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Intriguing.\n\nPicture artwork and original Rose character by [iconname]bbmbbf[/iconname]. \nRose has been adopted by me, while Chi is an original character of mine.\n\n[url=https://inkbunny.net/s/1567358]->Second Chapter[/url]","description_bbcode_parsed":"A conversation and a lightly made promise between old friends lead to an encounter between a troubled, but a level-headed fox and a bubbly natured cat who might harbor a darkness of her own...

So now the fox ends up living with a catgirl. Intriguing.

Picture artwork and original Rose character by \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbbmbbf\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t		\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tbbmbbf\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Rose has been adopted by me, while Chi is an original character of mine.

->Second Chapter","writing":"[t]I - Rose[/t]\n\nby\n\nFumbling Foxpaws\n\n\tA certain red fox was lying on the living room carpet, resting his head on his paws as the doorbell rang. It was an early afternoon of an ordinary winter day. A good time for an afternoon nap, if you had nothing better to do. The fox yawned broadly but his ears became visibly alert due to the unexpected interruption. He stood up from his position where he had felt so relaxed just moments ago and stretched. Without hurrying, he walked to the front door, his tail swaying absentmindedly along with his steps, while the doorbell was ringing again. The fox stood up to his hind legs in an accustomed manner, turned the knob and the handle while giving the door a gentle push. As the door was swinging open, he then landed himself gracefully back to all his fours. Everything was done in one fluid motion.\n\n\t\"Hello! I'm Rose. Nice to meet you. Are you my new daddy?\" The fox found himself immediately barraged by an eager introduction spoken in a clear, singing voice. It was a pretty catgirl at the door, with a long red hair, gray fur, and two big blue eyes. She was holding two big trunks in her hands, and she had a warm, wide smile on her face. The cat was dressed in a winter attire complete with a scarf and wearing a really warm looking hat that looked out of place and was probably better suited for much cooler climates than the one they were currently in, despite the winter. The fox was wondering wouldn't she feel hot wearing that. She seemed a little happy-go-lucky, but quite cute, he couldn't help himself thinking and cleared his throat to get her attention.\n\n\t\"Huh?\" the girl blinked her eyes and looked vacantly ahead of her, seemingly surprised. The fox cleared his throat again, this time more audibly and with a hint of impatience. The girl who had introduced herself as Rose turned her gaze downward and saw his short frame in front of her. Her eyes spread wide.\n\n\t\"But, you're, you're...\" she stuttered in amazement at his outward appearance. \n\n\t\"A fox? Thanks Rose, I know. You can call me Chi.\" He flashed her his most polite smile that he could muster up. \"I thought you weren't supposed to arrive until later? I would have come to the airport to pick you up, but it appears you had no trouble finding your way here even without me. Please, come in. I'm sorry, I'd help you with your luggage, but as you can see...\" he was referring to the fact that he was just an ordinary fox on four legs. Well, mostly ordinary anyway, he liked to think. He had four paws none of which was suitable for actually carrying things in general and definitely not heavy trunks.\n\n\t\"Oh, that's all right. I manage just fine.\" Rose said putting her surprise aside, and took a trunk in both of her hands. To Chi she looked like she could lift them both with ease. Just how strong was this girl anyway, he thought to himself. Not only was she able to let her surprise pass so quickly, in a world where people on four legs were uncommon but not unheard of, but her apparent strength too were things he found intriguing. He hadn't heard the sound of the elevator at all, which meant she had to have walked three flights of stairs carrying those trunks to his apartment? Intriguing indeed. He turned around and showed her the way in.\n\n\tChi was expecting a visitor later in the afternoon, but apparently plans had changed. She obviously was the visitor in question - but he wasn't expecting someone quite this [i]lively[/i]. A friend had suggested him that he take care of one of the friend's children for some time and that Rose move in with Chi. He wasn't questioning his friend's reasons too thoroughly, because he suspected it was due to the fact that most of his friend's time is consumed by work. He probably would appreciate a little less fuss around his household. Anyway, that was Chi's reasoning.\n\n\tReally, that guy. Chi was catching up with him a while ago. Since Chi wasn't that good in keeping contact with people, he was expecting the next time they'd talk would be after a long time. So they had talked much when they had the chance. They were chatting online and somewhere along the way the lengthy conversation had turned to family matters. Chi had seen a photo of his friend's family when he had sent him one. In it was his friend, his wife and his three children, but Chi was told someone was missing from the picture. A girl who wasn't around to be found when the photo was taken; his second to eldest child. Chi had suggested his friend that he could send some other photo of her later if he wanted to, when he got an opportunity to take or find one. The friend then suggested he send Chi the girl herself, since she didn?t seem to like staying at home so much. They both had laughed at the notion and the conversation continued. \n\n\tThen Chi had gotten a mail. That was two weeks ago. His friend explained the girl in question would need a place to stay for a while, since she had some business in the country. Apparently she would need to enroll into a local school for a semester or two as well. It would seem like she was going to become an exchange student, Chi thought. And now, instead of receiving a photo, he'd actually gotten the real deal. Delivered right to his doorstep no less. In his mind's eye, Chi envisioned a scene where an overworked dad stuffed his difficult daughter in a gift box with a large ribbon, and sent her to the first possible address that came to mind.\n\n\tWell, how much a bother could that be, Chi had wondered to himself. He wouldn't mind having someone to talk with regularly. In fact, he was feeling even a little lonely from time to time. He had been told Rose wouldn't be a little child any more, so she would probably make good company and she would be all right by herself even if she wasn't looked after constantly. And so, without thinking too much, Chi was half jesting as he accepted the offer. Now he was thinking he should probably have met Rose or at least talked with her even once before he agreed to the arrangement... which he didn't actually believe would happen. Especially when he's never been a parent. Not in reality and not even in his imagination. Chi thought life wouldn't be all smooth sailing from now on; he expected there would be ups and downs to be had. Still he was generally very optimistic things would turn out well in the end no matter what, as he made his decision to see things through. Only now he was starting to have little doubts about his sanity. It was too late to have regrets at this point, though.\n\n\t\"My scheduled flight had some problems and I was arranged for an earlier departure by the airline. Lucky, huh?\"\n\n\t\"That's convenient indeed. I can't imagine such things happening that often.\" Chi said, caught up in his thoughts, and trying to quickly come up with a follow up line.\n\n\tRose carried her luggage over the threshold, let them off from her hands temporarily in order to close the front door behind her, picked them up again and followed the fox further into his small apartment, without as much as a huff or a puff. Chi was being secretly impressed by her grit, although he had no way of knowing how much those trunks of hers really weighed.\n\n\t\"Sorry to be a bother and thanks for letting me stay. Dad's always busy with work, so he doesn't have that much time for anything. I like traveling though, seeing new places and new people, and I'm pleased to meet you daddy Chi. Um... can I put my luggage down somewhere? Can I just leave it at the front door until later?\"\n\n\t\"Oh, you can call me just Chi. As for the luggage, you can bring it all the way to the living room.''\n\n\tRose put her trunks down in order to remove her shoes and put her hat and jacket in the coat rack. She stuffed her scarf inside the sleeve of her jacket, and then she picked up the trunks again with ease and brought them to the living room after Chi.\n\n\t\"I'm sorry I don't have much room, but for starters you can make yourself at home here. The living room would be roomier to stay in full-time, but I'll arrange the only bedroom of the apartment for your use, so that you'll have a room of your own and I'll sleep in the living room. I just haven't had the time to clean the bedroom yet, so you can have the the living room couch for the time being. I'll make you a bed there for your first night. But you must be exhausted from your flight. How long was it anyway, 10 hours? Do you want to turn in early?\"\n\n\t\"Yeah, just about 10 hours. But I'm not that tired anyway. I slept in the plane, and it's barely afternoon here.\"\n\n\t\"Well then, if you feel like it I guess I could show you around right away, to get you settled in, because there isn't much to show. It's quickly done, and, um...'' Chi said and turned around a revolution and a half. Was this stage fright or something he was having he wondered, and thought he should really interact with people more. \n\n\t''Hum... so this is the living room. This is where most of my books are, on the shelves against that long wall next to the TV set and the display shelves where some of my most memorable things have accumulated over the years. Feel free to grab a book if you'd like some reading. At the far back is the door leading to the balcony,'' Chi said as he made it to the door with a few graceful leaps. Was he being excited for having company or just socially clumsy - he couldn't decide. ''It has a window glass with shades, as does the wall separating the balcony from the living room, so if it gets too hot in the daytime, you can just close the shutters from both and it gets a lot cooler quickly.