"

"Not today, but I will drop you off to school and pick you from there almost daily. I am just too tired for this, okay? We have to wake up early tomorrow for our practice session, remember? I just hate training! No matter how many times we beat the crap out of Oji-chan, he never seems happy with us."

"I agree with you, aniki. He just doesn't seem to be happy enough..."

"Even after we have beat him like 5 times! He is getting too old for this and it is more to do with his personal pride, rather than our progress. He just cannot accept that we defeated him, Asuka." Jin said with a smirk while his uncle came from behind and smacked him on the head.

"Kombanwa, Oji-chan..." Jin said while he glanced at Asuka, who greeted him again.

"Oi! Commenting about me behind my back, are we?" He looked at Jin, who glanced at the ground below as if it was the most attractive thing in the world.

"Uh... Uncle, Do you have a parking garage for my car?" Jin said as he attempted to change the subject and he failed miserably at it. As a result, he got another smack on the head.

"You are standing right in front of it" he pointed out. "You need to eat some carrots and get checked by a optician, boy. Your eyes are giving up on you." Jin's uncle said as he chuckled.

"Now, off to bed, you two! Since you commented on my back, I will increase your practice time by an hour." Jin and Asuka just sighed and went on to their rooms.

The next day, after a long practice session which ended by 6:30 am, Jin and Asuka sat in the living room enjoying their cups of coffee. Jin looked out of the window at the sakura tree, and at their parents' memorial beneath the shade of the tree. Understandably, he missed them quite a lot, even his father Kazuya who he had come to hate till a few months ago till he met his sister. Knowing that she was the closest family member to him, he decided there and then he would always protect her and ensure she stayed happy for the rest of her life. Asuka too looked at the memorial and came to remember her desire to finish off their grandfather, Heihachi.

"Aniki, any news of the seventh Tekken tournament?"

"I don't see it happening in the near future, as the Zaibatsu is lacking a CEO. The deputy fellow is finding it tough to run the mammoth of a company, let alone host a freaking fighting tournament." Jin said as he took a sip of his coffee.

"You remember your promise don't you, Aniki?" Asuka looked at him happily.

"What promise?" Jin asked rather puzzled, but he came to remember when his sister glared at him. "Ah, I'll drop you at school in the FD, don't worry." Jin stood up and went to his room to pack up his bag for the second day at the university.

As promised, Jin dropped off his sister at school. He noticed the way everyone glared at the car, as if it were some kind of a celebrity. As he was a quiet and a shy person, it was unnerving. What made it even worse, was a group of girls were rapidly approaching his wished with a jealous look in their eyes. He decided for his own good that he should rather get the hell out of there.

Even Asuka found it very uncomfortable at school, as all her close friends looked at her with a curious look. It sucked out whatever fun it was in the history and math classes, some classes for which Asuka eagerly waited each day. As soon as the bell rang and it was break time, she was confronted by her best friends Kumiko, Mariko and Reina.

"I didn't know you had the guts to ask him out, Asuka. I am rather happy for you." Kumiko commented, making Asuka even more uncomfortable."

"Eh? What are you saying?"

"You are rather lucky that the Wangan's Silver Rocket accepted your date request, Suki. You don't need to hide anything from us!" Reina commented as she looked at Asuka, making her very confused.

"Wang-what? Can you please care to elaborate?"

"I am talking about your boyfriend in the FD, of course! He even came from all the way from Tokyo to meet you! You are a lucky girl!" This last statement made Asuka laugh for a long time at the serious misunderstanding of her friends.

"No, you idiot! He is my elder brother, Jin! You have come up with a rather stupid nickname for my Aniki!" This left all the three friends dumbfounded.

"J-Jin Kazama is your brother and the FD's driver?! You didn't even bother to tell us?" The girls asked her angrily. Asuka looked at them questioningly, as she herself was curious to know about how he picked up this nickname. She finally asked them, as she didn't think Jin would tell her anyway.

"Ahem..." Reina cleared her throat and continued, "You don't know much about your own brother? Well, his FD is currently the fastest car on the highways of Tokyo and Nagoya! He has been the king of the highways since 4 years, and he made his arch rivals, Blackbird and Devil's Z bite the dust, and they are no joke. He is so charismatic and good looking, that almost all girls fall in love with him. You know what? Give me his number..."

"No, he already likes another girl and it is none of your business." Asuka said and stormed out of the room as she was really pissed off. She couldn't believe that her brother was a famous street racer and had a legion of female fans, as he was a calm and quiet person who minded his own business.

