Chapter 11: Tokyo's Stray Cat is Home Bound
"How much longer till the end?" Kenma murmured, as he proceeded to enter the maze for the umpteenth time tonight.
"You can always quit, you know," Ritsu shouted behind him, "If you do, though, you'll be mine from now on. But if you insist on continuing, you still have a 4 minutes and 30 seconds to go!"
Kenma ran with little energy left. His body ragged with hunger pangs, cuts and scratches from falling, and bruises from taking the hits from Ritsu after getting captured. He ran and ran, but no matter where he turned everything looked the same, and being shorter, he couldn't see above the stalks. Only the tiki torches, laid out at the corners of the walls, shed a dim light around the field. He tried everything, from memorizing where he left off last and marking where he's been. But, somehow, he would always get caught.
"Ready or not, here I come! Round 39 begins!" Ritsu shouted in the distance.
"It's been only 39 rounds?" Kenma sighed in disbelief, and started to pace his steps trying to figure out if he's even half way across the maze, "It feels more like 70 or 80 since we started".
"Hey Kenma," Ritsu voice called out, his voice sounding threateningly close, "Let shake things up a bit. You can stay in the maze even if you get caught, but this time you have to take 5 hits from me instead of the usual three. How about that? Sounds more fun right?"
If Kenma can get any paler, he did. His stomach started to churn and his body started to lurch over from the memory of the last few punches he received. But, having no time to think or to stay put, he continued on, picking at random at the forks in the maze, hoping for the exit to be not too far off.
"Kenma~, I'm close by~" Ritsu teased.
Feeling numb from fear, Kenma began to break into tears, his mind going blank, panic and hysteria taking over his steps. He got more scratches and bruises, tripping on the loose stones and dry ground. Ritsu appeared just a few feet away from the running figure, licking his lips out of enjoyment of winning another round in the maze.
"Gotcha."
Kenma fell over but this time, completely spent and unable to move another step, Ritsu hovered over the dirtied boy under him and proceeded to kick him in the gut and stomping on his legs. Kenma wincing and crying out in pain plastered a satisfied smile on Ritsu's face.
"Alrighty then, in Round 40 you have a 5 minute head start starting now."
Feeling like it's not even worth the trouble, Kenma didn't move. The more he tried to move, rocks would cut into his skin. Light headed from the mental strain and hunger, he slumped onto the ground.
"4 minutes left. Are going to continue?" Ritsu asked, not moving from his spot.
Kenma didn't know how to respond. Did he want to continue and hope for the exit to be not too far? Or give up and let his kidnapper do whatever?
Then, the image of his teammates floated into his head. The practice drills he had to endure, the shouts from his teammates, the cheering from his peers, all that he thought was troublesome or enjoyable brought tears to his eyes. He started to move, inch by inch.
"3 minutes left" Ritsu scoffed.
Mustering every last drop and steam of energy left in his empty body, Kenma got back to his feet and started running. Tears running down non-stop blurred his vision, but he just kept running straight. He ran and ran till finally, what sounded like a running car driving past met his ears. Hoping that it wasn't a delusion or another trap, Kenma ran towards the sound.
Finally, in Round 40, Kenma escaped the maze. He stumbled over the street railings and rolled out on the side of a road. Looking back at the field and then up and down the street, Kenma took his bets and sprinted with the last of the adrenaline induced energy and went down the road, hoping for a car to pass by and hail it over.
"My little kitten~, congratulations~!" Ritsu's voice rang out from behind, "Now it is time to play cops and robbers. Seeing as you already have a head start, I'll start chasing~."
Kenma heard the sounds of an engine running behind him. It was Ritsu on a Moped and he was shortening the distance between them. Feeling panicked and surer than ever that he'll get caught again, he begged for his beaten legs to carry him a little further. The engine sounded as if he was right behind him and, daring to look, Kenma peaked back, only to find that the bike was closer than he'd hoped. With just a few yards separating them, Kenma prayed for a miracle.
Prayer answered.
A truck headlights appeared out of nowhere. Kenma, taken aback, tumbled forward to his knees and he curled up. Ritsu screech to a halt, just a few feet away. The truck stopped just a few feet short to where Kenma fell, its headlights glaring, illuminating the fallen figure and the biker.
"Kenma!" a familiar voice called out from behind the truck's headlights.
"Kuroo!" Kenma shouted, his voice breaking, "Kuroo, please help me!"
The doors swung open and out rushed a tall man with jet black hair, wearing the Nekoma's volleyball jersey, along with many others sporting the same. Kuroo ran straight to where Kenma was at and hugged him tight.
"Crap…" Ritsu clicked his tongue and tried to wheel around to escape. But before he can drive off, the other Nekoma members rushed him, and he fell off his Moped and was pig piled to the ground. The group started slinging punches and shouted insults all at once. Mostly along the lines of "How dare you take our setter! You wanna die, punk…" and so on.
Hearing the familiar voices of his teammates, he let his body go lax. The hunger, the stress, the hysteria, the mental emotional and physical strain that he endured all night long came to an end. Before passing out in Kuroo's arms, he heard his teammates calling his name and saw the blurred image of Ritsu getting handcuffed on the ground.