Author's notes: Hallo! Hallo!! I'm back with another fic! *hooray hooray!* Errmmm… as you can see, this is not a sequel of TVA. I really couldn't think of any ideas. Hey, know what? If anyone out there wants to write the sequel, I'm all ears! (or eyes for that matter ^_^ ) Just e-mail me or whatever. Or leave it in the review. Wehehehe… *nudge nudge* Just don't write it without my permission. It was my original idea anyway. Though the characters don't belong to me. *sob sob*

Anyway, here's a new story! I'm just having a bit of conflict on who I'm pairing Misao with. *think think* Well, there's a 'voting thing' at the end of the chapter so please read it. Very Important!!

Well, here it is! ^_^ Hope y'all enjoy!

Disclaimer: Oh fudge. I don't own Rurouni Kenshin at all! Grrr. How life sucks.

Mission: Frustration!

By Tesuka- chan

Chapter 1

Rival

"All go?"

"Roger that, weasel."

Misao narrowed her blue- green eyes but let the rooster head get away with it. For now. Maybe when she gets back, she'll beat the living daylights out of him. But in the meantime, she has to concentrate on the mission.

Which is to acquire the hundred-billion-dollar-worth diamonds.

Black diamonds, specifically.

The woman in the black cat suit that hugged her curves zipped up, put on her leather gloves, slid her mask into place, and clamped the wire on her waist. She looked down at sunroom from the glass roof. Good thing the greedy bastard didn't think much of keeping his jewels in a bank.

She jumped.

The burglar lithely fell down on her feet like a cat which she was named after. The Jade Jaguar. She quickly unclasped the wire and silently moved along the walls towards the door. She peeped out and saw the security cameras. Just as planned.

"Feed the loop now." She whispered through the voice sensitive microscope.

"Okey dokey."

Oh brother. She rolled her eyes upward. I should teach him to used decent words during a mission. Shaking that thought aside, she peeped at the camera again and counted up to five. The light beside it blinked from green to red. I've got 10 seconds.

One…

She ran, as close to the wall as possible, without making a sound.

Two…

She turned to the dining room and rushed out to the hallway, the memorized floor plan of the mansion guiding her in the dark.

Three…

She turned towards the staircase and jumped on the banister, her balanced body sure and confident, her muscles rippling.

Four…

She jumped gingerly, her feet barely touching the wood before she jumped through the air again, heading towards the second floor.

Five…

Turning left to the west wing, she literally flew in a blur as she rushed towards the end of the lavishly decorated hall.

Six…

Stopping just in front of a two- door room, she took out her electronic device and swiftly attached two twin wires on the side of the security coded lock and pressed the button that would figure out the code.

Seven…

She waited, the red numbers flashing in the screen.

Eight…

Her long braid swished behind her as she glanced at the four cameras situated at the corners of the hall. Three more numbers to go.

Nine…

Completed, the screen blinked 'green' and the lock opened. Jade Jaguar opened the doors and closed it behind her.

Ten.

The only thing that can be heard was an audible 'click'. She was in.

By now, that rooster head should've transferred the loop inside the library. If not… I'm dead. Misao looked at the cameras, and they were blinking red. Good. She switched on the x- ray vision on her electronic mask and scanned the room. Since the code was broken, the red laser beams were gone. She looked at the blue lines that appeared before her eyes. A post, a sturdy wall, the Chippendale chair, two doggies… Shit! Rottweilers!

Two drooling huge dogs growled and bared their teeth at her. The huge beasts were approaching her black form, their eyes screaming bloody murder.

Misao gulped. She never new the bastard had two pet dogs. Damn Sano and his lack of information.

"Uhhh… nice doggies." She put her hands behind her and got a small bottle from her belt. "There's good doggies."

They lunged at her.

She jumped a half-second later and sprayed the sleeping concoction on their ugly drooly faces while doing a back flip.

They abruptly fell, dead asleep.

She straightened her crouching form and heaved a deep sigh of relief. Geesh, that was close. "Sano, why didn't you tell me there's two goddamned dogs?"

She heard a scratching in the background. "I didn't know. The informant didn't say anything."

Shit. "Alright… just give me the time."

"Three minutes and forty- three seconds."

"Right."

She set to work, scanning the walls again. Fireplace, nope. Portraits and an expensive Monet, nope. Bookcase, bingo. It's always the bookcase. She smirked and walked towards it. She pulled out a particularly old book and heard the hinges creak open, revealing to her a very high- tech safe. Titanium. One where you need a key card, a handprint, and a code.

Very nice, Misao thought. The side of her lips quirked up. This is too easy. She pulled out a plastic bag where a synthetic silicon hand was stored. She took it out, along with a key card device and the electronic lock opener. She inserted the key card, pressed the decoding button, and placed the hand over the screen. Green numbers once again flashed and in a few seconds, it was done.

