Me: Tada! Knew chapter! Uh…you know what? Just read it. Enjoy!

Shadow moaned quietly, turning to his side with his eyes shut tightly. After a few seconds, he once again returned to his back, then to the other side, then to his back again. No matter how he lay, it seemed he just could not get comfortable! Sighing, he folded his hands over his chest and closed his eyes, waiting impatiently for sleep to overtake him.

This temporary state of unconsciousness was such an alien concept to him. Only once before had the ultimate life form experienced such a state. Usually, he'd never had any need. Mortals were forced to use this 'sleep' to regain their energy. They were entirely dependent on it, and would become slow and weak without it, eventually dropping into unconsciousness. He'd never had such a weakness; his chaos energy was more than enough to sustain him, and never needed to be recharged.

There were only two events that caused Shadow to depend upon this state. The first was when he'd fallen through the atmosphere, after defeating the bio-lizard and teleporting the falling space colony to it's original position. He'd never used chaos control on something that massive before, and it drained most of his energy, not to mention what little power his wavering super form had left.

However, as he fell through the atmosphere, he found just enough energy within himself to chaos-control to the planet below. Unfortunately, he was to distracted by his close scrape with death and all of the emotional trauma he'd just lived through to remember he was supposed to picture where he wanted to reappear. As a result, he materialized about fifty feet off the ground and, though he was incredibly powerful, it was more than his damaged body could handle at the time. He ended up sleeping for a full 48 hours.

The second time, though, he'd slept for five days strait, and could barely move when he awoke, unlike his previous experience, where he'd woken up at full power and strength. Also, according to Jasper, he snored. This information stabbed a rather large hole into his already-damaged ego.

He knew what snoring was, for he'd heard it before, back when he lived on the space colony, ARK. He remembered Maria had crouched with him at the foot of her grandfather's bed, giggling at every noise the slumbering man uttered. While she considered it humorous, Shadow thought it incredibly aggravating.

The sound was a pleasant mixture of a misfired engine, a garbage disposal, a broken food processor, and sickness. He'd heard similar sounds coming from fatally diseased patients in the isolation chambers at the colony's hospital. It had taken his adoptive sister more than a little persuasion and a whole lot of patience to convince her paranoid friend that their grandfather wasn't dying. Even after Maria was sure he understood, the sound still made his fur stand on end, and he would continuously find himself resisting the urge to wake the professor up, just to be sure.

The fact that he snored unnerved him, but not as much as the fact that he could neither control, nor remember even doing so! When sleeping, he became completely unaware of his surroundings, and was therefore vulnerable. Even though he felt quite safe in his current dwelling (a fact he'd never admit aloud), he still tried to stay awake unless absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, he always seemed to fall asleep sometime after finishing his dinner and never before that!

Which brought him back to his current predicament. It was just impossible for him to fall asleep! Now, why would he even want to, if he hated that state of unawareness so much? The answer was very simple. Boredom. Shadow was dying of it, he knew it! This was an emergency, a last resort! There was no other option! So, he nestled down, and tried to sleep.

Not a minute passed before a loud squawk startled him, and he turned to come eye-to-eye with a large, brown-speckled chicken, the same one that had pecked at him before. She was sitting just outside the closed window, glaring at him. This was a glare he readily returned.

Since their encounter six days ago, the pathetic standoff had become a daily routine for them. The hen and hedgehog would spend a good portion of the day glaring at each other through the window, since neither really had anything better to do at the time. Neither participant moved nor blinked, staring intently at each other as their eyes dried out. Shadow's own eyes were burning, but he was determined not to lose this time!

After a good five minutes of intense staring, the hen blinked.

"Ha!" Shadow cried jubilantly, pointing accusingly at the scowling chicken. "I win! Take that, you pathetic piece of poultry!" The chicken sent him one last glare before disappearing from his sight, probably to nurse her wounded pride. After gloating for a couple of minutes, Shadow was once again bored.

