Arlene
The last time they had done something like this, it was right before Fall began, before Akira became a victim to the werewolves' never ending hunger. Ever since then, Kela and Aki found themselves in difficult times, just like the rest of Briar Ridge.

 The man was one of the few witnesses of her change. He had noticed how distant she became, he saw her gradual change from a gentle, hardworking farmer, to a woman who clung to alcohol in the nights for comfort, someone whose body was becoming more broken as the full moons came and went. In only two seasons, Akira changed.

But despite everything, she and Kela were still best friends, just like on the first day the Hirano set foot in town. Now that Spring had finally arrived, and with her wounds slowly healing, the two saw the chance to finally return to one of their most favorite pastimes. Akira hadn't looked this excited in months, as the dates lined up perfectly with Hanami celebrations. She wondered what her family back home were up to, probably all dressed up watching the cherry blossoms, indulging in Granma's cooking. At any point, Akira would expect a letter from then. 

 A part of her couldn't help but feel slightly guilty. Was it right to be selfish for one day and not think about the future of Briar Ridge? Was she allowed to smile? The short and uncomplicated answer was yes. If anything taught her in the last few months, it was that she deserved to stay breathing, if not for her, for her loved ones. Self destruction was no longer the answer if she could help bringing a bright future. 

As soon as she put on her most comfortable outfit, she began to brew the last batch of green tea. She even took some baked goods for the occasion! Though, granted, these cakes were made by Jade. What mattered was that she had done all this by herself and without help.

With everything put neatly together in a basket, Akira wasted no time to go next door. Such a small act of independence was enough to make her smile. Aki could

Be happy with so little, perhaps she didn't change at all. 

"Kela-Kun!" She called out from the porch, her excitement was audible by the way she used the small honorific to his name, a habit she picked up over the years.

"I'm here~"
George
From his attic bedroom, with its low ceiling and small windows, Kela could lie on his front in bed and see the path that led up to the porch. In the free time he had that wasn't taken up with farm work or delivering goods to various homes across town, or indeed with visiting his friends or simply going for a walk down to the riverbank, he had developed a habit of lying there atop his mattress and wondering when she would come. 

The trees had bloomed in pink and white, and for years, that had been his and Akira's shared sign that springtime had well and truly nestled into the streets and hearts of Briar Ridge. Before her, the seasons changing had never meant much to Kela - he had been someone who preferred to be indoors or under the cover of darkness, learning to enjoy his own company more and more as he'd grown older. But then he had met Aki, and her love of the warm weather and the petals drifting through the bluest skies that the Appalachians had to offer... Well, they had been somewhat infectious. And she had taught him to love them too. 

He had wondered if she would come this year. The blossoms' arrival had almost perfectly coincided with her injury as March drew to a close and April unfurled its wings, and she had (or so he'd thought) perhaps been too consumed by other things to prioritise or even recall their tradition. 

The first warm night of each true spring, as the sun came to set the sky alight with peach and gold, Aki and Kela would take tea and treats and blankets out to one yard or another, and side by side would watch the stars come out, like pin-pricks in the cloak of the night sky. They would share in their own private version of the traditional tea ritual that the Hirano had brought with them from their far-off homeland, and Kela would find the constellations overhead and tell Aki the stories, even though she surely could have recited them herself from memory by now.

Each time he told them to her as though they were brand new. 

So as he saw her approaching with her basket, he had leapt from his bed and almost flown down the uneven staircase in what felt like a single step, so quickly that by the time she called for him, he was already pulling open the door. 
If she hadn't had the basket and its precious contents in hand, he'd have picked her up and spun her around and around until they were both dizzy.
As it was, he simply threw his arms around her, and squeezed and squeezed with the intent to not let go until she fought to get away. 

"I was starting to think you'd forget this year, Aka-chan. I'm so glad you're here."

||
Arlene
With the weight of tomorrow, it made sense for Kela to assume their tradition came to a halt. But Akira never forgot, nor did she want to cut the ties that made her feel still alive in the face of the horrors Briar Ridge had been facing for almost a year. Coming to the Appalachian, the last thing the Hirano expected was to find a real community, people they could call friends, a place to call home. Kela was part of her family now, something the woman had sworn to herself to not lose after being away from her own blood on the other side of the world. 

The woman smiled from ear to ear just by seeing him, and put no resistance as he embrace her. She tried to return the gesture in her own ways, using her one arm carefully as she still held the basket, cursing herself for not being able to squeeze him back like she used to. Her body still needed to recover, but at the very least she could still show her love through her actions. 

