Shooting the next door neighbor was bad enough, the fact that the next door neighbor happened to be the villain of Red's story was even worse.

Red swallowed, trying as best as she could to hide her new bow behind her back. It had been a birthday present from Marian, one that Red had been dying to use. Her family, however, hadn't been as happy about the present.

'Why on earth would you need that thing?' her mother had asked.

'You could seriously injure yourself,' her uncle had reminded her.

'Here, have a basket,' her grandmother had said, handing her a basket.

Red had just nodded at her family's' remarks, and went out in to the forest to practice with the bow. She knew that none of her family members would follow her there. The forest was the Wolfs territory. The village was the Hoods. None of the Hoods went in to the forest and none of the Wolfs went in to the village. Red could practically hear her family members scolding her.

'What are you doing in the forest?' her mother would ask.

'A Wolf could seriously hurt you,' her uncle would scold.

'Here, have a basket,' her grandmother would say, and hand her a basket.

It had all been going rather well, up until the point were one of her arrows had missed the tree and instead gone in the the thick brush not far behind it. The startled yelp had surprised Red. When Bad Wolf had emerged from the brush, Red had been about ready to run, but she had stayed her ground instead.

"What are you doing here?" Red demanded, looking expectantly at Bad Wolf.

Bad Wolf was the oldest of his litter or six, and had therefor been given the most prized role of being the big bad wolf. He was two years older than Red and about a head taller. They had never actually been formally introduced. They just both knew who the other one was.

Bad was tall, with broad shoulders, and an(annoyingly) chiseled jaw. His silver and black hair was slicked back and he was wearing a red plaid shirt with a pair of jeans.

Bad raised an eyebrow. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here? After all, this is my forest."

Red realized that she was right. This was his forest. She wasn't supposed to be here. Still, she wasn't about to let a Wolf be right. "What does it look like I'm doing?" she snapped, "Embroidery?"

To her surprise, Bad laughed. "I don't know," he said, "That's a little too sharp to be a needle."

Red stopped. Had Bad Wolf just made a joke? Wasn't he supposed to be mean and scary? It was in the name.

"Let me guess," Bad said, yanking the arrow from his arm with surprising ease," The bow is a present from Marian and your family doesn't like it, so you decided to come here to practice because none of them will follow you?"

Red was surprised how easily Bad had figured out her story. "Yeah," she said, "basically."

Bad nodded. "I thought so," he said and handed her back the arrow, "You're lucky that it was me who found you and not another Wolf. Trespassing is not taken lightly. Especially when it's a Hood."

Red looked at Bad. Was he going to turn her in? He seemed to have no intention of doing so. Still...

"I'm not going to turn you in," Bad said, interrupting Red's thoughts, "in case that's what you're so worried about."

Red let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks," she said.

"I don't believe that we've ever been formally introduced," Bad said.

"No, we haven't," Red agreed. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Red."

Bad Wolf laughed.

"What's so funny?" Red asked.

"You're parents weren't very original were they?"

"I guess they weren't, Bad."

Bad shrugged. "They had six of us to name. You're parents only had one."

Red couldn't help it, she laughed. It was Bad's turn to be confused. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's just," Red said, still laughing, "we're supposed to be mortal enemies and here we are talking about," she waved her hand, "our parents' failure to give us original names."

"Yeah," Bad said, "I guess we are." He looked at Red. "So, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"What are you going to name your kid?"

Red looked at him. What an odd question to ask. She guessed that he was just being friendly, except that he wasn't supposed to be friendly. He was supposed to be her mortal enemy. How had it been so easy for Red to forget that?

"That depends," Red said.

"On what?"

"Whether they're a boy or girl."

Bad nodded. "It they're a boy?" he asked.

"Probably, Brick."

Bad raised an eyebrow. "Brick?"

"Yeah," Red said, "It's a shade of red, but it's not just straight red."

"I guess that makes sense," Bad said, "So, your daughter's going to be named after a shade of red too?"

"Cerise," Red said.

"Cerise," Bad repeated, "Pretty name."

Red smiled. "I know."

Bad Wolf laughed. Red rolled her eyes. "You're impossible."

"No, I'm not," Bad said, "I'm Bad."

It was such a stupid and unoriginal joke, but Red laughed anyways.