"And that concludes your trial Ms. Higurashi," Pepper announced as Kagome entered the kitchens. She handed the girl a folder and smiled. "Congratulations, welcome to Stark Industries!"

Kagome wanted to throw her arms around the other woman, but instead hugged the folder to her chest and bowed low. "Thank you very much! I will do my best!"

Pepper smiled at the pure excitement and joy on her face, and realized that Stark Industries was going to become a lot sunnier with her around. "Now that your work is done for the night, feel free to enjoy the party!"

"I will! Thank you again!"

Kagome burst out of the kitchens wanting to squeal with delight. She remembered that Mr. Stark – her new boss – had said he wanted to see her after Ms. Potts said she was done so she headed for where she'd last seen him. She wove through the crowd of people swiftly to get there. She caught sight of the small group when she paused. A woman had joined their conversation. Was that… Natasha? She didn't have long to process that Natasha was here when she caught Steve staring straight at her.

"So what has the 'Kagome-issue' evolved into now?" Natasha asked the three Avengers, looking pointedly at Steve. She had watched Kagome interact with him – noting her genuine shock, obvious attraction, still no sign of aggression – and judging by the rest of the Avengers' reactions, a significant amount of improvisation had taken place. Which also meant that the lie had probably gotten a lot bigger in her absence. If they didn't keep a tight rein on their story, it wouldn't be long before someone slipped up and Kagome would know they had lied to her.

To her surprise, Thor filled her in. "Kagome now believes the Captain and I are Tony Stark's personal protection and that I hail from north of a place called 'Europe'."

Natasha tilted her head. They lied pretty well on their feet. Although she suspected all of the lies were concocted by Stark. "Does that mean we're going to have Steve and Thor play bodyguard to keep up this charade while you've employed her?" she asked Stark.

"That could be fun. We could dress them up!" Stark said.

"I cannot understand why we do not just tell her the truth," Thor speculated.

"No!" Steve blurted causing them all to stare at his outburst. He immediately tried to explain, "No – I mean – well – I don't want any of you to tell her just yet. It's been sort of nice to not be seen as just the hero for once and just be me. Besides, I want to be the one to tell her."

"Captain America and Steve Rogers may be two different names but they're not different people. You can't pretend you're not a hero Steve. You need to tell her. And soon," Stark said.

In one of those rare moments that hardly came by, Tony was right about something moral. Steve had been happily ignoring his other life while talking to Kagome, somewhat basking in being able to pretend he was normal. Possibly scared at witnessing firsthand what emotions she would express upon realizing that he was not what he'd made himself out to be. That he was someone who although had saved many people, had taken just as many lives – villain or not. That his strength given to him to protect others had also brought great danger to his closest friends. That at the heart of things, he was a liar.

Steve swallowed. In the wake of a serious Stark, he recognised the weight of what it was to be hiding half of yourself from someone. Yes it was nice to not be seen in a halo of heroism as was so often the case, but was that fair to Kagome? In their newly forming friendship – and possible something else – was it fair to ask her to trust him completely all the while not trusting her with all of him? No. It wasn't. But how did one bring that up in a conversation? 'Hey, so you remember all that stuff I told you about myself before? That was all a lie. As it turns out, I'm actually a superhero! And just so you know, people might try to kidnap or kill you for being friends with me. Are you okay with that?'

Not ideal.

"No. Not until she's cleared of suspicion," Natasha said firmly. "This is bad enough as it is. I don't want a word of the Avengers so much as breathed on her until I find out the truth about her missing records."

Natasha hoped it sounded convincing. True, she didn't want this getting any further out of hand than it already was and she really did need to wrap up this investigation, but mostly, she spoke up because she could see the Captain was struggling. She imagined he probably hadn't thought about telling her so soon. She decided to buy him some time to ponder when best to let Kagome know she was walking headlong into a whole world of crazy. Besides, she knew the Cap'. He would get to the right answer, he always did. He just sometimes took his sweet time getting there.

"Oh – come – on – Romanov! There is no way Kagome could be suspicious of anything!" Tony retorted, rolling his eyes.

"I agree. I do not sense any dishonesty or malice in her," Thor added.

"Coming from the guy who didn't realise his own brother was a power-crazy psychopath," Natasha said dryly.

As Steve witnessed the argument escalate, he sighed and looked away, mostly hoping to find conversation elsewhere. He knew once his teammates had decided on something, it was almost impossible to make them change their mind to agree on something… usually it involved someone dying or the world on the brink of destruction before they came to assertive discussion. As he glanced over the crowd, his eyes caught Kagome standing not too far off. Instead of a tray of champagne, she was clutching a folder and was frowning. But when she noticed he'd seen her, she lifted up the folder and gave him a smile that took his breath away. He silently excused himself from his teammates unnoticed and headed in her direction. She met him halfway.

