Hello, StarryMoon33! Your review to Chapter 1: Yeah! XD

Your review to Chapter 2: Yay! I'm glad you did! :D I really like them, too, and I also think they're cute. And yeah, I can't wait, either! :3

Hello, PyroShockZ! YES, HE DOES! :D Aw, cool! You'll like this chapter, then. :) Nope! She's seven, as stated in the previous chapter. XD YEP, THAT'S EXACTLY WHO HE IS! And yes, yes he is. XD Well, he would be about nineteen now if he'd aged between hero and now, but remember: the Chaos is affecting everyone's aging. Everyone aged seventeen or above in Hero has stopped aging. Everyone below that age will stop aging once they reach seventeen. Until then, they will all age at varying rates (some faster than others and some slower). For this reason, Sonic is still seventeen. This would also explain how the twins aged like eleven and a half-ish years while Tails only aged two. :P Haha, I know, right?! XD Well, if you want really a title and plot, PM me! It'll make this reply too long, otherwise. XD I will do my very best, Pyro-kun! (I noticed! XD)

Hello, thatguy4643! Not really. That was only seven, nine if we count Tails and Cheese. Considering how many adults there are in this story, there could be a lot more kiddos here than there are. XD

Hello, karygarcia21! I'm so glad you do! :D And I promise to try not to make you guys wait too long between chapters for this story. I know there were periods in Hero where I didn't update for ages out of laziness and crap, but I've resolve to (try) not to do that here. :)

~台風の目~

"Little Ones"

~台風の目~

With the cake now gone and the afternoon turning late, everyone headed inside of Sonic and Amy's home. The house was large on purpose. He, with the help of everyone else (even Jet and Storm at the time) had built it that way a long time ago so that it could comfortably fit all of his friends and family inside. Obviously he and Amy didn't need or use all that space on their own, but when everyone was over at their house all at once… Needless to say, they needed the extra space during those times.

As the evening wore on, once tentative plans for certain people (namely those who lived far from the house and couldn't teleport) to stay for the night became more set in stone. That meant that (such as Tails) would be spending the night. A good number of others, however, would be heading back to their own homes. Shadow was the first of the latter group to decide that it was time to leave once he noticed that Lia was slowly growing less energetic than usual. That was a good indication that she was finally tiring. Shadow, who had been conversing with Sonic for the past few minutes (though Sonic had, of course, been doing most of the talking), looked away from Lia and returned his attention to the blue hedgehog. "I should get going."

Sonic glanced to Lia just as she finally released a genuine yawn, still stubbornly trying to stay awake as she drew with Cream on various pieces of paper on the coffee table in the living room. "Yeah, probably," he smiled. "It's been a long day, especially for a little kid."

Shadow nodded, his exasperation returning somewhat. "I'm surprised she hasn't passed out yet," he murmured. "She was bouncing off the walls all day."

Sonic smiled wider. "So much for behaving, huh?"

"That child is more stubborn than even you can be. She refuses to change her behavior because it won't be 'fun'."

"I can believe that. She's all about fun."

"For better or for worse." Shadow sighed and turned away. "See you some other time, Sonic."

"Bye," Sonic replied, his smile never fading as Shadow went to retrieve his daughter.

Not responding to that, as he really didn't think he needed to, Shadow walked into the living room and picked Lia up just as the small girl released another huge yawn that she was clearly trying to fight. Using one arm to hold her, he used his free hand to gather up her drawings and, after nodding in response to Cream's softly spoken "Goodnight", he turned and walked back out of the room. Giving his half-brother one last nod of farewell, he walked out the door and began the brief run home. Within about ten minutes, he was stepping up onto his front porch. By now, Lia seemed to have fallen asleep, her arms wrapped loosely around his neck and her head turned to the side as it rested on his left shoulder. Counting himself lucky that he wouldn't have to fight to get her into bed tonight, he silently opened the door and walked inside. He deposited her drawings onto a small table near the front door. When he shut said door, Lia stirred and, sighing on the inside, he turned his head a bit to look at her. So much for that.

"Daddy?" she mumbled sleepily. "Are we home?"

He nodded once. "Yes," he confirmed quietly, "And it's far past your bedtime."

