Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Rosario Vampire. I am merely twisting the creator's vision into my own dream. If the supernatural, sexuality, or violence is offensive to you, then you should not read this.

Chapter 117

The atmosphere around the school was filling with excitement. The school festival was only a few weeks away. Classes, clubs, and committees worked hard to have their projects done on time. Any time someone wanted to slack off, wanted to bemoan the extra work that was being asked of them, instead of sympathy, they were shown a frown. Any boy not working hard was scolded by the girls around him until he buckled down or ran away. The reason for the serious level of dedication was easy to identify. Aono Tsukune was inspiring his school mates.

Word of Tsukune's trip to the human world had gotten around. Speculation was fueling rumors before the weekend was over. Most people agreed that he had gone out to the human world in the line of duty, as the protector of the school. From the Drama Club information leaked out about Ken and Iris, adding to the romantic notion that Tsukune was acting to protect his friends' happiness, as well as the safety of the school's students. The fact that he was still acting as headmaster was also considered. Aono Tsukune had more responsibilities then anybody else in the school, but he was somehow finding the time and energy to look out for others personally.

It was at lunch Monday following his trip to the human world that Tsukune had lit a fire under the student body. He had been on the go all morning. The Board Chairman was finally out of bed and back in his office, but Tsukune was still working hard. He finally escaped the office to have lunch with his friends, even as his personal assistants came to him with messages, mail, problems, and progress reports.

"It looks like the festival will be a big one this year," Tsukune said to his friends as he read the latest list of updates Yuu had brought. "The classes are really putting on some good projects."

"But that means more work for the Festival Committee," Moka observed. "Are you alright with that?"

"Yes," Tsukune said with a nod. "The festival is a chance for everybody to have fun together after all, so we should all work hard for that." He paused to take Moka's hand. "Besides, this will be my last year as committee chairman for the festival. It would be nice if we had the best festival we could put together."

Tsukune's words were heard by near-by students, some of whom were in the habit of listening in on his conversations. Word quickly spread that Aono Tsukune wanted everybody to work their hardest and do their best for the School Festival. If the one person who was known to put his life on the line for the school and his school mates wanted a big festival, then his supporters would make sure it happened.

The Drama Club was producing a play about the Japanese Sun Goddess Amaterasu. It was going to be a story of how the goddess had sent her sons to rule over the world, and how her grandson fell in love with a mortal woman. Historically the Imperial Family of Japan was descended from the gods, the play would be more about romance then history.

The Photography Club was setting up a booth so people could have their picture taken in front of different back-drops. Mostly the scenes were of popular sites around Japan. For a small additional fee, the subject could pose for a picture next to a cut-out of Tsukune, and/or the rest of the Newspaper Club.

Year Two-Class Three was running a 'Test of Courage.' They had a trail mapped out and were busy hanging sheets and setting up other things to help make sure they could get the right atmosphere. During the day the class would work with their clubs, but at night they would all be giving their all for the 'Test of Courage.'

Even the Newspaper Club had an official booth. As the only member of the club not graduating at the end of the year, Kokoa had the job of recruiting members to keep the school paper going. While all of the current members of the club would be helping out with the booth as time allowed, the young vampire was going to have the biggest role. Kokoa appeared to find the idea agreeable.

As the School Festival grew closer, Tsukune seemed to be everywhere. He had to inspect booths, settle arguments about space and materials, and make sure nobody took shortcuts with safety. The Dance Committee, with Tsukune in charge, had to have the support of some of the clubs in order to get everything they needed. Some of the clubs and classes were trying to engage in some competitive espionage, and counter espionage, not to mention trying to play some pranks, so the Student Police, and their captain, had to step up patrols. Some materials and supplies had to be bought or borrowed from the local town, so the Board Chairman, or more correctly, his agent, had to check records against inventories. Tsukune was a visible presence among the students, and always appeared to by hard at work. With him putting forth so much effort, the other students couldn't help but look down on anybody trying to slack off.

XX Xx xX

Inari was surprised on her way back to the dorms Thursday evening. With the School Festival only two weeks away she was putting in long hours with the Student Police, in addition to helping out with the shrine. She was helping cover hours so some of the other girls among the Student Police could do their part for the up coming festival, trying to keep from adding any burdens on to her captain's broad shoulders. Inari was looking forward to a bath and a nap when Kumi came running towards her. It wasn't unheard of for the large twins to be apart, but Kumi's apparent urgency made Inari tense.

"Lieutenant," Kumi called out as she drew close. "I was told to come get you. It's about the Captain."

"The Captain?" Inari questioned. "Let's go."

