Summary: Admittedly, there wasn't much that rattled Kagome Barton to her core. She's endured transcending time and fighting demons over some stupid magic marble. Her days time-hopping are over, but days of leisure are far from reach when she's recruited to the Avenger's Initiative following the appearance of Loki.

Pairing: Undecided

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

Note:
Flashbacks/Past are written in bulk Italics.

Chapter Seven

Kagome gathered up everything she might need before she made her move. She left for the closest, and the easiest exit point she knew of, only pausing when she was just before it. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and searched through the contacts until she found one she sparingly ever used. Upon locating Sesshoumaru's name, she wasted no time in typing up a quick message.

She gave a brief summary of what had happened since his departure from the helicarrier before moving onto what was on the horizon. She ended it with a request for him to gather up who he could on short notice, and then gave him a place to meet up.

She sent it and didn't bother to wait for a response before she gave Kirara the okay to take on her larger form. She did, hopping from her shoulder as a blaze of flames engulfed her. With a silent nod to herself, Kagome reached and forced the door open- ignoring the alarm that went off overhead. Her hair whipped up in a flurry from the sudden wind that breezed through the now-open door. Kagome mounted Kirara's back and gave the okay once she'd gotten situated.

Kirara roared in response and took off in a sprint, leaping into the sky when she ran out of room to run.

000

She felt their presence before she saw them, and she didn't hesitate to urge Kirara down to the ground to land. A small smile appeared on her face, and she threw a hand up in order to wave at the gathered group. When Kirara touched the ground, Kagome swung her other leg over her back and leaped off of her.

"Man, I'm so glad to see you guys!" Kagome exclaimed as she came to a halt in front of them.

Standing before her were faces from her past, those who had survived the test of time. Sesshoumaru had brought not only Inuyasha, but Kouga and Shippo as well. Shippo's presence startled her, and she was worried bout him coming along. She knew it must've shown on her face, because before she could even try to voice those worries, Inuyasha beat her to speaking.

"Don't go looking at us like that," Inuyasha scoffed, folding his arms over his chest. "The brat wouldn't let us get ten feet out without trying to follow us."

Kagome sighed softly at his brash statement. "I figured it was a possibility," she said softly. She was worried, yes, but she knew that it wasn't the same as back then. Though he was still young, looking no older than a ten-year-old child, he'd grown stronger and grown to hone his abilities well. She knew her newly made teammates might question her choice, but there wasn't time to change anything. She let her gaze stray back to Shippo, and she opened her arms to invite him into them. He wasted no time, diving into her open arms with a bright smile on his face. "Just… stay close by to us," she pleaded softly.

"I will, Mother!" Shippo responded, his tail swishing happily at her compliance for him to come.

"We don't have much time," Kagome said, letting her gaze roam back to the other three. "Everyone's ready, right?"

"Sure are," Kouga grinned at her. "Where we heading?"

Kagome nodded. "New York. I'll be able to find them once we get closer and can pick up their auras." She turned to Shippo and motioned for him to follow her. "Shippo, you'll ride on Kirara with me."

"'Kay!"

"You three follow behind," she said, looking at the other demons present. "I told them about you guys already, so they probably know enough to recognize you, but still… let me greet them first."

"Tch…" Inuyasha's ears twitched a few times, but he relented anyway. "Fine."

Kagome spared him a quick glance, her thanks expressed in her gentle, blue gaze.

"Will your other newfound allies reappear?"

Kagome froze at Sesshoumaru's question, eyes downcast as she let it seep into her head. After a moment, she nodded, unable to shake off the good feeling she now had about this horrible situation. "Yes, I can feel it. They'll come back."

With those final words, she mounted Kirara again, Shippo seated in front of her with his back to her chest. She spared the three one last glance before ordering Kirara to take to the skies.

The horrible aura produced by the army stung her like poison, a chill of unease racing up her spine once it finally settled against her skin and her senses. She frowned, worry entering her eyes as she surveyed the damage already done. Even from so far up in the sky, the screams of terror managed to reach her.