"Welcome, Mr. Grey," the computer voiced out.

The safe opened.

In it, gold bars and silver chains were carelessly arranged. She didn't take heed of that… it wasn't in the job description to get those. Her eyes quickly flicked over these riches and moved to the one she was looking for. A velvet box.

Using a wire cutter, she cut off the wire that would set off the alarm if ever the box was removed. She gently lifted the box off its place and took it closer. She raised the lid, got the velvet pouch inside and opened the drawstring. Just to make sure…

She held it over her palm and drained its contents.

Stones. Plain gray pebbles that can be found in common streams.

And a card.

A card with a weird symbol engraved on it.

And on its back, a messy scrawl wrote:

Gotcha.

Blue- green eyes widened in disbelief as she stared dumbly at the card. Where's the jewels? The black diamonds? WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY???

"Hey, slowpoke. One minute left."

"Damn it, Sano! They're not here!"

"WHAT?"

"They're not here! The black diamonds! Shit… after all this time… all the planning… wasted!" Misao whispered furiously, not believing her eyes. Damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!

"Calm down, geesh. Shit. We'll figure this thing out later. Just get the card and go. Forty- seven seconds!"

I don't give a damn!! I have to find those diamonds!!! She wanted to scream. She wanted to lash out. But this was not the time. This was definitely not the place. She grabbed the card, put it inside her cat suit and slammed the safe shut in her consternation. Which was a bad move.

The alarm sounded.

Shit! Everything's going wrong! She quickly left the room, not bothering to close the bookcase. "Feed the goddamn loop!"

"All right, sheesh. You're the one who tripped the alarm."

Misao heard nothing. She had rushed out to the hallway, jumping like a ninja towards the staircase, when she said that to him. And now, she stood stock still. At least six guards were now coming up towards her, and more were running around. All were armed and dangerous. Not to mention three more Rottweilers.

She quickly gathered her thoughts and recovered quickly. One minute they were all stupidly staring at her black clad form (and definitely at the sexy curves), the next they were shooting at her cartwheeling body. She crossed the staircase and ran straight towards the east wing of the mansion.

Think… where can you escape?

And she got it. "Sano. Meet me by the east wall. I'll be there in two."

"Righty- o."

She spotted a wide Morano glass window and lunged.

Shattered glass were everywhere, a long cat-like form in the middle of it all. It seems like the whole world was in slow motion as she went airborne, her body doing a graceful flip in the air, braid whipping around, and landing at last with a roll on the ground. She was out.

But not safe yet.

In front of her, three guards were staring at her quite surprised, their .45 trembling in their slackened grips. One thought was on their minds: it's the Jade Jaguar!

Misao stood up, and upon seeing them, she smiled her cheeky smile. "Hello boys."

And before they knew what had happened, they were all disarmed, their faces comically having identical expressions as their dead weight bodies fell simultaneously on the grass. Misao agilely brought down her right leg from the series of kicks and swiftly jumped towards the trees where she could be concealed. She heard shouts behind her.

The ivy- infested wall was before her. Before she vaulted the wall, she thought she saw something flash among the leaves of the Cherry blossom tree by the wall. She shook her head, jumped over the brick wall easily and landed on the soft leather- cushion of Sano's BMW.

"Hey, watch it! This is brand new and scratchless!"

"Well it wouldn't be brand new and scratchless for long if you don't step on the gas!"

Sano rolled his eyes and literally stepped on the gas before security could even put it in their heads that they've escaped.

Taking off her electronic mask, he braided blue- black hair flew behind her as she took out the card from her cat suit. It had an interesting symbol engraved on it that she couldn't really tell. A weird variation of the Hiragana. She turned it around and studied the handwriting. But what really caught her attention was the border. Looking at it, it looked like a red line going around the perimeter of the card. But closely, it was actually a message. For her.

I got them first. You're not the greatest anymore, Jade Jaguar.

Misao inhaled sharply. A rival. A sneaky bastard that beat her to the loot.

"So, what does it say?"

"The flash…"

"What?"

"I'll tell ya when we get to base."

She remembered then the flashing blue eyes that she saw by the Cherry blossom tree.


A/n: Wehehehe… I know it's not that long. I didn't really want a very long first chapter. Ehehehe. So how was it? Like it? Not like it? Eh well, your loss. *grin*

----POLL---

Who do you want me to partner Misao with?

Aoshi

Enishi

Only between these two please. See, Enishi will fit perfectly fine for the role I'm thinking but then there's so many stories popping up with E/M. Aoshi on the other hand, well… it's a classic. Thing is, he'll be a bit OOC if I use him. So… choices, choices! Who would it be? Well, please vote! ^_^

READ AND REVIEW MINNA-SAN! Thanks! ^_^