A Fox's Family (American Kitsune Book 4)

by Brandon Varnell

  “Come on! Is that all you’ve got?!”

  Midget came in hot. Two steps and he was in Kevin’s guard. The air seemed to whistle as he extended his left hand in a punch, the fist corkscrewing as it rushed toward Kevin’s stomach. It was dodged when Kevin stumbled to the left, but he soon discovered that the punch had only been a distraction.

  “Gah!”

  Kevin took two staggering steps backward after finding himself on the receiving end of a vicious headbutt. His vision blurred for a moment, the edges darkening as pain exploded in his nose. Something warm and wet trailed down his skin and onto his lips. Blood, he realized. His blood.

  Blinking several times, he tried to rid the spots from his eyes—

  —And promptly wished he hadn’t when he saw another fist filling his vision. He managed to duck the attack, but ended up taking a knee to the face when Midget took one step forward and raised his left leg. The attack slammed into him like a fat man body-slamming an ant.

  Kevin rolled backwards, moving with the blow, and somehow landed back on his feet. He barely had time to regain his bearings, though, as Midget came in quickly, offering no reprieve and closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

  A low kick aimed at taking out Kevin’s left knee was avoided, but he could not avoid the follow-up, the brutal backhand jab that popped him across the face. Saliva mixed with blood flew from Kevin’s mouth as his head snapped to the left like he’d just suffered whiplash. He did not fall, but that probably wasn’t a good thing, because it meant Midget could still attack him.

  A loud ringing entered Kevin’s ears as another fist clocked him on the temple. Everything started to teeter. The world spun and strange spots appeared in his vision. He didn’t have time to contemplate the oddity of what he was seeing because less than a second later, a pair of hands grabbed his head in a clinch and his face soon met another knee.

  Kevin could have sworn he heard, as much as felt, his nose breaking. A loud crack! issued from his nose, echoing ominously within his mind. The pain escalated, becoming unbearable. Kevin imagined this is what it would feel like if Thor, Norse God of lightning and thunder, used his mighty hammer Mjölnir to bludgeon someone in the face.

  Everything grew wobbly. Kevin’s world began to spin. He barely even felt his back hitting the mat as his vision started fading…

  “Beloved!”

  Kevin’s vision snapped back into painfully sharp focus as a familiar voice penetrated his ear canal.

  A lovely face filled his vision seconds later. Perhaps it was because he felt slightly delirious, but Lilian looked even more gorgeous than usual. Her soft, unblemished skin shone with a healthy vitality, surrounded by glimmering strands of fire. Viridescent eyes gleamed with concern, calming his mind and somehow soothing the aches and pains in his body, as if just having her eyes on him made him feel a thousand times better. She was, without a doubt, an angel.

  “Lilian…”

  “Shh. Don’t talk.” Lilian shushed him as she set his head on her lap. The difference between the hard surface of the blue mat and the gentle softness of Lilian’s thighs was like heaven and earth.

  Kevin absently noticed through his darkening vision that Lilian’s ears were out. A second later, two white-tipped fox tails appeared before him, their tips glowing with an iridescent golden light that soothed his wounds better than any healing balm.

  “You can heal his bruises, but don’t heal his muscles,” Kiara’s voice said from somewhere out of his line of sight. Lilian looked up at where he assumed his trainer was standing, her eyes burning like imploding twin stars.

  “What did you do to him?”

  “Just training.”

  “Training?! You call this training?! Look at him! Kevin looks like a horde of Oni trampled him!”

  Kevin felt a rapid decline in his HP gauge.

  Ugh, way to make me feel good about myself, Lilian.

  A feminine snort sounded out. It was not Kiara. “He definitely isn’t looking too pretty right now. Not that he ever did.”

  “Be quiet, Iris!”

  Ah. So Lilian’s sister was here, too. Did that mean they had made up?

  “That’s the price one pays to acquire strength.” Kevin could almost imagine Kiara’s uncaring shrug as she spoke. “You think gaining the strength and skill necessary to fight against a superior foe is easy? Don’t be ridiculous. It takes hard work and effort. You’ve got to put your all into training, breaking your body down by putting it through hell, shedding blood, sweat and tears in the process. That’s the only way to get stronger.”

