A Fox's Mate (American Kitsune Book 6)

by Brandon Varnell

  “I think it was in an anime, actually,” Lilian said.

  “Hmm… maybe…”

  “Oi! Are you two going to keep talking or can I continue? Because if you don’t want to hear my super info dumpy, yet very genre savvy explanation, then please continue.”

  Lilian and Kevin sheepishly looked at Iris. The sexy raven-haired female coughed into her hand and grumbled about idiotic nerds before continuing.

  “Anyway, that explanation is very basic. There are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to elemental weaknesses for the middle-tier, but I don’t want to get into those right now.”

  “Lazy,” Kevin said.

  “Super lazy,” Lilian added.

  “Pipe down while sensei explains the other element,” Iris snapped. “Anyway, the last middle-tier element is the ghost element, which is sometimes called the spirit element. It’s what we call a non-elemental element. Of course, we call it an element, but it’s really not. All beings who can use the ghost element have the ability to manipulate the lost spirits wandering the world and, if they are have enough youki and training, they can control powerful forces from the spirit world.”

  “Like hellfire,” Lilian said. “Hellfire is a spirit technique that doesn’t create fire, but brings fire from the spirit world into the physical world.”

  “Right.” Iris nodded at Lilian’s addendum. “Anyway, that element has no real weakness, but it also doesn’t have any strengths either. You could consider it a neutral element that exists outside of the main elements.” A pause. Iris capped her marker. “And those are the lower and middle-tiered elements.”

  There was a moment of silence. Then…

  “That was a pointlessly long explanation,” Lilian said.

  “Quite needless, if you ask me,” Kevin added.

  “Don’t diss my explanation!” Iris snapped.

  “But I think I understand,” Kevin continued. “It’s actually not that difficult to grasp. It just takes some time to understand the concepts.”

  It probably helped that he’d read so much manga and watched so many anime with similar powers and abilities to these kitsune that he could make the connections by using them as reference points.

  “Hmm. Good.” Iris smiled at Kevin. “I’m glad to see that you’re more than just another set of muscles.”

  Kevin rolled his eyes. “Just because I’m into exercising doesn’t mean I’m an idiot, you know. Anyway, after all this talk about elements and whatnot, I assume the top-tiered elements, celestial and void, are different from the lower and middle tiers, right?”

  “That’s right,” Iris said, once more making herself comfortable by sprawling onto her side. While her left hand pillowed her head, her right traced idle circles on her naked hip. Kevin did his best not to look. “However, I’ve been talking for way too long and don’t really feel like explaining the rest, so I’ll leave that to Lily-pad.”

  Lilian frowned at her fraternal twin, but she began explaining the concept of celestial and void powers to Kevin.

  “You already know that celestial and void powers are diametrically opposed to each other; they are each other’s weakness and strength. Celestial powers will always be able to destroy void powers, and void powers will always be able to negate celestial powers. A battle between a celestial user and a void user will always come down to who has more strength, more youki, more experience, and more powerful techniques.”

  As Lilian explained the differences between celestial powers and the Void to Kevin, Iris glanced at her mom. The woman was still snoring. Drool was still leaking down her face. She really was an adorable ditz.

  Meanwhile, Lilian continued her lecture. “The most important thing you need to know in order to understand Mom’s situation is that these two elements cannot be combined for any reason. To combine two elements that are so incompatible can lead to nothing but mutual destruction. The absolute nothingness of oblivion will always reject the natural ways of the world as dictated by those of divine influence.”

  Kevin tried to wrap his mind around everything that Lilian was telling him. It was hard. He understood the part about them being opposites, but subjects like “oblivion” and “divine influence” confused him. Maybe it was because he simply didn’t know enough about these two powers, or maybe there was more to learn about her world than he’d realized. He didn’t have an answer.

  “Now imagine, if you will, a boiling pot with these two forces being mixed together inside of it,” Lilian said, and Kevin did exactly that. Lilian’s green eyes softened when he winced. “You can imagine how… ugly such a thing would be, right?”

