DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SONIC OR ANY OF THE SONIC CHARACTERS IN ANY WAY.

Author's Note: I hope this chapter doesn't bore you, cause I kinda have some writer's block for this story, right now. But, I'm not gonna discontinue it. I'm just gonna write more chapters whenever I get ideas about how it should go. But, anyway, I hope you like the chapter!

R&R! :)

The Stepbrother

Sonic wanted to get away. He couldn't think of anywhere he would go at the moment. He just knew he wanted to get away. Away from the school, away from the classroom,

. . . and away from Shadow.

Tails looked over at the uncomfortable-looking azure hedgehog. "Hey, Sonic . . . are you alright? You look a little . . . scared or something." This caught the attention of Knuckles, Amy, Silver, and Rouge. They had never known for Sonic to be 'afraid' of anything. Sonic gave the demeanor of a fearless, impenetrable brick wall; nothing could scare him or cause him to back down from anything. So, the words 'Sonic' and 'scared', used in the same sentence by Tails, were puzzling to Sonic's friends. But Sonic didn't want his friends to know he was a little on edge, especially not because of his own stepbrother.

"Uh, hehe . . . I'm fine, buddy." He answered with a not-so-convincing grin.

"Ya' sure, Sonic? Cause you're not really acting yourself." Knuckles said.

"Don't worry about him, you guys. He's probably just a little shy because he's sitting so close to me." Amy assured, primping her hair. "I do tend to have that effect on my hubby." All of the friends rolled their eyes at the comment. Sonic, however, didn't hear Amy's proclamation; his attention was redirected to the dark hedgehog at the front of the classroom.

"Soo, Shadow," Sparks started. "Can you tell the class a little about yourself?"

The aforementioned, black hedgehog hadn't allowed his angry eyes to falter from Sonic since he entered the room and laid eyes on his blue brother. How could he let some punk hedgehog sneak attack him in his face? And someone like Sonic, at that. After all, Sonic was nothing but a puny, weak, hopeless excuse for a little brother, right? He wasn't capable of being anything else but an easy target, right? . . . Right?

'How did that little rat hit me so fast?' Shadow also wondered. He didn't even remember seeing a fist moving toward his face. All he knew was that at one moment, he was smirking at his 'brother' and enjoying his taunting actions toward the azure one; the next thing he knew, he felt a fist make full contact with his face, hard enough to send him flying backward and onto solid concrete. All he saw when he looked up, embarrassed, was Sonic retreating, rather quickly, into the school building.

Was Sonic really that fast?

Shadow wrestled with these thoughts, but soon came to a conclusion that he didn't care. The only thing he could do was get even angrier at his recollection of past unfortunate events, and send a nasty glare toward his target-slash-stepbrother. He could feel Sonic's discomfort under his glare. He wanted Sonic to feel discomfort. He wanted Sonic to be afraid and aware that, at any time at all, Shadow could and would get his revenge, and Sonic would receive tenfold of a punishment than Shadow had that day. He smirked at his evil thoughts; he was so engulfed in concocting a plan to pulverize Sonic in his head, he almost didn't hear Sparks calling him for the third time.

" . . . SHADOW."

The mentioned calmly looked over to the source of the voice and said, "What?"

Sparks raised an eyebrow. "I said, 'Could you tell us something about yourself'?" Shadow looked at Sparks for a few more seconds before turning to the class.

"I'm Shadow. I'm 17, I'm a hedgehog, and this is the school of which I now attend." He stated to the class. "That's it."

The class all looked at each other. "Your brother's not much of a talker, eh blue?" Knuckles implied.

"Step-brother," Sonic corrected. "And who cares. The less he talks, the better." Sonic crossed his arms and pouted. Knuckles just shrugged at this comment.

Sparks sweat dropped. "Uhh . . . oo-kay. Eh . . . is there . . . anything else you'd like to say, Shadow?"

"Nothing I'd really care to share with any of you, no." Shadow responded coolly.

Sparks stood there at a loss of what to say. "Uhmm . . . well, alright then. Class, have you any questions for Shadow?"

"Are your gorgeous eyes naturally that color?" Rouge asked.

Shadow glanced nonchalantly at the girl and raised his eyebrow, wondering what possessed her to ask such a silly question. "Yes. They are."

