A Fox's Rescue Read online

  AMERICAN KITSUNE: VOLUME 8

  BRANDON VARNELL

  Illustrated by Kirsten Moody

  Edited by Crystal Holdefer

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  A Fox’s Rescue

  Copyright © 2018 Brandon Varnell

  Illustrations © Kirsten Moody

  Ebook formatting: Lia at Free Your Words

  All rights reserved

  Brandon Varnell and Kitsune Incorporated supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce creative works that enrich our culture.

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  To see Brandon Varnell's other works, or to ask for permission to use his works, visit him at www.varnell-brandon.com, facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanKitsune, twitter at www.twitter.com/BrandonbVarnell, and instagram at www.instagram.com/brandonbvarnell.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Publishing Info

  Words You Should Know

  Chapter 1: The Problem with Visiting Random Countries

  Chapter 2: The Cat's Nya

  Chapter 3: Midnight Escape

  Chapter 4: Train Ride Troubles

  Chapter 5: I'm Not Going To Be Your Baby Maker

  Chapter 6: A Conflict of Interests

  Chapter 7: Servant of Princess Kyo

  Chapter 8: The Obligatory Tentacle Monster

  Chapter 9: China

  Chapter 10: The Citadel of Light

  Chapter 11: Rescue Operation Gone South

  Chapter 12: The Bodhisattva

  Chapter 13: The Return Home

  Afterword

  But Wait, There's More

  Social Media

  WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  Otaku: (in Japan) A young person who is obsessed with computers or particular aspects of popular culture to the detriment of their social skills.

  Bishounen: a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes an aesthetic that can be found in disparate areas in East Asia: a young man whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation.

  Boku no Pico: a Japanese series of shotacon anime OVAs produced by Natural High. The producer has described it as "the world's first Shotacon anime".

  Mulan: a character, inspired by an actual historic figure, who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 36th animated feature film Mulan(1998), as well as its sequel Mulan II (2004).

  Koharu Hotta: A female baseball player from the sports anime Princess Nine.

  Hebi: The Japanese word for snake.

  Seiza: an upright kneeling position that is traditionally used in Japan in meditation and as part of the preparation in martial arts.

  Yama-uba: a yōkai found in Japanese folklore.

  Fudoshi: traditional Japanese undergarment for adult males, made from a length of cotton.

  Kawaii: Japanese word for cute.

  Jinn: (in Arabian and Muslim mythology) an intelligent spirit of lower rank than the angels, able to appear in human and animal forms and to possess humans.

  Hakama: loose trousers with many pleats in the front, forming part of Japanese formal dress.

  Haori: A haori is a lightweight coat worn over kimono.

  Shogunate: The title applied to the chief military commanders from about the 8th century a.d. to the end of the 12th century, then applied to the hereditary officials who governed Japan, with the emperor as nominal ruler, until 1868, when the shogunate was terminated and the ruling power was returned to the emperor.

  Heike Monogatari: The Tale of the Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). The Tale of Heike is often likened to a Japanese Iliad.

  Dan-no-ura: a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dan-no-ura, in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshū.

  Shibari: The ancient Japanese artistic form of rope bondage.

  Tsukkomi: Boke and tsukkomi are loosely equivalent to the roles of "funny man" or "comic" (boke) and "straight man" (tsukkomi) in the comedy duos of western culture.

  yamato nadeshiko: a Japanese term meaning the "personification of an idealized Japanese woman", or "the epitome of pure, feminine beauty".

  Hada: A ceremonial scarf used in Tibet and Mongolia.

  Torii: the gateway of a Shinto shrine, with two uprights and two crosspieces.

  Yuri: Explicit lesbian relationships in anime or manga.

  Borsalino: A man’s wide-brimmed felt hat.

  Raikage: The leader of a shinobi village from the anime Naruto.

  CHAPTER 1

  THE PROBLEM WITH VISITING RANDOM COUNTRIES

  Kotohime was a very traditional kitsune.

  Perhaps it was because of her upbringing in Japan, but the traditions instilled within her remained even to this day.

  Among those traditions was to never go against her lord, the one whom she was bound to serve. Loyalty to one’s lord was one of the most important facets of Japanese culture. Going against the person she had pledged allegiance to went against her nature.

  Yet here, now, that was exactly what she was doing.

  “I do not approve of this plan, Pnév̱ma-denka.”

  “So you have said several times already.”

  If Pnév̱ma-denka was bothered by her words, the woman did not show it. Sitting on a throne encrusted with gold, ornately crafted and beautiful, just like the woman who lounged on it, the nine-tailed kitsune, the greatest of the Ghost Kitsune, wore a smile that reeked of amusement.

  “And I will say it again several more times, as many times as I have to.” Kotohime knelt before the one she served, head bowed in deference, yet still defiant. “I should have gone with them.”

  “You are worried about them.” It was not a question.

