89Disclaimer: 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 a long day at NERV, Misato and Kaji arrive home to find Aki trying to do a magic trick.
"Magic Trick"
"Oh God, finally good to be home," Misato tells out a tired groan as she and Kaji exited the car and made their way to the apartment complex elevator before getting in. "Seriously why were there so many boring meetings and paperwork today?"
"Well honeybuns, if you paid attention to half of the meetings, NERV is figuring out where to go from here now that the Angels are gone," an equally tired Kaji explained with a smirk at his tired lover, future fiancée and hopefully lastly his future wife.
"I know, I know…and do not call me honeybuns you jerk," Misato said as she did a quick kick jab to Kaji's shin but due to her tiredness it lacked any force to inflict pain. Kaji's only reaction to that was to chuckle before he gently grabbed Misato's hand in his own, an action that made the purple-haired woman blush and look to the side in embarrassment.
The rest of the elevator ride was in peaceful silence, but Misato started thinking about what would be NERV's future. With the Angels gone as well as the Eva's in general, there should not be any reason for NERV to continue unless it was going to continue as a private military organisation like it always has been. In many of the meetings that she could recall paying actual attention to, Commander Fuyutsuki and Ritsuko didn't seem to be worried but then again, she never got the chance to talk to her friend once the meetings and paperwork were done…well as much as she could get done throughout the day she thought with a bit of dismay.
This got her thinking of her future with NERV. Whether to stay working with the organisation or leave it. She joined NERV solely to get revenge for her father against the angels but now that the war was finally over, she didn't have a clue on what to do now.
If she stayed, she was certainly secure with a steady job and income, but she felt no real attachment to the job, only using the position to avenge her father. If she left and looked for an actual job then it would be a fresh start for her, Kaji and the baby but there was the fear of uncertainty. The fear of not being qualified or good enough for any kind of 'normal' work, that she would fail or mess up on any job given to her plagued her mind.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Kaji's voice broke Misato out of her thoughts with him having noticed her worries just as the elevator was near their floor.
"Oh, it's nothing…" Misato tried to reassure the man, but she noticed him giving her a look that said he did not believe her. Sighing, she decided to tell him the truth. "I…I was just thinking on what to do now that everything is over…with the war I mean."
Kaji nodded as he understood what Misato was contemplating about. He knew that the whole reason for Misato joining NERV was to avenge her father and with the angels now gone and the people who were truly behind Second Impact being held accountable for their actions (or ending up dead by suicide) it was no wonder that Misato was thinking on what to do no going forward.
"Well, there is no rush, plus, with the baby coming both you and me will be busy for quite a while and have all the time to think about maybe changing careers," Kaji explained as he gave Misato a knowing smirk.
"Yippee," Misato cheered sarcastically but her other hand went straight to her stomach which was slowly showing signs of getting bigger. A frown formed on her face just as the elevator pinged to their floor and the doors opened allowing them to get out. "Kaji, do you think we will be good parents?"
Misato's question caught Kaji off guard for a second before he smiled at his lover. "Honestly, I think will be all right. I mean sure we were not the best guardians but, when you think about it, Shinji and Asuka kind of were our practice kids in a sense, not to mention our newly arrived time-travelling little lady," Kaji chuckled.
"Practice huh…Oh yeah kinda like how you would make breakfast pancakes, but the first one always comes out a little wonky," Misato added a bit unexpectedly which Kaji gave Misato a weird look before chuckling.
"Let me guess, you're craving for breakfast pancakes right now, aren't you?"
"Hey, it's not cravings," Misato snapped in embarrassment. "It is the munchkin's fault ok. Her new favourite thing as of late has been pancakes so we have been having those a lot for breakfast," Misato excused although weakly.
Although she dared not mention that she had been stuffing her face with said pancakes for the past few days to the point that it was a constant battle between her and Aki on who could have more pancakes on their plate with Misato bringing up the fact that she was eating for two.
"So how have the kids been lately?" Kaji honestly asked as they neared Misato's apartment door. "It's been a few days since I've last seen them,"
"Oh, they have been fine," Misato said as she was getting out her door key. "Although with the munchkin around it's never a dull moment at home that's for sure," Misato finished saying as she unlocked and opened the door.
"ABRACADABRA!" came the loud cry from within the apartment.
Misato and Kaji stood in the door for a second. Looking at each other in confusion. "Abracadabra?" they repeated together before making their way into the apartment.
"Hey kids, we're home," Misato announced as both she and Kaji came into the kitchen and saw Shinji cooking dinner and Asuka at the table waiting for said dinner which all seemed normal.
