Title: Green Path
Series: Initial D/Spirited Away crossover
Disclaimer: Characters are the creation of Shigeno Shuichi and Hayao Miyazaki respectively
Type: General
Notes/warning: Chihiro's family was moving to Tochinoki, which in the movie is near Nagoya, and in RL Japan, it's near Tokyo. So, pretend the movie took place in Gunma, or that Takumi is familiar with the roads near Nagoya.
Summary: One day, Takumi drives a girl to an abandoned amusement park.

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She was thin, with a round, expressive face, and serious eyes that seemed to see more than what others could. Her name was Ogino Chihiro. She had a small suitcase, in the back seat.

"Thank you for driving me, Fujiwara-san," she said in the car. "I asked around, and they said you were the best driver around."

"Uh... I just know the area well," he demurred with his customary frankness. "I know the place you mean," he added, looking away from the winding mountain road to glance at her for a split-second. She was staring out at the windscreen, her eyes alive with anticipation as she watched the forest fly past them.

"It's difficult to find, I've found."

He acknowledged that with a murmur, and he remembered the occasions when he had almost run over confused, terrified strangers who had wandered through the forest. When he stopped the car to help them, they muttered about apparitions and gods, and enchantments that altered reality.

"I've tried many times, but I always got lost instead."

He had gone looking once, driving down the mountain roads he knew so well, and found himself venturing down a dirt path. Beneath the green shadows of old trees, he had found faded red walls that housed an abandoned tunnel. It was as though voices were coming through it. He had entered the tunnel, searching for the source, but as he walked, it was as though the roads outside were calling him. Heeding his instinct, he had retreated, back to his car.

To his surprise, he was unable to find it again. Curious, he had gone searching, even exploring on foot in the forest, but he always drew a blank.

There. He slammed on the brakes, almost as though he could physically feel the opening in the trees, like a green doorway set in a wall of green leaves. His feet moved of their own accord, in perfect coordination with the twist of his steering wheel.

Beside him, the girl gasped. "What are you-" She felt abruptly silent.

They were on the dirt path. He did a quick visual check, and was reassured that everything was fine. Dirt roads tended to be rough on cars like his.

"It's this one," the girl said in wonderment.

Eventually, he had discovered that if he watched out of the corner of his eye at just the right moment, he could see the gap by the forest, and if he drove fast enough, he could just manage to land on the dirt path that would lead him to those high red walls.

"How did you do that?" she asked him.

He struggled to explain himself. "If you watch the road carefully, you'll always be able to see a path," he said. "I do that when I race other cars, too." He wasn't sure what made him try to explain something that was so personal to him. He used to assume that all he needed to do was to drive as fast as he could, but Project D made him realize that he needed to do more. "You just need to see where you're going."

The girl said, "I do."

It was only a few minutes, though it felt like longer, until he finally reached his destination, and stopped the car a short distance away. "Here it is," he said, but she had already sprang out of the car, staring up at the walls.

A few of the townsfolk knew about this, though he was willing to bet that they had never been out here. All that people knew was that years ago, a huge corporation had started on an amusement park in the forest, to take advantage of the mountain scenery, but had to abandon it when funding died down. Months later, stories about people wandering for days in the park site had started.

"It's as I remembered," the girl whispered.

He opened the door of the back seat and took out her suitcase, walking towards her. "Are you sure this is where you want to go?" he asked.

"Hm?" She was nearly humming under her breath. "Oh!" she spotted her suitcase and took it from him with a murmur of thanks. "I will be fine. Thank you very much for bringing me here. You don't need to wait for me to come back. I know the way from here."

He watched as she entered the tunnel, disappearing into its shadows. After a few minutes, he seemed to hear the echo of voices. He stood beside the car, listening.

Then he got into his car and drove back onto the mountain roads.

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