Akira laughed, sometimes it was hard to tell whether she did it to cope with her pain, but Kela at that point would know her for long enough when she faked her. This time, she was being genuine, for she felt accepted and safe. She was in a place where she could still experience what was to be in the community she had first seen when she moved to town.

"Of course I didn't forget!" Aki said, looking up as she still held Kela, with her head barely reaching his chest. 

"I brought the usual here, and something new, I brought some cakes!....I didn't make them." 

Of course she didn't make them, but she had to let Kela know before worrying him over her potentially creating a biohazard. Akira tried to cook, she made her best attempt and she could make decent soups, plain rice and grilled meats (she'd sometimes burn them, but she'd defend what little pride she had in her by saying she liked crunchy textures.). Everything else was uncharted territory for her, and American Southen cooking both confused her while it became a an exotic fascination. She

Attempted to make cookies once for Christmas, and she almost burnt the whole kitchen down, much for Kela's amusement and Mako's horror. 

"I had a friend bake some for me and otōsan while I was still recovering, but I think she overestimated the quantities a bit." Akira laughed, making the rare of display of her mixing English and Japanese together into her speech, something so unusual in her that perhaps only the Kahawai family were one of the few to experience it. 

"How's Lani and your parents? I can say I got enough tea and cakes for them, too." The woman followed, making her way to put everything she had brought on the dining table, giving her one arm some rest.
George
He allowed her into the farmhouse with a smile, pausing only to close the door behind her as he followed. 
How he had missed her voice as it were now, unladen with the burden of all that she carried with her day by day, laughing and smiling as she deserved to - as he wished she always could. There were not words for the things that she meant to him, at least not ones that he knew. Had he been able to, he would have given all he had and more to have her beaming and smiling in his midst always. To take from her what lay upon her shoulders and leave her light as the blossoms carried by the breeze, with that tell-tale sparkle in her eye, and a joyous lilt to her tone like the music he so loved.
While he couldn't ensure her happiness all of the time, he could at least treasure each moment of the nights like these. 

He watched her from the doorway, leaning on the frame as she unpacked her basket onto the table. He could pick out the teapot, watch as soft plumes of steam came in wisps from its spout when it was set down, and he wondered how long it had taken her to do all of this - to brew the delicate leaves, to pack up the treats into small parcels and fit them into the basket just so, and how much effort she had put in to their tradition. It warmed his heart and broke it at the same time. She was just so... *Strong*. Infallible, really. Briar Ridge - no, more, the world - had dealt her a hand that seemed doomed to lose time and time again, and yet, Akira persevered. She got up, and climbed higher, and when she fell, she would get back up again. 
If he could be even half so strong as she were one day, he would be a better man. 

"Lani's doing great. She's almost top of her class at school, can you believe it? She definitely takes after her mama... Malia was the smartest kid her age too."

As he often did, he glanced upwards at the mention of his late sister's name. Could she see him? See her daughter following in her footsteps, learning and growing by the day? And could she see that he was growing, too, even now? That he was trying?
"She and my father will be out herding the goats in now, I'm sure they'll be in any minute. Mama went to see Mrs Lovejoy - something about pastry." He smiled. "You're too kind to us, you know. Bringing all these sweet things. What can I do to be useful?"

||
Arlene
To remain strong was the only option people of Briar Ridge had in times like this. Akira was one of them, though she always remained quiet, like a storm about to happen at any moment. Kela must had been one of the few witnesses of her struggles, the one to see through her many layers. He had seen her fall again and again with the only choice to pick herself up. In truth, without people like him, Aki would had long since left this life. She could had easily fallen victim to her own apathy and self hatred, she had been close to the point of no return far too many times.

"Oh, I wouldn't doubt it one bit, Lani surely is gonna go places when she grows up! Mark my words." She laughed.

To be called kind always gave Akira a kind of heartache she found hard to describe. It came natural for her to stay gentle despite what the world threw at her, she could take almost any kind of hit, and still bow and pray for forgiveness like a mistreated hound who disappointed its owner. Her life had been a path of redemption and self sacrifice to the point that she had become a danger to herself.

And even then, she felt her actions hadn't been enough. She wasn't enough, almost as if Akira had to be the one to take all the responsibility and the blame for simply existing.

"Pfft, you're the one who is too kind, Kela-kun." She said. "Though now that I think about it... You can help me set this up? I can bring the food, maybe you can bring the blankets and the tea?" 

Their small picnic didn't have to be complicated or fancy. It was just two friends sitting on the farmhouse backyard, with something good to eat and drink. It was all Akira asked, it was all her heart needed.

