A/N: Hot damn! This is a fricking long chapter! Hope y'all like it. Oh, also, can I just say that 80s slang is too much fun? I have a major appreciation for various languages and dialects, so I'm really happy I get to play around with it a little bit in this story :)

ALSO, it's only been like a month since I last updated! Told y'all I could do it!

ENJOY!

-\/-

Chapter Four:

August, 1981

Noriaki had been seated sideways on the couch with his legs crossed as he read Saturday's issue of Jump when someone began furiously banging on his door. Roughly two months ago, such a disturbance in his routine would've been worrisome indeed. However, two months ago seemed so long ago now. Already, that furious banging had become something of a routine in and of itself, and today, the boy didn't even flinch, his mother calling out that she would get it. He flipped the page with an air of casualness before plucking another stick of pocky from the plate next to him, his eyes running over the figures of Tomo and Nayagi as they fended off another wave of Space Pirates that had boarded their ship.

"Miss Higuchi!" his mother enthused as she opened the door. "It's so good to see you again, dear."

Several weeks back, the first time he had invited Kameko to his house, his mother had been floored with surprise and delight, and since then, that exuberance had only faded a little, mostly due to Kameko's exasperating nature for someone as strait-laced as his mother.. Noriaki knew she had been worried about his lack of friends and companionship for some time now, so seeing that he finally had an actual friend who he invited over regularly put her over the moon. And Noriaki was just happy that she could stop worrying so much about him; he'd always felt bad about that.

"You too, Mrs. K!" Kameko returned easily, though her words were somewhat garbled from something she was holding in her mouth.

"Come in, come in." She ushered the girl in, and out of the corner of his eye, Noriaki noticed the way she rubbed at the spot on the door where Kameko had been pounding on it and gave a drawn sigh. There weren't any marks or anything there of course – Kameko wasn't near strong enough to do something like that – but he could tell she was thinking about future repercussions if the girl kept it up. Waves against rocks and so on.

Kameko all but skipped over to the couch, leaning over the back of it to peek in on him. When she realized what it was, she grinned around a piece of pickled seaweed at him. "Ooh! I haven't read today's yet. Scoot!" Then before he could respond either way, the brunette vaulted over the back of his couch, bouncing onto the cushion beside him.

"Higuchi, dear, please don't jump on the couch like that," his mother requested, an uneasy expression on her face as she headed back into the backyard to continue working the garden.

"Sorry, Ma'am," she called over her shoulder, looking completely unapologetic and grabbing one side of his comic book before swallowing the rest of her snack.

Noriaki knew his mother hated when someone abused the furniture around the house. However, she still worried about chasing Kameko off. Noriaki didn't really have those worries at this point. At the end of their first meeting, she had told him that he was stuck with her now, and so far, she had made good on that promise – though threat was probably closer to accurate, he mused.

As such, he didn't hold any reservations about flicking her in the forehead. "Don't do that."

"Gah!" Her hand flew up to restrain his wrist and prevent further action. "I already apologized, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but not sincerely."

"And flicking me makes me sincere?"

"No..."

"Then why?"

"Negative reinforcement."

Rolling her eyes, she huffed. "Whatever." Ignoring him now, she tugged the copy of Jump a little further into her lap, leaving it somewhere between the two of them, and her eyes began greedily scanning the pages widening in shock as she picked up on the plot. "What happened to Nayagi!?" she demanded, alarmed at the sight of the first-mate's missing arm. "Dang it! She told Tomo it was a bad idea to head into Raider Space while they were flying the Redeemer! Can we start at the beginning?"

Glancing down at the bottom, he thumbed through the pages he had already read and decided it wouldn't take too long to catch her up, so he shrugged. "If you want."

With another bright eyed grin, she closed her eyes happily. "That's why you're the best, Noriaki."

"There's no need to suck up; I already said yes."

"Now, when have I ever done a thing like that?" she questioned innocently, giving a snort of laughter. "You're so ridiculous sometimes." He shook his head at her and rolled his eyes though he wasn't quite able to keep the amusement out of his expression.

With that, she flipped back to the first page and began reading in earnest. This was the kind of thing they usually did together whenever she came over and the few times he had been to her apartment. Now that he had learned all he could about her Stand, and vice-versa, they had moved on to more mundane topics and interests. As it turned out, Kameko liked most of the same things he did to his surprise. He had always thought girls only liked dolls and dresses and such, but Kameko didn't like any of those things. Or at least she claimed she didn't – he had also figured out pretty quickly that she tended to lie about certain things if she was embarrassed about them in any way – but on the contrary, she enjoyed things like video games, shounen comics, and exploring places most would consider either frightening or dangerous or both.

About fifteen minutes passed in relative silence beyond the occasional page-turning and the cicadas buzzing outside in full forces, responding to the heat of the summer. By then, Kameko had reached the part he had been in the middle of when she barged in, and she gave a little wistful sigh. "I wish I could be a Spacer like Tomo. That would be totally choiceto pilot a ship!"

