Help! I was transformed into a kitten! [Discontinued]

Chapter 10: Bleeding out

"I..." embarrassed, Knuckles drew back slightly, lowering his ears. "It's a very embarrassing story. -Nyau-"
"Do you mean embarrassed that you saw me naked?" the ebony grinned at him.
The younger's cheeks turned bright red,
"Huh?! Is it my fault -nyau-?! If you undress in front of me, what am I supposed to do?!" he hissed softly while looking at Shadow. He was only wearing boxer shorts, and he seemed to notice that too. The hedgehog got up, grabbed a red top that was hanging over a chair. "Better?"
The red one nodded with red cheeks, then he looked to the side.
"So now tell me what happened. You owe me that anyway." he challenged him.
The taller one took a deep breath and began to tell everything.
From Tail's machine to the moment Sonic called. Again and again he meowed between his sentences, which was very, very embarrassing for him. But Shadow didn't mind in the least. On the contrary. He even thought it was cute how Knuckles slapped his hand over his mouth after each one to muffle the sound.
After what felt like hours, the cat guardian had finished telling the story.
"And how did it happen that you were afraid of the transport box?" asked shadow, who had been listening carefully.
"Infinite locked me in a container and wanted to torture me. If Orbot hadn't shown up that second, I wouldn't be here now."
"Mmm okay...I'm also wondering if I saw you that night. I went into the living room to have a drink and I saw you outside the door."
"Yes. That was actually me. I was originally going to run away, but..."
"You went to bed with me instead, mhm?"
"It sounds weird when you say it that way. Besides, I didn't mean to. You dragged me down with you."
The hedgehog's red eyes became very small with fright. He immediately broke eye contact.
"I'm sorry. Sometimes when I'm asleep I don't have any control over my body. I act more on instinct then."

Knuckles shrugged, unperturbed. "Who doesn't act on instinct when they're asleep? That's quite -nyau- normal." the red one assured him, purring softly. "As long as Sonic and Rouge don't notice anything here, I don't care."
The dark hedgehog looked at him confused. "Why?"
"Simple. They would make fun of me. I mean, the laser pointer thing kinda was..."
"Pretty cute if you ask me." laughed Shadow amused.
Shadow's laughter made Knuckles' stomach tingle. He really had fallen in love with Shadow, he was sure of that.
The two looked at each other in silence until Knuckles started talking again.
"Why did you actually do that?"
"Because it took your mind off your anger. I didn't see any other way to calm you down." explained the dark hedgehog.
Knuckles shook his head. "That's not what I meant."
"So what did you mean?"
"Why do you have a hoodie from me?"
The hedgehog said nothing, avoided his gaze and began to tremble.
"Shadow?"
"You should go... The sooner you regain your normal form, the sooner you can retreat to your island!"
"What's the matter with you now?!" snapped Knuckles angrily. "Why are you avoiding me like that?! Why all this Shadow?!"
The older one looked at him. His eyes stared at him blankly, almost as if he were seeing through Knuckles.

"You're right." sighed knuckles, slowly getting to his feet. "It was stupid of me to think that there was still a possibility between us."
The guard's eyes watered. Damned! Why was he crying now?!
"It was stupid of me to think that you would give me a chance!" he snapped angry and sad at the same time. He was shaking, these emotions were pulling him down, breaking his heart into small pieces.
He turned to the ebony, crying. When he saw the tears, his ears dropped. He had never seen knuckles like this before.
These emotions that he radiated, this desperation and this pain.
"Say how much you hate me! Come on I want to hear it." knuckles yelled at him, but shadow didn't say anything. He looked deep into his eyes and didn't say a single word. You couldn't even hear him breathing.
"TELL ME!" He asked the hedgehog, but still no reaction from him.
The cat took a deep breath and gave a broken smile. "Y-you're right again... No words can describe how much you despise me. How stupid of me." he laughed softly.
Why did these feelings hurt so much?! It was clear that it would happen again. Still, one always has hopes. Hopes that can be shattered in one fell swoop.

Knuckles no longer felt his body from the pain. Of course he wasn't physically hurt, but his emotions told him it would hurt.
"I'm a fool." he said softly. "To think that you might feel the same as me? Ridiculous isn't it? Love... Pfff. A waste of time and energy right?"
Shadow's red orbs gaped at knuckles.
Had knuckles just confessed his love to him. Did he love him? For real? right?
"Knuckles..." Shadow started, but the other one interrupted him. "No. Don't try to make excuses, Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm tired of your excuses or your ignorance." he said tiredly, moved to the door and opened it.
No! You are not allowed to go! shadow wanted to call after him. Stay with me! You are not feeling well! You need me and I need you! Please.
However, he didn't move a bit.
Knuckles walked through the door, leaving Shadow's apartment. Leave what he loved behind and didn't turn around.

The heart broken kitten walked down the street towards Sonics and Tails home. It was freezing cold, but Knuckles felt nothing but the pressure in his chest and lungs. In his throat because he could hardly breathe and in his chest because his heart hurt.
It almost seemed to bleed out when knuckles tried to ram a knife in to finally stop the pain. To end it all and leave behind what was weighing on him.
With slow steps and more tears in his eyes, the warrior continued on his way.
Farther and farther away from Shadow.
away from him.
Far from the light.
Back into the darkness of loneliness.
He thought about what he could do to simply forget about Shadow, to continue on his way. However, he couldn't think of anything.

Suddenly a red cube formed around Knuckles. Of course, frightened, he wanted to free himself, but it was already too late. He was trapped.
A devilish laugh sounded from a short distance away.
"Glad to see you again, Comanda."
His cat ears were twitching. "Infinite!" exclaimed knuckles angrily.
This Jackal would not imprison and torture him again!
Knuckles braced himself, only to smack the inside of the cube with a mighty punch, nothing happening.
He tried again and again, but it stuck. Not even a scratch could be seen on the material of the cube. Instead, his prison got smaller, giving him less space
"Try it as much as you like. But you won't get out. The more you resist, the smaller your prison gets." laughed this one. "Bad kittens get caught and imprisoned. Be glad I haven't tortured you yet and-"
"Shut up and let me out right now -nyau-!" yelled knuckles, pounding his fists against the solid material. It got smaller again and Knuckles was forced to duck.
"Shh. Calm down Comanda." He grinned under his mask. "Otherwise something will happen to you. And now come on. We have to carry out further experiments on you."
"You'll never get away with this!" Knuckles yelled at him, clengthing his fists in fear and anger.
"As you can already see, I've gotten away with it. Or do you see anyone here who will be interested in your disappearance? You belong to no one but Eggman and I. With your power and knowledge of both Chaos and the Master Emerald at ours, we will be unstoppable. That's the only reason why you are still alive." Infinte grinned under his mask.
Knuckles hissed at him. "What makes you think I'll help you?! -hiss-"
"By injecting you something. You will like that, don't worry.~"