A/N: Okay, I know that if Ruby were to actually write poetry, it would be in Japanese, not English. I'm sure there's a whole different set of problems that accompany Japanese rhyme and whatnot; however, since I don't speak Japanese, she's writing the poems in English. Thanks in advance for being understanding!

The poems – and they're really hideous, I must admit – are 100 Therese original. Please enjoy their clichéd idiocy!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN CCS! … Please don't sue.

Conspiracy: Writing

Alright, so Plan A hadn't gone so well. Ruby giggled. Oh well. That had been the easiest plan, anyway, and didn't some smart guy say that nothing worth doing was easy (or something like that)? On to Plan B!

oOoOoOoOoOo

Spinel Sun drifted into Ruby's room. Thankfully, she'd tidied up a bit: there was no more impromptu streamers dangling about the place, though the candles were still scattered everywhere.

Ruby didn't see Spinel enter the room. Her back was hunched over her little-used desk, and Spinel could see her pen waving frantically in her hand. His curiosity aroused despite himself, Spinel floated towards the girl until he was practically perched in her hair. "What're you writing?" He peered nearsightedly at the paper on the table.

Ruby yelped and jumped in her seat, dislodging Spinel's light grip on her head. "Suppie-chan, you scared me!"

Spinel couldn't help it. He snorted. "Some powers you have, if you couldn't even sense me coming in!"

Ruby pouted. "You know my powers are all messed up when I'm human! Don't be mean or I'll force feed you chocolate."

"You wouldn't dare." When Ruby opened her mouth to argue, Spinel quickly cut her off. "Really, though, what are you doing? I'm supposed to help you with Operation Sakura's-Being-Suspiciously-Obtuse-About-Seeing-The-Obvious-Infatuation-Of-Awkward-Young-Men, remember?"

"It's Operation Get-Sakura-To-See-What's-Right-Before-Her-Eyes!" Ruby huffed.

"No, that's not the right name, either."

"Well, if you knew what the name was, then why did you say it wrong?"

"To annoy you, my dear. And it's working marvelously."

"Well, then, if all you're going to do is bug me, then you can go away and leave me alone so I can actually get this done for tomorrow's paper!" Ruby turned her back on the flying stuffed animal and hunched over her chicken-scratch handwriting, pretending to ignore Spinel Sun's continued presence in her room.

Things were quiet for a little while. Then:

"That rhyme doesn't work."

"It does so! Look, they both have the same ending!"

"But it doesn't sound the same when you say it out loud. It makes it awkward."

"If you say 'again' with the long 'a' instead of a short 'a', it'll totally rhyme with 'rain'."

"But people don't say it with the long 'a'. They say it with the short 'a'; therefore, the construction is awkward."

"I would say it with the long 'a'."

"But you won't be the one reading this, will you?"

"Yeah, I will! I read everything I publish in the newspaper. I am the editor, after all."

"…You read everything? Even the politics section?"

"…"

"Ruby-san…?"

"Okay, not the politics section, but no one reads that!"

"I read the politics section."

"See? No one reads it."

"Whatever, Ruby-san…"

"Did you just say 'whatever'?"

"Just write!"

"Hai."

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Oh, Ruby-san?"

Ruby stopped her wild dash to the front door and turned to face Eriol. He was just climbing down the steps from his second-story room, still dressed in a dark blue dressing robe that exactly matched his hair. "Hai, Eriol-kun?"

"You are still working on your, ah, assignment, aren't you?"

Ruby grinned. "Of course, Eriol-kun! Oh, this'll work, I promise."

Eriol looked faintly worried. "I'm sure… And Spinel-san helped you this time?"

"Hai!"

Eriol sighed. "Well, if Spinel-san approved this, I suppose it'll be okay."

"Don't worry!" And with a final wave, Ruby dashed out of the door, leaving Eriol on the final step.

"I should feel relieved," Eriol commented to the empty air. "But somehow, I don't."