Wonderful. For a few seconds, Shadow considered trying once again to sleep, but he decided against it. Shadow just simply wasn't a napping person. So, he began to survey his room, searching for a source of entertainment. Almost immediately, his eyes fell upon the book-cart resting against the wall near the fireplace. No. He couldn't. He wasn't that desperate. Shadow turned away and continued his search.

However, as the hour progressed, he found his attention continuously coming back to the cart. Okay, so maybe he was that desperate. He was dying, remember? Besides, Jasper had only gone out about an hour ago and she never came back from wherever she always went that early. She should still be gone for at least another hour-and-a-half (Yes, he counted).

Now there was the problem of distance, which was currently one of Shadow's greatest enemies, second to immobility. The book-cart was a good four-and-a-half feet out of his reach. Still, after spending three months, two days, seven hours, and thirty-two minutes of his life as a cripple (What? He got bored! Besides, there was a non-ticking clock within eyesight.), he'd managed to find creative ways of winning over distance.

Shadow reached down under the couch and produced a three-foot wooden cane that Jasper had carved out for him a few days ago, so that he could use it to re-teach himself to walk. This idea-however ridiculous, since he was certain he could heal on his own-proved incredibly useful on multiple occasions. Of course, he'd never tell Jasper.

Still, even with the help of his cane, he was still about a foot-and-a-half short. After a moment's hesitation, the ebony hedgehog reached behind him and dragged the small table to his side, putting it between him and the book-cart. Then, using the table to support his right arm, he reached out his left arm with the cane extended toward to cart.

He missed, and his arm fell from the weight of the cane. Using the table as leverage, Shadow dragged the cane back and reached out a second time, then a third. Annoyed, the ebony hedgehog gave one last stretch, managing to hook the edge of the cart, causing it to move slightly toward him.

"Yes!" he cried out, since no one could here him. Now to pull it back.

Leaning entirely on the table, Shadow slowly pulled the cart toward him. He was being extremely careful not to lose his hold on it, but the cane was starting to slip off. In fact, it completely dislodged itself when the bookcase was halfway in-between the wall and the couch. This caused Shadow to loose his balance and drop said-cane, frantically hugging the table with both hands.

Once he was sure he wouldn't fall to the ground, he looked around for where the cane had landed, spotting it poking out from beneath the cart, just out of his reach. Great. With a firm, one-handed grip on the table, Shadow stretched out his arm, his fingers just barely brushing against the cane. Just…a little…bit….further….

He had almost closed his hand around the cane, when his hold on the table suddenly slipped, causing his hand to slide across it. As the ground suddenly rushed out to meet him, Shadow gave an uncharacteristic yelp, his free hand automatically grabbing on to the closest thing to stop himself. He ended up grabbing the wheeled cart, effectively stopping his decent, though the momentum caused the cart to scoot about a foot away from the couch, dragging Shadow with it.

The moment the cart stopped moving, Shadow immediately focused his attention on reaffirming his grip on the table. However, this proved to be quite a task, as his bare hand kept sliding off of it. Each time, Shadow was stretched further and further away from the couch, so that he was now holding on with nothing but his knees. Which was against the law of physics, since there was absolutely no strength in his legs. Shadow was so focused on this impossible task, he didn't even hear the door open.

Jasper soon entered, humming quietly to herself as she strode toward the kitchen. She froze at the sound of someone grunting. Confused, she rounded the couch, and was greeted with the funniest spectacle she'd seen. Ever.

Her guest was currently stretched out across the living room, struggling to regain his balance. He had one arm on the book-cart she'd brought him, and with the other he was clawing frantically at a small, bedside table, like a cat batting at the window. His knees were just barely on the couch, sliding further with every swipe he made. Lastly, he was so stiff, you could get your fist stuck between his shoulder blades, and every fiber of his fur was standing on end, puffing him up like a fluffy teddy bear.

