Summary: The jewel split and gave life to two forms. The beast formed from his desires delivered utter destruction. The creature formed from her pleas granted life. The eternal strife begins anew, with her in the center of it all.

Pairing: Undecided

Disclaimer: I do not own either series. Each belongs to their rightful owners.

Note:

Another papa!Clint story.
Flashbacks written in bulk Italics.

Prologue

Lighting ran rampant through the skies, lighting up everything it touched with blinding bursts. Out of fear for an impending rainstorm, Kun-Loon urged her son to head back inside as she continued to sweep the shrine grounds.

"Head inside, kiddo," Clint said as he walked by his youngest child, catching the soccer ball with one hand and tossing it back at him as he walked by him. In his other hand, he easily carried a hefty box that'd been put to the side weeks ago to put away.

"Kagome's still not back yet," Souta replied, worried eyes roaming to the well house. There were still no signs of the older girl returning back through the portal. "She said she'd be back in a week, two max."

Those had been her words, but it'd already been double that. She was never this far off, not even when Inuyasha complained about it.

It was evident that he was worried about her. Kun-Loon stilled her broom and glanced at him, a smile that hid her own worries in place. "I'm sure she's fine," she said. "We don't know how rapidly things change over there. She might be handling something important, and lost track of time."

It seemed likely, after all. She'd finished high school, and she'd gone back to focusing on the quest for the jewel shards as her prime task. Was she worried? Of course, but she also knew it was important to keep a positive outlook so that worry wouldn't' eat away at her until the day her daughter finally showed back up.

"After all," Kun-Loon continued, turning her focus to the Goshinboku tree with a soft smile still on her face. "Kagome is plenty strong," she said. "She might be a bit offended if we all keep worrying about her."

Souta pouted, but he finally relented at her words. With a nod, he gathered up his things and returned inside. As he did, droplets of water began to cascade from the cloudy sky, and Kun-Loon let out a surprised gasp as it began to pick up.

"You should head in yourself," Clint called back at her, glancing at her and spotting her trapped below the Goshinboku tree to hide from the sudden downpour.

Kun-Loon sighed and let her head droop. "I still had so much more to do outside, today, too," she mumbled. "I thought it wasn't supposed to rain for another hour."

"That was an hour ago," Clint responded, and she looked taken aback by that.

"Really?" Kun-Loon gasped. "I've been out here for an hour already?"

He chuckled at her evident surprise. A large boom of thunder rumbled and Kun-Loon turned to begin on her way inside.

Clint gripped the door of the well house and yanked it open just enough for him to fit through, only to stop dead in his tracks when a sliver of light landed on a familiar figure lying slumped against the wooden well. He cursed, the sound loud and audible even over the pounding raindrops, and Kun-Loon heard it on her way in. She came to stop before she turned and ran over to him.

"What is it?" she asked, only to fall short when her eyes landed on the same thing he'd seen. "Kagome!"

She hovered in the doorway as he went over to her. After a quick check over, it was clear she was alive, but unconscious. Kun-Loon carefully came to join him, kneeling down beside her daughter and resting a hand on her forehead.

She was covered in cuts and bruises, blood coating her clothing.

"She couldn't have been in here for long," Kun-Loon said. She'd been in the well house many times over the past hour, putting things away. She'd gotten the broom from inside there not even ten minutes ago. Clint nodded in agreement, having been in and out of the well house just as frequently as she had been.

He carefully picked her up, trying to be mindful of any and all her injuries, and Kun-Loon rushed ahead of him to retrieve the first-aid kit.

When she first woke up, she wasn't sure where she was. Kagome sat up in her bed slowly, raising a hand to her head as she looked around at her surroundings. She steadily realized she was in her room, and a low sigh fell from her lips. She frowned and tried to pull her legs up, but a harsh pain kept her from moving much at all.

"What… happened to me?" she asked herself, her gentle voice being the only sound that formed in her room. She lowered her hand from her head, instinctively looking for the jewel that was supposed to be around her neck. All her hand grasped at was the fabric of her shirt, and dread filled her all over again.

That's right…

The Shikon no Tama had become… them.

Tears pricked in her eyes before she could stop them, her shoulders shuddering as fear gripped her.

It'd turned into two creatures. One of pure darkness that delivered nothing but destruction wherever it went, and the other made of pure light that delivered life and undid what its counterpart wrecked.

She never knew the jewel had that sort of capability until it happened. Honestly, she wasn't sure anyone really knew until it happened, and it was too late to stop.

It'd taken so much of her energy, but she'd managed to subdue them. They were sealed away in their cocoons, the jewel's essence keeping them under an eternal slumber. But… still…

Kagome closed her eyes, and she was able to see them all over again. Both creatures, one so dark it was made of pure shadows itself, and one made of absolute purity. She didn't want to remember them with such clarity.

