One Thousand Words
By Blackswan15

Disclaimer: I'm sorry folks, but I don't own Team Rocket. I can't make Nintendo let us join the Team after fighting the kids on the bridge, I am unable to mass produce lots of wonderful TR merchandise, and nobody will ever see that final Pokemon episode where Jessie and James finally take Pikachu to the boss.


"Jessie,"

Jessie! The name leaps from my pen to the paper, my awkward letters forming into a single, beautiful word. One line, not even a sentence, and my heart is overflowing. I close my eyes and drown for a moment in the fire that is my love.
How can one girl be so perfect?

"I wish I knew some better way to say this. I wish I had something that would make you understand. I want to shout it out to you. But you know I'm not that strong. So I'm writing you this letter, Jessie, to tell you how I feel."

I can't do this. I'm all but ready to just throw down my pen and give it up. But I can't live either, not with things the way they are now. The ever present voice in the back of my head. The threat that at any moment, I might give myself away, say those words...

"I love you."

My mind slips back to the first time I saw her. What an idiot I was! A scared little boy, just promoted from the lowest ranks of Team Rocket, falling all over myself to please my superiors. Frightened little Mondo, just an accident waiting to happen.
She smiled at me, and my heart stopped. It bloomed like a rose.
I always equate her with roses, somehow. Their rich, deep color, the smell of them... She always smells of roses. Warm and heavenly. As if that tough girl the world sees and the secret girl inside are both no more than a shell, with a flower hiding behind them.
I could make you bloom, Jessie.

"I've loved you for longer than I can say. How can you begin to love someone who has always held your soul? I was born to love you. No, I loved you before that. Jessie, m y Rose."

Why do I think of her like that? From the moment I saw her, she was the rose. Even before I knew they were her team's trademark. James' trademark.
I've already written to him. Word by painful word.
God! That was the hardest thing I've ever done.
It was the only way. Things will be better now, for all of us. No more secret love. But it wasn't easy. Not like now. The words pour from my heart.

"I don't want to scare you. But I just have to know if you feel the same way."

That's a lie. I know. I know what she feels. I saw that in her eyes too. The day we met.

"If you love me, don't mention this letter. Don't tell me if my words were poetry. Don't talk about what I've said. Just speak to me with your eyes, your smile, your heart."

I know what the answer to this letter will be.

"Tell me with a kiss."

I close my eyes and imagine it. The kiss. Perfection. Completion at last.

"Know that whatever you do, I will always be yours."

Because her answer to this letter will be yes. But not to me. I smile gently through the beginning tears, surveying my work. Finally, I return to the bottom and sign it.

"James."

Well? Were you surprised by the twist at the end? Did you know it all along? Maybe you're still confused? Sorry, I know this one is probably kinda unclear... To claify: Mondo Just wrote Jessie a love letter from James and James a similar letter from Jess (that's what the "I've already written to him line" was about, not that he told James he loved Jessie) and in the process gave her up forever! Get it? Got it? Good. Now review! Please? a_rose_4_james@hotmail.com

BTW, there are exactly 697 words on this page. Therefore, the title is not literal (Be cool if it were, though, wouldn't it?)