Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion and all rights go to their respective owners. Also, all OCs are the creation of JimmyWolk himself.

SPOILER WARNING: This contains spoilers for the fanfic "The 2nd Try" and its sequel comic Aki-Chan's Life" which is all done by JimmyWolk. So If you haven't read that then you should stop right here and check those out first before continuing.

Summary:

After another day coming home from Kindergarden, Aki sees a recently opened pet shop.

"The Pet Shop"

"So honey, how was your day at kindergarten?" Shinji asked his daughter as he and Asuka held on to her little hands as they continued their long walk home.

"Yeah, did you have fun today Schätzchen?" Asuka inquired, wanting to know if Aki had fun or even may have learned something new and exciting.

Aki didn't disappoint them as she was more than ready to say what was on her mind. "Yeah, I did, Mama, Papa! Today I drew a new picture of everyone in the class, I played in the sandbox where I tried to make a pyramid as Rei does and…oh I and everyone played the game Ducky Goose though Jun-kun kinda kept forgetting to say goose when it was his turn."

Shinji and Asuka chuckled at their daughter's excitement but never lost their proud smiles. They were happy that Aki was fitting in well at Kindergarten and making friends her age.

Before either of them could comment on anything, Aki gasped as her head was turned to the side like she was looking at something before she squealed loudly in excitement, an action which slightly scared both her parents.

"A-Aki, what's wrong?" Shinji asked his daughter wondering what got her excited now.

"Look! Look! LOOK!" Aki simply said as she let go of her parent's hands and started pointing at the other side of the road as she hopped up and down.

Both parents looked in the direction where Aki was pointing and at first, didn't notice anything significant, just a few shops and apartments but eventually, they saw what had caught Aki's attention. It was indeed a shop, a new one if the sign which said in big words "grand opening" out front was any indication. But it was the shop's nature that made Asuka and Shinji starting to sweat a bit.

It was a pet shop and from the open windows, they could see many cats, dogs and a few bird cages on display. As if they could see them, the cute animals were all but crying out to them for attention.

It seemly was too much for Aki to bear and she slipped out of her parent's grasp and started to run towards the shop, but luckily both Shinji and Asuka grabbed her again before she could carelessly run into the semi-busy road. Aki was about to complain to her parents but she quickly shrank underneath their scolding look.

"Aki! How many times have we told you about running into the road?" Asuka told off her daughter.

"Yeah, honey. What have we told you about that?" Shinji said in a stern tone.

"Sigh…don't run in the road, look for a traffic crossing and stop, look and above all else wait for the green light," Aki said, clearly repeating what she had been told numerous times on how to be safe while near the now busy modern-day road.

"That's right honey. Always remember that, ok?" Shinji told Aki like the protective father that he was.

After finding a nearby crosswalk and making sure Aki did follow the instructions of crossing the road they all stood in front of the new pet store.

"Awww, look at all the kitties! Look at the puppies! Ah, look at all the little birdies too!" Aki excitedly cried out as she all but planted her face against the open glass of the store. Breaking her view away from the animals, Aki turned back to her Mama and Papa. "Can we look inside Mama, Papa?"

Both Shinji and Asuka knew that once they went inside the store, it was going to be a big battle of wills, knowing that once their little rascal saw a special animal in there, she would want it as a pet. Luckily for them, they had a good excuse this time around.

"We can go inside and look, but only look around, ok honey?" Shinji firmly told Aki who pouted but nodded anyway.

"That's right Schätzchen, we can't have any pets yet due to our living situation at the moment," Asuka added, clearly on the same page as Shinji. It wasn't a complete lie anyway as them living with Misato in her already cramped apartment didn't allow them to abuse it by bringing in another housemate into it. Even when they would finally settle the moving situation with the Yamaderas, it would be a bit more time to even consider letting Aki be responsible for a pet.

As the trio entered the pet store they saw that the inside was much bigger than what it seemed on the outside with the room stretching way back with many glass displays showing many animals and around the entrance were many pet foods, accessories and even various books near the counter with an old man behind it who was quietly reading a book. Seeing their appearance, as well as the sound of the doorbell alerted him to their presence. Settling his book down the old man got up from his chair and walked around the counter to greet the three.

