Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic. I do want to help with the storyboard, though.

This is my first oneshot. Eh, second really, if you count A secret's vain. Anyway, this story sort of aligns with Aiko-chan SoT's Brother of Mine, but focused on Tails. It's not related, but it just seems like it should be…

Enjoy!

Brothers Forever

By Crysal

A lone figure treaded through the puddles of water left on the ground, hugging himself in attempt to combat the chill of the cold rain battering his small, orange body. The trees above him did little to shield the forest floor from the wet substance, as the raindrops simply rolled off the leaves and fell to the ground below. The forest floor, normally very warm because of the steam rising from the groundwater just below the surface, constantly heated to high temperatures from the atmosphere of the area, was very cold because of the winter rain's chill. He occasionally pondered how a large amount of water could support a layer of ground, but the question is superficial, because he had slipped into the water below quite a few times during his walks around the forest. He could not remember how he entered this strange forest, nor did he know of it's name, and he had been seeking a way out for as long as he could remember.

It was normally easy to survive, because his years of forest survival experience gave him knowledge on what is safe to eat and what isn't, but his years of loneliness were seldom interrupted by other beings living within the forest. Even with the creatures giving him company, they often ridiculed him with comments such as "Freak" and "Monster". The two appendages attached to his backside flicked the water away, but those were the exact reason he had run away to the forest in the first place. His parents respected and loved him more than anyone else in the entire world, but shortly before he ran away, others were breaking into his room in the middle of the night with weapons such as daggers, and occasionally swords, intending to murder him. He had told his parents about it, and they installed several high-tech locks onto the kitsune's door, but to no avail, as the assassins simply broke through the wood of the door, and continued to attempt to murder the young kitsune. He had considered getting a steel door, but steel was of utmost rarity around where he lived, and was far too expensive to import. Since the assassins attack at around 3:00 AM, he had written a goodbye note, and taped it to the refrigerator at around midnight, before leaving his homeland forever.

The young kit sneezed, followed shortly by a whimper. Because of his cold, dry body, sneezing felt like someone was slitting his throat. He knew how that felt, because the assassins had tried that multiple times, but were barely able go cut through the skin before the kitsune woke up and… He didn't remember. He never did. The only clues to the following events were the kitsune waking up off the floor the next morning, only to see the mauled bodies of the supposed attackers, along with his gloves bloody and pierced at his fingertips by… Something… He had supposed it was his claws that pierced the gloves, since he found out soon after the attacks that he could easily protrude his claws by simply tensing his hand. The kitsune always felt extreme shock afterwards, because it was obvious that he had killed the attackers, but he could never confess that to his parents when they questioned him about the dead bodies later in the day. He just couldn't, it was too horrible to even think about. He had tried several times to envision himself horribly mauling someone like a wild animal, but he felt disgusted and dirty afterwards.

The kitsune looked down at the ground out of pure agony; his gloves and shoes had been torn apart long ago, as you can expect would happen to clothing after being used for years, rubbing against tree bark and walking on various weathering objects. He had been naked for about four months, not having anything to wear at all. He noticed that he looked more fit then he had quite a while ago, having various muscles quite larger than most five year-olds. After all, that's what happens when you live in the forest for years on end, having to lift various, heavy objects to make shelters and such. Because his metabolism was no doubt sped up with more muscles, as you need more fuel to power them, he had lately been eating more. It's not much of a problem, as there are plenty of things to eat in the forest, but it just seemed strange.

The kitsune's ears perked up as he heard a noise in the distance. It sounded like some cross of wind, machinery, and footsteps. Lots of footsteps. He wasn't surprised at the wind sound, as wind and rain usually come as a package deal, but the machinery and footsteps were what confused him. Maybe it was a lumber corporation, driving in various machines to harvest the wood from the trees, and it probably had some workers on foot as well. The wind was also strange, as he could hear the wind, but could not feel it. The sound was rapidly nearing the kitsune, and he began to ponder how any machine or man could move that quickly. A loud boom suddenly accompanied the sound, and the kitsune yelped, covering his ears in an attempt to block out the thunderous noise. The sound pained the kitsune because of it's tremendous volume, and it was only amplified by the kitsune's hypersensitive ears. The kitsune was forced to shut his eyes, blinded by the pain he felt, and dropped to the ground, hands heavily pressed against his folded ears. When the loud ringing in his ears stopped, he took his hands off them, and sat up. The forest's ambience had ceased, and the vulpine wondered if he had become deaf because of the noise. He suddenly heard a loud sigh, along with an exhausted chuckle, and quickly dropped to the ground to avoid being seen by the source of the noise. If it was an anthropomorphic animal, then it would no doubt ridicule him about his two tails, and if it was a human… Oh, he didn't even want to imagine what they would do. They might take him in for genetic testing, or worse, an autopsy.

