A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  Christine fell backwards as well. Iris’s nose was tickled by strands of raven hair. She could feel the other girl’s head almost right next to her own.

  “I guess we really do come from different worlds,” the girl mumbled.

  “You’re just figuring that out now?”

  “Shut up, skank,” Christine huffed with no real heat. She grew quiet a moment later. “Is that why you’re trying to convince me to join you guys in your…”

  “Harem?” Iris finished when Christine trailed off. “It’s okay to say it. However, you probably shouldn’t say anything about that right now—not until you’ve squared things off with Lindsay.”

  “W-whatever. I still haven’t agreed to this, you know.”

  “You will,” Iris said.

  Christine scowled, but before she could say anything, Lindsay walked back into the living room.

  She had stuffed tissues up her nose.

  “That’s an interesting fashion statement you’re making,” Iris teased with an unrepentant grin. Lindsay’s cheeks turned a pale shade of pink, causing Iris to chuckle.

  It was good to be a kitsune.

  Kevin discovered that he didn’t like cooking alone anymore.

  Back when it had just been him and his mom, Kevin had always cooked his own meals alone. This was partly because his mom was always out of the country on business, but it was also because his mom couldn’t cook to save her life. The last thing she had ever cooked was a grilled cheese sandwich. Even then, she’d burnt the bread to a crisp.

  That morning, Kevin worked in an unfamiliar kitchen. Alex and Andrew were still sleeping, which didn’t surprise him. It was early—too early for most teenage boys to be up and about.

  Kevin had been up for several hours already, having woken to get in his morning exercise. He’d done a 10k run, followed by 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, 100 suicides, 100 pull-ups, and 100 lunges. Then he’d taken a shower and donned his clothes.

  As the sound and scent of sizzling bacon filled the air, Kevin tried not to let how alone he felt bother him. He’d grown used to spending time with other people while performing mundane tasks, whether that was cooking with Lilian, trying to teach Kirihime how to use the washer and dryer, cleaning with Iris, or grocery shopping with Kotohime. Kevin never did anything alone anymore.

  This is boring…

  Cooking at home was always a blast. He and Lilian always did more than just cook. Sometimes they’d play their favorite music and pretend they were J-pop idols, other times they would try creating new things by making food from scratch, and occasionally they would have sex on the kitchen counter. That last activity often ended up with their food being burned, but Kevin thought it was a small price to pay.

  This… this is really, really boring.

  “Nnggg,” a groan came from the hallway. Several seconds later, Kevin heard the sound of footsteps as someone stumbled into the kitchen. “What’s that delicious smell?”

  “Breakfast,” Kevin said without turning around. The scraping of a chair was followed by the dull thunk of someone letting their head drop onto the table.

  Kevin finished making breakfast, standard bacon and eggs with toast, and brought it over to the table. On his way there, he kicked Alex’s chair, making the boy jerk his head up.

  “What was that for?”

  “I’m not your mom. If you want breakfast, then go grab your own plate and utensils,” Kevin said as he sat down.

  Alex grumbled but did as he was told. Seconds after breakfast started, Andrew came in, looking more refreshed than his fraternal twin.

  “Good morning, everyone,” he greeted as he grabbed a plate and sat down.

  “What’s so good about it?” his twin grumbled.

  “It’s a beautiful day. The sky is… well, I don’t know what color the sky is, but I have a feeling that it’s quite beautiful, and—”

  “Shut up. You’re annoying.”

  Kevin grew annoyed when Alex launched a spoonful of eggs at Andrew, which splattered across the other boy’s face. Bits of egg and cheese dripped onto the table. Andrew grabbed a napkin and wiped his face off. Then he grabbed the plate. Kevin knew, in that moment, that if he did not do something, then he would have a food fight on his hands.

  “If either one of you throws food again, I’m going to knock you out, strip you naked, and then hang you by a flagpole in the middle of West Mall.”

