Chapter Four:
Rouge and Tikal returned to the campsite, barefoot with their shoes in their hands. Three tents were standing proudly and Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream were sitting at the picnic table, tuna sandwiches in hand and a jumbo bag of potato chips lying in the middle of the table.
"Hey!" Sonic said when he saw them walking up, "Where have you guys been?"
"Down at the lake," Tikal replied, smiling at Rouge. "It's beautiful down there."
"You didn't finish your tent," Tails said.
"Yeah, well, we were gonna do that right now," Rouge muttered. She looked around. "Where's Shadow and Knuckles? I see their tent is done."
Sonic rolled his eyes and took a bite out of his sandwich, "Knucklehead is meditating or something and Shadow said he wasn't hungry so actually I'm not sure where he is."
"Sugar muffin…" Amy whined, "When are we gonna go see the lake? It's almost sunset."
Hearing that comment made Rouge suddenly grab Tikal's forearm, "Oh crap, we gotta go finish our tent now. There's no way in hell I'm sleeping at night without it."
The two went back to the place they left the remains of their tent. Rouge read the directions while Tikal gathered the parts.
"Do we have all the stakes?" Rouge said going down the list.
"Yup,"
"What about the smaller poles?"
Tikal looked around and frowned, "Uh no, I don't see those."
"Are these what you're looking for?" a voice said behind her.
She spun around and gasped.
Shadow stood behind her holding the skinny gray poles.
Tikal reached for them with a shaky hand, "Y-Yes. Thanks, I guess." Then the silent spell fell over them again and they both looked at the ground nervously.
Rouge looked up from the directions page and opened her mouth to say something but then it snapped shut once she saw the two.
Those two nitwits, she thought, they definitely still have it for each other. Maybe I could get someone else to help me with the tent so these two can have some alone time.
"Hey Tikal," she said. Both Tikal and Shadow looked up relieved someone finally broke the awkward silence. "Why don't you and Shadow go talk? I can find someone to help me out."
Tikal's cheeks flushed bright pink, "Its okay Rouge, I'll help you. We can talk later, right Shadow?"
"No, no. I insist." Rouge said, "Go." Tikal gave her a hard stare that read, "Why are you doing this to me?" Rouge shot an even sterner look back at the echidna, "It's for your own good. Go."
Tikal crossed her eyes at Rouge, but then smiled shyly at Shadow. "I guess we can discuss things now. Come on."
The two walked away, strategically leaving some distance between them. Rouge watched them go and chuckled to herself.
Once they were gone, she turned back to the unfinished tent. The sun had crept closer to the horizon. She sighed.
Now, she thought, where is that Knucklehead?
Tikal and Shadow strolled along in silence. They had found another path that led into the woods. Shadow walked, hands deep in his jean pockets and staring down at the ground. Tikal walked next to him, rigid.
Saysomething, saysomething, saysomething. Tikal was freaking out internally. If Rouge were here, she'd be slapping her silly.
Tikal swallowed her pride and took a chance, "so I hear you work for GUN now…" she said casually. Brilliant! Rouge would be proud that she thought of that all on her own.
"Yeah, I guess it's kinda ironic. Since I was a bad guy and all." Shadow replied in the same gruff voice Tikal remembered had once told her 'I love you'. Her eyes welt up with tears.
"You were never a bad guy Shadow," she said quietly, "Atleast, not in my eyes."
They stopped and faced each other.
"Why are you crying?" he asked softly.
Tikal shook her head and looked away, "I don't know. It's just….It's been so long."
Shadow touched her chin and brought her face back towards his. He used his thumb to wipe the tears from her eyes, "Tikal…..I'm not mad anymore."
No answer.
"I've been thinking of you everyday we've been apart."
"I know."
"You know that's all in the past, right?"
Tikal frowned and took his hand. "It still hurts. You never came back. I thought maybe you would since I thought you loved me."
"I do. Don't you believe me?"
"I did the first time you told me and then you left me."
"I thought you understood Tikal."
"I don't know. Maybe I don't."
Shadow burrowed his eyebrows and sighed deeply.
"So now what?" Tikal asked folding an arm over her stomach, the other still holding onto Shadow .
"Let me prove it to you." he said. He leaned over and went to give her a kiss on the lips but she turned her head and his lips grazed across her cheek instead.
"We'll see," she whispered.
He pulled away, half embarrassed, half frustrated. Oh yes, how could he forget this side of Tikal? She was related to Knuckles which meant she was stubborn as hell. Shadow was determined to win her trust back but he knew it was going to be a haul.
But Tikal also was merciful, which was something he was grateful for. She started walking again, tugging him along.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"I think we should go see the lake," she said. "especially at sunset. It should be absolutely gorgeous."
Meanwhile back at the campsite, Rouge had found Knuckles and asked him to help.
His eyes grew big and he shook his head sending his long red dreadlocks flying in all directions.
"No, no, no, no. No way in hell batgirl."
Rouge groaned and rolled her eyes, "Oh, come on, be a gentleman for like two seconds and help me with the dumb tent. Then you can go back to being your crummy ole self."
