A/N: We're going back in time a bit so bear with me; queue the flashback/dream sequence!

Keiko Tomoe fingered the crystal that hung from around her neck. It was a rather large crystal, rather intricately designed with all its points and odd shape; it definitely wasn't a piece you'd see people wearing out on the streets. Still, the crystal was extremely precious to her...a gift from her husband Souichi. She rarely went anywhere without it although she didn't always wear it, the crystal being a little too awkwardly shaped for everyday wear in which case she would keep it tucked into her purse or jewelry box or generally somewhere close and convenient.

Souichi told her that he'd found the crystal and bought it more on a whim than anything else, saying that the way it sparkled in the sunlight reminded him of her eyes and smile. She was so happy when he gave it to her, especially since his return marked the end of his trip with one his oh-so-many science communities. She hated being alone in such a big house. She'd been pondering ways to tell him that ever since she'd become pregnant but never got the chance. Souichi had, of course, gone to great lengths to insure his house was well-protected with security systems regardless; couldn't have someone breaking in and stealing his research, especially not when he was getting closer to the title of authority on genetic researching.

Still, Keiko found herself feeling uneasy...scared, like a force was looming over the house. She for one never believed in the supernatural and immediately ruled that option out first. She ruled out the baby secondly...pregnancy was a very natural thing, and while she was scared at the idea of becoming a mother that just wasn't it either. She couldn't put any unneeded stress on the baby and tried to quell her fears. Mostly, she was just glad that Souichi had returned and would be staying for awhile.

She loved to wear the crystal when he was away, she felt that it kept them closer together. It...calmed her. But as soon as all of his traveling luggage was inside the house, she took off the crystal and laid it safely inside her jewelry box for the next time.

Even with the crystal's calming effects and Souichi's return, she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she felt.

She awoke alone, her lungs full of smoke and the air filled with flames. She choked, gasping for air as she fell from her bed. Closer to the floor, the air had filled out and no smoke remained, allowing her to deeply breathe in gracious gulps of air.

The house was on fire.

Her first thought was Hotaru, the small girl supposedly asleep in her bedroom down the hall.

Keiko herself was in the guest room, a mild squabble between her and Souichi had forced her into sleeping here for the night and locking the door. How could this have happened? Was the stove on? Was there an arsonist in the neighborhood? All of these thoughts and many more plagued her as she scrambled across the floor and headed towards the door. Without thinking, she reached out for the knob and burnt her hand, immediately pulling back in pain with a yelp.

Looking around the room, she searched for something to use...if she wrapped the bedsheets tightly enough around her fingers she should be able to unlock the door and gain exit. The sheets had miraculously been untouched by the flames and she quickly wound the thinnest part of it around her hands multiple times until they looked bulbous and unnatural. The knob was no longer hot to her hands, the sheets absorbing most of the heat, and with a ram of her weight against the door, forced it open.

The house was completely ablaze. The air was caked with black smoke, flames crawled and pooled all over making any step made a cautious and dangerous one.

"Hotaru!" she called out raspy, a forearm coming to cover her eyes. Almost immediately did she start to unwind the bed sheets from her hand and discard them, they would only serve to ignite her should she stray too close to the fire. Besides, Hotaru's door was always open due to the girl's fear of the darkness. "Hotaru!" she called again, stumbling her way through the corridor, never once thinking that the child may have escaped on her own or that her husband might have rescued her...a maternal instinct is a powerful thing.

Making it to the girl's room, Keiko coughed and sputtered again, the smoke near overwhelming by now. The room was empty, the woman able to see the turned back covers despite the poor viewing situation. Souichi must have taken her, the woman sighed in relief, now determined to make her own way out of the house...there just wasn't any way she could have left without knowing that her child was safe.

She was so close, just make it down the stairs, through the living room, and then out the door to safety and freedom with her family. The smoke was going to take its toll on her lungs but she didn't mind...Hotaru was safe, that meant Souichi had to be safe too.

A single step on the stairs was all she remembered after that. A single step onto the staircase and the sound of creaking wood before the structure collapsed and took her down with it.

Hotaru awoke with a gasp, sitting upright in bed, her face stricken with pure horror. Sweat had beaded along her forehead and tears poured freely from her eyes.

The woman in the dream had been her mother. Not her true mother perhaps, but the human mother who had given birth to her reincarnation. Although they had not been granted much time together while the woman was alive, Hotaru loved her...how could she not?

