Hanami
Dean's back hurt like a bitch and by the looks of Sam sprawled out on the floor while Kevin massaged his aching muscles he wasn't doing much better. The stores in Tokyo literally had everything and anything. Balthazar got his Sailor Jupiter pillow, enough manga to last him a lifetime, and an emoticon plushy that he promised to share with Cas. Castiel had grabbed anything that had to do with Studio Ghibli and fluffy animals. Gabriel had got himself an Attack on Titan mask and every odd type of candy he could get his hands on. That was only a few of the angels' favorites. Then there was the rest of the company. Like Sam and Dean, Kevin and Bobby didn't buy much. Charlie on the other hand had bought bags and bags of stuff from every store they went to. Getting all of it on the plane back was definitely going to be a bitch. Right now that wasn't his problem though. All he cared about at the moment was lying on the floor and stretching out his tired muscles while the angels rifled through their very heavy treasure haul.
"Hey, boys!" Charlie called, bounding into the room with Aiko right behind her. She was no longer wearing her Star Trek T-shirt and shorts. Now she wore a raspberry pink kimono with a white flower pattern. She held up a bag, opening it so the hunters could see inside. Several more kimonos hid within. "Put these on," Charlie ordered, pulling out the kimonos and tossing them to the men and angels resting in the room.
"What? Why?" Kevin groaned while catching a red kimono before it could smack him in the face.
"Because they're cute and it took me forever to decide which ones to get you guys." Charlie spun around, admiring her own outfit. "Man these are awesome. I'm so glad I got Lila one too." She looked up, noticing that the guys had yet to move. She cleared her throat and the boys grumbled. Dean was the first to slowly push himself to his feet. He grabbed the kimono Charlie had given him and held it up to look at. It was green with a striped pattern on it.
"Fine we'll wear them, but how do we put them on?" he questioned. Hibiki and Isamu laughed and rose from where they had been sitting on the couch.
"We'll help you," Hibiki reassured. He waved a hand at the others, motioning for them to follow him to the bedroom to change. The guys and the angels followed with kimonos in hand, listening quietly as Hibiki gave them a little lesson on kimonos in general before showing them how it was supposed to be put on. Once everyone had a general idea, they got dressed, helping each other out.
"Charlie was right," Balthazar commented, spinning around in a circle and watching his kimono blow around him. "These things are awesome." Dean pulled his phone from his pants thrown on the floor. He turned, motioning at the angels to shuffle together. Dean snapped a few pictures of the angels draped in their brightly colored kimonos as the three twirled around each other and posed for the camera. Castiel's kimono was a bright sky blue with birds printed on it. Balthazar's was purple and black with dragons along the front and back. Gabe's was yellow with a black and grey swirling pattern.
Sam stepped up next to his brother with his own phone. He snapped a few pictures. "Yeah, Charlie was right. They are kinda cute." Dean turned his head, looking his brother up and down. Sam was wearing a navy blue kimono with the same pattern as Dean's.
"Awww," Dean cooed, pinching his brother's cheek. "You're cute too, little brother." Sam swatted Dean's hand away and flipped through the pictures in his phone, sending a handful to Jody. Dean glanced at Kevin and Bobby. "You two almost ready to show Charlie?" Hibiki and Isamu stepped back from the hunter and prophet. Kevin was dressed in a plain burgundy kimono while Bobby was dressed in a teal one. The two nodded, holding up their arms as they inspected themselves. Hibiki and Isamu led the guys back into the living room and Charlie squealed with delight at the sight.
"Oh my gosh!" Charlie clapped her hands together. "You guys look amazing!" Little Bartholomew giggled at his brothers and his mother turned around, smirking at him.
"Maybe we should get your kimono out too, Barty," she hummed, picking up the little angel.
"Kimmy-ono!" Bartholomew agreed, kicking his feet excitedly. Aiko laughed at the little angel in her arms and carried him out of the room. The room was silent then up until Cas' belly growled hungrily. The angel patted at his tummy, looking up at Sam and Dean.
"What's for supper?" he asked. Dean and Sam shared a look and then glanced towards Hibiki. Hibiki smiled at them.
"How about a picnic?" he suggested. "We can pack up some food and go to the park." The angels all nodded excitedly in agreement. "Alright then," Hibiki said, clapping his hands together. "I'll go tell Aiko and we can get some food ready. He left then and Dean pulled at the cloth of his kimono.
"Guess we better get dressed," he hummed. Charlie grabbed his wrist, stopping him from pulling at the kimono.
"Oh, can't we keep them on?" she pleaded. "We could get a picture by some cherry trees in them for the scrap book." Dean frowned, glancing at Isamu.
"Is it okay that we wear them? There's not a rule or anything that goes against tradition is there?" Isamu thought for a second and then shook his head.
"Not that I know of," the boy stated. "You should be fine." Charlie looked at Dean hopefully, practically jumping up and down as she stared at the hunter with big eyes. Dean rolled his eyes at her.
"Fine, but if we slop food all over these you're the one doing the laundry."
