A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1)

by Brandon Varnell

  "Is something wrong with the food?"

  "No," Kevin shook his head. "I was just thinking about something."

  Not sure of what else he should do and not wanting to look like a jerk after this girl had gone through the trouble of making breakfast for him, Kevin grabbed a fork and cut a portion of the omelet so that he could stab it and stick it in his mouth. As he chewed the food, Lilian sat herself on the other side of the table, placed her elbows on the wood, propped her chin on the butt of her hands and watched him.

  Heat began rising to Kevin's cheeks as he felt her eyes boring into him, piercing him, stripping him, devouring him. It was unsettling, extremely so. Kevin wanted to say something, if for no other reason than to make this girl stop staring at him with those bright green eyes that looked like they were about ready to take his chastity, but he couldn't. His vocal chords weren't working. Even if they were, he was not entirely sure what he would say.

  Was this how all those girls Eric stared at felt? No wonder they disliked him so much.

  "So how is it?" Kevin started at the sound of Lilian's voice. He looked up from his plate to see the red head smiling at him. For some reason, her expression reminded him of a child. It was very innocent despite the feelings her eyes gave him as they bore into his own. He could just picture her feet swinging childishly underneath the table as she watched something she felt was interesting.

  "It's good," Kevin admitted after swallowing. "Really good, actually. Better than any breakfast I've ever made."

  Kevin was a simple guy who preferred making simple foods. He didn't like the hassle that came from trying to make anything too complicated. It just took more time and effort than it was worth. His breakfast usually just consisted of plain old scrambled eggs and bacon. Sometimes if he wanted to eat something different, he would make pancakes, but that was about it.

  "I'm glad to hear that," Lilian's shoulders relaxed significantly as she released a large gust of air. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "I don't cook omelet's very often, or at all really, though I was taught how. Usually, our maid is the one cooking for us."

  "You have a maid?" So this girl was, like, super rich or something? Only the rich could afford a real life maid. Not even the spoiled brats in those large houses could afford their own maid. Someone to clean for them? Yes. But a full time maid that would wait on them hand and foot? No.

  At least, not unless they wanted to get rid of those $120,000+ cars that cost an extra $10,000 to $15,000 a year to maintain.

  "Well, I guess servant would be more appropriate," Lilian said thoughtfully as she looked up at the ceiling. "Kotohime pledged herself to our family sometime around 150 years ago." Hearing this caused Kevin to nearly choke on his food. "I don't know much about what happened during that time. I was just a vixen back then."

  "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Kevin looked at the girl in shock. "What do you mean 150 years ago? Do you mean to tell me that you have a maid who's over 150 years old?" That was freaking ancient! Not even Gandhi lived to be that old!

  "Of course," Lilian looked very confused for a second before her eyes lit in understanding. "Ah, right. I forgot that you humans are very short lived." Her back straightened and she looked at him, a single finger pointed towards the ceiling as she raised her arm; she looked like a teacher who was about to go into a lecture. "To sum it up, Kitsune live a lot longer than humans do." She tilted her head to the left. "Kotohime has 3 tails, so she's older than 300, but younger than 400." She pressed a finger to her lips and tapped it. "I don't know exactly how old she is, though." She shrugged. "I never asked."

  Kevin bit his lower lip and furrowed his brows in thought as he processed the information he was just given. "So Kitsune gain a tail every 100 years then?"

  "Yes," Lilian nodded. "We first start off with just one tail, that's when we're still just plain old foxes. After our hundredth year we gain our second tail and a human form."

  "Oh," Kevin blinked, "That makes sense, I guess." He frowned as he looked at the girl in front of him. "But what about you? Since you have a human form, that means you should have two tails, but I only see one." He was curious to know how old she was, but knew better than to ask. It was one of the bits of wisdom his mom had given him. Never ask a woman her age.

  "I do," Lilian chirped. "Like most Kitsune, I usually only keep one of them out. We don't really like the feeling of our tails being completely hidden, because our tails is where the essence of our power are stored.” She looked at him, a strange glint in her eyes. “Would you like me to bring out my second tail?"