"You could become a regular ship captain," he suggested, setting the issue of Jump aside for the time being.

"I couldn't d-" she cut herself off before she finished with a harsh shake of her head, her eyes a little wide. Coughing into her hand, she tucked her feet up underneath herself and gave a nonchalant shrug. "Maybe... But that's not the same as being a space captain. Space is so much cooler than the … water." Then glancing away with a huff, she muttered, "Water is bogus."

He caught the words and laughed at her, incredulous. "Why do you think that? Don't you like swimming?" He didn't exactly go very often himself, but he did enjoy it occasionally, during a hot summer day especially.

However, all the color drained from her face at the mention, and she looked a little nauseous. "No!" she denied. "Swimming is terrible, and.. and it's dangerous! And just horrible all around!"

A thought occurred to him then. "You can't swim."

"No! I can," she told him, looking away in a way that told him she was lying. "I mean.. If I wanted to I could, but I don't because..." She sighed. "Okay. So I can't swim, and no I don't want to learn either."

"Why not?"

Her face contorted with effort at his question, and it made him feel a little bad for asking. The subject was obviously uncomfortable to her, but she seemed to be struggling with whether to answer him or not. Finally, she glanced further away from him with another sigh, staring out the front window that viewed the street outside. She wrapped her arms around her knees as she tucked them against her chest.

Then Kameko explained, "When I was little, right when Teen Spirit was first manifesting, I was kind of testing it to see what all it could do. Well, I figured out pretty quick what it did and how I could use it. My dad was always too busy to teach me how to swim, but it always looked so fun to me. And my mom..." She shook her head. "Well, anyways, there was this pond I found with my bike way out from the city at the back of some old guy's farm. It was really hot that day, so I decided I was finally gonna swim, actually swim since I never really counted that kiddy pool one of our neighbors let me use."

Noriaki could see where she was heading with this and frowned, nodding at her. "You didn't have anyone with you?"

She shook her head. "No... Who was I gonna ask? Besides, I thought it would be fine. I had Teen Spirit right? I could make something to float on until I figured it all out. Or, I thought I could."

Recalling what she had told him about how her Stand worked, his eyes widened. "The water makes it dissolve."

"Got it in one!" she enthused with a sardonic smile. "Yeah, my floaties disappeared, alright.. But not before I had made it all the way out to the middle of the pond... I thought I was gonna die."

"How did you get out?"

Blushing from embarrassment, Kameko said, "I passed out for a little bit.. The old guy that owned the farm... I guess he heard me shouting or something. Next thing I knew, I woke up in the grass, coughing up water and other gunk." She shivered. "It was so gross... So yeah... Not a big fan of water anymore," she joked with a slightly too-wide grin, trying to shake off her bashfulness in the wake of the story.

Unsure what else to say, Noriaki just told her, "I guess Marine Biologist is out for you then, huh?"

That startled a laugh out of her, and he knew that she was relieved to leave the subject behind. She preferred to stick to humor when it came to discussing things like this, and Noriaki doubted she wanted his pity on the matter either. In fact, he was pretty sure it would just make her mad. "For the time being! Diver too!" The two shared a laugh when a thought occurred to her. "Oh! Guess what! I meant to tell you when I got here, but I totally forgot."

"Hm?" He picked up the issue of Jump, which had been abandoned during her story, intending to find their place again so they could finish the story.

"So, I talked to my dad last night, and he agreed to let me attend Samezuka Middle-School with you if I want to. What do you think?"

Noriaki glanced over at her to find her grinning at him. "Really? You would do that?" It would be pretty troublesome to change schools so suddenly. Classes would start in just a couple of weeks..

"Yeah! Of course." She sounded mildly offended and gave his shoulder a push. "He said it wouldn't be too hard to changeover – though he does need a for sure answer by this weekend or else we won't be able to get my papers in on time," she explained, leaning her head back against the arm of the sofa and digging her feet under the cushions. "Plus, your school is about as close to our apartment as my old one, so that's not an issue either." Suddenly shy, she gave him a hopeful look. "Would you want me to go with you?"

Her words stirred his memories from school in the past few years, all the days spent alone during lunch and recess, the other kids all playing together and having fun while he immersed himself in his studies and played with Hierophant Green. What would it be like to have Kameko there, he wondered? He hadn't even thought about school starting back before, but now, attending with Kameko made it an exciting prospect. And the answer had been clear before she even asked. "You should do it," he agreed with a slight smile of his own.

"Yes!" she cheered, standing up on her knees and throwing her arms around him in a hug that had his arms crushed to his sides and a blush heating his cheeks. "It's gonna be so much fun! School's normally so boring, but with you there, it'll be different," she enthused, pulling back.

