I'm back everyone and I'm ready for a new chapter. I might make another, but we'll see how the night is since I stay up at night sometimes I'm just glad to be back at home with my babies. Now let's start this chapter, shall we?
It had been a few weeks since Amy had met Shadow. They had been meeting at least a few days of the weeks that went by. Amy was still punished, but her mother barely knew that she had been sneaking out to see Shadow. Hell, she even went out to see him at night, which he really wasn't okay with since she was like a death magnet for predators to attack. He had to save her at least once, or twice. Once from another fall off a tall tree when they were up high again. The other was when she almost fell in a small river that went right through the middle of the forest. There was a waterfall that was secretly hidden in the forest where Shadow, in his words, would go to relax, bathe, or drink from the river. Each time they met, he would explain about what his kind is, what he does, and how he attacks. The last part made Amy very sick since she knew how he eats his prey. She was glad that he told her about what he is, and in exchange, she answered some of his dire questions. And one really stuck out from all of his questions.
[One week after they met]
"You don't know what a "girlfriend" and "boyfriend" are?" Amy asked while looking at the black and red colored naga.
"I wouldn't have asked if I knew..."
Amy was sitting in the tree still with him beside her looking angrily, and confused at her. His tail was still wrapped around her waist so she wouldn't fall again. Amy's face was slightly red from the sudden question. She would need a good explanation of how those words mean to someone who must've never been out of the forest. She smiled at him still and answered truthfully, "Well...it's like...how a guy and girl like each other, they start to date."
Shadow's eyes narrowed at this new word, "Date? What do you mean "date"?" he asked.
"Uh..say you like someone. A lot. And you like them, but don't know if you really like them. So you date by going out to dinner with them, and maybe be girlfriend and boyfriend." She tried her best, but it looked like it wasn't going through his head like she hoped.
"So...if I like someone, I'll take them out to dinner and then I have a girlfriend and boyfriend?" Shadow groaned while rubbing his temple feeling a headache coming on, "You humans have such weird meanings..."
The last part made her chuckle a bit, "It works differently." Amy pointed out as she placed her hand on her chest. "I'm a girl. So I would be a girlfriend." she then pointed at him. "Your a boy, so you're the boyfriend."
Slowly, Shadow grabbed her finger, then moved it back away from his personal bubble, "Alright...so what do you do when you're...that?" he asked.
Amy shrugged, "Many things. They date, they hang out like childhood friends sometimes. And...they even kiss." her blush grew once she said the word "kiss" to him.
"Kiss...?"
Red and green eyes stared at each other in the most longest three awkward seconds before Amy asked herself, "You don't know what a kiss is?" Shadow shook his head. "Then...what do you do when showing affection towards another naga?"
"Believe it, or not...I don't know. I was abandoned at a young age. I haven't seen any nagas at all so I don't understand the meaning."
Now she really needed to think this through. She couldn't show him up front. It would be very awkward. Plus, she already had Sonic, so cheating isn't an answer either. "Well...a kiss is like...showing someone you really like. It's when two people press their lips together." as she talked, her fingers were to her lips making it look like her fingers were another's lips and kissed them to point it out to him.
Sadly, Shadow wasn't understanding much about it and her explaining wasn't helping at all. He looked away from her with an annoying huff, "Just drop it.." Amy lowered her fingers down seeing that she wasn't getting it through to him.
"You asked first..."
[Present day]
A couple times, Shadow would ask her important questions that she couldn't explain well and he would brush it off like he never asked her in the beginning. It was annoying, but she understood how he was and how slow she needed to be for him. A couple times, she was. Shadow began to understand slowly with each new questions he would ask her. One was how she was able to tap on some machine that glowed brightly in the night. Amy giggled seeing that he had never seen an iphone at all. She even showed him parts of it like the camera, a couple games on it, and even how to text and call. She called Sally and talked to her making Shadow's eyes almost pop out of his skull once he heard the sound of another on the other line. It really was beginning to grow more fun with each question he would ask, and Amy was starting to feel more involved with him. Shadow was still not okay with her barging into his forest uninvited at times, but in time, he was starting to grow fond of her presence.
