XII.

One moment, she was walking down the street for the nearest subway. The next, her feet left the ground, an arm was around her waist and for the first time in over a hundred years, she felt the wind rushing through her hair and past her ears.

Flying. She was flying again. And she loved it.

And she was going to kill whoever was responsible. The only person able to make her fly was dead and had been dead. It was one thing that belonged to them and no one else.

With a huff, she loosened herself just enough in the metal hold of Iron Man to place her hand against the reactor powering the suit. Kagome would bet all her money over all her identities that Hill and Souta never once explained just who she was or what she was capable of. She pulled on the power within her, just enough as she didn't want to inadvertently kill him, tempting as it may be, and gave his little reactor a zap.

"Shit."

She smiled, knowing he just lost complete power. His thrusters went out and they glided through the air, free-falling. That exhilaration… She missed it. She missed him on the days where she could remember. Like now; for a moment she could almost see a different time, a different place.

And then there was the sound of metal scraping concrete. Her body jolted painfully against the armor he wore as they skidded to a stop. While she knew how to escape, she didn't really think her plan through all the way enough to know it would be a bad idea to fall from the sky.

Iron Man lay motionless on the ground, but she could hear him still breathing inside the suit. She rolled off him and slowly stood, testing out her joints and appendages to make sure nothing was broken. That was when she noticed the crowd of people gathering, staring, and pointing. She frowned as she saw camera flashes going, and no doubt this would end up being on some website within seconds.

Without another thought, she grabbed her bag that had been dropped in the landing and walked off to the subway, like she was just another person. It was another thing that too much time had taught her, if she acted like everyone else, then no one would take notice of her.

Had she been a hundred years younger, she would have stayed and helped him. Maybe she would have even went willingly with him, thus eliminating the need for that confrontation. But time had not been kind, people even less so, especially Americans.

Only in the safety of the anonymity provided by the subway terminal did she allow herself to sit and pull out her passports. She shoved the ones for South America back in as she never went back to the same continent right after leaving it. Too predictable. And while she was feeling homesick, she knew that would be an obvious choice, so the Asian ones went back into her bag as well. She sighed at what was left; she hadn't been to Europe in two hundred years. While she knew it had changed…

Fire. Witch. "Burn her!" they cried…

She shoved the Western European ones back into her bag as well. Which left only one.

"You always did like to hide from your problems, sis."

She quickly shoved that life into her bag and turned to look at the man who had snuck up on her. She smiled and ruffled his hair. "And you always did have some sort of sense when it came to stopping me."

"I didn't mean from homework or Hojo, you know." He pouted.

She couldn't stop the wistful edge to her smile. "I know." And then she waited.

He huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. "Stark has GPS in his suit. So when it cut out…" She was never disappointed; he always did love boasting about an accomplishment.

"Hm." That she hadn't known; technology was something she stopped trying to stay on top of. Perhaps that was a bad decision. "So what now, Souta-kun?"

Thanks for all the reviews, faves and follows! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as well. As per my own little resolution for the new year, I have finally joined tumblr where I'll be posting fanfiction and my original fiction, and will hopefully be updating every day. I used to do that years ago on livejournal, but...life. If you have a tumblr and would like to follow me, feel free to do so! The link is in my profile.