Truth

Light slivered into Rouge's pastel-colored room, giving it a bright purple glow. Shadow stole a glance at his ivory companion, allowing his eyes to linger for a moment on how the fur that adorned her head seemed to glow and shine amongst the color. The two companions were covering up her broken window with wood, which she couldn't properly fix until she could accumulate the rings to get it repaired properly. Shadow didn't understand though. He thought that since she owned her own nightclub and worked for G.U.N. she would be able to afford fixing a measly window, in addition to having other ways of obtaining money that weren't necessarily legal. But apparently that wasn't the case.

"You know handsome, we should do something after this." She said, brushing her hand on his shoulder.

The dark hedgehog turned to look at her again as she stood up and walked past him, her nightgown flowing gracefully while also sticking to her bountiful curves.

When she heard no response she turned around to see that he was staring at her… again.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for her to not form a proper response to it, but she didn't want to drive her precious hedgehog away. She smirked, grabbing a towel to pat her fur, which had been matted with a bit of sweat.

"I'd rather not." Shadow said, grabbing another slab of wood and adjusting it onto an exposed part of Rouge's window.

Rouge rolled her eyes. Sure, he could drool over her body all day but he wouldn't spend a little time with her. It's always business with that damn hedgehog. Surely she had to mean something to him if he was willing to throw a guy through a window, help her steal some jewelry, and then sabotage her date with the same guy he threw out the window.

"Why not?" She asked, not wanting to sound too whiny.

"Help me keep this board in place." He said, ignoring her question.

Rouge stuck her pretty, plump lips out, forming a rather cute pout. She trudged over to Shadow, intending to crouch next to him and help him adjust it, but then another idea occurred to her, and being the mischievous bat she was, of course she had to go through with it.

She got on her knees behind the black hedgehog and reached forward for the board, her arms wrapping around his and her chest firmly pressed against his back.

"!" Shadow turned slightly to see his ally innocently looking up towards the wood, moving it while Shadow crouched there motionlessly, seemingly frozen by her sudden embrace. However, he soon caught on to her act when he noticed her bottom lip quiver, and realized she was trying to suppress a giggle. She was toying with him and she knew it.

He stood up, breaking out of her hug from behind, the action so quick it made her fly back and land on her back.

"Never mind," he said briskly, "It's good enough."

The board consequently fell off the windowsill and hit Rouge's left foot, causing the bat to cry out in pain. Usually the sound of distress would prompt Shadow to help her up immediately and do whatever he could to ease the pain, but at the moment he was less than thrilled with her at the moment, so he simply looked away and tried to ignore his altruistic impulses.

"Now we have to put it up again!" She complained, slowly easing her way up, letting out several grunts of pain while doing so.

"You can do it yourself."

"Excuse me? Are you forgetting who broke this window? You owe me –"

"You may be cunning, but I won't fall into your guilt trip, batgirl. If all the times I saved you or put you out of harm's way cannot compensate for breaking a stupid window, then perhaps we should reevaluate the nature of our partnership."

Rouge stared at him for a moment, then looked down at her foot which was still aching.

"That's not fair. I've saved you too."

Shadow closed his ruby red eyes and in that moment he almost felt weak, because he knew it was true. He knew that she was upset with him for more than she was letting on, and that even if she was far from perfect, she was still his friend and deserved better treatment.

But he wasn't sure what kind of message he was sending her by allowing her to act so suave around him. It was only in her nature to act sexual, but Shadow wasn't interested in that. He was more interested in the Rouge that had confessed to enjoying his company when he lived her, he was more interested in the Rouge that had promised to stay by his side no matter what.

He wanted to know her, underneath her 'mysterious, sexy jewel thief' façade.

But he sure as hell wasn't going to find out if she kept playing him like this.

"Hmph." He grunted, "That's irrelevant. I did my best to fix that stupid piece of wood. Now it's your turn."

Rouge gasped lightly, giggling all of a sudden. He arched an eye ridge at her sudden shift in behavior, his suspicion only heightening when that all-too-sly look came on her face.

"Something tells me you want me to work on your wood instead…" She said.

However, Shadow being the oblivious – and at other times infuriatingly naïve – creature he was, had no idea what she was talking about.

"I don't have any wood."

She shook her head, a playful glint still evident in her eyes, though she was displeased with the hedgehog's obliviousness to her sexual innuendo.

"Are you not going to help me?"

"Go ask your boyfriend to help you, and stop flirting with me." Shadow snapped, both satisfied and guilty when he noticed her happy expression turn dismal.

"We broke up." She said bitterly, looking away.

"…You did?" Shadow asked this with a hint of surprise. He couldn't say he was displeased with this news, he wasn't personally fond of her boyfriend (or boy toy), but he did think that Rouge would at least try to maintain the relationship long enough to point out to him that she could take a relationship seriously.

"Correction: he dumped me." She confessed.

Shadow remained silent on this, deciding it would be best not to respond. He knew for a fact that Josh dumped her because of him. Having someone's face buried into the crook of your neck and whispering the name of somebody else doesn't make for very tantalizing foreplay. Still, something told him that even if she was still canoodling with that idiot, she would still flirt with him. She was what people of his time would call a coquette.

