A Fox's Maid (12 page)

“Would you… like me to… feed you… some more… Master?”

“
Yes, I believe I would. But, I think I’m ready for the main course now.”

His hands slid around her body and reached for Lilian’s firm derriere, grasping her cheeks and pulling her against him like he wanted to merge with her.

“
Oh! Master!” Lilian’s cries of ecstasy rang throughout the house.

“
Your nose is bleeding,” Kotohime calmly stated. Her words snapped Kevin out of his delusion. He brought a hand to his face, blinking several times when he pulled it back and noticed that his fingers were covered in crimson liquid.

“
Oh, crap!”

While Kevin wiped the blood off his face, Lilian smiled. She wasn’t sure what he’d been daydreaming about, but she was positive it featured her. Just a little more time and Kevin would  accept and return her love. She just had to be patient.

“
Ufufufu…”

Lilian’s quiet laughter went unheard by Kevin, who had finally decided to shove two pieces of napkin up his nostrils when they wouldn’t stop bleeding.

***

Kevin ran as hard as he could, his teeth gritted and his nostrils flaring in exertion. The feel of his feet hitting the track course was almost painful. His knees jarred upon every impact with the ground. The hurried
ba-dump, ba-dump
of his skyrocketing heart rate was the only thing he could hear. It pounded in his ears, a series of staccato bursts timed with his labored, raspy breathing. His entire body, the soul of his very being, was focused on this single task: beating his rival as they raced across the track.

Running beside him, nearly neck and neck, his rival Kasey Chase glared ahead, his focus on nothing but the finish line. The older teen’s breathing was just as labored, maybe even worse. His face burned red with effort. His arms swung forward and backward, the overly exaggerated motions reminiscent to the pistons of an engine.

“
TIME!”

The two slowed to a stop as they crossed the finish line. Kevin tried to slow his breathing, as well as his heart rate. Sweat formed on his brow, thick globules of salty liquid that ran down his face and stung his eyes. He wiped at them, droplets falling off his hair.

“
Ha… ha… ha…”

Kasey Chase stood hunched over. His black hair clung to his face, sticky and coated in sweat. It ran down his back and neck, leaving a trail and soaking his clothes. His breathing was ragged and harsh. He looked like he might keel over from exhaustion.

Unlike Kevin, who was tired but not suffering any serious physical discomfort, Chase looked like he’d been running all out for several days. He had clearly expended far more energy than Kevin.

Kevin gave his rival an amused and somewhat smug smile, feeling elated. And why shouldn’t he be satisfied? Even going all out, Chase still barely managed to match his time. Kevin felt positive he could increase his pace even further if he really pushed himself. This wasn’t the fastest he could go.

“
Tired?”

Chase glared at him.

“
Not… ha… not in the… least…”

Although his words were confident, the asphyxiated sounds he made, reminiscent to that of a dying bull, told Kevin otherwise.

“
Why don’t you say that when you don’t look ready to pass out.”

“
Shut up…” Chase gasped. “I could… heh… I could do this all day…”

The chuckle Kevin released was the closest he’d ever sounded to condescending. “I’m sure.”

While his rival glared at him, Coach Deretaine marched over.

“
Good work, Swift.” He slapped Kevin on the back, causing him to stumble forward. “It’s not your best time, but you still did an admirable job. Chase, you did well, but you need to work on maintaining your speed. If you hadn’t slowed down at the end, you might’ve beaten Swift.” Looking at his watch, Coach Deretaine nodded. “Take a break, you two; we’ll do this again after the others get some practice in.”

“
Yes, Coach,” the two replied in unison. As Coach Deretaine walked off to grab the one-mile runners, Kevin gave his rival another amused grin. “Looks like this is my win again.”

The flames burning in Chase’s eyes could have scorched the earth. “… Shut up.”

***

While Kevin and his eternal rival in all things running tried to surpass each other on the track field, Lilian watched them from the bleachers. Kotohime sat beside her, having shown up late because she’d been cleaning the dishes… and because Kevin’s bike was too small to seat three people.

Not that she would have ever agreed to let Kevin ferry her anywhere. The idea of being that close to the young man wasn’t particularly pleasing to the older woman. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was a human. She had other reasons for keeping her distance.

“
Ha!” Lilian grinned as she watched the boy she loved outrun his rival. It didn’t matter that Kevin and Chase had been practically neck and neck the whole time. All she’d seen was Kevin beating his opponent. “That’s showing him, Kevin! That Chasey guy can’t beat you!”

“
IT’S KASEY!” came a shout from across the field.

“
I DON’T CARE!” Lilian cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted back. She then sat back down, huffing. “Idiot. He’s just jealous because my mate’s faster than him.”

“
NO, I’M NOT!”

“
YES, YOU ARE! NOW SHUT UP!”

Kotohime stared intently at the field, and more specifically, at the young man her ward loved.

“
I’ll admit, he is quite fast for a human. He could probably outpace any kitsune not specifically trained in high-speed movements―provided they are not using reinforcement, of course. He also possesses impeccable reflexes and hand-to-eye coordination. However, I still do not understand what you see in him.”

Lilian stopped shouting insults at Chasey-whatever-his-name-was to frown at Kotohime.

“
What’s that supposed to mean? Are you insulting my mate?” There was a dangerous undercurrent in her voice, as if Kotohime’s next word would determine whether she lived or not.

Kotohime didn’t bat an eye. They both knew who was stronger between the two of them. It wasn’t Lilian.

