Kiria was leaning against the wall, a book in hand. "So just what are you up to?" he asked a bit curiously. "Attacking the school, challenging Kuyou, and recruiting Tsukune, none of that was part of the original plan."
Hokuto was calmly sipping tea as he looked over some files. Organizing the students into forming patrols was taking almost as much time as running Anti-thesis. "One has to remain flexible to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. When Kuyou and his fascists attacked us that required we change our plans."
"But what are you doing with Tsukune?"
"I'm sending him to recover the Lilith Mirror for me."
Kiria looked from his book in surprise. "You went to all the trouble of recruiting him just to send him on a suicide mission?"
"It would be suicide for anyone else in our organization except you and me, but according to your report he would seem to be S-rank. He may well succeed, and if he recruits the vampire to help him the chances improve that much more."
"The original plan didn't involve the Lilith Mirror," Kiria pointed out.
"Well, I thought it would be too dangerous to recover. It wasn't worth risking our lives. But Tsukune and his group aren't part of Anti-thesis. If they get killed," he shrugged. "It's no real loss."
Kiria smiled at his friend. "And here I thought you were actually starting to like him."
"I do like him," Hokuto said. "If he survives I'd like to recruit him permanently to my side. But I won't let personal feelings influence my decisions. Success is all that really matters."
Kiria chuckled silently. Hokuto could be a real cold hearted bastard at times, but then that was something he liked about him.
XXXXXXXXXX
Glomp!
"I love you! Let's share a bed!" Yukari cried out loudly.
"Don't say things like that!" Gin shouted as he ran around desperately trying to shake off the little witch. "I told you before I'm not into little girls!"
She looked up at him with big glistening eyes. "But I'll let you do annnnnnnything!"
"Yah! Don't say that!!" He tried to pulled her off but couldn't. A young witch in love had the strength of a hundred.
From Tsukune's room he, Mizore, and Moka were watching the antics down below.
"If he does anything with that little girl," Moka said darkly. "I swear I'll kill him."
Tsukune looked at the pink haired girl in surprise. That sounded like something her inner self would say. Well I suppose the things she went through with Saizou are still with her. "I don't think anything is going to happen. Honestly it looks like Gin is totally uninterested."
"He's just a regular pervert," Mizore said. "He's not a lollicon."
"Anyway," Tsukune tried to change the subject. "I'm going to go out tonight. Are you both sure you want to help me? It's not just against the rules it's going to be dangerous too."
"If you're going to be in danger then I will definitely come with you to protect you," Mizore said.
Moka nodded fiercely. "If you need my help then I'll do whatever you ask."
Mizore glanced at the other girl keeping her face carefully blank. Whatever he asks? The image of her kissing him in the forest played in her mind. What had she whispered to him? Some sort of invitation to make her his lover? No! Tsukune would never do anything like that! She was sure of that. But she had yet to ask him what had been said between them.
Not realizing Mizore was troubled Tsukune nodded. "We'll leave the dorm at midnight, just the three of us. I don't want to put Yukari in danger and I'm not sure what Gin would say."
XXXXXXXXXX
That night the three of them snuck out of the dorms and headed into the woods. None of them realized that they did not leave unnoticed. A hidden figure followed them.
Tsukune was the one leading them. He had an old map that Hokuto had given him as a guide. Following it they eventually arrived at old ruined stone shed at the base of a hill. Entering the shed they cleared away some old rubble from the floor and soon discovered a heavy iron trap door hidden there.
"It's just like Hokuto said," Tsukune announced.
"You know I've been wondering," Mizore said. "Just how did he know about this?"
"What do you mean?" Moka asked.
"Well, why would the School Committee President know where the Chairman's secret stash of treasures were hidden?" Mizore asked.
"He probably started researching it when he realized the danger the students were in." Tsukune said.
Mizore frowned. "That seems to easy an answer. Tsukune, how much do we really know about Hokuto anyway?"
"I know he's the only one willing to stand up to Kuyou and his bunch. He's the only one who really cares about the students here. Even the Chairman seems to only see them as a means to an end. I know he's someone I want to help," Tsukune answered.
Mizore slowly nodded but continued to frown. "All that seems to be true Tsukune, but haven't I warned you before that in this place people are rarely what they seem."
Tsukune gave her an unhappy look and was about to argue with her when they all heard a loud blood curdling shriek.
"Tsuuuuukune!!" Out of the darkness a winged figure with a bright yellow sweater dived through the open roof and tackled Tsukune. He found himself being smothered as his head was pressed into the breasts beneath that yellow sweater. "Oh Tsukune my darling!! I've been so worried about you since I heard you were involved in the fight yesterday!"
