Interlude: Dog Days

"Satsuki! What the hell did you do to my Mai-chan photobook?!"

Aomine stormed into the Seirin gym, twenty minutes late for practice, and came to a confused stop. For one, Coach hadn't started yelling at him the minute he came in. For another, the rest of the team didn't seem to have started training yet. And most bizarrely of all, Kagami was... cowering in a corner of the gym?

"The hell are you doing?" he finally asked.

Kagami jumped and seemed to cower even more. "Nothing! It's nothing! I'm just... kind of bad with... dogs..."

"Dogs?" Aomine said. "In here? Are you stupid or-"

A string of barks and yips interrupted before he could finish, and he turned to stare at the rest of the team standing at the other end of the gym. Huddled around Tetsu, he realised, and the small black and white puppy he was holding in his arms. Coach was busy squealing over the team's new addition and Satsuki, apparently overcome by the sight of Tetsu with a cute animal, had swooned in a corner while Furihata and Kawahara hovered worriedly over her.

So this was why no one had heard him come in. Aomine blinked, then looked at Kagami again.

"You're scared of that?" he said. "It's a puppy! How pathetic are you?"

"Shut up!" Kagami snapped, but it didn't hide the fact that he was quaking in terror. This might be the funniest thing Aomine had seen all year. Maybe being forced to show up to practice on the first precious day of summer break was worth something after all.

"Oh, Aomine, you're here," Tsuchida said from across the gym. "Look at what Kuroko found!"

Izuki added, "Eh? What's Kagami doing over there?"

"Just don't bring that any closer!" Kagami yelled over his shoulder. Obviously the entire team came over, puppy in tow, and did exactly that.

"But why?!" "A dog bit me when I was a kid, okay!" "Shouldn't you have more guts than this? Think of your name! You're supposed to be a tiger here!" "What's my name got to do with - AAHH GET THAT THING AWAY." "But Kagami, it's so cute. Just look at it-"

The Kagami vs Tetsu battle of wills ended in Kagami's complete defeat. No one was surprised, least of all Aomine.

When Coach finally dismissed them for the day, he finished the last of his water, linked his hands behind his head and lay back on the gym floor. Courtesy of the team's official new member, practice had ended up taking way longer than planned. No use rushing for the showers and ending up crammed with everyone else in the club room.

The gym was quiet in the late afternoon sun. Aomine yawned, and was teetering on the edge of sleep, when something bumped his elbow and he opened his eyes.

"Wha-"

He turned his head just in time for a basketball to bump his elbow a second time and then bounce straight into his face. "Oi!" He yelped and sat up, even as Nigou peered at him from the other side of the ball and barked in answer.

Aomine tried to scowl and failed. "What, you still want to play?" Nigou bumped the ball into his side again and looked expectant.

He rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling, "Give me a break. Wasn't one whole day of that enough?"

Nigou gave him a Look that said he didn't buy Aomine's act for one minute and ran for the court. He stopped under the basket and barked again. He obviously wasn't going to leave Aomine alone until he got his game.

So much for that nap.

"Fine, fine, I'll play. But don't come crying to me if you regret it!"

Aomine heaved himself to his feet and picked up the ball. Nigou ran and jumped for him the minute he crossed the sidelines but Aomine dribbled in a wide arc around him, made for the three point line and dunked. Nigou chased Aomine down the court, and what he lacked in size, he made up for with noisy enthusiasm.

Three shots later, Aomine finally let Nigou catch the ball as it rolled away. "You're going to have to try harder than that!" he called. Nigou leaped for the ball, rolled with its momentum, and ended up on his back, legs in the air.

Aomine laughed as he yipped and flailed his way back to his feet. "Told you you'd you regret it," he told him.

Undaunted by his upset, Nigou nudged the ball back in Aomine's direction for another round. Aomine had just picked it up when Satsuki's voice made him freeze.

"Nigou! Niiigoouu, where are you? Oh, Tetsu! What are you - eh, Aomine? You too?"

Aomine turned to see Tetsu standing in the door to the gym, Satsuki beside him. Nigou barked and ran for them, and Satsuki giggled as she knelt to pet him. He locked gazes with Tetsu. How long had he been standing there? How the hell had Aomine not noticed him at all? What had he seen?

Everything, Tetsu's pointedly expressionless stare seemed to say.

"You really are a basketball fan, aren't you?" Satsuki said to Nigou. "Just like Tetsu!" She looked up and seemed to finally notice the awkward silence hanging above her. Aomine could feel her eyes flicker to first Tetsu, then to him. When neither of them spoke, she said, brightly, "What are the two of you doing here? I thought you'd be with the rest of the team."

"I was looking for Nigou as well," Tetsu said.

Aomine shrugged. "Figured the showers would be full so I was waiting for everyone to clear out first," he muttered.

Unfortunately, the next thing Satsuki noticed was that he was still holding the ball. Her eyes went wide. "Were you doing extra practice? she said.

"What? No way," Aomine said. He dropped the ball so it bounced twice and then rolled to a stop by Nigou. "He wouldn't stop bugging me to play with him, that's all."

"Oh? What a clever boy!" Satsuki said to Nigou. "If Coach knew you're so good at making Aomine practice, she'd definitely have let you stay from the start!"

Nigou preened shamelessly, Satsuki laughed, and Aomine suddenly remembered why he'd bothered to show up to practice today in the first place. He jabbed an accusing finger at the both of them.

"You should talk! Where the hell is my Mai-chan photobook?! Hand it over!"

For a moment, Satsuki looked guilty - but not guilty enough. "Coach said she'll give it back once the Inter-High is over!" she said. "I'm sure she won't really do anything to damage it-"

Aomine had once watched Coach snap three historical figurines in half, one after another, while Captain tried to pretend he wasn't crying in a corner. He gave Satsuki a disgusted look. "Like I'll believe that! If she tears even one page..."

"It'll be fine if you just show up on time and do your extra exercises properly!" she said, unapologetic.

"Why the hell do I even need to do those stupid exercises-"

Tetsu made no attempt to speak or interrupt the argument, but Aomine felt something bump his foot and looked down to see that the ball had rolled back to him when he wasn't looking, with Nigou close behind it. Nigou wagged his tail and barked up at him, then turned to Tetsu and did the same.

All Tetsu said was, "The showers should be clear in another ten minutes. Why don't you finish your game?"

He didn't wait for an answer, just nodded at Satsuki and left. She watched him leave, gave Aomine a doubtful, sidelong look, wavered for a moment in the door, then announced, "Just remember to bring him back to the club room when you're done playing!"

"Hey, who said I wanted to play-"

Satsuki waved and ran off after Tetsu before he could even finish protesting. Aomine scowled in their general direction, then looked down to scowl at one who'd gotten him into this in the first place.

Nigou knew when the battle was won. He bound back onto the court, barking loudly. Aomine bent to pick up the ball, bounced it a couple of times and rolled his shoulders. Between Nigou and Kagami, practice hadn't actually been too boring today. He could humour him just this once.

(It wasn't just the once.)