Thankfully, no protests came. "Where's Mr. Fluffy?" she asked instead, sitting up a bit and looking around.

"Your unicorn is still in bed, right where you left it," he replied calmly.

"But what if he ran away while we were gone?" Lia asked with a tiny frown, seemingly genuinely concerned by this apparent "possibility".

Shadow nearly rolled his eyes, but refrained. Rolling one's eyes was undignified, and it would probably make it seem to her that he was annoyed with her, though he wasn't. The last thing he wanted was to needlessly upset her, especially right now. "I don't think it ran away, Lia."

"You promise?" she demanded.

He fought not to sigh. He wished she'd go back to sleep, if only because he himself very much wanted to crawl into bed and rest. Children never ceased to exhaust him, it seemed. It made him honestly wonder how in the hell people survived having more than one of them. "Yes," he assured again.

She laid her head down on his shoulder again. "Okay."

Sighing softly, he carried the small girl to her room and laid her down in her bed. "Look, here's your unicorn, as promised," he told her, picking up the fat, stuffed white thing up off the foot of the bed and handing it to her. He allowed himself a very small and rather tired smile when she snatched the unicorn into her arms and squeezed it tightly in a hug of pure love. While she did that, he pulled the blankets up over her to tuck her in.

No sooner than he did that, Lia asked quietly, "Daddy?"

He paused in his motions and looked at her. "Yes?"

"Can I have a drink of water?"

"Alright." Leaving the blankets be for a moment, he walked out of the room to retrieve a glass for her. By the time he returned, Lia had already sat up to get her drink. He handed the glass to her without a word, releasing his hold on it just as the phone began ringing downstairs. Unable to keep himself this time, he sighed heavily, left the room, walked down the hall and stairs, then entered the kitchen where his only phone was mounted on the wall. "Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Shadow," Cream greeted sweetly from the other end. "I'm sorry to call so late, but I wanted to let you know that Lia left her teddy here."

Shadow sighed again. He hadn't even noticed that Lia had brought it along, somehow. "Alright. I'll come get it tomorrow."

"Alright," Cream agreed easily. "Goodnight, Mr. Shadow."

He hung up after that without giving a reply (not that this was unusual for him) and went back upstairs and into his daughter's room… only to find Lia playing with her dollhouse on the floor next to her twin-sized bed. He pursed his lips together a bit. So it was going to be one of those nights, was it? "Lia, what are you doing?"

"Playing," was the simple, almost defiant reply.

"You're supposed to be sleeping," he responded pointedly.

"I'm not tired."

"You were sleeping on the way here."

"But I'm not tired now."

"Go to bed."

"I'm not tired."

"I don't care if you just lay there, then, but either way you're going to bed."

Lia stood up and spun around to face her father. "But I'm not tired, Daddy!" she exclaimed, stamping her small sock-covered foot as she said the word "tired". God, he hoped she wouldn't throw a tantrum. It was way too late for something like that.Why was she even fighting this so hard? It baffled him as to why she would insist on staying up in spite of her obvious exhaustion. It just didn't make any sense, not that it made any sense when people like Sonic did it, either.

"Yes, you are," he told her firmly. "You and I both know you are."

She pouted and crossed her arms in some sort of a dignified tantrum. "I'm not," she insisted in a mumble.

His own arms folded over his chest, unintentionally mimicking her posture. Or perhaps it was technically the other way around. She had to have learned it from someone, right? Though he chose not to contemplate that right now. "Stop lying to me and get into bed."

"I don't want to."

"Too bad."

"But Daddy-"

"No 'buts'."

"But-!"

Deciding that he was done with this, Shadow huffed and scooped the girl up, plopping her gently back down onto bed with just enough gentle force to cause her to bounce slightly upon impact. "Not another word," he ordered calmly. She continued to pout, but her arguing finally, finally ceased. Satisfied, he gently smoothed a hand over her head for a brief, silently affectionate moment before removing said hand. She laid down again, and he turned to leave.

Just as he flipped off the light, she spoke up again. "Goodnight, Daddy."

Turning back for just a moment, he saw her curled up under her blankets with her eyes closed, cuddling with her precious unicorn. He allowed himself a small smile that could barely be seen. "Goodnight, Lia."

