The First Falling

Chapter One

"Watch the children, Grandpa!" Mrs. Higurashi told her late husband s father as she shrugged her purse farther up her shoulder. The young mother had a job at a newly opened corporation as a secretary. Since her beloved husband died, she had been working hard to support her family without digging into the insurance money he had left behind.

"You can count on me," he promised as he saw her to the front door. The children were in the living room watching Saturday morning cartoons and playing with Legos. Well, Kagome was really the only one playing with the Legos. Souta was just handing her the blocks and watching expectantly as she placed it on the structure before handing her another one. Mrs. Higurashi spared a small smile at the picture her children made before turning and walked out the door.

The elder man sighed as he sank down in front of his grandchildren. His daughter-in-law refused to use the insurance money his son had left behind even though it would help them; instead, she had chosen to work. He suppressed the sigh that threatened to come from his lips. All of his money had gone toward paying for the closed casket funeral, so that his sweet daughter-in-law would not have to worry. It had not worked. It had been two years since his beloved son passed away and the bills were still piling up on his daughter-in-law's desk. Suddenly, the television changed for a cat chasing a mouse around to a documentary causing him to startle. He looked down at the children. Kagome held the remote in her slightly chubby hand. He smiled. It appeared they hadn't been as buried in their little world of colorful blocks as he had thought.

Idly, he wondered what she had changed the channel too. Then, he heard it. It was a documentary on Feudal Japan. They talked of sutras and binding spells. Instantly, his worries faded. Kagome grinned at the look on her grandfather's face; she was happy to see that the sad, defeated look he had worn before was replaced. She didn't attempt to pay attention to what the boring man on the television was saying. She would only become confused again. Souta stole her attention away from her grandfather by throwing a small Lego at her head. Kagome gave a small shout of outrage and chased her running two year old brother from the room. Their grandfather didn't bother chasing after him. He had gotten tunnel vision.

Souta ran hard away from his older sister. He hadn't known that the Lego would hurt her. Quickly, he ran into the old well house. Kagome paused at the wooden doors and bit into her lip. She had been told multiple times not to go near the well, but her brother was in there! Kagome slid the door open slowly as if expecting her mom to materialize out of thin air.

"Souta!" She called, "we're not supposed to be in here!" She mumbled as she stepped further into the musty house. "Souta?" She neared the well slowly, praying that her younger brother hadn't fallen in. "Come on, Souta, this isn't funny!"

"BOO!" Kagome screamed in fright. In anger, she spun around. Souta laughed cutely at the sound, but then his eyes widened in horror. His sister was falling. She hadn't watched her footing when she spun around. He watched, unable to understand, as his sister fell over the well's edge.

(A/N: I'm terribly sorry for the quality of the original chapter. Thank you to the reviewer that pointed this out to me. I used Notepad to post this story on and didn't think to look at it.)