This is a fanfiction, and as such, most of the characters in the story are not mine. Most characters are © Sega, and are not used with permission.
Chapter 2: Truth or Dare
Later that afternoon, Shadow and Rouge returned home; they figured that Bunnie would've come right back after her incident.
"Is Bunnie here?"
Rouge listened around; her acute ears easily detected the sounds from upstairs.
"Yeah, she's upstairs in her room. Let me talk to her, a woman-to-woman thing."
"Bunnie?"
Rouge knocked softly on the door.
"Go away!"
"I want to talk."
"Ah don't want to talk to you."
"Please." Rouge snuck open the door and peeked her head in.
Bunnie was laying face down on her bed, crying into her pillow; she had since changed into her normal clothes. "What do yah want?!"
"Please, I wanted to say I'm sorry."
Bunnie was almost insulted by Rouge's innocence. "Oh yeah, right. You enjoyed it."
"I know I laughed, but it was a spur of the moment thing, I didn't mean to hurt you."
"Ah was humiliated!"
"Oh knock it off. Do you think you're the first woman to have a slip of her swimsuit?"
"It was your doing!"
"It was an accident."
"No, this is more than some accident, yah've been humiliating time and time again."
"What?"
"Ever since yah came, that's all you've done; making me look like a total fool."
"Now wait a minute, what are you talking about?"
"Shadow, this is all about him, and how the two of yah have been playin' me like a cheap whistle."
"We both care about you very much."
"Care? Ah don't care about either of yah!"
Rouge was starting to get miffed by Bunnie's attitude. "Then why are you even here?"
"Ah don't know anymore, so Ah'm leaving."
"I hope you enjoy living in a tent."
"Anywhere away from yah'll is fine by me. Ah hope yah have a nice life together!"
Without really thinking Bunnie went to the dresser and opened the drawers, randomly pulling out whatever articles of clothing were there and tossing them on the bed.
"We can do just fine without you."
"And why would Ah hang around with a right whore like you."
Now that had gone too far. "You little brat. What did I ever see in you, what did Shadow ever see in you?"
"It's obvious what he sees in you, just some two-bit piece of tail he can screw around with every night."
"How dare you, I love him!"
"Ah love him!!"
Those three words in that southern dialect hit Rouge like a lightning bolt.
Shadow had just come out of the bathroom connected to the master bedroom and was trying to hear the conversation between Rouge and Bunnie, to no avail; he lacked Rouge's acute hearing and had to settle with knowing that it was very heated by only the volume.
{Damn walls.}
"You love him?"
For Rouge, it was all falling into place. For the longest time, it did seem odd that Bunnie stuck around, but Rouge never quite got it. She thought of Bunnie like a little sister or a daughter; no, more like a stepdaughter. Rouge knew there was something between Shadow and Bunnie when she came, but their relationship always seemed more familiar than romantic.
"That's right, until yah showed up and started pawing at him."
"I don't recall him being too interested in you when I arrived, are you sure you're not just blowing some girlish crush out of proportion."
"Ah never had a chance."
"Oh, so this was just starting when I arrived. Well, I don't think you have any real claim to him then, it's not like you were longtime friends."
Bunnie's anger was starting to decay to another crying fit. "He saved mah life."
"And mine. Let me guess, the whole Dr. Robotnik's robots and the roboticizer bit; try again."
"Ah actually was roboticized."
Nope, there was no beating that; Rouge had to admit that Bunnie had certainly one-upped her with that.
"That should be me with him, Ah should be the one sleeping with him every night; hugging, kissing, cuddling..." Bunnie was coughing as she cried.
Rouge's anger was gone, and she felt sorry for the young rabbit. For so long, she thought of her as a child, but she really wasn't that young; in fact she was already into adulthood, and Rouge couldn't help but think that maybe she was contributing to her maladjustment. It was time to stop treating her as a kid.
"Bunnie, I'm sorry..."
"This is all your fault!"
"But you haven't been very fair either; not once did you try to tell Shadow how you felt, and you had plenty of opportunity I'm sure."
"Not with yah hanging off his arm all the time."
Rouge was starting to get angry again, but kept it down on simmer. "That's a lame excuse; you just didn't have the nerve, and chickened out. That's what it is, isn't it? I've seen you, and how shy you can be."
Bunnie was listening, but it still felt like the bat was giving her a lecture; she didn't like it one bit.