"Hello there and welcome. I'm Suzuki Taro, the owner of this new establishment." The old man gave them a short bow.

Shinji gave a polite bow back to the man. "Hello sir," the young father greeted while Asuka gave a nod and Aki gave the man a shy little wave to Mr Suzuki.

"How can I help you, youngsters? Looking to buy a pet today or some accessories or even food and treats for an existing pet you already have?" the store owner was already trying to make a sale today.

"I apologise, sir, we came in just for a look. Aki-chan here wanted to see the animals," Shinji replied as he gave the older man an apologetic smile while also giving Aki's hair a ruffle.

"Oh don't worry it's perfectly fine. I understand kids wanting to see all these cute critters, I've had a few customers come in in the last few days doing the same, so have a good look around," Mr Suzuki said giving the three the go-ahead to explore his shop.

"Yay!" Aki cried out as she was let loose to look around. She quickly turned back to the window display where the kittens and puppies were located. "Awww, hi little kitties! Ah hi, little puppies!" Aki called out and cooed at the small animal's cuteness. The kittens and puppies all cried out as they pressed their little paws to the glass wanting attention from the brown-haired little girl.

"Hello!" an unknown croaky voice called out diverting Aki's attention. Upon turning around, Aki was confused about who called.

"Er…hello?" an unsure Aki called back.

"Hello, hello!" the strange voice called out and to Aki's surprise, it came from a big bird cage which inside was a grey parrot.

"Wait…did he just talk?" Aki asked in wonder.

"Talk, talk!" the parrot called out as if answering Aki's question.

Aki gasped in surprise before rushing over to the bird cage where the parrot reside. "Mama, Papa! Come over here, this birdy can talk!"

"Oh really?" Asuka said pretending not to know that parrots could do that as she and Shinji got closer to where Aki was.

"Yeah, he did talk. Wow, he must be really really smart, even smarter than PenPen is since he can't do that." Aki replied.

x-x

Not too far away at the Katsuragi apartment a certain warm water penguin, who was reading the newspaper on the couch, let out a mighty big sneeze unexpectedly and for a moment was confused about where that sneeze came from without warning.

"Bless you PenPen," Misato who was grabbing a can of juice from the main fridge had heard the sneeze coming from her little roommate from the kitchen, responded kindly.

x-x

"Hello, birdy! My name is Aki! What's your name?" Aki asked the talking bird.

"My name is Aki, my name is Aki," the bird mimicked back to the unknowing little girl.

"Wow, no way, that's my name too!" Aki cried out in excitement, completely oblivious to her two parents snickering behind her. "What's your favourite colour Aki birdy? Mine is red."

"Mine is red, mine is red," the parrot copied again.

"Wow, that's amazing. What's your favourite food then? I like anything with meat in it."

"Anything with meat, anything with meat," the parrot again copied Aki, with the girl not realising that she was just being copied word for word.

Completely amazed, Aki turned to her parents who managed to hide their snickering and chuckling. "Mama, Papa! This bird is like me in every way! Can we keep him?"

At this moment that Shinji knew he end this. "No Aki we said before we just came to look and that we can't have any pets yet," Shinji said as he gave his daughter a stern look to remind her. "Also the parrot is just mimicking you and isn't called Aki," Shinji finished explaining.

"Wha! ….Really Papa!?" Aki looked back and forth between her father and the bird, a look of disappointment slowly dawning on her face.

"Wha! Really Papa, really Papa," the parrot continued to mimic, at which Aki turned fully back to him but a frown and pout were now visible on her face.

"Then this birdy is a phoney, a big fat phoney!" Aki exclaimed as she pointed her finger accusingly at the bird in the cage.

"Fat phoney, fat phoney," the bird repeated, further making Aki frown.

"Way to spoil the fun, Baka," Asuka voiced while giving him a hard nudge in his rib, slightly annoyed at her husband for having ruined an amusing show.

"Baka, Baka!" the parrot copied again, with Shinji now frowning at the bird, not amused with it using that word. Only Asuka had the right to call him that.

"Baka, Baka, Baka, Baka, Baka!" the parrot now continued to use the word much to Shinji's displeasure and Asuka's annoyance. Behind them, they heard Mr Suzuki laugh.

