Author's Notes: I don't usually use Fan characters if I can avoid it, but I've been wanting to include my fursona Sara in a fan fiction for a long time. Sara was created in 1991 as my own Sonic fan character and she's since developed from a simple Sonic clone into her own unique character. Though you wouldn't know it, she hardly resembles the original draft anymore. For anyone curious about her, please visit my DeviantArt account (I am sonicrose there as well) Also, please visit Fortune here on Fanfiction dot net for her stories Petal Hinges and Thorn Latch, which largely inspired the world and Mobian behaviorisms this story follows. It's her great works that have inspired this fanfiction so I hope you all enjoy.
Sara is © me, while Sonic, Shadow, Amy etc. are © Sega.
It was a gray, dreary day, perfect for Shadow the hedgehog. While other people complained about how depressing the skies were or how drowsy the rain made them feel...Shadow never felt he had much to smile about in the first place. No matter how peaceful things were, his soul was disquieted. He felt more at ease when the skies reflected his somber attitude.
He'd been all over cities, forests, valleys...he'd seen a range of landscapes, many of them at their peak viewing hours. Sunsets on canyons, sunrises on misty valleys, cloudless skies, shores at sunset, rainbows in the sky…never mattered to him. He never really enjoyed it. His eyes saw it all, but there was something void and empty about it, or him.
It wasn't raining this day, however, so it was a good day to run, to drift…. He did a lot of that. One thing he shared with his arch-rival Sonic the hedgehog was a need to run. His running was restless, though...he never felt there was a place he could stay at for any length of time. Who he was, what he was, it weighed on him daily…something Sonic didn't have, and he envied him for it.
A smile did eventually curl his lips as he came down from one building and caught a familiar scent trail. He and Sonic had come to a truce a while ago, which put them on mildly-friendly terms...but it was still a rivalry, and as custom, a test of reflexes and speed always seemed to ensue whenever the two met. Ahh, you're close, aren't you? Shadow grinned inwardly, knowing the wind carried the scent to his favor.
Something was different about today, but Shadow couldn't place how or why...he just knew the scent meant Sonic was close by. Maybe with a girl...the scent he picked up on had to be two Mobians because it wasn't entirely Sonic's. Catching a flash of blue, Shadow sprang into action and zoomed across the sides of a couple buildings. I've got you now!
"Hope you've got medical!" Shadow called as he leapt into the air and went into a homing attack toward...a female hedgehog!?
"Wha-?" A sky blue hedgehog started to spin around at his warning yell just in time to see the black and red dart fly at him. "Holy---!" She was cradling a bundle of groceries, which promptly slipped from her slackened grip. In Shadow's shock, it was all he could do to twist in mid-air to come out of the attack. He wound up knocking into her regardless, just in a far less deadly way.
"What's the big idea?" the sky blue hedgehog ranted as she attempted to shove him off of her. He hastily backed off as she hastily reached for the spilled contents of her bag. The first thing her fingers wrapped around was the plastic bag coating a long skinny French bread. She promptly used it to whack Shadow on the head. It snapped in half, and she continued to pummel him with the half-loaf of crusty baked goods, forcing him to put up his hands defensively.
"I...didn't mean..." he tried to retort between beatings. What just--I coulda swore that was Sonic's cologne... Shadow thought. Even as he stood there, he still smelled Sonic's odor strongly. Perhaps she was his lover? He quickly checked her out, from the lush brown bangs parted slightly to one side, to her pink tube top and denim skirt.
It wasn't until she had knocked him to the pavement that she ceased her attack on him and went to gather up her groceries. The scene did little to draw attention from more than a handful of humans nearby. Few paid close attention to the Mobians who had started coming through the World Gate. Since the portal between Earth and Mobius had been created, it had been maintained and treated at both ends as a country or state border. The Mobians moved more freely between the two worlds and required less paperwork to get through, though their size alone made them automatically less noticeable.
Shadow sat on the concrete sidewalk in complete silence for a few moments, watching her as his mind tried to absorb what had happened. She was sky blue; Sonic was a darker blue. She had brown bangs and eyes; Sonic's eyes were green. He had mistaken her for Sonic because he smelled him on her? No... No. The scent was too strong to have been a mistake. He got to his feet slowly and walked over to her. "Sorry," he said and helped retrieve the groceries. In this close proximity he was able to analyze her odor. He could smell Sonic's pure musk on her, but it was small and passing as the odors of other humans and Mobians she'd interacted with. She had her own distinct odor, but it was very similar to Sonic. "You know Sonic?" It was more a statement than a question.
"He's my cousin," she said idly, sighing over the destroyed items in her groceries.
"Oh...I didn't know he had…family..." A black ear twitched as he realized he really had assumed Sonic was alone in the world. His situation was unique. Not everyone was without those things; he just didn't think about it very often.
"Yeah...I'm his uncle's daughter Sara. We live in Knothole." Seeing the puzzled look on Shadow's face, she raised a brow. "It's a village on Mobius. You don't visit often, I take it?"
"No...not really," Shadow said honestly. Well, the family tie explained things well enough, but something was bugging him. "Do you know who I am?"
"Well...not really," Sara replied, giving a displeased look at her bag. She then looked at the black and red hedgehog. His eyes were intense... "Umm...how about you give me your name, and reimburse me for a few groceries, and we call it even?"
"Huh?" He snapped out of his tense gaze. "Oh yeah...I'm Shadow." He paused, looking at her and the groceries. The bag was half the size she was. The human world was certainly not tailored for their kind. "I don't have any money."
