The parents looked at each other. Kevin recognized the signs of someone holding a silent conversation. He and Lilian had enough of those. For some reason, Iris got really upset whenever they spoke through their eyes.
I wonder if she’s jealous of me or Lilian?
It was hard to tell with that girl.
“We were trying to reach a place called Neo Seiryuu,” the mother said, her voice light and airy. “We heard about it from a friend who said that he was rescued from the Hunters by a group who belonged to Neo Seiryuu. He said it’s the closest thing to paradise, a place where humans and yōkai live together in peace.”
“Oh, I see. You guys are from a pocket community, aren’t you?”
“Yes, we are—or, we were. Our community was destroyed a few days ago. We’ve been on the run ever since.”
Pocket communities were exactly what they sounded like, small communities hidden from the world by separating them from this dimension, ensuring that no human could find one—except for Kevin due the strange ability of his arm.
However, while separating their community from this dimension was, indeed, a great way to keep humans from finding them, it was extremely difficult to keep up. Generally, only someone with the same amount of youki as a Kyuubi could create a separate dimension and maintain it. Pocket communities had found another way to maintain that space.
If everyone in the community shared the burden of maintaining the pocket dimension, then they could, theoretically at least, maintain the space indefinitely. Unfortunately, this only worked well in theory. The truth was that most yōkai simply didn’t have that much youki to spend. It would take around 5,000 yōkai to maintain a pocket dimension barely two kilometers wide.
There weren’t very many yōkai in the world. Before the war, humans outnumbered yōkai 2,500 to one. That meant there were, at most, 1.5 billion yōkai worldwide. That was nothing compared to the six billion humans populating the earth.
The United States held the largest yōkai population in the entire world. Because it was a nation free from the influence of any yōkai clan, many clanless yōkai, or even yōkai who simply didn’t want to live under the yoke of a clan, lived in this country. Daven had once told him that about half of the world’s yōkai population lived here, which meant they had around 552,000 yōkai in the United States.
That number had gone down significantly in the past four months. Even since the war had started, more and more yōkai were being killed. Kevin didn’t know how many yōkai had died so far, but he suspected that at least 1/4 of the population had been cut down.
Kevin smiled at them. “I understand. Don’t worry, we’ll get you to Neo Seiryuu.”
“Really?” the father asked, flabbergasted.
“Of course.” Kevin stood up and grinned. “That’s where we live.”
“Beloved?” Lilian chose that moment to walk out of the filing office. Her hands and tails were covered in blood, and she looked exhausted. Relief visibly shone in her eyes, however, making Kevin smile.
“Polydora’s okay, I take it?”
Lilian nodded. “For the most part. I stopped the bleeding, but she’s going to need a real healer, not someone who can only heal superficial wounds.”
“You can heal me pretty well,” Kevin pointed out.
“I’m not kissing Polydora,” Lilian deadpanned.
“You kiss Iris plenty. I don’t see what makes this so different.”
Lilian crossed her arms and turned her head. Her cheeks were stained like a fire truck. “That was mean, Beloved.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”
“You’re becoming more like a kitsune every day.”
“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Kevin murmured, then turned to Phoebe, who stood by the door, peering out to make sure no enemies were coming.
“We’re getting ready to leave, Phoebe,” he informed her.
“Very well.”
Phoebe left the door and quickly went to grab Polydora. When she came back, her fellow yama uba was, once again, situated on her shoulder in a fireman’s carry.
“Do you want me to carry her?” asked Kevin.
“I am fine,” Phoebe declared, “though I thank you for your concern.”
“I wish we had Iris here,” Lilian muttered. “With her sensing abilities, we would have been able to know if there were any enemies around us.”
“Iris still can’t use the Void very well.” Kevin shook his head. “As much as I don’t want to say this about her, had she come along, we would have had to protect her as well.”
“I guess,” Lilian said morosely.