"Oh..." she moaned, crawling out from under her covers and doubling over, burying her face into the sheets. She cried long and deep, crying out 'mama' as she did so...this feeling in her chest was so painful. Why show her all of this? What was this going to accomplish other than making her feel deep pain? She had always known how her human mother had passed...it didn't mean however that she knew exactly how or was able to feel how the woman felt in her last minutes. If it...if it weren't for her than maybe her mother would be...

Hotaru arose from the covers for a breath of air, her face a wet mess from sobbing uncontrollably. She kept a box of tissues by her bedside and turned to reach for one, a note catching her eye as she did so. Wiping her eyes, she unfolded the note to find information that had been written in Setsuna's unmistakeable hand. It was about the stone from her previous dream although Hotaru wondered what good it would do her now. She might as well read it at least since Setsuna did go to the trouble of entertaining her bizarre dream.

With a flick of the switch, she turned the bed side lamp on. The note was short and to the point, saying the stone in question was most likely a gem called a hiruseki stone. It was strange that the note was as short as it was...almost like Setsuna wasn't telling her something. That was silly to think about since Setsuna practically knew everything about anything. Maybe she just wanted Hotaru to go off and search on her own...like some kind of test.

Unlike yesterday, she had awoken quite early, the only bad thing being was that this was now the weekend. She certainly didn't plan on going back to sleep or any earlier than she needed too...there was no telling what she'd see in her dreams this time. And...why were these dreams even coming to her? These dreams were personal, they sparked no warning of global danger or a threat to humanity; there was only a strange stone, a mysterious boy, and the death of her human mother she'd come to grips with as a child. None of it really made sense. Maybe if she found out a little more about this stone and what it was connected to, then maybe it would help connect her own missing pieces.

After lunch, she headed out to town to begin her research. The library, while one of her favorite places, would probably have very little about hiruseki stones although it was worth a try. Gemology had never really caught her interest...she didn't really care for gemstones in the same sense that most girls did. She knew her birthstone and all, had a set of earrings that she normally wore that didn't have any kind of gem attached to them...the only two important 'gemstones' were her Saturn crystal and due to her duty, the ginzuishou.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to look here...she would start with various general pieces like encyclopedias. Nothing. Hotaru turned her attention to more concentrated volumes specifically marked as such. Still nothing.

After awhile, a library associate asked if she needed help and turned her in the direction of the foreign sections. Her English was fairly good, Setsuna being an excellent teacher, but she wasn't as proficient in other languages. If it was called a hiruseki stone in Japan...would it be known as another name in foreign countries? She didn't suspect so and found nothing for her endeavors.

Let's see...if it was a gemstone and not a regular stone or rock like she suspected then maybe a jewelry store would be the next best place to try. If her memory served correctly, there should be one right around the corner a couple of streets over. As she exited the library, her eye caught something.

It was a large group of people huddled around what looked to be a barricade of some kind...a police barricade. "Excuse me, sir?" she asked demurely, quiet, "What's going on?"

"Seems like there was some kind of accident." he answered sharply without turning around, "Ugh, some of us are going to be late for work..." he mumbled not giving the tiny girl another care or thought. Hotaru bent over in a thankful bow that the man didn't see, mouth a straight line, and turned to go the other way. She knew a short-cut around but the new store in question was a bit out of the way...she didn't have much else to do this weekend either way.

Chibi-Usa had gone back to her own time. The other senshi were hard at work with their careers or away at the college campuses they now attended. She stopped once she reached a park area, face sad and downcast as she stared up at a thin, flimsy tree. It looked like an old sakura tree that had seen better days and now with the coming of winter was losing its summer petals to the breeze. The park was strangely quiet, a place where children normally frolicked was empty and desolate now. Turning her eyes back to the pavement, she continued on her way.

This next part wouldn't exactly be called fun...she'd have to pass under a bridge, this particular one being home to an unfriendly gang she'd heard about once. She wasn't sure of the school they attended because she rarely ever ventured this far into this side of town unless there was an enemy...and that seemed like such a long time ago. All she knew was that their uniforms were blue; a stark contrast to the red and green that she usually wore. The rebuilt Mugen Gakuen had decided to keep their old uniforms despite the school's destruction and the arrival of a new owner.

