Chapter Seven

We Can Work It Out

After hearing their tale, Tony tried reason out how anyone could have found out about him having a kid when he hadn't known himself, especially from a relationship in a foreign country over sixteen years ago. "So you know nothing about them, other than they keep an eye on the shrine you live at?"

JARVIS supplied the translations now, when their English wasn't up to the task of explaining. Souta was amazed to meet a real A.I., and turned fanboy when he connected Tony and Iron Man. Tony was impressed with the boy's intelligent questions.

Kagome was more reserved, but listened to everyone intently.

Aiko was just relieved he'd believed her. It must have been the work of the gods, because there was no other way she'd have been able to reach him... An experienced secretary would have never passed her through to Pepper's personal assistant, but she'd gotten a new intern that was watching the desk for a moment. Even getting through to Pepper wouldn't have worked, had she dismissed her instead of listening...

She nodded in answer to his question, unhappy she couldn't tell him the full truth behind her interruption of his life. But telling the man his daughter time-traveled... how could he believe it, even if he was Iron Man?

"Actually," Kagome jumped in, wanting to impress on him the danger, even if she and Mama couldn't tell him the whole truth. "They've been following me everywhere; school, shopping, with my friends. I even saw one watching me with binoculars during PE."

"That had to have been spooky. Well, I've got security super tight. And who's going to mess with Iron Man's daughter? That's right, they'd be stupid to."

"Speaking of, I have no doubt Kagome is Tony's daughter, but we've got to satisfy the legal team." Pepper said, handing a long plastic tube holding a swab to the girl. "We have Tony's DNA, so if you'll rub this inside your cheek, we'll get the ball rolling."

Kagome did, though she idly wondered if hers would be normal or if being a miko would show in genetic markers. "Here, Pepper-san," she said as she capped the swab and handed it back. She quickly covered a yawn, exhausted from their escape and the flight.

Pepper smiled at her sympathetically. "Jet lag. Unfortunately the best cure is to stay awake till closer to bedtime."

She nodded, thinking of something that would wake her up. "Excuse me, Tony-san..." she winced, as he did the same. "Sorry... otou-san... but do you have somewhere I can move around in and not hurt anything? Exercise will wake me up."

"Sure, let me take you to the gym and get you signed up. They have weights, classrooms, a swimming pool, and all the fancy spa stuff."

She bit her lip, "All I need is a place to work on my kata..."

He grinned. "Then they'll give you your own room to practice in. Welcome to the world of the stupidly, insanely rich, Kagome."

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Blood tests are not necessary for DNA, as I've seen in so many a fic. Squamous cells are scraped from the inner cheek with a swab.

Otou-san is the most formal address for Father in Kagome's social class, and will be her name for him 'till they begin to warm to each other. Formal speech requires proper titles, no matter your personal regard for someone.

I just got over a major hump in the story, so I'm feeling confident enough to increase the posting schedule. From here on, it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday.