Let's start with the "thank you's" first: Thank you for waiting patiently for me to get it together and finish this chapter. Thank you to everyone who's been reviewing so far;

-Guest 362 (I actually like that song, it does fit them perfectly. Thank you for the recommendation ^-^)

-Guest Melody (Thank you for your encouragement, I'm actually over him already, so yay! Haha ^-^)

-Toa Solaric (It'll be revealed soon : )

-Knoctis00

-PrettyRecklessLaura

Now that I got that out of the way, you might notice this chapter is a little bit shorter. But that's because I had to split in two because it would've been way too long. Ever so slowly I'm starting to tie up loose ends, which means we're getting to the end :(( But that's enough for now, enjoy Chapter 9!

Here's your warning: Because I took forever and a day, you might have to reread the previous chapters to refresh your memory lol

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

Time's Up

The Next Morning

Shortly after eight, the girls were already up getting ready to start their day. Umika had begun baking croissants in the kitchen, something easy that Touma taught her how to make. While she was working on that, Tsukasa made coffee for all of them, and was sitting in the living room conversing with Mana.

"Thank you again for letting us sleepover." She said gratefully. "I'm sorry that it was on such short notice."

Mana shook her head. "Think nothing of it; I really don't mind the extra company."

Tsukasa couldn't help but wonder about these two; they only knew so much about her-and vice versa-yet they were so welcoming towards her.

"Is something wrong?" Mana asked her.

"Nothing." She replied shaking her head. "You and Umika-chan have been so nice to me, and well," She looked down into her mug. "I honestly know so much about you both. And I'm sure it's the same for you; we've really only crossed paths at Jurer. Ah, please don't think that that's a bad thing." She said correcting herself. "What I mean is, I'm sure there's a lot that you don't know about me, yet I can't think of a lot of people who would be so hospitable to someone they barely knew. Please forgive me for sounding insincere. I just, feel bad you know..." She said sheepishly.

Mana only laughed. "Don't worry about it. Rather, I think that it was fate that we met there." She put her own mug down. "When I met you, I got to meet Keiichiro-kun." She said blushing. "And I got to meet Umika-tachi too, and became good friends with her and you because of it." She said happily.

Tsukasa matched her smile. She really hoped Keiichiro would see the light one day, and not let Mana slip away from him. In all honesty, they really were perfect for each other.

"Anou, may I ask you something?"

"Hmm? Uh, sure."

She leaned in towards Tsukasa."Forgive me for pestering you with this subject, but will you tell me why the prospect of you and Kairi-kun possibly being a great match is out of the question?"

"Well," Tsukasa began. "For one I don't really know him that well; and what I do know of him, I never actually asked him face to face for that information." She admitted. "There's also an age difference between us; I mean I know to some people 6 years isn't so bad." She shrugged. "And...well," Tsukasa frowned to herself. "He's not really my type."

"Well, what is your type?" Mana inquired.

Tsukasa took a moment to think about it "Let's see, a man who's sincere, kind, not rash," She added thinking about Lupin Red. "Family-oriented, loves hand-written notes just as much as I do, and also, he has to be passionate; I don't mean in a relationship type of way, although that would be nice. But I mean passionate in something he enjoys doing; like his job, or a hobby."

Mana leaned towards her once more. "And, you really don't think Kairi-kun has any of those qualities?"

"I didn't say that." She justified embarrassed. "I guess...I don't know…"

Mana placed a hand over hers. "I admit, I know just as much about Kairi-kun as you do; maybe less on some things, possibly more on others. But what I do know, is that the things I know more about him than you do, is exactly what you described to me as 'your type'."

Tsukasa didn't say anything.

"You may only see the side of him that works at the bistro, but sometimes when I get together with Umika-tachi when they're off work, he's definitely a different man."

She looked back at her hostess. "In what way?"

Mana only smiled. "Why don't you see for yourself next time?" She invited.

Tsukasa thought about her offer when Umika came in with a tray of baked goods.

"Croissants are ready!" Umika announced. "Come and get them while they're piping hot!"

Mana grabbed a TV dinner table nearby so Umika could set the tray down. "They smell delicious!" She told her.

She handed one to Tsukasa on a napkin. "Hehe, thank you. I believe these little yummies can cure those late night blues." She said with a wink.

Umika sat down on the floor with a croissant of her own. "Itadakimasu!" She was just about to take a bite into her flaky pastry, when they heard the doorbell ring.

"I wonder who that could be." Mana asked settling down on the sofa.

"I'll get it" Umika replied. She peeked out the window first to see who it was. Surprised, she opened the door to see Sakuya standing there grinning from ear to ear.

"Sakuya-san?"

"Good morning Umika-chan." He greeted cheerfully.

