Chapter 1: Rural geisha
Chapter Text
“You would be wise to stay away from that town.”
“Oh~?” the medicine seller questioned
The merchant in the powder blue kimono shifted nervously on the roadside, pulling at the straps of his backpack. “Supposedly men go into the town and never come out. That’s what I heard in the last town. Business or no, I’m not disappearing. You might want to go that way down the road. About two hours or so, you’ll find a better town.”
The medicine seller followed his finger down a well traveled path through the forest in a different direction than he and Kayo were heading. He watched the merchant scurry off in a hurry, not wanting anything to do with the town ahead.
Kayo tucked her hands underneath her arms. The wind in this valley was incredibly bitter for only being early fall. She’d never been so far north, wondering how much further they’d go before she found herself skittering on ice. Yet right now, her mind was distracted watching the merchant quickly scamper away. She opened her mouth to comment but noticed that the medicine seller was no longer standing next to her.
“H-hey! Slow down!” she shouted at him, shuffling down the pathway to catch up with him as he stopped on the pathway. “We’re really going to that town, huh.”
“You are cold,” he pointed out.
She had to admit, she was terribly cold and a warm hearth would really do her good. She peered at him, frowning at how unfazed he was by the chillier weather.
“You are not afraid of simple rumors, are you, Miss Kayo?” he teased.
She puffed up at him. “Of course not! Just like the last three towns were just people being paranoid! What is it with this valley anyway? Every town thinks they’re haunted!” She looked at him for some kind of confirmation that it really was just rumors, frowning sharply when he gave her that grin that left her guessing with what he was thinking about.
She huffed, following him towards the town. It was easily the biggest one since they left the mountain town. Most of the towns had been farming communities. A few huts here, an inn there, a lot of open farmland everywhere. This town was definitely more of a hub with cobbled streets and wooden buildings attempting to invite people in. A shrine stood at the end of the street. People bumbled about their daily business. “For a town filled with rumors, it sure is busy.”
“It is.” He could feel it as soon as they’d entered. Something supernatural scratched at the back of his senses. He paused to peer at the large building painted red and accented with several stalks of bamboo. A geisha house. He certainly hadn’t expected one to be in such a remote location, usually catering to the upper class, but likely there was a lord of the region somewhere in need of something that wasn’t completely and utterly boring. They were entertainers, trained in a multitude of arts and literature, that also performed intricate tea ceremonies.
“I do wonder if they require a supply of tea,” he thought aloud as he headed towards the side entrance.
Kayo had never been to a geisha house before. She had considered it before though, cast out of her house and rumors of the bakeneko incident sticking to her like glue. Women could become highly educated, run businesses, work with education, and generally be independent. However, there was a problem with that. Geisha trained as maiko very young and she wasn’t exactly a teenager anymore. Besides, she had this life now with the medicine seller, working as his apprentice and occasionally panicking about yokai and mononoke.
Probably more than occasionally.
Kayo and the medicine seller bowed deeply at the geisha who replied to the side door. She was older with graying hair and a ruddy red kimono marking her years of experience with the establishment.
“A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha greeted them. “Do come in.”
The medicine seller could feel it, that sensation of the supernatural overwhelming his senses as he stepped in through the doorway. Something was here.
“I am Mego, head of this establishment,” the geisha introduced herself as she led them into the back room. Along one wall, tea sets lined the shelves next to nearly empty jars of tea leaves. A large stove warmed the room, beckoning Kayo closer to feel its warmth. Visible through the doorway was a collection of instruments and a rack of decorative, expensive kimono in brilliant colors of blue, green, and gold.
Kayo tucked her hands into her sleeves. She must be really cold if a stove didn’t immediately warm her up.
“There have been so many rumors that we simply haven’t seen any merchants lately. We’re running dreadfully low on supplies,” Mego explained. “With all the guests that come to see Ai specifically, it’s a wonder how we haven’t run out yet.”
“Ai?” Kayo questioned.
“The most popular geisha,” Mego replied. “Her beauty is beyond anyone’s I’ve seen before, but that’s hardly her only quality. Her music is the most beautiful. I have never heard anyone play the shamisen quite like she does. We are lucky to have her.”
The medicine seller set the chest down on the floor. He could faintly hear a melancholy tune waft in from the far reaches of the geisha house. Shamisen were naturally melancholy given they could only play minor chords, but something about this particular tune spoke of tragedy and sent his supernatural senses in a twist.
Once we were favored.
Once flowers lined the streets.
Once people visited.
The days on repeat.
He peered out into the hallway, his stance barely moving as Kayo and Mego continued to speak. The words carried out with the tune, wafting in the hallway before quietly fading out near the doorway. For a busy geisha house, there certainly was very little noise otherwise.
“She certainly sounds like a lovely person,” Kayo nodded. “Pretty and artistic and compassionate.”
“You know, you could make quite a lovely geisha, Miss Kayo,” Mego pointed out.
“Oh stop stop,” Kayo waved off the compliment. “I’m rather happy with traveling after all.” Though she couldn’t deny considering it. Several times. Settling down, getting a formal education, never going hungry. But it wasn’t a life for her. After all, she wouldn’t be able to help put mononoke to rest or travel with this mysterious medicine seller who still wouldn’t tell her anything about him. Annoying jerk.
The geisha turned to tend to the tea kettle shouting on the stove. “Would you two like some tea?”
“Isn’t that for the guests?” Kayo questioned, eyeing the tea. She had to admit it sounded good right now. She was still terribly cold, despite being in the kitchen.
“Two cups won’t be trouble,” Mego insisted, pouring them each a cup. “It’s quite cold. It’ll help warm you up.”
“That sounds lovely, thank you.” Kayo smiled, accepting the cup and taking a sip. How it warmed her body on such a cold afternoon. “Rose tea. It smells so delicious.”
“It is our most popular,” the geisha informed them. “Always requested to accompany our sweets. With macha being rather expensive to transport here, it’s a good bitter alternative. Do you have rose teas to sell?”
“We do,” he replied. “We can blend them with other ingredients for unique teas as well.”
“Delightful,” Mego smiled. “Something unique could bring in more business.”
“Miss Mego!” a young maiko, a geisha in training, scampered to the doorway. Her hair ornaments clamored together as she nearly tripped over her own kimono. “Miss Mego! Someone is getting really rough with Miss Ai.”
“Not again.” Mego sighed.
“I-it’s worse this time,” the maiko stammered. “He…. he… he deflated.”
“Deflated?” Kayo echoed in surprise.
The maiko nodded sharply several times. “Almost like he suddenly dried out! I’m scared, Miss Mego. I know he was being rough but…. People don’t deflate, right?”
“They do not,” the medicine seller confirmed.
Mego shook her head. “He’s probably just drunk or something. Do you two have something that’ll knock him in his senses before I kick him out?”
“A sharp tonic will do,” he replied. Not that he was entirely convinced this situation required such a tonic, he pulled a mixture in a bottle from one of the upper drawers, tucking it into his sleeve.
Mego beckoned them to follow as she quickly shuffled down the hallway to one of the larger rooms. The maiko stayed a distance behind, her steps uneasy as she hunched over clearly afraid of something.
“Do you think something’s here?” Kayo whispered to him.
“I wonder what it could be,” he replied.
She pursed her lips. The answer was clear enough that he sensed something, but the taima sword was still sitting in the chest in the kitchen. In her time traveling with him, she had honestly come to suspect everything and nothing at the same time. It was possible a mononoke was lurking around every corner, but it was equally possible it was a rumor, a misunderstanding, or a yokai just trying to live its life.
But something about that slight smirk of a grin etched across his features indicated that something else was here, something more of the mononoke variety.
With a huff, the head geisha slid open the door angrily. “You better not be getting handsy with-------” She cut herself off as she skittered backwards into the opposing wall. “Oh sweet kami, that is not natural.”
The medicine seller peered into the room, finding a deflated husk of several men sprawled out on the floor. A geisha gripping a shamisen pressed herself against the far side of the wall, terrified.
“I didn’t do anything!” the geisha protested.
“You did not,” the medicine seller confirmed. “A mononoke did.”
One capable of sucking the life out of someone. Literally. This could prove troublesome.
Chapter 2: Do come in
Summary:
Do come in.
A geisha house, sliding doors, a beckoning woman, deflated men.
Do come in.
Please come in, you're just what we've been waiting for.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Ai had been through an ordeal . Her hair ornaments were tangled, her kimono slightly off her shoulder, a sock partially off. She gripped the neck of her shamisen as she pressed herself against the wall.
Sprawled out on the floor were the strangely deflated remains of several men. They looked like the men had shed skin much like a snake would, paper thin and slightly wrinkled and very dry. Their clothes looked like they were drawn on, withered along with their bodies.
Tea stained the floor, littered with a broken teacup and half eaten sweets.
There had been an ordeal .
Mego felt panicked but she had to be strong. She was the head of this house and needed to support the panicked maiko and geisha now quivering in fear. She pushed off the wall, straightening her kimono and hair before extending her hands. “Come here, Ai.”
The frightened geisha pushed against the wall, using her hands to practically drag herself up to a standing position. On wobbling legs, she rounded the husk shells and practically dove into Mego’s arms, sobbing.
“It’s okay,” Mego rubbed Ai’s back gingerly. “Let’s get you some rest. We’ll take care of these men.”
Kayo purposely didn’t glance at the room. The idea of people deflating was enough to make her stomach turn. She instead turned to watch Mego comfort Ai. The older geisha certainly was being calm about the situation, though the one heading a geisha house had to be the center of stability. She was the one who not only ran daily operations but also supported the geisha and maiko who worked and lived there.
But something about Mego struck her as too calm . Most reacted pretty sharply with the idea of a mononoke or just that there were now deflated men in that room. She hadn’t even asked what a mononoke was, but perhaps the concern over Ai had stolen her attention for the moment.
Ai rubbed at her face as Mego released her from the embrace. She nodded wordlessly, placing a hand on the wall to steady herself. Mego reached forward, shutting the door.
“A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha greeted them. “Do come in.”
Kayo opened her mouth to object, but the geisha had said the information correctly, not calling her his wife. “I’m Kayo and this is----”
“No one interesting,” he interrupted, standing up from the bow and plucking the medicine chest up off the step.
The geisha grinned at the comment. “I’m sure. Come. I’m Mego. With all the rumors running rampant, you’ll find we’re terribly low on supplies.”
The medicine seller watched the geisha as she led them down the hallway. Not even half an hour ago, the geisha invited them in. They exchanged formalities and spoke of the most popular geisha in the whole house, and then found the husks of men who had harassed Ai on the floor. He spoke of a mononoke and then found himself repeating the same event.
The hallway was familiar with the same tapestries as before depicting images of popular legends and tales told repeatedly throughout history. Open sliding doors invited in the afternoon light. Bamboo swayed at the edges of the gardens. The gentle hum of the populace outside on the busy streets wafted in through the doors.
A gentle, melancholy tune soon overcame the hum of people. A gentle pluck of the strings, a subdued voice barely audible through the bends of the hallways.
Once we were coveted.
Once we entertained.
Then came the fire
Down like rain.
The medicine seller paused, staring down the hallway. It was the same tune he’d heard before, but the words had changed. They no longer spoke of flowers but instead of fire.
“A beautiful tune, isn’t it?” Mego turned, noticing he paused. “Ai’s music is unparalleled. No one else quite plays the shamisen like she does.”
“It must make her quite popular,” Kayo reasoned.
“She is our most popular geisha even though she has only recently graduated from her maiko status,” Mego nodded. “She is always in demand, playing her music for the local lords while they sip tea. Come, let us meet in private to discuss teas.”
Once again, Mego led them into the kitchen. The teapots had been repositioned, the darker ones now on the top shelf and the more colorful ones on the bottom. A tea kettle sat on the stove. The kimono in the other room now showed red patterns instead of brilliant flowers.
“Miss Mego!” the maiko scampered to the doorway. “I’m sorry to interrupt but they’re getting rough with Ai. And something…. Something’s happened to them! They’ve turned into dried out deflated husks!”
“Not again,” Mego huffed. “They’re likely just drunk. Mr. Medicine Seller. Miss Kayo. Do you have anything which can knock their senses back into them?”
“A strong tonic,” the medicine seller replied. He pulled the previously created concoction from his sleeve, handing it to the geisha.
“Perfect,” the geisha took the tonic with a bow before following the maiko down the hallway.
Kayo went to follow but was quickly yanked back by the collar. “Hey! Let go! Shouldn’t we follow them?”
He released her collar, standing statuesquely in the kitchen. “Just wait.”
Kayo stared at him confused. “What’s going on?”
It was just as he’d suspected. She was affected by whatever was happening in this geisha house and wasn’t aware that they’d already gone through this event. He knelt down, pulling a few things from the medicine chest and quickly grinding them into a powder. He slipped the powder into a container, quickly slipping it into his sleeve. “Just wait.”
The door shut.
“A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha greeted them. “How delightful. Come in.”
This time, he followed Mego and the maiko from the kitchen. The men who had shriveled up were wearing different clothing than the first incident.
“A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha greeted them cheerfully. “We’re dreadfully low on tea. Please come in.”
He handed Mego a lemon peel in the kitchen.
“Perfect! A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha beckoned them inside. “Exactly what we need. Do come in.”
This certainly was becoming troublesome.
He followed Mego and the maiko, finding that the shriveled men wore different clothing yet again.
“A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha slid open the door. “I hope you have a vast selection of teas. We’re running low, so please come in.”
No matter what he did, the result was always the same. The door shut and once again, they found themselves outside.
“A pair of medicine sellers,” the geisha greeted them. “Do come in.”
The medicine seller didn’t follow Mego this time. Instead he snagged Kayo by the back of her kimono on the stairs outside.
She huffed, breathing in deeply then coughing and sputtering as she smelled something incredibly pungent. She blinked a few times finding the medicine seller holding a small container he’d pulled out of his sleeve. Memories of the repeating events with Mego and Ai flooded back to her. “How many times have we done this?” She placed a hand on her head, confused and disoriented. “Is this…. the mononoke’s doing?”
“It is,” he replied. “I believe we are caught in the web of a jorogumo.”
The taima sword chattered in the medicine chest as a door slid shut in the distance.
Notes:
Quite a curious situation they've found themselves in, isn't it?
A Jorogumo is an orb weaver spider. This is a real spider and they're quite pretty, coming in brilliant yellows, blacks, and browns. They can grow quite large and look a little spooky but they just want to do their business.
Much like pretty much anything in Japan, if something lives long enough, it becomes a yokai. The jorogumo is perhaps one of the best known spider yokai and likes to feed on people. I wonder what that could mean as a mononoke. Hmm.
I also wonder what the scenery could mean. It is symbolic. Guess we'll have to wait and find out!
Chapter 3: Venom
Summary:
A poison, a haunting song, the sounds of a shamisen in an empty hallway.
Caught in a jorogumo's web without a truth or a reason.
It seems they weren't the only ones invited to come in.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Kayo and the medicine seller stood outside the geisha house entrance where they first began, this time not greeted by Mego at the side door.
“W--- How did we end up out here this time?!” Kayo stared at the geisha house.
“It seems this geisha house is stuck in time,” he said, setting down the medicine chest behind the fence. “Do you feel at all ill, Miss Kayo?”
“Ill?” she questioned. “Just confused. Why? Is it the jorogumo? What is that?”
“If an orb weaver spider lives very long, it may become a very powerful yokai,” he informed her, kneeling down and removing the taima sword from its resting place. “It will grow large enough to feed on humans. The toxins are slow and painful.”
“That’s unsettling!” Kayo shuttered.
“It is capable of creating illusions of a beautiful woman,” he continued, tucking the sword in his obi, “but in becoming a mononoke, it has somehow become entangled with a geisha house. Perhaps it is creating larger illusions as well.”
“Ai? Could she be the mononoke?” Kayo recalled how each time Mego spoke, she referred to Ai as exceptionally beautiful.
The sword did not respond. “I do wonder how she is involved.” He had encountered illusions before, but this geisha house was caught in some manner of illusionary loop. He wasn’t quite sure if they were simply experiencing the mononoke’s memories or that they were tangled in its web. Either was possible.
The jorogumo had already consumed several people. Each time they had followed Mego into Ai’s room, the husks of men had been different. The bodies were piling up like a stack of papers already and they had only arrived at the geisha house a few hours earlier.
He peered at the busy street behind him. Jorogumo could operate right in the center of a town and none would be the wiser.
Two men broke away from the crowd. They wore layers of delicate brocade and folded kimonos, marking them as upper class. The commoners on the street didn’t seem to acknowledge the pair as they bustled by about their business. A few stopped to peer at the noodle shop next door but most went about their normal lives.
The pair stopped in front of the geisha house, not even acknowledging Kayo and the medicine seller. “This is the one, Lord Genbei,” the samurai proclaimed. “Miss Ai is known far and wide for her musical talents and her beauty.”
The lord peered up at the house entrance. “Then we must hear the beautiful tunes she plays. If she is as beautiful as the rumors say, I want her to be mine.” He slid open the entrance, removing his sandals as he stepped inside. His samurai followed suit.
“Well that guy is a little possessive,” Kayo folded her arms. “Geisha don’t marry. Doesn’t he know that? What is it with demanding lords?” She frowned sharply. Nothing good ever came from demanding lords. She thought of House Sakai and how badly that one went, creating a mononoke from a terrible, disturbing set of events.
She just didn’t like dealing with them. The ones at the freaky candle inn were generally bossy and handsy. A few of their customers when trying to peddle medicine had thrown them out instead of paying for the goods. The only one who seemed decent was Lord Ii, even if the young lord was paranoid that mononoke were in every dark corner. Not that she could blame him after that horrifying tatarimokke incident.
She shuttered, peering back at the geisha house recalling the repeating events. The maiko informed Mego that someone was harassing Ai, Mego grew upset and found Ai in a terrible situation, then the door shut and they were back outside. “Do you think that lord is connected to the truth?”
The medicine seller peered back at the street. There was no grand entrance, no caravan to mark the lord’s arrival. The only attendant the lord had was a single samurai. It was unusual, to say the least. “Perhaps.” He headed towards the entrance, slipping his geta off at the door.
She frowned. A vague answer, but everything about this geisha house was weird. She rubbed at her arm, shaking her hand out. It felt strangely tingly like she’d been leaning on it and it fell asleep. Perhaps it was from being stuck in the time loop. Ignoring it, she followed suit, kicking her sandals off and shuffling through the place in her tabi socks.
The melancholy shamisen tune was the only sound in the whole house despite being a popular place to stay. The wall was decorated with elaborate tapestries of large orb weavers and scribbles of ornate scripts.
Once were we loved
Once we were not fighters
She’d lived in the kitchen
That beautiful spider
He turned, finding a large web in the corner near the kitchen. It was empty, no spider currently in sight. Perhaps a yokai had lived here. Orb weavers were known to have beautiful ornate colors, much like the delicate patterns of a kimono. It was possible that orb weaver had lived in the geisha house long enough to become magical or perhaps it was a simple, regular, non-magical spider.
They went and squished her
Mego’s beautiful friend
But with such sorrow
The misery did not end
“The mononoke’s story,” he reasoned, listening to the tune. He paused, feeling Kayo tightly grasp the back of his kimono. “Miss Kayo. It is just a shamisen.”
She didn’t respond, grasping his kimono with the second hand and pulling on it tightly. She leaned against him, her face bearing into his back as her legs seemed to no longer support her own weight.
“Miss Kayo?”
Ai was distraught
She was terribly scared
For what would come next
None were prepared.
The grip soon loosened as Kayo slid down his back. He quickly turned, grasping her kimono before she’d hit the floor. Her face was contorted into an expression of pain as she grasped at her shoulder. “I…. I can’t feel…. My….. Help…. Mr. Medicine Seller…..”
Concern tugged at his face. Jorogumo most often consumed men, but somehow Kayo had been struck by its venom. He thought back to all the interactions where she was at risk and he wasn’t. She had been with him the entire time, never heading off on her own. “The tea.” He refused the offer of rose tea on their first visit but Kayo drank an entire cup.
He knelt down, carefully picking her up in his arms. He had yet to locate the jorogumo in the geisha house, so she was at risk of becoming a husk much like those men in Ai’s room. There was Ai, the most favored geisha in the house. Mego ran the house and served the poisoned rose tea. There was the messenger maiko plus several other geisha who appeared in the hallways. It all made sense now. None of them were real, all illusions created by the jorogumo. But which one had become a mononoke?
Kayo weakly grasped his kimono as she leaned into him. The poison was spreading, and if it spread too far, she might not recover. He had to concoct a remedy though with a mononoke lurking about, creating such a delicate concoction might prove difficult.
“I told you to get out!” Mego’s voice carried down the hallway. “I do not appreciate anyone treating my geisha in such a manner. I do not care who you are.”
“Those are threatening words,” the samurai said sharply.
“Are they? Well good, that’s how they should be. Now get out!” Mego shouted.
“Lord Genbei won’t take kindly to such threats,” the samurai warned. His heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway followed by a door shutting.
The sound of the door echoed through the hallway but instead of being thrown out of the house, they were now stuck inside as a fire crackled in the distance. It lit the spider tapestries ablaze and consumed the front entrance.
He took to one knee, cradling Kayo in one arm as he pulled the taima sword from his obi with the other. This could very well be an illusion, but if the tea was any indication, illusions could be very real. She gripped his kimono, her breaths becoming strained. She would die if he couldn’t create an antidote for her. He’d come to care for his human companion. Letting her die wasn’t an option.
