Disclaimer: Sadly, neither the Avengers nor InuYasha are mine. I'm just borrowing them.

"Thank you for flying with S.S Iron Man, and do come again." The robot said as he touched ground outside the shrine grounds and gently shook me awake. I had managed to somehow fall asleep when he had caught me and Steve from midair, so I was a little groggy and unsteady as the robot let me down.

I wobbled where I stood, blinking dazedly up the many steps to my home. "Thank you," I murmured faintly, then turned to glance at the two males who had, undoubtedly, saved my life. "Both of you."

The robot's face to peeled back and Tony's familiar face showed itself. He sported a small grin, but I could see that a small frown had formed between his eyebrows. "No problem, little Kitten. Are you going to be all right?"

I glanced at our surroundings, took in the familiar steps up to the Higurashi Shrine. To home.

I was home.

"Yep!" Sporting a sunny smile I didn't feel, I grinned at the two of them. "I'm going to be just fine!"

Sango and Miroku, Shippo and Kirara – I would be with them again.

With InuYasha.

But still, that feeling from before I went on the airplane was back and intensified now.

Tony's grin grew a little wider from my words, but not by much. The frown was still present, lodged firmly between his eyebrows as though someone had drawn a line there with a pen.

Was he worried about something? About me? About why I and Steve had been falling from an airplane? Or about both?

"You sure, miss Higurashi?" Steve spoke up, standing rigidly and at attention next to Tony. His cool blue eyes were assessing me steadily. "I don't know – that woman on the plane-"

"It's totally fine, no worries. Just an old… frenemy from the past," I said with my sunny-don't-ask-so-much-grin still in place. Well, it wasn't really a lie if you thought about it. Somehow I'd always got a feeling that Kagura wasn't all that pleased with her 'master' or the position she was in.

Steve frowned, clearly not believing my assurance. I bit my lip and cursed that I wasn't more of an actor.

"If Kagome says it's fine, it's fine!" Tony exclaimed and clapped Steve's shoulder. He then turned and fixed me with a half lidded gaze that made my spine crawl. What's the saying… 'Feeling Death knocking on the door'? "Though I hope you don't make it a habit to jump out of planes in free-falls without parachutes, hmm?"

"Y-yes," I said. Tony gave me a slow blink. "I-I mean no, I won't!"

He brightened immediately. "That's my good girl!"

"Tony, we ought to be going," Steve murmured. "We have matters to discuss with the others."

"Ha-ah, bummer." Tony sighed and ducked his head. With that outtake of air his whole body seemed to wilt like a thirsty flower. "And I who really wanted to have some Japanese cuisine first. Can't be helped – I will just have to visit you another time, Kitten."

I blinked owlishly. "You will what?"

Tony grinned again and winked. "Well, Cap, shall we be off?"

Steve merely nodded and extended his arm which Tony took in his own. He gave me a curt nod over Tony's shoulder and a small smile. "It was – despite the circumstances – nice to meet you, Miss Higurashi."

I began to nod back, then stopped myself, and bowed to both of them. "Thank you so much for all you've done for me!" I straightened up and this time I smiled for real. Albeit sad I was happy I had met them.

Tony glanced over his shoulder; his helmet had peeled back into place, but I got the feeling he was grinning inside it. "You'll just have to pay it back one day, little Kitten."

I was still smiling when they were gone.

-ooo-

One month went by. My family was surprised, and happy, to see me. Mom pestered me with questions about what kind of people I had been with and if they had been kind to me, and grandpa had muttered about older men molesting his only granddaughter. I hadn't been sure whether to agree or argue with him – on one hand there was Thor, who was as sweet as a lamb. On the other there was Tony.

Souta was in complete awe as he understood what I hadn't; that I had been living with a group called the Avengers, a newly formed group consisting of famous superheroes in America. He had gawked at me when I had asked about their weird name – I mean, 'Avengers'? – and begun spouting nonsense about how his sister was such a dork for never watching telly anymore. I had whacked him on top of the head and not asked anything more.

Back in the Feudal Era I was greeted by my friends; Sango had cried and hugged me so tightly my ribs actually creaked from the action and Miroku had also approached me for a hug. Which I had accepted much to my – and Sango's – displeasure as his cursed hand crawled into unwilling territory.

