Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, etc. from Wolf Children. It all belongs to its respectful owners.

Two Small Gifts

The sound of fumbling around drawers was the first thing that day that had gotten Hana suspicious about what her two wolf pups were doing. She had just been bringing in the dried laundry, walking towards their shared bedroom to put it away, when she heard the noise.

Now what could they be up to now?

It was a known fact that her children loved to get into things as they had done earlier that week. Just a few days ago they had finished cleaning out the shed, making it child-proof in case Ame and Yuki had wanted to play with something in the small area.

But what could they be doing in the office?

Hana had been pretty sure that they had already cleaned that area out; after all, the children would be having homework to do in a few years... not to mention all the fun crafts that they would be doing in the meantime. She had opened the closed sliding door to find quite a surprise. Yuki was standing over by the desk, shoving stuff around in her drawers with Ame looking over her shoulder. A small smile made its way onto Hana's face as she realized that her children were so intent on their task that they hadn't realized that she was there.

"Now what are you two doing?" Her tone light, joking even caused her children to whip around and stare at her in surprise. Yuki made a point to get in front of the drawer so that Hana couldn't see what they were doing, while Ame stared at the ground in concentration.

"Nothing!" Both wolf children said at once, Yuki's voice higher than Ame's while both tried to get the room back to normal. She smiled at her children's attempt, walking over to help Yuki rearrange the drawer. To her surprise, the young girl blocked the drawer vehemently, throwing her arms out wide to stop Hana from moving any closer.

"No!" At sharp statement that came from her daughter, accompanied by the action, the young mother stopped in surprise.

"Yuki, that's not nice. Would your father want you to act like that?" Hana scolded, watching as her daughter's face transformed into one of sadness. Her small feet kicked the ground of invisible dust, as the young wolf pup thought over what she had done.

"N-no… but…" Hana tilted her head a little at Yuki's behavior.

"But?"

"It's a surprise!" Something tackled into her leg, causing the brown-haired woman to glance down at her son, who was now clutching her leg. With support from her brother, Yuki seemed to grow a bit bolder.

"Yeah! A surprise!"

"But we can't tell you because it's a surprise!"

The statements from both of her children caused her to smile, despite Yuki's previous outburst of emotion. She tried to think back onto what the surprise might be for but gave up a moment later. She knew that it was May but no special event came to mind at the moment.

"A surprise, huh?" Both of her children nodded, with Yuki coming over to push against their mother's leg.

"Yep! So… so… you can't be in here right now!" Hana laughed as she nodded her head, showing the young wolves that she understood what they meant. She allowed Yuki to 'push' her back towards the open door that lead out to the living room.

"Ok then. I'll just be out here." She motioned towards the living room, taking a step out the door in the process. The laundry was right where she had laid it before entering, causing the young woman to take a step towards it. "Let me know whether you need any help."

Yuki nodded energetically, a wide smile on her face. Hana could see that Ame too had stepped towards the door and was peering out at her. She waved, watching as they waved back before her daughter suddenly shut the door. A laugh escaped Hana at their antics and with a sigh she turned back towards the unfinished laundry.

A surprise, huh? Come to think of it, his birthday was around this time…

Hana knew that she shouldn't worry; she knew that her children would come out of the small room eventually. After all, it was now near dinner time, with the sun just beginning to make its way beneath the horizon, painting the sky a deep orange color. The two wolf pups had taken turns slipping out of the room, grabbing something they needed, before hurriedly slipping back in. Hana, out of respect for her childrens' surprise, had looked away when they did, only sneaking glances when she heard the door open back up for one of them to slip out. This was one such time and she glanced back to see Ame slipping out of the back room, a bundle clutched in his hands. A smile made its way onto the young mother's face as he tentatively approached her, his hands clutched tightly around what she could now see were blunt crayons.

"Is there something I can help with?" Hana asked, her voice lowered as she glanced back to where Yuki was still working. The light was on in the back room, illuminating the shape of the young girl as she worked. She glanced back at her blue-haired son, watching as he too glanced back at the room before back at her, his head nodding quickly.

"Could you help me sharpen the crayons please?" His voice too was quiet like hers as he glanced back at the small room once more before coming to sit at the table.

"Of course."