She pushed herself to get up, her body crying out for her to stop as she got up out of bed. She stumbled carefully over to the door, using whatever she could to stabilize her balance as she went about it.

Once out in the hall, she resumed her walk. She carefully moved as she went, finding the safest path she could as she leaned on the wall as if it was a sort of lifeline for her. She made it to the stairs, and she continued with a lot more caution. She gripped the railing and moved slowly. After what felt like hours, she made it to the bottom, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kagome!"

Her mother's startled voice caught her attention, and she whirled around to face her. It was a bad mistake on her part, because the word around her spun not even a second later, and she ended up having to sit down on the bottom step in order to keep from falling directly onto her face.

"You're not supposed to be up and moving around," Kun-Loon chided softly, drying her damp hands on her apron as she walked over to the younger her. She knelt before her, gently combing her fingers through her tangled hair. "Look at you," she said, her voice quivering. "You still too hurt to be up and moving around like this."

"I'm fine," Kagome tried to assure her, but she knew it was all a moot point. She knew her mother was right, but she couldn't handle staying put in the silence any longer. "I- I just…" Kagome glanced down and tightened her hands at her side. "I had to do something," she finally said.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kun-Loon asked, and she saw how Kagome tensed up at the simple question. She could tell something was bothering her from a mile away, and something was clearly eating away at her daughter. With a weak sigh, Kagome nodded and tried to stand back up. Kun-Loon helped her, and the pair walked into the kitchen and settled down at the table.

"The jewel's gone." Kagome said after a moment, and Kun-Loon tilted her head to the side.

"What do you mean it's gone?" she asked. "It's supposed to be with you, isn't it?"

Kagome nodded slowly. "I-It is," she said. "I don't know how to explain it," she said after a moment. "It was whole for a few minutes, but… there was a wish made on it after it was whole again," she said. "Naraku made a wish on it, and it granted it."

"What do you mean, Kagome?"

"We were trapped inside it for I don't know how long," Kagome said. "Naraku and I… we took the place of the battle waging inside the jewel. I don't know how long it was like that, or what happened to him, honestly." She tightened her hands into the material of her skirt. "All I remember after is the jewel breaking into two halves, and I returned to the feudal era. When I woke up there, the jewel wasn't there anymore, and these two… things had taken its place."

Kun-Loon was confused, but she remained silent, letting her daughter continue.

"One was made of shadows and it destroyed everything it touched. The grass under it was dead, and it left a trail as it went. The trees died, everything it passed by died," she said softly. "The other one was the opposite. It radiated a pure energy that is matched by nothing else I've ever felt. It undid what its counterpart did. Where that one left death, this one brought life wherever it went. It revived the grass it walked over, and it restored the trees it passed." She paused and glanced back at her mother. "I- I managed to seal them away somehow, but I don't remember how I got back here," she admitted. "The auras from both of them were so powerful, and it was too much for me. I ended up passing out, and when I woke up, I was back in my room- like this," she said, motioning to her covered injuries.

"You were laying against the well when we found you," Kun-Loon said. "You weren't there for long, at least."

Kagome nodded, knowing that was as good of an answer she was going to be able to get from her family from this side of the well.

"We're still in the process of getting everything ready to move," Kun-Loon said as she stood up from the table. "I want you to take it easy for a few more days before you try to get up and move around," she said resolutely. "I'm serious," she said as she turned and paused. "Let your injuries heal up."

Kagome sighed and nodded, knowing she could fight against her mother on the topic. "Okay," she said finally. "I'll stay put until they're better."

"Good!" Kun-Loon sounded chipper as she turned and left, most likely going to continue packing.

Kagome rested her chin in her palm and sighed. She never thought that moving away from the shrine would finally start to sound so appealing. The idea of leaving the well behind, and all the memories it brought, was definitely sounding even better now.

"The farther away from all that, the better," she muttered under her breath. She'd probably be having nightmares about them in the weeks to come, and she was not looking forward to it.

She couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that flowed through her, however. She pinned it on the fact that she could no longer sense the Shikon no Tama, but she knew it was out of reach.

Everything would be fine.

C.R: I've had this idea for a while, and I finally had to post it. I guess in the MCU timeline, it's close to AOU? At least, that's when Kagome will meet the others.

Pairing is up for debate, but I'll go ahead and say that it's going to be an x-over pair.

More info on those creatures will come up soon, too!

Anyway, that's it for now! Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed. Hopefully I caught all the errors before posting, but if not apologies.

Please remember to Review&Favorite&Follow, thank you!

Bye for now~