At the moment, Shadow was turned away from her, his attention fixed solely on the table, which he could swear was inching away from him. However, when he heard the familiar click and whir of a camera, followed by it's characteristic flash, he was so startled and horrified that he completely abandoned his quest for the table, causing the cart to scoot another two feet and pull him off of the couch so that he face-planted on the plush, purplish-red carpet below him.

Laughter greeted his ears as he used his hold on the cart to pull himself up into a sitting position. From there, he could see Jasper laying on the ground near the counters, clutching her sides as she laughed. In one hand, she held one of those instant-photo cameras, in the other, a developing picture.

"Oh-Oh, my gosh, Stripes! How-*giggle*-Why? D-Do I even want to know?" Jasper managed to wheeze before bursting into laughter again. Shadow ignored her, his attention fixed solely on the photo. How dare she! Not only was she mocking him, but she'd captured his most humiliating image and would continue to mock it for the rest of her life!

As though to prove this, Jasper finally managed to stand up, striding over to a scowling Shadow and waving the now-developed photo in his face. "This…This is a keeper," she proclaimed, an amused grin stretched across her face as laughter danced in her orange eyes. Immediately, Shadow made a sudden swipe at the photo. Jasper automatically jerked it away. "Oh, no you don't!" She scolded him. "I'm holding on to this one!"

However, as she started to back away, one of Shadow's strong hands suddenly wrapped around her ankle, preventing her from going any further. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" he cried, swiping at the photo again. This task might have been much easier if he wasn't temporarily paralyzed from the waist down.

Jasper jerked the photo back, holding it high above her head, and again backed up. At the same time, Shadow tugged her ankle toward him, completely knocking her off balance, so that she fell on her rear.

"Ouch! Hey! Let go!" she cried, tugging on her ankle, but Shadow was much stronger than her.

The ebony hedgehog scowled, his eyes fixed solely on the photograph. "Give me the dang picture!" he commanded. He reached for it with his free hand, only to have Jasper scoot away from him, leaning backward to keep the photo out of his reach.

Shadow growled deeply in annoyance, sending shivers up her spine, and tugged her ankle toward him. He dragged her until they were pretty much eye-to-eye, and reached for the photo again. However, while he may be strong, he still only had the strength of a child and his legs were completely useless, so Jasper managed to push back on his shoulders to keep him from going any further.

Their struggle for dominance continued for a couple more minutes before both finally figured out that neither of them were getting anywhere. Shadow finally took his attention off the picture to glare down at her, his lava eyes burning into her sunset orange. She was now effectively pinned underneath him, since she didn't have the strength to push him off of her and he didn't seem to plan on moving any time soon.

"Get off!" she yelled, struggling.

Shadow just frowned and pinned her down. "I don't think so."

"Lemme go!"

"I'll release you when you give me the picture," he told her.

Jasper narrowed her eyes. "Never!"

Shadow humph-ed. "Well, in that case, you'd better get comfortable, because I'm not releasing you until I have that picture."

Jasper was quiet for a moment, studying him. One could practically see the gears turning in her mind. Then, she gave a small, half shrug. "Okay." She place the picture on the carpet by her hand and flicked it out of reach. Then, Shadow stiffened as she wrapped both arms around him, snuggling into his shoulder with a contented sigh.

"H-hey!" he growled. "Let go!"

"You said to get comfortable," she retaliated, closing her eyes, "So I am."

Shadow swallowed as he felt her breath on the crook of his neck, suddenly wary of history repeating itself. "If you fall asleep, I'll just take the picture," he warned her.

"I didn't plan on falling asleep," she murmured. "You're just so comfy…"

Shadow flushed. "I am not!" he cried. Jasper just chuckled, hugging him close to her and lowering her head to his chest. Her smile widened when she found she could feel his frantic heartbeat pounding against his chest as his breathing sped up.

"Would you relax?" she laughed. "I'm not going to kill you!" Shadow turned away, muttering obscenities under his breath. Well, fine then. If that's how she wanted to play it, he accepted her challenge.

"I'm not moving," he informed her.

