Sorry guys if I'm taking so long. I wasn't sure if anyone was actually interested. I mean I see that people are viewing the story, but it's hard to tell if they're actually enjoying it. By the way, thank you to those who have been reviewing the story so far. It really makes me happy to see reviews and feedback :)

Here's your warning: Let's see, other than the fact that Shinta Yanagami was seen in Episode 19, there isn't really any spoilers

DISCLAIMER: I don't own or work for Toei, I just wrote the story

WHAT IS YOUR TREASURE?

Tsukasa came out of her meeting even more distressed than before. Not only did she have to figure out who was toying with her, but the team was also being grilled by the higher ups, mainly senior official Shinta Yanagami.

As she was walking through the lobby, she accidentally bumped into someone. "Ah, gomenasai." She said glancing up. "Eh? Noel?"

"What? Oh hey there." He said rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about tha-"

"Shh, not so loud!" She hissed covering his mouth.

"Huh? Oh, good morning Noel-san."

They both turned to see Sakuya and Keiichiro walking towards them. Tsukasa quickly removed her hand from his face.

"Good morning to you two as well." He told them. "How was your meeting?"

"Ehh, not so good actually." Sakuya told him scratching his head. "That senior official can be pretty brutal sometimes."

The man in white chuckled at his comment. "So I've heard." He readjusted his jacket when something caught Sakuya's eye.

"Hmm? Noel-san what happened to your neck?"

The other two turned to see what he was talking about; on the left side of his neck, just above the collar bone, was a thick piece of white gauze, covered by transparent medical tape to hold it in place.

"Oh this?" He pressed his fingers to the gauze. "I'm embarrassed to say this, but it's actually from my hair straightener." He admitted. "I got a little carried away this morning." He shifted his collar to hide it from view.

"Ohh." Sakuya nodded in understanding. "Is that really it? Or did you happen to come across a cute girl last night?" He asked in a teasing manner.

"Well, if you really must know…" He played along whispering to the young man. "I actually did meet this girl last night, and I-"

"Can we please stop with this nonsense?!" Tsukasa said shoving her way in between the two womanizers.

The red and green Patrangers noticed how unpleasant her attitude was; even when she was scolding them habitually, her tone was never this harsh.

Keiichiro stepped in to defuse the situation. "We've got a lot of paperwork to take care of. Not to mention we need to be on high alert in case a Gangler does decide to attack the city."

"Sorry Keiichiro-sempai, Tsukasa-sempai." He apologized. Sakuya turned to the other man. "We'll see you around."

"Noel, before I forget, could you meet me in the cafeteria around noon?" Tsukasa asked him.

"Sure." He promised.

He watched the three of them walk in the opposite direction before heading off to take care of his own business.

As they got in the elevator, Sakuya peeked over at his female superior. "You okay, sempai?"

She shut her eyes and counted to three before opening them. "I'm fine." She lied. "Just fine…" They didn't press her any further as the elevator doors closed.

Around noon, Tsukasa waited in the cafeteria at an empty table near the window. She began to rub her hands nervously when she glanced up and saw Noel approaching her table.

"Sorry I'm late." He said sitting down. "Sakuya told me that you wanted to meet with me."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You had to be reminded by Sakuya to do something?"

He shrugged in response. "There's a first time for everything."

"Like getting burned by a hair straightener?" She mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"Never mind." She shook her head at him. "Listen…" She lowered her voice. "That…thing from this morning," He began to take the card out from his pocket when she stopped him from doing so. "Could you keep this a secret, just between you and me? And I guess the Lupinrangers." She included. "Don't say anything to Keiichiro or Sakuya."

Noel's face showed concern. "Why not?" He wondered. "They're your teammates. Don't you trust them enough to go to them for help?"

"It's not that I don't trust them." She replied. "It's just nothing for them to be worrying about at the moment. We have a lot on our plate right now dealing with Ganglers. I just don't want to add my problems on top of that."

He contemplated the idea. "Even if there was a possibility that this is somehow Gangler related?"

"We don't know that it is Gangler related-"

"But we don't know that it isn't." He argued.

Tsukasa folded her arms, leaning into the table.

"Listen," He whispered trying not to reheat their argument. "What's the worst that could happen if Keiichiro and Sakuya knew about this?" She remained silent, so he continued. "Is it really the warning that's been bothering you…or is it something else?"

"There is that, among other things..." She admitted.

His expression softened for her. "Tell me."

Tsukasa took a deep breath to clear her head. "It's the thought of someone else knowing what my treasure is, it's scary. The fact that one minute it's there, and, in a split second…" She snapped her fingers to get her point across. "It could be gone in a flash…"

Inwardly he laughed; her snap was just as good as the Lupinrangers.

"Actually, now that I think about it, you never told me what your treasure was."

"It's…complicated."

