Of Wolves And Rabbits Ch. 2

Of Wolves And Rabbits
Chapter 2 - Birthday

"Good, I think they're gone now…" Jeremy informed both cubs, peeking through the curtains of the living room.

"Ne, Jeremy-kun, why is Okaa-san leaving without us?" Kage asked him curiously, not understanding why Tear-chan was going to the mall with Angel-chan and leaving them locked inside the house.

"So that we can prepare tonight's party," Jeremy answered gently, sending him a small smile before heading into the kitchen. Truth be told, he seemed to be more patient with the younger wolf than with the older one. Probably because he didn't pick any fights with him.

"Tonight's party? Who's party?" Kibou was quick to follow the young bunny into the kitchen, jumping into the tall chair near Jeremy so that they could be eye to eye.

"What do you mean whose party!? Angel-chan's of course! We're making her a surprise birthday party!" Jeremy shot back, starting to feel annoyed by so many questions.

"What's a birthday party?" the light blue wolf asked him, tilting his head to the side in confusion making his ears to flop on that side, apparently not catching Jeremy's annoyed tone. Jeremy blinked owlishly at him and then turned to the twin wolf noticing in surprise that he was as lost as his older brother. Honestly, what kind of education had those wolves been receiving from Tear-chan then!

"Doesn't Tear-chan throws a birthday party for you?" he asked slowly, trying to keep his voice from breaking in anger. Seeing that both cubs shook their heads in denial, he sighed and tried to sum it all up for them. "It celebrates the fact that you've gotten a year older," he growled, not wanting to waste any more time. If they kept this any longer, then Angel-chan and Tear-chan would be back before the decorations were ready!

"Huh? A year older? We're five months old!" Kibou exclaimed indignantly, baring his small but sharp fangs at the blonde boy.

"And how was I supposed to know!" Jeremy shouted back, a vein popping in his clenched fist.

"Then what do we need to do for Angel-chan? And why do the humans like to celebrate the fact that they're getting a year older?" Kage asked quietly, breaking Kibou and Jeremy out from their small fight.

"Well, I've been wondering about that too. I don't know what's so exciting about being older…But we need to do a cake and decorate the house," Jeremy finished, slamming his fist against his outstretched palm in determination.

~*~

For the following hours, the trio tried to hang garlands in both windows and walls almost failing miserably. Almost being the keyword. There was no way to blame them though, with only a pair of hands to help since paws were not made for fastening pins. Taking a few minutes to admire their work, the pair of wolves and the bunny boy slumped in the sofa, panting heavily because of their hard work. As to be expected, the older brother and the blue-eyed rabbit had tangled themselves in a few insignificant fights, but none of them knew that they were going to get themselves in an even more difficult situation.

"Damn!" Jeremy exclaimed suddenly, startling his four-legged friends.

"What is it now?" Kibou asked him annoyed, rolling his eyes and resuming his 'resting pose', meaning that he rested his head on his crossed front paws.

"Balloons! We forgot the damned balloons! We're running late! My schedule is ruined!" the young boy raged on, pulling at his golden locks in frustration.

"What about if…you blow the balloons and we bake the cake?" Kage suggested, trying his best to comfort his buddy.

"And what would be hygienic about that?" Jeremy retorted, a black aura of bad mood surrounding his extravagant form.

"It's the only option you've got if you still want to save your precious schedule. We can't blow balloons, remember? Our fangs would pinch them the moment we try to," Kibou tried to reason with him, growling slightly in annoyance.

"You're right. I must stick to my schedule," Jeremy said quietly, slowly standing up from the green sofa. "But you must promise you won't touch any of the ingredients directly!" he shot the twins a warning glare, before stomping into the cupboard to find the packet of colorful balloons.

~*~

"Well, this is Okaa-san's grandmother's recipes' book," Kage informed his brother, carrying in his mouth a thick green book. He jumped into the chair next to his brother's and placed the book on the table. Kibou used his snout to flip through the numerous pages, finally reaching the desserts' section.

"According to this…we can either make strawberries and cream or chocolate cakes," he read, his eyes lingering in the illustrated pictures in hunger.