  “I don’t want to hear that from you, dog!”

  “You’re spouting some awfully harsh words to someone who’s helping your mate get stronger.” An amused chuckle. “You do know that Kevin was the one who came to me for help, don’t you? He came in knowing full well what I had in store for him.”

  “But that’s…”

  “It’s alright, Lilian.”

  Lilian peered down at him. Kevin tried to give her a smile, but from the grimace on her face as she looked at him, he realized that his smile probably didn’t look too good.

  “Beloved…”

  “Kiara’s right. I knew this would be hard the moment I asked her to train me. I accepted that, so try not to blame her for my condition.”

  “But…”

  “If this is what it takes to get stronger so that I can stand by your side, then I will gladly accept whatever Kiara dishes out without complaint.” He paused. “Well, without too much complaint. Anyway, I want to become someone you can rely on to have your back when things get rough. I don’t want to be that human who constantly needs saving.”

  “Oh, Kevin…”

  “Someone gag me, please.”

  Lilian glared at someone outside his field of vision, Iris, Kevin presumed, before she returned her focus to healing him.

  “Okay.” She sighed. “I understand that this is what you want, so I won’t say anything more. Just… try not to injure yourself too much, okay? I hate seeing you like this.”

  Kevin revealed bloodstained teeth when his split lips peeled back into a grin, “I’ll do my best.”

  ***

  Ms. Vis stood in line at Starschmucks. As per the usual, a fairly long line of people kept her from getting to the cash register and placing her order. Fortunately, it was early in the morning and school wouldn’t start for another hour, so she had some time to herself and could afford to be patient.

  Waiting in line didn’t bother her. It might have three months ago, but having nothing better to do than stand around in a line gave Ms. Vis the opportunity to do some productive thinking. And she had a lot to think about.

  Most of her thoughts centered around a certain trio of students. Her mind kept trying to figure out how Mr. Swift and that blasted redhead kept getting out of trouble. Just the other day she had given the class detention, yet somehow, those two managed to get out of trouble again. To top it off, that little educational disruptor’s sister and Ms. Diane had avoided detention as well, and she didn’t even know how it happened!

  “Hawa…”

  Ms. Vis blinked. What a strange sound.

  “Hawawa…”

  She blinked again. It sounded like a person, but what kind of person said… whatever this person was saying?

  “Hawan…”

  Turning to her left, Ms. Vis caught sight of a very pretty woman with long midnight hair. Adorning a figure that she most certainly did not feel envious of was what appeared to be a toga, or something similar. Ms. Vis found it to be a most unusual form of dress. It looked like something straight out of ancient Greece!

  “Hawa…”

  The woman, who was the source of the strange noise, stared up at the board, her expression reminding Ms. Vis of a little girl who’d been allowed to go shopping with her parents for the first time. Except this person wasn’t a child. She was an adult, which made the expression on her face that much more disturbing.

  M
s. Vis turned back to face the line. There were only two people in front of her now. She ignored the woman. Whatever this female’s problem was had nothing to do with her.

  “Hawa…”

  Her right eyebrow twitched.

  ***

  It took a long time to find Camellia, much longer than it should have. She and Kirihime checked everywhere they thought their mistress might have wandered off to—everywhere except the most obvious place, apparently. Only after exhausting every other option and concluding that she must have left, did they travel back to the front of the store, where they saw the woman in question standing next to the Starschmucks.

  “My Lady!”

  At the sound of Kirihime’s voice, Camellia turned, the sweetest of smiles blossoming on her face. “Hawa! Kirikiri! Koto! Hello!”

  Kirihime stopped in front of her mistress, worried eyes gazing at the childish woman with barely masked relief. “M-My Lady! Are you alright? Why did you run off like that?”

  “Run off?” Camellia looked honestly confused. She put a finger to her lower lip, boosting her cuteness by a factor of 12. Several men, and even a few women, were felled by massive blood hemorrhaging, as dark liquid blasted from their noses like the tail ends of several comets.

