Chapter Text
10~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenma could barely wait until Oikawa was back with the healer. Kunimi was a quiet man, not much given to talking with his patients or their families, but he was good at what he did.
The first thing he said was, "I'm not sure the floor is the best place for him, Oikawa-san."
Kenma had pulled down some of the pillows and blankets from their beds in the loft, but he had to agree. There was just no way he would've been able to carry Kuroo's body up the ladder.
"We can take him to my place if you think he can be moved," Oikawa responded.
"Are you sure?" Kunimi asked.
The look he gave Kenma wasn't cruel, but it reminded him that they were outsiders here. Oikawa was a customer, he didn't owe him anything. Oikawa didn't have to be nice.
"I'm sure," Oikawa said, giving Kenma a steady look. "Iwa-chan should be here in a minute, I'm sure he can carry Kuroo, no problem."
Kunimi nodded and knelt down, flicking the blanket off of Kuroo and checking his pulse and breathing. "Do you know what brought this on?" he asked. "Was it sudden, did he seem to be having trouble before he collapsed?"
"No," Kenma said, leaning against the table. "He seemed fine."
Kenma glanced back at the flowers, not sure if he should say what Kuroo had been doing. Then again, if it helped, it would be worth it.
"He went into the woods today. Gathered some flowers. I'm not sure what else he did there."
Kunimi gave Oikawa a sharp glance, then frowned down at Kuroo. "That's not good."
Kenma frowned, watching both of them. They knew something. They knew something but weren't telling. "What is it?"
"It's nothing, Ken-chan," Oikawa said, the smile on his face not reaching his eyes. "Let's just get him to my place and get him cleaned up, yeah? We'll see how it goes from there. Ah, look, here's Iwa-chan now."
Kenma looked up as Iwaizumi's body filled his doorway, the sun at his back casting a shadow inside the house. He didn't look happy.
"Iwa-chan!" Oikawa said. "This thing here needs to be taken to the house, and you're the strongest one here. Could you?"
This thing?
Iwaizumi frowned as he looked at Oikawa, eyes narrowing as he assessed the situation. For a moment Kenma thought he would object, but he didn't. He just went over and picked Kuroo up, slinging him over his shoulder none to gently before giving Oikawa another look and walking back out the door.
"See, Ken-chan? Everything will be fine."
Kunimi didn't look like he thought everything would be fine.
For that matter, neither did Oikawa.
Kenma swallowed, feeling all alone in the midst of people who acted like friends sometimes but were really strangers. He hated it. Hated all of it. But most of all, he hated that Kuroo was hurt and that he had no clue how to help other than leaving him in their hands.
11~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steeling himself, Kenma stood and knocked on the door of the witches house.
No answer.
He knocked again.
The window shutters moved. For a moment, he thought it was the witch, but it was just the stupid owl again.
"Whoo?" it said.
Kenma sighed, and banged again on the door, not caring if he banged his knuckled bloody if it meant getting the man's attention. He lifted his hand to knock again, caught off guard when the door opened.
"Stop bothering me! What do you want? I thought I told you to go away," the witch growled.
Kenma huffed.
"Well? Cat got your tongue?" the man said, laughing like it was some sort of sick joke that Kenma didn't understand.
He'd thought he could just write the problem out, and that would be the end of it. Either that or the witch would already know just by looking at him. Powerful witches knew things, after all.
Witches that were more powerful than him, at least.
But this witch wasn't seeing anything. His eyes were white and cloudy, staring vaguely at the space above Kenma's head. How he was supposed to communicate with that, he wasn't sure.
He'd figure out a way.
"Well," the witch said, "you obviously want something, and I don't work for free. So here."
Kenma stepped back as the man went back into the house, picking up a jar that had been sitting near the hearth and coming back out with confident steps.
"The first thing I want you to do is this," he said, pulling the lid off of the jar and scattering its contents into the grass. "There were exactly 5000 grains of rice in this jar. If you really want my help, you have to gather all 5000 grains - no more and no less - and bring them back to me before nightfall. Until then, don't bother me, and don't even think about knocking on my door if you don't get it done by nightfall."
That being said he tossed the jar down onto the grass and stomped into the house, slamming the door.
Kenma stared back at the cottage, feeling the edges of panic begin to curl in on his heart.
5000 grains. No more, no less.
He looked up at the sky, wondering which side of noon the sun was on. He didn't know how long he'd slept. Didn't know how much time he'd spent gathering his courage outside the wizard's door.
5000 grains before nightfall.
5000 grains scattered everywhere.
Impossible. This was impossible.
A voice in the back of his head echoed, saying, "But you like the impossible, right Kenma? It makes things more challenging."
Kuroo's voice, but he'd never heard him say that. Not once, in his memory.
That didn't mean the voice was wrong.
Kneeling, he righted the jar and started picking up the grains of rice that were closest to him, counting as he went.
The sun beat down on him as he crawled through the grass, swatting at insects that bit and crawled over him. He had to be careful. Didn't want to miss a grain of rice and press it into the ground with his knees. Every so often he'd glance up at the sky, watching as the sun inched further and further towards the western horizon. Every so often he'd look into the jar, wondering if he'd lost count. He was going to slow, he knew it.
Then the crows came.
