Here's another requested fic, this one had the prompt of "pets," and so that can only mean one thing...chao shenanigans! I hope you all enjoy this story. Without further ado, here we go! I own nothing except the story.
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There were a lot of things that the general public didn't know about Sonic the Hedgehog. While he wasn't exactly what you would call shy, there were certain things the blue hero preferred to keep to himself. Those few things he liked to keep under wraps, he fought to do so with his life in most cases, lest anyone use that information against him in the future. Underneath the "too cool" exterior was a hero weighed down by a lot of burdens and responsibilities. Granted, they were self-inflicted, but they were burdens and responsibilities nonetheless.

That was why he ran all the time, to relax and briefly remove that weight from his shoulders. Having the wind run through his quills and the comforting silence that came from breaking the sound barrier was a sensation that was more therapeutic to him than anything else in the world.

And Amy Rose knew this.

She knew more about Sonic than anyone else in the world, even his best friend and adopted little brother Tails wasn't able to read him as well as she did. Of course, whenever she said stuff like that, her friends would just roll their eyes and humor her ramblings, even Cream didn't really seem to believe her when she talked about how well she knew the inner workings of Sonic the Hedgehog.

But she didn't mind, she knew the truth, and in the end, that was all that mattered.

The desire to know more about him, to get closer to him, that was all part of being in love. Maybe her methods weren't all that effective, chasing him around wherever he went and glomping him at every opportunity...but hey, she had to get her hugs in somehow.

Today however, Amy planned to use a different approach. For the past several weeks, Amy Rose had noticed a change in Sonic's everyday demeanor, one that was so slight, that not even Tails had picked it up...but she had. Sonic seemed a bit more flighty, like he was in a rush to get to places, more of a rush than usual that is. Oh he'd still hang out, make jokes, do all those Sonic-y things that made him Sonic...but after a certain amount of time, he would start to grow anxious, and then he'd promptly excuse himself in a very Sonic-like manner, and in a flash, he would be gone.

This mystery would not go unsolved.

Amy knew that just asking him what was going on would make Sonic uncomfortable, the blue hero had this shield of cockiness and attitude that gave him the ability to simply brush off questions he didn't feel like answering. His charisma, his laid back way of life, it was enough to make anyone else just laugh off any concerns, and they'd go back to the way they were before.

But not her, Amy knew better.

So the first step would be to get Sonic to lower his shield, and the best way to do that was to go through his stomach. That meant chili dogs. Sonic didn't often stop for things, especially if they came from her...but there was one thing she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt would get his attention, and that was a hot plate full of hotdogs slathered in chili from her own signature recipe. She'd spent weeks mastering the recipe over the years, and she knew she had a winner when Sonic not only finished the plate she gave him, but actually asked - or rather begged - for more.

The pink hedgehog spent all morning whipping up a batch of her signature chili dogs, and after wrapping the plate in some aluminum foil to keep them warm, she started the short walk to Sonic's apartment in Station Square.

That was yet another thing she knew about Sonic that no one else did: the blue hedgehog actually did have a place to call home. Most people assumed that he just lived with Tails, considering that was where you could usually find him when he wasn't running around the world somewhere. But Amy knew he had an apartment, she'd seen him going in and out of a large apartment complex on occasion, and she was the only one who ever thought anything of it.

When Sonic found out she knew, he'd sworn her to silence.

"What a bunch of nonsense, like Eggman doesn't already attack the city on a regular basis." Amy shook her head in remembrance of the confrontation she'd had with him. Oh, she agreed to keep it quiet, but she'd also made sure to let him know he was being ridiculous. Hiding the fact he had an apartment, a little place to call home, wouldn't have caused any trouble for anyone. "If anything, it's his reputation he's worried about, God forbid someone find out that Sonic the Hedgehog actually sleeps in a bed instead of on tree limbs and rooftops."

Finally she reached Sonic's apartment, a rundown little place on the third floor with the number 'six' hanging upside-down and making it look like a 'nine.' The pink hedgehog scoffed and rolled her eyes at the sight. "He still hasn't fixed the door." she knocked on the door and waited for Sonic to answer, but after about a minute or so, the door had remained closed. "That's weird...he's usually home at this time." Out of curiosity, she turned the door knob, and gasped when she found the door had been left unlocked. "That's weirder..."

Slowly making her way into the apartment, she took note of the fact that a couple of lights were on, indicating that someone had been there recently at the very least. "Sonic?" She received no answer. Placing the chili dogs on the countertop, she summoned her hammer and silently stalked her way through the rooms of the apartment. The bathroom was...dirty, and the closets were unorganized and messy. Had this been anyone else's place, she would've assumed the place had been burglarized...but this was Sonic.

"Like he's gonna bother cleaning up. Ugh." She lowered her hammer and scoffed. "He must've just taken off somewhere and forgot to lock his door." Then her fur began to stand on end, as a faint noise reached her ears. "On second thought, maybe I'm not alone after all."

