Saturn woke up early - just as the sun was rising. She climbed out of the minature bed and quietly crept out of the room, making sure that she did not disturb the sleeping Youko Kurama.

She could see Kuronue just heading out of the lair, which sent her into a panic. What if Kuronue left and she was left alone to deal with Youko Kurama?

"Where are you going, Kuronue?" Saturn asked, staring up at him innocently.

Kuronue glanced behind him and gave Saturn a grin. "Just out to do an errand. Don't worry, Saturn, Kurama won't kill you".

"But do I have to leave now? I really don't have anywhere to go and I'm not familiar with this place. Surely Kurama would demand for my riches and then kick me out", Saturn exclaimed, her eyes glancing down at her shoes miserably. She sighed, suddenly feeling rather lonely.

"He won't, don't worry. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's taken a liking to you. As long as you don't bother him, he won't bother you. See you around, Saturn", Kuronue said simply before taking his leave, leaving a very confused Saturn behind.

She walked to the edge of the tiny room and sat down on a pile of confortable leaves, seemingly deep in thought. Pulling her right sleeve way up to her shoulder, she stared at the silver armlet. Thank goodness she did not take it off before the walk in the gardens. And she also had an anklet, the same kind of silver. With the choker, it must be enough for her payment.

She let the sleeve drop and sighed. This place had been so fascinating yesterday, was quickly becoming very boring and lonely. For one, there was absolutely no one to talk to, and even if there were, they'd probably not pay any attention to her.

The lair was beautiful, that was for sure. Maybe in the serenity of this place, she could practise her power. After all, she had nothing to do and it was better then just sitting here, wasting time when she could be training.

With that decided, she crossed her legs and kept her hands her knees and she squeezed her eyes tight, concentrating like she had since she was five. She dived deep into herself, searching for the power she knew to be hidden inside. The usual spark of energy she was all too familiar with.

She found it almost immediately, and sought to enlarge it. She tried to will the power forward and could feel it spreading to her limbs. She let it out of her body, and could feel the aura that now should be surrounding her body.

However, she was surprised to feel how easy it was now to bring her power to the surface. Usually, on Saturn, it would take so long to will her energy forward and after she had gotten it released, she would collapse right after.

Suddenly, a sudden thought struck her and her power diminished, quickly residing itself back into her body. She sighed, and slumped forward. Every time she practised her power, she had to release it afterwards or else she would have too much energy stored inside her. Therefore, if she had trained her powers now, she would have to release the power later or keep it bottled up. Then it'll erupt whenever it wanted, if she kept it inside her for a long time.

Just for letting her energy come out for a second, she had to free some energy inside her before it got to huge. It was because that she hadn't gotten full control of her power. She had never been taught how to use this extra energy to use it as an attack. She won't learn till she was at an age of thirteen.

"What kind of energy was that?"

A voice made her look up and saw the glare of Youko Kurama resting on her. She shrank back in fear but answered.

"It is the power of a Saturnarian. It's my life energy", Saturn explained in a soft voice.

Kurama smirked. "Care to show me your 'life energy' again?"

Saturn stared at him incredulously. "Excuse me?"

"You know how to fight, correct?"

Saturn narrowed her eyes in suspicion and glared up at him. "Yes, I do. And what does that have to do with anything?" she said, standing up to meet his gaze defiantly.

"Care to take me on?" he asked, throwing her an obnoxious grin.

Saturn looked away, thinking it over. She could lose - Youko Kurama may even kill her. But there was one thing she could get out of this - and that was precious experience. All her other trainers know of her abilities and limitations and always go easy on her. This would be her first battle with a real opponent.

She turned back to Kurama. "Do you think I have the ability to defeat you?" she asked, seriousness written all over her face.

Kurama shrugged in response. "Maybe".

Saturn then scowled. "Fine. But you should know just how much a ten year old can take. Don't think you can kill me when you've weakened me. There is something about me you will never comprehend", she declared, loud and clear.

