A ShadMaria Story: Chapter 20

I'M BACK AGAIN!!! I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG TO UPDATE!!! GOMENASAI MINNA-SAN!! (I'M SO SORRY EVERYONE!!) I STARTED POSTING ONE OF MY OEL MANGA SERIES, CALLED "My Boyfriend's an Anime Character", ON 'WirePop' AND IT'S BEEN VERY STRESSFUL!!!! (See profile for details and link)

THIS LONG AWATED CHAPTER IS A BIT LONGER THEN MY OTHER CHAPTERS SO I HOPE YOU LIKE IT

WELL, ON WITH THE CHAPTER!!!

'Minna, doko no' = 'Everyone, where are you' (or 'Where are you guys?')

                                   CHAPTER 20: The Reactions prt 2

Shadow and Maria were arriving at the house.

"I can't believe those reporters! Now I know how those actors and singers feel!" Maria said, as Shadow sat her down.

Shadow didn't say anything, he was lost in thought.

"Shadow?" Maria said, looking at him.

Shadow didn't respond.

"Hey, Shadow...?" Maria said, a little worried.

"Huh? Did you say something, Maria?" Shadow said, coming out of his daze, and looking at Maria.

"Yeah, but it's nothing too important. What's on your mind?" Maria said, still looking worried.

Shadow hesitated, looking away.

"Those reporters... I'm just wondering what they'll say about us." He said, still looking a worried.

"Oh." Maria whispered.

She turned toward the house again.

"Well, we'll just have to watch the 'Celebrity News' tonight and find out." Maria said looking over her shoulder at Shadow.

Shadow forced a smile.

"I guess so." He said.

The two walked toward the house, Shadow lagging behind.

For once, Maria didn't pick up on the fake smile and Shadow was relieved about that.

'I don't want to know what they say... More importantly, I don't want Maria to know what they say about us.
She was always the one to point out our differences. The last thing we need is for that to turn out to really be an issue with the rest of the world. I don't want to know how she'd take that...' Shadow thought.

The two heard a scream from a distance.

"SILVER! Don't you dare! You WILL NOT drop me! Will you- AGH!!!" Maria and Shadow heard as the screams got closer.

"I think that's M-chan." Maria said.

"M-chan, stop squirming!" Silver said, loudly.

"Silver-kun no Baka!" M-chan said, crossing her arms and looking away.

"You're saying I'm stupid? M-chan's so mean..." Silver moped, quietly.

"Don't you start that." M-chan said.

Silver landed in front of Shadow and Maria and put M-chan down.

"Were you followed?" Shadow asked.

"Well, 'hi' to you too Shadow-kun." M-chan said, with eyes narrowed and a grin.

"No, we managed to lose 'em along the way. But, we should go inside soon just
in-case." Silver said.

"Right, that's a good idea." Maria said.

"Good thing I've got a ton of movies here already, because I've got a feeling we'll be held up in this place for a LONG time." M-chan said as the group went inside the house.

"Really? How did this happen again?" Maria said with a sigh.

"Well, we were shopping and talking about the other people staring at us then out of no-where we're blinded by cameras flashing in our faces." M-chan said, closing and locking the doors behind them.

The other three stared at her.

"What? That's how it happened. I have a photographic/Ti-Vo memory." M-chan said, turning toward the group.

"Okay, where are the others?" Silver wondered.

"Well, let's look around." M-chan said.

M-chan and Silver went upstairs, while Shadow and Maria looked around downstairs.

"Minna! Doko no?" M-chan said, looking into one of the rooms.

"In here!" Amy said, loudly from a room at the end of the hall.

M-chan and Silver walked down the hall, finding Amy and Rouge watching TV.

"You won't believe what's they've been talking about! It's been all over the place for the past hour!" Amy said, pointing to the TV.

M-chan walked over and sat down on the small couch with the two girls, while Silver leaned on the doorframe.

"Reporters are still staking out the mall, looking for a trace of the latest 'Celebrity possible couple.
Shadow the Hedgehog was seen today with an unknown blonde. All is a-buzz about the identity of the girl, but there's still no information." A female reporter said, as pictures of Shadow and Maria are shown in the corner.

"That's not good." M-chan said, quietly.

"What happened there anyway? You four went to the mall to go shopping and then THIS happens!" Amy said.

"Well, we were in a store looking at the backpacks and people were staring at us. Next thing we know, cameras are flashing in our faces and we're on the run." M-chan said.

"Aw, man... You pretty much went there for nothing, huh?" Amy commented.

"What do you mean by that?" M-chan asked confused, with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't have any bags with you." Amy said.

