Here's the next chapter! Thank you ShadowStalkr for your review. It helped a lot. I've tried my best to make this chapter better then the first! It's longer! I know that always doesn't mean it's better, but it's a start! Anyways, enjoy! Note: Italics are thoughts.

DISCLAIMER: See chapter 1

CLAIMER: Kit the Cat is mine (she hasn't appeared yet, just liked to make that clear).

Chapter 2: Love Hurts

"Knuckles, hey, Knuckles. Get up." A voice whispered.

Knuckles slowly opened his eyes and saw Sonic gently pushing him.

"We're here. Now wake up your little girlfriend and let's get off the plane." Sonic grinned.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Knuckles shouted at him.

Knuckles then looked down at Rouge who was still fast asleep. He took the arm that was wrapped around her and lightly shook her.

"Rouge, get up. We're here." Knuckles said.

Rouge yawned and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was red fur and she blushed and gulped. She knew Knuckles probably wasn't too happy that she had fallen asleep on him. She looked up expecting to see a glare, but instead, his eyes looked tired as well. Did he fall asleep too? Rouge quickly pulled away from him.

"S-sorry. I-I didn't mean to uh… fall asleep on you." Rouge muttered.

"It's okay, but you don't know how much trouble you caused me." Knuckles gave her a small glare.

Rouge got up and left the plane in a hurry mentally slapping herself.

"How could I have let that happen? I let my guard down and fell asleep on Knuckles. Now he probably hates me! Then… why didn't he yell at me or insult me?" Rouge thought.

"Rouge? Hey Rouge!" Amy yelled in her face.

Rouge shook her thoughts away and looked at Amy. "Yeah?"

"What were you think about?" Amy asked.

"What this vacation's gonna be like that's all." Rouge lied.

"Oh. Did you have a nice nap?" Amy had a sly grin on her face.

"What do you mean?" Rouge asked.

"Let's just say that the whole plane saw you asleep on Knuckles' chest." Amy smiled.

Rouge blushed. "Everyone saw that?"

"Well, everyone besides Shadow, Tails and Espio. They were all asleep as well." Amy explained.

"I bet Knuckles hates me now. He already did. Now he probably wants me to die…" Rouge muttered.

"Don't think that Rouge! You don't know what he thinks! He could be happy!" Amy said; doing her best to make her friend feel better.

Rouge looked over to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. Knuckles had a frown on his face and was yelling at Sonic saying Rouge was stupid. Rouge frowned.

"I don't know. He looks pretty upset…" Rouge said.

"You know what I think Rouge? I think he's just covering up his feelings. I think he really likes you." Amy smiled.

"You do?"

"Yep, sure do." Amy said slyly. "Now, come on, let's get our luggage and head to the hotel!"

---

Two taxis pulled up in front of one of the most expensive hotels on the island. The Sonic Crew all walked into the lobby. Sonic handled all the business at the front desk while everyone else just waited. Rouge was standing with Cream and Amy. She looked up at Knuckles who frowned at her and turned his head away. Rouge put her ears down and turned back to Amy and Cream.

"Maybe he really is mad at me." Rouge thought.

Sonic walked back over and everyone gathered together.

"Okay, we're all on the same floor: the 17th and we each have to share a room with someone else." Sonic explained.

"I get Sonic!" Amy screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I get my own room…" Shadow muttered.

"But, we have to share." Sonic replied.

"Do you think I care? You and Amy dragged me to the airport just because I didn't want to go. At least let me have some privacy." Shadow snapped.

"Fine, but only because I know what you're capable of." Sonic replied; noticing the gun Shadow was slowly pulling out.

"Cream? You want to share?" Tails asked; blushing slightly.

"Sure Tails. Mother is that alright?" Cream asked.

"Sure it is, sweetie." Vanilla replied.

Vector then walked up to Vanilla and cleared his throat. "May I have the pleasure of sharing a room with you?" Vector asked.

Vanilla smiled and nodded. Charmy chose Espio because he hated Rouge and he was scared of Knuckles. Knuckles and Rouge looked at each other. They were the only two left.

"Knuckles, Rouge, I guess that means you two are sharing a room." Sonic explained handing them each a card.

"This will be interesting…"

"Great, one whole week with batgirl."

Everyone got on the elevator and went to their rooms. They found that all their luggage had already been brought up. When Rouge unlocked the door, she nearly dropped the key. There was only one bed…

"Oh no…" Rouge thought.

Knuckles walked in. His reaction was a little different.