"It will be," he told her. He was surprised that she would go to such lengths just so they could play together more often – returning to school would have limited their time together a fair amount – but he was learning that Kameko was quite determined when she decided something. "I hope they put us in the same class."

At that, she frowned thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought of that," she admitted. Then she shook her head. "I'm gonna say we will be, and that way it will happen."

"Don't you have another wishing flower?" he teased her.

Turning her nose up, Kameko spoke to him like he'd said something incredibly dumb, "You can't use them on something like that because I already wished on you."

"I think you're just making up rules."

"Nuh-uh," she denied, crossing her arms resolutely. "That's really how it works." He shot her a skeptical look, and after a moment, the brunette girl burst out into a fit of that high-pitched laughter of hers before nudging his shoulder again. "Okay, so I just made it up, but I'm allowed to do that since I made up the whole thing to begin with."

"If you say so, Kameko." Noriaki shook his head with a laugh of his own. He didn't opt to mention that he had stowed the flower she had given him away in his night-stand even if it was something she had clearly made up.

Flapping a hand at him, she continued, "Anyways~! Even if we are in different classes, we can still hang out at lunch and stuff."

"That's true."

"It's gonna be an awesome year."

And Noriaki silently agreed it really would be.

-\/-

December, 1988

Once introductions had been taken care of – the first one for Kameko and a proper one for Noriaki – Mr. Joestar had given the others the all clear to come back. However, at the moment, the others consisted only of the dark-skinned man, who he explained was a fortune teller from Cairo named Avdol. Apparently, Mrs. Kujo had decided to start working on dinner at the influx of guests, and Jotaro hadn't even bothered, only reinforcing his asshole-ish-ness in her mind. The topic quickly shifted to Stands, and Kameko found she was pretty excited to talk about it with two people who not only believed her and could see them, but also seemed pretty knowledgeable on the subject.

Avdol, apparently some sort of specialist as far as Stands were concerned, sat there patiently as Kameko, and even Noriaki every so often, fired off question after question on the finer points of Stands. Mostly regarding their origins and limits and so on. Really, it was amazing just how little she knew on the subject, considering she was a Stand-user herself. But damned if she didn't know next to nothing about them compared to him and Mr. Joestar.

Upon her request, the two had shown her both their Stands. Magician's Red was …. Well, to put it bluntly, it was the coolest goddamn thing she'd ever seen in her life. Like, seriously. How could she not fall in love with a giant flaming bird-monster at first sight? That was everything she'd ever wanted to see in real life, and though she had reluctantly agreed that a demonstration inside the confines of a small wooden room would be a bad idea, Kameko was itching to see just what it could do. Mr. Joestar's was a lot more sedate and less outwardly impressive. It looked a lot like purple, spiked vines, but it could make spirit-photos – mind you, she had no clue what those were, but they sounded badass – and be used like a whip. Kameko had asked if she could call him Indy after she heard that, for which Noriaki had given her a firm whack to the back of her head that had her smarting after. Really, he was spoiling all her fun today.

As he recalled his Stand, Mr. Joestar glanced over at her expectantly. "So now we've shown you our Stands.. Turnabout is fair-play."

"Right." Kameko gave a quick nod, doing as he asked at once. Though she hadn't spent much time with him yet, she decided she liked Mr. Joestar alright. Unlike so many people she had known in her life, he had actually taken her seriously right off the bat when she said she could help. Not even Noriaki had thought she could – which she was ignoring, because seriously what the hell?.

As Teen Spirit materialized in her hand, Avdol's eyes narrowed in interest. "A Stand manifesting as an object? I've read a few instances where it's been recorded, but I've never actually seen one myself. What sort of abilities does it possess?" His comment had her preening in satisfaction. She knew she was special.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for the artsy type," Mr. Joestar commented, one corner of his mouth twitching up in a smirk.

Kameko flicked her hair over her shoulder, the strands falling right back where they were before at once. "What can I say? I'm pretty damn perfect at everything I do," she shot back primly.

"That doesn't sound quite right."

"Shut up, Noriaki. Mr. Avdol asked me a question." Turning to the dark-skinned man, she took Teen Spirit and drew the outline of an one-hundred yen coin on the floor. "It's a paintbrush, so … It paints things – creates them, would be a better way to put it, I guess." Plucking the coin out, a perfect replica aside from being made of wood, she used her thumb to flip it over to Mr. Joestar."

He caught it with two fingers and inspected her handiwork. "Heh! That's a pretty good trick. Can't tell you how many times this would've come in handy when I was your age. Is it good enough to fool the vending machines?"

Delighted by the praise, she examined her nails with a grin. "Mhm! I used to do it all the time." Kameko deflated a little as a thought crossed her mind. "But Noriaki made me stop when he found out."

"It's stealing," Noriaki dead-panned.

"It's useful," she corrected.