She could see her home as soon as she stepped outside, smiling at the thought of her father finally getting a full night's rest. If anyone deserved peace more than anyone, it had to be him.

"Ah, good to see the sky being so clear tonight." Aki added, almost as if nature had given them this gift just so

They could go back in time. 

"It seems like nothing has changed... Other than I see more goats around." She laughed.
George
Kela smiled, for Aki had been something special to Lani ever since the day they met, when the young girl had been little more than a baby, running through the long grass and laughing and calling out to *Auntie Aki*, or *ʻanakē*, from the moment she knew her name. Aki was Lani's hero, and Kela only wished that the rest of Briar Ridge would take the time to see her that way too. "She will. If anyone makes it out of here, it'll be her, and I can't wait til the day I see it."

He nodded and obliged when she asked for his help, glad to assist in whatever way he could. The blankets were neatly folded in a basket by the fireplace, and he took care to pick out the same ones they always used - a thick woven one to cover the grass and protect them from any evening dew, and a large, well-worn woolen thing to cover their shoulders as the chill would no doubt set in thanks to the sun having slipped low on the horizon. 

Traditions were wonderful things in their simplicity. Both Akira's and his own culture held the past in high regard, and it felt like an honour to both of their ancestors to not only respect the doings of days gone by, but to have formed a pattern all of their own, one they'd pass down to Lani when she was old enough to stay up past dark, and then, perhaps, on to children of their own that they'd have one day. 
Akira would make an excellent mother, should she choose that path. As to what his own future held in terms of family, Kela wasn't so sure, but he hoped that there would be many young minds to feed their stories to, when the time was right. 

He took the teapot carefully - the last thing he wanted to do was spill her hard work across the floorboards in his all-too-common clumsiness - and followed her out into the yard, lit by the glow of a waning moon and the few stars that were beginning to prick through the night sky's own blanket. They were late, but it didn't matter.

The night belonged to them, and there was nothing on this earth that could take it away from them. Time faded into triviality when Kela and Akira were alone with nothing but the constellations and the gods to observe them.

"It's a sign. The summer will come soon," He murmured, and he could only hope, for he longed for it, for the humid heat broken by the short relief of night, for each day lengthening minutes at a time, for flowers to bloom forth in their masses and for greenery to cover all the blood that had been spilled onto winter's white. 
"I swear, they're multiplying every time I *Blink*," He grumbled, gesturing with clear exasperation to the goat-house at the end of the yard. "I counted three kids just Tuesday morning, and now there are *Six* Of the blasted little things stumbling about the place. Useless until they grow... You'll have to make sure to come by at feeding time."

||
Arlene
Akira hoped for sure that Lani would one of the ones to make it out. Not just in the sense of leaving Briar Ridge if she so desired to build a future outside of it, but she knew she would survive and _thrive_ in these trying times, even if her own destiny and survival were uncertain.

She was smart, brilliant even, it had become a habit of the little girl to ask Aki many questions.

_'Auntie Aki, why are you and Mako so sad?_'

'_Auntie, Kela says you've been very sick, maybe I should have mama make you some soup to make you feel better!_'

_'Why is everyone so angry these days?'_

Many times, Akira wouldn't know what to say, she only knew how to comfort, how to help others. She was a helper, a fixer, she wasn't used to talking about herself. More importantly, her and Kela wanted to shelter Lani from the truth, to keep her safe. 

Ignorance was bliss, after all. She only hoped her little princess' innocence would stay intact, that her heart would stay pure despite the horrors, that she could still hold her close, without fearing of braking her.

Not only it was certani for Aki that Lani would survive and thrive, Kela would for sure would, too. The entire Kahawai family had been blessed for not having been a werewolf target so far, their farmhouse was probably one of the few still intact buildings in town. Every time Aki saw that her dear friend and his family would come unscathed after a full moon, she'd always tear up in joy. 

It felt so surreal that when the two sat down on the mattress, it was as if they travelled back in time... Extra goats aside. 

"Really? Six?" Akira laughed. She laughed! When was it the last time she made a gesture so simple, yet so hard to muster these days in a sea of guilt and regret?

"I could've sworn I counted eight this morning." 

The woman teased once again, grabbing the two cups she had brought for the occasion as she ever so carefully began to pour the tea. 

"I'm feeling well enough to do some light work right now." She added,

As if her life didn't become a job on itself.

"I can feed your goats to lighten up the load now... In exchange of cheese, you know I don't ask for much." 

But as many goats as they owned, nothing could come close to the stars above them. God forbid, Briar Ridge may start implementing a goat army to fight off the werewolf infestation if that were the case! That was, if Kela ever allowed such practices. Akira was aware of how protective he came to be around her.

