DISCLAIMER: See chapter 1

CLAIMER: Kit is mine.

Chapter 4: Jealousy, Confessions and the Truth

In the morning, the Sonic Crew all met down in the lobby (with the exception of Rouge who was still worried about Knuckles who was still in his emotional battle and Espio who had to leave to go find Kit). Charmy was the only one who knew about Kit and Espio had told him not to tell anyone. So far, Charmy had kept to his promise.

At breakfast, everyone was discussing what they should all do.

"Let's see, we've already gone to the pool. Shadow and I have been to the beach, but no one else has. Wanna spend the day there?" Amy asked.

"Yeah! The beach is the bomb!" Charmy yelled. (A/N: I just realized he hasn't talked at all yet.) "Beach! Beach! Beach!"

"Okay, we can go to the beach, but will you please SHUT UP?!" Shadow yelled; covering his ears.

"Okay!" Charmy yelled back; giving him a salute.

---

Espio waited by the lamppost he had met Kit at last night. He glanced at the clock in the lobby and saw it was a quarter past ten. Where was Kit? Was this a trick or did she just forget to come? Espio glanced at the clock once more before sighing and turning around to walk back to the others. That's when he heard a voice call out to him.

"Espio, wait!"

Espio turned around and saw Kit run up to him. "Sorry I'm late."

"Don't worry about it." Espio smiled. "Shall we go?"

Kit nodded and smiled. "This is gonna be so cool! I can't wait to show you everything on the island! Come on Espio, let's go!"

She then began to happily skip off. Espio smiled at the hyper cat before following her. The two then set off into the morning sun to start their adventure.

---

Sonic, Amy, Shadow, Tails, Cream, Vanilla and Vector were all at the beach. Tails, Charmy and Cream were playing the water, having a splashing fight, Sonic was trying to impress Amy by getting in the water up to his ankles, Shadow was scaring Sonic by saying there were sharks in the water, Amy was giggling at the two, Vanilla was watching Cream and Vector was staring at Vanilla.

While Amy was watching Sonic and Shadow, a male tiger walked up to her.

"Hey, what's your name?" the tiger asked.

Sonic and Shadow were at Amy's side in a flash.

"What do you want with her?" they asked in unison.

"Nothing, dudes. All I want is to know her name."

"My name is Sonic and I don't appreciate you hitting on Amy." Sonic said.

"Amy, huh? Cute name. It suits you just perfectly." The tiger smirked.

Amy giggled at the compliment. Sonic and Shadow glanced at each other. Sonic let out a low growl to the tiger.

"Hey, I told you, I don't like you hitting on Amy." He growled.

"Why, you and her together?" the tiger asked.

Sonic blushed and looked at the sand. "Well… um…"

"No, he isn't her boyfriend." Shadow said. "I am."

Sonic glared up at Shadow. Shadow was stealing Amy from him. His Amy! That couldn't be true! They weren't together. Right? Sonic looked over at Amy and found her blushing. This made Sonic more confused. Was it true then? The tiger looked at Shadow.

"Well, you've got yourself a great girlfriend, dude." He said.

"Yeah, and I'd appreciate it if you'd leave us alone." Shadow said.

The tiger put his hands up in defense. "Fine. I'm gone. See ya." He then walked off.

"What a jerk…" Shadow said; rolling his eyes.

He walked off over to the water. Amy looked after him. She looked back at Sonic before running after him.

"Shadow, wait up!" Amy yelled.

Sonic remained standing there. He felt heartbroken and like he could just sink into the sand in any second. For a vacation, this was turning out to be his worse one yet.

---

Rouge woke up in the morning to find Knuckles still staring at the wall, trapped in his emotional battle. Rouge slowly approached him and sat down on the couch next to him. She stared at Knuckles wondering what made him go into this battle and wondering when he'd come out of it.

"Knuckles, can you hear me?" Rouge asked.

Knuckles made no reply. Rouge let out a sigh and looked down at the floor.

'This is hopeless. I wish I could do something…' Rouge thought.

Rouge put her hand on his cheek and ran her hand down his face. Her hand continued down his body until it reached his own hand and stopped there. Rouge slipped her small hand into Knuckles' larger one. She smiled at the warmth it brought her. She squeezed his hand hoping she could bring him out of his battle.

"Knuckles, I hope your battle ends soon. I'm really worried about you. Please, come out of your battle. For me?" Rouge asked.

Rouge stared into Knuckles' lifeless eyes before shutting her own. That's when she felt Knuckles flinch. Rouge opened her eyes quickly as a smile swept across her face.

"Knuckles?"

Knuckles flinched again and this time threw in a moan as well. He slowly shut his eyes and when he reopened them, Rouge could see the life had returned to them.

"Hey, bat girl." Knuckles said.

Rouge quickly pulled her hand out of Knuckles' hoping he hadn't noticed yet. She looked into his eyes and had to hold back from embracing him.

"What happened to you? I came back from the pool last night and you were staring at the wall. You never blinked or said anything. And… truthfully…" Rouge bit her lip. "Iwasreallyworriedaboutyou."

