A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) (25 page)

Kevin eyed the girl next to him oddly. Just who was it that she kept talking to?

“
Alright, you maggots! Line up!”

Everyone quickly followed the coach's instructions. They knew what would happen if they failed to listen to the man. Coach Raide, like many coaches before him, was a complete hard ass. He was your average, stereotypical looking high school coach. You know, like the kind of coaches you see in high school movies and cartoons everywhere. He was a large, barrel chested man with arms and legs that made people think they were looking at Chewbacca. Aside from his broad chest and shoulders, and his extremely hairy arms and legs, the man also had a rather large beer gut. Kevin thought it made him look pregnant.

Kevin somehow found himself in the middle of the group with Lilian standing as close to him as humanly possible without incurring Coach Raide's anger. On his other side was Eric, whose hateful glare seemed to have increased several fold in the last few seconds. Probably because of that kiss Lilian had given him.

And speaking of hatred, Kevin couldn't help but shiver at all that negative energy being directed his way. He could actually see the physical manifestation of all the anger from the various males in his class being channeled towards him in the form of hell fire and ugly demons, spitting and snarling behind each boy. And was it just him? Or were their irises actually glowing a dark, sinister red?

Fearing for his life, Kevin focused his attention back on the coach. They wouldn't do anything so long as Coach Raide was present, right?

"Alright!" the coach's loud voice bellowed out. "We're going to start by doing some basic warm up exercises. When I blow this whistle, I want all of you to drop down and start doing push-ups until I say stop! Ready? Three.... Two... One!"

And that was how the first half of class went. Coach Raide would give them an exercise, blow his whistle, then they would all have to do whatever it was. They did every exercise you could think of, from push-ups to sit-ups to jumping jacks to squats and everything in between.

Most people found it to be rather grueling but Kevin actually did very well in this class. He and his friend Eric were more athletically inclined than most of the other students, being athletes on the track team and all that. Only those who were also in a sports club of some kind managed to keep up with them.

Another great surprise was Lilian. Once again the girl astounded him by keeping pace with him easily. Every exercise they were given she managed to do with the same ease that he did. Actually, it looked like she had an even easier time of it than he did. She hadn't even worked up a sweat! Kevin wondered if this was just another benefit of being a Kitsune. Maybe they had super human strength and endurance as well as special Kitsune powers?

The rest of the class did pretty poorly, even those who were athletes. At least the male portion had some serious problems during this period. The more athletic girls did fine.

Kevin knew the reason for this. Lilian, again. She was pretty much the reason for anything strange and unusual that happened here.

Not that it was her fault. She couldn't be blamed for the boys who were blatantly staring at her chest as it bounced and swung and jiggled whenever she was doing one of Coach Raide's exercises. It wasn't her fault her breasts were so big.

The blame for her breast size can be laid solely on her mom, and
Shōnen manga
fanservices
, but mostly her mom.

After what Coach Raide called “warm up exercises” were done and over with they were all directed outside where they would move on to the sports they would be doing that day.

It was here that Lilian found herself taking issue with the gym coach. Once they finished their warm ups, boys and girls were split to do separate activities. Today the boys would be playing basketball on the basketball courts while the girls would be playing volleyball.

Lilian didn't like that. She had no trouble with the sport she would be playing but the fact that she would be separated from her mate, even if it was just by a few dozen meters or so. To her being separated from her chosen mate was unacceptable. The girl spent nearly ten minutes arguing with Coach Raide in what sounded like a very heated debate:

“
What do you mean I can't play basketball!?”

“
All the girl's are playing volleyball today,” Coach Raide grunted, not appearing the least bit bothered by the angry glare he was receiving.

“
I don't want to play some stupid volleyball game! I want to play basketball with my Beloved!”

“
I don't care what you want. Boys and girls aren't allowed to play sports together. It's against school policy. You'll have to see him after class.”

Lilian stared intently at the man, her eyes glowing a bright green. “You will let me play basketball with my Beloved.”

“
No, I won't.”

Lilian's eyes widened in surprise. Who did this fool think he was? She would show him! “You
will
let me stay with my Beloved.”

“
You and your
Beloved
can spend time together after class.”

“
Let me stay with my Beloved now!”

“
No.”

Yeah, their argument went something like that.

With a scowl marring her pretty face, Lilian walked over to Kevin as he stood on the basketball court with the rest of the guys, all of whom had been watching the argument. By the time she reached him, the scowl was gone, replaced with a sorrowful frown.

She looked pretty miserable. Kevin actually felt kind of bad for her.

"I couldn't convince him to let me stay with you," she said slowly, as if she were not quite able to believe she had failed to convince someone to let her stay by his side. Considering who she was, or rather, what she was, Kevin could kind of understand where she was coming from. "Not even my enchantment worked on him.”

"The rules state that boys and girls have to play sports separately, so even if he did let you stay with us, he would get in a lot of trouble." Kevin felt a mixture of relief and curiosity at her words, a strange combination of emotions to be sure, but there you go. "Still, I'm surprised he was able to resist your... enchantment." He looked around when he mentioned her power, fearing someone may have overheard him. When he saw that very few people were paying any real attention to him and those who were, were too far away to hear them, he turned back to Lilian.

"Enchantments can be resisted," Lilian admitted reluctantly. "Most humans don't have the fortitude to do so, but if there is something they feel particularly strong about, or they have a strong enough will, it can be resisted. It's just very rare for something like that to happen."

