This is a little something I whipped up from a crazy idea, and
decided to see if it would fly. It is based on things that
could have happened after the failed wedding. It makes a few
assumptions, but then again, it's Fanfic!
This and all of my previous works are available on my Web Site:
http://www.geocities.com/coutuva
As always, C&C is anticipated, accepted, and appreciated.
All original Ranma1/2 Characters and Backstory Copyright
Rumiko Takahashi, and are used without permission.
Please Enjoy!
Coutuva.
Little Red - Part One
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"Did they get there yet?" Tendou Akane asked, eyeing her
young assistant levelly.
"H-Hai. They arrived just this morning. They are at the
location now, and ready for the shoot," the young man flustered,
nervously.
Akane huffed, then smiled slightly. Lifting her feet
down off the desk, she sat up in her chair and glared at the
assistant once more. "It's about time something went off somewhere
near schedule around here. Get over there and start the setup.
We have to be out of that town by Thursday, and we haven't shot one
damned frame. Hiyaku!" she snapped, waving him out the door.
"Hai, Tendou-sama," he stammered, as he backed away and
beat a hasty retreat. As the door closed behind him, Akane shook
her head sadly and sighed out loud. Reaching to the phone, she
buzzed her senior assistant.
"Hai, Tendou-san?" the pleasant young voice responded.
"Miyuki, call the agency. I'm going to need a new
junior production assistant -- again. And tell them to send
someone with a brain this time," she instructed, curtly.
"Yes, Ma'am," the girl responded, apparently sensing that
her boss was in no mood to chat.
Akane released the button and turned her attention to her
computer, and as she scanned through the numbers from her latest
project, her expression grew angrier. Their budget was way over,
production was two weeks behind, and their contract for the
location shoot was about to run out.
"Just great. If this thing works, it'll be a miracle,"
she grumbled to herself, flicking off the monitor. Reaching once
more for her intercom, she buzzed her assistant again as she
started to gather a few documents from her desk. "Miyuki, I'm
going to baby-sit the location. If something comes up, you can
reach me on my cell," she announced, flatly.
"Hai. See you when you get back," the girl responded, her
voice still pleasant. Akane stared at the phone for a minute,
thinking that she had a real goldmine in that girl, as she could
still sound pleasant after being snarled at all day. She smiled
as she thought that it must come from the girl's mother, since
Kasumi was the only other person she knew that could do such
things.
Tossing her briefcase into her car, she hopped in and
headed to the site of the location shoot, anxious to see at
least one part of the project go smoothly. They still had three
days left of the deal, but they had about the same amount of
shooting to do, so she knew it was going to be tight.
An hour and a half later, she arrived at the set location
just outside Izumo, and could see the crew getting the set
dressed. As she rolled to a stop outside the location office
trailer, she was greeted by the Director and the Location
Supervisor.
"Tendou-sama? Why have you come? Is there a problem?"
the Director asked, apparently unnerved at seeing the Head of the
studio at the location.
Exactly as she planned.
"I'm just here to see that there isn't. This effort
is getting out of control, financially and otherwise. We've
never had a project go over schedule or budget, and I don't intend
to start now. Do either of you have a problem with that?" she
responded, eyeing them both levelly.
"Iya, iya. We were just surprised to see you. We
will do our best, Tendou-san," the two men abruptly bowed, as
she huffed and turned to walk away.
"See that you do," she added, and headed into the
trailer. The two men, upon rising from their bows, looked at
each other in surprise.
"No wonder she's not married," the Supervisor quipped,
frowning.
A short while later, she stood a few feet back from
the cameras and intently watched the first filming session of
the day. It went well, as the horses in the scene got their
marks the first time. Having experienced working with animals
in the past, and knowing how costly uncooperative ones could
be, she was impressed. Leaning down to the Location Manager,
she tapped his headset to get his attention.
"H-Hai?" he asked, startled.
"Where did you get those animals? They look great, and
even know what they're doing," she asked, shaking her head.
"A local breeder. They even supplied the transportation
and the wranglers. We've been impressed, too -- if the actors
worked as well as they did, we'd be done today!" he indicated,
venturing a smile.
