13 Ch. 13 Your Future Self

After waking up the following morning Jotaro saw Kai flexing in the mirror. Jotaro said nothing but got up.

"Gaaahh!" Kai jumpers and got in a fighting stance. "Oh, Jotaro. Good morning" Kai was startled but acted like he wasn't just caught.

Jotaro just looked at the small cat plushie. He was at least better than Kon. Kon was a god damned pervert. Kai at least had some self control. Or did he even like girls? Jotaro hadn't really talked to Kai extensively. Kai just wanted to be a regular artificial soul previously. And he at least seemed much less depressed. Guess finding out you aren't the last of your kind helps lift the spirits.

"So…." Kai turned back to the mirror. "What's the plan. Am I tagging along for school?"

"I can't leave you here" Jotaro grabs his school bag.

Kai walks over to Jotaro and climbs up his leg. He jumps from his waist to his shoulder. "Your shoulders are at least good seats. I see why Yoruichi likes it up here"

"Haaahhh" Jotaro sighs. "Whatever" Yoruichi had often sat on his shoulder, or found a spot over his shoulder to lay down. She was surprisingly lazy. At least more so than he expected.

"Just no talking unless it's in private. I don't give a damn if anyone sees you with me. If they have a comment they can shove it up their a-"

"Jotaro?! Is someone else in there?"

Jotaro moves to the door and opens it, he sees Orihime in her pjs as she rubs her left eye with the back of her hand.

"No" Jotaro walks past her and goes to the kitchen to make breakfast like he has for the past while.

"Oh. Ok…" Orihime could have sworn that she heard Jotaro talking with somebody else. Maybe she was still tired. Nobody else was in his room. It was pretty bland, not many personal items or decorations.

But something did catch her sleepy eye. She saw, and was curious about, the cat plushie. As far as she knew Jotaro had only shown interest with real cats. She though it was cute. The gray cat plushie matched with his school uniform.

Orihime wondered how it stayed sitting up. But she figured it was like how his hat that is ripped and blends with his hair doesn't fly off in the wind.

She went back to her room. She had a few more minutes of sleep to dream about red bean paste and other favorite foods of hers.

Jotaro got started in the kitchen.

"So, what's the plan with your mom?" Kai was close to Jotaro's ear and the two other people in the house were sleeping or going back to sleep.

"All I know is that she has been 'sick' ever since I was born. I don't know if she was sick before coming to Japan or not. But I can assume that she was because she already had medicine to help her. But who fucking knows" Jotaro takes a deep breath and exhales. "I plan to focus more into Kaido. And I should be able to learn from a master within the year. It'll be cutting it close for her. But she should have two years if I do nothing. Right now, the longer I wait. The more damage her body will take in the long run"

"Why can't you just go to this 'Master' now? Unless..." Kai had been around long enough in the research lab in SoulSociety to hear a few things. "Retsu? Captain of squad 4, the healing corps? The laughing stock of all the other squads? That…..might just work actually. But how will you get there?"

"I'll get there soon enough. A few things have to happen before then" Jotaro flips the contents in the pan over.

"You sound a lot like Urahara, you know that? It's god damn annoying" Kai dislikes planning too far ahead. He's more of a in-the-moment type of person.

"Deal with it"

——————

Jotaro told Orihime to go to school with Tatsuki today. He knew that Ichigo was going through some things this morning.

He ended up getting dragged along with Orihime after Saiko warned him about leaving a girl to walk alone to school.

Jotaro drew a lot of attention. The women were even more obnoxious than usual. Apparently there was an appeal that Jotaro's delinquent look had paired with the cat plushie.

Jotaro also found that Tatsuki and Orihime had forgotten about the previous day. But they both remembered Jotaro defending the women in the class from a wild deranged pervert. They just couldn't remember who that was.

Tatsuki thanked Jotaro and asked about the cat plushie. Jotaro decided to just say he found it. Tatsuki was kinda surprised to receive that answer. He normally would have just ignored such a question.

They get to class and go their separate ways. Well, Jotaro goes to sit alone in the corner while Orihime and Tatsuki go and join some other girls.

Jotaro isn't wearing his hat today. He had given it to Rukia and hadn't gotten a replacement yet. He was kinda enjoying having his hair be free for a bit. But would get another one eventually. He did prefer to have a hat, but switching things up every now and then kept things interesting.

Jotaro had set the plushie on his desk and against the wall so that Kai could see the class.

A girl was holding a sketchbook in her arms and went up to Orihime and Tatsuki. She asked if they had the art elective and if they finished the assignment.

Jotaro thought the girl was stupid. Them being first years they had various elective classes they all had to take. That being P.E., art, and 2 others.

This girl asked if she could see Tatsuki's and Orihime's assignments. The assignment was called 'The Future Me'. She wanted to see how good their drawings were to know if hers was ok.

Tatsuki drew a picture of her winning the belt in a ring. It was clear what she saw herself doing in the future.

Orihime's drawing was.....'unique' to say the least. Jotaro was caught off guard that Orihime had drawn herself as a robot. And only her face had resembled herself. She was breathing fire and going over vehicles with her treads. Jotaro then remembered that this was part of an episode.

He didn't like the filler later on. But the early fillers were at least unique and interesting. And they didn't take full episodes.

"What did you draw Jotaro?" The girl had noticed him looking in their direction. She was alright in his eyes. She just wanted to be friends, or at least that was his take on her actions.

