Chapter 10

Fight for Love

CLEMENT'S HOUSE

1:00PM

Clement and his friends were bustling around the house, busy cleaning it up in the aftermath of last night's party. The cat had a huge shit eating grin on his face. Man, last night was a hoot he thought. He just had the best birthday party ever and to top it off, he had wild hot sex with a wild hot girl. Too bad Cream found out he was cheating on her. But hey, you win some, you lose some.

It was just fair to say that Cream was not his type of girl. She lacked the wild exuberance that he craved in his girls. Well, in retrospect, he was just dating her because he merely saw her as another virgin waiting to get popped.

Bradley tapped him on the shoulder. "So, did you finally achieve your objective last night?" He asked.

Clement heaved a bag of trash out the door. "Yes and no.

The weasel raised his eyebrow, confused as to what he meant.

Clement took him inside where the others were cleaning up so they could hear. "Well, yes, I did get some pussy and no, it was not Cream's."

"What?!" They all exclaimed.

"Then who did you fuck?" asked Rodney.

"Whitney. That pooch with the big EVERYTHING." The cat replied.

"Well it's still a win-win if Whitney was involved." Said Scott.

"Actually, Cream caught me with her." Clement said it with little to no regret.

Rodney fell down laughing." Haha! Sorry, dude. But seriously, that is priceless!" He continued his laughing fit.

Scott kicked him lightly to shut him up. "So Cream broke up with you?"

Clement nodded. "Yeah. And it's all her fault if you ask me. She knows I'm a guy with needs but she never fully committed."

"Not to mention she was kind of flat. In terms of body structure, that is. It was like you were dating a stick." Bradley put in.

They all burst out laughing.

Their attention was then focused on a Nissan Pathfinder that stopped by Clement's driveway and a two tailed fox walked out, coming towards them.

When he was close, Clement approached him. "Hey… Tails, right? If you want to help clean up, I would really appreciate it."

Tails just looked at him as if he was scum. Which he was. "You disgust me."

The cat was taken aback. "What did you say?"

"Did I mumble?" Tails retorted.

"What's your deal, man?" Clement growled. His friends sensed trouble and approached.

"You are." The fox snarled. "What you did to Cream, after all the love she gave you and you had to go and cheat on her?"

At the mention of Cream's name, they all started laughing. That only enraged Tails some more.

Clement recovered first. "OK, so this is about Cream? Yeah, I cheated on her, so what? I'm a guy, I have my needs and Cream just wasn't fulfilling those needs."

Tails' face darkened. "Is that all she was to you. Just another girl with a hole between her legs that you wanted to use?"

Now Clement was also getting angry. "Hey, you don't come to my house and judge me as if you're someone better. You could have done the same thing if you were in my shoes."

"I would have to earn her love first. That's something you did not do." Tails stated.

OK, I've had enough of this." Clement growled.

Scott stepped in. "So beat it, fox. Before we beat you up."

"Yeah, coz there's four of us and only one of you." Bradley smugly put in.

Tails rolled his eyes. "I've dealt with less favorable odds and still come out on top."

Clement got up in his face. "So? What you gonna do?"

"Just this." Tails replied, before sending a ferocious right hook straight into Clement's cheek. The cat yowled and fell backwards.

"Oh, it's on now, fox." Rodney growled as he broke of the brush of his broom, using it as a makeshift staff. He tried to swing it across Tails' face but the fox merely caught it. He gave it a mighty pull, bringing Rodney with him and slammed his elbow into the rat's nose, drawing blood. Rodney fell over, pinching his bleeding nose.

Bradley attacked next with a broken bottle. Tails dodged his attack and when the weasel turned around for another, Tails grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully behind his back, earning a sharp yell of pain. He forced Bradley to his knees and slammed his elbow onto his spine. Not hard enough to break it but just enough to leave him out of commission for a while.

Finally Scott stepped in. He was stronger than the rest so he would be a tougher opponent. The hyema quickly moved in with quick punches that Tails was able to block, albeit with some difficulty. He was surprised at the hyena's speed and finally felt a punch on his chest, followed by another to his stomach. He doubled over and Scott brought his hands together and slammed them into Tails' back, sending him to the floor.

Tails was in a lot of pain but his brain told him to roll away and he did just that, for Scott's heavy boot came down and stomped the area he previously was. He scrambled to his feet and, despite the pain in his abdomen, got into a stance. He goaded Scott into charging and the hyena obliged, coming in with a haymaker. Tails simply grabbed the arm and judo flipped Scott onto a nearby table, which collapsed under his weight. The hyena stayed down, clutching his aching back.

