𝙰𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚎

      A striped naga calling himself Shadow, together with a blue baby hedgehog named Sonic, walked through the forest, without leaving each other, and came to a swamp, where next to a small lake there was a wooden house, similar to a village peasants' house or some kind of dugout. — Wow. I assume this is your house? — asked the kid. — Well, what did you think? — Shadow answered the question with a question and crawled on. He crawled past signs with the faces of a scary naga hedgehog, as well as warnings of all sorts: “Beware of the naga!”, “Careful!”, “Get out!”, “Don’t go out!” I’ll kill you!”, “Don’t come closer, I’ll eat you!”, “Careful! Angry and hungry naga!”, “No entry!”, “Do not approach!”, “Do not here!”, “Get out of here!”, “Private property!”, “Dog walking is prohibited!”, “Do not cross the zone!” , “Get out of here if you want to live!” and “Turn back!” Sonic paid attention to all these signs and read one of them out loud: — Do not enter! I'll kill you! — Well, why are you following me? These are my signs! — Shadow answered. — A! I can enter this territory. I'm your friend now after all. — the little hedgehog answered and walked past the signs, coming closer to the naga’s house. Shadow indignantly turned his gaze to the baby and asked: — What other friend? Why did you decide that I am your friend? — You yourself saved me from those guys. They almost caught me and returned me to the orphanage, where I will never return. And you showed up, scared them all, and even ate one of them. Serves him right! Considering how badly he treated me and the other children. — explained the little hedgehog. — Ha. I'll take that as a compliment. — the striped naga replied, stroking his stomach. — I was glad to try. Now you can go home! — But... I don’t have a home... And I don’t have parents... I’m an orphan. — Sonic explained. — But this is clearly not my problem anymore. — the nag answered sternly. — So you can run back to your orphanage! — NO!!! — the little hedgehog shouted, grabbing his head and running up to the naga, jumping on his chest and grabbing his shoulders. — You do not understand! It's terrible, bad there. No one takes good care of you, no one loves you, no one will let you go for a walk or take you with them. He won’t even give me normal food, other than this already annoying porridge, which has been making me sick for a long time. Whatever you want, I won't go back there. Do you understand? — Okay-okay. — the nag calmly, but also sternly answered, taking the baby by the shoulders and placing him on the ground. — But where will you go in that case? If you stay on the street, you will die of cold or hunger. Because you won’t get food anywhere on your own, and you’ll get sick from the cold, and then you’ll die if you’re not cured. Haven't you thought about that? The hedgehog thought about it and realized that he was right about this. After all, in that orphanage they at least kept the children warm and even treated them, and at least fed them something. Looking at the striped snake itself and its house, Sonic immediately came up with an idea. — Can I stay with you? — What? — Shadow's eyes widened. — I'll live here with you. — the kid explained. — Please! At first, Shadow looked at the little hedgehog menacingly, and then smiled and answered: — Certainly! — Seriously? — Sonic was naively happy, as Shadow immediately frowned again and answered: — No. He turned his back to the hedgehog and just started to open the door when the hedgehog grabbed him by the tail with his hands and began to whine: — PITY ME, SHADOW!!! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE LONELY, SMALL AND WEAK!!! Just the opposite. He understood this perfectly. When Sonic started this speech, Shadow immediately remembered something, how he, too, as a young snake, was lonely, weak and almost helpless. Here he understood the hedgehog perfectly. The latter continued to whine: — YOU AND I ARE ALLOWED BY FATE TO STAY TOGETHER. PLEASE, CAN I STAY WITH YOU??? A??? WELL, CAN I??? CAN??? CAN??? CAN??? CAN??? CAN??? CAN??? WELL, IS IT POSSIBLE CAN??? Striped couldn't stand it and shouted: — OKAY!!! FINE!!! — he shouted and calmed down, unhooking the hedgehog from his tail and also placing it on the ground. — Well, just for one night! — Why only for one night? — Sonic didn’t understand. — Because in a couple of days, when the person I ate is digested, I’ll get hungry