Okay, okay, due to popular demand I'm starting this out way earlier than I honestly meant to, so don't be surprised if it gets revised like a sonnuva youkai, okay? Here it is, the prologue to the third of my Season Tales, Summer Avalon.

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In the distance of my vision

There stands a stranger all alone.

Who balances against 'forever'

A carved and polished marble stone.

Their hair is long and black as sinning,

In their eyes are suns of gold.

Bent long with the weight of searching

Until the very hells grow cold.

"Stop him!" The fugitive glances back over his shoulder, wind of his flight sending strands of ink-black hair across his face and into the almond-shaped metallic eyes. A fanged grin parts chapped lips, teeth yellow with neglect, and he pumps his legs harder in his sprint down the hallways.

The ones behind him are known as the Goon Squad, so-called because every member of said squad is a member of the race called 'goons'. In the current day they could be known as trolls--heavy torso with long arms supporting massive hands, equally massive legs jointed and furred like jackals. They're faster than one might expect from their build, but even so they are unable to keep up with the fleeing criminal.

"Halt! In the name of Reikai and King Enma!"

"Like hell I'll stop," the runner growls in response to that particular hail as he bursts out of a side door and races across rocky terrain. "I've got somewhere else to be." His lungs fill with appreciation for the first fresh air he's breathed in nearly four centuries, authorities scattering before the force of his passage. He's built a near-solid wall of air before him, very close to breaking the sound barrier in his mad dash for freedom.

The high cliff guarding the edge of the territory claimed by the Palace of Reikai, King Enma and his toddler son, looms less than a mile away. His feet never slow, though he'll reach it in a mere second or two, even with a black blur abruptly beside him and easily keeping pace.

Gold eyes meet garnet ones--the escapee recognizes Hiei Jaganshi, one of the worst criminals in the history of the three worlds, now an unwilling employee to the child-prince. The fire apparition stops at the edge, but with a jubilant howl and a triumphant grin at the startled Hiei, the black fox flings himself into space.

----

"Remember! I'll look for you, I swear it! Don't forget the--"

"Damn you, Avalon!"

With a strangled gasp the dreamer awakens, floundering out of her bedding's embrace as the dream--nightmare!--shatters once again at the furious shout. It's been almost a week since she turned seventeen and the dreams have been coming nightly, making her fear sleep and what it brings. It's made rest scarce, and she is exhausted.

With cinnamon eyes sore and red from weeping in phantom pain, she looks up out the window to where the waxing moon hangs in the sky above nearby trees, throwing everything into high relief. A glance over at her alarm clock reveals '3:42' in calm blue light.

She groans as she once more sinks into her pillows, wanting nothing more than one decent night's sleep. As oblivion once more swallows her worn consciousness, she prays to whoever's listening that the dream will not be having an encore tonight.

----

"What's the report, Hiei?"

"An apparent suicide but the Goons haven't found a body yet. I would assume he's fled to the Ningenkai in an attempt to hide. It's a movement popular with foxes these days."

"Indeed. All right, Hiei, there's your mission for now. Please perform it with your usual efficiency."

"Hn. So I am to play hide-and-seek with a petty criminal, is that it?"

"Don't underestimate him, Hiei. The 'ragged Avalon' in no petty criminal. He's almost on par with your Kasai personae."

"Hn. I highly doubt that."

"Hiei, please, just go. This is causing me a massive load of paperwork and I need to get through it before dawn."

"So be it, Koenma. Enjoy your stamping."

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There we go! PS. Bokuden, try emailing me the address or put spaces in it, else I'll never get it. Reviews are a bitch that way. Now lemme alone so I can write! n,.,n--! Death-threats are welcome (they make me feel loved!) but ignored.