His attention turned to the hallway, finding Mego and Ai burning in the flames. They stood there, their expressions hollow and forlorn as the fire engulfed them. They were nothing but the shells of their former selves. They had once lived, strong-willed women running a successful business that ended in an instant, consumed by flames of jealousy and desire.
“I know you are here, mononoke.”
The husks of the women crinkled in the fire like paper kindling. Tucking the taima sword in his obi, he flipped the mirror on his necklace, flashing the light of the fire and revealing the hidden jorogumo in the hallway. She stood tall in a long kimono of brilliant yellows, blues, and reds. Her hair was pulled into a distinguished geisha style, adorned with decorative combs and flowers. Her face was painted with white makeup and red accents. Spindly spider arms stemmed from her back, extending nearly to the edges of the hallway. Flames bent around her, only touching the walls as they billowed upwards.
“There you are.” He pulled the taima sword from his obi. The jorogumo’s appearance, the tapestries, and the memories. The conversation down the hallways made it quite clear who the mononoke was originally. “It is time to end your suffering, Miss Mego.”
Notes:
Oh boy this is quite the hairy situation, isn't it? Kayo is down for the count and now there's a mononoke and fire. First case in and they already can't catch a break.
So symbolism! I said there was quite a bit last chapter
- Arrangement of the tea kettles: The reds are at the bottom where blacks are on the top shelf. They are arranged like fire and smoke billowing upwards
- Kimono colors: maiko have brightly colored kimono with brilliant patterns of flowers and fans and balls. The further up the ranks you go, the designs get more muted and more elegant. On their second iteration of the time loop, the kimonos suddenly turn red to contrast the flowers and brilliant colors in the first chapter
- the deflated men: they changed clothes a few times because the jorogumo has multiple victims. Jorogumo can pile up desiccated victims. Since this is happening quickly, they become deflated paper instead of dry bones.
Chapter 4: Protection
Summary:
A spider's kiss
A biting flame
Were her desires wrong?
Will everything be burnt away?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The jorogumo stood amongst the flames, her spider legs bending and flexing in irritation. The medicine seller had taken a knee, holding the poisoned Kayo in one arm while the other held the taima sword. His movements would be limited given Kayo’s condition, but leaving the mononoke alive wouldn’t be any better.
The mononoke took a step forward, her feet heavy against the wooden floor boards. “You will not take them away from me. Just like that samurai, you just want to take them away from me!”
The medicine seller didn’t move from his kneeling stance. “You wish to protect them.”
“I will protect them all!” the mononoke insisted. “No lord will take them away against their will!” She paused, studying the medicine seller carefully. He didn’t belong in this story, but he was like the other men who dared come to this house. They only wanted Ai. No matter what happened, she would protect Ai. She would protect them all.
That taima sword of his could take everything away, but there was another factor here she hadn’t considered. He gingerly held Kayo, protecting her. She was suffering from the poison. While such suffering would normally bring her much joy, Kayo’s condition had struck a sympathetic nerve with her. She wanted the men to suffer for what had happened, but here a woman was suffering instead.
The medicine seller could see hesitation on the mononoke’s face, leaving him wondering what might be causing her such internal conflict. He glanced down at Kayo as her grip on his kimono began to loosen.
“My….. my legs….” she gasped between breaths.
Gently he set her down on the floor, laying her on her side. He had to end the mononoke’s pain so he could end Kayo’s as well with a proper antidote. Standing tall, he placed the taima sword in a defensive position. “You have been showing us the truth of your creation, singing the reason for your ire.”
The mononoke’s spider legs extended, causing the flames to burn more intently on the walls.
Leaning over slightly to avoid the smoke and flames, he continued to hold the taima sword out. “Miss Ai refused Lord Genbei’s advances, causing a fight. You ejected them from the house. When the lord returned, he set the geisha house ablaze in a fit of jealousy. If he could not have Miss Ai, no one would. This is your truth.”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
“When the house burned, the geisha all perished along with an old spider who resided in the kitchen,” he continued, repelling a fiery blast with the sword. “Your regret that you could not protect the house carried to the orb weaver to form the mononoke’s reason.”
“Release!” the sword shouted over the crackle of the blaze. The colorful streaks of the taima’s blade billowed out into the fire as the other self grasped the hilt. His long white hair flowed around the flames as the markings on his arms shifted to protect Kayo from their heat.
“You will not take them from me!” the jorogumo screamed. Extending her spider arms, the fire seared. The walls began to turn to ash, falling to the ground around them and threatening to drop the roof on their heads.
He glanced at Kayo laying nearly motionless behind him. Illusion or not, this fire would only worsen her condition. He had to fight this battle a different way. Reaching behind him, he took the offered mirror and flipped it around. The reflection grew larger, showing the mononoke a reflection of Mego and Ai as they once were. It showed a reflection of a time when the geisha house was thriving, a time before Lord Genbei had ever visited.
The geisha house was bustling, entertaining the most powerful of lords in the region. They had traveled far to request geisha entertainment specifically from this house. Mego had never been so pleased to see her business thrive so well. Her geisha were happy. Her maiko were well trained. Her ladies were educated and refined. It was a happier time.
The jorogumo fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands. “Why can’t it just go back to that? Why must we suffer for trying to protect everyone? Should I have simply let Ai go with them? Was I wrong?!”
The medicine seller didn’t reply, simply watching the flames flicker as the mononoke sobbed miserably.
“Why won’t you answer me? Why?!” She rubbed at her face, the white and red makeup running from her tears. She looked up at him. He looked rather statuesque and much different than the men who threatened this house.
She didn’t need him to say anything to know without a doubt that She had made the right decision. Letting them take Ai away from the geisha house would’ve only resulted in her suffering. In the end, all had suffered for her decision, but it still was the right one. No one touched the geisha of this house. “Please make the pain stop. Please don’t let Miss Kayo die.”
“She shall be fine as I lay you and this house to rest.” Grasping the mirror in one hand, he swung the sword with the other. In a colorful swipe of reds, blues, and greens, the fire flickered out and the illusion fell around him. The outer self held the sword out amongst the remains of a building which had burned long ago. The geisha’s suffering was finally over.
……
Kayo stirred. She could feel the softness of the futon, hear the birds chirp outside the window, see the light stream into the room. She rubbed at her face with sluggish hands. Last she recalled was the fire and the pain in all her limbs. It had grown difficult to breathe, her chest feeling restricted like tying an obi too tightly.
She managed to push herself up to a seated position, finding her outer kimono hanging up near the doorway. A pot of tea steeped near the futon along with a mortar and pestle with a small amount of medicine remaining inside. Her hair ornaments were arranged carefully on the side table. She could feel her limbs once again though they still felt weakened. “An inn?”
She frowned. She wasn’t exactly fond of inns, particularly after that mononoke candle inn, but at least it wasn’t that repeating geisha house anymore.
She managed to stand up, her legs feeling wobbly underneath her for a moment as she staggered towards the door and eventually bumping into it. On the other side, she could hear the medicine seller peddling wares. He was talking about ginseng, teas, and other remedies that could help with certain bedroom issues .
Coins dropped on the table and another door slid open and shut. Fortunately they didn’t end up outside this time. She slid the door open, staggering in. She looked a mess in her kimono under layer with her hair down and only one tabi sock on. She rubbed at her face.
“You are awake, Miss Kayo.” He collected the dropped coins, pushing them into a pouch. “How do you feel?”
“Like I got hit by a cart,” she frowned, flopping down at the table and leaning against it. “Is the mononoke….?”
“Slain,” he replied simply. “You were poisoned by the jorogumo’s venom. It may take some time to fully regain your strength.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. “I don’t want to run out of coins and have to eat grass or something.”
“Miss Kayo.”
“Or end up spider food again,” she frowned.
“Miss Kayo.”
She pursed her lips together. “What?”
“We are not eating grass unless your diet is suddenly changing.” He grinned, a bit amused.
She huffed sharply at him.
“This town has not seen a medicine seller in some time due to rumors,” he continued. “Plenty of sales to be made until you are well enough to travel. We shall be fine.”
She breathed in deeply. It did feel nice to not feel so constrained. And perhaps a little rest would do some good. Traveling with such wobbly legs wouldn’t be good for either of them. He probably could carry her and the chest no problem but she wanted to walk on her own two feet.
“Rest, Miss Kayo,” he insisted.
She peered back at the futon. “You’ll tell me what happened to that geisha house, right?”
“Of course,” he nodded. “ After you have rested.”
“Fine, fine.” Not that she had to truly object that much. She felt weary still. She managed to push herself up away from the table and stagger into the room. She could learn more about what became of Ai and Mego another time. She flopped down on the futon and promptly fell asleep.
Notes:
Mego meant well! It just didn't end well. At least she's found some rest with the rest of her house now.
And Kayo is on her way to healing. Surely you didn't think I would kill her off, right?
Name meanings!
The names in this chapter reference love
Ai - love
Mego - an old-fashioned name that possibly means Love or Girl
Genbei - a semi-common name in the Edo era (not referencing love. sorry)
Chapter 5: Bridge
Summary:
A rainy mountain
a bamboo forest
a severed bridge that stops their travels
a land plagued by strange earthquakes and mudslidesHas someone angered a mountain god?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“How troublesome.”
Kayo frowned sharply at his simple comment. “The bridge is out and all you can say is ‘how troublesome?!’”
“It is troubling.” The slightest of grins tugged at his features as he watched her fuss.
The mountain pass through the thick bamboo forests had proved troublesome so far with the rains threatening to pull the dirt from beneath their feet. Kayo had found herself confused at how he could walk through mud in a pair of geta and not even slip. She had already found the edges of her kimono caked in mud and twigs in her hair.
Now to make matters worse, after such a hike into the pass, the bridge crossing a great ravine was now out. It looked like it had snapped in half. That was their only means across unless they turned back and took the valley pass.
Why did they have to come this way anyway? Kayo frowned sharply. The medicine seller had just simply turned to go up the mountain pass, not saying a word as to a reason why. How typical, honestly. It left Kayo wondering if something had attracted him to this location or simply that it was the best way into the neighboring region. The western regions were covered with tall mountains and dangerous passes. Simply walking around the base of the mountains would take ages, but Kayo was wishing they had gone a different route.
“Can’t you just, I don’t know, create an ofuda bridge?” Kayo suggested. “You made those stairs at the onsen.”
The medicine seller peered over the edge of the ravine. The steep cliff dropped nearly down to the valley. One wrong move and they would careen to their deaths. The mists and recent rains made for a very slippery journey as it were. Trying to form a bridge would be far too risky. “Not in this weather.”
Kayo huffed.
“It is raining, Miss Kayo,” he pointed out. “Ofuda are paper. And paper---”
“Yeah yeah, I can put two and two together,” she folded her arms. At least there was a town full of farmers right here at the edge of the ravine and they wouldn’t have to travel back down the mountain to stay for the night.
The town was small, filled mostly with small huts and farmland. Vegetables and ferns sprouted up from the ground, reaching out to soak up the mist and rains. Much of the town looked like it had seen better days, several of the huts and lands dislodged by a recent mudslide. There didn’t appear to be an inn, but perhaps it was buried deep within the mud.
“The bridge is out. Broke recently in the storm,” a farmer called out to them, leaning on the fence. “Might be a few days before we can get it fixed. You could stay the night here while my husband is away. Help me out a bit with some gathering, and we’ll call it even.”
“I hope he’s okay,” Kayo commiserated, peering back at the fallen bridge.
“I’m sure he is,” the farmer nodded with certainty. “Tokubei travels to the neighboring town across the ravine to sell vegetables all the time. He’s likely waiting for the bridge to be repaired. I’m Masa, by the way.”
“I’m Kayo,” she offered a bow. “And this is….” she huffed when she noticed he wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation. “Hey! Heeeeey! Mr. Medicine Seller!”
Something supernatural pulled at his senses, much as it had been since they started this climb. Ravines could shelter a number of yokai, perhaps something even living in the bamboo forest nearby. Crossing over a ravine on a bridge was the simplest way to avoid larger mountain yokai, but that option was now laying broken before them. But with this new sensation scratching at the back of his mind, perhaps this little diversion would be worthwhile. “Your hospitality is appreciated,” he offered a polite bow.
Kayo huffed again. He was definitely watching something, but he noticed all sorts of supernatural haunts she didn’t necessarily want to think about. Perhaps it was just the bridge he was watching. That was what she hoped at least. He had told her several times that yokai existed throughout much of Japan. They were normal even if they never felt normal. But they were probably more normal for him. Kayo was still getting used to this.
After setting their travel things inside, Kayo emerged from the farm house in a simple farming kimono and a pair of pants. She’d never quite worn anything like it, usually sticking her yellow kimono wherever they went. She had to admit this clothing was much easier to move in than a full kimono, but she was also rather used to the limitations of a kimono. She huffed when she spotted the medicine seller in his usual outfit with the sleeves tied back. She should’ve expected it really.
Slinging a basket over her shoulders, she followed Masa and the medicine seller to the edge of the bamboo forest, looking for the bamboo shoots. Takenoko. She’d eaten takenoko before but she’d never actually went to find them before. As they traveled in the forest, she caught her sandal on something and nearly tripped over something.
“Well it seems you’ve found the first takenoko, Miss Kayo,” Masa laughed.
She huffed, rubbing at her toes. The bamboo shoot was definitely a lot larger than she thought one would be. But what was she expecting? Those tiny things that show up on a plate? It was easily the size of her foot. “They’re huge!”
As Kayo attempted to dislodge the thing from the ground with her hands, the medicine seller peered around the forest. The stalks were quite numerous, reaching high into the heavens and shedding their leaves on the recent mudslide. The mud itself had solidified, offering them a rather stable path as they traveled. But something seemed to be missing. “There do not seem to be many takenoko here, Miss Masa.”
“The forest has been dwindling lately,” Masa sighed. “Not even the fiddleheads are as numerous as they once were. Some say we’ve angered the mountain god after the mudslides we’ve had this month. The shrine got stuck under the mud.”
“The kami probably isn’t pleased by that,” Kayo frowned, giving up on pulling the shoot from the ground.
“We just haven’t been able to retrieve it yet,” Masa shook her head. “We’re still trying to help everyone unbury their homes. Perhaps we should unbury the shrine now that the bridge is out too.” She pointed further up the mountainside. “It’s stuck up that way somewhere. Hard to say exactly where with how much the landscape has changed with the mudslides lately.”
“Suddenly recruiting outsiders to do your work, Masa?”
Masa glared at the man approaching them with a basket slung over his shoulders. “If you’ve come to hinder our work, Seijiro, please go away.”
Kayo wrinkled her nose at the man who had approached. He was another farmer with a scar on his face and a basket full of fern fronds. His expression was so sharp and angry, it probably could cleanly cut through a stalk of bamboo.
“I’m starting to wonder about you, Masa,” Seijiro eyed Kayo and the medicine seller suspiciously. “First, your farm is the only one that is still thriving. Now you’re getting others to harvest the forest. Perhaps you’re the one insighting the mountain god’s wrath”
“Stop spreading rumors,” Masa hissed. “Our farm wasn’t affected because of the cliffside. Same with Chiyo’s farm. You just want someone to blame for your troubles.”
The medicine seller ignored their banter for a moment, peering upward as the birds flitted out of the bamboo in entire flocks suddenly. The birds fled first higher up on the mountainside, but soon the ones closer to them began to cry in a warning as they left. Something cracked in the distance as the ground began to rumble. The cracking grew closer and closer far too quickly for his tastes.
“Earthquake?!” Kayo yelped.
“Off the mountain!” the medicine seller shouted.
Kayo didn’t question it, quickly following him as the ground began to shake. The bamboo wavered violently back and forth as cracking noise soon followed close behind. More birds fled from the mountainside, taking to the air with warning cries. Foxes fled, routing the group of people before continuing fleeing further down the mountain.
“It’s a mudslide!” Masa followed them pretty close behind. “Quickly, this way!” She veered off to the side, ducking behind a rocky cliff and heading further down back into the town.
Mud sloshed down the hillside, pushing against the bamboo stalks until they snapped and taking the last of the takenoko with it. Seijiro barely leapt to safety before the mud flew past them. He huffed in anger as it began to solidify, caking the fallen bamboo sideways and all the valuable ferns in sticky mud.
“This is your fault somehow!” Seijiro accused.
“How can it be my fault?!” Masa hissed. “I don’t cause mudslides, Seijiro. Don’t be an idiot!”
“They seem to follow you!” Seijiro insisted. “And every time, you’re always the one to emerge completely unscathed!”
“How dare you!” Masa slapped him. “Do you think I want mudslides to ruin our town? This is our home ! I want to find out how to please the mountain god so we can go back to being a happy farm town like we were!”
“You’re still going on about that!” Seijiro hissed.
“How else do you explain how the mudslides are only getting worse?!” Masa seethed. “There weren’t earthquakes before last week!” She yelped as the ground began to shake again.
“Arguing isn’t going to get anywhere!” Kayo fussed. “We should get somewhere safe!”
Masa stared up at the mud-caked mountainside as the rumbling continued. “You’re right. We can find the shrine later.” Honoring the mountain god would be the only way to stop this.
Traveling along the cliffside, the group reached the edge of Masa’s farmland. The mudslide had fortunately not reached the village, only coating the bamboo forest in mud.
“Hopefully we’ll be alright here,” Masa sighed.
“For now,” Seijiro retorted.
“Enough!” Masa hissed. “We need to do something about this before it’s too late. We can find the shrine once the mud solidifies. Rebuild it, honor it. Hopefully this will all stop.”
“And you think this will all stop because of a stupid shrine?” Seijiro seethed.
“It will not,” the medicine seller interrupted as he peered up the mountainside. “It is not an angry mountain god, though he likely is upset about the shrine. The cause of these quakes is not a kami but a mononoke.”
Notes:
Bamboo shoots are actually really massive. I was expecting them to be smaller given the slices I get from a can for stir fry, but the raw ones put large potatoes to shame. The smallest one at the store was larger than my hand.
When I was researching mountain farms, I found a number of things will grow alongside bamboo! (the plant is usually quite invasive and kills most things with it). There were a number of greens and veggies, but the most recognizeable (at least for us in the US likely) were fiddleheads. You can eat them and they're delicious grilled! So this particular forest once was filled with fiddleheads and bamboo shoots, but it seems someone has created a mononoke and ruined it all. How counterproductive. They really shouldn't do that.
Chapter 6: Slippery slope
Summary:
Arguments, slopes of mud, and accusations
Someone might be cursed
Something happened a week agoWhat is disturbing the birds on the mountainside?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“A mononoke.” Seijiro looked less than impressed. “This sounds as preposterous as the mountain god growing angry.”
“They’re real and very dangerous!” Kayo insisted. “They’re creatures born of negative human emotions and if he doesn’t put them to rest, they’ll keep making things worse!” She jabbed a finger at the medicine seller who busied himself with staring up the mountain. He seemed to be intently at different locations since they had arrived at the town. “What are you looking at?”
He didn’t reply at first, causing Kayo’s skin to crawl. They were outside on a mountain sandwiched between mudslides and a ravine with mists and an oncoming rainstorm threatening to make things worse. None of this really felt like an ideal situation.
“The tremors have quieted,” he said, extending his hand. The taima sword heeded his silent call, flying from the house to his hand. He rested it on his shoulder, turning back to the collection of farmers. Someone had caused a mononoke to be brought into this small farming town. It wasn’t that big and nearly the entire town was now taking shelter behind the cliffside. Someone had to talk, though it was likely that they’d all start screaming at each other again like they had in the forest.
Seijiro eyed the medicine seller suspiciously. This strange man was coming into town claiming that a mono-whatever was causing mudslides. He certainly didn’t look like a shrine priest or a monk. This was about as believable as angering a mountain god. “Well if anything is causing them, it’s Masa, not some personified emotion!”
“This again!” Masa huffed. “First, you blame Tokubei and now it’s my fault?”
“You’re the only one whose farm hasn’t been affected!” one of the townsmen accused.
“You’re cursed!” another one claimed. “Ever since you started tending to the shrine!”
The medicine seller stood calmly with the taima sword, listening to the farmers argue amongst themselves fueled by strong emotions. Any one of them could’ve been the source of the mononoke, particularly given the damage the town had taken due to the mudslides.
The town was rather high up the mountain, one of the larger and steeper ones in the area. It took him and Kayo a great deal of effort to scale the mountain paths. It was the best route across to the next region unless they wanted to walk around the mountain. That just seemed ridiculous, especially with small towns along the way that were good for supplies and business. And sometimes mononoke.
Many of the small communities they had passed through were doing reasonably well until they reached this one. Mud had buried half the town and damaged farms on the other. Masa’s farm was indeed one of two which hadn’t been touched, though that was a benefit of the terrain. The two farms were situated close to the cliffside that protected them from the mudslide in the forest.
“Everything went wrong after the bridge went out!” Masa shot back.
The medicine seller glanced between the pair of arguing farmers. The bridge went out a week ago. The earthquakes began a week ago. The timing matched up far too well to be coincidence. Whatever happened on that bridge seemed to be the triggering effect. While the original mudslide was likely a natural occurrence due to recent rains, the subsequent ones didn’t appear to be so.
“What happened when the bridge went out?” the medicine seller interrupted their bickering. “Did anyone…” he glanced at all the farmers who had gathered, wondering if he’d get a straight answer at this point, “...die?”
That garnered their attention.
“No one would’ve been at the bridge that night,” one of the farmers assured him. “The winds were too bad with the storm!”