  Kevin grimaced. “Yeah… it certainly doesn’t paint a pretty picture.”

  “Right… so, now imagine that my mom is the boiling pot in which these two incredibly powerful, yet mutually opposing forces are being mixed together in order to create two new lifeforms.”

  Kevin’s wince was more pronounced this time. He looked at Lilian, who now had tears in her eyes.

  “Our birth should have never been possible,” Lilian explained, her eyes downcast. “Our mom should have died when she became pregnant with us, yet she somehow survived and gave birth. However, you can’t survive something like that and not expect to pay a price. That price was the near complete destruction of her mind.”

  Kevin closed his eyes. He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice a whisper. “I should have never brought this up.”

  Lilian’s right hand on his cheek forced Kevin to open his eyes. She had shifted so that she was facing him, and though her smile was tremulous, it also spoke reassurances that eased Kevin’s tumultuous emotions.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “I don’t really mind telling you this. I actually had been expecting to tell you this sooner, but so much has happened that we never had the time.”

  Her hand gently caressed his cheek. Kevin leaned into her touch and placed a kiss on her palm. This caused Lilian to release a pleasant hum as she moved her hand over his lips. She looked about ready to try sticking her fingers into his mouth.

  From her place on the bed, Iris watched the two get all lovey-dovey again with a sigh. It seemed that even depressing subjects like this weren’t enough to make them stop—or maybe it was because this subject was so depressing that they did it. Mutual reassurance and support and all that.

  “Hey,” Iris said as something suddenly occurred to her. “Do either of you find it odd that we just had a long-winded info dump about kitsune powers and how it pertains to Mom while lying on the bed in nothing but lingerie and boxers, and with the very woman we’re talking about, who happens to be completely naked, sleeping on top of you two?”

  Lilian and Kevin blinked. They looked at each other, and then at their distinct lack of clothing—Kevin wore a pair of boxers and Lilian was in a large t-shirt and lace panties—and then they turned their attention to Camellia. She was still dozing away while sprawled across their laps.

  She was still naked.

  “Hawa-hawa-hawa-hawa… zzz… hawa-hawa-hawa-hawa…”

  She was also still snoring.

  “I really want to be surprised and freaked out by this realization, but for some reason, I can’t,” Kevin admitted.

  Lilian nodded her head. “I know what you mean. I personally blame the author. If you weren’t put into so many perverted situations like this, you’d probably be experiencing more shock. Then again, maybe that’s a good thing. It does get kind of annoying to watch you constantly freak out after a while.”

  Kevin had no idea what she was talking about. “What?”

  “Nothing.” Lilian dismissed Kevin’s question with a wave of her hand. “Anyway, why don’t we take a shower and get ready? We’ve got school today, and I don’t want to miss breakfast because we were running late.”

  “Right.”

  The trio was just about to vacate the bed and get a start on their day when a loud, frightened shout, followed by several equally loud
thumping sounds, resounded from somewhere within the apartment.

  “My lady?! My lady?! Where are you?! MY LADY?!”

  Kevin, Lilian, and Iris all facepalmed at the same time.

  ***

  Breakfast at the Diane residence was awkward. Lindsay couldn’t put her finger on it, but she could definitely tell that something was up with her parents—her mom, in particular, was acting really weird.

  After waking up and taking a shower, she and Christine had gone into the kitchen, where her mother was cooking breakfast and her father sat at the dining room table, a cup of coffee sitting before him and a newspaper in his hands. While her father didn’t seem to have noticed the odd tension that hung in the air, greeting her and Christine with his usual gruff “Good morning,” Lindsay’s mother had been acting odd—er, odder than she usually did.

  Considering how strange her mother acted on the best of days, that she seemed to be acting even more eccentric was cause for alarm.

  They sat at the dining room table. Christine was on her left, absently munching on a piece of toast. Her friend didn’t seem to have noticed the abnormal tenseness in her mom’s posture, nor the way her mom’s eyes kept traveling from her to Christine. Lindsay wondered what her mom was thinking.