"Good move. I might just keep you around after all,"
she smirked, eliciting a hard swallow from the Manager.
Looking back over the commotion that had resulted as the
crew struck the set, Akane could see the three horses tied
together at a makeshift hitch bar. As she admired them, she saw
a person clad in denim and sporting a cowboy hat walking toward
them.
Her eyebrow raised as she noticed that the animals all
tried to turn toward the individual, who walked up and
affectionately hugged each one's neck in turn. She couldn't
put a finger on it, but there was a familiarity about the person
that caught her attention, even though she was sure she'd never
met anyone like that.
The horses dwarfed the figure, who Akane noticed was
female, but that didn't seem to matter to whoever it was. The
woman simply untied all of the animals, then just turned and
walked away, gesturing for them to follow her. To Akane's
surprise, that's exactly what they did, even with all the noise
and commotion going on around them.
They were led off to a temporary paddock, where the woman
removed their tack and ushered them in, then effortlessly lobbed
a couple of full-sized haybales over the fencing. She then climbed
the fence and talked animatedly to the horses, spending several
minutes with them before finally putting away their tack.
Akane found herself wishing she had people that dedicated
working for her, and made a mental note to send the Breeder a
special thank-you.
Abruptly, her cell phone rang, dragging her attention back
to the business of the film. As she answered it however, she cast
one more glance at the paddock, just in time to see the woman wave
a good-bye to the horses, then walk off behind a building.
When the next scene was dressed and ready for shooting,
Akane again stood behind the cameras, watching everything intently.
As the Director called 'Action", and the actors began the fight
scene that had been three weeks in rehearsal, her face slowly
darkened.
Stomping over to the Director after the cut, she glared at
him and motioned for him to join her off the set.
"We lost three weeks to rehearse that? It was terrible!
I used to see better fights than that in my back yard! You've got
one more take to fix it, or I'll find someone who will!" she
snarled angrily, then turned and stormed away.
Striding by the open area between the trailers still fuming,
her attention was abruptly caught by an excited yell. Looking
toward the sound, she spotted the young woman she had seen earlier.
She was racing around the open area on one of the horses, and Akane
noticed her huge bright smile even under her hat. Taken by the
sight, she stopped to watch the antics of the pair, noticing how
the girl seemed completely at ease, and how the horse seemed to
know exactly what the girl wanted from it.
It was an amazing sight, and Akane found herself somehow
drawn to it, unable to stop watching. Just as she was wondering
why, the girl urged her horse into a fast gallop -- fast enough
to blow her hat off, and reveal a tightly tied head of flame-red
hair.
Akane's gasp caught in her throat.
The girl meantime, noticed the loss immediately, and
without breaking gait, looped back at full speed, starting to lift
herself out of the saddle. She shook her left foot out of its
stirrup and hooked it over the saddle horn, dangling herself
over the horse's right side.
As she approached her hat, she swept down and picked it up,
then settled back into her seat as if nothing unusual had happened.
After Akane jacked her jaw up from the ground, she tried
to get a better look at the rider, but the girl had turned away
again, and had also set the hat back on. Curiosity getting the
better of her, she started to walk toward the open field, only to
be stopped by a runner and told that the second take of the fight
was ready to shoot.
Sighing, Akane followed the runner back to the set, musing
to herself that she was probably just suffering from a bout of
wishful thinking.
The rest of the day went fairly well, and Akane couldn't
help but notice that every scene involving the horses went off like
clockwork, going to the can in one take. As a result, by the time
they wrapped for the day, they were actually ahead of schedule.
As Akane and the senior staff were getting into their cars
to go for a supper 'celebration', she happened to glance over at
the paddock area, and was surprised to see that the girl wrangler
was sitting on a haybale inside it, actually having her supper with
the horses. The people that had been with her had already gone,
and she had expected that the girl had gone with them.
Grinning wryly, she mused how at times animals could
actually be better company than people -- unless they changed
into people. Her expression darkened as she recalled a certain
black pig that she almost barbecued for that very reason.
