Standing just outside of the China Border, Knuckles sighed softly. Where was Rouge? She was nearly half an hour late. He glanced around and tapped his foot impatiently. As soon as he noticed what he was doing, he stopped. I've gotta stop hanging around Sonic, he thought shaking his head. With a glance at his watch, he felt his toes start to drum against his shoe.

"One more minute and I'm outta here," he hissed.

Rouge smirked triumphantly as she looked in her full length mirror. Tonight was her date with Knuckles and, if things went as planned, maybe he'd be spending the night as well. With a chuckle, the tan bat gave her self a final look to see if anything was out of place. Wrapped around her body was a sky blue kimono with white flowers and a navy sash. Adorning her feet were a pair of wooden sandals that let her painted red toe nails sparkle. Hanging about her neck was a large piece of diamond that rested at the base of her throat. To accent her light blue eyes, a layer of violet eye shadow caressed her eye lids and a coat of red lipstick highlighted her lips.

With a smile and a wink, Rouge turned to look at the clock on her wall and her eyes widened in surprise, she was a little over twenty minutes late. She turned and bolted out the door as fast as her sandals and kimono would allow, snatching her purse as she left.

Knuckles glanced around for a final time. That was it; he was going back to the island. As he started away, a musical voice called out.

"Wait!"

Glancing down the street to his right, the echidna saw the tan bat running at him, a pair of sandals clutched in her hand. He paused and waited for Rouge to catch up. Panting heavily, the woman leaned against a lamp post and bent over to place her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Withdrawing deep gasps of air and swallowing several times, Rouge stood upright and beamed at Knuckles who scowled.

"Can we go inside now?"

Rouge innocently tilted her head to one side and giggled. "Of course." And with that, she latched herself to the echidna's arm. Surprised, Knuckles jerked his arm out of her grasp and leaned away from her. Rouge smirked at him. "What's wrong?"

"You," he mumbled under his breath as he strode in, not bothering to wait for the bat.

At the soft word her date had spoken, Rouge's ears twitched and her eyes narrowed slightly. Leaning over a bit and replacing her sandals she followed the red Guardian inside. She caught sight of him once again already seated at a table near the back facing the exit, a waitress standing by. Huffing, she waltzed over and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"Hello ma'am," the pretty canary said with a small bow. "What would you like to drink?"

"Iced tea, please."

She scribbled her order down and turned to Knuckles. "you?"

"Water."

"Alright," the waitress jotted that down and turned away. "I'll have your drinks very quickly.

Rouge smiled her thanks to the canary and turned to the echidna with a small frown. "And you couldn't have waited a few more seconds?" the miffed vampire bat hissed as she leaned forward.

"Nope," was his answer. For a few seconds the two locked eyes before blinking away. Then the pair stood and made their way to the buffet. As she walked the short distance to the rows of food, Rouge looked about the small restaurant, and saw only one or two other couples there. Turning her attention to the decorations, she noticed that the walls were a deep red with a gentle line of gold going through the middle. The far back wall, though, was made of mirrors instead. From the white ceiling, soft oriental music played, adding to the soft theme. In the walls there were small alcoves that held lush green plants. Down the middle of the restaurant was a glass wall that had vines draped over it. The sweet sent of meat and spices wafted across her nose and made her mouth water.

Quickly the two got their food and sat back down, noticing their drinks were placed on little white napkins. Several times, Rouge tried to pull a conversation from Knuckles, but all she got was a glare or a grunt if she was lucky. After a while, she just gave up. As she was about half-way through with her second plate, she noticed that Knuckles was almost done with his drink. Time to put her next phase into action.

Before Rouge could open her mouth to say something, Knuckles stood. Confused, the bat asked, "Where are you going?"

"Bathroom," he sated simply before walking off.

Better than what I had in mind, she thought smirking at his back. When the bat was sure he was out of hearing distance, she called over a black and green tabby waitress.

"Yes ma'am?"

"I would like to refill my date's drink."

"Of course." She picked up the cup. "What was he drinking?"

"Scotch and water," Rouge lied, smiling gently.

"I'll be right back." And sure enough, less than a minute later, the tabby returned with the drink. Thanking the cat and letting her go, Rouge glanced around for her echidna date. Not seeing him, she pulled a small brown bottle from her purse. Removing the top, she emptied nearly all the contents into Knuckles drink and quickly put back as she saw a flash of crimson come into her line of sight. As he sat back down, Rouge gave a gentle grin and stood, going to the buffet. A few moments later, she came back with a plate that was piled with all sorts of sushi.

Glancing at Knuckles, she smiled once more. "You want some sushi? It's very good here."

Slowly, he reached over and took what looked like lettuce, crab and rice wrapped in seaweed. Popping it in his mouth he chewed it. It was sticky. When he tried to swallow it was when he noticed just how sticky the sushi was. Barely even able to open his mouth, the echidna picked up his glass and drank a mouthful to wash away the rice. At his actions, Rouge had to bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out in joy. Her plan was working!

After swallowing the odd-tasting sushi-and-water mix, Knuckles paused and glanced at his drink. With a confused blink, he shook his head slightly. Maybe the fish made it taste weird. As he washed down his second piece of fish and rice, he began to feel very light-headed. Shaking his head and clearing his vision, he glared at Rouge who had a triumphant smirk on her lips. Suddenly, Knuckles jerked up in his chair, hands knocking over his drink and throwing the plate to the floor. Blinking repeatedly, the echidna tried to regain some sense of what happed to him.

"Aw, poor echidna," Rouge cooed. His eyes snapped up to her. "Here, this should make you feel better." With that, she pulled a brown bottle from her purse and handed it to him. Without even thinking in his dizzy stupor, the echidna took the bottle and drained what little liquid was in there.

Mentally crackling, Rouge stood and turned to the canary waitress who'd rushed over to them to see if the echidna needed any help. "I'm sorry about the mess," the bat apologized, looking at Knuckles whose eyes were glazed and a drunken smile on his lips. Looking back at the waitress, she asked, "How much was our dinner?"

"Uh, the receipt is right there," the canary said, pointing at a small piece of paper with two fortune cookies on it. Picking up the paper, Rouge glanced at the price before reaching in her purse and pulling out twice the amount.

"Here you go." She handed the money to the canary. "Bill and tip." Then she picked up her purse and grabbed Knuckles' arm and hauled him to his feet. Staggering, he leaned heavily on the bat as she led him out the door. As she walked down the deserted streets of Station Square , she felt the echidna start to nuzzle her heck and one of his hands try to sneak into her kimono.

"I wanna make you feel beautiful," he slurred in her ear.

With a hyped giggle, Rouge pulled his hand away and tilted her head to look at him. "Not now," she said to the drunken echidna. "We gotta wait until we get back, then…" And with that, she giggled again and half-carried half-dragged the echidna back to her home, excited that her plan had worked and sure that tonight was one night she would never forget…

Whee! ^^ Bronzer's story is underway!

Tails: … I thought you liked Knuckles.

Angel: I do! And that's why I'm writing this! *sees muse giving her "the Look"* What?

Tails: … Why?

Angel: Grr… Shut-up! *whaps muse with her tail* Anyways, I own nothing mentioned here. Nothing! Got that? Yes? Good. Now that you understand that you have no reason to sue, so P on you. Chao!