Her eyes narrowed and she tested her odds. She pulled her bow from her shoulder and took aim with a pink, glowing arrow materializing on the drawstring. She shot it, and it soared down into the masses. The humans weren't affected by it, and it brought a pink wind that guarded them as they fled. The aliens struck were dissolved, her purification working against them just as it did to demons.

A little further down the way, she saw familiar faces, and she urged Kirara back down. She didn't wait for her to land, jumping from her back the moment she got to a safe distance.

"Hope I'm not too late," she said as she hopped off of Kirara. She startled Steve when she so suddenly fell from the sky.

He glanced from her and to the pink-dusted area ahead now free of attacking aliens. "Did you do that?"

Kagome smiled and nodded. "It's safer over there, at least it will be until my aura dissipates from it. I guess those creatures can't handle it. It turned them to dust in no time."

"You're right," he said then. "Maybe I should stop worrying about you so much." He looked back at her, and she spotted as Natasha and Clint came over to where they stood. "You bring some allies?"

She nodded and motioned for him to look up. He did, and she saw his eyes widened. He was momentarily startled by the appearance of the large, saber-toothed beast that came to land behind her. It looked similar to the little cat she had before, just way bigger. "Is that…?" he motioned to the cat, and she seemed to know what he was going to ask.

"Yup! That's Kirara," she said. He shook his head, a slight smile of disbelief on his face. Shippo hopped off of her back and ran over to Kagome. As he did, Kagome gave the okay for the others to join them. "I told you about them, but here they are in person," she said as she turned and smiled at the rest. "Inuyasha and Kouga," she said, seeing as he already knew who Sesshoumaru was. The next second, she tugged Shippo into her side. "This is Shippo."

"Good to have you aboard," Steve said, and she smiled when it seemed he resigned from his prior habit of trying to protect her, seeming to trust her claim at face value.

There was no time for anything else to be said before Thor fell from the sky to join them. Kagome was relieved to see him well- or, as well as he could be. That only left Bruce's whereabouts…

"What's the situation with the cube?" Steve asked, turning his focus to Thor.

He shook his head. "The power surrounding it is impenetrable."

"Thor's right," Tony's voice came through her earpiece. "Looks like we gotta take care of these guys."

Natasha nodded. "Right, so how do we do that?"

"By working as a team- all of us," Steve said.

"I still have unfinished business with Loki," Thor said, his gaze straying up as if he was trying to locate the figure in question.

"Yeah?" Clint glanced at him, a spare arrow in his hands as tightened the tip on it. "Well get in line."

"Save it," Steve said. "Loki's going to try and keep this fight focused on us, and that's exactly what we need." He mirrored Thor's stance of looking up, his eyes sweeping over the many enemies scattered about. "Without him, then these things might just run wild, and we can't have that."

"So, what's the plan then?" Kagome asked, tightened her grip on her bow.

"We got Stark up top, and he's gonna need us-"

The sound of a motorbike cut Steve off, and the group all turned to face the noise. Kagome smiled at the sight of Bruce finally rejoining them.

He got off the bike and walked towards them a bit awkwardly. He glanced around, taking in the scenes around him.

"So…" he began, letting his focus return to the group. "This is all horrible…"

"I've seen worse," Natasha said, and he looked down.

"Yeah…" Bruce muttered quietly, seeming to know exactly what she meant. "Sorry about that."

"No," Natasha shook her head. "A little worse is what we need," she said.

He smiled and nodded in response.

"Stark?" Steve spoke, using the earpiece he wore. "He's here."

"Banner?"

"Yup, just like you said," he responded.

"Good. Tell him to suit up," Tony said. "I'm gonna bring the party straight to you guys."

Not long after he said those words, they saw as he rounded the corner from the distance. Not even a full ten seconds later, a large Leviathan rounded the corner in pursuit of him. They froze for a moment, and Kagome instantly got a flashback to her days of fighting demons due to its massive size alone.

"Oh, that's awful," Kagome said, her voice breaking up the silence between them.

Natasha looked at it and shook her head. "I don't see how that's a party, Stark."

Tony flew down the street, and the Leviathan followed close behind him. It wrecked the street as it went, smashing through anything in its way like a freight train.