[Two weeks after they met]
Amy was back with him as they sat by the stream that led to the small waterfall. Shadow had took her there because she wanted to know if he had done anything to pass the time of day. He showed her the place where he bathed and drank from the small lake under the roaring waterfall. Being the fun and energetic girl she was, Amy placed her bag down and took off her jacket and pants making the black and red colored naga speechless as he watched her strip in front of him. He blushed once he saw her now only in a solid magenta pink bikini bathing suit. He told her about it and how he would soak himself at times when it got hot out. It was pretty hot since spring was starting to slowly change to summer, so she decided to bring her bathing suit along with her.
He couldn't help, but feel a little weird once he realized how surprisingly cute she looked. Her figure was skinny, but looked pretty enough. And her legs were long and strong enough to swim for quite a long time like an experienced diver. Amy turned around to see him. She didn't know why, but he looked pretty weird with a somewhat poker face. She shrugged him off, then turned around to the water before taking a few quick steps before jumping in feet first into the pool. The splash wasn't as big, but Shadow did, in reaction, covered himself with both his arms, and part of his tail that he lifted up. He lowered his defense and only glared at her once she surfaced and letting out a gasp of air.
He only rolled his eyes at her, and began to turn away to leave only to be splashed on his side. Amy saw that he was leaving and wanted him to stay so what better way to make him remain there is to splash some water at him. Shadow slowly turned around as his side dripped from the access water. He glared at her that would send shivers down anyone's spine. And it kinda did to her, but she tried to laugh it off as a joke. While he gave her a good stare down, his tail began to slowly move closer to her. He held it up above the water just till it was right beside the young rose. With a sinister smirk, Shadow slammed his tail down causing a massive wave of water to once again soak her entire upper body. Amy sputtered and coughed after getting some water up her nose. She sneezed a couple times before looking back up at him with a very mean glare. He didn't say anything, but only smirked at her before coiling up his tail into a small bed, then leaned his upper body down in it to relax looking pretty smug at what he had accomplished.
Amy only grumbled at him making his smirk grow. She didn't get back at him since she wanted to at least swim around again leaving mister grumpy alone like he wanted. Shadow had his eyes closed, but when he opened his eyes after hearing her splash again. He saw her body dip down to swim under the water. He didn't even realize that his smirk slowly turned into a small, but comforting smile while watching her have her fun.
[Present Day]
During all of this, Amy had also been hanging around Sally and Cream. Cream was done with her punishment and Sally was just barely over it. They were still able to reach out so they could talk about everyday life while doing their homework. Amy never told them about Shadow and their meetups, but had slipped out that she had been learning more and more about what a naga is and their life styles. Both Sally and Cream just shrugged her off seeing that it was just Amy's typical jibber jabber. Amy had also been seeing Sonic still, but each time they had been close enough to get intimate, she would always shy away from him saying that she wasn't ready yet. Sonic was perfectly fine of waiting, but he still hated how she kept pushing him away at times when he wanted to have her for himself. He wasn't a selfish type, but after being with her for so long, he thought she was maybe ready for the next step in the relationship.
[Two weeks and a half after they met]
Sonic was back at Amy's house. He was still grounded, but was able to at least go out for one day only. He decided to pay his girlfriend a visit since he hadn't seen her since that horrible night. He was in her room talking about what had been going on and what Scourge had to deal with after he was caught and charged like the rest of them. Amy smiled and laughed as he talked about how he was now going to spend the summer working at their uncle Chuck's shop with now phone, or any other technology. At first they talked and laughed at a few other things like school, friends, school projects. But soon it turned to a small tender kiss which slowly turned to a small heated make out.
Sonic had her on the bed in seconds with him hovering over her body. He continued to shower her with loving embraces while she moaned and whispered his name in her sweet voice he loved very much, but after he tried to go a bit further, she stopped him by gently pushing his body off of her. He reluctantly obeyed, but he asked her why she kept declining. Amy wanted to tell him, but something was stopping her from going further with her boyfriend. She didn't know why, but once she felt his hand trail down her sides, it wasn't satisfying like last time, it was now getting to be uncomfortable. Once again, Sonic was sadly okay with her waiting for the right time, but it was probably the third time he had tried. He wondered how that night she was hoping of having him to herself had suddenly changed once they returned from the forest. He didn't ask her anymore, but he did need to leave since he needed to be home at a certain time. Plus, her mother was coming home and she might not be happy to see them going at it so suddenly.
