A Fox's Family (American Kitsune Book 4)

by Brandon Varnell

  It didn’t work.

  Jiāoào came at Kevin again.

  Kevin punched him in the face.

  “Gah!”

  “That’s for trying to force Lilian into mating with you when she clearly doesn’t want to!”

  Stumbling back, his mind disoriented from the pain, Jiāoào didn’t even see the two fingers heading his way.

  Poke.

  “Inari dammit!! My eyes! You poked my eyes! Who the hell does that?!!”

  “I do that!” Kevin declared. “That’s for kidnapping Lilian and thinking you can get away with it!”

  His hands covering his eyes, Jiāoào was unable to do anything as Kevin rammed a fist into his stomach.

  “Oof!”

  He doubled over, spittle flying from his mouth.

  “That’s for hurting my mate’s sister!”

  Kevin’s elbow came up and slammed into Jiāoào’s jaw, breaking it.

  “Gruak!”

  “I have absolutely no clue what that’s for, but dang, did it feel good!”

  Kevin grabbed Jiāoào’s head in a clinch and, just like he’d seen Kiara do and just like Midget had done to him several times, he slammed the two-tailed kitsune’s head into his knee.

  “GUAG!”

  “And that one was for hurting the people I care about!” He did it again. “For causing Lindsay’s mom to get sent to the hospital!” Once more. “For being the cause of my mate’s suffering!” Two more times. “For every self-centered thing you’ve ever done!” Three.

  By this point, Jiāoào was barely functioning. He stumbled around like a drunken idiot who had decided to start off the new year by drinking an entire beer bong’s worth of Jagermeister. His dazed eyes stared at nothing and everything, and drool leaked from his mouth.

  Kevin wasn’t finished.

  “And this one… this one is for me. My finishing move!”

  Kevin darted forward, leaping into the air, his feet oriented towards his opponent.

  “Final technique! Ultimate Combustion of Manly Prowess Heel Kick Attack!”

  Like an explosion going off, Kevin’s feet crashed into Jiāoào’s face, which seemed to literally cave in as it was struck. Kevin thought he could actually feel the fox-boy’s face cracking underneath his shoes. He bent his knees, momentum carrying him forward. With one final shove, a last strain of Kevin’s legs, he used Jiāoào’s face as a springboard to push himself into the air—and this time, Kevin remembered to flip around so that he landed on his feet.

  Jiāoào flew through the air and smashed into the ground several feet away. He rolled along the marble floor, his body flailing limply, stopping when he crashed into a pillar. Jiāoào twitched once, his muscles spasmed, and then he lay still, staring at the ceiling with a blank look in his dull eyes.

  Kevin clenched a fist up to his face, a symbol of victory. “And that’s how you kick some serious butt!” he declared, just before his body sagged and he stumbled forward.

  “Kevin!”

  He would have fallen, but Lilian rushed to his side. She wrapped her right arm around his torso, then she slung his left arm over her shoulder for additional support. Kevin leaned against her, his body sagging further as all of his strength left him.

  “Ugh… why do I feel so tired?”

  “Well, you did just fight against a kitsune,” Lilian pointed out, “and you must have been fighting pretty hard before I got here. While my Celestial powers can heal all of your wounds, they can’t heal fatigue. You’ve probably spent all your energy by now.”

  “Ha… I guess,” he sighed. “Still, I feel so lame now. I had such a strong finishing move. It was so awesome. To have my battle end with me barely able to stand is just…”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself.” Lilian smiled and kissed his cheek. “You did amazing. I don’t think you realize how incredible your accomplishment is. You, a human with no supernatural powers, just defeated a kitsune with nothing but your fists.”

  “And my feet.”

  Lilian nodded. “And your feet. That’s an incredible achievement. I don’t think any other human could have done that.”

  Kevin’s face became hot. Really hot. Like someone had taken a flamethrower to it. He just knew that he was blushing. Dang it! Hadn’t he gotten over this already?

  “Ah-ahahaha! T-thank you.”

  “Ufufufu, have I ever told you that you’re absolutely adorable when you blush?”

  “Urk!”