"What?" Knuckles asked.

"I was really worried about you." Rouge said slowly.

"You were?" Knuckles asked; blushing a bit.

Rouge nodded. Knuckles looked down at the floor.

"To answer your question…. I don't really know what happened exactly. I got really mad and then my heart and mind staring yelling at each other inside my head. It wasn't pleasant and now I have one hell of a headache." Knuckles explained.

"Sounds rough."

"It was." Knuckles muttered.

"If you don't mind me asking… what was it about?" Rouge asked; although she already had a pretty good idea.

Knuckles looked into deep into Rouge's eyes and found they were filled with curiosity and concern. Knuckles sighed and turned his head away from her.

"It was about you…" Knuckles whispered so quietly it was barely audible. Rouge heard it though.

---

"Hey Kit? Where exactly are we?" Espio asked; looking around.

"This is one of the many jungles on the island. The island's famous for them. This is my favorite one though." Kit explained.

"Why?"

"You'll see when we get to the end of the trail." Kit smiled; slyly.

Espio raised an eyebrow at her. 'Do I want to know what she means by that?' Espio thought.

"So…" Espio cleared his throat in hope of starting a conversation. "Do you live on this island by yourself or do you have family?" Espio asked.

"I live here by myself. My mom died when I was ten and my dad left my mom and me when I was only five. I started out living in New York 'cause that's where I was living with my mother, but living in a big city like that means thugs and trouble when you're only ten. So, one day I snuck on a random plane and ended up here. I've been living here ever since." Kit explained.

"I'm sorry about your parents." Espio apologized.

"Aw, don't worry about it. I'm over it by now." Kit reassured him.

"If it makes you feel any better, I grew up by myself too." Espio said.

Kit frowned. "Then we have more in common then I thought." Kit smiled.

"Guess we do." Espio smiled back.

---

Kit was right, this jungle was the most beautiful and Espio agreed fully with that statement. At the end of the trail was a large oasis that's sight was just breath taking. Espio smiled at the sight, his inner self coming out.

"Wow, you're right. This place is beautiful." Espio remarked.

"You really think so?" Kit asked.

Espio nodded.

"It's just, you strike me as the kind of person who sits in a dark corner all day, no offense." Kit said.

"No offense taken. I do that sometimes, but I always have another half of me I don't show often and that's a liking for beautiful sights." Espio explained.

"I get it. Soft on the inside, but tough on the outside, huh?" Kit smiled.

"You could put it that way."

Kit laughed. "C'mon, let's head back. You're friends are probably wondering where you are."

"They probably think I'm up in my room hiding from the light." Espio replied.

Kit laughed again. The two then head back to the hotel. When they arrived, the stopped by the lamppost they met at in the morning. Kit and Espio both glanced around trying to think of something to say. Espio spoke up first.

"I had a great time today." Espio said.

"Me too." Kit replied.

"So… uh…" Espio stuttered.

Before Espio could finish his sentence, if he ever was, Kit had given him a soft kiss on his cheek. Espio felt his cheeks burn as he averted her eyesight. Kit smiled at the look on his face.

"Well, see ya later, Espio!" Kit waved as she began running off.

Espio looked up and called out to her, "Wait!"

Kit spun around and Espio bit his lip. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead he said something else.

"I really did… have a great time today." Espio said.

Kit smiled bigger. She gave him another wave and ran back inside the hotel. Espio looked at the ground quickly, before running in the opposite direction towards the beach. Espio arrived at the beach and saw all his friends were still there. He walked over to Charmy and sat down.

"You didn't tell anyone where I was did you?" Espio asked.

"Nope! You're secret's safe with me!" Charmy yelled.

Espio shut his eyes as Vector turned around. "A secret?" Vector asked.

Espio sighed. "Smooth, Charmy. Real smooth." He then turned to Vector. "I'll tell you, but that's it. We're going to my room though. I don't want anyone else to hear."

Espio, Vector and Charmy got up and told everyone they were going back to the hotel. Vector told them it was a 'Chaotix Meeting'. Espio shook his head at the excuse, but went along with it. The three then disappeared inside.

---

The Chaotix all met in Espio and Charmy's room.

"Okay, so here's the reason why I haven't been hanging with you guys ever since we got here." Espio started.

"What's the reason?" Vector asked.

"I'm gonna tell you if you'd stop interrupting." Espio muttered.

Vector frowned, but remained quiet as Espio began his explanation again.

"The reason is because I've met a new friend down here." Espio said.

"Who is he?" Vector asked.

Charmy giggled. "It's not a he, Vector. It's a she! Espio's got a little girlfriend!"

"Shut up! She's not my girlfriend. We're just really good friends." Espio snapped.

"Yeah… whatever." Charmy giggled.

There was originally going to be more to this chapter, but I decided to end it here because I thought it was a really good stopping point. There is going to be Vector/Vanilla in the next chapter I PROMISE!! Oh yeah and I'm taking a vote: SonAmy or ShadAmy for the ending? I have an idea of what I'm going to do, but I want your opinions! Put them in a review!!