A Fox's Rescue

by Varnell, Brandon

  Kevin stopped running and turned to the pile of rubble. Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm his racing heart. It didn’t work.

  This was really stupid. What he just did was so incredibly stupid. Kevin knew that he would be lucky to make it out of this situation alive. Dang it. Why did he have to play decoy?

  Oh. Right. It’s because I don’t have any supernatural powers. Curse you, Iris!

  Exploding debris showered the pavement. Several chunks flew through the air to smash against cars, denting steel frames and shattering glass windows. A large, furry hand grasped the edges of the now broken wall. Deadly claws, razor sharp, perforated the red bricks, creating abrasions along the surface. A head soon poked out from within, feline-like, covered in midnight black fur that was soaked all the way through. Malevolent yellow eyes narrowed into thin slits as they locked onto Kevin.

  Kevin didn’t hesitate to unleash a barrage of youki bullets at the creature. Kağan’s snarl of agonized furry echoed across the street. The cat yōkai’s head snapped back as the bullets struck the beast across the face, and its clawed hands lost purchase on the wall as the chunks he’d grabbed ahold of crumbled.

  Kevin didn’t let up. Not even for a second. He moved into a better position and continued firing, continued unleashing a devastating stream of projectiles at his foe. He knew that he couldn’t let this creature have any breathing room. To stop firing would give the kasha time to recover. To ease on the trigger, even for a second, could very well spell his doom. Iris needed time, and he would use everything he had to give her that time.

  It was an unfortunate inevitability that Kevin’s guns eventually ran out of energy. Nothing lasted forever, especially not the youki-charged cartridges contained in his guns. They had a finite supply. Enough for one hundred shots each, maybe one hundred and fifty depending on who the youki came from. After that, he needed to reload.

  Unfortunately, he’d left all of his other cartridges in his and Iris’s hotel room. There would be no reloading for him.

  A black tower of muscle strode from the gap of crumbling bricks. Fire erupted along bulky limbs and massive shoulders. Skin hissed and sizzled. Wounds reknit. Several long gashes that ran along a barrel-shaped chest vanished, replaced by hard muscle and unblemished pink skin. Burn marks, perfect circles of charred flesh left by celestial youki, slowly disappeared, leaving no sign that they had ever been there. Fur grew over the now healed wounds, sprouting like a thick patch of black grass.

  “Those weapons of yours, meow.” The kasha’s growl was like a rumbling bass. “Those fire youki. That should not be possible, meow. There is no way weapons like that could have been manufactured by anyone. And no yōkai would ever work with a human to create such a weapon, meow.”

  “Shows how much you know,” Kevin breathed. His heart was hammering in his chest, but he kept his cool. He’d faced worse than this kasha. He wouldn’t back down. “Not all yōkai hate humans. Not all yōkai think humans are worthless. I’m good friends with a number of your kind.”

  The kasha snorted, as if the very idea that Kevin suggested was absurd. Still, the cat yōkai eyed the guns in his hand warily, apprehensively, like he was waiting for them to start firing again.

  “How did you get something like that, meow?”

  Kevin backed up a step. “You can’t expect me to tell you that.”

  Kağan took a step forward. Kevin took another step back.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway, meow. I am going to kill you. Then I will take those weapons for myself, meow. I’m sure I can enslave some scientists to build replicas for me. Then I can either sell them on the black market or even build an army of human slaves, meow.” Bright eyes, luminous yellow moons surrounded by black fur, gleamed at the thought. “In fact, I think that is an excellent idea. I suppose I should thank you, ape, for giving me this wonderful opportunity, meow.”

  Kevin gritted his teeth. Clenching the guns in an ironclad grip, he tried not to show how worried he was. How long was it going to take Iris before she cast that illusion?

  “If you think for one second that I am going to let you take these, then you have clearly got several thousand meows loose.” Kevin paused, blinked, and then shook his head. “I mean several thousand screws loose.”

  Kevin did not like the grin that appeared on Kağan’s face. Not one bit.

