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All For Love 3rd in Rivalry Series	By : kurahieiritrJIO Category: +G to L > Initial D Views: 2135 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Initial D, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-All For Love
- 2-AFL 2
- 3-AFL 3
- 4-AFL 4
- 5-AFL 5
- 6-AFL 6
- 7-AFL 7
- 8-AFL 8
- 9-AFL 9
- 10-AFL 10
- 11-AFl 11
- 12-AFL 12
- 13-AFL 13
- 14-AFL 14
- 15-AFL 15
- 16-AFL 16
- 17-AFL 17
- 18-AFL 18
- 19-AFL 19
- 20-AFL 20
- 21-AFL 21
- 22-AFL 22
- 23-AFL 23
- 24-AFL 24
- 25-AFL 25
- 26-AFL 26
- 27-AFL 27
- 28-AFL 28
- 29-AFL 29
- 30-AFL 30
- 31-AFL 31
- 32-AFL 32
- 33-AFL 33
- 34-AFL 34
- 35-AFL 35
- 36-AFL 36
- 37-AFL 37
- 38-AFL 38
- 39-AFL 39
- 40-AFL 40
- 41-AFL 41
- 42-AFL 42
- 43-AFL 43
- 44-AFL 44
- 45-AFL 45
- 46-AFL 46
- 47-AFL 47
- 48-AFL 48
- 49-AFL 49
- 50-AFL 50
- 39
- 40
- 41
A/N: This is temporarily an older draft of this fan fiction that I am posting here. I will revise to correct inconsistencies ASAP. Please have patience. This note will change once revised.

CHAPTER 40

Several large dogs raced alongside the convoy of vehicles as Samantha turned onto an even bumpier dirt lane, between heavy barbed-wire and thick wooden fences. Ryosuke saw horses and cattle grazing in the large enclosures on each side of the rutted dirt track. Samantha pulled up to one of the large buildings near the house and killed her engine. The pack of dogs surrounded her car, barking. Several of the animals were huge.

The canines were friendly, if pushy. Ryosuke and the others got out to stretch numb limbs only to be almost knocked down by the excited dogs. Samantha whistled, and tossed a stick picked off the ground. Most of the pack charged after it with yelps of joy. She tossed the stick a few more times as she explained the paddocks, windmill to pump water, and largest building off to the side. She identified the structure as the barn. The tack, and feed for the ranch's horses and milk cows was kept there.

With a hard throw, Samantha was free of the canines for a few moments. She opened the massive double doors of the building she had parked in front of. Sunlight pouring through the large doors revealed a multiple car garage. Samantha walked deeper into the room and turned on large overhead light panels that ran the length of the rectangular structure. This was an even larger garage than the one Ryosuke had seen when he had stayed with her Otosān, Russell Singing-Wolf.

A fairly new blue Toyota sedan sat inside the garage doors on the left side. Three older looking pickup trucks lined the interior on both sides of the building. A damaged metallic silver car sat farther back on the right side of the building. The workshop was in good order from what Ryosuke could see as his eyes adjusted. In all, the place was very organized, with mechanical work being done at set intervals on work benches.

Samantha began explaining the space. "The right half of this garage is reserved for American s.a.g. tools. The back wall has two compressors, all our blow torches, and arc welder, jacks, jack-stands, and a second heavy engine hoist jack." Sammy pointed to the left side of the building. "The metric side of this garage has a lot of full pegs as you can see, and the long work counters have tool chests underneath. It's all tagged in English, so let me know if you have anything specific you need, if you don't read the language. I'm certain you'll find everything you might need to complete the upgrades once Inoue delivers the cars your team plan on driving in the Iron Will."

"Sammy-san, there seems to be a mis-communication here. Project D can't compete in the Iron Will because both of our driving aces are missing. Fujiwara's probably dead so there's no possibility of his competing." Ryosuke frowned as he spoke.

