Because You Loved Me--Even If I Didn't Want You To

Chapter Four: Amy Rose Takes Her Stand!-Part One
(AKA: The Start of One Big Misunderstanding.)

Something told him this wasn’t going to be a good day.

Shadow stared after the pink hedgehog as she hurried past them, refusing to look at either of them as she quickly made her way up the steps, tears staining her eyes.

Great.

Shadow contemplated calling after her for a moment. Not like she would listen.

But then, why should he have to explain? He wasn’t sorry for what he had done and it wasn’t like she was actually going out with Sonic. Or owned him.

Sonic didn’t seem to care about the pink nuisance in that sort of light. Though Shadow wondered if he honestly knew that or was trying to convince himself of this. And then he wondered why he was trying to convince himself if he was.

It wasn’t like the kiss had meant anything to him.

He shook his head frowning deeply. That thought didn’t sound right, even to him.

Damn.

He couldn’t deny the feelings to himself anymore. And he had been afraid once he kissed Sonic honestly that he wouldn’t be able to lie to himself.

He could no longer think that ‘The Incident’ could have happened with anyone–well okay, technically, he’s a guy so it could happen with someone else but damn it, not with Sonic! He could no longer ignore the sudden oddness he felt whenever Sonic got to close. That his dreams, his thoughts, those blasted feelings didn’t exist.

That Sonic didn’t mean anything to him.

‘But’, he frowned, looking down at the azure hedgehog as he began to move and groan as he tried to wake up. ‘That doesn’t mean I have to act on these feelings. I don’t have to except them at all.’

Sonic’s emerald eyes flashed open and stared up at him calmly, heavy lidded. He didn’t make a move to sit up as he still looked a bit tired.

He turned his head to look over at Shadow, catching the thoughtful yet troubled expression on his face and frowned.

“What’s wrong?” he asked in concern.

“Nothing Sonic,” Shadow replied in his usual dead pan yet silky voice. And he meant that. There was nothing wrong with the way he felt–even if the feeling did come uneasy to him. He wasn’t use to feeling those emotions anymore. Not since Maria.. But he didn’t have to admit those feelings for whatever they were to anyone either. Especially to the very creature that had his head resting in his lap.

Sonic gave him a soft, taunting smile. “Did you just call me Sonic?”

Shadow, catching his words, instantly blushed slightly. This made Sonic laugh. “And your blushing?”

Shadow quickly pushed his head off his lap and stood up, growling at him as he made his way toward the exit. Sonic was still laughing on the floor, rubbing his head.