"In that case, I'm not surprised he resisted it." Kevin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Coach Raide has always been a stickler for the rules, and he's one of the most stubborn people I've ever met."

"Doesn't matter," Lilian's shoulders slumped. "I still don't get to be with you..."

Oh jeez. The girl looked so depressed. What was he supposed to do now? Was she expecting him to do or say something that would make everything better?

"This might be a good experience for you," Kevin said lamely. "You can get to know some of the other girls and make friends."

His words did not seem to make Lilian feel any better. If anything the red head's shoulders slumped even more. Kevin could practically see the dark, gloomy aura of depression surrounding her. It looked like a distorted wave of dark mist that wafted off her body. It sort of reminded Kevin of the steam that hot-springs or a jacuzzi would emit, only it was black instead of white.

"I don't care about making friends," Lilian mumbled lowly as she looked down at the ground. Her hair fell over her eyes, casting the top half of her face in shadow. She then raised her head ever so slightly, her crimson colored bangs parting just enough to reveal her large, emerald eyes. "I just want to be with you."

For perhaps the first time since meeting her, Kevin was very glad that Lilian had already subjected him to that look multiple times. In fact, she gave it to him so often that he was beginning to build up an immunity to it. It wouldn't work this time. He could resist her.

"Guh!"

Or not. Fortunately, while he might not have any resistance to girls giving him a cute look, there was someone who could resist such a look, didn't care about what either of them wanted
and
had no compunctions about sending Lilian away.

"What are you two doing!?" Coach Raide shouted. "Get going, girly!"

"Shut up, fat ass!" Lilian snapped. Kevin's expression turned shocked. That was the first time he had ever heard her swear.

Was it wrong of him that he found her cursing kind of attractive?

Probably.

Lilian turned back to him. The expression on her face was very disconcerting. Her stare was very expectant, like she was waiting for him to do something. Just what that something was, he couldn't determine.

“
What?"

"Can I have a kiss goodbye?"

Kevin's right eye twitched. He was honestly surprised she was even asking him that. Normally, she would have just kissed him without any prior warning.

Just what was her angle?

"I think you've gotten enough kisses to last several years at least. Besides, it's not like it really matters. You're only going to be a few meters away; the volleyball sand lot is right there."

"Oh come on!" Lilian pleaded. "Just one more kiss?"

Kevin simply pointed towards the volleyball sand lot where all the other girls were standing. It looked like they were choosing teams. No, wait. They weren't doing anything of the sort. They were actually just staring at him and Lilian as they giggled and whispered to each other.

In other words, they were gossiping about the two of them. No doubt whatever they managed to overhear of his and Lilian's conversation would be known by the entire school after class.

How mortifying.

Lilian pouted at him. She didn't want to leave his side. At least not without getting her kiss. Still she complied with his request (demand) and started walking towards the sand lot.

Or so he thought.

A second after she had turned and he breathed a sigh of relief, she spun around, grabbed the back of his head, leaned up on her toes and simultaneously pulled him into another kiss. When she pulled back, there was a large scowl on his face, as well as an even larger blush. She gave him a coquettish smile before sauntering towards the sand lot.

Kevin watched as Lilian walked away with a sway in her hips, his face burning something fierce. He turned away from the red head who was now surrounded by a group of giggling girls and rubbed a hand over his face, not only to mask his growing blush, but also an effort to ignore the malicious presences behind him. Maybe if he just pretended they weren't there, the feeling would go away.

“
Swift...”

No such luck it seemed. Dang. It looked like it was time to face the music. Kevin turned around, mentally preparing himself for what he was likely to face―

“
Urk!”

―
and promptly wished he hadn't, for as soon as he made a full 180 degree turn he found himself staring at the angry glares of every single male student in his class. All of them were giving him such intense looks of loathing that he was honestly surprised he hadn't spontaneously combusted. Eric was at the front of the pack, cracking his knuckles in a way that had Kevin's hackles rising.

"Ke-v-in..."

"You're so dead, Swift."

Yes, Lilian was definitely going to be the death of him. And it may be happening even sooner than he had anticipated.

Scene Break.

After Kevin just barely managed to avoid getting the ass kicking to end all ass kickings in gym he met up with Lilian outside of the men's locker room. The moment the girl had seen him she'd latched onto him like a leech and refused to let go. It seemed their separation had really gotten to her. Things had gotten so bad that in their next class the fox-girl whose foxy features were currently hidden had tried sitting on his lap. It had taken almost the entire first half of class to convince Lilian that she couldn't use his lap as a seat, and even then she sat so close to him that their legs had been in constant contact.

It almost makes you wonder how she would act if they were separated by more than just a few meters.

Not only that, but after the incident which shall forever be known in Kevin's mind as “get the hell off my lap!” Lilian had used her Deus Ex Machina powers to subjugate the teacher's will and then spent the rest of their time in class trying to hold his hand underneath the table. He'd had to struggle against her each time she tried, yanking his hand out of her grip, only to have her latch back on seconds later when he thought she had given up. It had very nearly turned into a war between them. Or a game, as Lilian seemed to think of it as.

Ugh, that girl... in any case, Eric had once more tried to woo Lilian away from Kevin after gym. It hadn't worked and he'd been shot down faster than those zombies they killed at the arcades, but Kevin appreciated the attempt.