"Didn't Rob tell you about siccing Jordan on the situation in your country to save Takumi and the others?" Samantha looked uneasy as she spoke.

Etsuya and Kenta turned from their delighted perusal of her workshop to watch their hostess.

"Who's Jordan?" Ryosuke prompted. He noticed the avid curiosity on his ryōshin's faces as they moved closer to hear her answer.

Robi began explaining, "Jordan is an organization comprised of nine diversely trained experts that work together to counter specific kinds of criminal activities for the private sector. They also take specific governmental contracts that fall under the umbrella of their expertise. Retrieving kidnaped children for their families, and finding missing persons are among their specialties. Sam's angry that I've retained their services."

"Naze would Sammy-san be angry about you asking for help from experts?" Ryosuke spoke with slow precision for their hostess's benefit.

Samantha answered in a bitter tone. "I don't agree with hiring that level of predators. Otosān's had dealings with the Jordan group a few years ago. There are times when results don't justify the means. Jordan does things even I wouldn't do to get a job done. Rob's dead wrong to involve people like Jordan has on staff."

An oppressive atmosphere took hold as Samantha and Robi stared each other down. Robi spoke slowly and with heat in her voice. "If I had balked at hiring them, nani would Takumi's chances of surviving long enough to get rescued be, Sam? By now, Jordan will have found the weak links within the crime syndicate that has him. If Takumi and the others are alive to get retrieved, it's because of Jordan's contract with me. Either your friend Keisuke, or the Kēsatsu, will soon receive the information needed to rescue your friends, and prosecute the guilty. Those are the terms of my contract with Jordan."

Samantha snorted in a most unladylike fashion. "You mean one of Jordan's Ops found someone to terrorize, or torture. That's how they'll make sure that Takumi and the others stay alive. Their chosen weakling gets to survive so long as they obey their new master. That's the kind of ultimatum Jordan Ops love to give their prey. They're nothing but a pack of vicious, vigilante-styled predators, Rob. I know they get results, but, I don't like knowing you stooped to this new low just so I can visit with Takumi and Keisuke again."

"Well, at least I have the money and power to do something while your hands are tied so you can't. You're in too much trouble to even wiggle your pinky finger wrong without going to prison right now, Sam." Robi snapped right back.

"All that money and power you've got hasn't made your life easier, Rob. I know you're only going overboard because I'm the only friend you've got that doesn't give a damn about your money and other issues. But, that don't mean I've gotta like it. I may be a killer, but I draw the line at drawn out screaming final hours. Kill targets fast, or get the fuck out of the business should always be the law for my kind. Jordan's forgotten that."

Ryosuke was speechless, as was his family over this conversation. Etsuya's younger sister sidled up to her older brother as if seeking his protection. Kenta rescued the group as he moved deeper into the room on the metric side. "Uhm, this garage is really impressive, Sammy-san. The place I work at isn't like this. There's not as much space, or tools as you have at your disposal."

Sam shrugged and turned toward Kenta. "We do a lot of mechanical work in this household. My cousins, Jojo, Codiac, Alex, Ryan, and Mitra are all good at tearing cars apart and rebuilding them. We also fix ours, and the neighbor's heavy farming equipment here. We can even repair the local cotton bailors when they go on the fritz."

"Codiac's an unusual name. I thought that was a variety of bear." Etsuya followed Kenta's lead to finish diffusing the situation.

"That's right. Codiac gets some flack for rebuilding and fixing cars since he's a pure blood Indian, the same as Mitra. Tribal beliefs include the idea that a chronically breaking car, is a car that doesn't want to serve the owner. When a car breaks down a lot, tribal owners park them. They honestly believe the car's spirit wants to serve another person. They also believe the new owner will show up to claim it when the time's right. You can find a lot of older model gems on reservations. Outsiders don't understand the native's spiritual life force belief. Some even claim Indians are filling their yards with junk heaps on purpose because of their ignorance. Cultural ignorance, and biases really cause stupid problems."