"ONE BED?! I swear someone wants me with you every second of my pathetic life!" Knuckles wailed.

"I do…" Rouge whispered so quietly it was barely audible.

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"Uh… I said… do you want the couch or the bed?" Rouge lied again.

Knuckles looked at the bed, the couch, Rouge and then the bed again. He threw his suitcase on the couch.

"Couch." He replied.

Rouge walked over to the bed. "Sorry about this Knuckles." Rouge said. She knew he wasn't happy about sharing a room let alone only having one bed.

Knuckles was lying on the couch his eyes glued to the ceiling. "It's fine. I don't blame you. I know you didn't want this to happen either…" Knuckles replied.

"You don't know that." Rouge thought.

---

Meanwhile, Sonic was having the same reaction.

"No way, I am not sleeping in the same bed with you." Sonic protested.

"Then you can take the couch." Amy suggested.

"Fine by me. I wonder how Knux is reacting to this…" Sonic wondered.

"I'm sure he isn't too happy." Amy sighed.

"Yeah, the poor guy's gonna have a rough week." Sonic agreed.

The two then changed and Amy got into the bed as Sonic curled up on the couch and fell asleep. Everyone else was doing the same thing. Their first day of vacation started tomorrow and they couldn't wait.

---

The next morning, there was a knock on Rouge and Knuckles' door. Knuckles was asleep again so Rouge went and answered it. She opened the door and saw Cream standing there in a yellow bathing suit.

"Everyone's going down to the pool. Why don't you and Mr. Knuckles come down as well?"

"Okay, sounds fun. We'll be down in a minute." Rouge replied.

Cream smiled before skipping down the hallway. Rouge shut the door and walked over to Knuckles.

"Knuckles, everyone is going down to the pool. Wanna come?" Rouge asked.

"No thanks… I'll pass." Knuckles muttered.

Rouge sighed and went to change. Once Knuckles heard the bathroom door close his eyes snapped open.

"Oh crap, I get to see Rouge in a swimsuit!" Knuckles' thoughts yelled.

The bathroom door opened minutes later and Knuckles saw Rouge was wearing a dark purple two piece that showed most of her stomach and legs. Knuckles tried to hide his blush but failed.

"She looks hot! Wait, what did I just say?!" Knuckles asked.

"What do ya think?" Rouge smirked.

"Looks great…" Knuckles smiled.

Rouge smiled too and walked over to him. She leaned over him.

"Knuckles, I know you're not too happy about all this and I know you hate having to share a room with me, but don't let it ruin your vacation. You deserve a break from your job. Just think of this as a chance to relax. This is our chance to become better friends." Rouge said.

Knuckles stared into her eyes. "I guess your right. I'm just so devoted to my duty it's hard for me to have fun. Maybe your right, this vacation might not be as bad as I think. Thanks Rouge." Knuckles gave her a warm smile.

Rouge smiled back. "Your welcome. Now, you sure you don't want to go down to the pool?" Rouge asked.

"I might come down later." Knuckles replied; shutting his eyes.

Rouge smiled and walked out the door. Knuckles heard the lock click and opened his eyes and sat up on the couch.

"Maybe Rouge is right about all this. I just need to relax. This will be the only week I have to relax and I can't waste it. This is also my chance to be nicer to Rouge so we can become better friends." Knuckles said to himself.

He thought some more before pulling out a notebook from his bag he brought and scribbled something down in it. He then walked down to the pool himself.

Once he got down there, he saw Cream and Cheese in the kiddy pool with Vanilla watching them, Amy was trying to tell Sonic to jump in the water and she'd catch him while Shadow tried to push him off the diving board so he could go, Tails was lying on his back in the water, Charmy was eating ice cream, Espio was under and umbrella trying to hide from the sun and Rouge was tanning.

Knuckles found that he couldn't tear his eyes off Rouge. There was something about her that he found attracting but he couldn't tell what it was. He was awoken from his thoughts when Sonic came over to him.

"Hey, Knux, finally decide to come out from hiding huh?" Sonic asked. "How'd Rouge manage to get you down here? Promise you a kiss?" Sonic winked.

"No she didn't promise me anything! I decided to come down here on my own! Stop thinking I love Rouge because I don't okay?! I barely even know her enough to call her my friend!" Knuckles yelled at him.

He then marched off to the other side of the pool. He sat down on a chair and buried his face in his hands. Sonic was standing there shocked and Rouge was looking from Sonic to Knuckles.

"I think Knuckles needs you." Sonic said to Rouge.

