3 years post snap.
Kagome heard the doorknob to the office she'd sequestered in squeak as it turned, pulling her partway out of her meditative trance. With little effort she read the aura on the other side of the door as belonging to Steve, so she knew she was in no danger.
He crept slowly inside and tried to slink along the wall to a storage bin, nerves pulsing around him as he did his best to remain small and quiet and not break her concentration.
'Too late.' She thought and fought off a little smirk as an idea took root. She knew how unsettling he found her when she meditated so deeply, and she didn't blame him, sifting through her energies tended to mess with the atmosphere of whatever room she was in. She usually went off on her own to spare everyone else, but as he'd decided to venture into her temporary territory, she would have a little fun.
As Steve quietly rummaged through the storage bin, Kagome released a few more tendrils of power, the Jewel's power specifically, as it was much more inherently dark than her reiki or divinity. She directed the wisps to brush against Steve's aura, and she noted with amusement that it bristled and he kicked up the pace of his searching.
"Captain."
At the sound of her voice, beginning to sound choral with the high levels of the jewel she was releasing, Steve's spine shot ramrod straight and he turned to face her with as blank a face as he could manage.
She cracked her eyes open, which she knew were glowing, and he flinched.
Grinning victoriously, Kagome tamped down her power display and hopped off the table she'd been using as a perch.
"Hey Cap. Looking for something?"
"Yeah," he rubbed at the back of his neck, not looking her in the eye which was unusual for the impeccably mannered avenger. Kagome grinned again at how hilariously uncomfortable he could still be around her from time to time. "Sorry, I didn't meant to interrupt you. I tried to be quiet."
"I heard you when you touched the doorknob. I may be in deep concentration, but I'm hyper aware of all of my surroundings. Now, what are you looking for?"
"That bag of spare sensors we're supposed to bring to Nebula. Nat said it was in one of the storage bins but I can't find it."
"Interesting that SHE didn't come get it if she knew where it was." Kagome replied, rifling through one of the unsearched bins and pulling out the bag of sensors.
"Come on Cap, lets go before we have to search all the broom closets for them and they make us late!"
—————-
With a little blonde boy skipping behind her, Kagome made her way down to the docks to greet Valkyrie and get up to date on the things that had happened while she'd been away the last two weeks.
"Hey Kagome, hey little guy!" Valkyrie greeting, high fiveing Dala's little boy who was once again start struck in the presence of the warrior woman.
"Hey Val. How have things been?"
"Quiet this time, thankfully. I think the usual troublemakers are trying to avoid your wrath." Kagome snickered at the memory of the last time she'd been here, when a trio of formerly very rich and influential Asgardians had cornered her to once again complain that their designated housing and food rations were unacceptable and people from their family should receive much more, and Kagome had simply had enough of their constant whining and never listening what she calmly explained that things had changed and they all had to work together, so she'd zapped them real good and walked away deeply satisfied at their smoking hair sticking out at all ends.
"Good. If I had to listen to those harpies just one more time I'd be tempted to turn them to dust." She paled then at her phrasing and regretted it immediately when all within hearing distance flinched and still too recent memories.
"Sorry, that was... bad wording on my part. Anyway, how is Thor REALLY doing? He manages to clean up nicely when I'm here, but I can tell he's not actually coping well. He's gained quite a bit of weigh too, is he eating alright?"
Valkyrie sighed and rubbed at her forehead.
"I've given up trying to get him to come out of that hovel he lives in, he never comes to the village cookouts. We only see him when you're here."
Kagome worried her lip between her teeth, nodded in thanks to Valkyrie, and scooped up her little charge for the day.
"Alright little guy, what say we go find Uncle King Thor some decent food, hm?"
There was a pretty decent store nearby, and she had a Stark Industries credit card burning a hole straight through her pocket.
————
'Where is he... where is he... Loki, why can't I find you?'
So far all attempts to call Loki back from death using the power she inherited from the Jewel had been unsuccessful. No matter how far she reached or how hard she pushed, she couldn't Kagome couldn't find his soul. If she could, she could yank it back into the world of the living where it belonged.
'Where are you, where are you, whe-'
"Oi, you gunna sit out here all night? You're gonna starve to death!'
Yanked violently out of her trance by Inuyasha brash voice, Kagome clutches at her head to calm her dizzy spell and glared at the hanyo as he sat next to her in the grass under the Goshinboku. He offered her a bowl of some noodles left over from dinner which she took gratefully, noticing for the first time how late the hour had grown.
"Thanks. I didn't realize how long I'd been meditating for."
Inuyasha eyed her for a moment as she ate quietly, then looked back up at the starry night sky peeking through the tree branches.
"Yeah you were pretty out of it. Anything in particular you're meditating over? You spend hours out here every day, even when the weather's bad. We're all kind of worried."
She paused for a moment, grappled with how much she should share of her controversial plans, and then decided that if there was anyone she could tell, it would be him.
"I... I'm working on something. Something that most people won't like."
"Oh? Care to share?"
She met his gaze, amber glowing inhuman in the night, and formed her resolve. There was no need to be scared or shamed.
"I'm going to bring him back."
Inuyasha blinked and stared unseeing at her face. He blinked again and then shook himself free of his shock.
"Come again?"
"I'm bring him back. Loki, I'm going to bring him back. I've been trying to find his soul, and I'm testing and stretching the Jewel's power to-"
"Woah woah woah, stop wench. The JEWEL? You're going to use the jewel for this? Don't you think that's unwise?"
