Okay, I haven't written a Sonic fiction before, but what else could I do for my dear friend DianaGohan? This is a birthday gift fic for her 23th birthday. I know I'm a day late, but hey, at least I did this for her special day with her favorite Sonic character of all times. Of course, I hope you all like my first fan fiction for the Sonic section as well as I hope her to enjoy it.

I encourage readers of this area to read and review. ;)

Disclaimer: I always wonder why DianaGohan has the 'Gohan' part in her username…

Knuckles's Birthday

"WHERE'S THE MASTER EMERALD, DAMMIT?!" hollered the red echidna at the empty space of air where the big green jewel used to spin ominously on the top of the wrecked altar of Angel Island.

Knuckles wasn't just having his day now. It was a pacific day before he woke up to find out that his precious emerald was taken away from him once again (for a number of times he couldn't remember to count well enough). The red Echidna wouldn't stand for this crime. Oh no, he would rather go look around and see if his relic was safe.

Of course, the emerald wasn't safe. It was stolen; taken away from him and probably away from the floating island. If this were all true, then that would mean something.

The island would fall down into the ocean to add more land mass, an event that already took place, much for his dismay.

"Seriously, why is everyone so fixated on the Master Emerald?!" Knuckles asked loudly to the sky. "Somebody give me an answer, dammit!" his gruff voice roared.

If Knuckles only recalled he was the only one who lived in the boring island... Well, he did live with some animals that peacefully lived in trees and holes, but that was it. Nobody tried to live with him because of his easy-to-trigger hot temper.

How many times has been the Master Emerald stolen, anyway? Knuckles knew that it was his job to keep the emerald safe from others' hands. If somebody stole the emerald, Knuckles would have to go on a 'world tour' and seek it out.

Now that he thought about it, this seemed to look like some sort of bad joke to try his temper. Oh yes, somebody surely did this out of amusement, something that he wouldn't just let happen.

Clenching his fists, the echidna looked around the expanse of trees. "Hey you, stupid thief, do you hear me?!" Knuckles asked loudly, his voice echoing through the calmness of the forest's atmosphere. "Where are you hiding?! Give me back my Master Emerald before I go to where you are!" he demanded.

Somebody would be stupid enough to actually agree and come out.

"...Grr," Knuckles gritted his fangs as he began to walk down the crumbled stairs of the altar, "it ALWAYS have to be the Master Emerald..." he muttered annoyed as he tilted his head at the sides. "Let's steal the Master Emerald so Knuckles loses his temper. Ooh, look at him, he's so clueless enough to be guarding it on the first place. Let's go ahead and take it away from him. He'll never get the emerald back, ANYWAY!"

Knuckles got fed up by his own impersonations that he stomped a step in anger. Almost missing his position, the echidna grunted and walked down to the fertile soil before the steps of the stairs.

Thinking as Knuckles looked around, he began to think about the suspect behind this. Knuckles had some subjects, and this could probably take too long.

"ROUGE!" Knuckles yelled.

Well, it didn't last too long, but at least that was the first one Knuckles thought. Besides, Rouge was on the top two of Knuckles's mind: Rouge, and Dr. Eggman.

"Stupid bat girl, come on out now!" Knuckles yelled at the forest. "Dammit, I know you're there! Get out, now!"

Knuckles's mind wasn't exactly thinking with common sense. The echidna looked very red of anger as he looked around the surroundings to find the previously mentioned batgirl. (Oh, wait, he was red...)

"ROUGE!" Knuckles barked.

"For the gods, can't you just wake up without ruining the calm silence in here?"

Knuckles's gritted his fangs and turned around. The echidna met the amused batgirl just behind him, her eyes looking a bit bored at Knuckles.

"Oh, here you are," Knuckles said as his anger started to ease a bit. "Rouge, give me back my emerald before I resort to violence."

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Calm down, little Knux," she teased by waving a finger in front of Knuckles's face. "I just arrived here."

"Oh yeah, you JUST arrived here," Knuckles said annoyed. "Look, let's cut down the crap and give me back my emerald."

"Pfft, I don't have it," Rouge said as she put her arms at her sides. "Like I told you before, I just arrived."

Knuckles rolled his eyes next. "Rouge, I'm being serious, give me back my emerald."

"Knux, I'm being serious, I DIDN'T take your emerald," Rogue said as she put her hands on her hips. "What is it that's making you not believe me?"

"Oh, you tell me," Knuckles said. "Besides Dr. Eggman, you're the first person that comes into my mind when my emerald gets stolen."

Rouge looked amused at this. "Oh my, that's cute of you to think about me."

"What? No it's not!" Knuckles said annoyed. "Stop it, Rouge! I'm not trying to seduce you as you always seem to be doing that!"

"Do I?"

"...Er...give me back my emerald!"

Rouge sighed. "Knuckles, I didn't come here to steal your emerald. I just remembered today was an important date."

