Just when he'd managed to get himself settled, after the strange, unsettling visit that he'd had with N'Doul – which the party for little Gio Brando had helped quite a lot with – Telence found himself once again confronted by the blind man that had come out to by weirdly cryptic at him for whatever reason that kind of man would have. Having once again found himself the target of those useless, enigmatic, hidden eyes, Telence tried as hard as he could to fight back the shudder that wanted to crawl up his spine. He hated himself for failing.

"Telence, are you familiar with what they say about still water?"

Still water…? he mused, wondering just how in the hell he was supposed to know anything like that; he was just about to open his mouth to tell the man that no, he didn't know what in the hell he was talking about so would he please just go the hell away, when he recalled something that he'd been told awhile ago. That was what my last handler said, the last time I reported to him… But, if this guy's using a Blackwater code… Telence found himself tensing, even as he tried as hard as he could not to be obvious about the fact that he was doing so, which probably went over about as well as a concrete airplane given that this guy was Blackwater, but there was at least the chance that N'Doul would respect him for the effort.

"Telence, you are aware that Lord Dio is quite fond of Noriaki Kakyoin and Loreena McKennitt, are you not?" N'Doul asked, and there was something in his tone that made him have to fight down a shudder; or maybe it was just because he knew N'Doul was a Blackwater agent.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," he said, working up a smile that he hoped would placate the man, even though he knew from even his comparatively few encounters with his own handler back in the day that Blackwater agents weren't the kind to be fooled by outward appearances.

"That's good to hear," N'Doul said, and there was still something in his tone that unsettled Telence as the pair of them continued speaking; or rather, his lack of a real tone.

As N'Doul turned to leave, Telence finally allowed himself to shudder as he leaned against the door he'd closed as quickly as he could manage without actually slamming it. He couldn't help thinking about what he'd heard his old handler say, back when the pair of them had spoken about the subject: there were no rogue Blackwatch agents.

=SC=

Sighing as she set the phone down, Loreena reflected on what she'd just heard; apparently, her father had finished his work in Cairo, and the pair of them were going to be leaving Cairo in about three days. Making her way out of the Desert Rose's front room, Loreena made her way back to the room that she and Noriaki had been sharing for the few months that the pair of them had been staying at the hotel alongside Dio Brando and his eccentric family. Sighing again, even as she called out Crimson Ace to walk beside her and give her at least some of the support that she was going to need to face what was coming – she'd honestly tried not to make close friends in the past, since she always knew what was going to be coming when she and her father inevitably had to move – Loreena wrapped her left arm around her Stand's neck as she made her way over to the door to her and Noriaki's room.

Taking a deep breath as she let herself into the room, Loreena caught sight of Noriaki sitting at the table, clearly waiting for her to get back from talking on the phone.

"Loreena-chan, what's wrong?" he asked, getting up out of his seat so that the pair of them could share an embrace for the first time since she'd left to go speak to her father in the Desert Rose's front room.

"It looks like I'm going to be leaving again soon," she said, as the pair of them curled up together on the small couch that Mr. Brando had had brought into their room. "Dad says he's done with his work here, so the pair of us are going to be moving on."

Unspoken was the fact that, while she had originally enjoyed moving around alongside her father on his many and varied business trips – since they had been and likely would continue to be a great source of inspiration to her when she was painting or drawing – there wasn't really a way of bringing Noriaki along with them. And, now that the pair of them had gotten to know each other so well, she wasn't at all eager to leave him behind the way she it seemed that she was going to have to.

"What? When?" Noriaki asked, sounding like someone had just punched him in the face; he looked like it, too, and for just a second Loreena found herself regretting having told him in the first place.

"In about three days," she said, gripping his hands tighter as Noriaki's face crumpled.

Still, there might be a way that she could work things out; Mom had chosen to stay back in Wales, since she'd never been one for traveling all over the place the way Dad's job – and honestly his temperament, as well – had called for him to do for so long. The pair of them had long conversations on the phone, and would meet in person whenever their respective schedules allowed for such a thing. Given the look on Noriaki's face as he followed her out of the room, though, Loreena didn't think he'd be amenable to anything like that.

At least not so early in their relationship, anyway.

=SC=

As he and Loreena-chan made their way down into the front room of the Desert Rose, where Loreena-chan had gotten the bad news from her father, Noriaki found himself wondering if there was anything he could do about it. Or, really, if there was anything that Jotaro Kujo and his family could do. Sure, all of them seemed at least a little eccentric – even Miss Holly, who was the kindest person he'd met if he didn't count Loreena-chan – but they were also fellow Stand users, and all of them lived in Japan.

