A Change of Heart

I'm sorry if the characters are OOC, I'm still working on that. But I hope you enjoy anyways.

Disclaimer: I claim NO rights to any Sonic Charcters used in this Story. They belong to SEGA & Sonic Team. I just own the story...

Note: This isn't a sequel to Shadouge: Their Secret Kiss, but I am considering of making one. ^^

Looking out the window with undeniable hope, Rouge mustered a small sigh. She had been watching the rain fall heavily from the night sky for almost a whole hour and frankly she was quite tired of it. She was supposed to be going over to Sonic's house as he and his friends had planned for a movie night. Everyone had been invited if they wanted to attend, but their little affair was cancelled as a last minute storm began brewing. And judging by the looks of it now and to the bat's displeasure, it didn't even seem close to showing any sign of slacking soon.

"Well that definitely kills any ideas of going out tonight.", Rouge growled lowly to herself, shaking her head exasperatedly.

She watched as a bright streak of lightning flashed in the distance and immediately folded her sensitive ears downward, awaiting the loud rumble that always came right after. Fortunately, her wait was not prolonged.

When everything settled down and the only sound that could be heard were the harsh rains, her ears perked back up as she placed her chin in the palm of her hand. She was definitely bored out of her mind now. There was nothing to do and the storm only made everything seem depressing. Looking at the clock on her nightstand she read the time.

It was only eight-thirty, the night was still fairly young.

Sighing, Rouge decided to block the dreary view by closing the curtains and headed to the bathroom, where she took a quick shower to get whatever possible filth was clung to her skin and fur. When finished she wrapped herself with a towel and quickly dressed herself comfortably in a black tank-top and pink fuzzy pajama pants.

Disposing of her dirtied clothes into a hamper, she figured since she had nothing better to do with her time, she might as well see what her roommate was up-to. She headed downstairs into the living-room only to find her black and red streaked friend lying down on his back, asleep on the couch.

He looks so vulnerable when he sleeps, Rouge thought to herself as she watched his chest heave upward and downward with every breath.

Indeed, he did seem vulnerable when he slept. His arms were crossed, as usual, over that fluffy patch of white chest fur. But for once his facial expression didn't seem one of confusion or anger. Instead he seemed rather calm and content, as if his life had no worries whatsoever. It was just too bad he couldn't actually experience such a feeling while he was awake though. No matter what good deed he committed, whether it'd be for one own's benefits or the world's, the hedgehog was always going to be feared. It was not an illogical fact, however, as fear was the only reflex to be expected of a world that had not been exposed to, nor able to comprehend the power he possessed; hence why the humans (and a certain alien) at one time wanted him for themselves, seeing him as nothing more than a mere weapon to use under their control.

But Rouge had always seen him different than that of the world. To her he wasn't a being of mass destruction, or a heartless monster seeking vengeance on people just because someone had wronged him, she saw him as a person. A person with feelings, though he often refused to show them, and a heart; he was just misguided and was doing what he thought seemed suitable because he was hurt of the fact he had lost a very close friend of his. Unlike those people, Rouge didn't focus on the bad things he had done in the past, but more so on the good things, as the good had always outweighed the bad in any given predicament.

Because of that, she allowed herself to smile at her friend's sleeping form. No matter how tough the situation got, Shadow always managed to pull through. And Rouge knew, when the time were to come for everyone in the world to turn their backs on him, he would still be there if his assistance was to be needed when any other could not, whether the humans liked it or not. He was going to be ready and willing to help them with her accompanying him, as she refused to leave his side.

Having returned from her prior thoughts, Rouge quietly tiptoed her way over to her ally and bent forward, placing her face only mere inches away from his. She carefully whispered his name, fearing any abruptness may result in violence, especially since he was unaware to her presence.

"Shadow?"

Rouge let out a small yelp and felt herself jumped a bit when his dark lids unexpectedly flew open, revealing his ruby red orbs, which she felt herself get lost in. She thought he been in a deep sleep, but apparently he wasn't. Shadow gave her an awkward look as if waiting for her to explain exactly what she was doing as she just stood there, staring intently at him. When she said nothing, he pushed her away gently and sat up, wiping the tiredness from his eyes.

"I thought you were going somewhere.", he stated rather rudely than intended, but perhaps it was from the slight annoyance that she had awakened him. Rouge, on the other hand just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but thanks to this stupid weather, there's been a change in plans.", she said listening to more oncoming rain. She then pouted a bit and added in a somewhat sad tone, "You sound as if you do want me here." Her ears flattened slightly as well.

