Kevin’s right eye twitched. “I wasn’t checking you out. I was looking at your scars.”
“So, you're admiring my battle wounds?”
Kevin tried not blush. He liked to think he did an admirable job, especially considering how, nine months ago, a comment like that would have made him blush like a schoolboy in front of his crush.
“Something like that.”
Kiara’s grin spoke of her amusement better than words could. “I’ll tell you how I got some of these sometime. Maybe when you finally beat Heather.”
“Trying to motivate me with a story?” Kevin crossed his arms and pouted. “I’m not that easy to please, you know? And besides, I’m trying my hardest.”
“And you’ve gotten pretty good,” Heather informed him as she stretched. Kevin tried not to look at her breasts as the fabric of her hot pink shirt stretched across them. She wasn’t wearing a bra. “You’ve come a long way from the boy who got kidnapped like a damsel in distress and had to be rescued.”
Kevin felt an acute pain in his chest at her words, which were about as emasculating to him as Kiara’s ripped body. “That was a low blow.”
Heather’s pleased grin reminded him of a Cheshire cat. “And no less true.”
“Anyway,” Kiara interrupted Kevin before he could retort, “you should probably head home now. You’ll want to have your mate heal that paintball wound before it scars.”
Kevin grimaced at the reminder of his wound. “… Right.”
The life of a teenage punching bag was a never-ending battle.
***
Kiara watched as Kevin left the sparring room. If he followed his normal habits, he’d hop in the shower, get changed, and then head home. Then again, he might just head home to get that nasty wound on his chest healed.
“He really is getting better, isn’t he?” asked Heather.
She turned to Heather, who had her eyes on the door that the young man had disappeared through. The woman’s face was flushed with exertion, and her shoulders and chest heaved with every breath. It wasn’t the deep, gasping breaths of someone who had pushed themselves beyond their physical limitations, but it told Kiara that Heather had been forced to exert herself more than usual.
“He’s definitely improved a lot.” She stroked her jaw with her only remaining hand. “His skills in hand-to-hand combat have improved greatly, and he’s an even better shot… when he’s standing still. He still has trouble aiming when moving, and he can’t pull his guns out in mid-combat, which is a problem we’ll have to rectify. That’s something I think we need to have him start working on.”
“Agreed.”
A moment of silence passed between them. Kiara gazed at the sparring room. It was her own personal sparring room, which she let Kevin and Heather use when they were training. The entire floor was composed of a large blue mat. The walls were white and bare of decorations. She preferred it that way. In this room, there were no distractions getting in the way, and she could train to her hearts content.
“… Do you think he’ll be ready for the threats he’s likely to face in the future?”
Kiara frowned at the question. It was a lot more loaded than it would have been if they were talking about someone else, but they were talking about Kevin. That kid was a magnet for trouble. His track record for getting knee deep into vexing situations was only matched by his mate’s capacity to do the same.
“I don’t know. There are plenty of threats that a human involved with a yōkai is likely to face. The kid’s already been through a lot, so I would say that he is, but then he’s also involved with several members of one of the Thirteen Great Kitsune Clans.” Kiara rubbed the back of her neck. “Kid’s already run into some of the problems that come from being involved with a group of yōkai like that.”
“You’re talking about that young kitsune and his group that you guys fought in October of last year, right?” Heather asked, getting a nod in return. “But that was an awfully long time ago. We haven’t even heard a peep about those, uh… um…”
“The Shénshèng Clan.”
“Right! Them!” Heather snapped her fingers. “Anyway, we haven’t heard from those people since then. What makes you think they’ll try something eight months after the fact?”
Kiara stared at Heather, her face slowly deadpanning, and then she snorted and turned away.
“You clearly don’t know a thing about kitsune, girl. They’re not the sort of yōkai who would let a transgression against them go, especially not one like this.” Turning around, Kiara began walking toward to exit. “Trust me, they’ll come seeking revenge sooner or later, and they’ll probably do it when we least expect them to.”