M-chan's eyes shot wide and she gasped, looking around at her feet.

"OH NO!!!" She shrieked, hands going to her face.

"I must've dropped them along the way!!" M-chan yelled, turning to Silver.

"I've gotta go get 'em!" She added.

"Are you crazy?! If those reporters recognize you, they'll eat you alive!" Rouge said.

"Rouge's right, M-chan. You can't go back now." Silver said, standing closer to M-chan.

"But, if I don't, all that we went through would be for nothing!" M-chan said, looking down at him.

"I'm not letting you go out there for those reporters to attack you over something so trivial!" Silver said.

"It's not trivial! Shadow and Maria wanted to visit Ark, and they needed supplies, like backpacks. If I don't go back now, it'll take even longer for them to go!"
M-chan argued, her hands in loose fists now.

"They can't really go at this point anyway. Even with one of Tails ships, it would draw even more attention" Silver argued back, crossing his arms and turning away slightly.

"It's too risky." He added.

M-chan groaned quietly, hands in fists on her hips as she and Silver glared at each other.

Rouge and Amy looked at each other, hands over their mouths in attempt to keep from laughing.

Silver and M-chan did look a little odd, considering M-chan was just over two feet taller then Silver, and leaning over a bit to compensate for the height difference.

M-chan studied Silver's golden eyes and blushed slightly, causing Silver to blush too, but he still for the most part, looked determined.

She sat down on her legs, so she'd be eye level with Silver.

Silver kept his determined expression, as M-chan looked at him and batted her eyes.

"You worry about me too much..." She said, leaning toward him.

Rouge and Amy hid their grins, and exchanged a glance.

"You're so sweet..." M-chan cooed, and kissed Silver gently on the lips.

Silver's whole face turned red.

While he and M-chan had kissed plenty of times, being in front of there friends had a more embarrasing effect.

Silver fainted and M-chan stood up.

"Now that that's taken care of..." She said, and picked Silver up.

M-chan carried Silver to a nearby couch.

"You've gotta tell me how you do that." Amy said, with a grin.

"It's mostly Silver's doing. He's a little frisky when no one's around. But, around other people, especially friends, kissing him makes him faint." M-chan said, caressing Silver's sleeping face.

She smiled slightly then walked toward the door.

"I'm going to get the things I felt behind at the store. If I'm lucky, I dropped them along the way instead of leaving them at the mall." M-chan said.

"And hopefully you'll be back before Silver wakes up." Rouge said.

"I don't want to be the one to tell him where you went." She added with a laugh.

"Me neither!" Amy said, laughing.

"Alright, I'm gone." M-chan said, walking out the room door.

"Good luck!" Amy called after her.

M-chan walked down the hall, and reached into a small bag on her belt.

'Silver doesn't know every trick of mine...' She thought.

When M-chan's hand re-emerged from the bag, it was covered in glowing silver/blue glitter.

She wiped her hand over her face, changing her make-up to purple eye shadow and a med pink lipstick. (A/N: Just a little darker then Amy's 'hair')

M-chan's normal hair changed to long, wavy, and black.

She smiled to herself as she walked out the door, her clothes changing to a white shirt, dark blue pants and black jacket.

'Silver wouldn't have had an issue with me going back if he knew I could disguise myself, but I'd rather keep him in the dark for now.' M-chan thought to herself and giggled quietly.

                                           ABOUT AN HOUR LATER:
Amy and Rouge caught Maria and Shadow up on the previous events as they sat in the living room.

Shadow and Maria had walked out to the back of the house.

"Maybe we should watch TV for a bit, to see if they're still talking about us." Maria suggested.

Shadow visibly tensed, but Maria didn't seem to notice.

"I second that. I've gotta see this!" Sonic said.

"I'm back! The wounded warrior victoriously arrives safe and sound." M-chan said, walking in the front door, her normal appearance restored.

Silver bolted to the door.

"You tricked me!" He said, loudly.

M-chan smiled at Silver and put down the bags she was carrying.

"Yes, I did. Gotcha' good didn't I, my sweetest." She said.

"That wasn't fair and you won't sweet talk me into forgetting about it." Silver said, crossing his arms.

"Aww... you're mean, Silver-kun. Blaze was be on my side." M-chan pouted.

Silver tensed.

"Blaze was... you called Blaze?" He asked, worried.

"Yep. She told me to tell you if you give me too much grief about this, she'd tell me all about 'Kina'" M-chan said. (A/N: it's said 'Kee-nah')

Silver paled slightly.

"So, who's Kina? Old Girlfriend or something?" M-chan asked, eyes narrowed and crossing her arms.

"N-n- No it's nothing like that!" Silver said, loudly.

