Finding The Balance

Yay me third work in progress! I F***ING HATE WRITER'S BLOCK! As ever, lemme know what you think. ALL READERS' OPINIONS ARE VALID ONES! Don't think for a second I won't want to hear any criticism too. A real writer knows that part of the work. Thanks to all who reveiw, the rest of you SUCK!


Chapter 1: Fallen From Grace


Saiyuri walked quietly along the rather worn dirt path, past trees as tall as skyscrapers for all she could see, and as wide as two or three men when standing side-by-side. Saiyuri was not what her name implied, she was not a typical Japanese girl. Although her given name was Saiyuri, her family name was Caldwell. Her father had been Scottish in heritage and her mother Japanese, thus explaining the odd mix of culture in her name. She didn’t really look Japanese either, but more like a Scottish girl. Her hair was long and wave and seemed made of rich brown with streaks of deep gold. Also her skin was of a fair, that is to say Caucasian , tone and her eyes where so green that they would shame the brightest emeralds. As she walked, she let her mind wander, and her feet carried her to a place she did not know; she didn’t care all that much. Memories of her parents came back out of the pain of the past, and tried to sting her eyes into making tears fall. But Saiyuri Caldwell was stubborn as hell and would not let them fall. Her parents where now dead, and had been for nearly a year, but that didn’t make the loss any easier to bear, though she tried to hide it. She recalled her father’s face, with his scruffy light brown hair and his own green eyes, and her mother too, with her waist-length black tresses and soft smile and quiet yet fun-loving nature. Losing them had hurt to the point where she would have been glad to join them, but years before, her mother had made her promise never to commit suicide.
“You may die with honor,” she had said at the time. “But you won’t die with peace.” Along with being stubborn as hell, Saiyuri prided herself on keeping her promises, and she valued integrity. When she tripped slightly on a stone step, she looked up to find she was at the bottom of a very steep, very tall, series of stone stairs. Looking up to where they led, she saw what she had guessed to be a shrine. She couldn’t be sure, never having seen one back in America, where she was born. She found she preferred Japan when she was still just a child and her parents had taken her there to meet her grand parents for the first time. Back during that trip, her grandparents had insisted she look and act Japanese, since it was her heritage too. She had been dressed up in a little girl’s kimono and her hair styled almost like a doll. She remembered that now as she climbed the stone steps, more out of curiosity and listlessness than anything else. When she reached the top of the stone stairs, she caught her breath and looked around. She took in the arrangement of buildings and one rather large tree to one side. She had taken one step towards it when an elderly voice called out.
“Good afternoon young lady.” Said an old man dressed in temple garb. Remembering her manners, Saiyuri bowed in greeting.
“And to you too sir.” She replied politely, then straightened and looked around again. And again the large tree caught her eye.
“This temple has quite a history, if you’re interested.” the old man said in a tone that sounded more like a request.
“What about this tree?” Saiyuri asked, turning back to the old man. After a few minutes, she took a seat with her rear on her heels, as it looked like the history lesson would take awhile. It was an interesting story to be sure, although Saiyuri wasn’t sure how much of it she really believed, since it involved demons and monsters and such. She commented otherwise. “Wow, did all that really happen?” she asked doing when she deemed her part as the fascinated audience, albeit a little childish-sounding to her own ears.
“Yes, indeed.” The old man replied, bowing to the tree with respect. “And all over 500 years ago.” he sighed as an after thought. Then he turned to the young woman again. “Is there anything else you wished to know my dear?” he asked kindly, ever the helpful grandpa, or so it seemed.
“Yeah, what’s over there?” Saiyuri asked as she gestured to another building that she ha noticed. It seemed separate from the other buildings, and that had struck her as somewhat odd.
“That,” said the old man in a tart, matter-of-fact voice, “is the well-house, inside it is the old bone-eater’s well, a cursed thing.” he shook his head as she looked at the young woman again. “You would do well to keep away from it, it could be dangerous.” he told her, now definitely sounding like a grandfather. She was about to ask how an old dried up well could really be dangerous, but at that moment, a middle-aged woman stood at the doorway to the main building and called him over, giving the younger female a wink. Saiyuri smiled and winked back, accurately guessing that the woman thought the old man was bothering her. So now Saiyuri was all by herself on the temple grounds and looking around thinking.
Curiosity killed the cat. She thought ruefully to herself, but slid the door to the well-house open anyway. It took a moment or two for nervousness to set in, when she realized there was no light switch on the wall. Saiyuri entered and closed the door behind her, feeling a bit like a thief about to be caught. She felt her way down some wooden steps until her eyes adjusted, and she spotted the lip of the well. It didn’t look all that sinister to her, except that it was not covered up. Apart from that, she couldn’t figure out why the old man would find it so dangerous. Stepping closer, carefully, she leaned far over the edge, looking down into the well. From where she stood, it looked almost bottomless. Feeling the rough uneven stones a bit farther down, Saiyuri judged that she could probably climb down the inside and look for herself. This was none too difficult since she had such long and remarkably strong fingernails. But she was just clinging to the inside about three feet down, when she heard the well-house door roll open. Saiyuri froze, and didn’t even dare to breathe. She hung there for a long few moments then a voice reached her ears, and she tensed.
“Hmmmm, I could have sworn I heard the door close just a bit ago.” The voice of the old man said somewhere above her and Saiyuri began to wonder why she was hiding like this.
“Well doesn’t look like she’s here grandpa.” said a voice she didn’t recognize, it sounded like a little boy.
“Hmm, you’re probably right Souta.” the old man replied. “Unless she’s hiding in the well.” he laughed, clearly meaning this as a joke.
“Oh c’mon, no one’s that crazy. Except maybe Kagome.” the little boy commented, as the door slid shut. Saiyuri heard all of this and finally breathed again. But the action of relaxing, even just a bit, was enough to dislodge her from her grip on the wall and she fell feet-first. Throat too constricted to cry out, she shut her eyes so tight that lights burst like fireworks behind them. After what felt like an eternity, she hit the hard earthy ground and had the wind knocked out of her for a few minutes. Once that shock of the fall had worn off, she opened her eyes, but hat to close them again, due to the bright light streaming into the well, and straight down on her. Slowly, she sat up, wincing from the pain here and there on her right side and the inside of her left ankle, though everything still felt intact.
“When will I ever learn to mind my own damn business?” she grumbled to herself. She stood now and dared to look up again, shielding her eyes this time. She had to put her hand against the rough stone wall of the well to steady herself, for she found that she was looking up into blue sky and the edges of some green trees. It took her another minute to calm herself, for she knew something was not right about this. But her nails found the correct edges in the stones and she started to climb, though now it was much slower going up this time. But it became easier about halfway up due to the strong vines that grew over the top. Saiyuri emerged from the well and sat herself on the edge, looking around, with her mouth gaping. It appeared that she was in a small clearing, surrounded on all sides by trees at least twenty or thirty feet tall. The ground all around was covered with a thick carpet of grass and Saiyuri tentatively set her foot one toe at a time on this before she finally believed it was real. Doing her best to keep steady, she stood straight on the turf, one hand still resting on the edge of the well. This was beyond weird, one minute she had been indoors, and now she wasn’t, and the only thing linking the two was the well. No it made no sense at all. So, Saiyuri did what she always did when she was troubled; she started to walk, not knowing where she was going, but making sure she would be able to find her way back. She walked and turned over possibilities in her head, each turning out to be more ridiculous than the last. She had no idea how long she had been walking until she looked up, and the slanted shadows of the forest told her she had been walking far too long. “Oh damn.” she muttered to herself, looking around trying to get her bearings, and before she knew it, she was lost. So, she started to jog in one direction and ended up getting nowhere, or so it seemed. Eventually, when the sun was setting, Saiyuri Caldwell gave up and sank back against a tree, feeling frustrated, and now more than a little scared. “What a day I’m having.” she grumbled to no one as was quickly becoming her custom. Still in her blue jeans and black tank-top, with a few bits of jewelry, her long hair pinned up and held by hair chopsticks, plus her black boots, she let the fatigue of her emotions and her constant running take her away to sleep. She naturally did not hear the voices of four or five others a good mile-and-a-half away.