Jotaro grabbed his sketchbook from his bag and flipped it open and showed it to them.

"It's...blank" The girl was confused.

She wasn't the only one. Jotaro may look and act like a delinquent, but he hadn't purposely missed an assignment before.

"Do you not know what you want to be in the future?" Orihime asked.

"You've got to have some idea at least... just look at Orihime's drawing" Tatsuki followed Orihime up.

"Hey! I think my drawing is great!" Orihime turned her drawing towards herself and looked at it.

"I'm not saying it's bad 'Hime. I'm just saying….. it's on the unique side of this assignment" Tatsuki scrambled to find the right words.

After their little back and forward they looked at Jotaro. And they weren't the only ones. A majority of the students in the class had also been looking.

Jotaro was looking seriously at the blank paper.

"Well, you don't have to decide what you want to be in the future! You can change your mind later on! What interests you the most now?!" Orihime and Tatsuki walk over to him.

Jotaro seriously thinks. He hadn't considered living another average life. He was focused on the supernatural side of things. He had powers and had become strong. Did he want to become a captain? Did he want to....

He though of something.

"I….want to…..explore" Jotaro had come to a realization.

He could do many things. What's stopping him from joining the Gotei 13 and making his own squad. Or repurpose is a better term. Or he could just do it on his own. He didn't like taking orders and sitting around. At least this way he could do something exciting.

He imagines himself exploring Hueco Mundo. Or even the SoulSociety. Who knows what he could do.

But that also lost interest pretty quickly. It would get boring very fast. Maybe settling down at the Gotei 13 wouldn't be so bad. They had enough people to keep it interesting at least. And some of, if not most, of the later captains would make good friends. And there was another thing. Family….

"Actually….I think settling down sounds better" Jotaro doesn't want to end up like his father anyway. Always on tour or whatever he is doing.

"Like, starting a family?" Tatsuki asked with a slight blush. She hadn't expected an answer like that from him at all. Now that she thought about it, he did seem like a family man.

"In a way" Jotaro sets his sketchbook down. He will just B.S. his way through the teacher. 'I left it blank because my future cannot be drawn' or something. He will probably just glare at the teacher. That tends to get the job done better than words.

"So!" Orihime went in front of his desk and put her hands on his desk and leaned forward with sparkles in her eyes. "If you want a family, who would you marry?! Who grabbed the attention of 'The Jotaro Joseph Kujo'?! Cmon! Tell me! Tell me!" For some reason Orihime was very interested in this. Jotaro didn't know why.

Orihime was interested because she saw how serious he was. She knew that the 'explore' thingy was just a whim. But the settling down was serious. She hadn't seen Jotaro show any interest in a girl besides 4 girls. Herself, but more as a younger sister. Tatsuki, as a weird friend relationship. She didn't really know, but she remembered him protecting Tatsuki in a cool way the previous day. But the details were hazy. Then there was the new transfer student. Jotaro had actually talked with her the most. She though this was most likely. And the last one was that black cat he brings to school. But she wasn't necessarily sure if it was a girl or not. It was adorable so until proven or told otherwise she would consider it a girl.

She hoped Jotaro wouldn't become the crazy old cat man. But when she pictured an older Jotaro having over 15 cats she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"You think you're so funny? Ms. Future Robot?" Jotaro didn't know why but something had ticked him off when she started day dreaming.

"Sorry, sorry! But seriously! Who?" Everyone in the class was now paying attention. Even Uryu who was busy sewing paid a little attention.

Tatsuki would normally tell Orihime to not ask such a personal question but something had stopped her. Something inside her wanted to hear his answer.

"I….." Jotaro paused. The entire class moved to the edge of their seats or leaned forward on the balls of their feet.

"...haven't thought about romance"

The entire class falls to the ground. A few caught themselves. Like Uryu who managed to catch himself on his desk.

"I just know that I don't want to leave my mom behind anytime soon. But starting a family later….. does sound like a good future" Jotaro was looking out the window and leaning back in his chair. A small smile appeared on his face. And it was a genuine one.

Orihime was a little disappointed that she didn't get to hear anything drama related. But was happy to see Jotaro actually smiling. It was a very rare sight. And this is the most genuine she's ever seen him have. Saiko couldn't even tickle Jotaro to get him to laugh, not even smile a little.

Tatsuki saw Jotaro in the morning sun light. He seemed to look very different than she remembered. He was definitely changing from his past. And he had definitely grown up since she first met him. She had noticed his looks. But now she actually saw him. He was ho-

Tatsuki shook her head. What had she just been thinking. She had known Jotaro since childhood. And they had just became 'friends' again recently. But could she even call their relationship a 'friendship'? They hadn't really talked at all. And not without Orihime there. Hmmmm. Maybe she should change that.

"Hey guys!" Ichigo came in with the perverts and greeted the others. He had this smile on his face that he would normally never have.

"I-Ichigo?" Orihime could tell something wasn't right with him.

Tatsuki tells her that tomorrow is the anniversary of his moms death.

This had made the smile on Jotaro's face to instantly disappear. He looked forward to seeing her one last time. He couldn't imagine how Ichigo felt if he himself felt like an elephant was on his chest.

Tatsuki explains that he only makes that face when he's completely tense. Orihime is saddened at this news. She had known him for some time. But hadn't noticed. Granted, they weren't all that close. But still. She realized there is more to learn about Ichigo, at least that gave her a goal. Get to know Ichigo Kurosaki better!

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