Stoned Roses
By Keo Siph; part three of Sun on Sword on Stone
All Yu Yu Hakusho characters are owned by Togashi Yoshihiro/Sheisha, Fuji TV, Pierrot, and FUNimation.
The frog sat amongst the roses, happy beyond words to just use the safety of the garden's thorns for protection and the rose's view for it's beauty. The tenders were a royal family of one son, and no more.
War came and went, and their son was intact. Almost. He returned with wounds, but none serious. He was, however, told not to leave the castle until his wounds healed.
In his boredom, he tended the rose bush just beyond his windowsill, preening and pruning until a single bud rose into his sight. He was immensely proud, and immeasurably pleased with the resulting blossom. Then, he tended it no longer.
The flower, however, stayed, until it was the shade of a young gray frog.
News met the family of their son's leave, and it soon transformed to that of their son's marriage with a young barmaid. The terrible fall of their family loomed over their heads, as there was no one left to marry wealth and prestige.
They were angry, the couple, and flew to the garden, where their son's rose sat. The gardener tended the flowers nearby, and told of how, should they pluck the rose, he would leave for the cottage down the road, who had offered to hire him.
Slowly, the two parents agreed to kill the rose. They piled rocks upon the roots, slowly depriving it of the water and air. They plucked the leaves that gathered the most and left the thorns. Slowly, a red rose became tinted with black.
"Why stay?" The frog asked. "Move your roots and regrow elsewhere!"
"My heart is with him. I defended his window with my thorns." The rose noted absently, still intent on gathering sun.
"They will kill you! All will be left is stones!"
"Hn?"
"Stone is all they care for!"
"… Stone? Then, why do you not leave?"
"Shade."
"Ah."
So, the rose continued to die.
The frog returned one fall day to find that the rose was not swaying to the winds as it should be. It was still and gray as…
"Stone!"
"How better to stay here and live?"
"That is death, fool!"
"Fool? My only though is for the boy who lives inside the window. Yours is for me for myself."
The rose became what was ensuring its death, stone, in order to remain.
The frog was aghast at his loss. He never left the stone's side, and never again cared for shade or thorny protection. He was where he belonged.
They were both where the thorns of their hearts led.
Keiko smiled down at her children, both asleep. The sound of Hiei making tea in the background announced comfort to all their ears. She doubted they knew whose story that was. Who the rose was. Who the toad was. She doubted if they would believe her.