\"\n\n\t\"Uh huh,\" Rose said as she looked at the blabbering fox and then let her eyes circle around the living room. She let her eyes wander from the display shelves housing Chi's mementos to the TV set, bookshelves, the balcony door and window, then over to the short table between the TV set and the couch. Then her sight caught his large folder shelf located between the couch and the corner, where his computer and a bookshelf filled with DVDs were.\n\n\t\"You like books but also movies, Chi?\" she said.\n\n\t\"Sure do,\" he said cheerfully. \"Feel free to browse through the shelves. If you find something that interests you, we can watch it together.'' Now he was starting to feel rather dumb about himself.\n\n\tRose walked to the folder shelf, which was actually just a very sturdy bookshelf with wider gaps for the folders or oversized books, and let her eyes skim through the titles. \"You have a lot of dictionaries and titles that look like encyclopedias. They don't make good evening reading. I prefer something light instead. Oh, you have some art books too.\" She picked up one of the titles that was in the folder shelf because of its size; Chi couldn't fit it in any other shelf.\n\n\t\"Ooo... so you're fan of manga and anime? How does this fit in with all this serious stuff?\" Rose asked while obviously being interested in this particular title featuring the artwork of some famous manga artist.\n\n\t\"I'm serious about them, but if you'd like, I have some titles about Gustave Doré and other French masters too. They're in that other shelf.'' Chi said and pointed the way with his paw.\n\n\t\"Na~aww, this is fine. Those books of yours look like heavy reading, even for art books.\" Rose said with a smile and patted the book she had in her hands. \"I like to read comics better anyway, so this kind of art is my kind of art.\" She put the book back after leafing through it briefly.\n\n\t\"Comics are in that corner shelf over there,\" Chi said and again pointed at the shelf in question. \"I think it's good that you read, even if it's only just comics. It's a decent pastime, but reading gives life some extra perspective too.\"\n\n\tRose turned her attention to the DVD shelf. \"Mostly TV series in here... oh, I think I'd want to see this one.\" she said as she picked up a DVD case and studied its back cover briefly before replacing the case back to the shelf. \"Lots of movies and animation too. Do you go out much?\"\n\n\tChi was a little uncomfortable answering that part of his lifestyle as he was practically a shut-in. \"Well, there's this one coffee shop I frequent to, mostly weekends, sometimes in the middle of the week too. But the truth is, mostly I just stay at home.\"\n\n\t\"I love to take short walks and long hikes. Usually I have my phone with me for photography, and if it's a longer hike, I have my camera for those. And if I'm not outdoors taking photos, I'm running or partying with friends or something like that. I'm always on the move.\" Rose said with a giggle as she took another DVD case from the shelf and asked straight away after seeing the cover picture. ''Hey, could we watch this tonight?'' She was presenting to Chi the title she had picked. A romantic comedy that he had bought at a discount somewhere. He wondered if he had even seen it yet.\n\n\t''Sure. Leave it on the living room table so you don't forget what it was.'' he said. Rose placed the DVD case on the table carefully, like a treasure.\n\n\t''Remind me in the evening to make an account for you on the computer, so you can use it too.''\n\n\t''Okaay!'' Rose replied with her clear voice while her attention was already diverting to someplace else. To Chi's display shelves, it seemed.\n\n\t''Hey, what have you got here? Lots of naked girls! Do you like naked girls, Chi?''\n\n\t''Umm...'' he blushed a little. ''Those are mostly souvenirs and memories from around the world. Postcards, photos of friends, mascots and the like. I guess you mean my PVC figurines. I brought them with me from Japan.''\n\n\t''Can I take a closer look Chi-daddy, pleeease?'' Rose said excitedly with a wide smile and her fists closed with excitement, exaggerated or not.\n\n\t''Knock yourself out, but don't make me sound like a rap artist.'' He was definitely feeling dumb and getting irritated because of it.\n\n\t''Yay!'' Rose said as she opened the cabinet like a prize box in some role playing game. A good thing she didn't have a sword or something like that handy, she would probably have used it too to pry the door open just for the excitement of it, Chi thought and started to feel guilty about it immediately. \n\n\tRose took one of the figurines in her hand and examined it closely. The figurine was of a slender, long haired girl who was crouching and wearing nothing but white panties while she was wielding a long Japanese style sword in her hand. Rose held the figurine close to her chest while she turned her head and looked at Chi with squinted eyes and a mischievous grin. ''So, how is it?''\n\n\t''Erm... how is what?'' he said as his ears stood in attention like the foot guards of Buckingham Palace. Chi thought to himself he needed to be on his toes more. Rose might well turn out to be a handful for him. He imagined his friend laughing an evil overlord laughter somewhere far away.\n\n\t''Do you like naked girls? Why do you have so many of them? Couldn't you do fine with just one?'' Rose said from behind that grin of hers while holding the figurine protectively, like she was going to take away a favorite toy of his and he could do nothing to stop her.\n\n\t''Well, I guess I do not exactly not-like them, either...'' he tried a diplomatic approach but his speech was reduced to a mumble in midway and he turned his head away in embarrassment.\n\n\t''Heeheehee!'' Rose giggled as she replaced the figurine in the cabinet and closed the door after quickly looking at the other figurines superficially.\n\n\t''We should probably have some tea next,'' Chi said as he tried to recover his dignity. I need it, the tea that is, he thought. Sure, if she was going to serve him any leftovers of his dignity, he'd like to have them as well. So he turned around and left the living room. ''The bathroom's on the left, the kitchen's here. The door near the front door leads to the bedroom.'' \n\n\tChi turned the kettle on and set out two porcelain cups and saucers on the kitchen table. As he opened the fridge he found little more than the light, but enough for the two of them to manage at least until tomorrow. He took out some toppings for sandwiches, the sandwiches themselves, set them on the table and made a mental note to himself that they should go shopping soon.\n\n\tRose followed him to the kitchen. ''You have a nice kitchen.''\n\n\t\"Thank you. It's small, but has served me well over the years. What kind of tea would you like? Or would you rather have coffee instead?''\n\n\t\"No coffee for me, thanks. I usually have a cup in the morning before I go running, but I'll stick to tea after that. Or hot chocolate, if you have some?''\n\n\t\"Sorry, I don't much care for hot chocolate myself. But I've got several varieties of tea for you to choose from. Black, white and green. Would you like some Pai Mu Tan?''\n\n\tThey had tea and Chi was gradually warming up to Rose's quirks. Their talk soon turned to Rose's new room, which needed some furniture.\n\n \t''I have a desk stored away in the storeroom. You could use it, but it must be brought up here from the basement,'' Chi said. ''I think we need help with it.''\n\n\t''I can do it,'' Rose said with solid confidence. ''In the U.S.A. they've named a whole mountain range after my abilities!''\n\n\t''The Cat[i]skills[/i], eh? Lucky you.'' Chi couldn't help himself and took the bait with a chuckle.\n\n\t\"Aww, you guessed it!'' Rose said, feigning disappointed. She closed her eyes and flung her arms in a very depressed gesture to her sides while exhaling dramatically.\n\n\t\"Although, from the way you handled those big trunks of yours, I think I might just take your word for it. Let's go see then, shall we?'' Chi said with a smile after a moment of thinking.\n\n\t''Heeheehee! I'm strong, you know!'' Rose flexed her arm with a wide, innocent smile on her face.\n\n\tThe two finished their teas and started their expedition to find Rose some furniture. From the coat rack Chi took his small black pouch with him, where he kept his wallet, keys and other essentials. It was kind of like a saddle bag, that was easily flung over either of his shoulders and with a few straps it hung quite comfortably in place, for most of the time at least. Then they left the apartment, and went down the hall until they reached the staircase. From there, the two descended three flights of stairs to the street level, and yet one flight more in order to reach the basement. There were a few locked doors on the way that Chi opened with his keys, flicking light switches along the way until they reached small wooden stairs. At the bottom of them, a large room with big closets was found, one for each apartment in the condominium. The closets were arranged in blocks of four, so there were plenty of hallways between the blocks, crossing each other. The stone walls around them were radiating coldness.\n\n\t\"Let's see... where was it. It feels like ages since I've been down here.''\n\n\t\"The closets are marked by the apartment number, right? If we follow the numbering, we'll find yours easily.'' Rose said.\n\n\t\"If it only was that simple. The numbering isn't orderly. They've changed the numbering over the years, because people have liked some other closet better than was assigned with their apartment. Who knows why. Then they've applied for a change in the assignment. Repeat that over several decades the condo has existed and that's how the order got ruined. We'll come across my closet eventually, but we might have to look around a bit. Let's try this way, I think it was here...''