"He should after what you said to him. Can't you give him a break? So what if I like him? That doesn't mean he likes me back!" Rouge then covered up her mouth with her hands. She had said too much and now the world knew her secret.

"You do like him! I knew it I knew it all along! Rouge has a crush on Knuckles!" Sonic yelled like a little kid.

"Shut up! I know he could never like me back. It was supposed to be a secret, but you made me say it!" Rouge yelled.

"Sonic, leave her alone. You're getting too far into people's business." Amy said.

Sonic hung his head. "Sorry Rouge… Amy's right. I didn't mean to let your secret spill. Tell Knuckles I'm sorry as well. I know if I try to say it, he won't believe me."

Rouge walked over to Knuckles and sat on a chair next to him. Knuckles looked up at her and then turned his face away from her.

"Hey, Rouge." Knuckles muttered.

"Sonic wanted me to tell you he's sorry for what he said. He didn't mean to make you so upset. He was only joking…" Rouge told him.

"And I'm supposed to believe that? I just don't know what to think anymore. I want to be your friend, but ever since you've entered my life, it's been hard. You've stolen my emerald and tricked me numerous times. I just don't know if I can trust you, Rouge. My life has been horrible ever since I've known you." Knuckles explained.

Rouge felt hurt at this. "Knuckles, I didn't know I was causing you so much trouble. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you. I think we should just start over and maybe things will changer for the better." Rouge said.

"I heard what you said…" Knuckles said randomly.

"What?"
"I heard what you said to Sonic. You like me don't you?" Knuckles asked.

Rouge nodded. "I know you could never like me back though; especially after what you just told me."

"As much as I hate to say it, you're right. Rouge, I like you too and I really do want to start a relationship, but with how many times you've tried to take my emerald and tricked me and with the Master Emerald to guard… I just couldn't… I can't Rouge… The reason I always yell at you is because I'm mad at you. You've stolen my heart, but I can't get it back because I just can't trust you. I'm sorry Rouge. We just can never be together." Knuckles explained.

And with that said, he got up and walked away. Rouge watched until he disappeared from view by the doors of the hotel. Rouge hung her head as her ears folded back on her head.

"I'm sorry Knuckles." She whispered before going back over to the rest of the group.

---

A pillow hit the wall with a hard force before falling to the ground. Another then hit the wall shortly after.

"I hate my life!" Knuckles yelled. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate it and Rouge isn't making it any better! Why is it that the one person I like I can't be with? It's not fair! I love her and I can't be with her! This vacation is getting worse by the second."

He fell onto the couch and looked up at the ceiling.

"Well, you know what you have to do." His mind said.

"What? What do I have to do?" Knuckles asked.

"If Rouge is causing you all this pain, just get away from her. You already told her and yourself that you can't be with her, so what's the point of hanging out with her? It'll only make you and her more depressed."

"But, can't we still be friends?" Knuckles asked again.

"That depends. Is the pain she's caused you really that unbearable or could you resist it and hang out with her?" his mind asked.

"It is unbearable. I want to be with her, but my stupid job is what's keeping me from her. I love her but I hate her at the same time." Knuckles said.

"You're job is not stupid. You just keep telling yourself that because you think love I more important. If it wasn't for the Master Emerald, you wouldn't have a place to live and you wouldn't have any reason to live." His mind told him.

"My job isn't more important then Rouge. I don't care if I lost my home or job. She's more important to me. I would still have a reason to live. My reason would be so that I can be with her. But… I'm the last of my people and I'd just be abandoning then if I gave up my duty." Knuckles told himself.

"Face it; you don't have time for love. She's destroying your life and you know it. Just run away. She'll just make it more miserable if you hang around."

"But I love her!"

"No you don't."

"Yes I do!"

"You're just saying that."

"No I'm not! I really do love her!"

"You know you don't…"

"Get out of my head!"

"Get out of my head! Get out, get out, get out! I hate you and I hate everything around me! I hate my life, Sonic, this day and even Rouge! I hate everything! Why can't I just die?!" Knuckles screamed.

Knuckles got up and picked up the pillows he threw earlier only to throw them again. He continued this process until he released all his anger. He then picked up his notebook and scribbled something else down. He finished and was surprised when he saw tiny wet spots on the paper. He wiped his eye and was shocked to find them wet. He wiped away the remaining tears, closed the notebook and stared at the wall lost in his thoughts. If people didn't know any better, they might have thought he was dead.

This story is underway! The next chapter will hopefully have more then just KnuxRouge in it. I need ideas for SonAmy, TailsCream and all the others. Please drop any suggestions in a review!