Tails however had no time to gloat, for a broomstick connected with his lower back. He turned around and saw a literally red faced Rodney reeling back for another strike. He used the splintered end swung it across the fox's face. Tails could only dodge far enough, as the sharp splinters drew blood on his cheek. A bottle then shattered on his head; apparently Bradley had recovered. The weasel then charged at Tails. Disoriented as he was, Tails managed to leap into the air and dropkicked Bradley in the chest.

Clement, whose cheek was still sore from the punch that Tails had given him, saw that the fox was now vulnerable. He quickly capitalized: grabbing a wooden chair, he brought it down with all his might on Tails' back. The two tailed fox yelled in pain as he collapsed to the ground.

Everyone saw that Tails was on the floor, defenseless and they quickly ganged up on him. Punching, kicking and stomping wherever they could.

Tails curled up into a protective ball and searched his quick thinking brain for a way out. He quickly thought of one.

He fanned out his namesakes and did a sweeping move. All four Mobians were sent sprawling. Tails sprang to his feet. His body was in a lot of pain but the rage he felt dulled that feeling. It was time for some payback.

Rodney came at Tails again with his broomstick and took a mighty swing. Tails caught the makeshift weapon and with a mighty swipe of his tails, managed to break it in half. He wielded the other half of the stick like a baton and swung it across Rodney's face. The rat wailed as he fell to the ground, spitting out blood and a few teeth. Tails brought the stick down on his head, knocking Rodney unconscious.

Bradley came at Tails with another bottle but the fox easily caught the lazy swing and twisted the weasel's wrist so sharply, he felt some bones break. He took the bottle from Bradley's grasp and shattered it on top of his skull. He fell to the floor but Tails was not done yet. He scooped up a few broken shards of glass and forced them into Bradley's mouth. He then punched the weasel's left cheek so hard he felt the glass break in the mouth. Bradley cried in pain as he felt the insides of his mouth lacerated. He spat out a large amount of blood and a few shards.

Scott then came at Tails and speared him into a wall. As he reared up, Tails headbutted and backflip-kicked him to the floor. Tails then fell upon the hyena and delivered a series of punches that left Scott bleeding and unconscious.

Now the only one left was Clement. The cat had a knife in his hands. "I'm not afraid to use this, you know."

Tails just smirked and did the "bring it on" gesture. Clement obliged him and charged, slashing for Tails' chest. Tails jumped back but Clement spun around and did a downward stab, which caught Tails on his left wrist. He grunted in pain and Clement used the opportunity to hit him in the stomach with his knee. Tails doubled over and the cat readied his knife for a fatal blow.

He stabbed for Tails' side but the fox caught his arm and twisted it so sharply, it dislocated from the socket. Tails kicked the back of Clement's knees, forcing the cat to kneel. He drove his fist hard into Clemen's face, knocking him on his back. Tails straddled him (not in that intimate way!) and began pounding on his face repeatedly until the nose was pretty much broken and the cat was completely out of commission.

Tails stopped punching him and grabbed his shirt, lifting him to his face. "Don't you ever hurt Cream ever again! If I ever see you near her or if you ever touch her, you will be sorry. Got it?!"

Clement could only nod his head and say a barely audible "yes" before Tails finally let him go.

With his adrenaline levels dropping, Tails could now feel every part of his body that was severely hurt, mainly his stomach and back. He slowly walked to his car and drove away, leaving four seriously injured Mobians.

CREAM'S HOUSE

3:00PM

Cream heard a knock at the door , which surprised her since she was not expecting anyone else. Maybe it was one of her mother's friends but she was out.

She went downstairs and answered the door. She gasped at what she saw.

Tails stood there, his hands covered in blood. There were bruises on some parts of his body and there was a hideous gash on his left wrist. It was still oozing blood.

"Tails! Oh, my God, what happened to you?"

Tails could only groan. "I taught Clement a lesson of what happens to people who hurt you."

Cream gasped. "You did not kill him, did you?"

The fox grinned. "No. I just made him want to wish he was dead."

Cream tugged on his one good arm. "Come on. Let's get you patched up."

She led him upstairs to her room and sat him on her bed.

She disappeared out the door and returned a minute later with a first aid kit.

"Let's start with your arm. I don't want you losing anymore blood." She led him to her bathroom and took him to the tub. She turned on the handheld shower and began washing the blood off. The tub was quickly stained crimson.

Tails winced at the pain he felt. Every bruise on his body was throbbing, begging for medical attention. Eventually the blood was washed off and they could see the gash. It was not wide enough but Cream wanted to play it safe.

"You're going to need stitches." She said.

Tails went pale at hearing that. He never liked stitches. "Do you still remember how to do it?"

