"Please be alright, Venus."

Sakura couldn't get rid of the horrible dread she felt in her chest. She got that dreadful feeling if someone, particularly one of her friends, had been killed. Despite how weak she felt, she pushed herself to where Venus had been last seen, which was close to the countryside. There was still a residue of her energy in the vicinity before she had been killed, which helped the young Scout of the Night to pinpoint that particular area. It was a very lonely place, save for a house that looked rather...old. How Takuya convinced Venus to come here, she would never know. Venus might have been an airhead at times but even this place would have made her turn the other way.

'Definitely the kind of place to not travel alone to.'

The young sailor scout shook those thoughts away and searched the area around the house. It was all wet and muddy, her boots splashing in small puddles lying here and there. The area appeared to be an old construction site of some sort that was probably abandoned and the house must have served as an HQ of sorts. Sakura came across tire tracks and among those tracks, something shiny had caught her eye. Her breath caught as she realized what it was.

"Venus's power stick."

Sailor Night kneeled down and picked it up. The handle was cracked but it still held power to it. There was no sign of a struggle here so she must have dropped it and possibly stepped on it. She slipped the power stick into her suit and continued on to the house. As soon as she stepped inside, exhaustion hit the young woman. She knew that she was taking a big risk with her health by investigating this particular case as Sailor Night. Transforming into a Sailor Scout always took energy from her but since she hadn't completely recovered from being drained, she was taking a huge chance. Also, teleporting herself here also took a bit out of her.

I need to keep moving.

She looked around the first floor of the house and saw absolutely nothing. It was completely empty. The second floor was another story. There was evidence of a struggle...a big struggle. Glass from a nearby window was broken but no blood. The few pieces of furniture that had been in the room had been upturned or broken. Sakura frowned. Sailor Venus must have realized that she had been led into a trap and tried to get out of it. Of course, she had lost her power stick and that had doomed her.

You probably fought tooth and nail, Venus.

That bastard got to her. Sakura smashed her fist through the wall in anger before falling to her knees. She had failed her friend and companion. The Scout of the Night stayed where she was. She didn't want to go back to Neo-Queen Serenity and report what she found but there was one more thing that she had to look for: the body itself. For the first time since arriving, Sakura realized how cool and dank it was in the place. That meant the body hadn't started the decomposition process...if the body was even here, that is.

Alright then.

Sakura knew she had to save her energy so she started searching the rest of the rooms in the house. She searched all the nooks and crannies of the house and found nothing. She went back outside of the house and searched the grassy areas. Still nothing. The crawlspace beneath the house was the only other place she hadn't checked and dread clenched her heart. She got down and pulled rotten boards away from the foundation of the house. The first thing that hit her nose was rather familiar to her.

"Her perfume."

Using her enhanced vision, she crawled into the space and she saw strands of blonde hair almost right away. A red bow lay in the mud and Sakura's heart stopped when she saw blank, terrified eyes staring back at her. Blue eyes that once held vitality were filled with terror. Sakura checked the rest of her friend for external wounds and saw fading bruises on her neck. The bastard had strangled her.

"Venus."

Nearly out of energy, the young woman crawled out of the space and sat against the wall of the house. She powered down and sobbed, despair rolling off of her in waves. Rain began to fall before she finally pulled her communicator and contacted her superior.

"I found her."

Takuya wasn't disappointed. He had expected his little guardian to go out and search for her missing companion. He wasn't surprised by the fact that she had found her friend, either. He had, indeed, expected her to come across the blonde's dead body. She did exactly as he hoped she would and she didn't fail him.

"Good girl."

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed her cell phone number. Her sad, melodic, voice filled his ears. It was a balm to the raging beast inside him.

"Hello?"

"Who shall I target next?"

Sakura couldn't believe this! He had found her number and was now calling to taunt her! Rage began to bubble inside her before it finally boiled over.

"You monster...YOU MONSTER!"

"Now, now, sweet one. I'm just getting started."

"Stop it! STOP IT NOW!"

"How about that little Mizuno girl? She has lots of dreams and aspirations."

"GODDAMNIT! STOP IT!"

"I think she'll do, don't you think?"

Sakura's anger and hatred had rendered her speechless. She hung up her phone and immediately contacted the Scout of Water, Sailor Mercury. She would be damned if she lost another friend to that fucking bastard.

"Watch your back, Mercury."