Title: The Raven and the Rose
Writer: Tacuma
Characters: Tezuka and Fuji. No love, no friendship. Death brings them together.
Genre: Angst, tragedy
Word count: 1766 words
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Character death! Really, don't like it, you better don't read this!
Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis, nor do I own any of the lyrics that I used in this fic.

Lyrics from:
- Annatar – While the Black Rose Blooms
- Bless the Fall – Black Rose Dying
- Flesh and Bones – Little Black Rose
- ICON and the Black Roses – Black Roses
- My Dying Bride – The Raven and the Rose

The raven and the rose

Roses are black roses for you today

'Tezuka Kunimitsu, you're our strongest soldier. You will have to protect our princess with your life. She is the most beautiful woman on earth, with the purest soul. Make sure nobody can come close to her. Protect her.'

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Youthful and successful in a perfect life

Fuji stood in front of a huge black gate. Behind the gate was a garden. The trees in the garden had no leaves, and all the plants had died. A single raven was sitting in one of the trees. In the middle of the garden stood an old mansion. No one had entered the house for years, and it looked like it was about to fall apart. This was the perfect atmosphere for a photo shoot!

Fuji worked for a magazine, and he had to make photos for a Halloween special that would come out on the end of the month. When he heard he could do whatever he wanted for the Halloween special, Fuji knew he had to make pictures of the old house. It was perfect. Most people were afraid to enter the gardens, afraid they would get cursed. They said the house was haunted, and that no one had come out alive. Fuji didn't believe in those stories. It was just an old house. People made each other scared with all kinds of fairytales.

When Fuji pushed against the gate, it opened with a squeaking sound. He entered the garden, and closed the gate again. He didn't want to attract curious people who wondered why the gate was open. Fuji walked around in the garden. It was exactly as he had expected. The wind was blowing softly through the leafless branches, and there were black roses growing against one of the walls,

Fuji made many photos. This place was amazing. He was sure that one of his pictures would be on the cover of the magazine. Fuji wondered how old the house was, and why nobody had thought of making pictures of it before him.

Roses are black roses for you today

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

'Tezuka Kunimitsu, our princess wants to go to the summer mansion. Take her there and let nobody come close to the house. Protect her.'

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Fuji walked through the garden towards the house. He pushed against the door. It opened. Inside it was dark, something smelled rotten, and there was dust everywhere. It was exactly like Fuji had imagined it.

As soon as Fuji entered the house he felt a strange pull. It felt like someone was calling him. He resisted the urge to ran upstairs where the call was coming from.

Till I found you

Instead he stepped into the kitchen and looked around. Everything was in the same old style as the house itself. There was a table with some chairs, and there were even some pans.

In the living room were couches , bookshelves, and there were some tea cups on the table. It was like the inhabitants had left the house in a hurry, leaving everything behind.

Fuji made some pictures. He felt a cold wind blowing, but he was sure he had closed the door. This seemed a bit too perfect for Halloween. It looked creepy, and Fuji started to feel a little scared. It also seemed like the call got louder, or was that just his imagination.

Till I found you

Step by step he walked up the stairs. On the first floor were a few rooms. One of the doors was covered with black roses, like Fuji had seen outside. This was the room where the strange pull came from; the room where the call came from.

Carefully Fuji opened the door. He peeked in, and saw that the window was broken. That was how the black roses came outside to cover the wall. Just like the window and the door, the rest of the room was covered in black roses as well. Fuji slightly wondered how it was possible that the roses were black. He had never seen black roses before, but the thoughts disappeared when he noticed a single red rose.

Till I found you

Fuji stepped into the room. The pull came from the rose. The rose was calling him? It was perfectly shaped. The colour was a beautiful deep kind of red that Fuji had never seen before on a rose.

On your death field

Fuji walked closer. When he was two meters away from the red rose, the raven, from the garden, flew in, and sat down on the desk that stood between Fuji and the rose. Fuji's eyes opened wide when the raven started to change into a human. A handsome bespectacled man with a sword in his hand stood before him. They looked each other in the eyes. The moment seemed to take forever, until the soldier spoke.

Death all around him

'I need your help.'

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Sick with suffering

'Tezuka Kunimitsu, you're the only one I can talk to. You're the only one who can get close to me. I am lonely, and you're the only one who can brighten my days. Why don't you love me? I don't want your protection.'