  "Ah, no," Kevin shook his head, "That's alriiiiiiighhttt! What the heck!?" Kevin's shocked squeak was precluded by the feeling of something wrapping around his legs. After banging his knees on the underside of the table when he jumped out of his seat, Kevin looked down, his eyes blinking several times as he tried to associate what he was seeing with reality.

  There, wrapped around his legs, were two furry, bright red fox tails. They were surprisingly soft and warm, but he was more focused on the fact that there were two fox tails wrapped around his legs!

  "Did I mention they could extend to over a meter in length?" Lilian asked innocently. Too innocently. Kevin narrowed his eyes. It looked like those stories about Kitsune being pranksters might hold some merit after all.

  Trying to ignore the girl who had retracted her tails, Kevin ate in silence. It was hard with her watching him, but he made do and did his best to ignore her. When he finished, he cast a glace at the small clock on the stove, his eyes widening as he saw what time it was.

  "Oh crap!" He swore as he bolted from his chair and made a mad dash towards his room. Acting with all the haste of someone who had a horde of Orcs on his tail (or some other manner of dangerous and ugly fantasy monster), Kevin shoved all of his binders and homework into his bag with little regard to whether any of it got crushed or not. He soon came barreling back out and hurried towards the door.

  He skidded to a stop, however, when he saw Lilian standing in front of the door that would allow him to leave. She was looking at him, hands clasped together in front of her. Kevin nearly lost it when he saw how poorly the shirt actually hid her breasts as they were pressed together.

  "Leaving?"

  "Uh..." Only the knowledge that he was running late allowed his mind to properly reboot. "Yeah... I have school... so..."

  "That's right, I forgot that you went to school," Lilian perked up, literally. Her slightly drooping fox ears actually quivered before standing straight up on her head. It was such a cute gesture that Kevin only managed to stop himself from squealing like some kind of yaoi fan-boy and reaching out to caress them by reminding himself that Lilian wasn't actually a fox, but a Kitsune, and that there was no telling what she would do if he caressed her ears. "I've never been to school before. My mother always home schooled us."

  "Ah, I, I see," Kevin tried to steer this conversation back on course so he could finish it quickly. "Listen, I have to go or I'll be late... er! Later than I already am. You can stay here for as long as you want, I guess." It wasn't like he could in good conscious kick her out. Not unless he wanted to be guilt ridden for several months. "Just, um... try not to break anything. Oh! And don't go into my mom's bedroom."

  "Don't worry about me, Beloved," Kevin's cheeks flushed at her apparent pet-name for him. A tad slow on the uptake, wasn't he? "I'll be fine. You go to school. I'll wait for you here." Saying this, the red haired beauty closed the distance between them, leaned up on her toes (she was several inches shorter than Kevin), and pressed her lips to his in a quick kiss.

  Kevin's eyes widened as he felt her warm, soft and slightly moist lips glide over his own. Even though it was just a small peck, it was still enough that Kevin felt a jolt run through him, like lightning was coursing unhindered through his body at the contact. He could not help but compare Lilian's lips to the finest satin as they gently ghosted over his own in an ephemeral kiss.

  Of course, this is Kevin we're ta
lking about, so all these thoughts would not come to him until later. Much later. Right now, his mind had pretty much short circuited.

  "Beloved?" Kevin blinked. Lilian stared at him in concern. "Are you okay?"

  "Ah... Ah..." Kevin's mind recovered with admirable speed. Admirable for him, at least. "Yes..." he mumbled. "I'm fine. It's just..." he trailed off, feeling embarrassed as he murmured something out that Lilian could not hear.

  "What was that, Beloved?"

  "That was... my first kiss," Kevin mumbled lowly, his head turned down so he was looking at the ground instead of Lilian. It was infinitely more interesting than the gorgeous fox girl in front of him anyways.

  Yeah, right.

  Lilian smiled at him, her own cheeks tinging pink.

