Upon Angel Island

Okay guys don't freak out! I'm not abandoning Dealing Hearts here, just bringing you all some cute little Knuxouge oneshots to pass the time. Enjoy, read, review!

Disclaimer- if I suddenly owned Sonic and co. you would all know about it.

Birthday:
02/02/15

It was 5am on Angel Island; no sound could be heard except the light snoring of a rugged, red echidna sleeping on the long stone staircase leading up to the shrine. The master emerald, in all its beauty, glowed an electrifying green against the inky blackness of the night. The island was desolate for the most part. Knuckles- the sleeping echidna in question- was the only inhabitant. For hours, days, weeks at a time, he would guard the shrine, keeping the precious gem out of harm's way. Though he would probably hesitate to admit it, the life he lived was a lonely one, but alas- too proud for his own good- he took on the life of solitude without complaint.

The echidna stirred in his sleep. Due to the importance of his task, he always slept lightly, the slightest movement in the vicinity awakening him with a jolt. Suddenly startled, he leaped to his feet, trying to shake off the tiredness and confusion that come along with being woken up. Once he had gathered his bearings, he scanned the area. Something had woken him, that much was clear, but he couldn't be sure of what it was. It wasn't uncommon for his sleep to be disturbed by something as unimportant as a passing animal or even just the rustling of the trees. But it also wasn't uncommon for him to be awoken by thieves attempting to steal his emerald.

In such situations, Knuckles could take a guess at three potential culprits. One was obvious: the notorious Dr Eggman or his henchmen. A gem that held so much raw energy was beyond appealing to the evil genius, it was like bringing a moth to a flame. Eggman wasn't too hard to deal with, especially if he came alone, but fighting a giant robot in the middle of the night wasn't exactly a favourite past time of the echidna's. His second guess would be his friends, attempting to swipe the emerald while he was asleep in order to use it in one of their hare-brained schemes that for whatever reason he hadn't agreed to. Sonic- that blue pest- had taken the emerald too many times for his liking, just so that he could go about saving the world in his own way as per usual. Knuckles detested Sonic for his arrogance, but he remained a close friend none the less.

His third guess was the most frequent threat that he had to deal with, and probably the most intelligible one- Rouge the Bat. A professional jewel thief by trade, Rouge had made it her life's mission to own all of the world's gems. No matter how many times Knuckles had told her that her goal was ridiculous and unrealistic, she still persisted. In ways he admired her for that, admired her optimism and her ability to have complete and utter faith in her own abilities… and in ways she annoyed the hell out of him.

The odd and ultimately frustrating thing about all of this was that, despite her unfavourable intentions, Knuckles didn't at all mind when Rouge paid a visit. In fact, sometimes he rather liked it. Some may say he was crazy, enjoying having a person attempt to steal his most prized possession, but often- after she was caught in the act- she would leave peacefully after a short conversation or perhaps, at worst, a little argument. It was as if she actually came to see him nowadays, not to swipe the master emerald.

No sooner had Knuckles thought this, had he shaken the thought straight from his head. A jewel thief, come to visit the owner of what would otherwise be the centrepiece in her collection? Just for fun? Maybe even because she liked him? Ridiculous.

Knuckles darted up the stairs to the master emerald as quickly as he could. He was fast- way faster than anyone gave him credit for because his skills were always overshadowed by Sonic. He still hadn't discovered what had awoken him, but he wasn't going to wait around any longer to find out. He had to be with the emerald, had to make sure no one could approach it without getting through him first. It was his duty.

Without even breaking a sweat, Knuckles reached the emerald in seconds, breathing a sigh of relief that it was so far seemingly unharmed. He walked over to it, basking in its calming light and placed his hand on its smooth surface.

"Hand's off what's mine, Knuckie," came a playful voice from above him. Startled, his head shot upwards, examining the tall stone pillars surrounding the emerald. He tried to ignore the fact that his heart skipped a beat and instead rolled his eyes when he saw her sitting there, perched smugly on the nearest pillar to him with her legs casually crossed as if she weren't 50ft off the ground. He supposed it didn't matter if she could fly. It was Rouge.

"You again," he huffed, "have you not heard of giving up?" She chuckled, the deep, melodic laughter dripping with a mixture of sarcasm and self-assuredness. The sound made Knuckles instantly begin to flare up in anger, her arrogance testing his already thinly worn patience.

"Oh honey, do you think I need to?" she replied as she glided down from her perch, landing in front of him with all of her usual grace. "When have I ever failed?"

"Only… let's see… every time you try to steal from me," he responded, his pride at knowing he was right showing through.

"And maybe," she began cryptically, as she took a few more paces toward him, "that's because I've had such a fun time playing this little game with you over the past few years. Why would I want it to end now? It's just getting started. Believe me, I could swipe that gem any day of the week and you wouldn't see a thing before it's too late." She batted her eyelashes at him in her own, special, frustratingly glorious way before adding in an almost-whisper: "or maybe… maybe I just come to see you, Knucklehead. Ever thought about that? We're friends, right? Why always so paranoid?"

