Colors & Winter Touch are connected so you have to read both.

One or the other is going to be the pairing for a THOR / Avengers x Inuyasha called Sleight of Hand

-.-

thoughts

mental thoughts/conversations

amplified meanings

She shivered slightly as a cool breeze buffeted against the towers of the Asgardian palace, filtering through stone and metal alike until it wrapped around her frame and then continued onwards to send a plume of snow flying off the rooftop that marked a neighbouring household… and yet she didn't move. It was cold, but not entirely enough to warrant retreating indoors just yet. A wary sense of amusement touched into the depths of Kagome Higurashi's mind as the former guardian of the accursed Shikon no Tama… the Jewel of Four Souls now hanging eternally dormant from the golden necklace tucked into the heavy fabric of her winter clothing… considered the darkened gloom of night. This was the highest time of darkness. The depths of the time of Jul, which in itself marked the coming and passing of the Wild Hunt. By morning the grips of winter would start to recede and the nights would become shorter with the lengthening approach of spring and then summer and then winter again.

Normally, when she resided within the world Midgard, she found herself caring little for Jul and the Wild Hunt for the simple fact that such affected the world known widely as Earth as it would elsewhere in the Nine Realms. Few within the depths of Midgard understood what the Wild Hunt… the releasing of countless souls and their rounding up before they could wreck havoc upon the mortal plane… happened to mean anymore. Was she up because of the fact that this year Thor partook in the Wild Hunt? Something within her responded with an automatic yes that was the reason why she had found it difficult to get any sleep, tossing and turning within the massive bed they shared… fingers restlessly seeking the natural warmth and strength that the Thunderer radiated. She had almost lost him in breaking the Cycle of the Ragnarok.

But that was the easiest answer for her restlessness.

It was the scent, the unmistakable tangy aroma from the depths of a forest, of pine wood that was made all the more sharper within the potency of fallen snow and briskly cold weather with a teasing aftertaste of smoldering embers from the remains of a fire, that tickled her senses and kept her from turning to greet whomever was foolish enough to be venturing about at this hour. Besides herself that is. A vague part of her was immediately suspicious, wondering as to what he was doing when almost everyone else would be deeper within the palace awaiting the return as every year since this Wild Hunt had begun of Odin and whomever was fortunate enough to go on the venture with the AllFather. But even as the thought took form Kagome dismissed it from her mind, he was not one for social gatherings.

It was the Trickster whom broke the silence first, his voice soft. "And here I thought I'd be the only one outside rather than joining in the festivities."

"I choose to be outside," leaving the comment that here was probably more comfortable than indoors for him, Kagome Higurashi turned away from the starless heavens overhead and towards the interior of the palace itself. Towards the speaker himself.

Richly tinted azure blue, a blue which could only be found within that hour that marked dust and dawn, met and clashed with eyes the color of thick overgrown forests that were torn between shadows and sunlight in the contrast of dark and light greens. No one. No other being she had ever met had the fortune of possessing eyes like those that the being standing before her, more than a dozen or so steps from where she was situated, happened to be in possession of. The eyes were the windows of the soul was an old saying that she had heard countless times throughout her elongated life. Once those green eyes had been vibrant with his animated personality, a impious mirth that had been a source of much delight in Asgard as his ridiculous pranks eased even the most dismal of minds. And now, despite the maliciousness he had displayed through the passing years, he wasn't quite successful in disguising the haunted look in emerald tinted orbs.

Was this why Thor had revived him? His little brother?

Kagome knew without thinking that yes, this was exactly why Thor Odinson had used his considerably amplified power when he had come into possession of the Odin Force… at the apparent death of the AllFather… to revive Loki Laufeyson.

