The following story is a somewhat unusual take on the typical fanfic. Enjoy!
Once again, I do not own Ah my Goddess, or its characters.!
Hideyoshi Tanigawa had a lot on his mind at the moment
The young actor who at the age of twenty eight was starting to make a name for himself in the business was at this point taking a two-day break to see his grandfather who was recovering from a bad attack of the pneumonia. He had been informed a few days earlier, but he had been a bit too busy working on the new project….and it was very very hectic…but finally, he had been able to wangle two days off to quickly see his grandfather…and then it was back to work.
As he sat on the train, his thoughts ran towards the production, and the problems and joys working on it. But it was another problem that presently occupied his mind, and that was the fact that he was in love with one of his fellow actresses…infact the lead actress
Some months earlier, he had been offered the part of the male lead in a new TV drama that was soon to air on Japanese television…and if fortune was on their side…internationally. The drama was based on a romantic magical girlfriend manga called Ah my Goddess. He had taken the part…partly because he wanted to take the challenge of playing a romantic lead…after a few seasons playing sports or crime related characters. Within a few weeks, he was seated in an auditorim at the studios of TBC-1..where the show was to be filmed. During those few weeks, he had taken time to familarise himself with the character he was playing…the down on his luck college student called Keiichi Morisato, who calls a goddess by accident and wishes for her to be by his side forever. A bit cheesy…he thought, and he also thought that the character ''Belldandy'' was a bit too good to be true..but then again, in the world of make believe…one's job as an actor was to bring fantasy to life…not to question it (Unless you wanted to become a writer or producer).
Some of the other actors gathered at the auditorim on that day he already knew. Jun Ichinose…who was playing the part of Toshuyiki Aoshima,…was a good friend of his, and he also was acquainted with Mitsuo Tanaka….the guy who would be playing Ootaki, one of the other students at Nekomi Auto Club..from a crime miniseries they had both appeared in. He knew Tetsuo Kansai by reputation…the guy was a well known face in the business….and he was here to act the part of a Buddhist priest…not much different from what he had done in his award winning film Broken the females…only Miyuki Aisaka who was playing the part of Megumi…he knew slightly, and he knew Kana Hidaka , the actress playing Sayoko, as his sempai back in college…not that he knew her that well…she was nearly graduating then.
He did not know the rest of the actors or actresses, and as he took his seat next to Ichinose-san, he heard that the actress who would be playing the role of ' Belldandy' was a bit late…something to do with traffic issues…but she would be there within the ten minutes. The actresses playing Urd and Skuld…in the case of the former…a half black lady by name Sara Spencer…whose father was African American., and mother Japanese, and who had , in addition to doing some acting dabbled in modeling, the latter a young half-white girl by the name of Hime Iwata…who at the age of twelve was one of Japan's top child actresses, and singers…were already around. Tanigawa had already been introduced to them, and they seemed nice enough. Then the door opened…and the actress playing Belldandy came in.
Tanigawa was shocked. He had never seen the lady before (she was apparently a relative unknown in the business, who had had a few small parts in one or two movies).But she looked….well…exactly like the way a Belldandy should look. She had long brown hair, startling blue eyes, a dainty nose and a very lovely was dressed casually in a pair of jeans, a nice looking yellow top, and a blue jacket.. She was soon seated in the chair on his right (Jun was on the left). Close up, she looked even more lovely…and she introduced herself to him as Rebecca Fairweather…in fluent Japanese.
After the introductions Tanigawa said to her 'I know this sounds funny, but you do look just like a Belldandy'..to which she smiled and said 'I've been told that'.Just at that moment, the director, producer, and manganka walked in, and the first briefing of the new TV show began
Tanigawa recalled that as the days went by, Miss Fairweather…he soon found out that her father was British, and her mother was half Norwegian, half Japanese, and she had been brought up in Japan most of her life…and was getting into acting after a brief stint as a model…was just very much like …well…the character she …most actors were not their characters…he certainly was no Keiichi, Jun was no Aoshima(this was the same guy who had had only one girlfriend since high school…said girlfriend was even working now for a telecoms company), and even Sara Spencer was not like Urd in real life (quite conservative, had one boyfriend, relationship status serious)…but Rebecca, even when she was not in character was nice and kind to everyone without exception. She even brought home-made cookies for everyone one day…and they tasted really good…..the actress who played Mara (a happily married actress by name Atsuki Sanae)..made sure she got the recipie that the strong, quiet Kenshiro Izumi , who played Tamiya, and was not very talkative outside of acting seemed to warm up to Rebecca enough, she did not have a boyfriend . 'Too busy for one', she said rather gaily, when one of the other actresses asked,
Indeed it got to a point that whenever Rebecca was not on set , things seemed…well…dull and quiet.
