A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  He leaned down and placed his lips on her stomach, feeling the muscles twitch underneath him as Lilian sucked in a breath. Trailing kisses along her skin, he listened to the sounds she made; the soft whimpers and moans as he trailed his lips across the taut skin, and the way her breathing hitched as he traveled further up, eventually reaching her breasts.

  Kevin stared at her chest for a moment, which was still covered by a shirt. Slowly, he pushed her shirt further up, exposing her breasts, which sat like two proud mountains on her chest. Lilian shivered as the cold air hit them. She tried to grab the blanket and cover herself back up, but Kevin grabbed her hands, laced his fingers through hers, and placed them over her head. He’d be warming her up in a second anyway.

  Lilian had the most beautiful breasts he’d ever seen. Large, but not obscenely so. Perky despite their incredible size. Her nipples were small and pink, and as the cold air hit them, they hardened into tiny points. Feeling a sudden craving, Kevin leaned down and sucked one of her nipples into his mouth.

  “Mnnn!”

  Lilian released a breathy moan as he swirled his tongue around her nipple. Her body seemed to shudder against him. Understanding that this meant she would be waking up soon, Kevin let go of her hands and stuck one of his hands into her panties. She was already a little wet, so it was easy to insert a finger into her. As his index finger went in for the kill, his thumb worked out the small bundle of nerves from underneath the hood and rubbed it.

  “Nn! Ahn! Ha… ha… ahn!”

  Delicate hands grabbed the back of his head and pulled him further into Lilian’s breast. Lilian’s moans increased in volume. He continued working, adding a second finger to the first, which caused Lilian to cry out his name. He felt the warm walls around his finger tighten, then loosen as Lilian’s body became completely relaxed.

  “B-Beloved…” Lilian whispered breathlessly.

  Kevin looked up and grinned at what he saw. Lilian’s hair had become a messy halo around her head, her cheeks were a lovely shade of pink, and her breathing had grown heavy. She gazed at him with half-lidded eyes and a sleepy but pleased smile.

  Crawling up her body until his face was directly over hers, Kevin placed a kiss on her lips. He let himself linger there, enjoying the silken feel of her mouth, and when Lilian’s tongue licked his lips, asking for permission to enter, he gave it, opening his mouth and allowing her tongue to become entwined with his.

  He didn’t know how long they remained like that, languidly kissing, though he did know that he wished it could have lasted forever. Yet all good things must eventually come to an end, and Kevin regretfully pulled back to present Lilian with a smile.

  “Good morning,” he greeted.

  “That was some good morning,” Lilian said, smiling as she reached for his head and hugged him to her chest. Kevin didn’t resist. “How are you feeling today?”

  “I’m still a little sore, but I’m better than I was yesterday.”

  “Mmm, you certainly seem to be feeling better.”

  “Only because you’ve become such a phenomenal healer.”

  Lilian didn’t respond at first, but when she did, her voice was soft. “Maybe…”

  “Lily?” Kevin looked up to see Lilian frowning. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing… at least, I think it’s nothing.” Lilian’s face was awfully cute as she scrunched it up like a chipmunk’s. “I was just wondering if it’s really because I’ve become a good healer.”

  Kevin shifted onto his side and, placing his elbow on the futon, he used his left hand to keep his head elevated. “What do you mean?”

  “Well…” Lilian thought some more. “It’s just that I don’t seem to be capable of healing other people as well as I can heal you. It’s easier to heal a yōkai because their bodies are more receptive to youki, but for some reason, healing you is far easier for me than anyone else.”

  “Is that so?” Kevin rolled onto his back and stared up at the tree ceiling, counting the rings in the wood. Pondering her words, he eventually gave a chuckle. “Maybe I’m a half-yokai.”

  “Please don’t joke like that, Beloved,” Lilian stated flatly. “That would be a terrible plot device.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  Kevin hummed. Truth be told, he didn’t know much about his lineage. His mom was a human, but he knew nothing of his father, beyond the fact that the man was a coward who’d abandoned his mom. For all he knew, he could have been a half-yokai. He did have that strange barrier negating ability, after all, which was, most assuredly, not something that a human should have been capable of.

