Knuckles and Rouge stood in silence, not making eye contact.
Suddenly Omochao appeared behind Rouge. "The warm feeling you are feeling is called love," Omochao said innocently with a smile. "Love is when someone cares deeply about a person…or in this case, echidna!" it chuckled a little.
Rouge's eyes widened in surprise before turning to a frustrated expression. She blushed, and quickly hissed "Shut up!" through clenched teeth before throwing Omochao over the side of the cliff.
Omochao hit a large rock. Stars appeared around its head. "Ow! Where am I? Who am I?" it stumbled around in confusion.
Knuckles had been oblivious to the scene, but turned to Rouge when he heard Omochao grimacing.
"Did you hear something?" he asked slowly and curiously.
"No!" Rouge said quickly, almost as a reflex.
Knuckles gave her a strange look.
"I mean…uh…no…I don't think so…" she looked away in embarrassment.
Knuckles scratched the back of his head before taking out his map. "Well whatever. I have to get to my next destination."
Rouge walked up to him and looked over his shoulder. "Which is…?"
He scanned the map before placing his index finger on top of a white mountain. The name 'Shiver Mountain' was next to the small mountain picture. "Shiver Mountain," Knuckles announced before putting his map away.
"It will take us about 12 hours to get there by gliding," he informed before flexing his muscles.
"Nothing a true treasure hunter can't handle," Rouge smirked before jumping off the cliff and gliding northward.
"Hey bat girl!" Knuckles called to her. She looked back at him questioningly.
"Shiver mountain is that way," he jabbed his thumb south.
Rouge frowned before smiling. "I know…" she paused, thinking of something, "I was just practicing my gliding…heh…everything seems to be okay," she covered up, before gliding south.
Knuckles rolled his eyes before joining her by her side.
"I'm getting pretty hungry…" Knuckles mumbled. His stomach was getting the best of him.
"Oh?" Rouge said simply, taking out some grapes from somewhere behind her.
Knuckles' eyes widened. 'Grapes? Hmm…I wonder…' he thought suspiciously. Was it just a coincidence that Rouge knew his favourite food?
Rouge closed her eyes as she plopped a grape carelessly into her mouth, and savoured the taste. She was about to take another grape, when Knuckles stopped her.
"Could uh…I have one?" he asked.
"Hmm…" Rouge pretended to think. "I guess so," she said lazily, taking off possibly the smallest grape and handing it to Knuckles.
"What!?" he gaped at the small grape.
Rouge smirked. "Take it or leave it."
Knuckles just grumbled as he ate the small grape.
Rouge opened her mouth to put in another grape, but stopped herself. She tore off a large branch of grapes and handed it to Knuckles.
"Here," she said firmly, almost forced, looking away.
"Huh?" Knuckles was confused. Truthfully, so was Rouge. She didn't understand what made her give Knuckles the grapes, either.
Hungry, Knuckles accepted the grapes in silence and started to eat them.
Several hours later…
The warm temperatures noticeably were dropping severely. Rouge shivered as she fought the urge to slow down or stop gliding. Knuckles didn't seem to notice her obvious shivering, which annoyed Rouge.
"Aren't you a little cold?" Rouge hissed through chattering teeth as she crossed her arms over her chest and gripped her arms tightly to keep warm.
Knuckles shrugged, not bothering to look at her. "I don't mind a little cold."
Rouge gritted her teeth and just glared at him as they continued to approach Shiver Mountain.
An hour later…
The temperature had dropped to a bone chilling –20° C.
Rouge's shivering had increased. She was now quickly rubbing her hands up and down her arms as an attempt to get warm. Occasionally she breathed into her cupped hands before rubbing her arms over and over.
It annoyed her to no end to see Knuckles not even flinch.
"This isn't a little cold anymore," she barked angrily, the coldness getting to her, "this is extremely cold. Aren't you just a tiny bit cold!?"
Knuckles shrugged, again not bothering to look at her. "Not really."
"What do you mean, not really? It's f-f-f-f-f," Rouge's teeth chattered, "f-freezing!"
"Well I have a thick coat of fur to back me up. Maybe a better clothing choice could help you out," Knuckles growled back.
"Hey!" Rouge's head bobbed back slightly, insulted. My clothing is fine! - "
"- On a summers day! But not when it's –20° C!" Knuckles exclaimed in frustration.
Rouge rolled her eyes. "I don't know why I bother. You're so…" she stopped and puffed some warm breath into hands before continuing, "s-s-stubborn," she glared at him through half-open eyes.
"You think I'm stubborn? You're the stubborn one," Knuckles growled.
"No I'm not!" Rouge said stubbornly.
"Yes you are!" Knuckles retorted.
"No I'm not!"
Knuckles narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Arguing is just a waste of time. It doesn't help anyone. Besides, by arguing with me you're just proving how stubborn you are."