[Present Day]
Right now, Amy was back in the forest with Shadow in his cave. She was sitting down where she was before after another bear attack and typing down a few more paragraphs onto her mackbook. Sure the scare really made her freak out, but she knew that Shadow was there to help her. Tho, she will need to be better at defending herself more often. Her eyes were glued to the screen as typed all the questions and answers she had asked him. Shadow had previously asked her about that weird contraption she was using and she would answer him by showing him how it worked and what keys to push, how to move the mouse, it was a struggle to get him to understand, but it was still fun watching his expressions like a small child being shown something new and shiny. She was happy to see that her project was looking pretty good so far, but it was missing something. She couldn't figure that out after a week of putting it all together. Above her was Shadow, resting on top of his tail after he wrapped himself around to make a makeshift bed as he laid in the middle of the coils. His arms behind his head and with his eyes closed. Amy had to leave the area just so she wouldn't have to see him swallow a whole bear again and it was just fine with him since he didn't want to hear her complain about how it was utterly revolting.
Amy finally turned her head away from the screen, she hated the awkward quiet that had been going on for like a few minutes ever since she came back. She huffed to herself and spoke out breaking the silence, "So...what else do you do besides sleep?" she asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.
Shadow shrugged his shoulders without looking at her to answer, "Whatever I wanna do." Amy rolled her eyes.
"Fine...anymore questions?" he opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling for a few minutes to think of what to ask her. He'd asked her just about anything he could think of. What kind of technology was out there, how they can survive without a tail. He really couldn't...well there was one question he wanted to ask her, but it's more of a weird sort of way.
He turned back to her and asked, "What do you're kind do when you find someone you like? How do you know your "girlfriend" and "boyfriend"?"
Amy's eyes widened a bit as her cheeks flushed a deep red color like his quills, "Uh..that's kind of hard to think up a reason. You see...we really don't know if we had found the right person. Some say they might've found Mr, or Mrs. Right. But sometimes you have different opinions about them." she did her best to answer for him since the relationship wasn't going anywhere.
"Nothing? Not even a certain way of affection?" She only shrugged her shoulders.
"Well..I have someone who I really care about and we didn't have those usual bells that ring when you find the right person. We just started talking and then dating till we decided that we really liked each other." While she talked, Amy's face continued to grow redder while she looked away with a love-sick look in her eyes.
Shadow rolled his eyes disgusted at what she is talking about and how she looked when describing it, "Pathetic..." he mumbled.
Amy tuned back to him now looking frustrated, "What? Saying how what I have is pathetic? You don't have to be so rude about it." she grumbled.
"Why do you even make a big deal out of it? All you will do is hug and kiss and that's it. Nothing special about it."
"You wouldn't act like that if you found someone you liked. Maybe your the only naga out there, but you might find someone."
He looked back to her looking a bit more angry, "Why would I want anyone? I'm fine with being out here by myself." he said as he hoisted himself up from his "bed", then moved his lower body around unwrapping it so it could relax from holding up his heavy upper body. He looked pretty taller than her, but kept himself at a reasonable height so he wouldn't bump his head on the top of the cave.
Amy stood up after putting her macbook aside, then stepped a little closer to him. She had to stretch out her neck just so she can keep her eyes on his, "I'm only saying that because to me, you sound like you really do need someone in your life." she argued.
"Remember what I said, Rosy? I have no one! I am the only naga left in this trash filled world, so why the hell would anyone like me?" This question really took a wrong turn.
"Well if you stop pushing people away with your nasty attitude, then maybe you would have someone in your lonely, pathetic life!"
And she just made it worse.
Shadow angrily glared down at her wanting so much to rip her throat clean. He didn't want to kill her because if her body went missing, then they might search the forest for her and would possibly come across him as well. So without wanting to murder this idiot, he turned away and swiftly slithered out of the cave leaving the young lady alone with a shocked look on her face. Amy wasn't shocked that he left her alone, she was surprised to see that even though he was glaring at her, to her, it was like he was hurting inside. His eyes held a sorrow look behind his rage filled pupils. She immediately felt sorry for him and guilty to even say that.
