This was a birthday gift for my good friend Fruity.

All my thanks to NotAdam for being my BETA, all the kudos to him!

Now, I hope you enjoy your reading.


It was a day of celebrations at the inn, Ryū worked for days in the kitchen to bring his special birthday meal for the two young men of the house. Surprisingly, the Hanagumi didn't mess up the cake this time; it was quite delicious.

"What's in it?" Asked Ryū when he tasted it.

"You don't want to know." Answered Marion in a heartbeat, Ryū chose to keep eating, and ignore his nagging curiosity.

Redseb and Hana were enjoying their time too; Hana made a big drawing of Redseb and him, and handed him some cheap candies.

"Did you like it nīsan? Now what's for me?" He asked excitedly. Redseb just ruffled his hair while laughing.

"It's great Hana, thank you," but the child kept staring at him with an expectant smile, he had tried to see what he had gotten for him for weeks now. "Alright, alright, calm down," he took a small decorated bag out of his front pocket and gave it to him. "Happy Birthday Hana." Hopefully he won't be too disappointed.

"AWESOME! Thank you Redseb nīsan," he screamed excitedly. Redseb always gave him something cool like the toy plane from last year, but this time around, his gift was rather small and not even heavy, but regardless he tore it open only to find another rather thin bag. Redseb waited for his reaction, but the child only moved his head to the side, trying his best to read the katakana on the bag. "Jolly… Joker? What's this?" He asked, confused.

"These are pansy seeds." Redseb tried to explain, but Hana just looked more and more disappointed. He felt a little bad for the kiddo, but in hindsight, he wasn't the best at doing this kind of stuff when it came to little kids.

"Seeds?" Said the child, his voice sounding very indignant for a seven-year-old.

"They will bloom in spring and summer. You'll like them." Hana could only stare at his older brother with disdain, "these are supposed to have orange flowers with purple petals, they look pretty sick. " He insisted, now really reconsidering this whole situation, he should have gone for the toy train instead.

"But I wanted something cooler! Can't you get me like a—LIKE A MAN EATER, yes! That sounds EPIC. You go to the flower shop all the time. Do you think they have one?"

"You mean a carnivorous plant." The child nodded enthusiastically. He was about to continue, but Tamao stared at him from behind the child. She didn't have to do that. He was well aware he couldn't give Hana a dangerous plant and expect to live to tell the tale if he got hurt."That's—that's not gonna happen kiddo!" He nervously added, avoiding eye contact with the okami.

"How about a cactus?" Hana insisted.

"You'll get hurt with them," he commented right away, crossing his arms, "and those are pretty easy to maintain. You want a challenge, right?"

"I guess…" Good, at least he was starting to sound more convinced.

"Just give them a try." Tried Redseb, a bit more upbeat, "if you manage to grow them, I'll consider giving you a much cooler plant, but you'll need to grow this one first, ok?"

"Fine… but only if you promise Redseb nīsan," said the child, pointing at him.

"Yes, yes, I promise, " nodded the teenager, but as soon as he caught Tamao's eyes, he passed his hand across his neck and shook his head when Hana wasn't looking. There was no way he was going to get in trouble over this.

From late summer to early spring, the months passed rather slowly for Hana. Between school, training and trying to live a moderately normal life in an inn full of weird individuals and ghosts, he didn't have a lot of exciting things going on, so starting the project that Redseb gave him on his birthday was a good idea, but he wouldn't exactly call it fun .

"Why aren't they growing? Dammit!" Said the boy staring at his pot, he had been taking his little pot around the house, saying he wanted to see when the saplings come out, but as expected, plants don't grow as fast as children want them to. Even if they stared at them really hard.

"Hana-kun!" Snapped Tamao, turning to see him, "language." Was the only word she said, and continued brushing her hair in front of her vanity mirror.

"UGH! But it's not fair, mom! This is stupid, look!" Said the child, letting himself fall over the tatami, keeping the pot high over him so he wouldn't mess the floors with soil, again, "not even one flower, they were supposed to be out already!"

