The Yamanaka family sat together at the dining table. That evening, the family had Chinese food that was cooked by Ino as their dinner. Ino always cooks for their dinner despite her busy life managing a flower shop and Yamanaka clan.
Sai just finished taking a shower, and he smelled like flowers. The soap he used was a special soup created by Ino using her flowers, honey and some chemical stuff. He sat beside his wife, while his son, Inojin, sat in front of them, at the other side of the table.
Inojin just turned 4 year old a few months back. He now could talk properly. His mom taught him how to read, speak and count. Ino was a top student in the academy, Inojin probably got the genius gene from his mom and that was the reason he could understand and adopt what he learnt faster than other kids, surprisingly he even could solve simple math questions.
The family had some small conversations while eating, it was just a normal Yamanaka family dinner, until...
"Mom, I want a pet. I want to make it as my best friend." Inojin suddenly asked. He never asked for a pet before. Ino and Sai were shocked a bit with that sudden request from their son.
"But I thought Mr. Fluffy is your best friend?" Ino questioned, her finger pointed on a teddy bear in Inojin's left hand. He always brought it everywhere he went.
"Yes but Mr. Fluffy cannot move and talk. I love him but I want a friend that can talk with me." Inojin answered. "I want a big and strong pet, so that it can help me at the shop. I want to hug it everyday so I want a cute, fluffy and chonky pet." He described his dream pet.
"My my, you can have a pet, but… fully chew and swallow the food inside your mouth first. Chew them properly. A good boy not talking while eating, Inojin." With a soft voice, Ino teached Inojin basic table manners. She wanted to raise Inojin to be a gentleman with good manners.
Inojin pulled his face. "Inojin-" Ino blushed out of annoyance.
Before his mom could complete her sentence, Inojin laughed happily after he saw his mom's red face. Both Ino and Sai sighed and shook their heads.
"Inojin, that's enough. Finish your dinner and then brush your teeth before going to sleep. Tomorrow morning we will find your dream pet. So, you need to sleep early tonight." Sai opened his mouth.
"Honey, you don't have work tomorrow?" Ino asked curiously.
"I will take a day off tomorrow."
As a new appointed leader of Anbu Black Ops, Sai had tons of work he needed to handle even on the weekends. He rarely took a day off or had a holiday. Afterall, he's the new leader of Anbu, he needed to gain his subordinates' trust, and develop it to be a better organization. At least until next month, he needs to survive work with almost no holidays.
Ino seemed very happy and full of exhilaration. She had never been this happy since Sai became Anbu leader. Ino stood up from her seat and hugged her husband.
"Thanks, honey." Ino whispered into Sai's ear. Her eyes were filled with tears of happiness.
"Anything for you and Inojin, my dear."
After Sai made sure Inojin was asleep, he then took a seat on a cozy sofa in front of the TV. Ino walked out of the kitchen and saw her husband watching a night show. She then landed on Sai's chest.
Both of them stay silent. After a few minutes, Sai noticed Ino was making a worried face and tried to hide it from him.
"What happened dear? What is in your mind?" Sai asked with a gentle voice.
Ino at first didn't want to answer it, but after Sai keeped asking her every 1 minute, she opened her mouth. "You know what honey, to be honest I'm not a big fan of pets or animals in general." Ino confessed.
"Huh, why? You do not look like a person who hates animals. You are a boar and you marry me, a rhino. You even named our son a boar too." Sai's hobby is teasing his wife. That's his love language. But sometimes he teased her too much and made her annoyed and irritated. A funny, weird but lovely and caring husband.
"Honey-" Ino was annoyed. "No, I don't hate animals, but I have some bad experiences with them. When I was a kid, my pet dog destroyed our flowers. Few years after that, my family bought a cute cat, but it always pooped in our shop. Not to mention how many animals in the forest irritated me while doing missions. What if Inojin becomes like her mom who dont know how to take care of a pet? What if Inojin ends up disliking animals? I don't want him to be like that. What if Inojin-"
"Enough dear. We will teach him how to treat a pet the right way. He's young but he's a very caring, trustful and responsible son. I'm pretty sure he will take good care of his pet." Sai stopped Ino from continuing her blabeering. His index finger was on Ino's mouth, a symbol to ask her to be quiet.
