Silent breaths flowed through San's nostrils as she crept towards the ancient temple. Staring at her were the lifeless statues of dragons which stood watch over the ruined structure. Forgoing the straight path towards the front door, San sulked behind the statue bases and dead tree trunks. Every now and then, her eyes moved to the hills. Even if nobody else was present, she did not want to attract any unwanted attention by mistake. Keeping away from the craggy stone path made her almost invisible to anyone looking from the hills above. She remained in the shadows until she stood before the door to the temple. Before she entered, she scanned the hilltops one last time. Not one other soul was nearby. Lady Eboshi and Yakul had withdrawn, likely hiding below the crest of the hill.
San first tried to nudge the door open. To her annoyance, it would not budge. The door was made of sturdy wood, carved from the trunk of a thick tree that had endured decades of stress from the weather. On the other side of the door was a heavy bar of iron that kept it shut. It had served as a means to keep raiders and thieves out of the temple, the only form of security for the monks who once called this place home. Now its only purpose was to make San's blood boil further. Try as she might, the door remained steady. She glanced back at the hilltops; still no samurai. Shaking her head, she backed ten feet away from the door. Without a moment of hesitation, she charged forward and rammed her shoulder into the door. Upon the moment of impact, the door shook and clattered while San crumpled to the ground. Pain shot through her arm and she cursed under her breath. As she stood, she clutched her left shoulder and winced. A tingle spread throughout her arm before it went numb.
With her initial plan a failure, San circled the temple for an alternate entrance. There were a few windows higher up on the building. Their shutters were closed and locked from the other side. San could not find a second door to the temple, not even an entrance on the back wall where she stopped. She peered up at the windows above; the closest one to her was fifteen feet in the air. Numerous holes from the temple's disrepair and wooden beams which acted as support would act as footholds to help her climb. Upon her first attempt to scale the wall, her left arm failed her. It seemed to be impossible for San to move her arm. As she tried to force it, a blinding pain erupted in her shoulder and made her yelp. When she realized what had happened, she muttered curses to herself, sitting with her back against the rotting temple wall. Another tingle spread throughout her arm as the pain faded. Several minutes passed and the numbness returned.
San got back to her feet and stared up at the windows. Fifteen feet wasn't much for her to climb but now they seemed miles away. Without the use of her left arm, there wasn't any way she could properly scale the wall. She needed to think of a way to improvise the climb. Standing close to the temple were several dead trees, two of which were close to the wall, though San was unsure of their integrity. Her left shoulder was dislocated; she didn't want to break her leg by stepping on a weak branch and plummeting to the ground. It seemed to be the best option at the moment. The branches on the trees were grouped close together. Although it was a bit of a stretch, she was sure she could jump from one to another. Even if she couldn't make the jump with her legs alone, her right arm was still useful and had the strength to pull her up if need be.
The branch closest to the ground which San could feasibly stand upon was eight feet above. Even with her strength, San couldn't jump that high. An idea crossed her mind as she examined the tree trunk. She backed away several feet and sprinted towards the tree. Before she could collide with the gray trunk, she jumped and established a brief footing on the trunk. Wasting no time, she bolted upwards and leapt towards the branch before her momentum could burn out. San grabbed onto the branch with her right arm, wrapping it around the tree limb like a snake. Her left arm dangled at its side. It was still numb and she could see that the shoulder was out of place. Recovery was not on her mind at the moment; she could worry about that some other time. Bark scratched into her skin as she shifted her right arm. With her teeth bared and her eyes squinting in pain, she forced herself up and straddled the wide branch.
Now that San had managed to get onto the tree branch, she could reach the others which were close to the windows. She got to her feet and hopped from one branch to the other. On a weaker branch twelve feet above the ground, her foot broke through and she stumbled. In a moment of desperation, she leapt onto the next limb with less power than before. San lost her balance as she landed on the branch, causing her to legs to slip in different directions. Rough bark and inch-long splinters dug into her thighs as she caught herself on the branch. A groan of agony escaped her. Before moving on, she picked the broken bits of bark out from her skin. After a minute more of leaping between the branches, she reached one which stretched out close to the wall.
What stood between San and the ground twenty feet below was nothing but imagination. Although she was not terrified of heights, she moved as if she was approaching a savage predator. The gap between the tree branch and the wall was ten feet at the least. From where she planned to jump, the distance was closer to twelve. She had less than a meter of room to gain some momentum for the leap, but it was better than nothing. With one heel dug against the tree trunk, she sprinted towards the wall. When she reached the area she judged was the weakest point she could stand, she jumped. Below the foot she planted for the leap, the branch snapped.