Amy sneaked over to the source of the noise, and as she drew closer to the closed door of Sonic's bedroom, the noise grew slightly louder, until she pressed her ear against the door and was able to get a clearer idea of what she was hearing. "Someone's rummaging through his stuff!" Lifting her hammer up over her head, the pink hedgehog steeled herself and prepared to confront whatever burglar dared to try and steal from her beloved Sonic.

With a battle cry, she charged through the door and started swinging on instinct, then stopped as she caught her breath and looked around the room. "Huh? There's...there's no one here." Her eyes slowly scanned the room, and in her peripheral vision she caught movement in Sonic's closet. "Ah ha!" She leaped in front of the door and raised her hammer up over her head to attack...and then she slowly lowered it, as she stared in shock at the figure she had been about to beat up on.

A little chao, cowering in fear as it stared up at her.

"A chao?" she made her hammer vanish, and she knelt down in front of the tiny creature and held her hands out to it. "Hey there little guy, what are you doing here?" the chao shuddered in fear, and Amy gently took hold of it. "Hey, easy," she said as the chao struggled to get free. "I'm sorry I scared you, I didn't know you were here."

"Chao?"

"Yeah," she smiled down at it as it stopped fighting to get free. "I'm not gonna hurt you, it was only a mistake. I'm Amy, Amy Rose."

"Chao?" the chao's eyes widened, and then it smiled as it turned around and embraced the pink hedgehog with its little emotion ball shaped like a heart. "Chao chao chao!"

"Well, that's quite a mood swing there," she raised the chao up and nuzzled its face with her nose. "Aren't you just the cutest little thing? What are you doing here in Sonic's apartment...unless..." Amy suppressed a laugh. "No way...do you belong to Sonic?"

"Hey Speedy! I'm back little buddy!" Hearing the voice coming from the kitchen confirmed Amy's suspicions, but then a chill went up her spine at the next thing she heard. "What smells so good?"

"Uh oh."

"Wait a second...chili dogs? And they smell like..." the next thing Amy knew, there was a gust of wind and in the doorway stood Sonic, eyes wide as dinner plates as they locked onto her and the little chao who was happily snuggling into her chest. "Amy?!"

"Uh...hi Sonic." Suddenly the chao squealed and escaped Amy's grip, and it began flying around Sonic's head in happiness, finally settling down on the blue hedgehog's head, a content smile on its face. "So...does it belong to you?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes at the girl and scowled. "What are you doing here Amy?"

Amy stood up and lowered her head, scuffing the floor with the sole of her boot and her hands held behind her back. "I wanted to come and visit, I even brought chili dogs!" she tried to smile when she mentioned his favorite food, but the scowl never left his face. "I'm sorry Sonic, I didn't mean to just barge in, I saw the door was open and I thought you just didn't hear me, and then I heard noises coming from your bedroom and I thought maybe someone was trying to rob you, so I went charging in and I scared the living daylights out of this cute little guy, and then I-"

"Chao!"

Amy stopped her babbling when the little chao frowned at her and flew off Sonic's head to go back to her, rubbing its face against hers in an apparent show of comfort. "Aww, aren't you the sweetest?"

"Chao."

Sonic watched in awe as the little chao snuggled back up to the pink hedgehog, relinquishing a chuckle as he shook his head in amusement. "Well whaddya know? Speedy's taken a liking to ya."

"Speedy? Is that his name?"

"That a problem?"

"Of course not!" Amy smiled. "I think it's a perfect name for the pet of the fastest thing alive!"

"Chao chao!"

"Yeah, well, I'm glad you approve." Sonic turned around and headed back to his kitchen, and Amy followed him with Speedy still nestled in her arms. "Look Ames," Sonic took a seat at the kitchen counter and eyeballed the plate of chili dogs before finally deciding to start biting into one. "I don't need the fact that I have a chao gettin' out, it wouldn't exactly look good for my rep."

"Oh come on Sonic, it wouldn't be bad for your reputation, it's not like you're the only one who has a pet, lots of people do!" Amy raised the chao up and nuzzled his face with her nose. "And this little guy is just soooo adorable, how can you not wanna show him off?"

"Chao!"

Sonic sighed and shook his head. "It's not that simple Ames, it's like I told you before, if Eggman or any of our other enemies-"

"Oh no you don't! Don't even try to pull that excuse with me Sonic the Hedgehog! If you were really worried about Speedy's safety, you never would've gotten him!" She was momentarily distracted when the little chao flew out of her arms and over to a paper bag that apparently had him very excited. "Although that does explain why you keep taking off early nowadays, you're probably coming back here to feed him and take care of him."

"If that's what you wanna believe." Sonic shrugged and started chomping on another chili dog.

"It's what I'll go with until you give me a better explanation." Amy went over and took a seat next to the blue hedgehog, watching him for a moment as he ate from the plate she'd brought with her. "So, what made you decide to get him in the first place?" When Sonic stopped eating and glanced at her with his eyes, she scoffed and rolled her own eyes. "Whatever the reason is, I swear I will take it to the grave, God forbid anyone should ever find out that Sonic the Hedgehog actually has a more tender side to him."

