A Rose And A Thorn

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A Rose And A Thorn

Co-Written By Harley Quinn hyenaholic and Froggy22651

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Harley: Dammit, I wish there were more reviewers like Astral.

Froggy: Why, to say we’re great?

Harley: No, because they actually think before they write. But still, even not thinking is better than not reviewing at all. Now, to the point. The more eagle-eyed of you may notice that the summary’s changed. Just yesterday we decided that there will also be some Rouge/Sonic sex in here. Later. It’s coming. Just wait.

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Chapter Two: Wakeup Call

Shadow's eyes slowly opened as the morning light shone in through the window. It was strange... he didn't feel disappointed in having to face a new day, as he usually did. He felt... happier. Warm and soft, too... no, that wasn't him. That was the body that was cuddled up to him, still asleep. As he drew a breath, her scent flooded his senses, bringing with them memories of the night before. Amy... He looked down at the pink hedgehog, a soft smile on his face. He nuzzled her carefully, so as to not wake her, and drew the bedcovers around them more tightly, keeping in their combined warmth.

Amy sighed in her sleep, "Hmmm..." she murmured, very softly, and shifted a little, her hand shifting on his white chest fur.

He closed his eyes and savoured the moment, freezing it in his mind among his favourites. He wasn't troubled by his past or future, content to stay here in the moment as long as it would last.

Amy awoke slowly, opening her eyes and looking up at him. She seemed a little shocked at first, and the horrible thought spread through Shadow’s mind that for her at least, last night had been some sort of mistake. But then she smiled, "I had the most wonderful dream last night, Shadow," she said sleepily, "And now I'm waking up... and realising that it really happened..." She nuzzled his chest gently, “And realising that it felt… so good.”

Shadow relaxed again, relieved. It wasn't a mistake; he really had made her happy. He ran his fingers through her quills, holding her to his chest. "Yes, it did..." he said.

Amy stroked Shadow’s cheek again. Her body, and especially her hips, ached. But she wasn't in actual pain. The air was crisp and clean after the thunderstorm last night, like a fresh start, "Shadow... thank you so much," she said, "For... for helping me to grow up and face reality."

Outside Amy's apartment, Cream fumbled with some keys, and found the one to Amy's door. Amy had given it to her a couple of months ago, telling her that she could come visit as often as she wanted.

Shadow touched Amy’s cheek, looking into her eyes, "I was returning the favour," he said with a soft smile, followed by a kiss on the tip of her nose.

Amy giggled. Everything had changed so quickly in a few hours, she would have felt lost if Shadow hadn't been there beside her, "I always knew you could be so... loving," she said, looking straight back into his crimson red eyes.

Cream pushed the key into the lock, and walked into the sea of pink. She looked around the room. Amy was an early riser; she was normally up by this time - rising early was good for your health. The fact that she wasn't surprised the young doe slightly.

Shadow drew Amy's face to his, kissing her gently. One of his ears twitched, and he thought he heard something from the living room... probably nothing. In any case, there was no way he was breaking away from Amy now. She returned the kiss with equal passion, her arms around his waist. She didn't even hear Cream call out.

"Amy? Are you awake?" Cream pushed open the door to Amy's bedroom, “Am-oh!” Her already large eyes widened, and for a few moments she was so shocked she couldn't even speak.

Shadow broke the kiss, turning to face the young rabbit in the doorway, his mind racing to find how to deal with this unexpected arrival. After a moment of silence, he calmly said, "Good morning, Cream."

"Mister Shadow? Amy?" Cream gaped.

Amy instinctively drew the sheets up around her naked body, blushing and searching for something, anything, to say.

"Shadow?!" Cream repeated, her voice a squeak. She was young, but she wasn't totally naive. She was a rabbit, after all. Even a six-year-old could fill in the gaps and work out what had happened, "Amy?!" She was slowly turning red.

Shadow raised a finger to his lips, "Shh... keep it down, Cream. I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about this..."

Cream's mouth opened and closed a few times. Finally she looked at Amy, "Amy... I thought you loved Mister Sonic?"

Amy tried to think of what to say. ‘This isn't want it looks like’ was plainly a ridiculous statement, and it might hurt Shadow's feelings - he'd think she was ashamed to be seen with him. On the other hand, she couldn't be possibly as calm as he was. Finally, she settled for, "Well... the funny thing is that... well... I didn't."

Cream looked at Shadow. The black and red hedgehog had always scared her - she couldn't think what Amy had seen in him to make her want to... want to... "This is some kind of weird joke, right?" she asked him.

"No joke," he said with a shake of his head. He frowned, noticing how the child looked at him. She was afraid of him. A predictable reaction, but not one he wanted, for once. She was Amy's best friend, after all, "It's alright. We both came to a... an understanding, last night."

