Because You Loved Me--Even If I Didn't Want You To

Chapter Six:The Delicious Yet Devious Plot of the Vixen Named Rouge (Part 3)
(AKA: Confrontation on the Bridge of Love: Checkmate)

“Excellent”, Rouge nearly purred. “Alright Tails. You go ahead and continue searching for that Chaos Emerald.”

“Okay–but what about Eggman?”

“Huh? Oh erm...once I find Sonic and make sure he’s going to go meet Shadow on the bridge, Amy and I are going to go stall Eggman.”

“Oh alright ”

As Tails sighed off, Rouge tucked the communicator away and smirked as she looked up to see Knuckles resting in a tree, his head leaned back and his eyes closed. After she had ditched Cream, she had gone searching for him, relieved that she was able to find him in a matter of minutes.

She flew up to the branch and sat down, crossing her legs. He opened one eye and seeing that it was her, frowned and closed it again, ‘hmphing.’

She raised an eyebrow at him. “What’s your problem.”

“Where’s your boyfriend?” he snapped sarcastically. She smirked. So jealous–just like she wanted. “Busy I assume. He’s not paying me any attention.”

He scuffed. “Not a very good boyfriend then, is he?”

“No,” she agreed. “He doesn’t seem to notice me at all. Or he’s not interested anymore.” She let out a tragic sigh as she gave the most convincing sad smile she could muster. “I really thought we had something too.”

Knuckles opened his eyes and stared at her, noting her sad expression and that the smirk was gone. “Um...I’m sorry,” he stated softly, looking slightly uncomfortable.

He blinked at her when she heard her sniffle. She whipped the back of her eyes with her gloved hand and looked down at the ground beneath them, trying her hardest not to laugh. How on earth she had gotten herself to cry was beyond her.

“I really thought I had gotten through,” she sniffed. “I really thought he was into me. But...it’s like he doesn’t even notice me.”

As a few croc tears fell down her cheeks, she could tell Knuckles was fuming by her side.

And he was. How could Shadow do that to her? What on earth could he be preoccupying his time so much that he wouldn’t notice someone like Rouge coming on to him? Then he thought back to Sonic...and his worries over Amy.

And ladies and gentleman, something actually clicked.

“He’s an idiot,” Knuckles snorted, almost confident of the fact. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

“Yeah, he really is,” she agreed, trying a forced laugh but cutting if off once she realized she was about to crack up. Taking a deep breath, she sighed and stood up on the tree branch, hugging herself slightly as the phoney tears continued to fall. “But what can you do? I’ve tried everything to get his attention, short of flashing my breast at him–”

Knuckles looked dumbfounded as he gasped “You were gonna do that?”

“– and he still just doesn’t get it. I guess I’ll just have to give up and move on.”

“You should,” Knuckles agreed, getting up himself and after a moments hesitation, placing his hands on her shoulders in a supporting gesture. “You deserve so much better than that jerk. If he can’t realize what he’s missing, then that’s his own lost. You’re far too good for him.”

Rouge only nodded softly as she pulled herself away from him. “It’s just that...I thought...after all the fun we had...and he looked like he was going to kiss me...”

She broke out into full blown phoney sob then, cover her face with her hands too keep Knuckles from seeing her laughing–though the sound was muffled so it sound like a convincing cry–as she flew off high above the trees and disappeared.

Knuckles stared after her a moment, his eye twitching. Shadow was going to kiss her? He felt a low growl enter his throat. He wasn’t sure which upset him more, the fact that the two had almost kissed or seeing Rouge so upset over a lowlife like Shadow. The damn jerk. Leading her on. Making her cry. Cry!

“Oh I’ll show him,” he growled lowly, jumping out of the tree and landing on his feet. He took a quick sniff of the air before he broke out into a run towards the direction he thought Shadow might be in, which was right towards the middle of the forest

“I’ll teach that jerk to make a woman cry!”

Hiding clear out of sight, as he ran past Rouge watched him with glee, chuckling to herself.

Brilliant really, if she said so herself. Though she couldn’t help but find it hilarious that Knuckles would get so upset about Shadow doing the exact same thing he’d done to her. And really that’s all she’d done: describe exactly how much he ignored her and how he’d failed to kiss her on ARK.

Now all she had to do was get to bridge to put on one last award winning performance.

Her strategy had been set, her play perfect. Nothing could destroy it now.

