A/N: I am determined to finish this story and my heart won't be content until I do! T.T I also still love Sonic the Hedgehog series even if SEGA is sucking making the game series. Alright read on!

CHAPTER 6: GETTING ALONG FOR THE CONTRACT

~Just Do It~

"Mmmm….", Rouge moaned from her sleep while shifting her head a little more to the soft, furry area her head laid on.

Slowly awakening, her nose could slowly pick up the heavy scent of alcohol, and a faded scent of something much more pleasing. A musky scent, mixed with spice and sweet smelling sweat. Rouge buried her nose against the warm furry surface, which made her mind more conscious. She slowly opened her eyes to automatically squint due to the fuzzy hairs nearly poking her irises. All she could make out was white. Fur.

Becoming fully awake, but with a massive migraine, Rouge brought up her hand and rubbed her temple while still lying on the white patch of fur. To her, it was probably a furry pillow Tikal brought when she passed out after drinking over her regular limit. Since it was very comfortable, Rouge decided to turn to face the so called pillow with her face buried in the depths of the white fur. This lessened her headache.

"Mhhhh…", a low voice groaned.

The 'pillow' swayed.

Rouge's eyes snapped open. This was NOT a pillow. She jolted up, and there she saw him…

"You?"

With that one word, Shadow's eyes partially opened. "You finally up?" he asked sarcastically, a small smirk at the edge of his mouth.

Rouge's face flushed beet red, "What the hell are you doing here?"

As she was trying to calm down, Shadow slowly sat up, taking deep breaths to remain calm.

"You know, with just your head alone, you weigh a lot. I could barely breathe with you snoring and drooling on my chest."

That didn't help. The redness on Rouge's face rose exceedingly to the point where she could have passed out from the heat.

"You, you… You could have woken me up or pushed me off! I would have rather you did that instead of letting me lay of your smelly chest!"

Shadow arched a brow. "I thought you were really enjoying it seeing you snuggle your face deeper and deeper in it. I just decided to watch and laugh at the famous Rouge the Bat make a fool of herself in her sleep."

Rouge growled, "What the hell am I even doing here with you?" She stood up, only to wobble and close her eyes from the dizziness. She felt his hands reach out to sit her back down.

"Fine. You stay, I'll leave," Shadow stated. "Besides, this isn't my place anyway."

With that, he took his leave and headed out the door that read 'EXIT' and opened the door to see a young orange echidna about to knock on the door.

"Oh! Good Morning Mister Shadow!" She smiled brightly, yet shyly.

There was an awkward pause.

"Who the hell are you?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth to greet her.

Tikal had to force her smile up, "I am Tikal, Rouge's agent, and you sir are her new partner.

Overhearing their conversation, Rouge's eyes widened with her mouth forming a perfect 'O', and Shadow was just as confused.

"WHAT!"

Poor Tikal nearly went deaf to hear their screams.

"Yes. Rouge, do you not remember the contract you two signed last night?"

"I didn't sign any—"

Before Rouge could finish, Tikal pulled out a paper with her and Shadow's signatures sloppily written at the near bottom.

Rouge was in hell. "Tikal! I was drunk! Why didn't you stop me? Aaarrrrgh you're so worthless!" she screamed, going through a spoiled girl tantrum.

Tikal only absorbed the mental abuse, Shadow didn't.

"Hey, stop demeaning your agent and shut up with your stuffy act. I was drunk too you know."

"I don't care! I'm Rouge the Bat! The biggest celebrity in the country! Who are you, a nobody? I would never work with a nobody like you! You're not worth shi—"

!SLAP!

Rouge's cheek reddened by the impact by the back of Shadow's hand.

"I guess celebrities like you never took classes on discipline," he snarled. "You're the one who is clearly a nobody. I don't care if you're a singer or not, you shouldn't treat respectable people like dirt you can walk on!"

Stunned by the slap, Rouge said nothing, and only touched her cheek lightly. Tikal only stood there, just as surprised.

"M-Miss Rouge?"

Shadow faced towards her and shook his head, "May I see that contract?"

Tikal obeyed and gave him the paper which he took gently, and tore it in two.

"This was a fatal mistake, because obviously, your 'star' nor do not appear to approve and I have nothing to do with her in that matter. I'll be leaving now," he spoke softly, and exited the door closing it shut.

After a few moments with no word coming out from Rouge's mouth, Tikal decided to be the first to speak.

"Miss Rouge, I'm—"

"Have I always treated you like that?" Rouge asked.

Surprised by her question, Tikal only asked, "like what?"

"Like dirt?"