~Elsewhere~

“Did you guys hear that?” What appeared to be a man with long silvery-white hair, yellow eyes and dog-like ears on the top of his head.
“Heard what?” asked a girl with longish black hair and dressed in a school-girl’s uniform.
“Someone’s out there.” the male from before answered looking away from the campfire, and the girl fisted her hand in the collar of his red clothing.
“Inu Yasha, you’re not going out there to start a fight tonight. It’s getting late and I’m not moving.” she said stated testily. The one called Inu-Yasha “Hmphed” and sat back against a tree looking very cross indeed.
“Lady Kagome is right.” conceded a young man with black hair tied back against the nape of his neck. His black and purple robes shifting as he stretched and yawned slightly. “Besides,” he added, “if it were anything to worry about it would’ve tried something by now.” As he got this last bit out, there was a sharp smack to his left cheek. Given the location of his right hand, there was little wonder why he’d received it.
“Stupid hentai.” Grumbled another young woman as she edged a decent three feet away from him, and beyond the reach of his busy hands.
“Miroku will never learn will he?” asked a little red-headed boy with a tail not unlike that of a fox.
“Not likely Shippou.” said Kagome as she smiled at the little one in her lap. Miroku laughed at himself a little placing one hand behind his head, clearly making a play at innocence.
“Don’t know how you put up with him Sango.” Said Shippou bluntly as he curled up to go to sleep.
“Neither do I.” Commented the other young woman who was named Sango. Eventually the chatter faded as they all fell asleep and they gave no more thought to whoever might be out there.


Author's Request: FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS SACRED UNTO THIS WORLD PLEASE REVEIW MY STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Sigh* Okay not that that's outta my system I feel much better.