(WARNING: Once again, MAJOR spoilers ahead for the Stardust Crusaders arc.)

Chapter Six

The battle with Dio was even more grueling than Jotaro had been expecting. And at the end of it, he got a piece of news that he had not prepared for. Iggy. Abdul. And Kakyoin. All had fallen in Dio's wake. As the sun slowly brightened the city of Cairo around them, Jotaro's relief at being able to save his mother and grandfather faded as the three surviving members of their party looked pointedly at anything but each other.

Iggy's death had been a cruel one; kicked until his own bones had ripped him apart. To everyone's surprise, his last act had been to save Polnareff's life. For that reason as well as the reason Jotaro was currently still in shock, Polnareff hadn't stopped crying all morning.

The same asshole who killed Iggy also killed Abdul. It was all over in an instant. Polnareff's body still showed the damage of his stand's impossibly cruel attack, which could eat like a black hole any matter it passed through. Abdul too had used his last moments to give Polnareff a chance to run. And luckily their combined sacrifice allowed him enough time to figure out Vanilla Ice's vulnerability to sunlight.

But as far as Jotaro was concerned, the cruelest and hardest to understand of the deaths of his friends was Kakyoin's. It had been explained to him. He understood the order of events. But not why it had happened. Kakyoin's death hadn't meant anything. Unlike Iggy and Abdul, the one thing he had been able to achieve with his death was to give the others a hint about Dio's powers. Had those few seconds of an advantage really been worth his life? Jotaro's anger built as he realized Kakyoin had always felt a lot of guilt about being unable to provide details about Dio's power even after being enslaved by him. He had intentionally put himself in danger in order to test Dio's abilities, to make himself useful. Jotaro couldn't forgive him for that.

Jotaro spent days and weeks, and eventually years being unable to move past what had happened. His life more or less returned to normal when he got back to Japan. He finished high school and entered college, then graduate school. During his research, he traveled to America, staying with the old man. While there, he met someone who made him very happy. They got married. They had a daughter. They were so happy together, it didn't feel real. Their little girl was so beautiful that Jotaro named her after his favorite song. But as with anyone he cared about, the happier he was with them, the more fear he felt about hurting or losing them.

As time went on, Jotaro spent less and less time at home. After a few encounters with stand users that came too close to home, Jotaro became convinced he couldn't keep this up. He divorced from his wife when Jolyne was five. Even as he thought he was protecting them, he did not think at the time what it would feel like for a young girl to be abandoned by her father.

But in reality, keeping them safe was just a pretense. What had happened with Kakyoin had instilled in Jotaro one of his rare weak points psychologically. An irrational belief that if he loved someone, they would die. It hadn't taken him long after the battle with Dio to realize he had been in love with Kakyoin, possibly from the start. He told himself it didn't change anything. He would never have acted on those feelings. He couldn't have saved Kakyoin anyway. Life was just like that. But at the core of all this rationalization was a small voice telling him that because of the kind of person he was, he didn't deserve to be happy.

Not long after that, the old man discovered that an affair he had had with a Japanese student of his – while in his 60s – had born fruit. That fruit being a young man named Higashikata Josuke. Jotaro had never seen Grandma Suzie so spitting mad.

It was around the same time that he started to be aware of mysterious reports coming from the town where his grandfather's progeny lived. There seemed to be more than the usual concentration of stand-related incidents. Possibly, there was another malevolent force like Dio that was creating a higher density of stand users. Since Jotaro had plenty of research he could conduct in Japan anyway, he felt he was the person best suited to determine what was happening in the little town of Morio.

But it was not until long after the incident with the Nijimura brothers that Jotaro felt a glimmer of hope that he might actually change his stars.

"Jotaro-san, Jotaro-san!"

Jotaro turned at the sound of Josuke's voice and jogging feet approaching. His young, yankee uncle waved joyfully at him. "Afternoon," he said respectfully. "Jotaro-san, I did something really cool. You've gotta come see."

"What is it?" Jotaro asked with suspicion. He didn't doubt Josuke's abilities, but his sense of what constituted "cool" didn't always match with Jotaro's.

"Aw, don't be stingy! Come on!"

Josuke dragged him along to a hospital of all places. And then bizarrely, to a room with a weak-looking, middle-aged man that Jotaro had never seen before. Also present in this room, for whatever reason, were Hirose Koichi and Nijimura Okuyasu. Jotaro waited for someone to explain to him what was going on.

