A Fox's Tail (American Kitsune Book 2)

by Brandon Varnell

  Kevin shifted, flushing slightly as he waited for her to say something. At the same time, however, Lilian was kind of speechless.

  Finally…

  “So… you don't think I'm a burden? You don't find me annoying?” Lilian asked in a small voice, her fists tightly clenching the sheets that covered her legs.

  Guilt welled up inside of Kevin when he saw the girl's shoulders begin shaking, and the barely constrained tears in her eyes. He wasn't exactly sure why he felt guilty, but he did.

  “No,” he said softly. His hand twitched, but he resisted the strange urge to raise it and brush Lilian's tears away. “I don't think you're a burden or an annoyance. I may have felt that way once, but I haven't thought of you like that for a while now.”

  The glance Lilian shot him was one of incredible hope.

  “So… you like me, then?”

  “Of course,” Kevin stated with conviction, “You're my friend.”

  “Your friend, huh?” A sigh passed through Lilian's red lips. Emerald irises glanced at him from beneath a curtain of fiery red hair. “Just a friend?”

  Kevin shifted uncomfortably.

  “I… can't really offer you anything more than that.”

  “Because you like someone else, right?” Lilian's smile was resigned. When Kevin looked at her in surprise, she shrugged, and averted her eyes. “I know you like that Lindsay girl. I knew you liked her from the moment I first saw you talking to her. I guess that's why I always felt so threatened whenever she was around. I knew how you felt about her, and I knew that if I wanted to have any chance at making you fall in love with me, I couldn't let the two of you get any closer.”

  Contrary to what Kevin thought, Lilian wasn't ignorant to some of what happened around her—at least where he was concerned. Even her bad case of selective hearing was more of a defense mechanism than because she wasn't listening to Kevin's words. A part of her simply felt that if she were to give in and listen to him, it would all be over; her dreams of Kevin becoming her mate would end.

  Although it was beginning to look like her dreams had ended before they'd even begun, but that was neither here nor there.

  “I see,” Kevin sighed, “I guess I should have figured that.” He glanced at her, then looked away and sighed. “I'm sorry.”

  “Hmm?” Lilian blinked. Her head turned away from the wall to stare at him. “Why are you sorry?”

  “Because I never really thought about how you must be feeling, I guess.” He rubbed his left cheek with an open palm. “It must be hard, seeing the person that you have such strong feelings for every day—living with them even—yet knowing they like someone else. It's got to be tough.”

  “You really are an amazing person.” Lilian smiled when Kevin's cheeks turned fifty shades of red. “Here I am, the person who barged into your life, and you're feeling compassionate toward me, regardless of the fact that I've caused you so much trouble.”

  “Uh… well… that's because… it's… uh…” Kevin scratched the bottom of his chin with his right index finger. Looking up at the ceiling, he tried to think of something to say, but couldn't, so he did what came naturally.

  He changed the subject.

  “You should finish eating before your food gets cold.”

  An excellent change of subject indeed.

  Kevin started feeding Lilian again. He had made her spaghetti with marinara sauce, so he had to spear the noodles with a fork and twirl them around, before lifting the utensil into Lilian's waiting mouth. Her lips would then close around it in a way that was almost seductive—strange, since she was eating food, which could hardly be considered sexy.

  Strangely enough, despite the fact that Kevin found himself gazing at those luscious, ruby red lips in a way that was less than innocent, he didn't feel embarrassed…

  … Well, he didn't feel too embarrassed, and what little embarrassment he did feel was overcome by the strange sense of serenity that filled him. There was something incredibly therapeutic about feeding Lilian. He didn't know why, but the act had an unusually soothing effect on him. How strange.

  After Lilian had finished the last bite of pasta, she watched as he stood up to leave the room.

  “Be―I mean, Kevin.” When he turned back to look at her in surprise, she asked a question that had popped into her head while he'd been feeding her. “What happened after I…” she trailed off.

  “You want to know what happened after your battle with Kiara?” Kevin managed to phrase her question as diplomatically as possible.