  Thoughts of his parentage left him when Lilian rolled over and straddled his waist. He was still aroused, and her bottom rubbed against him, causing a groan to escape his mouth.

  “Lilian…”

  He reached up and placed his hands on her hips. Lilian leaned down as she continued grinding into him. Looking down, Kevin glanced at her breasts through her shirt, then he looked back up into Lilian’s emerald-eyed gaze.

  In a serious and needy voice, Lilian said, “I want to have sex.”

  There really is no subtlety with this girl.

  Still, that was an order that he was more than willing to abide by.

  Christine and Iris were nearing Kevin and Lilian’s tree hut, barely fifteen feet from the door, when a particularly loud moan echoed from inside. Perhaps the noise reached them more readily because these huts didn’t have a door. There was just a thick cloth covering the entrance.

  Christine froze as her face turned a shade of blue that had yet to be discovered by man.

  “Heh… sounds like the stud and Lily-pad are getting it on,” Iris stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

  Another moan echoed from beyond the flap that separated them from Kevin and Lilian. Christine shuddered from head to toe at the sound. It was sensual, erotic, and filled with enough passion that she thought she might freeze over. It was also the most embarrassing sound that she had ever heard.

  Christine didn’t like feeling embarrassed.

  Tsundere Protocols: Activated.

  Sex with Lilian was easily one of the most amazing things ever. Kevin wasn’t sure if he could ever adequately describe what it was like to make love to his mate. Lilian was enthusiastic, energetic, and loved trying new things, and since they were both relatively new to the joys of sex, it meant neither one of them had any more experience than the other. It was a process that they were learning together.

  “A-ahn! R-right there, Beloved!”

  She was also very vocal. Lilian had no trouble letting him know what she liked and what she didn’t like.

  “You mean like this?”

  “Y-yes! Oh, gods! I think I found One Piece!”

  She also enjoyed making random anime references.

  “Lily, you make my dick harder than a kunai!”

  “You make me wetter than a water jutsu!”

  “Is my drill the drill that is piercing your heaven?”

  “Yes! Your drill is the drill that is piercing my heaven!”

  “Whose drill is the drill that is piercing your heaven?!”

  “Your drill is the drill that is piercing my heaven!”

  “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU TWO THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Christine shrieked as she burst into the room.

  Kevin and Lilian stopped what they were doing. Their bodies froze mid-coitus, which may have had something to do with the ice that was now creeping along their blanket. Slowly, oh so slowly, they turned their heads toward the entrance.

  Christine stood before them like an ice demon who’d just turned the Sanzu River into a winter wonderland. Her entire body had become a frosty shade of ice blue, not just her face, but all of her. Steam wafted off her head like smoke from a bonfire. She was shuddering from head to toe, though whether this was embarrassment, rage, or both, Kevin could not discern.

  Well, this isn’t good. I’d better say something to calm her down before she turns us into popsicl
es.

  “This isn’t what it looks like,” Kevin said.

  … Silence. Christine stared at him. Lilian stared at him. Iris, who’d just wandered into their little tree hut, also stared at him.

  “Okay, so this is what it looks like,” Kevin admitted. “Lilian and I are mates. We have sex. It’s natural.”

  “Well said, Beloved. Sex is a perfectly natural thing.”

  “Exactly. So, there’s no need to get upset, right, Christine?”

  “… Beloved, that was a dumb thing to say.”

  “It was?”

  “Yes,” Iris said before Lilian could, “it was.”

  “Huh? Why is that?”

  In response to his words, Iris pointed at Christine. The girl stood stock still. She didn’t move an inch. With her blue skin tone, Kevin almost assumed that she’d become a block of ice. Maybe her yuki-onna powers had kicked into high gear and turned her into an ice statue.

  “Uh… Christine?”