Tikal lowered her head is in shame, "yes, you do."

"… I'm sorry."

"No Miss Rouge you don't have to be."

"No Tikal, I am. You can quite if you want to…"

"But Miss Rouge…"

"May, I have a minute alone, please?"

With a saddened, guilty expression, Tikal walked out and quietly closed the door. As soon as Rouge heard it shut close, Rouge started to sob, not knowing that Tikal would hear her.

A FEW HOURS LATER…

Shadow had found himself in the middle of nowhere. He was in a large city where he had never been. Instead of wandering the streets with no certain direction, and getting lost from where he came from, he finally decided to rest from the walks and sprees and sit at a café. As he sat and sipped a cheap cup of coffee where he did not have the money to pay for, he thought of the previous events that previously happened that day.

"I probably acted to irrationally back there…" he thought, "I wonder if I pissed that bat girl off even more or knocked some sense into her. Either way, I guess I shouldn't have treated her like that, she could sue me for abuse or something."

As he was in his own little world, sipping his coffee, little did he know that the famous Rouge the Bat was nearby, outside standing in front of the café window, having flashbacks of Knuckles.

This café, was the last place where she had seen that echidna's face, with that other girl.

Rouge's face hardened at the thoughts of her memories.

After silently crying in her headquarters for about an hour, she decided to sneak out to take a long walk, a breath of fresh air, and to clear her mind from today's incidents. What she didn't know was that she would encounter the same bastard hedgehog who slapped her before again at the very same café.

There in the corner of her eye from the window, she spotted him, sitting down at a booth, the same booth that Knuckles sat in. How unfortunate.

Rouge scoffed and gave him a dirty look, but before she could walk away and hope to never run into him again, Shadow's eyes met hers for that split second. And that stopped her in her tracks.

He probably didn't recognize her since it was just a brief moment, but that one eye contact sent an electrical spark down both of their spines. Was it really meant to be, for Rouge to meet him again like this? For that spark to set when their eyes locked for just a moment?

Rouge tried move her body away from the café window, but it refused. Her eyes stared at the black hedgehog from afar, just simply sitting down and enjoying his coffee.

In her eyes, after seeing more details than before, she could see that he was not a bad looking guy. He had a slender body with nicely toned muscles covered with ebony fur with streaks of red that made him look pretty cool, and the way his spikes formed on the back of his head giving him that unique hairdo that looked impressive. What Rouge noticed above those was his blood red eyes that always looked calm and cold; she had just noticed that he was a very fascinating being.

Like her body had a mind of its' own, Rouges legs forced her into the café entrance where she was greeted by a friendly waitress who immediately recognized who she was.

"We are very honored to have the Rouge the Bat join us today! Would it just be you?"

"Yes."

"Would you like a table or booth?"

Rouge's lips decided to take over, "Actually, I am here to meet someone. He's sitting over there."

"Oh, okay ma'am, please proceed." the waitress seemed a little disappointed to not serve her for long.

Shadow's cup was nearly empty. He looked a bit upset that it had finished so soon, and raised his hand for a refill. Before a waitress could reach him with a coffee pitcher, an all too familiar face sat down in front of him without saying a word.

"Don't know it's rude to come uninvited?" Shadow sardonically asked.

A waitress then came by, "More coffee sir?"

Shadow shook his head, "No, I'll be leaving." He stood.

"Wait." Rouge called before he could make his leave.

"What do you want?"

"To talk."

"You want to talk to me now? When you had all those chances which you didn't take?"

"… If you see it like that, yes."

Hesitantly, Shadow sat back down, crossing his arms with his eyes and ears alert. He looked as if he were to leave any second. Rouge knew that she would have to form her words carefully for him not to leave.

Without saying anything, she first dug into her pocket and pulled out two crumbled pieces of uneven paper. It was the contract that Shadow had ripped earlier. He looked dumbfounded.

"Why is that still out?"

"I want to carry out this contract with you," Rouge cleared, smoothing out the paper to make it readable.

Shadow scrunched his nose to make a sour look, "I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."

"The truth is…" Rouge's pride got the best of her, as she started putting on the manipulative act to hide her true emotions, "if we break this contract, each one of us will have to pay the consequences of five grand, so that's ten grand total."

"What!" Shadow nearly hollered.

Rouge nodded, "that is the reason for contracts, or are you uneducated? Businesses do this to earn money. However, if we do agree to this contract and play by the rules, I can assure you that you won't be living up to your debt with this, cause I'm guessing you're in plenty debt as it is…"

Shadow slammed his fist on the table counter, "Fuck," he snarled.