Bruce glanced at the rest with him before he turned and started to walk towards the impending collision.

"Dr. Banner," Steve said, and Bruce glanced back at him for only a brief second. "Now would be a really good time for you to get angry."

Bruce spared him a wry smile as he kept walking towards the Leviathan. "That's my secret, Captain," he said. "I'm always angry."

That different aura tied to him steadily grew stronger, and his skin slowly morphed to a green shade. Kagome watched, torn between amazement and terror as he twisted into something she'd never seen before. He became much bigger, his shirt ripping at the seams. Her eyes widened as he slammed one massive, green fist against the snout of the Leviathan, hard enough to force it to a halt.

The Leviathan began to tilt as its built-up momentum came to a harsh halt, its massive body turning in the air. Armor plates began to collide and break off, exposing its softer body.

"Take cover!" Tony said as he rose a hand and aimed an attack at an exposed section of off-color pink. It struck it, and an explosion shook the sky.

Kagome felt an arm drape over her shoulder, and she was tugged to the side before she could react. She was pulled behind a taxi with her father. She reacted regardless and put up a large, sheer barrier to cover as far as she could. The barrier rippled as it got struck by falling armor, the pieces eventually sliding off the dome-shaped top and landing on the street outside of her barrier.

Once it settled down, Kagome exhaled a sigh of relief, standing up and glancing at her father.

"You good?" he asked, and she nodded, offering him a smile.

"Of course," she said eventually. "Unlike you, this isn't my first rodeo facing some monstrous creature."

Clint bit back a chuckle and patted the top of her head.

"That's my woman!" Kouga exclaimed proudly, and Kagome felt the color drain from her face at his claim. Sure, she knew it was nothing more than a term of endearment he'd never quite let go, but she hadn't mentioned any of that to, well, anyone due to wanting to save herself the embarrassment. She should've known it'd come back and bite her.

"The hell did he just say?" Clint turned towards Kouga. Kagome tried to laugh it off, reaching for her father's hands before he could try to shoot him with an arrow while also trying to ignore the eyes that were now turned to her.

"Haha, well you see-!"

She was cut off when Kouga abruptly gripped her hands with his own. "As prepared as ever!"

"Wait-!"

"Get your hands off her before I rip your arms off!" Inuyasha cut her off this time, and her expression fell into a mild glare. She moved back a few paces and folded her arms over her chest.

"Inuyasha..." She saw him tense up the moment she said his name. He knew that tone, all too well.

"W-Wait, Kagome, have mercy-!"

"Sit boy!"

Inuyasha face-planted, leaving a him-shaped imprint on the concrete below him. He was grumbling, the noise muffled, and Kagome huffed. It was silent for a moment, but she soon broke it.

"We've got more important things to focus on!" Kagome exclaimed before abruptly turning around, a frightening bright smile on her face. It certainly promised danger to anyone who tried to say anything else about the situation mere seconds ago. "Steve! Game plan! What is it?"

A series of battle cries backed up her claim as more and more figures traversed through the portal.

"Right," Steve brushed off the events that had just unfolded. He didn't feel up to the risk of challenging the dangerous ire that showed in her eyes. Not now, and probably not ever. "Listen up. Until we're able to find a way to close off the portal, we're gonna need to contain the situation as much as we can." He glanced at Clint. "Barton, I want you up on that roof, eyes on everything. Figure out their pattern and identify the strays." Steve turned then, looking at Tony. "Stark, you're on the perimeter. If anything gets more than three blocks out, either turn it back or turn it to ash."

"Got it," Clint nodded and turned towards Tony. "Wanna give me a ride up?"

Tony walked over to where Clint was. He paused behind him and grabbed hold of him. "Better clench up, Legolas."

The next second they were gone. Tony lifted them both up, and Steve looked at Thor next.

"Thor, you need to try and bottleneck that portal. Slow them down as much as you can," he said. "You have the lightning, so light the bastards up." Thor glanced at him and nodded, swinging his hammer as he flew away. Steve turned and made his way to where the rest were. "Kagome, I want you to try to do something about that portal," he said. "If there's nothing you can do, then turn your focus to knocking out as many as you can from the rooftops. Natasha and I will stay here and take care of the ones running around on the ground." He paused and turned, looking at the Hulk. "And Hulk."

He turned at hearing Steve, narrowing his eyes as he stared down at him. Steve lifted a hand and pointed at him as he gave him his task.

"Smash."

The Hulk smiled brilliantly at the order and ran off the following second. He leaped up and took out any and all of the creatures in his sight, smashing them into buildings and into the pavement as he went.

Steve turned back towards Kagome, and he watched as she went over to Kirara. "And as for…" Steve trailed off, eyeing the ones that Kagome had returned with. As he did, Inuyasha finally pushed himself up from the ground, glowering at Kagome's back.

"Right," Kagome nodded and glanced at the three behind her. "You guys know what to do," she said. "Do what you gotta in order to get rid of these things. Just be sure no humans get caught up in the crossfire." She wasn't given a response before they left, and she had faith they'd do as she asked. She looked at Shippo next and climbed atop Kirara's back, motioning for him to join her. "You're going with me."

She carefully made her way to where the portal was. When she couldn't avoid the enemies flying around, she shot them down without missing a beat. She urged Kirara to land near the Tesseract, and Kagome hopped off of her back. She surveyed the area, but all she saw was a man who seemed to be out cold. She lowered her bow and moved to check on him.

"You must be Dr. Selvig, then," Kagome whispered to herself as she carefully maneuvered him onto his back. She pressed a hand to his head and made quick work of removing Loki's control from him, healing his injuries while she was at it. Once she was done, she patted his shoulder and stood up. "You'll be fine," she said to no one in particular, seeing as he wasn't awake to hear it.

She turned her sights to the device that was built and holding open the portal. The aura around it was stronger than what she'd previously felt from it. She frowned and approached it, holding a hand up as an arrow materialized in her palm. She paused in front of it and blew her bangs from her face.

Kagome unceremoniously jabbed the arrow into the center of the device. It struck a barrier guarding it, rejecting the pulse of her aura automatically. Her arrow broke apart in a flurry of sparkles, and she was knocked back as a violet burst of energy shot out of the device. She landed near where Selvig was, and she sighed.

"There goes that idea," she said, and she worked on brushing her messy hair back out of her face. She let her eyes stray up to the opening of the portal, where more and more creatures kept coming through. She frowned and climbed back onto her feet. She glanced at Shippo and motioned for him to join her.

"Yes, Mother?"

"Stay here and make sure nothing happens to him," Kagome said, nodding at Selvig still out cold on the ground. She then moved away from him and began to head to the ledge of the rooftop, glancing down at the lower level just a drop away. "I'm going to get a better vantage point out in the open and try to get rid of these things the best I can."

He nodded, and Kagome carefully moved from the ledge she stood on, dropping herself down to the lower level.

"Did you have any luck?" Steve's voice reached her through the earpiece she wore. Kagome paused for a second and readied her bow.

"No," she responded. "So moving onto plan B here," she said as she fired arrows into the creatures soaring all around her.

More and more kept going by, and they eventually caught onto her location. When a mini armada of them came right for her, Kagome lowered her bow and brought a barrier up in order to defend against them. They blasted at her barrier relentlessly, and it was starting to crack under the constant pressure. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact that would do her barrier in.

"Foxfire!"

Shippo's voice came from above her, as blue fireballs pelted the foes closing in on her. They combusted and fell from the sky, and Shippo jumped down to join her. She whirled around, a bright smile on her face.

"Way to go, Shippo!" Kagome beamed at him, and they high-fived as he mirrored her expression. She was about to say something else when a familiar figure fell from the sky, and she jumped out of reflex when he suddenly hit the ground nearby them. She paused and looked down at Loki as he slowly got back up on his hands and knees.

"Oh, it's you," she said after a quick beat. She moved, pulling the string of her bow tight and aiming a glowing, pink arrow at him while he was still down. "Now, I think this is a long time coming."

The arrow hit him before he knew what had happened, and a pink current ran along his body. It weighed him down like a subjugation spell. He clenched his teeth in aggravation and looked up at her, and she twinkled her fingers in a wave.

