The Christmas Shadow

Author's Note: Wow, I just read my entire story and realized that I have so many typos, it's not even funny. I've decided that when I'm finished with the story, I'm going to go back and fix them all, but for now, I'll just leave it be (no matter how annoying it is).

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my character.

Days had passed without incident, but Shadow's nerves were still frayed. Kisa had instructed Jack not to try and calm her, but he didn't listen. He walked up to her from behind and placed a hand on her shoulder. Shadow jumped and lashed out, leaving a four long, deep claw-marks on his forearm.

"Oh my god! Jack, I am so sorry! I didn't even see you there."

"No, it's my fault." Jack told her, clutching his bleeding arm. "I shouldn't have startled you."

"Um…I-I can fix that." She pointed and he held out his arm to her. The wound-as well as the sleeve-mended itself. "It'll still hurt for a while-phantom pain, it's called-but that will fade."

"Thanks."

"You shouldn't be thanking me. After all, I was the one that caused the wound in the first place."

"You don't seem too upset about it."

"Oh, I'm not. Like you said, you startled me. I could've sworn that I heard Kisa warn you about this."

"I did," Kisa said as she came into the room. "He didn't listen."

"Obviously. Otherwise, we wouldn't be in this situation." Shadow responded, walking into the kitchen. On the table was a large package of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. "Whoa. That's, like, the mother-load of peanut butter." Jack had followed her into the room and was leaning against the wall, looking satisfied with himself.

"Happy Valentine's Day." Shadow glanced at the calendar and saw that is was, indeed, February 14th.

"I totally forgot about that," she grabbed a peanut butter cup and popped it into her mouth. "Mmm, so good." Once she had swallowed, she turned to Jack, a questioning look on her face. "Hey, how did you know I love peanut butter? I never told you that." Jack looked like he was struggling to find an answer. He turned to Kisa, who held her hands up in defense.

"Hey, don't get me involved. It's not my fault you didn't tell her."

"You could have told her." Jack accused back at her.

"That's not for me to tell."

"You tell her everything else."

"I refuse to be the person she's mad at because I was stupid enough to tell her."

"If it's that bad," Shadow cut into the argument. "Then I'm going to be mad at both of you for not telling me. So, I suggest you just get it over with." Kisa patted Jack on the shoulder.

"It's a good thing you got her all that peanut butter. She might just forgive you before the year is out." With that said, she grabbed her coat and headed out the door, leaving Jack alone with a very irritated and left-out-feeling Shadow.

"Well?" She asked expectantly.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about this right now…" He faded off when Shadow glared at him.

"Do you remember how it felt when I slapped you the last time you made me mad?"

"Yes."

"Start talking, or you'll wish I'd hit you as softly as I did that time." He gulped before launching into a recollection of the events of the previous Christmas. As he explained, he could see Shadow's pupils slowly receding into slits, revealing her green irises. When he finished, he backed up slowly until he hit a wall.

"Jack." Shadow said calmly, as she walked up to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "I'm going to kill you." At this point, she had lost her calm disposition. "How dare you? Do you have any idea what you've done, creating an alternate reality? Do you realize the consequences that can come of something like that?"

"But, it's okay now." Jack said, nervously. "It's been fixed."

"No, you don't get it! You may no longer be conscious to that reality anymore, but it's still there. You can't destroy a dimension once it's been created. I would know. That's what the Digital World is, an alternate reality inside the computer. It can't be destroyed, not completely. You've done a terrible thing, and it can't be fixed."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Would you have cared if you did?"

"…Probably not," he answered truthfully.

"You should have told me sooner. I don't like the idea of another me running around in some other dimension. It's kind of creepy." By now, Shadow had calmed substantially and her eyes had returned to normal. "Did you know that realities can cross into each other? That's what happened to the Digital World and Earth. The two worlds are overlapping. I really don't want to meet this 'other me.' That would be even more creepy."

"She's a lot like you, actually."

"At least that one is. You never know how many 'other yous" could be out there and it's always nice to know that some of them are like you. Although, I hope she's not exactly like me, because if our worlds ever do cross, I don't want you kissing the wrong one."

"That would never happen."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"How do you know?"

"Because, she's not nearly as beautiful as you."

"Wow, how did I get stuck with the cheesiest boyfriend in the universe?"

"You're just lucky."

"The worst thing is that I can't stay mad at you because of it."

"I think that's a pretty good thing."

"You would."

"You're right, I would." Jack leaned down to kiss her, but she put her hand to his mouth.

"Hold on. Just because I'm not mad at you anymore, doesn't mean I forgive you."

"You're not going to make me sleep on the couch, are you?" He asked in mock horror.

"I haven't decided yet."

"Let me know when you figure it out."

"Oh, you'll be the first to know." Shadow was about to walk away, but she decided to make one more comment. "You know, you're becoming more and more like Kisa and I every day."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yes, it means we've succeeded in corrupting your mind."

"That sounds more like a bad thing."

"That's a matter of opinion."

"And what's your opinion?"

"…That you are so sleeping on the couch tonight." Shadow smiled. "Happy Valentine's Day."

A/N: I'm a couple of days late for Valentine's Day, I know. But at least I got close-only two days off (I'm so proud of myself). That chapter wasn't completely pointless for once (another thing I am immensely proud of), even if it still wasn't very good…Oh well, if you don't like it, that's not my problem. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon.