Summary: At his defeat, Naraku used the jewel to put a curse on Kagome that left her immortal. With the well sealed, she had no choice but to live through the years until she reached her rightful time once more. A chance situation leads Kagome to meet Bucky, and she falls head over heels for him despite knowing she didn't belong there. Imagine her surprise when they meet again decades later.
Pairing: Bucky/Kagome
Disclaimer: I do not own either series. Each belongs to their rightful owners.
Note:
Flashbacks will be written in bulk Italics.
Will mostly take place in modern time, with flashbacks to the past.
Chapter One
"How have you been adapting now that you're back in your rightful time?"
Kagome paused as she set her hand on the doorknob of her door. Her other hand came up and her fingers wrapped around the wood of her door. A second later, she sighed softly and let the door close the rest of the way before she turned to the silver-haired demon that now leaned against her desk.
"It's been… a process," she finally said, forcing a laugh as she walked past him and to her closet, where her packed bags had been stored away. "You guys gave me a few weeks here on my own to get used to it all again, but…" she sighed again and shook her head. "The longer I'm here, the more I'm reminded that one day I'm going to have to say goodbye to them, too."
Sesshoumaru let gold eyes focus on her turned back, keen senses picking up on the sadness in her voice and in her scent. "We'll keep going until we can find a way to break his curse," he said. Though his voice was normally so cold and so stoic, this time his words carried a hint of warmth- of affection for her. Kagome paused, a faint smile forming on her face.
"We've been looking for a way to break it for so long," she said. "At what point should we just give up and face the reality that… it doesn't seem possible." Kagome set her bags by the door to grab on the way out, and she slowly made her way to her bed. Upon sitting down, she reached for the framed photo and pulled it onto her lap. She avoided Sesshoumaru's stare in favor of focusing on the smiling face looking back up at her. "It just… there doesn't seem to be a reason anymore," she whispered softly.
"I'm surprised it held up so long," Sesshoumaru said, changing focus from the topic and to the photo she cradled so gently. Kagome laughed through her nose and nodded.
"The edges are starting to tear and crumble," she said softly. "That's why I put it in the frame. Maybe it'll keep it safe from wear and tear." For so long she'd kept it in the book she also looked to with so much care.
Throughout these years, there have been so few humans he actually cared for in the slightest, and he couldn't say the man in the photo was one of them. To him, he was just another along the trip that had become infatuated with the Miko before him. The only difference was that Kagome had seemed to take a liking to him, as well. He'd been the first, and the only one to ever have that effect on her.
Deep down, a part of him knew that if she'd been given the chance, it was extremely likely that she would've chosen to stay there. If the curse had been broken during her time spent there, she would've been content to live her life there. Even now, decades later, she still seemed to hold that same love for him.
"I mean… maybe this won't be so bad," Kagome said finally, her voice calling attention back to her face as she stood up. She still kept the photo held to her chest. "I mean, this way I can make sure the jewel doesn't do a little repeat of what it did to me to someone else," she added on. "That seems like something that's worth all of this."
"It doesn't have to be you," Sesshoumaru responded. He could see the pain left on her each time she was forced to outlive a human she grew to care for, and it was starting to wear on her soul- enough so that it was pulling for her to give in and accept it. "Seeing you submit to this is disgraceful," he sneered.
Kagome narrowed her eyes and peered up at him with ire reflected in her blue eyes. "Yeah? Well, maybe I don't want to push this responsibility onto anyone else. Why does it have to be someone else when it's already become so clear that this is my task?" She looked down, trying to ignore the tears burning her vision. "Naraku gave the jewel a chance to have what it wanted, and now it won't let me go. I feel like I'm wasting all of your time just trying to find a way to break the curse when there's not a reason for all this fighting it."
His silence burned her, like invisible fire and flames. She couldn't meet his gaze, knowing the rage that was present in his amber pools.
"I… I'm not submitting to it," she said. "I'm accepting it for what it is."
She couldn't keep getting her hopes up for a way out. Each time she did, each time she thought she might be freed, she was met with a brick wall. She'd run headfirst into it, and then they'd be back to crawling.
She'd been so determined back then, so hopeful at the possibility of being free from this so she could find a bit of happiness after all the struggles, but that happiness had been stolen from her. Perhaps it hadn't even been hers in the first place. Kagome sighed again and moved the frame a bit so she could look at the man forever memorialized in the vintage photo.
A part of her couldn't move past the possibility of what if. What if things had gone differently back then? What would her life have been like? Her mother, enterally understanding of anything and everything, no matter what it led to, might've been sad at first, but she knew. She knew the older woman would be understanding, and that she would've been happy for her, even if it meant she'd never see her again.
But… all her passion and intent behind finding a cure to the curse had been snuffed out when she lost him. It was a lost cause to her at that point. In these past five hundred years, he'd been the only one who instilled that drive to find a way to break it, but now he was gone. All that she had left was this photo, the memories, and an empty place in her heart that only he could fit.