"That's not a nice look at all, now is it?" she hummed at seeing his expression.

"Why must you and I fight?" he asked, and she knew he was up to something. "It'd be much more fitting if a priestess of your capability joined me."

Kagome arched a brow. "That's the last thing I'd ever do," she said without taking even a second to consider his offer. "I'd never be bound to someone like you, not after all you've done."

"Truly a being of pure heart and mind," Loki hummed. His eyes strayed down to the pink jewel hanging around her neck. She stiffened up automatically, feeling his gaze on it instantly. "Sooner or later, you'll fall to it. You know this," he said, and Kagome scowled at him. "As powerful as you may be, that jewel will still overpower you in the end. It's only a matter of time. You can sense it, every time you have to suppress its energy."

Kagome felt a pang of fear course through her even though she kept her face emotionless.

"Then where will you be, Priestess?" Loki questioned, and Kagome flinched. It was the first shift in her stance since he began talking. She aimed at him again, eyes narrowed.

"I guess we'll see when that day comes," she said, unable to stop the waver in her voice.

"Could it be that you actually fear it?" Loki purred. "So brave, so strong, so valiant, yet you fear what looms before you. You have no escape from it. All you can do is sit and-!"

A green beast suddenly scaling the edge of the roof interrupted Loki. Kagome yelped, letting the arrow she had strung fade away as to not accidentally hit the Hulk with it, and she grabbed Shippo as she pulled him into her chest.

She watched, wide-eyed as the Hulk knocked Loki back and into the building. Glass shards rained down as they both went through a still-intact panel. A shaky breath left her, and she slowly let go of Shippo.

She was taken aback by the fact that she hadn't sensed his aura approaching at all, and she was more than a little put off with herself by that face. It wasn't normal for her, especially with such an odd and powerful aura like the Hulk bore.

Kagome lifted her gaze and glanced back at the pair indoors. She'd been so startled that her subjugation had faded, and she watched as Loki clambered back onto his feet, fury shining in deceitful eyes.

"Enough!" Loki shouted as he stood before the Hulk, and for a moment, the green beast halted. "You are- All of you are beneath me!" he continued, standing his ground. "I am a God you, dull creature. I will not be bullied by the likes of-!"

When he clearly had enough of his rambling, the Hulk shot a hand out and snatched Loki by his legs. Kagome watched with a slight sense of satisfaction as the Hulk then proceeded to slam Loki into the ground multiple times. He paused for a quick second, only to slam him into the ground a few more times before tossing him to the side as if he was a pebble.

The Hulk glanced from the flattened Loki and to Kagome before he snorted. "Puny God."

Kagome smiled at the Hulk and nodded, silently agreeing with him. As he walked away, Kagome heard as Loki whimpered in pain, and her smile twisted into a smirk.

"Mother?"

Kagome turned to Shippo, a frown appearing on her face when she saw him looking up at her with worry in his eyes. "Yes?"

Shippo looked down. He didn't like the reaction she'd given to Loki's prior statements. "Are you okay?"

Kagome hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Of course," she said. "I'm just fine, she said, her tone firm and certain. "You have nothing to worry about."

Despite his uncertainties, Shippo accepted her answer. He could tell she didn't want to talk about it, not now.

"Everything good down there?"

Kagome glanced up, and she saw Natasha looking down at her. She was where she was moments ago. She recalled spotting her on one of those chariots before, so she presumed that was how she got up there. Kagome nodded and offered her a smile. "Yeah!" She turned and glanced at Loki, still lying motionless in his imprints on the floor. "I don't think Loki's gonna be a problem for the rest of this."

Natasha smirked at the news. "Oh, wonderful."

Kagome called for Kirara to help the pair back up to the higher level, and before long she stood beside Natasha in front of the device.

She heard a groan from behind her, and both girls turned to Selvig, who was finally waking up. Natasha walked towards him, crouching down to join him on his level.

"Dr. Selvig," she said, trying to get his attention. He glanced at her for a moment before looking at the device he'd built. He dropped his attention to the ground.