\n\n\tThey strolled down the aisles, which all looked the same to Chi, until Rose spotted a number corresponding his apartment.\n\n\t\"Hey, here it is.''\n\n\t\"Well found Rose.'' Chi said as he looked around himself, completely lost. \"Yes, this seems familiar. I've been here before.'' The closets were all made of wooden planks, with narrow gaps between them. You could see other people's goods if you specifically looked through the gaps, but not much otherwise. The doors usually had a padlock on them, as did Chi's.\n\n\t\"Now for the key... I really should mark these things sometime you know...'' he said as he was searching for the correct key from a keyring. Rose had begun swinging to and fro from her toes to her heels as he was searching for the key. Chi selected one that he thought would be a good guess, put it in the lock and turned it. \"I guess it's this. Open Sesame.''\n\n\tThe door swung open, revealing a less than neatly organized collection of various stuff. The storage space wasn't too big, only about two to three meters wide and three meters deep. It was high though, and against the back wall there was a shelf on such sufficient height that you could stand comfortably under it, if the things there were cleared out first. On the shelf Chi seemed to have accumulated some assorted boxes, apparently some of them containing ...Christmas decorations? Some old magazines and other stuff. The floor was littered with piles of cardboard boxes, book piles, at least one floor lamp, an office chair, a pile of drawers and the table top that was leaning against the wall, looking as if it was jammed between the shelf and the floor. At the far back you could see a glimpse of motorcycle tires from under the rubble. Chi didn't even own a motorcycle, let alone the fact he wasn't capable of driving one.\n\n\t\"You sure have got looots of things here Chi.'' Rose said slowly, stressing the word `lots' as she leaned on the door frame and peeked inside the closet. ``Yep...''\n\n\t\"Well, I confess I'm not one of the most organized people out there.''\n\n\t\"Why keep this much stuff? Shouldn't you get rid of the old newspapers at least? How have you managed to collect all this here in the first place?'' Rose said pointing at the ground zero of chaos with amazement and bewilderment in her voice.\n\n\t\"You drive a good point there,'' Chi said smiling stupidly as his embarrassment was beginning to show on his face. \"I get... help from time to time. Maybe it's time I ask for it next time my help is around.''\n\n\t\"Jeez.'' Rose said as she wormed her way in between the piles of stuff, her tail jerking in the weirdest angles with each step, while she was trying to not get tripped while she was going. \"The drawers are here at least, at the back. I'll carry them out.''\n\n\t\"Maybe it would be better if we cleared some room near the door first, for easier access.''\n\n\t\"Nah, I'll manage.'' The drawers were in two piles of four drawers each. Rose picked up three of them and started her way out from the closet. Chi watched her acrobatic performance and the unusual twitching movement of her tail with concealed admiration, and some degree of worry.\n\n\t\"Um, careful.'' he said as he moved away from the doorway. Rose, however, did manage to get out without so much as a scratch. She placed the drawers on the hallway floor. \"Well done. Grab that floor lamp too while you're at it, so you can have a reading light. And we'll take the chair too.''\n\n\t\"Okay,'' Rose said and retrieved the lamp to the hallway along with the chair. After a short while they had company from all the eight drawers.\n\n\t\"Neat. Now we only need the desk frame and the desk top, and we're good to go for our first hauling trip upstairs.''\n\n\tThe desk frame was buried under some books. Digging it out took some time, but it was done eventually. Moving the thing outside was more difficult, and they had to move some other things out of the way in the end. All that was left was the table top. Big, probably heavy, definitely cumbersome to move.\n\n\tRose went inside the closet and said \"Maybe it'll come out easier if I just push it out. Hnnngh!'' And so, before Chi could say anything, she was already at it. \n\n\t\"No, no, NO, WAIT ROSE!'' he yelled, and then there was a loud crash as the shelf came partially down, dropping the boxes, magazines and everything that had been on it on Rose. Chi couldn't help but shut his eyes and yelp a little.\n\n\tAfter he opened his eyes again, he saw Rose fallen on her butt, her legs spread and lots of the stuff landed right in front of her, barely missing her. She had her arms raised in a guarding posture on top of her head. The shelf was hanging in a tilted angle overhead of her, but appeared to be sufficiently fixed so that it didn't come down as well, probably not immediately anyway. Rose had been sufficiently under the shelf so that most of the items didn't land right on top of her, but she was covered in Christmas decorations, though. Chi could hear a quiet rolling sound as something small, light and round rolled down from the back of the shelf after the rest of the stuff, ricocheted off something, and then landed on Rose's lap.\n\n\t\"EEK!'' Rose finally screamed. \"I-is it over already?'' she asked with a trembling voice, lowering her guard.\n\n\t\"Are you all right? Were you hurt?'' Chi said as he made his way next to her, dodging the fallen items, his heart pounding with fright.\n\n\t\"M-my heart skipped a beat, b-but I don't think I'm hurt.'' Rose said as she felt her limbs. \"I-I'm okay.''\n\n\t\"I'm sorry.'' Chi said, ashamed for putting Rose in danger. \"The table top was apparently supporting the shelf.''\n\n\t\"You should definitely clean this place up.'' she said with stern voice.\n\n\t\"Let me check you.'' He checked Rose's face, arms and legs superficially to make sure that she hadn't suffered anything the plain eye could see. \"I think you're all right if you're feeling all right. When you feel like standing up, maybe we should get out of here.''\n\n\t\"What's this? Another souvenir?'' Rose noticed the round thing that had landed in her lap and examined it in her hands. It appeared to be a snow globe. There was an inscription on the base, but apparently she couldn't read it. She shook the globe and watched as a young fox inside was running in the snow. \"Hey, what does it say in here?''\n\n\t\"That's an old memory you found... A very old memory. I had it stored away in here rather than in the apartment. Take it with you. It clearly had your name on it.''\n\n\tRose put the snow globe casually in her jacket pocket, without thinking about it further and said \"Thanks, now let's get these things upstairs. I'm getting the creeps down here.'' she said and shivered a little.\n\n\tIn the end they were, or rather Rose was, able to haul the stuff upstairs. It took five rounds altogether, but they did it, and afterwards they returned the stuff they had to move out of the way back into Chi's closet. The furniture was taken straight to the bedroom, where they discovered Chi didn't have the tools required to make the assembly. Disappointed, the two left everything lying around and Chi decided he'd get the necessary tools tomorrow. \n\n\tIt was getting late, so they fixed some supper and ate with hearty appetite. Or rather, Rose did, as she was the one who had been working and she wolfed down her meal eagerly. Chi was still feeling uncertain about himself and didn't eat much. Rose remembered to remind Chi about the computer though, so he had an excuse to finish early and go set the computer up for her.\n\n\t''Okay, I think that's it for the day,'' Chi said as he finished setting up the computer with Rose's new credentials. ''Remember your new password. You shouldn't write it down anywhere, but just in case, maybe you should. Just store it in a safe place, apart from your user name.''\n\n\t''Thanks Chi,'' she said smiling softly.\n\n\t''Would you like we watched the movie still, although it's getting kind of late already. We should get to sleep after watching it.''\n\n\t''Um... yeah, that would be nice. I was almost forgetting about it already, hehe,'' Rose said as she was trying to hold a yawn.\n\n\t''Are you sure? We could watch it some other night too, if you want to?''\n\n\t''Na~aw, I can do it. I'm not about to sleep right away, but I could change now so I don't have to do it after the movie.''\n\n\t''The bedroom's yours. After we assemble the table and clean the room up, you'll have a room of your own, and we don't have to think about getting a folding screen here to partition the living space for privacy. I'm lucky that I don't need much space and can still sleep the night there, in the middle of all that stuff.'' \n\n\tHe sighed. As he was a compact sleeper, Chi usually slept in a comfortable basket in the living room. The space in his bedroom was reserved for more ...important things. Like books. Books were piled on the floor and even on the small bed that the room had. There was hardly room for anything more now that the unassembled table and the other furniture they had brought with them from downstairs were there, but his basket could still fit in, albeit barely. Rose could not. He really should have begun cleaning the bedroom much earlier, he thought.\n\n\t''Then, if you'll excuse me...'' Rose said as she walked to her trunks and picked one of them up, in order to place it better so that she could open it on the floor. All that was heard was a loud snap as the handlebar broke and the trunk dropped on the floor with a thunk, spreading its contents in one heap. Some books, shoes, a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, along with some things Chi didn't immediately recognize along with her spare clothing. An oblong, cylindrical shaped object was protruding from the pile of clothes, which he noticed, albeit briefly. \n\n\tRose turned as white as a sheet and knelt hastily turning her back to him, immediately pulling some clothes over the object. Then she started to collect her things. To Chi the object looked like a... and he turned his face discreetly away after the realization hit him. \n\n\t\"I'm going to gather up the dishes and make some tea while you settle in. Then I'm going to make your bed on the sofa.