Inari followed the larger girl towards the main school building. As she hurried forward, she could feel the youki of several strong people gathered up ahead. She was surprised when she found out that her destination was the club room for the school newspaper. Inside the room was Kumi's sister, Rumi, along with a group of young women that Inari recognized.

The club room was crowded with females. Moka stood at the front of the room, flanked by Ruby and Kurumu. Yukari was by the door, and Mizore was by the window. Half the females from the Drama Club were present, with Emmy at the head of their sub group. Karin, the head of the Love Letter Club, was also there. Sheezu and a handful of other girls From the Student Police were already gathered together. There were a few faces that Inari couldn't put a name to off the top of her head, but she saw the pattern. Every female in the room had a connection to Aono Tsukune, or was a friend of someone who did.

"That should be everyone," Moka said as Yukari closed the door. "Thank you all for coming. I called you all here because Tsukune is running himself ragged for all of our sakes, and I want you to help me to help him."

The gathering was the Aono Tsukune Fan Club, with both the senior members and the ancillary roster present. The news was not as bad as it could have been, but it wasn't good ether. Tsukune was burning the proverbial candle at both ends, and the middle was starting to melt a little too. He had been trying to keep his friends from worrying, but he was reaching his limit. The people that were closest to him were seeing the signs, even if he was trying to hide them. Tsukune was only sleeping about four hours a night, as he struggled to keep up with all of his responsibilities. Moka had called the fan club together to share her plan for helping Tsukune. It was good that everybody seemed inspired by his leadership and work ethic to apply themselves, but they were still asking too much of him. The plan was to stage a small coup. The members of the fan club were going to take over Tsukune's responsibilities. Sheezu was going to have Akira assert more control over the Student Police, and wanted the female members to work with him. Likewise, the members of the fan club that had signed on with the town police were being asked to take as many shifts as they could, even if it they could split up shifts and spread the hours around, so Tsukune would have less to do. The rest of the fan club were going to make a screen to block out unnecessary problems or demands. Tsukune had tried to delegate jobs to others when he had appointed assistants. Moka was just taking the initiative to take the idea a little further.

XxxxXX

Tsukune had overheard some other students talking about him. They were talking about how he had helped the school, and that they needed to work hard for his sake in return. Tsukune had to take a little time to think about what he had heard. He didn't feel that he had done all that much. He agreed that it might look a like a lot, but he had not been thinking about it as much when he had done the things people credited him with. Doing things to help the school, to make it a batter place was only right. Just like helping friends and classmates was the right thing to do. It bothered him that people he hardly even knew of, and didn't know personally at all, were working hard for his sake. Tsukune reasoned that if students he couldn't recognize were willing to work hard to make the coming fesival a success for his sake, then he should make sure that everything worked out as best as it could for theirs.

Tsukune threw himself into his work. He had a shift each week at the Koban in town. The Student Police needed supervision. He had committee meetings to attend, and the leg work of watching over things to take care of. Tsukune was careful to take the time to keep up with his school work. In addition to everything else, the Board Chairman still managed to throw odd jobs at him. Tsukune learned to spend a little time meditating early every morning to draw on his inner youkai's abilities to refresh his body and to help keep him going throughout the day.

Tsukune was aware of the strain he was putting himself through. At the end of each day he was exhausted. In the morning, after meditating, he was awake and alert, but very hungry, and a little cranky. He could feel a dull ache in his muscles, and had to practice calming breaths to keep his temper from boiling. Tsukune could tell that he wouldn't be able to keep up the pace forever, but he didn't need to. Once the School Festival was over, the pressure would be off. It helped him to think about how much fun it would be to share the festival with his friends.

XxxxXX

Emmy had to take a little time to think about what she could do to help Tsukune. She had been included in the meeting because she was counted among Tsukune's friends, which was a high honor, but there was very little she could actually do, except wait until Tsukune needed her to lend a hand. Finally she realized that she needed advice from somebody that knew Tsukune better. She sent a letter to Kota, telling him about what was going on, and sharing her concerns. She hoped that Kota, as an old friend of Tsukune, would have some suggestions.

Yumi had also been at the meeting. Tsukune had helped the Drama Club, not just by making the Summer trip fun, but by shutting down the Public Safety Commission. She had turned to her boyfriend, and the club Director for advice. Rune had suggested that Tsukune needed something to distract him, and remembered how Tsukune had made friends with the human girls during the trip. A few conversations and a day later, letters were sent out to Iris and Aiko, explaining that Tsukune was working hard, in much the same way he had put together something special for the last night of the trip, and asking for any suggestions for how to get him to ease off a little.

