A/N: Alright. I'm so sorry this chapter has taken so long… My parents went camping so I was babysitting my five year old sister. God that kid's high maintenance. She needs like a novel's worth of stories read to her every night, then you have to make up and tell her a story, then sing her a song… then cuddle… then deal with "I had a bad dream" or "My leg is sore" every five minutes. And yet I love kids… Why that is is one of the mysteries of life. On a lighter note, I am so grateful to everyone who reviewed …yay… the count is up to three. The three… well two of you who took the time are so amazing :D! Oooh and thank you SO MUCH to sonicliveson who helped me fix my crappy story description. Maybe that will get me some spotlight drools. Only joking! Please read AND REVIEW!
--LA
I don't think anyone actually READS this, but I don't on any of the characters in my story. All of them belong to SEGA… You know… the usual things we say to avoid being sued.
With an impossible amount of innocence, the tiny form of a baby silently slumbered on the messy bed. Tails was so relieved to see Hina's astonishing maturity when it came to crying, expecting to not get a moments rest until she grew. In the three hours she had been truly alive, the infant had made virtually no noise. Tails watched her sleep in awe; he found it unbelievable that this living, breathing child had come from next to nothing in only three short months.
Hina's resemblance to her mother was truly amazing. Excusing the size and age difference, she could have been mistaken for her mother, except for her colouring. She had tiny, pink buds forming in her sea green hair, and her pale skin was tinged turquoise. Her eyes, though Tails hadn't managed to really look at yet since she had slept since he plucked her from her stem, seemed to be vivid electric blue. Her dress was exactly like her mothers except, again, for colour. Apparently, to Tails' surprise, plants were born with their clothes, made of many delicate leaves and flowers, already on. He felt fairly relieved, having had mixed feelings about shopping for baby booties and little sun dresses.
Hina stirred in her sleep, grabbing at the air above her. Almost instinctively, Tails stuck his hand out to comfort her. Her tiny hands grabbed his index finger, making it seem huge in comparison. Her grip, surprisingly strong, tightly held his finger. She jerked and turned onto her side pulling him with her. He almost lost his balance and fell onto his bed where she slept. In all his haste to incubate and grow her, he had completely forgotten several important necessities of a new baby; a crib and bottle were at the top of the list. A crib, he thought, would be easy enough to make, and he trusted his own work better than a store's.
He set up a walkie-talkie he had reprogrammed to be a baby monitor, leaving one with Hina and taking its pair with him to the workshop. Though he hated to leave her alone, Tails knew the crib had to be made, so he set to work measuring and cutting each piece precisely. Feeling completely in his element, Tails, decided to make the crib as breathtaking as its inhabitant. The wood he used was polished and varnished to perfection, and the nails and screws were custom made to blend seamlessly with the wood. When assembled, the crib looked just as he had pictured it. The dark wood was sanded to be soft to the touch, as well as strong and steady. After finishing, Tails decided to add one last touch; with a strong laser, he carved "Beautiful Hina" onto one of the bars. He stepped back, admiring his work. He had a feeling that building a crib, however elaborate, was going to be the easiest thing about raising a baby.
The frigid autumn wind blew the last of the leaves off the trees. The first snowflake fell upon the ground, melting on site. Soon, however more and more joined it until their cold overwhelmed the soil's heat. The snow began to pile like icing sugar on exposed surfaces flat enough to hold them.
The temperature dropped so much that a blue hedgehog asleep on a rooftop would be able to see his breath rise up in front of him, were he not napping lazily. His ear twitched and he opened a green eye. The wind stung at it like needles and he stood up to leave, squinting and rubbing his eye. Sonic jumped off the roof and into his front yard with a yawn. He shivered, his quills rattling and dashed in the front door. He rubbed his numb hands together, annoyed at being awoken from his nap by the sudden brisk weather. He grabbed a heavy blanket off of a squishy blue couch and wrapped it around himself with another cold shudder. He grabbed a tissue and blew his dripping nose with a huge sneeze.
He groaned; the last thing he needed was to get sick. He collapsed onto the couch yawning again and grabbed the television remote, clicking it on. He looked for something to watch, but only found dull news and infomercials. With another groan and click of a button, he lazily shut the television back off and fell onto his back in boredom.
To his surprise, the telephone (which he expected to be knocked out) rang, breaking his relaxing silence. He muttered in annoyance, but got up to answer it, rushing into the kitchen.
"Hey." He said drearily, half wishing that the phone lines had been knocked out. Tails answered sounding ecstatic.
"Sonic!" He cried. Sonic could feel his excitement. "You've got to come over here! You have to see something!"
Though Sonic was fatigued and cold, he couldn't turn down his friend when Tails sounded so thrilled.
"Sure Tails!" Sonic answered, doing his best to sound excited. "I'll be over soon."
"Great!" Tails exclaimed "I'll see you then… Bye!"
