Sunday morning, their one day off, and they had to spend it doing stuff. Mainly, finding a Mother's Day gift for Kushina.
The day started at 5AM, with Shira jumping through Hiro's window.
"Wake up!" she yelled as she shook her best friend.
Hiro rubbed her eyes, slowly coming out of her stupor. "Namikaze...? This better be good..."
"It is if you wanna see me alive after today!"
"Okay... I'll bite."
"It's Mother's Day!"
"So?" Hiro asked, still half-dazed.
"I forgot! And I need a gift by eight tonight!"
Hiro let that sink in before swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Alright. Let's go."
"You have any idea what to get her yet?" Hiro asked as she walked through the shopping district with Shira.
"Not a clue... And the noob was no help. All he told me was 'Its 4:30 in the morning, leave me alone!'"
"It's a shame when people get angry at you for waking them before dawn," Hiro said sarcastically.
"I know, right? Anyway, you got any ideas?"
Before Hiro could answer, they heard an explosion, followed by a mushroom cloud to the east.
"When in doubt, follow the mystery explosion?" Hiro suggested.
Shira shrugged and led Hiro to the source of the explosion, taking them to the Cooper Gang's house.
"Yo, Cooper!" Hiro called to Zoku, who was coughing outside the house. "What goes on?"
Zoku turned and waved to the girls. "Oh, hey. Just an experiment gone haywire, nothing to worry about."
"I told you, it wasn't ready for testing yet!" Náid knelt by a heap of metal. "Now I have to start from scratch..."
"Hey, you got a lot of interesting... experiments, right?" Hiro walked over to Náid.
"If any of them survived the explosion," Náid said, his voice atrabilious.
Hiro clapped her hands together, voiding the house of smoke. "I'll go check."
"Do I want to know?" Náid asked cautiously after gathering his newly destroyed creation.
"We're looking for a gift for my mom," Shira explained.
"Got something!" Hiro emerged from the dwelling, holding a vial. "What is this anyway?" She flipped it a few times.
"Be careful!" Náid snatched the flask from her. "It's a camouflage serum."
"Does it work?" Hiro asked. She grinned as Náid nodded. "Here's a gift for your mom, dude."
"Uh... No..." Shira looked to Náid. "Got anything my mom would like?"
"I'd rather no-"
Zoku interrupted Náid. "For someone like Ms. Kushina, of course!" he disappeared into the dark residence, returning shortly, lugging a metallic being with him.
"What... is that?" Shira cocked her head to the side quizzically.
"Another experiment I've been working on," Náid answered. "It wasn't supposed to be seen by anyone yet..."
"Well, cat's outta the bag now," Zoku grinned. "Anyway, we can program this bad girl to do just about anything. Make dinner, homework help, laundry-"
"Can it get rid of annoying older brothers?" Hiro asked.
"Can it make chicken sandwiches?" Shira asked.
"Yup, and everything in-between! And maybe more!" Zoku gestured to the robo-mom, still grinning. "So? Do we have a deal?"
"Hey!" Náid objected. "I never said-"
"Deal," Shira picked up her gift and walked toward her house. Hiro followed lazily.
Náid watched them go, and then sighed. "I never did the final run..."
"What's the worst that could happen?" Zoku shrugged.
"Horrible... horrible things..."
"Aw, it'll be fine."
The girl's got to the Namikaze residence fairly quickly, arriving just in time for breakfast.
"I wondered where you were, Shira," Kushina greeted them with slight annoyance. "I see you brought a friend."
"Yo, Mrs. Namikaze," Hiro waved before helping herself to the food on the counter.
"I uh... got you something, Mom," Shira said.
"Really?" Kushina smiled.
"Yep," Shira pulled the present into the room.
"Wh-what is it?"
"It's a robotic... maid... Yeah."
"To help with all that work you're always griping about," Hiro added.
Kushina shot Hiro an annoyed look before examining the robot. Shira waited anxiously for some type of reaction.
"I love it!" Kushina exclaimed.
"Good, 'cause I, er we, worked on it for weeks. Happy Mother's Day," Shira smiled.
"Here, let me turn it on," Hiro flipped the robot's on switch with a very greasy, sticky finger. A split second later it began to spark. "Oh, this can't be good..."
The girls watched the robot turn hostile. Its fingers turned to daggers, its blue eyes turned a demonic red, and it made generic video game malfunctioning AI sounds. Then, it turned on Kushina.
