Read Kitsune Tales: Two Short Stories for Free Online Page A

me in a game of checkers."
    Tullia looked at her for another minute. Finally, she
smiled, showing the tips of her shark teeth. "I'll accept your wager. But
don't expect me to go easy on you because you're cute."
    Yuri grinned. Gotcha . She led the siren over to the
vacated table and began setting up the board.
    The pieces clicked
as Tullia made her first move.
    Yuri carefully
lowered the agitated Kaimana to the table before
making her move. She slid her counter across the board, setting herself up for
a reckless strategy.
    Kaimana paced along the edge of the game, eye narrow slits
and tail whipping like a cat's.
    The game went on
in tense silence, though the sounds of humanity roared around them like a
waterfall. It was exhilarating--the scrape of plastic against wood, the attempt
to stay two steps ahead of her opponent.
    Tullia took three of Yuri's pieces within the first five
moves.
    "What are you doing ?" Kaimana snarled as Yuri placed another of her counters. "That was the most idiotic
move I've seen yet, hoaloha !"
    Yuri didn't take
her eyes off the game. "I know what I'm doing, Kaimana-sama ."
    The little mo'o bared its teeth at her, but said nothing more.
    Yuri managed to
capture four of the siren's pieces. She twirled one of them around and around
in her fingers as she waited for her opponent's next move. The plastic clicked
against her fingernails.
    Tullia took minutes to decide on her move. She carefully
picked up her piece and placed it back down.
    Yuri double-jumped
and collected the pieces. Now, she was winning.
    "Cocky," Tullia muttered. She slipped one of her counters to
Yuri's edge of the board.
    Yuri's frowned,
but she dropped a piece onto the other to make it a king. She could still win
this, but Tullia having a king in the game would make
it harder. How had she not noticed the siren's strategy?
    The game wore on.
The noise of the humans around them pressed on Yuri's sensitive ears, grating
on her nerves. She fidgeted under the table, her feet tapping and her hands
picking at her skirt or playing with the pieces she'd taken from her opponent.
Now and then, children would stop at the table to stare at the game. Some of
them tried to play with Kaimana , until the dragon
snapped its jaws at them. One of them suggested moves to both Tullia and Yuri, proclaiming that he was the checkers
champion at his school. Both players ignored his advice.
    Finally, the game
came down to three pieces: Yuri's two kings and Tullia's one. Kaimana's anger had simmered to irritated
curiosity and it sat at the corner of the table, watching closely.
    Biting her cheek
to keep from smiling too much, Yuri set about forcing the siren's sole
remaining piece into the double-corner . She finally
let herself grin when Tullia sat back and grunted in
disbelief.
    "I win,"
Yuri proclaimed. She had trapped the siren at the edge of the board, with her
kings in position to jump Tullia's in either
direction.
    Tullia shook her head. Her chair scraped along the floor
with a sound that made Yuri shiver. She stood, her hands braced on the table, a
hint of golden webbing glittering between her fingers. "You might have won
the game, you vixen, but I'm not giving in that easily."
    Yuri's breath
caught in her chest. "We had a deal."
    "Give me the
pearl." Kaimana's back arched. It stalked along
the table toward Tullia , teeth bared.
    Tullia laughed. She leaned forward, until her face was
inches from Yuri's, and began to sing.
    This time, Yuri
didn't stand by and wait for the siren to steal her magic. She snapped her head
forward as quickly and forcefully as she could. In hindsight, it wasn't her
best move ever--the pain that burst behind her eyes made her head spin--but at
least it stopped Tullia from singing.
    The siren fell
back into her chair, eyes dazed.
    "Serves you
right, bitch," Yuri muttered. She pushed her chair back and stood, though
she had to grip the edge of the table to keep from falling over. There were a
handful of humans talking to her,