I obviously don't own InuYasha or the Avengers. Otherwise I would be rather famous!

I worried my hands in my lap as I sat on the edge of my bed, sitting with such a stiff posture I could have been taken for a statue. If not for my hands, that is; fluttering about like giant butterflies. Once more I wondered how the hell I managed to get myself into situations like these. Really, did I have such a bad luck, or was some God up there seriously pissed off at me? Or perhaps thought it funny to toy with my life, like I was in a video game? That certainly would explain why I always ended up being questioned one way or another.

I stared down at my feet, only once in a while darting to cast a quick look at Thor's legs, which was the only part of him I dared to look at. He had taken a seat in a stool, instead of sitting beside me on the bed. Which I was grateful for. God knows what embarrassing things would hop out of Tony's mouth if he came in. Also, I thought as I stared down at my shuffling hands once more, I wouldn't dare to speak if he was.

"Kagome", he said lowly. Still, I flinched as he spoke. He must have seen this, for he continued hurriedly, "P-please, don't be afraid of me. I-I don't want to harm you in any way."

I could have laughed. Had I been more nervous than I already was, I would have started chortling right that second. Really, afraid of the gentle and kind Thor? He who stuttered when embarrassed and nervous?

Then again; he did somehow make that hole in the wall, which just as much could have been a hole through my skull. I swallowed thickly.

"Then, what do you want?"

I saw his legs move, crossing and uncrossing. "Nothing, it's just… it reminds me of home."

That was a surprise. I snapped my head up and locked at his downcast face. "How?" I asked, staring at steadily at his golden locks, wiling him silently to look at me.

He squirmed in his seat and avoided my gaze to the best of his ability. Seeing a full-grown man do that is something on every young girls 'what-to-do-and-see' list. Simply fascinating. "I'm sorry… until we – meaning Tony, I, Janet and the others – can trust you, I can't tell you anything." Thor met my narrowed gaze, before once more looking away. "My reasons are the same as yours, I believe, so you should be able to understand."

I blinked, feeling anger soured through my veins. Must he confuse me like this? Telling me one thing without explaining further, making me even more confused than I currently was? Where was those subjugation beads when you needed to give a good 'sit' to someone? I halted in my thoughts, a dull pain wrenching my heart. InuYasha…

With the pain, I began to think clearly, and blushed at how horrible my thoughts had sounded. Of course – who was I to question someone if I didn't tell them anything about myself? How much of a hypocrite could I get?

"I… understand," I murmured, head downcast with shame.

We both sat in an awkward silence. I didn't know what to say to break it– I couldn't just pop up with just anything like I usually could with my feudal friends, or my family! What if I started talking about demons with Thor? I shook my head. He would probably think I was crazy, and demand Tony to lock me up for my own safety, with robots and whatnot keeping me guarded.

I sighed and lifted my head, only to jump slightly as my blue hues met electric azure. "How about this?" Thor said, staring at me intently. It caused me to blush lightly at the intention. "You tell me one thing about you, and I tell you one thing about me. Okay?"

I mulled it over. "Sounds fair enough."

He smiled gently, leaning back in his seat with a sigh. Apparently he had been on edge for a while about all this. "Then, ask away!" He waved a hand as if presenting his kingdom for me.

I giggled at him, noticing how a light blush dusted his cheeks as well. "Alright. Hmm…" I thought it over as I placed a hand under my chin in pondering. A safe topic, that wouldn't go so much into detail about demons, wells to the past and being the damsel in distress in said past with mentioned demons.

I peeked at him as I thought, but regretted it almost instantly as my gaze clashed with his. Did he have to stare at me as if I was some kind of strange animal? It made me feel exposed and embarrassed. And in such situations as these – talking and such – with emotions such as those at hand, I tend to blabber. Badly.