"..Kay…," she muttered, completely calm. However, as minutes bled into hours, she found him to be almost as stubborn as she was. He said nothing the entire time, just laying there, refusing to speak. Eventually. his heartbeat slowed and his breathing evened out. As time passed and he started to get used to her touch, he found himself strangely comfortable, even more than he'd been on her plush reddish-orange sofa.

Meanwhile, Jasper started to get uncomfortable. No one could really blame her though, since she was starting to have trouble breathing. Every part of her body he'd been laying on had long ago fallen asleep, and he was starting to cut off her circulation. She was more than ready to move, so when she felt Shadow relax slightly, she started to panic. She needed to breath!

For about a half-hour, her mind whirled through endless possibilities of how to get him off of her, though only one seemed to have a fighting chance of working. Unfortunately, that was something she really, really did not want to do! She considered it an absolute last resort. So, as he relaxed and dropped his guard, she suddenly gave him a mighty push, managing to free herself from the startled hedgehog for a split second, and struggled to stand. However, Shadow quickly recovered and pulled her back under him, trapping her again.

"Stripes, let me go!" Jasper cried, struggling frantically.

"No." he told her, slightly disappointed that she'd started moving. He'd just started getting comfortable…

"You're cutting off my circulation!" the silver wolf cried.

"You'd better give me that picture, then."

"Please, get off! I'm having trouble breathing!"

"Picture first."

Jasper groaned, letting her head fall back against the carpet. She really didn't want to do this, but he was giving her no choice! Jasper sighed. "You brought this upon yourself, Stripes," she muttered. Before Shadow had time to figure out what she meant, Jasper grabbed a hold of his shoulders and pulled him towards her, smashing her lips into his.

Shadow froze in shock, his brain completely shutting down. What...what was she...? And then she tightened her hold on him, and the hedgehog couldn't think at all. It took a few moments for reality to kick in. She was kissing him! The sudden wave of panic he felt jump-started his brain, and he managed to shove her away from him and scramble backwards.

Immediately, Jasper leapt to her feet and scrambled away, snatching the picture off the ground and holding it in the air victoriously. "FREEEEEE!" she cried, before tripping over dust molecules and falling flat on her face. "Ow," she groaned. Grunting she sat up again and rubbed her sore legs, working the feeling back into them.

After a moment, she glanced back toward Shadow. He hadn't moved since pushing her away, and was now leaning back on his elbows, gaping at her with his eyes the size of dinner plates.

"You're going to attract flies," she informed him with an amused smile. Shadow immediately snapped his mouth shut and glared at her, feeling a knot form in is stomach as his mind caught up to what just happened. Jasper laughed as she noticed the crimson blush staining his cheeks. Completely ignoring the fact that she was still blushing herself, Jasper got to her feet and put the picture on the counter, out of his reach.

Then, she walked over toward him. "Come on, let's get you back on that couch." However, as she approached him, the ebony hedgehog quickly scooted backwards, trying to get as far away from her as possible. The wolf chuckled. "Relax, Stripes," she told him, easily catching up and reaching down to grab his arm. He tried to jerk it away, but she'd already swung it around her neck, placing her other arm around his waist to support him. Shadow's blush only deepened.

Ignoring this, she led him to the couch and plopped him down on it. As she straitened, he continued to watch her warily, glaring at her. Jasper just smiled, shaking her head. "You gave me no choice, Stripes. I tried to warn you." The hedgehog growled in response. "You know," she continued, "It could've saved us both a lot of trouble if you'd just let me have the picture."

Grinning at his flustered expression, Jasper turned and headed toward the kitchen. As she pulled food out of the fridge, she had to pause for a moment and take a deep, calming breath, trying to steady her trembling hands. Even though it was fun to get on his nerves, she knew her blush wouldn't be disappearing any time soon.

Me: Heh, yeah. I'd gotten so much response from the last chapter, and I'd had so much fun writing it, that I thought: Aw, why not? Hence, this chappy. Lemme know if you liked it, and vote on my poll!

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