Cream nodded, weakly, and turned back to Amy, "Why?" she asked simply.

"I... I saw things in Shadow that I haven't seen before," Amy explained, "Things I haven't ever seen in anyone else."

"Not even in Mister Sonic?" asked Cream.

"Especially not in Sonic," Amy said. Cream looked between them again. She was still only a child, and Amy could see that it wouldn't be fair to make her keep such a big thing a secret, "You... you don't have to keep this a secret if you don't want to," she said gently.

Shadow looked towards Amy and nodded. He certainly wasn't afraid of letting the world know what he really felt. He would prefer to let others see it themselves... but it didn’t really make a lot of difference.

"Now..." Amy looked down at herself, and then over at Shadow, "Could you... leave us for a little while? We... have to get dressed." Cream continued to blush, but nodded and hurried out of the room. They both heard the door slam shut as she ran out of the house.

"Hmm..." Shadow wasn't sure what to make of that. Shrugging, he crawled out of bed and looked around for his gloves. His jet shoes were still in the living room.

"I hope you don't mind people knowing," Amy said to Shadow, "But she's only a little girl - if we told her to keep it a secret, she would, but it would eat her up inside."

"I understand," Shadow said, reaching down to retrieve one glove, "It shouldn't be kept a secret, anyway."

"I'm not ashamed to be seen with you," Amy stood up, wrapping the sheet around herself, "I don't care what people say about us; as long as we're together, they don't matter." She put on a pink dressing gown that hung on the back of her bedroom door.

Shadow smirked slightly as he slipped on his other glove. Yes... nothing else mattered. Let the whole world be shocked by it. He just wished he could see Sonic and Rouge's respective faces when they found out.

~~~

Elsewhere, in a small café in the city, Rouge was sipping her morning coffee, contemplating what she was going to steal today, and wondering whether she’d be able to manipulate Shadow into helping her again. Crying didn't seem to work any more, but she'd think of something.

Suddenly, Cream burst into the café. She looked… flustered. She went straight to Rouge. Slightly odd, Rouge thought. Cream didn’t like her much. She didn't like it when she tried to steal things, especially when it put the world in danger.

“Rouge!” Cream panted, and sat down, “I just had to find you!”

“Calm down, Cream,” Rouge said, “Just take a few deep breaths and tell me all about it.”

Cream did as she was told, and relaxed a little, “Rouge… I had to talk to you… you see, I’ve just been over to Amy’s apartment… and I saw something. I swear, you’ll never guess what I saw!”

“What?” asked Rouge, not really paying much attention.

“Go on, guess!” Cream squealed.

Rouge tried to think of the most unlikely thing possible, “Sonic and Amy naked together?” she asked, with a laugh.

“No, SHADOW and Amy naked together!” Cream squealed, and covered her face.

Rouge’s expression changed from mild amusement to disbelief, “Cream… you are kidding me, right? This is a joke, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I asked Shadow,” said Cream, “Oh Rouge, their clothes were all over the place and they were kissing and… Oh, I know how you feel about Shadow, I thought you should be the first person I told.”

Rouge looked more shocked than angry, but it didn’t last long, “Shadow…” she muttered, looking down at her coffee.

“I’m really sorry, Rouge,” said Cream.

“That… cheating creep!” Rouge shouted suddenly, conveniently forgetting that her and Shadow hadn’t had sex for over two months now, that he hadn’t particularly enjoyed it, and that she had been using him as a substitute for being stood up anyway, “What’s Amy got that I haven’t?”

Cream didn’t answer, not wanting to upset Rouge any more, but the white bat wasn’t listening anyway. She stamped out of the café in a rage, and headed straight back to Club Rouge, where she lived as well as worked.

When she arrived back at Club Rouge, she raged her way up the stairs to the living quarters where Shadow had his bedroom. She slammed the door open and looked around. As yet, he wasn't back. The room was rather empty - there was only a television, a Dreamcast, a bed and a bedside table. Shadow didn’t own much. She sat down on the end of the bed, and glared at the door, waiting for him to return.

~~~

Shadow raced through the city street, weaving through traffic, grinding rails, jetting up the sides of buildings, and hurling himself through the clear air effortlessly. He felt more free than he could ever recall being. The sun and blue sky no longer mocked him. He was going back to Club Rouge, hopefully for the last time. He didn't even bother with the front entrance, simply zipping up the wall to his small bedroom window, opening it and leaping through in one smooth movement. He hit the ground, rolled to his feet... and found himself looking at Rouge, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, not looking happy at all. He had a good idea as to why she looked so pissed off.

"Shadow..." Rouge growled, "Where were you last night?"

Shadow crossed his arms over his chest and said bluntly, "I was at Amy's."

"And what..." Rouge's voice was shaking with rage, "Were you doing?"