"Do something!" Shira yelled, quickly realizing freezing it was a futile effort.
"One "self"-destruction, coming up!" Hiro created a barrier around the robot's control board, then crushed it, causing the whole thing to explode, and Kushina to fly out the window.
"Ouch..." Hiro said.
"She is not going to be happy..." Shira walked over to the window. "Mom... are you okay?"
"Shira... come here..." Kushina stood slowly.
Shira ran the opposite way. "Go go go!"
Hiro followed without question.
After getting to what the agreed was a safe distance from Shira's house, they stopped to rest Ichiraku Ramen.
"Shira, Hiro, what's up?"
Both girls turned to face the speaker.
"'Sup, Rika?" Hiro nodded.
"We're trying to get a present for my mom..." Shira said dejectedly.
"Not going well?" Rika nodded when neither Shira nor Hiro responded. "Honestly, I don't know why you'd bother. Mother's Day isn't a real holiday."
"Ugh," Hiro groaned. "You sound like Kagami-sensei..."
"If I didn't have to, I wouldn't," Shira said.
"Have to?" Rika asked.
"I forgot you weren't in with us before last summer," Hiro pointed to the stool beside Shira, which Rika quickly occupied. "Story time."
"Gah... Not the story..." Shira groaned.
Hiro sat on the counter between her friends, despite Teuchi telling her not to. "In this world, there are many types of children. Some with conventional homes, others in... different situations. Those with the preceding concept often celebrate a "holiday" called Mother's Day, to give thanks to their matriarch. Now, they're many ways to get out of this so called celebration: only having a... straight father, having no parental figures, having a cool mom, or being Niseno's child. In the case of one Shira Namikaze, the situation is complicated. For while her elder brother and father are encouraged to not do anything beyond saying "thank-you" or "I love you" to the family matriarch, Shira is actually made to take part in this ridiculous celebration."
Rika looked to Shira. "Why do you have to celebrate?"
"She's getting to that part..." Shira said, looking somewhat ashamed and embarrassed.
"You see," Hiro continued, "we know Shira as another hyperactive, albeit dark, child of Lord Fourth, but in the Namikaze house, there are untold stories. Shira drives her mother crazy an approximate 364 days a year. One, official time, to the point of hospitalization due to a coronary. Due to her... rambunctiousness. Kushina, the matriarch, has declared one day, Mother's Day, the day for Shira to atone for her many, many, many, many wrongdoings every other day of the year."
"Dang, Shira..." Rika said in disbelief.
"So... Will you help?" Shira asked.
"Yeah. Got nothing better to do."
After they ate, the girls went back to Shira's house. Shira led them to the kitchen through the back entrance.
"Why couldn't we use the front door?" Rika asked as she got a bowl from the cupboard.
"Mrs. Namikaze, or the robot," Hiro shrugged, leaning against a cabinet.
"Robot?" Rika looked terrified.
"It's not that at all!" Shira said. "This is just supposed to be a surprise."
"Whatever you say," Hiro yawned. "So, um... Do either of you even know how to cook?"
"Naw, but how hard could it be?" Shira said.
"I've helped my mom before," Rika said, setting some ingredients on the counter. "I think this'll work."
"If it doesn't, we'll just blame you," Hiro smiled.
Shira and Rika got to work on making brunch. They agreed on ramen since it was Kushina's favorite and relatively easy to make from scratch. Hiro watched them cook, slowly dozing from her new spot at the kitchen table. Just as Hiro's head hit the table top, Shira and Rika finished.
"There... Looks pretty good," Shira said.
"Smells... off," Hiro muttered sleepily.
Before they could argue, the front door opened.
"Mom, in here, "Shira called, hiding the bowl behind her back.
Kushina walked in, looking relatively fine despite the robot attack. "Hey. What are you doing?"
"I made you another present."
"Does it have to do with the trashed kitchen...? Do you know how long it took me to clean after your first gift?"
"Yeah yeah," Shira mumbled. "Here," she held out the bowl.
"You made me ramen?" Kushina smiled and took the bowl.
"Hey..." Hiro sat up, "do you hear that growling...?"
"It's probably just Shira's wolf." Rika said.
"No... It's not," Shira listened. "It's coming from-"
Before she could finish, the ramen noodles gathered and formed a small creature, which immediately attacked Kushina.
"This is not her day..." Hiro tried not to smile and laugh.