"What's your family like?" I finally blurted. Judging by the speechless expression on the blonde male's face, I had taken him by surprise. "I-I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, and I totally get it if you don't. See, my family can be pretty weird and actually a pain in the ass, with grandpa seeing demons at every corner, Souta idolizing my friend and mom being okay with almost anything. So I totally get if you don't want to say anything and-"I glanced at him, seeing his blank expression. I glared down at my hands, still fiddling in my lap, "-and I will just shut up now."

A slow rumbling was heard. At first I couldn't understand what it was; did Tony have a cat? Or a dog? Buyo use to make such noises when he was pleased with himself, or being scratched at just the right place on his stomach. Then I chanced a glance up at Thor. The man was clasping a hand to his mouth, his eyes slightly red as he shook. Another blush fought its way up my throat; he was laughing at me.

"I-I'm sorry!" I nearly shouted, desperate to get him to stop, and to stop the heating blush burning my face. "I-I just start rambling when I'm nervous and I can't stop it, unless someone gags me and lock me up, or just knock me out, but mostly someone just covers my mouth to keep me from blurting out things – InuYasha was good at that." The oncoming words suddenly choked up in my throat, clogging it shut at the mention of my best friend. My heart wrenched at the thought of him – would I ever get to blurt things out and he would stop me again?

"I-It's alright," Thor choked out, wiping away tears and taking deep breath to calm himself. Amusement rolled off of him in waves so apparently he had yet to notice my sad posture just yet. Otherwise I was sure he would have jumped and expressed his sincerest apologies by now – a thought that made me smile a little. "As to your question, I don't mind. My… family is complicated, with my father ruling over us with an iron fist."

"Eh? He's ruling over you? That doesn't sound very father-like."

He smiled – a sad sort of smile, that shouldn't even be able to grasp his features. "Well, he is the… what do they say? The top cat, I guess. My father is the top cat over our… home, so to speak."

I couldn't help myself. I stared at him before blinking slowly. "Okay, you've lost me there. Moving on; got any other family members?"

"Ah, yes," Thor said, smiling such a sweet smile all of a sudden. "My adoptive mother is very kind, and my real mother is also one of a kind; something like my father, I think." He frowned. "Although, I can't say I met her all that often. Though I know she is having a hard time right now, with the soiling of the earth and such."

Okay. I was sad for him about his split feelings over his real mother, but my red flag over strange things were starting to rise. And with me, it was never a particularly good sign – my life was filled with strangeness since two years back. "So, she's some kind of 'Save Mother Earth!' activist?" Even I could hear the doubt and suspicion in my voice, but I couldn't help it. A father that was a top cat, and a mother that fought for the earth's wellbeing? It screamed suspicious; from what I could hear, Thor's father was a mafia boss. And his mother could be a hippie, protesting outside the governments well-guarded meetings. Now that would be an interesting family to meet over dinner.

He raised an eyebrow and something twitched at the corner of his eye. Still, he had the same smile as he answered. "I guess you could say that – she has very strong connections with Earth, all in all."

My mental flag rose an inch higher. "Somehow, I think there's more to it than you are telling me."

Before he could answer however, there was a loud knock on the door. A second later Tony poked his head in, one hand firmly placed over his eyes. "Alright, children; cover everything you don't wish for me to see!"

My mental flag rose and drifted off into space. I scowled darkly at the leering male, and wondered briefly how he could assume that I and Thor were up to something. I glanced at Thor with one eyebrow raised, and had to swallow my laughter at his saucer-like eyes and beat red face.

"I heard a lot of thumping and other interesting sounds from here," he continued chirpily, still not letting his hand fall, "So I assumed that you were engaged in some heated situation."

I glanced at Thor, then raised a meaning brow at the hole behind us. Well. He weren't all that wrong.

-ooo-

After pointedly ignoring Tony as much as possible – with the exception of Thor, who to no avail tried to explain what we had really been doing, which Tony didn't believe a word of – I was finally allowed one phone call. Apparently I wasn't such a threat to them as they first had thought.