"But Hana-kun, spring is just beginning, most flowers won't bloom just yet."

"But these do! Look, look!" He exclaimed, taking out a crumpled paper from the front pocket of his overalls. "It says so here. If you want to start fr from seed, start pan sy seeds in doors in late win ter 8 to 10 weeks befo re the last spring… —frost for early spring and su mmer flo wering. " Tried the child as best as he could to read like his brother taught him to.

"Did you ask Redseb if there was something wrong?"

"He just told me to read it again, and do as it says, but I did everything in the instructions and they are NOT growing." Exclaimed the child, thumping his feet in frustration.

"You know, sometimes it happens in nature, some flowers take a bit more time, but let's see…" She extended her hand, and the child gave her the crumpled paper, it even had stains on it and was torn on the side; she really wondered why he kept it with himself at all times. " Pansy seeds may be slow to germinate depending on the soil. " She read with difficulty, but at least the important information was readable. She gave it back to him., "You see? Why don't you give it a bit more time, there is still plenty of time for them to grow."

The child gave a tired sigh. That was the only thing everyone had told him at that point. Wait a little longer , always waiting, waiting, waiting! When would be the time when everyone around here had something else to say to him?

"Whatever." He responded, standing up from the tatami and leaving the room with his pot at hand. Tamao could only sigh at the sight of him.

A week passed, and one cold morning while he was getting ready for school he noticed bright green seedlings. At last! He did it! No more waiting!

"MOM, MOM, LOOK!" Screamed the child, running out of his and Redseb's room, half dressed and with the little pot in his hand.

"Hana-kun, indoor voice! Please don't bother our guests!" Insisted the okami, putting a finger by her lips.

"But look mom! They are out! They are finally out! I DID IT" Hana insisted, grabbing the sleeve of her kimono; she couldn't help but find it endearing, but it was still very early in the morning, and she was in the middle of checking the guests, so she brought him to the kitchen so he could celebrate to his heart's content.

"You see, I told you they needed a bit more time, you just needed to be patient." She finally said, closing the door behind her and giving a smile to the sight of the child trying to show the pot to Ryū, who even while cutting the morning fish, celebrated with him.

"With this, Redseb nīsan will give me something even better!" To that he turned his head around, "Where is nīsan? We always have breakfast together."

"Redseb said he needed to be early at school today, so he skipped it, but I'm sure you can tell him after school." Said Ryū

"And you should finish dressing or you'll be late." And with a push on his back, Tamao made him leave the kitchen right back to his room, although she could hear how the very enthusiastic child met the not so very enthusiastic waitresses on his way up. Maybe they'll give them an actual response in the afternoon.

"Is this a joke?" Was the response of Redseb that night. Hana waited for him as soon as he was back from school, but the teenager got home way past dinner time.

"No is not! Look, they grew from the seeds!" The child insisted, shoving the pot by his face, while Redseb did his best to clean his books from the soil that fell off the pot.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you are done."

"I'm not?!" The child screamed indignant.

"Of course not! Until I don't see blooming petals from these little seedlings you are not getting another one."

"But Redseb nīsan!" Complained the child. On other nights he would humor him, maybe have a little talk, but not today, today he was the annoyed older brother.

"Yes, yes , go whine somewhere else. I'm busy with this homework." Turning the child around from the table and making him move away.

"Busy because you are bad at school, because you are STUPID." Said Hana in return, sticking his tongue out towards him.

"HEY, you little brat!" Exclaimed Redseb, ready to hit him with his pencil case, while the child just screamed at him.

"Please keep it down…" Was the only sound that came from the other side of the table where Seyram was sitting with many books and well-organized school supplies. "I'm trying to study." She finished, pouting towards them.

"Ah … sorry Seyram." Redseb said with a lower voice, feeling rather guilty for bothering her. She had a hard time at school sometimes, especially with Japanese. He waited for a moment and no response from the child next to him, so he quickly smacked Hana behind his head, and pointed to Seyram with his eyes when the child was about to complain.

