Ruki: Tch, you're back and with another drabble.

Tetra: At least she got it out before the holiday instead of the day after or the 5 seconds before it ends. For once.

Ruki44: Yeah, well, I'm busy. This came to me when I was taking a nap. And it's not so much of a Rukato drabble then it is a general feeling drabble.

Rukia: Why don't you make it a Rukato drabble at least? This IS a Rukato collection of one-shots.

Ruki44: Because not just Takato shaped her character throughout the show. It was a bit of everyone. And I wanted to show her looking back at herself. So this time it's simply Ruki-centric.

Hinata: Is Thanksgiving even celebrated in Japan?

Ruki44: Who knows and who cares? That's the beauty of fan fiction. Plot holes!

Anyways, time for me to ramble about things which have no consequence on this drabble. So feel free to scroll down and start reading.

I'm gunning for a 4.0 right now. So around finals week, you'll probably get a Rukato one shot, drabble thing on the stress of trying to ace the exams. Luckily for me, I happen to like my classes. And I'm good at them surprisingly. Well...I suppose I should be because they're required for my majors. Having duel majors suck at time. Requirements for one major becomes the electives of the other. Plus I need to take 18 credits (6 classes for those who don't know that or if it's different from where you are from) it seems if I want to graduate on time. Pain in the ass.

Ruki: Not going to lie, you are the last person I pegged down for taking a duel major. Doesn't that require a lot of, I don't know, effort? You are lazy as can be.

Ruki44: Tch. Don't judge me. When it comes down to it, I'm pretty serious.

Hinata: When you are being graded on it.

Tetra: So you have a work ethic. Surprising.

Ruki44: I'll take that as a compliment. Anyways, I really don't have much to say in this particular story opening. *snaps fingers* Oh, although if anybody knows if any German states were Catholic in the 17th century, can you please tell me what their name(s) is(are)? I have been seriously looking, but nothing is coming up for what I want. I decided to write Memories of the Damned (yay for plugging) in the view point of a Catholic community because I'm Catholic. I don't feel like doing more research on a Protestant religion (prolly Lutheraism) when I know religious belief of Catholics. If nobody knows, I'll just move the country from a German state to a different country. Thanks!

Anyways. I don't own anything. If I did, would I seriously be writting fan fiction for this? Come on people.

Whom to Give Thanks

In the past whenever Thanksgiving rolled around, I didn't see the point of it. Who did I have to give thanks for? What did I have to give thanks for?

My father left us when I was a child. My mother was never home. Even when she was, we didn't exactly get along. The only person who was ever truly there for me was my 67 year old grandmother. Even then she couldn't do much due to her age. She tried though. She really did.

Things outside of my family wasn't much better. I was known to all as the "Digimon Ice Queen." I was a cold, ruthless person to be feared. When I first got my title as Digimon Queen, people tried to get close to me. But I wasn't stupid. They didn't want to be friends with Ruki Makino; they wanted to be friends with the Digimon Queen. So I pushed them away. In the process of doing so, I was labeled as an unfeeling bitch. And quite frankly I was fine with that.

I was fine with that for countless years.

Then last year everything changed. One person after another came into my life. They didn't slip in like a thief in the night. No, they kicked down the door and pretty much invited themselves in.

The first was Renamon. At first I treated her like crap. I didn't see her as anything but data. It took her almost getting killed by Harpymon for me to realize how much I cared about her. Over time she became my best friend. She became part of my family pretty soon thereafter. She was the older sister who I always secretly wanted but never had.

Then there was Takato and Jenyra. Takato burst into my life, flailing clumsily as he stumbled through his own. Jenyra was following after him, teaching him how to control his Digimon and become a better Tamer. No doubt to curb the collateral damage which happened wherever Gillmon and Takato seemed to go.

Don't know how it happened, but I ended up chasing after him. Somehow I started feeling worried about the Goggleboy. It was a foreign concept at the time, looking out for somebody besides myself.

Then I met Juri, Hirokazu and Kenta. For the first time in my life I had friends. For the first time in my life I was happy. I was no longer constantly angry. I can't even remember why I was so angry for all those years.

Things at home and school improved too. I was no longer fighting with my mother. After I came back from the Digital World, we finally came to an understanding with one another. Since then, she has been paying more attention to me then she does work.

Girls at school stopped giving me the cold shoulder after the D-Reaper, and a few of them actually started being nice to me. One girl told me she was touched how far I was willing to go to save a friend. A year before I would have never risked my life to save Juri. Now I would go to hell and back to save any of my friends. It's only natural now.

In a span of one short year my whole life was turned around.

I'm thankful for everyone for it. If it wasn't for Renamon, I wouldn't have met Takato and Jenyra. If it wasn't for those two, I wouldn't have met everyone else.

If it wasn't for Takato, I wouldn't know how to care for somebody besides myself. If it wasn't for Jenyra, I wouldn't understand fighting wasn't always the answer. If it wasn't for Juri, I wouldn't know what it means to protect. If it wasn't for Hirokazu and Kenta, I wouldn't know what it meant to laugh. If it wasn't for Renamon, I wouldn't understand how to run forward. If it wasn't for Gillmon, I wouldn't understand how to enjoy the little things in life. If it wasn't for Terriermon, I wouldn't know how to take everything in stride. If it wasn't for Leomon, I wouldn't understand sacrifice. If it wasn't for Impmon, I wouldn't know how to confront my past.

I don't want to be the person I was last year ever again. Just thinking about falling back into the void scares me.

So now this Thanksgiving, I have so much to give thanks for. For my family, for my friends, for everything which happened this past year. So in this year of firsts, I am for the first time in my life truly thankful.

Ruki44: You know before I came to college, I hated Thanksgiving. It was a stupid holiday in my opinion. Ohh, let's eat a shit load of food. Big deal. You know the first thing they told us in Welcome Days we would miss is homecooked meals. I didn't believe them. Now I do. Now I love Thanksgiving. I see my family again. I see my (high school) friends again. And I have lots of delicious homecooked food to choose from. My school's food isn't exactly that great. To those who are applying to colleges, if you want to know what the food REALLY tastes like; show up unannounced. They always give good food when they know people are coming. My whole campus knows when people are coming to visit. The higher up the rank, the better the food. I literally walked in one day to see ribs and I turned to my friend and was like "Whose here?"

Ruki: That bad?

Ruki44: Yeah. Towards the end of the year, they really don't care anymore.

Hinata: Oh I'm sure it can't be that bad.

Ruki44: Let's put it this way. I would have glady lived on those soilder pills you have. I was near tears by the last two weeks of the year.

Rukia: Ouch.

Tetra: Well aren't you a picky eater?

Ruki44: I'm not as bad anymore. Now it's I'm not so much a picky eater as I hate most vegetables. Plus when you learn its better not to question what the food is...

Tetra: Oh...yeah...been there, done that.

Ruki44: Anyways, if you guys could really give me some critical reviews. Like you know, how I can become a better writer. I would really appreciate it. From anything from grammer to my writing style would be fine. Just don't make it a flame. I really want to become a really good writer. So it would really help a lot.