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, than you should not read this.

Chapter 142

Kurumu faced the day with a cute smile and stubborn determination. Every morning on her new job she had to study what companies and products were going to be sponsoring the show. Her wardrobe was chef's blouse, carefully altered to look sexy on her body, with a matching skirt. It was only Wednesday, but she was already headed to her fourth location for a live show. Today she was scheduled to do five shows on location, with one a live broadcast. Between shows, she would spend most of the day on the location stage to talk to customers about the sponsors' products while handling the clean-up and prep work. The hours were not as bad as Kurumu had feared, but she knew that things were only just getting started.

The worst part of the job, in Kurumu's opinion, was who she had to work with. Her role was the perky assistant to a master chef. The chef was no master. He had graduated from a good cooking school, barely, so he had some credentials to back him up. He also had the kind of handsome face that always looked happy. His ability to perform was supported by his desire for attention. Kurumu had quickly learned that those three points were all that he was. His cooking skills were marginal at best, without the sense of taste to properly assess the seasoning of the dishes he made for the shows. He was shallow and arrogant, and aspired to be a womanizer to boot. He had been hired to help attract the housewife audience that was most likely to buy whatever sponsoring products they highlighted during a show. As Kurumu mentally prepared for the first show of the morning, she reviewed the sponsor for the day.

The show's main sponsor was a cookware company. Kurumu had quickly learned all the best selling points about the brand's line of non-stick frying and baking pans. While she didn't think the pots were as good at even heating as the brand she used at home, they were durable enough to handle the rough abuse of a beginner cook. Several small sets and individual pieces of the sponsor's cookware were kept on set, in their original packaging, to help promote them. The knives that were used on set, also from a sponsor, were not a product that Kurumu would want to recommend. The blades were strong and could hold an edge, as any good knife should, but they had been designed more for visual style, instead of ease of use. The result were handles that looked good, but made for uncomfortable gripping. Using them would make a person's hand tired and sore. Kurumu tried to say nice things about the blades if anybody asked about them. The special sponsor of the day was a company that packaged spices and herbs. Kurumu had been glad to learn it was a brand that she actually knew, and even liked to use.

As Kurumu headed for the stage for the first show, she reinforced her smile by thinking of how proud Tsukune would be of her for working hard. She was laying the foundation for a career. She just wished that the idiot chef would put more effort into his cooking, and less into trying to touch her.

XxxxxX

Tsukune knew something had changed with Inari. He wondered if it was because of how hard she had hit her head, but doubted it. He had called the hospital after he had put her to bed to ask for advice. Once he had identified himself to the person on the other end of the line, they had been more than happy to talk to him. Tsukune had learned some new information, but mostly was put at ease by what he was told. Wednesday morning in the Koban had been almost as bad as waking up around Ruby, or maybe Mizore. Inari had woken up at the same time as Tsukune, climbing out of bed and giving a stretch that gave Tsukune an eye-full of smooth legs and powder blue panties. After she quickly dressed in her duty uniform, Inari was in what Tsukune considered 'Happy Wife' mode. She was perky and set to making breakfast with a smile. Tsukune recognized the behavior even before she set a plate of breakfast in front of him. Inari was trying to win him over. As the day progressed, Inari cooked, cleaned, and flirted with the same happy energy. Tsukune thought about ditching the rest of his shift.

Tsukune was willing to admit that working with Inari was pleasant. She did understand her training and she worked hard. Tsukune wondered if she would be willing to work for him when, someday in the future, he started his own company. He thought it was unlikely, because she was smart and a hard worker, and good looking as well. Tsukune expected that Inari would find somebody in college, or after, and want a life of her own. He let his mind wander in idle speculation while he waited for the end of the shift to come.

Tsukune was looking forward to the end of his shift for a couple of reasons. The reason most people would be able to understand was that he would then have a solid week off. He knew the Board Chairman could, and probably would find a way to get a hold of him during his off time and give him something to take care of, making the time off only an illusion until it happened. Tsukune's bigger reason for looking forward to the end of his shift was much more personal. First he would get to spend time with Mizore, and then he would make a visit home to see his mother, and get a visit in with Ruby. If Moka was back from her trip, Tsukune would ask her to go along as well. If not, Tsukune thought with a crooked smile, he would see if he could sneak in a visit to Kurumu. Even as far away as she was at the moment, he could tell that her emotions were tangled from stress. Yes, Tsukune thought, it would be good to have some time to just have fun with his important friends.

