A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) (31 page)

"I know,” Lilian frowned, “That's the only reason I haven't jumped you yet.”

“
Eep!”

"The only kind of sweat you should be getting on you is the kind that comes from the two of us sharing intensely erotic moments with each other."

"Eep!"

“
Now, get cleaned up so we can go home and begin practicing procreation.”

A wail of despair sounded behind them. That was probably Eric, judging by the volume and pitch. Kevin ignored it.

“
Would you stop saying things like that!” He hissed furiously.

“
Ufufufu...”

“
And don't laugh like that either!”

“
Relax, Beloved,” Lilian soothed. “I'm just kidding.” Somehow, he didn't believe her. “I just want to go home so I can cook you dinner and then we can play that Residence of Evil game."

"Resident Evil," Kevin corrected, sighing. "Honestly, you have the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Masters Guide and you can't even remember the name of a video game."

Lilian pouted as Kevin went inside to get shower and get dressed. He finished quickly because he was afraid some of the older students would try to start something with him because of Lilian. They had given him the evil eye from the moment he walked in.

Ha... even when she was not actually around him that dang Kitsune was still causing problems.

Kevin was thankful when no one actually tried to kick his ass. His track mates just stuck to glaring, which he supposed was the best outcome he could ask for.

It did kind of bother him that Eric was ignoring him, but knowing his friend as he did Kevin was sure the perverted sophomore would be back to his old self tomorrow.

He left the locker room dressed in a pair of tan shorts that went down past his knees and a black band T-shirt. Lilian was waiting for him exactly where she said she would, right outside the door to the locker room.

When her eyes found him they lit up like a million watt bulb. She quickly latched onto his arm the moment he was within reach. Kevin barely managed to contain his long suffering sigh as they began walking down the hallway. Every guy seemed to be insanely jealous of him for being with Lilian, but they really didn't realize how much of a pain she could be. She was just too clingy.

As they walked down the hallway, Kevin had no clue that in a few seconds he would run into the first of many problems that came from being involved with a Kitsune...problems that were unrelated to Lilian's unhealthy level of affection for him, that is.

"SWIFT!"

Turning around, Kevin found himself paling as the large, hairy and ridiculously muscled body of Chris Fleischer stomped up to them. The older boy's face was a snarling visage of hatred and barely restrained rage as he glared at the two of them, though just why he seemed to be glaring at Lilian with such vitriol was beyond the currently scared out of his wits sophomore.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU WATCH WHO YOU HANG OUT WITH, BUT YOU DIDN'T LISTEN! NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!"

Chapter 16: Dogs of War? Or Should it be Dog of War?

This must be some kind of karma. There was just no other explanation for what was happening. It was the only logical conclusion Kevin could come to for how he found himself being faced with this new, frightening, and hairy problem.

Emphasis on the hairy.

Now it was just a matter of finding out whether he had been a psychopathic killer or something equally horrendous in his past life. After all, only someone who had done something truly evil could possibly find themselves with karma bad enough to be in this kind of predicament.

What was the situation? What could possibly be so horrible that he would wonder about what evils he must have committed in a past life?

Oh. Right. Now he remembered. He got into this situation because that stupid jerk turned out to not be human. Even now he could still recall what happened after running into Chris outside of the school lockers.

Scene Break.

Kevin stared at the large, hairy figure of Chris Fleischer in shock and more than a little fear. He had no clue what the older student was talking about, but supposed that it didn't really matter in the end. Whatever the reason was didn't change the fact that this person looked like he was on the verge of murdering him, or at least beating him so badly that he would be hospitalized for the rest of his life. Neither option was very appealing.

"B-beloved," Lilian's fearful voice was accompanied by her grabbing a hold of his shoulder and shaking him. “We need to leave. Now!”

Turning his head, he looked over at the girl and saw that she was frightened. No. Not frightened. She was petrified. Her face was drawn and pale. Those lovely green eyes were wide and quivering in barely masked terror, and even her pupils had become dilated in unadulterated fear.

Why was she so scared? Was it because of Chris? Kevin was scared too, but not to the extent Lilian was, and he actually knew just what the large teen was capable of, unlike her.

Keep thinking that, Kevin.

"Beloved," she repeated more urgently. "We need to run now―what are you doing!?"

“
I don't know,” Kevin replied honestly as he stepped protectively in front of her, keeping her from Chris' hate filled eyes. “I have no clue what I'm doing.” He shrugged uncertainly. “I just know that I don't like the way this guy is glaring at you.”

Kevin wouldn't be able explain what he was feeling no matter how hard he tried. His thoughts were so jumbled with confusion, fear, and a million other emotions that not even he knew what was going on in his own head. All he knew was that there was something inside of him telling him he needed to protect Lilian at all costs.

Chronic Hero Syndrome is an affliction found in particularly idealistic-protagonists, which renders them unable to say “it's somebody else's problem.” Every wrong
must
be righted, and everyone in need
must
be helped.

While this desire to help others can be, at times, admirable, this unquenchable need to help everyone can have a negative side-effect on the hero and those around him. Such heroes will often wear themselves out in their attempts to help
everyone
around them, or they'll become distraught and blame themselves for that
one
time they were unable to save the day. Severe cases of this trope may even end up devolving into a full-blown Martyr Without A Cause.

Fortunately for us and Lilian, Kevin only has a very mild strain of this affliction. It really only crops up when his friends and loved ones are in danger, or when The Plot demands it.