"Oh boy, looks like Anno found a favourite word today," the man chuckled. "Guess I'll be hearing that for a while hehe,"

Asuka had the decency to slightly blush in embarrassment before giving the old man an apologetic look. Before she could give a verbal apology they heard Aki a bit further down into the shop.

"Mama, Papa! Look look!" Aki called out as she was looking into a glass display which housed some little tiny furry critters. As Asuka and Shinji joined her, Aki looked at them for knowledge. "What are these?"

"Well, honey these are hamsters. You remember we read a book on them before," Shinji reminded Aki but then thought remembering that Aki was a bit younger back then so she probably didn't remember that particular storybook.

"Ooh, I remember that! So these are hamsters," Aki remembered as she once again stared into the small glass display and upon looking in again she laughed as she saw one hamster stuff its food into his mouth making its cheeks bulge out. "That hamster is stuffing his cheeks, hehe!"

"Oh didn't you do that a few days ago Schätzchen," Asuka teased her daughter while pinching her cheeks making Aki giggle in response.

It was true that a few nights ago Aki stuffed her mouth full of her favourite ramen dish, being pork ramen, without swallowing, which earn some laughs from everyone in the Katsuragi apartment, even more when Asuka pinched Aki's cheeks at the time the little girl had accidentally spit out the contents of her mouth which unfortunately some of it had sprayed some bits over Shinji and PenPen at the time.

Just as Asuka finished chuckling at that memory, Aki moved to the next display and saw some unfamiliar creatures.

"Are these hamsters too?" Aki asked as she tilted her head confused at the furry creatures that were bigger than the smaller hamsters.

"No honey, these are guinea pigs," Shinji said.

"Gene…pigs?…They don't look piggies," Aki said with a frown, confused as she turned to the said creatures again. "Piggies are all pink and have springy little tails," Aki explained to her parents thinking she was in the right while she folded her arms. "I'm just gonna call them guineas but not piggies!"

Shinji and Asuka chuckled at Aki's firm decision on the matter before the little girl moved away from the guinea pig display to a much bigger next one that was more of a cubicle enclosure at ground level, which seeing herself, Aki did a light gasp at what she saw.

"Aww it's cute little bunnies!" Aki squealed in delight at seeing a couple of the white furry creatures. "Hey what's up little bunnies?" Aki asked the bunnies, making Asuka and Shinji chuckle, though it quickly died and they gasp in shock and horror when the two parents saw the two bunnies were beginning to do something that a innocent child like Aki shouldn't be seeing.

"What's the bunnies do…" Aki tried to ask but her eyes were quickly covered by her parents as well as quickly pulled along by her parents.

"Nothing! I mean nothing Schätzchen, they were just err…playing," Asuka very quickly came up with an excuse. "Now let's move to the next one ok?"

After clearing well away from the bunny enclosure, Asuka and Shinji let go of Aki allowing her to see the next display but upon seeing what was inside the two parents paused and grimaced seeing the creatures inside.

"Mama, Papa! Look it's some little mouses!" Aki cheerfully said, unaware of her parent's discomfort.

In the display cases was a pair of rodents that weren't mouses per se but actual rats. Back in the post third impact world they lived in, the family unfortunately had to deal with a bit of a rodent problem for a time.

Normally Asuka and Shinji had to deal with the rats when they threw their trash at the local dump in the ruined city but one must have hitched a ride back with them when they later had to deal with a mini infestation in their home.

Luckily they were able to quickly deal with the problem before it got out of hand by playing rat catcher and setting traps before the rodents could multiply out of control in their home. Before that, Aki even caught one on her own much to the horror of her parents, after which Shinji gave Aki a full medical examination just in case his little girl might have caught some diseases from it, as well as a very long bath much to the irritation of the brown haired girl.

Lucky Aki didn't seem fascinated by the rats as much and they continued their look around with Aki cooing and smiling at the other pets around, from seeing the small aquarium displays with goldfish in them to seeing the small birds and budgies, which Aki even asked the small birds if they knew Mr birdy, which brought a small sad look between Asuka and Shinji knowing that their small avian visitor that came regularly to them was no longer around due to them going back in time. They were already bracing for the emotional impact when they would have to tell Aki that Mr birdy was no longer going to be coming to them when they officially move back to their home.

