Shadow the Hedgehog, a dark, lone hedgehog who keeps everything to himself, since around 16 (he's now 18), he has had a group of friends of his own, but so does his rival, Sonic the Hedgehog. Shadow's always despised Sonic and always thought of him as a 'faker'. Each time Sonic and Shadow confronted each other they felt obliged to have some sort of fight. But two girls always stopped them.

Amy Rose and Sally Acorn, Amy was Sonic's girlfriend, and Sally, well, she was a 'friend' of all three of them.

Shadow didn't have a girlfriend, Rouge used to imply commonly that she and Shadow were in some sort of 'flirtationship', but one day Shadow went mad and made it very clear that he had no romantic feelings towards Rouge. He was forced to apologise however for shouting at her so they are still friends. However, after a few years, Shadow was easily considered to be desperate for love, he was grumpy, sad, lonely, shy and was nicer to the girls than he was to the boys by FAR.

And on Tuesday 20th of November, everything changed.

Sonic invited everybody, including Shadow, over to his house for a party. He and Amy had a special announcement to make and wanted to make it important. Shadow didn't seem to care much, he just went there, and sat down by himself enjoying some snacks, minding his own business.

Eventually, Knuckles came over to him just after Sonic and Amy made their announcement, he smirked and asked, "Shadow, why aren't you congratulating Sonic and Amy? Do you have no heart?"

Shadow glared at him, a fire sparking in his eyes...

"I don't like that hedgehog, why should I be happy for him?" he gritted.
"At least be happy for poor Amy! She's all Sonic's worried about, he doesn't care if you're horrible to him!" Knuckles groaned, clenching his fists.

The flame in Shadow's eyes grew...

"That stupid girl nearly broke my neck with her pathetic little hammer!" Shadow growled. Knuckles stared at Shadow in surprise and then glared again.
"HEY! DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FRIENDS LIKE THAT YOU HEARTLESS PIECE OF CRAP!" Knuckles shouted. Everyone turned around and went silent in order to hear what was going on.

Shadow's eyes were engulfed in flames of rage.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?! THAT'S IT!" Shadow roared, then he punched Knuckles in the jaw and knocked him over. He breathed heavily and clenched his fist.

"Knuckles!" Sonic said, running up to Knuckles, he lifted his head and Knuckles groaned in agony.
"I'm okay... but get that bastard away from me!" Knuckles growled harshly.
"Shadow, you monster!" Amy cried.
"Shut up you stupid little baby!" Shadow screamed. That was over the limit for Sonic, he jumped up and tackled Shadow to the ground, he began beating him up and Sally screamed.

Eventually, Sally couldn't take it anymore, "STOP IT YOU TWO!" she roared, grabbing Sonic and Shadow and pushing them hard away from each other.

"GET THAT... THING OUT OF MY HOUSE! NOW!" Sonic panted. Everyone, even Amy and Sally, gasped. They'd never seen Sonic so angry! Apart from of course when he turns into Dark Sonic. But even then, he never called ANYONE a thing!

Even Shadow was shocked.

"Sonic... I-" he said, too surprised to retaliate aggressively.
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH BEFORE I SNAP OFF YOUR JAW!" Sonic roared, growling angrily. Shadow stood up and walked out. The way he did... it almost looked like... guilt!

Amy ran up to Sonic, crying into his soft, furry chest. Sonic hugged her and shut his eyes. "It's okay, that bastard's gone now..." Sonic whispered into her ear comfortingly. Everyone stared at Shadow as he slammed the door and walked out onto the path outside Sonic's garden.

Sally suddenly ran after him, Sonic glared towards the door after she ran out and kissed Amy's head.

"Shadow!"
"WHAT?!" Shadow growled, spinning round, then he noticed it was Sally and sighed. "Oh, it's you..." he muttered.
Sally blushed, "I have a name you know!" she said, sounding frustrated.
Shadow was silent.
"Why did you say those things back there? Why did you hurt Knuckles? Shadow I'm worried about you, this is too much to be normal, even for you..." Sally said, walking up to Shadow and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He shook it off.
"Leave me alone!" he said, still not daring to look at her.
Sally was silent, then she smirked and replied, "Or else what?"

Shadow opened his eyes, not expecting to hear what he just heard. He spun round and looked at Sally.
"What did you just say?" he asked, sounding a lot calmer, although Sally doubted he was actually calm on the inside.
"I'm not scared of you Shadow the Hedgehog, I said 'or else what!'" Sally grinned.
"Hmph!" Shadow said, shrugging it off and turning away again.
"Please, Shadow, talk to me, we're friends!" Sally said, tears filling her eyes.
"A friend of my enemy is an enemy of my own," Shadow sternly replied.
"Oh really, would an enemy of yours do this?" Sally grinned again. She spun Shadow round, stood on her tip-toes and kissed him on the lips. Shadow's arms dropped and his eyes widened. Sally was kissing him... properly... on purpose... PASSIONATELY... ON THE LIPS! Sally wrapped her arms round his neck and pulled him closer. Somehow, the kiss lasted for about a whole minute!

Eventually, Shadow closed his eyes, and Sally broke up the kiss slowly.

"How was that?" she grinned. Shadow opened his eyes again.
"Sally... do you..." Shadow said, but Sally interrupted him.
"Yes, Shadow, I love you. I've loved you for a long time now, not long after I broke up with Sonic I fell in love with you, I just never got the chance to show you how much I loved you," she whispered into his ear. Then she looked into his eyes. No more was there a flame, there was a twinkle, a twinkle of love, and passion.

"Oh Sally... I love you too!" he exclaimed, hugging her tightly. Sally let a tear drip from her eye as she hugged him back.

And they hugged each other for ages... they had to eventually, but they wanted to let go...