  “You see, Kiara-san? I told you that Kevin-sama would be finished with his battle by now,” a voice suddenly said, interrupting his banter with Lilian.

  “…” Kiara didn’t answer for some reason.

  “Ara, ara. it seems you’ve lost too much blood, ufufufu..”

  “…” still no answer.

  Kevin and Lilian turned around to see a figure—no, two figures—standing near the entrance.

  “Kotohime! Kiara! I did it! I―what the hell happened to you, Kiara?!”

  “Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Kotohime walked further into the room, carrying a nearly unconscious Kiara over her shoulder like a sack of rice. “She’s perfectly fine.”

  “Ffine? FINE?!” Kevin shrieked. “Her entire left arm is missing!”

  “Actually, it’s more like just her forearm.”

  “LIKE THAT MATTERS!”

  “You worry too much.” Kotohime offered Kevin her brightest, most beautiful smile. “It is true that she no longer has an arm, but it could have been a lot worse. While I cannot bring her arm back, since it was lost to the Void, I have healed it to the point where she will no longer have to worry about bleeding to death. Like I said, Kiara-san will be just fine.”

  “Why don’t you say that when she isn’t dangling limply from your shoulder?” Kevin deadpanned.

  “Ufufufu, you hear that, Kiara-san? Kevin-sama is underestimating you.”

  “…” Kiara didn’t answer. Kevin wasn’t sure if she could answer. She didn’t even look conscious anymore.

  Kevin took several deep breaths. He needed to, because otherwise he was afraid he might do something stupid, like deck Kotohime. Which would have been bad. Very bad.

  “Whatever. I guess as long as she’s alive, that’s all that matters.”

  “Exactly.” Kotohime looked quite pleased to see that he had come around to her way of thinking. “Now then, why don’t we return home? It is nearing dinner time now, and I would like to start cooking as soon as possible.”

  “Right.”

  The group walked out of the mansion and were traveling across the courtyard when Kevin suddenly stopped.

  “Kevin?” Lilian asked upon noticing this. “Is something wrong?”

  “There might be. I just realized something.”

  Both Kotohime and Lilian appeared curious. “What’s that?”

  “Kiara is the only one of us who can drive. How are we going to get home?”

  A heavy silence descended upon them.

  For once, Kotohime actually seemed mildly embarrassed. “I-I hadn’t thought about that…”

  Lilian was much more… concise.

  “Hawa…”

  “How many times do I have to tell you not to use your mother’s catchphrase?!”

  Truly, the role of tsukkomi fit Kevin well.

  Chapter 13

  The Halloween Party

  Due to Kiara not only being unconscious but also missing her left arm, Kevin had been forced to drive the group to the hospital. Kotohime didn’t know how to drive, and Lilian knew next to nothing about cars.

  They were stopped by no less than fifteen police officers.

  Each of those officers let them off with a warning.

  Oddly enough, neither Lilian nor Kotohime needed to use an enchantment to accomplish this. Then again, every officer who pulled them over happened to be male. They had all taken one look at Lilian and Kotohime before being turned into a drooling mass of hormones.

  Truly, Kevin sometimes felt disgraced by his own gender.r />
  After they arrived at the hospital, Kiara was taken into emergency care. Kevin, Lilian and Kotohime had been shooed off, so they ended up popping into Iris’s room.

  “I am very pleased to see that you have all made it back safely.” Kirihime’s smile had been tender and gentle when she had said that. Really, that woman was just too nice for her own good. Kevin was actually worried that some jerk might take advantage of her incredible kindness someday.

  Camellia had also been quite pleased to see them. She had hugged all three of them while bawling her eyes out. Lilian had been bawling, too.

  Apparently, Camellia and Lilian’s version of bawling one’s eyes out included massive amounts of “hawa.”

  Iris had also been pleased to see them, or so Kevin liked to think. He could never tell with her. She’d greeted them in the same manner as always, pulling her “Lily-pad” into a hug, then spouting off some kind of sexual innuendo to Kevin, which had thoroughly embarrassed him and caused Lilian to facepalm.

