“Lilian! Don't―”
Too late.
“I mean, we've taken showers together, and whenever we go to sleep, he always clings to me. It's really quite adorable. Oh! And he sleeps without a shirt!” She frowned, then, her nose scrunching up cutely, like some kind of chipmunk, like a Rescue Ranger. “Though, I do wish that he would sleep naked instead just shirtless, but he insists on wearing those pajama bottoms of his. I don't know why, since they always end up getting ripped off anyway.”
In response to the deathly silence that permeated the cash register, the kind of silence that made graveyards envious, Lilian smiled.
“Still, if he was as shy as everyone says, I don't think he would do all of that. Don't you agree?”
As Liz and Susan stared at Kevin and Lilian with wide, shocked eyes, the only male of the group began openly crying. He bawled his eyes as he cried out to the heavens… or at least the ceiling.
“Why me?!”
***
Kevin and Lilian left the two store employees to their shock. Even now he could still picture their eyes, wide and glazed over, showing that their minds had become overloaded from knowledge that they were just not ready to receive. They had not taken to learning about his implied sexcapades with Lilian very well, regardless of the fact that no sexcapades had actually taken place. He had tried telling them that, but after being met with only silence he'd given up. Susan somehow managed to finish ringing him up, despite being nearly catatonic.
Pushing the cart in front of him, Kevin had stopped crying and looked quite grumpy, something that his companion noticed.
“You shouldn't look so grumpy, Beloved. People will think you're in a bad mood.”
“I am in a bad mood,” Kevin grumbled out. “And it's all thanks to you.”
“Me?” Lilian blinked several times. “Why?”
“What do you mean why?” Kevin looked at the young kitsune, who appeared to be genuinely confused. “Do you really not know?”
“No, I don't. What did I do to make you so grumpy?”
“Oh, I don't know, how about how you've been telling everyone who works here that the two of us are dating? Or, letting Liz and Susan know that we sleep in… the same… bed…” Kevin flushed bright red, his mind recalling the last time he had woken up with Lilian cuddling to him. He quickly shook the images out of his mind. “Or, how about when you told Liz and Susan that we've been taking showers together?”
“But, all that stuff is true,” Lilian pointed out, still sounding and looking inexplicably confused.
“No, it's not,” Kevin spat, then paused at the look Lilian gave him. “Okay, so maybe we do share a bed, but the rest of that stuff isn't true.”
Lush, ruby red lips turned downwards into a frown. Lilian opened her mouth to respond, but Kevin had no intention of letting her say anything before he finished.
“And even if it was, you shouldn't go telling everyone about it! That kind of stuff is supposed to be private!”
“Oh.” She paused. “I didn't know that.”
“That much is obvious,” Kevin sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Though you should know not to reveal private information like that. It's just common sense.”
“Human common sense maybe,” Lilian defended herself. “But not kitsune common sense.”
Her words earned Kevin's inquiring gaze.
“What do you mean?”
“I'm not sure how to put it.” Lilian pressed an index finger to her lower lip as she looked at the ceiling. “I guess the best explanation would be that kitsune don't have any of those silly taboos that you humans seem to have. Things like our sex life, gender preference and nudity aren't seen as some great sin or something to be hidden from others.”
“So, basically, what you're saying is that kitsune don't really care whether others know who they're having sex with?”
“More or less.” Lilian shrugged. “It's a bit more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it. To a kitsune, sex just isn't that big of a deal. My family's Matriarch, for example, is well-known for her promiscuity. She has seven daughters, and all of them were born from a different mate. And that's not even going into the number of mates she has taken that didn't end in pregnancy.”
Kevin felt his face heat up.
“How is it that we've gone from talking about our private life to your Matriarch's sex life?”
“I was just explaining that it's not a really big deal if other people know about us,” Lilian explained to him.
“It might not be a big deal to you, but it is to me.” Kevin gave the girl a very pointed look. “And I would appreciate it if, from now on, you didn't tell anyone about our, um, our, uh, private life,” he finished lamely, unable to think another word that described their home life. Really, how did one describe a lifestyle where some girl with fox tails and ears sleeps next to you, and tries to seduce you every chance she gets? Never mind the fact that Lilian, for all her beauty and general sexiness, didn't seem to know how to seduce anyone.
The girl couldn't seduce a flagpole.
“Now that's just mean,” Lilian huffed indignantly.
That doesn't make it any less true.
“You're such a horrible person. I'll show you! One of these days, I will convince Kevin to ravish me!”
They do say that persistence leads to success. Though you should be careful. They also say that insanity is the act of repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time.
“Hmph, I'll take that into consideration.”
“Lilian, who are you talking to?”
“No one.”
Kevin deadpanned.
“That didn't sound like no one.”
“It was no one,” Lilian persisted, “Just some jerk who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut.”
“Uh huh…”
“Anyway,” Lilian changed the subject, “Since you're the one asking me, I'll stop revealing our sex life to others.”
“I would appreciate that.” Kevin paused, the rest of her words catching up to his brain. “And would you stop calling it our sex life? We're not having sex!”
“Yet, Beloved. Yet.”
“Ever!”