So, even though he and Jotaro did still have their differences, it might just be worth asking; he had the feeling Miss Holly would probably be willing, and she could probably convince her son to do something nice for a change.

Swallowing a chuckle at the thought of Jotaro Kujo and his endless quest to exact revenge for his stolen hat – which really would be endless if he kept being so annoying about it – Noriaki turned and started making his way toward the room where Miss Holly was staying. As he did so, Noriaki couldn't help but consider the look on Loreena-chan's face as she continued down to the main room of the Desert Rose; it'd looked like she had something important on her mind. He wondered what it could be, but knew that there would be at least be a little more time for him to find out.

And, with some luck and Miss Holly's approval, he'd have more than just a little time.

=SC=

The all-pervasive chemical stink, something that her enhanced senses as a vampire had made all the more troublesome to deal with, hung in the air as Alice continued the work that she and Stardust had begun on the full-body prosthetic that she'd need in this day and age – considering the fact that she was both the head of an international corporation, and had had so many photos taken with various and sundry heads of state in her time and the time of her alleged predecessors – to pass as the man she was going to be going undercover as for this particular operation. Unlike in previous eras, where she hadn't had the dual complications of fame and physical development to deal with, she couldn't just throw on some clothing that looked masculine and pass herself off as someone she wasn't. To say nothing of the way that fashions had changed in the intervening years, she'd become rather famous for wearing tailored suits with slacks.

A lot like the kinds of thing she'd worn in her Fleetwood Mac persona, really.

=SC=

Once Loreena had finished speaking to her father, telling him about who she'd met and just why it was that she wanted to stay – either in Cairo, or in Japan if she could manage to bring one or more of the Kujo family around – she felt lighter than she had when she'd first gotten the phone call in the first place. Dad had been understanding about what had ultimately drawn her to stay, just like he'd been understanding about why Mom had wanted to stay back in Wales while he went off on his various jobs for Brando International. Smiling as she made her way back through the Desert Rose's main room, Loreena began to hear the sounds of a couple of people making their way down the main staircase.

A couple of rather familiar people.

"Loreena-chan!" Noriaki called cheerfully, hurrying carefully down the stairs so that the pair of them could hug; even as they did so, she kept an eye on Jotaro.

Something told her that she'd have an easy time guessing what he was going to say, if not how he was going to say it. Particularly since Jotaro Kujo was almost compulsively taciturn.

"Oi, you got anything besides those paintings of yours?" Jotaro asked, and Loreena almost had to force herself not to laugh, as she once again found her initial impression borne out; she shook her head, not quite trusting her voice at the moment. "Good, come on," he said, as Star Platinum appeared behind him. "We're gonna be leaving soon."

Sure enough, in the Stand's arms were the few paintings that Mr. Brando hadn't bought from her, as well as the sketches that she'd done when she hadn't quite been in the mood to paint but had still wanted to do something, and Loreena found that she couldn't quite manage to hold back a laugh. Still, all Jotaro did, as the pair of them fell into step beside one another, was mutter that Japanese phrase that seemed to be his habitual response to anything that annoyed him.

Or really, anything at all, given that everything seemed to annoy him in one way or another.

=SC=

Mom had been particularly enthusiastic about welcoming Loreena into their home, once they'd made it off the plane and back into Japan proper again, but the Old Man seemed to be bound and determined to tease her about her and Kakyoin's budding relationship. Loreena gave as good as she got, though, so at least Jotaro found that he could have some actual peace and quiet while he made his way back to his room.

It was kind of weird, though, the way that coming home to the mansion that the Old Man had bought as a honeymoon present – probably just to show off how rich he was – didn't seem that much different than staying at the Desert Rose with Uncle Dio. Sure, there were a lot more of Mom's personal touches to the house they were currently staying in, and also the fact that the Kujo house was obviously Japanese in contrast to the Desert Rose and its clear Egyptian roots, but even in spite of that there was something that he couldn't describe that united the two places.

It wasn't something that he spent a lot of time thinking about, but having just arrived back in his house from the Desert Rose, Jotaro found the thought sticking in his mind for a long moment.

