The day was a fast but productive one. Rouge and Knuckles had investigated the mines, and—to her delight—they seemed to be intact and active. She'd claimed them as her protocols required, though—naturally—she acknowledged that they really 'belonged' to Knuckles as much as they belonged to anyone. That didn't change much.
All in all, everything was working out for her.
Until the call came in.
And when it did, she made her decision.
Rouge sat on a log, full on melancholy, her wings slumped lifelessly at her sides.
She was waiting. Knuckles had to realize her condition sooner or later. She needed him now—needed him badly.
"What is it?"
His voice. Finally.
She turned to where his voice was coming from, her eyes large and pleading. Normally Knuckles would immediately have gone to guard mode, as this was very suspicious out of Rouge. But time and contact with her had softened him, and his gut reaction was one of concern, not hostility.
Rouge motioned to the log beside her. He sat down, and she moved closer to him. He took a sharp breath in as she pressed her body closer to his. She extended a wing around his back, drawing him in towards her.
"Knuckles… We haven't been that honest with each other, have we?"
"I… don't know what that means," stuttered Knuckles.
"Here's what I mean. We've been keeping each other at arm's length constantly. These past days we've gotten closer, but we haven't been able to admit it."
"I don't know what you're getting at," Knuckles said, beginning to blush, "and I'm not sure I like it."
"Please don't say that," Rouge whispered.
There was silence, as they sat in contact with one another.
Rouge hesitantly reached upwards with one hand. "Knuckles…" she began. "How many women have you ever known?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "Counting you… one."
"Then you've never been kissed?"
His entire body seemed to stiffen and tremble slightly. "Kissed?"
"Let me show you." She moved to grab his chin with her hand. He immediately tried to move away, and she stopped to ease his perception of threat. "It's okay," she said soothingly. "Trust me."
Softly, she wrapped her fingers around his chin and turned his head in her direction. She ever-so-slowly drew his head forward. As she brought him closer, she angled his head up and tilted her head to avoid his muzzle. Closer she drew him in, closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Contact.
At first he was unresponsive, but she kept pressing her lips onto his, and almost before he knew it he was kissing her back.
Rouge was completely fixated on the moment. She released his chin and circled her arms around him, pressing his body close. The longer the kiss went on, the more he fell into it, the more he lost control of his own actions. She could feel his volition seeping out through his lips.
She gradually released him, and when she looked into his eyes again, he was a changed echidna. His eyes were alight with something primitive and fiery.
She grasped his hand and stood. He stood to match her. "Come with me," she said. She turned and walked for her tent. She went inside, and after a moment's hesitation, he followed.
Rouge breathed deeply in the air. His scent—their scents, actually—filled the atmosphere of the tent. The smell of it was intoxicating; she breathed again, filling her lungs with the sweet aroma.
As she lay on her side, she felt his body heat behind her, his presence close by and mingling with her sense of self. She wasn't sure if he was still conscious or not, but lying like this was wonderful—as long as she could afford to stay here.
She was no stranger to sex, but it had never been like that. Mainly because never had she wanted it so badly.
She felt his gloved hand caress her ear, the feeling like lightening; it twitched involuntarily. He nestled his muzzle into her neck. "That was unlike anything I've ever done," he said.
She smiled. "I thought it would be." She chuckled.
"What?"
"I was just thinking. Technically, that was illegal—you're still a minor."
"Oh really?" he said. His tone was bemused, but there was a hint of uncertainty.
"Don't worry, it's not like anyone's enforcing the law up here, right? Besides, as far as my crimes go that was a lesser offence."
Knuckles laughed a little, but not much. Rouge hardly noticed his lack of enthusiasm.
She reached towards her backpack. "What is it?" Knuckles asked.
"I have to check the time," she said.
He laughed. "What, do you have some kind of schedule?"
Rouge froze suddenly. This was going to be bad, she knew. She swallowed the fear growing in her and continued her movement. "Well, yes, in a manner of speaking."
Knuckles removed his hand from her ear. "What manner?"
Rouge didn't respond. It was too dangerous. 'Please,' she thought. 'Please don't keep asking. I won't be able to lie to you, so it would be better for you not to ask.'
"Rouge, why are you on a schedule?" His voice was insistent. She wouldn't be able to evade him. Better to tell him right out.
"I'm leaving in a few hours."
Knuckles shot into a sitting position. "A few hours?!" he said.
"Yes," she answered, as nonchalantly as she could manage. "The President called me. He wants me to start working the field before the talks begin, so he wants me back now."
Knuckles sounded like something was caught in his throat. Then he slapped himself. "How could I have been so stupid?!" he screamed.
"When were you stupid?" Rouge said, suspicious of the answer.
"Why did I let you seduce me like that?"
"That! That was not seduction! I know what seduction is, and that wasn't it!" Rouge stormed.
"Yes it was! It's not what I wanted!"
"You seemed pretty wanting when I kissed you," Rouge said, trying to keep her voice somewhat under control.