XxxXxxX

Mizore finished her inspection of the manor with a smile on her face. In just a few hours Tsukune would be returning from his shift with the police. Mizore had it all worked out. She would welcome him home affectionately, playing the dutiful wife or mistress. After giving him a chance to relax, she and Tsukune would have dinner together. After dinner, Mizore would help Tsukune with a bath. All of her plans were subject to change, based on how Tsukune was feeling when he came home, but Mizore was fine with that. The only part of her plans that she was really committed to was when she and Tsukune would go to bed together.

Tsukune was everything to Mizore. She wanted to be a part of his life and be with him forever. Her goal, her dream, would only be achieved through constant effort. A continuing snowfall of little things, minutes of happiness, of time spent together, piling up until she had Tsukune's love.

XXXX

Kurumu flopped down on her hotel room bed feeling emotionally drained. Her day had started out according to plan, but just before lunch it had fallen apart, or fallen together, or some mixture of the two. She had been getting ready for the live broadcast for the day, cooking things in advance so the show would go smoothly. All the 'chef' would have to do is cover the main steps. He could talk about making dough, but to save time Kurumu made sure there would be dough ready to use. Technically it was a part of the chef's job because the end result would be his to take the credit or blame for, but Kurumu didn't mind doing it. The problem was that the 'chef' was less interested in the food than he was in trying to hit on Kurumu, which meant that he was doing a lousy job of cooking. That a man with such feeble Lust kept trying to get her attention was annoying to Kurumu. He kept calling her Sweetheart as if he thought it would convince her to actually think he cared for her. That he was messing up her cooking was a much greater sin.

The breaking point came when Kurumu was layering thin sheets of dough for the dessert that was going to be a part of the live broadcast. The recipe said to brush on melted butter between layers. Mister chef decided that it would be easier to pour the melted butter on the thin layer of dough that Kurumu was still applying. Hot melted butter that burned her fingers, making her jump, and nearly ruining the dessert. That was when Kurumu lost it.

"You incompetent, impotent, idiot!" Kurumu had screeched even as she put her hand in a bucket of water to sooth the burning.

"Hey now," The chef said with a cocky smile. "Sweetheart, that's no way to talk to a man you like."

"What has that got to do with you?" Kurumu demanded in a loud voice. "The man I love isn't here. The only one that likes you is you, and you are definitely not a man." She snatched the hat from his head and used it to wipe off her hands. "And you're no way any kind of cook. You spend more time on your makeup than with a cook book." She threw the mangled hat in his face. "You're so busy trying to be cool that you don't even care that you're giving bad advice."

"Now you listen here, Sweetheart," The man tried to puff out his chest. "I'll have you know that I..."

"Can't cook to save your life?" Kurumu cut him off. She snatched up a box for the cookware that they were using and shoved it into his chest. "Make yourself useful. Hold this, look pretty, and stay the hell out of my way. You do that, and I'll try to teach you the difference between salt and sugar."

Kurumu turned back to her cooking, knocking the would-be chef out of her way with a bump of her hip. She proceeded to save the desert, explaining every step in a tight voice. Once that dish was in the oven, she turned to the next one. She kept at it, letting the joy she found in cooking take the edge off her anger. She prepared the desert, the main dish, and a side dish while keeping up a stream of instructions. She explained that the way he held his knives was one of the reasons he couldn't chop vegetables without making a mess. When she was done cooking, and criticizing the man that had burned her fingers with his thoughtlessness, Kurumu went over to her position at the side of the location stage, struck a cute pose, and recited the scripted tag line for the show.

"And there you have the special of the day," Kurumu said with a wink and a smile. She dropped her pose and shot a dark look at the chef. "Now do you think you can get it right, Chef Boke?" Kurumu added in a growl.

Applause exploded around the location stage. Shoppers at the location had stopped to watch the show, not knowing that it was not according to a script. Kurumu's 'Tsukkomi' against the chef's 'Boke' had captured everybody's attention. The applause from her 'performance' was far more than the polite response from any of the prior shows. The fallout from Kurumu's tantrum started soon after she had stopped talking.

"I-I-I-I'm not going to be insulted like this," The chef, red faced, threw the box of cookware down with a crash. "I am a master chef." He stormed off the stage amid a storm of laughter.