But what wasn't the norm was the two big brown cardboard boxes in the middle of the living room. The one on the left top was folded in just as they arrived in.
"Hey welcome home you two," Shinji greeted before turning back to finishing what he was cooking. "Perfect timing. Dinner will be ready in a couple of minutes."
"Oh, thank God I'm so hungry right now," Misato said as she went to the fridge to grab a juice box, quickly opening it and drinking the contents in seconds before looking back again at the boxes.
"So, guys…what is with the boxes in the middle living room?" Misato questioned, which was met with a collective sigh of her two former charges.
Before they could say explain the left box's top burst open revealing Aki herself.
'SHAZAM!" Aki shouted happily but her face turned into a frown after looking around where she was. "Aww, why isn't it working," Aki grumbled before retreating into the box and closing the top after her.
Both Misato and Kaji just had baffled and confused looks before turning to look at the young parents, hoping for an explanation.
"Aki saw some magic show on TV earlier and she has been trying to copy it," Asuka quickly explained when she saw the questioning stares.
"Oh, I see," Misato said as she sat down, along with Kaji.
"ALAKAZAM!" Aki shouted but like earlier she looked to find that she had not moved between the boxes and went back down into the box before closing the top.
"So how long has the little lady been trying?" Kaji asked as he watched what Aki was doing.
"Only for about half an hour. She dragged me outside earlier to the bins to get those boxes and bring them back," Shinji said with another sigh.
"Wait how did the munchkin know there were boxes outside?" Misato chimed in.
"PRESTO!"
"She noticed them piling up a few days ago in the garbage bins. They were from the people that are moving into this apartment complex. Would not surprise me if this whole building would be completely occupied by the end of the month considering how many people are moving into the city," Asuka said.
"HOCUS POCUS!"
"Oh yeah, come to think of it I did notice more cars around the parking lot than normal," Misato said while remembering the new number of cars as well as people around the area when it had practically been deserted during the Angel war.
"BY THE POWER OF ME! SWITCH!" Came another scream from Aki who once again burst out of the box after many attempts but was again disappointed with not having changed places. "I don't understand, why isn't this working? Am I doing something wrong?" Aki wondered before diving back into the box.
"Ok, any reason you're just letting the munchkin try magic without helping her or telling her that it's not real and just a trick?" Misato softly asked so as not to alert Aki to their conversation.
Shinji and Asuka shared a look before turning back to the purple-haired woman with tired sighs.
"Well, we tried but she stubbornly refuses to listen or allow us to help her," Shinji explained. "She thinks she can do it on her own."
"Plus, this whole thing keeps her engaged and entertained with a bonus that she'll be tired enough that it will be easy to wash and tuck her in tonight," Asuka finished with a tiny smirk.
"BIBBIDI BOBBIDI BOO!" Aki shrieked as came out of the box. Again, the girl was disappointed as she hadn't moved.
"Why isn't anything working?" Aki whined as she hopped out of the box fully before looking at the boxes as if trying to see what was wrong.
As the adults watched in mild amusement, a sound of a metal ping came from the kitchen, making Shinji turn back to see that the last piece of dinner, which was the rice was ready.
"Aki, honey come to the table please, dinners going to be ready in a minute," Shinji called out to his daughter as he was setting the food on the table.
"Ooh, but Papa I'm doing magic!" Aki stubbornly argued as she turned around to face everyone.
"Come on Schätzchen, you can continue doing magic after you have had dinner," Asuka firmly tried to reason with her daughter.
"But Mama, magic magic!" Aki whined as she pointed back at the boxes.
"Aki, I made hamburger stakes," Shinji announced with a knowing smile.
And just like that Aki had lost the will to argue as her eyes which shined in delight, and she practically teleported to her seat at the table. Firmly seated Aki now only noticed the two other adults at the table.
"Oh, hi auntie Misato, hi Mr Kaji!" Aki said energetically while holding her kid's knife and fork.
"Finally hello to you munchkin," Misato smirked at the small girl, not offended at only now being noticed.
"Hello there little lady," Kaji added with a smile. "So, you're trying to do the magic box trick, huh?"
Aki nodded at the unshaven man but frowned at the reminder of her failures. "I have been trying Mr Kaji, but I can't seem to do it! I mean the TV makes it look easy, but I cannot seem to do it no matter what I do or say!"