"But it wasn't right! Oh… how could I have let this happen?!"
"I'm still trying to figure out what was so terrible about it," Rouge said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. Her own thoughts were flying away in her determination to not be wrong. "It was just a little sex between friends."
"Just a little… THAT'S the problem, Rouge! It means a lot more to me than it obviously does to you! Rouge, you've changed me! What just happened has changed me! And now you're leaving—like tearing a hole in someone and not letting it clot!"
"You're not making sense," Rouge snarled. As much as she wanted to keep things toned down, her hackles were rising. His tone was too threatening; she was reacting as she would to a threat. "You tossed out a metaphor and I don't get it."
"How can you not get it? You made me totally dependent upon you and now you're leaving. You used me—you took what you wanted and that's that."
"What?!" she screeched.
"It must be why you have to have people's jewels—you can't stand them having something you can't have. You have to be able to own anything. Well, you got it. Never mind what happened to me! How I might feel about it never entered your head!"
"I don't know what you're saying and I don't like it!" Rouge said.
"Simple denial, bat, that's all. I feel… oh, how could I have been so stupid?!"
"You're wrong! It's not like I decided to seduce you and then engineered a message to get me out of here!"
"No, you just wanted to not have to come here again. Well, you'll get that, certainly!"
Rouge couldn't think coherently. Never mind what she said, what she'd done with Knuckles mattered deeply to her; but her emotions were all tangled up and confused. She'd gone to him—why? To have something of him before she left? That didn't even make sense!
When she'd gotten the message, her first instinct was to go to Knuckles for this purpose. But WHY? What had she hoped to find there?
"I know what your problem is," she sneered. Somehow, her viciousness was unaffected by the meltdown in her mind. "You're all confused because you don't know how to handle sex, and it's frying your brain."
"Isn't the same thing happening to you?"
"No!"
He threw his hands in the air. "What a blatant lie! Oh… how could I? I gave you so much power and was stupid enough to believe you'd be responsible with it!"
"Responsible?" she spat.
"I couldn't stop you. I've broken down, and I counted on you to be careful."
"Oh, so this is all MY fault!" Rouge screamed. "I'm supposed to think for the both of us while you abdicate any responsibility!"
"But you never even considered how I felt! I didn't want this! You thrust it upon me because you panicked when it was time to leave! How could I have been so stupid?!"
"Stop saying that!"
"And now I have nothing to offer you! There's nothing I can give or provide to you. There's no longer any reason for you to come back here… except… except for the…"
"The emerald?" she completed for him, voice full of scorn. "If you're going to rage and sputter, can't you at least use half a brain? I thought we'd been over this issue before! I'm bound by my Hunter's honor!"
"But… damn it! Who's to say you'll come back as a Hunter? You have no honor as a spy or thief! Your personality depends on your job! If you ever do come back, I couldn't accept you! Your 'job' could be spy or thief and… how did I let myself so close to a security risk?!"
"Because you're lonely," she said mockingly.
"Don't even start that again!" he howled. He got up and crawled out of the tent, making choking noises.
"Where are you going?!" Rouge said after him.
"What do you care? You're abandoning me!"
The words stuck her. She buried her pain in anger. "You're still afraid of me!" she yelled. "All of this time and you still fear me!"
"Of course I do! You just tore me apart!"
"Don't leave!"
"I'm not going anywhere! You're leaving me! And you're fine with that!"
Her soul shook. "That's not true!" she screamed. "It can't be!"
"Then what are you doing?"
Spite took over. "You're right! All I wanted was to strip your virginity and run! I don't care what happens to you and I hate you!"
He continued walking away from her, his sobs turning into wails. She wanted above all else to get him to come back, but she had no self-control. "And you know what? I don't care about sex that much! You're the tenth person! And they were all better lovers than you!" she said, totally breaking down.
He was out of sight, but his disembodied scream of agony reached her with full force. Her heart was tearing at her chest. She turned away from him and dashed towards the edge of the island, liberally watering the nearby plants with her tears.
Her mind was in total shock, shut down to prevent further harm to herself. She ran for her helicopter, abandoning everything on the island. She blindly threw herself into it, her training coming to her purely by rote and not in the least by any conscious effort. She practically dashed her skull open as she got into it at a full run and nearly smashed the helicopter several times. But nothing mattered. The one and only thing she cared about was getting as far away from Knuckles the Echidna as was possible.
"I hate you," she murmured. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you! I HATE YOU!"
Her ears were in agony from the sound of the helicopter, but she was too desperate for escape to pay them any heed. "I could never love someone who could hurt me like this!" she screamed. "I hate you!"
"I hate you!"
She barely managed to get keep the helicopter from slamming into the water and killing her. All her effort flowed into keeping her from suicide. She was in so much pain it seemed attractive.
"This doesn't make sense!" she screamed. "I hate you, Knuckles!"
And for hours, she cried.
TO BE CONTINUED…