Kuon bit his lip until it bled down his chin, while he listened to the chaos inside the room they'd discovered. To minimise the risk to Kyoko, they'd thrown a smoke grenade inside to confuse and disorient the kidnappers, then they'd stormed inside, wearing gas masks. Seconds later, they'd dragged a woman out, and Kuon's expression turned murderous. "YOU!" He lunged for Saena, but Yashiro and two agents held him back. "REN! STOP IT! YOU'RE HERE TO HELP KYOKO, NOT TO KILL HER MOTHER!" Kuon growled loudly. "IN THIS CASE, I'LL BE DOING BOTH IN ONE GO! LET GO OF ME!" Then, out of the corner of his blood-filled eyes, he saw six agents awkwardly carrying an old-fashioned wooden wardrobe out of the smoky room. A piercing cry rang out over their grunts. Kuon froze. That cry… KYOKO!
When Yashiro noticed that Kuon's focus had shifted, and heard Kyoko's pained scream, he let go of his friend, and indicated to the agents to do the same. One wasn't fast enough, and got sent sprawling as Kuon shook him off roughly. Hisagi was directing the movement of the wardrobe. He stopped Kuon with a glare and a hand on his shoulder. "Your wife is inside, and we think she may be hurt, but she's still conscious. The wardrobe is locked, and we can't find the key. We think Mogami might have swallowed it. Trying to break the damn thing open without tools might cause injury to your wife. I'm sending my men to get crowbars. You'll have her back soon, so just be patient for now." The look Kuon gave Hisagi froze the veteran agent's blood solid. "Let me through so I can talk with my wife. I need to know if the baby is alright."
He brushed past the frozen agent without waiting for a reply, and went over to the wardrobe which the others had set down. Now that they weren't groaning and huffing with effort, he could hear his Kyoko's breathing. It sounded strained, and he could hear an odd whimper. He knelt down, and lay a shaking hand against the door. He took a deep breath, shoved 'Dark Kuon' as far down as he could, and spoke. She was here. She was safe now. He'd found her in time. It was going to be okay. "Kyoko, it's me. I've come for you." He heard a loud gasp, then, "KUON! Kuon, you have to get us out of here! The baby is coming!" His eyes shot wide. "What? But it's too soon! You're only eight months along!" She sobbed, and barely managed to get out her reply. "I know, but after that woman slapped my stomach, I started getting contractions, and a while ago my water broke! Kuon, you have to get us to a hospital right away! I'm really scared for the baby!" Kuon felt his heart break a little. The thought of losing the baby… He couldn't do it. He couldn't let that happen.
"Kyoko, they can't find a key for the wardrobe. I'm going to have to break it open. Do you trust me?" Kyoko gave a feeble little laugh. "Of course I do! More than anything!" Kuon smiled his loving smile, and for the first time since he'd found out she'd been taken, 'Dark Kuon' slowly began to fade back into the deepest recesses of his soul. "Brace yourself, Kyoko. I'm going to need to tip the wardrobe on its back. That's the only safe way I can do this." Even though she couldn't see him, she nodded. "I'm ready! Do whatever you need to, just get us out of here!" Kuon got the agents to help him, and together they carefully laid the wardrobe on its back. "Kyoko, duck down as far as you can, and cover your head with your hands, just in case!" She shouted back to him. "Okay, I'm ready. Go for it, Kuon!"
He lay on his back on the wardrobe, carefully gripped the sides, and brought both his feet down, hard, on the middle of the edge of the roof panel. Pain shot up his heels, but he ignored it, and kicked out again and again. On the fourth kick, the wood gave an almighty creak, and a crack formed in it. By the seventh, the wood began to buckle. He couldn't feel his feet anymore, and he could vaguely hear the agents around him telling him to stop and let them have a turn, before he hurt himself, but he ignored them. On the ninth kick, the wood finally gave way and broke in two, the halves barely hanging on to the walls of the wardrobe. He swung around and tried to stand, but collapsed to his hands and knees when excruciating pain shot up both his legs.
He watched as Yashiro crawled into the top of the wardrobe, and started pulling Kyoko out. When she was out, she crawled straight over to him, and he threw his arms about her. His arms shook from the effort of trying not to hug her too tightly. It was killing him to be so gentle with her. "Kuon! We knew you'd come for us! We never doubted it! We weren't scared at all, because we knew you were going to find us!" Kuon couldn't speak, he could barely breath, so he just nodded. His chest was tight with relief, and tears were forming in his eyes. He pulled back, lifted her shirt up over her stomach, and leant down to kiss and rub her belly.
"I promised I'd protect my most precious people. You're going to be okay now. I'm going to take you to the hospital, and you're going to have the baby, and everything will be alright." Kyoko nodded, tears streaming down her face. "You did a good job, Kuon. You found us. We'll be okay now. Let's get to the hospital, okay? I don't want to have the baby down here." Kuon nodded, and tried to stand again, but he fell again with a pained grimace. Hisagi stepped forward, and helped him over to the Jeep, while Yashiro stepped over to Kyoko, and picked her up bridal-style. He was surprised by how little she weighed, especially since she was eight months pregnant. He carried her easily to the Jeep. The three men and Kyoko drove back to the warehouse, following the markers the team had left as they'd gone along. The rest of Hisagi's men followed them back on foot, Ichimaru in charge of the prisoner for the rest of the night.