Chapter 2
The warmth of the morning sun was a good feeling welcomed to a trio within the Makino home as they enjoy their first meal of the day. The day was beautiful and the food was excellent yet initially there was an awkward silence between them. The silence would break when the youngest chose to speak first to address the most physically different of them.
"Hey, Renamon."
The vixen looked away from her food to her partner, Ruki.
Though the rough and tough type she seemed distressed.
"Yes?"
"Y'know, whatever bad dream you had you can talk about."
This was a proposal highly uncomfortable, but expected. Soon the oldest, Seiko, chimed in.
"I agree. Whatever it was must have been pretty bad to keep you like that. I am sorry you didn't sleep well and willing to help however I can."
The fox digimon closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"You already are. You give me a home and bed to sleep in, you welcome me as your own and made this wonderful meal I am allowed to take part in. This and now you both show me concern over something as small and insignificant as a nightmare. This level of kindness I really don't deserve."
"Nonsense! You are Ruki's guardian and and important member of this house, young lady. I realise you are both older and think you are too tough to talk about this sort of thing, but I will always be there supporting you however I can. This home owes you a great deal for what you do for her and I am always happy to call you my own granddaughter regardless of how different you are."
The words of Seiko moved Renamon greatly leaving her unable to respond as quickly as she usually would. As always her kindness toward the fox was both genuine and plentiful.
"Thank you, Grandmother. That means more to me than I could ever imagine."
Ruki chimed in. "Look, we all have bad dreams. Even so you looked pretty rough and I can't overlook that. It must have been a pretty fuc.. er, messed up dream but I also get you not wanting to talk about it if you want. Still I gotta know if you are alright. We're partners after all."
Renamon felt like lingering stress of her rough sleep dissolve further as she mentally embraced their familial love given.
"I think its best we do not. I would rather forget and thankfully dreams are easy to forget. However if this becomes a recurring problem I promise to give you both every single detail required. I will not be a burden to this house even for the smallest reasons."
She smiled a genuine and relaxed smile that put most of Ruki and Seiko's worry to bed. Like Ruki she was stubborn in her own way, but the two still trusted her words.
"Yeah I guess you got a good point."
"Indeed, but do remember what I have said, Renamon."
After giving a brief bow to express gratitude Renamon lifted herself to stretch her limbs.
"I could never forget, Grandmother. Now, the day is still young. Its a school day is it not?"
"Oh right!"
Ruki quickly lifted up and zipped away toward her room at a speed even her partner was impressed by to change into her clothes and continued moving at a rapid pace to try and make it to her university in time.
Ripping her attention away from Ruki as she finalised her school preparations, Renamon turned to Seiko.
"Before I follow her do you need help with the dishes?"
Seiko shook her head.
"That will not be necessary but thank you for asking."
A few hours passed. Ruki begged every god she could think of ,including three of the Four Holy Beast
Digimon, to allow something to pull her away from school. Her college years were starting strong. She was a capable student with a good GPA but one often burdened by the soul-crushing boredom that came with her life as a student. It was more manageable than grade school, but its own kind of painful boredom to her.
The day was as boring and drawn out as could be and she struggled not to scream or pass out.
Hidden in the shadows Renamon patiently observed her. While she never enjoyed seeing Ruki feel this way, she knew this was a daily ritual essential to granting her teenage partner a successful life and future once the dark tendrils of adulthood finally fully grasped her.
For one of the two it was a horribly boring that could not be more miserable drawn out. For the other it was a peaceful and pleasant day knowing neither she nor her partner were in harm's way.
"Ahhh fuckkkk..."
Finally pushing through the end of her school day Ruki stretched by a nearby tree that her partner rested in. Renamon chuckled.
"Its not that bad. At least the world is not in grave danger."
"Huh? Well yeah, but at least then stuff is happening. You don't know just how boring it is sitting there listening to know-it-all teachers go on and on and on about nothing. The men are stuck up as hell but the women get really rude if you slip up and then they go ranting about "proper womanly behaviour" or some other outdated bullshit."
"Hmm."
Renamon was well aware of everything that went on while observing her but said nothing of it.
She had a point, the teachers had zero tolerance for even the slightest slip and while the vixen greatly respected the virtue of discipline, they were a bit excessive in times in their venomous responses enforcing it. This was perhaps something Renamon more than had the nerve for, but she didn't feel like Ruki deserved this even with her clashes and misbehaviour in general being very rare. If anything she occasionally wondered if perhaps the uptight environment and passive defiant spite of such had been the cause for Ruki developing quite the foul mouth in recent years.
Ruki never minded the walk home even if it was a fair distance.
It gave her time to actually stand up and stretch her legs after the daily slog and Renamon protecting from the shadows assured her and her family she was safe to move around without need for any additional guidance.
On her way home Ruki moved deeper in town lingering for a little while after deciding to buy a few things for home. Upon filling her grocery basket with the last of what she sought out she was stopped dead in her tracks while her eyes noticed and locked on to the store's candy isle.
Typically to her candy was nothing special and she often avoided it, but Renamon saw this as bit more than a curious look at sweets when she saw Ruki's hand trembling when she pick up a variant of chocolate. Her heartbeat would suddenly jump and of course Renamon noticed. This was something that worried the digimon in the past but now she knew it was nothing to worry about. Ruki lost in thought and unable to commit to the idea of putting the candy in her hand in her basket leapt suddenly as Renamon chose to break the tension of the moment. She spoke to her through their telepathic manner. Ruki's response would amuse her although her actions would gain the attention of a nearby confused customer.
