- - -

Chapter 8: Could It Be...?

A sigh passed through pale peach lips as the snowy white hedgehog rinsed the water out of a yellow sponge into a bucket. Of course she loved her grandfather but making her stand outside in such freezing weather to wash the windows was just ridiculous. Even with her feather filled pink coat and a white scarf around her neck she was still cold. A shiver ran down her spine as she began rubbing the grime and dirt off of the window. It was so cold that she could see her breath in front of her face. Her ears twitched upon hearing the door to the café open and was about to give her usual 'thank you, come again' saying until she spotted who it was. Placing the sponge back into the soapy water she rinsed it out before turning to the black and red striped hedgehog who stood by the door, his usual blank look on his face. "Heya, Shadow," she greeted. "How come you're out here?"

"You're grandfather asked me to tell you to go back inside. Said it was too cold to be out," Shadow said simply. Just by looking at the female hedgie you could tell that she was pretty cold. That was to be expected though, as normally temperature changes didn't have as much of an affect on Shadow as with others and at the moment it was pretty cold to him.

Belle blinked in slight confusion. First her grandfather had told her to come outside because the windows needed cleaning now he was saying to come back inside. That old man could never properly make up his mind. Shaking her head, Belle quickly said, "No. These windows need doing. I'll come in once they're done." Grabbing the sponge again she resumed washing the window.

Sighing, Shadow strolled over to her and swiftly swiped the sponge from the girl's hand. "Its cold, go inside," he said sternly. He gave Belle a shove towards the café door. "I've pretty much done everything Gord asked me to do. I'll finish the windows up for you."

Making a small 'oof' as she was pushed towards the door, Belle momentarily frowned but it faded when Shadow said that he would finish her job for her. Turning back to the ebony anthro she saw that he had already got to work. She was about to object to him when Gord tapped on the window and made a motion with his hand, telling her to come inside. Taking one last looked at Shadow, who didn't at all seem bothered by the cold, she went inside.

- - -

Dumping the now dirty sponge into the bucket of equally dirty water, Shadow made a small 'hmph' sound. He had basically spent the remainder of his working hours on those blasted windows. His fingers were nearly frozen and parts of him where water had dripped made his fur wet. It was no wonder Gord had told that girl to go back inside. Picking up a towel that sat near the bucket, that had thing layers of frost on some patches, he dried his ungloved hands. The café door opening caught his attention, although he didn't turn to look. If it was just some random customer then they would leave. But if it was someone who wanted him they would address him. And it was the latter of the two as Belle's soft voice called out to Shadow. Now he turned to find that it was in fact the white hedgehog, two mugs of steaming coffee in her hands.

"Thank you so much for doing the windows for me," the smaller hedgehog thanked, walking up to Shadow who just gave her a nod that said 'no problem' or something along those lines. She offered one of the mugs to him and smiled. "Here. Like you said earlier, it's cold. This should warm you up."

Without question, Shadow took the mug, taking a sip of it and almost shivering as he drank the warm liquid. He glanced at Belle, seeing that she was still there only now leaning against the window with one foot up against the brick underneath it while drinking her own coffee. Shadow thought that she should really go back inside, although, like most times, didn't voice his concerns. Although...there was one whom he had been voicing his concerns to quite often recently. He wondered why that was, as he didn't do so before the...incident. But the blue hedgehog was still recovering. Still, it didn't explain why he did it.

"Um...Shadow?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, said male looked over to where his name was called by the white and pink hedgehog. "Hm?"

Belle looked down at her feet, her muzzle tinting just the slightest, although she looked kind of sad. Why was that? "Tomorrow's going to be your last day on the trial...If grandpa decides that he doesn't wish to hire you...then I may not see you again..." She put her foot back in the ground and shuffled her feet slightly. "So I though that maybe we could do something together after work. If that's okay with you."

Shadow listened to the other's words and took another sip from the coffee. Spend time with her? They barely knew each other. Closing his eyes, he replied simply, "I have things to attend to tomorrow." Reopening his eyes he looked over at her and took note of the sad look in her eyes. He wasn't sure what came over him but with another sigh he looked at a random cat (normal not anthro) atop of a trashcan across the street and added, "But not the next day..."

Belle's sad eyes suddenly lit up. "Really!? Great! We'll have a blast, I promise." This was brilliant! Shadow had agreed to do something, and with her, too! But hold on, if they were going out somewhere, then wouldn't that kind of be a date? Belle's muzzle suddenly turned crimson at the thought.

A loud knocking on the window from the other side caught both Shadow and Belle's attention. Gord was pounding a fist on the glass and then waving a finger at Belle who just smiled sheepishly at him and moved away from the glass she was leaning on. Gord suddenly pointed to both of them and then tapped his watched, telling them both that their shift had ended.

Giving a friendly salute to her elder, Belle gave another smile to Shadow. "How about we meet at the park that day, then? I'll tell you a time tomorrow."