"Hey, what's back there?" Aki questioned which broke Asuka and Shinji out of their shared thoughts and saw Aki looking at the very back of the store itself.

"Oh back there is a few more exotic kind of animals for sale," the store owner Mr Suzuki replied, slightly making the young parents jump in surprise considering that the old man was no longer at the front and had managed to sneak up on them. They also saw the man going around and feeding the animals.

"E..eroric?" Aki tried to repeat the word, having never heard such a word before.

"Oh that just means very special kind of creatures," Mr Suzuki explained to the brown-haired girl, who gasped in wonder before rushing towards the back. Asuka and Shinji sighed with knowing smiles following her.

"Ooh Mama, Papa look it's a snape…no a snake!" Aki exclaimed while she pressed her face close to the glass. Inside the display was indeed a green snake which coiled up and directly looked at the family while it was repeatedly sticking its tongue out to them. "Hehe look at the way it sticks its tongue out…Wait, is it doing a raspberry at me?" Aki questioned as she turned to her parents for an answer.

Chuckling at this both Asuka and Shinji shook their heads negatively. "No honey, it's just something that snakes do all the time so it's not mocking you," Shinji reassured Aki.

"Oh ok…oh ooh look Mama, Papa! It's little tiny turtles," Aki cried out again having caught a glimpse at the next display case and already forgetting the snake. Inside the display had four tiny baby turtles all submerged in a small tiny pond in their enclosure.

"They're so tiny," Aki looked at the small reptiles more closely. "The ones at the aquarium were bigger than these," Aki said, clearly remembering the trip to the aquarium and having seen the bigger turtles back then.

Eventually, Aki got bored after a minute seeing that the turtles didn't do anything and moved on to the next display case, though she became confused when she couldn't see anything visible inside except a lone fly.

"Hey, this is one empty," Aki complained with a frown on her face but that changed when something long and pink quietly caught the fly on the glass, making Aki jump in fright for a second before looking in again more closely and upon focusing saw where the long pink thing came from and gasped in surprise.

"Mama, Papa, it's a weird-looking lizard inside!"

"Yeah, Schätzchen that's a chameleon. Don't you remember that book you liked with the chameleon in different colours?" Asuka said to her daughter, trying to remind her of one of her past favourite books."

"Wait, so this is a comeloon? It looks difficult from the book," Aki questioned as she looked at the lizard again and was fascinated when the creature slowly started changing colour as it moved to another spot.

After the two parents explained why the chameleon changes colours all the time they eventually moved on to the next display and found a tiny white creature.

"Aww, it's soo cute!" Aki gushed in happiness at the tiny thing.

"Yeah it's surprisingly cute for a moth," Shinji said while looking at her tiny moth inside.

"Wha..what? That's not a moth, Papa!" Aki exclaimed. She knew what regular moths looked like and this cute little thing wasn't it.

"But honey, it is a moth, look it's written on the top here, it's called Venezuelan poodle moth," Shinji said as he pointed to the small paper card which had the small moth's name.

"Ehhhh!? No way!" Aki cried out in disbelief.

"Schätzchen, you need to understand that there are many different types of moth and not just ones we usually find at home. The same with other animals as there are different types of the same creature, you understand?" Asuka asked Aki to which the little girl hesitantly nodded.

"Well, I'm not gonna call little whitey a moth though," Aki said, stubbornly refusing to call what she had dubbed little whitey a moth, making Asuka and Shinji chuckle.

Again the three moved along and found that they were finally at the back of the store but found that the displays here all had a variety of bugs, worms and other creepy crawlies.

"Err…yeah I think we've seen enough," Shinji said with Asuka nodding in agreement. They began to walk back to the front of the store but noticed that Aki hadn't moved along with them and was silently staring into a display case.

"Wow…that's a really big one," Aki said in a whispered tone and as Asuka and Shinji came near to her, they froze as they also saw what their little one was looking at.

Inside the display case was a very, very big spider or more accurately a tarantula, which seemed to be staring back at the trio.

"Ye..yeah that's a big spider honey," Shinji said while feeling unnerved and squeamish while looking at the large eight-legged arachnid. Granted the family were familiar with small local spiders given that they lived out on the edge of the countryside near the city but this was way bigger than the ones that they dealt with in the past.