“Check.”
~~~~~~~~

“...Where are you going?”

“To the bridge ” Amy practicably sang as she paused briefly to speak to the tan fox.

Tails froze. ‘Oh no...Sonic and Shadow are suppose to be on that bridge ’

“Amy...you can’t go ” he said quickly.

She frowned at him and placed her hand on her hips impatiently.

“And why not?”

“Because,” Tails paused, every lie he could think of running through his mind before he spoke again. “Because I thought you were suppose to be finding Eggman?”

Rose waved him off. “Rouge is doing that. I’ll just go meet Sonic–”

Tails groaned to himself. How did she know Sonic was on the bridge? It was like she had a radar for him!

“But I just saw Sonic a few minutes ago. And he said he wasn’t going toward the bridge,” he blurted quickly.

Amy blinked paused in her rambling and looked at him confused. “He’s not?”

Tails shook his head. “No. The bridge is that way,” he pointed in the right direction “But Sonic said he was on his way that way,” He said pointing in a completely different direction then where either of them were heading.

Amy looked more than annoyed at him, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Are you sure Tails?”

He nodded again. “That’s where he said the Chaos Emeralds were. I think Cream is going to meet him there right now.”

“Cream?!” Amy shrieked in anger, causing Tails to shrink back. “Sonic was suppose to be on the bridge!”

Tails gave her a sheepish laugh. “He said if I saw you, to tell you he was really sorry and follow him there.”

Amy looked glared at him, pondering his words for a minute before she , before sighing and shaking her head, she replied. “My darling Sonic. He just can’t stay still.”

Tails gave another sheepish laugh but cut if off once Amy glared down at him very determined. “Which way did you say he went?”

“That way ” Tails pointed again. “ And if you hurry, you can catch him before he meets with Cream.”

Amy quickly set off in that direction while Tails watched her disappear behind the trees. He sighed. “That was certainly a close one,” he said to himself. Then he frowned. “But why was Amy–“

He was cut off by the sight of a flash of blue heading in the direction Amy had just come from moments ago. Tails blinked before he called out to it. “Sonic ”

The azure hedgehog skidded to a stop and Tails ran to his side. “Sonic–where are you going?”

He smiled at him. “The mushroom patch. I’m suppose to meet–”

“them on the bridge ” Tails cut him off in alarm. Sonic blinked at him, slightly confused.

“The bridge?”

“Didn’t Rouge tell you? You’re suppose to be meeting–um–that person on the bridge ” Tails blushed slightly at the mere thought. He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around Sonic and Shadow.

“She told me mushroom patch,” Sonic said thoughtfully.

But Tails shook his head. “It’s the bridge Sonic. She must have given you the wrong place by accident.”

Sonic hunched. “You know where this bridge is?”

“Straight ahead Sonic, this way,” he said pointing in the right direction, hoping Amy hadn’t heard him call Sonic just then as a random side thought. “When you get to wall of trees, you’ll have to climb up then jump on the leaves to get to the bridge. The ground is really steep the leaves are really sturdy. I’m not sure how deep it is if you fall between them though. The bridge is made completely out of vines.”

Sonic nodded and gave him the thumbs up. “Thanks little buddy. Catch you later ”

With that, he was off in another blur of blue light.

Tails frowned. Why would Rouge tell Sonic and Amy to go to the wrong place? Shadow would have thought Sonic had stood him up. If Sonic hadn’t shown up. And he was sure that Amy barging in on them was the last thing either of them wanted.

Tails’ new thoughts were interrupted by a loud beeping sound. He looked down at his communicator, then pulled out another small device and held it up in his hand.

It was the Chaos Emerald detector. And a emerald was...

“Somewhere near the bridge,” Tails gasped softly to himself. Great. Now he’d have to barge in on a private moment. But then–he was sure both Shadow and Sonic would understand Especially if he could manage to get to the emerald without either noticing he was there..

Mildly wondering why Rouge hadn’t detected it before when she found the meeting place, he took to the air–and cried out as something flew right above him, just inches away from hitting him.

Tails blinked and saw the back of the Egg Carrier flying away from him, in the same direction that Sonic had gone.

“Eggman,” Tails cried as he watched it move further away. “But Rouge–she was suppose to– ”

Letting out a small cry, Tails flew as quickly as he could after it, completely forgetting that Sonic had a communicator of his own and that he could possibly warn him of the upcoming danger.

~~~~~~~~

Fake. Another fake emerald.

Shadow looked around him briefly as he clutched the fake jewel to his side, frowning as he looked at the sea of leafy ground from the leaf he was standing on.

Sonic hadn’t arrived to the bridge yet, which was only a few feet away from him but Shadow chose to wait a bit longer. Because if that faker stood him up...

He growled. Tails could have done well to warn him that there was nothing BENEATH the leaves but what seemed like a large crater.

He had never been so happy that Dr. Gerald had made him hover shoes in his entire existence–even if it did make it seem like he was skating when he ran. I gave him the precious seconds he needed to collect himself once he realized nothing was holding him up and to grab on to a dangling vine from one of the towering trees.

And they had to be tall, if the bases were so deep down in the crater around this quite little haven.

Shadow looked down at the gem in his hand. This was the emerald Tails and the others had been looking for, but it was another fake–which meant Eggman had gone through the trouble of planting it. But now Shadow couldn’t help but wonder exactly why.

“What is the doctor up to?” he murmured to himself, frowning as he brought the gem closer to his face, clutching it tightly in his hand again.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he saw a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye come to a stop and made him look up.