  “I should be with them, protecting Kevin-sama and Iris-sama from danger and attempting to rescue the one whom you bade me to protect.”

  “Such loyalty is admirable.” Pnév̱ma-denka’s amused smile bothered Kotohime more than she cared to admit. “In most other circumstances, I would have no problem with you traveling with young Kevin and Iris. But circumstances dictate that you cannot go with them on this journey. Not only do you stand out like a sore thumb, but you are also well known among our kind. A human boy and a young two-tails can slip past the Shénshèng Clan’s spies without detection. The infamous mercenary and former princess of the Ślina Clan cannot.”

  It galled Kotohime to agree with her master but agree she did.

  “You should have a little more faith in your charge’s mate and sister. Young Kevin seems quite resourceful for a human, and Iris, despite her blasé demeanor and oftentimes rude attitude, is not lacking in intelligence.”

  Kotohime agreed with the Pnév̱ma matriarch’s assessment, especially about Kevin-sama. Having watched him since before he decided to become Lilian-sama’s mate, she had witnessed his remarkable growth. Kevin-sama now trained daily to grow stronger, worked hard to learn about yōkai and kitsune in particular, and, while he still refused to have sex, he had stepped out of his comfort zone to please Lilian-sama’s voracious sexual appetite.

  She knew that Kevin-sama was not a force to be underestimated, and she knew that, sho
uld the situation come down to it, he would not hesitate to kill to protect the people he loved.

  She also knew that killing was anathema to him. He hated killing, even when those he was forced to kill were enemies. She wanted to spare him from that pain, the pain that came from being forced to take a life.

  “I… understand, Pnév̱ma-denka.” The words from her mouth, smooth and lyrical and composed, stood in direct opposition to the way she really felt.

  Pnév̱ma-denka probably sensed this, but true to her disposition, she did not reveal that she knew of Kotohime’s true feelings. She sat upon her dais, body shifting until she was resting her left cheek against her left hand. Nine tails of the purest silver roved across her body like a second toga, shimmering with the light of a ghastly, otherworldly power.

  “Do you know the story of how Lilian met Kevin?”

  The question startled Kotohime, though that did not stop her from replying.

  “Of course. After Lilian-sama overheard Shinkuro-dono’s desire to set up mating arrangements between her and his son, she ran away. I believe her reason for running was because you said they would be a good match.”

  “Indeed, though looking back on that moment, I would have to reassess my words. Lilian and Jiāoào would have been a terrible match. Power wise, they are compatible. Any offspring they sired would have been quite strong, I imagine. However, their personalities are too dissimilar. Had they been paired, I imagine Lilian would have snapped and killed Jiāoào after he tried forcing himself on her.”

  Kotohime agreed but said nothing. It was not her place to speak about such things.

  “In either event, you know that Lilian ran out of the Pnév̱ma estate and into the forest that bordered Psyxḗ, yet she still remained within the boundaries of the barrier. So then—” Delphine’s eyes brimmed with a curious gleam “—how did a human boy, a child with no powers whatsoever, pass through my barrier and find her?”

  Kotohime furrowed her brow. She had never really thought about it before, but with the question now posed, she did have to wonder. How did Kevin-sama make it past the barrier, a barrier which should have kept all humans out? Even if Kevin-sama was not human, which he most assuredly was, it still would have kept him out since he did not have permission to enter—and his expulsion from the barrier would have been, should have been, most violent at that.

  “I… I do not know,” Kotohime confessed.

  “Neither do I,” Pnév̱ma-denka professed. As Kotohime gazed upon the woman she had pledged her loyalty to, the Ghost Kyūbi of the Pnév̱ma Clan gave her a bone-chilling smile befitting one titled The Silver Queen of the Netherworld. “However, since that time, I have become most curious about that young man. It is the reason that I had you all travel to the United States, and the reason that I presented Lilian with the opportunity to reach Arizona unmolested.”

  Kotohime carefully hid her frown. Was Pnév̱ma-denka telling her that Lilian-sama’s escape from the Pnév̱ma estate in Florida, along with her traversal across the United States, had all been premeditated in order to let Kevin-sama and Lilian-sama meet again?

  “How is that even possible?” she wanted to ask. She did not. Even if she wished to know, learning such knowledge was not her place, and some part of her was afraid of uncovering the truth.

  Certain things in this world a kitsune such as her was not meant to know about.

  “In either event,” Pnév̱ma-denka began again, “Kevin and Iris have already left and are on their way to China. While you could follow them, I would rather you not.”

  “If this is your will, then I shall, of course, abide by it,” Kotohime said, even though she wished to say otherwise.

  “That is good.” Pnév̱ma-denka nodded with the imperious grace of a queen. “And now that we have settled this matter, let us put it out of our minds. I have a task that I would like you to perform.” Her eyes glimmered with a devious cunning that Kotohime found hard not to shiver at. “One that I feel you will be most suited for.”