"If it is to this boyfriend of yours," Tony had said, feigning hurt in his expression, "I will be deeply wounded. Simply call your family and tell them that you are alright."

"If you wish," Thor had said and placed a large hand on my shoulder, "we can leave you in peace while you talk with them." Leaning down he whispered, "I know that I would like that privacy too if I would call those of mine."

I had only smiled at them and thanked them for being so kind to me. Though, Tony I shot mistrusting looks now and then; who knows, maybe he would be listening in through some robotic design of his. I seriously wouldn't believe him of being gentlemanly enough not to.

But as I hurriedly pressed the cellphone's buttons, pressed the device to my ear and waited, I couldn't find it in me to care overly much. My hands were trembling and my heart fluttering – it felt as if I was calling a boy to ask him out or something equally frightening. Taking a calming breath, I closed my eyes as I listened to the signals through the phone.

It felt like hours. It was probably only a few seconds, but dread filled me as no one answered immediately. Had something happened? Had grandpa fallen ill, or had Souta been in an accident? Each possibility was nauseating and horrible. What if InuYasha had been there, looking for me, and gone berserk? Oh dear Gods, no!

Then a soft click and a crackling voice answered from the other end. "Higurashi residence." The old, loved voice brought tears to my eyes as the language of my home flooded through my ear.

"Ojii-chan…" I whispered into the phone, silently hating myself for sounding so weak, almost like when I had come home through the well after being gone for three days. I bit my lip and felt my tears start running down my cheeks. Boy, was I glad Tony and Thor had left me alone!

"Kagome? Is that you? Dear girl, where are you?" I heard him cry out in relief. Then he shouted for mother and Souta, and probably the whole neighborhood, calling that I was alive. Then he returned to the phone, sounding immensely grumpy all of a sudden, "I swear, one day that InuYasha is going to get a sutra plastered to his face every time he comes to visit, just to be on the safe side."

"InuYasha?" I trembled. "Grandpa, is InuYasha-"

"Kagome!" Another voice, with grandpa's protests sounding in the background. I smiled softly; seemed like my little brother had been somewhat worried as well. "Where are you? InuYasha has been here sulking for five days! Not that I complain, but it's starting to get hard to explain the destruction around here. You better get home and stop him!"

Thought too soon. The little twerp. "Souta, that's pretty much impossible! If I could, I would be there right now! Is InuYasha-"

"Kagome?" My heart wrenched and new tears sprang forth. "Baby, are you alright?"

I didn't know how much I had missed the sound of her soft voice until it expressed its concern to me, instead of asking where I was or telling me worrying things about InuYasha. What can I say, my mother puts me foremost.

"Mom," I sobbed. Sure, I was glad the two males were in another part of the house, but I am pretty loud when upset, one way or another. Something InuYasha could testify, would the need arise.

"I'm here Kagome. Just breathe, and let me talk," she said softly, making small cooing noises that made the tips of my ears warm up. However, it calmed me enough to hear what had happened these last few days.

Apparently InuYasha had bounded out of the well five days ago, presumably some hours after I had fallen into the sea. There he had told them what had happened, whereas mother and Souta had mourned and cried for days, while grandpa had shouted at InuYasha to stop his lying. Grandpa had then proceeded with sticking sutras all over InuYasha and then the well, saying it was good riddance once InuYasha had returned to the Feudal Era.

But it was grandpa who had taken it hardest; working as hard as he could in his age all day, while mother could hear him crying when he went to sleep. Hearing this I had to laugh as grandpa's heated protests sounded on the other side.

"And InuYasha?" I asked hoarsely, swallowing to get the sad lump in my throat go away.

Mom chuckled. "He comes over every day paying his respects, and helping out around the shrine. Although, I think we would have sufficed without it." Her voice suddenly sounded dry and sarcastic. Oh no.

"What did he do?"

She sighed heavily. "He didn't need to clean the storehouse, or in our home; preferably he should be banned from doing so. Don't the people in the Feudal Era know of 'easy, slow and gentle'?"