Ruby was worried about her master. Every morning his youki flared, filling him with power. Every night he had dark circles under his eyes. She wasn't worried about him suddenly losing control. Ruby was afraid that Tsukune was going to burn himself out. She knew that the others were worried as well. Hoping to find some advice, Ruby decided to send a letter to Tsukune's cousin.

Inari, Tama, and the twins were doing all they could to help their captain. Akira was trying to manage the Student Police without asking Tsukune for anything. Aono's personal guard supported him by helping to supervise the patrols and even the watch commanders. They couldn't keep Tsukune from checking up on the Student Police, but they made damn sure that he would only get good reports. If even a hint of a problem reached of any of them, it was aggressively handled before it could attract Tsukune's attention.

XX XX xx

The Board Chairman sat in his office and looked out over the school with a smile. Everything was running smoothly at the moment, and he had that one boy to thank. He was mastering his youkai strength and handling enough responsibility that would crush most students. It would crush most adults for that mater. He would have to do something to reward the boy for all of his hard work. But before that, a test had to be conducted. The man chuckled darkly to himself. Yes, he decided, it would be good to see if the project was working. Looking out at the grounds where preparations for the festival were continuing, the Board Chairman thought of an excellent idea for a little test, and that boy's friends were just the tools he would need to set everything up.

Xxxx xxxX

Lieutenant Tanaka sat in the back room of a bar and wondered how much trouble he had gotten himself into. Following his investigation of Aono Tsukune, he had been given another assignment that had sounded basic at first. He had been given the name of a small business, an employment agency that somehow had money but no clients, and was told to find out as much about it, and its backers as he could. Lieutenant Tanaka quickly deduced that the employment agency was a front for an organized crime group, probably to launder money, and dove into the case, eager to have something normal after the Aono Tsukune hunt. The investigation had turned into another strange mess. It turned out the the employment agency had been connected to a police raid an office behind a pawn shop conducted a few weeks before the investigation was handed to him. Lieutenant Tanaka found himself doing some old fashion police work. He was walking through older neighborhoods and back alleys to knock on doors, looking for people and questioning them for information in the search for clues. One such person of interest, when the lieutenant found him, was on the edge of coming to blows with a man in an expensive suit. Lieutenant Tanaka had heard the man in the suit asking some of the same questions that he was looking for answers to. On the spur of the moment, he decided to help the suited man out.

"I'm getting tired of this," Tanaka said with his best growl as he stepped into view. "Bro, I say we stop playing nice with this fool."

The man in the suit was quick minded. He had not known who the new arrival was, but recognized the opportunity when he saw it. He gave his new 'bro' a tight smile.

"Hey bro," He said to his new partner. "Want me to stand lookout while you do your thing?"

"Let's see if Kyo here wants to be co-operitive first," Tanaka said. "I'm getting tired of breaking kneecaps."

"Get lost," Kyo spat. "I aint talking. If you don't leave, I'll call the cops."

"Please," Tanaka gave a bored roll of his eyes. "I don't need any help to make you talk." He looked back to the man in the suit and opened his jacket, exposing his police issue pistol. "You think it would save time if I just shot him in the foot?"

Kyo looked back and forth between the two men nervously for a moment. That was enough to show them that he had his back to the wall. It was time to give him an out.

"Tell you what," The suited man said. "You can think of this as doing me a favor. See, I bet my bro here that I can get you to talk." He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a money clip. "Times are tough, I get that. I'll give you a little something if you give me a little something. Otherwise we do it his way. You get hurt, we get the information we want, and then I own him dinner and drinks, and my bro here drinks the expensive stuff. What do you say?"

Lieutenant Tanaka growled as best he could and reached towards his weapon. It was enough. Kyo talked. He gave up all the information he had on the employment agency, including the addresses of places he had been sent to work. The work turned out to be late night vandalism and burglary in support of a protection scam.

Lieutenant Tanaka and his new partner left together. The man in the suit introduce himself as Ross. He invited the lieutenant to have a sit-down so they could compare notes. Tanaka Ito accepted the offer, hoping it would help his investigation. That was where he made his mistake, he decided when looking back. Before he realized it, he had partnered up with Ross, who was a yakuza muscle man. The investigation was producing more results, but at the same time the lieutenant felt like he was getting into something he would never be able to escape.