Jin was waiting as promised outside the high school. Remembering the glares at the FD in the morning, he had parked the car far away. The moment Asuka came out, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her all the way to the car and took two beverage cans from a vending machine.

"Hey! You don't need to be that harsh on me, aniki!"

"I am sorry, 'cause I was freaked out by the way people looked at the car. Now get in." He sat in the car and signalled her to sit. She sat and looked curiously at Jin, the way he handled the car and shifted gears, and understood he was very familiar with the car. Then at 10 pm that night, they once again went on a cruise on the Osaka Beltway.

"You didn't even bother to tell me?"

"Tell you what, Suki?"

"Don't go all 'Mr. Innocent' on me, Aniki! I found out that you are a street racer, and a extremely good one at that." Jin was shocked when his biggest secret was revealed. 'She had to find out some day or the other' he reasoned to himself.

"I wanted to tell you yesterday, but Oji-chan's disapproving looks at my car made me feel that is is better to say it is a track day car. You, of all people should know how he is when he is pissed off." Jin started the engine and drove off.

"Well, I have a reason for racing, sis. I had these uncontrolled transformations into a wretched monster, and I used racing as a very good distraction from it and the pain from mother's first death. You see, Heihachi had given me a spare key to his Audi RS4 when I was 16 and I drove it almost daily, very fast on the expressway, to distract myself from the curse and focus on maintaining the car and myself in one piece. As the saying goes, 'Practice makes a man perfect', I became rather good at driving. Then, I happened to accompany one of my best friends, Shin Kamiya on a cruise on the Wangan in his Mazda RX-7 FC3S, and I was driving the car as he had broken his arm. He was famous for his driving skills himself, and a R33 GT-R came and challenged us to race there. Though Shin was reluctant, I accepted the challenge and I had my first street race then.

I managed to beat him, and Shin recognized my skills. Then on, we started saving enough money and pooled it and bought this FD. I raced the car on the C1 Route, and soon became a famous racer myself." Jin said with a tone of sadness in his voice.

"Well Aniki, I am rather surprised you eked out time for that, I used to think whatever you did then in your free time was exercising." Both the siblings chuckled and they noticed a dark blue Lancer Evo VI flashing it's headlights and refused to overtake them.

"What's he doing, Aniki?" Jin glanced at his rearview mirror and said, "He is challenging me to a race. You don't mind if I race?" Asuka nodded, and Jin flashed his hazard lamps, accepting the challenge. Then, he down shifted to third gear and stepped on the gas. The FD let out an enraged roar as it's turbos spooled up and dashed forward with such a huge force that Asuka was shoved into her seat. She looked at her brother, who wasn't tensed up at all. The Lancer was slowly fading from the mirror, unable to match the FD's agility as it zipped through the traffic. The digital speedometer was displaying 290 km/h and a sharp right hander was fast approaching.

Jin stepped on the brakes, as he downshifted to fourth gear using heel toe, and when he turned in, he stepped on the throttle for a second, kicking the rear end out as the FD drifted through the corner with a perfect demonstration of a power over drift. The FD exited the turn with a speed of 230 km/h, impressive for someone who was driving for the first time on the highways of Osaka. The Evo was now very far like a distant star, and its driver gave up. Jin chuckled and looked at Asuka, who had passed out from the experience; something expected from her as had rode only a mountain bike till then. He stopped at the nearest resting area and sprinkled some water on her face.

"Huh...where am I, Jin?" Asuka said, and Jin just chuckled.

"You passed out in the car during the drive" He said, as he unbuckled the racing harness of the passenger seat. "Are you okay, Asuka?"

"Yeah. This was the first time I ever passed out."

"The second time. You passed out before burning down the dojo, remember? Oh, do you want a can of coffee?" Asuka agreed. Jin went to the nearest vending machine and brought two cans of cold coffee and handed one to her, and then he sat in the driver's seat and opened his own can.

"You...you are a freaking madman! How could you speed so carelessly?"

"But wasn't it exciting? And fun?"

"Yeah, till that corner. It totally freaked me out! I thought that was very insane and suicidal, just rushing into the corner blind and braking very hard. No wonder you've been undefeated for 4 years!"

"You really think so? I wasn't even pushing it and the car needs some more fine tuning. If I drove here for a few times, I can go much faster through the corners! If I upgrade the turbos to GT800 ones and the cooling system, the car can go close to 395 km/h, if my assumptions are correct." Jin said happily as he sipped his coffee, while Asuka just shook her head in disbelief.

"I seriously hope that you shall be in one piece throughout your life, Oni-chan. You racers are just insane!" Jin laughed on hearing her and as he completed drinking his coffee, they went home.