  “You… two…” Christine whispered. Kevin and Lilian both shuddered. How could someone so tiny sound so terrifying? “You two…”

  Lilian tried to talk some sense into the girl. “Listen, Christine… I-I know that what Kevin said wasn’t very polite, but, well, he does make a good point. You really shouldn’t be upset by what we do in our private time together.”

  “Bad move, Lily-pad,” Iris said.

  Lilian would never get a chance to respond.

  Because in that moment, all hell broke loose.

  Kotohime had woken and gone to meet with Orin well before the first rays of light penetrated the canopy.

  She sat in seiza. The ground beneath her was rough, but she used reinforcement to keep her limbs from falling asleep or getting scraped. Lounging on a bed of pillows, Orin, the descendant of the great monkey king Sun Wukong, smoked from his pipe.

  “So, you have decided to come with us?” she asked for confirmation.

  “I have,” Orin said after blowing out several smoke rings. “Your young companion’s strength and conviction has convinced me that it’s time to set aside the differences I have with that young drake and do what must be done.”

  Kotohime hid her relief by lifting the sleeves of her kimono in front of her smiling lips. “I’m sure Davin-dono will be pleased to hear that.”

  “Tch. Like I care what that old drake thinks. Now, if it was Sarah, that would be a different story.”

  “You are speaking of Sarah Feniks? I heard that she was a companion of yours who disappeared several decades ago.”

  Sarah Feniks was the fourth member of the Four Saints, and a woman who was said to be the only one capable of matching Davin Monstrang in sheer power. Kotohime knew very little about the woman, other than that no one seemed to know where she was.

  “Yeah…” Orin leaned back and sighed. “I’m not exactly sure when she split with the other Four Saints, as I had left before her, but I heard through rumor that she’d up and vanished about fifty years ago—no one has seen her since.”

  As she studied the wizened monkey, Kotohime noticed the way his face had softened at the mention of Sarah, the gentle look in his eyes, and the almost nostalgic aura that surrounded him. Seeing this expression, she realized something.

  “You’re in love with her,” Kotohime stated with certainty. “With Sarah-san, I mean.”

  Whether Orin would have said something, either a denial or affirmation, would never become known, as Cien walked in seconds later. The young inu who’d joined them in their rescue mission wasn’t wearing a shirt. Sweat dripped down his body, making Kotohime wonder if the boy had been exercising.

  “Orin, do you know if the—oh.” He paused upon seeing her. Kotohime almost broke character when she saw him twitch away from her. “I hadn’t realized someone else was in here.”

  “Good morning, Cien… san.” It felt somewhat odd giving a dog who wasn’t Kiara a suffix, but Kotohime was nothing if not polite. “I hope you had a pleasant night.”

  “Um… pleasant enough, I guess,” Cien mumbled. The expression on his face suggested that he didn’t know why they were talking. Kotohime didn’t blame him. Inu and kitsune had never really gotten along.

  “In any event,” Orin started, “since my decision has now been made, why don’t we go see those three youngsters who originally came here and tell them the good news?”

  Kotohime smiled as she stood up. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

  Leaving Orin’s hut, the three of them wandered through New Genbu—the small village that many yokai called their home. It was a very small village of less than a hundred yokai. Instead of being made with bricks or wood, like buildings, the houses and other accommodations had been created directly into the trees, which had circumferences of several dozen meters.

  “HOLD STILL WHILE I KILL YOU TWO!!”

  “N-now Christine, please calm down.”

  “Yeah… t-this isn’t something to get upset over.”

  “DIE!!”

  “IYAHN!”

  As they got closer to Kevin, Iris, and Lilian’s hut, loud shouting reached their ears.

  “Ufufufu, it seems Lilian-sama and Kevin-sama have done something to upset their friend.” Kotohime smiled placidly. “I wonder what they could have done…”

  “It sounds like Christine is up and about, and she’s even more lively than usual,” Orin said, seemingly in agreement.

  “HOLD STILL SO I CAN MURDER YOU TWO!!”

  “GYAA!!” came two screams, one masculine and the other feminine.