"I got the job!" she said with no small amount of joy. Her excitement was almost tangible in the air and he couldn't help but want to celebrate with her.

"Congratulations! Though I can't imagine why they wouldn't hire you," he said, beaming back at her. He meant it. Beyond Stark setting this up to hire her in the first place, this was indeed a job that she was practically made for and he was sure any other employer would agree.

"Thank you! Though I can think of many reasons why they wouldn't," she said laughingly.

"Nah! You'll be brilliant!"

"So does this mean I'll see you at work as well?" she asked, hoping she didn't sound too eager by this prospect.

"I suppose so. Thor and I only accompany Mr. Stark when he feels that bodyguards are a requirement. If we're not on duty usually we just stay somewhere within the building. We're bound to cross paths at some point," Steve said. Not entirely inaccurate.

"With the record we have, it would be impossible to not run into each other," Kagome laughed. "But I am glad that I already know someone there. That makes it a bit easier I guess."

He wondered if he'd ever stop smiling. Steve had a feeling that their 'run-ins' in the future were probably going to be completely orchestrated by either Stark or himself… and he didn't know which was worse. The fact that Stark had taken it upon himself to play cupid or that he had realized that he was already so infatuated that he would probably end up finding every possible opportunity to seek her out?

"Um-" she started, her smile faltering ever so slightly as she pointed behind him. "-Uh is – is that Natasha over there?"

Steve turned to see Tony, Thor and Natasha still arguing where he left them. He swallowed, suddenly not entirely sure what he should say.

"Yeah, Mr. Stark invited her," he said. "I had no idea she was coming."

Kagome nodded and hesitatingly read his aura. She didn't like using her miko abilities for her own selfish reasons, she found it was unfair to pry into what was essentially someone's essence. But she felt her heart sink a little when she watched his aura dim a little and waver as he lied to her. She'd already guessed something was off at the gym but this confirmed it. Though she still didn't know why both of them had pretended not to know each other in front of her, she refused to be lied to. Not anymore. She gathered up as much courage as possible, ignored the part of her that told her not to involve herself in other people's business, stood straight and asked, "You knew Natasha before that day at the gym didn't you?"

Steve froze. Stunned by the question, he scrambled to decide whether or not to keep up the charade, all the while hearing both Natasha and Stark in his head.

'No. Not yet…'

'You need to tell her...'

He sighed. "Yes, I do know her."

Kagome took a deep breath. Why did that hurt as much as it did? Because she had cast him as her 'fairytale chivalrous prince'? Probably. She had set up an ideal and expected him to fulfil it, not taking into account that he was a person with flaws as well. Now she was disappointed that he wasn't doing what she thought he would do. And she immediately hated herself for it. Wasn't that exactly what Inuyasha did to her? Wasn't that what she swore she'd never do to anyone? All the same though, she would rather have the truth from him. Only she would ask him now and let him answer for himself, she would not be someone that checked others to see if they were lying.

"Why did you two pretend not to know each other?" she asked, letting the crowd of coloured auras fade from the edge of her vision.

One look at her face and Steve felt like someone had punched him in the gut. She was upset, as much as her attempts to act otherwise tried to hide it, there was a sea of hurt in her eyes and Steve was faced with the reality of his decisions. As much as he wanted to tell the truth, he couldn't. Romanov was right. Even as every moral bone in his body rebelled at the idea of perpetuating the lie, he had to do it. And not just because he wanted to hide his hero persona but because as the truth of the matter was, he didn't really know Kagome. In what was only a handful of weeks they'd only seen each other face-to-face three times with the last few days dotted with texting. He would tell her, just not yet. He only hoped she stayed long enough for him to do that.

"We work together. Only we're not on the best of terms at the moment. That day at the gym - we didn't want you to worry about our own personal problems," he said, feeling guilty as soon as he spoke.

Kagome nodded. She still felt like something was off but she accepted his answer. What he said made sense and she came to the understanding that she could not expect him to be perfect all the time. She couldn't expect anyone to be a perfect human being, that was just unrealistic and she immediately felt childish for letting herself be upset by his lie. Besides, he had been nothing but courteous towards her since they first met, she did not need to pry into other people's business and especially not his.

Steve was surprised by how quickly her emotions played out on her face. Going from disappointment, to what seemed like a mix of frustration and guilt before finally settling on a small smile with almost no trace of her previous upset. He wondered if she knew that her face gave away her feelings. She probably didn't.