“
I mean that I simply cannot fathom what you find attractive about him.” Kotohime’s voice was as calm and composed as ever. “I understand that you and he share a bit of a past together, but that was many years ago, and he was just a child back then. You barely spoke for more than an hour, and he does not remember you, anyway. Any feelings you may have gained for Kevin from that encounter should have long since disappeared.”

Lilian’s hair swayed as she shook her head.

“
My feelings have nothing to do with that. You’ve got things all mixed up. I don’t love him because of what happened ten years ago.” She paused to gather her thoughts. “I’ll admit, I was… enamored back then. He helped me become the person I am today. His words, whether he knows it or not, are the words I’ve lived by ever since. That being said, I did not have any feelings for him back then. He was just a child, after all, and I’m not a pedophile.”

“
Then why…”

“
Because he accepts me.” Lilian glanced down at Kevin. It looked like he was having fun taunting his rival. “When I first came into his life, I sort of…” she coughed to hide her embarrassment. “Well, I may have barged into it without really taking his thoughts and feelings into consideration. I was so excited to see him again that I maybe, sorta, kinda got a little… overzealous.”

“
Overzealous?” Kotohime raised an eyebrow.

“
I told him that he was my mate and used all those techniques you taught me to try and seduce him.”

Kotohime gave Lilian a bit more of her attention. “Well, that is what kitsune do to humans, you know? We seduce them. Or we prank them. Whichever comes first, really.”

Lilian knew that. Kitsune were playful, mischievous and whimsical creatures, following their instincts and desires without a second thought. They did whatever they wanted, when they wanted, and when they found something that interested them, they did everything in their power to acquire that something through any means necessary. Seduction was just one of those means.

“
Yeah, well, that didn’t work with Kevin,” Lilian mumbled. “He’s not like other males, it seems.”

Kotohime needed several moments to comprehend that statement. “Are you telling me that he resisted you?”

Now that was rare. All men, regardless of species, were more or less the same: simple creatures who thought less with their heads and more with their dicks. It made them easy for kitsune to seduce. And humans were the most susceptible of all, especially those of the teenage variety.

“
Well… sort of…” Lilian couldn’t tell Kotohime that Kevin always passed out before she could seduce him. She thought it was cute, but her maid-slash-bodyguard wouldn’t.

“
I see. He must be an awfully strong-willed young man to resist you.”

Lilian’s ironic grin was completely lost on Kotohime.

“
Yes, he certainly is.”

Kevin was certainly strong-willed… just not in the way Kotohime seemed to think he was.

“
Ugh, how disgusting.”

Lilian glared at the snow maiden who’d intruded on their conversation. Christine had joined them not long after track practice started. She had then proceeded to sit several feet to Lilian’s left and stare at Kevin, occasionally making snide remarks about him, as if doing so would convince Lilian that she didn’t have feelings for him.

“
Trying to seduce a man with sex is so disgraceful.” Christine’s delicate nose wrinkled in disgust, as if the very idea revolted her. “You foxes are all a bunch of skanky whores.”

“
Nobody asked for your opinion,” Lilian snapped.

“
It’s a free country. I can say whatever I want.” The challenging stare Christine issued Lilian caused the redhead’s hackles to rise.

Kotohime watched the two yōkai with an amused gaze. “Ara, ara, it’s so nice to see that you’ve managed to find yourself a friend, Lilian-sama.”

Lilian and Christine switched from glaring at each other to glaring at the kimono-clad woman.

“
I would never be friends with this prudish goth-loli!”

“
How could I possibly be friends with this sluttish hooker?!”

The two paused, blinked, then glared at each other.

“
What did you call me?!” they shouted at the same time, grinding their foreheads against each other.

Kotohime watched as the pair’s argument devolved into derogatory name calling with a passive, gentle smile.

Then she started chuckling.

“
Ufufufu… how nice. Those two seem to be such good friends.”

***

“
Ga… ha… ha…”

Kevin made for a very pitiful sight, laid out as he was on the ground like something a semi-truck had run over, his mouth gaping and his dry tongue hanging out. Frogger had nothing on him.

The muscles in his legs ached in ways they never had before. An unusual tiredness seeped into his bones, making them feel frail and brittle. Kevin didn’t think he’d ever felt so exhausted in his life.

Despite all that, he felt good. Accomplished. He had just managed to prove himself superior to his rival—and for the first time since the track meet last Wednesday (when he’d almost gotten his ass kicked by a trio of goons), it was a truly decisive victory. Finally. Finally Kevin had managed to earn enough consecutive wins over Kasey Chase that he could say, with absolute certainty, that he was the faster runner between them.

He looked to his right, his lips peeling back into a grin. “Looks like I… like I win… again… Chase…”

“
Heh… heh… shut up…” Chase mumbled through his own heavy breathing. If Kevin looked pathetic, then Chase looked like death warmed over. He, too, was lying on his back on the grassy area of the track field, sucking in oxygen like a vacuum, his tongue lolling out of his gaping maw akin to a panting dog.

All around them other members of the track team practiced. Some ran down the field, while others stretched. A few were also practicing the high jump, the long jump, and even pole-vaulting.

Coach Deretaine was busy monitoring the pole-vaulters. It was a dangerous sport, and he would get in trouble if someone accidentally stabbed themselves because they weren’t using the equipment properly, or because they were being stupid and trying to act macho.

Stranger things had been known to happen, especially dealing with a bunch of hormone-driven teenagers who loved getting into the my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours arguments.

“
Man, you two look like crap.”

Kevin lifted his head to glare at Eric as the pervy teen approached them, trailed by Alex, Andrew and Justin.