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 266

Summer was just beginning. Tsukune looked out at the ocean and wondered if he would have a chance to enjoy the season with his friends. He didn't let his mind linger on such thoughts long because he had work to do. It had taken months, but a solid lead in the Tate no Kai investigation had come up with a promising lead. As the sun was setting, Tsukune was a part of a team staged around the harbor district. Large ships lined the piers. Container boxes of every color were stacked up, looking like a child's building blocks. The local landscape was mostly big, boxy warehouses. Warehouses that were cheaper to rent than apartments or offices when price per square meter was counted.

It was among those warehouses that the objective was to be found. Much of the investigation had been office work. Most of it in fact. The members of Tate no Kai that had been arrested at the LaLaPort mall had not had much information, but they were more useful than they knew. Little things, like tracking their credit cards and cell phone records had showed patterns to the experienced eyes of investigators like Tanaka Ito. Those patterns had helped find places where Tsukune and Inari were dangled out as bait. Even by watching to see who had avoided the bait had provided tiny crumbs of information.

The many, many hours of investigation had brought the police to the harbor district. The warehouse that was singled out was filled with fluffy merchandise from Korea being repacked from shipping containers to pallets for shipping to stores around Japan. A section of the warehouse was sub-rented to a company called Vision Imports. The import company existed on paper as a small business, but with no record of it ever doing any importing, or any other business either. The business did have a phone in its office with a computer attached to the line. There were just enough phone calls and emails with the import company from the suspects that had been investigated, even if they had been allowed to roam free until just hours ago, that it was clear that a valid target had been identified.

Tsukune and Inari were a part a larger force. They were posted about half a kilometer from the warehouse, waiting for the signal to move in. The perimeter teams were going to move in and secure the building's exits, and then the Phase-2 team would enter the building and detain anybody they found. Tsukune and Inari were in the Phase-2 team, but at the end of the list. They would be responsible for helping to keep any suspects restrained and controlled as needed.

Tsukune thought about what was going on around him as he waited for the order to move. With him was Inari and four men assigned to him for the operation. All of them were armed and were wearing body armor. Inari found the weight of the equipment annoying. Tsukune wished he had that stuff while he was going to high school. There was tension in the air, a mix of nerves and anticipation.

Tsukune tried to make sure he understood his own feelings before he had to move into action. Most of the fights he had ever been in had been about reacting, about being on the defensive. The first time he had ever gone intentionally looking for trouble, had intentionally gone on the offensive, had been to rescue Moka during their beach trip in their second year. He had been scared but determined.

His second offensive had been with Moka and the others as they had gone to liberate Mizore. They had not known how much trouble they were really heading into, but they had been confident they would succeed. Tsukune remembered that day with some embarrassment. They had nearly lost the fight, and he had gone into it at first dressed like a girl.

The third time Tsukune had taken the fight to the bad guys had been to save Kurumu. That time Tsukune had been angry. He had the strength of the Student Police backing him up, but even if he had needed to go alone, he would have torn the building down to save her. Remembering what she had once told him about the way a succubus was normally seen and treated, and knowing that someone had kidnapped her, had made Tsukune determined to save her no mater what. She had been one of his important friends. Looking back, Tsukune wondered if maybe he had already started to love her as more than a friend before she had been taken.

Now Tsukune was about to go on the offensive again. He had a team under his command, and he was working as a part of a larger force. It felt good to know that he had support, and that there were people he could trust and that trusted him in return. But the nervousness he felt now was all cold professionalism. He didn't have the emotional focus he had in the past. He couldn't even work up any real anger when he remembered how Tate no Kai had ruined his date with Kurumu. This group was not an evil on the same level as Fairy Tail. There was no large plot that he was aware of to tear down lives for the simple desire to cause suffering.

Tsukune was ready to get the job done. He understood the need to weed out groups like Tate no Kai. In spite of not being emotionally worked up over it, it felt good to be doing something about a problem before it could get out of hand.

x

The order to move was finally sent out. The teams moved from where they had been waiting, rushing towards the target warehouse. In minutes the building was surrounded and locked down. It was humanly impossible for anybody to escape unnoticed. Every window, door, and air vent was being watched as the assault team forced their way into the building. Seconds later the restraint and detention teams entered.

There was a lot of surprised shouting. Warehouse workers that had been almost finished with their shifts suddenly found themselves surrounded by armed men and women in tactical gear. Some of the workers panicked and had to be restrained with force.

The police forces moved through the building with determination. People were pulled out of the limited office areas and restrooms. The first part of the search was to find everybody in the building, and to look for any nasty surprises like weapons or traps. Once everybody was found and rounded up, their identities would be checked and they would be questioned. Once the building was counted as safe and the people were out of the way, the investigators would start their hunt for clues.

It had been hours of tense waiting followed by a few excited minutes. Anybody in the warehouse with a guilty conscious tried to run, or at least turned for an exit, before seeing that there was no escape. Some had to be pulled out of hiding places, with each discovery or instance of resistance making the police twitch, ready to throw themselves at problems that never came up. Once the rush was over, it was time for long hours of waiting.

On the surface the raid was a bust. Everybody was checked out, and when it was all over, no suspects had been taken into custody. When the last of the warehouse laborers were turned loose, Tsukune went to report the fact to Tanaka. The lieutenant was in the section of office space that had been set up by Tate no Kai.