"Bye, Tails." Sonic sighed, burying his face in his hands for another moment, hoping to absorb the heat from the blanket engulfing him. After a mew minutes, he sighed in resolve and got to his feet. He yawned and scratched his nose, dropping his blissful insulation to the floor. Though he knew he would have to face the bitter cold outside to get to Tails, he was going to be prepared this time. From his closet, he dragged several heavy-duty garments. First, he pulled pair of thick pants onto his legs, followed by a parka, jacket, a few hat and mitts.
"After all," he said aloud with a smile to himself "There's no such thing as bad weather…" He opened the front door and was met by a blast of blistering wind. It stung his eyes, the only part of his body exposed, but all in all, he was fairly comfortable and warm. "Just unsuitable clothes."
He marched out onto the lawn against the wind. The powdery snow was now up to his ankles. Unfortunately, insulating clothes could only go so far so soon Sonic was shivering beneath his layers. He strongly disliked the cold; praying for the sun to come back out and melt the snow away… but that would make water. He shuddered. No, melting the snow wouldn't do. The sun would have to get hot enough to vaporize it. For a moment, he lost himself daydreaming of a worldwide sauna, the hot sun beating down… steam rising off the sidewalks.
After a moment, however, he was rudely awoken from his mental paradise by a thump on the back of his head. Although his many hats softened the blow, he still felt a lump forming where it hit. He rubbed his head and turned around. There was nothing and no one in sight. Puzzled, he turned back around and returned his concentration to walking. He silently continued without interruption for a few minutes until- WHACK! Another hit, but this time on his lower back. He looked over his shoulder, confused. Again, he saw nothing. He turned back to face the front and let out a cry. A figure with a black head and empty eyes stood before him.
"AAAAH!" the… Whatever it was grabbed the pompom on the top of his hat and began to shake violently. Sonic watched it, wide eyed for a moment until his eyes fell upon the feet of the creature in front of him. As he took in the red and yellow shoes, green socks and metal pieces on the tongues his surprise was replaced with annoyance.
"Knuckles!" Sonic cried, snatching the balaclava off the echidna's head. Sonic realized that the shaking had been nothing but suppressed laughter which knuckles now released, dropping Sonic and rolling on the ground laughing. Sonic crossed his arms and watched in mild amusement. Knuckles gasped for breath, his eyes watering. He grabbed his balaclava out of Sonic's hands and returned it onto his head, standing up again.
"You should have seen the look on your face!" Knuckles said smugly, still chuckling "Admit it- you were scared out of your pants. Wait until I tell everyone that Knuckles the boring old gem obsessed… well that I scared Sonic the hedgehog." He muttered something about 'show them'.
Sonic raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say. What are you doing out here anyways?"
Knuckles looked slightly disappointed at Sonic's dismissiveness.
"Well actually, I came to get you. I went to Tails' to pick up my gloves, and he asked me to make sure you were all right in the storm.
"I don't need a chaperone, but since you're here, what is the big news Tails is so excited about?"
Knuckles smirked. "Well, I'd love to tell you but Tails said not to." It clearly pleasured him to know something that Sonic did not. "And let's go. I'm freezing my ass off."
Sonic agreed, following behind Knuckles. Sonic paused, grabbing a handful of snow in his fist and padding it into a hard sphere. Smiling, he stopped walking and threw it full force at the back of Knuckles' head. When it made impact, Knuckles cried out and jumped to face Sonic, looking furious.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" He lunged at Sonic, who dodged it, snickering, and ran away. Knuckles chased after him, but wasn't near fast enough to catch the blue blur who sped away towards Tails' house.
When he arrived, Sonic knocked on the metal door and called his friend's name. Almost instantly, Tails flung the door open with a giant grin on his yellow-orange face.
"Sonic! Come in quick… err where's Knuckles?"
Sonic shrugged and pointed over his back to a barely visible red spot trudging against the wind. Tails looked confused, but quickly said,
"Come this way, to my room." He shut the door and led Sonic through the workshop and into his bedroom. Sonic gasped and froze when he saw the tiny figure of an infant baby sleeping in a handsome crib.
"Her name's Hina." Whispered Tails. Sonic was speechless. He didn't know what to say; should he congratulate his friend, or wish him luck… or offer to help raise her? He thought the latter unlikely; Tails seemed to be doing a fine job on his own and Sonic wasn't crazy about diapers and babies in general.
"She's… just like Cosmo." This was the first thing that came to mind, so he let it out. "Great job, Tails." He patted the proud kitsune on the back. Tails beamed up at him.
"Thanks Sonic."
With a tender smile, Tails left the room, followed by Sonic, and silently closed to door.
Hey everyone xD! Chapter three is officially…. DONE :D
P.S: Okay, I lied. It's almost done. I just need to say one last thing:
READ AND REVIEW!!!!
Here is my awesome acrostic poem about reviewing JJ Enjoy… Well you won't enjoy it, but read it anyways.
Radical
Everyone (the cool people) does it!
Very cool
I'll love you if you do…
Even if you're really fat, and make me do all the vacuming
Well maybe not all the vacuuming…
Now see, this is why I don't write poetry. Thanks for reading! Now it's done.
-- LA ...fine NOW!
