Puppy Love

Shigeru felt his heart beating frantically as he flew down the road to reach the nearest animal hospital. He kept his little Chow chow puppy, Mochi, clutched to his chest and feels a wave of relief when he sees the telltale veterinary sign just down the street. He quickly makes his way to the building and bursts in holding a squirming puppy in his arms.
The waiting room was empty and for one moment he considered himself, and his pooch to be quite lucky.
That greatful feeling vanishes as soon as he steps forward to the receptionist's desk. There, standing behind the desk, on the chair, was a little girl who didn't look a day over five years old, scowling at him expectantly. Her ink black hair shone under the waiting room lights framing her face, her features were soft and pretty, a small button nose, pouty lips, large eyes framed with long thick lashes, no doubt she SHOULD be cute. Her eyes however were a jarring color of brown that seemed to slip into maroon, and her scowl was so severe that it had no place being on a face that young. Maybe it would've amusing at another time but all Shigeru felt was exasperation. He was about to ask her to get an adult when she spoke.

"Appointment?"

Shigeru blinked surprised at the little girl's casual question.

"What?"

The girl's expression dropped as she leveled him with an unimpressed look.

"Did you make an appointment?"

Shigeru shook his head feeling like he was in the twilight zone. "No but my dog hasn't gone to the bathroom in three days." Why was he talking to this little girl and why was she acting like a receptionist? Where were her parents?

"Poop or pee or both?"

"She hasn't pooped- look I really need to speak to an adu-"

The girl paid him no mind and kept trucking right along.

"Name please?"

"Yahaba Shigeru"

The girl looked at him like he was stupid for the second time in the past few minutes.

"I meant the dog."

Yahaba was growing more and more irritated, "Mochi, and what kind of place is this? Where are your parents?"

The little girl ignored his questions grabbing a small travel sized notebook jotting things down in pink crayon. Then she held up her finger at Shigeru (REALLY?!) and she dialed a number on the phone and waited patiently before talking into the receiver.

"Old man you have a patient up front."

She then hung up and looked to Mochi and leaned over precariously to pet him. Mochi seemed to relax a bit and the girl seemed to as well.

Shigeru sighed, "What is your name?"

"Kyoutani Ima."

Just then a man came out in scrubs and the most eye catching haircut he'd ever seen. Honestly the guy looked like a delinquent, he had yellow hair with two black stripes, a seemingly permanent scowl, and... Was that eyeliner?

The man ignored him and turned to the little girl behind the desk, "Ima Where's Yachi?"

His voice was gruff, Shiberu flinched worried that the little girl would start to cry , but she hardly reacted at all seemingly used to his harsh tone.

"I sent her on break, she kept messing up."

"You can't do that, you aren't her boss."

The girl made a show of rolling her eyes then tore out the paper from her small handheld notebook, jumping off the chair and out of view before coming out behind the desk and handing the paper to the veterinarian.

"Chow chow, less than a year old..." She seemed unsure about the age bit, "name's Mochi. She hasn't pooped in three days. The man's Yahaba Shigeru."

The vet nodded his head, eyes lighting up, and the corner of his lip twitching, as he fought off a smile.

"Thanks brat," he ruffled her hair then proceeded to pull out a few small bills from his pants pocket and handed them to her. "Go to McDonald's and get a plain cheeseburger then hurry back here."

The little girl nodded furiously and went back behind the counter, where there was a metal jingling sound before she came back out with a large, intimidating looking pitbull and headed out the door.

Was that big old beast their office pet?

The veterinarian cleared his throat, "Let's go." He turned and quickly started walking to the back Shigeru following close behind. Miffed at how unprofessional this whole place seemed, why was his kid running the front? Why did he make a goddamn girl get him McDonald's when he was supposed to be taking a customer? Finally they made it to one of the plain rooms and the vet reached for Mochi, delicately placing her on one of those cold metal examination tables.

Shigeru was surprised how calmly his puppy was behaving, as Kyoutani quietly examined him and pressed lightly around the dogs stomach. During that Kyoutani began rattling off questions. Was Mochi up to date on her shots? Had Shigeru changed her diet? Did Mochi have any allergies? What did she last eat? Did she get into anything. But no, Mochi was the picture of health, Shigeru explained and she hadn't gotten into anything.

The vet proceeded to run a normal check up, checking her temperature and listening to her heart and stomach through a stethoscope. As he took his time looking for abnormalities Shigeru's eyes jumped around nervously taking in the room and the veterinarian. His features were in a deep, intimidating scowl that looked like he would rather murder the dog then help it. However the man's mannerisms and gentle touches seemed to suggest the intense glare was more out of focus than anything else.

The vet cleared his throat standing straight (he was still shorter than Shigeru)

"She seems healthy. I would like to keep her overnight and if she doesn't go to the bathroom by tomorrow morning we'll start taking ultrasounds and x-rays."

Shigeru looked down at Mochi, she was so small and fluffy her little tongue lolling to the side and her big dark eyes looking innocently up at him. He hated the idea of leaving her for the night, he hadn't been apart from her since he brought her home one night. This was for Mochi though, he wanted her to be safe.

"I want you to watch her."

"We will."

"No I mean YOU."

The vet blinks in surprise then nods his head. "Fine."

Shigeru nodded satisfied, just than the door opened and the little girl, Ima walked in.

"That was fast."

"You told me to be," the little girl replied making a serious expression and handing the vet the cheeseburger.

"Now hold on a second you are not fucking eating that cheeseburger!"