She got up from where she was, going toward a box of spare school supplies, pulling out a sharpener before making her way back towards the table. She sat down beside her son, who had laid various colors out on the table, careful to not make any marks on the light wood. Picking one up, Hana inserted its blunt end into the sharpener and gave it a few sharp twists, listening as the instrument turned the crayon's point sharp once more. She glanced at her son, who was watching her attentively, as she moved onto the next one. "I hope you two aren't planning on being in there much longer. It's getting pretty dark and dinner's ready."

Ame looked startled for a moment, his gaze being drawn towards the outside to see the setting sun, as if the young wolf boy hadn't realized what time it was. His gaze moved back over to Hana's; with him giving her a bright smile a moment later.

"It's almost done." Hana nodded, handing the crayons back to her son, a smile on her own face.

"Best to finish it quickly then." Ame nodded, going back towards the door, glancing at her once more before quickly slipping inside. Hana let out a sigh as she continued to watch them work.

They're going to be tired tonight…

Dinner was rather uneventful, beside the excited looks that her children continued to send her throughout the daily event, and the day ended without her figuring out what it had been that they had been working on so hard. Neither child had protested going to bed for once, instead slipping under the covers and closing their eyes.

Looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out… The thought was the last one that Hana had before she too slipped off to sleep.

"Mommy…" The moment she heard the word, Hana's eyes snapped open blearily as she looked around the small room that they all slept in. Ame and Yuki were sitting up in their beds, both clutching something in their hands. Her immediate thought was that they both must have had nightmares.

"Did you two have nightmares?" She watched, confusion running through her when they both shook their heads 'no'.

Maybe they just can't sleep… Hana knew that at that age she had trouble sleeping, and it wasn't uncommon for children to wake up in the middle of the night, wide awake.

"Surprise." They both said at the same time, wide smiles on their faces as they held out the objects in their hands to them.

Surprise…? Her mind suddenly caught up with her and suddenly she too was wide awake. The thing that they had been working on all day…

"For me?" At her question, they both nodded excitedly, pushing the objects into her hands. She stared down at them, unable to see what they were, deciding to flip the light on that was situated on the floor beside the beds. As light appeared in the room, Hana had to wait a moment for her eyes to adjust before she could see what she had been given.

Cards? What she had thought they had been holding were the stuffed wolves that she had made them, but instead turned out to be two small cards. Maybe for their Father's birthday?

It became obvious the more she looked at the cards though that they weren't for her late husband's birthday. She read the words on the cards carefully. It was clear to her which card was which childs' as she looked at each of them. They both had simple words written on the front in pink crayon: "Happy Mother's Day" was on Yuki's card, with "Happy Mommy's Day" was on Ame's. It was clear to the young woman that Yuki had attempted to help her brother spell the words by the crayon marks that signaled the changing of a word, but had allowed him to keep the 'Mommy's' part of the card. When she opened each card, there were hearts drawn in various colors, as well as little wolf version of her children in the middle of the page. The words inside were "I love you!" along with the child's name below them and a handprint, both human and wolf, drawn hastily beside the name.

Happy Mother's Day… Of course, she should have remembered that the holiday was right around this time but with all the stuff that they had been doing, it had completely slipped her mind. The tears bloomed in her eyes before she could stop them, a small laugh coming out of her mouth as she looked at her two children. It was clear that they were both alarmed that she was crying and smiling at the same time.

"Mommy?" They both reached for her hands at the same time, clutching onto them as they stared up at her in confusion. She shook her head, pulling them in close.

"I'm fine."

"But, why are you crying then?" Yuki questioned, her brother nodding his head in agreement to the girl's question.

"It's happy tears." Both of her children broke out into relieved smiles when they heard the words, looking at each other before back at their mother.

"Happy tears." They both repeated, wide smiles on their faces as they hugged her back. She laid the cards down beside her bed, before moving to hug them closer.

"Ame, Yuki." Both of the children perked up upon hearing their name, glancing up at her in expectation. "This was very kind of you both. I love them."

Both of the wolf pups let out small relieved laughs at her statement, latching back onto their mother.

"We love you!" They shouted, knowing that they wouldn't be reprimanded for the noise since no one lived close to them anymore.

"I love you both very much too."

So, I can't believe that it's taken me about a year to write this. It was meant to be released shortly after 'Spring Cleaning' last year. Once again in honor of Mother's Day, despite being early this time! :) I hope you all have a wonderful day with the people you cherish!

-AnimeWolfGirl16