San heard the branch break but could do nothing to change the end result. She wasn't close to the point in the wall which she aimed for. Instead, she fell twelve feet and crashed into the wall. Her body slammed on to the ground eight feet below, causing her to land on her side. For several minutes, she lay motionless. The air in her lungs had been knocked out by the fall. When she began to stir, pain erupted from her ribcage. As she breathed, the agony grew worse. With every breath, she could hear a harsh noise in her body. Tears flowed from her eyes and she stifled a scream. Frustration and rage were the main cause rather than the wracking pain.
As San sat up, a flare of pain shot up in her right side. Her forearm pressed into the wall as she struggled to stand. She knew that she had done more than simply hurt herself on the fall. There was no way she could tell exactly how many ribs she just broke, though only one was enough to make even breathing an agonizing task. The windows above her seemed farther away than before. But despite the broken ribs and dislocated shoulder, she still wasn't giving up. Standing before her was a barrier between her and what she needed to save her brothers, the artifact which Ashitaka gave his life to help find. Cracks and holes in this barrier were the key to surpassing it. Battered body or not, San was going to get through one way or another. Mental willpower was going to have to triumph over physical limitations.
San dug her nails into the crevices in the wall and stuck her feet into the footholds. She knew it was going to be a challenge before she tried the tree thanks to the injury in her arm. With a few broken ribs, was going to be a living nightmare. The climb was slow; San wanted to keep from breathing too much so that her ribs wouldn't cause so much pain. If that meant conserving energy and making a sluggish ascent, then that was her course of action. Extending her arm to reach a higher hold caused her ribcage to burn. Her teeth gnashed and grinded with every step towards the windows. Although she couldn't ignore the pain, she fought against it by anchoring her fingers into the wall. Every meter conquered required her to stop and rest for one minute. After her brief repose, she continued to climb. A smile tainted by sweat and tears lit up San's face when she finally reached a window. Below the window was a gutter filled with dead leaves and cobwebs. Having no further need to scale the wall, San hopped onto the gutter, pressing her body against the wall for balance. To her dismay, the window was locked. However, this was not a barred door of dense wood which was several inches thick. Through the shutters of the window, she could make out the inner walls of the temple. Only one idea crossed her mind on how to open this window. Seeing as to how it was her only option aside from climbing further to find one unlocked, she sighed and braced herself for further punishment.
Shards of wood flew into the hall as San crashed through the shutters shoulder-first. Rather than risk a second injury, she broke through with her already-wounded left shoulder. It smacked against the wall, aggravating the dislocation further. San had been stifling screams of pain to keep her presence a secret, despite the torture she put herself through. The pain in her shoulder was what she imagined it felt like to be shot by a rifle. She let out a howl of misery like an injured wolf caught in bramble. Her shortened breathing made it difficult for her stamina to recover as fast as it normal. For her, the physical torment was worth it now that she was finally inside the temple. Tears flowed down her cheeks, partly out of joy, partly out of the violent pain. Before continuing on, she sat against the hallway to rest for a while. Surrounding her were the bits of the shutter she had broken. They made her smile grow out of satisfaction.
One hour passed before San struggled back to her feet. Although her body felt like it was going to break down in any moment, she was ready to continue her search. Moonlight poured in through the broken shutters and provided enough light for San to examine the hallway. To her left were two doors and one to her right which she almost crashed into. Dust floated in the air and clung to the walls and floor. With each step she took out of the hallway, San left a footprint on the wooden planks. She headed to her left, unsure of where it led, though she hoped it led to the main room. In her mind, she replayed everything Lady Eboshi told her about what she was searching for. A sword, a mirror, and a jewel would pinpoint her goal. If she couldn't find those, the sun, moon, and stars would reveal her objective. Her hope was that she would only have to search through one room. The temple towered over any other human-made structure she'd ever laid eyes on. Inside the building were forty rooms. San thought of searching one of the rooms closer to her but decided to go through the largest one first.
San made her way down the stairs to the first floor. Each step she took caused her ribs to fire up. Her breathing was rough and throaty, occasionally breaking due to gasps of pain. She stumbled off of the last step and found herself in the entrance hall of the temple. The moment she set foot into the room, fifty paper lanterns came to life. Glowing light of gold poured over her body, making her skin radiate. Night became day in the temple. A spark of hope reenergized San's vigor. Without any time to waste, she began to search the room.
