A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  “Nya! Master!”

  “Gya!” Kevin winced when someone leapt onto his back. “Cassy, what are you doing?”

  Cassy’s cheeks swelled like a chipmunk with too much food in its mouth. “I’m trying to make you pay attention to me. You were ignoring me.”

  “Was I? I’m sorry. I have a lot on my mind. Anyway, could you get off me please?” Cassy did climb off him, though she was still pouting. “So, did you need something?”

  “I wanted to know what you were thinking about?”

  “Oh, just some personal stuff that I need to take care of.”

  “Hmph! There you go ignoring me again.”

  “Sorry.”

  They were coming up on his apartment. He could tell because Kirihime was chasing Camellia around outside. The five-tailed kitsune was dressed in a very skimpy Santa suit, laughing and hawa-ing all the way. She was holding onto a string of lights, which he assumed were to decorate the outside of their complex building.

  “She’s going to get tangled in those,” Kevin predicted.

  “Nya?”

  “M-My Lady, please don’t run with those lights! You might—”

  “Hawa!”

  “—trip.”

  Kevin sighed as Camellia tripped over her own two feet, tumbled to the ground, and then became tangled in the string of lights. Trotting over to the woman, he knelt down and began untangling her.

  “Hawa! It’s Kevin-kyun!” Camellia beamed as her five tails wagged happily.

  “Hello, Camellia,” Kevin said dryly.

  “Lord Kevin,” Kirihime greeted, bowing. “I am terribly sorry you had to see this, um, again.”

  “It’s all right. I think it would feel weird if I didn’t see this at least once a day.”

  “That is very kind of you to say, Lord Kevin—oh! Who is this?” Kirihime asked upon finally noticing Cassy.

  “Just a stray that I picked up.”

  “Nya, that’s a cruel thing to say, Master.”

  “So I see,” Kirihime murmured. “Should I inform Kotohime that we have one more guest staying over for dinner?”

  One more?

  “That’s okay. I’m heading up there anyway, so I’ll let her know. As for you…” Kevin took Camellia’s hand and pulled the woman to her feet. “… no more running around with lights, okay? Let Kirihime help you or she’ll be despondent with worry.”

  “Hawa. Okay. Sowwy.”

  “It’s fine. No harm done.”

  Kevin patted Camellia on the head. And Camellia experienced true happiness.

  “Hawa…”

  When Kevin entered his apartment with Cassy, it was to find the living room bursting to capacity with people. Every one of his friends and then some were present. Alex, Andrew, and Eric were lounging on the couch. Eric was fighting off the trap, Julius, who was trying to feed him. Lindsay and Jessica were standing next to Lilian, Iris, and Christine. Even Phoebe, Polydora, and the other yama uba were present.

  There was a festive atmosphere inside of the room. Decorations hung from the walls and ceiling, bright red and green streamers that glittered from the lamplight. Kevin heard music in the background, which was overwhelmed by the loud chatter of everyone that had gathered. A Christmas tree stood in a corner of the room.

  Lilian was the one who noticed him first.

  “Beloved!”

  Kevin barely had time to brace himself before he was glomped by an overly affectionate fox-girl. He stumbled backwards as Lilian kissed him fiercely, as if attempting to put the twenty-four hours worth of kisses that they’d missed into this single action. Despite considering himself a skilled kisser, he was overwhelmed by her sheer passion.

  “L-Lilian—hold on for a second!”

  He pushed her off him. While Lilian pouted, Kevin didn’t want to kiss her until after he’d cleared the air. His guilty conscious wouldn’t allow him to do anything less.

  “I see you finally showed yourself,” Iris sauntered up to them. “Kotohime’s already told us all about what happened. It seems you were successful in rescuing that friend of yours.”

  “Yeah, we were.”

  “And I see you brought along a friend.”

  At the mention of his “friend,” Lilian finally noticed the woman behind him. At the same time, Cassy appeared to have gotten over her surprise at seeing so many people in a single room. The two girls looked at each other, and then…

  “AHHHHH!!!” they screamed at the same time while pointing at each other. “IT’S YOU!”