"Loki's scepter, the energy… the Tesseract can't fight.." he sighed as he sat up some more. "You can't protect against yourself."

"It's not your fault," Natasha said, setting a hand on his shoulder. The action made him look at her again. "You weren't aware of what you were doing. Loki had control over you."

"Well, I… actually I think I did," he said, and Natasha looked at him, confused. "I built in a safety to cut off the power source."

Her mind circled back to the prior words he'd mumbled. "Loki's scepter."

Selvig nodded. "It might be able to close the portal," he said, turning some to look down at the lower level. "It's right down there, too."

Natasha nodded and stood up, turning to Kagome. "We need that scepter," she said.

Kagome moved over to Kirara and mounted her back. "On it!" she exclaimed as Kirara leaped down onto the lower level. She only touched down for a second, long enough for Kagome to reach and grab the scepter, before she bounded back up to the upper level. Once there, Kagome handed the scepter off to Natasha.

Selvig got back on his feet and wasted no time in going over to the laptop hooked up to the device. He clacked away on it, and Natasha stood close by, the scepter held in her hands and ready. When he gave a nod, she slowly broke through the barrier surrounding it. She pushed it deeper in, nearly reaching the Tesseract with the edge of it.

"I can close the portal!" Natasha said, her voice carrying to the others spread through the city. "Can anybody hear me?"

"Do it then!" Steve's voice came first, but before she could move, Tony's followed.

"No, not yet!"

"What's the problem?" Kagome asked. "This isn't gonna end unless the portal is closed."

"I got a nuke coming in, and there's less than a minute before it blows. I know just the spot to put it, too," he said, and Kagome knew instantly he planned to throw it through the portal.

Kagome turned her head up to the sky, looking for any sign of Tony. Time seemed to drag on as seconds ticked by painfully slow. After what felt like an eternity, she saw him soar up towards the portal with the nuke.

She held her breath as he went through it, waiting anxiously for any sign of him coming back down. Kagome clasped her hands together over her chest and bit her lip. She saw the blinding explosion as a supernova took over the other side of the portal, but she still saw no sign of Tony.

"Come on, Tony," Kagome whispered softly. The blast from the explosion would cause a lot more damage if it collided with the open portal. It couldn't stay open any longer.

"Close it," Steve said and Kagome tried to blink back tears when it looked like Tony wasn't coming back through. As Natasha closed off the portal, officially stopping anything else from coming through, a falling object caught her attention.

It was getting closer and closer in a free fall, and Kagome soon realized it was Tony. A surge of panic shot through her when he didn't slow down any, and she turned to Kirara the next second. She mounted her back and took off to the area he was falling in.

As she got close enough, she saw as the Hulk leaped from the ground and caught Tony before he could hit the ground. She urged Kirara to take her down, and she hopped off of her back the moment they got to a safe distance.

She bolted over to him the second her feet touched the ground, dropping to her knees on his other side as she joined the others with him.

Thor removed his mask and tossed it away. He didn't seem to be breathing, and Kagome tried to do anything she could to help him. When it didn't look good, she lowered a shaking hand to rest it on his forehead. She tried to blink back tears as her heart hammered painfully in her chest.

Yet again, the idea of not being able to help someone hurt her.

She felt Steve rest a comforting hand on her shoulder, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

Hulk let out a booming roar that startled everyone present. To their surprise, Tony jolted away at the sound, a cry of fear falling automatically from him.

"What the hell…!" Tony breathed heavily for a few moments as the Hulk's roar faded into an echo. He looked around at the group, seeing them crowded around him. "The hell just happened?"

Steve shook his head, a small, reassuring smile on his face. "We won," he said softly.

Kagome sat back, bracing her hands behind her as she sighed in relief. She looked at him and matched his smile with her own.

Tony closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright, hey," he opened his eyes and looked around. "Good job, you guys. How about we agree not to come in tomorrow?" he suggested then. "Let's all take a day." He paused, and Kagome arched a brow. "Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here."

Steve shook his head, biting back a chuckle.

"I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it," Tony said. "We should get lunch there."

Thor looked from Tony and up at the tower. "We aren't finished just yet."