  While he didn’t know exactly how pleased Iris was to see him, even he could tell that she had been impressed when Lilian told her the story of how he’d beaten the crap out of Jiāoào.

  “Well done, stud,” Iris congratulated. “Beating a kitsune is no small feat for a human, especially one without any weapons… even if Jiāoào is a complete pansy. For that, I think you deserve a reward.”

  Iris then placed something into Kevin’s hands. It was white and kind of lacy. They seemed so familiar…

  “This is… are these panties?!”

  “Kukuku. Indeed they are!”

  “Iris,” Lilian had sighed, “You’re just so…”

  “Lovely? I know.”

  “I was going to say perverted, but whatever.”

  Kevin held onto the panties for several seconds, his face scrunching up as if in deep thought. Finally…

  “Wait a minute. You don’t wear panties.”

  A long awkward silence ensued. Everyone looked at each other—everyone except for Camellia, that is, who just smiled and looked adorable.

  Kevin looked back at the panties in his hand. Then at Iris. Back to the panties. His face scrunched up further. Then he looked at Iris again.

  “Iris,” he said with feigned calm, “whose panties are these?”

  “Kukuku…”

  “I don’t like the sound of that laugh.”

  “Eep!”

  All eyes turned to look at Kirihime. Her cheeks were flushed a brilliant red, and she was squeezing her thighs together.

  Kotohime twitched. “Don’t tell me…”

  “L-Lady Iris…” A completely red-in-the-face Kirihime gave her younger mistress a pathetically sad look. “When did you… I didn’t even notice…”

  Iris grinned as she waggled her fingers at Kirihime. “I’ve got the magic hands.”

  After that embarrassing interlude was over and done with, the doctor had come in to announce that Kiara was out of danger, but that she would be required to stay in the hospital due to massive blood loss.

  Kevin had tried to visit Lindsay and her mother, but he learned that his friend had already left and that Lindsay’s mother was still resting while not accepting any visitors.

  Iris was cleared to leave that day. Her injuries weren’t too bad, especially since Kirihime had discreetly healed them while he and Kotohime had gone to save Lilian. They all traveled back home and arrived at the Swift residence in time for Kotohime to get started on dinner. That night, the kimono-clad beauty made a feast to celebrate Kevin’s first victory against a yōkai.

  “You have done something very impressive,” she told him. “Few humans could ever beat a yōkai with their bare hands, regardless of the number of tails they have. That you have managed to do so after one month of training is nothing short of astonishing.” She ruffled his hair, much to Kevin’s annoyance. “You should be very proud of yourself.”

  “Here, here!” an oddly cheerful Iris had said. “I really should give you another reward… Oh! I know! How about I give you some of my pubes?”

  “IRIS!” the shout came from both Kevin and Lilian.

  “Hahaha! I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I shave down there,” she said, which did absolutely nothing to reassure them. Then she made another suggestion. “How about I give you some of Lilian’s pubes?”

  “Don’t offer to give away something that isn’t yours to give!” Lilian shouted. “And that part of my body already belongs to Kevin! He doesn’t need you to offer my pubes to him when he could just ask for them himself!”

  It was a thoroughly shamefaced Kevin who ate dinner that night.

  After dinner, Lilian wandered off to take a shower. That had been half an hour ago. Kevin spent that time playing video games with Iris.

  “Ha! You think you’ve got me beat! Take this!”

  “Great… another button masher. Just so you know, if you break my controller, I’m going to make you buy a new one.”

  “Aw, stop your worrying. Now… let me see blood!!”

  Iris, it seemed, enjoyed playing video games as much as Lilian. Kevin wondered if it ran in the family.

  “Ugh… I can’t believe I lost… stupid game…”

  Or maybe not. A small droplet of sweat rolled down Kevin’s face as Iris tossed the controller onto the ground and sulked. Somehow, even her sulking looked incredibly sexy.

  “You just need to play some more.” Kevin turned his head so he wouldn’t be caught staring. Fortunately, Iris didn’t seem to notice.

  “Whatever.”

  “I wonder if Lilian’s out of the bath yet.”

  Iris gave Kevin a flat look. “You’re her mate, aren’t you? Why don’t you just go in and check?”