\" he said while he was blushing right up to the tips of his ears.\n\n\tShe didn't say a thing, but took some clothes aside from the jumble. Then she grabbed the whole pile of the rest of her belongings, stuffed it back into the trunk, closed it quickly and hurried to the bedroom with her clothes without looking back or saying a thing.\n\n\tWell, it's not like I was going to scold her or make funny remarks or anything like that, Chi thought. There was no need for her to run off like that. It's nothing to be ashamed of, having one of those things. Many women nowadays have them, and it's not like it's bad to own one. Even some quite young girls do. But of course she would feel embarrassed if hers was suddenly exposed to other people she barely knew. He knew well he was embarrassed. Maybe that's why she ran. He could only hope she didn't start to hate him because of it.\n\n\tWhen Rose finally made it back, Chi had set the tea in the living room along with some snacks, made her bed, dimmed the lights and turned the TV set on. He was curled up on the floor in front of the sofa waiting for her as she stepped into the room. She was wearing white or gray - he couldn't really tell the color in the dim lighting - pajamas with pictures of cartoon bunny heads on them. The pajamas looked simple, but cute. The girl occupying them however looked dispirited. Her ears were flopping a little and her tail was hanging listlessly between her legs.\n\n\t\"The bed's made, hop in and I'll start the film. I took the liberty of taking out a sleeping bag for you, in case the blanket isn't enough. The balcony door isn't that well insulated and there's a draft coming from it.''\n\n\t\"Thank you,'' Rose said with a quiet voice as she walked over to the sofa and sat on it in a cross-legged position opposite to the pillow end. \n\n\t\"No, thank you for all the hard work today.''\n\n\t\"It was nothing, really. Are you going to stay down there?''\n\n\t\"It's your bed. I figured you'd like to keep it for yourself,'' he said, glancing upwards to her. At least she wasn't blushing, although she was appearing a little timid.\n\n\t\"Phooey.'' she said almost as if she was back to her usual self. \"You'll see the screen better from up here.'' she continued again, more softly but with a timid sound in her voice. \"Come on.''\n\n\tChi thought about it for a second, but decided to accept her invitation anyway. She was right, and if she didn't mind, he would take the opportunity to see better. So he grabbed the remote with him and settled himself next to her pillow. \"Please, help yourself to the tea and snacks. It isn't much but I hope It'll do.'' he said as he was fumbling with the remote and starting the film.\n\n\tAs he had thought earlier, he hadn't seen the movie. There was a good reason to it, he thought, as it turned out to be as dull as dishwater. Ah, the lures of discounted films. You know they're discounted because nobody wants to buy them. And why nobody wants to buy them is probably because they're substandard. It made him wonder what made him buy this particular title in the first place. Likely he was thinking it would help him pass some rainy afternoon when he wouldn't be too picky about what he watched. He was starting to wonder if he was going to stay awake until the end of the film.\n\n\tRose had brought the snow globe she was given to their movie night. She was tilting it from side to side and watching as the red fox within ran in the snow. She lifted it up against the light from the TV and watched silently through it, sometimes tracing the inscription on its base with her fingers, hardly concentrating on the movie at all.\n\n\t\"It's pretty,'' Rose said. \"She's pretty. Is that a she?'' The figure running inside the globe was slender and had a feminine gait. For Chi this was obvious, but Rose too seemed to have keen eyes after all, contrary to Chi's initial assessment. Maybe it wasn't so strange of her to be able to tell even the difference between a dog and a vixen running inside a snow globe.\n\n\t\"Yes, that's a she.''\n\n\t\"Is this one of your souvenirs from Japan? This is really pretty, so why had you put it away? It's way too pretty to be put away. And what does this writing say anyway?''\n\n\tChi looked at the text on the snow globe, which he already knew very well without even needing to look at it. \"It says *[i]kioku yori ai o komete[/i], which you could translate to `from memories with love', but it contains a pun, I've been told.''\n\n\t\"A pun? From whom did you hear it?''\n\n\t\"Oh, just an old acquaintance from long ago.''\n\n\t\"I saw the books in your shelf. I figured you'd know the language enough, so you'd recognize things like that by yourself. So, what's the pun, then?''\n\n\tHe was silent for a moment. Yes, she was sharp. There was really no need for him to keep it a secret, was there. \"The word for `love' is misspelled.''\n\n\tRose shook the globe again and got herself lost in the ensuing snowstorm. \"What does it mean? Who was this acquaintance of yours?''\n\n\t\"I'd rather not talk about it now. That's why I had the thing stowed away in the first place. It's an old memory with a heavy burden, yet it decided this time to find you and surface itself. It chose you, I'm not ready for it yet.'' He put his head to rest on his front paws and looked to the screen, staying silent. Rose didn't ask anything else.\n\n \tSomewhere along the first half of the movie Rose had already decided to lie down on her side, and he had to move from his spot to give her an unobstructed view to the TV screen. She was quiet and didn't have much of an appetite, she had just drank her tea and settled afterwards with her back to the sofa's back rest. From there she had lied down, resting her head against her arm when Chi had to switch places to the front of her, practically to her lap. She pulled a blanket partially over her, after which it didn't take long for her to switch her arm for the pillow to rest her head against. Her left arm was under the pillow and she kept her right arm on top of her flank. He knew he would be watching the movie alone before long.\n\n\tRose said she had slept in the plane, but soon she was asleep like she hadn't slept in weeks. Well, she did all the work, so she should be tired, he thought. He heard her mumbling something quietly in her sleep but didn't pay it any particular attention. The movie was almost over.\n\n\tWhen the final credits came to the screen he stopped the playback and turned off the TV set carefully, not wanting to create noise or make sudden movements that would wake Rose up. As the distracting sounds of the movie died down, his usually very attentive ears were able to pick up something he hadn't been able to before, because he was tired as well. Rose wasn't mumbling to herself, he realized. She was sobbing.\n\n\tChi turned his head to look at Rose. She was holding her pillow and squeezing it against herself while she trembled ever so slightly, that he had mistook the trembling for the rhythm of heavy breathing. He watched her for a moment, not knowing what to do. She appeared asleep. Should I wake her up or let her sleep instead, he thought. He shifted his position a little so he could reach her better. He brought his muzzle close to her face without breathing and only looked at her face for a moment, which was half buried in her pillow. Definitely asleep. What should he do?\n\n\tWhy was Rose crying? Did it really disturb her that much that he saw her belongings? Or was it something else? He wasn't expecting this of her. She seemed brave and definitely not like she'd cry over any small thing, that was for sure. He didn't know what to think. This was all so new to him.\n\n\tMaybe I should wake her up, he decided. He poked her arm gently with his nose, then waited. No reaction. He tried again, little more forcefully this time. His eyes were on her teary face and he could feel - no, he could hear - how the blood was rushing to his ears again. Third time's the charm, I wouldn't like to have to lick her face in order to wake her up, he caught himself thinking. It was a good thing he was already blushed, he couldn't blush any more. He poked her arm again and this time something happened.\n\n\tRose made a sighing sound amidst her sobs as she shifted in her sleep. Her arm dropped from her flank to on top of his back and he blinked twice, dumbfounded. What was he doing? He was supposed to go to his bedroom after the movie, for the last night that he had a bedroom. If he left now, Rose would surely awaken.\n\n\t\"Rose dear, are you awake?'' he said whispering silently.\n\n\t\"Mhm...'' was the equivalent of an answer that he got. She was still sobbing, but starting to calm down, still asleep. She shifted again, and Chi was grabbed into her arms. She was unconsciously holding him against her chest like she had held the pillow, which was now more or less discarded by her side. He could feel her breathing on the tips of his ears. Being this close to someone in a long time was... an interesting feeling to him, to say the least.\n\n\tWhat was I now, a plush toy, he thought to himself and sighed long in his mind. In any case, she seemed to stop her sobbing little by little. He turned his head around from side to side while he was locked in her grasp, considering his options of getting out. It looked like he could get away if he put some effort into it, but the movement could be enough to wake her up and there was no longer need for that if she was about to start sleeping soundly. He sighed a little and pulled the blanket to cover them both better.\n\n\tThe day didn't go exactly well and he was feeling guilty about it all evening. About the shelf in the storeroom and her getting caught under it. His moments of embarrassment while he got locked up with her questions. Then her embarrassment. He could feel Rose's relaxed breathing swaying the hairs on his ears. It didn't feel that bad to be in her arms, even if he was squeezed a little. He settled himself in a more comfortable position, tried to relax and closed his eyes. On a moment's whim he placed his paws on her hands. Rose mumbled something incomprehensible and held on to him a little tighter. No, it didn't feel that bad at all anymore.\n\n*記憶より娃をこめて。\n","writing_bbcode_parsed":"I - Rose