~台風の目~

"Kimmy, bedtime," Silver called as he entered the living room of the fairly large house he and Blaze shared with their five-year-old daughter.

Kimmy (who had been taken a much-needed nap throughout much of the earlier birthday party) was, as per usual, was dressed in a plain, somewhat bright pink T-shirt, bright blue caprees, and dark purple boots with some light purple and "Sonic blue" (as she called it) on each heel. She had her mother's amber eyes and the very same ruby red chakra on her forehead. Her fur was a sort of silvery-purple (though it tended to look mostly purple). The end few inches of her short-ish hair (which was kept back and out of her face) was a lavender-like shade of pinkish-purple. In spite of being half hedgehog, she looked entirely cat. This was how it went with all people who were of mixed species: they always looked entirely like one species, not some freakish mixture.

"No!" she protested with a whine, turning away from her toys on the floor to look at him with pleading eyes. "Five more minutes, Daddy! Please?"

Silver chuckled and shook his head, arms crossed. In spite of the long day, he was always happy enough to smile. "You got away with that five times already," he reminded her.

"So?" the young girl demanded childishly.

Blaze walked into the room as well. "Bedtime," she said simply. Then she added with a small smile, "Only sleepy kittens don't get tickled."

Kimmy jumped to her feet, ready to bolt. "But I'm not tired!" she insisted.

"Guess it's tickle time, then!" Silver declared with a large grin.

Squealing, Kimmy turned tail and fled down a hall. Laughing, Silver ran after her. With a small laugh of her own, Blaze hurried after them. They chased their little girl through the halls, back through the living room, through the dining room, in and out of the kitchen, back through the halls, then finally up the stairs before they finally managed to catch her. As promised, Blaze immediately began tickling the small child while Silver gently held said child and kept her from escaping again. Kimmy squealed with innocent delight. Her laughter was a sound of pure joy, and it made both of her parents smile. It was such a beautiful thing… but it had to come to an end. It really was past her bedtime.

"Bedtime," Blaze said again in a murmur, still smiling.

"But Mommy," Kimmy whined in protest. "Five more minutes? Please? Please? Please?"

This begging didn't at all swear her young mother. "No," Blaze replied firmly, though not harshly.

"But-" Apparently realizing that she was grasping at straws here, Kimmy seemingly just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "But what about my bedtime story?"

Blaze traded smiles and amused looks with Silver. She then looked back to their daughter. "Alright. You get one story, then."

Kimmy immediately brightened and ceased her pitiful pouting. "Okay!" she agreed happily, all smiles once more.

Chuckling quietly, Silver carried the small girl into her room. He sat down on the little twin-sized bed with her, picking up a book off the nice white nightstand beside it. As he settled back with her and began to read, Blaze turned and walked out of the room to get in some reading of her own now that the house was quiet. Picking up her own book (one of the numerous such books that Kaden had gifted her over the years) off of the coffee table in the living room, she settled down in her favorite chair and began to read.

Somehow, time escaped her. It wasn't until twenty minutes later that she happened to glance up at the time. It was way past Kimmy's bedtime… and Silver hadn't come back downstairs. Even though she'd learned by now how pointless it was, she closed her book and returned upstairs. Stepping into Kimmy's room she called softly, "Silver."

He paused mid-sentence and looked up, as did Kimmy. "Five more minutes," he said quickly with a smile, "then I'll tuck her in, I swear."

It really was pointless. She knew it was. And Kimmy was starting to look sleepy, anyway, which meant that Silver reading to her was working. Blaze sighed, though she was smiling a bit as well. "Alright," she conceded. "Five more minutes." Both Silver and Kimmy beamed at her, even as she walked back down the stairs. Within moments, Silver was reading again. Shaking her head lightly, Blaze returned to her own book.

Only when an hour had elapsed did Blaze finally decide to act once more. Setting her book aside for the second time, she walked up the stairs again and went into Kimmy's room to send her to bed for real… only to find the little kitten and her daddy sound asleep on the bed together. Unable to stop smiling for the life of her, Blaze clicked off the small lamp on the nightstand and quietly left the room.

~台風の目~

2,349 words this time. Hope you all enjoyed this intro-of-new-and-adorable-characters chapter! Posted (at about four a.m.) 09-08-16.