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 296

Dressed up for a night of pleasure and abandon, the club had been filled with men and women. Drawn from the National Police Agency from all over Japan, the club goers had been enjoying what was probably one of the strangest under cover assignments in history. More than a dozen young women had been pulled from parking enforcement duty, issued slim stun batons, and given a crash course in their use. After that they had been playing the part of women with free time to hang out at a club to dance and meet men. New graduate officers, men and women, had been surprised to discover their first assignment had been to go under cover as full time bar flies at a night club.

As the Tate no Kai thugs rushed into the club, the crowd of young men and women fell away from them, at first putting up no resistance. A moment later the thugs found themselves surrounded, with the doors closing and any escape cut off. The smash-and-splash raid had failed. A few thugs tried to stick to the plan, at least as far as throwing their balloons of animal blood and trying to fight their way to freedom.

The fighting was fierce and quickly over. Most of the thugs were subdued with the quick, precise application of force. A few were smart enough to surrender. One pair had a particularly bad time, receiving blows that were painful, but not inflicting much injury. Just as they made it out of the club, one of them was tackled by a pair of men. The last thug ran with all the speed he could summon.

"Police!" Someone yelled behind him. "On the ground!"

The thug sprinted for the darkest shadows he could see. He had to escape and report back. He was aware the the sounds of people chasing him, but he didn't know how many, and he sure as hell wasn't going to slow down to find out. He kept running until he couldn't hear his pursuers, any more, and then he kept running. He kept running until all he could mange was a slow trot as he held at the stitch in his side and his breathing was ragged. Even then he kept going, unaware of the shadow that followed him.

XxxX

"So how did we do?" Lieutenant Tanaka, dressed as a bartender, asked as the captured thugs were being loaded into a waiting police truck.

"Nineteen arrests and no injuries on our side," Inari, the only civilian present answered. She was dressed in a very short black dress. She had been hidden among the others, officially to help lend some authenticity to the illusion of people just out to party. Unofficially, she had been there in case of youkai related problems. "We let one get away, and Tsukune is following him as planned."

"Good, good," Tanaka nodded. "Do you think any of the suspects will remember what you look like?"

"I doubt it," Inari answered. "When I did the promos for the police I was always looking professional. For this I have been doing my hair and makeup differently, and I am in no way dressed like a police officer should be."

"That is true," Tanaka gave her a small smile.

"Now if will excuse me," Inari said politely. "I am going to go change and get ready for the next part of the plan."

"Thank you for your support," Tanaka dismissed her.

XxxX

Tsukune followed his prey carefully. He kept his youki tightly contained and had wrapped a Glamore around himself. Sometimes he walked, other times he flew, but he always kept his eyes on the prey. When the fleeing man pulled out a cell phone, Tsukune pulled out an expensive device that let him record everything the phone transmitted, including what number was dialed.

Tsukune had a satisfied smile as he followed the fleeing thug. The man had no idea he was being so closely followed. He had no idea how much information he was giving away.

Tsukune felt better when he was doing something. Just going from place to place making contacts and asking questions was important, but felt so useless most of the time. He supposed that his frustration was a side effect of his busy life through high school and university. But at the moment, Tsukune had a visible target, and following the target was providing a wealth of information.

Tsukune followed the target until he finally went to what was probably his home. The thug went to an average apartment building in an average area of the city. Once the man had gone inside, Tsukune made sure he didn't leave again. He spun out threads of his energy in to a web around the apartment. That let him feel the presence of every living thing in the thug's home. The Tate no Kai member, as it turned out, did not live alone. Tsukune could feel the life energy in the apartment and could tell that there was two people in there, and four smaller sparks of life. Later investigation would show that the man lives with his sister and her cats.

Tsukune kept watch over the apartment until the sun rose in the morning. He called in the address to Lieutenant Tanaka, and by the time the sun was coming up in the east, the police had the place under observation. They would investigate the suspect in depth. In the mean time, Tsukune would head home for some rest before continuing his own investigations.

XxxxX

While Tsukune was following his suspect, the police had been keeping busy. The night club was closed down. The building was little more than an empty shell. The place had been chosen for the operation because it was empty of tenants. If Tate no Kai tried to strike out at the place in revenge, there would be no innocent lives at risk.

The area was mostly business offices with a few store fronts. What was left of the night club was the sign above the doors to prove that it had been there, so anybody looking would not have to guess if they found the right place. Taped to the door was a notice that the club was closed for repairs. One of the newest businesses in the area, across the street from the now abandoned club and half way down the block, was a coffee shop. Karasu No Kōhī was a themed coffee shop that was quickly popular with the locals. The staff were mostly young women dressed like mikos, if shrine maidens made their clothes snug enough to show off their womanly curves, with tiny hats on their heads, and small, black-feathered wings on their backs.

A pair of young men, dressed, almost, as shinto priests, also with little black wings on their backs also worked at Karasu no Kōhī. The men helped their coworkers, and were careful to be attentive to, and even a little flirty with, any female customers. Men and women from the surrounding businesses and offices found the customer service and the coffee both to their liking.

The coffee shop was one of many observation points sent up in the area. The night club had been a challenge to Tate no Kai's self declared war on vice and immorality. It had turned out to be a trap. Now that the doors of the club were closed, sealed with police tape, and with a sign that read "Temporally closed for cleaning," the club's perceived continued existence was also intended to provoke Tate no Kai.

Only a few hours after the trap had been sprung, the area in front of the club had been filled with reporters. The face man for the police had been trotted out for a small pres conference. It was another attack in the psychological war against Tate no Kai.

