madimpossibledreamer

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Kakyoin has a purpose of his own.
Word Count: 1596
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

Some time before

        Kakyoin can’t be sure he’s not just imagining things. Again. It’s so much like the time in the desert; he’d been thinking that the second he heard the newest Joestar had a dream-related Stand of all things, and he’s so sure he’s right, but what if he isn’t? When he finds Josie’s kid, he’s going to shake him, maybe drag him back to his mom, and congratulate him for surviving this.
        He hates this. It feels like when he was a kid and no one would listen to him, it feels like when he was a teenager and was alone, it feels like when he was a slightly older teenager and was being given false promises.
        Jotaro had listened. Jotaro had listened with his usual intense focus, and the fact that he hadn’t immediately dismissed it...sure, they’d heard about Higashikata-kun’s Stand, but still. That...wasn’t anything close to his usual skepticism. Sure, he was Dr. Kujo, famous marine biologist and famed Stand User from the Speedwagon Foundation, these days, and he’d seen a lot to expand his worldview, but he still tended to keeping his mind open rather than immediately accepting something, a policy as admirable as it was infuriating. But he hadn’t even questioned it. He’d just listened and asked Kakyoin what he was going to do, and from anyone else that might have been dismissive, but from Jotaro it meant he was behind whatever plan Kakyoin had.
        Kakyoin swallows the impulse to respond with some kind of cruel query asking where that easy belief and trust had been more than twenty years ago. They were both very different people back then, barely little more than children, and Jotaro would merely look at him with confusion in his eyes, pull down his hat, and say nothing, though long friendship is enough to tell Kakyoin that he’d feel very guilty about it even if he would say nothing, because there’s nothing he really can say; any apologies would be best given to the child Noriaki had been then, and even with a Stand that can manipulate time Jotaro is utterly incapable of doing so.
        Instead, he lays out a plan in which he and Joestar-chan try to follow the thread the entity that is supposedly The Pretender, Higashikata-kun’s Stand, had left as a trail. Specifically, the Stand can talk, which is a phenomenon that as a Speedwagon Foundation researcher utterly fascinates Kakyoin, because it’s extremely rare. It shares some similarities with Echoes Act 3’s speech patterns, in that it’s clear that this Stand is extremely intelligent and attempting to get across its message as best it can, but clearly neither English nor Japanese are its first language. Unlike Act 3, it’s not as prone to random profanity, but given that Act 3’s speech patterns match those of rappers, there’s probably a reason for that. Instead, its voice is deep, and the Japanese it’s using is old. Fortunately, Kakyoin likes studying archaic Japanese, particularly its use in songs, or he’d be lost.
        It had apologized for the intrusion, but claimed that since its user was ‘in grave danger’, its ability to communicate was limited, so it looked for ‘the path of least resistance’. Which, in all probability, means that that damn baby had forever made it easier for any other dream Stand User to just waltz in as they please, but perhaps that’s for the best, because he’s also the one with the most experience and ability to deal with such things. Kakyoin would be able to sense Stand and User, and could hopefully locate them in time to avoid further tragedy.
        When he wakes, he does remember the dream, such as it was, although the location of something between the Kujo mansion and a more Western-style mansion was...interesting, to say the least. Kakyoin might say possibly manipulative, if he was fully suspicious and not just partly so based on a long habit of paranoia. It feels like a refuge for the mind, and the Kujo mansion is where he’d felt most at peace over the years, only it feels like that’s not just for him and it makes perfect sense to him, because for all his grumbling Jotaro seemed to agree, because he didn’t complain about the house.
        He also has a...mental pull, for lack of a better word, and when he walks away from the entrance, it feels wrong, like he’s being told he’s going the wrong way. That’s when Jotaro finds him, and where he admits to the dream reluctantly.