  "That was my first kiss with a male too."

  "I see," Kevin stared in surprise. "That was your first... wait," he blinked several times as his mind caught up with the rest of what she said. "With a male?"

  ...

  Cue long awkward silence.

  "Damn that Iris."

  "Wow," Kevin whistled in a completely Out of Character kind of way. It's generally called an OC moment. "I just don't – wow. I don't even know what to say to that." Seriously, what does someone say to that?

  "A-Anyways," the fox girl tried to get rid of her embarrassment by changing the subject. "Shouldn't you be going to school?"

  "Right." Was it just him, or did this girl just sound almost like one of those stay at home wives he heard about on those fifties shows his mom used to love watching when she was at home?

  Ugh, whatever. He didn't have time to deal with this. School had started five minutes ago and it would take him twenty to get there. He would deal with this strange fox girl, and everything his new situation entailed (and yes, that was a pun just now) later. Right now, it was time to head out.

  Little did he know that there would be more problems than just an angry homeroom teacher to deal with when he finally arrived at school.

  Chapter 7: A Not so Normal School Day

  "You're late, Mr. Swift!"

  Kevin barely managed to withhold a wince at the sharp tone in his homeroom teacher's voice. Ruby Vis was one of those hardcore teachers who was very... passionate? Yes, passionate. She was very passionate about her job. It was her art, and if math was her chisel than teaching was her hammer.

  Which meant he and the other students were the marble upon which she would strike.

  Ouch.

  She was a very plain looking woman with mousy brown hair, dark eyes and pale skin. Whenever Kevin saw her, he could not help but be reminded of a vampire. The only reason he did not suspect her of actually being a vampire was her lack of sparkles. Despite this, her skin was certainly white enough to be a vampire's. It was so translucently pale that he often wondered if she ever got outside beyond walking to and from her car.

  Probably not.

  "Sorry, Ms. Vis," Kevin apologized quickly. "I had some... erm... trouble, waking up this morning." Internally, he winced at the terrible excuse. Dang his inability to tell a good lie! Maybe he should have said something about a black cat crossing his path forcing him to take the long way around?

  Yeah, as if she would believe that.

  "You missed my lecture," Ms. Vis continued as if she had not even heard him. Uh oh. That wasn't a good sign. Whenever a teacher pretended to not hear you, it usually meant they were going to punish you. That just sucked, especially since it hadn't been his fault he was late. He had been dealing with a close encounter of the sexy fox-girl kind.

  Too bad he couldn't tell her that. What was he supposed to say? “I woke up with a naked girl in my bed. Oh, and by the way, she's a Kitsune. You know, those supernatural creatures found in Japanese Mythology.” Yeah, he could see that going over really well.

  "Take your seat and ask your neighbor for the notes on my lecture that you missed." This time, Kevin did wince, especially on those emphasized words. She was definitely peeved at him. "You'll need it if you want to complete your assignment for today."

  Kevin almost couldn't contain his surprise. He was getting off without being punished? Or was she just saving her punishment for another time? Either way, it was probably best not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  Trying his best not to make it look like he was in a rush, Kevin walked to his desk. He didn't want to ruin this moment by seeming hurried. That would just make this whole situation that much worse. She might smell blood in the water, so to speak, and decide he really should be punished.

  As he sat down at the desk assigned to him, his neighbor turned in her seat and gave him an amused smile. "It's not like you to be so late, Kevin." She looked like she was taking way to much enjoyment from his unfortunate situation. Not that he noticed. He was having other problems at the moment. "Having some problems at home?"

  Kevin's breath caught in his throat as the girl spoke to him. She was very pretty, if tomboyish. Her hair was a short, sandy blond with lighter streaks interspersed throughout, and it was styled in a cute pixy cut with longer than average bangs that ran past her chin. They framed a face with light, baby blue eyes, a small, straight nose and thin but not unpleasant lips.

  Of course, while the fact that a cute girl was talking to him was always a problem for Kevin, that was not what had him feeling like someone had taken a vice to his throat. It was who she was that made him so incapable of speaking. Lindsay Diane, his secret (or not so secret, depending on who you asked) crush.