The sound of footsteps preluded Heather catching up to her. The former Sons and Daughters of Humanity secret operative didn’t seem all that bothered by her words.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. He’s got us around to help, after all.” Heather paused, her face suddenly shifting into a bit of a pout. “Although I will admit that helping him out is a pain. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve been able to sit down and play one of my eroge? Months! I started my conquest of Rumi Takahata three months ago, and I’ve only had enough time to raise two of her flags!”
Kiara chuckled. She had never met another person who was so obsessed with what amounted to Japanese video game porn as Heather was.
“I guess that’s true. And I’m rather fond of the kid, so it’s not like I can let him face whatever danger comes his way alone. He also has Kotohime and her sister to depend on, not to mention that mate of his and the mate’s twin. I’m sure he’ll be fine.” She paused. “And isn’t the reason you never have time for those porn games because you’re still teaching at Desert Cactus High School?”
“It isn’t porn!”
“Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be getting ready to leave?”
Heather blinked at what seemed like a random question.
“What do you… oh, shit!” Heather swore when she looked at her watch and saw the time. “Dammit! I was supposed to attend a meeting before school since today’s the last day!”
Rushing ahead of Kiara, the former spandex-wearing secret agent ran out of the room, likely heading for the lockers. The door slammed shut behind the woman. Kiara heard Heather’s hurried footsteps quickly receding. After several more seconds of just standing there, she chuckled and continued on her way.
“Life has gotten a whole lot more interesting since I met these people,” she mused to herself.
***
“Let’s see now… I need one and one-third cups of all-purpose flour, two tablespoons of sugar, one teaspoon of baking powder, half a teaspoon of baking soda…”
Lilian stared hard at the cookbook situated on the marble countertop, her eyes flickering back and forth, scanning the page. She had decided to make blueberry pancakes. Kevin would be coming home soon, and she wanted to have breakfast ready by then.
It would normally be Kotohime who did the cooking. She was their maid, after all. However, Lilian wanted to make something for Kevin, and so she had adamantly told her maid that she was going to cook instead. Kotohime had given Lilian her traditional “ufufufu” laugh and left her to it.
“Okay!” Pumping her fist, Lilian psyched herself up. “Time to do this!”
Wanting to get started with a bang, Lilian became a whirlwind of activity. Her two tails shot out from underneath her miniskirt, extending to at least three meters in length. One of them made a beeline for the pantry, while the other began pulling pans, bowls, and mixers from the bottom cupboard.
While her tails got to work, Lilian waltzed up to the fridge and began grabbing ingredients: eggs, milk, butter, sour cream, blueberries, everything she needed. She grabbed them all and put them onto the counter next to the stove. At the same time, her tails retracted and put the items they had grabbed onto the counter with them.
“Okay!” Grinning fiercely, Lilian pumped a fist into the air. “Blueberry pancakes, get ready
to be baked!”
It didn’t take her long to mix all the ingredients. With her tails helping add them into the bowl, it was almost as if she had four arms. That stupid Goro didn’t have squat on her. She mixed and stirred and had all of the ingredients blended together perfectly in a matter of seconds. After that, it was just a matter of heating up the skillet, pouring the batter, and working her magic.
As she poured the batter onto the skillet, the sound of the door opening and closing alerted her to Kevin’s arrival seconds before he called out, “I’m home!”
“Welcome home!” Lilian spun around to greet Kevin as he walked past the kitchen “You’re earlier than I expected you to be, Bel—Kya! What happened to your chest?!”
“Ah-ahahaha!” Kevin’s nervous laughter filled the air as Lilian rushed over to him. “I, uh, well, Heather kinda shot me point blank with a paintball gun, so…”
“She what?!”
Kevin winced at her shout, but Lilian didn’t pay attention. She was too busy looking at the ugly black and purple pockmark that looked like the Ptolemaeus Crater between his pectorals. It was a hideous wound.