"Can't we make a meat cake?" the younger one asked, finding the flavor of meat more delicious than that of chocolate.

"Make it with chocolate!" the small cubs heard their blond friend shouting from over the living room, clearly indicating that he had been listening to their whole conversation.

"Hai!" they quickly replied, sweat drops forming at the back of their heads. Humans liked chocolate the best anyways…

"Honestly…So, here says we will need eggs, milk, flour, butter, chocolate, sugar, baking soda and vanilla," Kibou listed, his eye still twitching slightly at his irritation towards the rude boy.

"I'll get them!" Kage offered excitedly, this being the first time he baked a cake alone. Once they had the ingredients perfectly aligned in front of them, they proceeded to mix them all in the huge pink bowl they had acquired, following the directions written in the book. It was quite difficult to be sincere, having to pour down the milk and working the spoons with their mouths…but they managed to follow each instruction carefully, until they got stuck in one of the simpler instructions: to add two eggs to the dough.

The brothers looked at each other for help before lowering their gazes to the white balls, the warning that Jeremy had given them ringing in their ears. "Do not touch any of the ingredients directly," he had said.

"He's going to kill us for this…" Kage sighed in defeat, knowing all too well the only one who could do this easy step was the only one in the house who had thumbs.

"I don't care what he thinks. JEREMY!" Kibou shouted which, thanks to his instinct, turned into a howl. The sound of a balloon popping in the distance was heard after the loud howl, the deadly silence that followed soon after giving them a hint of the bunny's fury.

"What?" Jeremy asked from over the doorway, his bangs covering his eyes in a scary way. He had to resist any urge of hitting them; otherwise Angel-chan would be mad at him from hitting Tear-chan's friends and it wasn't like he wanted to make Tear-chan cry at all.

"Can you help us with the eggs?" Kage asked shyly, clearly sensing Jeremy's foul mood.

"Eggs?" Jeremy asked confused, finally raising his head to show his blue orbs shining in curiosity. He walked closer to the table and inspected the wolves' work, being quite impressed once he discovered that they hadn't spilled anything out the bowl. "Well…you just need to hit them here…and then…there! All done!" he mused as he broke the white shells and poured their contents into the bowl, clearly showing the wolves how it was supposed to be done.

"Sugoi! You're an expert at this!" Kage cried joyfully, bouncing on his tall chair to prove his surprise.

"Well, Angel-chan's mother teaches me how to cook sometimes…" Jeremy explained as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, just pour down the dough into the mold while I finish with the balloons. Do NOT touch the oven," he left to the living room after he said his last instructions, making sure he sounded threatening enough in order to make the twins get the point.

Both wolves did as they were told and soon enough there was a good bunch of inflated balloons and a delicious-looking cake in the oven. Troubles started again, however, when they were cleaning up the kitchen. It all started when Kage grabbed the bag full of flour with his teeth, making four small holes in it in the places his fangs had sunk. His hyperactive brother, trying to see what had happened, ran towards his troubled sibling, never counting on slipping over the trail of flour Kage had been leaving.

Jeremy flinched when he heard a loud clash but when he whipped around he was greeted by a white cloud of powder. Apparently, the collision between both wolves had caused the bag to explode, sending the flour flying everywhere. After assimilating what had happened, the rabbit's hands clenched into trembling fists, several tick marks appearing all around his now white head.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!! YOU STINKY SACKS OF--!" his threatening shouts were suddenly muted by a gasp the moment his feet slipped on the flour resting on the floor, sending him tumbling to the ground. The terrified wolves stumbled over their own feet and tried to make a mad dash, eventually gaining a rabid rabbit chasing behind them. What none of them noticed were the small, white, paw and foot prints being left behind their steps.

A single thought crossed Jeremy's mind as he chased the little trouble makers, only managing to anger him more: the schedule was completely ruined.

~*~

"Wow! That movie was awesome!" Angel-chan cried as her best friend shuffled through the many bags they were carrying in order to find her key.

"I liked the new art tools you bought," Tear-chan commented with a grin as she inserted the key in the keyhole, hoping with all her might that their friends had behaved correctly.