Okuyasu jumped to his feet when Jotaro entered. "Jotaro-san…thank you for coming," he said with a strange look of grim, hesitant happiness. Casting his eyes down as if in embarrassment, he gestured behind him at the man in the bed. "This is…my old man. Nijimura Mansaku."

The man in the bed smiled weakly. "N-…nice to m-meet you," he said with difficulty. Even his tongue seemed weak.

Jotaro stood dumbfounded. The last time he had seen Nijimura Mansaku, he had been a monster robbed of his body and mind by Dio's cells in his body. If the two were ever separated, he should have died instantly. This should be impossible.

Jotaro cast an accusing look at Josuke, who stood beaming at him like a third grader who'd won a science contest. "Pretty good, right Jotaro-san?"

"Explain yourself," Jotaro growled, in no mood for humoring his young uncle with the praise he was clearly searching for.

But Josuke was too pleased with himself to be brought down by Jotaro's mood. "It's good, right? I assumed Crazy Diamond wouldn't be able to fix Nijimura-san, because his and Dio's cells were fused together. It's not easy, but I realized if I concentrate I can divide cells and put them back together. Not fast either. Took about an hour. Slept for a day and a half after. But look! Nijimura-san's all better!"

"Th-…thank you…so much…J-…J-Josuke-kun," said Nijimura-san, smiling weakly.

Jotaro still couldn't fully grasp it, except to once again be impressed with young Josuke. He sighed. "Congratulations," he said simply.

"Thanks!" Josuke accepted the encouragement that was meant for Nijimura-san.

Jotaro rounded a glare at Josuke. After a moment, he gestured toward the door. "Walk with me for a moment," he said.

A twinkle of light was flickering in the depths of Jotaro's chest. He didn't want to get his hopes up. But he couldn't just let it die either. When he and Josuke had gotten some distance away from the room, he asked him, "How did you distinguish between Nijimura's cells and Dio's?"

Josuke pondered this, scratching his cheek. "Um…I don't know. The same way I can distinguish between flesh and clothing I guess?"

Jotaro accepted that answer after a moment of thought. After all, he had repeatedly seen Josuke heal people and their clothing at the same time. Crazy Diamond was able to heal any injury as long as the host wasn't completely dead. That meant that Crazy Diamond could tell apart and restore all sorts of different cells and body parts. If any part of the host still had life, like Okuyasu's severed arm after fighting Red Hot Chili Pepper, Crazy Diamond could restore their whole body. Somehow that was how Josuke must have extracted Nijimura's healthy cells from Dio's corrupted ones.

"What happened to Dio's cells after you separated them?" he asked.

"Burned up into dust as soon as they hit the light coming through the window," Josuke answered.

Well that was a relief. The last thing Jotaro or this town needed was a Dio resurrection to worry about. "Good. But I'm still confused. In the first place, I've said this before, but Dio dying should have killed anyone who had a flesh bud inside them. Nijimura should never have survived that stage."

Josuke hesitantly nodded, not really understanding that either.

"Josuke," Jotaro questioned him seriously. "What is your theory on how any part of Nijimura was able to stay alive through that?"

Josuke shook his head. "His cells fused with Dio's, didn't they?"

"At best, that should have made him a vampire," Jotaro answered, beginning to grow annoyed with the lack of logical answers to his own questions. "Dio's cells were never alive to begin with. The fact of his dying should have caused those cells to either decay or go on a rampage through his body, either killing him instantly or giving him artificial life like Dio's. Which would make him a vampire. Which would also make him dead. No matter what, it shouldn't have been possible for you to extract any living information from Nijimura Mansaku."

Josuke seemed entirely put upon by this line of questioning and laughed hesitantly. He shrugged. "Don't know what to tell you, Jotaro-san. Maybe Nijimura-san is just special. Or maybe Dio's cells would do that to anyone after he was dead. Who knows? But anyway, let's be happy for Okuyasu! Right?"

For many reasons, that was not good enough for Jotaro. For one thing, this meant that there was a possibility that more of Dio's servants were still alive, and anyone with powers similar to Jotaro's could heal them. If they did so at night, there was even a possibility of reviving Dio's "living" cells. But before all of that, there was one thing he had to know.

"Come with me," he said, striding out of the hospital and expecting Josuke to follow.

"Jotaro-san…?" Josuke asked, jogging after him. "What's going on?"

"I need you to do me a favor," Jotaro said grimly. "I need you to see if you can find a part of my friend that's still living."

Josuke looked rightly horrified. He didn't answer even as they got in a cab together and started heading for Jotaro's home town.