"Trust your son as much as you trust a man who had no emotion, past and name to be your husband." Sai ended his comfort words with a kiss on his wife's forehead.
Ino raised her head, her eyes were looking at her husband's handsome face.
"Yes, you are right, as a mom I should trust my son. Thanks honey, you always find a way to comfort me."
"That's a husband's job, no need to thank me…. Anyway, how about we have a sex tonight-"
She softly flicked his forehead with a grin and said "not tonight, we have a long day tomorrow so let's sleep early", leaving Sai pouting.
Later that night, Sai, Ino and Inojin were having deep sleeps.
Inojin wore a bright yellow shirt, a black short pants and a pair of cute rubber duck slippers. Inojin also brought an umbrella with him since the sky looked gloomy.
Ino and Sai at the back were following Inojin's lead. Inojin wanted to hold hands with his mom but he chose not to since he wanted to act tough in front of other people or to be more correct, in front of Boruto and Shikadai.
"Inojin, do you already have any idea what animal you want to choose to be your pet?" Ino asked her son since Inojin was completely silent for 15 minutes. He also walked aimlessly to random streets.
Inojin shaked his head. Ino smiled looking at her son's response.
"I know a place to get the idea. How about we go to the zoo-" Before Ino could finish her sentence, Inojin already turned his head. He looked excited, his eyes were sparkling and his mouth was wide open. He is a fan of animals, he loves all kinds of animals and he always watches animal documentaries on National Geographic. Hearing the word "zoo" from his mom made him really excited.
Time taken from the middle of Konoha to the zoo was 20 minutes by walk. Sai took out a paint brush and drew a bird on a scroll with the brush that had chakra infused ink and after making a hand sign the chakra flowed through it allowing the beautifully made bird to come to life and reveal how magnificent it was. Choju Giga, a special jutsu that only Sai and Inojin could do. Inojin has been practicing with his dad since 3 year old. He is a mini artist, he loves drawing, and because drawing is his hobby, he could cast Choju Giga at a young age, although so far for now, he only could make small birds.
All of them hopped on the bird. Ino helped Inojin jump onto the bird. Sai asked the bird to fly to the zoo, this way they could reach the place faster and could rest their feet. Inojin was really
exhilarated, riding his father's Choju Giga creations was one of his favorites, in his mind, he felt like he was a king of animals while riding them. On their way to the zoo, he saw Shikadai at his home. He waved his hands, and shouted Shikadai's name while making a bragging face. Why would he not brag? He is the only child who has this 'privilege'.
After a few minutes of journey, they reached the zoo. Konoha Zoo, a newly opened zoo that started their business 3 years prior. Since that day was World Rhino Day, all people can enter the zoo for free. Many people were there and most of them came with their families.
The Yamanaka family entered the zoo and their first destination was the tigers section. The magnificent looking mammals roared soon after they reached there. "I want a tiger!" Inojin shouted while looking at the tigers. Majestic beasts that managed to make Inojin attracted to. His eyes did not move a bit from looking at the tigers.
"Inojin... tiger, lion, rhino, elephant and other wild animals, all of them you cannot make them as pets." Sai sighed.
"How about a crocodile?" Inojin asked. He put on his thinking face, staring at his dad.
"You already know the answer, Inojin. Now stop joking!" Ino annoyed a bit.
Inojin laughed and immediately ran away from his mom. His cuteness made his parents and other people near him smile looking at him.
Ino chased him from behind. The chasing between the mom and the son were really cute, and Sai couldn't resist taking out his camera and started snapping pictures of them. Inojin ran away and unintentionally entered the Petting Zone.
The Petting Zone was a zone for people to pet animals. Here people could give them food and rub them. All the animals here were small and tame. Small animals like pygmy goats, rabbits, birds, pigs and rodents were here. In the Petting Zone of Konoha Zoo, cats and dogs were also there too.
Inojin was really amazed looking at them. Ino and Sai arrived at the place a few seconds behind Inojin. The zookeeper immediately came near the Yamanaka family. She explained a bit about the Petting Zone and invited them to join her and other visitors petting the animals.