Shadow shook his head, "I never said that."

"I know.", Rouge suddenly smiled at his naïvety, "Because I live here and I can stay here as long as I want. Hah!" She then lazily threw herself onto the opposite side of the couch, slumping.

Shadow, confused a little at her weird behavior, blinked before slowly shaking his head. Keeping his comments to himself, he reached for the remote and turned on the TV with one hand as the other supported his head. He began searching though the channels when Rouge suddenly sighed dramatically as if to catch his attention. His eyes adverted themselves in her direction followed by the rest of his head, slowly.

"Something wrong?"

"I'm bored out of my mind, Shadow..."

"Then go find something to do.", he said indifferently. His attention had now gone back to the television as he again began flipping through the never ending channels.

The bored bat rolled her eyes, "That's the thing, Shadow, there's nothing to do. I've already sorted all my jewels ten times today, it's making me sick."

Shadow stopped what he was doing and glanced her way for a moment, but the bat failed to notice. He had to replay in his mind what she said to make sure he had heard her correctly, which he was positive he did. But I'm the one who has issues. He shook his head from the thought of his friend and returned his attention back to the TV. He eventually got bored as well and threw the remote gently towards her. Rouge, who hadn't been paying attention, flinched slightly as she saw something come her way. Whatever it was she thought it was going to hurt her, but when it landed harmlessly near her, she saw it was only the remote to her flat screen television. She glared daggers at him and he in return smirked, not even phased by it.

Rouge couldn't stay mad at him long, though and slightly smiled before searching for something for them to watch when one of her favorite shows caught her eye. She immediately sat up from her slouched positioned and crossed her legs Indian-style, giving the television her full attention, clearly forgetting Shadow was even there, but he didn't mind. As long as she was entertained and wasn't bothering him or having one of her bored fits again, then he was pleased. In fact, he saw his opportunity to finish what he was doing before she had come down stairs and began to shut his eyes. However, it didn't last very long.

As soon as Shadow began to slowly drift off to sleep, a snore escape him every now and then, lightning decided to play a mean trick and hit one of the electrical lines, striking out all sources of power throughout the whole city. The both of them, along with everyone else in town, were now shrouded in darkness.

Shadow's ears flattened right away as he knew what was expected of Rouge. The bat wailed rather loudly then threw the remote across the coffee table. It then made a crashing sound and Shadow's ears perked. He figured it must have fallen to the floor. The sound of thunder then followed not too long after, and his ears folded again.

"Great!", Rouge groaned, crossing her arms over her chest, but Shadow had no way of knowing. He could, however, sense the annoyance in her voice. "Not only can't I finish watching my show, but I can't see either! Ugh!"

"Rouge, you're a bat.", Shadow stated, knowing full well she was glaring at him for pointing out the obvious. Ignoring her, he pulled out his green Chaos Emerald to provide light for the unsatisfied bat. It let off a somewhat bright glow, just enough to make out close surroundings. He then stood up, stretching his tired limbs a bit, before turning to her. "I guess I'll get the flashlights. Where do you keep them?"

Rouge didn't respond and Shadow didn't need to be genius to know why. He looked at her and saw she looked mesmerized by the something, the Emerald of course. To confirm his assumption, he began to move the jewel upward and downward then left and right. Rouge's eyes and head followed like a dog would when looking at a tempting, mouth watering treat. Shadow sighed, shaking his head and after humoring himself, he eventually got bored and ceased his actions. Rolling his eyes, he called out her name, frustration tainting his tone.

"Rouge!"

"Huh? Wha?", the bat snapped back to reality. "What happened?", she asked having no idea of what was going on before she lost herself at the sight of the beautifully and perfectly cut gem. Shadow turned his back to her.

"You're hopeless.", Shadow muttered silently, with the smallest hint of a smirk. "Never-mind, I'll find them myself." he said heading towards the stairs.

"Find what yourself?"

"The flashlights, Rouge."

"Oh, they're in my room. In the closet; top shelf.", she said.

The hedgehog nodded and began walking up the stairs, but stopped when she suddenly called out to him. "Hey!"

Shadow turned back to her waiting for her to continue, the Emerald made their faces glow a feint greenish color, "What?"