The kitsune dismissed the thought, and slowly peeked up above the bushes. He saw a blue figure sitting a tree, although he couldn't make out exactly what it was due to the darkness. He could see the figure's emerald green eyes gleaming, completely standing out from the darkness, so they were very apparent. The figure sighed again and closed his eyes. The kitsune figured the creature was about to fall asleep, before he sneezed unknowingly. He managed to make the sneeze a quiet one, although it still made a small noise. The figure's glowing eyes snapped open, and gazed at where the kitsune was hiding, before the orange mammal ducked behind the bushes. The kitsune could not stop the bushes from rustling, so he played dead and curled up onto his side in an attempt to trick the unknown being into leaving without harming him. Nevertheless, the blue figure walked over and gazed at the kitsune lying on the ground. It reached out with a gloved hand, and stroked the kitsune's side, the chill of the cold glove causing the kitsune to shiver. His eyes snapped open, and he almost gasped. His cover had been blown. The figure could surely tell that the young vulpine was indeed alive, since dead things don't have warm skin. The figure chuckled, it's emerald eyes glowing.

"Hey there…" The figure said in a calm voice, as if it were talking to a small child. The kitsune almost turned over at the voice, as it beared a striking resemblance to his father, only a little bit higher. Was it really his dad, come to take him back home? No, his dad never wore gloves. Sure, it was cold out, but even at that his father never wore anything on his hands. No, it wasn't his dad, but who was it?

"Oh, you've got two tails? Wow, that's pretty cool." The figure said, both panicking and relieving the kitsune. Wait… He wasn't ridiculing him for them? Maybe this person wasn't so bad after all… The kitsune turned over onto his back, and looked up at the figure, to see it was a hedgehog with shiny cobalt fur, smiling at him with glowing green eyes. The hedgehog's fur color struck the kitsune as odd. Hedgehogs aren't supposed to have blue fur, but then again, foxes aren't supposed to have two tails. The kitsune realized that the hedgehog was very different, just like him. The hedgehog grabbed the kitsune's torso, and lifted him to his feet. The orange vulpine tottered for a split second, trying to regain his balance, before the cold of the forest struck his fur again, and he hugged himself. The hedgehog motioned for the kitsune to follow him, and walked back to his tree. At first the kitsune wasn't sure if he should, as he doesn't know what could possibly be nearby, or if the hedgehog was simply tricking him, and just painted his fur blue. The assumption was disproven as the hedgehog looked away from the kitsune at something, and revealed that he only had seven quills, as opposed to the usual hundred or so quills that normal hedgehogs have. He took a step away, garnering the hedgehog's attention. The hedgehog saw that the kitsune was backing away from him, and a look of confusion overtook his face.

"It's okay little guy… I won't hurt you…" The hedgehog said solemnly, motioning for the kitsune to come to him. The vulpine stayed put, not trusting the hedgehog. His face contorted into a scowl.

"Y-You're lying…" The kitsune said quietly, but loud enough for the hedgehog to hear him. The cobalt mammal's face took up a look of surprise, and he shook his head.

"No, I'm not… Why would I hurt you?" The hedgehog asked, and the kitsune replied by turning sideways and pointing at his tails. The hedgehog shook his head again.

"No, no… It's just a birth anomaly… There's nothing wrong with it…" The hedgehog said, stepping toward the kitsune. The vulpine simply stepped back. The hedgehog took up a look of confusion, and pointed to his arm.

"Look, I'm blue. Blue! Don't act as if I'm going to make fun of you for something as simple as a birth anomaly, because I have one too." The hedgehog said, making the kitsune start to think that he wasn't lying, and that he wouldn't hurt him. The kitsune began to walk toward the hedgehog, making him smile, his emerald eyes glowing.

"That's it… Come on, I won't hurt you…" The hedgehog said again as the kitsune approached him. The hedgehog was about a foot taller than the kitsune, and he had to crane his neck to look up at him. The hedgehog picked up the kitsune, and placed the young fox on his shoulders.

"I can run really fast. You wanna see me?" The hedgehog said, making the kitsune wonder if he was the one that made the loud noise, if it was a sonic boom.

"…O-Okay…" The kitsune stated quietly, making the hedgehog grab the kitsune's legs.

"Hold on tight!" The hedgehog shouted as he took off. The kitsune was amazed, they were going so fast! Everything passed by in a blur as they rapidly approached the edge of the forest. The kitsune dared not say anything, because it would no doubt be lost in the wind. They shot out of the forest onto the rolling plains, going up and down, up and down. The kitsune had forgotten how the landscape looked, as he had been wandering the forest for years, but he could not see the details as they whizzed by in a blur of dark green. It was a breathtaking sight as they ran alongside a cliff, before approaching a small house on top of a hill. The hedgehog's run slowed to a walk, before stopping completely. The hedgehog took the kitsune off of his shoulders, and put him down.

"Th…That was… Amazing…" The kitsune said, still trying to take in everything he had seen. The hedgehog walked him to the porch, and spread his arms wide.

"Well, this is my house. It's not very big, but it's good for the two of us." The hedgehog said, before opening the door. The kitsune walked in, to see a very large room. It probably wasn't as large to the hedgehog as it was to him, but the young kitsune was still very small. It was actually simply a walkway between the kitchen to his left, and a living room with a couch and a television to the right. There was a hallway right in front of him, but he paid no mind to it. The hedgehog plopped down on the couch, and turned on the television with the remote control. The kitsune hadn't seen a television, or anything house-related at all in years. The kitsune had trouble getting onto the couch, because it was very big to him. He jumped and clawed at the large piece of furniture, but he couldn't get up. The couch was about one and a half feet tall, and the kitsune was only about one foot tall.