"Tsukasa, I can't help you protect it if I don't even know what it is." She began to rub her shoulders and biceps nervously. "Could you a least give me some sort of clue as to what it is?"

"Noel-"

"Would you like to know mine?"

Her head shot up when he asked that. Would he seriously tell her his secret? Noel gave her a small smile. "I'll tell you what my treasure is, if you tell me yours."

Tsukasa considered his proposal. At the very least, this would give her an insight as to what the Lupinrangers were really after. She was just about to give him a verbal response when they were interrupted.

"Noel-san, Tsukasa-sempai!"

Sakuya came running in towards their table.

"What is it? Is it a Gangler?" He asked for the both of them.

"Iie, nothing like that." He clarified. "It's Commander Hilltop; he wants to see us upstairs."

"I apologize for calling you all so suddenly." Hilltop addressed them. "But as you know, it's been quite some time since we've had any reports of any Gangler related incidences."

"Do you want us to go out and investigate?" Keiichiro asked.

"No no, I was just stating the facts." He said getting up from his desk. "Actually, this just came in from the higher ups. It involves every single person who works for the GSPO." Hilltop walked around to the front and handed each one of them an envelope. "Everyone is to report in at this time and date." He handed the last one to Tsukasa. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Jim and I have another meeting to attend to." Hilltop's face became grim.

His subordinates became increasingly concerned. "Is it…senior officer Yanagami, sir?" Sakuya asked.

"Ohh no, even worse than that." He called back. Jim made a whimpering noise as the door closed behind them.

"Even worse than Yanagami." Noel thought out loud. "I didn't think there was anything worse than that."

"Yeah, even when he chewed me out I thought I was going to wet myself." Sakuya admitted. He opened his envelope and read what was inside. "EHHHH?!"

The other three jumped at his outcry.

"Doshita?" Keiichiro asked. His jaw dropped when he too read what was inside.

Sakuya wanted to cry. "I-I can't believe it!" His voice became cheery. "I'll be right back. I need to call Umika-chan right away!" He rushed out the door, but reeled around and grabbed Keiichiro by the arm. "Keiichiro-sempai you come too!"

"Eh? Nani?!"

Noel and Tsukasa watched them also disappear behind the door. She turned to her colleague. "Do you think that…they received warning messages as well?"

"Highly unlikely." He replied. They glanced at each other before deciding to open their envelopes at the same time. When they got to the bottom, their expressions were no different than the other two.

"EHHHH?!"

THREE NIGHTS LATER...

Tsukasa had stayed back late to finish a report she had been working on. By the time she left the office , the moon had already risen in the sky. Not many people were out this late as she made her way home. It was a good thing…and a bad thing.

"You know it's not safe to be out by yourself." She heard a voice say behind her.

Tsukasa gripped the handle of her purse, knowing full well who that voice belonged to. She whirled around pulling out her VS changer. "What are you doing here?"

The red phantom thief looked at her with a lazy smile. "Nothing special, just patrolling for Ganglers."

She huffed at his comment. "I'll bet…"

Behind the mask, Kairi made a note of how anxious she appeared, and not only because of his presence. Perhaps she had a rough day as well. He dug his hands in his pockets. "You really shouldn't be out so late." He said once more.

"And you shouldn't be breaking into people's apartments." She shot back.

"And that's another thing," He said taking a step closer. "That wasn't us."

"Liar!" She thrusted her changer forward. "You guys are after the Lupin Collection pieces!"

"We only go after stolen Collection Pieces." He explained. "Yours was…well, pretty much handed to you. Am I right?"

She tensed up. Only Noel could have known that. It seems he was still feeding them information. "Well, the jokes on you." She told him. "Because I don't have any."

"Heh, I'll keep that in mind." He responded. Kairi started moving towards her. Tsukasa kept her guard up until he passed by. "Be careful going home."He advised walking away.

"Wait!" She called. "Why should I believe you when you say you didn't send me that warning? How do I know that it really wasn't you?"

He whipped around and angled her changer away from him. "Because I'm a straightforward man." He replied.

Tsukasa froze at his quick movements; she didn't even have time to blink and here he was just inches away from her face.

"I don't dance around the subject like some people do. When I want something…I take it…" He whispered.

She searched his face for any hint of deceit or deception, but found none. At the same time she studied the contours of his cheeks, and how it was almost charming the way his lips curved into a smirk without even trying. And-wait what?

His smirk became wider. Kairi gently blew into her face causing her to flinch back in surprise. When she opened them again he was gone. Her eyes scanned every inch of her surroundings, but he was nowhere to be found.

She released a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Putting her VS changer away, she picked up her pace and headed home.

Author's Note: The chapter's a little shorter than the last one. But on the plus side we're about a third of the way into the story. Yay! I actually don't know how long I want to make this, but I do know how I'm writing the ending.

Anyway, lemme know what you guys think about the story so far, and you think is going to happen.

Oh, and just what was in those envelopes...? Hmm...?