CHAPTER 2

SUSPICION

Everything was pitch black and silent until a distant call was heard from far away.

"Shadow? Shadow? Wake up", the voice called.

Soon the darkness had faded and a friendly middle-aged pink hedgehog appeared. "Anita?" The ebony hedgehog replied in a low tone. "Is that you?"

"Why of course it is. Who else?"

The hedgehog took his head away from the pillow of the bed he was laying in and looked around the room for a short time. "This is my room. Did you bring me back to my house?"

She nodded, "Well, I had no choice but to bring you home. Apparently you had a little too much and passed out."

He placed his hand on his forehead, "What? What happened anyway? All I can remember was meeting this really mysterious girl..."

"You mean Rose?"

"Rose? You met her? What the hell happened while I was unconscious?"

"Calm down. She came to me with you in her arms and told me you had a little too much and passed out while you two were talking. After that I decided to take you home."

Shadow's head met the pillow once again with his hand still on his forehead. "Well, I guess that would explain my headache but I just can't remember much of anything for some reason."

She made a small smile, "Shadow, you were drunk. You're not going to have a perfect memory about what happened. Besides I'm sure it'll all eventually come back to you."

"I hope you're right."

She smiled and walked towards the door, "Well, I hope you get better soon. If I were you, I'd stay in bed and get plenty of rest."

"Where are you going?"

"Back home. Isn't that where you want me? Or will you miss me?"

"I'd rather have you gone."

She giggled, "Why does that not surprise me?" She opened the door and walked out.

Afterwards Shadow couldn't get the mysterious Rose out of his mind while he tried to remember what had happened between them. 'Who is she?' He thought.

Later in a really dark room, a pink hedgehog was leaning against the wall looking over to a strange black creature sitting in a chair.

The creature was just staring at the claws on his hand while he was talking to her. "So you did what you were told?"

She made a nod, "Yes, Lord Dark."

"Excellent. It seems you were some use to me after all."

"So when do I kill this fucker. That black hedgehog I mean."

The creature stood from his chair and confronted her. He pointed one of his sharp claws at her neck. "You keep away from him. Kill him and you die."

"What!" She exclaimed. "I don't understand. I went to the stupid party, met him, I practically had sex with him, and I placed that tracking device on him while I knocked him unconscious. I don't see a plan here."

"Rose, you were hired by me to keep an eye on him. We need him He'll play the most important part of all. Anyway I shall reveal the true plan in time." He took his claw away from her neck.

"I'm still kinda lost here."

His head turned to her, "You know Rose, the mayor won't be very busy tomorrow. Why don't you have some fun with her? And who knows, maybe Shadow and his friends will show up to come play as well."

She smirked and took out a kunai from her pocket. "Something tells me tomorrow's gonna be a blast."

The next day, Shadow had walked into the Chaotix and was knocked to the floor with Charmy on top of him.

"Captain Shadow!" He shouted. "You came back!"

"Charmy, what the hell are you doing? Get off me!"

The bee easily got off the hedgehog, "Sorry about that. I got a little too excited. Did I break anything?"

"Only your brain", he replied in an annoyed tone.

Charmy then felt a warm hand touch his shoulder. He spun around and saw a purple cat giving him a glare.

"Charmy, what's wrong with you? Look what you did to Shadow! Do you have to do that every time he walks through the door?"

He nodded, "Yes."

"Just get back to your post and quit being so annoying."

The bee frowned, "Why do I have to listen to you anyway, Tonya? You're not the boss or second in command around here."

"Just leave!" She shouted.

The bee had then left surprisingly obeying Tonya's command.

The cat looked down at the hedgehog still laying on the floor. "Oh, Shadow! Let me help you." She took his hand and helped him off the floor.

"Thanks, Ton."

"No problem", she said shyly. "So, where were you yesterday?"

"I thought Espio reported to Vector that I went to a really fancy party."

"Oh he did, but I wanted to ask you to see if it was true. So did you have a good time?" She asked.

"Well...", he began. "It was boring at first then I met this girl and everything started to get weird." He placed his hand on his head, "I just can't remember much of anything after that. I got so drunk, I fell unconscious."

"A...girl?" She repeated with anger. "What did you and this...girl do the whole time?"

"Well, we talked and talked some more in a dark basement, and the rest is just blank."

Tonya had became a nervous wreck. She figured it was a bad thing that Shadow couldn't remember anything after he had talked to that girl. Now millions of possible things that they would've done had filled her mind. 'I hope Shadow didn't make out with her or anything.' She placed her hand on his shoulder lightly, "I'm sure it'll all come back to you and when it does, you can always come to me to talk about it."

"Thanks but I'd rather keep those kind of things to myself if it ever does come back."

She tried to smile, but it didn't seem to work. "Sure, do what you want." 'Damn it!' She thought.

"Shadow, you're back!" A purple chameleon shouted as he approached him. "So how was that party?"

"Awful Espio, I can't remember anything."

Tonya noticed that Shadow would feel more comfortable talking with Espio since they were very close friends, so she decided to walk away from them both.

The chameleon started to chuckle a bit, "Too much fun huh? Wow, you're like the only guy I know that know's how to have fun with old hags."

"No you idiot! I meant had too much to drink but...it could've been something else. I don't know." He stood there holding his head frustrated. "I wish I could remember!"

"Well, what's the last thing you can remember?"

Shadow took time to gather his thoughts together before telling him. "I met this young pink hedgehog there. She looked tough and nothing could stop her. And to top it all off, she was drop dead gorgeous."

"Gorgeous huh?" Espio repeated with interest.

"Yeah and later she and I went some place quiet to talk which was in a filthy dark basement."

Espio's mind was then filled with strange thoughts. "Oh I think I know what happens next", he said with a smirk.

"What?" He asked.

"You got it on with her. Way to go player!"

The hedgehog gave him an angry glare and blushed at the comment. "You perverted bastard! I did not!" He then began to have quick flashbacks in his mind from what happened at the party. The only thing entering his mind was her kissing him and her whispering his name in an aroused tone. His eyes widened with shock, "...Maybe it did happen."

"What? So I was right? The pervy chameleon was right?"

"For once I think you are. Some of my memory just came back and maybe me passing out was no accident."

Espio stood there puzzled at the thought but before he could say anything, Vector came into the room.

The crocodile seemed pretty shocked about what he was about to say. "Guys, we got a situation here!"

"What's wrong, Vector?" Shadow knew what he was about to tell them would be pretty important and serious.

Meanwhile in a huge office, a female yellow fox was thrown to the floor next to the two corpses of her bodyguards. She looked up at the mysterious ninja dressed in black with most of his face covered in a black mask. She gritted her teeth in anger, "What the hell do you want from me, assassin?"

The assassin did not answer and started to approach her with a very sharp kunai in his hand.