This just popped into my head as I was watching the Thor movie - near the end, Loki states 'I only ever wanted to be your equal', which just reminded me of how Kagome is always being compared to Kikyou. So there is some similarity there, which of course means that I now have to write a fic on it which involves, of course, Loki. Enjoy!


Strength In Darkness

She could feel the darkness in her soul, but couldn't bring herself to care much as she gathered a sense of worth that did not rely on Inuyasha's opinion. A first it was just a speck, just a tiny stain, but it was more than enough the effect the way she thought and the way she understood her reiki. While reiki did have to have some purity of soul, she also noted that the miko of this time weren't pure. They were taught to hate youkai and kill them on sight whenever they threatened humans, whether the youkai were in the wrong or not - where was the purity? Which lead to her observation: Reiki does not, in fact, require purity, but instead a perfect balance between pure and impure.

Why did she have the stain in the first place? One word.

Inuyasha.

She got fed up with him comparing her to her predecessor, Kikyou. Resentment quickly grew and stuck to her heart, squashing any love that she may have had for the hanyou. The pitying looks that her companions gave her weren't helping whenever Inuyasha wondered off to see her. She hated it. She hated the way that her companions thought her weaker than them.

And so the black mark on her soul grew.

Naraku noticed, smirking in an amused fashion when he saw her lack of enthusiasm in defending her friends verbally, even as she got increasingly vicious in her physical fighting. He never said anything to her, preferring to taunt her friends. So Kagome and Naraku developed a routine, of sorts. She would no longer directly attack him - verbally or physically - and he, in turn, would no longer taunt her. He knew that she would have no mercy for him then, if he commented on her 'weaknesses', and out of all of them, the one he was most afraid of was Kagome.

When she and Inuyasha fought, no longer did she shout at him, but she stayed silent and absolutely calm. After another month of constant pity-looks and comparisons to Kikyou, and she would deliver a cool, emotionally aggressive comment and then walk back to her sleeping bag, leaving the rest of her group looking at her shocked. They didn't understand. A small bark of laughter made it's way out of her throat. Fools.

Shippou, however, had already noticed the darkness in her and almost relished in it. He was youkai, and nothing pleased him more than his adoptive mother not only getting stronger, but also getting just that much darker. He was very pleased and enjoyed spending as much time with her as possible. Kagome was content to allow the contact.

It was after Naraku was defeated, something that she had helped the most in, as well as Sesshoumaru, who had also noticed the darkness in the miko, that Inuyasha finally made Kagome snap, forcing her soul into almost total darkness. A mere quarter of her soul was still it's luminescent purity.

One comment, and she gave Inuyasha exactly what he asked for.

"Damn it, wench! If you weren't so useless the jewel would still exist! How could you be so selfish - Kikyou would never do something like that! Why can't you be more like Kikyou?" Inuyasha immediately gulped. He hadn't meant to say that - it was habit now, as he received a verbal lashing every single time he compared the two miko.

"Kikyou." Kagome mused, clothing still torn and bloody from the battle. "Why can't I be more like Kikyou?" She ran a hand through her hair, a thoughtful look on her face. Realisation, though hideously fake, flashed across her face. "Oh! I remember!" A cruel smirk. "It could be that I have not yet tried to kill you. Nor have I threatened you. I haven't sealed you to a tree for fifty years either because I'm too incompetent to sense whose aura is whose." Her eyes took on a sadistic gleam and she summoned a bow and arrow out of pure reiki. Once pink coloured reiki was now a beautiful purple, signifying, she supposed, her tainted soul. "Shall I do so now?" She purred. Inuyasha blanched and he took a step back.

"No, wrench, why the hell would I want that?" He yelled, a panicked look in his eyes. Kagome made the weapons dissipate with an innocent look.

"But you asked why I couldn't be more like Kikyou. I answered." She smiled coldly. "You took my love for you Inuyasha. And now…" Her tainted, purple reiki surrounded her form. "You have turned it into burning resentment. How do you like it, Inuyasha?" She stretched out her arms in a 'ta-da' motion. "Do you like you I burn for you?" She smiled widely. She turned her attention to the still-pitying looks on her human companion's faces. She frowned and turned towards them. "Don't you dare look at me like that." She hissed at them, darkness shining in her eyes. They jumped and looked at each other.

"What have we done, Kagome?" Sango said, still not understanding. Kagome narrowed her eyes.