"So pretty..." Her head pointed to the sky again. Her voice quieted back to her usual gentle tone, coupled with the faint raspiness of her vocal cords. 

"No matter how many times I look at them, stars never stop to amaze me..."
George
Aki had gone quiet for a moment, and something in her face told Kela that she was deep in thought, as she so often was. It was rare that he could coax her worries out of her and into the open, but when he could, more often than not it was on nights like tonight, in balmy weather and good company, just the two of them and their tea-party of sorts and the occasional sound of an owl in the trees or a far-off fox in the bushes. 

He spread out the blanket, and by the time they were sitting atop it, she was laughing again. He left the teapot for her to do the honours of pouring, and shook out the second blanket, first draping it over her own shoulders and then his own. He had chosen to sit on her injured side - a new habit he'd developed since that morning she came home hurt. If he'd looked into his own actions long enough he might have concluded that it came from a place of worry, of fear - that she would be in danger again, that there would be trouble despite the lack of the full-moon's glow, and that without him there, she went undefended against anyone or any*Thing* That might come for her. He would not leave her defenceless. He was as responsible for her as he was for Lani, or his parents. And Mako would surely not hesitate to kill him himself if anything were to happen to Akira under his watch. 

How he loved to hear her laugh. How he wished that laughter never had to fall silent, never had its place taken by a voice cracked with unshed tears. He had seen Aki cry too much, this winter, enough to last him a lifetime. If she never wept again until her dying day, it'd be too soon.

Kela wrapped his arm around her. 

"I'll be sure to call on you if we find ourselves needing a hand," He promised. "And I'm sure we could pay you in more than cheese - you know you're always welcome to that. Demand is high at the moment, Papa's making it as fast as he can. So really... I suppose even I have to admit that the more goats, the better. More kids means more milk, after all. But - *Eight*, Aka-chan? Really? I'll have to count them again in the morning. Wish me luck."

He rolled his eyes fondly, and followed her gaze upwards. The stars were really coming out now as the sun slipped lower over the horizon, a pinkish sunset giving way to ink-black night. 
"They're beautiful," He sighed, content, and then, in a slightly teasing tone, added, "As beautiful as you are beneath them." 
He squeezed her good shoulder playfully, and shifted his weight slightly, so she could lean against him if she found herself tired and struck with the desire to. 
"I'm glad we could do this again. I really worried it might be a tradition we'd leave behind. And it's not something I'm ready to say goodbye to just yet."

||
Arlene
Akira never expected Kela to become her right hand, quite literally speaking. Yet, such role only seemed fitting for a friend like him. After knowing him all these years, after being one of the few people who had been able to see through the layers where she hid. Aki didn't know how much long she had in this life, as someone being on borrowed time trying to end this nightmare. But at the very least, Kela was still there. Not everyone would stay friends with someone after finding out that they were a werewolf. 

If Briar Ridge were to find out, Akira knew she wouldn't be part of it anymore. It was the kind of heartache she'd struggle to bear, one reason to believe she was too far gone, too sinful.

"Aw shush...! Have you looked yourself in the mirror?" The woman chuckled with a bashful smile after being called 'beautiful', wiggling as he embraced her before she leaned on him. Someone like her would be difficult to look at to some people, she had become aware of the pitiful looks as she walks around town, or the way some people couldn't meet her gaze. Akira was scarred, she had lost how many times she had to be put back together, sometimes not having any other choice but to treat her wounds at home to avoid any questions. Mitica even once told her the story when he got arrested over his own scars in Chicago. It had seemed as if having survived hell was an offense in this world. 

And yet, Kela was always there. A man beautiful in the eyes of many. Now if only he could take advantage of his looks to get the courage confess his feelings to dear James...

"But, of course I'm not ready to say goodbye to this either." Akira said, her breathing relaxing as she lift her own tea cup to her lips, sipping on it slowly.

Even as uncertain as her future, she wasn't ready leave just yet. Dying was easy, but saying goodbye was what always stopped Akira.

She didn't want Kela to sit by the stars alone.
She didn't want Mitica to spend another lonely winter in his wagon.
She didn'

T want Lani to learn Japanese by herself.
She wasn't ready for her father to spend his twilight years without his family.

"I know that... Things are less than ideal now. And I know... The stupid things you had to see me do." Aki continued. "But I promise you I'll fight to keep our tradition going, every year, every decade."

A faint smile curled up on her lips.

"I'm forever thankful that you were there for me to remind me why I'm still here, Kela-kun."