Yep. A horrible, craptastical day.

~~~~~~

They had made their way back to Tail’s workshop, running the better part of the way until Shadow made his concern for Sonic’s injury (as Sonic kept wincing) known. Though of course, he wouldn’t pin Sonic down and cry over him like Amy would, oh no. He simply ran right beside him, poked him in said injury, watched as Sonic crumple to the ground and pausing, said in his usual ‘cheerful’ voice: “You’re hurt.”

“I’m fine,” Sonic smiled up at him, winking. Shadow gave him the most skeptical look he had before trying to attack the wound again, but Sonic was quicker and back on his feet, glaring at him. “Stop that!”

“If the wound is fine and doesn’t hurt, then my ministrations shouldn’t matter,” Shadow pointed out, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring.

“Didn’t know you were trying to make it hurt,” Sonic stated in annoyance. “Seriously, I’m just fine. Stop worrying so much!”

“Who’s worried,” Shadow replied.

“Then why bring it up?” Sonic pointed out, smiling slightly. Shadow frowned and began to walk away from him.

“Because I don’t want to have to do everything by myself. I thought we already had this conversation about your recklessness, moronic tendencies, and incompetent hero worshipers.”

Sonic blazed past him in puff of smoke, earning a glare as he called back that he would meet Shadow back at the workshop.

Shadow didn’t bother catching up, preferring to be alone to his own troubling thoughts. This ‘coming to terms’ thing just didn’t work at all. It didn’t work with humans, as he still hated those insignificant creatures. And it wasn’t working with this whole ‘liking Sonic’ thing either. That moron. Completely ignoring his good advice. Why he chose to like such an idiot was completely beyond his comprehension.

He finally made it to his destination, the sun beaming down on him as a soft warm breeze tickled the grass underneath his feet.

As he reached for the door knob he could see it was already cracked, meaning Sonic had indeed made it to the workshop at least in one piece.

He could hear soft murmurs inside and frowned slightly before he opened the door completely and entered Tail’s living room.

And this being ‘not a good day’ theory seemed to fulfill itself.

Everyone in the room stopped talking abruptly as soon as they saw crimson and ebony in the doorway. Amy glared daggers at him as Cream patted her hand softly and stared at him troubled.

Tails seemed to be fighting not to look at him all, completely avoiding eye contact.

Rouge was staring at him almost in humor, those icy eyes of hers seemed to be in a calculating fashion as they watched him.

And Knuckles looked as though he were caught between being disgusted or finding whatever the conversation that they were just having, which Shadow figured he already knew, humorous.

Sonic was no where to be found but Shadow refused to let this fact bother him. He also refused to be the first to speak in this instance so the entire room just stared at him, except for Tails. He let his eyes wash across the room, finally resting on the pink hedgehog that was still scowling at him. They’re eyes met and they seemed to get in to some sort of intimidation contest.

After a few minutes, she finally broke eye contact and looked away angrily and he couldn’t help but smirk a little. No one had a more intimidating stare than he did, end of discussion.

“Soooo,” Rouge stated finally, leaning on the wall a bit as she watched Tails intently pretend to type things into his control panel.

“Amy tells us you found a Chaos Emerald.”

Riight.

The two glared at each other again as Shadow held up the crimson colored gem. “So I did. What of it.”

“Oh nothing, nothing,” Rouge said quickly, giving him a pleasant smile. Shadow decided not to try to decide if she was being sincere and cutting her a side glance, turned in Tail’s direction, holding the Chaos Emerald out.

“Here.”

“Huh?” Tails said almost too quickly, turning towards him but refusing to look Shadow directly in the face, concentrating on the splash of white fur on his chest instead.

There was a pause. Then Shadow tossed him the Chaos Emerald, making Tails have to look up in order to catch it.

Their eyes met and after a few moments, Tails slowly turned back around and placed the emerald with a yellow one he must have gotten with Cream and continued to pretend to type something.

“Sonic seemed um, pretty tired when he got here,” Knuckles grumbled. Now he was looking at Shadow intently. “Went upstairs to catch some sleep.”

“I wanted to wrap up that wound he got,” Cream gestured, smiling slightly as Shadow looked over at her to acknowledge her. “But he insisted he was fine. He said he just needed to sleep.”

“You can go check on him if you want,” Rouge had barely offered before Amy quickly cut in.

“I think Sonic will be just fine on his own. He said he didn’t need any help, so there is no reason for Shadow to disturb him.”

Tails stopped pretending to type, Knuckles looked away rather uncomfortable now, Cream looked a bit worried and Rouge just stared between both Amy and Shadow with interest as they had another intensive stare down.

“Maybe...Sonic would like if Shadow...checked on him?” Cream offered softly, trying to break the friction.

What she accomplished instead was earning one of the ugliest looks Amy had ever sent her way. The small bunny quickly got up from her seat and went to stand by Tails, a guilty expression on her face. Amy glared up at Cheese who was still floating around her head a bit looking at her with displeasure for making Cream upset and cut him the same look, making him wiz across the room and hide in Cream’s arms.