“Muu, Beloved, you meanie.”
Kevin rolled his eyes.
As they neared the exit, Lilian's attention was drawn away from Kevin to something over his shoulder.
“Hey, Beloved, what's that?”
“What?”
“That stand over there.”
Kevin followed Lilian's finger as she pointed to a large stand near a set of sliding doors. Sitting on the countertop near a register was a large glass display case full of pastries and cakes. Behind the booth were large machines used for making coffee and other drinks, their gleaming steel finish glinting under the light.
“That's Star Smucks,” Kevin answered, “It's a popular coffee shop that sells drinks like cappuccinos and frappuccinos.” He looked at his redheaded companion, his expression inquisitive. “Do they not have anything like this in your village?”
Lilian shook her head.
“We do have a small café that sells coffee, cappuccinos and lattes, but all the machines are really, really old there. Like, ancient.”
Kevin struggled with himself for a moment, but eventually, his innate kindness won out. “Would you like me to buy you a drink?”
Lilian's gaze was hopeful. Her eyes shone like two big, bright florescent bulbs. “Can we?”
“Sure.”
“You're the best, Beloved!”
Kevin wondered if perhaps he was being too nice to the girl. This was, after all, the very same female who'd barged into his life with all the subtlety of a tsunami in Arizona. But, seeing her face light up in a dazzling smile that brightened the entire store, he decided that he didn't have it in him to regret this decision.
They walked in front of the Star Smucks cash register, where a young man stood. He had olive skin, dark eyes and black hair tied into a pon
ytail that was hidden underneath a hat. He wore the standard Star Smucks attire; black slacks and a white shirt under a green apron.
“Hey, Kev, wassup man? You keepin' it real?” The young man, who went by Mark, greeted Kevin, before his eyes fell on Lilian. He looked her over, a long up and down glance, before staring back and forth between the two. Kevin saw Mark's eyes linger on the way Lilian clung to his arm, and felt fear mixed with resignation. “Woah, you finally found yourself a girl? And such a fine one, too.” Mark gave him a congratulatory nod. “Good on you, man.”
“Ugh, she's not…” Kevin sighed. Chances were even if he denied having a relationship with Lilian, Mark simply wouldn't believe him. It had been that way for everyone else, so why should he expect that to change now? “You know what, forget it. Lilian, do you know what you want?”
“Um, what size is the grande?” Lilian asked. Mark pulled out the medium sized cup and showed it to her. With a nod, the girl made her decision. “I'll have a grande Caramel Brulée latte.”
“Do you want whipped cream on that?”
“Yes, please.”
“What about you, Kev?”
“I'm good today.” He had already spent over two-hundred dollars on groceries, which wouldn't go unnoticed by his mom―he was still waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding all the money that he spent on the clothes he had bought Lilian.
“Suit yourself.” Mark shrugged. “Your drink will be up in just a few minutes.”
“Let's wait over by the tables,” Kevin suggested, grabbing a hold of the cart.
“Okay.”
As the two made their way over to the small sitting area, Kevin looked at all of the groceries in their cart, which was practically overflowing. There were way more than he could carry on his bike, especially since Lilian would be riding with him.
“How am I going to get all this home?” he wondered out loud.
“Don't worry about that, Beloved,” Lilian reassured him. “I can fit all of this into my Extra Dimensional Storage Space.”
Kevin blinked several times. He had forgotten about her ability to store things in her Extra Dimensional Storage Space. And was it just him, or did that sound like a really bad sexual innuendo?
“Don't worry, Beloved, I can stick all of this into my Extra Dimensional Storage Space?”
A really, really, really bad sexual innuendo.
“One grande Caramel Brulée latte!”
“That's us.” Kevin pushed the cart forward while Lilian went up and grabbed her drink. She removed the lid to lick the caramel drizzled whipped cream. Smiling, she took a drink as she followed her beloved mate out of the grocery store.
“This isn't bad,” she commented as she took her mouth away from the cup. “It's a bit too sweet for my taste, but still good.”
“I'm glad you like it.” Kevin looked over at her, then just as quickly looked away. “Uh, Lilian, you have some whipped cream on your mouth.”
“I do?” Lilian tried to look down, but couldn't see much more than the very tip of her cute button nose. She looked over at her mate and smiled. “Can you lick it off for me?”
Kevin nearly tripped, but caught himself before his face could smack against the cart handle. “What?!”
“I can't see it, so I need you to lick it off for me.”
Kevin really hoped he wasn't developing a permanent eye twitch. “I am not going to lick anything off your face,” he declared, causing Lilian's cheeks to puff up in a pout.
“Come on, Beloved.” Lilian gave him a large, teary eyed pout. “I can't get it off if I can't see it. You have to get it off for me.”
“Yes you can,” Kevin spat, “And that's not going to work on me this time. There are some things that I just won't do. Licking something off your face is where I draw the line.”
“Oh, poo.”
***
While Lilian and Kevin were having their lover's quarrel, high above them, standing on the roof and looking down at the pair, was none other than Kiara. With her arms crossed under her chest, she watched them banter back and forth with an air of amusement. The two of them were definitely a riot.
