CHAPTER 5

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

After when Rouge had stormed off, Shadow immediately regretted everything that he had said to her. He felt awful for upsetting her even more than she was.

Lien-Da saw Shadow's strange behavior and decided to attempt to take his mind off of the apparent heated conversation he just had with Rouge. She confronted him with a glass of wine in both of her hands. "Come on. We can talk outside."

He saw her walking out towards the balcony outside of the room and decided to follow her. When he walked outside of the huge balcony, it was surprising just him and her. He saw her leaning against the white railing of the balcony. He slowly walked over to her and stood beside her. He saw her hand him one of the glasses full of wine. He uneasily took the glass from her hands. This was going on his sixth or possibly seventh glass of alcohol and he had swore to Rouge he wouldn't get too drunk. However, by the way things were going for him, he thought he needed anything to make his night go easier than it was. After when he took a sip from the glass, he looked over to Lien-Da who was admiring the shining stars that filled the dark sky.

A warm smile formed on her lips as she stared into the sky. "When I was a little girl, I always loved to stay up late and stare into the night sky." She looked over to Shadow with the warm smile still present on her face, "It's always so beautiful to look at."

As Shadow looked over to her, he felt like he couldn't take his eyes away from her light blue eyes. His eyes had seemed to aimlessly wander down to her huge breasts. He knew this was bad, he had to admit to himself, he was drunk and if he wasn't careful, he could say one thing that would blow his chances of becoming a G.U.N. lieutenant. He tried to gather his thoughts together before loosely saying things he didn't mean. "…Um yeah…very nice…"

She could tell by him pausing and slurring his words, he was drunk. "By the way, I'm sorry if I caused any tension between you and your girlfriend. I didn't mean…"

"…What? No, it's not your fault. She…gets like that…sometimes…" He felt like he couldn't balance himself very well without leaning against the railing and his swaying was very noticeable to Lien-Da.

She couldn't help but to find how he was acting amusing to her. However, she tried to carry on the conversation and pretended like him being drunk wasn't a big deal. "But I still feel bad…really bad…"

"…Don't…feel bad. She's just pissed off cause you're attractive…" A long pause had took place until Shadow realized what he had just said to her, a military lieutenant. His eyes widened in horror, "Oh shit! I…didn't mean…"

She felt like she could no longer contain her laughter and couldn't help but to giggle from Shadow's reaction. "Oh, Shadow! You're hilarious! And I thought you would be a stick in the mud like Gin!"

He couldn't help but to escape a laugh from her reaction. He had thought she would get offended but she was so open and friendly towards him. She was nothing like he would expect from the second lieutenant of G.U.N. "Yeah…I act a little…different when I'm drunk." He suddenly felt her hand caress his until she gently took the glass of wine out of his hand.

"…Maybe you had enough for tonight…"

"…The night is still young…" He watched her drink the remaining wine that was left in the glass and set it down on the railing. Before he could say anything else to her, he heard a loud fake cough near them. When he and Lien-Da spun around, they saw an irritated white bat woman storming her way over to them.

"Oh Rouge there you are", Lien-Da had spoke. She suddenly saw her point her finger at her.

"Shut up!" She spat.

The echidna couldn't believe what had came from Rouge's mouth. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at the bat woman. "Excuse me?"

Rouge's eyes flashed over to the black hedgehog who was swaying his body beside her. "Oh what the fuck! Shadow! You're drunk!"

The hedgehog shook his head slowly, "N-No…I'm not…"

Frustrated, she placed her hand on her forehead and sighed. "Damn it, Shadow! We have to go home. You can't be like this here…" Before she could tug Shadow away, Gin had walked out onto the huge balcony. Her heart skipped a beat from the sight of him. She didn't want Gin to see Shadow intoxicated but unfortunately he was going to regardless.

The white fox approached the group. "So this is where everyone was hiding! I had wanted Shadow to say a few words to his new comrades." He rose an eyebrow as he saw Shadow barely having the power to stand up straight and he reeked of alcohol. "Um…is he drunk?"

Rouge gave the fox an apologetic look. "Please don't count this against Shadow. I'm sure he didn't mean…"

Gin let out a small chuckle, "No, no it's fine. It's a party. Everyone's drinking. Shadow's just having fun and there's nothing wrong with that."

A sigh of relief formed on her face after when she discovered how understanding Gin was towards the situation.

"I just don't want him walking into the military like that and we're good."

She made a small nod and then turned to the drunk hedgehog, "We should get going, Shad."

Lien-Da decided to say a few more words to Shadow before he took off with Rouge. "It was nice finally meeting you, Shadow."

Shadow made a smile towards her and shook her hand, "You…too, Lien-Da."

Lien-Da arched an eyebrow when she saw Rouge confront her while glaring at her coldly.

"And you!" Rouge spoke in an angered tone. "You stay away from Shadow!"

She was amused by Rouge's sudden hate towards her. She figured that Rouge really did feel threatened by her. She got a kick out of her jealousy. "Oh?" She formed a sly smirk and gave Shadow a seductive look. "I look forward to working very closely with you, Shadow…"

"Why you…" Before Rouge could say anything else to her, Shadow pulled her away from her.

"Stop it! Let's go!"

She sighed heavily and stormed away from Gin and Lien-Da with Shadow by her side.

When the two left, Gin turned to Lien-Da and shook his head. "…Really?"

The echidna shrugged her shoulders, "What? She was being a total bitch. Besides…I can't help it if they're having relationship issues…"

In The Next Chapter...

Shadow: For God's sake! She was not flirting with me!

Rouge: I know what I saw! She was trying to get you drunk!

Shadow: Why are you acting like this?

Vector: I can't believe this is happening...

Shadow: Vector, don't...

Vector: You were the best captain I've ever had...