Kevin patted Lilian’s shoulder, then turned to everyone there. “Are we all ready?” He received a chorus of nods. “Then let’s go.”
With Kevin leading the way, the group of seven rushed out of the building and onto the street. He knew they would need to be quick. While there was always a chance that no one would attack them, Kevin had learned that erring on the side of caution could save lives. Right now, one of those lives belonged to his mate, and it would be a cold day in hell that he ever let anything happen to her.
“Do you know if anyone else is in the area besides us?” Kevin asked Lilian, who ran alongside him as they left the street and entered the parking lot.
Lilian shook her head. “I don’t think so, but I can’t sense the presence of others either.”
“It matters not,” Phoebe declared, jogging slightly behind them, Polydora bouncing on her shoulder. “If there are enemies present, then we shall simply make a tactical withdrawal.”
“You mean we’ll run away,” Lilian corrected.
“No, yama uba do not run from a challenge. We simply withdraw tactically.”
“Riiiiight.”
Kevin directed the others to the parking tents, large metal constructs that kept cars cool in the shade. They used the tents for cover from snipers, though Kevin didn’t think there were any present. If there were, then he and the others would have been shot at before they reached the parking lot.
“We’re almost there!” Kevin shouted. “Just a little further.”
For one moment, Kevin believed that they could get out of this with no further incidents.
For one second, Kevin was hopeful that they would reach the extraction point without issue.
And then reality came crashing down around him like a jealous kitsune who wanted to steal his mate, reminding Kevin that, even when things looked like they were going his way, there was always a chance that everything would go wrong at the very end.
Kevin hated reality sometimes.
“There’s some stragglers over here!”
“We found several yōkai!”
Several soldiers wearing the green urban uniforms of the US Army appeared before them. Kevin felt his heart sink, even as he raised his black gun and unleashed four black projectiles at the group of military personnel. The void bullets slammed into a set of shields that sprang to life, but Kevin fired four more bullets that caused the shields to flare briefly, then vanish, the shields failing as the Void ate into the very concept of their existence.
“Extension!”
Two tails shot past Kevin. Each one smacked a soldier with enough force to send them flying. One of the soldiers who hadn’t been hit began talking on his comm. unit, but Kevin shot him in the face with another void bullet. The soldier jerked backwards, falling onto his back and screaming for several seconds before going still. Kevin kept his emotions solid and fired off another shot at the last soldier, who grabbed the comm. unit and fled behind a car.
“Calling in for backup! Calling for backup! I just lost my whole unit!”
“Celestial Art: Sphere!”
A sphere of light the size of Kevin’s fist shot from Lilian’s tail. It traveled around the car and zipped out of sight. A scream rent the air, and then silence descended—at least, it did until a loud rumbling echoed through the street.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Lilian murmured, her ea
rs twitching.
“Do you hear something?” Kevin asked.
“It sounds a little different from when I hear it on Call of Duty, but I believe what I’m hearing is a tank coming towards us.”
“You’re right. That doesn’t sound good.”
The rumbling grew louder and a large tank rolled down the street. Kevin didn’t know much about tanks; however, he knew that sticking around while this massive machine on treads hunted them was a very bad idea.
“Get back, everyone! Head back the way we came!” he ordered.
Kevin turned around and took off, with everyone else committing the same action. The tank continued rolling along on its treads until it became level with them. Then it stopped, and its turret swiveled to aim at them. Kevin saw this and swore.
“Everybody, get down!”
Kevin tackled Lilian to the ground and covered her with his body. He knew that it wouldn’t do anything. They’d both be done if they were hit with a tank round. That didn’t stop him, however, because giving Lilian even a remote chance to survive was better than no chance.
Everyone else around him had done the same. The bakeneko parents protected their children with their own bodies, and Phoebe laid on top of her unconscious friend, who stirred and groaned. The turret finished its preparations and aimed at them. There was a click, followed by a deafening bang that echoed across the city like thunder.
