Chapter Text
After a moment, Mrs Kujo entered the room with a first aid box - the same one she’d brought to redress Rushi’s arm the day before - and proceeded to tend to Kakyoin’s visible wounds while trying to make small talk that was answered only with non-vocal sounds to affirm or oppose a particular action. If she noticed anything untoward, she didn’t mention it, and soon she was done, leaving behind a neatly bandaged head that the asymmetrical fringe hung over like a stylish tennis player with a sweatband. “I’ll bring some tea for everyone,” she said while standing up with her little box, and bustled off to the kitchen.
“She’s… nice.”
Those still remaining turned to Kakyoin at the sound of a faint voice coming from knee-height.
“She is.” Mr Joestar’s face shifted through several different emotions as he added: “The nicest person you’ll probably ever meet, and a gentle soul; she’d help an injured tiger if it didn’t try to bite her head off first. I hope you aren’t going to do that…”
“I won’t. Why-?”
“-are you here?” The older man finished the question as per usual. “My grandson thought we might be able to question you about DIO, but then we discovered you had been… coerced… oh, I’m Joseph Joestar, and-”
“Yes. I know who you all are.” Kakyoin paused for a moment, then motioned towards Rushi. “Except for him: the one that sounds a little more American, in a school uniform that’s probably borrowed; I wasn’t… expecting him, I suppose.”
“I don’t think anyone was,” Rushi took a couple of steps forwards on a sudden impulse, and knelt next to the bandaged student, proffering a hand. “I’m Rushi: nice to meet you again under better circumstances. I’m staying here till Mr Joestar can… well, that’s a bit complicated.”
The redhead looked at the hand, then the other teen’s face, searching for something in it, then presumably noticed his eyes, as the reaction to them was filled with curiosity and a little concern. “Did you… were you…?” Their own pale lavender eyes were still a little wet, but they flicked over to the pile of dust that was recently a squishy part of a vampire…
“No… I didn’t have one of those things,” Rushi deduced the implication and answered, shaking his head. “Some other guy tried to get at me who might have been working for him, and my memory’s on the fritz is all-”
“... On the… ‘furitzu’…?” Concern was replaced with puzzlement as the green-clad student tried to pronounce the unfamiliar word.
Rushi waved his hand dismissively: “Oh, it’s just a phrase in English, it means: not working properly; or more specifically, I haven’t a clue who I was before yesterday. I can remember things, to a certain extent, but not much of the interpersonal stuff.”
“That’s… pretty odd…”
“Tell me about it,” Rushi rolled his eyes and then smirked a little. “I don’t even know what my real name is: I had to have one just in case I don’t ever get my old one back; we only really sorted out a temporary name - and a surname too: Kouka - for the paperwork this morning… oh, your name’s Kakyoin, right…?” Not gonna push the first name in front of everyone else right now. And I know most people who are acquaintances in Japan use surnames anyway; this’ll be safer…
“Ah… that’s correct.” Kakyoin’s eyes seemed to go somewhere far away for a moment, then snapped back into focus. “I… shouldn’t even be here, but… things happened. I lost myself, in a way, as well…”
“Would you like us to call anyone to let them know you’re safe?” Mr Joestar enquired softly. “Parents, or another relative, perhaps…?”
Kakyoin suddenly looked a little evasive. “Actually… it would be better if no-one else knew where I was, if that’s alright. For a while, at least, until I decide what to do.” They glanced up at the older man with a worried frown. “Please don’t tell my parents where I am. One: they’d worry far too much, and two… hmm, I’d… rather not talk about two. I need time to- to… uhh…” Kakyoin put a hand to his head and their lavender eyes seemed to glaze over a little as their upper half swayed backwards.
Abdul knelt and helped the new guest back to a lying position before any harm could occur. “It’s probably a combination of the flesh bud and Jotaro’s beating, but maybe you should rest right now.”
“O…ok…” Kakyoin sighed and closed their eyes, and was either asleep or unconscious in a matter of seconds.
“I’ll stick by him for a while,” the Egyptian concluded as Rushi stood back up again. “Some blankets would be a good idea to fetch, if he’s staying here for the moment.”