Rouge purred in approval and pretended to claw at Shadow with one of her hands. Shadow just rolled his eyes.

"My house address is 69 Chao Lane." Said a golden cat named Sandy. "Do you happen to live anywhere near that address?" She asked, hopefully.

Shadow glared slightly at her. "No. Actually, I don't. I really think it's none of your business where—"

"Have you always had that strong, fit look?"

"Do you have a lot of money?"

"Can I have your number? I'll give you mine!"

"Will you go on a date with me?"

Shadow was getting more and more annoyed with each passing question. 'Ugh. It's the same everywhere. Will they just shut up?' Shadow thought. He couldn't be any more exasperated. Shadow wasn't always attacked by the female gender everywhere he went, but he was use to this kind of female attention at his old boarding school. He had an inkling of hope that when he moved and attended a public school, things would change.

All hope, for him, was now lost.

Shadow was rubbing his temples in an irritated manner. He could see that he wasn't going to get any help from Sparks, 'the teacher and peace keeper of his classroom'. He glared up hatefully at the class, looking around the room at the love-stricken females, until his eyes happened to glance over at Sonic at the back. The azure hedgehog, currently not showing any sign of worry or apprehension, was leaning back in his desk chair with hands behind his head and a sly smirk that could almost rival Shadow's. Sonic was enjoying every bit of Shadow's being miserable; the evidence was plain on his face. Shadow glared even darker at Sonic, and opened his mouth to demand silence and an end to all questions. But, the last question caught his attention.

"Do you have any brothers?"

Shadow's glare softened. He glanced over at a mongoose named Mina, the owner of the recently asked questions. An idea popped into Shadow's head and it was his turn to smirk. He leaned back with his elbows on Sparks' desk and proceeded to answer Mina's question.

"I just moved in with my dad, step-mom, and . . . step-brother." Shadow looked over at Sonic; his little brother's expression changed very quickly from one of amusement to one of confusion. "Sonic Hedgehog, actually, happens to be my new stepbrother. Isn't that right, Nicky?" He smirked over at Sonic, again. Sonic's confused surprise turned into a glare, while all of the girls cooed and talked amongst themselves saying, "Aww. He even has a nickname for him. That's so adorable!" Sonic snapped his head over at the girls and glared back even harder at Shadow, who continued on.

"In fact . . . we were talking earlier about how I was going to follow him around for the day. Ya'know, just to get a feel for this school and all." He rambled, causing Sparks to silently question to himself why Shadow suddenly became so talkative. Sonic sat agape and in disbelief at Shadow's lies. 'Follow me around? I don't want that bastard anywhere near me!' Sonic thought. He wondered how long he would have to endure this insanity. Out of nervousness, he picked up one of his pens from his desk and began chewing on it.

"We planned on walking to school together, eating lunch together, and even sitting together in first period."

"Aww," Amy whispered. "That is so sweet of you to show so much courtesy to your stepbrother, Sonic."

Sonic slowly turned to glower at Amy.

"But . . ." Shadow feigned disappointment. ". . . sadly, it looks like the only available seat is . . . over there." Shadow directed his finger to another chair sitting in the front-most row by the window. Sparks, Sonic, and the entire class followed Shadow's finger to the spot he was pointing to. Shadow sighed dramatically and sneaked a peek at Sonic, who was staring back at him angrily. He couldn't believe the position Shadow was trying to put him in. Did he really take 'a hit to the face' that seriously?

"Well, Shadow, I guess if someone in this room is willing to shift into another seat, you can sit near—"

Before Sparks could finish, a random student popped up out of his desk and walked over to the other vacant seat in the room. Sonic watched miserably as the student moved, silently trying to bribe him into staying where he was, but to no avail.

"Oh, there you go, Shadow. A seat just opened up for you, right next to Sonic." Shadow smirked as Sonic stared wide-eyed, unconsciously snapping his pen in two.

"Umm . . . Sonic?" Tails asked. "Are you sure that you're . . . you know . . . all there?" Tails questioned and motioned toward his head, indicating that Sonic was having some sort of mental problem.

