"Ow!" Sucking on her finger, she glared at the rose she was cutting the thorns off of. "Maybe I should just stick with...what was those Makai plants Kurama likes?...Stupid rose", she muttered angrily, picking up the tiny knife again to chop off a thorn. Then she sighed in boredom and let the rose drop, before picking up a basketfull of tiny white flowers she had picked a few days ago.

Her eyebrows knit with concentration, she began threading them together into a long chain. Her mind wandered elsewhere, however. She had never been so bored in her life. Two weeks ago, there was so much to do. Explore the flowers, trees, the exotic plants. Hold conversations with Kuronue or train with Kurama. They were both gone, early this morning, before she had even woke up.

But today was the first day of her third week in Makai. It wasn't that she didn't like Kuronue or fainting after three hours of fighting with Kurama, it was just that without either one of those two around, she was bored. She didn't know where those two went all the time, disappearing off then reappearing again.

And there was one thing that bothered her. When was she to go home? Would the person who had brought her here bother to bring her home? Or would that person just leave her in Makai, forever living out her days with Kuronue and Kurama? 'That would be long days...I don't die till many years later...Many years...'

Looking down, she realized that she had made a flower chain at least three feet long and was adding more quickly. If only her new friends would come back. She was bored. She wondered where they were, what they did all these times.

A small sound of footsteps caused her to perk up with interest and throw her flower chain down. She stared at the entrance with caution, before she sighed in relief, seeing Kurama enter. As she waited for Kuronue, she noticed a change in Kurama. His eyes were once again solid, like a hard block of ice. His lips was pinched tight and his eyes were narrowed in menace. He practically ran into his room.

Saturn shrugged at Kurama's peculier behaviour. He would lighten up later that evening anyway. She turned back to the entrance and realized with a start Kuronue had not come home with Kurama, when she was sure he would.

"Where can he be?" Saturn asked herself softly.

Her eyesbrows knitted together in worry. She stood up and headed to Kurama's room. She stared in shock. Kurama's back was faced to her and he was just sitting there, as if glaring at the wall would help.

"...Kurama? Is everything alright?" she asked softly.

"Get out", a calm voice answered.

She reeled back, a bit hurt. Then she narrowed her eyes and glared at his back. "Excuse me for being concerned. Where's Kuronue?" she demanded.

There was silence as Saturn awaited his answer. When he still didn't answer when a minute had passed, she started to get scared. A fear clenched her tightly inside she almost shook in fear.

"Where is Kuronue?" she demanded in a louder voice. For some reason, tears started filling her violet eyes and her hands clenched into fists tightly by her side.

"...Shut up and get out", he stated again, turning around to glare at her in a killer glance.

Saturn gasped.

Tears ran down Kurama's cheeks, his golden eyes teary. There was such a hurt and sorrowful on his face and in his eyes that Saturn knew immediately what had happened.

"No..." she said, slamming herself against the wall of his room, that had become hers since the beginning of her arrival. "NO!" She shrieked, as she slowly slid down the wall, tears rolling down her cheeks. A sob rose in her throat.

"How...why?" she cried, curling into a ball.

"How should I know? If only he hadn't went back to get his fucking pendant..." Kurama muttered, glaring at Saturn with a hateful glance.

"You don't know what the pendant means to Kuronue. How can you have just left him there? How could you?"

"He told me to go! He told me to go!"

"You could have tried to save him! I could've healed him!"

"What?" Kurama turned to stare at her in bewilderment.

Saturn shook her head furiously, refusing to meet Kurama's hard gaze. "I have the ability to heal. Why didn't you save him! I could've healed him!"

"If I had stayed, I would've been killed! He told me to go!"

"Shut up...just be quiet..." Saturn moaned, staring straight at him with teary eyes. "You were with him...You both were out stealing, weren't you?...Why didn't you tell me?" she protested, glaring at the youko.

"Nobody could've saved him and that's that, okay?"

"No! It's not that's that!" Saturn cried. She turned and ran out of the room, out of the lair, out of the forest. She couldn't take this. Just this yesterday night, she had greeted Kuronue goodnight. And now he was gone - forever? Gone, without ever coming back.

No more of those friendly talks. No more telling Kuronue what was bothering her. No more seeing his friendly smile and cheerful greeting. Why? What was the reason? Didn't the Fates have justice? Why take Kuronue away so soon? It was just so unfair!

She increased her speed, wanting to get away from everything. She wanted to get away from Kurama's refusal to believe that Kuronue could've been saved, that he had actually listened to him to run away. She flatly refused to believe Kuronue was dead!

She stopped suddenly, realizing she had indeed ran out of the forest. 'That was quick...' she thought before looking around where she was. A village was far off in the distance and she widened her eyes and she screamed in outrage and disgust.

The body of Kuronue was hung on a pole in the middle of the village, his body swinging in the rhythm of the wind. A peaceful look was on his face but his body was bloody and gorged.

Saturn widened her eyes and she felt her power rising quickly, too quickly for her to stop. Then all was black.

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

"What happened?" Usagi asked anxiously, her eyes wide with a certain fear. She knew as well as all the others what would happen if Hotaru lost control.

Hotaru frowned and looked away. "I killed". Two simple words almost made herself recoil in disgust.

"It serves those people right! How could they do that!" Minako said, disgust dripping in her voice.

"They deserved it, Hotaru-chan. Even though you shouldn't have lost control...What they did...is just sick!" Ami said, a scowl on her face like no other expression.

"Yeah, Hotaru. Don't beat yourself over it", Makoto said, smiling wryly in an encouraging way.