"Of course it is important," Knuckles began as he faked a small chuckle, "it's the day to steal the emerald so my island falls into the FREAKING ocean for the 40th time!"

"No, that's not it," Rouge said. "Seriously, just listen to me before you jump to conclusions."

Knuckles crossed his arms. "What is it, then?"

"Seriously, did you forget?" Rouge asked in shame. "You don't really know what's today?"

"NO," Knuckles said. "I DON'T care what today is for that matter. Give me back my emerald!"

"Are you being serious?" Rouge asked with some disbelief. "Knux, are you nuts or what? Did you forget what's today?"

"Stop being so damn vague about the details and tell me already! Whatever it is, it's not that important! Or YOU tell me where my emerald is, or I WILL punch you right on you-"

"Happy 17th birthday, Knux."

An eerie silence soon followed, the wind brushing the grass on their feet.

"...Say what?" Knuckles asked confused.

Rouge tilted her head. "Isn't today your birthday? I heard from a little rabbit that today's your birthday."

"..." Knuckles's eyes widened a bit. "...O-oh...my birthday..." he muttered embarrassed. "...Oh yeah...today I reach 17..."

Rouge smiled a bit. "If you're asking yourself who told me that, it was Cream."

"Cream?" Knuckles asked confused. "How? Why did you go to her?"

"Oh no, I didn't go with her," Rouge admitted. "2 weeks ago, she just happened to find me in an antique shop while I was doing a research about this beautiful ruby jewel I heard from some connections I have as sources. That away, Cream was doing some groceries with her mom. She found me in the shop, and she told me if I was going to do something for your birthday."

"That's weird..." Knuckles trailed off. "I don't remember telling Cream about my birthday..."

"You did," Rouge said. "For that matter, she knows everyone's birthdays. You forgot the day you told her, that's all. I told you that resting in this place for the eternity was going to affect your mind, Knux."

Knuckles looked annoyed. "S-shut up!" he yelled. "Okay, so you came here to congratulate me for turning 17. What else is there to say?" He crossed his arms and looked away. "So?"

"Only one year left so you can legally vote for a president?" Rouge asked.

"Knock that off."

"Oh, okay," Rouge said. "To be honest, I don't have a gift for you."

"Lovely," Knuckles joked. "Now go away and leave me alone. Leave the emerald here as well."

"What part of 'I don't have your emerald" don't you understand?" Rouge asked annoyed. "Haven't you looked behind that altar? The emerald's just dropped down close to some bushes."

"...What?!" Knuckles asked in disbelief as he quickly ran all the way around the big altar, Rouge following suit. "The Master Emerald!" he yelled.

Rouge, for once, was telling the truth. The Master Emerald did was on the ground, shattered in big shards of it. The red echidna's jaw opened in pure horror as he saw light touching all the shards.

"B-but how?!" Knuckles asked. "W-why did it..."

"There were some strong winds just yesterday," Rouge pointed out. "Those winds were hitting this place. I can't believe you didn't wake up to see the event. Were you sleeping deeply or what?"

"...Dammit!" Knuckles cursed as he turned around to kick the altar hard.

"So what was it?" Rouge asked amused. "Did you fall asleep?"

"GRR!"

"Oh well," Rouge said as she looked up to the sky. "No wonder why you have that bad temper of yours. Staying up all night can lead to extreme cases of temper, you know."

"Shut it!" Knuckles yelled at her.

"Oh, what's with the harsh treatment now?" Rouge asked annoyed as she looked back to him. "Can I just drop by and say hi?"

"Y-you..." Knuckles grunted before he went over to pick the shards. "Go away from here and leave me alone. I need to get all these pieces back up together."

Rouge sighed. "Fine, I'm leaving you, Knux," she said annoyed as she walked to him. "However, can you do me a favor and look...that way?" she asked as she pointed behind him.

Knuckles, some shards of the Master Emerald on his arms, frowned and looked back. "Just to let you know, I'm not letting you grab these shards to take them away."

"Nah, I don't feel like stealing your emerald now," Rouge admitted, her voice sounding a little bit closer to Knuckles. "Okay, turn around."

The moment Knuckles turned around, his lips were met by Rouge's lips. The red echidna's pupils shrunk in shock as he saw Rouge's light blue eyelids in front of his eyes. For a brief moment, Knuckles let go of the shards as his arms returned to his sides. His cheeks turned red to match up with his red body, and Rouge stood still as she didn't make any sounds with her lips.

"..." Knuckles remained silent, his mind having shocking thoughts abut what he received from Rouge.

Rouge pulled back her lips and winked at Knuckles. "There you go, Knux. You just got your birthday gift from me."

"...!!!" Knuckles responded, yelling loudly just in front of Rouge. The batgirl took a step back to simulate that the echidna's yell had created some wind to push her back.

"I know, it wasn't nice to see such a poor gift from me, huh?" Rouge asked amused.

"Y-you!" Knuckles yelled as he reddened more. "W-what were you thinking when you did that?!"