Sonic closed his mouth and turned to Tails, irritated. "You know, I'm getting sick of your stupid wit and sarcasm!" Sonic whispered loudly to Tails. "Just because you hang around me all the time, doesn't mean you have to act like a—"

Tails shrunk back at this sudden outburst. "I was just trying to help, Sonic. Sheesh!"

"Sonic, calm down." Silver said. "I dunno why you're acting so uptight, but chill. He's just a kid."

Tails turned to Silver and pouted. "I am not just a kid. I am a very intellectual, young individual."

"You're a kid in the eleventh grade!" Sonic pointed at Tails and said. "He's a kid in the freakin' eleventh grade, Silver! If he's old enough to be the eleventh grade, he's old enough to—"

"Hey, Nicky." A cool deep voice greeted.

Sonic stopped in the middle of his verbal rampage and froze. He was almost too scared to turn around and glance at the owner of a voice he knew too well. But, he chose not to 'punk out' in front of his friends, so he turned anyway and scowled. He came face to face with the source of the misery that started for him a mere day ago. Shadow must have been a light stepper because Sonic was sure he didn't hear him walk to the desk.

"So, you're not talking to me, now, eh?"

"What are you over here for?" Sonic grumbled.

"Isn't it obvious, blue? This is my seat." He responded. "Or were you not paying attention when Sparky assigned it to me?"

"You know what I mean, jackass. Why'd you ask to sit over here?"

Shadow stared Sonic in the eyes for a short while before chuckling, quietly. "Little brother—"

"STEP-brother." Sonic rudely interrupted.

" . . . whatever. You're still my little brother and that's all that matters, isn't it?"

"Just answer the question." Sonic hissed a little loudly. He looked up to make sure no one was listening. The students all seemed to be involved in each of their own affairs. Even Sparks hadn't started class yet. He was busy looking for the lesson plan for the day and the homework he would eventually assign. Sonic drew his attention back to Shadow.

Shadow shook his head teasingly at Sonic. "Tsk. Tsk. Still so hostile."

"What . . . are you over here for?" Sonic echoed, running out of patience. Having a lot of patience wasn't his strong suit, either.

Shadow chuckled again, in a darker manner. "Of course you can't possible assume that I've forgotten all about your little charade earlier this morning, baby brother."

Sonic's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

'Charade? Earlier?' He thought.

Shadow's amused expression turned into one of annoyance. " . . . earlier this morning when you punched me?"

Sonic's mouth formed a slight 'o' as realization dawned on him.

"Yeah." Shadow confirmed.

"Well, what does that have to do with now?" Their conversation still continuing, unnoticed.

"Well, as you know, I have to ensure that you receive your just reward for your hostility towards me earlier."

Sonic's face slightly lost color. " . . . whaddya mean . . . 'just reward'?" He was almost afraid to ask.

Shadow leaned toward Sonic to make sure no one else could hear what he was about to say. "I will make sure you pay for your little antics, Sonic. And trust me, you'll either be miserable or embarrassed. Who knows, you might get lucky and end up both."

Sonic gulped. He had never been afraid of a threat before; why did he feel afraid of one now?

"B-but . . . I didn't even mean to hit you; it was just a reflex, honest." Sonic tried to convince him. "And you're not scarred or bruised or anything. What do you need to get back at me for?"

Shadow smirked. "It's just the principle of the thing."

Sonic felt like his stomach was doing somersaults and back flips. The last thing he wanted was to feel uptight and jumpy having to be on edge and on the lookout for anything Shadow was prepared to do to him. He couldn't decide if he should tell his mother or Jules. If he told Bernadette, she would probably side with Shadow again, and refuse to believe anything Sonic told her. If he told Jules, Jules might relay the message to Bernadette who would just punish Sonic for telling Jules 'such untruths'. He didn't know where to turn at the moment. So, his only option was to hide.

'I gotta stay away from him.' He thought. 'Who knows what kind of crazy crap he might try to do to me!'

The azure hedgehog decided to keep himself hidden to the best of his abilities, after school. He was afraid of Shadow hurting him, screwing with his social life, or worse . . .

. . . having another personal mishap like the night before.

Although Sonic hated to think about it, he couldn't help but wonder whether or not Shadow's . . . up-close and personal moments with Sonic were just a way of trying to be an irritation, or were the moments a sign that Shadow actually—

"Alright, class. Now that we've gotten the chance to meet Shadow, I'd like for us to all turn to the chapter we've been working on for the past few days in our homework books."