“Ikken Hissatsu. Hein.”
Two loud explosions occurred in quick succession. A fierce wind picked up around them, its heat searing into his skin. He bit back a yelp of pain as burning debris scraped against his back, his hold on Lilian tightening as he tried to protect her.
As the heat died down, Kevin looked up just in time to see who had saved them, seconds before she disappeared.
Having vanished in a burst of speed, Kotohime reappeared directly in front of the tank, her sword already in its sheath and her body crouched into a battōjutsu stance. The long ends of her beautiful kimono rustled as she shifted her geta-clad feet across the ground.
“Ikken Hissatsu.”
Kevin never saw her blade leave its sheath, but he certainly saw the aftermath. Sixteen thin lines appeared along the tank before, like a series of building blocks that hadn’t been combined correctly, the tank separated into several pieces. They fell to the floor. Each chunk was about the size of his torso, or maybe even a bit bigger. Kevin didn’t want to think about what the person who’d been inside the tank looked like.
As a louder series of clangs resounded throughout the city block, Kotohime turned to them.
She wore a demure smile.
“Ara, ara. Lilian-sama, Kevin-sama. You two were late to the extraction point, so I came to see how you were doing. It looks like you got yourselves into a little bit of trouble.”
“You can say that again.” Kevin rolled off Lilian, groaning as his back protested. His mate also sat up, her ears twitching several times before she turned to him.
“You’re hurt.” She bit her lip.
“Eh?”
It was only after she’d spoken that Kevin realized how severe his injuries were. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel the damage done to his back. The intense burning from scorching hot winds, the blood that ran down his back from being hit with debris. His back stung like nobody’s business, and it was only pride that kept him from crying like a little girl.
“Ara. You do look like you’ve been injured quite badly. My apologies, Kevin-sama. Please, allow me to heal you.”
Kevin was about to take Kotohime up on her offer—
“I’ll heal him.”
—when Lilian declared that she would do it.
“Ufufufu.” Kotohime hid her smile behind the sleeve of her kimono. “Very well, then. Far be it from this humble Kotohime to heal Kevin-sama when his mate is right here.”
“Thanks anyway.” Kevin smiled at the woman, who smiled right back. “Why don’t you help the bakenko over there? They’re likely more injured than I am anyway. Oh! And Polydora is injured, too. Help her as well.”
“Ufufufu, if that is your wish, then I shall, of course, oblige you.”
Kotohime wandered past them, her walk graceful and smooth. Kevin turned his head to watch her, then looked back at the tank—or at least, what was left of it. He slumped against the floor, then winced. There was some debris digging into his left butt cheek.
“Is it wrong that I still don’t like her laugh?” he asked Lilian, who slowly crawled onto his lap.
“Ufufufu, why wouldn’t you like her laugh?”
“I know you’re doing that on purpose. Stop it.”
“All right. Fine. Ruin my fun. This may sting a bit, but please bear with it.”
Kevin didn’t have much time to ask her what she meant. He didn’t really need to ask anyway. When her lips pressed against his, he accepted her kiss, which helped him ignore the pain lancing up his back as Lilian’s tails coiled around his torso.
Pain was soon replaced with warmth, though, as Lilian used a celestial healing technique to repair his damaged back. Kevin tried not to focus on the feeling of his skin and muscles knitting together, and instead focused on Lilian’s tongue as she played with his. It wasn’t hard. With Lilian sitting on him, her legs hooked around his waist and pulling her close, and her scent addling his mind, his damaged back was the last thing on his mind.
The pain disappeared entirely, but Kevin and Lilian continued to kiss. A groan escaped his throat as Lilian rubbed against him. Even now, she didn’t wear a bra, and he could feel her nipples through the shirt. It sent shivers down his spine. Her hairless mound pressed into his crotch through their clothes, and his arousal was obvious for her to feel, if the way she ground herself against his pelvis was any indication.
