The Art of The Water War

"Iris, you fiend!"

Rang out the shout of a young boy as he raced across the rather large back yard, chasing his older sister who was cackling manically as she dashed away. The young boy was sopping wet and pieces of a blue balloon stuck to his striped T-shirt. Now that he thought about it maybe having a water balloon fight with his 17 year old older sister was not the best idea he'd ever had, but then again she had started it. Iris turned around and stuck her tongue out at Aster childishly. A nearby voice laughed and the two siblings turned to see their older sister, Heather, watching them with amusement from the front porch. Iris lifted her eyebrows over her blue eyes:

"You want in, Heath?"

Heather shook her head, trying to stifle her laughter:

"Nope, I'm good. You two can still be so childish though."

Iris and Aster exchanged a look and a nod before both launched a pair of water balloons as the girl. This was an act of war. Heather spat out a bit of water, moved her short wet brown hair out of her eyes and narrowed her grey eyes at her siblings:

"Alright, bring it on."

"Um, Heath, you don't have a weapon."

Aster pointed out bluntly to which Heather replied by flashing them a devious grin and pulling out a water rifle filled to the brim. Exchanging another, now wide-eyed look with each other, Iris and Aster started running away from their older sister. Heather dashed after the two.

"Oh no, you don't ! You started this war, cowards!"

Iris was quickly shot in the back by Heather's rifle to which she responded by launching another water balloon at the older girl's head. Aster decided to take that as his chance and ambushed both girls by jumping down from the tree and pelting both with his own water-filled missiles. Both rounded on him:

"ASTER!"

The 13 year old boy struck a victory pose before sprinting off as he yelled back:

"You snooze, you lose! Later, suckers!"

Iris cast a look at Heather and held out her free hand:

"Temporary truce?"

"Truce."

Heather grasped Iris's hand and nodded. Iris ran off left while Heather decided to corner the fiend known as Aster from the right. A redhead poked her head out of the second floor window, balancing a small child on her hip:

"Iris!"

"Yeah?"

"Mind keeping it down a bit? I'm trying to put Wendy back down for a nap. You idiots woke her up."

Iris took a look at her niece to see the small two year old looking at her with curiousity shining in her big green eyes, beneath a curly blond mop of hair:

"She looks wide awake to me, Ivy."

The mother of the child sighed tiredly:

"Yes, that's because you dolts woke her up."

"Well, does she want to sleep?"

Unexpectedly, Wendy decided to speak for herself:

"No!"

"See? Problem solved!"

Ivy pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand and shook her head before casting an exasperated look at Iris:

"Aren't you a bit old for this?"

Iris cast a scandalised look at Ivy:

"Ivy, I expected better of you! I thought that you of all people would understand that the art of the water war is something that one can never outgrow, it is a sacred tradition of the Fawners family passed down for generations and as such it is played on the last day of summer so--"

Wendy cut her off with a laugh before grabbing her mother's shirt excitedly:

"Play,Mummy! Play!"

Ivy looked between her daughter and her sister who was 5 years her junior.

"You are determined to drag me into this, aren't you?"

Iris shrugged. "Well, Aster and Heather are already playing and Ren went off to find his own pistols while Dad's taking a time out and getting scolded by Mum for nearly killing her petunias so...Yeah, I am. The whole family is going to be playing soon."

Ivy sighed. "Family tradition, huh? Where's Daisy and Michael?"

Iris grimaced at the mention of her third older sister and her husband. "Hiding in the house like a bunch of chickens, but we'll get them out. Before you ask Ren's kids and wife are gonna be here soon too so you and Wendy should really join in. It is the Fawners Family Fun time."

Wendy clapped her hands excitedly. "Fun! Fun! Mummy, fun!"

Ivy raised her free hand in a gesture of surrender. "Ugh, fine. We'll join in. This munchkin doesn't look like she's going to back to sleep anyway. I swear this family has the craziest traditions. Why on the last day of summer?"

Iris chuckled and ran off without answering and Ivy went back inside the house. Her gaze landed on Aster's handmade calendar and she chuckled when she saw the current date circled in red marker and labelled 'LAST DAY OF FREEDOM'. Oh, that was right - school started up for Iris and Aster tomorrow again. This was how they'd always celebrated their last day of freedom. This was was when they showcased something they called the 'Art of the Water War." Too bad everyone in the family ended up sopping wet every single time. Oh, well, it was a fun activity anyway.

A/N: Not my best piece of work, but hopefully it's acceptable.