"Blech...figures." Sara shook her head. "Shadow, huh? Oh yeah...I think Sonic mentioned you once…. Well...bye!" she said, hurrying back to Amy's. She would be staying there while visiting her cousin, not that she had told him that. He stood watching her leave, frozen in place, still not at all certain what just happened was real...
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A cloudy night gave way to a colorful dawn, and soon after, a cloudless sunny sky. The bright sky shining above Shadow brought images of the female hedgehog to his mind, her fur being the same color. He could tell it was going to be a long day... It had started out bright and cheerful, and the new damned hedgehog was weighing on his mind.
He was convinced it had to have simply been his shock that a female was attached to the scent which had now consumed his attention. She and Sonic could closely be associated simply from her telling him they were related. That was...another shocker. The scent, her personal perfume, was just driving him nuts, though. Normally analytical and totally logical, Shadow attempted to reason out why he was even obsessing over this. Shock. It had to be shock. He was just surprised; it was something unexpected…nothing more.
After running a few errands for people at Station Square's docks, he'd earned himself a breakfast. Granted, it was noon so it was no longer breakfast...and sushi wasn't exactly his first choice for a meal, but it was something. It was more than enough to keep him going for his afternoon run.
Shadow had become intimately familiar with most of Station Square's harbor and industrial sections, and now he was learning the ins and outs of the business district. The tall skyscrapers glinted in the bright sun like a thousand facets of the purest diamonds. Not that it impressed him as he sped through the city. He often chose to run along the rooftops, but today he was skimming the sidewalks and weaving through the crowds.
He was looking for something, but he didn't know what. Another business to do delivery work for? Maybe. There was no lack of department stores and restaurants, and those usually didn't catch his eye. He stopped to look at a Starbucks Café; there seemed to be one on almost every corner. A few blocks later, he stopped in front of a GAP, another trendy place filled with shallow women concerned about their looks. Just the kind of place he expected to see Amy in...but he didn't know what kind of girl Sara was.
Again his mind had drifted to her. Well, she was a fighter, first of all. He recalled that well, musing over the fact he'd been beaten with a batard. She was...brightly colored, but he wrinkled his nose at that. Her right arm had been covered by a puffy multi-colored sleeve, and her left had a red band on it and a white, teal-rimmed glove with a purple friendship bracelet hanging off of it. She also had a heart necklace with brightly colored beads, a few of the same being at the end of a small braid in her bangs. It was almost like a rainbow had vomited on her. High fashion, it was not, but even by Mobian standards it was probably a bit over the top. Why did women like gaudy jewelry and bright colors like that? It wasn't like she was a peacock or something...
"Incoming!" came a familiar voice, and Shadow just barely had time to dodge an incoming Sonic missile, followed by his laughter. "Wake up, sleepy head, I almost got you!" The blue blur grinned, receiving a stony look from Shadow.
His usual grunt of disapproval followed. "Close...but that only counts in horseshoes," he retorted, sliding a bit on the pavement. Usually he would've fired back with his own homing attack by now, which Sonic was clearly waiting for. But he was in a thoughtful mood, his eyes gaining a certain distance to them while they bored holes through a mannequin in the department store across the street.
Sonic scratched his ear and tilted his head. "Yo, what gives? Not like you to take it easy on me." He took a sniff. "Sick on some rotten fish or something?"
"Har har." A question formed in the black hedgehog's mind. "Hey, Sonic..."
"Yeah, man?" Sonic blinked, and folded one ear slightly. He wasn't used to Shadow being in such a passive mood. He'd grown used to their infrequent sparring matches.
"Nothing," he said plainly. "I ran into another blue hedgehog the other day...almost thought it was you."
"Hnn?" Sonic tapped a foot while he put two and two together. There were still very few Mobians on Earth, so he nodded with a smile. "Then you need your eyes checked. Heh! If it was a girl, it was probably my cousin Sara. Cool, isn't she?"
Well that answered that; they were definitely related. Another reason he should be dismissing her. "Then I guess I need to go to an optometrist." He paused. "Not sure I'd use the term cool...she's related to you." That caused him to smile inwardly. Nothing like a witty retort.
Sonic shrugged. "Whatever. Trust me, she's cool."
"So what's she doing here?" Shadow decided to ask. It seemed like a normal question..
"Visiting." Sonic grinned. "Uncle Chuck suggested she get out and see the world. Since she wanted to get a look at Earth, I said I'd show her around Station Square, so boom. Not much of a story, eh? Anyhow, my place isn't fit for a girl, though, so I asked Amy if she'd put her up for a while... I have a feeling I'm going to pay for it in the end, though."
Shadow's ears perked up at him offering the where she was. Not that he knew where Amy's apartment was, but that would be easier to hunt down than a lone hedgehog. "Eh..? Pay for it?" Then again, why was that news interesting to him? He decided it was easiest to assume it was just something out of the ordinary, like the first time you try a new food. His first time having sushi, it was something weird, new, and unknown. Once he got used to it, it really didn't come to mind as anything special.
"Yeah, I think she wants a date or six for the favor." Sonic laughed a bit. "I gotta give her credit for her persistence. Ahh well…. If we're not gonna spar, I'll see you later, Shads." After knocking his shoes on the pavement a bit, he set off at sonic speeds.
Sushi, huh? The problem was, he hadn't had more than a taste, and it wasn't enough to satisfy his curiosity. Now that he knew where to find his sushi, he just needed to find out how to get another piece.