"Get off my boyfriend," Mizore grabbed the bothersome succubus by the tail and yanked her off.
"Yow!" Kurumu howled. "Easy on the tail!"
"Kurumu what are you doing here?" Moka asked.
The succubus began rubbing her bruised tail. "I was just having one of my nightly flights when I spotted the three of you and decided to tag along." She grinned at them. "So is this place your little, 'love hotel?' Are you having a threesome? Can I join in and make it a foursome?"
WHAM!
Kurumu found herself on the ground following a swift punch from one of Mizore's ice claws.
"Amazing," Mizore muttered. "You're even more of a pervert that Gin."
"O.k., that's enough." Tsukune got to his feet at last able to breathe again. "I'm sorry Kurumu but it's nothing romantic at all. We're here to do something really dangerous. It would be best if you were to just go."
"Wait! You're doing something dangerous?" Kurumu asked.
"It doesn't matter," Mizore told her. "It doesn't involve you."
"It does if it involves Tsukune, after all," she suddenly had a wide smile. "He's my destined one."
"Destined one?" Moka asked.
"That's right," Kurumu announced. "Each succubus must choose a single mate worthy of fathering her children in order to guarantee the survival of the race. When I heard Tsukune had been in danger I finally realized he's the one for me!"
Mizore growled and turned dangerously towards the aqua haired girl. "Tsukune is my boyfriend and is going to marry me one day!"
Kurumu continued to smile. "Oh that's all right; I don't care if I'm the wife or the mistress as long as I get to have his children."
Mizore stood there and stared at the girl for a moment.
Then she calmly lifted her ice claws. "All right, I am going to kill you now."
XXXXXXXXXX
Somehow Tsukune and Moka were able to prevent Mizore from killing Kurumu. Kurumu had refused to leave so in the end the four of them had descended the stairs beneath the trap door together. They slowly walked down the two hundred or so steps that made up the spiraling staircase. When they got to the bottom they were at the entrance to a cave. There were no signs of any treasure so there was nothing to do but walk deeper into the cave.
"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Mizore muttered.
"Ah, Tsukune," Moka said nervously. "Maybe now would be a good time to take off the rosario?"
"Yeah, good thinking Moka-chan." He pulled off the rosario with a slight clink and Moka was transformed into her frightening vampire self.
Moka then took a deep breath of the stagnant air. "There's a scent up ahead, a very powerful one."
"Tsukune," Mizore asked. "Just what did Hokuto say was protecting this mirror?"
"All he said was that it was well protected."
The girls looked at one another nervously. But since Tsukune was pushing on they did as well.
Before long the cave suddenly expanded into a huge cavern, one so massive they could not spot the ceiling or the far wall. At the spot where the cave opened up were several yellow metal signs driven into the ground and cave walls. They were all standard, 'Beware of Dog' signs.
"You don't think he's protecting this place with just regular dogs, do you?" Tsukune asked.
"No," Moka said firmly. "The scent has a powerful youkai mixed into it."
"Why don't we wait," Kurumu offered. "I'll go get some doggy treats."
With a sigh Tsukune stepped out past the signs and into the wide cavern.
XXXXXXXXXX
"Uhm, is it just me or are there a lot of bones and skulls lying around?" Kurumu noted.
"No doubt these were people trying to steal some of the Chairman's treasures," Moka said. "Clearly they were killed and their bodies left here to rot."
"Some of the bones look like they've been chewed on," Mizore noted.
"You two aren't helping!" Kurumu said.
"There!" Tsukune said excitedly and broke into a run. "This must be the treasure!"
Right out into the middle of the cavern were stacks and stacks of various items. There were piles of gold coins and jewels scattered all about. There were heaps of ancient scrolls and leather clad books, all of them covered in runes that none of them could read. There were several large chests, all open and unlocked filled with even more gold and treasure. There were also swords, axes, suits of armor, rods, staffs and all sorts of other things lying all around.
Tsukune looked about ad found what he was looking for half buried under some gold coins. It was a round leather case in a circular shape. He opened it just enough to confirm there really was a mirror inside and closed the case again. Hokuto had warned him not to look directly into the mirror. As he tucked the mirror beneath an arm something else caught his eye. A ring, made half of gold and half of silver. He wasn't sure why but there was something about it that interested him. Well I'm stealing one thing; does it matter if I take two? Not trying to justify it too hard he scooped up the ring and a few gold coins and shoved them in a pocket.
He was not the only one helping themselves.