“Didn’t Tokubei cross the bridge?” another one questioned.
“He left that afternoon,” Masa said. “He would’ve been long gone before the bridge snapped and no one else is missing at the moment.”
“Good riddance,” Seijiro scoffed. “Pity he didn’t take that mudslide curse with him.”
“How dare you!” Masa seethed. “He didn’t cause the mudslides at all!”
“Maybe you did,” Seijiro insisted.
“I’m not a mountain god!” she hissed. “I only want to honor ours to bring a large harvest again! Surely you don’t want to starve, do you, Seijiro?!”
Seijiro scoffed. “You have the only working farm now! You and that sister of yours!”
And there they went again. Kayo clamped her hands over her ears for a moment. They were bickering over something ridiculous when a mononoke was here somewhere. She glanced at the medicine seller. He didn’t seem worried but he was often the epitome of calm when a battle wasn’t ensuing. Arguments didn’t seem to faze him at all.
“We’re really not getting anywhere,” Kayo frowned.
“Troublesome, isn’t it?” the medicine seller agreed.
His attention shifted to a flock of birds screaming angrily as they flew out of the forest further up the mountains. Another flock flitted off in a hurry. It was just like before when they were in the bamboo forest. Something was up there and disturbing the normal forest creatures.
A loud rumbling noise soon followed, interrupting the argument between the farmers. Kayo leapt, clinging to the medicine seller as the noise grew louder and began shaking the ground, rattling doors and windows that somehow remained standing.
“That’s not an earthquake!” Kayo yelped, burying her face into his back.
“It is not,” the medicine seller agreed.
Kayo peered cautiously out from behind his shoulder as he turned to face the mountain slope. “What could be that large? A fallen kami? Can they turn into mononoke?”
“It is possible. However, there are few creatures who could grow large enough to cause such noise,” he reasoned calmly. Extending his arm, he used the taima sword to point upward. “The birds. They are flying away angrily as if suddenly disturbed. While there are earthquakes, they are not common in this region. Something is causing them.”
Kayo watched as another flock of birds flew away and settled on the opposite side of the ravine. She didn’t like the idea of a fallen kami mononoke. She also didn’t like the idea that a mononoke could grow large enough to cause mudslides and disturb flocks of birds. She gripped the shoulders of his kimono tightly.
Masa watched the birds, staring at them in concern. They flew across the ravine, settling on the trees on the other side. “There’s nothing bothering them over there. Whatever it is, it’s only on this side of the ravine.”
“Great, now we have a giant thing up there? What next?! This is ridiculous!” Seijiro scoffed. “All just fabrications to cover up your curse!”
The medicine seller turned quickly, jabbing the taima sword at the gathered group. There weren’t many people in this village. Someone was linked to this mononoke’s truth and reason. “What truly happened a week ago when the bridge went out?”
“How should I know?” Seijiro folded his arms. “It was an old bridge anyway.”
The medicine seller glanced over the gathered farmers. They had grown silent despite the looming threat of something large in the forest uphill. How quick they were to accuse yet when the questions were turned, they had little to say.
Which naturally indicated they had plenty .
Kayo loosened her grip on his kimono, setting her feet back down on the ground. She didn’t like this waiting business outside, though he was an absolute master at it.
Inside was one thing. He could board up the place with an excessive amount of ofuda, they could set up scales to track the mononoke, and they could wait for someone to speak. He used the technique a few times before, patiently waiting with the taima sword between his hands. And they always did. This was outside with the threat of drowning in mud and now everyone wanted to clam up. She didn’t like the idea of waiting with mud and something big looming above them in the forest.
Kayo shuddered as another flock of birds flew from the forest above. They didn’t need the scales. They had birds act as the bells, and that unsettled her. Something that big was disturbing them. “M-miss Masa, do you know what might’ve happened that day when the bridge fell?”
“I was trying to get Tokubei to stay home,” the farmer replied. “There were dark clouds approaching and I was worried about a storm. He left that afternoon while I tended to protecting the crops from the rain. He wanted to sell as much as he could for repairs for the town.”
“What has he done for this town lately other than drink too much sake?” Seijiro scoffed.
“ You’re the drunk, Seijiro!” Masa seethed. She drew her hand back to slap him but quickly turned as the rumbling and screaming birds echoed across the town once again. Something was up there on the hillside, something large and brown careening down towards them. “What the---- is that mud?! Take cover!”
The townspeople didn’t question the notion, diving for the cliffside along with Masa, Kayo, and the medicine seller, the last one more stepping over than diving like the rest. While they didn’t want to talk, none of them particularly wanted to be buried alive in mud. The rumbling increased, growing louder and louder and sounding more like a thousand feet beating the ground instead of an earthquake.
“That’s... not a normal earthquake,” Kayo clung to the medicine seller’s sleeve.
“It is not.” He watched the cliff above. To get buried under a mudslide here would be rather unfortunate yet the movement of the brown mass on the hillside looked like anything but mud.
The beating sound grew louder and louder until something passed over them, blacking out the overcast sky. A massive brown body with a thousand equally massive feet poured down from the cliffside above, trampling several of the houses before ducking into the ravine.
“That…..” Kayo stared. “That…. Looked like a giant centipede!”
“Close,” the medicine seller listened as the rumbling continued in the ravine, growing quiet as if the creature simply stood still instead of disappearing into the darkness below. “It is an oomukade.”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
This could prove difficult.
Notes:
An oomukade is indeed a giant centipede yokai that lives on top of mountains! It's a vicious bastard normally, and as a mononoke? It could only get worse. How is the medicine seller going to handle a giant centipede mononoke when he learns its truth and reason? This is indeed going to be troublesome.
Chapter 7: Muddy giant
Summary:
A broken bridge
A giant centipede
An angry mountain
A grave mistakeA geta sandal lost in the ravine
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The medicine seller had to admit he’d never seen an oomukade in person before. The centipede yokai were as massive as the tales said: the size of a mountain’s peak with legs that could rattle the earth itself and the temper of an angry dragon. They were solitary, highly territorial, and incredibly rare. How one became a mononoke was as big of a mystery as how he would slay something that large.
“I… I don’t think I need an explanation of what an oomukade is….” Kayo babbled. She was in shock. She’d seen some wild things while traveling with the medicine seller but a giant centipede mononoke that caused mudslides and earthquakes was absolutely definitely a first. She glanced at him, concerned that he too looked slightly surprised.
“I…..that…” Masa stammered. “That isn’t… that isn’t the mountain god, right?”
“It is not,” the medicine seller replied. He turned back to the group, jabbing the taima sword at them. “It is a mononoke that will continue to destroy this town if we do not learn how this creature was created. What truly happened with the bridge?”
“Th-that’s everything I know!” Masa insisted. “Could something have happened to my Tokubei?!”
Seijiro scoffed. “Of course it would be him, cursing this town.”
Masa glared at him. “What is with you, Seijiro!? What is your problem?!”
“My problem is that your sake-filled husband was always stealing all the bamboo shoots for himself!” Seijiro hissed.
The medicine seller glanced between them. It seemed the truth was finally starting to emerge. With the oomukade quiet at the moment, letting them argue might reveal the truth and reason in the process. Hopefully soon. Something that large could easily flatten this town and everything down to the mountain’s base. Mononoke rarely stopped at simply destroying the source. Their ire would continue, and combined with a naturally angry yokai, this mononoke could cause some terrible damage.
“Wh-what?!” Masa stared at him in shock. “What in the kami’s name are you even talking about?! Why would Tokubei steal the takenoko?!”
“You have the most prosperous farm and we’d always see him sneak into the bamboo forest at night with a basket!” Seijiro jabbed an accusatory finger at her. “Gathering all the bamboo shoots and fiddleheads then keeping the profits for you both!”
“That’s preposterous!” Masa seethed.
“We’ve all seen him,” one of the townsfolk agreed. “I’d seen him emerge with a full basket. The forests are growing thin, Masa. He’s been taking them all himself.”
“This is insane!” Masa hissed. “Do you really think he’s to blame for the lack of shoots? The numbers have been dwindling for years! The forest isn’t doing well. Why do you think we built the shrine to the mountain god? We need to appease him so our forest will grow again!”
“Excuses!” Seijiro accused. “It’s all to cover up what Tokubei was really doing!”
Masa’s face twisted in anger. “Are you even serious , Seijiro?! Do you know what he was doing with our crops and whatever he gathered? He was selling it off in the next town for supplies! Do you remember when your son got sick? Who bought him medicine?”
“Tokubei,” the woman recalled.
“He paid for it himself,” Masa pointed out. “Same with the wood for when your roof went out, Junsuke. He’s been selling everything excess to help the town so we can thrive together!”
“Did we… did we do the wrong thing…?” came a meek question from the gathered crowd.
There it was, the pathway to the truth and reason that the medicine seller had been waiting for.
Masa stared in horror. “What happened, Junsuke?!”
The man stared at the ground, his eyes growing wide. “We did….”
“We did everything right !” Seijiro proclaimed, stepping out from underneath the ledge. “See, even now he wants us to suffer!” He pointed at the house trampled by the oomukade. “That thing is nothing but a bane on this town!”
Stomping to the fallen house, Seijiro kicked over a few boards, locating an axe. “I’ll end this myself. You should’ve died that night with the bridge!”
Kayo gasped. “Did he….”
“We delayed Tokubei as Seijiro cut the bridge ropes nearly all the way through,” Junsuke confessed, breaking into sobs. “Then during the storm, He filed off the last rope so the bridge would fall. Tokubei, he…. I’m sorry, Masa!”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation of the revealed truth.
“That’s horrible,” Kayo buried her face in her hands.
“It was necessary!” Seijiro shouted over his shoulder, brandishing the axe at the ravine. “If he had just stayed dead, this never would’ve happened!”
“You’re awful!” Masa screamed at him. “He must’ve died regretting every kind thing he ever did for this town! Every backbreaking hour he committed to helping pay for things you all couldn’t afford! He must hate everyone now!”
The taima sword chattered once again. “Release!” Its voice was barely heard over the rumbling that barreled up from within the ravine.
Before the medicine seller could dash forward to confront the oomukade, the creature reached over the ravine’s edge, swallowing Seijiro whole before he had a chance to fight back. It withdrew back into the ravine, falling silent once again.
The medicine seller leapt forward, holding the taima sword in his hand as he ran. This mononoke wouldn’t stop with just Seijiro, given everything Masa had just said. It likely held a grudge against everyone Tokubei had helped, but the killing wouldn’t stop with just them. It could threaten everything within the village and the nearby ones as well. Anger was difficult to handle as a mononoke. It was time to rest.
Kayo reached forward as the medicine seller pushed off the edge and leapt into the ravine. Sure, he probably wasn’t human but even he’d fallen into ravines before like at the hot springs. “Mr. Medicine Seeeellleeeerrr!!!” Gravity still applied to him.
But only partially. He withdrew the sword as his other self took over. The markings from his arms shifted, acting as floating steps as he descended into the ravines. The oomukade clung to the ravine’s wall, a massive creature the size of a small city with a temper the size of the whole country. It lashed outward, attempting to swipe at him with its legs.
He leapt backwards, using the shifting markings as stepping stones across the ravine like rocks in a river. His long white hair flowed around his shoulders, pushed around by the shifting winds of the deep canyon. The anger the mononoke must have felt. It was time to end the suffering. He drew his sword, blocking the next attack from the Oomukade.
He pushed back against the mononoke, splitting the arms and legs. With the runes to support him, he ran along the wall, dragging his sword through the entire length of the body. The oomukade slammed against the wall, rattling the ravine and the remains of the bridge above until the mononoke finally was slain.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!” Kayo yelled out as she stumbled towards the ravine. The noise had subsided but the medicine seller still hadn’t emerged. “Mr. Medicine Seller, where are you!” Hesitantly she approached the edge. Inching forward, she neared the edge of the ravine as a hand suddenly reached up and grasped the edge of the ravine. Kayo yelped in surprise, stumbling backwards in shock.
He pulled himself back up to the cliffside, frowning that he’d managed to lose a geta during the battle. He peered back at the ravine now silent below him. The mononoke was no longer suffering. Tokubei could finally rest.
…..
“I’m glad that Tokubei’s geta fit you, Mr. Medicine Seller.” Masa offered him a smile. “I can’t thank you enough for what you have done to help this town.”
“Simply putting the mononoke to rest so it no longer suffers,” he said.
Masa laughed. “I think it’s much more than that, Mr. Medicine Seller.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He turned, seeing the remnant of a farmer standing on the edge of the farm. Tokubei , he reasoned. Part of him wondered if the mononoke was aware of this land being theirs. It had been protected by the cliffside, but the mononoke could’ve trampled it at any point. But with each earthquake and the recent assault on the town, the farm was never touched.
Perhaps something to ponder. Mononoke did not always follow human standards of reasoning.
Kayo shook her head. He so rarely took any credit for the work he did. “What do you plan on doing now, Miss Masa?”
The farmer shook her head. “I’m not sure. Likely continue the farm here. Much of the village is planning to relocate but I don’t think I can leave this place behind. Not yet, at least.”
Kayo peered back at the village. There really wasn’t much of it left after the mudslides and then the mononoke.The idea of remaining felt strange, especially after everything that happened, but Masa seemed pretty set on remaining here. At least Masa had her farm even if Tokubei wasn’t around anymore.
“Besides, someone should rebuild the shrine to the mountain god,” Masa added. “Tokubei was set on honoring him. I feel I should do the same.”
Kayo smiled. “Sounds like you have a good plan. Take care of yourself, okay? Starting over after something like this can be really hard.”
“I like to think I can manage,” Masa reassured her. She offered the pair a bow.
“Your hospitality and geta are appreciated,” the medicine seller bowed in return. As they left, he paused to peer at the partially reconstructed bridge before continuing downward towards the valley.
Notes:
This case was largely inspired by one of the origin tales of an oomukade and Mushi-shi.
There are several versions of origin tales and all of them involve a bridge. Here's the one I referenced:
A brave warrior comes to a town and crushes a frightening serpent on the bridge that had been scaring the village. A dragon princess comes to find the warrior, begging for his help to slay the oomukade that has been tormenting the dragon people. So the warrior goes up the mountain and slays the oomukade, like a warrior would do but not without great difficulty. He was handsomely rewarded for his efforts with items and things but also information to take out his most bitter of enemies.
How could I not include a giant centipede mononoke?! It's perfect
And I was watching Mushi-shi for the first time. It has a lot of qualities that mononoke would have but ultimately more mellow and chill. Ultimate chill. The particular episodes which went into this were the bamboo forest, the tale of the mountain god and the god-killer (who coiled up like an oomukade at the end of the episode), and the one-night bridge. One day, I will figure out how to write a crossover between these two series.
So as always, name meanings! Everyone here is named something virtuous as everyone believes they are actually right.
Tokubei - toku = virtue
Seijiro - sei = noble
Masa possibly means righteousness
Chapter 8: Wordless town
Summary:
A river of red
A wordless town
What could that be
In the river floating down?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The river flowed beneath the bridge. A normal low to the ground stone bridge. The river split the larger town in half, flowing across it from east to west with ducks floating gently on the surface as they bobbed for food. It was a rather peaceful town compared to recent stops, one that had Kayo thankful for a simple location for once.
But that was where the simple stopped. Few were willing to acknowledge their existence. The town was rather unfriendly and almost felt abandoned.
“They didn’t have to be so rude and slam the doors in our faces,” Kayo complained. “Even the eatery. I really wanted some noodles.”
The medicine seller handed her one of the rice balls from the last town. They had made quite the sale, able to purchase a large amount of sticky rice balls that would last them for some time on their journeys. He had to admit though a bowl of noodles did actually sound good.
He set the medicine chest down, sitting down on the riverbank as he picked at a rice ball. Something about this town bothered him and it wasn’t just the hospitality. Something lurked deep within this town and likely behind closed doors. Perhaps it was just some yokai or a deep dark secret they didn’t want to get out. Either could create a mononoke but perhaps it was just a paranoid town.
Kayo huffed, sitting down next to him and chewing on the rice ball. They did really hit the spot though noodles were still on her mind. “This place is just weird. It’s like they’re all hiding something.”
He grinned just a bit. So she had noticed it too. Perhaps it was just an uninviting, paranoid town. Nothing had quite scratched at the back of his senses just yet, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t. It also didn’t mean that it would. If nothing came, they’d be on their way to the next town or to camp somewhere upstream.
But something had intrigued him about this town as much as it unsettled him. He sat in silence for a moment. The town truly felt deserted as he watched the southern half across the river. For a sunny spring afternoon, there was no one in sight. The streets were remarkably empty, no signs beckoning people into shops or peddlers selling their wares. Someone swept in the distance before scurrying back inside. A hushed conversation was in the distance. There were people here, they had seen them, but the streets were practically abandoned.
Kayo wrinkled her nose. It almost felt like he was waiting for something to show up in this weird town but nothing came. He was just staring across the river. There was always the chance he was seeing something she didn’t, but he had made no move against whatever he was observing.
She stared down at the bits of rice stuck to her fingers before picking them off. “Say, when do I get to have a medicine chest?”
She really wasn’t expecting any sort of actual answer. Perhaps who knows or no comment . That was the usual answer for many things, but he wasn’t exactly stingy with his. She knew where things were located and he trusted her to be able to handle it. She’d seen the depths of the mysterious bottom drawer that held questionable materials like phosphorus and gunpowder. She could locate all the spices and salves. The taima was always kept on the top and he had a lot of charms in the middle.
The medicine seller glanced back at his own chest before looking at Kayo. She’d been with him for quite awhile now, but she had never asked for her own.
“Or is it some sort of apprentice thing not to have one?” she added before he answered.
He couldn’t admit to ever having an apprentice before. He’d originally said yes half by her insistence, half from his own curiosity on how she would handle the situation. Perhaps there was some amusement thrown in there as well, given her tendency to attract mononoke. There was a part of him that actually felt for her too, given how many mononoke she had encountered and the horrors she’d been subjected to. Somehow he’d become fond of having an apprentice and companion.
“There is hardly some requirement, though they are quite heavy,” he replied.
“Yeah yeah, I know, I’ve carried yours before,” Kayo puffed her lip out. She did complain about how much they traveled at first, but her feet had become used to constant walking. “Maybe a little one.”
Reaching back to the chest, he hooked a finger around the handle and fished for the stash of yen. Spreading the coins out, he made a rough count of their supplies. Chests of his size didn’t run exactly cheap and they had to spread their funds across two people. “After the next sale and perhaps in a more inviting town.” He dropped the coins back into the small bag and tucked them back in the drawer.
“Seriously?” Kayo lit up. When she started this journey, it wasn’t something she would’ve considered, but now it somehow made her happy. It made her feel official.
The medicine seller nodded. “We should be on our way. This town has little to offer.” He stood up, reaching for the medicine chest before stopping and looking up. “Well this is a surprise.”
Kayo leapt up and turned, expecting to find some yokai standing behind them. “Is that…. Mr. Genyosai?!” She hadn’t seen the traveling ascetic for some time, not since the boat trip across the Ayakashi Sea. She didn’t want to think about the horrors from there.
“Fancy meeting you two here!” Genyosai greeted them. “And together, no less! Is that to say a mononoke would appear since you’re here too, Mr. Medicine Seller?”
“Who knows,” he replied, amused at the not-exactly-incorrect assumption.
Kayo glanced at the medicine seller for a moment. It was that usual vague answer but he wasn’t exactly watching anything but Genyosai so perhaps he was screwing with the ascetic. “What are you doing here? This place is pretty remote.”
“I do travel much like the pair of you do,” he flicked open his fan, fanning himself. “There is always a place for a budding exorcist and a traveling ascetic of course. What brings you two here? Is it just coincidence that you both are here together? Or are you two… married?” he added a rather amused grin with the last word.
“I’m his apprentice !” she screeched at him. “A-ppren-tice!!!”
The medicine seller smirked in amusement.
“Ah right right!” Genyosai laughed nervously, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Apprentice! My mistake!”
“Everyone just assumes we’re married, but even a working woman can be a medicine seller!” Kayo fussed some more, jabbing a finger into his shoulder.
“Well it’s not like I was implying anything of course,” Genyosai quickly defended himself. “You had said you wanted to marry on the ship.”
“Of all the things to remember! Not the ayakashi fish or that creepy hollow boat or anything in between!” Kayo hissed. “Well there are more important things now anyway! Like freeing mononoke from their ire. Right?!” She turned back to the medicine seller for confirmation, seeing that he was no longer looking at either of them.
His attention was elsewhere as he peered upstream. Something was starting to pull at his senses, something supernatural. Perhaps it was whatever caused the streets to be empty and the town to appear completely deserted.
“What is he looking at?” Genyosai questioned. “You think it would be hard to not hear this conversation.”
“I’ve been working with him for years, and I can’t even figure that out half the time,” Kayo replied. “Normally I’d guess he’s watching some yokai, but I don’t think that’s the case.”
“There is something here,” the medicine seller informed them.
“What sort of something?” Genyosai questioned. “Is it possibly-----” he shrieked an interruption as the river before them suddenly streaked with red. “Is that…. Is that blood?!”
The medicine seller watched as the red pooled in the river then faded as it floated downstream. In the middle of the blood was a handful of bones then something else washed ashore. A head.
Kayo leapt onto the medicine seller, clinging to him. “Is that a head?!”
“It seems so,” he said, staring down at it. “I believe we have a mononoke on our hands.”
Notes:
Nothing quite interrupts a conversation like a severed head in a river.