“
Beloved...” Lilian's eyes widened at his words. Her heart was hammering in her chest. Despite the situation, she couldn't help but feel incredibly touched that he felt strongly enough about her that he would put himself in harm's way to protect her.

"So, the little shitstain is trying to protect the fox, eh?" Kevin's eyes widened in surprise. How did he know about Lilian!? "That's fine with me! I never planned on letting either of you get out of here alive anyways!"

Wait! This guy was going to kill them!? What the hell!?

Lilian's shaking grew more insistent as her fear rose to new heights.

"Beloved! Beloved, we need to get out here! Now!"

But it was too late to run. Fleeing was no longer an option. Before either of them could even think about getting the hell out of dodge they were forced to watch in growing horror as Chris began to change. His body started growing, lengthening and shifting and morphing into something that no longer looked even remotely human other than bipedal in nature.

Chris' face was the first to change completely. It had stretched out and scrunched up into a mean looking muzzle filled with rows of sharp teeth. Hair began growing out of the pours of his skin, thick and blackish brown with several white spots interspersed across his face. The ears on either side of his head moved up, stretching and elongated from human ears to large, floppy ears that rested against the top of his head. As he stared at Chris' face, Kevin could not help but be reminded of a pit bull.

More changes erupted from the rest of the junior's body. The hair on his legs and arms grew thicker, even the hair on his chest puffed out of his shirt. The shirt itself stretched across his bulky frame before ripping as his muscles bulged. His hands became chubby and clawed, looking like a strange amalgamation of paws and human hands. His legs transformed to strange, hind-looking legs, thicker at the base and thinner near the calves. Meanwhile the shoes he was wearing tore open to reveal padded looking human feet with sharp, claw-like nails.

With his transformation complete, Chris looked like a Werewolf gone terribly wrong. Like someone had tried to crossbreed a lycon with a pug and got this monstrosity as a result. Needless to say, ugly did not begin to describe how truly horrendous Chris now looked.

"What the... what is this?" Kevin whispered in horror. Just what the heck was Chris!?

"Now I'm going to tear you and your little Kitsune apart, shitstain!"
Chris growled, his voice sounding like thunder rumbling in the distance. It was deep and harsh, and seemed to contain an unquestionable lust for blood. It reminded Kevin of those Overlord type characters in some of the video games he played.
"No one's going to save you or that damn fox now!"

Just as he said this a large, bright ball of light struck him in the face, sending him stumbling backwards as steam rose from the spot he was hit.

"Gah! You bitch!"

Kevin turned, shocked to see Lilian standing behind him, her hand extended and slightly clawed. Her fox ears were out as well, pointing straight up on her head as they quivered and shook much like the girl herself. Even her tails were out, and they were shaking even more than the rest of her.

"Lilian?"

"Let's go!"

Lilian grabbed his hand and took off at a pace that had Kevin nearly falling flat on his face. It was only thanks to his reflexes and talent for running at high speeds that he managed to keep from being dragged behind the girl like some kind of rag doll.

"Lilian!" Kevin managed to right himself after several seconds of stumbling behind her. He quickly began pacing her as she tore out of the hallways with the kind of panic of someone who'd had her tails lit on fire. "What's going on!?"

"Don't worry about that! Just run!"

And that was how Kevin found himself in this horrible situation.

Truly, Karma is a bitch.

Scene Break.

And so they ran. They ran as fast and as hard as they could. Even now they were still running. Both of them were afraid,
terrified
, that if they stopped for even a second, Chris would catch up to them.

Kevin gasped for breath as he ran, his lungs burning as they were deprived of oxygen quicker than he could take it in. His body was slick with sweat, and his clothes were caked to his skin. His eyes were beginning to get irritated as sweat broke out on his brow and dripped into them.

He didn't dare close his eyes though. Even now they were open, searching frantically, looking at everything around him, almost as if he expected Chris to pop out of the wood work without warning.

They had made it out of the school and were now running down the street. The completely empty street that was devoid of cars, pedestrians and anyone else who might have been able to help them.

Which was very strange, considering it was rush hour right now. The roads should have been packed with people returning home from work.

"Where..." Kevin gasped. He had no idea how long they had been running, but it felt like hours had passed. His lung were burning and his legs felt like they were on fire. "Where is everybody!?"

He honestly didn't expect an answer, but ended up getting one anyways.

“
It's probably because of The Author," Lilian informed him helpfully. She didn't seem to be having the same trouble breathing that he did, even though she was running just as fast. Kevin would have been jealous, but was too busy fearing for his life right now. "The Author likes to use the power known as Convenient Plot Device in order to further The Plot without hassles like, say, getting rid of any potential witnesses who could see us being chased through the streets by an Inu Yōkai and call the cops."

"Oh..." a pause for breath. "What?"

"Just keeping running," Lilian actually rolled her eyes at him in a way that was completely Out of Character for her.

Kevin decided his questions could wait for when they were out of danger. And speaking of danger...

"You fucking bitch!"
The two paled as Chris came running up behind them, looking for all the world like a human... erm... inhuman bulldozer.
"I'm gonna fucking rip those tails out of your ass and strangle you with them!"

"Dammit....!" Kevin swore, a first for him, but he felt the situation warranted it. He had been hoping they would have lost Chris by now. Lilian had done a pretty good job of catching him off guard with that strange light ball of hers, and he thought that would have given them enough time to lose him. It looked like his optimism was misplaced.