"I am here to let the people know," The face man had said to the press. "The police have struck another, highly effective blow against the criminals that want to cause fear and unrest in Japan for their own, selfish, greed. Acting on a tip from one of their own that had come to learn that he was caught up in something much worse than he had anticipated, and was looking for a way out, the police were able to quickly mobilize the resources needed for last night's arrests..."

The press conference had three purposes. First it was intended to provoke Tate no Kai. Second was to give the public some good news, even if it wasn't all accurate. The third objective was to sew distrust among the members of Tate no Kai. By saying that the police had been tipped off by an inside man, the leaders of the organization were, hopefully, going to be stuck second guessing themselves, reducing their ability to do anything for a while.

All the red flag waving had serious intentions behind it. The simplest reason was clear to see. The police were setting another trap for Tate no Kai. The statement that the police had been tipped off by an insider was to rattle the leadership's confidence in their underlings. It was also intended to muddy the waters, because the man that had been allowed to escape was sure to report that the night club had been a trap. His higher ups would likely wonder if he had been allowed to escape because he was the informant.

Even if they did not suspect him of being a traitor, they still had to be suspicious of anything he had to report. After all if it was a trap, how had he escaped it? Had he simply sold out his companions, or had he suffered a case of cold feet and failed to act, letting him stay clear of the club as the trap closed in on his fellows? There was also the chance that he had been allowed to escape, either to willingly or unknowingly lead the police to more Tate no Kai members.

The last reason for provoking Tate no Kai was a little more devious than the others. Basically, the police had stirred up Tate no Kai so they could watch them react. The organizations from Ross' side of the street were in on this last part of the plan as well. There were lots of Tate no Kai member that had been spotted in the past but mostly left alone. Now all known Tate no Kai resources were being watched closely, hoping that more information would be exposed.

XxxxX

The General had expected to see news of the raid the next day. He had expected to receive word when the attack had been successfully completed. When the phone rang he had not been more than a little surprise that the call was a little later than anticipated.

"Moshi moshi," The General answered in his most calm and cultured voice.

"Sir," The voice on the other end spoke in a quick, cracking voice. "The attack failed. The police had been expecting the attack. Almost everybody was caught."

"What!?" The General roared.

"Sir, it was a trap," The nervous voice said again. "One of the men managed to escape, but he said he thinks everybody else was arrested. He tried to call the squad leaders, but none of them answered."

"How did this happen?" The General demanded.

"We were out smarted, Sir," The underling answered. "If our man had not escaped, we wouldn't even know as much as we do. We wouldn't know that the raid had failed possibly before morning."

"Did the man really escape?" The General asked, his voice dropping into a dangerous growl. "Or did the police let him go?"

"He said he escaped," The other man said. "He said they tried to beat him down, but he got away."

"He says?" The General questioned. "Have you seen his injuries for yourself?"

"Sir, our man said he escaped and outran any pursuit," Came the reply. "But I did not want to take any chances. I told him to go home and wait for orders. I did not want him going near any other members until we know beyond any doubt that he is not being watched."

"Yes," The General grudgingly agreed that it was a wise choice. "Yes, that was good thinking. Wait a day or two, then someone to meet up with him. If he does show signs of being beaten, we may be able to still use him."

"And if he is unharmed?" The man asked his leader.

"If he has betrayed us," The General answered. "I will think of some other way to make use of him."

"I understand Sir."

"You did well," The General spoke in a voice that was calmer than he felt at the moment. "Keep me advised if you learn anything else."

"Yes sir," The other man said before breaking the connection.

The General carefully put the phone down before he started swearing. He could feel the bile rising in the back of his throat as his anger made him see red. He had ordered a raid using tested men. Some of them had kept their faith in him even after being harassed by the police before. Now those men had been caught by the thrice damned police.

The General was furious. He did not want to believe that he had fallen for a trick. He did not want to believe that the ineffective and corrupt police had managed to fool him. The problem was that he had used proven men. The men above them were had also shown that they could be trusted. If it had been men like he had used for the smaller raids, back in the beginning, he would think the had just messed up. At worst, if the had been a raid using new recruits, one or more of them might have been traitors. But he had not sent new members. The people who had known the facts ahead of time had earned positions and followers within Tate no Kai.

The General did not want to accept that he had played the fool. He started going over the plan form the beginning. He looked at all the names of the men he had used. He reviewed the information that had been collected. He had been trying to decided who should be blamed for passing on bad information to him when the phone rang.

The call had been a short one. One of his captains had called to tell the General about the press conference on the news. The General had turned on the television and found a station covering the press conference, ignoring the phone in his hand, until he threw it into the television with enough force to destroy them both.

The General was in full rage all over again. His proven men were prisoners. He refused to think of them as arrested because he he didn't think the police should have any authority over him and his men. He was better than them. He was above their corrupt and flimsy law, and yet they dared to oppose him and capture his soldiers. The only thing that was anything close to good news was that the police had admitted to being tipped off.

The General saw the act of betrayal as a good thing because it confirmed what he wanted to believe. It proved that even the men that followed him were still corrupt creatures that needed to be controlled by a firm hand. It proved that the incompetent police were unable to do anything without being lead by the nose. Being betrayed by one of his peons meant that the General had not sent his men into a trap that he had fallen for.

The General grasped at that grain of self-serving news to help sooth his bloated ego. He knew that he was not at fault. He just needed to think of how he was going to show the police the error of their ways.