The former spy chuckled at the brown-haired girl. A part of him remembered Asuka when she was younger and having the same stubborn determination during her training to be an Eva pilot. Every setback, every failure back then only made Asuka want to work harder and better herself, even if it was for the wrong reason at the time.
He also knew that he had not exactly helped matters even though he could have helped guide Asuka better, but like all things he just did not know how to handle dealing with a kid, especially one with many psychological issues at the time, and her huge crush on him back then made it very awkward on many levels. Being a triple agent on top of things had not helped his case at all.
Well, time to change that.
"Little lady, you know it's ok that you can't do one magic trick right," Kaji told the little girl.
Aki looked at the unshaven man with a frown. "Ohh but I wanna learn it!"
Kaji just laughed at the girl's whining. "Well, the box switch trick is an advanced level one, but I can show you a few beginner ones if you like."
"Oh God no," Misato said as she had a look of annoyance on her face like she remembered something.
"Beginner ones? Like what Mr Kaji?" Aki asked in wonder.
"Well like this one, little lady," Kaji said as he reached over to Aki with his hand and upon nearing her ear he pulled back and presented a yen coin. "Seems there were 100 yen stuck to your ear."
Aki looked back and forth between Kaji and the coin in disbelief before her eyes lit up sparkling. "Mr Kaji, you know magic!"
"Wait, you know some magic tricks Kaji?!" Asuka asked as well, a little bit in shock at not knowing such details from the man who she once had a huge crush on and thought to herself having known everything about…well except his job as a spy, of course.
"Oh, he knows magic tricks alright," Misato chummed in. "I remember back in college when we started dating, he showed me a few of his so-called magic tricks to me and Ritsuko at the time," she continued as she remembered those old times, recalling her and Ritsuko being unimpressed and even embarrassed at the man's attempts to liven things up during outing and parties.
"Mr Kaji, what other magic can you do? Show me, show me!" Aki demanded eagerly at the man.
"Well, I can detach my thumb from my hand…like so," Kaji said as he showed with his hands together the illusion of removing his thumb away from his hand; a trick that the grown-up knew was fake but to the little four-year-old was some amazing feat.
"Wow, that's so cool! What else Mr Kaji!" Aki said excitedly.
"Well, if you have got a deck lying around? I can show you plenty of card tricks," the former spy asked the young girl. He even looked to everyone else if they had a card deck.
"I'll go look for one!" Aki said quite eagerly and was about to step down from her chair but was quickly caught by Asuka.
"Oh no you don't," Asuka said firmly as she placed her daughter back on her high chair. "You can do magic tricks later but right now the food is ready!" Right on time, Shinji started placing the cooked food on the table.
"Aww," Aki whined but eventually upon seeing her promised hamburger steak meal in front of her, her desire for magic was replaced by her desire to eat and started digging into her meal.
As everyone smiled and chuckled at Aki's one-eighty behaviour, Shinji placed his plate last at the table, but before sitting down himself, he went to the counter to retrieve a familiar bowl with a few large fish in it before setting it down on the floor and walking over to the other fridge in the apartment.
"PenPen, dinner's ready," Shinji called out to the bird, even knocking on the large fridge, expecting the small penguin to come out but there was no response. "PenPen?" Shinji knocked again, but again there was no answer or sign of movement.
"There he is Papa!" Aki called out to her father, and he turned to her, seeing Aki pointing to the living room. He followed her view to see PenPen standing before the cardboard boxes. The bird seemed to look at the pair curiously.
"PenPen, come on your food is ready," Shinji called to the bird again but ended up sighing as he watched the bird jump into one of the brown boxes. Moving towards the box the bird had entered Shinji tried again.
"PenPen, stop playing around your food is…ready?" Shinji trailed off upon opening the top part of the box and found nothing inside. "PenPen?"
Just as Shinji was about to call out to the disappearing bird, the box next to him burst open revealing PenPen.
"WARK!" the warm water penguin announced before jumping out of the second box and waddling to the kitchen to retrieve his food.
The humans who had all seen this were all shocked and in disbelief.
"Did anyone else see how he did that?" Shinji asked everyone present, to which everyone else shook their head negatively.
"Hey, PenPen, wait!" Aki, having seen what the penguin did, jumped down from her chair and tried to get to the bird, but PenPen had grabbed his fish from the bowl and ran straight into his home fridge and locked the door behind him.
"PenPen, come on open up. Tell me how you did the magic trick, the magic trick!" Aki slightly banged on the fridge door, but unfortunately for the brown-haired girl, PenPen wasn't listening nor was he ever going to reveal his secret to her.
End.