The vet ignored Shigeru's yelling and unwrapped the burger as little Ima stepped out. The vet then tore off a piece and fed it to Mochi. Shigeru grabbed the man's arm and spun him around so that he dropped the burger, Mochi danced around on the edge of the examination table unwilling to jump from the height but wanting more burger. Shigeru wasn't paying attention to that though he was glaring at the vet, "What the hell kind of place is this?! First you have a little girl working the receptionist desk, now you're feeding my dog a McDonald's cheeseburger? Are you even a real vet-" Shigeru pauses mid rant realizing he doesn't know the man's name and glances down at the name tag "-Kyoutani Kentarou?"

Kyoutani narrows his eyes and easily brushes Shigeru off before bending down and grabbing the burger continuing to feed it to Shigeru's happy, wiggly chow chow.

"Normally I would not suggest feeding a dog human food but your dog hasn't shit in three days, and this is honestly the best laxative."

Kyoutani focuses on the puppy and feeding it but Shigeru feels the anger rolling off the man in waves. Honestly he doesn't know if he could take Kyoutani on in a fight, the guy looks pretty athletic.

"Do you want to keep your dog here overnight?"

"...Will you watch her?"

Kyoutani looks momentarily surprised his eyes wide and his mouth a bit open before regaining his composure (and his scowl) nodding quickly.

"Yes."

Shigeru doesn't like the guy, but there's something about Kyoutani that makes him seem like he's to be trusted with animals (probably the whole being a vet thing). He nods at Kyoutani before turning to little Mochi. He's scooping her up in his arms and covering her in kisses. Mochi is squirming, and giving a few kisses of her own.

"Be a good girl for daddy okay? I'll be here first thing in the morning!" He kisses her nose and she licks his. Shigeru puts her down and pets her.

Kyoutani watches quietly before interjecting. "The first night of boarding doesn't cost anything and we'll call you if anything happens and we decide to give her medication, I highly doubt it will happen but just to let you know. Our receptionist Yachi should be back and she'll fill you in on all the details."

Shigeru nodded and pouted at his puppy but decided that he needed to leave quickly like ripping off a bandaid. So Shigeru quickly turned on his heel and left, he went to the front desk where a young cute woman with blonde short hair sat. He walked up and introduced himself then she went on to explain everything. Her eyes were wide and she seemed nervous, trying to make up for it by babbling, it was cute, she was like a little bird. He read over the papers handed to him carefully and when he decided he was fine with everything on the paper he signed them and handed them back to her. He tried to flirt with the girl Yachi, truthfully he was never very lucky with girls. It seemed to still be the case when the most beautiful woman he's ever seen came in, she had large blue eyes, thick long lashes, a small nose and pillowy lips. She seemed to tell instantly that Shigeru was hitting on the younger girl and the beautiful woman easily swept away Yachi's attention. The girl peeked over at Shigeru and told him how much he owed for the check up. Shigeru knew when he was beat so he sighed, paid and left for home.

The walk back was a lot longer than he remembered, he must've been booking it to make it there as fast as he did. Shigeru sighed as he walked down the empty roads, most of the shops and businesses closing for the night. Shigeru made his way down the quiet and peaceful street, then stopped at a local convenience store. A quiet bell (automated of course) sounded off as he entered through the automatic doors. Shigeru walked through the aisles locating the cheap ramen and frozen red bean buns, he hesitated in front of a bottle of sake momentarily before giving in and buying it, the sake would help him sleep after all.

So he gathered up the items he wished to purchase and went to the front counter paying the clerk before gathering up his bags and heading home. He tried not to think of how sad it was that he basically lived off convenience store food, he also tried not to worry about Mochi. He decided to busy his thoughts with work tomorrow. He was the girl's volleyball coach for Miyagi University and he busied his thoughts with possible drills they could run and players who needed to improve individually. He couldn't say that his team was great but they weren't bad either. He let his mind conjure up things associated with volleyball, the weight of a volleyball on your fingertips, the smell of salonpas, the sight of the large tournament stadiums. Just like that it seemed he'd already made it back to the apartment.

It wasn't the greatest place, Shigeru's apartment was small, it was tidy but boring and impersonal, and now it was empty too, save for Shigeru. He kicked his front door closed with his foot and proceeded into the kitchen dropping the bags of food in the kitchen. He grabbed a pan filling it with water and boiling it on the stove, then set about preheating the oven and cracked open the box of red bean paste buns, setting two on a cookie sheet. He then grabbed the bag of dog food from under the sink and- oh right.

Okay so Shigeru didn't have a bad life, he he had a job he loved, got along with his colleagues and the girls on his team, he HAD friends (even if he didn't see them very often) and he wasn't unfortunate looking. However often times he was lonely, he lived alone and had no romantic prospects, he remembered walking down the street past a pet store and seeing a small floof of a puppy in the window of a pet shop. Now, Shigeru knew buying from a pet shop was wrong but honestly he'd never even considered getting a pet, not until that moment. He doesn't know what came over him, maybe it was because he had just ended a phone call with Oikawa, his successful senpai from college, maybe because he hadn't seen his mother in awhile, maybe it was because Mochi was just so damned cute. He went into the store and came out with a limited number of pet supplies. Training her was still a challenge, she was into everything, was really just starting potty training. Yet for all the trouble the cute little puppy caused Mochi also cuddled Shigeru on the couch, and made him laugh with her antics, she pushed away the loneliness and lied with him in bed.

Shigeru took the noodles off the burner and got the red bean paste buns out from the oven. He set the table, grabbed a bowl, and then sat down, and started eating. He didn't eat that much and just put the leftovers in containers and put it in the fridge. He took his shower, changed into his pajamas, and lied down in bed setting his alarm. He hoped sleep would find him, he hoped Kyoutani would take care of her, he hoped Mochi was alright.