        The only point where Dr. Kujo has any concern whatsoever is just letting him and Joestar-chan go by themselves, but he’s aware that so few of them are particularly practiced at subtlety, and having the more flashy members of the group serve as a distraction (and possibly to pound Wyndam-Price to dust) makes enough sense he doesn’t complain. He does glance in Giovanna’s direction, the mob boss glancing up quizzically at that exact moment. He’s probably very used to having to be aware who’s watching him at all times, considering his profession.
        “I’d feel more comfortable if he and the Arrow accompanied you, Jotaro. Vampires are no joke, and I shudder to think what would happen if you had to fight a Pillar Man, even with Star Platinum,” Kakyoin tells him. He knows it’s uncomfortable, that he nearly died the last time they split up in such a situation and how they’re both far too aware of that fact, but it’s not a pincer attack, given that he doesn’t plan to join them until he’s checked this out.
        Jotaro considers that for a beat, then shakes his head at Giovanna, who nods and continues examining the daggers provided by the Council with keen interest.
        It’s clear that Joestar-chan is nervous, but she does as asked, carefully making them both invisible before they leave. When they slip away, only Jotaro looks over and nods again, as good as a salute from him, and probably also a request to come back in one piece. She doesn’t say anything, but that’s probably for the best. Achtung Baby might be able to make them both invisible, and it does dampen the sound of their voices to anyone else, but it doesn’t cut it out completely and the entire point is stealth, since it’s for the best if they don’t have to fight or encounter anyone. She’s even able to make Hierophant invisible, and it’s been a while since he’s made such a net, tendrils slithering along all the walls and looking for crevices. It’s how they find the secret door with barely an effort, leading off the main corridor into another part of the pyramid. It’s also how they avoid most of the traps with hardly a scratch, and the one time Hierophant accidentally triggers a knife stashed in the ceiling, he’s stretched out enough the damage barely transfers.
        It’s also how they find several pools of water, likely used as other traps, but it’s not until one of Hierophant’s tendrils brushes waterlogged, freezing clothes and skin that the certainty the pull in his mind has led him where he needs to go.
        Kakyoin had seen men drown in the desert, nearly drowned in the submarine with the others, but this is an entirely different experience, because none of them had ended up quite so cold and clammy. It is Higashikata-kun, though the oddly strong current had dislodged and pulled away his eyepatch at some point. It’s practically an underground river flowing under the underground pyramid’s stone blocks. The man that Rosenberg-chan and Summers-chan had described was cheerful, rather like his grandfather, but there’s no sign of that now. He and his clothes are heavy, and it takes Joestar-chan, himself, and Hierophant (very, very carefully, as Hierophant Green isn’t meant to take much in the way of weight) to haul him out back to the block of stone to the side (given the inevitable erosion, he is absolutely not trusting the others, and that’s assuming they weren’t designed to be part of the trap in the first place). Higashikata-kun’s barely breathing, his heart barely beating, and given that he seems to be unconscious, it very well might be hypothermia, rather than drowning, that is the more important problem at the moment. He’s so cold he’s stopped shivering, and the only thing that gives Kakyoin a little hope is that every now and then when he breathes there’s the faintest glow, like he’s using hamon.
        Carefully, he uses Hierophant to check for spinal issues or a crack on the head, but finds nothing of concern. Joestar-chan turns his head to the side, allowing water to drain, then begins rescue breathing, because while he is breathing, it’s so shallow it’s clear neither she nor Kakyoin is comfortable with the amount of air he’s getting. Kakyoin considers briefly—they don’t, unfortunately, have a change of clothes or blankets or anything that could possibly help bring Higashikata-kun’s temperature up—when an idea occurs to him. Joestar-chan’s rhythm doesn’t pause—good—when he starts wrapping Hierophant around Higashikata-kun' torso and then begins rapidly oscillating the tendrils, essentially shivering for the him, trying to heat him up in a controlled manner. In between Joestar-chan’s breaths, he sees Higashikata-kun’s face twist in pain, so he slows down further, but their efforts do seem to be working.
        And then Kakyoin’s mobile phone rings, surprisingly, given that it’d been immersed in water for several minutes. Then again, perhaps that’s just to be expected when he’d let a marine biologist recommend his next model. He answers.