"Will you just trap that thing?" Shira glared at Hiro.
After another trip to the hospital, Kushina was resting on the couch. Shira and her friends were in her room, coming up with a new gift.
"Maybe we should just give up..." Hiro groaned, lying on Shira's bed, bouncing a Super Ball against Shira arm.
"I'm with Hiro," Rika sat at Shira's desk. "I'm pretty sure your mom would appreciate it..."
"Not a chance! I plan on living for a very long time, not getting mowed down by my Mom for forgetting to get a present!" Shira fell back against OkamiShiro (who was currently in his gigai.)
"Well, what else could we get her?" Rika asked.
Hiro held out a vial and shook it. "This is still on option," she offered.
"What's that do?"
"Knowing Hiro, nothing good..." OkamiShiro said.
Hiro glared at the wolf, and then shrugged. "Honestly, I have no clue. I swiped it from Náid's lab."
"Yeah... I'm not giving my mom a mystery potion." Shira said.
"Well," Rika thought for a moment," sometimes adults like getting things they were denied during childhood..."
"That gives me an idea!" Shira leapt up. "I'll be back." She ran out of the room.
Shira returned roughly twenty minutes later. OkamiShiro led the girls from Shira's room, stopping at the doorway to the living room.
"This should be good," he smirked as he watched Shira approach her mother.
Kushina looked skeptically at her daughter. "I'm almost afraid to ask, but what's in the box?" She took the haphazardly decorated box as Shira offered it, then started to open it.
"Three... two... one..." OkamiShiro watched with sick delight as the angry ferret in the box mauled Kushina. "Aw, man," he laughed, "I love Mother's Day."
"Maybe you should've done a background check on that thing..." Hiro watched Shira and Rika pry the ferret off of Kushina.
"Where'd you get it?" Rika held the box over the angry animal.
"I kind of just found it..." Shira admitted.
After Kushina's third trip to the hospital, she was, again, lying on the couch, recuperating. Shira was once again in her room with her friends.
"Okay," Rika said, " I think the weasel was the line."
"No," OkamiShiro snickered. "That concoction you whipped up was the line. The angry, rabid weasel crossed the line, and then spit in Kushina's face."
"I still have the serum," Hiro offered hopefully.
"Well," Shira considered the option, and then sighed. "What's the worst that could happen?"
"Your mom could die," OkamiShiro smiled.
"Don't listen to him," Hiro put the liquid in a syringe, and flicked the needle. "One perfect gift," she tossed the syringe to Shira.
Shira caught it, and then walked down to the living room.
"Oh, gawd..." Kushina groaned. "What now?"
"Just give me your arm."
As Kushina reluctantly held out her arm, Shira stuck her with the needle.
"Ow, what was that?"
"Whoa boy," Shira mumbled.
"Whoa boy? Why whoa boy? What did you do?"
"Oh my gawd, she's blue!" Okami laughed.
"Shira!" Kushina growled before leaning over the side of the couch.
"Um... I think she's having a reaction to that junk..." Rika turned away.
"What makes you say that?" Shira tried to ignore what was happening.
Okami spoke between laughing fits. "You're mother's puking a rainbow! This is priceless!"
After her fourth trip to the hospital, Kushina was asleep on the couch. Shira walked down to present to her mother.
"Mom, wake-up," Shira shook Kushina. After Kushina sat up, Shira smiled. "Okay, I figured out the perfect gift."
"Oh, did you?" Kushina asked warily.
"Yup. Me, Hiro, and Rika are gonna do all your chores."
"Well... I guess that won't be so bad... You can't kill me by cleaning."
As she said that, the floor behind Shira was blown apart, wood flew everywhere, followed by laundry and soapy water.
"How do you do laundry again?" Rika called through the hole in the floor.
A monstrous howl, followed by the sounds of dishes and wood smashing was heard from the kitchen.
"Uh... Dishes are done..." Hiro yelled.
"Uh... Maybe... you should just watch TV... I fixed it earlier," Shira flipped on the television, which immediately blew up and propelled forward, hitting Kushina in the head.
"I'll call the hospital..." Shira sighed.
At the end of the day, Kushina lie in a hospital bed. Shira sat, glumly beside her.
"Well... I tried, Mom..." Shira mumbled.
"Shira... I have a new rule for Mother's Day..." Kushina said weakly.
"Huh?" Shira tilted her head.
"If you try to get me something again... I'll kill you."