  ***

  With a startled jerk, Kevin was driven from his sleep and into the waking world. Screeching tires filled his ears, and the entire world rumbled around him, causing him to shake in his seat.

  It took him several seconds before he finally realized where he was. A glance out of a small, round window revealed planes, trees, and mountains flashing across his vision like streaks of blurred color, and he remembered that he was on a plane that was—had been—traveling to Turkey. From what he saw outside, it looked like they had arrived.

  Something soft resting against his side made him turn his head. The soft thing pressing against him was, of course, his companion. Iris Pnév̱ma, Lilian’s fraternal twin sister, lay sleeping against him. She had been attached to him from the very moment this flight had taken off.

  It turned out Iris enjoyed flying even less than most kitsune. She had screamed when the plane was taking off and grabbed onto him for dear life. Then she had spent the next thirty minutes fighting off a panic attack. Kevin had felt so bad for the girl that he couldn’t bring himself to shove her off him.

  She had only fallen asleep after exhaustion hit her, maybe an hour or so ago. She was also still recovering from falling into a coma, so she was weaker than normal. He’d fallen asleep not long after her, his own body giving into the lulling warmth that she emitted, even though he felt guilty for doing so.

  The speakers came on overhead, and a female voice, speaking in a language that he didn’t know, said something. Having never been to Turkey before, he wasn’t well-versed in the language. Though he could speak several others, at least enough to hold a basic conversation and not sound like a fool, he would be pretty useless speaking to the people in this country.

  Guess I’ll be relying on Iris, then.

  Kitsune had the ability to understand and be understood regardless of what language someone was speaking. Their patron god, Inari, had gifted them with this ability. Iris spoke Greek, but to him, whenever she or Lilian spoke, it always sounded like she was speaking in English. It was a mysterious power that he didn’t understand but didn’t question either.

  He shifted in his seat. The chillingly cold but perfectly smooth gem and the cord that it was attached to felt odd as it rested underneath his shirt. Delphine, Lilian and Iris’s grandmother, had given it to him. He wasn’t one for wearing jewelry. He did his best to ignore the necklace and, knowing they’d be disembarking shortly, prepared to wake up his companion—when he noticed something. His shirt, from the right shoulder down to the sleeve, was soaking wet.

  He looked at the beautiful girl again. Raven hair fell around her head, covering some of her porcelain face, but he could still see her mouth, which hung open like the gaping maw of a sarlacc pit.

  She was drooling. A lot.

  Resisting the urge to twitch, Kevin shook the girl awake.

  Like everything Iris did, the very act of waking up seemed more like an erotic dance than someone being woken from a deep slumber. Even the drool leaking down her mouth somehow appeared sexy on her. He didn’t understand it, so he tried not to think about it.

  “Mornin’, Stud.” Iris stretched her arms above her head. Kevin closed his eyes in order to keep from staring at the way her tight black shirt stretched against her bosom. She wasn’t wearing a bra. Her nipples poked through the fabric and hints of midriff revealed itself during her stretch.

  Complimenting her long locks of raven-colored hair, which shimmered as sunlight streamed in through the small viewport to their left, Iris’s eyes were a deep crimson. The seductive quality in that narrowed gaze would have put most men under her spell. In fact, several men at the airport in Greece had tripped over their own bags when they had stared at her as she walked by, and even more had suffered from spontaneous combustion of the nasal cavities. Along with her black shirt, the skirt that she wore was the same color and so short that her panties would show if she bent over.

  She was wearing a black thong.

  “It’s actually n
oon,” he corrected as he opened his eyes.

  “Whatever.” Iris dismissed his words with a wave of her hand. “If you’re waking me up, that must mean we’ve arrived.”

  “Yes.” Kevin nodded. “We have.”

  Iris glanced over his shoulder, looking out of the window. Their plane had finally stopped moving and now sat still on the runway.

  Van Ferit Melen Airport didn’t look like much, just a single building; long, rectangular in shape, and containing no more than two stories. A single control tower jutted from the top. Like an inverted pyramid, the tower became narrow as it moved into the building, while the top was shaped like a square, the walls made almost entirely of glass with an electric fence surrounding it like a crown.

  “Thank Inari’s sagging testicles for that.” Iris slumped in her seat, the relief she felt an almost physical thing. Kevin’s lips twitched.

  “Who knew there was something out there that you were more afraid of than dogs,” he teased.

  “Oh, shut up.” Iris crossed her arms under her chest, purposefully squishing her breasts together, allowing her nipples to become even more visible through the fabric. “We foxes were never meant to travel through the air. Leave the skies to the tengu.”

  “Violet said something similar to me once,” Kevin said idly.

  “Ah, so you’ve spoken with the prude,” Iris said. She had been in a coma until just yesterday, so she didn’t know what he’d been up to this past week.

  “Prude?”

  “Yeah, prude. Anyway, I don’t really like her, cold fish that she is, but she’s got the right idea about flying. Why you humans are so fascinated with it is something I’ll never understand.”