There he was. Just a few feet away from him with his back to him, at the very end of the bridge looking from side to side, then behind him. Searching. He watched as Sonic looked a little annoyed than took a seat, reclining on his elbows, as he swayed his foot impatiently up and down in the air.

Sonic hadn’t noticed him yet but to Shadow, that really didn’t matter. All the better really.

Shadow quietly made his way across the bridge until he was looming directly over Sonic. The azure hedgehog didn’t bother to look up and Shadow could see that he had his eyes closed. He looked rather relaxed as the sun shined barely through the trees and hit the bridge, shining on to their forms in small beams.

“What did you want to tell me?” he heard Sonic ask softly as placed his arms behind his bed and laid down completely, a smile on his face.

Shadow studied him for a moment before he brought him self down to his knees.

Maybe...they had all been right. These feelings that he had been trying to ignore–they just wouldn’t go away. Even then, back in the cavern, he’d known that. He’d realized it more once he realized he hated seeing Sonic with Amy. He hated when Sonic held her hand back at the workshop–how she could make him laugh, made him so happy back at the outskirts of the jungle.

And Shadow couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he could make Sonic do that. To make him laugh, to get that smile from him. To get those emerald eyes to look at him the same way he seemed to stare at Amy.

Shadow blinked. It was what he wanted...to be happy. And he was really beginning to believe Sonic could do that. He studied Sonic’s quills for a moment, taking in a soft breath.

All he had to do...was tell him. Tell Sonic exactly how he felt and who knew. Maybe Sonic felt the same way. Shadow almost snorted. Or maybe the hedgehog wasn’t worth fighting for at all–worth his time.

But he wouldn’t know...if he didn’t ask.

So Shadow leaned in further, his head directly over Sonic’s face, letting his breath brush against his lips softely.

He saw a emerald as the lids of Sonic’s eyes fluttered opened in surprise. That relaxed smile that was once there faded slightly as confusion clouded those beautiful emerald eye and sharp features.

“Wait. . .Shadow?”

He sounded breathless. Confused.

Shadow stared at him a moment longer before he leaned the rest of the way in...and captured Sonic’s lips in full kiss.

At this moment, Rouge peeked her head around a nearby tree as she clung to the trunk tightly and looked directly at the bridge...and nearly fell off of the tree.

This certainly wasn’t the way her plan was suppose to end. Knuckles was simply suppose to believe that she and Shadow were in some type of relationship. With Sonic believing that Shadow liked Amy, once he spoke his thoughts to Knuckles, this would provide further ‘evidence’ once she confided in Knuckles about her thoughts of Shadow no longer being interested in her.
And just to drive the point home, was Tails to set help her set up the kiss by making sure Shadow would be on the bridge. Then with the lack of sunlight, Rouge was hoping for a repeart performance of Amy mistakening Shadow for Sonic and thus: kissing him just in time for Knuckles to see. Then she would magically come on to the seen and put on another performance, which in turn, would hopefully make Knuckles fight for her honor.
Once Shadow found out he had been set up, Tails would of course, take the fall because he was the one that told him to meet him on the bridge while she would simply lie to Sonic and explain to him that she gave him the wrong location by accident.

And while she just as easily could have asked Amy or even Sonic to ask Knuckles if he liked her–well– that would have been a lot less complicated sure.

But not nearly as entertaining.

And while Shadow wasn’t making a heated lip lock with Amy–this was frighteningly entertaining.

Rouge flew out of her hiding place, not caring if they spotted her as she landed on a large leaf close to the bridge, watching the pair with less shock as she raised her eyebrow.

Goodness, Shadow had a kiss on him. She didn’t have to be kissed to tell one someone was a great kisser.

She only looked up when she saw crimson move out of the corner of her eye. She looked up, almost startled to see Knuckles stumped his way on to the bridge, his fist tight at his sides as he paused, staring at the scene before him. The best way to describe his look was complete and utter horrific shock as he pointed, his mouth opening and closing rapidly.

He looked up to see her standing there, like he wasn’t sure what he should be doing and remember the entire point of this moment, Rouge looked back at Shadow then back at Knuckles with the worst, pathetic, sad betrayed look she could muster before covering her eyes and pretending to weep softly.

She watched through her fingers as his bewilderment melted away that of pure anger as he balled up his fist at his and screamed down at the pair.

“W-what in the hell are you two doing? ”

The both looked up startled, first at Knuckles, he was glaring dagger mainly at Shadow, then back to Rouge, who, upon Shadow and Sonic looking at her, wore a worried expression as she looked down at them then back at Knuckles.

Checkmate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quick A/N:
Again, I hope you enjoyed. What shall happen next? Enter Eggman! A Confrontation with Knuckles. And find out how Sonic reacts to his kiss! Next time on. ::Cue Soap Opera Music::

::Laughs:: Read and review, I'll try to update as soon as I can! Happy reading!