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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- "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. ==================================================================== END - Little Red Part One A Ranma1/2 Fanfic by Coutuva Comments Welcomed - Flames Extinguished! coutuva@vecdev.com