  “You’re the stupid cat that tried to kill me when we went to California!” Lilian continued.

  “And nyou’re the skank who stole Master from me, nya!” Cassy screamed as well.

  “Who are you calling a skank, Ms. I-Dress-In-Skintight-Leather?!”

  “Nya! I’m calling the person who stole Master’s chastity a skank! Nyaturally, that would be nyou!”

  “Ha! Big words coming from a woman who’s chasing after a guy several centuries younger than her!”

  “Are you calling me old, nya?!”

  “I calls ‘em like I sees ‘em!”

  “Y-you…! For your information, I’m only fifty-six!”

  “You’re still lusting after a minor!”

  “Nya, coming from someone who’s at least one hundred and sixty, your words don’t mean anything!”

  Kevin and the others watched the back and forth. Christine, who’d wandered up to him with Lindsay and Jessica, casually asked, “Is there something you’d like to tell the rest of us, Kevin?”

  Taking one last look at Lilian and Cassy as they traded barbs, Kevin shook his head. “Nope. Not a thing.”

  The party that night was big. Massive even.

  Kotohime had made over a dozen dishes in a variety of different cuisines. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves immensely, laughing and talking the night away.

  Eric had tried with little success to hit on one of the yama uba. He might have actually been successful—one of the girls called Cleo had seemed interested in him—but Julius had gotten jealous and told everyone that he was Eric’s love slave. His perverted friend had looked like someone had just ganked him in the stomach with a hacksaw. From that point on, the poor perv remained depressed for the rest of the party.

  Alex and Andrew had met with success in the ladies department. They had chatted up Thoe and Euryale, and when the party ended, the two ladies had left with his friends. He wondered if they were going to try and produce offspring together, but he didn’t want to think about his friends doing the hanky panky, so he stopped before the knowledge could plague his mind. One thing that Kevin had noticed about Thoe was that she’d had a tiny blond girl attached to her side. He’d wondered about that, but it didn’t seem important.

  Kiara and Heather arrived sometime during the party. They, along with Kotohime, had stuck mostly to themselves, though several of the yama uba had gone up and joined them. It seemed they were looked up to by the other women. He even thought he’d heard someone calling Kiara “senpai.”

  Perhaps the most surprising duo were Lindsay and Jessica. Kevin had been shocked to find out that they were now dating. He’d known that Lindsay was into girls, but he hadn’t realized that Jessica was too. There was also the fact that he’d thought his soccer playing friend was in love with Christine. He didn’t know if her feelings had inexplicably changed, or if there was something else going on, but he’d congratulated the two of them either way.

  Lilian and Cassy had continued to fight throughout the night, which he supposed was only natural, seeing how Cassy had tried to kill Lilian several times. Fortunately for everyone involved, Sarah, one of the Four Saints, had come to take Cassy home.

  “There you are!”

  Cassy froze mid-insult as a voice was suddenly heard over the din of noise. It wasn’t a particularly loud voice, nor did it sound very threatening. Yet even so, as the voice spoke, Cassy visibly shuddered from her head to her tails. Everyone else stopped whatever it was they were doing and
turned toward the source of the voice.

  The person who’d spoken appeared to be a little girl with blond hair done up in twin pigtails. She was staring at Cassy with ice blue eyes and an emotionless gaze that made the nekomata take a step backward in fear.

  “M-Mistress Sarah,” Cassy stuttered. “W-what are you doing here, nya?”

  “Obviously I was looking for you,” Sarah began to walk forward. “When you did not show up after your mission, I figured you must have attached yourself to that human boy.” She glanced at Kevin, who seemed more confused than anything else, then looked back at Cassy. “I was right, it seems. Now, then, it is time for you to come with me.”

  “Nya? B-but I wanted to stay with Master a little longer!” Cassy complained.

  That was a mistake.