"Why would it be unwise?" Kagome asked, head tilted with an expression of obvious confusion that Inuyasha did not understand.
"How can you even ask that? It's THE SHIKON JEWEL."
"I was going to use it to bring Kikyo back for YOU at one point, you didn't think it was so unwise then."
Inuyasha tried not to flinch, fairly certain she wasn't throwing the past in his face on purpose.
"That's because I was unwise. We were so young Kagome, we had no idea what we could have been getting ourselves into. We just have no idea what the Jewel is capable of, how it would twist a wish like that."
Kagome put down her half eaten noodles and crossed her arms with a huff.
"Excuse me, but I think I'm more than qualified to say what the jewel is capable of, Inuyasha. And it won't twist my wish because I won't be making any wishes."
"Listen wench I know you've been guarding the thing for the last 500 years, but that doesn't mean-"
"GUARDING?!" Kagome interrupted, anger and indignation trumping her confusion, "I haven't been GUARDING the jewel Inuyasha, I AM the Jewel. This power is MINE and it does what I say."
"Yeah, but-"
"No. I didn't bring this up tonight to ask for your advice. I've been sitting on it for 3 years and just needed to say it out loud."
She stood and began walking back toward the house.
"The decision is made no matter how anyone else feels about it."
She crossed the yard and disappeared into the house, leaving behind a very concerned Inuyasha to stew in his frustration.
———————-
4 years post snap
"Your dog friend has not been coming with you."
Kagome let Thor's probing statement hang in the air as she glanced around his little house, taking in the evidence that it had been quickly and haphazardly cleaned just before her arrival and trying to determine how much to tell him. She discreetly ran her finger along the surface of the farthest corner of the table she was standing in front of and nearly gasped at the thick layer of dust coating it, totally at odds with the smooth, shiny surface of the front of the table. She glanced over at him and noted that his clothes seemed even tighter and smaller than the last time she'd been here, and there was a small, stain on the hem of his shirt he'd attempted to hide with a cardigan. His aura was still totally fractured and disjointed, pulsing with the hurt and exhaustion he was having an increasingly difficult time hiding from her.
'I can't tell him. I can't get his hopes up. If I fail in bringing Loki back, it would crush him all over.'
"He doesn't always come."
"No, but now he never comes."
"Aw, do you miss him? I didn't know you two had gotten so close!"
Thor stared back at her sardonically, but cracked a true, rare grin when she erupted into peals of giggles that reminded him of simpler, happier times back home.
"We just aren't getting along all the time right now. Nothing for you to worry about, I've always been the cat to his dog. Me and Inuyasha not getting along is old hat. He'll come around and see that I'm always right and we'll be friends again no problem."
"If you say so."
"I do. Now, go put on something nicer than that, Dala has invited us to dinner tonight and you have subjects to greet along the way! They're worried about you, you know!"
Thor grumbled under his breath but allowed her to shuffle him off into his room to change. It was the same every time she visited, and as much as he wanted to just hide away behind his video games or in his bed, he was also grateful to her for always bringing to sun back when she came.
—————————
"I've noticed you and Inuyasha have been a little tense. Everything alright dear?"
"Oh mama, not you too. I've already got the third degree from Thor, Nat, AND Steve, I REALLY don't want it from you too."
Her mother chuckled and poured two cups of tea, then gestures for Kagome to join her at the table.
"Alright daughter, I just worry about you, and him, and everyone I suppose."
Kagome sat across from her mother at the table and took a grateful sip of the warm tea.
"I know, you're a huge worry wart. But everything is fine, Inuyasha and I always argue."
"You did when you were children hunting for that dangerous character in the past, but you're both much more grown and mature. What are you both arguing so long about?"
Kagome sighed and watched the steam rise out of her cup in wisps and curls until it disappeared, chewing her lip in contemplation and trying to breath steady to stave off the beginnings of a headache.
"Just the usual stuff mama. He doesn't like the choices I make, thinks I'm making a big, dumb mistake, thinks I'm going to get myself into trouble, yadda yadda. But everything is fine, I ASSURE you. We aren't even arguing about it all that much! Only when he brings it up!"
Her mother eyed her, concerned and unsure, but she reached across the table to pat her hand in a motherly way that made Kagome smile.
"If you say so dear, I trust you."
—————————
Back to the compound there little ship zoomed, and Kagome surreptitiously watched Inuyasha texting and grinning like a fool at whatever he was reading.
Things between them had warmed considerable since he'd stopped trying to convince her that bringing Loki back was a bad idea.
'People just aren't meant to come back from the dead. It's not smart to play with fate that way.'
Kagome rolled her eyes. Since when had fate ever been on her side?
But she pushed those ugly memories of explosive arguments aside in favor of teasing her oldest friend.
"What's Natasha have to say today?"
"Nothing, she's just saying they're ready for- how did you know I was texting Natasha?"
"Oh please, you're ALWAYS texting Natasha. And sneaking off to call her. Or cuddle in some unused office. None of us are stupid."
She burst out laughing at his spluttering and reddening cheeks.
"There's nothing to be ashamed of Dog-Boy, embrace it."
"Yeah yeah wench, whatever." He griped, turning away to hide his phone screen, but Kagome grinned in genuine happiness when his face softened again at whatever secret words his new flame had sent him.
'He deserves it, they both do. I'm glad there's still some love to be found in this new reality.'
She clasped her locket, her beloved gift from Loki, and her heart wilted just a little.
'And I'll have my love back. If it's the last thing I do.'