Sonic swallowed his mouthful of food and wiped his mouth with his arm, exhaling through his nose before he finally cast his eyes upon the little chao who was digging through the contents of the paper bag he'd brought. "Look, I just..." he sighed. "I thought it might be cool to own one, I see how much fun Cream and Cheese have together all the time, and I thought hey, why not?" Sonic got up and grabbed the paper bag with Speedy still in it, and he pulled him out and placed him in his lap, even as the chao shook a small toy microphone around. "So I went to the chao garden in the Station Square Hotel and I decided to bring an egg home. The rest is history."

"Well if you ask me, I think that's really sweet of you. Do you know how many chao have to grow up without anyone to take care of them? Cream tells me all the time that she wishes she could take more chao home, but Vanilla doesn't want anymore since Cheese is already there full-time and every once in a while one of Cream's younger friends will bring Chocola to her house for her to take care of him." Amy placed a hand on the blue hedgehog's arm and smiled. "Don't you see Sonic? You did it again, you're a hero! Only instead of saving everyone's life, you saved just one...and that one matters just as much as if you saved the whole world."

The blue hedgehog chuckled a little. "I guess you could put it that way."

"There's just one thing I still don't get Sonic."

"What's that?"

Amy smirked. "When I told Speedy who I was, he practically jumped for joy and hugged me like I was his mama, how does he know who I am?"

Sonic's cheeks were suddenly turning red, and he coughed into his fist as he refused to look the pink hedgehog in the eye. "Well, ya got me there Ames, I mean I told him about you guys, but I dunno why he thinks you're so special."

"Real smooth Sonic," Amy leaned in closer, and Sonic leaned back as a result. "What aren't you telling me?" Silence. "Ok, new question...what did you tell Speedy about me?"

Still refusing to look at her, Sonic frowned. "I told 'im that you're a nosy brat who doesn't know how to mind her own business."

"Hey!"

"Chao chao chao!" Amy looked down at Speedy and saw that the chao was glaring in disapproval at Sonic. "Chao chao chao, chao chao!"

"You're supposed to be on my side," Sonic sighed even as his cheeks grew warmer. "I also told 'im how...how special you are to me...and that there's no one I would trust him with more than you, not even Cream."

"Oh Sonic," she swooned. "Do you mean that?"

Sonic groaned and scratched the back of his neck. "You're making this tougher than it needs to be Ames..." he finally looked her in the eye and nodded an affirmative. "Yeah, I meant it. I guess he got the impression that...you're his mom, since I'm supposed to be like his dad or whatever."

Amy blushed and smiled tenderly at the blue hedgehog before she took Speedy into her arms and rubbed his head, making him close his eyes and sigh in contentment under her loving touch. "Well, I think I can fulfill that role, if you want me to that is."

Seeing how happy his pet was with the young girl, Sonic couldn't help but smile as he felt his heart swell in a way he never could've expected...watching Amy interact with Speedy, she looked just like a loving mother...and for some reason, that mental image made his heart beat faster in a way that wasn't entirely unwelcome...in fact, it felt nice in a way. "Sure Ames, I guess we can raise this little guy together, he already really likes you, so I can't really come up with a good reason not to."

"Thanks Sonic, I promise I'll do a good job with him."

"Knowing you Ames, he'll probably be the happiest chao alive."

As the two looked at each other in comfortable silence, they were given a real treat when Speedy began to sing while still in Amy's arms. "Oh he's singing! That's so sweet!" she looked up with jade-green eyes sparkling with happiness. "Come over here Sonic." It took a moment for Sonic to react, but eventually he did give in and went over to them, wrapping one arm around her shoulder as they both watched and listened to the little chao sing in his own language. "Isn't this adorable?"

"Yeah, sure is."

Of all the things she expected to find, a tiny blue creature living with Sonic was not one of them, but now with Speedy sitting comfortably in her lap and Sonic by her side, Amy Rose felt that there was no way she could be happier...until Sonic leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed profusely and turned her head to look at him, and she could immediately tell that his face was just as hot as hers was. "S-Sonic..."

"S-Sorry Ames..." he rubbed his neck. "I dunno why I did that...it just kinda...felt like the right thing to do, know what I mean?"

She graced the blue hedgehog with a loving smile, and captured his lips with her own before he would have a chance to react. After a few moments, she felt Sonic start to give in, and even return the affectionate gesture in his own awkward way. A few more moments later, she broke the kiss, and smiled at him with her eyes half-lidded. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean."

"Chao chao."

Then they looked down and saw that Speedy was looking at them both with a big smile, the little ball floating above his head now shaped like a heart. Amy looked back up at Sonic and smiled at him, and her heart swelled when she saw Sonic giving her a very similar expression. "And I think Speedy does too."
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A/N: So what'd you think? I had a lot of fun with this one, I always loved the chao gardens and I really think SEGA could make a spinoff game focused around just taking care of chao. If Nintendo can make a killing off of stuff like Nintendogs, then SEGA can create a chao garden game. They have the technology, so just freaking do it!

So this story isn't over yet, there's another "story" coming with the same prompt, so I've decided to just create a second chapter with even more chao shenanigans and other characters. So stay tuned folks! Leave a review!