I've been wanting to directly include a character from the original series, though since most of them are kinda dead, it was a bit more difficult. But Genyosai did survive! And he's such a fun character to have around, especially when there are severed heads involved.
Chapter 9: A head, upstream
Summary:
A head
A finger
An ear floating thereWhat secrets does this town hold
To create such a thing?
Notes:
This case involves some dismemberment. Nothing worse than my usual writing, I assure you.
If that bothers you, skip to chapter 11.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It was a severed head, tendrils of the neck muscles still partially attached but torn as if ripped apart by teeth. Part of the skull was missing with the ear still dangling as the river water lapped against it.
The people of this town weren’t paranoid about outsiders. They were paranoid about this . There were some yokai that did feed on humans, but this one had crossed the line into mononoke status. If someone or something had created this mononoke, they certainly weren’t talking. The entire town was shuttered.
Kayo had buried herself in the medicine seller’s back. “This is as bad as that tatarimokke smearing samurai across a balcony!”
Genyosai hid his concern behind his fan, though his eyes staring at the severed head deceived his seemingly calm demeanor. He could only fathom what the pair had witnessed, only seeing some of it himself with the Ayakashi Sea. But that one trip was enough to tell him there was a lot more to the supernatural world than just stories and proclaiming that he could take down things that went bump in the night.
“It is the middle of the day, Miss Kayo,” the medicine seller said. “Tatarimokke are nocturnal.” Though he couldn’t disagree that someone had been dismembered this time as well. Just in a river in broad daylight.
She gripped his kimono. That meant they had something mysterious on their hands. They often did, but this one ate people.
The medicine seller peered upstream. The blood had flown down the river, so whatever the source was, was located upstream. The river crossed through the entire town. The mononoke could be in town, hiding under a bridge perhaps, or further beyond that. He opened the top compartment, removing the taima sword and tucking it into his obi. “Our answers will lie upstream. Miss Kayo, I cannot carry both you and the medicine chest.”
He had a point. Kayo cautiously released his kimono, trying not to look at the head or the bones that got stuck on the shoreline. “I-i’ll get the chest.” Sure it was heavy, but at least she was able to grip onto something to calm her nerves. She had to get used to carrying something as she wanted her own stash of wares, though now wasn’t the time to think about that. Nor was now the time to think about that head staring back at her from the shoreline with only one eye and half an ear.
The medicine seller peered at the head, considering if this was an attack or a feeding. “Mr. Genyosai, do you know of any protection chants?”
The ascetic was somewhat surprised by the question. “But of course! Though why not use all the things in that box?”
“If this thing is indeed aquatic as I suspect, ofuda will only have so much use,” the medicine seller replied. That naturally didn’t mean he wouldn’t have some other trick in one of those drawers. “And if a concoction is required, it may take time.”
“Ah, like the light bomb!” Genyosai realized.
The medicine seller grinned. He was catching on. “Exactly.”
He hooked a finger, and a single scale floated out one of the drawers, landing on his fingers. While he could observe quite a bit, that only went so far. If this mononoke were aquatic as he suspected or hiding within the shadows of a bridge, he’d need the scales to be an extra set of eyes. He glanced at Genyosai who didn’t question the scale, but the ascetic had seen the medicine seller work before.
Yet the distance between the two bridges along the river proved rather uneventful. So did the next bridge and the next until they had reached the edge of town.
“Well that was rather unsuccessful,” Genyosai frowned.
“Do you think it’s hiding?” Kayo questioned.
“Perhaps,” the medicine seller said, peering at the river. Something was stuck in the grass on the shoreline, something that did not belong. Carefully he stepped down the riverbank, plucking something from the grass.
Kayo shrieked. “Is that a finger?!”
“It is,” he confirmed, pinching it between his own fingers. It looked like it had been chewed off by particularly sharp teeth. It was hard to tell if it had been removed when the person was alive or not at the time. Though only the finger had survived, just like the head. Perhaps it was the body that was the feast, not the extremities.
He dropped the finger back down into the grass, washing his hand off in the river before standing back up. He peered upstream a bit more, finding two more fingers further up. He peered up at the sky, frowning a bit as the evening hues began to set in. “How troublesome. We’ll need a lantern. Miss Kayo, if you would.”
Kayo set the chest down, rummaging for the phosphorus and a paper lantern. She was trying to remember the full recipe for the lantern, a specific type of lantern that could illuminate that which could not be seen. If something was in that forest, she didn’t want to be caught unaware. She popped the lantern open, rubbing the mixture in and feeling proud as it lit up.
She peered at the medicine seller as he observed some other dismembered something or other on the shore further up. She didn’t like the idea of going into a forest with a potential man-eating mononoke somewhere in the darkness. She wasn’t sure which was worse: that or the town they left behind. They were hiding something. She was certain of it.
She grasped the lantern as he slung the medicine chest over his shoulders. She stuck close to him as the sunlight over the forest began to dim.
The medicine seller placed a hand on the tree as they passed, dropping an ofuda on the trunk. He doubted it would help catch the mononoke, but at least it might delay it. They hadn’t yet come across the mononoke but they had followed the trail of human breadcrumbs. It started out with just a few bones here and there, then a head bobbed up and down in the river, floating past them. Another head and a few fingers floated by.
“I have heard a story about places like this before,” Genyosai said. “They say once there was a mysterious forest much like this. And in that forest existed a powerful yokai that could control the weather! Some say that she was a fallen rain goddess who simply wished to be left alone! But anyone who lurked into her domain,----”
“---Are you trying to scare me?!” Kayo hissed at him.
“Well I’m pretty sure we’re not encountering a fallen weather yokai,” Genyosai pointed out. “Besides, an ame-onna is said to carry children away, not consume fully-grown people.”
Kayo jabbed a finger at him. “Now’s really not the time!”
“It’s also not raining,” Genyosai added.
“Sh,” the medicine seller hushed them both before Kayo had a chance to shout at him again.
“It wasn’t that bad of a story,” Genyosai frowned.
“Sh,” he repeated. “I hear something.” He could hear it a bit more clearly now that they had stopped their chatter. It sounded like something was blocking the river up ahead.
Kayo would’ve clung to him had it not been for the lantern and the medicine chest. “Y-you’re not going towards it are you? No wait, of course you are.”
He held out his hand for the lantern.
“Oh no no no, I’m not standing in this dark forest alone with Mr. Genyosai, the inappropriately timed story-teller!” Kayo grasped the lantern tightly in her hands.
Genyosai huffed. “Well I’m coming too!”
They traveled silently further upstream, Kayo quickly clamping a hand over her mouth. “What is that smell? It smells rotten…. No… don’t tell me….”
The medicine seller pushed some brush aside, finding the source of the smell. Strewn across the stream was a pile of bodies, some freshly dead but others appeared to have been there for some time. Many of them had ropes bound around their wrists and ankles. The river water lapped against the bodies, wedging through and continuing downstream towards the town.
Kayo clung to the medicine seller, careful not to crush the lantern or look. It was like Ichi in the teahouse, abandoned and dead but this time a lot of Ichis in a river.
Genyosai attempted to hide his disgust behind a fan. “Could this be the source of the heads and fingers?”
“Not directly. These do not appear to be chewed,” the medicine seller replied.
“A feeding ground?” Genyosai covered his nose, confused at how the medicine seller wasn’t about to wretch from the smell.
“No. The mononoke’s truth,” the medicine seller reasoned. “These bodies were purposely abandoned here, bound and left for dead. Beaten, battered, discarded. One of them passed the grudge and became a mononoke.” He peered back at the town no longer visible between the trees. “The secret of this town. They are the cause, the truth of the mononoke’s birth.”
The sword chattered in confirmation.
Notes:
Well this is certainly a fun time, isn't it?
For a reminder, Ichi was the eldest sister at the tea house in the first fic, "Black Magic Horror Tales". She was killed and left rotting in a back room to make the hinnagami.
Also the tale about the ame-onna that Genyosai tells is the legend of the fallen rain goddess. I considered having an ame-onna as a mononoke in this story but I didn't include her, so Genyosai talks about her instead!
Chapter 10: Piled up
Summary:
a pile of bodies
in the water
what could the mononoke
truly be after?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Birth from death. A pile of death. The truth of a mononoke was never an easy one to witness, and this pile of bodies was certainly very difficult to look at. Most of the bodies had been undisturbed, but there were fresh marks indicating at least one had been dragged off the pile recently and taken downstream, likely to be consumed.
Kayo clung to the medicine seller’s sleeve. She was horrified as much as she was afraid of what that abandoned person had become. They had stumbled upon a truth, but there was still a form out there somewhere.
“To think this was why they shuttered everything,” Genyosai frowned. He bowed his head, offering prayers for the poor souls who had suffered so much to the end. Hopefully they would be able to pass on, not becoming a mononoke as well. But to be abandoned in such a way, it was hard to not carry some manner of grudge. “Though I doubt they will start talking. They hardly would say a word to even me!”
“Did you let them get a word in?” Kayo frowned at him.
“I don’t really think that’s the problem at hand right now,” Genyosai evaded the question.
The medicine seller had only partially paid attention to their banter. He focused on the dragging markings along the dirt. They were fresh, likely related to the severed heads they had recently found. They traveled downstream towards the town but on the opposite side of the river, they returned back upstream past the pile of discarded bodies.
“Miss Kayo, the light.” He held out his hand.
She handed him the light, peering around him in the direction he was looking. “You… you see something, don’t you?”
He held the light out far enough that it shone across the wide river. “Do you see the tracks on the other side of the river?”
Kayo studied the other side of the river. “It looks like something got dragged. You don’t think they’re dragging bodies here?!”
The medicine seller shook his head, shifting the lantern so it illuminated the similar drag marks beneath their feet. “The paths appear to be dragging, but going in both directions, up and downstream.”
“Upstream and down,” Genyosai observed.
“But why drag something in both directions?” Kayo stared at the markings. She cautiously peered at the pile of bodies, burying her face in her sleeve to try to mask the horrible smell.
“Not dragging,” the medicine seller corrected her. “Slithering.”
Genyosai peered at the markings. “But how? The markings are as wide as a body!”
Kayo frowned. It was like encountering that oomukade in the mountains. Giant things that shouldn’t ever be giant and now held a vicious grudge against people.
“Mononoke can be quite large,” the medicine seller said. “This one seems to be abducting people from the town to consume. This pile of bodies is undisturbed.”
“Because of the truth?” Genyosai guessed.
“Perhaps,” the medicine seller replied. Something had driven this mononoke’s behavior, the best link was the town that wouldn’t speak and the pile of abused and discarded bodies laying before them. He had his thoughts about the mononoke’s reason, but perhaps his companions would need some help before they continued. They looked a bit sickly.
He set the chest down on the ground, removing the mortar and pestle along with a few other ingredients. He set to work quickly blending a mixture before dropping it into two separate small satchels. He handed Genyosai and Kayo each one. “Put the string around your necks and let the bag rest on your chest.”
Kayo slipped the string over her head, careful not to catch it on her hair ornaments, sniffing the contents of the small satchel. “It smells… good.”
The medicine seller dropped more phosphorus into the lantern before slinging the chest back over his shoulders. “It will distract your senses from the piles of rotting flesh and severed heads in the riverbanks.”
Kayo shuddered. “Did you have to say it that way?!”
He grinned just slightly, amused. “Perhaps next I’ll blend something that makes severed heads appear to be flowers.”
“Stop mocking me!” Kayo fussed.
He grinned some more. “Alright, alright.” He turned, something supernatural ensnaring his attention. Lantern in hand, he moved to light the pathway before him. Something was nearby, something which didn’t want them here. He heard a crunching sound followed by a sharp crack.
Lantern in one hand, taima sword in the other, he carefully stepped forward past the pile of bodies. Genyosai and Kayo kept close behind him, the former nearly retching into the river as he spotted the source of the noise. Before them on the riverbank was a half-woman half-snake with long black hair wet from the river, sticking to her body and face. In one hand was the partial remains of a villager, it’s arm ripped off and hanging from her teeth.
The mononoke slurped the arm up, turning to glare at the intruders.
“A protection prayer would be good right now, Mr. Genyosai.” The medicine seller dropped the chest by their feet, quickly setting the lantern on top of it before leaping forward and blocking the mononoke’s attack with the taima sword.
Kayo yelped, crouching behind the medicine chest as Genyosai began furiously chanting protection prayers.
The mononoke reared back, lashing out again and again at the medicine seller. “You’re not from the village but are you like them?!”
“I can help you quell your rage!” He blocked the attacks with the taima sword.
“My rage can never be quelled!” the mononoke seethed. “They will never stop! They never will! I won’t stop until they’re all dead!”
“The reason for your rage,” the medicine seller blocked another attack, pulling a wall of ofuda out before him to slow the onslaught. The mononoke quickly broke through it, as he honestly expected. “These people aren’t just dead. They are brought in here from other regions against their control! Your rage stems from them.”
The taima sword didn’t respond. It wasn’t the full reason. There was more to this tale.
The mononoke struck the sword, pushing the medicine seller back nearly into the chest.
“It’s like Lady Tamaki, isn’t it?” Kayo sobbed, still having nightmares about witnessing that truth and reason.
The medicine seller glanced back at the bodies. It was like Lady Tamaki. “These people are abducted. This is a trafficking ring. Your regret is that you tried to stop the trafficking but couldn’t, dying right alongside those you sought to protect!”
The sword chattered in confirmation.
The medicine seller pushed her backwards with more force, holding the sword above his head. “Come, I shall put you to rest, nure-onna!”
The sword chattered to confirm the form. “Release! Release!”
The other self leapt forward, the outer self handing off the taima sword as he moved. Grasping the hilt, he withdrew the sword from its sheath.
“There will never be rest for these people!” the nure-onna hissed.
He knew that of course. As long as this behavior continued, more and more mononoke would be born into this town. It was a dilemma he’d consider after the battle. The nure-onna attempted to lash out at him, scratching his arm and trying to ensnare him. She yanked him forward, her jaws wide open to consume this strange man. He moved quickly, drawing the sword up her arm, stopping just short before her body for just a moment. “It is time your suffering ended.”
“Please protect them,” the nure-onna begged him.
He didn’t often protect the living, but for the sake of the mononoke which would be born from this, perhaps he could make an exception. The strange lucidity had caught his attention. It was so rare a mononoke would beg him like this one. “Tell me the details.”
She leaned forward, whispering information into his ear before he drew the sword through her, releasing her from this world.
For a moment, Genyosai was certain the medicine seller had looked different.
……
Kayo crouched on the edge of the river near the town, her head buried in her knees. She thought she was able to handle more gruesome details of these cases, but this one had hit far too close to home. She still had nightmares about Tamaki’s truth and reason sometimes, though they had begun to dwindle the more and more she helped mononoke find relief.
The medicine seller and Genyosai sat on the bank next to her, the former busying himself with tending to the wounds on his arm. The mononoke had been faster than he’d expected, managing to catch him before he had a chance to react. But when he did, the resulting wound was hardly as deep as he’d experienced before. He wrinkled his nose as he applied ointment to it.
“The mononoke told you all this?” Genyosai waved his fan, watching the early dawn light streak across the sky.
“She did,” the medicine seller pulled a bandage wrap from the chest, carefully winding it around his arm. “Every detail. But we cannot simply go to the local lord and detail this. They tend to like to throw me in jail.” He waved a dismissive hand.
“Well that is terribly rude!” Genyosai huffed.
“Such is the life of a merchant,” he shrugged, tucking the tails of the gauze into the wrap. “Who would believe an ordinary medicine seller and his apprentice anyway?”
“You’re hardly ordinary!” Genyosai pointed out.
The medicine seller snorted.
“But,” Genyosai went back to waving his fan. He doubted he could get anything out of the medicine seller aside from the mononoke’s message. He was as mysterious as he was evasive. The ascetic still wasn’t certain what he had seen in the dim light of the lantern when the medicine seller slew the nure-onna. “I see your point. A wandering ascetic such as myself would be able to relay the truth without suspicion!”
The medicine seller grinned slightly. “And if the local lord acts, you can prevent more mononoke from being created here.”
Genyosai wanted that. That nure-onna was nothing short of terrifying and unsettling.
“That takes care of one thing. But the other.” He peered around the medicine seller at Kayo, who hadn’t moved much since they sat down. “Will Miss Kayo be alright?”
Kayo sucked in a breath, finally uncrumpling herself and rubbing at her face. “I just needed a moment, that’s all. Let’s go now. I don’t want to stay in this creepy town anymore.”
The medicine seller stood up, patting the grass off the back of his kimono. “Then let us be on our way.”
Notes:
I wouldn't want to get ahead of myself and say this is one of the more bizarre stories I've written. But it was. This story had no named characters aside from the party of three and involved one of the more gruesome mononoke I've had the pleasure of happening across.
A nure-onna is pretty gruesome, much like the case tells. She is a snake-woman who eats flesh and is often seen on the water's shore bathing herself. She has large teeth, eternally wet hair, and anywhere from just a woman's head to a full torso mounted on a giant snake's body.
When I was researching yokai for this story, I came across a number of different kinds of snake-human hybrid yokai that were vampiric or ate people. I chose the nure-onna because this yokai may have had a leg up on the rest for this case.
Okay, I'll stop now.
Chapter 11: Frozen mountain
Summary:
Falling snow
Going sideways
What secrets await
When they step inside?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Winter had set in, the snow falling from the gentle afternoon sky. The pass had been barely visible into the mountain forest. The trees on either side sloped down the mountain, snow falling from the branches and landing on the medicine seller’s shoulder. He brushed the snow off nonchalantly.
Their last venture had been profitable. They had sold a large amount of supplies to a village at the base of the mountain, enough for food for the hike and a small wooden medicine chest for Kayo. One which she was burying herself under as the snow threatened to make it even heavier.
“How are you not freezing?!” Kayo fussed, her hands tucked deep under her arms. Even the warmer outer kimono wasn’t enough to handle this sort of weather. “Why are we out here anyway?” The northern region was particularly cold, and winter made it even colder as the snow continued to threaten their journey.
“Places like this are difficult for travel,” he explained.
“You don’t say,” Kayo pulled her outer kimono up higher over her shoulders.
“There are several towns that are likely low on supplies for the winter, much like the one at the mountain’s base,” he continued, ignoring her fussing. “And it is the only path through the area.” Something else had attracted him to the mountain more than just a sale. It was rich in supernatural energies. Mountains were home to many different kinds of yokai, and where there was a remote village, something else could be lurking by.
Or it could just be a yokai.
“We’re selling enough for noodles and hot tea!” Kayo fussed.
“Yes, yes.” That was the plan anyway. Given that nothing else intervened, but with the remote location and the supernatural sense prodding him, that something else might very well interrupt their plans.
Like a snowstorm.
The weather had been getting worse all day, and it wasn’t getting any better. The temperatures were dropping in the afternoon hours, and the snow was hindering their movements. Fortunately a large temple complex was just up ahead. The medicine seller could smell their incense burning. “A temple. Perhaps they could offer us warmth in exchange for incense.”
“That sounds like a great idea!” Kayo pushed him from the behind. She didn’t want to be in this cold any longer. She wanted to feel her fingers again. She shoved him through the front gate.
It was a tall temple that towered over the trees, more typical to find in the middle of a city than out in the middle of nowhere on a mountain with supernatural energies. The gates and the building were red and black, covered in snow with icicles clinging to the edges. Stone lanterns lit their pathway towards the door. A few stone guardians peeked out from beneath the snow. An incense hut burnt a single piece of incense.
A monk spotted them from the walkway as they approached, somehow not freezing despite the one-shouldered robe in the snow.
“Greetings,” the medicine seller offered a deep respectful bow, Kayo following in suit. “My apprentice and I are seeking a place to stay. The storm is becoming quite strong. We can offer incense and medicines in return.”
The monk eyed Kayo for a moment. He would’ve guessed her his wife, but that medicine chest marked her as an actual medicine seller woman. He glanced out at the snow now coming down heavily in the forest. The storm truly had gotten worse each day, threatening to bury the temple. These two were the first travelers he’d seen in some time.
“What good monk would deny weary travelers shelter from the storm?” the monk beckoned them up the stairs. “Come inside. My name is Yoshimune. I am the head of this temple.”
Kayo nearly leapt up the stairs, shaking the snow from her kimono before offering a polite introductory bow. “I’m Kayo, and this is….” She still didn’t know his name, and at the moment, he didn’t seem to be paying attention. He had paused halfway up the stairs, staring back out into the storm.
A supernatural sense had snagged his attention. The snow traveled sideways for a moment before resuming its normal descent from the sky. Something was here. Perhaps a yokai given the supernatural energies. “No one interesting,” he turned, offering a bow before continuing up the stairs. He brushed the snow off his shoulders, unfazed by the irritated look Kayo was giving him. He never did introduce himself by name. She should be used to this by now.
Yoshimune laughed. What a strange pair.
Inside the temple offered Kayo the much-needed warmth she sought. She curled her toes in her tabi socks, trying to bring life back into her frozen feet. Setting the small medicine chest down, she curled her feet underneath her as she sat next to the medicine seller.
“Truth be told,” Yoshimune said, “we had hoped a medicine seller or two would come by.”
“Oh~?” the medicine seller questioned. “Has there been a case of winter colds?”
“A few, though cases of frostbite are a bit more troubling,” Yoshimune replied. “This snow storm has raged on for over a month, much longer than any storm as far as I can recall. The younger monks who have not trained themselves to endure the cold are suffering from the shivers and frostbite.”
“I believe we have just the remedy to help,” the medicine seller said. “Miss Kayo?”