I gasped and tried to hold the laughter from my voice. I failed miserably at doing so. "What did he break?"

"Other than my dream of little cute puppy-eared grandchildren?"

I dropped my jaw as red trailed a hot streak of color across my nose. "Mom!"

She laughed again, the blasted wonderful woman. "Just kidding. No, he broke the television, much to Souta's and jii-chan's despair, some fine china and some ancient – according to grandpa – stuff from the storeroom. Your grandfather is not very pleased with the boy."

A knock on the wall behind me made me twirl in place, phone still clustered to my ear, as I stared at Tony. At the sight of him my eyes immediately narrowed. Making humming noises in the back of my throat, I listened to mother with half an ear as I stared at the billionaire.

Tony smiled at me, looked pointedly at the phone and mouthed some words to me. But being born Japanese, despite my English father, I had trouble reading what in the world he was saying; it could be anything from "Nice panties" to "Say hello from me".

He seemed to notice though as he sauntered into the room and waited while I murmured an apology to mother.

"Thor and I are going out for a while. We will be back in one or two hours, tops." He sounded strange, and if I dare say, he sounded serious and worried. I narrowed my eyes again, to no avail searching the billionaires face for any sign that could tell me what was wrong. When I found none, I sighed and nodded.

"When can I go home?" I asked quietly when he turned to leave. I had voiced the question on several occasions since my awakening two days prior, but no one had given me an answer. Frankly, it was starting to piss me off, and as weird as it sounds, wear me out. If only hearing my family over the phone made me feel both miserable and happy at the same time, what kind of overload of emotions wouldn't seeing them?

Almost as if Tony, the perverted billionaire, could sense it, he turned on his heel and walked back up to me. A gentle hand reached out and stroked my cheek. No snide comment, or that blasted smirk and a twinkle in his eye; it was sweet, tender – and so unexpected that my eyes popped open and I almost dropped my phone.

"Soon enough," Tony murmured, gazing at me with a soft look in his eyes. Then he seemed to shake himself, and that smirk of his returned. His hand, that had been caressing my cheek, ruffled my hair playfully and twirled on place, strolling out again. "Tell your mama I said hello!"

I didn't answer, or retort in any form. Quite frankly, I couldn't. I couldn't even muster up the strength to frown. Who was that man and what had he done to the perverted billionaire known as Tony?

"Kagome? Darling, who was that?" I jumped a meter at the voice speaking directly in my ear, and turned to face the offending voice. Then I remembered the phone I still held to my ear. Funny, how long had I been holding it so tightly? "Don't say anything! You just bailed on InuYasha and went over to your Modern Day boyfriend, is that it?"

Now that is one way to make someone return to her senses. "Mom! Please, he's not my boyf-"

"He sure sounded handsome, and quite fun. But I do hope you are using protection, Kagome. As much as I want grandbabies, I don't want you to hurry."

"Mom!"

-ooo-

After the amazingly embarrassing conversation with mom – with some interference from grandpa and Souta – I stared at the air in front of me. Sitting at the counter of Tony's kitchen I wondered to myself, for what felt like the thousandth time, how InuYasha, Shippo, Sango and Miroku were coping. And Kirara of course, but she had always seemed to be the most reasonable and logical of our little gang, so I wasn't too worried.

Still. Had Miroku done something to Sango that had made her slap him too hard? Or had she accepted his approaches?

Was Shippo eating alright? I knew how sick he could get, had he been fed too many lollipops and other sugary treats. And had he and InuYasha been kind to each other, or were they at each other's throats?

InuYasha. I clenched my hand to my heart, which was twisting and throbbing painfully. Was he even missing me? Even though mom had said he had been with them every day since I disappeared, it could be out of guilt and not grief.

Frowning at the thought I felt my temper flaring up. That bastard! How dared he? Who needed his pity, the dog-eared pig? He knows better than caring for me out of guilt – oh, I had sat it into his brain on more than on one occasion, so there was no way he could have forgotten.