It was still early evening when Ito and Ross had entered the bar. They had already been working together for three days, and while they had collected a lot of information, it was like working on a jig saw puzzle with the lid of the box missing. They didn't know what the picture was supposed to be, and they didn't know how many pieces they needed to collect and fit into place to figure out the picture. Even if Ito didn't want to get too involved with his yakuza partner, he agreed that a break and a drink was the right way to go. Ross assured Ito that the bar was a safe zone, and the back lounge was just the place to relax for a while. Ito had been surprised by what he had found there. The music that was playing was light and soothing. The tobacco smoke was light as well, with the ash trays kept clean and a ventilation system that kept the air from growing stale. Several serving women worked in the lounge. It was like a hostess bar, with enough women to make sure every man received attention. Ross explained that the lounge was for members and guests only, so it never got too crowded or rowdy.

Ito had his tie loosened and the top two buttons of his shirt undone, and was finally feeling relaxed. He was working on his third glass, or maybe it was his forth. Ross was caressing the girl in his lap, a petite black woman with a puffy afro, while talking about his son. The boy was the goalie for his High School team, and had made it to the national's semi finals. The woman sitting beside Ito, and refilling his glass, was tall and thin, with dark green, almond-shaped eyes, and a dark, South Pacific complexion. She was exotic and sensual, and if he had not been married, Ito had admitted to himself, he would have liked to get very friendly with her.

"Do you have any kids?" Ross asked.

"I do," Ito admitted. "I have a daughter in High School. Let me tell you, I love her dearly, but you are lucky that you have a son."

"Heh," Ross grinned. "I know. My boy is the kind you would tell your girl to avoid."

"Bah," Ito made a dismissive wave. "I sent my daughter to an all girl's school, and she still found a boy."

"How'd she pull that off?" Ross asked.

"Stupid class trip," Ito grumbled, taking a deep drink from his glass. "Was supposed to be studying culture, visiting shrines, and all that stuff. I wanted to get her into kendo, or maybe jujitsu, so she would be able to protect herself, but my wife wanted her little princess to be a lady, so she could find a good husband."

"Must be tough," Ross observed, while doing something with his hand that made the young woman in his lap giggle.

"Yeah," Ito sighed. "Still... It could be worse. While on her trip her class got lumped together with some students from another school. That's how he met her boyfriend. After I finally met the kid, I'm glad my daughter had some sense. There was another boy in that group that had girls all over him."

"A real ladies man was he?" Ross questioned.

"It didn't seem that way," Ito frowned at his mostly full glass. "I met the boy, and there is just something about him. He's the kind of young man I almost wish my daughter would bring home. He has this directness to him. You know the one friend you had that was always a kind of wet blanket because he didn't want to get into trouble when you were kids?"

"Oh yeah," Ross chuckled. "I remember that guy. We would tease the hell out of him for it, but when we were in a pinch, he was the first one that would lend a hand."

"That's the one," Ito said, taking another long drink. "Well this Aono kid is just like that, only more so."

"Aono?" Ross questioned, his eyes focusing on the lieutenant.

"Yeah," Ito said, noticing the other man's interest. "You might have head of him before. Aono Tsukune is this young man that seems to be making waves, popping up here and there. There was a thing at the beach, oh... last year some time. He was there on a class trip or something, and the next thing you know there was some kind of gang war."

"I heard about that," Ross said. "Word has it that about three different families want to meet with this guy. And if that many big families want to talk to him, you know that a lot of the smaller organizations are interested in him as well."

"I don't get it," Ito sighed. "He's like a hero from an old drama. He shows up without warning, and the next thing you know, the girls are all falling for him." He made a gesture with his hand holding his glass, nearly spilling his drink because it was full. "When I met him, he was ready to stand up to me, for the sake of his friends mind you, never worrying about what kind of trouble he could have been in."

"That's loyalty," Ross observed. "It may be foolishness, but that is the kind of loyalty that any organization would want."

"Yeah," Ito said with a smirk. He took a swallow from his glass. "Too bad for you guys, but Aono Tsukune has been busting his ass to become a policeman."

"Heh," Ross smirked. "No way he would ever work with us." Sarcasm dripped from his words. "So what school does this guy go to?"

"Heh," Ito chuckled before taking another drink. "You'll never find him there. It's some elite private school with insane security issues. I could find out everything about the guy, including his cell phone number and who he called last, but I couldn't find his school anywhere in Japan."

"Maybe it's not in Japan," Ross offered.

"It has to be," Ito said. "I managed to lure Aono out, by accident mind you, and by how quickly he responded I know he couldn't have traveled far. I think his school is somewhere between Kyoto and Tokyo, probably up in the hills, like by daughter's school."

"You know," The woman beside Ito said in a throaty voice. "I bet this young man you're talking about would reply if you just wrote him a letter."

Ito and Ross gave the woman a look. She had a secretive smile on her face as she topped off Ito's glass from a nearly empty bottle. Something about the way she didn't blink as she looked back at them made Ito's back itch.