  “Who said anything about you letting me do anything, meow. After you’re dead, I’ll just take those guns off your cooling corpse.”

  He took several steps back as Kağan began stalking toward him with a predatory gait, like a lion about to pounce on a helpless gazelle—or a cat yōkai about to pounce on a human. Rippling muscles hidden under his thick fur flexed with each step. Claws glinted in bright moonlight as fingers flexed, sharper than a blade and flashing with deadly intent, as if they were already imagining what ripping into his flesh would feel like.

  Heat emitted from fires dancing along Kağan’s body. The heat was sweltering, like being stuck inside of a furnace. Sweat broke out on Kevin’s skin as his foe drew closer. It dripped down his neck, his face, his underarms. It caused his clothes to cling to his skin.

  Perhaps if he had been aware of his surroundings, if his spatial awareness had not abandoned him in his fear, he wouldn’t have found himself cornered. His back soon pressed against a wall. Even so, Kevin still tried to back up, huddling against the quickly heating cement, as if it might somehow help him get away. Except there was nowhere to escape. He was trapped. A mouse caught within the paw of a cat.

  Dammit! If only I had thought to bring my ammo case with me. Maybe then I wouldn’t be in this predicament. At the very least, I should have brought one or two more cartridges.

  Kevin cursed his lack of foresight. It seemed he still hadn’t learned his lesson. He needed to always be prepared, to always be ready. Expect the unexpected. Never let your guard down. Constant vigilance. Had he learned nothing from being nearly killed several times in the past ten months?

  Kağan took another step forward.

  And then he stopped.

  A frown suddenly marred his face.

  “Where is the girl, meow?”

  “Right behind you,” a voice said.

  Kağan’s eyes widened. He began turning around, moving to face the source of the familiar voice.

  He was too late.

  “Kitsune Art: Fanboy’s Delight.”

  Kağan’s body became stock still. His posture stiffened, spine straightening like a nutcracker. A shudder went through his body, visible even through the thick, black fur. It went all the way up from his toes to his head, and then back down again. Small twitches soon followed. Tiny muscles spasms that made his body look like quivering jello. Like a man suffering an epileptic seizure, the spasming grew more intense with each passing second, until the cat yōkai fell onto his back, twitching and jerking, his body seizing up. Froth started pouring from his mouth. Then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head.

  Several seconds later, Kağan lay still, unmoving save for the stuttering of his chest.

  Kevin blinked. Once. Then he looked at Iris as she walked over to him.

  “What kind of illusion did you just cast on him?”

  Iris’s grin was the kind someone had only when they were immensely pleased with themselves.

  “I made him watch twenty-four hours of Boku no Pico compressed into six seconds.”

  Kevin turned green.

  “I regret asking already. Oh, gods. I think I’m gonna be sick.”

  “Don’t worry, Stud.” Iris’s reassuring smile did nothing to reassure him. If anything, it did the opposite. “I would never cast that on you.”

  “I suppose that’s something to feel grateful about.”

  “After all, if you suddenly became a vegetable, then I would never be able to convince Lily-pad to let me join you two in a threesome.”

  The sound of Kevin’s palm meeting his face echoed several decibels louder than it should have through the mostly empty street.<
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  ***

  As it turned out, Iris had used almost all of her youki to cast that illusion over Kağan. About halfway through their walk to find the hotel they were staying at, the raven-haired vixen had collapsed, which explained why Kevin was carrying her piggyback style as they ascended a flight of stairs.

  “Sorry for making you carry me like this,” Iris said in a voice laced with exhaustion.

  Kevin’s lips twitched. “Why are you apologizing? That’s not like you at all.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean.” Her tone was supposed to be playful, he guessed, but it sounded short of breath. “I can be nice when I want to be.”

  “You can,” he confirmed. “But you’re usually not. You’d normally use this opportunity to shove your boobs into my back, and then mercilessly tease me about how much of a pervert I am.”

  “Whatever.” Iris huffed as she buried her face in the crook of his neck.