This added even more friction to the room as all the innocent bystanders were trying to figure out exactly what they could say about the situation without having either Shadow or Amy bite their head off. And this was proving to be quite difficult, as even mentioning Shadow and Sonic in the same sentence seemed to offend Amy and Shadow–well–he was Shadow wasn’t he?

Finally having enough of it all, Shadow let out an annoyed growl and announced “It wasn't a kiss ”

Now everyone looked at him slightly shocked, including Tails.

“When Sonic fell into the water and I pulled him out, he wasn’t breathing. So I thought I would perform C. P. R. to see if may that would help him. However–unfortunately–you have to place your mouth on the person for it to work..”

Tails let go of the breath he had been holding and looked relieved while Cream smiled nodded in understanding–even though she really didn’t. Knuckles frowned in confusion as if thinking of something else while Rouge simply raised a eyebrow at him.

But Amy was still staring daggers at him and he knew she didn’t believe it for one minute. Not that he cared much. He really didn’t care what she or any of them thought. But the entire ordeal had become completely annoying and he knew no one would function properly or as well as they possibly could at any rate, until he tried to ‘explain’ himself.

That–and Sonic wasn’t exactly ‘aware’ that Shadow had actually kissed him. And quite frankly, he wasn’t suppose to be aware of the fact. That was for Shadow’s own purposes and benefit. He had to know exactly what he felt before he could properly take a course of action toward the situation and the best way he thought he could find out by that point, was to see how he felt once he kissed him.

And he’d definitely felt something there. But he would let Sonic know this when he was ready–if there was ever a time he WAS ready. And not a moment sooner. ‘Or at least,’ he thought after a moment, still glaring at Amy. ‘It better be that way.’

“It’s okay Shadow,” Tails spoke up cutting into his thoughts as he laughed a bit. “I really didn’t know what to think, though I thought it might have been odd for Sonic to really kiss you–or you to kiss Sonic–and really mean anything by it That’s just–creepy right?”

This earned laughter from everyone except Shadow, who was sending Tails a rather nasty look that only Amy caught. He sent her a side glance and once again, they were glaring at one another like the most bitter of rivals.

Though he suspected, that is exactly what she thought they were now. Bitter rivals.

“Well this has been fun,” Rouge announced, finally looking satisfied about something before standing straight up and sauntering toward the kitchen. “But I’m starving. Who’s going to make breakfast?”

“Me,” Cream practically cheered as she bounced on her feet, starting for the kitchen. She looked back at Tails. “Would you like French Toast? I know that’s your favorite!”

Tails rocked back and forth on his feet a bit and placed his hand behind his head as he looked down and fought a blush. “Sure Cream. Thanks.”

She smiled happily at him as Cheese peeked his name, lodging on her head.

“And I’ll take some–“ Knuckles began but Cream was already in the kitchen. He sweat dropped then grumbling, following Rouge into the kitchen.

Tails began to follow but paused as he looked at Shadow and Rose. Neither had made an effort to move and they were still glaring at each other. This made him uneasy.

“Um guys...”

“I’ll be there in a minute Tails,” Amy announced quietly, not bothering to look at him.

He looked in between them again, still not making a effort to leave them alone. Shadow stopped staring at Amy long enough to look up at Tails then smirking slightly replied “Don’t worry kid. Nothing’s going to happen. I was just leaving.”

He ignored the Amy’s look of offense as he silently made his way out workshop, silently closing the door behind him.

Tails let out another sigh of relief and smiling, turned to say something to Amy but cut himself short when he saw her.

She had the same rage filled look she gave Cream just a moment ago, her left had was balled into a tight fist while her right was clutched tightly are one of her Piko Piko Mallets. She seemed to have a very angry aura around her as her eye began to twitch and she bared her teeth. And she was shaking.

He hadn’t seen her this mad since Knuckles accidently told her that Sonic wasn’t interested in her. It took them all day to calm her down and Sonic wouldn’t go near her. But then, neither would he. Or Knuckles. Or Cream. Then she had accidently smacked Shadow with her mallet in the head– over and over again– thinking he was her azure heartthrob. And Shadow was not a very happy hedgehog after that. And...well...let’s just say a few people went into ‘hiding’ at Lady Vanilla’s–including Amy.

Tails took a small step back, putting his hands up in a defensive fashion before he spoke. “A-Amy?”

“How dare he just...just...leave!” she fumed in a deadly whisper, complete ignoring Tails and glaring at the door. Tails blinked at her and she exploded. “How dare he just leave in the middle of our conversation!”

She stormed her way across the room and left the workshop, slamming the front door so hard that it bounced back open, leaving it ajar.

Tails sweat dropped, looking after her in slight worry–and confusion.

“They were having a conversation?”

