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 277.

If Tsukune had been asked to predict the reactions to his newest orders, he was confident that he would have been right. There was only one person that was going to look forward to the mission ahead. Moka was understanding and appreciative of the sacrifices that building a career demanded of them both. She was about to begin the next term of law school, and Tsukune had to build his professional reputation. She didn't like that he would be away from home, and from here, but understood that he did not like it much either. Kurumu on the other hand made a not small production with her reaction to the news. She pouted and complained that Tsukune loved his job more than her, and demanded that he prove that was not the case. After a passionate night together she accepted that he was only going to be unavailable out of his sense of duty and an obligation to his work, and not that he was avoiding her to be with another woman.

Mizore was pleased that Tsukune visited her to tell her the news himself. She assured him that she understood that he was merely upholding his responsibilities, and that she would always be waiting for when he had the time to share with her and their children. After a family supper together, Tsukune helped tuck their daughters in for the night, then he and Mizore shared their affection for one another. He caressed the exaggerated curves of her gravid body, letting her know that he found her desirable even while pregnant.

Ruby accepted the news with the proper decorum of a maid. She assured her master that everything would be taken care of in his absence, and asked if there was anything he would like to have done before he returned. Tsukune knew her well enough to tell that she was feeling anxious about him being away again. Because he cared about her, he asked her to do some busy work, so she could feel like she was being useful to him. He also asked her to visit with his mother, "Because he wanted to make sure she was not over doing things." This gave Ruby an excuse to be the dutiful servant as she spent time with the affectionate and motherly older woman. He knew that Ruby loved the feeling of being a part of his family that came from Kasumi's attention, and the insistence that Ruby call her 'Mother.'

As Tsukune expected, the only person that was happy with the new assignment was Inari. It was amusing how she tried to hide her pleasure when she heard what the plan was. Not only was she going to be with Tsukune away from his other lovers, but their orders this time specifically said that they were to appear care free, or even careless when appearing to be off duty. She would be the perfect lieutenant and fellow police officer while they were in uniform, but after hours, she was going to dress provocatively and be all over Tsukune.

XxxxxxxX

Ross and Tanaka shared a certain sense of satisfaction with how things were going. A Tate no Kai member was sent out to make a collection at a club where hostesses were encouraged to be a little extra friendly with the guests. He was met at the door by a local tough who told him to get lost. The next day a small squad of four men descended on the club, where a dozen strong members of the yakuza had been waiting for them. When the beating was over, the four men were dumped out into an alley.

The four men from Tate no Kai had been marked by the encounter. Their faces were bloody and swollen. One had a broken arm while another two had cracked ribs. All four of them had been held down while the Tate no Kai crest was crudely spray painted on their backs. When they staggered out of the alley, a pair of police men had been 'surprised to see them.' When the police men saw the crest on the four men's backs they called for backup.

The beaten four were taken to the hospital first. Each of them received an examination and whatever treatment that was called for. From the hospital they were taken to jail. They were booked and charged with accessory to racketeering and extortion.

"It is clear to me what happened," Lieutenant Tanaka had said to the four men. They were shackled to a bench in a stark cell. Tanaka, wearing an intimidating frown, paced back and forth, displaying calm confidence. "You were beaten as a part of your initiation in to Tate no Kai. Now that you are members, you are accessories to every crime they commit, or have committed." He paused to give them a condescending sneer. "Unless you cooperate and tell me everything your know." His sneer turned into a smirk. "But it has to be something we do not know already."

Tanaka Ito used words and facts to beat and humiliate the four would-be thugs. He recited off their names, addresses, and everything else that was known from earlier observations and investigations. He knew their employers and even the balances of their bank accounts.

In the end, the four men gave up everything they knew about Tate no Kai. Compared to how much was already known, the four did not have much to offer. Every little bit helped though, and they were not the only four swept up with the same ploy. Eventually each of the Tate no Kai members that were brought in were turned loose after a court hearing where they were given light sentences, such as fines and community service.

Turning the men loose meant that the police looked almost ineffectual to Tate no Kai. On the other hand, the men had all been beaten and arrested while trying to follow organization instructions. Most of them did not want to step back into the same mess a second time. Of course they had all turned on Tate no Kai to try to protect themselves, so how welcome they would be to return was suspect.