Kayo stared at the medicine seller as he peered at her expectantly. He was often the one doing the talking when it came to sales with men. She was better at appealing to women’s sensibilities.
But Kayo had been learning from him for several years, and the secondary job of slaying mononoke had taught her a lot about the less common salves and remedies. Burn salves were more common when dealing with fiery mononoke, but she had learned of other salves too. You got this, Kayo!
She hooked a finger around the medicine chest drawer, pulling it open to withdraw a handful of ingredients. She knew the ones that would help cause warmth. Nothing really supernatural, a few herbs here and there that could help raise an internal body temperature.
She couldn’t imagine undergoing training to become more cold-tolerant. It sounded useful, but it probably involved sitting in the cold if the result was frostbite and shivers. She would rather keep her fingers working normally and her body temperature at a reasonable normal warmth.
She glanced at the medicine seller, who hadn’t corrected her about what she was doing. He simply watched her patiently, his hands folded politely on his lap as she worked.
“Now if only there were some medicine that could make the younger monks believe more tolerant of the cold,” Yoshimune mused.
“Medicine is only as effective as one believes it to be,” the medicine seller pointed out. “They are not a cure-all for everything, though they can certainly help ease the effects of extended exposure to cold. However.” He reached over Kayo’s work, opening one of the upper drawers to pull out a cloth. “Certain ingredients can make one feel they are more tolerant of the cold.”
He offered the satchel to the monk, who sniffed it. “How potent!”
“Ginger can raise one’s body temperature naturally,” the medicine seller continued. “It is most effective when consumed raw.”
Kayo wrinkled her nose, grabbing a pinch of ground ginger and adding it to the salve. She couldn’t imagine chewing on a raw ginger root. The taste would be much too strong.
“Can’t say I’ve thought of that one before,” Yoshimune marveled.
“Ginger is quite the useful root, especially for warming the body,” the medicine seller said, “among other useful qualities.”
“I do believe it is expensive this time of year,” the monk said thoughtfully.
“It is.” The medicine seller didn’t sugar coat it. Ginger grew in the warmer southern regions. Distant places like this could potentially have trouble acquiring more until another medicine seller came along. “That root could last you for the next several months.”
Yoshimune stared at the root in his hands. It wasn’t the largest of roots, but very little was required for medicinal purposes. Something this size would be helpful, but this was a temple. It didn’t quite have funds to buy a full root. “Would you perhaps be up to some exchanges for this instead of incense? Food, tea, perhaps some place to stay until the storm has passed.”
The medicine seller picked up on some hesitation in his voice. Something was bothering him, perhaps something supernatural. “Although?”
He picked up on that fast. The monk frowned. “This mountain is rich with supernatural energies. Few desire to stay here.”
A bit of a smile tugged at his lips, but that could be the makeup. “Most mountains are rich with such energies. You may find we are a bit more difficult to frighten off.” He glanced at Kayo, who gripped the pestle a bit too tightly while she worked. “Unless there is something we should know when traveling these mountains.”
Yoshimune hesitated for a brief second before shaking his head. “Hardly so.”
Kayo wiped her hands on a towel, pushing the salve into a small container, handing both that and a pouch of cold remedy to the monk. She quickly returned her hands to the towel to hide the nervousness that something was lurking around the corner in the cold in this place. Perhaps something had attracted the medicine seller more than a large sale, not that he really spoke of these things aloud. He tended to smirk in that silent way, much like he was doing right now. He did sense something, didn’t he? “That should be good for a few weeks.”
“Wonderful,” Yoshimune smiled. “Will food and lodging suffice? If not, I shall see what funds we have.”
“They are acceptable,” the medicine seller said before holding up a single finger. “Miss Kayo was looking forward to a noodle bowl and some tea.”
“I’ll make it so,” the monk nodded, standing up and gathering the medicinal supplies. These would definitely help. “Please give me some time. I’ll have everything arranged. Until then, please make yourself at home here.”
“Thank you very much for the trade.” The medicine seller bowed respectfully as the monk bowed in return. As Yoshimune left the room, the medicine seller glanced out the window. The snow was falling sideways again. Perhaps something was here after all.
Notes:
History time! During the Edo era, shintoism and buddhism were essentially one called Shinbutsu-shugo. This changed in the Meiji era when the emperor split them for political reasons and control in dismantling the old shogun-era government.
There are a number of Japanese Buddhist sects that have existed throughout time, but let’s just say it’s one or the other. The temple reflects more the appearance of the monks from the Umibozu story. Though in snow and not a sea. The actual temple itself looks more like a Buddhist temple than a Shinto shrine, though during this time period, the two probably looked similar enough.
As for the ginger? It’s true! Raw ginger is a remedy for the cold! Historically it was used to treat hypothermia. In Japan, it only grows in the southern regions, so it would reasonably be more expensive in the northern regions. At least monks don’t think that the medicine seller is trying to swindle them and throw them out into the snow.
But what is out in that snow?
Chapter 12: Frostbitten
Summary:
A strange blizzard
An odd paranoia
A warm hot meal
But what else could be here
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Kayo slid the door shut in the room where they were staying. She had hoped to get separate rooms but it was just sleeping. Bedrolls were bedrolls. They were likely stuck here for a while given the snow piling up outside during the day. She turned to him, folding his arms. “You sense something, don’t you?”
The medicine seller sat on his knees respectfully at the low table, noodle bowls, rice, and tea spread out across it. “Your dinner will get cold if you stand there too long.”
Kayo huffed. “Don’t change the subject!”
He picked up the noodle bowl in one hand, chopsticks in the other. It had been some time since they had much more than the budget bowl of rice. But with the price of the ginger root during off-season, they could certainly have noodle bowls for a while. “This is a mountain filled with supernatural energies. There could be any of more than a dozen yokai or spirits in the cold near the temple.”
“That’s not comforting!” Kayo hissed. Then again, when he talked about the supernatural world, it rarely was. Pillow yokai, river yokai, all those creepy ayakashi from the sea. There were even toilet yokai, he mentioned once, and she still couldn’t stop thinking about them. Possessing toilets. Gross.
He slurped up a few noodles. Satisfying, not many spices, but perhaps he’d make his way into the kitchen with some herbs and dried veggies another time. “Do you recall the hot springs on the yokai mountain, Miss Kayo?”
Kayo flopped down at the table, puffing her lips at the memory. “With the mononoke that possessed people and made them eat soap? How could I forget that?”
“Mononoke aside.”
“Yes, that aside.” She picked up the warm bowl of noodles, sniffing it. It certainly smelled better than boring old rice bowls. Though nothing against those as they were filling, she just liked some variety every now and again. “The tanuki den, that wolf with the bird---”
“---okuri-inu and the yosuzume---”
“--Yeah those two.” Kayo slurped up a few noodles. Oh this was a nice change of pace from rice bowls. “But that doesn’t really help us on a frozen mountain. You still looked like you saw something outside. You kept looking at the snow like it was weird.”
“Probably just a yokai shifting the snowfall,” he said dismissively.
She frowned while slurping up more noodles. It was entirely possible that he sensed a yokai or some supernatural spook. He’d done it before, drawn to some location by whatever supernatural pull he understood with his probably supernatural self, but it turned out to not be a mononoke. Perhaps she was still seeing haunts in every corner like with the severed heads or the confusing geisha house or even those creepy candles at the inn she once worked at.
She downed the bowl far too quickly than she likely should’ve, drinking up the broth from the bowl before setting it back down on the table. “You know more about temples and shrines, right?”
“Enough, yes,” he replied.
“Is it strange that there are only men here?” she questioned.
He set the bowl down, peering past Kayo and out the window. The snow had shifted again. “The sect may be celebate and only allow men.”
“Well that explains a lot,” Kayo nodded. “They looked at me like I didn’t belong. I’m pretty sure if I weren’t with you, they would’ve left me out in the snow. Yoshimune seems nice enough but some of the other old monks really didn’t look pleased with me being here.”
“How odd.” Something didn’t add up here. Even the celibate sects would be more friendly than that. It was almost as if they were hiding something. He’d noticed Yoshimune hesitant about something when they spoke earlier. Perhaps something had happened here. He stood up, heading for the door.
“You realized something, didn’t you?” Kayo jabbed a finger at him.
He turned to face her, his hand on the door. “Do they not seem strangely unsettled to you?”
Kayo wrinkled her nose. “So that isn’t normal behavior?”
“Not in the least,” he shook his head.
“You think it could be a mononoke?” she questioned.
“It could just be a yokai,” he said.
“True,” she frowned, “but if you’re going to check it out, I’m coming with you.” She downed the rest of the tea before standing up and following him out the door.
He left the door slightly ajar as they headed down the hallway. He noted several talismans and ofuda plastered along the upper edges of the walls. They were protective charms, legitimate ones that were meant to ward off evil from the temple. Somewhat typical for a temple, as it was sacred grounds.
They passed some of the younger monks in the hallway. Unlike the elder monks that had been most unwelcoming to Kayo, these didn’t seem to pay them any mind either way, practicing their chants and prayers. He didn’t stop to question them, leaving them to their studies.
Kayo stuck close behind him. She didn’t want to see the older monks, but at least the young ones who were definitely not dressed for winter weather didn’t seem so bad. With such lightweight one-shouldered robes, she could understand why they got the shivers so easily. She’d stick to heavier kimono.
“Is something troubling you both?” an elder monk questioned. He was slightly hunched over with age, some wrinkles and salt and pepper hair. He wore much the same robes as the other monks, folding his hands behind his back as he spoke. He peered around the medicine seller finding Kayo ducking behind him. “I can bring you more blankets if the cold is bothering you.”
Kayo peered out from behind the medicine seller. He wasn’t looking at her strangely like the others did.
“We were simply looking around,” he replied. “Are you one of the elders here?”
“I am, perhaps the youngest of us,” the monk offered a polite bow. “My name is Akimune. Master Yoshimune says you might be staying with us for a while given the weather and a rather sizable supply of medicinal ginger you’ve supplied us.”
“Indeed,” the medicine seller said. “Have you seen a storm like this before?”
Akimune shook his head. “I haven’t. Snowstorms are typical in these mountains but nothing quite like this. Even after a month, it shows no signs of letting up. I fear you might be here for some time.”
Kayo had to admit that not moving for some time would be nice. Her toes would appreciate not being so cold outside in that frigid weather, though she wasn’t quite sure how restful this stay would be given how much the medicine seller was staring out the window. Something was out there, but as long as it stayed out , it wouldn’t be a problem. “Well I mean if you keep making delicious food like that, it won’t be bad.”
Akimune laughed. “We do train in all manner of practical skills here. I’m glad you find our food to your liking.”
“I do,” Kayo said. “Though as nice as it is, I still hope that snowstorm will let up eventually.”
“As do I,” Akimune agreed.
Shouting and panic erupted in the hallway, and Kayo grasped for the medicine seller’s sleeve. “What is going on?”
“No, not again.” Akimune took off down the hallway.
Something definitely was going on in this temple. Prying his sleeve from Kayo’s grasp, the medicine seller took off after the monk.
“H-hey, wait up!” Kayo pulled at the edges of her kimono and shuffle-ran behind them. She skittered to a stop, colliding into the medicine seller’s back at the end of the hallway. She peered around him then quickly buried her face in his shoulder with a bit of a shriek.
The young monks who had passed them earlier clustered together around one of the elder monks who was remarkably blue and frostbitten. His entire body had been contorted, the elbows and knees bent in the wrong direction as his fingers were frozen twisted and strained. His face had frozen with the jaw practically unhinged, open wide in terror.
The medicine seller caught sight of a woman in an icy blue kimono holding a blue paper kasa umbrella. The snow fell around her as she turned, her face contorting to an inhuman smile as she dashed towards the door.
With a swipe of his fingers, the medicine seller shut the door and plastered it with ofuda spell papers. The woman collided with the door, splashing snow and ice across the nearby windows. The papers lit up red as they protected the door from the assault. Then the red split in both directions before the writing turned black then the ofuda flushed white once again.
Akimune stared. He had seen the woman as well. “Have we… somehow angered the kami? Is that what’s been causing this?”
“No,” the medicine seller replied. “You have on your hands a very angry mononoke.”
Notes:
Well well, it seems something has arrived. I wonder what she might be. Is it what you think she is or perhaps something else?
Chapter 13: Lady in the snow
Summary:
Frozen in the snow
An argument sharp as icicles
Perhaps we're nearing the truth
But it just feels far too cold.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Akimune stared at the door now plastered shut with ofuda papers. He had heard what the medicine seller had said, but he had to process it for a moment. This was a temple in the middle of a snowy mountain, hardly the place to create a mononoke. Had the medicine seller not shut the door without touching it and plastered it with protective ofuda, Akimune would’ve marked it off as a superstitious mistake.
“A mononoke? That’s preposterous!” exclaimed one of the monks. He was an elder monk, much more graying than Akimune, holding himself with a superior air as he folded his hands behind his back. “I know you are a guest of Master Yoshimune, but to make such proclaims? Are you after more money?”
The medicine seller pursed his lips. He had hoped that monks would be a bit more respectful of a member of the merchant class, but generally most weren’t. They always assumed the worst, especially when presented by a mononoke. He could feel Kayo practically claw up his shoulder in protest to the assumption.
But Akimune spoke first. “Let’s not be so judgmental, Master Tadakata. Something was definitely out there, causing this. I caught sight of it as well.”
Tadakata scoffed. “I can’t believe you’re buying into this! This is a temple, not some degenerate village!”
“We have several frostbitten monks on our hands!” Akimune pointed out. “Even with the harsh training, no one turns into an icicle just by lighting the lanterns outside!”
“It is the weather, nothing more!” Tadakata insisted. “Stop making this greater than it is!”
The medicine seller glanced between the two elder monks, listening to their arguments. He slipped the taima sword from his sleeve, holding it calmly between his hands as Kayo was practically perched on his shoulders. It was possible they could let something slip to tell why there was a frozen mononoke woman standing out in the courtyard, but at the moment, they were arguing over whether Akimune actually saw something or not. This wasn’t getting anywhere fast at the moment.
He shook Kayo from his shoulder, turning and kneeling down next to the frostbitten monk. The elder monk had been flash frozen, his skin blue and icicles forming along his hairline. His body showed signs of extreme hypothermia. Even with the training the monks endured, no one could really prepare for an angry frozen mononoke lashing out against them.
“He’s dead, isn’t he?” one of the younger monks questioned with worry knit in his brow.
“Quite,” the medicine seller confirmed. “How many times has this happened before?”
“Five times,” the young monk replied. He scooted closer to the medicine seller to talk quietly, not that the arguing elders were really paying attention to anything but each other. “Each time, it’s always an elder. Master Masanobu here is the latest victim. Truly sad, as he was a very good teacher. He didn’t deserve this.”
“Mononoke do not always operate with reasons that make sense in the human world,” the medicine seller said. “They may lash out with unrelenting ire, consuming everyone in their path.”
The young monk rubbed a hand over his face. “So it is like the scrolls have said.”
“It is not their fault, however,” the medicine seller added. “They did not ask to be created, but they are now here. They must be slain so the mononoke can finally rest.”
The young monk frowned, glancing down at the taima sword still in the medicine seller’s hands. “That’s a sacred sword, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Then you can help stop this mononoke?” the monk questioned.
The medicine seller was impressed with the trainee’s knowledge. And he found the young monk much more reasonable than most he encountered. “Only when the truth, form, and reason are revealed. What do you know of these incidents?”
The young monk frowned. “Not much, but there was something we all saw one day training recently. A woman in a frozen kimono. I thought she was a traveler caught in the snow, but when I tried to talk to her, she smiled with a lot of large teeth then disappeared in a flurry of snow.”
Interesting. This mononoke was selective, pointing at the elders as a possible truth. But the elders were busy arguing behind him about whether or not a mononoke was possible. Yoshimune had joined the conversation, mostly listening and not contributing while one of their own lay dead on the floor. They weren’t exactly being helpful. “A human-shaped mononoke. How many times have you seen her?”
“Each of us at least once,” the monk replied. “She always looks the same. We tried to bring it up to the elders, but they marked it off as hallucinations brought on by the cold.”
Denial didn’t seem as expected here as other places mononoke had been born. Yoshimune was aware that the mountain was filled with supernatural energies, and ayakashi and yokai often lurked in such places. Monks training in such a location would know this. The elders seemed to be denying that something was clearly out there.
“Have there been any visitors lately?” the medicine seller questioned much more loudly than before, catching the attention of the three elders behind him.
“What exactly are you implying, merchant?” Tadakata scowled.
“Oh nothing at all,” the medicine seller replied as he stood back up, tapping the taima sword on his shoulder. That reaction told him that they knew more about this situation. Akimune looked perturbed, Yoshimune clammed up, and Tadakata was fuming. “Nothing that may have created a mononoke here.”
“There haven’t been any visitors aside from you two since the snowstorm had started,” Akimune replied first. His expression became more and more concerned until it finally twisted into horror. “Unless…”
“Don’t believe this presumptuous nonsense!” Tadakata hissed. “That merchant is putting wild ideas in your mind.”
“Don’t think I haven’t heard the whispers around the temple!” Akimune shouted. “You all stop talking when I walk into the room then claim nothing is wrong!” He jabbed a finger at the frozen Masanobu on the floor to indicate the third person. “Something happened a month ago, didn’t it?!”
“Ho~?” the medicine seller hummed.
“You stay out of this!” Tadakata jabbed a finger at the medicine seller.
“He’s right, isn’t he?!” Akimune continued to shout. “Something happened a month ago, didn’t it? Something that created this mononoke! The elders have been frozen to death since the storm began!”
“There is no mononoke!” Tadataka insisted.
“There are only three of us left!” Akimune pointed out. “Are you willing to take that risk?”
The medicine seller turned back to the sealed door as the ofuda flared up in red. The ofuda along the seam of the door froze and cracked before falling to the ground, and the door jimmied open just a crack. Cold air blasted in, snow and ice plastering the walls.
“Get into the inner sanctuary!” Akimune barked as he beckoned everyone to follow him.
The door burst open, the wood and paper paneling shattering on impact as piles of snow rushed forward like an avalanche. It quickly overtook the younger monks.
The medicine seller leapt forward, grasping Kayo as she tripped and fell to the ground. As she curled up, he used his body as a shield to protect her from the snow. He could feel the sharpness of the snow itself and the severe cold as it rolled over his back. It was heavy like a person leaning on him, and he found his arms trying to bow under the weight. He could survive the cold, but she was human. She wouldn’t be so lucky.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!” Kayo exclaimed. There he went again, trying to protect her. She wasn’t certain how long he could keep this up given the strain showing on his face. She curled up closer underneath him and his large kimono, trying not to get caught in the snow. It was threatening to get into her kimono and freeze her fingers and toes. There was so much of it.
“This is the mononoke’s work,” he said calmly despite the situation. They still didn’t know what it was or what had caused its anger, though he was quickly narrowing down the list given the behavior.
He felt the immense weight of the snow on his back. Even his strength was having trouble fighting against it as it caused his arms to buckle. “Tell me what has made you so angry.”
“Please, mononoke!” Kayo pleaded. “Please don’t freeze us to death! We just want to help!”
“ Help? Ha. No one wants to help .” It was the mononoke’s voice, a deep female voice that grated against their ears as it spoke. It was twisted and mangled by the conditions that created it.
“We do!” Kayo insisted. “We can help relieve you of this anger!”
“ No, you’ll stay here while I punish the wicked! ”
“No, wait!” Kayo reached out for a moment but recoiled as the frozen snow reached her fingers. “Come back!” She curled up even tighter as the weight of the snow pushed them both down into the floorboards. They were going to freeze to death, weren’t they?
Notes:
We had sleet and snow here recently where I live and all I could think about was what mononoke was suddenly outside and why it was trying to steal the wreath off my door and take it out into the cold. It was about the same time as I was posting last week’s chapter, amusingly enough, but I haven’t seen a spooky woman in a blue kimono with too many teeth around here. Well at least I hope there isn’t one. I’m not one to go out into the sleet unless I absolutely have to. Perhaps the medicine seller and Kayo had come by to quell its anger before it could bury my car.
Chapter 14: Buried truths
Summary:
Beneath the snow
It is very cold
I wonder what truths
Shall now unfold
But is there more
Which must be told?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“I just need a place to stay until the morning. It’s terribly cold.”
The medicine seller opened his eyes. He could feel the warmth of the temple being pushed away by the cold of the open front door. The temple was just as it was when he and Kayo had first arrived though with remarkably less snow on the ground outside. A woman in a blue kimono and furs stood at the doorway, shivering.
“I’ll pay you for the night. Please,” the woman begged.
“We do not allow women here!” Tadakata insisted, grasping her by the wrists. “Do you know what temptation a woman here would be?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?” the woman stared at him, wide-eyed. She tried to pry her hands free. “Let go of me! Let go! Stop! What are you doing?!”
The medicine seller felt a hand wrap around his arm. The cold rushed at him, snapping him back to reality. Kayo was curled up underneath him, shivering and barely conscious. He had collapsed on top of her, barely shielding her from the cold as he’d received some sort of memory from the mononoke. And now someone had grabbed him.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!”
The hand released him and soon two hands dug through the snow. He squinted at the monk peering back at him, the light obscuring his view for a moment.
“Thank the kami,” Akimune sighed in relief. “We’ve been searching for you, hoping you hadn’t been pulled outside or frozen to death.”