  Alex and Andrew paused. Andrew was halfway to throwing his entire plate at Alex’s head. Meanwhile, Alex looked about ready to flip the table. His hands were gripping the table’s lip, and there was a tenseness to his body, the kind that came from someone about to exert force on something.

  “You wouldn’t really do that, would you?”

  “You’re joking, right?”

  Kevin gave them a flat look. “You’re welcome to keep fighting and find out.”

  The two took a moment to consider his words. Slowly, Andrew set his plate back on the table, and Alex let go of the table and leaned back in his chair.

  “Naw,” Alex said. “We’re good.”

  “Wise choice,” Kevin muttered as he continued eating. “I would’ve been pissed if you guys wasted all of the food I cooked.”

  Alex and Andrew gulped before they went back to eating. Kevin stopped paying attention to them and, as he ate from his own plate, tried to figure out what he should do today.

  It was December 22nd, which meant they were only three days away from Christmas. Kevin had already done most of his shopping, but he still needed to buy presents for Christine, Kotohime, and Iris. Christine would be easy enough; he already knew what he was going to get her, and Kevin figured he could just buy Iris some lingerie. He had the vixen’s taste down. The problem was Kotohime. Last time he’d checked, Neo Seiryuu didn’t have any stores that sold either kimonos or wetting stones for sword sharpening.

  “Hey, Kevin. Got any plans after this?” Andrew asked.

  “Just getting the last of my Christmas shopping done. Why?”

  “If that’s all you’re doing, then why don’t you hang out with us after this? We’re going mall crawling.”

  “Mall crawling? Is that the lingo we’re using these days?” Kevin asked no one in particular. “Sure. I don’t see why not. Do you want me to invite Lilian and the others over? They’re all staying at my place right now.”

  “You can if you want to. Actually, that does sound like a good idea. Since this place doesn’t have an arcade, inviting a bunch of chicks to come with us sounds fun,” Alex said.

  Andrew nodded in agreement. “I can see why Eric calls you the Harem King.”

  “When did he start calling me this again?” Kevin asked, then glared when he fully registered his nickname. “And there is no harem.”

  “You can deny it all you want, but it won’t change the facts,” Andrew said.

  “What facts?”

  “The fact that you’re a Harem King.”

  “Knock it off already!”

  After breakfast, Kevin, Alex, and Andrew left to meet up with Lilian and the others. Since their apartments were within walking distance of each other, they just traveled to Kevin’s apartment, where they found the girls were ready and waiting for them.

  “Beloved!”

  Kevin grinned as he caught sight of Lilian. She was standing next to Iris, Christine, and Lindsay, waving one of her arms like an enthusiastic child. Standing behind the group was Kotohime. He didn’t see Kirihime or Camellia, which led him to believe that Lilian and Iris’s mother was still sleeping.

  Quickening his pace, Kevin walked up to the group and gave his mate a good morning kiss. “Morning.”

  “Good morning, Beloved.” Lilian beamed at him.

  “Oi, Stud, where’s my kiss?” Iris asked.

  “You’re not getting one.”

  “Aw, come on. Don’t be cruel.” Kevin stiffened when Iris stepped up into his personal space. “It’s not like everyone doesn’t already know about our relationship. There
’s no need to hold back.”

  Iris’s words rang true. Though no one ever said anything, everybody knew about their unusual three-way relationship. However, even if they knew about it, Kevin wasn’t comfortable being open about it.

  “T-that’s because Lilian’s my mate and you’re not,” Kevin tried to defend himself.

  “Now that is cruel.” Iris took a step forward. Kevin took one back. “I might not be as close to you as Lilian, but you and I are still in a relationship, or are you saying that all those times we’ve had sex meant nothing?”

  “C-could you please not mention sex while we’re in public?”

  “That is one request I won’t comply with.” Iris took another step forward. Kevin nearly stumbled as he moved backwards. “You see, while I rather enjoy our relationship, I do get frustrated when you refuse to acknowledge it.”

  “I have acknowledged it.”

