Amy, Tails, and Sonic walked into Kaoru's living room the next morning after breakfast. Kaoru was sitting on the coffee table facing her lime-green couch. Sitting across from Kaoru was Cream and Cheese, both of whom kept giggling. Walking closer, Amy, Tails, and Sonic noticed that Kaoru was making a sort of Chao-ish sound, causing Cheese to giggle again and reply to her. Tails stood behind Kaoru and tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to jump up, whirl around, and grab his arm. It happened so quickly that Tails didn't have time to react because he never even saw it happen.

Kaoru looked into Tails's eyes and blushed, quickly dropping his arm. "Sorry...didn't realize it was you," she muttered, looking at the ground. She could feel everyone's eyes on her, watching her closely.

"Hey guys! Um...what's going on?" Ash said, as she came down the stairs, interrupting the awkward moment.

Amy looked up and glared at Ash, "Did you know Kaoru could speak Chao?"

Ash looked at Amy as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world, "Well, yeah...English is her second language."

Amy, Tails, and Sonic looked at Kaoru surprise, but looking over, it was quite obvious that Cream and Cheese did not find this as new news. "Does that mean Chao is her first language?" Tails asked, tilting his head to the side.

Ash laughed, "Well...yeah...whenever I first met Kaoru, she was just learning English and it was real hard to understand her."

"Shut-up..." Kaoru muttered, so that only Ash could hear, though she didn't seem to.

"I helped teach her English, a bit. It was loads of fun, wasn't it Kaoru?"

Cream nodded, "Yeah, my mom helped her loads...isn't that right, Kaoru?" Cream looked up at Kaoru with huge eyes, and Kaoru nodded slightly, rubbing the top of Cream's head.

"But...wait," Amy said, "What do you mean 'met Kaoru', I thought Kaoru said you two grew up together...that both of your mother's were friends...and you grew up together..."

Ash tilted her head slightly, "Mothers? Neither Kaoru nor I..." but Kaoru shot Ash such a murderous look that Ash stopped short, flinching away from her.

But Kaoru's attempt was in vain because Cream said, "I've never met Kaoru's mom before, but I've known her for ages."

Kaoru knelt down in front of Cream and looked into her eyes. She took Cream's hands and said, "Cream, can you go watch TV upstairs?"

Cream looked hurt for a few seconds, but Cheese made a cheering noise then looked over at Kaoru and seemed to ask her a question. Kaoru gave a slight nod and, Cheese flew upstairs cheering again, Cream following close behind him.

Kaoru sighed and sat down on her couch, her large ears drooping slightly. She looked at the crowd around her and Sonic was the first to ask the question. "Where's your mom, Kaoru?"

Sighing, Kaoru flinched a bit and said, "I never knew either of my parents. I've been traveling alone most of my life." Something moved to Kaoru's left toward the kitchen, but she ignored it and continued, "I've been on my own since I was around 3."

"Who were you with before that?" Amy asked, sitting down next to Kaoru.

Ash started to laugh uncontrollably from near the stairs, and once again, Kaoru threw her a dark look, shutting Ash up instantly. Just then, there was a knock on the window, but only Kaoru seemed to take notice. Kaoru glanced over her shoulder and her eyes widened noticeably. She stood up and quickly walked over to Ash, ignoring the curious stares from the others. Kaoru leaned in close to Ash and whispered something in her ear. Ash jumped slightly, looking out the window. Ash nodded and scurried off.

Kaoru returned to her place on the couch, not mentioning what just happened, but before she could answer Amy's question, Sonic spoke. "Isn't it obvious who she was with...if Chao is her first language..." he broke off. Kaoru was nodding, but didn't seem to want to state the obvious.

"What about after you left?" Amy asked.

Kaoru shrugged, "I was alone until I was five, mostly just wandering. I don't remember much, being so young, but I do remember certain things. I was alone most of the time because not many people knew, or know, how to speak chao.

"When I was five, I was taken in by a family that had a few kids. They started to teach me English, but I didn't usually stay in the house. I was more of a visitor, and only went there to sleep at night. I usually continued wandering during the day or spent time with the couple next door which is how I met Vanilla. The family that took me in lived next door to her...in this house actually. The family moved away long ago and just kind of left this house. No one really knows what happened to them, but this house was up for grabs when I came around a few months ago, so I took it.

"Anyway, I spent a lot of time with Vanilla, she was really nice. She took care of me, especially when I didn't get along with the family I lived with...which was often. They didn't like that I roamed around and stayed out late, but they couldn't really stop me, I had already been on my own for so long. That's around the time I met Ash, but she lived rather far away from here. I saw her often, though. She didn't have many friends and she never spoke about why. We stayed in each other's company at least once or twice a week...until I left here.

"I left there when I was 8, right before Vanilla had Cream, but I visited often...both Vanilla and Ash. Ash and I have a sort of responsibility for each other, since each of us knows so much about the other...too much, maybe. And I helped take care of Cream when I was in town; she's kind of like my younger sister. I've been teaching her to speak Chao ever since she got Cheese..."

Amy cut in, "But there's still a six year gap...from the time you left Vanilla's house to the time you moved into this house."

"Just stop badgering her," said a voice from the left. "She obviously doesn't want to talk about it and frankly, I'm tired of hearing it."

Everyone turned to see Shadow leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes fixed upon Kaoru.

Amy frowned but didn't say anything. "So where did Ash go," Tails asked, mostly to break the silence.

Shadow chuckled, "I'm not sure Kaoru is at liberty to discuss that, so I suggest you don't ask that again." He chuckled again and walked out the door Ash had left through earlier.

Tails frowned after him, "What's his problem?"

Kaoru didn't say anything and just let her eyes follow Shadow as he walked across her backyard. She didn't know whether to be relieved or scared.


A/N

ooh...mystery...Part two won't be for another couple chapters.

Hoped you liked it.

Please review.