Oh no, he thought.
Crows, he knew, would eat anything.
He watched, helpless, as a crow dipped its head into the grass and came up with a grain of rice in its beak.
5000 grains, no more, no less.
When the crow ate that grain, there would only be 4999 left. Kenma watched and waited, seeing failure in the mouth of the black bird.
Then the funniest thing happened.
Instead of eating the grain of rice, the crow hopped over and dropped it down on one of the stones near the entrance to the cottage. Other members of the flock did as well, grabbing grains of rice and laying them on the steadily growing pile of rice on the rock.
Kenma stared at them, amazed, and didn't even mind when one of the smallest crows landed on his shoulder and cawed at him.
He'd always heard that crows were some of the world's smartest birds. As he looked into the little crow's eyes, it showed.
Pretty soon another of the crows was hopping up and down a few feet away, squawking at the crow on his shoulder. The little crow screeched back, and Kenma couldn't help the giggle that escaped him, even though they were being so loud.
He wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him because he thought he recognized them. Though why the murder of crows from his house would be so far inside the forest, he didn't know.
Either way, he was thankful for the help.
12~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenma hung back as they entered Oikawa's house. He wanted to ask if everything was alright with them bringing Kuroo there, but he didn't. He didn't want to say anything. Oikawa's house was nice, with elegant furniture and a separate bedroom on the first floor where Iwaizumi had taken Kuroo. Kenma hadn't ever been up to the second, but he was sure it would be nice as well. He felt like he would dirty anything he touched here.
It was one reason they normally met at Kenma's house for tea.
A grey form slunk up to him and slithered between his legs, causing him to automatically bend over and pet it.
"My cats always like you, Ken-chan," Oikawa said, leaning back in the open door frame of the bedroom.
"Too bad he can't take them home," Iwaizumi said from inside the room.
"Don't be mean," Oikawa said. "You know I wouldn't give up my cats."
Kenma didn't hear Iwaizumi's reply. He was too busy scratching behind the ears of the long grey cat. It was always the first one to greet him, like it knew who he was from just the few times he'd been over.
The small light-brown cat was always the next to greet him, bounding up and swatting the gray cat away before staring up at Kenma with big soulful eyes. Sometimes the others would come to him as well, the big black and brown tabby, the small brown cat that almost acted like a dog, so many others. Kenma wondered sometimes why they'd never gotten a cat.
One more mouth to feed, he supposed.
He picked up the small light-brown cat when it came up to him, petting it carefully and walking over to the bedroom door.
13~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just before sundown, Kenma knocked on the door. He'd tried counting the grains of rice as best he could. Even with the crows help, however, things had taken forever. Hopefully what they'd put together would make the witch happy.
The door opened up and the witch looked down. "Well?"
Kenma raised the jar up, shaking it carefully and hoping that the man would know where it was.
The witch narrowed his eyes and reached out, taking the jar from Kenma's hands and turning to walk back into the cottage. "You can come in while I check this," he said, sitting in a rocking chair next to the hearth.
There wasn't another chair.
Kenma looked down at his hands. What he really wanted to do was wash them and eat something. There was a mug of tea on a short table next to Akaashi's chair. Looking at it made Kenma realize how thirsty he was.
"Don't just stand there fidgeting," the man said. "Sit on the floor for all I care. Oh, and there's tea in the kettle over there, and soup in the pot over the fire."
It was an unexpected kindness.
Kenma found a mug and a bowl, grabbing a spoon before serving himself something to eat. He hadn't realized quite how famished he was until he took his first bite. Sitting with his back against the cooler side of the hearth he waited for the witch to finish checking the rice.
He was muttering to himself now, running his fingers through the rice in the jar and frowning. "Almost, almost," he said. "Maybe, almost - what?"
The man paused and Kenma stopped mid-bite, not sure how to read the expression on the other man's face.
"What is this?" the man said, pulling something small and round out of the jar. He sniffed it. "Is this a pea?"
Kenma breathed in and out, panic starting to set in as he looked at the small green ball in the man's fingers. He hadn't put a pea in there. Had the man switched it? But he'd been watching him, and there was no reason for the witch to cheat, was there?
"5000 grains, I said. Grains of rice. No more, no less."
It felt like the man was looking at him, pinning him with his gaze even though Kenma knew he couldn't see.
"This," he said, "is more."
Shrinking back against the bricks of the hearth Kenma quailed, casting about for some way to explain what had happened.
"Peas," the man said, "belong with peas, and rice belongs with rice. Mixing never did anyone any good."
There was a bitterness in the man's voice that made Kenma wonder if he was talking about more than just staple food items.
The man stood and walked over to a rack of different tins, popping the lid off of one and dropping the pea inside. "I suppose," he said, "I should give you some credit for the job you did today. It was more than I was expecting. Almost as if you had help. Of course, there's no one else around for miles."
He turned his head and Kenma wondered if he knew, if he'd heard what was going on outside the cottage, if he'd seen -
But of course, he couldn't've seen.
"Get some rest," the man said, tossing him a blanket from the bed. "You'll need your strength. I'll let you try again tomorrow."
Kenma swallowed and looked down at the locket, opening it up and looking at the face of his best friend.
Another one of the petals had been colored in.