"Sorry nēchan." Hana said, scratching the back of his head.

Seyram smiled at them and continued studying in silence. Redseb grabbed Hana's head and turned him towards himself.

"Now, for real though, I need to study for my midterms. But don't worry, you are halfway there. Just make sure to give them plenty of water every day and you'll see them by the time our birthdays come around."

"Our birthdays?! But that's by the end of summer! That's like a gazillion years away!" The child complained again.

"And how long do you think things take to grow?" Redseb could only laugh at his impatience, "plants need time, and you need to stop complaining and take care of them, ok?" He explained, messing with the child's hair.

"FINE, fine!" Said Hana, taking Redseb's hand off his head.

There was no way around it, but that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying the whole process. He supposed Redseb was right, he was very good at growing flowers , this was like training, and he was great at training, so this would be a piece of cake.

"You know, you should stop staring and start talking nicely to the little ones." Mentioned Matilda, one May morning while folding Hana's clothes.

"To who?" Asked Hana, distracted, while he was watering the slightly taller seedlings.

"If you want plants to grow, the old wives tales say that you need to talk to them." Said the witch, "plants have special souls, you know?"

"They do?"

"Yep! And those souls are probably annoyed that a little brat can't stop staring at them all day, every day, without some kind of entertainment." She explained, taking the small elephant watering can from his hands, and giving him some pillowcases. "Now leave them alone and help me with these bedsheets."

"You are just saying that because you want me to help you with your chores."

"Guilty. " The witch laughed, ignoring Hana's annoyed face.

With that information, the child thought of many ways to speak to the plants, he usually said good morning to them, wished them a good day, after school he sat by the window and told them about his day, and by the end of it, he wished them good night.

Seyram lent him her mp3 player and small speakers, she told him classical music is what gardeners use sometimes, but he asked to choose the music himself, they were his plants after all. It was around the afternoon when you could listen to Awaya Ringo by his window, sometimes a couple of Soul Bob songs, but he skipped those most of the time. Everyone understood why he did that, to some extent.

Amidamaru recommended being careful with birds, since many liked to sit by the window, but Ryū solved the problem by getting Hana a paper windmill. One way or another, every member of the inn helped him with his assignment, some less willing than others, like Marion. She gave Hana pulverized egg shelves , which many were sure weren't exactly that, but she told him it was good fertilizer. Kana could only bother to fill his watering can every now and then,if she was in a good enough mood..

That's why by the time summer rolled around, and the hottest season took a toll on the poor growing flowers, the child wasn't the only one disappointed at the scene.

"But I took such good care of them!" The child whined, showing the pot with dry leafs and small sad looking buds to the rest of the inn inhabitants.

"This summer has been very hard Hana, these things happen," was the only thing that Ryū could tell him, ruffling his hair.

"I'll get you some actual flowers this time around if you want, Hana. You tried really hard." Said Redseb, trying to cheer him up.

"They can go in my room's window, the sun doesn't hit directly at it." Seyram quickly added.

"What do you think, Hana?" Finally asked the okami.

"No," said the boy, staring at the dry flowers, "I want to try again."

To that, the entire group of adults exchanged surprised looks. The child kept staring at his dying flowers, looking rather determined.

"So you don't want a cooler flower? Or a cactus?" Asked Redseb, a bit confused.

"No… I want pansies," he said, pointing at the pot. "I want some jolly joker pansies, Redseb nīsan. They did look cool, even for a bit before they died out."

"Sure." Replied Redseb with a smile.

"But you could also get me a bug eater for my birthday if you can find it!" Exclaimed the child.

"Not a chance. " Was the only response he received, not by Redseb, but the okami herself.

Maybe he'll have better luck next time.


Happy Birthday Fruity dear!

And thank you for reading, kind reader!

Comments are always a delight, please excuse my English, since I'm still not as good as I wish to be, but if you think of something I can improve I'm always open for criticism.