  Nobody saw Sarah move. One moment, she was standing before them. The next moment, her body vaporized into wisps of flame.

  “NNYYYYAAAA!!!”

  Everybody winced as a loud shriek penetrated the room. They turned to see Sarah standing next to a struggling Cassy. One of her tiny hands was fiercely gripping the nekomata’s hair, tugging on it.

  “That hurts, Mistress, nya!”

  “Good. It’s supposed to hurt.”

  Nobody stopped Sarah as she dragged Cassy through the room by her hair. They were all too shocked by this unprecedented situation to do much of anything. Cassy seemed to sense this, for she immediately sought aid from Kevin.

  “M-Master! Help me!”

  “Nobody is going to help you,” Sarah said.

  “Nya!”

  Reaching the door, Sarah turned around and eyed everyone there. She gave them all a nod. “Sorry for interrupting your party,” she said. Then she left, leaving only an awkward silence in the room.

  “Hawa,” Camellia said into the silence.

  Kiara nodded. “Hawa indeed.”

  People slowly began to leave after that. The group of yama uba went first, though Thoe and Euryale stayed and left with Alex and Andrew. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, especially since the little blond girl had followed them. Phoebe had tried to convince Kevin to let her stay with him, but he’d shot her down before she could even get the words out of her mouth. Polydora had been the one to take her home.

  Eventually, everyone who didn’t live there had left, leaving Kevin, Lilian, and Kotohime to clean up the apartment. He would’ve had Iris and Christine help them, but they were fast asleep, lying on the couch together, with Christine resting her head on Iris’s chest. Looking at them, he wondered how it was possible for anyone to look that cute.

  “Kevin-sama, Lilian-sama. Why don’t you two head on to bed? You both look tired. I can finish cleaning this mess up.”

  “Are you sure, Kotohime?” Lilian frowned.

  Kotohime smiled like an older sister reassuring her sibling. “Of course. Just leave all this to your humble maid please.”

  “Thanks, Kotohime,” Kevin said. This actually worked out to his benefit. He’d been wanting to talk to Lilian anyway, but he hadn’t had the chance to get her alone because of the Christmas Eve party.

  “Ufufufu, you’re very welcome.”

  Taking Lilian by the hand, Kevin led her to their room. After closing the door behind him, he turned to face Lilian, who was smiling widely.

  “That was so much fun,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t think having such a large party would be that fun. Last Christmas it was just us. Now we’ve got a whole bunch of people coming over.”

  “Do you prefer large parties over what we did last Christmas?” he asked.

  Lilian thought for a moment before shaking her head. “No. I like spending time with you more than anyone else. Still, I had a really good time.”

  “Yeah… me too.”

  Wearing a sunny grin, Lilian held her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

  “How did you know I wanted to talk to you?”

  “Ufufufu,” Lilian giggled. “You forget who you’re talking to. Of course, I would know when my mate wants to talk to me.”

  Kevin felt a wan smile appear on his face. “Yeah… I guess you would know what I was thinking.”

  He paused. He hesitated. Kevin knew what he wanted to talk about, but he had trouble getting the words out. How should he say this? How should he do this? His throat had closed, his hands felt sweaty, and his heart felt like someone was driving a stake through it.

  Lilian must have noticed this, but she merely waited patiently for him to continue. It was one of her virtues.

  “I… I’m sorry.” Lilian blinked. Kevin clenched his hands into fists. “I am so sorry. I…”

  “Sorry?” Lilian didn’t seem to understand. “What are you sorry for?”

  “I… the night before my mission, I slept with Iris.”

  Lilian blinked again. “I already know that.”

  “That’s why I… wait. What?”

  “I already know that you and Iris had sex the other night,” Lilian repeated.

  “I… but then… how?”

  “You two weren’t very subtle, you know,” Lilian said, her tone just a tad amused.

  “I… I don’t understand.” Kevin looked at the ground. “Aren’t you… angry with me?”

  The look of genuine confusion that crossed her face threw Kevin completely off guard. “Should I be angry?”

