Steve watched Kagome glance around her room with a look he would almost describe as disgust. She didn't look in awe of the large and extravagant room at all. In fact, it almost looked like she hated it.
"Is everything alright?" he asked her.
Kagome looked back at Steve who was standing in the doorway, but not entering the actual room. If she wasn't so peeved with everyone in this tower she would stop to think how gentlemanly that was. Bucky was hovering behind him. She raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
"Is everything alright? Really, that's what you're going to ask me? I've just been kidnapped by my own uncle and now I'm being held against my will by his merry band of heroes. I have something extremely important that is life or death to me and my friends. Every minute I stay here means another I'm postponing my mission with my friend. You're asking me if I'm alright? No, I'm not." Kagome ranted, not in the mood to play nice.
Steve cleared his throat uncomfortably "I…uh… meant the room."
Kagome's mouth opened for form a silent 'o' before she scowled slightly "No, it's way too big. It's filled with gaudy things and it's all unnecessary." Seeing the uncomfortable look on the boy scout's face she let out a sigh "Sorry, it's been a long day and I'm in a bad mood. I'm just used to a lot less. For the past four years, I've been sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag with my friends. This whole room is just way too big for a single person."
"What's the life or death mission you are on?" Bucky finally spoke up.
Kagome looked at him and gave a sad smile "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
They both saw the haunted look in her eyes. It was a look they were very familiar with. A person's eyes only got like that after going through war.
Steve sent her a serious look "Try me. In the past, few years I've dealt with aliens, gods from another world, and murderous intelligent robot. Right now, there isn't a lot I wouldn't believe."
Kagome shook her head "No, even if I told you, there wouldn't be anything you could do to help. There is really no point in telling you." Not unless she made them an enchanted piece of jewelry that connected them to her, like Inuyasha's. Or they were connected to her like Sesshomaru and their blood bond. She didn't really feel like making any enchanted jewelry so, yeah no they wouldn't be able to help.
"Whatever you're doing is dangerous, right? Otherwise Agent Coulson would be adamant that you stay here." Bucky added.
Kagome scoffed "Not like anything there could kill me." She said without thinking.
"Why not?" Steve asked confused.
Kagome opened her mouth to say something; deciding once again to at least try to tell someone, anyone. She had been able to make an open-ended sentence so maybe she could try a bit more. The sharp burning pain that circled around her neck and took her voice away stopped her however. She felt the curse mark around her neck seem to tighten and she stopped trying. The moment she stopped trying the mark loosened and she was able to speak again. She sighed and looked and the ground "I can't tell you."
Bucky's eyes narrowed slightly "Can't or won't?"
Kagome didn't look up as she rubbed her neck slightly, trying in vain to rub the pain away, "Both I guess." She answered. Finally, she looked up at them "Look I'm really tired. Surprisingly a drug induced sleep isn't really resting and today has been hectic. I'd really just like to go to sleep."
Bucky gave a shrug and walked down the hall towards his room. No matter how easy he accepted her request she knew he'd be up most, if not all night keeping an eye on her.
Steve looked her over and nodded "Okay, but wait here a moment please." He said before walking across the hall and into his room. A few moments later he reappeared holding a piece of clothing. He held it out to her, "Here, it's not much, but I thought you'd might like something clean to sleep in. your outfit looks pretty dirty."
Kagome looked down at her Hakama and realized for the first time how dirty it was. She hadn't had time to clean it on the way back to the well and they had encountered a few battles. Kagome gave a nod and took the shirt from him "Thanks." She said before shutting the door in his face.
Kagome unfolded the shirt and saw it was a simple, black, long-sleeved shirt. However; because of how much larger Steve was compared to her it would be more like a dress than a shirt.
She made her way into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. A strand of white hair fell into her face and she brushed it back with the others. Her strip of silver hair was the marking of her blood bond with Sesshomaru. If a person looked closely enough they could see her blue eyes having speckles of gold in them. When the ritual with Sesshomaru was completed most of her hair would turn white, leaving only a black strip of hair in her bangs. Opposite of what her hair was now. Her eyes would also turn gold leaving only flecks of blue.
Kagome's eyes drifted off her face and to her neck where a deep red scarf was wrapped around. Just like Inuyasha's outfit, her scarf was made out of the hide of the fire rat. Sesshomaru had gotten it made for her after about twenty of her own scarfs had gotten destroyed. At least half of those ones had been burnt to a crisp. The sole reason she wore the scarf was to hide Naraku's curse mark it was large, black, and ugly. The body of the spider was on the back of her neck and its legs wrapped around her neck. She unwrapped the scarf and looked at her curse mark. The skin around it was red and slightly rashy from it being activated the few minutes ago. This curse mark was the bane of her existence right now. Naraku had taken her once to put it on her, and had tortured her for days before Inuyasha and her friends found her. The mark stopped her from talking to anyone about her immortality to anyone who doesn't already know about it. There are a few other things that activate it, but she can't figure out the exact requirements for those. Since it is connected to Naraku himself he can also activate it whenever he feels like it, which is never a fun experience. Kagome let out a sigh and splashed some water on her neck, hoping to relieve some of the irritation a bit. Not that is ever helped much.