“Uh, yeah, Kiara and Heather said it’s time I start learning how to wield guns while fighting at close range, so Heather’s taken to pulling them out when we spar.”
“You mean she’s been shooting you when you spar?!” Lilian growled at the thought of her mate getting shot during training. It was supposed to be a simple spar! They weren’t supposed to injure her mate like this! “I’m gonna kill them!”
“I… don’t think that would be a good idea,” Kevin said. “Remember what happened the last time you fought Kiara?”
“That was months ago,” Lilian said dismissively, still staring at his wound. “I’ve leveled up plenty since then with my super special shōnen-style training from hell. Besides, Kiara only has one arm now. I can take her.”
“If you say so…”
“I do say so. Now hold still and let me heal that for you.”
Lilian didn’t give Kevin a chance to respond before she leaned down and began licking his wound. She channeled youki through her mouth and into her tongue, more specifically her saliva. His skin tasted like a mixture of copper and salt. The rough edge of his injury scratched her tongue, but she didn’t stop, and not just because she needed to heal him.
“L-Lilian… not here…”
If her tongue wasn’t so busy, she would have grinned. Kitsune Art: Divine Tongue was a technique that she had created for just this purpose. It essentially healed people using her saliva, which she infused with her celestial youki. It was the most amazing technique she had ever conceived. Her pride and joy.
“Why not here?” she asked in between her job of coating his chest with saliva. Kevin shuddered under her ministrations. The sweat clinging to his skin had become partially dried. He must have been working really hard.
Muu, I wish I could have seen him work up a sweat.
“B-Because… if Kotohime or one of the others sees us…”
“Kotohime’s hanging up the laundry and the others are still asleep.”
“She still does that?”
“Mmhmm.”
Lilian giggled when she heard Kevin mutter about there being a reason they had a dryer, though she didn’t comment. Kotohime was an old-fashioned kitsune. She preferred hanging their laundry up to dry, washing clothes using a bucket and soap, and cleaning with an old-fashioned duster. No matter how many times Kevin asked her to change her ways, Kotohime refused, stating that it “wasn’t proper maid etiquette.”
Kevin’s wound healed quickly thanks to her saliva; however, the act of licking her mate’s muscular chest made Lilian grow rather hot and bothered. A sensation not unlike burning blossomed in her bosoms. A passionate desire overflowed from her like Kirche the Ardent, a character from Zero no Tsukaima, or The Familiar of Zero, an anime she was watching.
She decided not to stop with just healing his wound, and instead began licking her way up his chest.
“G-gu… L-Lilian.”
She smiled when a pair of hands grabbed her butt. She moaned when those same hands began to fondle, caress, and squeeze her plentiful derriere. Pleasant jolts raced up her tailbone. Her tails curled in on themselves. The pleasurable sensations became more prominent when Kevin reached around her front and unbuttoned her skirt, letting it fall to the floor, and then slipped his hands into the waistband of her panties to feel her up directly.
“Beloved, you know that the only time I like tasting your sweat is when I’m the cause for its creation, don’t you?”
“U-ugh… that’s something I would expect to hear from Iris, not you.”
“Is it really?”
Lilian pulled her head back from where she had been licking his neck to stare up at him. His eyes, the brightest azure blue she had ever seen, were dark and hooded with lust. Just seeing the way he stared down at her made a wet trail run down her thighs.
Kevin didn’t respond to her question with words. He moved down swifter than she could have anticipated, almost surprising her when he captured her lips in a searing kiss.
Lilian’s moan was muffled by the tongue invading her mouth. She fought back as best she could, pushing against the intrusion as her mouth filled with saliva, but it seemed that she had pushed Kevin a little too hard with her actions. This wasn’t a dance. He was utterly dominating her.
Her arms quickly found themselves wrapped around Kevin’s neck. It was necessary. Her legs were so weak they would no longer support her. They shook and shuddered as Kevin’s hands, still trapped inside of her panties, squeezed her ass, generating another loud moan as he pulled her flush against his body, until there was no room left between them.