  “So, um, Lindsay dear.” Her mom coughed into her hand. Christine and Lindsay both looked at the plump woman. Her dad didn’t so much as spare them a glance. “I’ve noticed that you and Christine are, uh, awfully close.”

  Lindsay blinked. What an odd thing to say. Was she just now noticing this?

  “Well, of course. Christine is one of my best friends. It’s only natural that she and I would be close.”

  Lilian was also one of her best friends, but she spent most of her time with Kevin.

  “Best friends?” Mrs. Diane scrutinized her daughter far more than Lindsay felt comfortable with, leaning over the table and gazing at her with a narrow-eyed look.

  Okay, now things are getting weird. Is Mom glaring at me?

  “Uh… are we supposed to be something else?” Lindsay, despite being on the opposite side of the table, tried to lean back in her seat. She took a brief moment to curse how these straight-backed chairs didn't let her lean away from her mom's penetrating gaze. “What are we supposed to be if not best friends?”

  “Oh, nothing, nothing.” Her mom leaned back in her seat, her face relaxing as she laughed in a manner that made Lindsay question the woman’s sanity. “Never mind me, dear. Just, uh, continue eating.”

  Lindsay decided to do just that. In fact, she decided to try her best to forget this whole conversation had ever taken place. Yes, there was no need to remember her mom’s odd behavior.

  “Ne, Lindsay.” Christine leaned over to whisper in her friend’s ear. Lindsay became disturbed when her mom started paying abnormal amounts of attention to them again. “Why is your mom acting so damn weird?”

  “Heck if I know,” Lindsay muttered, going back to her pancakes. “Just try to ignore her. It should make her stop.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Pray that she doesn’t act like this forever?”

  “... That doesn’t inspire much confidence.”

  ***

  Kevin vacated the bus with Iris and Lilian. All around them, other students were disembarking from buses and cars and making their way through the school gates.

  Desert Cactus High was a massive school that consisted of several large buildings. All of the buildings were modern-looking, square structures, though the library was shaped like a cylinder. It was an open campus, so the buildings were spaced apart. The whole school was surrounded by a gate.

  Kevin looked at the school that he’d been attending for the last year and a half, at the people surrounding them. Everyone was laughing and chattering excitedly as they spoke, telling their friends about all of the fun they’d had over spring break—a trip to Mexico, visiting family out of state, and so on.

  He clenched his hands into fists as he thought about his spring break.

  The first gunshot exploded like a thunderclap in my ears.

  Was it wrong that he felt jealous of his peers? Probably. It certainly wasn’t right. Nor was it their fault that his spring break, despite having many highlights that were truly enjoyable, had been overshadowed by the darkness at the end.

  Blood splattered against the pavement.

  “Beloved? Are you okay?”

  A worried voice sounded out beside him, followed by the feel of a soft, delicate hand wrapping around his. Lilian. Upon looking at his mate and seeing the worry in her eyes, Kevin forced the visions into the back of his mind. He couldn’t let Lilian or the others worry about him.

  “I’m fine,” Kevin lied, forcing himself to smile.

  “You sure about that? You had a pretty freaky face for a moment there, Stud.” Iris, too, seemed a little worried. Kevin was surprised. She didn’t seem the type to worry about him. “You looked constipated or something. Have you thought about taking laxatives to help with that?”

  And just like that, Iris ruined the moment with her usual commentary.

  Kevin twitched. “I’m not constipated, and I don’t need laxatives.”

  “If you say so…” Iris didn’t look convinced.

  The group soon flowed into the school with the rest of the crowd. Desert Cactus High School was a large institute with over 1,500 students, so there were a lot of people jostling them as they walked. Lilian used the opportunity this presented to cling to Kevin’s side, which was just alright with him—or it would have been, if Iris didn’t also try clinging to him.

  “Why are you always latching on to me or Lilian?” Kevin asked.