Ruby opened the gate at the end of the walkway and began to sprint towards the school. Spinel Sun flew beside her. "You know, he's not going to like that second poem of yours," he pointed out.

Ruby grinned. "I know. But it'll be good for him! You'll see."

oOoOoOoOoOo

Ruby dashed into the chaotic student newspaper classroom, clutching two wrinkled pieces of paper. "Hold the presses!"

"But Moon-san, we just finished the final layout!" protested one underclassman.

Ruby glared at protester, and he wilted. "I don't care. This is an emergency!"

"She said that last issue, too," murmured the sports editor to the film critic.

Ruby heard her. "And that article on the harmful killing of innocent silkworms for material gain needed to be published! Are there any other protests? No? Good." She tossed the papers at some poor lackey. "Get these up in the editorial section, ASAP."

The young man who she'd given the papers to scanned the contents quickly. "Moon-san, are you sure you want to publish these? I mean, they're not even all that good-" He gulped at the death stare Ruby was giving him. "-Hai. I'll get right on it, ma'am."

oOoOoOoOoOo

"Sakura-chan, did you see the newspaper?!"

"Eh? Uh, no… Should I?"

"Hai! There's a special note in it to you in the editorial section!"

"Nani?! To me?! … Oh, look, Tomoyo-chan, there's one to you, too!"

"Really? I must've been too excited at seeing yours to have seen that one before…!"

Syaoran happened to be walking by and overheard their rather loud and animated conversation. "Ohaiyo, Daidouji-san…Sakura-kun…What're you looking at?"

Tomoyo looked up from her paper with stars in your eyes. "Oh, Li-kun, this is so sweet! I never knew that you had it in you!"

"Nani? What're you talking about?" Tomoyo beamed and handed him the paper. His eyes briefly scanned the page before landing on an article titled "To My Cherry Blossom".

"Oh, Kami-sama," Syaoran breathed as he read the 'poem' with ever increasing horror.

To My Cherry Blossom

How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways:

One, because you make me

Wish to be by you always.

Two, because your cute smile

Makes me turn bright red

And Three, because I'd walk miles

To see your auburn head.

I wish you could see me for me

And the way I love you:

The way I can't talk with thee

Or hold my breath until I'm blue

When I'm around you.

Our missions together are over, it's true:

But it won't ever change how I feel about you.

From: Your Secret Admirer (Who's Closer Than You Think )

Tomoyo looked at Syaoran's face and then back at the paper. "Well, it is from you, isn't it?" She lowered her voice with a quick glance at Sakura, but she was still preoccupied reading the paper and turning redder by the second. "I mean, the 'missions together' and the 'way I can't talk with thee' – though really, Li-kun" Tomoyo wrinkled her nose "the second 'thee' was a little much, don't you think?"

Syaoran gasped for air, and rasped, "I didn't write this!"

Tomoyo rolled her eyes. "Really, Li-kun, you don't have to lie to me. I know how you feel about Sakura!"

"S-sure, but I didn't write this trash!" He smacked the paper with his free hand, fuming at the obvious overtures to him in the poem but madder still that he didn't think of this first. He looked at the paper a second time and noticed another headline. Syaoran smirked, feeling a tad bit better. "Not that your secret admirer did much better with his poem, Daidouji-san!"

"My…Oh!"

To My Raven-Haired Temptress

Your hair's like the ocean waves at sea,

And your eyes shine like twenty-seven moonbeams

Your lips kiss like heaven (or so I've dreamed)

And your hands are long and graceful, like ice cream.

I waited outside your window in vain,

Getting all wet from the pouring rain,

To see you just once, to see you again

Because I love you.

From: Your Secret Admirer

"'Hands like ice cream'?" Syaoran snickered.

Tomoyo snatched the paper back, turning beet red. "It's hard to rhyme, and at least they tried, and, well, let's go, Sakura-chan!" She grabbed Sakura's arm and raced down the hallway, trying to outrun Syaoran's mocking laughter.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Eriol smacked his forehead.

"Crap."