"I know it's really weird for us to say something like this but they shouldn't have done that. You only avenged your friend. And your best friend at that", Michiru said in her calm soothing voice.

Hotaru's violet eyes filled with tears. She cracked a small smile. "Arigatou, minna-chan. But after that...I found Kuronue's pendant. It was just lying on the ground in the middle of the wreckage. And then, somehow, I knew it was time to go. I had had enough of this world. My first view of Makai had been beautiful, but now it only filled me with hatred and pain. But the most amazing is that I heard Kuronue's last words. It was like his soul was trying to tell me that it wasn't Kurama's fault, he did tell him to go. He told me to keep the pendant but don't leave without saying goodbye. Then he was gone...I went back to the lair and left my payment of the last few weeks for Kurama, my choker and this really heavy silver bracelet...And then I walked away. I walked for days, before the energy whisked me away and suddenly, I was in my bed on Saturn...And it seemed like a dream, because no one noticed I was gone...But then I was wearing this..."

Hotaru reached inside her shirt and pulled out a small pendant. The senshi gasped.

"Is that Kuronue's pendant? You still have it?" Rei asked in awe. Hotaru nodded.

"I went back to the Saturn Ruins a fews years before Crystal Tokyo was fully constructed and retrieved this. It was hanging in this broken music jewelry box I used to keep it in", Hotaru explained.

"So, it's over? You never saw Kurama or Kuronue again?" Setsuna asked calmly. Hotaru shook her head in despair.

"Let's see your picture", Haruka spoke up and peered over her shoulder.

"That's Kurama...You still haven't told us what you thought about him", Minako teased.

Hotaru smiled at thoughtfully and looked away. "I did blame him slightly for Kuronue's death...But after what Kuronue said, I just had mixed feeling. Now that I had a few centuries to consider my feelings, I realize that I did like him, he was my friend. But if you're looking for anything romantic, Minako-chan, you asking the wrong person. I was ten and I just can't feel anything like that for Kurama. Until we meet again", Hotaru said, smiling a bit.

"Hey, I think it's time for bed, you guys? It's nearly midnight", Rei said, yawning a bit.

"Yeah. You guys go, Setsuna and I still have something to discuss. Oyasumi nasai, minna-chan", Usagi said and everyone headed out of the room, bidding the same greeting to Usagi and Setsuna.

Hotaru was the last one to leave and she placed her drawing down onto the table. "Oyasumi, Setsuna-chan, Usagi-sama", Hotaru murmured softly and headed to her room, with a last lingering glance at her drawing.

"Oyasumi nasai, Hota-chan, and domo arigatou for the wonderful tale. I know how it feels to go back to the past...and remember things you want to forget", Usagi said, with a small smile.

Hotaru shook her head. "Ne, Usagi-sama, I never want to forget Kuronue...and Kurama. I did love him, Usagi-sama, to an extent. It wasn't a parent thing or a sibling relationship, it was deeper then that". With those last words, she left the room to head to bed.

That night, she dreamed of a white haired youko. What would it be like to see him again? Hmmm...

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

"So Saturn ran out of the lair and you never saw her again? But you found her choker and this bracelet outside and you heard later that a little girl with short black hair and glowing eyes destroyed the village that you were trying to steal the Mirror of Truth from?" Yuusuke asked, his mouth agape.

Kurama nodded.

"She must've returned home then", Botan chirped.

"Or she might have roamed Makai, forever alone..." Kuwabara trailed off in a melodramatic voice.

Everyone stared at him.

"What? It could have happened", Kuwabara said, shrugging sheepishly.

"Well, you know this little girl, Saturn, Kurama-kun? How'd you feel about her? Like, did you think of her as a sibling or something?" Keiko asked curiously.

"I was...fond of her back then. But now that I think about it, she was special. She was just a little girl, so it wasn't love. I think it was deeper then a parental or sibling relationship. It was different then that. It just wasn't that kind of love. Perhaps, if there ever was a chance, we met again. But that would be impossible, she must be dead by now", Kurama said, with a small smile.

Yukina yawned slightly then.

"Which reminds me, we should get to bed. I'm sure all of us our pretty sleepy", Shizuru said, standing up, stretching a bit.

"Yeah, let's", Yuusuke said, heading towards the stairs to go to the second floor.

"Oyasumi, Kurama-kun", Botan chirped as she bounded up the steps after Yuusuke. Everyone followed and said the same to Kurama. When the room was once again empty, Kurama sighed.

"What if I met her again? What if I met Saturn again? Really, what would happen?"

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

*owari*


This was only an experiment. I was just wondering how I'd do if I wrote a fanfic with someone telling the story. And I managed to make this a non-romance too. The last bits and pieces Hotaru and Kurama said was sweet, wasn't it? I can't believe I wrote it.

I like reviews. I REALLY like reviews. So if you know what I'm implying here...Well, you'd probably know what to do if you like this story.

By the way, if some of you really want Kurama and Saturn to meet again, then vote if you want a sequel or not. I already have an idea for the sequel and even have the prologue written out. But I'm just looking out for suggestions if I should do it or not. Please reply!

(Would this story fit better in the SM, SM crossovers, Anime crossovers, or YYH section? I'm not sure which one is better. Please give me your opinion ^-^;;)

(Oh yes, *I swear, the last thing mentioned* I need a new title. Future Meets Past would fit the sequel better, but this story is NOT future meets past. Saturn's time and Youko Kurama's time was both a thousand years ago. Anyway, help me think of a new title please. Put it in your review)

--Ketsuki