Rouge only smiled mischievously, "Almost got him," and she continued, "but hey, if you and I have to work together for just these six months, then I bet you can earn as much money for a whole lifetime within this season. You can pay up all your debts, buy anything you want for the rest of your life, and still have plenty stashed up for retirement."

Shadow clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. She could tell he was thinking twice about it.

"Reeling him in…"

"Besides, it's only six months…"

Shadow loosened his grip and sighed in defeat, "you do have a point there. I guess I have to concur to this one."

Rouge smiled and put out her hand, "Welcome to the team then, partner," but in her mind she was saying, "jackpot."

Shadow only looked at her hand and glared at her, "Even though we are partners now, don't think we'll be acting like we're friends for life. I know how you act and how you think, so stop thinking I'm some sort of object to easily side with you for your own gain."

Rouge, surprised by his way of seeing through her only placed her hand down and returned the ripped contract in her pocket.

Shadow stood and began his leave, "as for earlier, I am sorry. I won't do that again."

Rouge was beginning to take an interest to this guy. Who is he? She began to ponder if he had a special ability to read minds or that he was actually different from other guys.

"Hey, aren't you coming?" Shadow interrupted her train of thought.

"Oh, sure!" Rouge responded clumsily standing up and following her new partner to the exit.

After they were long gone, the waitress returned to the booth they were sitting at and frowned, "No pay? No tip? Lousy customers. I need to get a new job…"

MEANWHILE…

"By the way, since we're partners now, what's my role in the contract?" Shadow asked as him and Rouge were walking down the street in the cool night.

"Huh? I would think you would know. It's completely obvious," Rouge replied bluntly.

"…"

"You are a highly uneducated individual then."

"Shut up and just tell me what I have to do!"

"You have to sing with me you idiot!"

"… Wait, what!" Shadow was now bewildered at the answer, "I can't sing! Don't you have to go through millions of contestants to see who would suit you best?"

"Well, that's how they usually do it."

"Then why didn't you? You know how many men would want to sing with you?"

"Yeah, I know smartass."

"Then why—"

"Why you?" Rouge stopped in her tracks in front of him and pointed a finger in his face, "Because I had to pick someone within seven days and couldn't find a man too fit for me. They were all not worthy!"

"So you're saying that I—"

"You're not worthy either!"

"Okay, then why did you pick m—"

"Because Tikal picked you and because you were the only option left! Last minute sort of thing, can't you stop asking these stupid questions…" Rouge looked at him from the tip of ears to the heels of his shoes and smirked, "Shorty?" she finished her question.

Shadow's eyes narrowed at the word, "I'm not short!" he barked, and briskly walked on.

"Wha What the-? Hey come back here!" Rouge held back a laugh and had to fly to catch up with him.

"I told you already, just because we're holding a contract together doesn't mean we're going to be friends, that would also mean no nicknames!"

"I'm well aware of that, Shorty," Rouge retorted in a snort and this time let out a laugh.

It was so cheerful and genuine that Shadow had to smile, just a little bit.

"I told you that I'm not short! I'm average height."

"Yeah, for a dwarf. Pft, Hahahaha!"

"Shut up!"

This was the first time that the two of them were having some fun together… Or just Rouge for that matter.

Chapter 6 Theme: "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch

Turn it inside out so I can see

The part of you that's drifting over me

And when I wake you're never there

But when I sleep you're everywhere

You're everywhere

Just tell me how I got this far

Just tell me why you're here and who you are

'Cause every time I look

You're never there

And every time I sleep

You're always there

'Cause you're everywhere to me

And when I close my eyes it's you I see

You're everything I know

That makes me believe

I'm not alone

I'm not alone

I recognize the way you make me feel

It's hard to think that

You might not be real

I sense it now, the water's getting deep

I try to wash the pain away from me

Away from me

'Cause you're everywhere to me

And when I close my eyes it's you I see

You're everything I know

That makes me believe

I'm not alone

I'm not alone

I am not alone

Whoa, oh, oh, oh

And when I touch your hand

It's then I understand

The beauty that's within

It's now that we begin

You always light my way

I hope there never comes a day

No matter where I go

I always feel you so

'Cause you're everywhere to me

And when I close my eyes it's you I see

You're everything I know

That makes me believe

I'm not alone

'Cause you're everywhere to me

And when I catch my breath

It's you I breathe

You're everything I know

That makes me believe

I'm not alone

You're in everyone I see

So tell me

Do you see me?

A/N: I'm working on the next chapter right now! So stay tuned, Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW! THANK YOU!

~Supreme