Sighing as he shook his head, Jotaro began making his way to the kitchen. Turning to smirk at Star, as his Stand appeared beside him, Jotaro chuckled. At least not everything that had happened at the Desert Rose was as annoying as he'd been expecting, what with being stuck with the Old Man and Uncle Dio for such a long time.

Still, even with the annoying girls that he knew would be waiting for him when he got back, the prospect of going back to school was a refreshingly normal one.

=SC=

"Thanks again for offering to take me in like this, Mrs. Kujo," she said, as Jotaro's mother continued showing her all around the huge house where she and her son lived.

Really, even considering the fact that Mr. Joestar had bought the place for them, it was really huge for just two people to stay in all on their own; and maybe that was some of the reason that Mrs. Kujo had been so willing to invite her to stay with them.

"Oh, you don't need to thank me, Loreena-chan!" Mrs. Kujo chirped, with the same buoyant cheerfulness that seemed to be as natural a part of her as Jotaro's laid-back calm. "Come on; Dad offered to let you stay in his room, so you won't have to worry about getting used to sleeping on a futon," Mrs. Kujo laughed, looking as though she was remembering something funny. "Dad was always complaining about that; really, you should've heard him."

She laughed, too; really, Mr. Joestar did seem to be just the kind of reckless exaggerator that Mr. Brando clearly took some perverse kind of pride in being. It was probably a lot of the reason why the pair of them got along so well, aside from the fact that they were both family and hence also had the advantage of that kind of closeness, too. As she and Mrs. Kujo made their way back to the main room of her and Jotaro's immense, traditional Japanese-style house – Mrs. Kujo had been adamant that that was what it was, even though Loreena herself hadn't had a basis for any kind of comparison – Loreena found herself smiling all the wider as she caught sight of Noriaki waiting for her.

He was sitting on one of the many cushions that Mrs. Kujo seemed to have set around in lieu of chairs, at least in those places that clearly showed her influence – or else that of her husband, who she'd mentioned as being out of the house about as much as Loreena's own father had ended up being – in their decoration and furnishings. As she and Mrs. Kujo came back into sight of the room, Noriaki got back to his feet, his usual, small smile slowly spreading across his face.

"Thank you so much for letting Loreena-chan stay with you, Holly-san," Noriaki said, bowing more deeply than she'd ever seen him do before.

"You don't have to thank me, Noriaki-chan," Mrs. Kujo said, laughing softly as she made her way over to where Noriaki was standing, Loreena following in her wake.

Slipping her left arm around Noriaki's shoulders, Loreena held him for a long moment, before they said their goodbyes and he turned to leave the Kujo household.

"Well now, let's see about getting you a uniform, Loreena-chan," Mrs. Kujo said, turning back to her with a determined sort of smile.

"You have uniforms here?" she asked, wondering what kind of schooling she would find in this place, since it was a lot different from anywhere else she'd been.

"That's right, you've never been to a Japanese school before, have you, Loreena-chan?"

"Well, I've been to a lot of other kinds of schools," she said, smiling back at Mrs. Kujo as the pair of them made their way back to the room where she was going to be staying. "But, you're right: Dad doesn't do any work in Japan. I'm pretty sure Ms. Brando has other people for this part of the world."

=SC=

Once he and Star had gone back to his room, sandwich and chilled soda in hand, Jotaro made his way over to his desk. Having the chance to get away from all of the shit he had to deal with around Japan had been nice enough, but now that he was back, he was at least going to make some effort to get back into his usual routine. Though there were clearly going to be a few changes, considering the way that Mom had invited Loreena to stay with them, just so she and that annoying bishonen hat thief would be able to stay together while her dad did whatever kind of work that Aunt Alice was having him do for her and Uncle Dio's company.

Whatever that was.

The new routine that he and Mom settled into wasn't that different from their old one, even with the addition of another Stand user into their sprawling, oversized house. And even though Loreena wasn't quite used to all things Japanese, the way that Mom had worked so hard to become over the years that she'd spent with Dad, she did seem easygoing enough to adapt to how things were going to be from now on. Or at least for however much time she was going to be spending in Japan with them.

=SC=

When he set out for school, after he and his parents had finished settling themselves back into their house after their vacation in Egypt, Noriaki found himself honestly excited by the prospect for the first time in a long while. After all, he'd met more Stand users over there than he'd ever thought possible, and had even been given the chance to meet someone who seemed to have even more in common with him than just being a Stand user. It wasn't anything like what he'd been expecting, when he and his family had set off from Japan in the first place, but Noriaki had long since admitted to himself that he hadn't had much hope for that trip in the first place.