Somehow, Avdol managed to keep them on track. "Can you make anything with it?"

"Sort of," Kameko agreed with a shrug. "It all depends on what I can draw and how well it's drawn. Intention has a lot to do with it too. That's what makes the difference between, say, a bandage versus a piece of paper." Directing a smirk towards Mr. Joestar, she admitted, "So, yeah, I'm not really an artsy person. Well, not by choice anyways. But I am a goddamn superhero."

She earned a laugh from Mr. Joestar and a bemused look from Avdol while Noriaki just rubbed at his forehead like she was giving him a headache.

After that, the two grownups asked her and Noriaki a couple more questions about their Stands – Noriaki had opted out of showing Hierophant Green off in order to prevent any possible worsening of his injuries at Kameko's nagging insistence. Yeah, like hell was she gonna let him hurt himself to show off; never mind that she had done more damage than using his Stand would have ever caused – and other related topics, namely Noriaki's info on Dio. The story had Kameko bristling all over again, but she managed to bite her tongue until he had finished talking. Then, tossing a pair of striped pajamas at Noriaki, Mr. Joestar said dinner would be ready soon and for Kameko to join them. Noriaki's dinner would be brought to him by Mrs. Kujo since he obviously needed to rest. Then, they left the two friends alone once more.

"Well... I think that went well." Kameko nodded to herself; satisfied.

"Yeah."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Don't brood just because they didn't immediately toss me out on my ass like you hoped."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not, and I wasn't."

Oh yeah. He was definitely pouting. His tone was all clipped, and if he brooded any harder, he was gonna give even Vegeta a run for his money. "Sure you are. Women all round the world are currently swooning over the magnificence of your broodiness. They're all gonna have little red-haired broody babies in your honor."

He flicked her in the forehead, and she swore, rubbing at the growing red spot. She was gonna have a concussion of her own before the day was over at the rate she was headed. "Do you even know what you're saying when you open your mouth? Or does it all just spill out like that?"

"Please. Like I could plan the brilliance that comes outta my mouth."

"Like you could plan."

Shooting him a flat look, she groused, "It's not fair. I can't fight back while you're hurt."

"... You really won't change your mine?" he asked, staring at her intently, willing her to back down just this once. The mood in the room shifted at once, and her shoulders tensed even as she made a grin cross her face. He was serious about this; she knew that. And she hated arguing with him over serious things like this. It wasn't like their normal teasing banter at all. But nothing he could say would change her mind, and he couldn't accept that any more than she could give in to what he wanted.

Trying to play it off, she raised an eyebrow. "About hitting you while you're injured? Wow, Noriaki, I never knew you were a masochist at heart." She looked scandalized. "Shit. I haven't been giving you a hard on all these years when I beat you up, have I?"

Well... If that wasn't the biggest pile of word-vomit she'd ever spewed. Dammit. Sure, Kameko realized she could be foul-mouthed, but usually, she avoided being crude or raunchy – especially in regards to Noriaki. What would happen if he ever realized she wanted to do some of those things to him? And now her comment had her thinking about him having a hard on, and oh God, she really didn't need to be thinking about that at all. Especially not now. Shut up, brain. Stop blushing. Now, please.

Luckily, Noriaki didn't seem aware of her mental rant. "Kameko, you know what I mean."

While she shoved back the intrusive thoughts, Kameko snapped out of it and nodded with a sigh. "And you already know what I'm gonna say, so does it really matter?"

He was silent. She huffed another sigh, having expected that.

With a glance at the pajamas in his lap, Kameko asked, "Are you gonna want any help with .. uhm..." She gestured awkwardly to his lap, and a blush heated her cheeks. "That."

He was looking at her like she'd grown a second head, his mouth dropping open and everything. Ugh. He was clearly disgusted by the very idea of her touching him like that. Probably thought she was like a sister, and neither of them had been into those sorts of manga. "It's just a head-injury... I'll manage somehow."

Clearing her throat, she nodded and hopped to her feet. "Ah, right. Of course." Stop agreeing. "Just thought I'd offer, you know? Just wanted to remember I'm not always a bitch." Oh, stop talking please.

"Kameko … I know that."

"Sure you do," she agreed, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her school-uniform skirt. "That was for me." She shot him a wan-smile before heading for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to grab something to bring to dinner... I figure I owe it to Mrs. Kujo after she put up with me back there.. Plus, she helped you." Glancing back at him, she said, "I'll be back soon."

But he didn't respond to that, back to ignoring her already.

-\/-

"So, Miss Higuchi, tell me about yourself," the kind voice of Mrs. Kujo drifted across the table accompanied by an encouraging smile and the clinking of chopsticks against their plates as they ate.

Glancing up from the plate of fried mackerel and stir-fry, Kameko spoke with her mouthful without thinking. "Me?" Then, remembering her manners, she took a moment to swallow the huge bite she'd just taken. The food was so good, she just couldn't help but chow down like that. Mrs. Kujo was one hell of a cook. She'd even give Mrs. Kakyoin a run for her money. Her tongue darted out to catch the bit of sauce in the corner of her mouth, and she tapped her chopsticks against her plate thoughtfully. "What do you want to know?" she asked finally. Now, Kameko could talk about pretty much anything for hours on end given the opportunity, and despite what decorum called for, the subject of herself was no exception... However, for once, she was trying to make a good impression, and that called for a little politeness.

"Oh, well, just the basics, I suppose," the woman supplied before taking another bite of her own meal.

Mr. Avdol was also paying attention to Kameko, and even Mr. Joestar glanced up from his food every so often to show he was listening – though Kameko reckoned they were just trying to maintain the same politeness she was. Jotaro, however, gave them all the cold shoulder, not paying them the slightest attention, invested in finishing his food so he could get back to freezing water with his stare or whatever the hell he did in his free time. Ugh... She really didn't like that guy – even if he was stupid attractive, her mind supplied infuriatingly.

"Basics huh?" Kameko drew out, propping her chin up on her hand, elbow on the table. "Well, I'm a third year in high school. Me and Noriaki attend Hemuji High together, of course. Eh... basic, basic.. I live in an apartment in the city with my dad, and my favorite hobby is art." That wasn't too in depth was it? Eh, whatever. That was as basic as it got.

"How wonderful!" Mrs. Kujo enthused, closing her eyes with her smile. "I'd love to see your work sometime." A wistful note entered her voice, and a dreamy look was in her eyes. "My Jotaro used to be really good at drawing too!" Here, her lips pouted out in thought, and her brow furrowed. "Mama still has them somewhere around here... I would never throw out something so precious, of course." She directed her attention towards her son as her face lit up with an idea. "You should draw something again! I'll put it up on the fridge where everyone can see it."

Without skipping a beat, Jotaro returned coolly, "Don't care."

Kameko couldn't decide whether he was being a prick to his mother, or she was just a little too crazy.. However, she opted for the former simply because she didn't like the guy. Mrs. Kujo was really sweet, and Kameko couldn't help the bit of a soft spot for the woman she was developing.

"Awe!" Mrs. Kujo protested. "But mama loves to see her little boy use all his talents!"

"I'm done," Jotaro said, getting up from the table without excusing himself and ignoring his mother. "Later."

"Jotaro!" Mr. Joestar called then, slamming his gloved hand – and speaking of that, Kameko was outrageously curious about it. Why wear gloves and short sleeves? She would definitely ask about that – against the table and making it shake from the abuse. "You're leaving without your mother excusing you from the dinner table? Sit back down here this instant!"

Swatting his arm with a frown, Mrs. Kujo scolded, "Papa! Let him go. Jojo is a very busy boy; if he needs to leave the table, then that's completely fine." She nodded to herself while Kameko sweatdropped. She was very... supportive of her son. Avdol only continued eating his meal, apparently used to the way the two carried on, a bemused look on his face.

"If I'd done something like that at his age, Granny Erina would've definitely boxed my ears ." He pointed a finger at her. "Hell, I would've boxed your ears if you did that. You're far too lenient with that boy, Holly!"

Crossing her arms and glancing away with a hmph, Mrs. Kujo shook her head obstinately. "Nuh-uh! Mama would definitely have stopped you from doing that."

"Your mother always supported me on things like that!"

At that, Mrs. Kujo gave a light, tinkling laugh. "Now, Papa, don't lie."

Frustrated, Mr. Joestar started flexing and unflexing his hands, gritting his teeth as he stared a whole in the back of his daughter's head. As he did, Kameko noticed a bizarre clicking noise. Was that really coming from his hand? Unable to stop herself and not really caring to at this point, she pointed at his hand and asked after swallowing another bite, "What'd you do to your hand?"

Dropping the argument with his daughter since he apparently had no comeback anyways, the older man glanced over at her. "Eh? Oh," he said, realizing what she had asked. "I lost it a long time ago." He pulled off the glove to reveal a metal prosthetic underneath, and Kameko dropped her chopsticks, eyes wide. Thinking he'd skeeved her out or something, he added sheepishly, "I know that's a bit grim, but -"

He'd started to pull the glove back on when Kameko reached across the table to grab his wrist and stop him. "No!" she asserted. "No, it's not. I just think that's so cool!" When she realized she was in his personal space – as well as pretty much laying on Mrs. Kujo's table – Kameko hopped back with an abashed and apologetic grin. "Sorry about that... I've just never seen anything like that before."

Avdol laughed at the eagerness in her voice. "I've never seen a girl, or anyone really, so excited about a missing appendage. Usually, a girl your age would run screaming from something like that."