~~~~~~~

They were all out in a field together. The sky was filled with gray clouds, casting the backdrop of a gentle rain headed there way. A gentle breeze accompanied the oncoming down pour, running through is quills as he stretched out on his belly, the springy grass tickling him.

He could hear Cream laughing as Tails chased her and Cheese around. He could see Knuckles sitting a ways in front of him in an Indian style fashion while Rouge gave him back rub. They were talking gently among themselves and Sonic had to fight back a laugh. Since when was Knuckles so laid back? He shook his head. Maybe Rouge had that much of an effect on him.

He looked up to see Amy sitting high in a tree to his left, her boots off and resting at the base of the tree while her feet dangled below her. She waved at him cheerfully and smiled his way. He smiled back and gave a little wave before turning on his back and staring up at the sky.

The breeze hit his face and he closed his eyes. Maybe not a beautiful bright sunny day–but it was still comfortable none the less. He had a soft spot for spring rains. They were just as relaxing to him as a sunny day was.

He frowned lightly when he felt someone standing over him. His eyes opened and he saw ebony and crimson looking down at him, a gentle smirk on it’s face.

“Let’s race faker,” Shadow said gently, reaching down taking Sonic’s hand and pulling him up.

Sonic returned the smile as he helped him, not noting how long it took Shadow to release his hand before they both prepared themselfs for the race. He always loved a little competition and even he had to admit, it was nice to have someone like Shadow around. Someone who was actually a challenge for him. Someone he could actually race with.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch and Amy had jumped clear out of the tree and landed right in front of them, twirling as she produced one of her mallets and stopping, held it high in the air as if it were a starting flag.

“Try not to leave him in the dust sweety!” she winked Sonic’s way and he smirked at her as Shadow simply rolled his eyes, then paused to stare intently at Sonic before he adverted his eyes back down the path they would be taking: across the clearing, through the woods and to the middle, where a lone tree stump stood as their check point, then back to the clearing as the finish.

“Ready ” she sang. Neither answered, only gave determined smirks as they lowered themselves to the ground to get a good push off. “Go!”

And they were both off with a start.

At first they were running side by side, right by each other. Deciding he was tired of playing, Sonic gave Shadow a cocky smirk as he pushed himself to run faster, taking the lead as they entered the forest. But a few moments later, Shadow was right by his side again, casting him a smirk of his own before winking–whoa, winking?–and with a burst of speed that even surprised our azure hero, he simply disappeared out of sight.

Sonic frowned slightly. Chaos Control? The Cheater.

Speeding up and planning to trip up Shadow as soon as caught up with him for cheating–well okay, he forgot to mention he couldn’t use Chaos Control but really, Shadow should have known better– he made his way to the small clearing in the middle of the forest with the lone tree stump and simply stopped.

Sonic frowned in confusion as he whirled around, searching. Shadow was no where to be seen.
“What the–” he began to himself, tapping his foot in annoyance as he crossed his arms over his chest. “He didn’t run past. I would have seen it!”

He paused in his rant. “Maybe.” He felt water on his quills and looked up to catch one in his right eye. Rain. It had been so soft at the time–or he was so irritated by Shadow literally seeming to leave him in the dust–that he hadn’t noticed it was raining now. Hard.

Sonic let out a soft sigh as he took in a deep breath, preparing to make his way back. Shadow was going to pay for this one.

Just as he was about to start off, he felt a tug on his wrist that pulled him backward. With a surprised grunt, he landed on the ground with a hard thud.

He blinked up to see Shadow smirking down at him, straddling his hips and pinning him to the ground.

“Hello Sonic.”

A/N:
I’d like to thank you all for reading and reviewing so far. It makes me dance and think happy things! I’d also like to take this moment to thank HarleyQuinn for the great advice! ::bows::

And I do apologize for my horrible grammer and/or spelling. I'm trying to get better at it but in the end, I shall get a beta reader.

As for whether this is a Sonic/Shadow or Sonic/Amy fiction. . .I don’t know. Yet. ::Winks:: Honestly I don't. I love my Shadow/Sonic but in the same breath, I'm beginning to like Amy/Sonic as well.

Hugs and kisses everyone! Part 2 shall be posted very soon!