  Lilian didn't say anything, merely nodding with a deep flush of shame on her cheeks. She disliked recalling how thoroughly she had been whipped by that woman. Stupid dog.

  Deciding that he could spare a few more minutes to explain things to her, he put the plate back on the night stand, and sat down again.

  “Not much happened, to be honest,” he informed her. “After your battle, Kiara just kind of left.”

  “Left?”

  “Well, I may have asked her to leave,” Kevin rubbed the back of his neck, recalling his small confrontation with Kiara. “Though, I don't think that made much of a difference. To be honest, I don't think she really intended to do anything more than defeat you in combat. She said it was for what you did to her brother.”

  “Chris,” Lilian uttered distastefully. Just speaking that name aloud left a foul taste in her mouth. She still hadn't forgiven him for what he'd done to her mate. She likely never would.

  “Yeah.”

  Even if Kiara's henchmen had not told him that Chris was her brother, Kevin would've easily figured it out once he saw the added dog appendages she'd been sporting. There was only one inu they knew of that went to Desert Cactus High School, after all.

  “Anyways, after I asked her to stop, she just left.”

  “I see.” A pause. “And how did we get back home? I can't imagine you were able to ride your bike while I was passed out on the back.”

  “Ah! Ahahahaha! W-well,” Kevin gave a nervous laugh, his self-consciousness easily visible. Seeing her beloved so flustered made Lilian even more curious. “Let's just say that I'm going to need you to work that kitsune magic of yours to make a certain someone forget that her car is currently missing from the school parking lot.”

  ***

  “What happened to my car?!”

  Ms. Vis stared in horror at the place where her car had been parked. The key word being had, because it clearly wasn't there anymore, no matter how many times she rubbed her eyes to see if it would randomly reappear.

  She had no clue what happened. She had just gone to fetch herself a cup of coffee while she waited for Mr. Swift and that girl to leave the school. After getting her coffee, she had come back, only to find an empty parking space where her Toyota Corolla had been.

  “My… my car? What happened to it? What happened to my car?!”

  Ms. Vis felt like something was swallowing her up. Her mind was consumed with panic. Her car was missing! Gone! How could this be possible? She had only been gone for fifteen minutes! It wasn't like there had been anyone left on campus to steal it. Even most of the teachers had already left. The only people still around had been Professor Nabui, who'd only left a few seconds before her and…

  “That girl…”

  Yes. Yes, it had to be her. There was only one person who could have possibly stolen her car, who would dare to steal her car, and she would pay. Oh, but she would pay dearly for this. Ms. Vis was going to inflict a punishment of such epic proportions on that girl that the students of Desert Cactus High would speak about it in fear for decades to come!

  Raising her fist to the sky, Ms. Vis' wrath was shouted out to the heavens.

  “Damn you, Lilian Pnév̱ma!”

  ***

  “Uh huh.” Lilian needed a few seconds to properly analyze Kevin's words. “So let me get this straight, you're telling me that you stole a car, and drove it home?”

  “At first I was only going to wait for the owner to come back and ask
for a ride,” he admitted, blushing at the girl's blunt assessment of his actions. “But then, I realized that it might not be the best idea to ask someone for a ride while carrying you in my arms.”

  Yeah, because explaining why he was carrying an unconscious girl who looked like she had been put into a meat grinder would have been such an easy task. He could just picture what would happen if he did that.

  “Excuse me, but could I ask for a lift?”

  “What are you doing carrying that girl around? Why does she look so injured? Le gasp! I know what you're planning on doing to her, but I won't let you, you fiend!”

  “M-ma'am, what are you doing?”

  “Calling the cops. Excuse me, 911? I'd like to report a rapist…”

  Kevin shook his head. Not a good idea.

  “Beloved?”

  Realizing that he had gotten distracted, Kevin coughed several times and continued speaking. “Anyway, after that, I noticed that the door was unlocked and the keys were in the ignition. One thing sort of led to another and, well…” he trailed off, but that was fine. Lilian managed to figure out the rest easily enough, and she had only one thing to say about it.