She closed the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to check up on you ladies. How's Tsukasa-sempai feeling?"

"She's doing better actually. I think we're going to have another girl's day together."

"Oh? Y-you were?"

"Umm, yes actually. Is that okay?" She asked concerned. Umika noticed he was holding something behind his back. "Anou, what do you have there?"

"Well uh..." He pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind him. "I bought these for you on my way over."

"They're beautiful." She said softly taking them from him. "Thank you, but what are these...for..." Her eyes grew wider at the sudden realization. "Oh no! I'm so sorry! I forgot we were supposed to have lunch today!"

"Daijoubu." Sakuya said honestly. "We can always reschedule it, it's no big deal."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." He assured her. "I know how busy you are looking after Tsukasa-sempai, and I really appreciate that. Arigatou gozaimasu." He said with a smile.

"Sakuya-san..." She said touched.

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, well, it's no big deal. We can have lunch some other time. I know this restaurant that has a nice view of the city; they also have really good meals for-"

Umika leaned up on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his, cutting him off.

"You're really sweet." She told him after a few seconds. "Shall I see you tomorrow?"

"Um, ah yeah...of course." He replied trying to compose himself. "Most definitely."

"Great, see you then!" Quickly she waved goodbye trying to hide her blush, closing the door behind her.

Sakuya blinked a couple of times before regaining his composure. As he walked down from the porch, there was a spring in his step. He did a little twirl, and a huge grin appeared on his face.

"BEST…DAY…EVER!" He heartily declared.

Behind the door, Umika giggled softly to herself watching him. She cradled the bouquet in her arms. Funny, she was the phantom thief here, yet he was the one who stole her heart. As soon as he danced his way out of sight, she turned around and saw Mana and Tsukasa standing there.

"Oh. Um…a hehe." She said bashfully.

Her friends gave her knowing looks.

"What? I felt bad that I forgot about our lunch date, so…"

"So you kissed him!" Mana finished for her with glee. She ran up to her giving her a big hug. "Umika-chan you're so in love with him!"

"Eh? Chigau! That's not-"

Before she could say anymore, Mana started uttering things like when her wedding date was going to be, or how many children she was planning to have.

Tsukasa leaned against the wall watching them. She remembered when Umika used to get the heebie jeebies just from being near him. And now look at them; their relationship with had come such a long way. A part of her was a little envious. If only…there was a way for her to be open with her feelings like that…

Meanwhile

Keiichiro came into the office dressed in his regular civilian clothes. Well, as regular as he could be; a light blue buttoned down long sleeve rolled up to his elbows and charcoal jeans were close enough. He had stopped by to grab something from his desk when he noticed Commander Hilltop in the hallway.

"What are you doing here on your day off?" He asked Patren Ichigo as they stepped into the elevator.

"There was a file I left here that I wanted to study. I came by to pick it up so I could read at home." He replied casually. "I wanted to be productive while I'm away from the office."

Hilltop watched him step off the elevator. He made a 'hm' noise as if it was normal for anyone to do that sort of thing when they're supposed to relaxing away from their workplace.

The office door slid open, and Keiichiro made a beeline for his desk. While he was rummaging through his things, a medium sized package sitting on top of Tsukasa's desk caught his eye; a square box, dressed in white wrapping paper with pink flowers on it, and a large pink bow finished it off. Weird, it's not like it was her birthday or anything.

"Did you leave that for Tsukasa?" He asked, pointing his thumb in the direction of the object.

"Me? No actually, it was here when I got in about an hour ago." Hilltop said waving his palms.

"That's strange." Keiichiro wandered over and examined the box in his hands. "I wonder who left it." No card or hand written message anywhere on it. Maybe it had come from a secret admirer he deduced, possibly someone from the masquerade last night. He gave the box a small shake. Keiichiro thought he heard noises coming from it, so he put his ear close enough to listen. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "It's ticking!" He shouted.

Commander Hilltop quickly jumped up from his desk as Keiichiro ran over. Both men ducked down by the window just in time as they heard a loud bang. A few seconds later, Keiichiro carefully peeked out, aiming his VS Changer just in case. As the smoke began to clear, they noticed that everything was still intact; nothing was blown to smithereens like they had imagined. The only thing that was amiss was the confetti scattered all about his and Tsukasa's desk. The package was split open at the top with a spring sticking out of it like a jack-in-the-box. Swaying back and forth on the spring was a small card. Keiichiro cautiously took a few steps closer to make out what it said. When he finished reading it his jaw dropped in fear. "Masaka…."

Sakuya had just grabbed a bite to eat when his phone began to ring. "Sempai?" He answered happily. "Don't tell me you wanted to hang out today?"

"Sakuya." He said seriously. "I need you to come down to the station right now."