"Not all girls," Kameko corrected. "You can't forget that some girls grow up to be nurses. Plus, that's not really the kinda thing that barfs me out." The dark-skinned man only laughed again at that, and Mr. Joestar was smiling too. Gesturing at his hand again, Kameko asked, "Can I?"

Shrugging, he nodded, and Kameko walked on her knees to where she could sit next to him as he tugged the glove off completely and dropped it onto the table, holding his hand up for her to inspect. "Knock yourself out," Mr. Joestar complied, wiggling his fingers and making that clicking noise again.

By then, it was clear the meal was over, so Mrs. Kujo began collecting their plates, mentioning something about preparing one for Noriaki before heading off into the kitchen. Mr. Avdol sat by and sipped on some sake they'd had with their meal while Kameko enjoyed her inspection. The brunette girl poked and prodded different parts of his hand, giving a startled giggle when he moved one of his fingers after she grabbed it, which had Mr. Joestar and Mr. Avdol both guffawing. Apparently, she'd sounded funny or something. In all honesty, Kameko didn't even care they were laughing at her. It didn't feel like they were trying to be mean or anything like the other girls that had laughed at her in school. Besides, she was too caught up in what she was doing. Things like this had never made her squeamish, and to the contrary, she found them kinda cool – okay, reallycool. The metal was smooth and cold to the touch, and Mr. Joestar seemed to have perfect control of all his digits. Who knew prosthetics had progressed so far?

After a little time had passed, she glanced up at him with an excited grin. "So... What's the story here?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm just curious how you lost it... I mean, you don't exactly look like a factory worker, so I'm assuming it's not something like that."

"You wanna know?" He asked, with a bit of a frown as he ran the finger of his free hand around the rim of his glass. "It's a little long."

"Perfect!" Kameko enthused. "That means it's gotta be a good one! I'll bet you were part of some big military ops back in the war! Like a general or something."

The two men laughed again, and the sound made Kameko's heart a little warm. Even though she'd really just met them, it felt good to talk and laugh with two people who knew what she felt like since they all had weird powers. Taking another sip of his sake, one hand cupping the bottom of the choko the other around the back, Mr. Avdol remarked, "You know, Miss Higuchi? For a Japanese girl, you don't have any qualms asking people what you want to know."

Blushing guiltily, Kameko sat back on her knees in the now-vacant spot beside Mr. Joestar and drew her hands back into her lap. "I'm not being too forward, am I?"

Mr. Joestar waved her off, downing an entire cup of sake. Not waiting for him to ask, Kameko refilled his cup for him and offered some to Mr. Avdol too. "I don't mind. It is a good story, I suppose. Seems a little crazy looking back at it all," he admitted with a huff of amusement. Scratching his chin, he mumbled, "Where to begin ..." Finally, he nodded to himself and grinned. "So, girly, do you know anything about the Stone of Aja?"

-\/-

When Kameko returned to Noriaki's room later that night, the first thing he noticed was how excited she seemed to be. She was practically bouncing in place as she slid the door open. He'd seen her like that quite a lot over the years as Kameko was easily excitable. Personally, the redhead had never understood just what was so exciting about say watching rain fall from the roof of the school or having a cicada land on your arm. However, it never failed to amuse – and usually exasperate depending on the circumstances... Tonight was different though, and when her eyes landed on him and she realized he was still awake and indeed sitting up on his futon, that grin of hers slipped away and left behind a hesitant frown. That made his own frown deepen as he remembered he was supposed to be ignoring her after their fight earlier.

The room was dark already, as Mrs. Kujo had retrieved his empty dinner plate over two hours ago by his count, so the only light came from the moon casting shadows through the windows and bathing the room in sober blue. However, it was enough light for the two to see each other fairly well. Truthfully, Noriaki had expected Kameko hours ago, but as time passed, he wondered if perhaps she was angry enough at him too that she had decided to ignore him entirely. It wasn't her normal MO. But in the past year or so, even as close as they were, she'd been getting harder for him to read. Somehow, she'd finally learned how to keep her mouth shut about the things she didn't want other people to know, so he didn't get to hear everything she was thinking anymore. And after everything that had happened with Dio and their argument before dinner, Noriaki thought it was entirely possible that she would avoid him for a while.

But here she was – a blanket draped over her arm and wearing... Wait... What was she wearing?

It was short. Uncomfortably so. Shorter than her school skirt, or really anything he'd ever seen her wear, and it showed off almost the entirety of her legs, hanging just above mid-thigh, and was made of some thin black material. The neck dipped low too, but Kameko had her regular hoodie on over that, and Noriaki swallowed hard, inwardly chastising himself for letting his eyes wander like that. She was his friend for god's sake. His best friend. Blushing bright red, Noriaki choked out, "What the hell is that?"

