Nariko opened his eyes on featureless darkness that suddenly felt uncomfortably hot and stuffy. He sat up and realized that he had been lying on the smooth, hard ground.

\x93Kitsune!\x94 the deep, impossibly loud voice roared a second time, seeming to come from every direction at once. Nariko whirled around, choking on the thick air, but even his unusually sharp eyes could not penetrate the stifling blackness.

\x93What--what\x92s going on? Who are you?\x94 the slender youth demanded, bewildered and prickling with an inexplicable dread.

\x93We are the human race,\x94 the voice answered. \x93You do not belong here, kitsune.\x94

Nariko covered his ears to shut out the deafening words but they vibrated through his entire being, seeping into his panicking mind. \x93Leave me alone! I haven\x92t done anything!\x94

\x93You do not belong here. You are not human.\x94

Nariko leapt to his feet, spinning around wildly in a futile attempt to locate the derisive speaker, but he might as well have been blind. \x93What do you mean I\x92m not human?\x94

\x93You have pointed ears and fangs, your eyes glow in the dark like a wild beast\x92s.\x94

\x93That\x92s not my fault!\x94 Shuddering uncontrollably in spite of the heat, Nariko tried a frantic escape but as he ran the invisible ground seemed to warp away and he fell, rolling in the cloak of black. \x93I\x92m just as--just as alive and mortal as any full-blooded human!\x94 he cried, lifting himself to his hands and knees. \x93I\x92ve never hurt anyone!\x94

The voice continued to echo relentlessly in his throbbing ears. \x93Your type is feared and despised. Kitsune, man-beast, halfbreed. You are unnatural--you were never meant to be.\x94

Nariko tried to stand but an agonizing pain seared through his right hand and arm and left him curled on the ground, gasping. The cruel jaws of an iron leg-hold trap had snapped shut on his wrist--the type of trap set out by hunters, to snare foxes and other furry animals. The youth\x92s terror and pain and desperation shook him with violent sobs as he lay on the ground, as the thundering insults tore at his insides like hunters\x92 knives.

\x93You do not belong with us--now go! Go away forever!\x94

A blinding light suddenly stabbed into Nariko\x92s eyes, leaving red pulses against his eyelids as he screwed them shut. The verbal torment had stopped; he opened his eyes again, squinting, and through watering, burning vision he could see that he was spotlit against the black background, exposed in an intense circle of white and held in place by the trap gnawing ever deeper into his flesh. And in the darkness, now faded by the light, was a bench of expressionless judges, men and women, forming a wall around him. Somehow he sensed that he was being watched, that behind the ring of judges were millions of horrified, disgusted human faces staring at him from the shadows, as his body began to change against his will. He screamed with the pain of trying to hold back the transformation but it proceeded beyond his control, relentlessly forcing his body into its other form. Soon a small red fox cowered trembling in the pool of light, ears flattened with fear.

\x93Go back to where you belong, kitsune!\x94 The judges\x92 mouths moved in perfect unison, the source of the deafening voice.

Nariko yelped as the edge of the circle of white burst into flames as red as his fur, he writhed and shrieked as the fire rushed inward and the iron jaws held him trapped, as the flames engulfed him, burning, burning, burning....

Nariko sat up straight in bed, breathing heavily. His nightshirt, soaked with sweat, clung uncomfortably to his slight body and the flush of a high fever reddened his cheeks.