* * *
Mr Joestar and Rushi had followed Abdul’s directions and had gone to the laundry room to pilfer some bedding. On the way, the older man had asked for a more thorough description of what exactly had been sensed by the boy, as the previous debriefing had been necessarily short, due to Kakyoin’s predicament. The teen had tried to add what the sensations had felt like - so far, hearing, tasting, and smelling - way beyond the range of a normal person’s senses… and Mr Joestar was frowning and nodding along, obviously coming to a certain conclusion…
Oh, but… “Shit: I almost hit that thing in the doctor’s office with a pencil! I very nearly threw something else that was bigger,” Rushi realised, groaning with horror as he tried to hide his face in a blanket, the rest coming out a bit muffled. “I could have set it off there, and-”
“You didn’t, luckily,” Mr Joestar clapped him on the back with a hearty hand - the real one - and sighed. “The kid will be alright for the moment, even though Jotaro beat him up quite a bit. I guess I’ll have to make a few more calls later, when we find out more of Kakyoin’s story… although I’ll respect the ‘no parents’ request for now. There’s something… off… about that…”
The burgundy-haired teen felt a little uncomfortable. Yeah, but I’m not going to be the one that tells you that Kakyoin’s… whatever… especially when I’m not exactly sure myself… What the hell happened to make calling parents seem like a bad option? Is it because they don’t know either, or do they know too well…?
If I had mine within my grasp, I would stop at nothing to meet them… but am I thinking that because I don’t know what they were really like either…?
Mrs Kujo distracted him by poking her head through the door and asking if they were hungry as well, to go with the tea; Rushi realised that he still had the bento she had prepared for him in his gakuran pocket - being the thing he hadn’t thrown - and drew it out. Saved by the bell… “No, I’m fine: I still have this. But thanks for asking, Mrs Kujo.”
“I can grab something later too: it’s still only mid-morning, dear,” Mr Joestar added. “I ate breakfast once the kids had left the house, remember?”
“That’s what Jotaro said as well, about eating later: I really do worry he’s not eating enough; he’s so tall and built like you, Papa,” she admonished her father playfully. “If you’re wondering where he is, I’ve sent him off to have a bath, the state he was in… even more quiet than usual…” She shook her head. “I can wash his clothes and fix that rip in his pants while he’s in there; I may have to buy him another pair this weekend if he keeps going through all his uniforms like this. They’re so expensive because of his height,” she explained, then she breezed out again, taking the blankets off their hands to ferry back to the other room as: ‘she could see that the new guest needed a bit of pampering, the poor soul…’
* * *
“Why did you risk your own life to save me?”
The ofuro was back in use again: now Jotaro had it to himself, he stretched out in the centre and floated on his back, looking up at the ceiling. The warm water usually soothed him, especially after a rough day at school, but this day was more rough than most; it wasn’t exactly what one could call a normal fight… and the normally calming surroundings didn’t seem to be helping much this time…
And his thoughts all spiralled back to the same question…
Why did I save Kakyoin…?
‘It could be something DIO forced them to do…’ Rushi was right… he seemed to tap into what was happening with Kakyoin… because of something about himself. Something he’s only hinting to, because he doesn’t know if… he thinks it’s similar, but… not the same. And he can’t tell me directly, because… Was he scared…? I told him I didn’t care about that kind of thing, but what if it’s something else…?
It wasn’t just on Rushi’s instincts though: I felt something too… and when Kakyoin looked at me, when I was taking the flesh bud out… the gaze that held mine… changed…
But I’d decided to save Kakyoin before I saw those eyes… those eyes looked right into mine too. Like Rushi’s did…
Why…? Did I think we could convince Kakyoin to stop following DIO, to snap out of whatever creepy, cult-like hold the vampire had… or was it something more… selfish than that…?
But I’m really glad I did… I couldn’t let Kakyoin die when we’d gone to all that trouble to bring him home in the first place…
It’s strange… with Rushi, and Kakyoin now, I don’t feel so alone… is it that we all have Stands…? Well, provisionally, in Rushi’s case…
Jotaro looked at his fingers and saw the ridges that formed when someone was in water for too long, and realised that he’d lost track of time… and now he was hungry after all.
* * *
After drying and dressing into his newly repaired uniform (which his mother had left in a bundle outside his own room) - she remembered this time - Jotaro retrieved his bento box from a small table in his room, and set off to find one of the others. He didn’t feel like eating alone for some reason, but also not too large a group. Someone else who’s alone, maybe…?
His mother was in the kitchen, a whirlwind of motion and ideas - although she still didn’t feel as if she was working at her usual speed - and with what appeared to be her old recipe book she’d brought from the States from before he was even born. More Western-style food tonight, I guess… He left her to it, not wanting to get in her way.