As time went on, Tanigawa had found himself bothered with a strange feeling….he was falling for Rebecca Fairweather. Which was odd…because he had never imagined in his acting career that he would fall in love with a fellow professional…as he felt it ruined the cohesion on any set. All the relationships he had been involved in so far..three of them..had been with non-professionals. But as he spent time with her, both on and off the set, rehearsing, practicing…and he noted that she was dedicated to the job, despite being a relatively new actress…while he was more experienced, despite being the same age, he realized that he really really…loved this woman. Yet, as he reminded himself while he sat on the train home, he could not ask her out ….largely because his grandfather…the man he was going to see…the patriarch of the Tanigawa family, Shota Tanigawa…did not like foreigners.
Shota Tanigawa had been a soldier during the last world war…and had been captured and spent some time in a POW camp run by the British…where most of the soldiers had been rather mean to him and the other POW's . Then he had come home after the war to Nagasaki…where he had lived before…to see his home destroyed by one of the nuclear bombs. Thankfully, his family had been away at the time, visiting relatives in Hokkaido…and he had gone to join them there, and had remained son, Hideyoshi's dad, had been less bigoted…having been a merchant ship captain…but even he could not go against the even though Hideyoshi was a more modern thinking Japanese male….family ties for the Tanigawas was still very very sighed as he thought about how complicated love across cultures could be ….and then his train arrived at his destination.
Hideyoshi went straight to the hospital to see his grandfather . The old man was sitting up in bed, looking healthy for a 95 year old gent, still sharp in mind and body. When in good health, he exercised regularly, and ate a very healthy diet. He was a widower, having lost his wife to cancer ten years ago. His eldest daughter, and his daughter in law..Hideyoshi'smother Mayumi… were both by his side
They were all pleased to see Hideyoshi, and soon he was sitting by his grandfather's side, answering questions about his current acting role, and when the show would air (Next month).He had brought a photo of the cast in traditional Japanese clothing…and as his grandfather looked at the picture…he suddenly sat up and looked closely at it again.
Hide, my boy,…his grandfather asked….what is the name of that gaijin sitting next to you…the one with brown hair?
Hide looked puzzled, but then he said…Rebecca Fairweather…grandfather. That is her name.
The grandfather clapped his hands.
'I knew it…she looks a bit like a British soldier I knew when I was in a POW camp. His name was Robert Fairweather-san !He was the only one among his fellow soldiers who was kind to me, and who was interested in our Japanese culture. He always insisted on calling us by our names, and he tried to do it properly. And he stood up against the abuses in that camp. This must be his granddaughter., or a close realtive...they have the same eyes! Is she living in this country?'
'Yes she is' his surprised grandson answered 'and she speaks Japanese fluently too! I could call and ask her if she is related to him'
Please do! His grandfather said..
So that evening Hideyoshi called Rebecca on the phone, and asked her if she had a relation called Robert. She replied with surprise in her voice 'Yes,I do have a relative called Robert, he is my great-uncle, my grandfather's younger brother'. She went on to confirm that he had indeed served in the war, and was still alive, nearly a hundred years old and living in England' . Well, said Hideyoshi….it seems my grandfather may have met your great-uncle'
And with that the rekindling of an old relationship days later…both old men talked with each other via Skype with some interpreter help from Rebecca..and that was the first of many calls between both men, as Robert Fairweather was too old to travel to Japan. As for Hideyoshi and Rebecca, their relationship grew stronger. She was introduced to the rest of the Tanigawa family who were surprised that she behaved like a properly brought up Japanese lady despite being foreigner (she is like a Yamato Nadeshiko…as Shota Tanigawa put it), and Hideyoshi was introduced to her family, including her maternal grandmother who was Japanese,and who approved of him immediately…glad that her youngest graddaughter had brought a man home (to much embarrassment).Eventually, some months after production on the Ah megamisama tv series was wrapped up…and as the series was airing on teelvision to great acclaim, its two leads Hideyoshi Tanigawa and Rebecca Fairweather began dating officially.
This story was based on an idea that I got from a chapter of one of my favoirtie manga and anime series Black Lagoon, where the reader is introduced to the actors and actresses playing the ''characters'' of said series.
Work on my other projects continues!