Rouge gasped as she saw what happened. Knuckles groaned in pain as the Rhinobot was digging its horn right into his back. The pain was much more unbearable than the usual beating he would take.

Rouge fled from the scene. "T-That... that should do it! Now I don't have to worry about that stupid idiot!" Rouge said to herself as a smile formed.

Her smile then turned into a frown. She stopped in the air for a second.

A hurt Knuckles would be too much for Rouge, despite what she may think at times. She didn't know it, but she was finding her way back to Angel Island.

"KNUCKLES!" She screamed, with tears in her eyes. She quickly zoomed over to where he was hurt. "Knuckie?! Where are you?!" She called out.

She felt like screaming, she wanted to yell so loud in despair. Where the hell is he?! She thought to herself until she saw a patch of red.

It was Knuckles, who was beaten up. It was a horrible sight to see. His back was severely wounded, there were hints of blood on his back. Normally Knuckles was as tough as stone, but this beating proved to be too much for him, and too much for Rouge to stomach. She couldn't bare to leave him here, could she? This was a perfect chance to steal the Master Emerald after all! Rouge felt conflicted.

"Wait, that means Angel Island would sink into the ocean..." Rouge said quietly to herself. "This is how it's supposed to be, right? I'm supposed to leave him here to die?" Rouge asked out loud. They were rivals after all."And yet..." She looked gently at him.

"He... protected me..." She quietly said as she approached him to check for any vital signs, blushing as she felt his muscles.

She flipped him over gently, taking a couple of leaves to stop the bleeding on his back, Rouge could hear Knuckles groaning in pain.

"Don't worry Knucklehead." She whispered to him as she smiled. "I'm being gentle," She finished.

Knuckles woke up to look into the sky. It was day.

"GAH!" He yelped as he jumped up from the floor. "How long have I been asleep for?! Is Rouge ok?! THE MASTER EMERALD!" Knuckles exclaimed, looking around to see his precious jewel.

Knuckles ran to the place where it stored the emerald. He was pleasantly surprised to see that the Master Emerald was there.

"Phew." He started, "Safe and sound." He said, as he gently tapped his baby, not noticing that Rouge was sitting on top of it.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead~" Rouge teased.

"Rouge, what are you still doing here?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh you know... just here looking at your baby, she's quite the handful..." Rouge smirked as she lightly tapped the Master Emerald.

"You didn't do anything... did you?" Knuckles asked as he squinted his eyes in suspicious.

"My my Knuckie, do you think if I did, Angel Island would be in the sea?" Rouge teased as she flew down to his level.

"Yeah well just keep your batty hands off..." Knuckles started, as he began to stretch until he let out the most blood-curdling scream.

"KNUCKLES?! What's wrong?" Rouge asked.

"MY BACKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Knuckles cried out.

"Oh, right!" Rouge said, as she went out and searched for some washcloths and bandages.

"OW! THAT HURTS!" Knuckles screamed out in pain.

"Well that's because you're moving too much, so stop!" Rouge replied, applying pressure to his wounds.

"Well why does it have to hurt so much..." Knuckles groaned. The more and more times Rouge applied pressure, the more irritable Knuckles got.

"WILL YOU STOP?!" Knuckles screamed.

"I TOLD YOU TO HOLD STILL!" Rouge screamed back.

Knuckles gritted his teeth. "You know." He began. "None of this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't kicked that Rhinobot! Some smart move there, huh Rouge..." He stated, crossing his arms.

Rouge growled. How dare he accuse her of not being smart?! "Is this the thanks I get for trying to help you?" She growled, as she turned him and grabbed him by the chin. "You're so lucky I'm being at my nicest Knucklehead, otherwise you would be dead by now."

"Well none of this wouldn't have happened if you didn't intervene!" Knuckles exclaimed.

"Well you shouldn't have went and protected me!" Rouge interjected.

"Well you should learn to not be such a batty little know-it-all!" He said while growling.

"And you should learn how to control your temper." Rouge replied, making Knuckles quiet.

"Hmph." He huffed, as he felt more pain as Rouge was healing him.

"So... why did you save me?" Rouge asked with a small blush.

Knuckles blushed a little. "Well it wouldn't be quite heroic of me to just leave you hanging, would it?" He said, facing her.

Rouge nodded in agreement, "Well, thank you for saving my life, my hero~" She teased me, as a small blush formed on her face.

The two of them sat in silence, sitting close but not too close to each other. It was awkward to say the least, both of them couldn't say anything to each other; Knuckles was awkward with women and Rouge was being oddly shy, but it's for good reason, right?

Finally, after what felt like forever, Knuckles spoke. "Ugh... my back really hurts..." He groaned in pain.

"Here... let me see..." Rouge gently said as she reached over to check his injuries, gently getting off the bandages. There was some dry blood, but from the looks of it, the Rhinobot had dug its horns into Knuckles pretty deep. Rouge frowned.

"They look pretty bad, will you be able to fight?" Rouge softly asked him.

"Probably, but it does hurt like hell..." Knuckles muttered. "I guess the only thing for me to do here is guard the Master Emerald until I heal."

"Yeah, but..." Rouge softly started, before she thought about something. "Shouldn't you get some rest?"

Knuckles perked his head up. "Hm? Why?"

"To get better, how else?" Rouge asked the red echidna.

"Fair point..." Knuckles said, sighing in defeat. Then, Knuckles got an idea, which made him smirk a little. "Hey Rouge, I got an idea..." Knuckles began.

"Hm?" Rouge asked, tilting her head.

"Since you did get me into this mess..." Knuckles started, "You should guard the Master Emerald."

Rouge almost stumbled down upon hearing that. "WHAT?!"

"You heard me." Knuckles replied, giving her another smirk. "You should guard the Master Emerald for now. Since you also love it so much too..." He explained.

'Not as much as I love you...' Rouge thought to herself as she blushed a little. Wait. Rouge shook her head again. There was no way she loved him, she denied to herself. "Why me?!" She cried out. "Don't have you anyone else in mind to do that for you? How about Tikal?" Rouge asked.

"Huh. You're right, actually." Knuckles replied, "Perhaps I should ask her?"

"WAIT. NO!" She shouted out, startling Knuckles a bit. Rouge fled from Angel Island for a bit, leaving Knuckles confused.

Rouge panicked for a bit. "That stupid echidna, why must he ask me for this favor?!" She exclaimed. "But there's absolutely no way am I going to let Tikal spend some time alone with MY Knuckles..." She said out loud to herself, before she slapped at herself after realizing what she said.

"I have to stop talking like that!" She said as she blushed. "Now, perhaps this offer can be beneficial for me," She started. "Maybe I'll make Knuckles' guard down, and then when the time comes, I'll take the Master Emerald for myself!" She said, feeling confident in plan. "I'll do it! I'll guard the Master Emerald for Knuckles!" She happily declared to herself as she went back to Angel Island, and when she did she saw Knuckles snoozing. Rouge was about to wake him up, until she saw how cute he looked when he was sleeping.

"Was Knuckles always this adorable..." Rouge whispered, a smile creeping up on her face as she looked at his face and blushed. Rouge couldn't help but feel helpless around him.

"I'm really being a creep right now..." Rouge said to herself quietly as she scooted closer to him a bit.

Rouge had to admit, this would be a new experience for her, but hey, more time spent with Knuckles, right?

Rouge smiled as she laid down beside him.

—-

chapter 2 is done! please let me know your thoughts! :)