  “Well, I… I mean… I slept with your sister.”

  “You’ve had sex with Iris plenty of times.”

  “T-that was only because she joined the two us in bed! This was completely different!”

  “How?”

  “H-how? What do you mean how?! I-it just is!”

  He gawked at Lilian, who didn’t seem to understand why what he did was wrong. She continued to look at him with that befuddled expression of hers.

  “Why… why aren’t you angry with me?”

  Lilian hesitated. “Do you want me to be angry with you?”

  “It would probably make things easier for me,” Kevin admitted.

  Giggling, Lilian wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. He stiffened in her grip, but then his body unconsciously relaxed as her warmth permeated him.

  “Kevin, did you think I would have asked you to let Iris join us if I had not considered the possibility that this would happen? Iris might think she’s tough and doesn’t need anyone but me, but the truth is that she’s a very needy person. She needs the acceptance that people like you and me can give her. I asked you to let her join us knowing this would happen.”

  He couldn’t hide his shock. “You expected it?”

  “Of course.” Lilian took a deep breath. Her body relaxed into his. “When we were living in the Pnevma estate back in Greece, Iris was treated like a pariah even worse than me. No one would talk to her. No one would go near her. I was the only person she had. That’s why we’ve always been closer than sisters should be.”

  Kevin didn’t say anything. He instead listened as Lilian spoke.

  “As much as I try to be there for Iris, as much as I love her, I can’t always be what she wants me to be. I love her, but you are my mate, and nothing she can do or say will change that you are more important to me than she is.”

  “That’s… kind of a harsh thing to say.”

  “And it’s no less true.” Lilian sighed against him. “I love my sister dearly, but when it comes down to it, I love you more. However, I still want Iris to be happy.”

  Kevin tried to wrap his mind around her words. “So you thought that if she joined us, you—no, we could make her happy?”

  “I thought that if she became a part of our relationship, the two of us could make her happy together. She would be able to remain with me, but when I couldn’t give her the affection that she needed, I was hoping that you could do it in my stead.”

  “I-I see.” Kevin paused. “Aren’t you worried about what might happen between Iris and me?”

  “Are you saying
that you’ll stop loving me?”

  “Of course not!” Kevin shook his head as if the very notion was preposterous. “I’ll always love you! Now and forever. Nothing is ever going to change that!”

  “Then I don’t have any reason to worry,” Lilian said succinctly.

  Gazing at the girl with his uncomprehending eyes, Kevin eventually gave her a tired smile. “You really are too good for me—for me and Iris.”

  Lilian leaned up and kissed him on the lips. “I should be the one saying that,” she mumbled against his lips. “You’re always putting up with my selfish requests, even though it goes against your nature.”

  “That’s because I love you so much,” Kevin said as Lilian pulled away for a breath.

  “I love you, too.” Lilian’s breathing was heavy as she spoke, and her skin was flush. After taking another breath, she leaned up and kissed him again.

  Kevin wrapped his arms around her body, relishing in the feel of her full chest pressing against him. His back hit the wall. Lilian released lyrical music as he pushed his tongue into her mouth, swirling it around and hooking her tongue with it. She slipped her hands underneath his shirt. However, after a moment of roaming over his chest and abdominals, she decided that the shirt was in her way and, with a reinforced tug, ripped it off.

  As a human, Kevin did not have the strength to tear off Lilian’s shirt. He lifted her shirt up until it was over her breasts. Lilian then lifted her arms and allowed him to slide it off and throw it to the ground. Then she was kissing him again.

  Now skin to skin, Kevin groaned as an electric discharge passed through him. Lilian’s hands scratched at his back. Her nails left pleasant shivers in their wake.

  After nipping his lip with her sharper than normal teeth, Lilian licked her way along the underside of his chin. Kevin closed his eyes as the cool air hit the trail of saliva that she left. When she got to his neck, she immediately zeroed in on the places where she knew that he was weak.

  “L-Lilian…”