Hotaru stopped again...it had been too long since she'd thought about her father. The thought alone was nearly enough to make her cry, that, along with the dream of her mother...it made her chest hurt and she clutched at it with a pale hand. He had been okay for awhile after the attack, trying to learn to live again with his lost memories. Every now and then something would pop back up and he'd remember, sometimes the force and power of what he had remembered would force the man to tears...making him question how he could have forgotten in the first place. Hotaru watched him, assuming that he was getting better everyday since he was recalling but...it was the pain and stress of not knowing that inevitable killed him. It was too much and his heart gave out. Hotaru wanted to turn and run to the graveyard where her human parents lay but...it was all the way on the other side of town now, meaning she would reach it around dark. A dark cloud threatened to pour rain overhead as well...she would definitely go tomorrow though.

Hotaru continued on knowing that as soon as she was past the bridge she would be alright...let's hope that those thugs weren't here today. She hoped for too much. As soon as she drew nearer, they fanned out from the shadows with the intention to flank her on all sides, ensuring that there was no escape.

"What's a pretty little girly like you doing all the way out here?" one asked, his snarling mouth covered by a thin, white mask; the kind normally worn to avoid sickness.

"Yeah, I didn't know little kids wondered off the beaten paths these days." another one continued to prod.

"Maybe her mommy and daddy won't find out!" yet another of the six chided, this time causing the group to break out into laughter.

Hotaru glared at their comment yet was fearful inside. She was without her henshin stick seeing no need to carry it around these days and if she ever ran into other trouble she always assumed Haruka would be there to bail her out...big mistake. If she had her henshin stick, she'd knock them all flat and be on her way...what should she do now? Risk running? No, that wouldn't work her mind decided, it would be too easy for one of them to grab her as she tried to slide between the spaces in their shoddily-formed circle. Calling for help wasn't an option either...no one would hear her since the street was up high on the embankment and no one was around down here if the empty park was any indication. Looked like she'd have to fight her way out...a dismal option as her physical fighting abilities weren't too good at all. She relied on her Silence Glaive for fights too heavily she realized.

"Hey nobody said there was gonna be a party, you should have invited me."

Hotaru turned behind her to see...another thug most likely, probably the gang leader or someone like that. No...he was different. This boy was dressed in all green with slicked back hair, a girl about his age in a blouse and skirt stood behind him.

"Yusuke!" the girl reprimanded, a hand clutching his arm, "You promised you wouldn't fight today!" Hotaru could just barely make out the boy's mumbled response...something about her needing help. Well, he was dead on, she decided nodding in their direction to show that she did indeed require help.

"Aw, who asked you?!" one of the gang members decided, rushing forward with a fist held high. The boy in green, or Yusuke as the girl called him, simply pushed the girl aside and side-stepped the punch. He made fighting look so...effortless. It reminded her a bit of Haruka. Hotaru stood in amazement as the boy took on all six at a time, knocking each one out without breaking a sweat...he didn't even get grazed.

"And that's all folks." he joked as the last one went down into the dust. Hotaru barely had time to notice as she realized the girl had run up to her.

"Hi! So sorry about that...I didn't realize you were in trouble. My name is Kayko Yukimura...and you?" she asked politely with a smile.

"It's...Hotaru...Hotaru Tomoe." she replied with a slight bow, "Thank you for saving me...I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't shown up when you did." Hotaru's lips formed into a thin smile, and although small, expressed major gratitude.

"Nah, it was nothing. Just be more careful where you're walking kid...why are you even over here anyways? Everybody knows those losers hang around here." Yusuke explained, a thumb jerked back in the direction of the other unconscious teenagers.

"Hm?" Kayko bent down beside her and picked up what looked to be a small ledger book, "Is this yours?" The book read Mugan Gakuen on the side...it must have somehow fallen out of her bag. Purses were a little too inconvenient for her but she'd found a nice small, leather bag that did the trick; it was easy to carry around and she usually draped it around her neck and opposite shoulder rather than just her left shoulder.

"Oh yes..." she responded, taking the book from the girl's hands as the other two's eyes began to widen.

"You're from...Mugen Gakuen?!" the two nearly chorused...was it really all that strange? True it was a ways out from where they were now but still...

"I heard they only teach like super nerds at that school...you gotta be a genius to get in right?"

"Yusuke! Don't be rude! Please excuse him, he's just a delinquent. But wow, I've never met anyone who's attended Mugen...is it truly as difficult as they say?"

