(This fiction is based on the characters and settings created by Oyuki Konno)

A Woman Scorned - Chapter 1

The brunette slid her legs off the bed, then looked over at the black-haired woman beside her with a sad smile. 'She looks so cute when she's sleeping,' the woman sitting off the edge of the bed mused. 'Too bad this will be the last time I see you. If things had been different Ritsuko, we could have had a beautiful relationship together.'

The woman sighed and stood up from the bed. She had no time for regrets. There was a job to do. The naked woman padded silently over to her clothes neatly laid out over a chair, and retrieved the items she'd need to complete her mission. She then went to the kitchen, where her lover had been working just hours before.

She inserted the thumb drive into the USB port on the laptop and started it booting to the specially designed operating system that would bypass the laptop's current OS and allow her to clone its drive to the solid state hard drive she was attaching. Once booted, the woman initiated the copy process then thought about the woman laying in the next room, and the previous month they spent together.

Kagami Ritsuko worked as an engineer for Nakamura Bio-Tech, a subsidiary of the Ogasawara Group. The company specialized in robotics, and was currently working on a neural interface that would allow a user easier access to their bionic prosthesis. Taken a little farther, the application of this 'neural net' could easily be modified for many other robotic uses, like having a drone that could be controlled by a users thoughts. Whoever brought this product to market would make a killing.

It had taken the brown haired woman less than a week to profile and make contact with her target. The two woman had 'accidentally' bumped into each other as Ritsuko was leaving the coffee shop near her lab.

**** FLASHBACK ****

"Ahh, I'm so sorry," the brunette said, as she fished out a handkerchief to wipe the spilled coffee off the black haired woman's silk shirt. "I wasn't looking where I was going. I'm sorry."

Ritsuko looked up, about ready to lay into the brunette for being so clumsy when she looked into the wide, earnest brown eyes that were close to tears. She melted and her heart went out to the poor girl, about five years her junior. "It's alright. No harm done."

"But your blouse is ruined," the brunette stated. "At least, let me make it up to you somehow. Take you out to dinner or something. I don't think I could bear it if I didn't take responsibility in some way."

Ritsuko looked at the pleading eyes and smiled fondly. "Okay dinner it is then. Chang's grill is just around the corner from here. Shall we meet up at about seven?" The brunette nodded and Ritsuko continued, "Give me you number in case I'm running late or have to reschedule." The two women exchanged cell numbers and separated.

**** END FLASHBACK ****

Dinner went well and the two women became inseparable, spending all their free time together. Soon they became lovers. Ritsuko was happy to find a partner that seemed genuinely interested in her work, although her partner sometimes went glassy eyed at the technical aspect. But she was patient and tried to explain things in such a way that the brunette understood. Her new lover was considerate, often bringing her tea without being asked, while she worked at home. The brown eyed girl often dragged her away from work for some much needed down time.

When the copy was complete, the brunette removed the solid state drive, and started the process that would wipe the data off the laptop and make it useless. Just as she removed the thumb drive from the computer, she heard a sleepy voice call out from the other room. "Ume-chan where are you?"

"In the kitchen," the naked woman called back, padding back into the bedroom, smiling. "I was just getting a glass of water. Someone seems to have sucked all the moisture out of my body." She seductively crawled back into bed next to her black haired lover.

Ritsuko giggled and looked into her lovers eyes. "I love you, Ume," she said endearingly. "Move in with me?"

It was hard for the brunette to hide the light stab of pain in her heart at her lover's plea. "It's much too late to be talking about such serious things," she said putting Ritsuko off. "I promise we'll talk about this tomorrow. Right now, it's time for payback." She leaned over and gave Ritsuko a heated passionate kiss, which left no doubt as to what her intentions were.

"Ume, you're insatiable," Ritsuko moaned as their lips parted and her partner had moved lower under the covers intent on other things.

Once Ritsuko was dead asleep after their second love making session that night, the brunette got out of bed and dressed herself. She collected her things from the kitchen table after making sure the laptop was properly wiped. She stood in the bedroom door, and looked with longing on the sleeping woman. "I'm sorry for making you a pawn in this Ritsuko. I could have truly loved you, if we met under different circumstances. Good bye." She slowly turned around and left Ritsuko's apartment.

XxX

Fukuzawa Yumi placed the solid state hard drive in front of her and pushed it across the table to her partner, a well dressed effeminate looking blonde. The man picked it up and placed it into his pocket. "You're certain they don't have a working prototype yet," he asked.

Yumi nodded. "Ritsuko said that they wanted to do some more computer simulations on it before taking the plunge. She was very confident that it would pass with flying colors. Did you take care of the data housed at the lab?"

"Yes," the young man said. "I triggered the worm right after you called me this morning. As of right now there isn't a byte of usable data, anywhere on their network." The blonde chuckled. "'Anonymous' is already taking credit for it. So they won't even think of looking at Kintarou Software as the source of the outbreak." Noticing the sad eyes of his companion, he went on. "Cheer up, Yumi-chan. This was a really big win for us. Not only did you destroy one of that woman's pet projects, but when we start producing and marketing these interfaces, our war chest will be full to overflowing."

"Are you sure this is what you want, Arisu," the brunette asked with a tinge of uncertainty.

Kintarou Arisugawa looked at his longtime friend and sighed. "I know this job was hard on you, Yumi-chan, but if we let regret deter us from our goal, we will never succeed in destroying the Ogasawara Machine." The blondes voice turned venomous, "Remember how that black-haired bitch and her husband chewed us up and spit us out, like we meant nothing, and wasting the best years of our lives. Not to mention what happened to Yukiichi."

At the mention of her younger brother, Yumi's resolve stiffened and her eyes reflected cold fire. "You're right Arisu, there is no room for regret."

Author's Notes:

A new story start for the start of new year. I hope you appreciate this little start to what I hope will be one of my best submissions yet. There will be drama, intrigue, and plenty of twists and turns. I hope you all stick around for the ride. Don't worry friends, you will find out the reason behind why the two sweetest Marimite characters have turned so cold.

I also want to thank my good friend Rasta Lioness for the story idea. I hope I can do it justice.

Finally, please feel free to review and PM me if you have any questions.