  Iris’s smirk was quite devilish as she held Kevin’s arm to her chest. “I just don’t want to get lost in the crowd, Stud. There are so many people here. You don’t want me getting lost, do you? Who knows what might happen.”

  She was trying to rile him up. Iris knew that he didn’t like it when she did this. That was why she did it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure what to do about it. Even though Iris was totally lying about getting lost, it was true that they were trapped within a large crowd, and it was better to stick together.

  “Please ignore her, Beloved,” Lilian said. “Iris is hoping to get a rise out of you.”

  “That’s not a nice thing to say about your wonderful sister.” Iris’s lips peeled back in a sexy little grin. “You know that I would never do such a thing. I’m a pure and innocent maiden.”

  Lilian and Kevin snorted at the same time. Iris was anything but innocent. She was crass, lewd, and didn’t have any issues putting herself on display if it meant getting what she wanted. In fact, she loved it when people lusted after her. She basked in the attention.

  Just what she wanted out of this particular situation he didn’t know, but there was probably some hidden design to her actions.

  “It looks like the crowd is beginning to thin out,” Kevin said. “You can let go now.”

  “Don’t wanna.” Grinning, Iris held onto him even more tightly.

  Kevin forced himself not to twitch. “Lilian? Could you please get your sister off me?”

  “Hm? Oh, sure thing, Beloved.” Lilian smiled at him, and promptly directed a pout at Iris. “You’ve had your fun, Iris. Now stop clinging to my mate. He doesn’t like it.”

  “Hm… I don’t feel like it.”

  Now even Lilian was glaring at Iris. She tugged on Kevin’s arm. “Look. You’ve had your fun. It’s time for you to stop messing with Kevin.”

  “Aww, come on, Lily-pad.” Iris tugged back, grinning deviously as she pushed her sister’s buttons. “You should learn to be a bit more considerate towards your sister and let her have some more fun. You know, I remember a time when we used to share everything together. Why can’t we go back to those simpler times?”

  Kevin could actually feel Lilian twitching against his arm. It was like the rumbling before an earthquake.

  “I thought I already told you that Kevin
isn’t interested in going the harem route.”

  What?

  Kevin blinked.

  “What are you talking about?” Iris chuckled, her voice oozing condescension, as if her sister had just said the dumbest thing ever. “Every guy wants a harem. Why else would harems be so popular among male audiences?”

  “Are we really talking about this in school?” Kevin asked. He went ignored.

  “The only one who’s interested in harems here is you,” Lilian retorted.

  “Psh! Don’t lie, Lily-pad. I know that you also think it would be hot. Come on. You can be honest with me.”

  Lilian hesitated for all of one second. A flash of something, perhaps reluctance, passed over her face. Then it hardened, becoming determined once more. “I am being honest. Kevin doesn’t want a harem, so no harems! Now let! Go!”

  “Nope!”

  It didn’t take long for the two girls to begin fighting with Kevin in the middle—literally. Each of them already had ahold of one of his arms, and they pulled him between them, yanking and tugging as if he was a rope in the middle of the fiercest game of tug-o-war ever.

  Kevin groaned and whimpered as he found his arms being pulled on by the fraternal twins. For such delicate-looking girls, these two were way stronger than they appeared, and they weren’t even using reinforcement!

  “Come on, Lily-pad. Let me have some more fun.”

  “Absolutely not! It’s my duty as Kevin’s girlfriend to protect him. Now let go of my mate! And stop calling me Lily-pad!”

  Kevin didn’t know how he felt about her saying that it was her duty to “protect him.” It felt like he’d just taken several hits to his masculinity points—not that he cared about MP. He just wanted these two to let go of him.

  My arms are being ripped off!

  A crowd formed around the trio. The two girls ignored the crowd, busy as they were playing tug of war with Kevin’s arms. Kevin, too, ignored the growing number of people watching them, but that was because the pain of having his arms being ripped out of their sockets made it hard for him to focus.