"Jotaro-san…" Josuke said hesitantly as they got on the freeway. "Is your friend…"

"Yes, he's dead."

Josuke physically recoiled to the other side of the cab. With his arms in an awkward posture as if to protect himself from evil spirits, he asked in a shaking voice, "For…how long?"

"Ten years."

Josuke let out a yelp as if he'd been pinched. "Jotaro-san, be real! Best case scenario, the guy's ash or worm food now! There can't be anything left alive of him!"

"I preserved him."

"EH?!"

Jotaro sighed. He really didn't like revealing something he knew was not only shameful and very strange, but also very hard to explain. Especially to someone younger. "Many reasons I have to feel sorry to Kakyoin Noriaki's parents," he said soberly. "But the worst thing I ever did was lie about cremating their son." After a moment, sensing Josuke's question, he admitted, "I had him frozen. I had my reasons."

Josuke was now pale and sweating, looking at Jotaro like he was an ax murderer. "Listen…Jotaro-san…the thing is…I'm not good with dead bodies. I'm feeling a little under the weather, like…my nose feels loose. My knees are all jangly, and I think my head's not on straight…maybe it's better to not-"

"Try it. And then you can go home." Jotaro rounded a stony glare at his uncle. "Not before."

Josuke promptly shut up, shaking and sweating silently during the rest of the cab journey. Jotaro gave the driver directions to the cryogenics lab which had preserved Kakyoin's body at his request. Once there, the staff guided an emotionless Jotaro and a physically shaking Josuke to the sealed container inside which Kakyoin Noriaki lay like Snow White, perfectly preserved as if he were merely sleeping. Even the terrified Josuke was somewhat moved by the sight of him.

As soon as the staff member was out of sight, Jotaro gestured to his friend's body. "Do it."

Josuke hesitated. "I don't know…Jotaro-san, I don't want you to get your hopes up. This isn't like Nijimura-san. It's been so long, and the number of Dio's cells is much smaller, and this wound-"

"Don't make me repeat myself."

Josuke didn't need any more encouragement than that. "Crazy Diamond," he said, and his stand appeared behind him. "Let's do this. Dora, dora, dora dora dora dora doradoradoradoradora!"

Crazy Diamond punched Kakyoin's body at a progressively faster pace until his fists were just a blur. The punches were so fast that they were melting the ice around him. Jotaro steadied his own breathing, trying to remain calm. Even if this were successful, it would be a long wait.

Jotaro expected Josuke to stop if he realized something was wrong or nothing was happening. But the minutes went on, and Josuke kept punching. Josuke was sweating profusely, his breath becoming ragged and eyelids drooping. After a while, Jotaro realized he would have to steady him because it was taking too much energy to stand. Still Josuke continued his efforts. And as Jotaro watched, something amazing was happening.

The color began to return to Kakyoin's dead white skin. First his cheeks and then his lips took on a faint pink. The cavity in his stomach – which even a new uniform that Jotaro had purchased for him failed to completely conceal – began to fill itself in. Finally, well over an hour after he had started, Crazy Diamond stopped punching.

Though Josuke was barely conscious at this point, Jotaro watched without being able to draw a full breath. A lifetime of seconds passed. And then, Kakyoin's chest rose with breath. And fell. Rose. And fell. Along with his regular breathing, a living pulse ran up his neck. Jotaro almost passed out.

Instead, he murmured softly, "Star Platinum."

Firstly, Jotaro had Star Platinum quickly gather the quivering lump of Dio's cells which Crazy Diamond had expelled from Kakyoin's body into a glass vial, which he then put in his pocket to dispose of later. Then they both turned to stare at the softly breathing Kakyoin.

Somehow, although it would have appeared less strange to anyone who might have seen if he had chosen to carry Kakyoin himself and let Star Platinum help Josuke, Jotaro couldn't work up the nerve to touch Kakyoin himself. Star Platinum gently lifted the beautiful creature from the bed of ice and held him close in his arms. His soft breathing continued, and Jotaro felt his heart about to burst.

"Keep it together, Josuke," Jotaro told him softly. "You just performed a miracle."

After taking Josuke back to his own home, Jotaro brought Kakyoin back to his apartment in Morio. He had a limited amount of medical equipment there and he did everything he could to keep an eye on Kakyoin's vitals and watch him around the clock. And most of all, he tried to stay calm as he feared his heart might explode. Josuke had done the impossible. Kakyoin was alive.