CHAPTER 7

PAIN AND SUFFERING

Later that night in the arctic, Shadow woke up in a dark room finding his wrists and ankles strapped in the chair he was in. He struggled to get free, but couldn't. When he finally gave up two dark figures approached him. He was getting nervous. He hoped that it wasn't that mysterious stranger.

The two figures had on black cloaks. The only way he could tell them apart was by the necklaces they were wearing. He noticed the stranger he met, he was wearing a necklace with a yellow jewel in it. The other was wearing a necklace with a orange jewel in it.

"Finally awake huh?" The stranger asked.

Shadow looked at him with a glare, "You gotta a lot of nerve doing that to me!"

"Lets not get upset." The stranger faced his ally, "Satar, what do you think of our future leader?"

Shadow had no idea what they were talking about, 'Leader?' He then eyed two chainsaws coming from the sleeves of the stranger's ally.

The stranger's ally positioned his right chainsaw near Shadow's neck, "I don't know, bro. He looks kinda weak to me. Maybe we should toughen him up a bit."

The stranger lured the chainsaw away from Shadow's neck, "Great idea, but we mustn't kill him. The master orders it."

His ally sighed, "I hate his rules."

"Why don't you leave. A little privacy would be nice."

His ally groaned, "Fine." He left the room leaving the stranger and Shadow alone.

As the stranger turned, he noticed Shadow's glare.

"Who are you?" Shadow demanded

The stranger then threw off his cloak and reveled his appearance.

Shadow's eyes widened, "What are you?"

The stranger's skin was white and had red painting around his body, he never wore a shirt, he wore black pants, brown shoes, and had four swords on his back. He looked like a master swordsman. "My name is Karu, the second demon of the fourteen demons."

"A...demon?"

Karu nodded, "My master said that you would lead our army to wreck havoc on all of Mobius. You are the one."

"Me? No, I can't do that. I'm not a demon."

"You say you're not, but you truly are. You just don't want to admit it."

"It's not true!" Still Shadow refused to believe that he was a demon.

Karu smirked, "What ever you say will not make a difference. Since the master won't be here for a while I guess I could increase your demon powers."

"Wha-what do you mean increase?" Shadow asked nervously.

Karu's right hand had a yellow aura around it. "You'll see..." He said with an evil smirk. He began to walk slowly up to Shadow.

Shadow began to struggle once again trying to break free, but couldn't.

Karu's hand formed into a claw. He positioned the claw near Shadow's chest, "This must be its source. This may hurt." He quickly stabbed the claw into Shadow's chest.

Shadow yelled in pain. His blood quickly emerged out of his chest. A lot of red fluid dropped on the floor.

Karu began to take his claw out of Shadow's chest. His hand was covered in Shadow's blood.

Shadow was breathing heavily exhausted and full of pain from Karu's torture. He looked up at Karu slowly.

Karu stared at his bloody hand. He smiled and licked some of the blood from his hand. "Mmm...tasty."

Shadow gritted his teeth, "You bastard..."

Karu's claw had formed back into his regular hand again, but some blood was still on it. "Why don't you relax and wait for Lord Dark's arrival. He'll be here soon." He began to walk out the room.

"You're just gonna leave me here to bleed?"

Karu turned to him, "Don't worry. Demons heal fast." He left the room leaving Shadow in agony.

Later Knuckles was wandering the dark streets thinking about Rouge, 'No use, I can't get that woman out my head. Damn Shadow. He always has to interfere with our relationship. I'm gonna kill that bastard.' He sighed, 'Maybe I should talk to her.'

When he got to Rouge's house, he slowly made an approach to her door. He nervously knocked on the door. When Rouge finally answered, he began to sweat a little though he tried to act calm. "Hey Rouge, what's up?"

"Knuckles? What are you doing at my house this late?"

"I came to apologize. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She didn't accept his apology, "Hurt me! You hurt Shadow!"

"I didn't hit him!"

Rouge crossed her arms, "Man, you really are heartless! I told you before we're through and that's final."

Knuckles was silent for a second, until he thought of something, "You...you like Shadow don't you?"

Rouge blushed, but she tried her best not to, "I don't like Shadow. I...love him..."

All of a sudden anger started to build up in Knuckles.

The truth was she wasn't even sure if Shadow had loved her back since he refused sex from her, "Yes, Shadow and I are deeply in love with each other. In fact we made love when we first admitted our love to each other."

Little did Knuckles know she was lying. "What!" 'That fucker! If he thought I was pissed last time then wait until he sees me again. He'll wish he never touched my beloved Rouge!' With hate filled in his heart, Knuckles ran out of Rouge's sight while shedding some tears.