Kevin had gained a lot of muscle over the past several months. While he had always been fit, these days he had the makings of a regular Adonis. His six-pack abs brushed against her skin, his defined pectorals pushed into her breasts. Broad shoulders. Well-defined arms. Lilian imagined that Kevin would look delectable wearing the Spartan armor from the movie 300.
A surprised squeal escaped her when, without warning, Lilian felt her feet leave the ground. She quickly locked her legs around Kevin’s waist to keep herself from falling. She could feel her panties, already damp from her mate’s presence and actions, become stained even more when she met his erection.
“Hnnn!”
Lilian moaned when she felt her breasts mash against his chest as he set her on the table. His hands seared her body when they roamed over her naked back, covered only by her signature green shirt. When those same hands moved to her front, cupping her breasts, she thought her body might explode from overstimulation.
Her breasts were very sensitive.
Their lips parted, but only because they ran out of breath. Lilian felt their mixed saliva dripping down her chin when they broke contact. She almost whined when he didn’t start kissing her again, but that soon changed when Kevin bent down and began sucking on her neck.
“B-Beloved…”
Her fingers clenched the back of his shirt when he began licking her. He had discovered several months ago through experimentation that she loved being licked. She didn’t know why this was, but having her mate’s tongue blaze a wet trail across her skin drove her absolutely nuts. It felt like his tongue was branding her.
“Lilian…”
“Hn!”
Lilian surprised herself by almost orgasming when he said her name. He didn’t speak. He growled. It was one of the sexiest things she’d ever heard.
Inari-blessed! I want him inside of me so badly right now!
It was almost a shame that they hadn’t done the deed yet. Kevin still wanted to wait before they had sex, claiming that at fifteen years old, he was too young. She didn’t really get it. They had been dating for eight months, and in those eight months, they had done plenty of ecchi things together.
Still, Lilian couldn’t find it within herself to complain. Yes, they hadn’t had sex yet, but Kevin was still
more than capable of pleasing her need for intimacy, and he wasn’t afraid of experimenting. And honestly, she was just glad that he no longer hesitated when it came to giving her affection.
To think, nine months ago, Beloved couldn’t even talk to me without passing out.
He’d been so cute back then, but she had to admit that she liked this more confident Kevin much better.
Lilian’s thoughts were shattered by another moan when Kevin cupped her crotch and began stimulating her over her panties. A jolt traveled from the point of contact, rushing straight to her brain like Pikachu’s Thunderbolt. Kevin used his other hand to push her down on the table, even as his lips claimed hers again.
Just as Lilian felt like she might explode, Kevin’s hand slipped inside of her panties and began caressing her directly. Her hips bucked as his fingers teased her entrance. One finger slipped inside of her. Then a second was added. Meanwhile, Kevin’s thumb went in for the kill.
Lances of ecstasy shot through her. It was electric. She could feel something coiling inside of her, like a knot that was coming undone. Her muscles tightened and her thighs quivered. Her stomach involuntarily clenched, and the heat gathering just below her stomach became almost overbearing. It felt like Mount Fuji was about to erupt inside of her. Her toes curled and her hips jerked as if undergoing muscle spasms.
And then, all at once, she felt it. Waves of what she could only call rapture spread throughout her entire body. She didn’t even care that the table underneath her bum was getting soaked with a combination of her own sweat and love nectar, or that she was going to need a new change of panties. All that mattered was the white-hot rapture that cascaded over her, sending her mind crashing over the edge of bliss. It felt like she was having an out-of-body experience.
Once she had calmed down, exhaustion hit Lilian like a Vacuum Butt Cannon. Her entire body felt like it was shutting down. Even though the table was cold and hard and wet, she didn’t want to move from that spot. She wanted to pull Kevin to her and cuddle beside him until they both fell asleep.
“B… Beloved…”
A Fox's Revenge (American Kitsune Book 7) Page 2