A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) (4 page)

"Sorry," Kevin sighed, "I guess my mind's just not here today."

"Don't tell me your worrying about that fox?" Eric shook his head. "Honestly Kev, you're my best friend and everything, but your obsession with animals is not cool. This is why you can never get Lindsay to go out with you."

Kevin flushed. Lindsay Diane was the girl that he had been crushing on since middle school. They had been friends for a long time, but he had never been able to work up the courage to ask her out.

Of course, saying they were friends may be a bit of an overstatement these days. They used to be friends before, you know, Kevin realized that girls weren't just males without male genitalia. These days, he had trouble just talking in front of a girl without his stomach feeling like it was in free-fall much less asking the girl he had a major crush on out on a date.

"What do those two things have to do with each other?" Kevin did his best to cover his red face with a frown and tried to that pretend he was not blushing. It didn’t work very well, so he decided to focus back on the game, thinking that maybe if he started killing more zombies his friend would drop the subject.

No such luck.

"Everything!" Eric very nearly shouted, which resulted in Kevin jumping back in surprise, the chord attaching the gun to the arcade game straining as it was pulled taut.

Coincidentally, this also killed Kevin's character, who ended up getting struck by a large, fat zombie wielding a chainsaw. Frowning as his character was quite literally split down the middle in a spray of violence and gore, Kevin slid his card through the small card slot in the arcade game and restarted his life to begin killing zombies anew.

Meanwhile, Eric continued, completely heedless that he had just gotten struck by a strange zombie with claws. The hypocrite. Hadn't he just been complaining about Kevin not paying attention a few seconds ago?

"Don't you see? You spend so much time obsessing over animals that you don't spend enough time working up the courage to ask Lindsay out."

"Those two things aren't mutually exclusive of each other," Kevin told his friend with a groan, even as he blew off a large zombie's head with a well placed kill shot. "Besides, it's not like I always obsess over animals. I haven't brought an animal to my apartment since 8th
grade.”

Though that might just be due to the fact that the last time he
had
brought an animal home he had gotten in a lot of trouble with the landlord because of the 'no pet' policy at their complex. Even after trying to explain that the coyote he found was not a pet and would be released after he fixed up its broken leg the man still wouldn't listen. Narrow minded idiot.

It only got worse when the man decided to call his mom and get her involved. He shuddered. Even over the phone that woman could be absolutely terrifying when she wanted to be.

"Then why can't you ever ask her out on a date?"

Kevin's face heated up again. In his embarrassment, he missed his characters head getting ripped off by a particularly vicious zombie. Blood and chunks of flesh sprayed all over the screen, but went ignored by Kevin who was now having other problems.

"I just..." Kevin's arms dropped to his side as the countdown to restart the game began. "What if she doesn't feel the same way? I don’t want to make things awkward between us, or even worse, ruin what's left of our friendship over something like this."

"Oh geez," Eric groaned, "You're such a girl sometimes, Kevin." He ignored the glare his friend sent him. "You'll never know how she feels if you don't even ask."

"This coming from the guy who's been turned down by every single female he's ever asked out," Kevin shot back as the countdown ended and the large words Game Over in blood covered his screen. He didn't feel like playing anymore.

"Yeah, well, at least I have the guts to ask at all," Eric defended himself. "That's more than I can say for you."

Kevin had to admit Eric had a point there. No matter how many times he got shot down, the taller boy continued to hit on the girls at their school without shame. There was certainly something to be said for his friend's courage in the face of adversity if nothing else.

Or maybe it was just disillusionment. Kevin had never been able to figure out which.

"Whatever," Kevin grumbled as he holstered the gun back into its small groove. "I think I'm finished here." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and made to leave.

"Aw, come on," Eric grinned as he threw an arm around Kevin's neck and began pulling him to another game. "Don't feel too bad. I'm sure you'll work up the courage to ask Lindsay out... eventually... someday... maybe... in like, a thousand years."

"Really not helping me out here, Eric."

“
Whatever. Let’s just play some more games. That will cheer you up.”

Kevin ended up spending the next hour or so with his best friend, playing all the arcade games they could. They mostly stuck with shooter games, which were what they enjoyed playing, but they occasionally played racing games as well.

Despite his hope that meeting up with Eric and playing a good, violent video game would help clear his head, it seemed to do just the opposite. Only now, instead of thinking about the fox he had found this morning, his mind was on how he still couldn't ask his crush to go out with him.

Heck, he still had trouble just talking to her, and this was in spite of having been her friend for going on four years now. How pathetic was that?

Very pathetic actually. The readers are probably having a good laugh at his expense right now.

Ignoring the strange urge he had to strangle something―he could have sworn someone was making fun of him, Kevin rode his bike back home. He wanted to check on the fox anyway.

Entering through the front door and taking off his shoes―something he had forgotten to do the last time he had come home due to his haste―Kevin walked all the way to his room. He wanted to see how the fox's wound was healing. It should be mostly healed up by now.

There was a yip when he entered and Kevin was surprised to see the fox he had rescued was wide awake and staring right at him with twin, emerald eyes. It was a very unusual color for fox eyes. Kevin was sure most had yellow or dark brown eyes. As far as he was concerned, this was just another sign that there was something different about this fox.

“
Hello there,” Kevin greeted as he closed the door behind him and walked towards the bed. Just because there was something strange about the mammal didn't mean he was going to be distrustful of her. She was still a fox, and as an animal she inherently had a leg up on earning his trust.

After all, what could an animal do to him?