Tezuka shook his head. It wasn't impossible for a princess ,and a simple soldier to love each other. He was just doing his job. All he had to do was protect her.

The beautiful girl took Tezuka's sword from his hands. Slowly she raised it, and while looking her protector in the eyes, she pushed the sword through her own chest.

Drops of blood fell down, turning into rose petals before they reached the ground. Before the soldiers eyes, she turned into a red rose, growing against the wall of her bedroom.

That tainted soul of yours

'Tezuka Kunimitsu, you're the reason the purest maiden killed herself. You failed to protect her. You will get a second chance, you will still have to protect her. Protect her forever. Let nobody come close to her. Let nobody touch her. Kill everybody who tries. This will be your punishment. You will only be free when someone with a more pure soul than the princess will come to safe her, and stop her suffering. The princess changed for you. Now you will have to change for her.'

On the place of the soldier sat a raven.

Your tears are so cold

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

An angel for the world to see

Fuji stepped back. This had to be a dream. This couldn't be reality. The soldier in medieval clothes was pointing his sword at him. Fuji dropped his camera. It fell on the floor, and broke into pieces, but the journalist didn't care. He turned around, and wanted to run away, but the door was closed. The black roses that covered the room, and the door prevented his escape.

'My name is Tezuka Kunimitsu, and my duty is to protect the princess. For a thousand years I've carried on this job. All the black roses were once men who wanted to violate her. Impure souls. I had to kill them. You can free her. You can free us.'

Fuji turned around and looked at the red rose. 'The princess?' he asked.

Tezuka nodded. 'I failed to help her once, but this time I won't fail. If you won't help her, I'll make you help her.'

It felt like a cold wind was blowing in the room, but outside the wind wasn't blowing at all. Fuji shivered as he remembered the many stories about the house and he knew that he would never leave the house again.

Roses are black roses for you today

'What do I have to do?' asked Fuji as he stepped closer to the soldier. He immediately regretted his question when he noticed a sparkle of sadness in Tezuka's cold eyes.

'Tezuka Kunimitsu, you never wanted this. You wanted to protect, not to kill,' said Fuji. Step by step he walked closer to the soldier. Tears welled in his eyes. When Fuji reached the soldier he wrapped his arms around his waist and laid his head against his chest. 'Do it, and free yourself.'

Tezuka felt Fuji's cold tears soak his shirt. He felt the little body shaking in his arms. He knew this was his only chance. His only chance in a thousand years, and this soul volunteered. With tears in his eyes he carried out his duty.

This blade, it feels so cold

Drops of red blood fell down, turning into pink rose petals, turning white before they reached the ground. Before the soldiers eyes, Fiji turned into a white rose, growing against the wall of the bedroom. A pure soul.

Drips of blood on your fingers

The soldier let a single drop of blood fall on the red rose. The moment the pure blood touched the petals, they started to shrivel, turning black, falling on the floor, one by one, turning to ash as they touched the floor, until nothing was left.

Tezuka fell on his knees. His sword clattered next to him on the cold floor. A single tear escaped his eyes. In the wind that was blowing through the room he could hear the princess' voice.

Darkness never touched my soul

Till I found you

Till I found you

Wait for them, to come on in and take you away from me again

He buried his face in his hands. He had failed. He had failed to protect the princess from unhappiness. Never in those thousand years he had been able to help her, because his heart had only been waiting for the purest soul that would free him from his duty. That was supposed to free them both.

Now take me out of this place

Tezuka stood up, and turned around. He looked at the single white rose, surrounded by thousands of black ones. He had killed a perfect person, and achieved nothing with it. He had never gained happiness for the pure maiden, nor had he freed himself from his chains. From now on he had a new duty, and this time he wouldn't fail.

Roses are black roses for you today

The soldier took his sword. Drops of red blood fell down, turning into pink rose petals, turning white before they reached the ground. In the empty room, Tezuka turned into a white rose, growing against the wall of the bedroom, encircling, embracing the rose that once had been Fuji. Another pure soul. This time he wouldn't fail.

We still have much to lose,
while the black rose blooms

I know this was kinda depressing, but I hope you liked it anyway.