She innocently brought her legs up to her chest and looked down at her feet. "Um...I was thinking that maybe...you could leave the Emerald with me, since you can pretty much use your Chaos abilities to provide yourself some light."

Of course, Shadow had considered it; using his powers as a source of lighting to allow them to see. But even creating the smallest bolt of a Chaos Spear asked for a great deal of energy. The Emerald, on the other hand, worked more like a restoration system; allowing him access to an endless supply of energy when hacked into. The way he saw it, why not use the Emerald. It was better for him to conserve his energy rather than exert himself unnecessarily. Especially with GUN and their untimely calls; he never knew when he might be needed on a mission.

Shadow walked up to Rouge, bending down to her level. "Nice try." He flicked her gently on the nose before turning back around and headed up the stairs.

Rouge, once again, let out a child-like pout.

Shadow came back down moments later with two flashlights, each with two batteries for he didn't know if the ones inside still had any juice left. Luckily, they came on and filled the room with a dim glow, yet provided enough light to allow them to see one another as well as their surroundings. He gave one to Rouge, who thanked him quietly, before sitting in his previous spot on the opposite side of the couch, crossing one leg over the other. He had placed the Emerald back into his quills and his flashlight on the table so it stood straight up; it's light illuminated the ceiling.

The two sat in silence until it became unbearable, well to Rouge anyway.

"Soooo, what do we do now?", inquired the bat, resting her head on her drawn-up knees.

"We wait for the storm to pass.", he replied throwing his head back, staring at the ceiling.

"But that's boring..."

When Shadow didn't respond, Rouge shined the flashlight on his face to see he had closed his eyes. With the power out, it was quiet enough that she didn't need to strain her ears to know that he was slowly entering his dream world again, leaving her up by herself with absolutely nothing to do.

"Ugh...", Rouge grumbled, throwing herself back a bit, like a toddler does when being told 'no' about something, as pure boredom set in. She looked around the room for anything that could entertain her but unfortunately since the power was out, there were only a lonesome purple and white striped sofa pillow she sat next to, fancy stoned pedestals which held vases containing expensive looking plants in the far corners of the room, and that stupid mahogany coffee table which the stupid remote refused to land on.

Wait a minute. Rouge's eyes went back to the object of interest.

Sofa pillow, huh?

A devious smile ran across the ivory bat's face as an idea formed in her head, 'Hmm...this could be interesting.'

Gripping the purple and white striped pillow firmly not to drop it, she lunged the cushion at Shadow, quite hard. It bounced off his face and fell to the floor.

Shadow's eyes slowly opened as he was now awake. He brought one of his hands to his face, in attempt to soothe the stinging sensation his nose had now acquired, before looking to Rouge with a raised eye-ridge. "Why?"

"Aw, don't tell me the big bad Ultimate Life-Form is afraid of soft cushiony pillows." Rouge teased picking up the pillow, giving it a tight hug to demonstrate just how harmless it actually was.

Shadow huffed, not even giving her the satisfaction in whatever it was she was trying to do, or more likely trying to get HIM to do.

He put his head back and closed his eyes again. Right when he felt he was about to doze off into a deep sleep, he was struck again.

THWACK!

Sighing, the dark hedgehog opened one eye, trying his hardest to give off an immense glare, which he knew would have little affect (if any at all) on his ally, who in turn seemed quite amused.

"How mature are we?", he said, having finally caught on to Rouge's doings.

"Oh, lighten up will ya, Shadow? It's just for fun. No harm intended."

"Hmph.", Shadow, who seemed anything but interested, crossed his arms and closed his only eye once again. He had no time for fun, even if it was just to pass the time. And he surely wasn't going to waste his day off work participating in a pillow fight game. To him it was just...childish and idiotic.

Maybe it was because he failed to comprehend the fact as to why anyone would find slapping one another around with pillows to the point of unconsciousness was even considered fun in the first place; it just didn't make the least bit of sense to him. Yes, pillows were "soft and cushiony", as the bat had put it, but when thrown with the right amount of force behind it, those could result into some kind of injury. And Shadow was living proof of that, having experienced it not even five minutes ago.

However, his curiosity had been piqued, wanting to know why, of all people, Rouge had found smacking him senseless with stuffing filled items to be at all humorous. It was more understandable if it were someone around Cream or Tails' age maybe even Amy's, but Rouge? How old was she? eighteen? Yeah, that just seemed a bit strange to him, is all. Sure the bat showed she like to have 'fun', but it was the more mature way-through flirting and teasing-that he was far more used to than chucking pillows.