Tanaka and Ross were both pleased by the way things were going. For Ross' side of things, business was doing well and the proper order of things was being observed. For Tanaka Ito, it felt good to be doing something active about a problem, instead of just collecting information and waiting. Additionally, the arrests were statistics that could be documented and reported. Those statistics, although skewed for the sake of the on-going investigations, were reported through official channels. They were reported to the politicians that sat above the National Police Agency, and they were reported to the press.

XxxxxxX

The attack on Tate no Kai had its desired effect. It stirred up the organization, making them react in ways that made it stand out to investigators when it was trying to hide. While its members were looking to protect themselves from the threat of being attacked by yakuza muscle, they exposed themselves to police scrutiny. Known members sought out the company of their peers in the hope of finding safety in numbers. This lead police to Tate no Kai members that had not been identified before.

Some Tate no Kai members that had only thought of what they could get out of being a part of the organization were made to rethink their involvement. Paying dues and committing the occasional prank-like raid on a love hotel were seen as harmless, but now they were hearing of other members getting beaten. The news was reporting the arrests to the public.

Tate no Kai accused the government of corruption. They considered the police to be ineffectual. In the minds of the public, Tate no Kai was a gang of thugs and fools.

The leader of Tate no Kai, the self titled general, was fuming. The public humiliation of the organization was his own humiliation. He was made to look foolish for having trusted incompetent people. Worse than looking like fools, the organization was made to look weak, and that was an insult that could not be forgiven. With his eyes burning with hate and anger, the general planned his next move.

XxxxxXXXxxxxX

The bar was nothing special. The women who worked there, dressed in cheep maid costumes, were average looking at best. The drinks were inexpensive. The men that frequented the bar were there more for getting drunk than to watch the women. It was a place to be when someone didn't have anywhere else to go. Tsukune liked the place.

At first Inari was confused about why her captain would ever want to spend time in such a dive. He didn't drink alcohol. She knew that was he didn't want to risk ever losing control of himself. The women in the bar were hardly worth looking at, especially when Tsukune had much more beautiful women quite literally ready to throw themselves on him. As she held on to him in the booth, understanding sank in.

The women did their job with a minimum of time spent talking to the customers. The customers were more interested in their drinks than holding conversations. The simple truth was that the people in the bar were just too run down by the responsibilities of their own lives to care about those around them. Inari realized that was what Tsukune liked about the bar.

Tsukune found a place where nobody knew him. Nobody expected anything from him. He had found a place where he could just be another faceless anybody. He nursed a cola and relaxed in the booth, almost dozing, with a tiny smile touching his lips.

"Tsukune?" Inari spoke in a low voice. Not only was she keeping from being overheard, she was also leaning in closely. "Are you sure we're doing this the right way?" She was asking because they, him specifically, were supposed to be visible in a way to make Tate no Kai notice. They were supposed to be luring out Tate no Kai sympathizers, or at least drawing their attention to distract them from anything else that might be going on in the area to track them down.

"We are doing just fine," Tsukune answered in a calm and relaxed voice. "We're here, in a place where anybody with something to be happy about is not likely to come. With what we've been doing all week, the only real reason to be in a place like this is because we are unhappy with work." He turned to her and winked. "We look like we are tired of playing to the crowds. As if we are frustrated with what we are doing and who we represent. If we're not targets because we are well recognized members of the police, than maybe we are possible recruits for Tate no Kai because we are fed up with what we are being made to do, and we wish we had the chance and the power to change things."

"But we are police..." Inari protested.

"So?" Tsukune countered. "Police are still people. We can still have opinions of our own. With as many members of the police there are around the nation, you know that some of them are going to listen to what Tate no Kai has to say. Some might think it is the right idea, while others might just go along with them for money. Who can say?" He pulled his arm from her grasp and put it around her shoulders.

"We're here to act in a way to make Tate no Kai think there is an opportunity for them," Tsukune explained as he pulled Inari closer. "Depending on how they try to use it, we will turn it against them."

Tsukune had pulled Inari in close enough to kiss. Inari, in spite of being aware of their instructions, was perfectly willing to yield to his embrace. When Tsukune actually started to nibble on her ear, she melted into his arms with a dreamy expression on her face. She did not care that there were two under-cover members of their team in the bar as well. She was letting Tsukune's mouth on her ear distract her from everything, including the man at the bar taking pictures of her with his cellphone.