"I bought? YOU bought, more likely," Angel-chan retorted, remembering how Tear-chan had lured her into letting her pay for the tools pretending to have a Limited Edition Death the Kid plushy. Her younger friend laughed sheepishly, thanking Kami-sama that Angel-chan seemed to have forgotten her birthday. When she finally opened the door, they were greeted by nothing more than pure darkness.

"Huh? Where are they?" Angel-chan asked confused, poking her head inside, trying to see anything inside the black veil that covered the house.

"Surprise!" two childish voices suddenly chirped, the lights being turned on by Jeremy. Both girls stood tongue-tied for a minute, watching the bizarre scene in front of them. Multi-colored balloons literally filled the roof and floor, and beautiful garlands hung from the walls and windows. As a final touch, there were small white paw and boot prints all around the house.

"Guys, it was supposed to be a BIRTHDAY party, you didn't need to put costumes on…" Tear-chan said while smacking her hand on her forehead, mistaking the still flour-covered animals by ghosts.

"It is! Blame these devils for ruining the agenda," Jeremy replied grumpily, not at all pleased by being mistaken by a costume.

"But it was worth it!" both brothers exclaimed happily, moving a bit in order to show the nicely decorated cake resting on top of the kitchen table. It even had a few strawberries on top. It was until then that Angel-chan let out a high-pitched scream, running inside and somehow managing to pull the twins and his beloved bunny into a bone-crushing hug.

"You did this all for me!? How cute!" she squealed happily, without seeing how his friends were turning blue because of lack of air. Tear-chan giggled happily at seeing the 'help-me' looks the trio were sending her. Hearing her laughter, Angel-chan seemed to remember her participation in the plan and suddenly let go of her other friends, sending them to the ground.

"And you knew about this all along!" she squealed again before tackling her friend to the ground, hugging the life out of her too.

"Y-You're welcome," Tear-chan gasped out with the little bit of air remaining in her lungs.

"Okaa-san! We wanna eat cake!" Kibou cried excitedly, running in circles around the place, pouncing on his brother now and then to show his eagerness.

The girls giggled as they followed the younger ones into the kitchen, where Angel-chan blew the candles and made her wish, and where Tear-chan cut the cake in equal pieces.

"Okaa-san, we have been wondering…why do humans like to celebrate that they are getting older so much?" Kage asked as he stared at his serving of cake, sending a confused look to Tear-chan after he finished his question. Jeremy and Kibou also stopped eating their strangely delicious cake and looked at the girls expectantly.

"You know, that's a pretty good question…" Angel-chan answered, actually not knowing what made her happy of being one year closer to death.

"It's because we don't celebrate the fact that we're getting older but the fact that we've lived another year," Tear-chan started, smiling tenderly at everyone. "We remember all good that happened to us last year and all the lessons we learned. We thank all of our friends for being with us and we reflect in all those feelings we had," she finished, popping a piece of chocolate cake into her mouth. "That's the real reason birthdays exist and what they represent," Everyone stared at her with their mouths slightly opened, sinking in everything she said.

"Wow…I can't wait for my birthday," Kibou said quietly, Kage smiling brightly at the idea.

"We'll make sure to make them awesome then! Yours too, Jeremy!" Tear-chan proposed happily, sending them all a toothy grin, making the blonde boy to blush a bit in embarrassment.

"That makes me feel younger," Angel-chan joked as she pulled the shy girl into another bone-crushing hug, gaining a chuckle from her.

"This party is for Angel-chan…may all her wishes come true!" Jeremy said shyly, lifting his glass full of milk as if to make a toast, the girls' glasses colliding with his right after. They all turned to look at the twins once they noticed they were not toasting with them, only to receive annoyed glares.

"We can't lift ours!" Kibou shouted indignantly at them, his eye twitching slightly, not being able to believe that they had forgotten wolves had no thumbs. Everyone burst out laughing, not even trying to cover the tears running down their flushed cheeks.

But who can blame them? After all, that's the way of celebrating a birthday of wolves and rabbits…