Nodding to Belle, Shadow headed back inside the warm café, quickly drinking the rest of his coffee and washing it out before heading to the staff room and grabbed his coat. After buttoning the black coat up, he gave another nod to Gord, this one saying 'goodbye', he left without another word. His shift for the day was supposed to end at around 5 at night, so he guessed it was around that time, for only a complete imbecile wouldn't be able to guess that. His garnet eyes turned to the sky and a frown spread across Shadow's face. Raven clouds were circling above, not a good sign. A little further ahead on one of the large screens on a building was issuing a storm warning. Great. No wonder there wasn't many people out on the street. The storm was apparently predicted to rage any time between tonight and the approaching week, meaning that he would have to get supplies.

Turning another corner he soon spotted the apartment block he lived at and quickened his pace, finding that the cold weather was quite uncomfortable. He was hit by a burst of warmth when he opened the door to his home. That blue idiot must have the heaters turned on. Closing the door and locking it he hung up his coat, as he usually did when returning from somewhere. He frowned upon seeing that the television was switched on, yet there were no signs of anyone in the lounge. On the table in front of the couch was a plate with bread crumbs, some of which had been knocked onto the table itself, and next to it was a half empty glass of water. Judging by the messiness of it Shadow concluded that Sonic had made the mess and didn't bother clearing up after himself. Speaking of the faker...where was he...? If that idiot had decided to go off somewhere while he was out again so help him, for Shadow would do something to him that would make him want to leave.

Deciding to check the kitchen, Shadow almost did a double take. The room was an absolute mess! Different types of food and condiments were sprawled across the floor and kitchen tops. What appeared to be spots of mayo were splattered across the cupboard doors. The stove had scorch marks all around it; on the wall, the floor, and the stove itself. But what really baffled Shadow was how the slices of tomato were stuck to the ceiling. It was official. Sonic. Was. Going. To. Die!

A black pointed ear twitched, hearing a door in the hall open. A scowl on his face Shadow went back into the lounge and found Sonic walking in from the hall, rubbing a towel on his head. He grinned when he saw the furious black hedgehog, but it faltered slightly when he saw the scowl on Shadow's face. "What's up buddy?" he questioned, placing the now damp towel on the back of the couch.

"'What's up'?" repeated the darker hedgehog. "'What's up'!? I'll tell you 'what's up'! The kitchen is a complete mess! It wasn't like that before I left. Care to explain how it got in such a state?"

Sonic almost flinched at the venom in Shadow's voice. "I was...making lunch...?" he replied, grinning nervously and giving a shrug. He had a feeling that he was in big trouble.

The scowl only deepened at the blue hedgehog's answer. He moved over to the other and roughly grabbed his arm, dragging him into the kitchen. He stopped just at the entrance, not letting go of the peach arm in his grasp. "You call this making lunch!?" he spat.

"I was gonna clean it up!" Sonic quickly said, trying to pry free from the hand that had a tight hold on his arm.

Giving the younger hedgehog a quick glare, Shadow let go of the arm and headed over to the sink, turning the hot tap on and squirting some liquid soap in the bowl before turning to Sonic. "You are going to clean this up now!" Being careful not to get mayo on him as he opened one of the cupboards under the sink, he pulled out a scrubbing brush, placing it into the bowl and switching the tap of now that the bowl was completely filled with soapy water. "Get to it!" he ordered before leaving the room and seating himself on the couch in the lounge.

Heaving a sigh, the blue furry thought it best to get on with it. Ears drooping slightly, he grabbed the scrubbing brush and then looked around the kitchen, wondering just where should he start to clean.

- - -

Opening his eyes, Shadow noticed that it suddenly seemed a lot darker. The television, which was still on, was the only source of light within the dark lounge. Casting his gaze to the clock, he sighed when he noticed that it was past eleven at night. He must have fallen asleep. Over the sound of the television Shadow's acute hearing could pick up the faint sounds of scrubbing. Was Sonic still cleaning up the kitchen? There was only one way to find out. Getting to his feet he approached the entrance to the kitchen, and glanced around, taking not that it was almost spotless.

Almost being the key word.

Taking a few steps into the room, Shadow's attention drove to the stove, where nearly all of the scorch marks were gone. But it wasn't that that caught his attention. What caught his attention was the blue hedgehog on his hands and knees, scrubbing the black marks with the brush Shadow had provided earlier. The light was not switched on in the room so it was hard for Shadow to see the blue hedgehog properly. But he guessed that Sonic would be pretty tired. The other must have been working on cleaning this room up for hours and yet here he still was, no complaints, no winging, no whines. Just getting the job done. "You should go to bed..."

Sonic simply shook his head, not pausing or even looking up at his counterpart. His focus was cleaning the room. "I made the mess...I clean it..."