As she shook her head at the memory, it dawned on her that
she hadn't thought about those days since leaving University, and
also realized that she was suddenly thinking about them a lot.
Sighing aloud, she slipped into her car and started it up,
deciding that a good stiff drink was suddenly in order.
The next morning, she arrived on the location far ahead of
most others, having endured a sleepless night in her hastily booked
hotel room. The bed had actually been comfortable, but for some
reason, her mind would not let her sleep. It seemed to be running
at a hundred miles an hour, but not able to stay on one topic. She
had tossed all night, finally giving up when she noticed the
sunrise. Bleary-eyed and clinging to a cup of coffee, she had
stumbled to her car and driven in, hoping the location caterers
were operational.
Walking toward the catering vans, she glanced over at the
paddock again, curious as to what she would see this time. At
first, she didn't see anything noteworthy, but as she continued
along, she was surprised to see the girl wrangler by herself
outside the fencing, working through an unnervingly familiar Kata.
The sight sent a chill down Akane's back, particularly as she
noticed that the girl performed it so well that she literally
appeared to be made of fluid.
In fact, had Akane not known the Kata, she would have been
unable to distinguish the separate moves at all.
Akane stood staring at the girl for several minutes, her
own body twitching in time with the other girl's movements. As the
wrangler approached one particular set of forms, she actually held
her breath, remembering that they were so difficult that she could
never master them. Her jaw fell open as she watched the girl move
through them flawlessly, without even the slightest change in her
demeanor.
Finally, the girl finished her exercises with a deep bow
to the horses beside her, and Akane could just barely hear her
laughter as she discussed her performance with them. Then, the
girl surprised Akane again by leaping up over the fence from a
standing start, and landing ever so gently on the back of the horse
nearest her.
As the girl and the group of horses all headed for the far
end of the paddock, Akane finally snapped herself out of her trance
and shook her head. She was now certain that there was more than
coincidence involved in that girl, and resolved that she was going
to get to the bottom of it; right after some breakfast and
several more cups of coffee.
The day's shooting got underway early, and as with the day
before, all of the scenes involving the horses went perfectly. The
early start and increased pace resulted in all of them being
completed by lunch, which left only a few minor scenes to shoot,
and the job was going to be done; a full day ahead of schedule.
Akane wasted no time in heading toward the paddock area
after the final cut was called, knowing that this would be her last
chance to talk to the girl wrangler before she packed up her horses
and left. Sure enough, as she walked up to the fencing, the girl
was just loading the last horse into the trailer.
"Ano... May I help you?" a young man asked as she stepped
toward the trailer rig.
"Hai. I would like to speak to that young lady for a
moment," Akane smiled pleasantly, indicating the girl.
The young man nodded in response, then turned toward the
girl. "Oneechan! This lady wants to see ya," he called out, to
a hearty "Haaii!" from the girl.
Akane erked inwardly. "Oneechan?" she thought, her
stomach tightening. "Masaka," she added a moment later,
trying to keep her expression pleasant.
When the girl turned and noticed who was waiting for her,
she immediately flustered and straightened her dusty attire as
best she could.
"Ano; sorry about the informality," she began, walking
down the trailer ramp toward Akane. "These Baka brothers of mine
don't know who you are," she added with a slightly sheepish smile,
coming up to Akane finally and removing her hat.
Akane gasped again, her hand going to her gaping mouth.
Before her stood a five-foot tall, very well-built red-haired girl,
who was now looking back at her strangely with a pair of bottomless
sapphire-blue eyes. The shock staggered her back a step, and the
girl, thinking she was about to pass out, lunged forward and
grabbed her arm.
"Are you okay?" the redhead asked, worriedly.
"H - Hai," Akane breathed, shaking off her initial shock.
"A... Ano -- what's your name?" she blurted, too shaken to
bother with formalities.
"My name?" the girl echoed, raising her eyebrows. "I'm
Saotome Atsuko, Ma'am," she finally responded, stepping back
and bowing politely.
"Omae ne," Akane responded, her face draining.
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END - Little Red Part One A Ranma1/2 Fanfic by Coutuva
Comments Welcomed - Flames Extinguished!
coutuva@vecdev.com
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