Sonic: Strays

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this besides Riku. Demon owns Kara, Chaos, and Mizuki. SEGA owns all other characters and the rest of Sonic.

This is a tribute to Demon.

Chapter One: Savior?

No one noticed the hedgehog girl running to the forest. She was running for her life, away from the people who captured her, who had made her suffer for so long and had misused her. She had midnight blue fur, and was wearing a red, V-neck shirt with a black and blue lily on the front, a jean skirt with black, blue, and red jewels at the bottom, and large shoes not unlike those that the famed girlfriend of Sonic, Amy Rose, wore (though they were baby blue and yellow instead of red and white).

She looked behind her as she ran, her sparkling green eyes searching for those soldiers that were running after her. The soldiers wearing the black and blue uniforms with the letters, G.U.N, printed in white on their fronts. They were chasing her on foot, though they had probably switched to something faster, like motorbikes. She turned to the forest and then heard, Hurry, Kara-chan, we are almost there! It was her demon, Kayla, urging her on.

She made her legs go faster, sprinting for the forest's dark edge. She could hear them now, the whirr of engines on their jet bikes were clear behind her. If she got into the forest, it would protect her. Though she didn't know if she had that chance. She turned back and saw one of them aiming at her, and her eyes went wide. This was it for her, she knew, yet she kept running anyways. Then, something strange happened.

An ice wall formed in front of the bikes, causing the ones who went through to spin out of control and crash thanks to having to slam through the ice. Two stopped right before it, only to have shards from the ice break off suddenly and lodge in their necks. She reached the forest and a wooden barrier formed, sealing her in and away from the present danger that was behind her. However, it let in another person that was there, someone that she somehow recognized just a bit, but she didn't know where from.

He was a white cat, with green eyes just like her. He was wearing an open jacket that showed that he wasn't wearing a shirt, black pants, no shoes, and only one black glove on his right hand. Strapped to his back, and contained in a pitch black scabbard, was a sword that had an obsidian hilt, with a pearl white blade. She also noticed something else that made him somewhat unique...black marks going up his arms, which resembled crooked lines swirling up them. Something about it just reminded her of her white scar right across her left eye.

"Who are you?" she asked, still huffing from the run that she had just made from those evil soldiers.

"No one of great importance," the cat replied, turning to her. "But if you must know, it's Riku. Now come, the forest has a place for you to stay." He began to walk off into the forest, with the blue hedgehog just watching him.

"Riku..." she muttered quietly. Where had she heard that name? She didn't quite remember where at all, but she started after him slowly, wanting to conserve what energy she had left. Already, she wanted to collapse and fall asleep.

"Keep up now, we don't have much time before the forest won't be able to hold them back from this place," Riku told her, turning back to the girl. She quickened her pace, desperately wanting to get away before she was caught by the G.U.N soldiers.

"Thank you, Riku. I'm..." she said before stopping herself. Did she really want to tell him yet? Well, it couldn't hurt. "Kara," she finished, looking up at him now.

Riku turned his head to her and let out what looked like a small smile. "Nice to meet you," he told her before continuing on, quickening his pace just a bit.

Kara stayed silent now, her thoughts turning to Demon and her other friends. What had happened to them? Last she remembered, they had been taken away, maybe executed. She shuddered, not able to bear that thought quite yet. She quickened her pace and stayed right beside Riku, which was a surprise to the cat, though he said nothing about it yet. After some time, around ten minutes of brisk walking, he asked her, "Is something troubling you?"

She quickly shook her head. Why was he wanting to know what was wrong with her? Did he care for her? Be careful around him, she heard Kayla whisper to her mind, but she thought back. Shut up!

No sooner had she thought back to Kayla than when she bumped into Riku, who had stopped in his tracks. "Here we are," he told her, motioning to the large house before her. It was a two story building, painted white all over with a red, shingled roof. There were numerous, square windows set up in neat rows of two along the house, with one large, circular one at the front of the house near the roof and directly above the front door. The door was made of oak, with a golden knob and knocker, had a small flight of marble steps leading up to them with a cobblestone path surrounded by well trimmed bushes leading up to the steps. Kara could only imagine what the inside looked like.

"Chaos made it out. She is waiting for you in the house. She doesn't know of my existence yet," Riku informed the midnight blue hedgehog, which made her gasp in relief.