by

Fumbling Foxpaws

\tA certain red fox was lying on the living room carpet, resting his head on his paws as the doorbell rang. It was an early afternoon of an ordinary winter day. A good time for an afternoon nap, if you had nothing better to do. The fox yawned broadly but his ears became visibly alert due to the unexpected interruption. He stood up from his position where he had felt so relaxed just moments ago and stretched. Without hurrying, he walked to the front door, his tail swaying absentmindedly along with his steps, while the doorbell was ringing again. The fox stood up to his hind legs in an accustomed manner, turned the knob and the handle while giving the door a gentle push. As the door was swinging open, he then landed himself gracefully back to all his fours. Everything was done in one fluid motion.

\t"Hello! I'm Rose. Nice to meet you. Are you my new daddy?" The fox found himself immediately barraged by an eager introduction spoken in a clear, singing voice. It was a pretty catgirl at the door, with a long red hair, gray fur, and two big blue eyes. She was holding two big trunks in her hands, and she had a warm, wide smile on her face. The cat was dressed in a winter attire complete with a scarf and wearing a really warm looking hat that looked out of place and was probably better suited for much cooler climates than the one they were currently in, despite the winter. The fox was wondering wouldn't she feel hot wearing that. She seemed a little happy-go-lucky, but quite cute, he couldn't help himself thinking and cleared his throat to get her attention.

\t"Huh?" the girl blinked her eyes and looked vacantly ahead of her, seemingly surprised. The fox cleared his throat again, this time more audibly and with a hint of impatience. The girl who had introduced herself as Rose turned her gaze downward and saw his short frame in front of her. Her eyes spread wide.

\t"But, you're, you're..." she stuttered in amazement at his outward appearance.

\t"A fox? Thanks Rose, I know. You can call me Chi." He flashed her his most polite smile that he could muster up. "I thought you weren't supposed to arrive until later? I would have come to the airport to pick you up, but it appears you had no trouble finding your way here even without me. Please, come in. I'm sorry, I'd help you with your luggage, but as you can see..." he was referring to the fact that he was just an ordinary fox on four legs. Well, mostly ordinary anyway, he liked to think. He had four paws none of which was suitable for actually carrying things in general and definitely not heavy trunks.

\t"Oh, that's all right. I manage just fine." Rose said putting her surprise aside, and took a trunk in both of her hands. To Chi she looked like she could lift them both with ease. Just how strong was this girl anyway, he thought to himself. Not only was she able to let her surprise pass so quickly, in a world where people on four legs were uncommon but not unheard of, but her apparent strength too were things he found intriguing. He hadn't heard the sound of the elevator at all, which meant she had to have walked three flights of stairs carrying those trunks to his apartment? Intriguing indeed. He turned around and showed her the way in.

\tChi was expecting a visitor later in the afternoon, but apparently plans had changed. She obviously was the visitor in question - but he wasn't expecting someone quite this lively. A friend had suggested him that he take care of one of the friend's children for some time and that Rose move in with Chi. He wasn't questioning his friend's reasons too thoroughly, because he suspected it was due to the fact that most of his friend's time is consumed by work. He probably would appreciate a little less fuss around his household. Anyway, that was Chi's reasoning.

\tReally, that guy. Chi was catching up with him a while ago. Since Chi wasn't that good in keeping contact with people, he was expecting the next time they'd talk would be after a long time. So they had talked much when they had the chance. They were chatting online and somewhere along the way the lengthy conversation had turned to family matters. Chi had seen a photo of his friend's family when he had sent him one. In it was his friend, his wife and his three children, but Chi was told someone was missing from the picture. A girl who wasn't around to be found when the photo was taken; his second to eldest child. Chi had suggested his friend that he could send some other photo of her later if he wanted to, when he got an opportunity to take or find one. The friend then suggested he send Chi the girl herself, since she didn?t seem to like staying at home so much. They both had laughed at the notion and the conversation continued.

\tThen Chi had gotten a mail. That was two weeks ago. His friend explained the girl in question would need a place to stay for a while, since she had some business in the country. Apparently she would need to enroll into a local school for a semester or two as well. It would seem like she was going to become an exchange student, Chi thought. And now, instead of receiving a photo, he'd actually gotten the real deal. Delivered right to his doorstep no less. In his mind's eye, Chi envisioned a scene where an overworked dad stuffed his difficult daughter in a gift box with a large ribbon, and sent her to the first possible address that came to mind.

\tWell, how much a bother could that be, Chi had wondered to himself. He wouldn't mind having someone to talk with regularly. In fact, he was feeling even a little lonely from time to time. He had been told Rose wouldn't be a little child any more, so she would probably make good company and she would be all right by herself even if she wasn't looked after constantly. And so, without thinking too much, Chi was half jesting as he accepted the offer. Now he was thinking he should probably have met Rose or at least talked with her even once before he agreed to the arrangement... which he didn't actually believe would happen. Especially when he's never been a parent. Not in reality and not even in his imagination. Chi thought life wouldn't be all smooth sailing from now on; he expected there would be ups and downs to be had. Still he was generally very optimistic things would turn out well in the end no matter what, as he made his decision to see things through. Only now he was starting to have little doubts about his sanity. It was too late to have regrets at this point, though.

\t"My scheduled flight had some problems and I was arranged for an earlier departure by the airline. Lucky, huh?"

\t"That's convenient indeed. I can't imagine such things happening that often." Chi said, caught up in his thoughts, and trying to quickly come up with a follow up line.

\tRose carried her luggage over the threshold, let them off from her hands temporarily in order to close the front door behind her, picked them up again and followed the fox further into his small apartment, without as much as a huff or a puff. Chi was being secretly impressed by her grit, although he had no way of knowing how much those trunks of hers really weighed.

\t"Sorry to be a bother and thanks for letting me stay. Dad's always busy with work, so he doesn't have that much time for anything. I like traveling though, seeing new places and new people, and I'm pleased to meet you daddy Chi. Um... can I put my luggage down somewhere? Can I just leave it at the front door until later?"

\t"Oh, you can call me just Chi. As for the luggage, you can bring it all the way to the living room.''

\tRose put her trunks down in order to remove her shoes and put her hat and jacket in the coat rack. She stuffed her scarf inside the sleeve of her jacket, and then she picked up the trunks again with ease and brought them to the living room after Chi.

\t"I'm sorry I don't have much room, but for starters you can make yourself at home here. The living room would be roomier to stay in full-time, but I'll arrange the only bedroom of the apartment for your use, so that you'll have a room of your own and I'll sleep in the living room. I just haven't had the time to clean the bedroom yet, so you can have the the living room couch for the time being. I'll make you a bed there for your first night. But you must be exhausted from your flight. How long was it anyway, 10 hours? Do you want to turn in early?"

\t"Yeah, just about 10 hours. But I'm not that tired anyway. I slept in the plane, and it's barely afternoon here."

\t"Well then, if you feel like it I guess I could show you around right away, to get you settled in, because there isn't much to show. It's quickly done, and, um...'' Chi said and turned around a revolution and a half. Was this stage fright or something he was having he wondered, and thought he should really interact with people more.

\t''Hum... so this is the living room. This is where most of my books are, on the shelves against that long wall next to the TV set and the display shelves where some of my most memorable things have accumulated over the years. Feel free to grab a book if you'd like some reading. At the far back is the door leading to the balcony,'' Chi said as he made it to the door with a few graceful leaps. Was he being excited for having company or just socially clumsy - he couldn't decide. ''It has a window glass with shades, as does the wall separating the balcony from the living room, so if it gets too hot in the daytime, you can just close the shutters from both and it gets a lot cooler quickly."