  “You left us,” Kirihime tried to look stern, but her demureness was such that she appeared more whiny than anything else. “We didn’t know where you were. Did you know how worried I was?”

  “Ah! Sorry, sorry.” Camellia had the decency to look embarrassed. “I saw something shiny and decided to follow it, and then I ended up here.”

  While Kirihime merely seemed relieved to have found the five-tailed kitsune, Kotohime felt exasperated. Perhaps having Camellia travel with them while grocery shopping had not been the best of ideas. Then again, letting her stay at home by herself with all those amenities and other breakable objects would have been just as bad.

  “From now on, please remain by our side, Camellia-sama. It would not do for you to get lost in a place like this.”

  “Hawa…” Camellia’s shoulders slumped, her eyes becoming dewy as tears started to gather. “Sowwy…”

  “It is fine. Do not worry about it.”

  “Kay.” Camellia wiped a few errant tears from her eyes. She then presented them with a smile. “Thank you.”

  Kotohime felt eyes upon her and turned her head. She blinked. A woman whose skin was so pale that it appeared almost translucent was staring at her with a narrow-eyed gaze. Her outfit, an outdated skirt with an equally out of date collared shirt and black stockings, kept much of her body covered. She had no clue who this woman was, but that scrutinizing expression, those eyes that stared at her in distinct disapproval, bothered her.

  “Can I help you, Josei-san?”

  If Ms. Vis noticed Kotohime’s use of the Japanese word for “woman,” she did not let onto this fact. If she heard the tone of warning in Kotohime’s voice, then she willfully ignored it.

  “You…” her frown increased. It looked like she was thinking really hard. Kotohime could practically see the gears in her head turning. “Look awfully familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?”

  Now it was Kotohime’s turn to frown. “I am quite sure that you and I have never met before, though I must admit that you look familiar. Perhaps we have―ah, now I remember. You’re Ms. Vis, if I am not mistaken.”

  Ms. Vis’ eyes widened. “Y-yes, but how did you—”

  “Lilian-sama has spoken of you quite often, and I recognize you from the description that she gave me.” Kotohime eyed the woman before her with a studious gaze. So this was the woman that Lilian always complained about?

  Hmm…

  “Lilian-sama,” Ms. Vis mumbled, her eyes blinking. “You don’t mean Ms. Pnevma, do you?”

  “Indeed.”

  “You… just how do you three know that girl?”

  “Ah! That’s easy! Camellia is…”

  “Camellia-sama is Lilian-sama’s mother.”

  “Hawa… Camellia wanted to say that…”

  “My apologies, Camellia-sama.”

  “Hawawawa.”

  “M-mother?!” Ms. Vis seemed shocked. She even pointed at Camellia with a shaky finger. “You’re that girl’s mother?!”

  “Um!” Camellia nodded with a happy smile.

  The chalky math teacher pressed a hand to her forehead, as if she could already feel a migraine coming just by being in the presence of Lilian’s Mother.

  “And what about you two?” Ms. Vis tossed the sisters a stern look complete with thin, flat lips. “How do you know Ms. Pnevma?”

  “Kirihime and I are this family’s humble and hardworking servants.” Kotohime, ever the proper Yamato Nadeshiko, bowed to the shocked educator. “I would like to thank you for taking care of Lilian-sama and helping further her education.”

  Having apparently not expected such a polite and proper response, Ms. Vis stumbled over her words. “I-it’s… that’s alright. You’re welcome, I guess.” A second passed before her glare returned. “If you know Ms. Pnevma, does that mean you also know Mr. Swift?”

  “Yes.”

  “And what is the nature of your relationship with Mr. Swift?”

  “Ah! Kevin is―”

  “Lilian-sama’s fiance.”

  “Hawa… Koto is being mean to Camellia.”

  “Ufufu. Please accept this humble maid’s apologies again, Camellia-sama”

  “Muu.”

  Ms. Vis stood before the strange trio of beautiful women, her mind blanking as the word “fiance” bounced in her skull like a linear equation.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Kirihime looked worried as she waved a hand in front of an unresponsive Ms. Vis’ face.

  “Ufufu, I believe she will be fine.”

  “I don’t know, sister, she looks broken.”