The echidna was dumbfounded, a mixture of anger and utter confusion swirling inside him. There was something else in the mix as well, something he wasn't too sure of but that always seemed to occur when the bat was present. He knew Rouge was a confusing person at the best of times- it was how she was such an effective manipulator- but tonight she was really on her A game.

"Okay," he began; still trying to make sense of what his unwanted companion was getting at. He instinctively raised his voice as he began to retaliate, the anger winning out above the confusion. "Firstly," he growled, "this little 'game' of yours might be fun for you, but this is my job okay?" Despite the fact that he was practically yelling right in her face, the bat remained disturbingly cool and collected, only further frustrating him.

"And secondly," he continued, "we are not friends, because friends don't try to steal from other friends. Got it? If you didn't keep making empty threats about taking off with my emerald, I wouldn't have anything to be so edgy about."

Though Rouge's smug demeanour never faltered, Knuckles could swear he saw just a flicker of hurt flash across her eyes.

Her eyes. He knew they were a clear, crystal blue, but in the dull light and the reflection of the emerald they looked a dark green, almost brown. He never seemed to notice these details on anyone else, but he'd never taken the time to ponder upon why.

"Someone's touchy," she commented, folding her arms and pointedly looking away from him. "And to think, I came all this way just to see you."

"As if," he responded, aggravated by her blatant lie. "When have you ever once come to this island without and ulterior motive?" She took a moment to consider, before finally constructing her answer.

"No, I suppose you're right, Knuckie, I'll give you that one. 1-0 to you: happy?"

"Not until you leave." He was starting to become beyond frustrated now. It was late, he was tired, he didn't want to deal with this. Visits like these were almost worse, he thought, than the ones where Rouge would outright try to steal his emerald. On visits like these, she would talk in circles and change her story again and again. She wouldn't shut up, she would be stubborn and persistent and wear him into the ground. She would bat her eyelashes and gently brush up against him whenever she walked by. She liked to play with him, like she was the cat and he was the mouse, causelessly running in circles, desperate for escape. It was her own form of torture; confusing his delicate emotions, making him feel things he shouldn't have felt.

But at the same time, those whispered words, those gentle touches… they took up a solid 2/3rds of the echidna's social interaction. Just because he didn't know how to respond, just because he didn't understand why it felt like deranged butterflies were running rampant in his stomach, just because he hated her… it didn't mean he didn't enjoy it deep down.

And when she left, he knew he would think about her all night. He'd fight himself over it, screaming to his subconscious that she was no good. It never listened.

"Ouch," she responded, only partly sarcastically. She flicked a loose strand of short, white hair behind her ear and pretended to look suddenly uninterested. If there was one thing Rouge knew how to do, it was how to play people until they saw things her way.

"Oh well," she continued, "I suppose I'll just leave you alone on this special day…"

Hearing her words, Knuckles suddenly became alert. What was today? What had he missed? True, he wasn't the most organised individual; all he usually had to know was that he needed to guard the emerald and that was it. It was easy to lose track of time, easy to let every passing day blur peacefully into one. Before he could respond, Rouge caught on.

"Oh my chaos…" she said, for once appearing genuinely caught off guard. She looked shocked, maybe even a little sad, Knuckles thought, but for what? "You don't even remember your own birthday…"

His Birthday?

He wasn't as shocked as Rouge was that he didn't know. Of course he knew the date of his birthday, he just didn't often notice when that date came around.

"Huh," he responded, very relaxed about the entire situation. "I guess I just lost track of time." He shrugged, but Rouge just couldn't quite shake off the shock and wonder that she'd gained from this revelation.

"You mean no one else has come to visit you?" she asked. She appeared amazed, her eyes and her voice filled with all the same wonder of a child discovering something brand new.

"Nope," he replied simply, "I don't really advertise it."

"A- and you've had no gifts?"

Suddenly Knuckles realised why Rouge had been so caught off guard. It was safe to say that Rouge was a rather… materialistic being. She had a gigantic list of things she wanted for her birthday planned months in advance of the occasion and made sure to hand out a copy to each of her friends. Owning things made her happy. Owning things she hadn't had to buy made her even happier.

"Nope, don't care about that," Knuckles replied. "It's just another day really, and I'm really only a day older than I was yesterday. No big deal."

By now, Rouge had finally managed to gather her bearings, the shock of a person not caring about material possessions finally starting to wear off.

"Well it's a good thing someone remembered," she stated, cockiness returning. He was about to make a smug remark about how he wished it'd been someone other than her, but stopped himself as he was about to do so. The realisation hit him all at once. Rouge had remembered his birthday. His arch rival had remembered when nobody else had.

"How did you know?" he asked quietly, his social awkwardness creeping up on him as they approached the topic.