  Her arms were slung around his shoulders, hanging over him like water hoses, limp like soggy pasta. Her legs likewise dangled from their place, swinging back and forth. He’d locked his arms underneath her bum to keep her propped up, as she seemed incapable of even simple actions like lifting her hands. Her tight ass felt quite amazing, he had to admit. Firm and springy.

  He was glad that no one was loafing around the hotel at the moment. It would have been hard enough to explain why he and Iris looked like they’d just been put through a blender. It would have been even harder to explain why Iris had two fox tails sticking out of her hind end, and a pair of fox ears that sat limply on her head.

  He reached the door to their hotel room and slid his keycard through a card slot on the side. He ignored the faint beeping that resulted and pushed the door open. A faint smile peeled across his face as he thought about crawling into bed and finally getting some sleep. That same smile left when he found himself staring at a familiar face with slicked-back black hair.

  He and the other person, the akaname, stared at each other. The man’s eyes were bulging, the other person’s face stretched into an almost comical expression of alarm.

  “What are you doing in my room?” Kevin asked, his expression suddenly going emotionless, his face deadpanning.

  “Ah, um, this is, uh.” The yōkai, who Kevin just decided to call Slick because of his hair, searched the area frantically, as if seeking aid from some nonexistent entity. “I, um, this isn’t what it looks like!”

  Kevin took a moment to contemplate those words. He then looked further into the room, where the other two akaname were attempting to unlock his case full of ammo—or they had been, before he had arrived. Now they were just staring at him, their eyes wavering with trepidation. He didn’t know where they had gotten the drill they were currently using to try drilling a hole through the impregnable case, and he honestly care.

  He looked back at Slick. The akaname’s body shook.

  “Really? So you three aren’t trying to ransack my room and steal my stuff?”

  The yōkai glanced over at his friends, who had scampered off and now hid on the other side of the bed. Kevin could tell because one of them had his ass sticking up in the air. When he realized that his friends would be of no help, he looked back at Kevin. They stared at each other for about ten seconds.

  He then straightened his back and waved his hands in a vaguely mysterious fashion in front of his face.

  “Ooh…” he moaned in what Kevin believed was supposed to be a mystical manner. “You are being hypnotized.” To his credit, the man actually did sound somewhat enigmatic. “When I snap my fingers, you will wake up and pretend I was never here.”

  “What about us?!” came a shout from behind the bed.

  “Right.” The man nodded. “You will pretend they were never here, either.”

  Kevin really did have to wonder about the stupidity that seemed to congregate around him. Stupid things seemed to happen whenever he was near. Was it him? Did stupid just follow him like a bad cold? He would have facepalmed, but since he was holding Iris, he had to settle for giving the creature a flat look.

  “Do you really think that’s going to work?”

  “No,” the man said mournfully. “But it was worth a try.”

  “I suppose so.” Kevin shifted his grip on Iris. The fox girl moaned slightly into his neck when his fingers sank into the soft flesh of her deliciously tight derriere. “I hope you three are prepared to face the consequences of your actions.”

  All three akaname gulped.

  ***

  Kevin wasn’t sure what to make of this new situation.

  He was sitting on the bed. Iris lay underneath the covers, her head resting on a pillow. He’d tucked her in shortly after arriving. The three akaname sat on the floor, heels underneath their rumps and several bricks sitting on their thighs. They looked uncomfortable, in pain even, but considering they’d been trying to steal from him, Kevin couldn’t find it in himself to care.

  No one asked where Kevin had gotten the bricks from.

  Now that he wasn’t beating them senseless, he was actually able to study them a bit better. The one with slicked-back hair had dark eyes, a rail-thin body, and wore baggy clothes that hid what almost seemed to be an emaciated frame. The other two were much shorter. One had shaggy brown hair, grayish eyes, and a rotund figure that could barely fit within his shirt. The other looked almost like a stereotypical nerd, complete with pimples, glasses, and buck teeth.

  They look like geekish versions of Buck, Tall, and Short back home.

  The thought amused him, but he didn’t let that show as he stared down at the trio.