Sonic exhaled heavily. He hated homework almost as much as he hated Shadow. As he reached under his desk to grab his book, he noticed Shadow raise his hand.

"Yes, Shadow?" Sparks answered politely.

"I don't have one of these . . . homework books everyone else has."

"Oh! I'm sorry, Shadow. The new set of books for this class hasn't arrived yet." Sonic looked over at Shadow and stuck his tongue out in a childish manner. "Why don't you share a book with Sonic since you're near each other? Besides, you both live in the same house; you can use the same book for your homework, later, right?"

Sonic's jaw dropped and Shadow turned to Sonic and smirked.

"Whatever you say, teach'." Shadow confirmed.

"Alright, class. Please flip to page—"

Sonic grabbed for his book and laid it on his desk, flipping to the pages the teacher mentioned. Normally, he'd give Sparks a hard time with doing anything related to homework, but today, he just wasn't in the mood. He had more important matters on his mind, one particular matter being more troublesome than homework.

Suddenly, Shadow began to scoot his desk as close as possible to Sonic's. Sonic narrowed his eyes at Shadow, dangerously. Shadow merely smirked, darkly.

"Just don't touch me while you're over here." Blue warned.

"I do what I want, when I want, little brother." Shadow replied. Then, he snaked his hand secretly under the desk toward Sonic and sensually rubbed the blue hedgehog's upper thigh. He got really close to Sonic's ear and whispered, "And not even you can stop that."

Sonic shuddered at Shadow's husky voice and delicate contact. This amused a grinning Shadow even more. "You're blushing." Shadow stated after looking at Sonic's face, which indeed was turning a light shade of red. Upset at Shadow's bluntness, he threw Shadow's hand off of his leg. "Don't touch me!" He yelled.

The whole class, then, stopped what they were doing, including Sparks, and looked at Sonic with puzzled expressions. Tails glanced at Sonic, silently questioning his behavior. Then, he dismissed it as Sonic 'just being Sonic', and went back to paying attention to the teacher. On the other hand, Sonic found it hard to keep his focus on Sparks considering his situation at hand. After looking around to make sure no one was watching, he glared evilly at Shadow. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean, baby brother?" Shadow feigned innocence.

"Don't ever touch me like that, again!"

"Why not?" Shadow challenged with a fake coy grin on his face.

"Because . . ." He paused and glanced around again. " . . . because you're a guy!" He retorted. "And you're supposed to be my . . . my . . ."

"Your brother?" Shadow finished.

"You're not my brother." Sonic stated, harshly. He didn't even want to think about the concept of Shadow being related to him in any way.

"Then . . ." Shadow started to whisper as he slid a little closer to Sonic, putting his left arm around him. Sonic tensed up immediately at the unwanted contact. " . . . why don't you want me to touch you like this?" Shadow now wrapped his other arm around Sonic's neck, positioned so that both of his arms rested on the latter's shoulders. Sonic watched as the arms were slung upon him, and then he dared to make eye contact with his 'pursuer'. A familiar pink hue made its way to his face, clearly displaying Sonic's embarrassment of the proximity between Shadow and him. His entire mind went completely blank when Shadow laid his head to rest on Sonic's right shoulder. Sonic felt as if he had no way of escape.

Sonic looked down away from Shadow's eyes and spoke. "C-cause . . . y-you're . . . you're getting too—"

"I'm getting too what, Nicky?" Shadow gently grabbed Sonic's chin, forcing his blue prey to connect eyes with him.

Sonic was speechless. 'Wh-why is he doing this?' He thought. Chills shot through his body like lightning at Shadow's touch. He didn't understand what was causing him to feel this way. Of course he couldn't have been having feelings for . . . for

No.

He refused to even think of that possibility.

"I'm getting too . . . personal?" Shadow taunted and chuckled in a sadistic manner. He whispered and stroked his chin, lightly.

"Y-yea, Shadow." Sonic shuddered, again. It was unbelievable to him how bold Shadow was in a classroom full of people. It was even more astounding to Sonic that no one seemed to notice Shadow's actions toward him. How was he getting away with this? Were Sparks, the class, and his friends really this naïve?