He almost sounded like Belle earlier. The tiredness in Sonic's voice caused Shadow to frown briefly. "You've been cleaning all this time. You're tired and should get some rest."

Again Sonic shook his head as he dabbed the brush in the bowl which he had placed next to him before going back to cleaning up the scorch marks.

Sighing, Shadow paced over to Sonic and bent down, about to pulled the other hedgehog up but paused when he saw the look on the other's face. Not only had Sonic sounded tired but he also looked it. There were bags under his eye which was half lidded. Shaking of the slight shock of it, he grabbed Sonic by the arm again and lifted him to his feet, the surprise of the movement causing the blue furry to drop the brush. "I said you should go to bed," he said sternly. Now that the other was stood up he was tall enough for the light of the moon that managed to peek through the clouds shone on his rival and only now did he notice how filthy the azure and peach pelt was. "And take shower beforehand." To make sure that Sonic didn't go back to trying to clean up again, he grabbed the other's gloveless hand (Sonic had taken his gloves off so that he didn't get the dirty) and lead him to the bathroom.

Sonic didn't know if it was because of the drowsiness but he didn't object to Shadow grabbing his hand but instead lightly tightened it. His cheeks turned a light pink as he did so. This wasn't the first time he had noticed that Shadow and his hand fit together perfectly, almost like a two halves of a whole. He was so caught up in this fact that he hadn't realized until now that he now stood alone in the bathroom with the light on, door closed, and shower running.

- - -

Everything was black. How predictable. This was Shadow's dream, after all. When they weren't ones of the past they usually began like this. Bt of course Shadow didn't actually know he was dreaming like most people, but we're drifting away from the plot here. Anyway, everything around the ebony hedgehog was black. Despite there being no floor below him a gray outline of himself was present beneath him. (To think about it, it was much like the way Sonic's dream had started in the last chapter). Shadow stared at the empty area he was in. It reminded him of just how alone he was and will always be. He was destined to be alone.

"Shadow!"

That voice. He knew it well. That annoying pest had been living with him for about two weeks now. Turning, he barely had time to catch a blue hedgehog behind just under the arms. The blue one, better known as Sonic, buried his head in Shadow's chest fuzz. What was going on? Was the other hurt? Suddenly he found himself becoming very worried about his rival. "S...Sonic...? What happened?" Sonic's head slowly lifted, looking up at his caregiver, Shadow's eyes widened at the expression. His emerald eye was glassy, as if tears were on the verge of falling and his cheeks were flushed. Just the sight of the azure furry made his muzzle turn many shades of red. "S—Sonic..."

"Shadow..." The tone made Shadow's blush deepen as the name rolled of the other's tongue. He nuzzled his head in the crook of Shadow's neck. "...I want you...Shadow..."

The black hedgehog sat upright, sweat dripping from his body and his face an even deeper color than in his dream. That dream. Why did he dream of such a thing!? There was no way he felt like that towards the other hedgehog...right? Massaging his head, Shadow sighed before looking around the room. It was still dark out meaning that it was still pretty early in the morning. Ruby eyes turned to look down at the sleeping hedgehog besides him and he felt his face heat up again as the Sonic in his dream flashed through his mind. He quickly turned away and covered his face in his hands; completely embarrassed at the fact he dreamt Sonic had said such a thing to him. He risked taking another look at Sonic, slowly pulling his hands away. Sonic looked so peaceful when he slept and not to mention fragile. His thin body, guard completely dropped, lay on his back with one arm wrapped around his middle while the other was pulled up to rest by his head that slightly faced towards the ebony hedgehog. Shadow found himself mesmerized by his rival as he studied him from what wasn't covered by the covers. He examined every detail, every trace on the speedster's face as he inched closer to him. He knew he was blushing, put he just couldn't tear his eyes away. It wasn't until he realized that his mouth was hovering right over Sonic's slightly parted lips that he quickly pulled away, eyes wide and again covering his face with his hands.

Why had he dreamt such a dream? Why had he been so mesmerized by the blue hedgehog's body? Why had he been that close to him? It was hurting Shadow's head just thinking about it. But he needed an answer. No matter how many times he tried to think of one, though, he got the same answer. But it couldn't be...But it was the only answer.

'I'm in love...with Sonic!!!'

- - -

Yeah I know...it went towards Shadow again. Ah well, at least we're finally starting to get somewhere with the romance. After all this is a romance/drama fic...and many other genres...THE WEBSITE WOULD ONLY LET ME CHOOSE TWO so I had to choose them. Hopefully, that being the key word, I should have another chapter up soon. Again I apologize for the lateness but with school, events, me being peed off with the fact that everyone is dying their hair red when I've wanted to do it for years and when I finally do it I look like I'm following the crowd, and many other shit in life!

But for now, this is Tsukimomo saying that she hoped you all had a wonderful Christmas and good luck in this New Year.