Disclaimer: I don't own Tenchi Muyo!


Roses are Red by:Punky_Ryoko


"Roses are red and violets are blue, honey is sweet but not as sweet as you. . ."


Ryoko sat on the damp grass. It was early morning, and for once, she was completely thoughtless. Tenchi, Ayeka, nothing at all was floating through her head. Her only thought was that of the beauty. The beauty of the serenity and the wind. How grey the clouds were. How pink the cherry blossoms always seemed to be. It was wonderful. She stood and looked into the vast waters of the lake she faced. A speck of something unknown lodged itself in her eye. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes to get out the stowaway. Her efforts were valiant enough, and turned out to be succesful. Of course, they left her with a look of dried tears. It wasn't much different from how she looked before. Every morning, she woke up and cried. For only one apparant reason. But one she would never admit.
She loved Tenchi. She didn't want to love him though. It was just not like her. Ryoko never liked to show weakness, at all. Especially not over a guy. She had grown to hate the male side of the human species, hell, any species. She hated them all. They were so confusing, but so adorable. You love them and hate them. And it tears your heart,soul, and not to mention sanity, to pieces. Those tiny pieces that can't be glued back together, or even picked up for that matter. Those aggravating bits of substance that mock the person trying to gather them. She hated it. He didn't love her. She wanted to hate him for it. But Ryoko had nothing to hate the young man for. Which annoyed her more than ever. Her one defense at being hurt, to hate the person who had injured her, was failing miserably.She didn't have the strength to hate him. She didn't even have the strength to get over her silly crush. The most powerful space pirate in the galaxy, what a crock.
The cyan haired woman started to walk. A bit of red had caught her eye in the midst of the abyss of grey. It seemed a brilliant crimson, and Ryoko was suprised that she hadn't realized its presence earlier. The girl watched a perfectly circular bead of morning dew slide off one of the petals. The rose, it was glamorous, for lack of a better word. Perfect in every way. No flaws, completely innocent. Ryoko's golden eyes ran the subject over and over, searching for something to criticize, but could find nothing. This angered the pirate. She ripped the flower from it's alcove in the bushes. Pain was felt in her pointer finger, and she dropped the flower to reveal a cut streaming blood. It was coming from the painful spot, but Ryoko noticed none of the pain. She simply watched the liquid seep from her hand, as if mesmerized by her own mutilation. The woman's eyebrows furrowed.
Her fluid was starting to dry on her hand. She had watched, so long. It hypnotized the girl. Her own pain mesmerized her. The bleeding hand suddenly changed positions. An orange sword materialized in it. A smile crossed the lips of Ryoko Hakubi. She thrust the weapon into the ground where the rose still lay peacefully. The flower was no longer perfect. Ryoko had made sure of that. The pirate's mind made a plan for its next target. "Roses are red, Tenchi, so is love, so is hate. Colors mean nothing. They don't convey feelings. Even if they did, using red would confuse one as to what the other meant. The hue is used for so many feelings. So many truths. You would never get it. But I think that what red stands for, I am feeling all of it right now. I hope you get my message,Tenchi. Betrayal. . ." A quick motion is made, and red drips from a wound in the torso of Ryoko. She falls, gasping for air. Blood is soaking her clothes. Red surfaces. It consumes everything. Ryoko the most feared space pirate's body lies in a puddle of blood. Red blood. Blood as red as the perfect rose. Se has escaped. All of it. All of the betrayal. And she no longer feels the pain of her mortification.

*****

Of course, no one knows why Ryoko's body was found by the lake at the Masaki shrine that day. It certainly didn't look like murder, but more of a suicude. A sigh of relief. A sign of giving up. It's funny, white sybolizes surrender, and Ryoko was dressed in a beautiful white gown. Like she had planned it. The virgin white of her outfit was stained by her blood. The red blood. Only one person knows what the red means. Tenchi Masaki. The only one to blame for Ryoko's untimely death. like Ryoko had said before she delivered her own demise, "Betrayal. . ."

~End~