Back then, he'd all but given up hope of ever meeting anyone who could understand him; anyone who would be able to see his Hierophant Green for what it truly was, and hence to accept Noriaki for who he truly was.

Now, after all the people that he'd met in Cairo, Noriaki found that he felt much more settled. Having already spoken to his parents about transferring to the school that Jotaro – and Loreena-chan, since he'd heard that Miss Holly had helped her to get all of her papers in order so that she could attend alongside him and Jotaro – went to, Noriaki had made his way to Jotaro's house as quickly as he could. Not so much for Jotaro himself, since fellow Stand user or not, that guy was entirely too into himself for Noriaki to deal with in large doses.

Or, at least too into his hat, anyway.

When he made it to the porch of the Kujo house – the mansion that seemed to be almost the same size as the hotel where he and Loreena-chan had met first with Mr. Brando, and then with the other members of his family – Noriaki smiled as he watched Jotaro cringe in that way he somehow did without actually moving, as Miss Holly kissed him goodbye and wished the pair of them a good day at school.

"Your mother really loves you, you know," he said, grinning slightly as he made his way over to where Loreena-chan and Jotaro were just starting to make their way away from the Kujo house.

"Whatever," Jotaro replied, adjusting his hat in that way he seemed to do when he was annoyed by something but didn't want to say anything.

Then again, Jotaro seemed to be annoyed by almost everything.

When the three of them came into sight of the school at last, Noriaki wrapped his left arm around Loreena-chan's right, lacing their fingers together as the three of them all continued on their way. As their trio stepped onto the school grounds, however, Noriaki couldn't help but notice the way that Jotaro was tensing up. Sure, it was about as subtle as everything else he did, but Noriaki couldn't help but wonder just what could have drawn that kind of a reaction from him.

At least, he wondered that up until the swarm of chattering girls began closing in all around them. For a few moments it seemed as though, with their attention focused squarely on Jotaro, he and Loreena-chan would be able to make their way to class at least relatively unmolested. That was, of course, when one of the girls turned her attention to him.

=SC=

He knew that he shouldn't have been watching the annoying girls' discovery of Loreena's annoying bishonen of a boyfriend like it was his own personal sitcom – particularly given the fact that it was something that Uncle Dio would have done without a second thought, probably sending out his own Stand for popcorn just so he could really rub in the fact that he was relishing in someone's annoyance – but there was just something intrinsically funny about watching someone else having to deal with all of the girls who seem to want to nothing more out of their lives than to hang off of him like some kind of barnacles.

"Oi, Loreena, we should get going," he called, drawing the attention of the only girl that he could honestly say that he was actually friends with.

"Yes, it probably would be best not to be late on the first day of school," Loreena said, sounding amused and more than a little frazzled at once; not much point in asking why that was.

"She's my sister," he said, in response to one of the chattering girls' demands to know just who Loreena was and why she was so close to him.

Leaving the girls to their confused muttering, even as Loreena herself laughed softly and that annoying bishonen hat-thief managed to catch up to them again, Jotaro smiled slightly as he continued on his way to school. This time, things might not be so bad, he mused, even as he caught the annoyed look the bishonen was shooting him over Loreena's right shoulder. Tugging the brim of his cap, he smirked back in response.

Sure, that was something Uncle Dio would have done, too – and had done, more than a few times when there was someone who he particularly enjoyed screwing with in his sights – but Jotaro figured he could allow himself at least a little bit of leeway for this, even if he'd never admit it in front of anyone who might tell Uncle Dio.

=SC=

It was strange, Enrico found, missing the presence of Jotaro Joestar when the boy was little more than a phone call away. Whitesnake had, of course, chided Enrico in his gentle way, reminding him of what it was that he already knew. What he'd found himself forgetting, when he looked at his closet and found that it was empty.

And so, that was why Enrico had made his way over to the telephone that Dio had been kind enough to install in the room that had been furnished and set aside for him even during the prolonged construction of the Desert Rose. Dialing the number that Mrs. Holly Kujo had been kind enough to grant him the use of, during the time that her family had been staying under the care of Dio and his dear friend's servants, Enrico waited through the familiar tones of a long-distance call connecting.

"Greetings, Holly," he said, smiling gently as he heard the kindly woman's gentle voice once more. "It pleases me to hear from you again, but I confess that I wished to speak to Jotaro. Would you mind fetching him?"