\t"Uh huh," Rose said as she looked at the blabbering fox and then let her eyes circle around the living room. She let her eyes wander from the display shelves housing Chi's mementos to the TV set, bookshelves, the balcony door and window, then over to the short table between the TV set and the couch. Then her sight caught his large folder shelf located between the couch and the corner, where his computer and a bookshelf filled with DVDs were.

\t"You like books but also movies, Chi?" she said.

\t"Sure do," he said cheerfully. "Feel free to browse through the shelves. If you find something that interests you, we can watch it together.'' Now he was starting to feel rather dumb about himself.

\tRose walked to the folder shelf, which was actually just a very sturdy bookshelf with wider gaps for the folders or oversized books, and let her eyes skim through the titles. "You have a lot of dictionaries and titles that look like encyclopedias. They don't make good evening reading. I prefer something light instead. Oh, you have some art books too." She picked up one of the titles that was in the folder shelf because of its size; Chi couldn't fit it in any other shelf.

\t"Ooo... so you're fan of manga and anime? How does this fit in with all this serious stuff?" Rose asked while obviously being interested in this particular title featuring the artwork of some famous manga artist.

\t"I'm serious about them, but if you'd like, I have some titles about Gustave Doré and other French masters too. They're in that other shelf.'' Chi said and pointed the way with his paw.

\t"Na~aww, this is fine. Those books of yours look like heavy reading, even for art books." Rose said with a smile and patted the book she had in her hands. "I like to read comics better anyway, so this kind of art is my kind of art." She put the book back after leafing through it briefly.

\t"Comics are in that corner shelf over there," Chi said and again pointed at the shelf in question. "I think it's good that you read, even if it's only just comics. It's a decent pastime, but reading gives life some extra perspective too."

\tRose turned her attention to the DVD shelf. "Mostly TV series in here... oh, I think I'd want to see this one." she said as she picked up a DVD case and studied its back cover briefly before replacing the case back to the shelf. "Lots of movies and animation too. Do you go out much?"

\tChi was a little uncomfortable answering that part of his lifestyle as he was practically a shut-in. "Well, there's this one coffee shop I frequent to, mostly weekends, sometimes in the middle of the week too. But the truth is, mostly I just stay at home."

\t"I love to take short walks and long hikes. Usually I have my phone with me for photography, and if it's a longer hike, I have my camera for those. And if I'm not outdoors taking photos, I'm running or partying with friends or something like that. I'm always on the move." Rose said with a giggle as she took another DVD case from the shelf and asked straight away after seeing the cover picture. ''Hey, could we watch this tonight?'' She was presenting to Chi the title she had picked. A romantic comedy that he had bought at a discount somewhere. He wondered if he had even seen it yet.

\t''Sure. Leave it on the living room table so you don't forget what it was.'' he said. Rose placed the DVD case on the table carefully, like a treasure.

\t''Remind me in the evening to make an account for you on the computer, so you can use it too.''

\t''Okaay!'' Rose replied with her clear voice while her attention was already diverting to someplace else. To Chi's display shelves, it seemed.

\t''Hey, what have you got here? Lots of naked girls! Do you like naked girls, Chi?''

\t''Umm...'' he blushed a little. ''Those are mostly souvenirs and memories from around the world. Postcards, photos of friends, mascots and the like. I guess you mean my PVC figurines. I brought them with me from Japan.''

\t''Can I take a closer look Chi-daddy, pleeease?'' Rose said excitedly with a wide smile and her fists closed with excitement, exaggerated or not.

\t''Knock yourself out, but don't make me sound like a rap artist.'' He was definitely feeling dumb and getting irritated because of it.

\t''Yay!'' Rose said as she opened the cabinet like a prize box in some role playing game. A good thing she didn't have a sword or something like that handy, she would probably have used it too to pry the door open just for the excitement of it, Chi thought and started to feel guilty about it immediately.

\tRose took one of the figurines in her hand and examined it closely. The figurine was of a slender, long haired girl who was crouching and wearing nothing but white panties while she was wielding a long Japanese style sword in her hand. Rose held the figurine close to her chest while she turned her head and looked at Chi with squinted eyes and a mischievous grin. ''So, how is it?''

\t''Erm... how is what?'' he said as his ears stood in attention like the foot guards of Buckingham Palace. Chi thought to himself he needed to be on his toes more. Rose might well turn out to be a handful for him. He imagined his friend laughing an evil overlord laughter somewhere far away.

\t''Do you like naked girls? Why do you have so many of them? Couldn't you do fine with just one?'' Rose said from behind that grin of hers while holding the figurine protectively, like she was going to take away a favorite toy of his and he could do nothing to stop her.

\t''Well, I guess I do not exactly not-like them, either...'' he tried a diplomatic approach but his speech was reduced to a mumble in midway and he turned his head away in embarrassment.

\t''Heeheehee!'' Rose giggled as she replaced the figurine in the cabinet and closed the door after quickly looking at the other figurines superficially.

\t''We should probably have some tea next,'' Chi said as he tried to recover his dignity. I need it, the tea that is, he thought. Sure, if she was going to serve him any leftovers of his dignity, he'd like to have them as well. So he turned around and left the living room. ''The bathroom's on the left, the kitchen's here. The door near the front door leads to the bedroom.''

\tChi turned the kettle on and set out two porcelain cups and saucers on the kitchen table. As he opened the fridge he found little more than the light, but enough for the two of them to manage at least until tomorrow. He took out some toppings for sandwiches, the sandwiches themselves, set them on the table and made a mental note to himself that they should go shopping soon.

\tRose followed him to the kitchen. ''You have a nice kitchen.''

\t"Thank you. It's small, but has served me well over the years. What kind of tea would you like? Or would you rather have coffee instead?''

\t"No coffee for me, thanks. I usually have a cup in the morning before I go running, but I'll stick to tea after that. Or hot chocolate, if you have some?''

\t"Sorry, I don't much care for hot chocolate myself. But I've got several varieties of tea for you to choose from. Black, white and green. Would you like some Pai Mu Tan?''

\tThey had tea and Chi was gradually warming up to Rose's quirks. Their talk soon turned to Rose's new room, which needed some furniture.

   \t''I have a desk stored away in the storeroom. You could use it, but it must be brought up here from the basement,'' Chi said. ''I think we need help with it.''

\t''I can do it,'' Rose said with solid confidence. ''In the U.S.A. they've named a whole mountain range after my abilities!''

\t''The Catskills, eh? Lucky you.'' Chi couldn't help himself and took the bait with a chuckle.

\t"Aww, you guessed it!'' Rose said, feigning disappointed. She closed her eyes and flung her arms in a very depressed gesture to her sides while exhaling dramatically.

\t"Although, from the way you handled those big trunks of yours, I think I might just take your word for it. Let's go see then, shall we?'' Chi said with a smile after a moment of thinking.

\t''Heeheehee! I'm strong, you know!'' Rose flexed her arm with a wide, innocent smile on her face.

\tThe two finished their teas and started their expedition to find Rose some furniture. From the coat rack Chi took his small black pouch with him, where he kept his wallet, keys and other essentials. It was kind of like a saddle bag, that was easily flung over either of his shoulders and with a few straps it hung quite comfortably in place, for most of the time at least. Then they left the apartment, and went down the hall until they reached the staircase. From there, the two descended three flights of stairs to the street level, and yet one flight more in order to reach the basement. There were a few locked doors on the way that Chi opened with his keys, flicking light switches along the way until they reached small wooden stairs. At the bottom of them, a large room with big closets was found, one for each apartment in the condominium. The closets were arranged in blocks of four, so there were plenty of hallways between the blocks, crossing each other. The stone walls around them were radiating coldness.

\t"Let's see... where was it. It feels like ages since I've been down here.''

\t"The closets are marked by the apartment number, right? If we follow the numbering, we'll find yours easily.'' Rose said.

\t"If it only was that simple. The numbering isn't orderly. They've changed the numbering over the years, because people have liked some other closet better than was assigned with their apartment. Who knows why. Then they've applied for a change in the assignment. Repeat that over several decades the condo has existed and that's how the order got ruined. We'll come across my closet eventually, but we might have to look around a bit. Let's try this way, I think it was here...''