I let out a breath I hadn't noticed holding, letting my fired up temper subside in that one breath. 'Temper, temper, Kagome.' Kaede's aged voice, speaking softly from another time, making another, slightly gentler twist in my heart.

Indeed, that was one of many things I had to train if I was to be a proper miko. To become like Kikyo, Kaede's sister.

My temper flared up again. Damn it, why couldn't that woman even give me peace with my own thoughts? She had to taunt me with InuYasha; did she have to poison my thoughts as well?

I sighed again, and jumped down from the barstool. If I couldn't handle my temper on my own, then I knew what could.

"J.A.R.V.I.S?" I cringed at how ridiculous I sounded, talking to thin air like that.

"Yes, miss Higurashi?" I cringed even worse and shivered as that eerie voice answered. Well, nowhere to go now but forward.

"Is it alright if I investigate the house?" I asked. "Of course, if you don't mind, can you guide me too, so I don't go into a room Tony doesn't want me to?"

"Certainly, Miss Higurashi," the robotic voice said, both sounding as if it was right beside me, and on the other side of the house. Scary, indeed.

"Thank you," I said, offered a tiny smile while I inspected the roofs corners suspiciously for any signs of the robotic engine, and continued to stroll out of the room.

J.A.R.V.I.S, as I noticed the further into the house we came, had some kind of dry humor, the kind I imagined butlers to children with too much time on their hands. However, the robotic being was a welcome distraction from my own thoughts, dragging out laughter from me that I didn't know I had left. Especially the stories about a younger Tony made me crack open more than once.

"So this woman – was she called Pepper? – actually walked in on him right that moment?" I asked, laughter bubbling from every syllable I uttered.

"Yes, miss Higurashi," J.A.R.V.I.S answered. I could swear I heard a small amount of amusement in his robotic voice too, though he was hiding it well. "Miss Potts had a most unpleasant surprise, though I myself am not quite sure she wasn't enjoying herself. Human emotions are… hard to grasp."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," I sighed, and ran a hand gently over the frame of a beautiful painting of an older man.

"That, Miss Higurashi, is Mister Stark's late father, Howard Stark." My hand recoiled as if I had been burnt, as I stared at the disapproving male's harsh eyes, which resembled Tony's chestnut brown so much. The chin, the eyes and the nose was the only things that Tony seemed to have inherited though; no laughter was displayed on the older Stark's face, no dark hair – it was purely white, with a few grey streaks here and there.

"Oh." My voice sounded tiny, even to my own ears. Clearing my throat I continued to scrutiny the painting in hope of finding some other resemblance. "How did he die?"

It was quiet for a moment as J.A.R.V.I.S seemed to contemplate how he should answer. Could a robotic being even analyze how to say anything? Wasn't all information just stored into his servers or something? I shook my head at myself; when had I begun thinking of J.A.R.V.I.S as a human being?

"I'm afraid to say that I do not have that information stored away in my RAM system, Miss higurashi," he finally said slowly. By the voice I could hear a small twinge of regret or frustration – quite frankly, it was hard to tell. How frustrating it must be to know all and everything in the world, but not have access to your master's most valuable memories.

"It's alright J.A.R.V.I.S," I murmured, offering a smile to wherever in the room that robot actually could see me," it would be better if Tony told me himself anyway. After all, nothing hurts worse than being talked about behind your back."

"Wise words, Miss Higurashi. Shall we continue to the next room?" J.A.R.V.I.S suggested, apparently having shown all that was in this room. I took one long look around the library, the room Tony had kept just as it were when his father had been alive. According to J.A.R.V.I.S it was not a room that that billionaire visited frequently, only at some occasions when he walked through it. I frowned and placed a hand on a thick book resting at the writing desk beside me. Had their relationship, as father and son, not been very good? Was that why J.A.R.V.I.S didn't have any information about the older Stark?

"Yes, lets," I mumbled to J.A.R.V.I.S, gave the room one last look, before heading out of it.

