"Miss Fujioko! Come on out!" The voice boomed again. Ami felt Kaiji hug her more tightly into his chest as the voice called for her. Everyone around her continued to panic, trying to find a way to escape. But the men had the room surrounded, and effectively held everyone in the room hostage. Ami vaguely felt afraid as she watched the panic ensue, but more importantly, she was angry. Who the hell were these people?

A man stepped up onto one of the tables. He was rather short and his face looked quite young, and had Ami not known any better, she would've easily mistaken him for a young boy. He stood confidently, holding a rifle to his side as he smiled at the crowd. He had to be the leader, Ami assumed as he barked a few orders at some of his men. He then cleared his throat and held his arms behind his back.

"Miss Fujioko! We seem to have a little problem here," He said, scanning the crowd, "see I need to take you with me for a little while, but I can't seem to find you." He laughed and shrugged his shoulders dramatically.

"Just stay still and he won't find you in this crowd. I'll figure something out." Kaiji whispered to her as he released her to pull her along behind him in the crowd. As he pulled her along, a gun popped off a few shots and everyone began screaming again.

"Everyone down!" One of the men by the exits shouted. The group obeyed instantly, crouching down to the ground.

"They took my gun when we went through the security…" Kaiji thought aloud, holding Ami's wrist in his hand as they crouched on the ground together. His hand was warm against her wrist, and even though it was something so small, it comforted Ami as she looked around the crowd, seeing all the terrified faces around her.

The man paced across the long dining room table. "Come on Miss Fujioko. You show yourself and come quietly, because I can't guarantee everyone's safety if you don't. See my men are men of war, they're used to killing things. This is just a big game to them. And they're kind of out of practice." He loaded his rifle and cocked it menacingly, smiling in satisfaction as the crowd of people cowered at the action.

"He's bluffing…" Ami heard Kaiji whisper behind her. Ami looked around at the rest of the people around her, crouching to the floor as the men with the rifles circled around them like vultures circling their prey.

Sighing exaggeratingly, the man jumped down from the table and made his way towards some of the people in the crowd. Before they could get away, he grabbed a hold of one of the women, grabbing her by the hair and dragging her away from the safety of the friends that had been surrounding her. She screamed as he pulled her up onto the table with him. Ami covered her mouth with her hands as she watched the man scan the crowd once again. He pulled a pistol from his pants pocket and held it up, bringing it to the trembling woman's head.

"Do you trust me?" Ami whispered to Kaiji, her eyes trained on the man as he held the gun to the woman.

He gave her a funny look. "Yeah, but what does that…?"

The woman sobbed as the man continued to scan the crowd. "Miss Fujioko, you're trying my patience. I'll give you to the count of five to show yourself, or I'll kill this woman. And then we'll start again with another hostage until you finally show your face." The man loaded his pistol and cocked it.

"One." He said.

"Wait!" Ami screamed and stood up quickly.

"Idiot what are you doing?!" Kaiji whispered fiercely as he continued to hold her wrist in his hand, trying to pull her back to the ground next to him. Ami quickly shook his hand free of her wrist and stepped away from him, looking up at the man.

He looked over at her and smiled. "There you are."

"If I go quietly with you, will you promise me that you won't harm anybody in this room?"

"Ami…" She heard Kaiji say behind her, his voice sounding strained.

The man raised an eyebrow at her. "You trying to bargain now Miss Fujioko?"

Ami glared up at him. "I will do whatever you ask of me, but only if you give me your word that no harm will come to any of these people."

He smiled wickedly down at her. "Fine. You have my word."

He lowered his pistol from the woman's temple, and pushed her back towards her friends. Ami heard her sobbing as her friends gathered her in their arms, watching Ami intently. Nodding and taking in a deep breath, she took a step towards the man. Her legs trembled slightly underneath her, but she forced herself forward. She wasn't going to allow these people to be hurt because of her. They hadn't done anything wrong, and Ami wasn't going to allow them to suffer.

"Please don't do this…" Kaiji said to her as she slowly made her way to the man.

She looked over her shoulder and forced a brave smile at him. "I have to or they'll hurt you and everyone else. I'll be ok, I promise." She turned back around slowly and took a deep breath in.

"Then take me too!" Kaiji shouted as he jumped up next to Ami.

"Kaiji…!"

Kaiji looked up at the man on the table. "Take me as a hostage too then. Two are better than one."

The man laughed and grabbed Ami's arm as he stepped over to her. "Nah, sorry buddy. Invitation only. You'll stay here with everyone else."

He nodded his head and two of the men who had been blocking the exits came forward and restrained Kaiji as he leapt towards Ami. He struggled against their hold, but one of the men took the butt of his rifle and rammed it into Kaiji's stomach, knocking the wind from him. Kaiji coughed as he bent over from the force, trying to snake in a breath as the other man used the butt of the other rifle and slammed it against the side of Kaiji's face, knocking him to the ground.

Ami fought against the man's grip. "You promised me you son of a bitch! You promised you wouldn't hurt anyone! You promised!"

The man smiled, squeezing her arm but looking up at the two men. "Now boys. We've made Miss Fujioko a promise. No rough-housing any more of the guests. Starting now."

He laughed as he began to drag Ami beside him, leading her towards the exit as the other men began to follow behind them, making sure none of the hostages came after them. Ami looked over her shoulder at Kaiji, who was recovering, looking around for her. His eyes met hers, and he jumped up once again. Two of the other hostages came forward and held him back, keeping him from being shot by the other men. Ami's heart wrenched in her chest as she watched him struggle against the other's hold, his eyes filled with fear as he watched them take her away. It was then that she finally faced what it was she'd been feeling for him these past few weeks. As a tear fell down her cheek, she realized that she'd fallen in love with him.

"I'll find you!" He shouted to her. "I'll find you and save you!"

"Kaiji… I'm sorry…" She whispered.