"Are you sure?" Rei asked, hesitant. "You're in no condition to go anywhere."

"Just get me to the rest of the Scouts, at least!" Sakura growled.

Then she sighed and looked at her fellow scout with sad eyes and said that she had a feeling that she knew what happened to Sailor Venus. The Scout of the Night launched into her story of when she attempted a dream walk to Takuya's mind and told of his ominous last words before being released. Rei's violet eyes widened. It would explain the odd feeling she had while she had been working on healing her friend. He was no ordinary human, that was for sure. Sure, she had run into other psychics in her lifetime but not one who was as developed as Ikeda Takuya.

Our enemy is a human...a gifted one.

A human. The Sailor Scouts had dealt with humans in the past but not one who was so gifted...and one who seemed to be a killer.


With the help of from a certain outer scout, they were at the palace in no time. The queen offered Sakura a bed but she refused. Once more, she recounted everything that had happened leading up to the psychic attack on her. She recalled his ominous words before Takuya had released her from the dream realm.

"Do you think he could be the killer?" Jupiter asked.

Sakura didn't reply. She couldn't be sure but those last words he left her with made her think that he was. Rei, on the other hand, felt sure that he was. She revealed to everyone about what she had seen in the Great Fire on the night Sakura had her nightmare. Everyone gasped when she told that she had seen Sailor Night disappearing with him into the darkness. One possible reason came to mind.

"It's because he knows that I'm a Sailor Scout. His dream walking abilities allowed him to explore my secrets." The young woman said.

Neo-Queen Serenity frowned in worry. A human with those kinds of abilities was really dangerous. This definitely presented an issue as far as her Sailor Scouts went. They all lived separate lives and often split up. He could expose their identities to the world for one thing. What else could he use to his advantage? Furthermore, there was the matter of the missing Sailor Venus. Even though Sailor Pluto had essentially confirmed it, she refused to believe that she was dead until she found further proof.

"Please, your highness," Sakura begged. "Let me be the one to track him down. I know what to look for."

The reigning monarch was reluctant to let her go. Her dark scout wasn't fully recovered! Furthermore, if this Takuya had gifts to pull her into the dream realm, what's to keep him from preying on her again? To be truthful, she was surprised that her attacker had allowed her to leave the dream world. Why did he? He could have killed her there! Then she thought about the man's ominous words he had left with Sakura.

"Careful. You just might end up dead like the other girls."

Her mind was going a million miles a minute. Nothing seemed to be adding up. She needed to clear her mind and think.


Takuya had been right. The night before, he had dream walked into Aino Minako's mind and traversed her internal dream realm. He found many interesting things about her, including her career as Sailor V and as Sailor Venus. He had to admit that if he hadn't dug around and come across her secret identity, he would have just passed her off as a worthless target. He also discovered that she wanted to be a model and had just signed on with someone. As such, using this information, he posed as an agent wanting to take private photo shoots. Minako took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

He didn't think that she would be that foolish but she had been. Tormenting her about the kind of things that he would do to her friends had been satisfying and even more so when he saw the life leave her eyes. Manner of death: asphyxiation. He left the rest of her body pristine as possible. She had struggled quite a bit when she realized what he was going to do to her. It was unfortunate that there were more bruises left on her but what could he have done? Ah well. He left her body in a place where it wouldn't be found for awhile.

Who shall I target next?

The man pulled up pictures of his potential victims. He knew he wouldn't find much information on Sakura's friends on the internet, save for one Mizuno Ami. What he had found on her had saved him a trip into her dream world (though there was another thing he needed to know about her). It definitely helped that she was well known for her genius and that her parents were just as well known in their respective fields. Now, all he had to do was find a way to get her to him, which shouldn't be to difficult. In the meantime, Takuya pulled out his cell phone and made a call to one of his guys.

Sir?

"Do me a favor. Find Adachi Sakura's cell phone number."

Done.

Takuya hung up. He had some planning (and taunting) he needed to do. He left Sakura's picture up on his monitor and smiled. She would be the last one out of her friends for him to prey on. He always saved the best for last. Breaking her would be such a treat.