"Well, we've seen a bigger pest before, right Shinji," Asuka added, giving her husband a knowing grin. For a second Shinji was confused but he soon figured out what she meant, referring to the time when he, Asuka and Rei had gone up against the ninth Angel Matarael which had the similar appearance of a giant spider with long legs.

Shinji gave a short chuckle, remembering the time when all three Eva pilots worked together before everything started going downhill and falling apart. He felt Asuka grab his hand and he looked to see Asuka giving him a smile knowing that she was remembering those somewhat good times too.

"Wait, you have seen an even bigger spider than this, Mama, Papa!?" Aki questioned in disbelief while she pointed and poked her finger at the tarantula in the box display. An action that made the big arachnid move quickly to the family, showing his huge fangs and startled the little girl making her move further back away from the big spider.

"Yes we have Schätzchen, but that's a story for another time, ok?" Asuka said, not wanting to give any details on their pasts of being Eva pilots to Aki. "Come on, it's time for us to get home, ok?"

"Aww, but I want to stay longer," Aki whined as she was tugged along by her hand by her mother.

As the trio came back to the front entrance they saw that Mr Suzuki had opened the store's front display that housed the kittens and was in the process of feeding them, but what surprised Asuka and Shinji was the person who they knew very well that just came into the store.

"Doctor Akagi!" both Asuka and Shinji said in sync upon seeing the blonde doctor. It was a surprise for the Doctor too, as hearing her name called out caused her to slightly jump startled before she looked at the family.

"Oh…this is a surprise. I didn't expect to see you three here," Ritsuko said.

"That's funny we didn't expect you here either," Asuka replied.

"Good evening Doctor Akagi," Shinji being polite gave the doctor a light bow. "Yeah, we just came in because Aki wanted to see the pets in the store. What about you, what brings you here?" Shinji finished saying, wondering why the doctor was in a place such as this.

Upon this question, Ritsuko's face showed a tint of embarrassment on her face. "Well, I needed to get some cat food for my own. Since I've got so much free time now, I could bring them back to my apartment."

"…I see," was what Asuka and Shinji said together. They knew that Ritsuko had pet cats from past conversations with Misato when the purpled-haired woman even joked that the blonde doctor was becoming a crazy cat person.

"Wait, you have kitties Ms Akagi!?" Aki asked the older woman in excitement.

"Err, yes, I have three little ones at home," Ritsuko told the four-year-old truthfully, still somewhat unsure how to approach the supposedly time travelling child of the former Eva pilots.

"Can I see them!?" Aki exclaimed to the fake blonde doctor who was surprised by such a request. Aki turned to her parents for confirmation. "Mama, Papa can we visit and see Ms Akagi's kitties?"

"Err…maybe another time honey. Right now we need to get home and prepare dinner and I'm sure Doctor Akagi is busy and can't have visitors right now," Shinji told his daughter hoping that this would deter her from making a massive detour. Also while the two former Eva pilots had nothing against the blonde doctor and were very thankful to her for the critical help during the final battle with the mass production Eva's they both felt that she was kinda cold at times and most obviously a workaholic and giving her attitude before around them before wasn't great much less with kids around Aki's age.

"Ahh man," Aki pouted, clearly disappointed that she couldn't see the doctor's cats but her disappointment was cut short as she turned to the actual kittens before her just as Mr Suzuki had shut the case they were in after having given them their food.

"Hello there miss. What can I do for you?" Mr Suzuki asked the blonde doctor.

"Oh yes, I just came in for some cat food and in bulk if possible please?" Ritsuko asked the store owner.

"Oh the cat food is near the back down there," Mr Suzuki pointed in the said direction which Ritsuko gave thanks and proceeded to go down to. Mr Suzuki looked at the small family and smiled at them. "So did you kids have a good look around the store?"

"Yes we did, thanks for letting us look around Mr Suzuki," Shinji gave thanks as a did a short bow.

"Oh, it's alright. You are not the first kids to want to look around the store. I've had many come in today and bought many of our animals, heck I'm surprised that I've still got many cats and dogs left to sell, hehe," the man chuckled.

"Ok Schätzchen, ready to…go?" Asuka turned to look where Aki was only to find the little girl had disappeared. "Aki? AKI!?"