"Miss Higurashi, it appears that Mister Stark is home again," the robotic voice suddenly said. I blinked and frowned, suddenly worried about where I was. What if I wasn't allowed to enter this room without Tony's permission? But then why would J.A.R.V.I.S, despite his dry humor, lead me in here? "He wishes to come pick you up, Miss Higurashi – please stay where you are."

"Huh?" I barely managed to relish in how odd that sounded, before I suddenly was jerked up and away from the ground at a rapid speed, the room turning into a blur and disappearing. I shrieked and scrambled to find something steady to grab hold of, kicking and squirming. Many would have realized by then that your body simply cannot jerk like that and fly through room after room, round corners and fly down stairs by your own – then again, I've never been like much people.

"Kitten, please – draw in your claws!" I stilled, but was slightly irked about how Tony's voice didn't sound like Tony's voice – it resembled J.A.R.V.I.S to some extent.

I turned to look over my shoulder. Eerily familiar blue slits for eyes stared back at me, red clashing with gold. I raised an eyebrow, too shaken up to really care at the moment. "Is this your idea of a grand entrance?!" I shouted over the howling air.

Then the whole room we had just whirled out from disappeared. Wide eyed I stared as debris and parts from the house rained down from the hole that had suddenly formed behind us, rapidly disappearing as Tony rounded another corner, flying down the stairs.

That could have been us, I thought with a gulp.

"If you don't mind, Kagome, maybe you would prefer to have something to hold onto?" Tony said. It was scary to not know if he was looking at me or not when addressing me – those blue slits revealed nothing. "I see a bumpy ride in your near future, kitten."

I ignored the last comment, knowing it was something to argue about at a later occasion, as behind us something whirled in and out of vision. It looked like… ninjas? I blanched, and nearly started laughing, when one of them disappeared from view, only to reappear beside us one second later. I stared at the being, saw it raise one hand as if to throw something.

"Hang on tight!" I complied, threw my hands around the robotic Tony's neck, and hugged with all my might. One of the hands that had been holding me securely to himself disappeared, and then I heard a large blast followed by a shriek. Something had hit, and that something apparently hurt. Badly. I didn't dare to see exactly what had been able to cause such pain, only heard as that something – probably the ninja – shrieked in fury and pain, sounding like a cornered animal.

I felt my body jerk with the momentum of our speed; a corner, another, down, down, down, until we finally stilled – still with high speed – and flew in a straight arch. Still, I didn't dare raise my head from the crook of the robots neck, only held on tighter as I thought of falling again. This time there may be no water to save me from my death.

"Kitten?" Tony's voice sounded from beside me, sounding slightly concerned before he made a coughing sound and took on a cheerful air. "As much as I know I'm irresistible, there is no need to try to melt your little body to mine."

"I'm not," I mumbled, refusing to budge my grip of him. Falling, seeing a red dot far, far above as the colors and light faded and my eyelids grew heavier.

"Kagome?"

"Don't let me fall." My voice trembled, my hands shook as they held his neck convulsively. In fact, my whole body trembled. "Please, don't let me fall."

Had I not been so scared, I would have been surprised by the unusual silence that came from him, the only sounds around us being the wind rushing past us and my own irregular beating heart. Then his hands circled me tighter, keeping me more secure and close to the robotic body. "I won't."

I could only whimper as I held on to wherever we were headed.

Olé for some Tony/Kagome fluff! Indeed, however much I adore Thor, I adore Tony just as much. Let's se how it will go from here, shall we?

I got a review asking about priestesses in Norse mythology. It's true - in norse mythology there's a kind of priestesses that's called völva. These, mostly vomen, were known to practice shamanism, sorcery and prophecy. The women were held in high esteem and were believed to possess such power that Odin himself consulted in a völva to learn how the future would fare for the gods.

See? I've done my homework 8D

Please review, and thank you kindly for the ones from the last chapter ^^