While no suspects had been found, the office showed that the target of the raid had cleared out in a hurry. There were enough clues to be found to keep the investigation going. While the prey had eluded the police, the hunt was still on.

Tsukune walked into the office and stopped short. The forensics team had already been through the place, leaving dark smudges where they had dusted for fingerprints. Tanaka and the other investigators were making an inventory of what they found and boxing up their trophies. Tsukune scanned the room critically without saying anything.

"Something I can do for your Captain?" Tanaka said when he noticed the younger man. The rank issue had become something of a a joke between them. With his transfer to the SDF for recruiting work, Tsukune had been made an officer, a captain, by the politicians and creative minds behind the campaign , as much as by a clerical error. So Tsukune officially had the rank of captain now, in spite of his own efforts to get it adjusted. While the younger man out ranked Tanaka, Tsukune had no problem taking direction from the lieutenant.

"Sir," Tsukune reported, smoothing his features as he addressed the lieutenant. "All of the civilians have been cleared and released. Inventory of the warehouse is still being done, but everything is checking out properly so far."

"Thank you," Tanaka said with a nod. "Was there anything else?"

"No," Tsukune's answer was simple, without any honorifics, or even the smallest hit of a shake of his head.

"I see," Tanaka replied. There was a hot knot in his guts suddenly. "We can carry on then."

"Yes sir," Tsukune said.

The lieutenant had to resist the urge to sigh with relief. He understood the message clearly. When he saw the way Tsukune had been looking around the office, as if something could have been hiding in the shadows, Tanaka had been afraid that something might have been. Tsukune had confirmed that there was something out of place, but he didn't feel that there was any current danger. Knowing that some fanged monster was not about to jump out and bite him made Tanaka feel a little better, but he still wanted to finish working in that office as soon as he could.

Xxx

The After action meeting was being held just outside the warehouse. It was some time in the early house of the morning and the sea air that blew across the area carried the smell of coffee that just about everybody had managed to find large cups of. Tanaka was nursing his own large cup of the hot beverage. It was strong, but easily some of the best coffee he had ever enjoyed. Near by an old minivan turned mobile coffee shop was doing brisk business.

Tanaka had never heard of Karasu no kōhī (Crow's Coffee) before, but he was glad that they were making their rounds that morning. Dock workers, warehouse men, and local security guards were clustered around the vendor. The dark-haired woman working inside the van had a smile on her face as she ignored the flirtations of the men that were quickly buying out everything she had.

Tanaka was still working on his coffee when the meeting was over. Moving the teams into the area for the raid had been slow and complicated, out of a need for secrecy. Getting the teams out of the area was a simple mater of ordering a bus and a couple of police cars. As people were boarding the bus Tanaka moved to where Tsukune stood. Both men acted calm as they waited for everybody else to be ready to go. A pair of leaders supervising their subordinates to all outward appearances.

"So..." Ito said in a casual tone. "There was one in there."

"Yes," Tsukune said.

"What scared him off?" The lieutenant wanted to know.

"When we started gathering," Tsukune answered. "Too many people were watching the warehouse. He probably felt something..."

"When the deer senses the hunter," Tanaka observed.

"Yes," Tsukune confirmed.

"Do you have a way to track him?" Tanaka thought it was a valid question. "There can't be too many like him around."

Tsukune sighed and gave a small shake of his head.

"You're serious?" Ito demanded. "How many..." He kept hoping that youkai were somehow few and far between, and not, in fact, around him all the time.

"Two were working in the warehouse when we went in," Tsukune answered. "That security guard watching us from the loading dock to your right. I counted three by the coffee truck." Tsukune gave a sigh. "And then there is the woman selling the coffee."

"Really?" Tanaka looked at his cup of coffee suspiciously.

"And those are just the ones I noticed," Tsukune added. "If you think about it, this is a perfect place for youkai to work."

"Why is that?" The lieutenant asked.

"Most of the work around here is manual labor," Tsukune replied. "I man will find a job faster by being strong than by having a college degree. If I searched, I could probably find a hundred youkai in this area because they don't have to be smart or pretty. By being able to work hard they would earn the respect of the humans they work with. If a youkai picks up the slack when his coworkers are sick, or when the weather gets bad, and those humans he is helping will start to watch out for him in return."

"Do you think that is what happened tonight maybe?" Tanaka questioned.

"It could have been anybody with a cell phone if that's the case," Tsukune shrugged.

"Never an easy answer, is there?" Lieutenant Tanaka said with a small, grim smile. A part of him was looking ahead at the investigation work with a sense of anticipation.

"I used to think life would be easy," Tsukune observed.

"When was that?" Tanaka asked with an amused look.

"Before I met my fiance," Tsukune answered.

"Fiance?" Ito's eyebrows went up. He looked to where Inari stood near by.

"It's not me," She said without even looking in their direction.

"So... one of the others my daughter told me about?" Ito asked.

"Moka," Tsukune nodded. "We've actually been engaged for more than a year now."

"Well, women have a way of complicating things," Ito commented.

"I think they do it just for fun," Tsukune said in agreement.

The two men ignored the dirty look Inari turned to give them.