Shippo had started crying before he even saw me. As soon as I came into view the little fox demon had clamped himself around my neck and refused to let go, even when InuYasha gave him a good whacking, thus resulting in me 'sitting' him.

InuYasha…

He was the first I saw that day when Tony and Steve brought me home. When I had clambered up the last shrine steps he had come bounding out of the shrine house, a blur of silver and red, before he stopped a few feet from me.

We stood there, just looking at each other.

InuYasha had looked so lost. No pun intended, but he looked like a kicked puppy that still looked at the one who kicked it with affection. Ears slightly laid back and eyes forlorn and darting wildly, looking all over my face at once.

I had clenched my hands, holding my elbows. Was that… blood on his chin? And that… a hole in his fire-rat robe?

I didn't see him move before I was enveloped in his arms and was breathing in the scent that was him; a slight puppy odor that was tinged with cherry blossoms.

"Thank kami," InuYasha whispered as he held me tighter. I felt his heart thudding against my ear. "Thank kami."

"You're hurt," I had murmured into his robe as I returned the embrace.

"Met a small-fry demon on my way to the well," he said, still in a low tone. "Took care of it before it got too close to the others."

I allowed myself to close my eyes and just breathe. I didn't love him. I cared for him, sure, but not like the love for a man anymore, at least. InuYasha was my best friend, almost a brother to me. I was allowed to feel safe like this, right? If only for a while…

But Kagura is alive in your time, a little voice inside me murmured. Are you really safe? Can you be safe in your time when you know that she, and possibly he, is still around?

Thank kami for InuYasha and his brash behavior, or I wouldn't have been able to fight back the tears.

"What the hell took you so damn long!?" he shouted, efficiently bringing me back to the present. "What the hell did you do that for, going off and scaring the crap outta… the others!"

My anger flared, as it always did around InuYasha when he was like this. I breathed in deeply through my nose and counted to ten. "Wasn't you worried about me, InuYasaha? Not even a little?" I smiled widely.

InuYasha's ears, previously perked in his yelling, shrunk back, pressed against his skull. To his credit, he didn't back down. "Hell no, why should I? You're weak, clumsy and too stupid for it to be any good, but you always somehow land on your feet! Why should I be worried?"

It was a strange feeling, to both feel flattered and offended at the same time. I settled for slightly-offended-but-not-enough-to-kill. "I don't know, maybe because I could have drowned?"

We had shouted at each other some more until InuYasha tired and tried to forcefully manhandle me to the well, which resulted in me 'sitting' him and declaring that he was to stay in the Feudal Era for a few days so I could properly greet my family.

That night, when I settled down for sleep, I thought over what I'd been through and some of the mysteries that had happened.

First, there was the matter of Kagura still being alive. With her being connected to Naraku, that could only mean that he too were still alive and kicking. I couldn't imagine that Naraku would leave even his subordinates if he were to die; Naraku always wanted to bring as much misery and frustration as possible.

That meaty airplane had scared the helluva out of me. While there I had been repulsed by the very sight of the walls that were glistening with juices, but when thinking back it hadn't really been that which had freaked me out. It was the pure evil that had rolled through the corridors, like a dark mist that seeped into my pores. It had been nauseating and something I had only ever felt around Naraku.

That was what had really scared me.

Second, and this one I hadn't really thought much about, was my unexpected time travel that had landed me in Tony Stark's lab. Was there a portal under the water by that cliff I had fallen from? Then, shouldn't I have landed at the same place in my time – why all the way over in New York? And inside, for that matter! Was that portal's magic screwed up somehow?

But… I remember arms, embracing me lightly as I sank deeper into the ocean, watching the light from above slowly wink out of sight. Or had that only been an illusion?

I had thought it over some more while getting dressed and brushing my hair, but in the end I hadn't managed to answer anything other than one thing:

We had to kill Naraku. And soon.

Yatta! I updated! *falls over dead*

I've had, still has, a bad case of writers block aka can't-muster-up-writing-when-there's-manga-around- syndrome.

I've also reread most of the fanfic and feel faint over the errors and strange twists I've given it, so I'm thinking of rewriting some of it. The key word being thinking since I don't know if I'll have the strength to do it.

I'm lazy that way.

I'm touched by those of you who take your time to review and read this fanfic, even though it takes time - long time! - between each update! Many happy tears to all of you!