For like Kagome herself, Thor remembered well the younger days, the earlier years, when the worst things Loki had ever done would turn Thor's goats into cats or had insulted the other's feathered helmet, usually antics that riled the Thunderer into a fight and yet, surprisingly after those two bickered, Thor would always be in a much better mood... for few dared challenge the God of Thunder when his temper was up. Then there was a time when Loki had manipulated it so that both of the brothers had had to dress themselves as women as a means of retrieving the enchanted hammer Mjolnir from the hands of the Frost Giant, Thrym. She knew well that underneath the furred cloak, the bearskin, that the dark haired man was wearing now there was a vicious scar beneath his right shoulder from where an arrow… from his unwitting brother's own bow… had buried into his skin and the wooden arrow had broken, needing to be pulled out splinter by splinter before the steel head of the arrow itself had had to be cut out. Thor had thought he had shot a wolf, never realizing it had been his brother in disguise, for Loki had been pulling a ruse to keep her own "pets"... she had been tempted to smack him for so demeaningly calling her wolves, pets... from becoming targets of the hunt that the Thunderer had led.

'Good' and 'evil', weren't such just concepts defined by the beholder? And as Loki had told Thor… to be as evil as many believed the Trickster to be, he would have to try quite hard to achieve that level of malevolence. He was, after all, the God of Mischief and Change and there was always… always… another side to the coin Loki flipped.

"What are you doing out here, Trickster?"

An almost hopeless shrug of shoulders engulfed in the confines of a bear-furred cloak. Without his horned helmet, a trademark of his more sinister persona and antics, Loki looked somehow small… though at 6'4'' to her 5'9'' stature, she was still dwarfed by him. "Can I not enjoy the weather even here?"

"Loki," was it the fact that Odin would be furious upon seeing him… having not forgiven the green-eyed Trickster for his hand in Asgard's fall… that added the warning to her voice. Or was it a response to the almost teasing lit to his voice.

A huffing sigh was her response. "It is not like I am welcomed in the hall as of yet… or ever for that matter."

Ah. He never fit in amongst the others… regardless of whatever desires might have been levelled for acceptance, it would never come. When he had been younger Odin had first tired to get the other Asgardians to accept the dark haired man, and now that everyone had been revived… free as they were from the Ragnarok and as such free to choose their own destiny… Thor had attempted for the same sort of acceptance to occur. But Loki just didn't…

Breathe escaping in a soft sigh, Kagome turned her attention back to the darkened heavens. "You can stay if you want Loki."

"Thank you," that was genuine… relief… as the Trickster settled himself against the railing too. A mere arm's width away really, close enough to be touched if the desire was to strike.

She should, Kagome knew, tell him to put some distance between himself and her… but she didn't. Rather glancing at him from the corner of her eye, remembering a time when he would not hesitate to pull her into his embrace as the Wild Hunt raged somewhere in the darkness his presence soothing to terribly frayed nerves, she sighed softly.

While beneath loosely tied up strands of rich midnight black hair, a pair of distinctively hued azure eyes flickered as a tingling sensation made itself known against her left wrist, radiating outwards from the bracelet that was wrapped around her skin. Almost as if the object itself had a life of its own… or maybe it was her guilty conscious playing cruel tricks upon her troubled mind. It, the bracelet itself, was always cool against her flesh though she could not remember having ever removed the almost silken metal-like bangle from where it rested over the delicate veins of her left arm since she had first worn it. So long ago now was it that she knew without much thought that if she was to move the bracelet even a little the skin underneath would be a pallid white compared to the light tan that dominated her skin tone itself… the bracelet had been there that long.

FLASHBACK

The bracelet was simple in its design. A single ring that had been pressed along the edges as if thumb and forefinger had pushed against the material during its shaping and so giving the look as if it was shaped from three separate pieces forged together rather than one. A series of smaller lines could be found along the outside surface itself adding a sort of texture that she had never seen before, for not even the dwarves had the tools or the patience to render such fine detail. The bracelet itself was half the width of his hand, maybe spanning two inches, and yet was wide enough to easily be wriggled overtop of her own fingers and their knuckles until it would rest around her wrist if she so desired. There was no other way to wear it after all, for there was no clasp.