Jiji and Abdul were in the main spare room, murmuring in low voices over a sleeping Kakyoin; he’d have to find out what happened after he left later, but going in right now felt a little too much, given his soak hadn’t worked as well as he’d liked. I don’t feel like having to fend off a stack of Jiji’s questions just yet either…
And then he knew who he was really looking for… But where’s Rushi…? The library? No, he wasn’t there. Outside, maybe…?
Jotaro found the burgundy-haired teen sitting on the small bridge where he knew he’d stomped off last night after the obsessed psychiatrist had tried to peel his defences away (annoying bitch), socks off and feet trailing in the water. He was staring out over the garden feature, lost in thought; mom’s old bento box sat at his side unopened.
“Hmm. Rushi,” he eventually managed to get out, and waved his own lunch to express his intention. Rushi silently gestured to the space next to him and picked his own lunch up. Don’t feel too much like talking either, huh? I get that…
They ate slowly in silence, staring out at the view side by side, listening to the ambient sounds - and Donk! occasionally - until their supplies had been obliterated down to the last grain of rice. And for a few minutes after, as well.
Until Jotaro thought he had the words he wanted to say perfected in his brain…
“When I needed to leave…” he began, “... was there, uh, anything said… between the rest of you?” Shit, that still came out badly…
Rushi seemed to know just what he was asking though. “They said your mom was nice, asked why you’d brought them home, and Mr Joestar said you wanted to find out about DIO. I introduced myself as apparently they knew about everyone else… Then they said how they’d felt they’d lost themselves too when I said I was having trouble with my memories… and that they are really keen for their parents to not know anything about it…” The other teen grimaced then. “Oh, and after - when we were getting blankets - I nearly freaked out because if that pencil had been on target I would’ve probably killed-” He stopped his stream of consciousness slipping out from his mouth, swallowed, and drew his feet out of the water, hugging his knees.
Jotaro reached over and placed a hand on Rushi’s shoulder, and Rushi looked at him with some surprise. He found himself falling into those wide lapis eyes and he hastily removed the gesture, forcing himself to look away. Why the hell did I do that all of a sudden…? “Tch. Anyway, you ok?” he managed after a brief mental slap. Asking that’s ok, I think…
“You’re the one who had a Battle thing today; I could ask the same of you… but… yeah. As much as can be expected, given all the drama…”
“Ok. The Kakyoin thing… is still… just between us, right?”
Rushi nodded slowly, as he stared off into the distance again. “Right. I’ve… narrowed it down to two things, but… I’m not pushing. Unless it becomes important. It’s their own thing to say. Except… I think the part with the parents might be tied up in it…”
Another clue that Rushi knows a lot more about this kind of thing than the average person might. Even though his memory is shot… “Then I guess that when we go back inside, we should be like the Wise Old Owl…”
“Huh?” The face Rushi made at the old in-joke from when he was a small child - and took to heart - between himself and his mother was enough to jolt the teen out of whatever funk he was in; his eyes widened even further than last time.
“Uh… ah, you might not know: it’s an old nursery rhyme mom used to- it goes like this…” Why am I even letting him know this? “ ‘A wise old owl lived in an oak-’ ”
Rushi’s eyes glazed over as he interrupted Jotaro with the rest of the rhyme, reciting it unconsciously out of some place deep within him… “The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why aren’t we like that wise old bird…” He blinked and shook his head, coming back to the present with a slightly less dazed look, that faded to puzzlement.
Almost word for word, except that last line… although he knew there were minor variations of the nursery rhyme dating back to before Jiji was born… “Where did you hear that?” Jotaro asked, a little more sharp than he had intended.
“I think my mom used… used to-” Another familiar expression was spreading over the other teen’s face and his hand rose to his right temple. “Ugh, knowing the rhyme was fine, but… thinking about how she knew it - and how she used it - is painful…”
“Why do you think it got painful?”
“I- I don’t know… the feeling I got whenever I heard it, was that I had to keep my mouth shut and my other senses open… something to do with all the moving about we did before settling. But nothing specific… just a feeling of paranoia whenever…” Rushi frowned and put the socks back on, then the shoes, and stood up. “I think if I keep picking at it, it will lead to a bad memory later on… and somehow, whatever’s causing this is trying to stop me looking.”
Jotaro got to his feet as well. “You’ll work it out.” At least that sounded confident… will he, though…? Yes. I think so.
“Someday, I hope…”
Someday soon… it’d better be, Jotaro thought, otherwise that’s gonna get you in trouble one of these days…
* * *