"Huh? I-" she seemed to realize what he was talking about all at once. Well, at least Kameko was embarrassed too. Or at least it seemed that way how she glanced away from him and tugged the sides of her jacket together with her free hand. "Mrs. Kujo has a surprisingly sadistic side," she mumbled, hurrying in and shutting the door behind her to block out some of the light.

"What?"

Taking a seat beside him, Kameko unfolded her blanket and arranged it over her long legs, much to his relief. "Mr. Joestar was telling me this really amazing story after dinner, but it was getting kinda late. So then, Mrs. Kujo said she wanted to do my hair and stuff." Here she pointed her head, and Noriaki noticed just then that her short strands had somehow been woven into a passable top-knot with her bangs and a few fly-aways framing her face. "Then she insisted on giving me some Pjs to sleep in – because apparently it isn't lady like to sleep in your clothes, even though I told her it was fine... And uh, this was the only thing she had that really fit my, erm..." She gestured awkwardly around her chest. "Figure," Kameko finished with none of her usual bravado. Well, he could take solace that he wasn't the only one who felt weird about this whole situation. "I did manage to snag my jacket though," she rebounded with a shrug and a bit of a grin. "It's too damn cold to parade around in spaghetti straps."

If nothing else, this little … whatever it was, had broken the tense silence he had expected to be there when she returned. He wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to thank or scold Mrs. Kujo for it yet. Remembering the way she was practically bouncing when she opened the door, Noriaki asked, "What had you so excited a minute ago? Not getting your jacket, was it?"

She waved him off. "Nah! Though that is plenty reason to be excited." She wiggled her eyebrows at him, and he flicked her in the forehead. "Gah! So mean!"

"What was it then?" he asked, ignoring her protests.

Bouncing back, her eyes lit up once more, and she made wide, sweeping gestures as she spoke. "Mr. Joestar told me the absolute, most bangin' story I've ever heard in my life. Shit, I'm not sure if I can even believe something like that, but if it's true..." She shook her head. "Shit," she repeated, another grin lighting up her face as she trailed off. Something in his chest eased at the sight – even if he hadn't been the one to cause it. He hadn't liked upsetting her earlier, even if he had a good reason to.

He wanted to tell her to leave. She needed to leave. But he also wanted her with him if and when something with Dio panned out... It was a paradox, he knew, but it was how he felt. For years now, Kameko had been his best friend, and now that the fog in his head that was Dio had gone, he realized how much he had missed her the past couple of months. Since she arrived at the Kujo residence, he had been completely preoccupied by trying to make her leave, and he had pushed away anything else involving her... Now though, he was considering what it would be like if she stayed. She wasn't weak, he knew. Kameko had never been one to let other people – not even him – take care of her, but that didn't mean she was invincible. Despite that worry though, his traitorous mind was whispering that it would be nice to have her there too.. He didn't plan on telling her that of course. Just because he might want it didn't mean he was willing to put her in danger to get it, but the thought was still there.

In the silence that fell between them – Kameko lost in whatever story Mr. Joestar had told her, and Noriaki considering the direction their lives were heading in as well as everything she had said to him earlier when they were fighting – one thing in particular really stuck out to him then, and shame filled his heart as he stared down at his lap.

"Kameko?" She hummed to let him know she was listening, though her attention wasn't on him at all. "Was my mother really bawling earlier?"

"She... Well, I wouldn't say bawling exactly... That was mainly for affect since you were being such a big time... well, anyways, it wasn't exactly true," Kameko answered, regret thick in her tone. She'd known that was a low blow. He respected his parents above anyone else, and to think that he'd upset them to that point, of his own volition or otherwise, disturbed him. "But.. She did.. She's just worried about you, Nori... We all were." She sniffed here, and he could see the exhaustion lining her face. Kameko always seemed so bright and chipper and, well, invulnerable when it came to her emotions, whether she was happy or angry. Seeing her like this was painful to him too, knowing he'd caused that. Dio had caused so much pain... He could understand why Kameko wanted to fight him all too well.

When he didn't say anything, Kameko cleared her throat and continued, "You should call them. First thing tomorrow. At least to tell them you're alright."

"Yeah," he agreed with her. That was the least he would do. "What about your dad?"

Huffing, Kameko crossed her arms. "He doesn't care. You know him. He's out with Nina today, and tomorrow, and probably the week after that too."

"Kameko, you know he ca-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know." The brunette flapped her hand at him before he could get the sentence out. They'd been through this before. When it came to parents, the two had polar opposite opinions. "He tries... It just doesn't feel like it sometimes." Noriaki didn't have a come back to that, but Kameko kept talking a moment later anyways. "Hey, Noriaki..?"

"Hm?"

"Can I make a weird request?"

Put on guard a little, Noriaki eyed her in suspicion. "Sure..."

"Can I..." She cleared her throat again. "I wanna lay by you. Just for a second!" she amended at once when he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I guess," he told her slowly, scooting over to make space for her on the futon though it was only meant for one person really. "Just don't hog all the room." he laid back on his pillow.