  “No, you’ve swept it under the rug.” Another step forward. Another step back. “You enjoy what we do in private, but you refuse to act like we’re in a relationship in public.”

  “That’s because—”

  “Because you’re an idiot.”

  Kevin winced. “That’s not very nice.”

  “And it’s no less true. You and Lilian are both idiots.”

  “Hey!” Lilian said, apparently taking offense to being called an idiot.

  “Why should either of you care what other people think?” Iris continued. “No one else is in this relationship, so what they think about it shouldn’t matter.”

  Kevin didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t even known that Iris felt this strongly about their relationship. Wasn’t she only with him so she could be with Lilian?

  Fortunately, help arrived in the form of Kotohime—and a katana. “Why don’t you two shelf this conversation for another time?” she suggested. Kevin and Iris eyed the long, sharp, and deadly bladed weapon that had been thrust between them.

  They gulped simultaneously.

  “Uh, sure, we can discuss this later. Right, Stud?”

  Kevin didn’t say anything. He merely nodded.

  They breathed a sigh of relief when Kotohime removed the katana from between them.

  “Ufufufu, I am glad to hear that.” She smiled. “Now, then, please have a good time Lilian-sama, Kevin-sama, Iris-sama.”

  “Uh… right,” Kevin said.

  “Don’t worry,” Iris added. “We’ll have a blast, I’m sure.”

  As Kevin and Iris reassured their maid that they would have fun, Lindsay leaned over to Lilian.

  “No offense, but your maid still scares me.”

  “None taken.” Lilian smiled, half-amused, half-disturbed. “She scares me, too.”

  “I heard that.”

  “Urk!”

  After leaving the apartment complex, the group hopped onto a monorail that took them to the western shopping district otherwise known as Mall West.

  As he sat between Iris and Lilian, Kevin felt distinctly uncomfortable. Part of it was, most certainly, because of the conversation of several minutes ago. However, another part might have been how Iris was purposefully holding his arm between her breasts, knowing that it would make him uncomfortable. Then again, Lilian, who’d not said a word about Iris’s clinginess, wasn’t helping matters.

  Of course, another reason could have been the glares that Christine was sending them. He could feel her eyes burning a hole into the back of his head.

  “S-so,” Kevin tried to start a conversation, “did you girls have fun last night?”

  “I had a blast!” Lilian cheered. She seemed grateful for the conversation. “We played video games, sang to karaoke, and I convinced Lindsay to watch an anime with us.”

  “What anime?”

  “Kimi no Todoke.”

  “Ah. Yeah, I can see her liking that.” He turned his head to Lindsay, who sat near Christine. Perhaps it was just him, but his yuki-onna friend looked both irritated and uncomfortable. He wondered if it was because the twins were staring at her like she’d suddenly grown six heads. “Did you like the anime last night?”

  Lindsay hesitated before answering. “It was… not bad.”

  “By not bad, she means amazing,” Lilian interpreted. “She loved it.”

  “I did not love it. I liked it. I thought it was cute.”

  “You would watch it again.”

  “Maybe…”

  When Lindsay blushed and looked away, Lilian grinned and gave him the victory sign.

  “I didn’t have much fun last night,” Iris said, her lips twisting into a lecherous grin. “But I did have fun this morning.”

  “Only because you violated me,” Lilian retorted with admirable swiftness.

  Iris waved a dismissive hand. “You say that, but weren’t you the one who kissed me after I stopped?”

  Lilian’s cheeks gained a good deal of color at Iris’s words.

  “Can we not talk about this shit first thing in the morning?” asked Christine.

  “Jealous?” Iris’s eyes gleamed. “If you want, I could violate you next time.”

  Christine’s glare could have melted steel—or frozen it solid. “Don’t make me shove an ice sickle up your ass.”

  “Sounds kinky.”

  “Holy shit, it’s Christine!” Alex suddenly shouted. “I was wondering why you looked so familiar.”

  Andrew nodded. “I thought I’d recognized that loli body.”