The medicine seller pushed himself up and out of the snow, finding that the younger monks had accompanied Akimune in the search. The snow had caked the entire hallway, coming in through the windows and pouring out several of the side rooms. Carefully he picked up Kayo in his arms, feeling the cold trying to overtake her body. “She is far too cold.”
“Quickly, let’s warm her up,” Akimune said. “The inner sanctuary is the only place not overtaken by the snow.”
The medicine seller followed the monk, soon setting Kayo down by the fire and wrapping her in a blanket. He sat next to her, not really certain who to trust at the moment with Kayo unconscious and cold. That vision the mononoke had given him implied at least Tadakata had his way with the woman in the blue kimono before she died, but it wasn’t the whole truth or reason. The sword hadn’t chattered yet.
He glanced around the room at those who had survived the mononoke’s snowy attack. The younger monks were gathered together near the fire. Akimitsu was helping gather blankets. Yoshimune stared off at the window unmoving. “Did Master Tadakata not survive?”
Akimune shook his head. “I’m afraid not. He was frozen much like Master Masanobu was.” He pursed his lips. “There’s only two of us left now. If this continues, there won’t be a temple much longer.”
The medicine seller glanced between the two living elder monks. “It can stop, but I must know of the woman in the blue kimono.”
“The one that was in the yard?” Akimune questioned. “I’m afraid I don’t know much more than she’s been sighted before. I had heard it from the trainees and went to investigate local legends and yokai. Unfortunately I didn’t turn up anything on my last trip to the nearby village.”
The medicine seller shook his head. “A living one in a blue kimono who had stopped to ask for a place to stay.” He heard Yoshimune audibly gasp as he stared at the wall.
“I don’t…” Akimune turned to stare at Yoshimune with wide eyes. “There was another visitor, wasn’t there?”
“There was,” the medicine seller said. “And Tadakata turned her away, though not without possibly having his way with her.”
Akimune gasped. “No. There’s no way. We are sworn to celibacy.”
Yoshimune grumbled. “Everyone has their needs, Akimune.”
Akimune gasped again. “You’re not saying… that you… and the others…”
“Several times.”
“That is not our way! We are celibate and we do not bring harm to our fellow man or woman!” Akimune stared at the head monk. “And then… what happened to her? What happened to the woman in the blue kimono?”
“Tadakata abandoned her in the snow,” he replied.
The medicine seller sat with the taima sword resting between his hands as it chattered in confirmation. “The mononoke’s truth has been revealed.” Perhaps it was a good thing that Kayo was unconscious. She wouldn’t have to hear of such abuse again. The bakeneko’s truth and reason had shook her enough. It was best she didn’t hear this one.
“How terrible,” murmured the young monks.
The words he’d heard in the snow made sense now. No one would help. The monks had to pay for what they did. “The reason for the mononoke’s anger is abandonment, the sadness for being abused by people who were believed to be welcoming,” the medicine seller reasoned. The sword chattered once again.
He slipped the sword into his obi, sitting Kayo up still wrapped in the blankets. He felt like only one person wouldn’t repeat the same events as with the woman in the blue kimono, the only one who was not involved in the mononke’s truth. “Master Akimune, please look after Miss Kayo for a moment.”
The monk took Kayo’s shoulders gently in his hands as he stared at the medicine seller. Akimune was still shook from everything he’d heard. The master he’d looked up to was nothing more than an abusive sleaze. It was a lot to take in. “What are you going to do?”
“Slay the mononoke so it will be relieved of its pain.” The medicine seller stood up, taima sword in hand as he walked towards the hallway. “The form is a yuki-onna, a woman of the snow, a hunter that feeds on life energy. It is time to put her to rest.”
The sword chattered in confirmation as the medicine seller dove into the snow pile. “Release! Release!”
His inner self grasped the sword and withdrew it, the colorful blade cutting through the snow and dissipating it. He stood in the hallway facing the yuki-onna. She stood facing him in her icy blue kimono and matching paper parasol. She looked rather annoyed that he was standing there in his way.
“You should’ve stayed buried,” she said. “I have unfinished work to do! They must pay for what they did!”
He silently outstretched his hand, the mirror on his necklace appearing in his hand. She stared at her appearance, touching her face as if she didn’t recognize it. Her expression twisted from ire to sadness as the edges of her lips downturned in the reflection.
She wasn’t a bad person. She was simply a sole traveler who wished to have a safe place to stay at night. A temple should’ve been the perfect sanctuary, but instead they had betrayed her trust, violated her, then left her to die. It was a sad situation that ended in tragedy.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror. She could still see that old self in there somewhere, crying to be let out, but the rage and sadness in her heart was so overwhelming. “You can stop this, can’t you? You can make the pain go away, right?!” She dropped her parasol, grasping at her kimono in pain. “I want it to stop!”
“I can.” He drew the sword backwards. “It is time for your soul to rest.” As he sliced through her, he saw the faintest of smiles before she disappeared. His outer self tucked the taima sword back into his obi.
The snow in the hallway receded, yielding to the ice that coated the hallway underneath. Just outside the door, the snowstorm began to quiet, but the snow blew sideways once again. Icicles formed along the open door before bursting inward. The attack caught him by surprise, one slicing the side of his arm before pushing him backwards down the hallway. The sharp winter winds blew fiercely as more icicles formed along the walls.
He drew the taima sword once again, using it to repel the next set of icicles. The force of the attack threw him backwards, and he tumbled several times before skidding to a stop in the inner sanctuary.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!” Akimune exclaimed. “What happened?”
He gritted his teeth, the fangs in the back visible as he felt the pain in his arm from the icicle attack. “It seems we have two mononoke on our hands.” How troublesome.
Notes:
So back in “Black Magic Horror Tales” during the teahouse incident, the medicine seller had remarked that two mononoke would be troublesome to deal with. In the end, the dolls turned out to be two halves of one mononoke. (Did you all remember this? I certainly did huehuehue) So now there is a second mononoke in this temple after the horrors of the first one. I wonder what this one’s truth, form, and reason is.
Chapter 15: Icicles
Summary:
Frozen temperatures
Icy reasons
Deadly cold
Is there a warm future?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
He had to admit there was a first time for everything. This temple had somehow created two mononoke in the span of a month, both of which fueled the raging snowstorm and killed most of the elder monks off one by one.
With the swipe of his hand, he forced the door shut, plastering it with as many ofuda as he could. He didn’t expect them to hold long with how the outer door was pried open earlier. He didn’t have his medicine chest nearby to create anything to repel the mononoke, no concoctions, no extra tools, nothing but what he had on him right here and now.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!” Kayo half-shouted in her still cold state. She attempted to stand up, instead stumbling back down to the ground as she gripped the side of Akinobu’s robe.
“I’m fine.” The fangs showing while he gritted his teeth said everything otherwise. He grasped his arm, feeling blood start to seep through the layers. Shaking out the arm, he jabbed the taima sword at Yoshimune. “Were there other women?”
“I wish,” he replied with a lecherous grin. “That woman in the blue kimono was hardly enough to satisfy us, though she was certainly quite---”
“---enough!” Akimune interrupted. “Enough of this! Haven’t you brought enough shame on our sect already?!”
“You’ll never understand what you’re missing,” Yoshimune continued.
“I’ll never understand how the monk I looked up to could become such a degenerate!” Akimune scowled.
“Became?” the head monk laughed. “It never wasn’t there. You are a blind fool, Akimune!”
“You’re the fool!” Akimune shouted. “All this training, all our devotion, even our students. Was it just a joke to you?”
“A man has needs!” Yoshimune insisted. “You are the only one who would deny them!”
The medicine seller glanced back at the doorway, seeing the ofuda light up in brilliant reds as icicles slammed against the door outside. He pointed the sword at Yoshimune. “How many of you were involved?”
“Akimune is the only one who doesn’t know how to have fun,” the monk replied.
Akimune seethed. “We are here to devote our lives to the divine not pleasure ourselves with errant travelers then abuse them!”
The door rattled, the ofuda threatening to break before suddenly going quiet. The medicine seller glanced around the room. There were several entrances to the inner sanctuary, and without the scales at his disposal, tracking the mononoke would be increasingly difficult. Tucking the taima sword into his obi, he plastered the walls and doors with the ofuda. Each paper remained white at the moment, giving him a moment to rub at his arm again.
Akimune felt himself shaking. He had never wished ill of someone else, but hearing Yoshimune speak, he wanted to bring harm to the other monk. He didn’t speak that desire aloud. He wanted to maintain that self control but that lecherous grin was making this hard.
The medicine seller turned, watching Yoshimune for a moment. Perhaps there were no other visitors in the last month. The monk had become liberal with his words, the truth suddenly pouring out from his lips as the snow had threatened to destroy them all.
But even if no other person had visited, there was more than one way to create a mononoke. The other means could be much trickier to discern, and with the threat of this second one outside, the medicine seller didn’t exactly have much time.
The ofuda began to flare up in red across the room as the mononoke attacked from the opposite side. The door rattled as the icicles attempted to barge in.
“You’ve come back for me, haven’t you?” Yoshimune babbled.
“What do you mean?” the medicine seller questioned as he plastered more ofuda along the doorframe. Had he misjudged the situation? “Who has returned?”
“The beautiful woman from last winter,” he replied.
“Just how many women have you slept with?!” Akimune hissed.
“This one was different!” Yoshimune insisted. “Eyes the color of snow, gentle but cold touch. Much better than the woman in the blue kimono. But then in the spring, she disappeared, left without a word.”
No, he hadn’t misjudged it. There was only one form this mononoke could have taken. “The form must be--” the medicine seller cut his words short as the door slid open and icicles poured into the room. He leapt off towards the fire where the monks and Kayo sat, brandishing the taima sword defensively.
The icicles careened through the doorway, impaling Yoshimune straight through the heart. The monk wheezed and choked, the lecherous grin fading from his lips as he fell to the floor.
The medicine seller spotted the mononoke, the woman with the ice blue eyes and the inhuman smile. Ice coated her kimono and trailed down onto the floor. Her hair was caked with icicles that dangled on the side of her face. “Your form is that of a tsurara-onna.” The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
“An icicle woman?” Akimune questioned, attempting to stay calm though he was still rather rattled. “But they are created by….”
“Yes, by repeated lustful wishes of lonely men,” the medicine seller confirmed. “That is the mononoke’s truth.” The taima sword chattered once again. He walked towards the mononoke with calm steps, the sword outstretched before him. “Your reason is jealousy. You leave in the spring but return in the winter, jealous that those who had wished you into existence had found someone else.”
The sword chattered loudly. “Release!”
The medicine seller flung ofuda behind him, creating a barrier to protect Kayo and the monks as the mononoke fired icicles off at him. As he rolled out of the way of the icicles, his inner self took over and drew the colorful sword. Outstretching his hand, the runes responded to his call, creating a protective barrier and stopping the assault.
“I’ll take you out too!” the mononoke hissed, firing off icicles with the flick of her wrist.
He twisted and dodged to the side, drawing the long colorful sword from shoulder to the ground. The mononoke reeled backwards as the blade sliced cleanly through her. She scowled at him, forming a long icicle blade in her hand, reeling it backwards. “You’ll never understand!”
He stood silently, the colorful taima blade still drawn to the side as his white hair billowed behind him.
Her form was dissipating, fading fast from the human realm. She stared at him in her last moments, unable to understand why he didn’t desire her too. Everyone always did. She was a fleeting beauty, able to stave off the loneliness of winter. But even in winter, perhaps there were those who weren’t so lonely. She found herself just a bit jealous of that companionship as she faded away.
…..
“I still can’t believe there were two mononoke.” Akimune buried his face in his hands. “And how much had been going on and I didn’t even know. I’m so sorry you both got involved in this and became injured from it.”
The medicine seller waved a dismissive hand. “Hardly a problem.” He’d honestly experienced worse, and a few wounds from an icicle would heal. He was a bit more upset about the blood in the kimono, but he’d surrendered it earlier to the younger monks who had insisted on cleaning it for him. He sat in his underlayers near the fire in the inner sanctuary while Kayo yanked on his arm, intent on tending to it. It had finally stopped bleeding but it still hurt quite a bit.
“ Hardly a problem ,” Kayo mocked him. “You’re all beat up!”
He frowned some more. “Well it’ll be worse if you keep yanking on it.”
“Stop being a baby!” she fussed at him, refusing to let go of the arm. He honestly could’ve yanked it from her hands, but he let her continue wrapping up his arm in bandages. He gritted his teeth a bit, the fang slightly visible in the back.
Akimune laughed. “Well I suppose you’re a bit more used to this if you have a taima sword in your possession. Though I still feel bad about the injuries and two mononoke.”
“Again, don’t worry about it,” he waved off the concern.
Kayo finished off the wrap, tucking the tails in and finally surrendering his arm back to him. “So what do you plan on doing after all of this, Master Akimune?”
“I wasn’t sure at first,” he confessed, “however when I saw the younger monks spring into action to help out, I knew what I had to do. I’m going to lead the temple as it was intended, teach the younger monks the right way to follow our way and so that no more mononoke are created here.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan,” Kayo said.
“I hope that perhaps you both might consider staying here, at least until the snowstorm has settled outside,” Akimune added. “After all, I do still need to pay you for the root and the medicine and saving this monastery.”
Kayo glanced at the medicine seller, who looked back at her.
“I was certain you would demand more noodles, Miss Kayo,” he commented with a slight grin.
“Don’t put this all on me, you jerk!” she fussed at him. “You liked them too!”
“Okay fine fine,” he conceded. “We shall stay awhile, then we must be off. Mononoke will not rest on their own.”
“Come, let me prepare some tea for you.” The monk stood up, beckoning them to follow him towards the kitchen.
Kayo and the medicine seller followed, the latter turning for a brief moment. In the doorway stood the woman in the blue kimono with the paper parasol resting on her shoulder. She bowed deeply at him, smiling before turning and leaving out the door.
He smiled just a bit before turning and following them into the kitchen.
Notes:
When I first started writing this section, I couldn’t decide which cold yokai I wanted to make a mononoke. Yuki-onna is definitely the more recognizable but I liked the tsurara-onna story. So obviously that meant “why not both?”
The tsurara-onna’s origins in this story parallels the original legend. The yokai is created by lonely and lustful men wishing for company by staring at icicles on the roof. The yokai appears as a beautiful woman. The man marries her but she suddenly leaves. Come next winter, the yokai returns, only to find that she’s been replaced and she becomes vengeful.
I love the idea of mononoke created by emotions and feelings instead of murder so once in awhile, I need to throw one into the mix of course.
Name meanings! All the monks are named after faith
Akimune - bright faith
Tadakata - faithful wisdom / faithful path (depends on kanji)
Masanobu - true faith
Yoshimune - good faith
Chapter 16: Seafaring
Summary:
A boat is literally the worst thing
Perhaps the scholar could be worse
His ego might sink this thing
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Kayo shuddered. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like this one bit. The sun was out, the sky was blue with only a few fluffy clouds in it, and the smell of fresh fish assaulted her senses. That didn’t make up for the one glaring problem: there was a boat involved.
She still wasn’t certain how the medicine seller had managed to talk her into it. Oh right. Promises of fresh fish for lunch. She frowned at him and his nonchalant posture as he leaned against the boat’s railing.
Unlike Kayo, he was enjoying the fresh breeze on the open sea. They were crossing the Seto Inland Sea to reach the southeastern edges of Japan to stock up on supplies, particularly rare teas and spices that would fetch a higher price in the northwestern regions. “We are not crossing the Ayakashi Sea, Miss Kayo.”
“Do I need to remind you of our last trip across a sea?!” Kayo hissed.
“Yes yes, you remind me every time we’re near water,” he grinned as she jabbed a finger in his shoulder. “But would you rather walk around the Seto Sea? It is quite large.”
Kayo huffed. He had a point, but she didn’t want to admit to it. It was rather nice not to walk or hike, even though her feet had finally gotten used to it.
“Ah, another merchant,” the man approached them in a simple kimono, a bundle slung over his shoulder. “I had hoped to find some here in the back of the boat. Do you mind if I join you both?”
“Certainly,” the medicine seller welcomed him.
“Some upper class being rude at the front?” Kayo questioned.
“Annoying, more like it,” the merchant replied. “Most are fine, but there’s a scholar who seems to believe he’s the kami’s greatest gift to man. I don’t think I can listen to how important he thinks he is anymore.”
“That sounds absolutely irritating!” Kayo agreed.
“Terribly,” the merchant agreed. “He’s spouting all this talk about some new manuscript on atmospheric something or other. All sounds like yokai to be honest. He’s busy talking a priestess’s ear off, and she’s likely only listening because she’s polite. To think someone like him is a samurai descendant. I figured a former samurai would at least have some humility to him.”
Samurai were expected to have noble intentions and be positive role models for society, but the medicine knew that was just the outward appearance. Without war to keep them busy, they did sometimes turn to scholarly works, and that turn seemed to make this particular one an absolute nuisance. “You might be surprised at how samurai truly are in this era.”
“Sounds like you’ve had some nasty run-ins with a few,” the merchant said, leaning against the railing.
“Most are pleasant, but some assume the worst,” the medicine seller replied. “I have been thrown into jail a few times.”
The merchant scoffed. “They always assume the worst with us when we just want an honest living. They’ve nearly done it to me too. The name’s Akihiko, by the way. Carpenter.”
“Kayo,” she introduced herself. “Apprentice medicine seller and this is…” she peered at him.
“Just an ordinary medicine seller,” he replied.
Akihiko laughed. “I get that. There were times when I considered abandoning my name and duties, to just travel the world and see further than the reaches of the Seto Sea, but I do rather like what I do.”
“I didn’t think artisans really traveled all that much,” Kayo noted.
“I work for the shipyards here,” Akihiko said. “Repairing boats, docks, the buildings. There was a need for artisans across the Sea so my company sent me.”
“Alone?” Kayo questioned. “Or are there others here?”
“Just me,” he replied. “Some of the artisan companies along the Seto Sea sometimes exchange artisans when they need someone with a particular skill. It’s the only way to see another town. And honestly I just like being out on the sea once in a while.”
Kayo still wasn’t sold on the sea part just yet. She looked up as a pair approached them dressed in working kimono more suited for the sea. They both had fishing rods slung over their shoulders.
“I hope we aren’t a bother in joining you in the back of the boat,” the woman bowed.
The medicine seller offered a respectful bow in return. “Hardly a bother, given that you do not mind staying with those of a lower class.”
“Anything’s better than that annoying know-it-all,” the man huffed. “I’m Tsuichiro and this is my wife Hama. We’re just trying to catch some fish, and that loud mouth is scaring them all off.”
“I do hope this scholar does not decide to grace us with his presence,” the medicine seller mused. “The back of this boat might sink under the weight of his ego.”
Tsuichiro snorted a laugh. “That is far too accurate, medicine seller.” He cast his line off the back of the boat as Hama tended to the baskets filled with fresh fish.
“I am surprised to see fishers on a ferry,” the medicine seller observed.
“Our boat was destroyed in the last storm,” Hama explained. “We haven’t been able to replace it. The food tax is always steep, so we’ve been using ferries for fishing. The boat master gets his share of fish and we have enough fish to feed ourselves and the city.”
“That’s really smart, Miss Hama!” Kayo said. “But it sounds like taxes are really bad here.”
Hama shook her head. “It’s just harder to handle without our own boat.”
He found it oddly amusing. Three different classes in the lower class all talking about fish and their annoyance with a particular upper class scholar. They weren’t that much different, all trying to make ends meet and live in modern Japan. Perhaps extending a hand wouldn’t be too far outside his caste. “Well, it might take awhile since I’d have to work during my free time, but I could build you a simple boat,” Akihiko offered.
“Did you hear that, dear?” Hama called out.
“I sure did,” Tsuichiro called out over his shoulder. “We could pay you in food for labor and supplies.”
“That sounds like a deal,” Akihiko said.
The medicine seller peered past the carpenter, finding a man in a rich kimono approaching. He held an expensive-looking scroll and was rattling off information to a priestess who looked annoyed with him but was trying to hide it.
Kayo leaned past the medicine seller. “I bet that’s Mr. Scholarly Annoyance.”
She peered at Akihiko who rolled his eyes as the scholar approached.
“Have you never seen shironue? I have. They are quite a mysterious sight, lights dancing out upon the water,” the scholar boasted. “No matter how close you get, they’re always far away.”
The medicine seller looked at the scholar sideways. The description was accurate, but the name was wrong. The strange lights on the water were called shiranui, not shironue. He was getting his yokai mixed up.
“While I can appreciate your interest in the arcane, Mr. Tanbei,” the priestess gently pushed him away, “I would much prefer to return to my prayers.”
“More than an interest,” the scholar insisted. “It is a passion, a field of study! I wrote one of the best scrolls on unusual seafaring phenomena.”
The priestess looked less than impressed.
Kayo leaned over to the medicine seller. “You think he’d get the hint she’s not interested in what he has to say.”
The medicine seller grinned just a bit. “Perhaps we could sell him some intelligence charms.”
Kayo snorted. “I don’t think that’ll help. He’s so clueless. He’s too busy trying to impress her with knowledge.”
“It is not even correct. He’s got the name wrong.”
Kayo attempted not to start laughing, clamping a hand over her mouth until the need for giggles subsided. “So much for being scholarly.” She blinked a bit as the sky suddenly grew dark. “Hey, I thought today was clear!”
“That’s not a storm!” Akihiko pointed over the side of the ship. “That’s a tsunami!”
“But how?!” Hama exclaimed. “This is the inland sea! There aren’t tsunami here!”