  “W-well, I guess I could…” Kevin scratched at his cheek. The idea definitely had appeal. “But, she said she wanted to be alone this time. I-I don’t want to be a bother…”

  “By Inari’s furry ass, how can someone be such a badass one moment and a complete loser the next?”

  “Hey!”

  “Seriously,” she gave him a stern look, “you shouldn’t even have to think about crap like this. You saw the look on her face. I know you did.” Kevin nodded. He had indeed seen the look on Lilian’s face, the smiling facade she’d put on to reassure everyone. She’d been wearing it since the rescue. “She doesn’t want to be alone right now. She’s just saying that because she’s confused. And you, as her mate, must be the one who helps her deal with whatever her problem is.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “Of course I’m right.” Iris rolled her eyes. “Now get going.”

  “Thank you, Iris.” He tossed her a smile. “Despite your attitude, you really are a caring person.”

  “Pffft! The fact that you would say something so stupid shows that you don’t know me very well.”

  Kevin left an oddly flustered Iris in the living room and traveled to the bathroom. He knocked on the door, but entered when no one answered. The bathroom was empty, showing that Lilian had finished her shower. And if that was the case, then there was only one other place she could be.

  He found her standing by the window in their bedroom. He couldn’t see her face, but he didn’t need to. The shaking of her shoulders told him enough.

  “Lilian?”

  The fox-girl stiffened. She hastily rubbed at her eyes. Kevin walked into the room and up to her. By the time she turned around, her tears were gone, but not the redness or the swelling.

  “Hey, Kevin.” She tried to be cheerful, but Kevin could see the way her lips quivered. “Sorry I didn’t come into the living room to play video games with you and Iris. I meant to, but I started thinking and I guess I got caught up in my own thoughts.”

  “What were you thinking about?”

  Lilian turned around. She didn’t say anything at first, but Kevin knew she would. Just as Kirihime had told him, he was her mate. She wouldn’t keep secrets from him.

  “It happened before I found you in the entrance hall,”
Lilian’s voice, softer than a spring breeze, barely reached his ears. He moved in close, until he stood directly behind her. He could see her reflection in the window now, along with the barely contained tears in her eyes. “I… there was this girl, a two-tails like me. She and I looked really similar. I don’t know how Jiāoào got his hands on her, but he said that she was being used as my replacement until he could get the real thing.”

  “The more I hear about Jiāoào, the more I wished I’d given him an even more painful beating.” His words caused Lilian to smile, but it was fleeting. She sighed and placed a hand against the window, palm flat and fingers splayed. Her arm was trembling.

  “They had me bound in Jorōgumo silk, a type of silk made from the threads of a Jorōgumo, a spider yōkai. It’s very strong and can absorb enough youki that a two-tails like myself can’t use the enhancement technique to break free. If it weren’t for that kunai you bought me, I wouldn’t have been able to escape.”

  Kevin listened silently. Lilian took a deep breath.

  “During my escape attempt, this girl came into the room and tried to kill me. She kept saying this stuff about not wanting to be thrown away, about how Jiāoào would have to accept her if I wasn’t there. I think she knew that Jiāoào would dispose of her the moment we left for his family’s palace.”

  While Kevin’s heart constricted at the knowledge, Lilian began to cry, her tears creating two glistening trails that wound down fair cheeks.

  “Jiāoào twisted that poor girl into something broken and hideous. I could see it. He did so many horrible things to her, things I can only begin to guess at, and I… I killed her…”

  Lilian’s tears poured down her face in earnest now.

  “I killed her. She kept coming at me, trying to strangle me and she kept screaming and screaming and I killed her! I killed her, Kevin! I tried to wash the blood off in the shower, but I kept seeing it on my hands! I killed her! It was so easy! One minute she was trying to kill me and the next I stabbed her in the chest! I killed her and I don’t know what to do! I-I’ve never killed someone before, but now I have and I’m afraid! I’m afraid of myself because I can murder someone else so easily! And I’m afraid that you’ll hate me because I’ve become a murderer! I don’t know what to do! I-I―”