  “P-please let us go,” Slick whimpered in discomfort. “We promise not to try stealing from you again.” The other two nodded their heads emphatically.

  Kevin scoffed. “Yeah, not happening.” He ignored the trio of whimpers and crossed his arms. “I can’t let you three go. You already know too much. I’m pretty sure that you were also responsible for that kasha coming after me and Iris. And I also need information, which you will be giving me without complaint.”

  The trio looked at each other, their pained grimaces a reflection of the agony they no doubt felt from having bricks on their thighs while sitting in seiza. Kotohime had told him that this was how bad kitsune were punished in her home village. It seemed effective.

  “W-what kind of information?” Slick asked.

  “First, I want to know about that kasha who attacked us,” Kevin said. “Who is he? Why was he attacking us? And what the heck is up with that silly catchphrase?”

  “You wanna know about Rabbim Kağan?”

  “Rabbim?” Kevin asked, then shook his head. He didn’t care to know. “Whatever, just tell me about that Kağan guy.”

  “Rabbim Kağan is the lord of this city,” Slick informed him. “He controls everyone here, from the humans to the yōkai. He’s the boss.”

  “How does he control the humans?” Kevin pressed. “Enchantments? Illusions?”

  The three akaname shared another glance. They turned back to Kevin and shrugged in unison.

  “We don’t know.” Slick seemed to be the spokesperson because he answered again. “It could be enchantments, I guess. He’s a kasha, you know. They aren’t as good at enchantments as kitsune, but they’re still pretty good.”

  Kevin sighed at their vague answer, but he pressed on anyway. It didn’t really matter how Kağan controlled people, or even necessarily that he did. It just bothered him because he disliked the idea of people’s free will being taken away.

  “And what about the reason he sent that other yōkai to attack me?” Kevin frowned at the trio as he leaned down and pierced them with a glare. “Why did he attack Iris and me?” The three quailed under his stare, causing his frown to deepen. “Was it you? Did you tell him about us?”

  The three said nothing. Perhaps they were afraid of angering him further.

  “Well,” he leaned back and sighed, “I suppose it doesn’t matter.” He saw the three sigh in relief an
d frowned again. “That doesn’t mean you three are getting off the hook.”

  Kevin wondered if he was becoming a bad person. There had to be something wrong with him if he was taking pleasure in the way the trio of akaname quaked where they sat.

  I think Iris and Kotohime are bad influences on me.

  The thought came to him before he expelled it. Now was not the time for distracting thoughts. There was more that he needed to do before night gave way to day.

  ***

  “Achoo!”

  Kotohime scrunched her nose cutely as she sneezed.

  “Someone must be talking about me,” she muttered to herself, resisting the urge to wipe at her nose. “I wonder who it is?”

  Discarding the question of who was talking about her, Kotohime glanced at the large building that sat in front of her. Tall and plain, nothing about the building stood out. Its walls were made of gray brick. Windows dotted its surface, situated at even intervals. It stood several stories high, seven, by her estimation. It looked like every other office building she’d seen in Florence.

  She knew better.

  Entering through a set of glass doors, she was greeted with a standard lobby. Marble tiles gleamed beneath her feet. Several pillars stood silently around the room. A small square patch of carpet sat to her left, four chairs surrounding a coffee table on top. She surveyed the room with keen eyes, making quick observations of possible defensive positions, and then trailed over to the desk, where a secretary sat.

  She walked up to the desk.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the secretary. “But I am here to see Abercio-san.”

  Light green eyes set on a youthful face looked up at her. Blond hair pulled back into a tight bun gave the woman a severe look. Green eyes narrowed as they stared at Kotohime’s most notorious feature, her large chest and not her katana, making the severity of this woman’s appearance seem even harsher. The woman glared at her chest for a moment longer, and then plastered on an insincerely false smile.

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  “No.”

  “Then I am afraid you cannot see Abercio,” the secretary said succinctly. “He is quite busy at the moment and does not have the time to see people who have not filed an appointment.”