again and want to eat you. — the snake answered him threateningly and smiling. — Well, that’s unlikely! — Why do you say that? — asked the naga. — You think you can also run away from me, just like you almost ran away from me so quickly then. — No. It’s just that while I live with you, in these couple of days you will have time to get used to me, that you won’t want to eat me at all. — Sonic explained, to which the naga grinned and said: — I doubt. We nagas are always carnivores and prefer to eat everyone who stands or meets on the way. Even intelligent creatures like humans and Mobians. Shadow opens the door and crawls inside first. Sonic is the last to enter and is amazed by the interior of the Naga's house. The whole house looked fresh inside, like new. Pictures of still lifes with sausages, fish and meat instead of fruits and vegetables were hung everywhere. And also a portrait of a nagini cat, dressed and standing in the pose of a smiling Monolisa. True, she also had a mustache painted on as a joke. There was also a small nest of branches, as if a huge bird, like a hawk, also lived here. — So you live here? — Glad you like my house. — By the way, where will I sleep? — On the streets-ts-tse! — Shadow hissed in response. — And you too? — No. I have my own bed. — Shadow replied, pointing to the nest. Then Sonic realized that this nest belonged to him. — Can I at least sleep next to you? I won't embarrass you. I just don't want to sleep on the street. I can freeze and get sick, as you yourself said. — I don’t care. There was no point in asking me to spend the night. I always live and sleep alone. Clear? — he glared at the naked child with a terrible fiery gaze. Then he crawls to the refrigerator and takes out, among the pieces of meat, a bottle of lemonade, which he drank all at once in five seconds, and then threw the empty bottle into a pile of plastic bottles that were lying in the corner. — You’ll stay until tomorrow, and then run away right away, because I’ll eat you right away and I won’t regret it at all. Sonic sat down on a wooden chair and began to think about the words that the nag said to him. But it’s good at least that he allowed him to stay with him for at least one night. — Aren't you hungry by the way? I have nothing here except meat. — I always wanted to try meat. — Sonic answered. — Really? Then I'll cook it now. — said the naked man, took out a large steak and put it to warm over the fireplace so that the meat was well cooked. After all, the boy will not eat raw meat. The fried steak was ready and the striped steak placed it in a plate on the table. Naga himself, since he was full of that man, he did not take it for himself and eat, because he did not want to eat yet. Sonic immediately got up from his chair and moved to one to try the fried meat. He liked the meat. At this time, the striped naga left his home and went hunting again. Not to eat more, but to get more game and slaughter it for meat, in order to replenish his supply in case he again fails to catch and eat someone. At this time, Sonic was finishing his steak, leaving the bone in the plate, burped, stroked his stomach and went to the nest itself. Having made himself more comfortable there, he lay down and fell asleep. By that time, the striped naga returned with the two roe deer corpses he had killed and threw them into another empty corner. He yawned and crawled to the nest to go to bed, for he was tired from hunting. Seeing that the hedgehog was lying in his nest, he first wanted to either wake him up and kick him out of the nest, or while he was sleeping, pick him up and put him out the door so that he could sleep on the street. He decided to do the second option first so that he would not suspect anything. He took the hedgehog in his arms and dragged him towards the exit, but he began to moo in his sleep and roll over. It seemed that he would now wake up and see that he was kicking him out of the house. However, he continued to sleep. Rolling his eyes, the snake decided to take pity on him and let him sleep with him once. Returning to the nest, circling around, looping his tail around himself, he lies down and places the hedgehog in the center. He, in turn, lies on his white fur on his chest, like on a pillow. Afterwards the hedgehog-snake prepares for bed. Before going to sleep, he looked at the hedgehog again. At first he looked at him sternly, but then he smiled and closed his eyes, falling asleep with him.