Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 341

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The investigation continues.
Word Count: 1075

Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

         Kakyoin lingers behind, closing and locking the door behind them with Hierophant. Jotaro’s wandering around, faux-casual with his hands in his pockets and Star Platinum occasionally flickering out from under his skin to poke a window or a glance around a door. It’s so instantaneous that he has to actually be keeping his Stand ready, only he’s trying to hide the fact that he is. It’s not clear if he’s trying to avoid scaring Willow or if he’s trying to hide that fact from a theoretical enemy. Kakyoin’s only nod to that sort of precaution is in unraveling his Stand into a bunch of tentacles he wastes no time in sending throughout the house, poking around pretty thoroughly.
         “If you have to touch anything, I would recommend using a handkerchief—here. It probably won’t matter, given that law enforcement has apparently declared these cases off limits, but better safe than sorry. I would’ve brought gloves, but I’m afraid I don’t know your size,” Kakyoin offers, holding out a handkerchief, which she takes with a smile and a thanks, and—she’s feeling a little silly because she definitely should’ve thought about that before now. Sure, she could maybe use telekinesis, but maybe she should try to conserve her strength. Because if these two are this much on edge, they’re expecting an attack—or, hang on, maybe they’re expecting more potentially deadly traps. She shivers, glancing around—aside from the fact that they haven’t turned on any lights (which is probably a good idea, if they’re expecting traps or an attack or, who knows, for the neighbors to call the cops), it looks like a fairly normal house. Not one of those open floor plans, though, which she tends to prefer except in cases of defense or attack. She’d feel too exposed. Though here she has to deal with the thought that something could be lurking around any corner and she wouldn’t know. Luckily they hadn’t had to deal with having to deal with a home invasion too much, but still, not her favorite, not by a long shot.
         Maybe she should cut herself some slack. It’s not like she’d had much practice—the cops in Sunnydale were hardly that competent, so they’d never had to hide that much. And if nothing else, sure, they’ve got a temporary truce with one branch of Wolfram & Hart, but who’s to say that some other branch wouldn’t leap at the chance to frame them for something, or one of the employees wouldn’t decide to ignore orders in the hopes of climbing the corporate ladder? She’d rather not hand them a case to use against her.
         “You were practicing a sunlight spell, and they said you were one of the better witches out there. Any good at it?” Jotaro interrupts, tone a little softer. He is...trying. A little. Maybe. He’s more awkward than Xander ever had been even at his worst, maybe even more awkward than she’d been, early on. Maybe she should try a little harder, too.
         “It’s...a lot of power. I can, but it means I’m probably not healing anyone or anything,” she explains. It’s a little harder for her when she’s not getting reactions like she’d get out of Xander, because he’d be really expressive and she’d have some sort of feedback. Maybe it’s a good thing Pretender worked the way it did, because she gets the feeling he’s been channeling his relatives and not even realizing it as he’s been recuperating, and it’s a little practice with a slightly more familiar face.
         And Jotaro listens, quiet and solemn, scowl not moving an inch, and then at the end nods definitively. “Makes sense. Keep that for emergencies, then.”
         Maybe it’s easier to think about it in the context he’s really deliberate, so if he’s bothering to listen to her, he actually does want to listen. That does actually make her feel a little better.
         “That’s one of the ways to deal with a Pillar Man, although it only turns them to stone and doesn’t kill them. I wasn’t aware you listened to any of your grandfather’s stories, Jotaro.” Kakyoin is much easier to read, but then, he likes teasing absolutely everybody, doesn’t he?
         Jotaro tugs on the hat, hiding his eyes a little. “I would’ve called the Old Man, but I can’t.” He shrugs, and that’s actually fairly easy to interpret, because she has heard him angry or worried before (mostly about Xander), and if it was for something more serious she’s pretty sure he’d have some tone to his voice. It’s easy to forget they’re in a different world, given how the world’s kind of molding around them, thanks to Dawn. They haven’t started selling interdimensional phone plans, as far as she knows. They’ll probably be able to figure out something—later. It’s not exactly a priority yet. “I asked Josuke and Shizuka instead. They’ve practically memorized some of the stories.”
         “Ah, socializing, your favorite activity.” Kakyoin keeps pushing—does he know where the line is?
         “They’re good kids.” That could be defensive, honestly. Particularly with how he moves on. “The killer didn’t break in.”
         Kakyoin snorts delicately. “Legally speaking, lockpicking is a form of breaking and entering—but I agree. It’s possible he was invited inside or, like us, got in without breaking the door down.” It’s...odd, thinking about the fact that they were clearly delinquents, but if you think about it, they probably would’ve been called that, too. As much as her past perfect student self would have protested that thought. Because the first thing that pops in her head is that that’s exactly the reaction Buffy would have, because her experience is mostly with the breaking of doors and not with the more subtle approach.
         “No signs of a struggle in here,” Jotaro announces.
         “Well, I’d expected that, really. One of the higher-up lawyers actually had a home security system, and yet nothing was caught on camera.” At Jotaro’s blank stare, he adds, “Yes, a few—mostly, the rich and snobby, meaning that it’s just the sort of thing Kishibe would waste his money on—do actually have home security, at this time.”
         Jotaro smirks but doesn’t remark on that, moving on to checking out the fridge. “This bastard probably wasn’t dead for long before he was found.”
         Willow wanders over to the fireplace and frowns—something’s in there, something that doesn’t look like it belongs in with the wood. “Something’s here—”