Kenta scratched his head. "Uh, Sammy-san, How could anyone think a car was capable of disliking them? It's a bunch of metal and fiberglass. Cars aren't alive."

"Not all cultures believe in the concept of an inanimate object. Even rocks have lives, and all things deserve to be treated with respect without exception to most Amerindian cultures. Nothing's truly dead is their culture and it is reflected in their way of life. Even objects like cars have energy, or life force because they exist. That means even machines must be respected if one follows that spiritual belief."

"That's an odd concept, Sammy-san. When you mention spirit, I assume you are referring to a religious doctrine." Ryosuke tried to understand her unique cultural concept.

"Hm, it's more of a lifestyle than a dogmatic religion. Energy, or medicine as it's called, is the foundation of all existence. To be dead would require that there was no energy present at all. Let's use the number zero as an example. Even No Thing, or zero, has an energy contained within, or it wouldn't exist at all. From the state of the Great No Thing, all things are born. That is a universal phrase most Indian children understand at a very young age. That's the basic idea that most reservation people agree on, even if they practice the Christian faith."

Ryosuke turned to look as Otosān entered the conversation. "Quantum physics says that all things are comprised of energy bases both positive and negatively charged at the very core of their molecular make up. The concept you're explaining sounds very similar. Are your relatives physicists by chance?"

"Everyone works as reservation kēsatsukan, U.S. Marshal or civilian class trackers, construction workers, farmers, or ranchers. I've read that quantum mechanics proposed the theory that everything evolves from magnetic and gravitationally driven condensations of charged particle energy that forms molecular structures. It's more or less the same idea, however, physics removed the form of life concept that Native Americans retain."

Ryosuke moved closer to the storm cloud silver metallic car with a leaping animal logo on the remaining section of its tattered grill. He considered the odd pointed front end. It needed a major overhaul, and other complex repairs. An engine sat in the hoist cradle near the work counter. The automobile needed a new windshield, and had severe damage to the driver side door that continued to the rear end. Several body plates in primer stood leaning against the right side work bench waiting to be placed on the damaged machine. Kenta frowned and stepped closer to the badly damaged car next to him.

Sammy chuckled. "That's another American antique. It's my cousin Mitra's. It's a Mercury cougar CJ428 Eliminator. Kami-sama only knows how much she's upgraded that beast over the last seven years."

"Nani happened to it? Was it a bad traffic accident?" Ryosuke asked as he took a long look at the car.

"Mitra did a run she wasn't up to handling. The car skidded over the cliff face and skated down the mountain on the driver's side for a bit before it caught a big bolder and started flipping and rolling down the rest of the canyon wall." She spoke with a casual air as the whole group turned to her with their mouths hanging open.

"Is your cousin still alive?" Ryosuke managed after a moment of silence.

"Hai. Mitra has to get the casts off before she can start repairs. It's not the first time she's gotten busted up over hitting a run that's too advanced for her skill level."

Okāsan spoke with a frown on her face. "It sounds like your whole family has a fondness for dangerous past times, Sammy-chan."

The dark-skinned onna tapped her chin for a few moments as she thought about it. "Hm, well hai, pretty much. Minasan on both sides of my family does something deadly sooner or later. Several of my relatives work for the Federal government in jobs for the Marshals, FBI, or Border Patrol. When there are escaped convicts, murderers, or border bandits to find and capture, civilian and federal trained trackers make the difference in life or death scenarios for minasan involved in the man hunts. Body guards are a big chunk of my Okāsan's family. We grow up to be fearless warriors for the most part."

"Where do these man hunts take place? Naze are they even needed?"