Tony followed his gaze up to the tower, and he paused for a second. "Then shawarma after?"

Kagome rolled her eyes and stood up. "We can probably take our time getting up there," she said. "Loki took quite the beating up there," she said, cutting her eyes back at the Hulk, who grinned. "Natasha is up there with the scepter too."

"Oh great," Tony sighed in relief.

They regrouped at the top of Stark Tower. When they got there, Loki was still in his crater, and they gathered around him. He slowly moved, but he stopped when he felt eyes on him. He turned, glancing at them, only to see the entire group standing at the ready to attack.

With two bows aimed directly at him, he surrendered.

000

As the rest handled Loki, Kagome went over to her demon companions. She paused beside them, offering them a warm smile.

"Thanks, you guys," she said once she came to a halt. Her words brought their attention to her. "For the help, I mean."

"Of course we'd come to help you," Kouga responded, giving her a warm smile. Kagome returned it, and she looked at the half-brothers.

"I'll be heading home soon, probably," she said after a second, glancing back at the group behind them. She saw her father and Natasha watching from behind the bar. When they noticed she saw them, Natasha glanced away, at least pretending to be subtle with it, meanwhile, her father was all glares. "I'll see you guys there, I guess?"

"Eventually," Sesshoumaru responded.

Kagome nodded and moved to give them hugs, saying a quick goodbye to each of them. When she got to Inuyasha, he lowered his mouth down to her ear.

"What's with you and that Steve guy?" Inuyasha grumbled, arms folded over his chest. Kagome was taken aback for a moment.

"What do you mean?"

"Keh!" Inuyasha scoffed, "since when did you start takin' orders?"

Kagome arched a brow, clearly unamused by his comment. "I don't like the way you're speaking to me," she growled. "What's it matter, anyway," she huffed, turning her back to him. "He's a friend if you must know," she said finally.

"Uh-huh." Inuyasha's doubtful tone wasn't lost on her, and she glared at him.

"Bye," she said as she walked away from them. Inuyasha stuck his tongue out at her before following the others out.

They gathered outside as Thor was given the Tesseract. He held one end of the cylinder that held it and made the muzzled Loki take the other.

"Catch you later?" Kagome said as she offered Thor a smile. He looked back at her and offered her a like smile.

"Take care," he said before turning the handle on his end of the cylinder. Once he did, a burst of energy formed and surrounded them, teleporting them back to where they'd come from.

They said their parting farewells, Kagome offering each of them a hug just as she had done to her other friends

"Sorry you had to see that side of me," Bruce said to her, and she offered him a smile.

"Don't be," she said. "Now, one of my most cherished memories is Loki getting pummeled into the ground by the Hulk," she said with a grin. She heard her father laugh from behind her.

"See you around, Magical Girl," Tony ruffled the top of her head. Kagome looked up at him. "Make sure to tell Team Flowing Hair hi for the rest of us," he said. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Got it," she said as she moved away from them. She went over to Steve, stopping a few feet away from him. "It was nice to meet you," she said, and he looked down at her with a smile.

"You too," he said after a second. "What are your plans now?"

Kagome was silent for a moment, thinking it over. After a few seconds, she shrugged and grinned up at him. "Not sure. I'll know when it comes to me."

"I'll be seeing you, then," he said. He held a hand out for her to take, and she arched a brow at the gesture. She was reminded of their first meeting, and she smiled as she took it.

"Bye, Captain," she said as she moved away from him.

Soon enough they had gone their separate ways, with Bruce and Tony going one way, and Steve going the other. Kagome stood next to Clint and Natasha as they left.

"You ready to get home, kid?" Clint asked, setting an arm around her shoulder. Kagome looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah," she said. "Let's get home, Dad."

C.R: At this point, I'll just say the chapters will be a length. It seems to fluctuate every time I plan to stick to one. Honestly, I could've split this into two parts, but I decided not to.

Anyway, with this update, the first Avengers movie is officially wrapped up. Ahh I'm so excited for the next part coming up!

Loki managed to strike a nerve in Kagome, but what meaning do his words have? Only time will tell…

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

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

Bye for now~