Moving her attention off the curse mark her eyes hit the chain around her neck, hanging from that chain was a small jar filled with shards of the Shikon jewel. It was a bit under half of the jewel. A larger chunk and a bunch of shards lay within the jar, seemingly innocent pieces of rock. She took it off and laid it down on top of her scarf.
She started getting out of her Hakama. It was a style almost identical to Sesshomaru's. The only differences were the patterns and the color of the patterns. Like Sesshomaru's though it was mainly white. She ran it under cold water and scrubbed at the stains a bit. She smiled as the dirt washed right out, this type of material didn't stay dirty at all. By morning it would be dry and perfectly clean. She hung up the clothes so they could dry nicely before stepping into the shower. She would have preferred a bath, but a shower would have to do. Once she was clean and dried off she put on the shirt Steve had given her to use. Like she had suspected it fell almost to her knees. She put the necklace with the jewel shards back on and then carefully wrapped the scarf back on to completely hide the spider's curse mark. She wouldn't put it past Tony to put cameras in the bedrooms and she didn't' want to try and explain the mark that looked like something between a tattoo and a horrible scar. Well more like she wouldn't be able to even if she wanted, the mark itself would stop her.
She left her Hakama hanging in the bathroom and made her way to the bed. A small frown made its way onto her face as she laid down on the bed. It was way too soft. Then again, she was used to the ground. As she laid in the bed she thought of anything she could do to get back to Japan.
Tony hadn't been lying when he said he didn't know anyone named Sesshomaru. What he did lie about was not knowing the name Taisho. So, all she had to do was somehow find a contact number to Sessh's company. Even if Sota found Inuyasha and he gives the message to Sesshomaru there was no certainty that Sessh would be able to come find her. While she had told them, and kept them updated on what year it was the exact date was never deemed necessary. They knew the year and occasionally the month, but the exact date would be entirely guess work for them. To be honest she couldn't remember the last time she updated them on the date. She had been in the feudal for a little more than four months this last time. Thinking back, she didn't think she had updated them when she had first gotten back. So just sitting around waiting for Sessh was a terrible idea. She could be here for months that way. She did not have that time to spare.
One idea she could do was send a huge wave of her Ki out in every direction which would lead back to the tower. That however would be a bad idea as it would leave her spiritually drained and every demon in New York would sense her and probably come running. Right now, a good portion of her Ki was being continuously used to keep a barrier around the jar of jewel shards so nobody would be able to sense them. Miroku and Kaede had helped her find a type of sutra that would feed off her Ki to maintain the barrier so she didn't have to constantly think about keeping a decent barrier. If she went through with the wave of Ki plan then the barrier would be down around the jar until her Ki got recharged enough, which would take a few hours. So, if the demons didn't come become they sensed her Ki, they would come for the jewel shards. That would not be an easy thing to explain to the Avengers.
Another path she could take was finding Sesshomaru herself. There were two problems with that however. If she tried to find him online she was pretty sure Jarvis would be stopping her at every turn. If she tried to go out and find his building she wouldn't be alone and it would be suspicious to the Avengers.
She could always try running away during the night. If she found out how low in the tower she could go without having Jarvis alerting anyone. Then maybe she could smash a window and jump. It's not like the fall would kill her. Sure, it would hurt like hell, she's been blasted off of Kirara's back a couple times while she's been high up. It's definitely not fun, and it takes a few days of painful accelerated healing for her bones to heal. Plus, she would have to get past Bucky and Steve who she would assume are light sleepers. Otherwise why would she get put on their floor? Though the moment she broke a window Jarvis would immediately alert anyone. So that probably wouldn't work either.
Maybe, just maybe, she could sneak away when she went shopping tomorrow. If it was just Steve going with her there was a good chance that she could get away. While Steve was fast from the super serum, she was just as fast from her bond with Sesshomaru. If only she had been able to finish the adoption ritual with Sesshomaru. It couldn't be finished however until Naraku's curse mark was off of her. Not that they had any time to finish the ritual anyway, they were always way too busy searching for the last few jewel shards. Naraku and her had about even amounts of the jewel. Naraku having a bit more thanks to Kikyo. It was extremely important their group found the last few as every shard Naraku gets makes him that much stronger.
A yawn escaped her as she rolled onto her side. She could start planning more in the morning. Depending on how the shopping trip turns out tomorrow she would try to slip away from her escort(s). That was plan one and by far the easiest and least painful.