The black and red hedgehog got a perverse sort of pleasure out of watching Rouge's reaction, a slight grin forming on his face. Served her right, "Judging by the look on your face, I’d guess that you already know."

"Yes," Rouge snapped, "And I would also love to know why. Why are you fucking that little girl? What has she got that I haven't? What can she give you that I can't?"

"Asides from a heart?" Shadow quipped. He shook his head, "I'm not as delusional as you may think. And I'm not here to speak with you," With that, Shadow turned his back on her and walked towards the door, moving towards his intended destination.

"You won't find another woman on this planet who'll treat you the way I do!" Rouge shouted at him.

"Good. I rather disliked being used as your personal fucktoy," he said without stopping

Rouge grabbed the Dreamcast and hurled it at Shadow's head. He dodged it easily, and it smashed on the floor. But she wasn't giving up yet, "And what do you think she sees in you, Mister Ultimate Lifeform?!" she screamed, "You're an idiot if you think she sees you as any more than a substitute for that blue nuisance!" She changed her expression abruptly, to a seductive smirk, "Whereas I see you for exactly what you are - a complete psycho with one hell of an inferiority complex."

That caused him to stop. Looking for his shoulder, he said, "If you are trying to win me back, your seduction tactics need a lot of work." But her other comment, the one about Amy, echoed around his heart painfully. The thought had crossed his mind, but he’d pushed it away. Was he just a substitute for Sonic to Amy? Could she be using him as Rouge had? He refused to believe that, "She isn't like you." He faced forward again and continued on his way towards Rouge's safe, where he knew she kept the green Chaos Emerald. He could feel its energies emanating from there.

"You mean nothing to her!" Rouge shrieked, "She's using you to make him jealous! And we both know what Sonic's like - it'll work, she'll get him, and you'll be on your own - again! And this time I won't be around to drag you in out of the cold!" she added.

"Just open the safe, Rouge, give me my emerald, and I'll be on my way," he snapped, irritated.

"That emerald is MINE!" Rouge raged at him, "I'm not giving it away to anyone, especially not a cheating bastard like you!"

Walking up to the safe, he declared, "I am the Ultimate Lifeform! The Chaos Emeralds are my birthright, not the trophy of a mere thief. Open it."

"Like hell!" Rouge snapped, "If you're the Ultimate Lifeform, you can open it yourself!"

"Have it your way." One spindash later, and Rouge's heavy steel safe was splintered to pieces, money and jewels scattered across the floor. Shadow held up his favourite Chaos Emerald, green like Amy's eyes, a smug smirk on his face.

"GIVE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!" Rouge screamed. She leapt at Shadow, her hands closing around his neck as she barrelled him to the floor.

Shadow growled as she leapt on top of him, trying to strangle him. She had graduated from slight annoyance to a distinct irritation. He pushed off with a burst from his jet shoes, skidding across the floor on his back, Rouge still clinging to him. Curling up, he placed his feet against her stomach and shoved hard, kicking her away from him. The hedgehog quickly got to his feet, "How pathetic."

Rouge had tried threats, blackmail and her body. She turned to the final trick she knew, "But Shadow..." tears trickled down her cheeks like diamonds, "She doesn't love you! She'll hurt you! I'm sorry if you ever felt like I was using you... but I need you Shadow! I need you to make me happy!" she wailed.

Oh, she had done this before. The very first time they had spent a night of empty passion together, she had turned to him, weeping. It had worked then; he couldn't stand to see a woman cry, and he had stayed the night with her to comfort her. But time and experience had taught him that she could turn the waterworks on like a faucet, using it to manipulate males to do her bidding. She was the one who used him as a substitute, a way to relieve her urges, and used his talents to aid her. But she never cared for him as a person, and she certainly didn't need him to make her happy. Hers were crocodile tears, no offence to a certain reptilian detective.

"Liar," Shadow growled, "I have only two words for you..." He raised the chaos emerald in front of his face, his fingertips tingling at the feeling of the energy ready to be tapped. And tap it he did. "Chaos Control!" he shouted. Shadow disappeared in a flash of blinding green light.

Rouge's words weren't entirely a lie – she needed Shadow to help her steal jewels, specifically the well-guarded Chaos Emeralds, and they certainly made her happy. But the tears were indeed as fake as press-on-nails. She wiped them away easily, and stood up, looking at the mess, "Let's see what sort of relationship you have with Amy when you're a wanted criminal, you two-timing thief!" she hissed. She was about to grab the phone to dial the police, when she stopped, smiled, and started to tear her clothes.

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Harley: Well, there was less sex this chapter than before… but that wasn’t difficult, was it? Now Read and Review! Now! Now! Now!

Froggy: Uh, Harley… no point begging… they’re probably too lazy to bother.

Harley: Hey guys! You’re not LAZY, are you? Review before the next chapter's up, and you'll get a lollipop!