  Once the word “fiance” settled in her mind like an isosceles triangle, Ms. Vis snapped out of her fugue and began to sputter. “M-m-m-marriage?! Did you just say t-that girl is m-mar-mar-m-m-marrying Mr. Swift?!”

  The three kitsune glanced at each other.

  “Um, yes?”

  “Not happening! No way. No way, no way, no way, it’s not happening!” Ms. Vis showed just how much she disapproved of Kevin and Lilian’s apparent union by crossing her arms in an “X” pattern. “They are too young to be thinking about marriage! Way too young! They haven’t even been properly educated yet! And that girl is just no good for Mr. Swift! No good at all!”

  Two of the three kitsune’s eyes narrowed.

  “Ne, Sister, can I cut her?”

  “No.” Kotohime sent her sister a glance. That odd glint in Kirihime’s eyes. The strange smile on her face. She recognized those signs, and they meant nothing good. “There shall be no cutting.”

  Kirihime looked disappointed, but relented under her sister’s unwavering gaze.

  “I know! I’ll give her detention!” Ms. Vis’ eyes had taken on a maniacal glint as she continued raving like a lunatic. “That will teach her! I’ll give her an entire month’s worth of detention! No! I’ll give her a whole year’s worth of detention!”

  “No, you will not.”

  Ms. Vis growled, an unusual sounding snarl that bubbled up from her throat. She turned to glare at Kotohime, and made the same mistake with the four-tailed kitsune that she often made with Lilian.

  She looked into the woman’s eyes. Her glowing eyes.

  Ms. Vis’ own eyes glazed over.

  “You will not do anything untoward to either Lilian-sama, Iris-sama or Kevin-sama.”

  “I will not doing anything untoward to them…”

  “In fact, from this day forward, you will treat Lilian-sama with love and respect.”

  “Love and respect…”

  “Kevin-sama, too. You will treat him as if he were your own son.”

  “My own son…”

  Kotohime made a vaguely dismissive gesture with her right hand.

  “Move along.”

  “Move along
…”

  When Ms. Vis turned around and walked away, disappearing down one of the store’s many aisles, Kirihime turned to her sister.

  “That was an impressive use of enchantments, sister. You really have that whole Jedi thing down to a T. Obi-Wan’s got nothing on you.”

  “Please do not compare me to an old man in a bathrobe,” Kotohime muttered. “Now then, let us continue shopping. We’ve already wasted enough time here.”

  “Sure.” Kirihime was about to look back at the shopping list when she realized they were missing someone. Again. “Um, hey Sister, where is my Lady Camellia? I could have sworn she was right behind me.”

  Kotohime looked at where Camellia had been standing just a few seconds prior. When she saw that the space was unoccupied, she brought up a hand and used it to palm her face.

  “Come on,” she moved off, leaving their cart behind. “Let’s go look for her before she breaks something or some human tries taking advantage of her.”

  Kirihime’s eyes widened in alarm. “Y-you don’t think that would really happen, do you? It wouldn’t happen, right?” Kotohime said nothing. She was already walking off. “Sister? Sister? Wait up! Don’t leave me!”

  ***

  The first rays of light peeked in through Christine’s window.

  Unlike most mornings, when the rise of the sun would wake her up, Christine did not wake up from it this time—because she was already awake.

  She sat on her bed, dark bags underneath her eyes. In her lap was a book, and her hungry gaze devoured the words written on each page with the vigor of a dog gnawing on a chew toy. However, despite how much Christine enjoyed reading, she was not doing so for pleasure. Not this time. She was a snow-woman on a mission. An important mission.

  It had become increasingly obvious to her that if she wanted to get Kevin to notice her over that big-breasted bimbo, then she would need to step up her game.

  She sat on her bed, holding a book titled “Five Easy Steps to Making Him Yours” and flipped through the pages, scanning the text like an alchemist searching for clues about the Philosopher’s Stone. Situated around her person were numerous other books, all of them bearing similar titles: “So You Want to Get a Boyfriend?” and “The Best Way to a Man’s Heart is His Through His Chode” were just a few of the titles stacked haphazardly on her bed.