"Not too difficult...my father used to be the owner of Mugen so I wouldn't consider myself a super genius or anything. I was just lucky to be getting a free ride." Hotaru tried to joke with a smile...it was true though, she was not required to take any entrance exam into the school, however, if a certain grade average was not met than a student was to be expelled from the school as she explained to the two teens. "And you two attend...?" Hotaru trailed off looking between the both of them; the bright-eyed girl and the slightly bored looking boy.

"Sarayashiki Jr. High...does that mean you're the same age as us?" Kayko asked, re-shouldering her own bag.

Hotaru nodded, "I'm 14...8th grade." Hotaru noticed the slight surprise on their faces again...it had to be because of her short height of 4'8'' that they had trouble believing someone short like her was their age.

"That's cool, it's too bad we don't go to the same school." Kayko laughed as Yusuke rolled his eyes in the background. "Oh well, it was nice meeting you anyhow. Try and stay out of trouble on your way home." Kayko ran to return to Yusuke's side who had already begun to head off, his interest long since lost due to the fight being over.

"Oh, uh, just a moment!" Hotaru called after them, "Could you...I'm certain that there used to be a jewelry store around here somewhere. Would you mind coming with me? I'd feel a lot safer if I had you two come with me." It might have seemed a bit rude since they had just met, but Hotaru was in no position to pass up friends...at least the girl seemed friendly anyhow.

"Sure, why not? Come on Yusuke!" Kayko ordered, grabbing a hold of his arm again, dragging him with much greater force than earlier.

"Wha-...really? Why can't you just go? I got stuff to do!" the boy argued, only causing Kayko's grip to tighten.

"Oh really? Like what?"

"Personal stuff."

"The arcade and pachinko parlor is not a personal problem!"

Hotaru smiled softly as the couple followed behind her...it was easy to tell from the way they fought that they were more than just good friends. They might not have reached the revealing stage yet, but they were certainly a couple. Their arguing made her laugh a little although she tried to hide it.

"So Tomoe-san, what exactly are you going to the jewelry store for? Buying something for someone special?" Kayko joked with a smile, coming to stand beside her. Yusuke trailed some ways after the two, grumbling and scuffing his feet as he did so.

Hotaru's cheeks tinted, "Oh no, nothing like that!" she said in a hurry, her face remaining rather calm despite the blush, "I'm looking for a certain type of gemstone...maybe you've heard of it? It's called a hiruseki stone..." Hotaru paused as she reached into the bag, pulling from within the tiny slip of paper Setsuna had left to her as a note. On the backside, there was a drawing of what the stone looked like. Nothing could really be discerned from the scribbled drawing other than its shape, which only went to prove it wasn't something obvious like a diamond.

Kayko stared at the picture, putting a hand to her chin in thought, "I honestly can't say that I have...I've never even heard of it."

"I'm hoping that the person at the store has. It's so rare and odd...when you touch it, it's as cold as ice but the feeling it gives off is also warm like fire. Isn't that strange?" Hotaru asked, tucking the paper away, her face graced with a slight smile.

By the time the trio reached the store, Hotaru and Kayko had already exchanged numbers and promised to hang out again sometime soon, Yusuke not as enthusiastic.

Tucking the information into her bag, Hotaru entered the store. It wasn't an unusual looking place, rather average with a less than happy clerk tending the store. Getting the information she required wouldn't be an easy task either way.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for something called a hiruseki stone..."

The door's bell chimed behind the girl as she left, empty-handed and none the wiser. The clerk obviously had no idea what she was talking about, not even a close idea. She'd be better off just asking random strangers off the street as the clerk had advised smugly. She supposed it couldn't really hurt to ask on her way back home.

"Excuse me..." she used the same line on nearly every passerby that would hear her out, most responses being a simple head-shake or a flat-out no.

Finally, she reached the park area again. The goons from early had high-tailed it out there it seemed and posed no threat to her. She couldn't help but wonder if they were afraid of Yusuke somehow, like he had a reputation...Kayko did say he was a delinquent but was she serious?

Heaving a sigh, she rested her body down into a swing. It had been an eventful and yet an uneventful day as well...she may have made a friend, but learned absolutely nothing about the stone. If Setsuna knew anything, she obviously didn't want to say anymore about it. Maybe it was just better if she dropped the idea altogether...

"Who are you?"

The voice startled her, rising from the swing with a surprised yelp. She turned around in confusion...how had she not heard someone sneak up on her? Well, it certainly wasn't one of the thugs from earlier...it was a boy donned all in black, about her height too.