But for the simplicity of the bracelet itself, it was nevertheless very beautiful. It was of such a pale coloration that when it had first come to rest within her grasp Kagome had thought that it was transparent for even through the material of its crafting she could see a vague outline of the ground underneath her own feet. Partially opaque and partially transparent then. It seemed that it was either a crystalline clearness or a murky creamy white hue depending on how she was to view the bracelet itself for the contrast was constantly changing as she turned it over and over in her hands. As light struck its surface, the light coming from the glow of candles and torches that lined the hallway now that the Jul was upon them and the night was at its fullest darkness, it shimmered for a moment as a single piece of brilliant silver and then returned once again to its original shading.

And then one had to take into consideration just what was it made of. The bracelet itself was as light as air, lighter even than a bird's feather, within her grasp and so if she couldn't feel it with her own fingers Kagome would have thought it some illusion. Cool to the touch, for it seemed to refuse to warm underneath her grasp, the bracelet itself was still as hard as any of the steel that had slipped within her grasp as she tended to her own weapons. It was not something that would easily bend or break as she wore it, even if it was to get struck during her sparring sessions against the warrior maiden Sif. And yet, somehow, it was softer than the finest of silks, velveteen against her fingertips, so as her fingers mapped the concaving width of the bracelet itself she couldn't help the soft sigh that escaped her lips.

Azure eyes lifted to consider the man whom had dropped it, without ceremony and less words, into her lap as she had sat within the sheltered garden within the palace courtyard considering the starless sky stretching overhead. "What is it?"

There was a long-suffering sigh, as if she was asking a question to something that was too simple and as such wasn't worth an answer. But there was no denying the gentle curving of his thin lips. "It's a moonbeam, it took me all night to catch one."

Despite herself Kagome could feel her lips quirk with wary amusement remembering well the challenge, indirect and slyly worded it may have been, that she had issued what seemed an eternity ago and yet which something within the depths of her mind it had only been during the last festival of Jul and so only a single year had passed. She had wanted something crafted from a moonbeam so that the moon's silvered glory... which seemed all that more intense here amongst the Nine Realms than it ever would on Midgard... would be constantly with her rather than disappearing when the moon disappeared behind the horizon and the sun took its place in the heavens. It had been a challenge... a test if one would... and she would not lie in saying that she wasn't pleasantly surprised with the results of such. Once, when she had been younger and still very much 'mortal', she wouldn't have believed that such was possible but having found herself here on Asgard she had come to accept that the impossible really never happened amongst supernatural beings that had once been... and were still at times... honoured as gods.

The grin never leaving her lips, amusement warring with pleasure, she slipped the bracelet over her hand... only having to wriggle it slightly to get it to slide over her knuckles for there was no clasp to open the bracelet itself... until it was looped around her wrist, the silken feel of the bracelet almost ticklish against the slope of her wrist as she turned her arm to get a better look at it. It wasn't entirely her imagination but it was almost as if the bracelet itself was meant to be around her wrist, for it fit comfortably underneath the palm of her hand itself, the pallid length of material easily wide enough to cover the vulnerability of the sensitive veins on the underside of her left wrist. The bracelet itself never lost some of its chill, like the feel of newly fallen snow against skin... that vague ticklish sensation that reminded her of when she had been nothing more than a child running through the snow outside her parents' house before her father's death and her mother had retired to live again with the older woman's father, her grandfather in Japan at the family shrine. Her fingers straying over the bracelet's edge again, making sure that it was secured, Kagome raised her blue... she had never realized with her Asian features how striking the azure, a deep sea blue, of her eyes was until some of the beings here had commented upon it... eyes to the man whom had provided it again.

"Are you courting me then, Loki?" Her voice was soft, curious.

"Possibly." Of course he couldn't even give a straight answer here. Though his features was impassive, even guileless, there was something in the glint of green eyes as the mischievous God took a step forwards.

END FLASHBACK

Even as the memory itself began to fade, Kagome shifted her weight… though if it was from the chill that was seeping into her bones or the sensation that tickled her mind and which refused to entirely disappear… she wasn't entirely sure. Or was it the feel of been watched that had roused her from the depths of the memory which had teased her conscious mind, and which now raised the hairs along the back of her neck. In fear? No… never. Despite all the things he had indeed done the green-eyed Trickster had never done anything which warranted that she should outright fear him. He could be malicious, he could be cruel… like when he had brought enemies to Asgard's preverbal doorstep… but he was never outright evil for even as Asgard had fallen he had assisted them, the heroes, through the use of the Norm Stones and ended up dying at the hands of the Void.