"Chaos-san! She's alright!" she exclaimed with glee, darting past Kara and running to the house. At this point, she could care less what she knew Chaos was like. She was just glad to hear that one of her best friends was alright.

Riku watched her go with a smile. It was always nice when he could help someone out, though then his demon nagged at him by sending a throbbing pain through his arm. "Quiet, Yasha," he whispered, flexing that arm. "I do what I want and you don't have a say in it."

Kara ran to the house and the door opened right as she reached it, surprising her initially. But she saw the face of her old friend and squealed in delight. "CHAOS!" she cried, hugging her. The white hedgehog didn't hug her back, just staring at her.

"Kara, what have you been doing? I thought you said you were going to stay right behind me!" the hedgehog scolded, making Kara cringe.

"Sorry, Chaos-san!" the midnight blue hedgehog replied, looking fearfully up into the eyes of the white hedgehog. She could only see one of the eyes, seeing as her light blue quills covered her left eye and went down to her shoulders. Chaos was also wearing a white tank top with a blue rose on it, jeans, and shoes that weren't far fetched from Sonic's but were black and red. She also had a pink locket around her neck.

"You'd better be sorry, running off like that on your own just to pick up some flowers!" Chaos said, wanting to drag the younger hedgehog in and tell on her, she had been so worried about her and was so upset with her.

"Please, Chaos-san, it wasn't for flowers! It was for my sis, Demon! I was looking for her!" Kara pleaded, but Chaos rolled her eyes.

"Not what it looked like to me," she stated before seeing the white cat shaking his head at her behavior. She narrowed her eyes and stepped out, walking over to him. "You got a problem, mister?" she asked the white cat.

"Why, yes, I do. You treating the girl like you are after she was nearly killed by G.U.N and is already terrified isn't what I would call...proper," Riku replied, crossing his arms and keeping an eyelock with Chaos, his arms staying folded.

Chaos nearly shouted, "I don't care what you think of what I'm doing! I do what I want! Now shut up! You're not my mentor!"

"I saved your life and I saved hers. Show some respect!" Riku snapped back as he walked to the house. Chaos shut up, seeing as he was right. But why was she shutting up? It wasn't her style!

Kara watched him come up to her and say, "It's alright, Kara. Don't worry about her being this way."

"But why? Chaos is always so mean if I don't do something the way she says. And I forgot about how she acts," Kara stated, huddling close to him as Chaos began walking back. She was terrified of what Chaos was going to have her do as punishment for not doing what she had said and instead going off to look for Demon.

"I'll talk to her on this if she plans on punishing you for going off to find your friend, which is a noble cause," Riku told her, and then guided her to her room. She hadn't been paying attention to any real details in the hall, but the doorway was a plain, white door with a golden knob. The room was a large bedroom with a large,hanging, diamond chandelier in the middle of the room that was beaming white light. A large bed with dark sheets was at the opposite end of the room with a window that showed the outside right above the bed. There was a wardrobe off to the left side of the bed, and a bathroom off to the right. There was also a make-up desk near the door, on the left side of it upon entering the room.

Kara walked inside and just sat there, speechless. "I...t-t-thank you!" she whispered, turning to Riku.

"Chaos has something similar. You don't need to thank me. Thank the forest spirits for making this house for your safety," Riku told her, beaming at her.

Kara wanted to hug Riku, but she held herself back, knowing that it might not be such a good idea to show that level of affection to him yet. She barely knew him and didn't want any relationship that was going to form to go too fast.

"Come on, Kara, you know you want to," she heard Kayla whisper into her head, but she ignored the voice. "Thank you, spirits, and you, Riku, for protecting me," she told the white cat.

He turned with a smile and hugged her, though she could sense that it was more like he was treating her like his little sister with the hug. Even then, she got a huge blush on her face. "It's not a problem," he told her before letting go and walking out of the room. Kara went to the bed and laid in it, staring at the ceiling and daydreaming about him suddenly. Perhaps Kayla was right about her wanting to, and for now, she let her mind wander about him. Before she knew it, she was making plans to go out with him and be with him, get to know him, and fall in love with him...if she hadn't already fallen in love with him just thinking about him this long. She soon fell into a peaceful sleep, snuggling into the sheets and dreaming about him...him and her, holding hands, gazing at the moonlight.

First chapter of a new tribute story to InuDemon02. Please give me your thoughts, and be nice.