"I despise it." She spat. "I despise how you look at me with that disgusting pity in your eyes! You were just so used to doing it - you only saw what you wanted to see. I saw how you watched me as my beloved darkness grew, as I responded to Inuyasha and your looks that disgusted my to my very core." Miroku and Sango looked horrified. "Yes," She hissed. "You both helped me in my tainting - no, my strength. You pitied me, yes, but you secretly agreed with the hanyou, didn't you? You all thought I was a weak thing, not strong enough, not worthy enough to stand under Kikyou's great shadow." She grinned mockingly at their frozen, horrified forms. "Not anymore, though. I will not be compared to ever again - no longer will I deal with someone else being lorded over my head again." She stood tall, proud of her own strength. Then she turned her back on all of her so-called 'friends' and called to Shippou.

With a grin, he followed. He knew where they were going. The well, the future and Kagome was never coming back.

Months later and they were in Germany, just blending in as mother and son. They were walking past a big, posh building when hundreds of people flooded out, terrified looks on their faces. They turned to each other, excitement on their faces, before they tried to discover who it was that scared all those people so effectively. Her eyes widened when she was. A seemingly ordinary man, holding a cane with a glowing blue stone that held incredible power, transformed - not much, but enough that she could see it was the same person - in a person with armour, a horned helmet and a spear, still with the glowing blue stone. Her eyes widened even further when she felt the enormity of his aura and such power. She knew exactly what he was. God - not as in the Christian God, but a God.

"Kneel!" A smirk curled her lips, as she and Shippou watched with considerable amusement as there was some scared looking around before they all slowly kneeled. She went a little closer, motioning Shippou to stay back, which he did with a knowing expression. He knew that look. Kagome wanted the God. She was attracted to power and tainted light, and she had found the perfect candidate. Humans weren't very powerful, though there were quite a few tainted ones, but not like this.

Kagome watched as the male took on a softer tone, but grew angry when one older man stood, refusing to bow for him. She saw that power rise and detach to kill the insolent human. Then she observed the new-comer as he blocked the attack with his American flag shield and stood, going into saying something to reference the Second World War that she had no interest in. She noted that the male had no power, merely a shield and a bit of extra strength and regeneration abilities. Nothing special.

Bored with the conversation, she walked gracefully into the middle of the stand off. "Excuse me, gentlemen. What are you doing?" The man looked surprised.

"Please leave, Miss. It's not safe for you to be here." He said politely, a confused look on his face. Did the woman not see the danger?

At the same time, the God said, "Get out of the way, idiotic human." She turned slowly to face him and cocked her head slightly.

"What's your name?" The God blinked, seemingly thrown out of the loop.

"Loki, God of Lies, Chaos and Mischief." Kagome purred. Such a lovely name - and such lovely titles as well. She smiled charmingly and bowed.

"Then it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Loki." She said, smiling sharply. As she was leaving, she turned back to the other man. "And what's your name?"

"Captain America, Miss." Kagome pursed her lips.

"Your real one, if you please. I have no time to dally with cover names." She rolled her eyes. Captain America looked taken aback.

"Steve Rodgers, Miss." She smiled again.

"A pleasure, Captain. What is your aim here?" She asked.

"To take this man to face justice." Kagome was a bit confused.

"For what?"

"For the abduction of two American people, the murder of at least seven people and breaking into this building." Kagome blinked.

"So why does he need justice?" Distantly, she heard Shippou snort loudly. The Captain looked at her incredulously. She shrugged. "What?"

"Ma'am. He has killed and kidnapped people. Is that not a reason to face justice?" Kagome turned back to Loki, to see him standing there, watching her with a calculating look.

She sighed dramatically. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Oh well," She smirked. "Hope you all enjoy the needless violence." Her eyes darkened as she turned away. "I know I will." She muttered. And she left, going to where her son was standing, snickering and walked right by him, leaving him to come to her side hurriedly. Of course, they didn't walk far - just enough to be out of eyeshot. Shippou looked to his adoptive mother.

"What are we going to do, Kagome?" She smirked.

"Wait. They're bound to take him somewhere. And we're going too."


Okay, not sure if this is going to be any more than a one-shot, but hey, let me know what you think, and I'll see if this will go any further! Again, Tumblr account is available for sneak peaks and progress let-knows! (Link is on profile page)

BP