She swatted him on the chest as she siddled up next to him. "I'm not that fricking fat, you asshole," she scolded him, though she was smiling too. With her head laid on his shoulder, Noriaki wasn't sure what to do with the arm she was laying on, so he opted to keep perfectly still as she slung her own arm around his ribs, pulling him into a semi-embrace. Part of him, the majority of him, felt awkward with her so close to him, pressed against him like that. If someone were to walk in on them at that moment, they probably looked pretty intimate. They hadn't laid in a bed together like this since they were kids and didn't know any better. However, another part of him told him he could relax. After all, it was only Kameko. She didn't have any ill intent towards him; he could trust her, in other words.

"I'll move in a minute," she promised, "but … I was just so scared the past week, past month or two really... I know it's stupid, and selfish, especially after finding out what you've been going through this whole time, but when you kept ignoring me, I .. I thought you had a girlfriend or something. And that... That you didn't want some betty hanging around to screw things up for you."

Maybe it wasn't the right time for it since he could hear how vulnerable she sounded, but she startled a laugh out of him with that. "That's the first place your mind went?"

"It's not funny!" she insisted, hiding her face in the crook of his shoulder.

"It's just strange is all."

Her words were muffled by his shirt, but he made them out with little difficulty. "You act like it's impossible or something... it's not like you're not attractive or anything."

Feeling flattered and a little smug at the compliment, Noriaki carefully avoided responding to that part. "You really think I'd just drop you if I got a girlfriend?" His tone was a bit more serious now. How could she even worry about something like that? It was ridiculous, but it made him wonder if she really thought him capable of something like that.

When she raised her head to look at him, there was an annoyed stubborn set to her features. "I don't know … It's never happened before, so it's not like I have experience to draw from."

His frown deepened at the response. "I thought you'd have more faith in me than that."

"I do... Or at least, in my head I do, but … I get a little stupid when it comes to you," she told him with such honesty that it made his heart beat faster. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Sighing, he rubbed a soothing circle on her back though he wasn't aware of when his hand had moved. "Listen then. I promise I wouldn't just get rid of you for something stupid as a girlfriend. If she doesn't like you, then she's not worth keeping anyways... Well, if she can't tolerate you at least."

"Like is a bit of a stretch, huh?" A different sort of smile came over her face then. "Alright.. I'll hold you to that."

More silence as she settled back down, her cheek pressed against his shoulder. Her steady breathing was calming, and Noriaki found himself dozing off after the eventful day he'd had. Plus, his injuries made him tired too.

"Noriaki?"

"Yeah?"

"What's next for us?"

Confused, his eyes opened briefly. "What do you mean?"

"With Dio," she clarified. "What's gonna happen when they figure out where that dickweed is hiding? I mean, we'll leave immediately right? I'd feel better if we could get rid of him as soon as possible... A guy like that... he shouldn't be allowed to live."

Hesitating, he let his eyes fall shut again, not wanting to have this conversation with her right now. "They might want to prepare for a while … I would."

"Well, whatever happens, I'm with you."

"Only because you won't let me stop you."

"Damn skippy, buck-a-roo," she agreed. "You're stuck with me, No-ri-a-ki."

They were the same words she'd said to him at the end of their very first meeting … He hadn't known then exactly how truthfully they held up, but now was different. Even though he would much rather her stay behind where Dio would never get a chance to touch her, and if he could, he'd make her take the words back... But Noriaki could not deny the comfort those words brought, and the fear in his heart Dio had brought about eased just the slightest, knowing she was ready to stick it out with him, no matter what happened.

Tomorrow, he could remind himself that there was no way he'd actually let her go... But for tonight, he allowed the words to lull him into a peaceful slumber.

At the same time though, a whole new fear was taking hold in him... He'd known what Kameko meant to him for years and years... But it was only now when she was stubbornly determined to put herself in danger that he realized how much more that might be.

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A/N: For whatever reason, I think I've been in a romancy mood lately. Or all my stories happen to be reaching that point simultaneously... Hmm. But I don't know! I know it wasn't huge progress or anything. But I thought it was pretty sweet :) Did y'all enjoy it any!

Thanks so much for all the support guys! You are the ones who inspire me to keep this up! Feel free to review or drop me a line if you have any questions or concerns or whatever. I'm always down to chat.

Also, also, so, I did just recently land my first job... Now, I don't know exactly what that means for me as a writer yet, and I'm hoping it really won't affect how long it takes me to get these out. I don't think it will since I take a fairly long time anyways, but I can't say that with 100% certainty. I just wanted to assure you all once again that I have no intentions of abandoning any story. So rest assured that an update will come. Now, like I said, it may not affect the rate of these at all. I don't know. We'll see. Thank you all so much for your patience!

ONWARD!

- Alyssa