“So that's the kitsune that beat my younger brother,” she murmured to herself; naturally, since she was the only person on the roof.
“Gah! Do you really have to put our groceries there?!” Kevin's exasperated voice filled the air.
“But that's where my Extra Dimensional Storage Space is located.”
Kiara snorted in an effort to stifle her laughter as she watched the kitsune, Lilian, proceed to stuff all of the groceries they bought between her cleavage.
Of course, the comedy of this situation was not what the girl was doing, but Kevin's overly dramatic reaction to it.
It should be physically impossible for people to turn that shade of red.
The steam rising from his ears was also a physical impossibility.
Kiara wondered if these seemingly impossible things happening to the boy had something to do with Lilian. She knew that kitsune tended to affect the world around them in strange ways. They were, after all, a very strange bunch themselves.
“But what if people see you?!”
“Don't worry, Beloved. I put up a small illusion around us. No one can see what I'm doing right now.”
“Ha, whatever. Let's just go home.”
“And then to our picnic, right?”
“… Right. I had almost forgotten about that.”
“Then it's a good thing that I'm here to remind you.”
“She doesn't look like much,” Kiara mused, smirking as she watched them ride away on Kevin's bike. “It's too bad you had the misfortune of running into my younger brother. Had you not fought and injured him, we wouldn't have any problems. Ah, well, such is life.”
“Hey! What are you doing on the roof!?” An angry voice behind her startled Kiara out of her reverie.
“It looks like this is my cue to make my own exit.”
Kiara ran to the other side of the roof, ignoring the manager shouting at her. She jumped off the roof, landing on the roof of the next building, then leaped from that building onto the ground. As she swiftly moved to where she had parked her car, her mind went back to the two-tailed kitsune.
“I wonder why that girl looked kind of familiar?”
Kiara thought for a moment, and then shrugged. If she couldn't remember where she had seen that girl, then it obviously wasn't important.
“Whatever, either way, she and her little boy toy are doomed.”
Chapter 4
The Hapless Stalker
Kevin sighed, barely masking his relief as the shrill, piercing sound of a whistle resounded across the track field, signifying an end to practice. He loved track as much as the next runner, but Coach Deretaine had been running them ragged these past few sessions. It had gotten so bad that he and Chase had stopped staying after practice to trying and beat each other's times, such was their exhaustion.
Another reason he had stopped staying late might have been due to Lilian, who had taken to watching him from the bleachers while he practiced. She wouldn't leave if he didn't leave, and the last time he and Chase had one of their showdowns, she’d sat there cheering him on and demeaning Chase.
Kevin had been quite surprised by the width and breadth of Lilian's vocabulary.
And while he was all for people verbally demeaning his rival, he didn't want Lilian acting as the peanut gallery.
With track practice called to an end, he and his archrival joined up with the others, including Eric, Justin and the twins, Alex and Andrew. They formed a large group in front of Coach Deretaine, who was only now taking the whistle out of his mouth.
“All right, everyone.” The track coach made eye contact with each of them, a serious expression etched onto his face―which really wasn't saying much, since his face always looked like that. “Our first track meet is next Wednesday. All the schools in our district will be coming here, so we've got the home field advantage, but I don't want an
y of you growing complacent!” He added the bit at the end as if he expected some of them to slack off, even though they knew what would happen if they did.
Laps around the track. Lots and lots of laps.
“I don't want any of you getting lazy! From now on we'll be working twice as hard during practice until the track meet!”
His words were almost met with a chorus of groans. Almost. No one wanted to run laps, so they all kept their mouths shut, though a few looked ready to protest. “Now get outta here and do your homework! Academics are important, too!”
The track members soon broke up. A few eyes trailed up to Lilian as she walked toward Kevin, causing him to roll his eyes at the number of males he caught staring at her. He got that she was pretty, even agreed with them, but people really should learn some self-restraint.
Kevin refused to admit that he might be feeling a little protective of the girl. What did he care if these dirty, disgusting, filthy jerks wanted to strip the redhead with their eyes? It wasn't like he felt anything for her. Lilian was just a friend.
“My Tit Maiden!” Eric beamed at the girl as she walked up to their group. “My love! My dear! My sexy friend whose bazookas I want to suck! How are you doing this fine day?” Lilian continued approaching them. Eric, thinking she was coming his way, carried on. “Would you like me to walk you home? Or about how I take you out for dinner? Perhaps a moonlit walk through the park? I'm particularly fond of that last one. It will be dark outside and we could… hehehe… then we'll… kukuku…”
“Beloved!”
Lilian walked right past the lanky sophomore, who was giggling his lecherous old man giggle, completely ignoring the boy.
While the redhead didn’t notice, the moment she passed Eric his body turned a deep shade of gray. It wasn't quite fifty shades, but it came close. He also went very still, his now stone-colored body reminiscent of a statue. To further give the impression of having turned to stone, several cracks appeared all over him. Kevin almost expected him to crumble into dust any moment now.
Lilian stopped directly in front of her mate and handed him a water bottle. “Here you go.” Her face broke into the loveliest of smiles as Kevin's hand touched hers when he took the water bottle from her.
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