"On our day off?" He asked surprised. "But why?"

"Hayaku!" Keiichiro all but shouted into the phone. "It's important."

He straightened up immediately. "Wakata." He nodded. "Let me call Tsukasa-sempai and have her meet us there."

"Don't!" He told him. "Not yet. I'll...give her a call later."

"Umm, okay, see you in a bit." Sakuya replied hanging up the phone in confusion.

When he got upstairs there were people coming in and out of the office. GSPO's CSI were taking pictures as well as samples off of Tsukasa's desk. To the side near Jim's work space, were Commander Hilltop and Keiichiro talking with Noel.

"Anou, what's going on?"

The three men turned towards their youngest member.

"Sakuya, do you know anything about this?" Hilltop asked handing him a card in an evidence bag.

Sakuya took it and read the note to himself. "It's like the ones the Lupinrangers fling at the Ganglers. But what's it doing here?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Hilltop explained. "Keiichiro and I found it on her desk inside a gift box."

"Huh that's weird. It's not like Tsukasa-sempai has any hidden Collection pieces, does she?"

Noel stayed quiet throughout their analysis.

Keiichiro shook his head. "I don't think so. But it is strange that it was meant for Tsukasa alone. Look at the wording; it only addresses one person."

"Were there any trace of fingerprints?" Sakuya asked holding up the bag.

"They're checking right now. They were inspecting her desk for anything out of the ordinary, but so far they've come up short."

"Souka?" He said nodding. "Hm? Is that why you didn't want me to call her, sempai?"

"Ah. I wanted to check it out first to make sure it was nothing for us to worry about. But now it seems like we do need to." He glanced back at her desk. "Curse those phantom thieves..."

"Pardon me, but if I may, I don't think that they're behind it this time." Noel told them.

The rest of the group turned to him.

"What makes you say that?" Hilltop asked him.

Noel kept his mouth shut.

"Noel, if there's anything...anything you know at all, please share it with us." Keiichiro said solemnly.

Their X teammate sighed. He knew Tsukasa was going to hate him for this but, what choice did he have?

"Gomen," He said to them. "But, Tsukasa...told me not to say anything…"

It was around mid-evening when Umika received a phone call from Sakuya. The ladies had decided to do a little retail therapy to lighten their moods and were just on their way back to Mama's house. Umika's face lit up when she saw Sakuya's name on the caller ID.

"Moshimoshi?" She answered cheerfully.

"Umika-chan," Sakuya said seriously. "Do you know where Tsukasa-sempai is?"

"Hmm? She's right over here." She replied looking over her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

"We've been trying to get a hold of her all afternoon." He said relieved, rubbing his forehead. "May I speak to her please?"

"Uhh, sure. Chotto matte." Umika used her hand to cover the receiver. "Sakuya-san needs to talk to you." She told her.

Curious, Tsukasa took the phone from her. "Hello?"

"Sempai where have you been?" He said exhausted. "What happened to your phone?"

"Sorry, I left it on silent all day. What's going on? Is it a Gangler?"

Sakuya was hesitant to say. "Well, not exactly. You see-"

Keiichiro snatched the phone away as he was speaking.

"Tsukasa, there's something we need to ask you about."

"Huh, what is it?"

"Have you…" Keiichiro treaded carefully on his next words. "Have you…been receiving messages recently?"

Tsukasa froze. "What kind of messages?"

At the other end, the four men hovered over Sakuya's phone on the table. Keiichiro put her on speaker. "Messages from…the phantom thieves…"

Tsukasa nearly dropped the phone in shock when he said that. Anger took over shock instantly, and she put the phone back up to her ear. "Noel told you, didn't he?"

"Sumade, but it wasn't his fault." He said looking over at him. Noel looked down remorsefully at the phone. "Tsukasa, how long have you been receiving these messages?"

She bit the inside of her cheek. "For some time now."

"How long?" He asked once more.

She sighed in exasperation. "A few weeks." She confessed. Tsukasa was almost afraid to ask. "Did I…receive another one?"

They all glanced at each other, with Keiichiro speaking up for them. "Yes."

"When? What happened? What does it say?" Tsukasa asked frantically. Off to the side, Umika and Mana became worried with how long and how intense their conversation was becoming.

"This morning, a package was left at your desk. The commander and I found it when we came in, and inside was another note."

"What did it say?" She tried again.

He remained silent on the other end.

"Keiichiro what did it say!?"

He took a deep breath, and read the note to her as calmly as he could. "It says;"

Your time is up.

I'm making do on my part and coming to collect your Treasure

Author's Note:

So then, what did you think? I really hope my absence didn't deter you from the story. If it did, I'm sorry!

Let me know what you guys think and I'll see you all soon!