"I'm not surprised…" He said coldly.

Rouge flinched, clearly hurt by his words. She looked at him as though he were a lunatic, shocked to hear such insensitive words.

"You know what? You're full of shit." She said suddenly, feeling more than done with Shadow's attitude. She welcomed him into her house and he repaid her by breaking her window, giving her the cold shoulder, and insulting her. Well, Rouge doesn't put up with bullshit. Not even from the Ultimate Lifeform.

Unfortunately she was up against someone who matched up to her when it came to willpower and stubbornness.

So instead of being intimidated by such an exclamation, instead he replied:

"You know what? So are you."

And then he walked away.

Shadow liked quiet places.

As a bat, Rouge did too, for different reasons of course.

In solitude, away from all the cacophony of city life, it was easier to hear the sounds of nature. It was a personal quirk of Rouge's, to sit in silent areas and take a moment to listen to the sound of the wind, or the insects burrowing tunnels underneath the soil, or listening to other bats in the vicinity, being able to detect frequencies that went above the hearing range of other species.

Shadow liked the quiet because it gave him time to think. He often reminisced about his life on Space Colony ARK, growing up with his beloved Maria, and thinking back to what he had once expected of Earth and its people. He liked the quiet because it was peaceful. His life until late had been just about everything but peaceful. The silence reminded him of his days in outer space. He would talk to Maria, and sometimes, they would sit side by side amiably.

Rouge knew Shadow. She knew him very well. She knew that when he stormed out of her apartment he did it to clear his mind. But she was intent on finding him and talking some sense into him. She had gone to all the plausible places he would think of going to, and he was nowhere to be found. She decided to wait until later on that night to reprimand him for his behavior.

She flew back to Club Rouge, heading immediately towards the bar for a drink. She sipped limply at a margarita, the tangy yet sweet flavor overwhelmed her taste buds. She wanted more. She wanted to feel a buzz, maybe snag a cute Mobian onto the dancefloor and have a little fun. But more than that, she wanted to talk to Shadow. No matter how angry she got with him, he was still more important to her than any of her shallow desires.

She hated him for that.

She toyed around with the material on her pink jumpsuit for a moment, pondering over where Shadow could be hiding. Then she twirled around on the stool she had been sitting on ever so slightly and…

A black and red hedgehog was sitting in the seat next to her with a scowl on his face.

"So you noticed." He muttered disappointedly, his voice rather low and difficult to hear underneath the music blaring out from all sides of the club. He was lucky that Rouge had such good hearing; otherwise he would have found himself having to repeat everything he said at least ten times.

Rouge stood up wordlessly, an unspoken command for him to follow.

Shadow, usually not one to take orders, surprised her by standing up as well. He followed her up to one of the V.I.P. rooms of the club. It wasn't completely quiet, but they could have a decent conversation and hear each other perfectly well.

"I was looking for you. For a very long time." Rouge said, crossing her arms.

Shadow shrugged indifferently, not fully seeing what the big deal was.

"I didn't expect to find you here." She said once she was certain he wouldn't respond.

"That's why I came here." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I know you're upset with me, but you can't keep doing this to me. I thought I made it clear last night that I was done putting up with the way you talk to me. We've been through so much together, so for you to act like there's nothing between us really hurts."

"The only thing between us is our partnership." Shadow said, but his heart was telling him that this wasn't true.

And Rouge was well aware of it too.

"No. There's more. I promised you…"

"I know you did. And that's your choice. I respect that. I appreciate that. But what you don't understand is –"

"What I don't understand? There's plenty that I don't understand Shadow. I don't understand why I treat you so kindly, and you brush it off. You act like I'm some no name, like I'm a nuisance.

Shadow growled.

"Rouge…"

"I don't understand why I need to yell and scream to get you to care!" She continued, cutting him off.

"Rouge." He said in an authority like tone, which caused her to shut her mouth for a moment.

"What?" She asked, waiting for him to say something.

"Stop putting words into my mouth. You don't know how I feel."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to put words into your mouth if you would just tell me how you feel. It's really difficult to work with you when all you do is sulk around and act all depressed all the time. I know you have a hard life, but that isn't an excuse to act like an asshole to everyone, and feel sorry for yourself –"

This definitely sparked rage in Shadow.

"Let's get one thing straight Rouge." In an instant he was right in her face, his muzzle inches away from hers. "I do not feel sorry for myself."

Rouge's heartbeat accelerated instantly, the usually suave huntress was feeling a bit uneasy being so close to the Ultimate Lifeform. But all too soon he realized how close he was to the ivory beauty as well, and his usual stoic demeanor was slowly starting to ebb away as well.

This time Rouge spoke softly, not daring to strain her voice any more than she already had.

"Then why… Why do you push me away?"

He didn't retract, staying close and peering into her eyes intensely, though he knew it would be wise to distance himself from her lest he lose his self-control.

"Because…" He whispered, his hot breath slapping her face.

"… I don't want to lose you."

Then he walked past her, brushing his shoulder across her arm, the mere action made her shudder, and he walked out on her for the second time that day.