PIGMENTS

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A pimple on your face is better than a wart on your toes.

-X-treme

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"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Shadow heard Rouge scream from upstairs. "Rouge!" He called out, rushing clumsily up the stairs.

Rouge's bedroom door was closed, but Shadow just slammed it open with one blow, and entered in her room in haste. He looked for her, listening for any movement. He heard another scream from Rouge, coming from the bathroom. Without thinking, Shadow burst the bathroom door open, seeing Rouge... naked. His eyes widened in shock.

'Oh shit.' he thought, calmly stepping back.

But it seemed like the white bat didn't notice, so Shadow just slowly, and quietly just closed the door behind him, pretending that nothing happened.

XXX

Rouge came down the stairs, this time all dressed up. Shadow was sitting on the living room couch doing nothing. He turned his head towards her, and nodded in greeting. But when he saw her, there was a paper bag, covering the albino bat's lovely face. He gave a confused look, and stood up to walk towards her. Rouge avoided him and walked into the small kitchen. Shadow followed.

"Rouge, what are you doing?" he asked in his serious tone.

Rouge took her time to respond, but when she did, she answered in a sad type of tone. "Making breakfast."

Shadow rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Why do you have a paper bag over your head." he asked, but it sounded more of a demanding question.

This time, Rouge didn't answer. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Shadow just walked up behind her and quickly pulled the paper bag off. Rouge quickly buried her face in her hands, and kneeled down to the kitchen floor.

"No. I don't want the world to see me like this." she whispered.

Shadow heard her, and gave her a look that read, 'you either an insane woman, or your brain needs replacement.' He just sat beside her, crossing his arms as if not to be touched.

There was another longing pause, before Shadow broke it with a fake, 'ahem'. Rouge still didn't budge from her position. Her face was still buried in her hands. Shadow rolled his eyes, and sighed in irritation that she could become this stubborn. He decided to make the first move.

"Rouge. What's wrong?" he tried to say a gently as possible, but for a violent, threatening, serious guy like himself, usually speaking in a threatening death tone, so it was difficult for him, and the words sounded like he was actually growling at his closest friend.

Rouge remained buried in her hands. "Everything." she responded, sounding like she was about to cry.

Shadow knew he wasn't dealing with the situation like he had wanted it to. He inched a little closer to her, to think he could comfort his ally a little bit.

"So your saying everything is wrong."

"Yes." Rouge responded.

"The world is wrong."

"Yes."

"Sonic being in this 'wrong' world is wrong."

"Yes."

"This club is wrong."

"Yes."

"Us sitting on the kitchen floor is wrong."

"Yes."

"Me trying to comfort you is wrong."

"Yes."

"I'm wrong."

"Yes."

"Your face is wrong."

"..." There was a silence between the two.

Just then, Rouge started breaking into sobs. She hugged Shadow tightly, with Shadow startled, not knowing that was going to happen. He didn't know how to react, but hearing his best friends sobs, made him gently pet her wings. He tried to calm her down as best he could.

"Okay Rouge, time to get a hold of yourself. " he said in her ear sounding uncomfortable about the sudden embrace.

Rouge's sobs, got quieter. She then stopped, and whipped her face with the back of her hand. She sniffed a couple of times and took a deep breath, and let it out with a sigh. She got up, not looking at Shadow. Shadow sensed that she still didn't want him to see her face.

Shadow shook his head. 'She's becoming as stubborn as me now.' he thought, then walked up to her. "Rouge. Tell me what's going on."

Rouge slowly shook her head.

"Rouge." Shadow was getting impatient.

"Why is it any of your business." she said, quite darkly.

Shadow ignored her tone and just responded to her. "Because we're allies." he said simply.

There was another pause again. Finally, Rouge sighed. "Okay. What's wrong is---" She stopped, trying to get the words out of her head. "The problem is---"

"Yes, come out with it." Shadow ordered.

Rouge then broke into tears, "...I have a pimple!" she then again braced herself in a tight hug with Shadow, clinging to his chest fur, sobbing uncontrollably.

"...THAT'S IT!?" Shadow nearly screamed.

Rouge nodded slowly, continuing to weep. Shadow slammed his hand against his forehead. "All that trouble, just for a stupid pigment on your face!" he growled.

Rouge lifted her head and glared at Shadow with tears still in her eyes. "You think just a little pimple doesn't mean anything to you? Well, I never had one before!" Rouge announced and backed away from her closest friend, kind of shoving him.

"I pimple isn't such a big deal. Everyone has it at least once in their life. You're not any different." he told her, trying to get patient with her. "And besides. They'll go away after an amount of time."

Rouge sniffed. "No, my beautiful face is ruined, because of this!" She pointed at the pimple.

It was so small, Shadow had to be at kissing distance and squint just to barley see it: a soft pink microscopic circular bump in the middle of the flat, tan skin... or fur.