"Who am I? What about you? It's polite to give your own name first." she retorted despite the beating in her chest, not only from the earlier shock but something in the air told her that something was different about him...off.

"You humans and your foolish customs...I have no time for this. How does someone like you know about hiruseki stones?"

She paused for a moment, realization coming over her face. "Do you know about them? Please, if you know anything at all then I need to know! I...I even have a picture, look!" Hotaru quickly dug through her bag for the scribbled drawing but as soon as she pulled it out the boy grabbed her wrist. Once again she failed to hear him getting close much less see him do it.

She winced at the grip he held on her right wrist, his own right hand coming up the snatch the paper from her. Hotaru grimaced and yelped at the bones in her wrist popped and shifted...he hadn't broken it yet but he was close. The pain was so great it might have forced her to her knees, her left hand trying to push his inhuman grip away.

"You'd do well to leave them alone, human. You have no business inquiring about those stones." Hotaru watched in surprise as the piece of paper in his hand spontaneously combusted, flickering away as black ash in the tiny breeze that wafted through the air. Before she could question how he had done that, the grip on her hand was mysteriously gone...and so was he.

She came to her senses quickly, looking around for his disappeared form but to no avail. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all...what had she gotten herself into now? Hotaru tried moving her wrist and winced...it wasn't broken but it felt like it was sprained somehow. For someone of his appearance he didn't look all that strong but she knew better than to judge someone by their appearance. But...she'd never met another human who had strength or powers like the senshi. Was he a new enemy? Did he come from a larger group of a new enemy threat? Perhaps...perhaps that's what the dream had been about. There was a new enemy that was seeking the hiruseki stones...no, it just didn't add up. She still didn't know their purpose or their value. Were they worth money then? Or did they hold some kind of power? Someone wouldn't be seeking them unless one of those two reasons were true.

The sun was sinking now, the rain clouds from earlier had quadrupled. It was time to go home, besides, she couldn't do much with this injured wrist of hers. It was likely that she wouldn't be using it anymore tonight; tomorrow morning at the earliest if she was lucky.

Setsuna hadn't exactly been thrilled to learn what had happened, focusing more on the girl's injured wrist rather than the fact that someone had accosted her for asking about the stones... Setsuna began to think as she wrapped the girl's wrist into a protective brace that had once belonged to Haruka, a product of the past when the blond-haired woman had tumbled over her bike and had walked away with nothing more than a sprained wrist.

Maybe she should have told Hotaru...but what were the chances that someone knew of that kind of stone? And if what she said had been true, and she didn't doubt Hotaru for the girl never lied due to her being so easily read, then...were there humans who knew? Or were there demons in the human world?

She would have to see about this. She hated the idea that she might have put Hotaru in danger but was even more concerned with the fact that demons might be freely crossing over into the human world. If Hotaru had been threatened for merely inquiring about those stones...what if she had run into someone who coveted them? Would she have ended up the same as that explorer? It plagued the woman greatly, still, she couldn't fully tell Hotaru about the hiruseki stones until she knew for sure.

Going straight to Makai would be a bust as no true ruler had the run of the world, it was merely a place of lawless chaos and demons running amok. She'd be lucky to find one competent enough to speak to her without threatening to eat her or some other inane threat thrown her way. Paradise and Hell were too broad a place to search and gaining access to either realm would take time, not to mention a special clearance from the Reikai, the Spirit World. It was a good a place to start as any especially if she could at least speak with King Enma.

But should she bring Hotaru along? Setsuna hated the idea of leaving her home alone should the boy come back and find her somehow. If he truly was a demon, then he certainly had the power to find her if he so chose..

"Hotaru, I'm afraid there is something we must talk about..."

A/N: Okay a few things...hopefully you guys noticed the parallel between the first and second chapter's beginning. Also, you may notice this incarnation of Hotaru isn't the happy kid I normally write about with a happy family and lots of friends (which is how I always thought her family life would be after the fight with Galaxia/Chaos). In this, Hotaru is much less expressionless, slightly sad for a lack of a better word. This is one of the only stories I've ever written where neither of her parents survived also.

I've never had so much fun writing a story, I guess because I don't normally write in such a dark tone.

Also, I switched Kayko's name spelling to the English dub version to avoid confusion so Keiko is Hotaru's mother, Kayko is the YYH character. Things will start to pick up in the next chapter.