Inojin didn't waste any seconds, he took a handful of grains and nuts, and then he fed the bunnies and rodents. He rubbed a pygmy goat's body. He also hugged a mini chubby pig. He almost kissed the pig but Ino pulled Inojin away before he could do that.
"You touched a lot of animals, later you need to wash your hands thoroughly and after we get home you need to bathe with antigerm soap." Ino explained to Inojin loud and clear.
Inojin didn't care what his mom said and continued touching, hugging and petting the animals. Before Ino became mad again, Sai immediately touched his wife's shoulder, and invited her to sit with him and let Inojin enjoy his small heaven.
While Inojin fed a parrot, a cute little puppy, golden colored, wagged its tail while slowly coming to Inojin. The pup looked really happy coming to Inojin with its tongue hanging out. It suddenly jumped onto Inojin and licked his face. Inojin didn't know why it acted like that. The pup acted really friendly toward him. He felt like the pup wanted to play with him.
Inojin then took some dog food and fed the pup. Soon after, he rubbed its body and tickled its belly. He played with the pup for a few minutes.They chased each other, played with toys, and danced together. He then realized he still didn't know the pup's name.
"Moshi moshi, what's your name, little puppy?" Inojin asked for its name, the pup was on Inojin's chest.
"Woof! Woof!" The pup barked. Inojin laughed after hearing it's reaction. Inojin understood that it was trying to tell it's name, but it couldn't speak and only could bark. Since Inojin didn't know the name of the pup, he tried to come up with a new name for the dog.
"Hurm… how about I name you 'Akkun'. Do you like the name?" He got the idea from a cartoon show he watched on TV, a cartoon about a clay doll named "Akkun" who was a hero that always helped others.
"Woof!" The pup reacted. It was really happy with the name and licked all over Inojin's face again.
"Hahaha Akkun stop it." Inojin giggled and then kissed Akkun's nose. He somehow fell in love with Akkun. In those short moments with Akkun, he felt like he found what he wanted, he wanted that puppy, he wanted it to be his best friend.
"Inojin, we need to go now. There are a lot more animals we do not see." Ino suddenly called him.
He looked at Akkun, then he grabbed it and ran to his mom while holding it.
"Mom, I want this. I found it, I want it to be my pet. I want Akkun!" Inojin requested. His eyes sparkled.
Both Sai and Ino were shocked. Inojin is a brilliant boy who understood rules and situations, so they thought Inojin knew that he couldn't take animals out of the zoo and was just joking around. Because of this, they answered Inojin's request just with laughter.
Inojin's face turned red, his eyes started watering.
"Why are you laughing mom, dad? I want it, I'm not joking. Or do you mean I cannot take it?" Inojin sobbed.
Ino started to panic. "Oh no! How can I answer him?" She whispered in his mind.
"Erm- we can buy the same breed of puppy at a pet shop. From how it looks, I think this is a golden retriever, it is a popular breed, some shops may sell them." Sai helped Ino to answer Inojin.
"No! I want this one, I want Akkun! Not the others!" Inojin shouted. His eyes were full of tears now.
Sai and Ino didn't know what to do now. Sai scratched his head, thinking of good words to deny Inojin's request. Ino smiled with her awkward smile while her mind was also thinking the same thing. They knew Inojin was really stubborn, especially when he wanted something.
"You can buy it from us, do not worry Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka."The zookeeper overheard the family conversation. She came close to the family to solve their problem.
"Seriously?" Ino stunned.
"Yes, in fact this is one of the few puppies left in this Petting Zone. The brothers and sisters of this little golden retriever are all in the new owners care now." The zookeeper continued her words. She then explained that all the puppies there were rescued by her and the team. While waiting for new owners, they took care of these little cuties at the zoo.
"Sorry I did not tell you this earlier, Mr. and Mrs. Yamanaka." She apologized.
Ino and Sai felt relieved. Inojin was really excited and happy, he started to dance his happy dance with Akkun. Then, he hugged and kissed Akkun again and again. He held Akkun and lifted it high. Inojin laughed with a happy face. His eyes were not watery anymore.
Inojin finally found his dream pet.