She noticed his nervousness and laughed. "Of course, silly." During the fight against Eggman, whenever Tails returned injured, Cream would always stitch up his more serious wounds.

They returned to the bedroom and Cream prepared the needle. Tails hissed when the needle was pierced through his skin.

"So, what did you do with Clement?" Cream asked as she continued to stitch his arm.

"I just gave him a beatdown." Tails managed to breathe out.

"And Clement did all this to you?"

The fox shook his head. "No. he had his friends with him."

Cream was astonished. "And you were able to take them all on?"

Tails felt a sense of pride that could not come out due to the stitching. "Yeah. I've dealt with larger, more dangerous numbers."

Cream finished with his wrist. She rubbed some iodine on it and wrapped it in gauze. "OK, let me do your back now."

Tails took off his shirt and turned around, revealing his bruised back. There were long welts on his lower back and the upper back had a few open wounds.

Cream went to the bathroom and returned with a wet towel and a basin with water. She slowly wiped the towel over his blood and rinsed it in the basin. Then she rubbed some iodine in the wounds and some ointment on the welts.

"You know, that was a pretty stupid thing to do."

Tails appeared taken aback. "Hey, that boy hurt you and wanted to use you. He made you cry. I could not let him get away unpunished." He turned his head to her, looking her in the eye. "I wouldn't want anyone to hurt you like that. Ever again, Cream."

Now Cream was taken aback. She stopped he hand's movements. "You mean you took a beating… for me?"

The fox smiled. "Well, I didn't really take a beating, but yeah. I would never let anyone hurt you."

Cream's heart melted at hearing those words. They were like a symphony in an angel's voice. However, she quickly snapped out of it. "OK, let me check your front now."

Tails turned around fully and Cream blushed a little at the sight of the fox's muscles. He wasn't really that ripped but she could still see the buff looking chest and the perfectly detailed abs. She resisted the urge to touch. Instead she rubbed ointment on the bruises on his chest and abdomen.

Tails, however, could see that she lingered there longer than was intended. A part of him wanted her to continue, not to stop. But another part of him forced him to look at logic.

"Uh, I've also got a bleeding cheek here."

Cream wiped the dazed look off her face. "Huh? O- Of course." She turned his cheek and saw that the wound had clotted. Using the wet towel, she wiped off the dried blood and applied some iodine. "Well, you're all set."

Tails felt his wounds. They were numb, almost nonexistent. "Thanks, Cream. You have the skill of a world class doctor."

Cream blushed at the compliment. "Oh, it was nothing…" She turned and looked at his eyes and she felt something. Something she felt those years ago when Tails first asked her out. Now, there was definitely no denying it. She was falling in love with him again.

She stared back into his eyes and felt it again, stronger this time.

Tails noticed her spaced out look. "Uh, Cream?"

Cream just leaned in and pressed her lips to his. She grabbed his head to stop him from pulling away. Tails was shocked but then relaxed and went with it. The rabbit then placed her hands on his chest and pushed him down on the bed. She went down with him, their lips not breaking contact.

Cream straddled him and Tails brought his hands to her back, rubbing it gently. Something about his touch sent waves of pleasure all over her body. They deepened their kiss and Tails started pulling her shirt over.

A door opened and shut. "Cream! I'm home!"

Vanilla's voice knocked the sense back into them. Cream quickly rolled off Tails and started to gather the kit's supplies. Tails grabbed his shirt but could not put it on because of the blood covering it.

The door opened.

"Cream, are you ho-?" Vanilla stopped and stared. Tails was shirtless in her daughter's room. She then glanced towards Cream who was busy gathering ointments and bandages. She saw the first aid kit and let out a breath. "Tails. I didn't know you where here. I mean, I did know, I saw your car outside and—what happened to you?" She noticed the gauze on is wrist and the sheen of ointment on his abdomen.

"Tails had an accident at home. I was just patching him up." Cream said before Tails could open his mouth.

Vanilla seemed to understand. "Oh. Well, OK. But you cannot wear that shirt, it's covered in blood. Cream, see if you can borrow him something to wear." She left the room.

Cream quickly went to her closet and fished out an oversized hoodie. It looked boyish enough except the strings were puffy at the end. "Here, you can wear this." She handed it to him without making eye contact.

Tails took and slipped it on. "Thanks. And thank you… f- for fixing me up a-and everything." He too, avoided eye contact. "Well, I should be going."

Cream nodded. "Yeah. See you around."

Tails went out of the room. As soon as she heard his car drive away, she threw herself on her bed and screamed into the pillow.

-X-X-X-

A/N: Two or three more to go.

J.W.H. 10