  “That was surprisingly reckless of you.”

  “Ugh, don't remind me. I think you're beginning to rub off on me.” Lilian managed to give a weak smile at his joke, while Kevin stood up again and picked up the plate. “Anyway, I'm going to go wash this.”

  “Kevin?”

  Hearing his name called again, Kevin turned around to face her.

  Lilian twiddled her fingers together. Her cheeks were a little flushed as she stared down at her lap. He'd never seen her act so bashful and shy before. It was absolutely adorable.

  Kevin found his breath momentarily stolen from him.

  Unaware of the effect she was having on him, Lilian began speaking. “Um, I was just wondering―what I mean to say is―I know this is a lot to ask after everything you just told me, but I… I really don't feel like sleeping alone, so I was hoping you would, kinda… you know…”

  “I won't sleep with you, if that's what you're asking.” When Lilian lowered her head, he grimaced and added, “But if you want, I'll grab my sleeping bag from the closet and stay in this room with you.”

  Lilian looked back up at him.

  “Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?”

  Once again, Kevin understood what she was really asking him. Maybe it was because of the amount of time they had spent together, or maybe it was because of how close they had grown, but it was becoming much easier to read between the lines behind Lilian's words lately.

  “Yeah…” Kevin's countenance softened as he looked at her. “… I'll stay with you. Let me wash these dishes and grab my sleeping back. I'll be right back.”

  Lilian watched as the door closed behind Kevin. When his footsteps receded to the point that she could no longer hear them, Lilian allowed several tears to run down her cheeks.

  What was she going to do now?

  ***

  “I can't believe you three lost to a kid.”

  The three goons flinched at Kiara's words. While her tone was neither harsh nor reprimanding, the trio couldn't help but feel like they'd disappointed the woman that they looked up to so much.

  “We didn't think he would be so formidable,” Tall tried to explain. “He was a really cunning fighter, quick on his feet, and able to adjust to our styles like it was nothing. He was also really adept at using the environment to his advantage.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Short added. “You wouldn't think so from just looking at him, but the kid's got some serious fighting potential. I think he might be one of those battle geniuses or something.”

  Kiara didn't think their loss had anything to do with Kevin being some kind of battle genius, but was more on account of Kevin's incredible dumb luck and them underestimating the boy because of his young age.

  She didn't say anything, though. It didn't really matter anyway. She had accomplished what she had set out to do. Anything else that happened was of no consequence.

  “But don't you worry, Mistress Kiara!” Short smacked his fat right fist into the open palm of his left hand. “The next time we fight that brat, we won't show him any mercy! He's going down!”

  The other two nodded in agreement. They had no intention of letting what happened to them go unpunished!

  “No,” Kiara cut the man off swiftly. “You will not be going after him anymore.”

  “WHAT?!”

  “I've already accomplished what I wanted in regards to those two, so there is no more reason for me to go after them. You won't be going after them, either.”

  The three men looked like they wanted to argue. They all had a beef with that kid now! He had humiliated them! How could Kiara expect them to just let this travesty go unpunished?

  Wisely, they chose not to dispute her decision. They knew better than to cross Kiara.

  “Anyway, we're done here. You three can leave.”

  “Yes, Mistress Kiara!”

  Kiara sighed as she watched them go, ambling along the dirt road as they walked to their beat up little Bimmer. It was kind of funny to know they'd been beaten by a kid with no combat experience to speak of, but at the same time, it was pretty embarrassing too—especially for her. She had been the one to teach them martial arts, and their loss reflected poorly on her. Ah well. Such was life, she supposed. At least it kept things interesting.

  With her three henchmen gone, Kiara walked to her car. She had upheld Chris' honor, as was her job as an inu and a sister. Now it would be time for them to part ways again. She had to get back to work. Those fitness centers didn't run themselves.