Kayo clung to the medicine seller in panic. “I hate boats! I hate them! I’d take the Ayakashi Sea again over a tsunami!”
The boat creaked, flipping sideways as the water picked it up and threw the passengers into the cold waters below.
Notes:
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! That could’ve gone better! The Seto Inland Sea is a mostly landlocked sea with good weather and light rain. Certainly not a place for tsunami to happen. In modern times, there is a large bridge across the sea, but here, there are just boats.
So some cultural notes! We’re dealing with the rigid caste system the Tokugawa Shogunate established. The upper class are samurai and nobles all the way up through the ranks to the shogun. The rest are lower, the peasants. And even in these divisions, the ranks were split up more. Artisans and farmers/fishers and then merchants at the very bottom.
Farmers/fishers were expected to provide food for themselves and for the upper class in a food tax. Which was literally the food they grew or caught as payment. Artisans paid their taxes through labor. A lot of what the lower class did was provide for the better of the city.
Samurai often became scholars and artists, though many continued to serve their former lords. This particular former-samurai just became annoying.
I wonder what will become of the travelers after this little mishap.
Chapter 17: Stranded
Summary:
Scuttling crabs
Washed ashore
Wrong names and bad tales
She could hear no more
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Water lapped against his feet as he stirred awake. The medicine chest washed up next to him on the shoreline and Kayo clung to the edges of his soggy kimono. He rubbed at his face as he pulled himself out of the sand.
He sat up, staring out into the sea. The Inland Sea wasn’t known for tsunamis, but there were yokai that could cause them. Unfortunate, honestly, as they were now stranded on one of the many islands that dotted the seascape. Their boat floated just out of reach. Well what was left of it as the wave had split the boat in half. Several boards washed ashore. The sky above was perfectly clear and the waters completely calm.
“I hate boats!” Kayo pushed herself out of the sand. “We should’ve walked!”
“Yes, yes,” he agreed. “This was hardly a normal occurrence.”
“There’s always something lurking in the waters!” Kayo shouted, trying to find her combs in the sand to tend to her unwinding hair.
“There are yokai everywhere,” he pointed out, leaning forward on his legs. “Few that could cause a tsunami, though.”
She huffed, pulling the remaining combs from her hair as she flopped back in the sand. Her hair was nothing but a tangled mess now, wound around seashells, seaweed, and some unfortunate small driftwood. She ran her hand through it, attempting to pull everything from it. “So what do we do now?”
“Wait, it seems.” He reached over to the medicine chest, pulling one of the drawers open, handing her some chopsticks. “For your hair.”
“Thanks.” Well at least she could look somewhat presentable, even stranded on an island in the sea. She wound her hair up, tucking the chopsticks in the bun. This really did suck, but at least whatever caused this was out there and not over here . She leaned forward, picking up one of the shells she’d pulled from her hair. “Say, do you think whatever caused this was after someone on the ship? Like the Ayakashi Sea?”
He wrung out his long sleeves with his hands. “Perhaps.”
“You can’t give me an answer like that after what we went through!” Kayo jabbed a finger at him.
“It’s hard to say, Miss Kayo,” he clarified. “Something certainly did cause this but it is hard to say if it is targeted just yet. I have not ruled out the possibility.”
She huffed, dropping the shell back in the sand and returning to fixing her mess of hair. She was reasonably upset. Everything was supposed to be normal crossing the sea, but boats were always so much trouble. The only one that wasn’t recently was the river boat they took to get to Lord Ii’s estate, but that didn’t make up for how gruesome that mononoke ended up being. Smearing samurai on the balcony. She nearly shuddered at the memory of it.
“Do you know the history of the Seto Inland Sea, Miss Kayo?”
She peered at him from behind her wet hair. “History isn’t exactly something I’m well versed in,” she shook her head. “Never needed it as a servant, you know.”
“A bloody civil war once raged on here some era ago between powerful clans, the Heike and the Genji,” he said. “The war culminated here in the sea, the Heike taking advantage until the tides suddenly changed. Rather than surrender, the Heike drowned themselves in the sea.”
Kayo frowned sharply at the sea. “So what, this is some ancient mononoke?”
“They would’ve been long put to rest by now,” he said. “Instead the souls of the Heike clan merged with the native crabs, giving them shells that look like angry samurai faces.”
Kayo pursed her lips, trying to imagine angry yokai crabs.
“They’re generally harmless,” he added. “And edible.” He pointed at some nearby crabs scuttling about on the shoreline. One turned, sporting a shell that looked like an angry samurai’s helmet.
Kayo stared at the crab as it scuttled off towards the water before laughing. “It really does look like an angry samurai! How ridiculous!” She looked past the crab, seeing someone approach. “Mr. Akihiko!”
“Miss Kayo, Mr. Medicine Seller! I’m glad you both weren’t lost at sea,” he said, relieved.
“I thought we were the only ones who survived!” Kayo exclaimed.
Akihiko shook his head. “Most of us ended up on the nearby beach, even the annoying scholar. But regardless, come and join us on the beach. The fisherman and his wife are trying to catch us some food.”
“I could definitely go for some food right now,” Kayo quickly stood up despite the wet kimono trying to fight against her. She searched for her sandals for a moment, finding them half buried in the sand next to the medicine seller’s geta. She fished both pairs out, shaking the sand off them. She grabbed the soggy small medicine chest, slinging it over her shoulder. “C’mon, let’s go. Better than being stranded by ourselves!”
“Yes yes.” Not that he would object. He stood up, picking up the medicine chest before staring out at the sea for a moment. Something was out there, something lurking in the depths of the sea beyond their broken boat. He suspected the tidal wave had targeted someone on the boat, but there was still the possibility it was a large yokai capable of creating tidal waves that had rolled over at the bottom of the sea. Getting to know the other passengers, even the obnoxious ones, might clear things up a bit.
He followed Kayo and Akihiko up the beach and through a light forest along the beach’s edge, soon reaching where the others had gathered. Most were present there. The fisherman and his wife, the annoying scholar, the priestess, and the carpenter who guided them there. The boat master was notably missing.
He wrinkled his nose as they approached. The boisterous scholar was attempting to catch some fish the fisherman and his wife had caught. Poorly. The medicine seller dropped the medicine chest near the fire, pulling the fish off the fire.
“Exactly what do you think you’re doing?” Tanbei demanded.
“Rescuing that poor burnt fish,” he replied simply. “Unless you all truly desire to eat dinner burnt.” He smirked a little bit as the scholar looked offended but didn’t move to stop him.
“You know how to cook, Mr. Medicine Seller?” Akihiko questioned.
“Of course,” he replied. “It is not much different than concocting medicines. There is a recipe for each, a delicate hand required, and patience. All are part of the craft.” He hooked a finger around one of the upper drawers in the medicine chest, pulling out a small pan used for brewing medicines that required heat. “Miss Kayo, if you would check which herbs are still usable. Perhaps the salt, at least.”
Kayo dug through the drawer, finding a jar of salt thankfully not soggy. She handed it to him, pulling out other herbs to let them dry a bit in the sun. While he didn’t often cook, there were times where their travels took them far between villages. He had surprised her before when he cooked something simple over a campfire, but now that she’d traveled with him for awhile, the only thing that still surprised her were yokai and mononoke and boats.
“Mr. Medicine Seller! Miss Kayo!” the fisherman’s wife Hama exclaimed. “It’s good to see that you made it here okay!” She dropped the battered bucket next to the fire. “This should be more than enough to feed us all for dinner. I was hoping to get some crabs, but they’re particularly difficult to catch on the shore.”
“That’s because of the grudge they carry!” Tanbei butted in uninvited.
“The what now?” Hama questioned.
“The crabs here have become yokai,” the scholar rattled on. “It’s a grudge left over from the battle between the Genji and the Keikei! The latter was defeated in battle and drowned so their grudge carries on in the crabs!”
Kayo rubbed at her face in exasperation. “It’s the Genji and the Heike! He-i-ke!”
“Manners, Miss Kayo,” the medicine seller said thoroughly amused.
“It’s completely wrong!” Kayo insisted.
“It is,” the medicine seller agreed. “But manners.”
“Oh fine!” Kayo fussed. “You said the wrong names, Mr. Scholar. ”
“How dare you correct me, woman!” Tanbei hissed, reaching across the campfire.
The medicine seller stopped him with a singular finger, one the scholar found impossible to counter. “I would appreciate that you did not touch my apprentice.”
Tanbei’s face contorted in anger and frustration as he tried to move the medicine seller’s hand. But no matter what he did, that singular finger would not budge. He withdrew his hand, scowling at the medicine seller and Kayo before standing up and storming off like a child down the beach to watch the water and the so-called Keikei crabs scuttle about.
Akihiko shook his head. “You think he’d be a little more respectful given our situation.”
“Upper class aren’t always happy when those below them correct them,” the medicine seller said, setting more fish onto the pan.
Kayo huffed, folding her arms. “You told me the story and he got it wrong. He was ticking me off with that high and mighty attitude anyway. I couldn’t listen to that nonsense anymore.”
The medicine seller smirked as he returned to cooking edible fish, unlike whatever that boisterous scholar was attempting to make.
“I hope this means we’ll get a bit of quiet now,” the priestess admitted. “Ever since he started rattling my ear off about yokai, he’s been wrong about every single name. I just wanted some fish and to plan how to get off this island. You said you were a carpenter, Mr. Akihiko?”
He nodded. “That’s right, Lady Kawa. Our boat isn’t in repairable condition, but I do know how to build one given time and supplies. There is a chance that the docks will send a search party after our ship doesn’t dock, but just in case, I’ll take a survey of resources after dinner.”
“I think with all our skills, we can survive for some time on natural resources before either a rescue comes or Mr. Akihiko can build a boat,” Hama said with certainty.
“I shall see to it that the kami watch over us as we stay here,” the priestess offered.
“First, dinner!” Hama insisted.
“Yes, that first,” Kawa agreed.
The medicine seller pushed the last of the fish on a makeshift plate before glancing out at the sea. Something was stirring out there, and it wasn’t the heike crabs. He could feel the supernatural sense scratching at the back of his mind like an insatiable itch. The tsunami was feeling less and less like an accident and more like something wanted revenge. If a mononoke had indeed been created, he couldn’t rule out any of his companions as a potential truth. A priestess who just wanted silence, fishers with a broken boat, a carpenter who wanted to see the world, and a scholar who thought he knew everything. Which one had been the target?
He turned back to the fish dinner. All he could do was wait for whatever it was to show itself, and that was perhaps more difficult than dealing with Tanbei’s ramblings.
Notes:
Loooooool Tanbei got told. What a cranky child, storming off like that.
The story about the heike crabs at the start is actually a real legend based on history. There is a whole division of yokai that revolve around historical figures or groups doing something wild or having something done to them and they become yokai or they curse an object for centuries. In this case, it was an entire clan. Heike crabs really do look like they have angry samurai helms for shells. They look pretty silly.
Chapter 18: Night waves
Summary:
a starlit sky
a large dark sea
a frightening mass
has ensnared me
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The medicine seller curled his toes in the sand, staring out at the sea as the stars danced above it in the sky. There were a number of yokai that dwelled in the sea, though most preferred the open coastal seas. The Seto Sea was inland, enclosed nearly on all sides by land. The larger sea-dwelling yokai tended to live elsewhere, but most things had the potential to become something supernatural. Something had been scratching at the back of his senses since the tsunami suddenly manifested, and it hadn’t stopped trying to call out to him ever since.
He stared down at the taima sword in his hand. It was silent at the moment.
“I would’ve figured you had gone to sleep, Mr. Medicine Seller.”
Slipping the taima sword into his sleeve, he turned just enough to see the priestess approach. “Simply watching the stars.”
She peered at him intently for a moment. “Somehow I get the feeling you’re watching something else, something that most cannot discern.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he evaded.
“Just who are you exactly?” Kawa questioned.
“A simple medicine seller, nothing more,” he replied.
Perhaps she was thinking too far into this, but everything about this medicine seller screamed strange. The slightly inhuman features, the supernatural air that seemed to surround him, the way he was intently staring at the sea. She was certain she wasn’t wrong, but whoever he was, he didn’t seem willing to talk about it.
Kawa turned back to looking at the sea. “Well, simple medicine seller, you seem to be the only one concerned with what truly happened today.”
“Tsunami do not happen in the Inland Sea,” he said. “Nor was there a storm to cause such a wave.”
“Which would lead it to being supernatural in origin,” Kawa said, glancing at him.
He continued to look out to the sea, watching the calm waves lap against the shore. She had sensed it too, but she was a priestess. A legitimate one. Her supernatural senses were likely quite strong.
He glanced at her for a moment. The note was genuine, as if she knew he could handle the information. It certainly was a nice change from monks and priests who seemed to think he was just a merchant who didn’t know his place. The statement didn’t seem to be an attempt to back him into a corner, so he simply spoke honestly as he saw it. “There are at least a dozen yokai which could cause a wave like that. Akaei, akkorokamui, various ayakashi, perhaps some funayuurei.”
She nearly sighed in relief as the medicine seller listed off legitimate sea-dwelling yokai. Whoever he was, he had more knowledge than the scholar who thought he knew everything about yokai. “Many of which do not live here or the conditions are wrong for their appearances,” Kawa shook her head. “I’ve run over the possibilities at least a dozen times, and none of them make sense. Mr. Tanbei rattled off ideas after dinner, but he couldn’t get a single name right.”
“That man couldn’t tell his left foot from his right,” the medicine seller commented.
“Exactly. At least the night has quieted him down.” She knelt down, drawing a finger in the sand to write out various protection spells. Work in the sand would be fleeting as the tide came in, but at least it would give her some peace of mind for the night. Whatever was out there could attack more ships, even ones that tried to rescue them. This could make leaving the island much more difficult and at some point, it would need to be dealt with. She stared as the water suddenly receded. “Oh no.”
Drawing the taima sword from his sleeve, he pushed it forward and split the surge of water and waves in two. The pressure was intense. He braced the sword with both hands, feeling the water sharply cut at his arms. He had hoped this was a yokai who had simply inadvertently caused the tidal wave, but it seemed that scratching suspicion had drawn him to his purpose once again. “A mononoke has arrived.”
Kawa stared at the medicine seller’s back, watching him split the water with the sword. He definitely wasn’t ordinary as he claimed, but thankfully that lack of ordinary was keeping them from getting sloshed around. She knew the words he spoke, she knew of mononoke and their origins. If one had truly appeared, the other passengers were in danger. “The camp!”
The medicine seller gritted his teeth, the fangs appearing at the back, as he fought against the onslaught of water. A dark mass shot out of the water, wrapping itself around his waist and squeezing him tightly. It felt like it would crack his ribs as it attempted to force the air right out of his lungs. As he gasped, the water attempted to overwhelm him and choke him.
Shrieks resounded from the camp behind them further up the beach.
Kawa placed a hand on the dark mass. “Evil spirit, be gone!”
The mass reeled back, unwrapping itself and discarding the medicine seller on the sand. It sloshed back into the sea, the water from the waves draining back with it. He grasped at his side, coughing up seawater for a moment.
Kawa flopped backwards in the sand for a moment. She had read about mononoke, studied the supernatural, but never had she actually faced one before. They certainly were more angry and powerful than described.
The medicine seller took to his feet, stumbling for a moment and grasping at his side before heading for the camp. Kawa unburied herself from the sand and followed him. The makeshift campsite had been torn apart, the campfire extinguished and the food and supplies scattered. The passengers had been sloshed about, sitting in small puddles of water while Kayo stood with a small container of wet salt, shaking like a leaf.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!” she exclaimed. “Th-th-there was an arm in that water! Was it… no please don’t tell me it was a mononoke!””
“It was,” he confirmed. “And it seems to be after someone who was on this boat.”
“I told you I hate boats!” Kayo cried. “Every time, there’s always a mononoke! I hate boats so much!”
“A mononoke? That’s preposterous!” Tanbei exclaimed.
“That’s rich for someone who researches sea yokai,” Kawa said sharply.
The medicine seller glanced around the ruined campsite. Aside from Kayo and himself, any one of them could be the mononoke’s truth. The fisherman and his wife who used the ferry to catch fish and pay their taxes. The carpenter who worked at the ports but wanted to see the world. The scholar who studied sea yokai but couldn’t get a single name correct. The priestess from a seaside shrine. They all had a connection to the water, to the Seto Inland Sea.
“A mononoke has a truth, form, and reason,” the medicine seller ignored the scholar’s cries. “Once all three are revealed, the mononoke can be slain. Until then, it will continue to attack, its ire impossible to satiate.”
“I just want to fish! I don’t want to be taken by that thing !” Hama sobbed into her husband’s shoulder.
“There is no thing !” Tanbei insisted. “And what makes you so knowledgeable about this, you suspicious medicine seller?!”
“It would be wise to trust the one with a sacred sword if we want to make it through the night,” Kawa pointed out. She still wasn’t certain why a medicine seller of all people had one, but however he attained it, it wasn’t by theft or by accident. He knew how to wield it and control it, and she was willing to believe he knew how to slay a mononoke with it as well.
The medicine seller sat politely on his knees, the taima sword resting between his hands. The saltwater still stung the fresh fine cuts on his arms now puffing up and threatening to bleed. They were visible from his sleeves, showing the group what the mononoke was capable of doing here and now. Not that the tsunami and the ship capsizing was any less of an indication of the power this mononoke possessed.
Kayo settled down next to him, still tightly grasping the container of salt. She wanted to take his arm and bandage it up, but she’d save fussing at him for later. She knew what he was doing, patiently waiting for anyone to speak up. The situation was dire enough already with being shipwrecked, but the mononoke destroying their camp was a reminder of what was to come. She fidgeted on her feet.
Kawa knelt down, drawing prayers into the sand. A prayer had forced the mononoke back into the sea, but she knew it wouldn’t last forever. It would be back soon enough. She paused in her drawings, standing up as she spotted something lodged into the sand. Digging it out, she found a scroll that was covered in seaweed and damaged at the edges. She unwound the seaweed, pulling the scroll open. “ A Parade of 100 Sea Yokai .”
The medicine seller peered at her curiously as she unrolled the scroll even more.
“Ah, my missing scroll!” Tanbei exclaimed. “My greatest work. I did hope it wasn’t lost at sea.”
Kawa kept the scroll just out of reach as she squinted at it. “‘An illustrated manual of sea yokai and phenomenon by…. Kinichiro?’”
“Kinichiro?” Kayo echoed. “I thought his name was Mr. Tanbei.”
“It is,” the medicine seller said. “Do tell, Mr. Tanbei. Who is Kinichiro?”
Notes:
S-s-s-scandalous!!! Just who is Kinichiro, I do wonder?!
yokai that the medicine seller lists off:
- Akaei - a giant stingray the size of an island that surfaces to shake off sand and rocks that have settled on its back
- Akkorokamui - a giant octopus god of Ainu origin (indigenous people of Hokkaido)
- Funayuurei - ghost ship and the spirits of dead sailors
Chapter 19: Sea scrolls
Summary:
Mysterious scrolls
Darkness from the sea
A tale untold
What could it mean?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The boisterous scholar Tanbei was frozen where he stood, staring wide-eyed at the seaweed-covered scroll he claimed was his best work with a different name on it. “Th-that must be a forgery!”
Kawa unrolled the scroll some more, noting the correct spellings of each name accompanied by detailed sketches and descriptions of each yokai. “Even with the severe water damage it has endured, this is quite the well-crafted scroll, Mr. Tanbei. I do wonder how long it had been submerged underwater.”
“Judging by the seaweed and damage, I’d say for a few months,” Akihiko observed. “It takes a few years for a poorly maintained boat to acquire that much, but a scroll probably wouldn’t be so lucky.”
“How curious that a forgery would be discarded in the sea,” the medicine seller said.
“You all know nothing about how false scrolls are handled!” Tanbei insisted.
Kawa rolled up the scroll, shoving it at Tanbei before sitting back down at the waterlogged campfire, returning to drawing prayers in the sand.
“They are discarded into the sea where they will never be seen again!” Tanbei continued without invitation. His proclamation was met with silence. He curled his hand around the scroll, annoyed. These bottom feeders were looking down on him. What did they truly know about scholarly work? They worked to serve those above them, not ponder the ways of the world.
“Perhaps we should relight the fire,” the medicine seller suggested. “It will be cold if we remain wet from the sea tonight.”
“R-right,” Akihiko stammered. “I think there are some sticks that aren’t wet yet. Do you have any flint or matches?”
“I do,” the medicine seller replied. He hooked a finger around the nearby medicine chest partially lodged into the sand. Drawing the drawer open, he handed Akihiko the flint. With a crook of his finger, he drew a few scales out, distributing them on the sand behind them and letting their bells dangle down as they balanced on the beach. One perched itself on Kayo, distracting her from her nervous fidgeting.
Tanbei seethed. They were ignoring him. Those lowlifes! He threw the scroll at the pile of soggy campfire branches, scattering them about. “Use that for kindling! That’s all Kinichiro was ever good for anyway!”
“Oh~?” the medicine seller questioned.
“He was from an unimportant samurai family, and that bottomfeeder had the gall to try to publish this kind of scroll like he knew better than the rest of us!” Tanbei rambled on.
“So you handled him?” the medicine seller urged him to continue.
“Not like it was hard,” Tanbei replied boisterously. “He thought I’d take him to the opposite port. Took him on a ferry, pushed him over the edge, let him cry for help as the boat left him behind.”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
“The mononoke’s truth, the means it was created,” the medicine seller said.
