Summary: Shikon Priestess, Lady of the Jewel, Time-Traverler- Kagome had many titles, but it seems she's acquired a new one: Apprentice. Stephen Strange had no intention of taking on the blue-eyed girl, but it's soon clear that there's more to her than what met the eye. After all, it's not common to cross paths with someone immune to time. Perhaps an apprentice wasn't entirely off-putting.

Pairing: Undecided

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

Chapter One

A weapon.

According to SHEILD, that's what she was. An anomaly to be carefully monitored, and taken down should she become too much of a threat. It was an unforgiving line that she was constantly toeing, but never intentionally. Not that they cared.

Well, all but one, that was.

"You know, they're keeping tabs on you." It wasn't a question, but it didn't need to be. Kagome paused, glancing over her shoulder to the man standing in the shrine with her. He was dressed in all black, a stark contrast to how lightly he seemed to regard her.

"I'm aware," Kagome responded, turning away from him. Still, it did nothing to impede her sight of him. She could see him clearly in the back of her mind as he stood there, observing her.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush," he stated with a low sigh. He lifted a hand, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I'm here because I'm supposed to kill you."

Kagome was silent in response. She had been aware there was more to his daily visits to the shrine, but she wasn't sure she had been exactly expecting that. Several minutes dragged by with neither of them saying a word. Kagome had gone motionless. "I haven't done anything since the well sealed up, Agent Barton," she stated. "Why…-?" The question was cut short when the words failed her.

"I know you haven't," he responded. There was a note of resignation in his voice. "But to them, you're a threat. You don't have control over your abilities, and their first reaction to something like this is to kill it before it gets out of hand."

"Then why have you been wasting your time?" Kagome asked, turning to face him. Her expression had always been hard to read, so Clint wasn't surprised when it remained the same then. "If you're here to kill me, why haven't you done it yet?"

"I never said that's what I was going to do," he responded, a faint smile breaking across his features. "Maybe if you had a threatening bone in your body, I might've considered it, but it's not my style to kill some kid who's done nothing damning."

Kagome observed him, her silence not breaking even as he pushed himself away from the wall. He approached her, reaching to set his hands on her shoulders. The grip was firm, yet gentle.

"Look, I'm telling you this in order to help you," he stated. "Leave. Cover your tracks and just go."

"Why would you…-?"

"I'll tell them you were nowhere to be found, that there was no sign of you anywhere," Clint continued. "Hide your energy- I know you can. They've been fixated on the magic from the well, not you. If you leave now, they won't be able to tell the difference."

Kagome got what he was telling her, and she nodded faintly. "I… Right," she whispered. "Thank you."

"You can thank me by getting your abilities under control," he stated. "I don't want to ever have to meet you again under the orders of having to kill you."

"Huh?"

"If you're a threat to SHIELD, might as well get good enough to be a useful threat to them. Something too valuable to toss aside," he stated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sheet of paper. On it, she could see coordinates written down as if in preparation. Then again, it must've been. He slipped it into her palm and closed her fingers securely around it. "Go there. If you ever need me, I know you can find me no problem with those senses of yours."

It was a lot, but, at the same time, it felt right. Her grip on the paper loosened as she looked down at the coordinates written there. A second later, she nodded as he stepped away from her.

Making her way down the street, Kagome could feel the aura of her intended destination. It was hard to mistake it. When it seemed to source from the point of coordinates, it only made more sense.

She'd made it, but a figure heading down the steps caused her to come to a halt. His aura was unlike the rest around them, the specific note of magical energy somehow a fleeting source of comfort to her mind at that moment. It was strong, perhaps enough to hide her own for the time being.

Upon noticing her, Stephen came to a halt. He observed the girl for a moment or two, especially when she just stood there in silence. After a moment, she moved to fold her arms across her front, hands gripping tight together.

"My name is Kagome," she spoke, her voice soft and delicate- much like the faint chime of a bell. "I'm in need of a mentor."

The comment took him aback, and he gave her a disbelieving glance. "Perhaps you should look in another place then," Stephen remarked. "This is no place for you."

Kagome gritted her teeth in frustration, her hands tightening into fists at her sides. "You don't understand," she stated. "I was sent here to find you. There is no other place, not for me."

Though her claim sparked a bit of intrigue in him, Stephen remained reluctant to accept the idea. He held a hand up, the gesture meant to pacify her in some way, but it wasn't well received by the petite girl. If anything, the blue light in her eyes shone with an even fiercer intensity. "I'm not in the market for an apprentice," he stated. "Even if I was, you are an ordinary girl, I have no-"

She reached a hand out and gripped his wrist firmly. The light in her eyes shifted to a silvery blue, and, at the same time, a pink glow formed around the jewel hanging off her necklace. At first, he was confused about as to what had just happened, but the longer they stood there, he couldn't help but notice something undoubtably strange about the world around them.

He looked away from her. No matter where he looked, people and cars were frozen in place as if the world had come to a standstill. Even a leaf remained frozen in place as it fell from the tree she stood beside, floating in the air a few inches away from her head. Her grip on his wrist was trembling, and he looked back at her. When he did, the strain in her eyes was impossible to miss.

"Please," she pleaded softly, a glimmer of tears starting to form in her eyes.

"You can manipulate time," Stephen stated. For a moment, the words were all lost on his tongue. She nodded, the gesture faint.

"I don't have much control over it," she responded. Her other hand moved, coming up to grip tight to the pink jewel around her neck. There was little warning before the light faded. The world around them began to move as if nothing had ever happened, and she slowly let her grip loosen. "Believe me, if I had any other options, I would have tried already," she stated in a low tone.

Stephen observed her in the following seconds, silence building up between them. Despite his prior words, something within him was swaying to her requests. He didn't know what it was, but something deep inside him urged him to change his initial response.

"What was your name again?" he asked.

"Kagome," she responded. "Kagome Higurashi."

Something about that name seemed eerily familiar, but he was unable to recall how or why that was. Now that he was paying closer attention, it was hard to feel her true power. She was hiding it, but that posed the question of why? It'd been felt when she unleashed the burst that froze time.

She was undeniably powerful, more so than anyone he'd crossed paths with before.

After a moment, he cleared his throat and let his gaze return to meet her own. "I'm not agreeing to anything just yet," he stated. He didn't miss the flicker of surprise that danced within radiant blue eyes. "There's more I wish to know before any of that."

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

"Well, for starters, the deal with that little bauble you've got there," he remarked, offering her a faint smile. There was a trace of hesitation that crossed her expression before resignation settled there. "Or perhaps why you seem to hide the true signature of your energy."

"Right," Kagome murmured softly, "that makes sense…" She shook her head and sighed. "I'll answer any questions you have, then," she said. It was clear she had reservations about it, and he was fascinated when she didn't seem to argue any.

He took a step back and motioned for her to come along with him. A few seconds ticked by before she moved, following him inside the Sanctum.

Auroua-chan: This has been something I've wanted to do for a while now so I'm happy to have it ready to post. Pairing is undecided, so suggestions are more than welcome!

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

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

Bye for now~