With the chef off pouting, the scheduled live broadcast couldn't go on. Kurumu, set herself to the task of cleaning the stage kitchen, as was a normal part of her role, while calling out to the shoppers about the sponsors' products and which stores in the area carried them. When the food was done cooking, she cut it up and offered it on small paper plates as free samples to shoppers. The production crew, as they always seemed to manage, ate most of the 'free samples.' Over in the broadcast van, the producer and the lead technician had to deal with damage control. The producer was forced to deal with the chef, who was demanding some outrageous forms of compensation for his humiliation, while he acted like a spoiled brat who's favorite toy had just been broken by a bully. The technician had to find a way to account for the absence of the planed live show, and only had minutes to come up with an answer. It was listening to his assistant laughing like a mad man as he watched a playback of Kurumu's tantrum that gave him the answer.

With a live broadcast there were countless things that could go wrong. Also, when trying to sell a promotion idea to clients, records of past projects were a precious tool. While it had not been the best footage in the world, a single camera that had been mounted to record as much from the stage as possible, set up by one of the crew that didn't mind watching Kurumu do minor work, had recorded the whole morning, including the blow-up on stage.

The lead technician took the tape and started to work. After a fast and sloppy edit, he had it ready. He called the parent studio and started the feed. With fingers crossed, he hoped for the best.

Kurumu did not know of the events that had gone on away from the stage. She knew that her temper had gotten away form her, and as she passed out free samples of food, and samples from the sponsors, she tried to think of how she would try to apologize. While she was sure Tsukune would not approve, she thought that the best thing to do would be to use her Charm ability. If she did, it was likely that she could cover up the problem and keep her job, keeping her on track for her career. Thinking back about the time she and Tsukune had used a little creative thinking and the application of her Charm to smooth things over after the fight during their Dance Machine job, Kurumu suspected that Tsukune would understand.

When the live broadcast show didn't happen, Kurumu knew that there would be some trouble. When she had to do the next live show alone, she got worried. She did the set-up on schedule, and borrowing from the old saying "The show must go on," Kurumu improvised a little to fill in for the absent chef. When the chef didn't return for the rest of the scheduled day, Kurumu started to expect the worst. Finally after the last show was over, the producer came to the stage and called Kurumu to a meeting.

The meeting was held at the broadcast van. Kurumu was feeling nervous as everybody gathered together. She was gathering herself to use Charm, but then noticed that something was off. The lead technician and his crew had smiles on their faces. The producer was looking stoic. Only the chef looked upset.

"Kurumu chan," The producer said. "We're decided to change the show for tomorrow. Depending on how it goes in the morning, we'll be using the new script for the live broadcast and the rest of the shows as well."

"Here you go," The lead technician said, handing a script to Kurumu. "We tried to put something together you could work with."

"Wha?" Confused, Kurumu opened the script and started reading. She wasn't fired. Her career wasn't going to be in trouble after all. She was going to be taking over the lead role for the show. The script even listed the chef as 'Chef Boke.' Kurumu giggled, understanding why the man looked so upset. He was under contract, so if he refused to go along with the producer he could be penalized. If he didn't want to lose his job, he had to play 'Boke' to Kurumu's ' Tsukkomi.'

While the kitchen set was broken down to get ready to move to the next location, the producer explained the reasons for the changes. One of the biggest changes was the audience's reaction. When a recording of the improvised show was sent to the parent studio, the executives decided to take a chance and broadcast it. While they were getting viewer feedback. The lead technician was enjoying some of Kurumu's cooking. It was decided that Kurumu, the better cook, who was more popular with the audience, should take the lead. Kurumu couldn't believe her luck.

Kurumu was still questioning her good luck as she checked in to the hotel for the night. The crew would be working most of the night. The producer, the chef, and Kurumu were free to do as they wanted as long as they were ready for work in the morning. Kurumu had left the location to check out of the place she had stayed the night before and to head on to the next hotel. She could have gone in the studio car with the chef and the producer's assistant, but had chosen to avoid being in any close places with the man who was too interested in her for her tastes. That seemed especially like a good idea now that she had humiliated him. At the next hotel, Kurumu checked in and received the key for the room the studio had reserved for her. As she thought about how the day had turned out, Kurumu couldn't believe her good fortune, and wished that Tsukune had been there so she could share her thoughts with him.