"Oh really...?" M-chan said, suspiciously.

"Really! It's not like that, honest!" Silver said, arms waving around for emphasis.

"Okay, okay I believe you." M-chan said, picking up the bags and walking into the living room.

Silver sighed in relief as he followed.

"Hey, M-chan. The reporters give you too much trouble?" Rouge asked.

"Nah, apparently they didn't recognize me by myself." M-chan said, handing Maria her shopping bag.

"Thank you so much, M-chan. I don't know what we'd do without you." Maria said, with a smile.

"Aww, stop it. You're embarrassing me!" M-chan said, covering her face with her hands.

"Look, the 'Celebrity News' is coming on!" Amy said, pointing to the TV.

Shadow sank down in his seat, wanting to disappear.

"Welcome to 'Celebrity News'. I'm Barbi Baker. Today, we're covering a very interesting couple." A cat-girl reporter said.

"It seems Shadow the Hedgehog has found love with an unknown human blonde." Barbi said, with a grin.

Shadow inwardly cringed when the reporter said the word 'human'.

'I don't like the sound of that... it's clear she's human when you see her.' He thought, a little worried.

A series of pictures and videos of Shadow and Maria at the mall were shown, including on of them kissing.

"Her identity is still unknown, and how long the two have been together is also a mystery. In any case, it's clear Shadow and the mystery girl are very much in love." Barbi said.

The sound of 'Awwww's echoed through the living room, causing Maria and Shadow to blush.

"What's goin' on?" Sonic asked, walking over to the couch.

"We're watching the 'Celebrity News' report on Shadow and Maria." Amy said.

"They're still talking about this?" Knuckles said, walking into the room.

"Yep. They can't get enough of 'em!" M-chan said, with a grin as she leaned over the back of the couch.

"Let's here what Shadow's many fans have to say." Barbi said, as the smaller screen started to cover the rest.

There was a group of crying and wailing girls (of various species).

"NO SHADOW!! SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!" The girls wailed.

"Aww... poor Shadow's fangirls." Rouge said, with a smile.

Shadow 'palmed' his face.

"It seems to be a consensus against the pairing with them. But, who can blame them?" Barbi asked, smiling.

"I can't BELIEVE Shadow's got a girlfriend..." A dog girl said, looking shocked.

"I'm not surprised Shadow has a girlfriend..." Another dog girl said.

Maria smiled and leaned against Shadow a little as M-chan 'awww'ed at them.

"The only thing that surprises me about it is that she's human." The dog girl said.

M-chan's smile faded a bit, starting to worry a little.

"Shadow's actually dating a human girl? That's... a little weird." A rabbit girl said.

"Yeah, dating a human just seems... wrong." A raccoon boy said.

'Oh no... Not this...' M-chan thought, leaning on the back of the couch.

"That's so weird! Yeah, most of us anthros do date 'inter-species', but a hedgehog and a human... are just too different." A bat girl said.

Shadow inwardly cringed.

'This isn't good.' He thought.

"Shadow's such a rebel!" A hedgehog girl swooned.

Shadow glanced up at Maria.

Maria's eyes were wide and one hand covered her mouth from shock.

Shadow growled quietly, and glared at the TV as if it was his worst enemy.

"Why aren't we good enough Shadow-kun!?" The fan club girl cried, some of them hugging each other and crying.

"Humans and anthros shouldn't be together!" A weasel girl said.

M-chan saw tears come to Maria's eyes.

"Why did you abandon us for some stupid human girl?!" The fangirls wailed.

Shadow threw a remote at the TV, putting a hole through to the wall behind it.

"Shadow!!" Amy yelled.

"How DARE they say that about Maria!" Shadow said, loudly.

"Easy, Shadow" Sonic said, a sweat-drop on the side of his head.

Shadow seemed to ignore them.

'This is bad... Maria was worried about this back on Ark. And now... well...' He thought.

Maria stood up from the couch and started toward the stairs.

"Maria... Are you okay?" M-chan asked.

Maria nodded, standing at the bottom of the staircase, her hand on the railing.

Shadow walked toward her a few steps.

"Maria...?" He said, hand stretched out toward Maria as she started up the stairs.

"Don't. Just... leave me alone, Shadow." Maria said quietly, stopping mid-step.

Shadow cringed, and Maria walked upstairs again.

'I was afraid this would happen...' He thought.

Maria walked up the stairs and into her room.

She leaned against the closed door and slid to the floor.
(A/N: I hate making it rhyme like that)

Maria pulled her knees to her chest, resting her forehead on them.

She sighed quietly.

A tear ran down her cheek.

"I knew it..." She whispered.

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