"Oh. Well then I guess I probably owe thanks to you two for showing consideration towards me. And I apologise for making the situation uncomfortable for you both," she said, her head dipping a little in what seemed to Steve as a bow.

"No! I mean – you didn't know so you don't have to apologise for it. We should have just told you we worked together from the start," he said, hating each word that reinforced the lies. He was beginning to feel weighed down by how willingly Kagome accepted his words. She was no fool, she had already called him out on one of his lies but she had mercifully forgiven him. He needed a distraction, but also had no desire to be apart from her just yet.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked, gesturing to the dance floor.

Kagome tried to get her brain to function as it stuttered helplessly. The offer had caught her off guard – as most things he did tended to do – and she wanted to, it was just…

"I… I don't know how," she said, feeling heat rise to her cheeks at the admission.

She tried not to linger too long on the way his mouth quirked up into a smile when he answered, "It's not too difficult. I can teach you."

"Teach me? In front of all these people and my boss? If I don't manage to make a fool of myself by falling to the ground at the very least I'm sure your feet will suffer for trying to teach someone with no talent for dancing."

"I promise you won't fall, and my feet? That's a risk I'm willing to take," he said, opening his hand towards her.

She took the offered hand with a light giggle and he led her towards the throng of dancers. "I hope you won't regret your decision by the end of this."

"I doubt I would."

Barton entered the argument with a scowl aimed at Natasha, indignation rife in the air.

"Hey, how come I'm not allowed to drink tonight but the ancient mythological lightning rod can drink himself to oblivion?" he asked, gesturing to Thor who had somehow managed to acquire an entire bottle of champagne.

Natasha huffed, riled up by the inane bickering. "I don't know! And I don't care anymore! If Kagome goes truant on us it's not my problem!" she snapped, turning heel to leave the discussion. Apparently, there was nothing she could do to convince the others to exercise even a tiny bit of caution when it came to the newcomer in their midst. Did they care that they were Earth's main vanguard? Did they care that Kagome – whose backstory was getting increasingly questionable – was worming her way into said vanguard with little to no effort or worries? Did they care that said woman had their Captain so wrapped around her finger that she had managed to get him to dance in public?

Natasha did a double take.

"Well shit."

*crawls forward and places chapter at the feet of readers* Please humbly accept offering of peace and sad apology...

My word that updating roll didn't last very long did it?! I'm so sorry! This was a hard one to write. Probably because I was juggling multiple characters this time and wasn't sure what their interactions would/should be. Also this chapter came out a bit more serious than I'd have liked but I guess that now this is out of the way we can move on to the feels.

I really have nothing else to say other than I'm so sorry. I really am. Feel free to vent your frustrations as I so aptly deserve.

Short notes:

I played the Mass Effect Trilogy for the first time.
I cried for five hours after I finished it.
My Shakarian feels are strong and without closure hence chaos.
I am still upset about the whole thing really.
I can't even listen to the soundtrack without tearing up.
University has stolen what creativity I had left.
I feel really bad about how late this chapter was.
But was also unhappy with it multiple times and rewrote it thrice
I hope it's half-decent
Dancing...
They're totally slow-dancing
My bets are on Pepper is the silent DJ for this moment.

To the reviewers. You are the wonderful little angels that brighten my day. You don't know how many times I've felt down or stressed about uni work and then I get encouraged by you and instantly feel better. Words have power and yours are a gift.

The shards of my emotionally-crippled heart (see Short notes) go to:

Tigerluver13, Ayjah, KEdakumi, anon93, Lunascorpio20, Spastic Freak, HalfBlackWolfDemon, kakashixangela, ultima-owner, Deadpool-girl, Slytherin's Pimp, Mya Uzo, Anime hotty lover.18, Infinities Lover, DogDemoness108, Dreaming Haven, serenityselena, Silversun XD, shie0917, Anonymous Guest, Always Keep the Faith, Anonymous Guest 2, SweetHunniiBunnii, Bucio, Bunny.W.K., GiggleboxGirlie, moonlightdaisy, MoonPrincess623, silverfoxkurama, Kixi45, Anonymous Guest 3, Sesshou's ward, Applejax XD, edithlove100, Ilovetacos5, Anonymous Guest 4, Purplediamon, Zerimar, Audrianne, mountainflower, Gak237, thegirl59, Anonymous Guest 5, readme123, Mysticdragon, Dark Priestess66, Marie, animagirl, Gelline, LupinCriss, Trinabear AND lolistarkiller

So let me know what you think guys or what you might want to see happen next and leave a comment in the box thingy below!