A/N: Yes, I've finally updated! I'm sorry I made everyone wait so long, I just seem to be having a hard time structuring this story the way I want to. Oh well! And you know, if you ever need a fanfic to fill the void of boredom, you could check out "The Consequences of Fallibility," or "Changing Series: A New Foe" (a shameful plug for my own work...)

Anyway, for some reviewer comments, because you are all awesome! This was an astounding number of reviews for one chapter of one of my Ronin Warriors fanfics, and it kept me brainstorming for the next chapter since I knew there were people looking forward to a review!

Wolfkun: The answer to the armor question will be in this chapter. Thank you for the review!

Red Ranger Chick: Thanks for the review!

Soon to be world renown grace: Thanks for the review!

Firestorm: Thank you very much. Yeah, I just don't think Rowen would stand by and let that teller guy freak out, that's why I had him speak up. And as for Sage and Kento, well, you'll just have to wait and see.

Meira Evenstar: Thanks a lot for the review!

Tamesis: Yeah, Rowen dead is not cool. Thanks for the review!

Hikaru1617: Thank you very much! I'm glad that you're enjoying this story, and finding it helpful as well. And yes, Rowen is ina tense situation, because one wrong move could screw up everything.

Samantha B.: Thanks for the review!

Fragile Dragon: Thank you for the review! I actually know exactly what you mean, that's what makes this fic so challenging, trying to decide how Rowen should react in the situation.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Ronin Warriors, but if I did... well, let's not get into that.

Chapter 4

He was going crazy. He had counted the floor tiles, counted the ceiling tiles, analyzed his situation a dozen times, and a million other little brain exercises, but he still felt like his head was going to explode. Never make a genius sit for that long with nothing to do. Never. He stared around, and decided that the best idea would be to make little names for the criminals, so he could refer to them in his mind.

First was the gunman, who he decided to just call 'Gunman' as it kept everything simple.

Next, the man who had threatened him, he would be 'Violence.'

Then the tall, thin man in the corner who in his mind was christened, 'Beanstalk.'

The shorter, rounder man was to be 'Doughnut.'

Then there was the man with short, greasy hair, he Rowen would refer to as 'Greasy.'

And lastly was an older man whose long black hair was pulled back into a traditional style bun on the back of his head. He, Rowen decided would be 'Samurai.'

Lame, he knew, but at least he would be able to keep them straight.

He thought once again about how he could help in this situation. Though he had lovingly considered it, using his armor was definitely out. First of all, he was not too keen on revealing himself to all of the strangers surrounding him. And second of all, there were no demons in the room, just crazed humans. He could not use his armor against humans. He had no idea what kind of force to use on a regular person, and Sai would definitely have a fit if he used his armor on a person. Besides, attacking the thieves was not such a good idea. There were many hostages in the room, and all it would take for Rowen to give up would be a gun held to one of their heads. No, he would not do anything to endanger the lives of those around him. That was a solemn promise he would try his best to keep.

After all that showmanship, Gunman had asked the teller for the combination, and then opened the vault himself. Was that really so hard? And, just like the scared teller had said, the vault was empty.

Gunman was very angry, but it was his own fault. As if the teller was capable of lying at this point. He rolled his eyes as Gunman raged, and saw Violence look at him, brandishing his knife in a way that was sort of… violent. Rowen quickly looked down at the floor, his ear was still swathed in pain, he could barely hear out of it, and his head was pounding. He may be one ticked-off warrior, but he knew that one more hit like that, and he would become disoriented. So he played the good little hostage and kept his thoughts to himself.

Gunman motioned for his goons to cross the room and join him in a private discussion, which Rowen could only assume would be about what they were going to do now.

He relaxed, now that he was not being threatened openly by a man with a large knife, and then he felt it for the first time. Something warm was sliding down the left side of his face. Alarmed, he tried in vain to see the substance that was now heading down his neck. As he writhed his head to see, he heard the woman behind him whisper to him for the second time that day.

"Your ear is bleeding," she said. He nodded, of course that's what it was. He could only imagine how red the whole left side of his face was, blood notwithstanding. "How long do you think they'll keep us here?" she asked, her voice as quiet as possible.

Rowen shrugged. "I don't know, this is my first time," he responded in a whisper.

"Yeah, mine too. I'm just worried about my kids… if I don't get home soon, they'll be really worried."

"And here I was, mad that I'm missing a baseball game," Rowen said. The woman smiled slightly in response. "I'm Rowen by the way."

"Kyoko," she responded. However, their conversation was cut short when the goons began walking back towards their stations. Kyoko shrank back from Rowen so as to not catch their captors' attention.

Gunman pulled the young, female teller to her feet. "Call the bank manager," he said gruffly, leading her over to the marble countertops. She shook with fear as he picked the phone up off of the receiver. "What's his number?"

"I… I…" she said frantically, her eyes darting between his hard stare behind the mask, to the gun which was pointed at her heart. "It's in the directory," she finally blurted out, nodding her head toward a thin binder that was lying on the opposite counter. The gunman set down the phone and reached for the directory, not taking his eyes off of her, lest she try something. He flipped open to the front page, and laid the book out in front of the phone. He dialed the number and then held the phone to the girl's ear. "What… what do you want me to say?" she asked quickly.

"Tell him he is to come to his bank, alone, and open the safe. And tell him that if he alerts anyone, I will kill you," he said simply, and the coldness in his voice was enough to tell everyone there that he was completely serious.

Another short chapter I know, I'm horrible. But I thought it was a good place to stop, with another cryptic sentence and building suspense. So, let me know how you liked (or didn't like) it!

- Sarah Shima