("You know he would love it. White Day is not far from now and your gift he would most certainly enjoy.")
("R-Renamon! Hey thats not what I'm thinking about at all dammit!")
("They why are you blushing and why so tense?")
("...")
("...")
She teased her again speaking her words like she was singing a soft song much to the annoyance and frustration of Ruki.
("You know, Juri is no longer a factor and...")
("Sh-shut up!" ("You just scared me okay? I'll get you a drink while i'm here but keep pushing and I will bonk you on the head with it.")
("Oh...")
That did well to silence Renamon. Ruki proceeded to check out brushing aside the other person who expressed concern over her sudden prior actions. Renamon spoke to her again while she grabbed the few bags she had.
("Ruki.")
("Yeah?")
("Thank you for the drink.")
("Huh? Uh, yeah, okay, you're welcome.")
Even the smallest of gifts Renamon would always appreciate, especially from her partner.
("Oh yes and Ruki?")
("Huh?")
The rare playful voice Renamon would take returned if only briefly.
("You forgot some things.")
She reminded Ruki of the two main items their house was in a dire short supply of, dish soap and Ruki's own personal feminine care items.
"Ah fuck!"
She had long forgotten about them in her strange moment with that chocolate and became angry again.
Renamon was her best friend and easy to talk to, but even given the massive cultural distance she had proven quick, almost too smart at times at adapting. Maybe that was just her stubborn determination, a trait that both women shared, that enabled her to become more keenly aware of things. Things like human courtship habits and signs of romantic interest. This scared Ruki at times and made it clear she couldn't just keep denying her feelings for a certain boy around her partner forever as she had hoped to.
Be that as it may Renamon enjoyed their interactions that day. It helped her forget about the horrible time of year it tended to be.
The day of gathering and celebration rapidly approached.
A few years had passed since the return of the Digimon to the Human world and for the group Ruki and Renamon had come to know as friends it would soon mark an anniversary celebration of sorts.
Ruki never liked these sort of events but secretly looked forward to the day.
Renamon was less secretive and made plans to actively participate in helping prepare food for the event with Seiko and Rumiko. The two had both more than welcomed this. No matter the massive differences Renamon did her best to pull her weight in the Makino household.
While protecting Ruki is all they could have asked for, going the extra mile to help around the house was something the others all strongly appreciated. It made her feel more like apart of the family. With a little help, Renamon mastered the most basic methods of cooking. In time this would aid their celebration as she had hoped.
Her becoming more actively engaged this year than before intrigued Ruki. Reluctantly she looked to try and help as well albeit far less than her partner. In the past they rarely brought anything and were not really expected to, but something happened to cause Renamon to push change in helping out more than she had before.
She had become more fond of both her digimon and human friends over the years and aimed to show it. However she had a hidden motive to accompany this. This gave her a distraction from her pains for the time being. She still had rough nights of sleep. Each time she dreamed came a similar nightmarish vision and some nights she feared sleeping at all. By sheer willpower she managed to hide this from her family. "What's in the past is in the past." She always told herself this after thinking about what she hid from them with some guilt. She was determined to move on from the painful memories that gave these dreams inspiration and shape. Though no matter how many times she said this some guilt remained. She pondered over if its worth their time to share with them the more distant memories of the days before she first met Ruki. Perhaps it was unfair to keep this from them but to be honest they were largely of tales far too grim for this household.
Over time she had learned of the sadder things to occur in the house before Renamon was welcomed such as the splitting of Rumiko and the man she loved the most, Ruki's father, and the major impact it had on their daughter. Renamon knew every detail of this like she had been there to see it.
If Ruki could share her pain why couldn't Renamon?
They gave her food, shelter and even her own room.
Years ago Renamon had politely suggested she'd be fine without one but Seiko insisted that no one in her family would live without their own room and either way it did make use of one of the home's spare rooms. With that the great fox warrior had suffered an unexpected defeat at the hands Seiko's famlial affection and keen logic.
Perhaps the day would come but until then Renamon pushed the thought aside in favour of two things, exercise and cooking.
As Ruki studied before bed Renamon would break away her stress with an intense exercise session. Then after recovering she began last minute cooking to prepare extra food for the friends they would soon reunite with. Perhaps the most curious among the things she made involved onions.
In the many foreign foods the Makino residence had tried onions were among the few things Renamon absolute despised yet there she was making them. Finishing her work and storing it for the day ahead she turned away to have one last nightly greeting from a tired Seiko. A brief mention of her reasoning for making such a thing was for Guilmon and Terriermon being fond of them.
Seiko merely nodded her head and left for bed. The strangest sight for Seiko was not that of a bipedal fox shuffling away cooking supplies, but the face of said fox. Renamon's face was puffy, red and wet as to be expected when working with onions but her face showed immense satisfaction.
Seiko felt confused seeing that Renamon had both been crying and making a food she hated yet she smiled a genuine smile as if greatly fulfilled.
Renamon could fight back her fatigue no longer and even dreading sleep she reluctantly moved into the bed of her room as soon left the world of the awake.
Things went about what she expected. Plenty of tossing and turning with many aches to follow when waking. Fortunately for Renamon no terrible nightmares would befall her on that night.