  He and Lindsay didn't have many classes together, except homeroom and their last class of the day. This was one of the only times he actually got to be with her. He both loved it and hated it. Loved it because, well, he got to sit next to her. Hated it because he could never think of anything to say, and every time he made an attempt, he would usually end up not saying anything at all and would just stare at her with a stupid looking, open mouthed expression instead.

  Nothing said idiot better than looking like you were trying to do a fish out of water impression in front of your crush.

  Lindsay was a very petite girl, nowhere near as curvy as some of the other female's in their school, and not even close to Lilian's generous proportions, but she had her own strong points. While small, Lindsay possessed a very lean, athletic body from all the sports she played. Her legs and arms were toned, her stomach was taut. The girl didn't have an inch of fat on her thanks to how active she was. That was actually one of the things Kevin liked most about her.

  Her love of sports, not her body.

  Not that her body was bad or ugly. He thought she had an amazing body. It was just that he was way too shy to actually think about Lindsay's body that way. At least not without his face turning all kinds of red.

  “Hello? Earth to Kevin? Anybody in there?”

  Kevin blinked several times as a hand was waved in front of his face. It took him a moment to realize that he had been staring... again.

  He jerked his head back as if slapped. Already his cheeks were beginning to heat up as he once more embarrassed himself in front of his crush. He could only imagine how red his face was.

  Lindsay was still staring at him. Quick, Kevin! Think of something to say!

  "Uh... um... hu... hi...?"

  Smooth Kevin, very smooth.

  "Hey," Lindsay snickered at him, amused. "Finally back here on Earth with us?” Kevin blushed at her comment, but didn't say anything. “So...any reason why you were so late?"

  "Um..." Late? Why was he late? Oh! Right. "Ah...I just had some... problems with this...erm...injured fox I found yesterday."

  "A fox?” Lindsay perked up. “You brought a fox home? Isn't it against the rules to have animals in your apartment?"

  "Well, yeah," Kevin squirmed uncomfortably as he was reminded of that fact. Not that it mattered. No one would think Lilian was a fox so long as she remained in her human form. And on that note, he really hoped she had the good sense to hide those tails of hers. It wouldn't do if someone, like, say, the landlord,
came over and saw her with those added appendages out. "That's why I was late. I had to make sure no one would be able to see her from outside of the apartment."

  "I gotcha," Lindsay nodded her head. "I remember you always did love animals back when we were younger.”

  Kevin ducked his head down to hide his red cheeks while the girl sitting next to him grinned.

  “Anyways, here." She held out her spiral notebook. "Those are the notes from today. Just give that back when you're done copying them."

  Carefully reaching out with his hand, his heart pounding against his chest, Kevin touched the notebook Lindsay was offering him. He grabbed it almost reverently, ignoring the millions of butterflies that had welled up in his stomach. They had nothing to do with the binder she gave him, or the skin on skin contact he felt when his hand touched hers. Really.

  "Thanks," Kevin's barely audible voice mumbled out. "You're a life saver."

  "I know." Lindsay's small, cocky smirk somehow managed to enhance how attractive she was. Kevin nearly swooned, but being a man (real men didn't swoon!), he held himself back. Barely.

  The rest of class was mostly silent. Only the sound of pencil scratching on paper and the occasional cough broke the monotonous stillness that permeated the room. Behind her desk, Ms. Vis sat, watching them all like a hawk, making sure they did their work in complete silence. Anyone caught talking or passing notes was given a swift warning not to do so again on pain of detention and those with phones out had them taken away until class ended.

  Kevin dutifully copied down all the notes Lindsay had written down in her notebook. The girl had very neat, very precise handwriting, so it was really easy to copy. She was an excellent note taker.

  As he finished copying down the notes and then started working on the assignment that Ms. Vis had assigned to them, his mind traveled back to the fox-girl currently rooming in his apartment. He wondered what she was doing right now.