XxxxX

It was a very sophisticated piece of equipment. A cellphone worked like a radio, but used microwaves instead of the much larger radio waves. It used the microwaves to send a digital signal to the closest receiver, first identifying itself, and then providing the destination of the message it wanted to send. The picture of the well known police couple was turned into a long string of ones and zeros to be sent to the intended destination.

The man had a grin on his face as he sent the picture. He had been surprised when the couple had entered the bar. Normally couples never visited the place. It was even more of a surprise when he recognized them from their recruiting commercials. At first he thought that they might be there for some sneaky reason and kept his head down. But then they lingered in a booth, just the two of them, not talking to anybody else. The man watched them, and saw them acting in a very friendly way. When what they were doing looked like it could cause trouble if it got out, the man knew what he had to do.

He took a picture of the couple without them ever stopping what they were doing. After he had gotten the picture, he figured he should leave before his luck ran out. Out under a street light he stopped to double check the picture he had taken, not knowing that his nervousness while watching the couple had been impossible for Tsukune to miss. In a bar where everybody habitually ignored everybody else, the man's curiosity had stood out to the professional investigators who were experienced in watching people unobtrusively.

He watched the little yellow bar crawl across the bottom of his phone's tiny screen, cursing the slow upload under his breath. He was so focused that he did not see the two under-cover investigators close in on him. One snatched the phone from his hand. The other pulled the man into the shadows just beyond the glow of the street light. Before he could understand what had happened, the man was restrained, a badge was held up in front of his face, and he was being told that he was being arrested.

Elsewhere in the city, a cell phone rested on a night stand. It's owner just falling asleep. He would have been annoyed if it had started ringing. Getting a message just as sleep was coming over him would have upset most people. But his rest was uninterrupted. The message had been cut off before it could finish. As the owner of the cellphone slept comfortably, the one that had almost disturbed him sat in miserable silence in a local police station, charged with public intoxication.

Two days later the would-be informant was released with a stern warning. His cellphone and other belongings were returned to him. The battery was dead, but that didn't bother him. He hurried home to charge his phone. When it was working again he found that the picture he had taken in the bar was one of many that had been corrupted beyond use. He had lost some of his saved numbers as well. There wasn't much he could do but curse his bad luck and go back to his daily life.

XxxxxX

Tsukune was satisfied with how the bait duty had turned out. A handful of Tate no Kai members had been identified. More importantly, by investigating the new names, a pair of bank accounts for the group had been discovered. By tracking known protection payoff amounts, the police were able to figure out who was helping the group to launder money.

No immediate action was being taken. With the new information, the on going investigation had more to work with. Phone surveillance and bank account monitoring were going to be used to see what else could be learned about the group.

As successful as the exercise had been, Tsukune was glad it was over. He wanted to return to his own apartment, spend time with Moka, and put some of his energies into the other areas of his life besides police work. Inari, on the other hand, was not so happy for the trip to be over. Seven nights alone with Tsukune had been wonderful. Some of the evenings had been like real dates as they put on their act for Tate no Kai. What they had done behind closed doors had confirmed that the fun She had shared with Tsukune had not all been acting.

Inari tried to keep her spirits up as she headed for home. She loved Tsukune, and was glad for every moment she could get him alone. He was the man of her dreams, and she had almost missed out on being together with him at all. He paid attention to her, as a whole person. He respected her both professionally and personally. He had proved that he saw her as a desirable woman, and had admitted that he liked working with her. After their week together, even though he was her captain and lord, he was courteous enough to help her carry her bags, in addition to his own, up to her apartment.

"It will be good to sleep in my own bed tonight," Inari said as she unlocked her door. She was telling a lie of course. Sleeping in her own bed meant sleeping alone. She much preferred sleeping in a hotel bed with Tsukune.

"I am looking forward to a nice supper," Tsukune said. "And my own bathtub."

"I can understand that," Inari said as she set down her purse and makeup case. She turned to take the bag Tsukune was holding for her. "Thank you..."

"Thank you," Tsukune cut her off. "For all of your hard work." He pulled the bag towards himself, bringing Inari along with it. "You made our successes this week possible." He lowered his head towards her.

Inari did not hesitate for a moment. She turned her face up to him, accepting the offered kiss. Later, when her mind cleared, she tried to frown at how unfair life was. It was unfair how Tsukune's kisses were so good that they always left her wanting more.