Azure eyes flickered, fluttering beneath heavy eyelids, and then lifted. This time though the Trickster's gaze lowered to her wrist… her left wrist. She had not realized it outright, for it had been nothing short of a subconscious gesture now on her part, but following his gaze Kagome realized that she had been rubbing the bracelet around her wrist as memories plagued her mind. The sleeve of her shirt had bunched up around her elbow at the movement and remained there, caught within the curve of her arm as she leaned against the balcony's railing. And so the semi transparent, semi opaque wristlet which had been fashioned from a literal moonbeam was clearly visible to Loki's eyes from where she had first wriggled it over her fingers and knuckles to rest around her wrist itself.

None others knew why she kept the 'pretty bauble' on her… and though its presence sometimes seemed to burn, turning the aches of remembered past into a fiery longing, Kagome had yet to ever find herself desiring to rid herself of the bracelet. Her lips parted, to say what she wasn't entirely sure, for her tongue seemed stubbornly stuck to the roof of her mouth as Loki's gaze lifted. There was outright curiosity… and something else that went far too quickly for her to properly name… in emerald tinted eyes, before he shifted his weight slightly, freeing his closest arm from where he had trapped it against the railing beforehand. To keep from touching her, she wasn't entirely sure. Since his revival at Thor's hands, she had avoided the Trickster as much as was physically possible within the rebuilt Asgard here on the realm of Earth… least she betrayed herself.

So much so that she stilled so completely that for a moment Kagome could swear her heart itself stopped beating as vibrantly tinted emerald eyes never lowering from her face, the dark haired male brushed his fingers gently against the almost entirely colorless bracelet that was wrapped around her left wrist. His touch was a soft caress, his thumb gentling pressing along the delicate network of veins on the underside of her wrist angled so that the thumb was feathery against the curve of her wrist and even the arch of her palm itself. Every sweep of his thumb seemed to send electricity through her veins themselves, a current that pulsed along the length of her arm and continued downwards until it was pooled deep within her… even all these years, regardless of all he'd done not only to herself but to Thor as well as their friends and allies, she was almost ashamed of the sensations he could rouse within her with a single touch… until it throbbed painfully with the rhythm of her heart as the vital organ began to pound once again against the cage of her ribs.

"Why?" Though his voice was soft, there was something there that caused her to shiver as his hand tightened, just enough to say that he wouldn't be releasing her anytime soon but nowhere near enough to be painful. "Why… when I can love you like he never can?"

He… Thor. It was no secret that the blonde Asgardian had sought her affections as more than mere confidant and lover, but as wife.

"Loki..." The rest of her sentence died as he kissed her.

His lips were smooth and firm, and yet somehow velvet soft, and the irony that he hadn't touched her in years and yet now he was seducing her with tenderness wasn't entirely lost upon her. Kagome knew that she should stop him… but truth be told she didn't want to. Didn't have the strength to. Slowly, almost hesitatingly as if expecting her to break and bolt at any moment or maybe he was giving her the chance to flee, his arms enfolded her bringing her into his larger frame… against his muscled chest, his heart beating a powerful but almost erratic rhythm just underneath the spread of her fingertips. His scent enveloped her… familiar and soothing… and she opened her mouth to his, his tongue stroking hers gently as if inviting her to participate. And yet even then something panged deep within her, a sharp burning sensation that reached up and gripped her own heart painfully, though she wasn't entirely sure if it was because of Thor… or as something else, something far more primal and sinful.

It was the latter sensation that won out as with a sound escaping her throat that was almost a sob Kagome arched up against him, cupping a hand around his nape so as to hold him close. This was Loki… her Loki. Whose nuptial jewelry she had never taken off. Whose daughter, Tessa, she had given birth to. This was not Loki as he had become… not sinister, not vicious, not cruel and no longer malicious. This was Loki as he had been… impish, playful, teasing… Loving. By the gods themselves, she had missed him.

Kagome Higurashi x Loki Laufeyson