  The “I’m going to murder you” expression that Christine gave them made the two lean back in their seats. “Do you want me to shove ice up your asses?”

  “No, ma’am,” they said in unison. Kevin snorted.

  So, they only do twin syncing when they’re threatened with physical violence.

  The monorail soon rolled to a stop, and they all hopped off. Kevin found his left hand occupied by Lilian’s. Iris was still pressing her breasts into his other arm. He momentarily contemplated asking her to stop, but after what happened this morning, he decided not to.

  The western mall, which Kevin had dubbed Westeros until his friends told him that he was an idiot, looked, surprisingly, just like any other open-air mall. The layout was the same, with shops and restaurants and places to sit. However, there were two distinct differences between this mall and normal ones: Material composition and architecture.

  West Mall was designed to be easily deconstructed. In fact, all buildings in Neo Seiryuu were designed that way. Since this place was only a temporary home until the war ended, Monstrang had not seen much point in creating something that would last. Even the windows were made of easily removable plastic and not glass.

  The architecture was styled more like a Chinese palace than a mall. Everything was made of wood, from the lintel posts to the support columns to the buildings themselves. Unlike in contemporary western architecture, which typically involved surrounding a building with an open yard, the buildings here were constructed to create enclosed spaces, sky wells, and courtyards. The windows, while made of glass, were tainted and colored to contain murals and artistic depictions. Kevin guessed this had been done to make the place feel more comfortable.

  Because Neo Seiryuu followed the same school system as every other American school, there were plenty of teenagers hanging around the mall during this time. It was the weekend. Some were traveling in and out of stores, other sat around drinking and eating. As he and his friends walked past them, many of the students stopped what they were doing to watch them, and even more of them whispered.

  “Hey, isn’t that them?”

  “It is. I saw them on TV just before the war started.”

  “I hear they’ve rescued over one hundred people since the war began.”

  “Che, I don’t see what’s so special about them.”

  “Man, those girls are hot.”

  “I’d fuck them.”

  Lilian’s ears twitched several times. She no doubt heard everything being said since she wasn’t hiding her ears. Her tails writhed in agitation, an
d she walked closer to Kevin, using him as a shield.

  Iris, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed the attention. She winked at several of the people they walked by, and she even went so far as to blow one a kiss. Kevin became annoyed when each man and woman was felled in an instant, their cheeks going red and their eyes practically transforming into hearts as they swooned.

  “Can you stop that, please?”

  “Why? It’s not like I’m in a relationship with you or Lilian when we’re in public. I can do whatever I want.”

  Kevin winced.

  “Would you like me to get some ice for that burn?” asked Alex.

  “Make that joke again and I’ll pummel you,” Kevin muttered.

  “So what do you think we should do here?” Lindsay asked, seeking to change the topic.

  “I still have some Christmas shopping that I need to do,” Kevin announced. “Plus, I need to buy some wrapping paper. Would you mind if we split into groups and checked out the stores? Lindsay? Christine?”

  “I’m cool with whatever,” Lindsay said, nudging Christine, who grimaced ever so slightly.

  “Yeah, we can do that if you want,” she said. Kevin frowned at the girl’s somewhat distant attitude, but he didn’t dwell on it long.

  She probably just doesn’t know how to act around her friends anymore.

  They split up into two groups. Kevin, Iris, Alex, and Andrew were in one group, while Christine went with Lilian and Lindsay. While she was surprised that Iris had decided to go with Kevin, Christine figured the vixen planned on antagonizing Kevin about his comment this morning.

  “It nywas awfully callous of him.”

  I guess…

  Truth be told, Christine was dealing with her own issues. She’d not only been thinking about Iris’s words from that morning about the yokai world, but she also had Lindsay on her mind. Thus far, her friend hadn’t given any intention of remembering what happened last year, about how Lindsay had kissed her. She was positive that her friend remembered that event. However, she wasn’t bringing it up, and Christine didn’t feel comfortable doing that herself.