Fortunately, the panic attack was brief after hearing Aki's light laughing and giggling. Both Asuka and Shinji soon found the source and to their surprise their daughter was actually inside the kitten display case, hugging them as she was surrounded by the tiny felines.

"Mama, Papa, look look! The kitties all like me!" Aki called out and giggled once again when a kitten closest to her left side climbed on her shoulder and gave the brown-haired girl a lick to her face.

As utterly adorable as the scene was, it was impolite in Shinji's eyes. "Aki honey, what are you doing in there?"

"The kitties were crying, Papa, and the door was open," Aki explained.

"Oh dear I must have forgotten to lock the display door again, hehe," Mr Suzuki gave a short laugh while scratching the back of his head. Also, the man didn't seem to mind Aki being inside with the cats. "Good thing the animals didn't get out this time, hehe," the old man laughed again and Asuka and Shinji were dumbfounded at the man's easygoing attitude to the situation.

"Aki, come on, you need to get out of there right now," Shinji firmly told his daughter as he opened the case. Unfortunately for him, Aki didn't want to leave giving she hugged the small kittens more towards her as she slightly backed away as much as she could in the confines of the small space.

"Nooo! The kitties need me, Papa!" Aki childishly whined out and gave her father the puppy dog pout look, hoping to get her way. The kittens around Aki seem to be on the same wavelength as the girl as they all looked at him and were giving the young father the same big-eyed helpless look.

'Oh come on! Seriously this isn't fair!' Shinji thought. It was very hard to deny Aki anything especially when she did the pout look but now the damn cats were giving him the look too. Turning to Asuka for some backup but found that Asuka was not so innocently looking well away, hands behind her back and even whistling.

"Asuka please," Shinji begged desperately to his wife hoping that she would help him with the situation. Thankfully after a moment, Asuka decided to take pity on him as her eyes turned back to him before rolling them, moving to him and whispering the solution in his ear.

Upon hearing Asuka's solution, Shinji was wondering why he didn't think of it before and gave a silent thanks to her. He turned back to Aki. "Aki honey, if you come out now we can get ice cream on the way home, ok?"

Once Aki heard that, her eyes lit up but they slowly dimmed as she realised that she had to make a tough choice. She whined like a lost and distressed puppy as she looked back and forth between her parents and the kittens but she ultimately made her choice.

"I'm sorry kitties, I have to go now, I'm gonna get some yummy ice cream! So goodbye Tommy, Scratchy, Fluffy, Momo, Kuro, Moritz and last but not least…Sassy!" Aki exclaimed as the girl lifted her magic hat to reveal the last kitten who was nestled comfortably on top of the girl's hair.

'She already gave them names?' Asuka and Shinji thought the same thing to both surprise and amazement. They even thought it was adorable when Aki started to give each of the named kittens a goodbye kiss on their tiny heads before reluctantly making a slow crawl out of the display and being scooped up in Asuka's arms.

After Shinji apologised to Mr Suzuki for the inconvenience, which the older man waved off knowing that kids would be kids and even giving Doctor Akagi a goodbye, the trio finally made their way out pf the shop. Though not before Aki wanted to say her goodbyes to the animals themselves.

"Bye kitties, bye puppies, bye little birdies, bye lizards, bye little whitey, bye big spider and…goodbye phoney bird," Aki said giving the last bird a light glare, still somewhat peeved of the bird's deception before.

"Goodbye, goodbye…BAKA!" the parrot replied back to the girl, still using its favourite word much to Shinji's discomfort and annoyance.

With the family now finally out of the store and walking hand in hand towards the nearest ice cream shop, the two parents noticed Aki being gloomy despite the oncoming treat and instantly knew what was the problem.

"Hey honey, don't be sad ok. We promise that we'll have a pet in the future, ok?" Shinji reassured his daughter but also left it vague as to when exactly they would have a pet. Both he and Asuka agreed that Aki was still a bit young to take responsibility for an animal yet.

"I know Papa," Aki replied but still somewhat sad that she won't have a pet anytime soon.

"So Schätzchen which animals in the store did you like the most?" Asuka asked hoping to brighten her daughter's mood a bit.

"I liked all of them, even the phoney birdy too, hehe," Aki laughed.

End.