"Yahoo!" Kurumu shouted happily and began loading up in jewelry. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones entered her possession.
Mizore saw a number of gold chains and rings and helped herself. She might need a favor from Saki in the future after all. Along with the chains and rings a small gold lamp was also taken.
Moka had no interest in gold or gems but she did take a look at the swords and other weapons. For some reason she could not explain her eyes were drawn to a barbed whip that was lying curled up by a suit of armor. She took the whip and expertly let it fly with a loud satisfying, 'crack!' She could feel the power of it within her hand. This was no ordinary weapon. With a nod of her head she tucked it away.
They were just about done when a loud roar echoed through the cavern. The four of them froze and looked up. From a far end of the cavern six glowing red eyes glared at them.
"I think we should leave now," Mizore said.
"Everybody run!" Tsukune shouted.
He, Mizore, and Moka ran for the distant cave entrance while Kurumu spread her wings and took off into the air. As they struggled to get away they felt the ground shake as the massive three headed dog growled and began to give chase.
"Cerberus," Moka said, not sounding panicked.
"Isn't he supposed to be a legend?" Tsukune panted.
"Vampires and most monsters are supposed to be legend too." Moka said.
Running as fast as they could it was quickly obvious there was no chance of reaching the cave entrance before the huge monstrous dog would catch them up.
With a pivot step Moka reversed her direction, heading away from the cave entrance and towards the huge monster.
"Moka!" Tsukune shouted.
"Keep running," she shouted back. "There's no reason for all of us to die here."
XXXXXXXXXX
As she approached the huge beast it skidded to a halt. The central head opened its mouth and spat out a stream of fire. Leaping into the air she just avoided the flames. "Even if you are a creature out of legend, know your place!" Coming down she delivered a ferocious kick right to the forehead of the middle head. That head whimpered a bit at the strike but was not truly hurt. The other two continued to bark fiercely.
Not good, she thought. She had delivered a powerful kick with no real effect. Following the kick she landed on the ground behind Cerberus, forcing the great dog to completely turn around. At least I have all of his attention; the others should be able to escape.
Rather than try to burn her the individual heads snapped at her trying to bite her in two. It was only thanks to her great speed and athletic skill that she was able to dodge and keep away from those huge fangs.
As she was dodging a bite the head on the right opened up its jaws to spit fire. Before it could though the entire head was frozen in a block of ice.
Looking over she saw to her dismay both Tsukune and Mizore charging the back of the creature. "What are you idiots doing?" Moka shouted at them. "I told you to get out of here!"
"Like we would really ever abandon you," Tsukune called back.
Kurumu flew down and raked the monster's back with her nails as Mizore was firing off ice kunai.
The head on the right shattered the ice encasing it and howled in fury. The individual attacks seemed to have no effect but to enrage it. The huge dog turned about to now face Tsukune and Mizore. The middle and left lead opened their mouths and two huge gouts of fire streamed out.
Before the flames could reach them a wall of ice appeared to shield the two of them. The fires reduced it to water almost instantly but more and more ice materialized to hold the flames at bay. When the flames finally came to a halt Cerberus leapt forward with all three heads snapping hungrily.
All around Tsukune twenty ice clones suddenly appeared and as one they charged. Not able to tell the real from the false the jaws came down and began biting the various Tsukunes and shattering them.
Meanwhile the genuine article was able to get close enough to leap onto and grab one of the huge paws.
"Tsukune what are you doing?!" Mizore screamed when she realized it was him and not a clone. "Get away from him!"
"I know what I'm doing!" He yelled back to her.
Mizore, Moka, and Kurumu all charged in desperate to draw off the great monster's attention before he noticed the insane boy.
But to their surprise the three heads suddenly began to howl in what sounded like pain. They watched as the beast began to stumble as the leg Tsukune was on refused to move, as though it were numb. After another moment Cerberus gave out another howl and then fell over onto its side. The eyes closed as the monster was still alive, but apparently unable to move.
The girls all stood there in awe as Tsukune leapt off and ran towards them.
"Yahoo! Tsukune how did you do that?! You were totally amazing!"
"Yes how did you do that?" Mizore asked.
As he approached them he was no longer in snow boy form. He appeared human and seemed to be flushed and coated in sweat. "I just…" he stumbled and collapsed.
"Tsukune!" Mizore was the first to reach him. She put a hand on his forehead. "He's burning up!" She turned to Kurumu. "Get him to the infirmary as fast as you can!"
"I'll get him there as fast as I can!" She took his limp form into her arms and flew off without another word.