"I was thinking about your birthday present, that's all," Rouge responded simply. "Is it bad to think about you?"

"N-not that!" Knuckles yelled. "W-why give me a kiss?!"

"It was a kiss or a gem you would probably throw away. You're not into jewels, anyway," Rouge pointed out. "A kiss, however, is always remembered, isn't it?"

Knuckles shook his head as he quickly wiped his lips with his right arm. "G-go away!" Knuckles yelled. "Leave me alone with the emerald!"

"...Oh," Rouge said as she faked some shame. "You love your emerald more than me? That's rude..."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr, shut it!" Knuckles yelled. "I don't love materials! My job is to secure the emerald from thieves like you!"

Rouge frowned. "Fine, fine, I'm leaving. I hope you're happy, then," she said annoyed as she lifted up her chin a bit and began to walk away to the west. "Enjoy your time alone in your birthday, Knux. Here I was thinking I did a good thing to congratulate you."

Knuckles narrowed her eyes at her. The echidna closed his eyes and grunted before he continued to get the shards back to his arms. Once he had collected a big pile of them, the echidna turned to see to the west where Rouge was still walking away.

"(Why do I feel regret?)" Knuckles asked irritated as he walked around the altar, starting his way up to place back the shards on the top of the stairs. "(So what if it's my birthday? It's not like nobody does anything for me. Heck, I don't have parties like everyone does or get gifts and nobody else come here to congratulate me and...)"

Once he was about to put down the shards on the top of the altar, Knuckles blinked a bit.

"(...I just turned down something that seemed nice of Rouge for once...)" Knuckles thought as his fierce eyes looked down to his feet, his face not moving down but only his eyes. "(And that was during my birthday no less...)"

Clenching his fists under the shards of the Master Emerald, the echidna put all of them back down. Knuckles then turned to the west to see Rouge about to take off. "ROUGE!"

When she was about to take off to the sky, after hearing Knuckles calling for her, the batgirl turned around. "What is it?" she asked.

"U-um!" Knuckles blushed a bit and looked away. "...Thanks!"

"For what?"

"U-um...t-thanks for coming!" Knuckles yelled, feeling some embarrassment. "...Really, thanks! I-I haven't received any visits from others during my birthdays so...yeah!"

"..." Rouge couldn't help but smile a little at this, her eyes looking amused as always. "I'm just letting you know I DO remember your birthday!" she yelled before she jumped to the air, her wings extending a bit to let her fly. "Also, Cream told me to tell you that she was making a surprise party in some hours! You should go to her house because she's calling everyone there!"

"..." Knuckles blinked surprised at this. Some seconds later, he grinned and chuckled. "Oh, thanks for telling me that!" he yelled to Rouge.

"I'll be there!"

Knuckles looked surprised. "R-really?"

'Yeah, I wanna have some fun and relaxation!" Rouge yelled. "I'll be waiting for you there!"

"...Thanks again!" Knuckles yelled as he waved a hand at her.

Rouge only chuckled to herself as she slowly flew to the west. Once she was out of Knuckles's range, the batgirl blushed a bit, thinking that she did enjoy the kiss.

The echidna lowered his hands back to his sides. A grin of relief made him feel that there were people out there that cared for his birthday. Closing his eyes with a chuckle, he was glad that Cream liked to remember people's birthdays.

Knuckles also felt a bit happy that Rouge came to him...

"Okay, don't think about romance stuff now," Knuckles said to himself as he knelt down to piece back together the Master Emerald's shards. "Right now, I have to fix this up and head over to Cream's house." He smiled a bit. "Heheh, I'm having a birthday party..."

Once Knuckles managed to piece every single shard back together, he looked proud at the Master Emerald.

"Done," he said pleased as he dusted off his hands. "Now, time to head to..."

Knuckles noticed that there was a missing shard on the top of the floating emerald.

"...Hey, where did this one go?" he asked confused as he walked around the altar to look down where the emerald had fallen down. "Weird, I can't find it anywhere..."

If only Knuckles was behind the altar before Rouge arrived, he could have seen the batgirl hiding a small shard of the Master Emerald behind her back.

Meanwhile, roughly 2 miles away in the sky, Rouge, looking pleased, held up a fragment of the Master Emerald. "Nobody said I could take this little baby with me..."

"!!!"

Rouge sighed amused as the echidna's loud echo reached her ears. "Guess I'll have to fly away as fast as I can..."

The bat girl flew away into the horizon to the same direction where Cream's house was while an angry echidna ran after he from the ground as he left a long trail of dust behind his feet, cursing loudly all the way along the way to Cream's house.

"(I have to say...)" Rouge's thought trailed off, "(he's cute when he's angry.)"

The End.

You know, I think it was fun to write this chapter. My guess is that DianaGohan is like a muse to my own stories and me. Well, did you like the little romance between Knuckles and Rouge? It was all mostly about humor, though.

I encourage everyone (and DianaGohan) to review. ;)

…Or Rouge will love Shadow instead of Knuckles.