He raised his hands helplessly. "For God's sake it's barley noticeable! Not even someone who's making out with you with his eyes open can see it."

"And how would you know."

"Because I didn't see it."

"But how would you know if someone kissed me with his eyes open wouldn't notice it." Rouge demanded, stomping her floor.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "It's just a figure of speech!"

"Well figure of speech or not, there's still a fact. There's a pimple on my cheek!"

"Just forget about the zit!"

"No! It'll ruin my face!"

"Then just take a face surgery!"

"What a brilliant idea!" Rouge yelled, and started to walk out the door, snatching her purse from the coat hanger, but before she could turn the knob, Shadow blocked her.

"I was being sarcastic!" Shadow snapped at her.

"Well, this is an emergency!" Rouge snapped back, and tried to reach for the doorknob again, but Shadow blocked it with his back.

Rouge tried to push him aside, but he was way overpowered by her strength. She tried to kick him out of the way, but he skillfully blocked them all.

"Get out of my way!" She demanded, trying to shove him again.

"No." Shadow responded, and lifted his friend's fine body with his arms.

Rouge tried to squirm free. "Lemme go!" she ordered.

She started to hit Shadow's arms in a sissy kind of way.

"Your acting like a spoiled brat just because of a stupid pigment." Shadow informed, not releasing Rouge.

He walked up the stairs to Rouge's room, and laid her on her queen sized bed. He then released Rouge from his arms, with her starting to run off again. Shadow just beat her to the door a locked it, making sure she couldn't escape, Rouge tried to escape by the window, but Shadow locked them all. She was now trapped.

"I need a face surgery!" Rouge whined.

"Your just going to ruin your face even more." Shadow said, folding his arms.

"At least this pimple will go away!"

"Just shut-up and calm yourself."

"No. I'll never shut-up! I want to get surgery! I hate this pimple! I hate it! I hate it! I ha--- mph!" Rouge was suddenly cut off with a sloppy, but spicy kiss from the Ultimate Life form.

But just before she realized that he kissed her, it just as quickly ended. Rouge was stunned, surprised, speechless. Shadow wiped off the saliva with the back of his hand.

"That's more like it." he said, sounding quite proud of himself, finally getting Rouge to shut-up.

Rouge just stared up straight ahead, with her eyes showing nothing. Shadow then rolled his eyes and growled. "Now your being fully quiet instead of fully talkative."

"Well which one do you want?" Rouge asked rudely, pointing eye daggers at him.

Rouge's stubbornness was getting on Shadow's last nerve. "I want you in-between."

"No. It's either talk or don't talk. You need to pick one or---"

Shadow sighed, "Shut it already!" and he kissed her again.

But something unexpected came, Rouge deepened this next kiss, with her hands behind Shadow's head, pushing his face, closer to hers. She slowly started to lay down, bringing Shadow with her. The kiss seemed like it lasted for eternity, but everything had to end. They broke apart after long, heavenly moments, breathing deeply.

"Wow." Rouge whispered. She then smirked. "That was something."

"And what about the pigment?" Shadow reminded her.

Rouge thought a moment, then shrugged. "It's just a stupid pimple, It'll go away after an amount of time." she mimicked.

Shadow rolled his eyes and slightly chuckled to himself. "Suit yourself." he lowered his face to hers, again kissing her gently.

After a few minutes, Rouge gently pushed Shadow away, and walked into her bathroom. "I'll be right back." she said flirtatiously, and closed the door behind her.

Shadow smiled darkly, knowing what she was gonna do, but after a few seconds, instead of what Shadow was expecting, he expected the total opposite.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Shadow heard Rouge scream from the bathroom. "Rouge!" He called out, running towards the bathroom, once again, slamming open the door.

When he did, he then saw Rouge, right in front of the mirror, but luckily, she was dressed. She screamed again and then burst into tears, again covering her face.

"Rouge! What's wrong?" Shadow asked worriedly, walking up to her and gently hugged her from behind.

She remained buried in her hands "Everything!" she managed to say between sobs.

Shadow petted her arm softly. "It's okay, you can tell me." he cooed in her ear.

Rouge's sobs lowed down, she removed her hands from her face, but she still looked at the floor, not letting Shadow see her face.

"Now, what's the matter?" Shadow asked.

"The problem is---" she was struggling to let the words out.

"What's wr---wro---wrong i-is---" she tried again, yet another stumbled failure.

"Out with it." Shadow, said getting impatient.

Rouge, struggled with her words.

"Is it another pimple again?" Shadow asked, hoping that it wasn't.

Then Rouge started to again burst into uncontrollable sobs. "No! Worse! I have a mole!" she covered her face with her hands again.

After hearing this, Shadow slowly released the embrace with Rouge and calmly took a deep breath, and released it with a scream:

"...THAT'S IT!!??"

AN: Lol, alright now, R&R and tell me what you think of it!

Until Next Time

X-treme