So why was she getting a kick out of this then? Must be the boredom setting in, he concluded, before chancing a glance her way, which she failed to notice.

Her flawless face was downcast while unique turquoise eyes stared at nothing in particular. Though her ears weren't drooped in a sadden fashion, Shadow could clearly see she was no longer in an ecstatic mood. In fact, now she seemed almost neutral; neither happy or sad. It sort of reminded him of himself.

Great, Shadow sighed mentally, knowing he couldn't stand to see anyone that way, especially someone he cared about. If the bat wasn't smiling or showing the least bit of emotion, the hedgehog automatically knew something was wrong. Of course, he knew he had been the cause of that something right now.

Being one who hardly ever gave in to his feelings, Shadow did his best to resist the urge of picking up the pillow that lied on the floor next to him. He knew retaliating in the same way to Rouge was very unacceptable, especially for him, though his actions said otherwise.

It seemed to have all been a blur to Shadow, his mind had drawn a blank. To him, everything had gone in slow-motion. He watched as the pillow that somehow managed to get in his grip, was thrown towards the unexpected Rouge and hit her square in the face. It then fell to the floor softly with a near silent thud.

The expression on the bat's face was one of confusion at first and her mind was probably accumulating one particular question at the moment: What the heck just happened? She looked to Shadow and saw he had a similar expression on his face as well, while looking at his gloved hand in disbelief. He was most likely just as bewildered as she was, if not more so.

Rouge gave a small smile at the baffled hedgehog before narrowing her eyes a bit as she crossed her arms. That smile soon turned into twisted smirk of her own and with a snicker, she recounted. "So, how mature are we, Shadow?"

The bat's teasing voice cut through his train of thought. Shadow's ears twitched upon taking note that she had used his own set of words against him. However, the only answer she received from him was a scoff. He folded his arms back into their usual position and turned his head away, though, it was evident he was trying to hide the little pink blush that was apparent on his cheeks; clearly from embarrassment, or maybe it was something else.

Whatever it was, Rouge could only muster a light chuckle at her ebony companion. She enjoyed the fact that she could pretty much make him do anything against his better judgement. If it were anyone else...well they'd most likely be on the wrong end of a Chaos Spear. However, Rouge being who she was had not to worry about that.

Picking up the pillow and placing it behind her, Rouge rose from her seat on the couch and stood directly in front of him, before calling his name in a flirty manner. "Oh, Sha-dow?~"

Said hedgehog looked up reluctantly, mainly because of the fact he realized how low he had stooped. He was annoyed and wanted to be left alone, but that all changed when he noticed the bat's wicked smile, that and the rapidly flying pillow that was heading straight for his head.

WHAM!

"Gotcha!", Rouge yelled out, slamming her pillow down. However, upon further observation, she soon realized the pillow had impacted against the sofa cushion where the Ultimate Lifeform once sat. She had missed. "Huh?"

The sound of someone clearing their throat resonated from behind her told her to turn around. She did, only to see her hedgehog friend standing there, arm extended and the Chaos Emerald back in his grasp.

Chaos Control. Of course...

Rouge feigned hurt. "That's not fair!"

"Yes, you're right. It isn't fair.", Shadow replied with a small smirk. "But..."

Said hedgehog then walked up to Rouge, who in turn raised an eyebrow curiously, yet held a firm grip on to the pillow in her hand; no doubt thinking he was going to take it from her. However, that was not his intention and without any further word exchange from the pair, Shadow reached around her. Gripping his hand on his weapon of choice: the pillow he been sitting next to the whole time, Rouge knew the next few words he had hissed softly into her ear only meant one thing:

He meant business and something told her this wasn't a game anymore.

"All's fair in love and war..."

Hey guys! I'm back! It's been a while, I know almost a whole year since I posted anything and I can't blame anyone but myself for that. So to get back in the swing of things I decided to finish this two-shot (of course it's not complete just yet) that I've been working on for two years now (before I knew about this fanfiction cite) while also trying to balance other ideas for my other stories as well. However, I am thinking of putting my first story While She Was Away up for adoption (?) if anyone's interested just let me know, if not it'll just be deleted.

Anyway, so what do you guys think? It's a two-shot so one more chapter to go! Yay! (whoop whoop)