Shadow had rushed, or slithered off to a river. He wanted to be away from Amy just so he wouldn't attack her. He didn't want her to get hurt by his hands because of being selfish, or maybe it was him being scared to even hurt her. The time was around noon so the forest was bright enough for him to see where he was going, but it wouldn't matter if it was night since he could easily see in the dark. Shadow finally stopped at the pool's edge as the sound of the rushing waterfall slowly calmed his mind of any anger, fury, and even panic. He moved his body so now his snake half was wrapped around twice again for him to sit and rest. He kept his eyes focused on the water watching the waterfall carry multiple piles of sticks, or leaves from the top, down to the bottom in the pool below, then carried off down the stream to wherever the end of the river was.
He kept himself staring at the water as he fought with himself of what had happened. It was a stupid question to get mad at, but thinking about how Amy would have a place to call home with so many people to meet, he felt rather...jealous. He wanted to be out there to meet others and maybe see other places. But his lower half would make it very difficult for him. Not to mention that he only has one day a month to... Shadow shook his head getting rid of any thought of that. He wanted to forget everything, he wanted to forget about what had happened to him...how he was abandoned...
"Shadow..?"
His eyes widened realizing that he was clenching them so tightly, they began to hurt. He turned around to see Amy slowly walking up to him with her hand gripping her other arm tightly looking very sad at him. He wanted to scream at her, abuse her, hurt her. But why was he letting her get closer to him? Why was he letting her sit down beside her, why would he allow her to talk when he wanted her to be silent?
"...What happened? To your family?" she asked softly without looking at him.
"...I had a family." he started, "My home wasn't like this. We were a thriving tribe. I had a mother who would take me in her coils and climb up the highest tree just so I could get a glimpse of the morning sun each morning. My father was a strong hunter. He would show me how to attack and kill any prey I see." As he talked, he could visualize his long lost home. He was just a child in his mother's arms reaching out to his father who chuckled at how strong he was just by looking at him. He could almost smile remembering the most happiest of times there.
Amy looked up at him after he started and noticed how happy he looked just talking about his parents. She imagined a whole place full of nagas. Men and woman with their children all thriving happily. Shadow's eyes grew dark and his mouth turned into a small frown as he continued, "Then...a horrible storm erupted. We didn't know, or were prepared for a nasty downfall. It turned out to be a sudden flash flood. There were many who climbed the trees to escape the rapid waters. But...I wasn't too fast. I was only around seven years old when it happened..."
Shadow looked down at the water as he imagined his worst nightmare of being swept away by the current in no time at all, "I watched as my mother and father dove into the water to rescue me. I couldn't swim since I wasn't strong enough. My father got close enough to almost grab my hand till a large fallen tree trunk came crashing onto him...I never saw his head out of the water. I couldn't find my mother, and I wasn't able to shout for any of them because of how much water I drank, I almost drowned. I soon felt myself fall off a ledge and down towards the bottom. A waterfall like this...only bigger..."
Amy had her mouth open in shock at how he had lost his parents. His whole home was washed away in seconds. It was hard thinking of how young he was just to defend himself for all these years. No wonder he was so cold and distant. He wasn't able to learn how to interact with anyone, but only the animals that roamed the forest. She could tell that he was so close to shedding a tear, but Shadow hated crying. He hated feeling so weak enough to even shed a small tear. His fists tightly clenched at his sides trembling in anger at himself for even feeling ready to cry. Not only that, but to cry in front of Amy. She could tell that he was silently struggling which tore her heart to pieces. She quickly got up and stepped closer to him to press her hand gently on his making him jump at first. He turned his head towards her with surprised look. She could see that there were some tear drops forming in the corner of his eyes.
"It's okay, Shadow." she smiled, "It's okay to cry. You don't have to act tough all the time."
Shadow turned away with an angered huff, "I'm not crying.." he grumbled making her giggle quietly.
"Ri~~ght." Amy said with a small smug smile.
"Sh-Shut up, you idiot!" Shadow growled at her after turning around to glare at her. She smiled happily.
"There's that Shadow growl! I'm glad to see you back." she laughed causing him to look away again, but only to hide his small blush that was starting to form, "Hey..I'm sorry for saying that to you. I didn't know that you went through so much."
He rolled his eyes, "It's fine..I'm done with any questions for today."
Amy nodded with a small sigh, but she was at least happy to know more about her new friend, or acquaintance to put it bluntly. She always wondered about his past and how he ended up being alone and grumpy all his life. Maybe with this new discovery, she might get him to open up a little more with her. Thinking about that brought a happy smile to her face, now knowing what her new project was from now on. Trying to open up a sad and lonely snake boy's heart.
