COLOURLESS - BONUS CHAPTER 1

TRIGGER WARNING: CHRISTIAN HORNER

"I am so late, oh my god."

Sakura Aoki mumbled quietly underneath her breath to herself, her hands lightly shaking as she clutched at a folder which was full of paperwork, notes and other things that a Formula One Team Principal would need.

She wasn't quite running because having been wearing heels and already suffering from a sprained ankle, she knew that she would not make it before her ankle gave out, so instead she was walking rather quickly.

The Japanese woman had her thick black framed glasses upon her face since she had forgotten to get some more of her contact lenses, her dark brown hair in a loose braid down her back, a smart jacket over her shoulders that were incredibly tense.

She didn't even need to look at her smart watch to see that she was late, her heart rate had spiked and she had recieved a message from her boss.

The Aoki woman quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket as she heard it ringing, knowing that it was her brother, probably trying to wish her luck, though she released a small squeal as it slipped from her grasp and landed screen down on the asphalt.

As the woman was about to walk on, since she didn't have the time to worry about her broken phone, a loud male voice shouted throughout the paddock.

"Hey! Miss! You dropped your phone!"

A tall man with brown hair shouted as he ran towards her, picking up the smashed piece of technology and handing it to the woman in front of him.

"Thank you very much, but please excuse me I really do have to get to Toro Rosso." Sakura smiled even though she was rushed, not wanting to seem as if she was rushing to get away from the man.

"That's okay, I heard that they're introducing their new Team Principal today, so I understand that you're rushed."

Toto Wolff responded with his own smile, a hand lightly waving nonchantly since he understood.

"Yeah, thanks, I am! I'm already late on my first day so I am so dead! Thank you again, gotta go, bye!"

Her retreating figure soon disappeared in to the sister team of Red Bull's garage, with the Wolff man who was the Team Principal at Mercedes standing frozen in what seemed to be shock.

He hadn't expected that she would be the boss, he had expected another aging man with a receding hairline and a beer belly, not a thirty something Japanese woman.

It was a nice change.

He had been campaigning for a long time that more women should be getting the big jobs in mototsport and Formula One, and so it was incredibly good that it was slowly starting to happen.

It just needed to happen more.

However, he hoped that it would happen with women who were actually qualified for the jobs, not just because of their gender because that wasn't fair on anybody, but he knew that there were plenty of qualified women for the roles.

The Austrian Team Principal let a small happy smile light up his face at the thought of finally having equality in the sport, his eyes flickering towards the garage of Toro Rosso where the woman had disappeared in to.

He muttered quietly underneath his breath, making sure that nobody knew that the boss at Mercedes was saying anything that was in support of their rivals.

"Kick ass."

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"You know what's at stake with this decision?"

Christian Horner spoke with his eyebrows furrowed together, a slight glare on his middle aged face, looking at the aging elderly man that was standing in front of him, his jaw clenched in agitation.

"I do. Apparently she was the best candidate but we'll see. I doubt it, she kept mixing up her words and I'm sure that she spoke a different language at times."

Helmut Marko informed the Team Principal at Red Bull Racing, the team in which Toro Rosso was supporting, with the pair standing in the garage of one of Red Bull's drivers, gossiping about the new team principal.

"It was Japanese, sir."

Sakura Aoki interrupted with a stern look upon her slim face, her eyes harsh and concentrated solely on the pair.

"Hello Sakura." Helmut smiled at the woman.

"It's Miss Aoki for now, sir. I am sure that in time, we will respect one another enough to use first names. As for my qualifications, I have worked as chief engineer at multiple teams in Formula E, I was the boss at a team in MotoGP and won them a World Title, and I was adviser at multiple teams in IndyCar and I even beat your team in SuperFormula. I'd like to think that I'm qualified enough for this job. It was in my file and on my application but rest assured, I am more than happy to tell you in person and mention it to any journalists that are nearby."

"And how old are you?"

"Younger than you."

The Aoki woman spoke instantly, staring down at Christian Horner who slowly nodded his head up and down a couple of times, the British man gulping thickly.

"Welcome to the Red Bull family."

"Thank you, sir. I feel so welcome." Sakura nodded her head once, a small huff of air leaving her lips as she did so before turning her body around to leave the garage, clearly having gotten her message across.

She was qualified for the job and she wasn't going to let them talk her qualifications down. She had earnt them and her success and nothing or nobody was going to take that away from her.

As she left the garage of Red Bull, the new Team Principal's eyes fell upon the face of the man who had returned her phone to her, familiarly flickering with her dark irises causing her to quickly shoot him a friendly smile.

Toto returned the smile instantly.

She didn't catch his name, but she figured that she would find it out soon enough so she just kept on walking, heading to meet her drivers for the very first time.

Surely they wouldn't talk shit about her too, right?

____________________________________________________

"Whiskey, neat, please."

Sakura Aoki smiled as she sat at the bar of her hotel, having decided to have a little drink after her first day on the job, which could've gone a lot worse than it did.

Her drivers were very nice and friendly to her, so that was pleasantly surprising in comparison to the gentlemen that she had conversations with previously.

The bartender placed a glass on the bar counter in front of her and began to fill it with a familiar bottle of Whiskey, a bright smile filling up at the sight of her favorite Whiskey, Hibiki.

"Tough day at work?"

The bartender questioned with intrigue upon his face which was aging, slight wrinkles on his skin, his hair greying.

"You could say that, I dealt with two groups of people, the people with manners and politeness, and the assholes." The Japanese woman released a small laugh from her lips, her teeth showing a little bit as she smiled.

"I know that feeling, I deal with both all day, every day." The bartender chuckled along before picking up another glass and placing it down beside her, making the woman furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"I think we all do."

Toto Wolff responded as he took a seat beside the woman who he would be competing against, noticing how she raised one of her eyebrows in his direction.

"We didn't introduce ourselves earlier, I figured that now would be the perfect time to do that, and let you know that if you need somebody to vent to, I'll always lend an ear." The Wolff man offered his hand out for a handshake, seeing the woman before him eyeing it carefully.

"You're not a spy for Horner?"

"Horner? No, I hate the guy."

Sakura immediately grabbed a hold of his hand in order to shake it, taking him by surprise, a sigh of relief leaving her lips.

"You're not the only one." The Japanese woman smiled brightly. "Sakura."

Toto let a friendly smile fill up his face, happy to make acquaintance with the boss of Toro Rosso, hoping that she would not only succeed but also sabotage Red Bull in the process.

A win win, in his eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura, I'm Toto."

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A/N

Colorless bonus chapter!

We're going all the way back to the beginning. (This could potentially be used in the future for the book though as it isn't finished, but we'll see.)

What do you think?

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this bonus chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