"You're such a faker, Nicky." The darker hedgehog smirked, wrapping his arms slightly tighter around Sonic to draw him closer. "I know you're just aching for me to get close and personal with you. You're merely in a state of denial."

Sonic's breathing sped up quickly, his hearting beating equally as fast. Just how far did Shadow intend to push this little game?

Shadow gently tugged Sonic closer to him until their faces were touching each others. He laughed huskily in Sonic's ear and whispered sexily, "And how exactly am I supposed to learn more about my little brother . . . if I can't get as close to him as possible?" Shadow, then, tugged Sonic almost as close as physically possible and, sensually and slowly, licked Sonic's jaw.

That was it for Sonic.

He couldn't handle any more at that specific moment in time.

His green eyes widened and he felt his whole body become hot, feeling particularly heated in his southern-most regions. He just couldn't take anymore. He couldn't. No one was to touch him like that, especially not some freak that sauntered into his house a day ago. It was the last straw.

Sonic's face turned from light pink with embarrassment to bright red with anger and irritation at his 'older stepbrother'.

He'd lost all self-control.

Sonic shoved Shadow as hard as he could away from him, almost knocking him off of the chair. He stood up, pointed a finger at Shadow, and shouted as loud as he possibly could.

"LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE, ALREADY!"

The entire class was wide-eyed at Sonic's sudden outburst. Even Sparks' normally cool demeanor wavered at the random even that had taken place in front of him.

"I told you he's crazy." Tails tried to whisper so that Sonic wouldn't hear. "I swear I saw like three pink bottles of this . . . weird . . . liquor or something in his bathroom cabinet the other day."

"Tails, I told you a million times; it was Pepto Bismol." Knuckles replied covering and shaking his head.

" . . . oh. Oh, yeah."

At the front of the room, Sparks scratched the back of his head uneasily. "Uh, Sonic . . . are you . . . okay?"

Sonic looked around the room, still breathing uneasily, at everyone staring at him. It, then, dawned on him what he had done. And right in the middle of class. He turned to look at the cause of his outburst; of course, he was smirking up at the azure one. Sonic realized he had succeeded in what was probably just one of Shadow's plans to get Sonic back from earlier. He frowned deeply and looked toward the front of the class. "I'm fine." He stated.

"You're sure you don't need to go to the nurse . . . for some aspirin or something?" Sparks questioned. "I'd imagine you'd need it after a scream like that." He chuckled to himself.

"Nah." The blue student answered a little calmer than before. "I'm okay, Sparks."

"Okay, well whatever is bothering you, can you please try to keep the volume of your voice under control a little better, next time?"

Sonic nodded in compliance as he sat back down.

"Okay. Now, back to what I was stating a second ago—"

Shadow looked over at the 'mess' to his left with a satisfied grin. He leaned toward Sonic and whispered, "I told you I'd get you back for earlier, eh?"

Sonic glared harshly at Shadow. "So, you justify me punching you in the face by making me look like a maniac?" He was clearly not pleased. "I don't even see your point in revenge. As far as I'm concerned, you started it first by throwing your stupid rocks at me; all of this is your fault!" He whispered a little louder than necessary.

"Ask me if I care." Onyx answered plainly.

Sonic flipped Shadow off once more, causing the latter to chuckle deeply to himself.

"Ahh, do what you want while you can, Nicky. With the way I intend to get you back, you may end up without that finger." He smiled.

Sonic retracted his finger from in front of the other's face and asked, "What are you talking about? You just did get me back."

"Well, I hope you think making you look stupid in front of your peers wasn't all that was coming to you."

Sonic stared at him and gulped hard.

"And I just can't wait until you find out what's really coming to you, little brother." Shadow taunted, evilly.

** The school bell went off, signifying it was time for students to move to their next class. Students began to gather their things and retreat from their spots, and Sparks was saying something about 'homework tonight' in the background, but Sonic didn't hear.

Sonic, the quickest of the departing students, gathered his things, left Shadow's side almost as quick as he was able, and sped out of the door. Unknowing to him, Shadow watched him all the way out of the door. He was too eager to get away from his tormentor. The last one to get up, Shadow picked up his bag and thought to himself.

'You can run from me as fast as you can, baby brother.' He thought. 'But, you can't stay away from me, forever.'