Kurama snorted in amusement and turned away. "Alright, whatever you say, little Saturn. Let's go then", he said simply before heading out the entrance.

"Where're we doing?" Saturn asked, deeply puzzled.

"My training ground. We'll fight there", he replied curtly and they walked with silence.

It was then did Saturn realize that she no longer felt threatened when near the infamous Youko Kurama.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the time of Crystal Tokyo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He challenged you to a fight? But - you were ten years old!" Minako protested, looking totally incredulous.

"Yes, but he had a reason. And if you think it's inappropriate for ten year olds to fight, I accepted the challenge, so it was as much my fault as his. Of course, I did lose control and almost blew down the entire forest before he took me out", Hotaru said sheepishly, giggling a bit.

Everyone sweatdropped and sighed.

"So, no one won?" Rei asked.

"We really didn't care. Once the fight was over, he took me back to the lair and Kuronue said he gave him a huge yelling, but I was to disoriented to listen. I stayed unconscious for a day and woke up in the middle of the night. Kuronue gave me something to eat and I fell right back to sleep", Hotaru said, smiling brightly as she looked up from her drawing.

"So, then what happened?" Michiru asked.

"Did you stay with them?" asked Makoto.

"How did you get home?" Ami questioned, her blue eyes staring at the storyteller.

"...Something happened before I went home. It really shocked Kurama and it killed me inside as well. It wasn't until a few weeks later did it happen. I was completely devastated, because Kuronue had became a close friend. I told Kuronue many of my secrets, and in return, he told me many things about the three worlds. Kurama was always the silent one, he would sometimes spar with me and teach me a few tricks. They were really helpful, from time to time. Then it happened..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the time of modern Tokyo, Japan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Purple energy? Her life force? I've never heard of that. I thought the only types of energy is you-ki and rei-ki...So is that something like ningen-ki?" Yuusuke asked, silently wondering in his mind.

"Never mind that, did you really fight her, Kurama-kun?" Botan asked.

"She could've gotten seriously hurt!" Keiko said, frowning in disapproval.

Kurama chuckled. "Hai, I did fight her, Botan-chan. She was strong. Of course, no where near as strong as I was, but her energy was incredible. What's more, she lost control in the middle of the battle and nearly destroyed the forest before I knocked her unconscious".

"You knocked her out?" Kuwabara asked incredulously.

"It was either that or let the entire forest burn down. She was very powerful, her energy could be easily released. She told me that on Saturn, it took her a long time to bring it out, but in Makai, it only took a few seconds. She suggested it was because of her power's different adjustments to the atmosphere of Makai. After that, she stayed unconscious for a day and from then on, she stayed with us for a few weeks. I'd often spar with her and taught her a few fighting skills. She and Kuronue had also gotten pretty close so neither of us felt like driving her away", Kurama explained.

"That's so sweet! You guys are like fathers to her or brothers!" Botan squealed, stars in her eyes.

"I really wouldn't put it that way, because during a few of our training sessions, I nearly beat her to death", Kurama admitted sheepishly.

Complete silence and amazed stares.

"But it turns out she can heal herself quickly. The longest she's stayed unconscious was two days", Kurama added quickly.

More silence and more amazed stares.

"But then something happened that traumatized me. Saturn tried hard to comfort me but I just brushed her away. Then one day, she just wasn't there. She was gone, and I never saw her again", Kurama said, ending the story.

"Don't stop there! What was that thing that traumatized you so much?" Botan blurted out, the first one to get out of her shock.

"The death of Kuronue..." Hiei spoke up, who had been keeping silent ever since Kurama had began the tale.

Kurama nodded at the fire koorime. "That's right".

"Then explain in detail, Kurama-kun. Or if it's too painful..." Keiko hesitated.

Kurama smiled sadly and shook his head. "It's alright...It was just a few weeks after we sort of silently accepted Saturn...Kuronue and I were stealing the Mirror of Truth...But his pendant was ripped off and he went back to get it..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

End of Part 4