Well, if it was some super powered, mutant fox, probably a lot, but that was beside the point.

The fox's eyes followed him as he moved, her two tails swaying back and forth, up and down and from side to side in random, organic patterns that seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them. It was like her tails moved disassociated from her mind. How strange.

Kevin sat down at the edge of the bed.

“
I didn’t expect you to be up and about so soon.”

He reached out with a hand, but paused, noticing the way the fox flinched at the action, as if expecting him to strike or something. Maybe it was just because she was a fox and they had an inherent disliking of humans, but Kevin thought there might be something more to her reaction than simple fear of humans.

“
It's alright. I’m not going to hurt you,” Kevin reassured the small kit as he finished his movement and his hand gently descended on her head. Her body stiffened for a moment, but as he began to caress and stroke her ears, her muscles relaxed and she began nuzzling her face into his hand.

A smile made its way onto Kevin’s face at this. Deciding to be a fair bit bolder he scooped her up and placed her in his lap before he continued pampering her. After an initial moment of what could only be wariness from her, the fox relaxed and curled up in his lap.

She made for an adorable sight.

A moment later, while Kevin was cooing over how cute the fox was, a loud gurgling erupted from his stomach, making the young man blink. The fox shot up, her ears twitching as she too was startled by the loud noise next to her.

“
I guess I’m a little hungry,” Kevin said a tad sheepishly. “And I’m betting you are too, so why don’t I make us something to eat?” The fox yipped, seemingly in agreement ― which was impossible, of course, Kevin chided himself for the thought; foxes couldn’t understand English ― and Kevin scooped her up and made his way into the kitchen.

He set the fox down on the counter top. It would need to be wiped down for hair after this, but he really didn't mind all that much. It only took a second or two clean something like that.

“
So let’s see,” Kevin frowned as he looked through the fridge to see what he should make for dinner. “I remember reading that foxes are omnivorous, so we’ll definitely need some meat.” He pulled out a package of steaks he had bought a few days ago. He hadn’t expected to cook them so soon, but those were the breaks.

Setting the steak down on the counter, he looked over at the fox, who had been watching him the entire time. “Now the only question is should I cook a steak for you? Or do you eat it raw?” Well, she was a fox, so she probably ate it raw, but… “What the…?”

Kevin was given a slight surprise when the fox yipped and walked over to the small, portable grill situated right next to the stove top. She pointed at the grill with one paw, then at the two steaks, then back to the grill.

“
So… you want me to cook it for you?”

He received a yip and a nod. Kevin paused.

“
Can you understand me?”

Another yip. Another nod.

“
Huh?” Kevin scratched the back of his head as he tried to come to terms with this new development. Maybe his theory about a government conspiracy wasn't that off the mark. Perhaps this fox had been gifted with a human or near human level intellect… or something, through genetic experimentation.

Then again, maybe not.

In either event, Kevin just decided to accept the fact that the fox could understand him and not question it. Some things were better left unquestioned. It would probably be safer for his sanity as well.

He continued working on dinner. Unlike most teenage males Kevin was actually a pretty decent cook. In keeping with the theme of most animes that center around a teenage protagonist, Kevin's mother was almost never home. Thus he had been forced to learn how to cook, lest he end up having to eat nothing but TV dinners every day. Granted, he could only cook simple meals, but it was enough to get by.

The two steaks were prepared with only a bit of seasonings: some salt, pepper and olive oil. Deciding to add at least a few greens, he steamed a couple of vegetables in the microwave. In a little over fifteen minutes, dinner was ready.

“
Here we are.” Kevin put the two steaks on separate plates (his had the one with the majority of vegetables on it) and set them down on the table. “Two medium rare steaks.”

He turned to get the fox so he could bring her over to the table without injuring herself, but was surprised to find she had already hopped off the counter top and was now jumping onto the table via the chair.

“
Well, looks like you don’t need my help.” The fox seemed to yip in agreement before digging into the food with much gusto. Kevin decided to follow suit.

As he ate, he watched the fox carefully as she tore into the juicy, red meat on her plate. Despite the fact that she had no hands and couldn't use any utensils, she ate with a surprising amount of poise. Not even a drop of blood or a strip of meat managed to make its way onto her fur coat or face.

He didn't know animals could eat with such... refinement? No. Maybe grace was a better word. In either event, watching the fox eat without making even a tiny mess was just another sign that this was not a normal fox.

Dinner was soon finished. Kevin took the dishes and rinsed them of blood before putting them in the dish washer. After wiping off the counter, he made his way to the couch, where he proceeded to sit down and turn on the TV. The small fox kit followed him, hopping onto the couch and curling up on his lap.

"What?" asked Kevin as the tiny critter looked up at him with large, emerald eyes. It was such an adorable look that he nearly cooed at the small kit. He didn't, but it was a near thing. "Do you want me to pet your ears some more?"

"Yip!"

"Kinda pushy, aren't you?" asked Kevin, though one of his hands did end up going to the fox's ear, where it began to pet and caress the tiny thing. The small, red furred creature gave a half-hearted yip, her eyes closing in what appeared to be pleasure.

That was how the next two hours were spent, him watching TV as he idly rubbed the fox's ears and the fox making strange yet somehow happy sounding noises as her ears were rubbed. It was only after the clock showed 9:00 pm that Kevin decided it was time for bed.

"Come on," Kevin said, standing up. The fox hopped down to the floor and looked at him as he began walking away. After a moment, she followed the blond teenager into the bathroom.