"Can you help me?" The kitsune said in a small voice, before the hedgehog lifted the kitsune up onto the couch. The young vulpine crawled onto a pillow, and watched the television with his brother. The couch was much softer than the piles of leaves he normally slept in, and he immediately felt sleepy, but he knew he had to do something before he went to bed… He never did it in the forest, but the house had reminded him that he has to do something first. The television showed an animated, anthropomorphic sea sponge walk into a anchor-shaped building with an anthropomorphic, pink starfish. A similarly composed crab gave the other two characters tin cans, and said that they were full of "Permanent paint". The kitsune wondered what exactly the characters were talking about, since they used a lot of words he did not know. He crawled off of his pillow and onto the hedgehog's lap, nuzzling the warm skin of his stomach. The hedgehog simply smiled and pet the kitsune's head, making him purr. The kitsune looked up at the screen, and saw a crab's hand pulling away a stack of paintings on the wall, before revealing the sponge character hanging on a painting hanger. The sponge implied that he was just "Hanging around", and the starfish in the back gave a thumbs down and said "Boo." The hedgehog's chest convulsed and inflated rapidly as he laughed, making the kitsune slip and fall onto the ground with a yelp. The hedgehog gave a small "Sorry" and picked up the kitsune, before placing him on a pillow at the hedgehog's side.

They continued to watch the rest of the show, before the hedgehog turned the television off and picked up the kitsune, looking at him.

"Time for your bath!" The hedgehog exclaimed, carrying the kitsune down the hallway and into a doorway to the right. The hedgehog placed the kitsune inside a big tub, and turned on the water to a warm temperature. The kitsune tried to climb out of the bathtub, and clawed at the side, but the tub was slippery, and he was unable to get a grip on it. The hedgehog simply chuckled at each attempt to escape. The bathtub was about as tall as the couch, and the kitsune could not even grab the edge.

"You can swim, right?" The hedgehog implied. The kitsune nodded, and the hedgehog increased the output of the faucet.

"Do you need me in here to help you wash, or can you do it by yourself?" The hedgehog asked. The kitsune thought for a moment, he didn't exactly remember how to wash, as that was two years ago.

"I-I don't know how…" The kitsune admitted, picking up a white bar which was about as big as his hand. He didn't exactly know what it was, since he had been away from a house for so long.

"It's simple, really. Just take that bottle of shampoo and rub yourself once you're wet, and then rinse off." The hedgehog said, making the kitsune look in the direction the hedgehog was pointing it. He saw a bottle which said 'Head and Shoulders' on it, and it was about as big as he was. He attempted to pick up the bottle, but it was too heavy, and he only succeeded in pulling it off the shelf , making it fall on him. His small body was pushed under the rising water, and his lungs cried for air. He flailed around madly in an attempt to escape, bubbles rising, before the hedgehog took the bottle off of him. The kitsune quickly sat up, and breathed heavily, his fur completely soaked.

"Tails! A-are you okay?" The hedgehog asked. The kitsune felt offended at what the hedgehog had just called him, and a look of sadness appeared on his face.

"S-sorry… I-I didn't mean to say that…" The hedgehog said, guilt apparent on his face. The kitsune thought about what the hedgehog had addressed him as.

"Tails… I kinda like that…" The kitsune said, his eyes glowing. The hedgehog gave a sigh of relief, and the glowing happiness returned to his eyes.

"Okay then… I'll just call you Tails. By the way, my name's Sonic." The hedgehog stated, giving a thumbs-up. The kitsune reached for the bottle of shampoo that the hedgehog was holding, and the hedgehog opened and squeezed the bottle, and a few drops of sticky goo dropped onto the kitsune.

"Okay, just rub that all over your fur. Rub it hard, okay?" The hedgehog instructed, and the orange kitsune proceeded to lather himself until he was covered in a tiny mountain of bubbles. The cobalt hedgehog laughed, his emerald eyes glowing, and moved the kitsune into the deeper end of the bathtub, rinsing his fur off. The hedgehog stopped the water, and opened the drain, before picking up the kitsune and placing him on a towel on the counter. The hedgehog proceeded to dry the kitsune off, distorting the young vulpine's skin all over the place. When he was done, he picked up the kitsune, and walked through a door at the end of the hallway. They arrived in a room with two tall lamps and a king-sized bed. The hedgehog gently tucked the kitsune into the mass of cloth, and turned off the lamps.

"I need to go wash up myself. I'll see you in a bit!" The hedgehog said, disappearing into the bathroom. Moments later, he returned, his fur visibly dampened. He climbed into bed with the kitsune, and looked at him.

"Goodnight, Tails…" The hedgehog said softly.

"Goodnight, Sonic…" The kitsune replied just as softly. They both drifted off into the haziness of sleep, hugging each other in their slumber…

--End of Story—

Ahh, my first oneshot finished. xD it took me about 2 hours to write this one. It's about six pages.

Please review!