\tThey strolled down the aisles, which all looked the same to Chi, until Rose spotted a number corresponding his apartment.

\t"Hey, here it is.''

\t"Well found Rose.'' Chi said as he looked around himself, completely lost. "Yes, this seems familiar. I've been here before.'' The closets were all made of wooden planks, with narrow gaps between them. You could see other people's goods if you specifically looked through the gaps, but not much otherwise. The doors usually had a padlock on them, as did Chi's.

\t"Now for the key... I really should mark these things sometime you know...'' he said as he was searching for the correct key from a keyring. Rose had begun swinging to and fro from her toes to her heels as he was searching for the key. Chi selected one that he thought would be a good guess, put it in the lock and turned it. "I guess it's this. Open Sesame.''

\tThe door swung open, revealing a less than neatly organized collection of various stuff. The storage space wasn't too big, only about two to three meters wide and three meters deep. It was high though, and against the back wall there was a shelf on such sufficient height that you could stand comfortably under it, if the things there were cleared out first. On the shelf Chi seemed to have accumulated some assorted boxes, apparently some of them containing ...Christmas decorations? Some old magazines and other stuff. The floor was littered with piles of cardboard boxes, book piles, at least one floor lamp, an office chair, a pile of drawers and the table top that was leaning against the wall, looking as if it was jammed between the shelf and the floor. At the far back you could see a glimpse of motorcycle tires from under the rubble. Chi didn't even own a motorcycle, let alone the fact he wasn't capable of driving one.

\t"You sure have got looots of things here Chi.'' Rose said slowly, stressing the word `lots' as she leaned on the door frame and peeked inside the closet. ``Yep...''

\t"Well, I confess I'm not one of the most organized people out there.''

\t"Why keep this much stuff? Shouldn't you get rid of the old newspapers at least? How have you managed to collect all this here in the first place?'' Rose said pointing at the ground zero of chaos with amazement and bewilderment in her voice.

\t"You drive a good point there,'' Chi said smiling stupidly as his embarrassment was beginning to show on his face. "I get... help from time to time. Maybe it's time I ask for it next time my help is around.''

\t"Jeez.'' Rose said as she wormed her way in between the piles of stuff, her tail jerking in the weirdest angles with each step, while she was trying to not get tripped while she was going. "The drawers are here at least, at the back. I'll carry them out.''

\t"Maybe it would be better if we cleared some room near the door first, for easier access.''

\t"Nah, I'll manage.'' The drawers were in two piles of four drawers each. Rose picked up three of them and started her way out from the closet. Chi watched her acrobatic performance and the unusual twitching movement of her tail with concealed admiration, and some degree of worry.

\t"Um, careful.'' he said as he moved away from the doorway. Rose, however, did manage to get out without so much as a scratch. She placed the drawers on the hallway floor. "Well done. Grab that floor lamp too while you're at it, so you can have a reading light. And we'll take the chair too.''

\t"Okay,'' Rose said and retrieved the lamp to the hallway along with the chair. After a short while they had company from all the eight drawers.

\t"Neat. Now we only need the desk frame and the desk top, and we're good to go for our first hauling trip upstairs.''

\tThe desk frame was buried under some books. Digging it out took some time, but it was done eventually. Moving the thing outside was more difficult, and they had to move some other things out of the way in the end. All that was left was the table top. Big, probably heavy, definitely cumbersome to move.

\tRose went inside the closet and said "Maybe it'll come out easier if I just push it out. Hnnngh!'' And so, before Chi could say anything, she was already at it.

\t"No, no, NO, WAIT ROSE!'' he yelled, and then there was a loud crash as the shelf came partially down, dropping the boxes, magazines and everything that had been on it on Rose. Chi couldn't help but shut his eyes and yelp a little.

\tAfter he opened his eyes again, he saw Rose fallen on her butt, her legs spread and lots of the stuff  landed right in front of her, barely missing her. She had her arms raised in a guarding posture on top of her head. The shelf was hanging in a tilted angle overhead of her, but appeared to be sufficiently fixed so that it didn't come down as well, probably not immediately anyway. Rose had been sufficiently under the shelf so that most of the items didn't land right on top of her, but she was covered in Christmas decorations, though. Chi could hear a quiet rolling sound as something small, light and round rolled down from the back of the shelf after the rest of the stuff, ricocheted off something, and then landed on Rose's lap.

\t"EEK!'' Rose finally screamed. "I-is it over already?'' she asked with a trembling voice, lowering her guard.

\t"Are you all right? Were you hurt?'' Chi said as he made his way next to her, dodging the fallen items, his heart pounding with fright.

\t"M-my heart skipped a beat, b-but I don't think I'm hurt.'' Rose said as she felt her limbs. "I-I'm okay.''

\t"I'm sorry.'' Chi said, ashamed for putting Rose in danger. "The table top was apparently supporting the shelf.''

\t"You should definitely clean this place up.'' she said with stern voice.

\t"Let me check you.'' He checked Rose's face, arms and legs superficially to make sure that she hadn't suffered anything the plain eye could see. "I think you're all right if you're feeling all right. When you feel like standing up, maybe we should get out of here.''

\t"What's this? Another souvenir?'' Rose noticed the round thing that had landed in her lap and examined it in her hands. It appeared to be a snow globe. There was an inscription on the base, but apparently she couldn't read it. She shook the globe and watched as a young fox inside was running in the snow. "Hey, what does it say in here?''

\t"That's an old memory you found... A very old memory. I had it stored away in here rather than in the apartment. Take it with you. It clearly had your name on it.''

\tRose put the snow globe casually in her jacket pocket, without thinking about it further and said "Thanks, now let's get these things upstairs. I'm getting the creeps down here.'' she said and shivered a little.

\tIn the end they were, or rather Rose was, able to haul the stuff upstairs. It took five rounds altogether, but they did it, and afterwards they returned the stuff they had to move out of the way back into Chi's closet. The furniture was taken straight to the bedroom, where they discovered Chi didn't have the tools required to make the assembly. Disappointed, the two left everything lying around and Chi decided he'd get the necessary tools tomorrow.

\tIt was getting late, so they fixed some supper and ate with hearty appetite. Or rather, Rose did, as she was the one who had been working and she wolfed down her meal eagerly. Chi was still feeling uncertain about himself and didn't eat much. Rose remembered to remind Chi about the computer though, so he had an excuse to finish early and go set the computer up for her.

\t''Okay, I think that's it for the day,'' Chi said as he finished setting up the computer with Rose's new credentials. ''Remember your new password. You shouldn't write it down anywhere, but just in case, maybe you should. Just store it in a safe place, apart from your user name.''

\t''Thanks Chi,'' she said smiling softly.

\t''Would you like we watched the movie still, although it's getting kind of late already. We should get to sleep after watching it.''

\t''Um... yeah, that would be nice. I was almost forgetting about it already, hehe,'' Rose said as she was trying to hold a yawn.

\t''Are you sure? We could watch it some other night too, if you want to?''

\t''Na~aw, I can do it. I'm not about to sleep right away, but I could change now so I don't have to do it after the movie.''

\t''The bedroom's yours. After we assemble the table and clean the room up, you'll have a room of your own, and we don't have to think about getting a folding screen here to partition the living space for privacy.  I'm lucky that I don't need much space and can still sleep the night there, in the middle of all that stuff.''

\tHe sighed. As he was a compact sleeper, Chi usually slept in a comfortable basket in the living room. The space in his bedroom was reserved for more ...important things. Like books. Books were piled on the floor and even on the small bed that the room had. There was hardly room for anything more now that the unassembled table and the other furniture they had brought with them from downstairs were there, but his basket could still fit in, albeit barely. Rose could not. He really should have begun cleaning the bedroom much earlier, he thought.

\t''Then, if you'll excuse me...'' Rose said as she walked to her trunks and picked one of them up, in order to place it better so that she could open it on the floor. All that was heard was a loud snap as the handlebar broke and the trunk dropped on the floor with a thunk, spreading its contents in one heap. Some books, shoes, a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, along with some things Chi didn't immediately recognize along with her spare clothing. An oblong, cylindrical shaped object was protruding from the pile of clothes, which he noticed, albeit briefly.

\tRose turned as white as a sheet and knelt hastily turning her back to him, immediately pulling some clothes over the object. Then she started to collect her things. To Chi the object looked like a... and he turned his face discreetly away after the realization hit him.