"I see that look in your eyes, a gaze of hatred; I know it well, and how destructive it is. I want to make it up to you, I still want us to be friends."
"Friends?"
Rouge tried to guide Bunnie to the bed to sit and talk; but when she placed her hands on Bunnie's shoulders, she was shrugged off.
"Why did yah have to get in the way?!"
"You just need to learn how to communicate better; let me tell you something about guys. Guys are stupid; if you want them to have sex with you, it's no good pussyfooting around with small hints. You gotta walk right up to them, tear off your clothes, and declare 'screw my brains out!'"
"Yah've got little trouble getting your message out."
"You should have seen my first big play: standing before him naked and motioning to him to join me. That's not a subtle message."
"I know; I saw it."
Rouge almost choked. "You were watching us?!"
"Yeah, and ever since yah've been flaunting yourself in front of him, keeping him under your boot as your little play thing. And keeping me out of sight."
"I don't keep anyone under my boot; me and Shadow have something going. And as far as pushing you out; I was trying to be friendly with you, not pushing you away."
"Don't give me that bull. I've had it with yah putting me down, and treating me like a little kid. I'm out of here."
"Don't go."
"Make me."
Rouge stood her ground and stared Bunnie right in the eyes. "Alright, I'll make a little deal with you. You don't leave, instead I will; for all of tomorrow Shadow is yours. When I return the next morning, if you can convince him to choose you over me, I'll leave for good."
Bunnie was feeling a little less furious, but definitely a bit confused. "Yah'll what?"
"I'm totally serious. Tomorrow he's all yours to do with whatever you want. You want sex, go for it; if you really have the nerve."
Bunnie was still having trouble taking in just what Rouge was saying, and weither she was being set up. "What's the catch?"
"Just this, you don't tell him about this bet. You won't threaten to leave or blackmail him or anything. I'll tell him what's going on."
"Yah'll tell him? Why should I trust you?"
"I have to explain why I'm leaving for a day, and why you'll be putting the moves on him."
"Or I'll be lookin' a might bit stupid. Wouldn't I?"
"Don't worry, I'll tell him, honest; of course, I won't tell him how you really feel, that's your job."
Bunnie wasn't sure what to make of it, she didn't trust the bat, but she did want a chance at Shadow. "I'll take yah word for it."
"Good. I'll tell him that you've been feeling neglected and that he should spend some time with you tomorrow to cheer you up. After that, I'm giving you one free day with him, to counter the months I've had with him. If he chooses you over me, then I'll leave. If not, then we can call it a fair fight; you can try and steal him from me if you want, but I'll be working extra hard to keep you off."
Bunnie considered it for a minute. "One whole day?"
"I'll stay as far away as possible."
"Deal, but tell me one thing. Why are yah offering me this chance?"
Rouge smiled. "Let's just say I don't want you to go all 'Hand that Rocks the Cradle' on me."
Bunnie looked at Rouge with a questioning glare, not understanding the reference, half thinking Rouge was making fun of her. "What does that mean?"
"That would take too long to explain, but let's just say that I've been around long enough to know to make as few enemies as possible."
In the main bedroom, Shadow was already lying down, reading a book when Rouge entered. "What were you talking about?"
"Something we should be talking about."
"Does it have to do with sex?"
"As a matter of fact; how did you know?"
"Because I couldn't hear what you were talking about except when you screamed 'screw my brains out'."
"Oh, that. We have to talk about Bunnie."
"What's wrong?"
"She's feeling totally neglected, we've been spending too much time together and she's feeling left out."
"Left out? We were all at the beach together, but I guess we weren't doing all that much."
"It's more like you weren't spending time with her. Anyway, I'm heading out tomorrow and leaving the two of you alone so you two can get better acquainted."
Shadow found that a little bit strange. "Why not you?"
"Because she feels that I'm the reason she can't get closer to you, she sees me as an intrusion."
"The 'step-mother' syndrome."
"Something like that. Now, I've got to get my sleep, I'm leaving early in the morning."
Rouge crawled into the bed, and made sure there was no playtime between her and Shadow. Her hearing was sharp, and it was obvious that Bunnie didn't trust her, so she knew that the rabbit was waiting behind the door. Once she was sure that Bunnie was no longer listening in, she nudged Shadow and silently regaled to him the talk she recently had with the rabbit and how she didn't see Shadow as a father figure, but as a lover.