Decades of disuse left the hall desolate. The walls were pale yellow and the beams which supported it were read; San wondered whether the walls had been white once before and their color came from age. Whoever last occupied the temple took as much as they could bring. San wondered why the building had been abandoned. She spotted the heavy bar across the front door, a sure sign that the structure was well protected. At the same time, San realized that it meant the temple needed to be defended. Thugs had been around Irontown more than once; San could remember that Ashitaka had a brief fight with three. If the residents of the temple were forced to leave because of bandits, San couldn't imagine there was not a battle of some sort. It was a grand building with only one entryway, one which was barred shut at that. Only one item of note was in the main hall: on a balcony overlooking the room sat a statue of a human-looking figure holding its arms in the air, forming a circle as its fingertips touched together. Being the only thing of interest, San examined it for any clues but found nothing. After spending hours more searching the rest of the room, San sat down and growled. Above her, the lanterns died and darkness fell over the temple. A piercing ray of moonlight shone through a crescent shaped hole high up on the wall.
San raised her head at the pale white light and sighed. Outside the temple walls, only a mile or two away, was a camp full of samurai who may be after what San needed. Morning would come in a few hours; she wasn't sure if she could make a thorough search of the building by then. The least she could do was try, even if it meant straining herself further. She decided to go back up the balcony, as there were a pair of doors she hadn't yet opened, and search there. When she reached the top, she noticed that the beam of moonlight was passing directly through the center of the statue's arms. A small white crescent moon was painted by the light on the yellow wall. Something inside San's mind clicked and she froze in her tracks. Eboshi told her that the sun, moon, and stars could help her find her goal. At the moment, she could see the moon, and she began to question if the literal stars, sun, and moon were what Eboshi was talking about; perhaps she didn't even know.
San tapped on the wall that the moon was shining upon. To her surprise, it sounded hollow. As she gazed at the piercing ray of light, she noticed as well the lanterns. Dozens of them, shining high above, like stars in the night sky. Before her was the statue of a human, its arms circular like the sun, in front of a yellow wall. Without much more thinking, San rammed into the wall, again with her ruined shoulder. A sharp hiss passed through her teeth as she dropped to one knee, though she was happy that her hypothesis had been correct. She was kneeling in a new room, only ten feet in length and width, with a small wooden box atop a pedestal. Beneath the battered body, heavy breaths, and sweat covered hair, a smile, wider than any in her recent memory, was spread across San's face.
No locks were on the box, only an inscription that San couldn't read; though she could speak the human tongue, text was little more than scribbles. The wooden lid clattered to the floor as San looked inside. Sitting within the teak container was a green cloth pouch the size of a large apple. Inside the bag, San found what seemed to be crushed tea leaves. She took a small pinch and let the herbs fall off her fingertip. More tears began to well in San's eyes. Relief filled her heart, making her feel warm in the cold night air. San began laughing, the stress of this journey all pouring forth from her. For the first time in what felt like years, she was overjoyed. Her celebration was cut short by the sound of a crash against the main temple door. With not a moment to spare, she fled the area with the green pouch in hand.
San reached the window she had broken through, staring down at the ground below. She clutched the bag in her teeth and began to make her way down the wall. Rather than wait to carefully reach the ground, she jumped while she was several feet above. Shouts from one man, likely the man leading the samurai, could be heard in the still night. One more smile appeared on her face, this time more mischievous than joyful, and she ran into the nearby forests. Her legs ached as she made her way up the hill, searching for Yakul and Lady Eboshi by their scent. Their smell led her to where she had left them. Lady Eboshi was at the crest of the hill, watching as the samurai below broke through the front door of the temple and rushed inside. Yakul was at her side. His ears twitched as San approached. He ran towards her, elated to see that she had escaped before the samurai could arrive. Eboshi turned to see what he was doing. A sigh left her as she saw San coming through the bushes and the trees, a smile on her face and something in her hand. The two women greeted each other with a bow. As San straightened her back, she winced in pain. At the same time, Lady Eboshi noticed that her left arm seemed out of place.
"Are you injured?" She asked.
"Yes, I am." San replied through labored breaths. With her one working arm, she held up the green bag of tea leaves and grinned. "But I'd gladly break more of my bones if it means this doesn't leave my possession."