Rouge attempted to maintain her superior attitude, but it faltered under his gaze. Knuckles was so honest, she thought, so trusting and genuinely curious. He was hard to lie to, even when telling the truth meant shattering her entire façade of heartlessness. It was amazing she had kept the way she truly looked at him such a secret.

"You told me," she finally responded, "this time last year… I… I wrote it down so I could surprise you." It was safe to say that the echidna had never seen his counterpart act this way before, so quiet, so bashful. "Problem is, I had jewels to steal and entirely forgot." Ah. That was more like it.

"So wait," Knuckles replied, trying to construe all that was going on. "You came all the way out here to tease me, remind me it was my birthday, attempt to steal my emerald and not even give me anything?" There was that frustration again; the lingering tension that came along with his anger issues. Rouge flared it up more than the average person, but then there was truly nothing average about her.

"Pretty much," she shrugged, "except the emerald stealing part, I figured I'd give you a break today." Knuckles chuckled a little at this, something he was not commonly known to do.

"Wow batgirl, what an honour."

She winked at him before turning to leave, making his stomach do one last somersault until she undoubtedly visited again. Just as she was about to take off, the bat stopped in her tracks.

She spun back around to face the echidna, who wore a look of confusion mixed with curiosity. What did she want now.

"Oh, Knuckie," she said, allure dripping from her voice as she strutted over to him. The way she walked with purpose, the way her eyes fluttered as she came closer, froze him to the spot. She wanted something: Rouge only did this when she wanted something.

"I almost forgot," she continued. "Close your eyes."

Knuckles wasn't buying it.

"Yeah, yeah," he growled, "and I suppose while I'm doing that, you fly away, emerald in tow, right?"

"Not exactly," she responded. He gave her a lingering, quizzical look, assessing whether or not to trust her. His violet eyes were odd, she thought; so unique and so strangely beautiful. As they looked her up and down, she became more and more certain of what she wanted to do.

"Just trust me," she pleaded, taking another step towards him, closing any walking distance that was left between them. She rested a hand on his shoulder and felt him physically shudder at her touch. She smirked, all too satisfied by his reaction. Truth was, being this close to him was having a similar effect on her. Goosebumps covered her body and her heart began to pound so heavily that she could hear it clearly in her oversensitive ears. "Close your eyes."

With a deep breath, he finally did, placing all of his trust in a girl he had always considered a threat.

Before she could overthink it, before he could open his eyes, Rouge leaned in, pressing her lips gently to his and closing the distance between them.

Knuckles' eyes shot open at the surprise of the sudden contact, but gently fluttered closed as he noticed that the white bat's were shut tight. He didn't know what came over him in the moment, be it instinct, lust… maybe even something more. Without thinking, he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her even closer to him if that we're even possible, pressing every inch of their bodies against one another. She let out a breathless giggle and wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

She kissed him skilfully, like a well-practiced art, precise and perfect.

He kissed her passionately, trying his best to contain himself while pouring his all into the kiss. His subconscious wouldn't stop reminding him of how long he had waited for this moment, even if he'd refused to let himself believe it until now.

She wanted to carry on, she wanted him to press her back against one of the tall, cold stone pillars and kiss her and touch her and love her until they'd gotten all the sexual tension that had been building since the day they met out of their systems. She wanted to show him how she felt- actions spoke louder than words after all. But she couldn't. Not today. Their relationship with one another was too complex, too temperamental to commit so suddenly. Rushing such a delicate thing would be futile and ultimately destructive.

The kiss lasted seconds before the two broke apart.

Knuckles was left at a loss for words, gasping for breath and recovering from the passion that had overwhelmed him. Rouge just smiled up at him, the most genuine smile he felt he had ever seen on her. It made her all the more lovely, the master emeralds glow further adding to her dazzling beauty.

Rouge leaned in again, causing the echidna to think she was going back in for another kiss, but he was wrong. Instead she leaned towards his ear.

In the quietest whisper, the bat spoke.

"The emerald wasn't my ulterior motive to come here," she admitted. "…You were."

Without another word to him, Rouge came away, turned around and took to the skies. He watched her every move as she glided up off of the shrine and up towards the heavens. He didn't know how he felt exactly, he was processing. What he did know was that everything about the kiss had been more than he ever dreamed he could feel, more than he knew he was capable of.

And that's just what Rouge did to him. She made him more, she made him better, even if that betterment was found through foiling her own dastardly plans.

Just as Knuckles was about to settle back down to sleep, he heard a shout from somewhere in the distance.

"Happy birthday Knucklehead!" called the smooth, feminine voice he knew all too well. "I'll be back for the emerald tomorrow!"

On the average day, such a taunt would have irritated and frustrated him, but today it only brought a smile to his face as he lead down, resting his back on his precious emerald.

"Oh, I sincerely hope so," he whispered to nobody but himself.

He liked to think that with her superior hearing, his batgirl had heard it too.

Okay guys so that's that! Been thinking about expanding this into a larger story if it gets enough positive feedback and support. Let me know if you'd be interested! Until next time!

xox