Kevin would have slipped his hands underneath her shirt, but since her breasts were smashed to his chest, he instead grabbed two handfuls of her buttox, which he caressed, squeezed, and fondled, much to Lilian’s delight.
They would have likely gone farther still had someone not interrupted them.
“While I understand that you two are young and filled with hormones, please keep any ecchiness to a minimum,” Kotohime said politely, smiling at the pair who, having lost themselves in each other’s kiss, only now remembered that they had an audience.
They looked at Kotohime, then at the bakeneko family. While the father had a knowing glint in his eyes, the mother was using her hand to keep her children from seeing what they had been doing. She was giving them a disapproving frown that made him uncomfortable.
They broke away and Kevin, gathering what was left of his dignity, coughed into his hand and said, “Kotohime, if you’re done healing them, why don’t you heal Polydora next?”
“Ufufufu, very well, Kevin-sama.”
At that exact moment, seconds before Kotohime could travel to Phoebe and Polydora’s side, a scream went up from one of the two yama uba in question.
“Polydora! What is wrong, Polydora?! Answer me!”
Phoebe was kneeling on the ground, shaking an insensate Polydora by the shoulders. Her head whipping back and forth like a limp noodle, Polydora stared sightlessly at the sky, blood leaking from her nose and a stupid smile plastered on her face.
“Oh, Lady Phoebe… you naughty girl you… hehehe…”
Kevin and Lilian looked at each other. He raised an eyebrow. She smiled.
“I don’t want to know,” Kevin said, turning away and getting ready to stand back up.
And that’s when the tank decided to explode. It was a delayed reaction. More than likely, the fuel leaking from the tank had touched a sparking wire and caused the whole thing to ignite.
Kevin stared at the now flaming tank, his face slowly deadpanning as if he’d just witnessed something extraordinarily stupid.
“I… I have no clue what just happened, so I’m going to ignore it.”
“Quick, Beloved! Look away!”
Kevin stared at Lilian with half-lidded eyes.
Lilian, upon realizing that he clearly didn’t understand why she’d said that, quickly explained.
“It’s uncool to look at any explosions caused by a member of your party.”
A very thorough explanation indeed.
Kevin slowly, ever so slowly, raised his hand until it was level with his face… and then he palmed his face.
At least she’s genre savvy.
With their enemies defeated and the extraction point just a little ways across the street, Kevin and his companions moved out. It was time to go home.
***
They sat around a long table; there were over a dozen yōkai and humans, all of whom had been gathered together by Daven Monstrang. Kotohime knew all of them. She had spent several hours learning the names of each person present, and also learning more about them as people. Background checks and the like were important, after all. It wouldn’t be good if one of these people turned out to be a spy and they didn’t know it.
These people made up Neo Seiryuu’s Board of Governors. Daven had brought them together in an effort to create a safe haven for people who wanted no part in the war. It was their job to make decisions and create policies that would benefit the community.
Thus far, his idea had proven successful. Every passing day saw an increase in Neo Seiryuu’s population. It wasn’t just yōkai who came to Neo Seiryuu either. There weren’t many humans. Kotohime would say that the yōkai to human ratio was about five yōkai for every one human. However, the fact that there were humans out there willing to mingle in harmony with yōkai was reassuring. It gave her hope for the future.
Sitting beside her was Kiara and Heather on one side, and Mack on the other. Heather wore her PE coach uniform, red sweat pants and a red sweater of the same color. Beside her, Kiara looked immaculate in her business suit, though many of the people present found her lack of a right arm disconcerting. The fact that she liked to display the stump as though it was a badge of honor didn’t help.
Mack’s large pink rabbit ears twitched several times as he spoke. “The war between the Sons and Daughters of Humanity and the recently formed Yamata Alliance is still going strong. Their battles have recently expanded into urban zones, and we’ve been forced to devote more of our resources to protecting the civilian population.”
A Fox's Alliance (American Kitsune Book 10) Page 2