Rouge gave him a sour expression, and tried to think of a comeback, but nothing came. 'The cold weather must be really getting to me,' Rouge thought to herself, since this rarely happened.
They finally arrived about half an hour later.
Rouge sighed and plopped down on the cool ice, exhausted.
"That was ridiculous," she grumbled, now wearing a dark pink coat that Knuckles insisted she took out from her bag she was carrying.
Knuckles landed carefully beside her before flexing his muscles. "To you, maybe, but I was fine," he said calmly.
Rouge just closed her eyes and sighed again, not caring about anything, just relieved to have arrived.
"So I better go find those emeralds," Knuckles announced. He looked back at Rouge.
"Why don't you go set up in that cave over there," he pointed to a big dark cave not that far away.
"Set up?" Rouge repeated.
Knuckles nodded. "Yeah, we're going to have to stay the night. Why don't you get a fire starting while you're in there?"
Rouge desperately fought the urge to sarcastically say 'yes your majesty.' She just nodded. "Okay, I guess…"
"Okay I'll be back in about half an hour. If I'm not back by then – come out and look for me," Knuckles looked a little distant.
"Okay," Rouge nodded before noticing his distant look. "You okay?" she asked in concern.
Her voice surprised them both. Rouge was expecting him to say something sarcastic along the lines of 'wow…you actually care about me!' so she got her insult ready.
Knuckles sadly nodded.
Rouge smirked, thinking he said 'wow…you actually care about me!' she said, "Stop dreaming -"
She then noticed that he hadn't given her a sarcastic remark, so her expression softened. "Uh…you sure you're alright?"
Knuckles nodded again. "Yeah, I just think this will be harder than I think."
"Don't worry about it. You're a great treasure hunter – I'm sure you'll be fine," Rouge smiled slightly at him.
Her comment surprised them both. Obviously it really surprised Knuckles because his eyes widened.
'What has gotten into me? First I'm worried, then I compliment him? I can't compliment my rival! What was I thinking? I-' Rouge's thoughts were interrupted as Knuckles turned to her and smiled his non-cocky, truthful, giving smile.
"Thanks," he said warmly. She could hear his smile in his words.
His voice was just about enough to warm Rouge up. She soon forgot about the cold weather. The tingling sensation melted her body. "You're welcome," she heard herself say almost in a whisper.
He dashed off down the hill and disappeared as a blizzard-type wind swept by.
Rouge watched him almost lovingly, with a happy smile on her face, before turning away and walking toward the cave.
Later that evening…
Rouge rubbed her hands together by the fire and sighed. 'I wonder when Knuckles will be back. I think it's been about half an hour. Should I go look for him?' she thought, a little concerned.
Five minutes passed.
Rouge had decided. 'That's it. I'm going to go make sure he's alright,' she thought before throwing one last twig into the fire before dashing off down the hill in the direction he had been travelling.
She walked around carefully in the snow, eyeing passing mountains and hills to see if he was on them.
She continued walking, noticing that the snow was considerably getting deeper. It was now up to her waist.
She struggled to move on, but her senses told her Knuckles was somewhere near by.
She opened her mouth to call his name, but she ended up shrieking in surprise as she fell face first into the ground.
She shook her head free of the snow and dusted her clothes off before groaning. "Stupid…! What did I trip on?" she turned back to look, and gasped, covering her mouth with her hand when she saw.
Knuckles was frozen in the snow!
"Knuckles!" Rouge's expression saddened quickly as she looked at him. "Knuckles…" she repeated before looking back up to where the cave was.
She picked him up with great difficulty and slung him onto her back. She sighed. "All I can do is head back up and hope he'll be alright…" she decided as she juggled trudging through the snow, fighting the blizzard-like wind and carrying about 100 pounds on her back all at the same time.
Rouge followed her previous footsteps back up to the cave, and when she returned she placed Knuckles carefully on the ground and slouched him up against the wall of the cave.
She looked him over carefully with a sad expression before moving him closer to the fire and putting a log against his back to help prop him up.
Soon, the fire was their only source of light. It lit up both characters features with a red-orange tinge.
Rouge sighed before looking at Knuckles. 'He's going to need all the warmth he can get,' she thought to herself. 'I'm gonna regret this,' she thought reluctantly before slowly wrapping her arms around him and falling asleep with her head nestled up against his chest.
~
NOTE: If you haven't realized, this whole story must be taking place sometime during the game (@_@) because they're both still hunters. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
SPECIAL NOTE: Rouge rescuing Knuckles ---> taking care of him idea © to my sister, Bellossom_Luv! Thanks honey! I also realized that Mily used this idea in her story "Stranded with Sonic!" (it's really good…you should go read it!), so…sorry if it seems like I copied. ;_;
Please guys – I need more ideas for my next chapter. Suggest things in your reviews, okay?
Thanks,
~ Satokasu Suki