A Devil with an Angel's Heart

Chapter 15, Part 1

||Jotaro

It was early evening. The group had spent all day travelling to the coastal town of Karachi, Pakistan's industrial and financial centre. Enyaba was still unconscious and Kate was sleeping on Bullet, who was calmly trudging along. Jotaro wondered how she could sleep on a horse so comfortably. She had taken off the saddle at some point, which was now lying, together with Enyaba, in the back of the carriage. Suddenly Bullet seemed to get bored of simply trotting along and jumped a little, jostling the soundly sleeping woman on his back, causing her to almost fall off. "Dammit, Bullet." Kate groaned, voice still hoarse from sleep. She then stretched and sat up. The old man offered her some water. "Welcome back to the living." he joked. His only answer was a hum from the woman. Bullet kept pushing, wanting to go faster. "Alright, alright." Kate muttered. "Don't go too far." warned Jiji. The woman only nodded before letting bullet galop ahead. "You like her." Kakyoin stated quietly, catching Jotaro by surprise. He looked at the red-head questioningly, "Who?" "You like Kate, don't you?" Kakyoin repeated. Jotaro only looked at his friend. "She's a friend." he stated. "Really? Just a friend?" Kakyoin probed. Jotaro gave the male an annoyed look. "Don't look at me like that. You know what I'm talking about." the red-head smiled roguishly, "Didn't you know, your eyes keep following her. Do you know how long you've been staring at her for, since she woke up? Yesterday too. Oh, and you're always worried about her, in Enyaba's 'hotel' you asked for her first and even went looking for her, rather then for that weird sound. You rushed off in such a hurry...you were basically running down the hall." Kakyoin chuckled shortly before remarking, "This woman has quipped your interest long ago." Jotaro opened his mouth to retort, but there was nothing he could say, so he closed his mouth again. Now that Kakyoin mentioned it...Kate had been on his mind for a while. She hadn't left his thoughts and he found himself enjoying her presence. He remembered when she had placed her head on his chest to sleep and his heart skipped a beat. Damnit, why did he remember that now? Kakyoin smiled knowingly, "I knew it." he stated, his eyes twinkling, "Glad you finally realised. But if you ask me, you're chances aren't half bad." Before he could say more the old man spoke up, "What are you two whispering about?" "Just Jotaro finally getting into touch with his feelings." answered Kakyoin, earning himself a slight glare from the delinquent. His grandfather looked very interested and Polnareff, too, seemed to want to know more. "What are you talking about?" Kate had once again appeared out of seemingly nowhere. Before anyone could say anything to make this situation awkward for the male teen, Jotaro said, "Nothing." Kate pouted, probably feeling a little left out as the only woman in the group. Jotaro felt a little bad, he didn't mean to sound so harsh so he changed the topic to something he knew she would enjoy, trying his best to ignore Kakyoin's grin.

||Kate

Shortly after, you finally arrived, slowly trotting through town. You could feel your stomach screaming for food, as you had not eaten since yesterday. "Ah, a doner kebab joint." the old man noted and you were very happy to hear the next sentence, "Let's stop and get something to eat." Mr. Joestar stopped the carriage and approached the street vendor. "Excuse me, sir, I'll take six of those." "That'll be a thousand yen." the silver fox was shocked hearing the price and started to haggle. "A thousand yen? Really?" he then started laughing, "Don't mock me, now! That's far too much for a handful of kebabs." "How much would you buy them for?" the vendor asked in return. "Make it 250 yen for six." demanded the old man. "If I sold it for that cheap, I'd be out on the street and my wife and children would starve to death." the vendor retorted. "Then maybe I'll buy them somewhere else." declared Mr. Joestar. "Just buy the damn kebab already." you growled. "Okay, friend, you win. I very much like foreigners. I'll sell you six for 700 yen." "Then make it 300!" demanded the old man. You were growing impatient and were just about to step in when the two men finally agreed on a price. "Bye bye, thank you, sir." the vendor waved. The old man returned to you, but much to your despair, he stopped midway, staring at something behind you. He dropped the kebabs, "Holy crap, turn around! The old lady's awake!" You turned to look at the old hag. She looked scared, her eyes darting around and sweat running down her face in streams, "I...I promised you. I...haven't said anything to any of them, I swear! Why are you here? What could you possibly want with me?! Do you think I would actually tell them the secret of Lord Dio's Stand? I am and will always be his loyal servant!" You followed the old woman's gaze, your eyes falling onto the street vendor. The man took of his sun glasses and the hood. Suddenly the familiar tentacles of a Flesh Bud came out of the woman's eyes and started growing longer and flung around so strongly it destroyed the carriage. "What are these tentacles? Some type of worms?!" exclaimed Polnareff. "Why? I have done nothing wrong! Why have you come here to kill me?!" Enyaba screamed. The man took off the rest of his robe, no longer disguising himself as a street vendor, "Lord Dio places his trust in no one. Not even you, Enyaba. That is why. And it's my job that you never speak again." he dropped the robe to the ground, while addressing your group, "As for the rest of you, the only way you're leaving is in pieces." he declared. The tentacles were now coming out of Enyaba's nose and mouth as well, blood gushing everywhere. You pulled a face, this was certainly not a nice way to die. She deserved it, but still... "You can call me Dan...Dan of Steel." the new enemy introduced himself. He got a beautiful face but that was all. He was too conceited for his own good. "My Stand represents the one and only Lovers card." Dan explained, "I will see to it that you will all meet the same fate as that pathetic witch, Enyaba." "How could you?! That old lady was one of your own!" Polnareff reproached the enemy, then rushed to the old woman who was only repeating, "Lies...These are all lies...Lord Dio would never do such a thing to me...I'm his loyal servant! Loyal..." These thing coming out of her body are definitely not some sort of Stand!" remarked Kakyoin. "Don't you see it, they're actual tentacles." Enyaba kept on rambling, not listening to anything around her, "Lord Dio would never do me such harm. He'd never plant a Flesh bud in me. Lord Dio is my only reason for living...We trust each other wholeheartedly..." "Hold on." Polnareff cut off some tentacles, which fell and completely burnt once they hit the sun. "See that? The sun just disintegrated them! The Flesh bud! It's made out of Dio's own cells." noted the old man. "Precisely." confirmed Dan, "I must say you're quiet the perceptive one. Since you're so astute, I'll continue. This is what a full-grown flesh bud looks like. I wanna kill her, not control her, so I just grew it inside the old hag." Dan explained. You turned to look at the old woman again, still suffering on the ground, and this time you couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit of sympathy for her. Such loyalty to her master even after he turned on her and had her killed, that was remarkable. "Enyaba, you may be the very one who told Dio about the Stands, but you're a fool to think that a man with such complete power would ever trust a feeble old woman like you." Dan remarked, "Unfortunately, it's a point you failed to realise."