\t"I'm going to gather up the dishes and make some tea while you settle in. Then I'm going to make your bed on the sofa." he said while he was blushing right up to the tips of his ears.

\tShe didn't say a thing, but took some clothes aside from the jumble. Then she grabbed the whole pile of the rest of her belongings, stuffed it back into the trunk, closed it quickly and hurried to the bedroom with her clothes without looking back or saying a thing.

\tWell, it's not like I was going to scold her or make funny remarks or anything like that, Chi thought. There was no need for her to run off like that. It's nothing to be ashamed of, having one of those things. Many women nowadays have them, and it's not like it's bad to own one. Even some quite young girls do. But of course she would feel embarrassed if hers was suddenly exposed to other people she barely knew. He knew well he was embarrassed. Maybe that's why she ran. He could only hope she didn't start to hate him because of it.

\tWhen Rose finally made it back, Chi had set the tea in the living room along with some snacks, made her bed, dimmed the lights and turned the TV set on. He was curled up on the floor in front of the sofa waiting for her as she stepped into the room. She was wearing white or gray - he couldn't really tell the color in the dim lighting - pajamas with pictures of cartoon bunny heads on them. The pajamas looked simple, but cute. The girl occupying them however looked dispirited. Her ears were flopping a little and her tail was hanging listlessly between her legs.

\t"The bed's made, hop in and I'll start the film. I took the liberty of taking out a sleeping bag for you, in case the blanket isn't enough. The balcony door isn't that well insulated and there's a draft coming from it.''

\t"Thank you,'' Rose said with a quiet voice as she walked over to the sofa and sat on it in a cross-legged position opposite to the pillow end.

\t"No, thank you for all the hard work today.''

\t"It was nothing, really. Are you going to stay down there?''

\t"It's your bed. I figured you'd like to keep it for yourself,'' he said, glancing upwards to her. At least she wasn't blushing, although she was appearing a little timid.

\t"Phooey.'' she said almost as if she was back to her usual self. "You'll see the screen better from up here.''  she continued again, more softly but with a timid sound in her voice. "Come on.''

\tChi thought about it for a second, but decided to accept her invitation anyway. She was right, and if she didn't mind, he would take the opportunity to see better. So he grabbed the remote with him and settled himself next to her pillow. "Please, help yourself to the tea and snacks. It isn't much but I hope It'll do.'' he said as he was fumbling with the remote and starting the film.

\tAs he had thought earlier, he hadn't seen the movie. There was a good reason to it, he thought, as it turned out to be as dull as dishwater. Ah, the lures of discounted films. You know they're discounted because nobody wants to buy them. And why nobody wants to buy them is probably because they're substandard. It made him wonder what made him buy this particular title in the first place. Likely he was thinking it would help him pass some rainy afternoon when he wouldn't be too picky about what he watched. He was starting to  wonder if he was going to stay awake until the end of the film.

\tRose had brought the snow globe she was given to their movie night. She was tilting it from side to side and watching as the red fox within ran in the snow. She lifted it up against the light from the TV and watched silently through it, sometimes tracing the inscription on its base with her fingers, hardly concentrating on the movie at all.

\t"It's pretty,'' Rose said. "She's pretty. Is that a she?'' The figure running inside the globe was slender and had a feminine gait. For Chi this was obvious, but Rose too seemed to have keen eyes after all, contrary to Chi's initial assessment. Maybe it wasn't so strange of her to be able to tell even the difference between a dog and a vixen running inside a snow globe.

\t"Yes, that's a she.''

\t"Is this one of your souvenirs from Japan? This is really pretty, so why had you put it away? It's way too pretty to be put away. And what does this writing say anyway?''

\tChi looked at the text on the snow globe, which he already knew very well without even needing to look at it. "It says *kioku yori ai o komete, which you could translate to `from memories with love', but it contains a pun, I've been told.''

\t"A pun? From whom did you hear it?''

\t"Oh, just an old acquaintance from long ago.''

\t"I saw the books in your shelf. I figured you'd know the language enough, so you'd recognize things like that by yourself. So, what's the pun, then?''

\tHe was silent for a moment. Yes, she was sharp. There was really no need for him to keep it a secret, was there. "The word for `love' is misspelled.''

\tRose shook the globe again and got herself lost in the ensuing snowstorm. "What does it mean? Who was this acquaintance of yours?''

\t"I'd rather not talk about it now. That's why I had the thing stowed away in the first place. It's an old memory with a heavy burden, yet it decided this time to find you and surface itself. It chose you, I'm not ready for it yet.'' He put his head to rest on his front paws and looked to the screen, staying silent. Rose didn't ask anything else.

 \tSomewhere along the first half of the movie Rose had already decided to lie down on her side, and he had to move from his spot to give her an unobstructed view to the TV screen. She was quiet and didn't have much of an appetite, she had just drank her tea and settled afterwards with her back to the sofa's back rest. From there she had lied down, resting her head against her arm when Chi had to switch places to the front of her, practically to her lap. She pulled a blanket partially over her, after which it didn't take long for her to switch her arm for the pillow to rest her head against. Her left arm was under the pillow and she kept her right arm on top of her flank. He knew he would be watching the movie alone before long.

\tRose said she had slept in the plane, but soon she was asleep like she hadn't slept in weeks. Well, she did all the work, so she should be tired, he thought. He heard her mumbling something quietly in her sleep but didn't pay it any particular attention. The movie was almost over.

\tWhen the final credits came to the screen he stopped the playback and turned off the TV set carefully, not wanting to create noise or make sudden movements that would wake Rose up. As the distracting sounds of the movie died down, his usually very attentive ears were able to pick up something he hadn't been able to before, because he was tired as well. Rose wasn't mumbling to herself, he realized. She was sobbing.

\tChi turned his head to look at Rose. She was holding her pillow and squeezing it against herself while she trembled ever so slightly, that he had mistook the trembling for the rhythm of heavy breathing. He watched her for a moment, not knowing what to do. She appeared asleep. Should I wake her up or let her sleep instead, he thought. He shifted his position a little so he could reach her better. He brought his muzzle close to her face without breathing and only looked at her face for a moment, which was half buried in her pillow. Definitely asleep. What should he do?

\tWhy was Rose crying? Did it really disturb her that much that he saw her belongings? Or was it something else? He wasn't expecting this of her. She seemed brave and definitely not like she'd cry over any small thing, that was for sure. He didn't know what to think. This was all so new to him.

\tMaybe I should wake her up, he decided. He poked her arm gently with his nose, then waited. No reaction. He tried again, little more forcefully this time. His eyes were on her teary face and he could feel - no, he could hear - how the blood was rushing to his ears again. Third time's the charm, I wouldn't like to have to lick her face in order to wake her up, he caught himself thinking. It was a good thing he was already blushed, he couldn't blush any more. He poked her arm again and this time something happened.

\tRose made a sighing sound amidst her sobs as she shifted in her sleep. Her arm dropped from her flank to on top of his back and he blinked twice, dumbfounded. What was he doing? He was supposed to go to his bedroom after the movie, for the last night that he had a bedroom. If he left now, Rose would surely awaken.

\t"Rose dear, are you awake?'' he said whispering silently.

\t"Mhm...'' was the equivalent of an answer that he got. She was still sobbing, but starting to calm down, still asleep. She shifted again, and Chi was grabbed into her arms. She was unconsciously holding him against her chest like she had held the pillow, which was now more or less discarded by her side. He could feel her breathing on the tips of his ears. Being this close to someone in a long time was... an interesting feeling to him, to say the least.

\tWhat was I now, a plush toy, he thought to himself and sighed long in his mind. In any case, she seemed to stop her sobbing little by little. He turned his head around from side to side while he was locked in her grasp, considering his options of getting out. It looked like he could get away if he put some effort into it, but the movement could be enough to wake her up and there was no longer need for that if she was about to start sleeping soundly. He sighed a little and pulled the blanket to cover them both better.

\tThe day didn't go exactly well and he was feeling guilty about it all evening. About the shelf in the storeroom and her getting caught under it. His moments of embarrassment while he got locked up with her questions. Then her embarrassment. He could feel Rose's relaxed breathing swaying the hairs on his ears. It didn't feel that bad to be in her arms, even if he was squeezed a little. He settled himself in a more comfortable position, tried to relax and closed his eyes. On a moment's whim he placed his paws on her hands. Rose mumbled something incomprehensible and held on to him a little tighter. No, it didn't feel that bad at all anymore.

*記憶より娃をこめて。
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