She loved her memories of him, but thinking of him, remembering him… it still hurt so much. She had never been one to believe in the possibility of soulmates, but she knew that if they were really a thing, then she must've found hers in him.
"Don't get me wrong," Kagome finally spoke again, her soft, bell-like voice wrecking the silence that had formed between the pair. "Do I still have hope for finding a cure? Of course, I do," she said. "I just… I don't think I can take another setback," she added on, her voice cracking. "I can't keep getting my hopes while they just keep getting ripped back to shreds. I did once, and it doesn't feel like I'll ever be able to move on."
She stiffened instinctively when she felt a clawed hand brush through her thick tresses before she forced herself to relax. Sesshoumaru's aura was closer than before now. He stood right in front of her, close enough that she could smell the woodsy scent of him. She could see a few strands of silver from the corner of her eye, the locks swaying only a bit from his unexpected steps towards her.
Her sight blurred all over again when she felt him nudge his nose into her hair, a sign of intended comfort. She bowed her head and let him urge her into his chest, and she let her weight lean into him as he kept them both braced and supported. The soothing beats of his heart were comforting in the embrace of silence.
She never expected to grow to see him as a brother, of all things, but she was grateful for his calming presence. He'd grown protective of her in these five hundred years, and he'd assumed a guardian status over her.
His gesture was meant to do more than soothe her sorrows. It was wordless, but it came with a promise. An unspoken vow that no matter what, he'd be along with her. It was comforting, and she was eternally grateful for how caring for Rin had made him more open. It definitely awakened his dad instincts, to say the least. That was something she'd once thought to be a lost cause for him.
"We should get going," Kagome finally said after a few minutes of calm silence between them. He nodded in silent agreement and stepped away from her. She went to grab her bags, unzipping one and gently depositing the photo she held safely between a few articles of clothing. Once done, she followed him out the door.
The suave, black limo had them settled in the backseat. The them in question being Kagome and Sesshoumaru, along with Inuyasha, Shippo, and Rin. The mismatched family consisted of the two half-brothers, the ageless miko, and the two children.
A guide book was in her hand, and Kagome occasionally flipped the page as she looked through the hotspots to visit. It was recent and covered way more than just New York. It had highlights over every state in the United States. Rin sat at her side, curious amber eyes looking through the book as she did.
"I hope you know you're gonna be joining us on some of this stuff," Kagome commented, her words directed at Sesshoumaru. "I don't care if you have work to do, I'll drag you by your hair if I gotta."
Her threat brought a smirk to his face. "Of course," he said. "Figure out what you want to do, and we'll make a schedule for it. We'll stay for as long as you want. I'm in no hurry."
Kagome beamed at him and went back to focusing on the book. "We should make this a habit," she said. "Do annual vacations to different states and see the history of them. I think it'd be fun."
"If that's what you want."
Kagome left the section dedicated to New York. She closed the book and used her thumb to flip through the pages before stopping at random. After flipping through a few more, occasionally reading about certain spots, she came to a halt at one in specific.
The Smithsonian Institute.
According to the little tidbits and trivia at the bottom of the article, it apparently had a section dedicated to Captain America, and not just him, at that. It also held a memorial for Bucky Barnes.
After a bit of basic estimation, she came to the conclusion that the trip wouldn't be all that long, even if she went on her own. With a small smile and the pep of determination in her, she took her marker and made a quick circle on the page before folding the corner and continuing to skim through the pages.
She felt Rin's gaze linger on her, and she glanced down at the younger girl. After a second, Rin took her empty hand in her own and leaned into her shoulder comfortingly. Kagome returned the smile and resumed back to New York's section, letting the younger girl keep picking things out to add to the itinerary.
Despite all their skills combined, not a single one of them would have predicted that they would arrive just in time to get caught up in an attack by an alien army.
C.R: After this, I intend to have the chapters be around 3k and up.
So, some information about this story:
Rin was turned into a dog demon by Sesshoumaru. Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru, while still will occasionally bicker and *violently* fight, have developed a semi-decent brotherly bond. Kagome unofficially adopted Shippo, and Rin sees Kagome as a big sister. Kagome is also like a sister to the inu-bros.
In short, they're one big family even though Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru occasionally fight like cats and dogs.
Moving on;
Is there ever a better time to run into a face from your past than during an attack by an alien army? Honestly, Steve's in for a shock, but at least it's the good kind. Hope you're ready for the next chapter. There's gonna be a lot of Bucky/Kagome moments, (even though it's just gonna be flashbacks/mentioned at this point.)
I also should say that Kagome's physical age is in between 20-25 years old. That's her physical appearance, despite being over 500 years old at this point. For story sake, we'll say Kagome spent ~5 years during the quest for the jewel and went back full-time jewel shard hunting after graduating high school.
Anyway, that's it for now! Thank you all for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Hopefully, I caught all the errors before posting, but if not sorry.
Please remember to Review&Favorite&Follow, thank you!
Bye for now~