  “Lively… right,” Cien mumbled dryly. “I’m not sure ‘lively’ is the right word for it.”

  “Ho?” Orin raised an eyebrow. “Then what would you call it?”

  “I’LL FUCKING MURDER YOU BOTH DEAD!!!”

  “Have mercy!!”

  “How about murderous?” Cien suggested. Orin’s response was to increase his pace. Sighing, Cien followed Orin into the hut. An amused Kotohime walked behind them.

  What they found inside was a catastrophe in the making. It looked like a tornado of ice had traveled through the interior. Objects lay strewn across the floor. Many of those objects were completely frozen, and several had been smashed into a thousand pieces like they were made of glass.

  Christine was chasing Lilian and Kevin, mist bursting from her pores like heat vents in the Arctic. Whatever the mist touched became frozen solid. Sitting near the entrance with her legs crossed, Iris had pulled out a bag of popcorn, which she periodically munched on as Kevin and Lilian ran from the enraged Christine.

  Kevin and Lilian were both completely naked.

  “C-calm down, Christine!” Kevin, his modesty protected by nothing more than a pillow, squeaked as several dozen shards of ice nearly impaled him.

  “Listen to Kevin! There’s no need for you to get so upset!” Lilian shouted. Unlike Kevin, who only had a pillow covering his junk, Lilian was wrapped up in a blanket.

  “I won’t calm down! I’ll never calm down! Now hurry and DIE!!!! DIE NEURONS!!!”

  “Kya!” Kevin and Lilian screamed at the same time as they were nearly struck down by a blizzard that Christine unleashed on them.

  “Oh, my,” Kotohime mumbled to herself.

  “I see you three are as lively as ever,” Orin said as he stepped further into the room. “However, you might want to—doof!”

  Kotohime and Cien watched as Orin went down when something smacked him in the face. Then they looked at the implement that had downed him. It was a shoe, one which had been frozen solid.

  “Ara, it seems things have gotten out of hand in here,” Kotohime said. Cien said nothing, but he nodded in apparent agreement.

  “Oh, Kotohime,” Iris greeted. “What’s up? Want some popcorn?”

  “How did this happen, exactly?” Kotohime asked as she grabbed a handful of popcorn when Iris offered her a bag. Cien also went to grab some popcorn, but Iris pulled it away, causing him to growl at her.

  “Back off, dog.”

  �
�I’ll bite you.”

  “Only two people are allowed to bite me. Try it and I’ll castrate you.”

  “Iris,” Kotohime prompted.

  “Right, right.” Iris got back on topic. “Well, you know how it goes. Lily-pad and the stud were doing the nasty, Christine heard them, and then this happened.”

  “So I see…”

  Kotohime went silent after that. Iris offered her some more popcorn. Together, the two of them plus Cien watched the ensuing violence.

  Christine eventually calmed down, though it might have been more accurate to say that she simply ran out of juice. She didn’t have much stamina, unlike Lilian and Kevin, who could outlast her even on their worst days. In the end, she’d exhausted herself chasing them around that tiny room. After that, Kotohime left, informing them that, after they got dressed, they should meet up with her and the others near the barrier entrance at the edge of New Genbu.

  While his mate donned her bodysuit and then threw her pants, long-sleeved shirt, and snow coat over it, Kevin only put on the bodysuit. The bodysuits were designed with their own internal temperature unit, so he didn’t need to worry about freezing. Though he knew that he’d eventually need to put on civilian clothes at some point since this suit was so conspicuous. Strapped across his thighs were his two guns.

  “Where are you going, Beloved?” Lilian asked as Kevin stood up after they’d finished packing their meager belongings.

  “You’re going to see Christy, aren’t ya?” Iris prodded with a grin. “Are you planning an early morning rendezvous with her?”

  Kevin rolled his eyes. “Nothing of the sort. I just needed to get something from her, that’s all.”

  “I’ll leave your clothes out for you,” Lilian said, folding a pair of pants and a long-sleeved shirt up and placing it on her duffel bag. “You’re gonna need to change before leaving.”