"One uncle on Otosān's side has saved a lot of lives because he's a tracker. When people vanish in the various mountain chains around here, he gets called in to find them. He takes his horse because there aren't any roads. He finds missing campers and hikers, usually too hurt to get out alone. During peak summer heat waves, he's also saved illegal aliens that try to cross over to America without papers. He finds them wandering aimlessly because they are suffering from heat strokes, and acute dehydration. Some die no matter his efforts. Still, over forty years he has almost three hundred lives saved on his credentials. There are occasional criminals he has to hunt down before they go on killing sprees, but mostly it's about saving innocent lives, minasan."

"Trackers are never paid a fraction of their worth. It's a dangerous, lonely job where their asses are on the line without backup more often than not." Robi added.

Okāsan sounded very sincere as she spoke. "Your uncle must be very brave, Sammy-chan."

"True enough. It's just a fun side job to him. He likes the wilder areas. In forty years, uncle's faced off with all the largest predators in this state. Mountain lions, lynxes, bobcats, bears, wild tusked boars, javelinas, and even a breeding pair of jaguars are on that list. Most of the predators wanted to eat his horse. The criminals are usually armed with machine guns too. That's a real pain in the ass. All he can do is shadow them until they let their guard down most of the time. People don't realize that big game predators still have space far back in the Silverbells, and Superstitions mountain ranges. The Catalinas, Tortillitas, White Mountains, and Rincon ranges are tamer places. People live all around and in those ranges which has forced a lot of the big cats out. Not many people live in the Silverbells or Superstitions ranges. A lot of different breeds of deer and their predators roam those regions without ever seeing humans."

Otosān commented, "Such encounters probably terrified your uncle. The amount of open land we saw during the drive was impressive. It's easy to believe wild animals are wandering all over the place."

Sammy shrugged. "Not everywhere, but they do have a little bit of territory here in Arizona. Uncle didn't have any reason to be terrified. Big cats are usually more afraid of us than we need to be of them. Deer, big cats, bears, and all the rest love the windmill water pump stations that ranchers have to build and use to keep their herds alive. They use our cattle water stations all the time, especially during the dry season. Let's go to the main house and get something to eat. I'll introduce you to Aunt Twylah."

"Uhm, about our luggage, where should we take it, Sammy-san?" Etsuya's younger sister, Etsumi asked with a short bow of respect. Etsuya's ryōshin had refused to leave Japan, but had agreed that their children should both go to America to insure their safety.

"The cowhands put everybody's bags in the bunk house already."

Samantha led the way as the dogs swarmed around her again. Robi began talking as they walked past the large windmill with water slowly flowing into a huge concrete trough. "Without ranchers and watering stations like this one, the deer and other wildlife in this area would die off."

"Naze do you say that, Robi-san?" Okāsan asked.

"I've seen it before. Land developers forced several ranchers out and built luxury home communities with walled in swimming pools at the foot of the Catalinas. The water table dropped fast once the homes sold and people moved in. The two year round running streams in the area vanished within a couple months of people moving into those homes. The big horn sheep and all the other wildlife started dying in huge numbers. There's not any big horns left in those mountains because of land developers."

"That's so tragic. We have parks where we feed deer. Perhaps you could do something like that." Etsuya's little sister spoke as she looked at Robi.

"The sad part of the tragedy of mass wildlife deaths was how the developers got animal rights activists involved so they could get the land. They had the activists convinced that deer were dying because of cattle eating the grass. It was a huge lie. Cattle require food and water that ranchers have to subsidize all year round. Deer and the other wildlife out here get a lot of benefits from cattle. These water stations, and the hay that ranchers leave out for their cattle are the two biggest benefits wildlife gain from ranchers. I visit this ranch's water stations just to watch the different breeds of deer that come in to drink. They eat hay alongside Twylah's livestock all the time."

Samantha was laughing at, and petting her dogs with obvious delight as the group followed in her wake. Samantha had picked up another stick and hurled it. The pack chased after it, battling for the honors of bringing it to their mistress. Samantha threw the wood a second time and waited for her pets to return. A third toss and she motioned for the others to go inside as she held open the screen door.

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All For Love 3rd in Rivalry Series