Knuckles just laughed at her and walked away. She pursed her lips and followed after him with pounding footsteps. She would not be made into a fool especially by him.
"Okay…"she said through clenched teeth, "Why won't you help me? Got something better to do?"
"Maybe I do. Besides, I have a headache from figuring out how to put up the first tent and honestly, I'm not in the mood to put up with you."
"Normally I would say the same thing but I really don't feel like sleeping in the dirt tonight."
"So what? That's your problem not mine."
Rouge frowned, "You're an asshole."
"Thank you."
Rouge growled under her breath and stopped trying to keep up with him. He kept on walking towards he and Shadow's tent. Suddenly, she got an idea.
"What if I promised never to visit Angel Island ever again and stop coming after the Master Emerald?" she yelled after him.
As expected, that stopped him right in his tracks.
--
They were actually working together and making great progress. The tent was nearly done and the sun had just started to disappear behind the hills. Knuckles seemed to be a little nicer since the chances of never having to see Rouge on his island again was on the line. They worked in silence, tense that an argument would break out, which always seemed to happen when they tried talking to each other.
Once they were finished, they sat back just looking at the tent, tired and catching their breath.
"So….what do you think of this whole thing with Tikal and Shadow?" Rouge asked, forgetting the no-talking rule.
Knuckles didn't look at her, "I dunno. It's pretty weird."
"I didn't know Tikal was your cousin."
"I thought everyone knew that."
Rouge glanced over at him and winked, "I'm not like everyone Knucklehead."
"Yeah I know. I don't think I've ever met anyone as annoyingly persistent as you."
She shrugged, "I know what I want."
He closed his eyes and leaned back on his palms, "So, what are you after now since you're "supposedly" done with the master emerald."
This question stumped Rouge. She didn't really know what she wanted now the master emerald was out of the question. It was the only jewel that she ever gave up on and the guardian who was just as stubborn and crazy about it as she was, was the reason for that.
She couldn't help but admire his strong dedication to that emerald. Other than that she didn't knew exactly what her opinion of the echidna was. For one, she despised the fact she lost a serious prize because of him. Plus, she was in his debt and if there was one thing Rouge hated most was owing someone her life.
He was her hero, whether she liked it or not. She'd never been so confused about any male before and this is precisely what attracted her to Knuckles: curiosity.
It didn't help that every once in awhile while they were working that she got a glance of his muscles poking out from under his shirt. Her heart would start racing and she felt her cheeks get warm.
She answered his question with the broadest answer she could think of, "Oh, you know, the same ole, same ole."
That night, while Tikal had fallen right asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, Rouge was having a bad episode of insomnia. All thanks to her extremely sensitive bat ears. Living the life as a spy, Rouge had trained herself to have super senses while on the job since she worked a lot a night. Her eyes couldn't aid her at night but her ears and nose could. Every sound in close proximity to the campsite, Rouge could hear. She tried, at times, to lay completely still in her sleeping bag and listen to nothing but silence and Tikal's light breathing. She would find herself on the verge of sleep, but then suddenly a twig would snap or an owl would hoot outside and she was jolted awake. After the seventh time that happened, she finally just gave up.
Groaning, she grabbed a flashlight, jacket, and slipped her feet into her shoes. She quietly unzipped the flap of the tent entrance and crawled out. No noises were coming from Knuckles and Shadow's tent or Amy and Cream's tent. Rouge could hear Sonic and Tails' voices coming from the firepit. They were talking about gathering firewood.
She crept around the back of the tents and found her way to the path in the woods she and Tikal had found earlier that day. Even though it was midnight, Rouge didn't use the flashlight. She wasn't afraid and the glow of the moon led her way down the path.
About five minutes later, she came to the break in the trees and reached the beach. She walked over to the dock and closed her eyes, breathing in the woodsy smells around her. The temperature was still in the low 70's, high 60's. The wind was blowing lightly, but at that moment she thought that it could carry her along into the night.
Slowly, she dropped the flashlight and made a pile with her jacket and shoes. She reached up and took off her shirt and sweatpants.
Another gust of wind blew through but she wasn't cold at all. Quickly, her eyes darted in all directions making sure she was in no danger of being seen by any late night creeps, especially that wolf. When she saw the coast was clear, she reached up and unclasped her bra, then bent down and peeled her panties off.
She approached the water and dipped a toe as a test run. The water was as warm as bathwater. Rouge stood back and in one swift movement, jumped in.
She felt like a little kid again as she splashed around in the water. She ducked her head under and swam underwater. She resurfaced and laid on her back, just staring up at the moon and stars.
She heard a rattling noise coming from the bushes, but thought nothing of it at first. What finally captured her attention were the footsteps that followed the rattling and the fact that they sounded like they were getting closer.
Her thoughts were abruptly confirmed when she heard someone say, "Rouge?!"
She turned around and saw none other than the figure of Knuckles the Echidna standing under the light of the moon.
--
Wow. I can't believe I'm already on chapter 4.....strange. Anyways, I know that Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream haven't been featured in this story much but they will be, I promise.
R&R as always!