  Chapter 10

  Tension

  When Kevin woke up the next morning, he knew that something was different. He didn't know what. His mind, lost between the realms of Morpheus and the physical world, lacked the ability to pinpoint just what that difference might be. The only thing he knew was that there was something about this morning that differed from every other morning thus far, an intangible feeling that slipped from his grasp the longer he thought about it.

  Light blue eyes opened slowly, blinking several times as they were greeted by the ceiling of his bedroom. A thin stream of light filtered in through the curtains, which were partially closed. Dim as the room was, Kevin could still make out his surroundings just fine.

  A small frown crossed his face. That ceiling looked a lot higher than he remembered it. Why was that? And why was his bed less comfortable than he remembered it being? And just where the heck had his memory foam mattress gone?

  As he stared at the ceiling, trying to ascertain the reason it looked so much farther away than he last recalled it being, he finally stumbled upon the reason why that morning felt different from every other one.

  There was no Lilian. The warm and very gorgeous body of his sexy housemate was not resting comfortably against his side. He couldn't feel her body pressed into him, snuggling up to him like he was some kind of over-sized plushie. He couldn't feel her arms wrapped around his torso, or her leg hooked around his, or even her tails as they wrapped comfortably around his stomach. That comforting, lulling sense of contentment and fulfillment that his mind had subconsciously come to associate with Lilian's presence was gone.

  It felt weird not having her sleep with him. Kevin couldn't help but feel like some aspect of his life was missing. The disappearance of Lilian from his bed left him with a strange sense of loss that he couldn't understand.

  Ugh, get a grip, Kevin. There's no reason for you to feel this way.

  That's right. This was what he wanted, wasn't it? He should be happy that she wasn't sleeping with him. Yes, it could only be a good thing that Lilian wasn't sharing his bed—um, sleeping bag. He’d probably just grown too used to her presence.

  Rolling over onto his stomach, Kevin struggled to crawl out of his sleeping bag. Maybe it had been a bad idea to zip this thing closed? Well, too late now.

  After clawing hi
s way out of his sleeping bag and getting to his feet, the first thing Kevin did was look at his bed. More specifically, he looked at the figure sleeping in it.

  Lilian lay there, looking as peaceful as could be, considering the circumstances. The covers had been thrown partway off her body so that he could see her bandaged chest and arms, and one of her legs had fallen off the side of the bed, exposing her perfect foot and cute little toes.

  He shook his head. There must be something seriously wrong with him if he was thinking about someone's feet like that. God, he really hoped he wasn't becoming one of those feet people he’d heard some of his teammates talking about. How creepy would that be?

  Dispelling the disturbing thoughts from his mind, Kevin turned his attention back to Lilian. She looked much better today than she had yesterday. He hadn’t wanted to say anything about it when she’d regained consciousness, but she hadn't looked very good. In fact, she had looked quite awful. Her face, and in particular her nose and chin, had been swollen and black, and her chest and stomach had also been riddled with bruises.

  Those bruises were gone now, leaving her perfect, cream-colored skin unblemished. Kevin suspected that this healing of hers was a side benefit of her Celestial powers. Or maybe all kitsune had the Deus Ex Machina ability to heal themselves. Yet, even though she looked much better physically, there was something about her that appeared… off.

  It probably had to do with the way her nose scrunched up in displeasure, as she frowned sorrowfully in her sleep, but it was more than that. He couldn’t figure it out, but something, some inextricable part of what made Lilian who she was, appeared to have vanished.

  Kevin tried not to think about that, however, and instead focused on his relief that Lilian hadn't been more serious. He had been very worried about her.

  Deciding that the best thing to do was start his day, Kevin headed toward the bathroom, where he took a quick shower, and dressed himself in a pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt.

  He returned to his bedroom to see that Lilian was still asleep. Kevin decided to let her sleep a little longer and make some breakfast. She had done it for him every day since arriving, so really, it only seemed right that he reciprocated. Lilian had been spoiling him a bit too much in this area anyway, and while he felt all warm and fuzzy knowing that someone wanted to take care of him like this—God knows his mother didn’t—he felt like he was taking advantage of her kindness.