Dean patted Charlie's shoulder lightly as they stood in the park. Her disappointment was obvious. She had been hoping for beautiful pink and white cherry blossoms in the park just like she'd seen in various anime and manga. What was waiting for them in the park were bright green cherry blossom trees with no blossoms at all.
"Sorry," Isamu apologized as he helped his parents unroll a straw mat on the ground. "The blossoms bloom late winter and early spring, not the summer."
"Drat," Charlie sighed, eyes staring down at her feet and landing on the angels standing there. An idea struck her then and a hesitant smile quirked at the corner of her lips. "Guys?" she called. The angels looked up at her curiously. "You guys have a green thumb, right?" The angels quirked their heads to the side in confusion and Charlie nodded at the blossomless trees around them. Their eyes widened in understanding instantly and the three scurried away from Charlie and towards one of the bigger trees in the park. They pressed their hands to the tree and closed their eyes. Grace coiled from the three and fed into the trees. Pink blossoms bloomed along the branches. Wind gently blew against them and several soft petals swept around the group.
"That's better," Balthazar hummed, sprawling out on the grass to watch the beautiful petals fly.
"You guys are amazing!" Charlie squealed. She twirled around as another gust of wind blew more petals down on the group.
"Damn," Dean commented, his eyes shining as he stared at the angels' impressing handy work. Cas jumped into his arms, grinning proudly up at the hunter. Dean grinned back. "Look at you all grownup with your big powerful grace," Dean cooed. Cas flapping his wings happily at the praise. Charlie raced over then pecking the angel on the cheek.
"Thanks, Cas," she whispered before rushing away to grab at Gabe and Balthy to give them a big kiss too. Gabriel and Balthazar squealed, bolting away from Charlie before she could grab them.
"Time to eat!" Aiko called just as Charlie was about to grab Gabriel. All thoughts on chasing the angels disappeared as her stomach growled hungrily and she ran towards the others quickly gathering around the straw mat covered in food with Gabriel and Balthazar following close behind her. She sat down between Bobby and Kevin and the angels piled around them. They watched as Aiko and Hibiki scooped food onto several plates and passed them around. Aiko smiled at them and looked around at the cherry blossoms floating overhead.
"Looks like we'll be having a hanami after all," she commented.
"A what?" Dean questioned.
"A hanami," Isamu explained. "It's a picnic party where you enjoy cherry blossoms and food." Dean hummed and grabbed some weird sushi looking thing from his paper plate. He looked it over before plopping it into his mouth. His face contorted and Bartholomew giggled loudly as Dean spat the hunk of weird fish into his napkin.
"Fishy face!" Bartholomew squeaked. Dean glared at the baby angel, but he only continued to laugh harder. Dean cleared his throat and turned his glaring green eyes down to his napkin.
"Not a fan of fish?" Aiko chuckled. Dean shook his head.
"I don't like fish that's still trying to swim away," Dean gagged, tossing his napkin into a bag they brought along for garbage.
"Here, try this," Kevin joined in, tossing Dean some sort of bun. Dean took a bite and sighed when he found that it actually tasted pretty good. He took a few more bites, humming contently. Bartholomew pouted at him when he didn't make any more funny faces while eating. Dean noticed and packed the rest of the bun into his cheeks until they puffed out like a squirrel or chipmunk's. Bartholomew giggled and Dean reached out, picking up the baby angel decked out in a very light green kimono with different types of leaves printed on it. He crossed his eyes and the angel squealed with delight. Bartholomew's brother's joined in then, packing their own cheeks in with food too and making funny faces. Dean turned Barty around to see and the angel's face turns bright red as he laughed. Aiko snapped some pictures, grinning widely as her baby boy cried out with laughter.
By the time the sun started to set the angels were all asleep in a large pile in the grass. They were curled around each other, wings splayed out. Luckily everybody that had been at the park left hours ago.
Everyone sat silently and enjoyed the cherry blossoms slowly falling from the trees and disappearing before they hit the ground. Without the angels' concentration they were slowly beginning to vanish.
"You will come to visit, yes?" Isamu questioned, turning his gaze from the cherry blossoms and onto the new family he'd had the honor of meeting.
"Of course," Sam said with a smile. He looked at the others. "Right?" They all nodded enthusiastically, but Dean let out a groan.
"We'll have to find some chiropractors if we buy as much as we did this time around," he huffed, flexing the muscles he'd strained while hauling all their shopping. Isamu and his parents laughed.
"We'll have our acupuncturist on speed dial," Aiko promised.
Dean stretched and fell down onto his back so he was lying in the grass beside the sleeping angels. Sam, Charlie, Kevin, and Bobby followed him. The five stared up at the slowly darkening sky, watching pink and white petals fly gracefully through the air. They closed their eyes and the soft whisper of the wind through the trees carried them away to a place of peace and relaxation.
I'm back from MinnCon! I had a blast while there. In all honesty it was one of the best conventions I've been to. Everyone was really nice and my god those men can sing! The Rules and Regulations song is going to be stuck in my head forever now. If you want to see pictures there are a few on my twitter ( mymindismysword).