“Like he’d become anything but a bottom-feeder!” Tanbei continued. “He wasn’t capable of thinking of revenge.”
“Perhaps,” the medicine seller said. “But a mononoke’s reason is a strong emotion. Perhaps betrayal. He did trust you, didn’t he? And yet you pushed him from the boat and stole his work from him. That feeling of betrayal became his uncontrollable regret, the emotion which drives it beyond human comprehension.”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
“Like I’d believe some chattering sword and a worthless medicine seller!” Tanbei jabbed a finger at him.
The medicine seller turned as the bells on the scales quickly tipped towards the sea. With a swipe of his hand, the scales returned to the medicine chest. He stood up, holding the taima sword out in front of him as the water drew down the shoreline.
A massive wave erupted as a black mass of an arm shot out of the wave. It wrapped itself around Tanbei, squeezing him tightly as his ribs began to crack under the pressure of its grip.
“Kinichiro, you worthless bastard!” Tanbei gasped as his body began to crumple and contort. His back cracked backwards as the arm nearly folded him in half before yanking him into the waters down the beach.
The wave did not recede this time, and another arm reached out from the seawater. Using the taima sword, the medicine seller deflected the attack. The arm chased him back and forth as he artfully dodged it. He observed it as he moved, watching the shape the arms took. Each arm that had reached out always looked like an octopus arm, and that was exactly what it was.
“Get back, everyone!” Kawa shouted.
He held the sword out, pointing it at the tidal wave. “The mononoke’s form is a koromodako!”
“Release!” the sword confirmed.
He grasped the edge of the sword as the water crashed over him and drew him down shore. His inner self grasped the sword, drawing the blade from its sheath. The runes that covered his body kept him from drowning and protected him from the octopus’s grasp. Normally koromodako lived in the deeper seas. They were small octopus yokai that grew monstrously large when something threatened them. They could consume anything in their paths then shrink back to normal size when no longer threatened.
But that was the usual yokai. When Kinichiro drowned in the Seto Sea, his strong feelings of betrayal had latched onto an octopus, creating a koromodako outside its natural habitat. They were a dangerous sort, much like the oomukade and could be just about as angry.
The form of the octopus floated before him, its arms extended to impossible lengths as it attempted to reach onto the beach. A pair of sandals floated nearby, Tanbei already consumed by the mononoke’s insatiable hunger for revenge.
Arms lashed out, attempting to ensnare the inner self. He quickly pushed off the sand and out of the way, drawing the sword downward and severing the arm. The mononoke seethed, lashing at him again and again. Each time, the inner self severed the arm as he drew closer to the body. He blocked the remaining arm with the taima sword before driving the blade downward and through the mononoke’s body. It was time for Kinichiro to finally rest.
The waters receded, drawing back into the sea. The outer self crouched on the beach, the taima sword outstretched before him. At his feet was the body of a small octopus. Tucking the sheathed taima sword into his obi, he carefully picked up the body with both hands, setting it into the tide, and letting it drift back out to sea.
….
It took several days for a boat to find the small island in the sea. During those several days, the stranded passengers persisted and survived, not talking about what they had witnessed. They carried on as they hoped a boat would come along or that Akihiko would finish the one he was starting to create. No tidal waves or giant octopus attacked the beach. The sea remained calm and the skies were blue.
On the docks, Kayo still clung to the medicine seller’s arm with a death drip. Her knees wobbled and she desperately wanted to get far away from the sea.
“We are on land, Miss Kayo,” he said. “You can release my arm now.”
“I hate boats!” Kayo cried into his arm. “I hate them! I never want to take another one again!”
“Alright, alright,” he conceded. “Just let go of my arm. It’s still sore.”
Kayo released his arm, still shifting uncomfortably as they headed into the town. “You’re such a baby when you get injured, you know.”
A sly grin crossed his lips. “Look who’s talking, Miss Kayo.”
“Don’t make fun of me!” she jabbed a finger at him, puffing up angrily.
“Yes, yes,” he continued to grin. “Let’s go get some supplies. Have you ever had Ryukyu bananas? They are quite different from northern foods.”
“We are not taking another boat!” Kayo fussed.
“No more boats,” he said. “They grow here in the southern regions without needing to travel to the Ryukyu Islands.”
While the other passengers had gone their separate ways, Kawa had remained behind. She wanted to talk to him, to figure out what she had actually seen when he was drawn into the water. It happened so fast, but for a moment, she was certain someone else was there. But as the water receded, whoever she saw was gone.
She was convinced he wasn’t human, but his exchange with Kayo said otherwise. She held her hand out to catch their attention but stopped. Perhaps some things were best left unanswered. Whatever she had witnessed, he had relieved a mononoke of its pain. He seemed to have a purpose with that taima sword he carried, and it was best to leave him and his companion to it.
Kawa bowed her head in prayer for their safe journeys. She then turned to stare out at the calm sea for a moment before heading towards her shrine.
Notes:
Well moral of the story. NO MORE BOATS.
Name meanings! Members of the boat, all named after water
Akihiko, the carpenter. 沖 Aki means open sea
Tsuichiro, the fisherman. 津 Tsu means harbor or port
Hama, the fisherwoman. はま Hama means shore or coastline
Tanbei, the so-called scholar. 丹 Tan means boat
Kawa, the priestess. かわ kawa likely translates to "river (川)"The only difference is Kinichiro. Kin means gold.
Chapter 20: Downpour
Summary:
Pouring rain
Strange holes
A remedy in exchange
for a dry place to stay
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Rain beat down on their paper kasa umbrellas as the mud threatened to steal their sandals right off their feet. But somehow the medicine seller was walking just fine in his geta despite the conditions. Kayo had no idea how he was doing it, but she’d seen him walk in mud in geta before in the mountains. He had some sort of miraculous balance about him. Perhaps it was some natural ability for whatever supernatural person he might be. Or he just was a really careful person. She still wasn’t certain.
She was happy when they finally hit the stone streets. She was still working the mud off the bottom of her sandals when she nearly collided into the medicine seller’s back. He was staring up at an inn with its lights still on. The streets where they stood weren’t quite for their class, serving the upper clientele but it was late and their options were limited if they wanted to stay inside and not in the storm.
“Quit standing in the entrance.”
The medicine seller turned, bowing at the woman. “Pardon us. We were simply looking for a place to stay.”
She was older, her hair drawn up with expensive hair ornaments that accented her expensive kimono. She held an ornate kasa as she seemingly judged the pair and their respectful bows. “A medicine seller and his…”
“Apprentice,” he replied, still bowing.
What an odd pair. “Tell me, medicine seller,” she continued to stare at them, “do you have goods other than medicines?”
“Many,” he replied simply. “Tobacco, salves, less common oddities as well.”
“Good, come with me. If you have what I need, then you can stay in one of the lower rooms for the night.”
Kayo watched her head towards the inn, veering off from the entrance and heading down the side path. She quickly followed the woman and the medicine seller, wondering if somehow they just got a room in an upper class inn. Well given they had whatever vague thing the woman had wanted, else they’d end up back on the street in the rain.
The woman led them through the servant’s entrance in the kitchen. They left their sandals and kasa at the back door before shuffling through the hallway and into one of the side rooms. She shut the door behind them. “My name is Heya. My husband runs this inn. We have a bit of a problem, and if you can solve it, you will have a room and some food. So far, no one has been able to solve the problem.”
“Oh~? What sort of problem?” He set the medicine chest down on the floor, sitting down on his feet politely. Kayo settled down next to him.
The woman sat down across from them, placing her hands on the table. “Caterpillars.”
Kayo nearly fell backwards off her feet in surprise.
“An unusual pest in late summer,” he commented.
“They began to appear recently,” Heya said. “My husband believes this is some sort of haunting, but no miko or monks have been able to get rid of them. I believe someone simple like the pair of you might have a better answer.”
The medicine seller turned just enough to hook a finger around the drawer. “You would be correct.” He pulled several simple ingredients from the chest. Garlic, pepper, a small piece of soap. “The recipe to kill caterpillars is quite simple. Combine these into water, let them soak overnight, then spread around thinly. However, this particular recipe might be a bit fragrant if they have reached indoors.”
Heya frowned. “They have, and I’d rather the guests did not know about the caterpillar problem.”
He pulled out a small fragrant cloth that smelled exactly like what was inside. Oranges. “These are quite effective against caterpillars and do smell good as well. The process to create the mixture is much like the other.”
Heya tapped her fingers on the table. What was one more night for something that would potentially work? “Very well. Brew the mixture overnight. If this doesn’t work, you’ll need to pay for the room or sell the inn something of equivalent value from your wares.”
“Of course,” the medicine seller offered a polite bow. “We are grateful not to stay in the rain tonight.”
“I look forward to the results.” Heya stood up, heading for the door. “Kura is in the kitchen. She can help you with the preparations.”
He continued to bow politely as the innkeep’s wife left the room.
Kayo sat up, looking at the ingredients on the table. “This stuff really will get rid of caterpillars?”
“Both recipes are quite effective,” he replied, “though the orange one certainly would smell less potent.”
Kayo wrinkled her nose. “I can’t imagine an inn smelling like garlic and peppers. At least not one of these fancy ones. Oranges will smell much better.”
He stashed the ingredients, taking the oranges in his hand while slinging the medicine chest back over his shoulders. “We have work to do. Unless you’d like to work off our bill cleaning the place.”
“Absolutely not!” Kayo fussed. “I’m done being a servant girl! Let’s go cook up some orange caterpillar water, mister!” She shoved him out the door, though not very far. When he wanted to be immovable, it was impossible to push him anywhere. She leaned up against him. “What are you looking at?”
His focus was at the top of the wall. A peculiar series of holes lined the tops of the walls but only on one side. The holes were seemingly haphazardly placed on the wall. They were too high for anyone to bore without being noticed and too irregular to be done with ordinary kitchen tools.
“You must be the medicine sellers Lady Heya mentioned. Though I thought she mentioned two of you.”
Kayo stopped pushing him and peered out around him. “There are two of us. I’m Kayo and this is…” she peered at him, puffing up that he wasn’t even paying attention. “Mr. Too-distracted-by-the-wall, apparently. You’re Kura, right?”
“I am.” The servant nodded, peering up at the wall. “I see you’ve found our caterpillar problem.”
Kayo peered up at the wall, finally seeing what had drawn the medicine seller’s attention. “They eat wood?”
“There are wood-boring caterpillars, though they often eat trees, not inns,” the medicine seller said. “I would say they are wood beetles, utabamushi, but the mistress was quite specific at the cause.”
“Wood beetles are definitely not the cause. They are definitely caterpillars,” Kura confirmed. “Little golden bastards. All the servants have seen them. They’re only on the lower levels, but Lady Heya is worried they’ll get upstairs. We lose guests, we’ll all be out of a job.”
The medicine seller tapped at his chin. The description was odd, the time of year was equally as odd. Perhaps it was a mistake of what these creatures truly were. Either way, the orange water should effectively get rid of them. “How long have the caterpillars been here?”
“A week or two,” Kura replied.
“Anything unusual happen?”
Kura frowned. “More unusual than the caterpillars? Not really.”
Something still felt off. “Let us create the repellant. It is getting late.”
Kura nodded. “Kitchen’s this way. I’ll start on dinner while you work.”
The medicine seller glanced up at the holes on the wall before following the servant down the hallway. There were more holes in the kitchen than in the hallway. Dozens and dozens lined the top of the walls and some even scattered further down towards the dishes and the stove. Some of the holes had been plugged up with cloths or clay but most had been left open. There were simply far too many holes to handle, and all of this happened within one or two weeks. Wood-boring creatures didn’t usually work this fast.
“Don’t worry, there likely aren’t any here right now,” Kura fished out a large pot for their work. “They tend to show up in the morning but never at night. We’re not really sure when they do, but not during any normal waking hours at least.”
“I see.” Setting the medicine chest down on the ground, he took the offered pot and started the simple work. The mixture would be incredibly effective if they were normal caterpillars or bugs, but he wasn’t certain how normal the source of the holes actually was. The behavior was rather particular and the creatures ate through the wood fast. He could think of a multitude of insect yokai, but none that quite had this sort of behavior.
Then again, he wasn’t a bug expert. Perhaps it was a bizarre caterpillar that had come inside to hide from the monsoon. Hopefully that was the case and he wouldn’t be selling half the medicine chest to pay for the room.
Still. Something about this bothered him. Perhaps the morning would answer some questions scratching at the back of his mind.
Notes:
It is surprisingly difficult to find traditional bug-killing methods so I had to go for some slightly more modern ones off organic blogs. It works well enough!
Chapter Text
The medicine seller awoke to the strangest noise. It was still dark and the bells ringing in the nearby temple marked it as 4am. He fumbled for the lantern set on the table next to the futons, finding a match in the dark and lighting it.
Kayo stirred, burying herself further underneath the blankets. “Is it morning already?” She peered out, bleary-eyed as she squinted at the lantern light. “Are you eating snacks?”
“I am not.” Picking up the lantern, he held it out in the room as he summoned ofuda in his other hand. The strange sound was definitely nearby, and it did sound like someone eating snacks. No one else was in the room but the two of them and their medicine chests, but something was definitely making the sound.
He felt Kayo grab the back of his kimono as he lifted the lantern. He stared up at the top of the wall, waiting, listening. The scratching and chewing sound continued until a hole began to form at the top and a small golden brown creature emerged. It wiggled its way out, clinging to the wall and chewing at the wall to exit. “Miss Kayo. It’s a caterpillar.”
Kayo peered around his shoulder, following his finger to the wall. She squinted at the creature as it attempted to chew itself out of the room. “That’s bizarre.”
“It is,” he agreed, wedging his kimono free of Kayo’s grasp. “Let’s investigate.”
Kayo didn’t question following him. It was best to stay with him instead of trying to sleep surrounded by wood-eating caterpillars.
He held up the lantern, finding more of the caterpillars in the hallways. They were creating more and more holes in strange patterns that felt less and less irregular the longer he looked at them. Bugs weren’t that particular. They ate whatever they could. But everything about this felt off, ever since he first stared up at the holes in the wall.
The biggest concentration of them was in the kitchen, just down the hall. Sliding open the door, the crunching sound became deafening against the quiet of night. Dozens and dozens of caterpillars were chewing through the walls. Even if there had been a nest chased indoors by the storm, this amount was just well beyond ridiculous. This was an infestation. That bucket of orange water wouldn’t be enough if they were ordinary caterpillars.
A cracking noise grated at his ears followed by the sound of scraping pottery. The shelf cracked and collapsed under the lack of a wall behind it. The medicine seller outstretched his hand, stopping the dishes from crashing into the ground.
Kayo felt her heart skip a beat. Dishes were important in noble households and breaking them could result in high fees or even death. She wanted to live through the night and not be eternally indebted to an inn. She had enough of working for nobles and inns. Carefully, she plucked the bowls from the air and stacked them in her arms.
“What was all that noise?” Kura stumbled into the kitchen half awake.
“Almost a disaster,” Kayo replied, setting the bowls on the counter.
The medicine seller held the lantern up near the wall. The shelf was dangling from the wall, partially chewed up with holes along the edges.
“Oh no,” Kura stared. “This is worse than before. I… I need to save the bowls and cups! I can’t let them break!”
“I’ll help!” Kayo quickly scurried off to gather everything off the shelves.
The medicine seller continued to observe the caterpillars’ destruction. These holes were definitely not random. Carefully he wedged the remains of the shelf off the wall.
“What are you doing?” Kayo hissed at him.
He turned, placing a finger on his lips. It was too early for shouting. Turning back to the wall, he held the lantern up as he stepped back. That was definitely a kanji written in holes. “‘Five’.”
“Five?” Kura questioned.
The medicine seller pointed at the wall, the holes writing out the kanji for five: 五.
Kura and Kayo stared at the writing on the wall.
“That really does say five,” Kayo agreed. “Bugs don’t usually write kanji.”
“They do not.” The medicine seller surveyed the room now that the dishes had been removed from the shelves. The caterpillars continued to chew on the walls, creating holes that were definitely not random. He pointed to the right of the five. “‘Four.’”
Moving to the right, Kayo pulled some trays off the counter. “‘Three.’”
Kura peered at the next wall past the corner where there were fewer holes. “‘Two’ and ‘one.’”
The medicine seller looked over the numbers as the door to the kitchen slid open.
“What is going on at this hour?” Heya demanded. She spotted the massive number of caterpillars on the walls, shrieking and leaping backwards into the man behind her.
“It seems your caterpillar problem has learned to write kanji,” the medicine seller replied. A slight smirk crossed his lips or perhaps that was the makeup.
Heya frowned in confusion, following the medicine seller’s finger. She dragged the man with her into the kitchen to get a better look from where the rest of them stood. Just past the wiggling golden brown creatures was definitely the kanji for five.
The medicine seller glanced over his shoulder as Kura stepped behind him and away from the man with Heya. Looking back to the walls, he pointed at each number. “One, two, three, four, and five.” pointed to the opposite side of the kitchen door. “Six, seven, eight, nine.” He returned his hand to his side. “I do wonder what it might be counting.”
“This is ridiculous!” the man exclaimed. He turned, jabbing a finger at the medicine seller. “Pests do not write kanji, and apparently pest merchants can’t get rid of these pests either!”
“Oh I can get rid of them,” the merchant seller peered at him calmly. “Though the originally proposed method will not work.”
Kayo puffed up behind the medicine seller. Whoever this man was, he was really irritating her. He was talking down to them, but the medicine seller didn’t seem fazed by it one bit.
“Let’s not be so hasty, Ieshige,” Heya pulled on his sleeve.
Ieshige pried his sleeve from her grip, huffing derisively. “They want nothing more than to get a free room but they should be charged double for staying at a place like this!” He turned sharply, heading for the door. “I’m going back to bed.” He stopped several steps away as he felt a thousand eyes suddenly upon him.
The caterpillars stopped chewing on the wood, standing on their hind legs and curving their bodies to stare at him.
The medicine seller slipped the taima sword from his sleeve, gripping ofuda in the other. But before he had a chance to fling the spell papers, the caterpillars all rushed forward as if yanked by thread out into the hallway. The noise was deafening as the caterpillars congregated into a brown and gold mass that filled the entire doorway.
“ One
Two….
...three
Four….
F I V E ………..
….. SIX
...seven…..
Eight….
NINE?! ”
The numbers echoed down the hallway in a booming voice that threatened to rattle all the bowls off the counter. Kura leapt at the closest ones, grasping them in her arms to protect them.
The golden mass in the hallway slid down the hallway as the room began to tip just slightly. Kura grasped at the dishes, attempting to catch them all. The medicine seller quickly turned, plastering the remaining dishes with ofuda to hold them in place. He turned back to the door as a massive face with two piercing brown eyes and a haunting jagged smile.
“ Why are there only nine?! ”
The voice shook the room as it began to tilt some more. The medicine seller leapt forward, slamming the door shut with the brush of his hand and plastering it with ofuda. He plastered the walls over the numbered holes and broken shelving. The ofuda flared up a bright red before finally quieting down.
“W-w-w-w-what was that thing ?!” Heya stammered, crumpled up on the floor and leaning against the counter.
“Your caterpillar problem isn’t ordinary,” the medicine seller replied. “It is the work of a mononoke.”
Kayo clung to the tilted cabinet. “Why can’t it just be normal caterpillars for once?!”
Notes:
It's never just ordinary caterpillars, is it?
Chapter 22: Nine
Summary:
Will the count ever reach to ten?
Or will the room flip
upside down again?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The room was slightly tilted and the walls were plastered with ofuda. The occupants had been rattled, but the medicine seller stood calmly, one foot higher than the other as he balanced in his tabi socks on the wooden floor. Here he was hoping for a simple task to stay somewhere and avoid the monsoon outside, but the supernatural sense that scratched at the back of his mind was never wrong. A mononoke had crossed into the human realm.
He glanced at the pot of orange water now leaning against the tilted cabinet. That wouldn’t work for this sort of infestation.
“What do you mean, mononoke?” Heya questioned.
“A creature born of strong negative human emotions,” the medicine seller replied. “When they cross into the human realm, they seek to act upon that emotion and often kill those close to their creation, their truth. Though they rarely stop there.”
“I don’t want to die!” Kura cried, clinging to the stack of bowls in her arms.
“It is gone,” the medicine seller said, “for now.” He peered at the door, running through a list of possible forms. Bug yokai were rather numerous, but ones related to caterpillars, butterflies, and moths were less common. They also could be related to caterpillar-like creatures, which only complicated things. He looked at Ieshige as the angry man crossed his field of view.
“This is preposterous!” Ieshige jabbed a finger at the medicine seller again.
He stared back at the innkeeper. When faced with the supernatural, humans often would deny the evidence right in front of them. “Do tell me then, what exactly was out there and has tipped the room sideways?” Sometimes such a bold statement helped reveal the truth. Sometimes it resulted in a slap in the face. This morning was definitely the latter.
“Insolent merchant!” Ieshige hissed.
Heya leapt at him, grasping his arm. “Stop, dear! He has a point. That wasn’t normal! There was a face in the doorway! What if it gets upstairs? We’ll be ruined!”
“Not if I can help it.” Ieshige yanked open the counter drawers, fishing out a very large knife. “I’ll kill that thing myself. I’ll do what all those useless miko and monks and merchants couldn’t do!”
Ieshige headed for the door and Heya attempted to dissuade him from going out into the hallway. It certainly was a bizarre scene, the struggle between the innkeep and his wife over the knife. The medicine seller wasn’t certain if the innkeep would plunge the knife into his wife or if he’d take it to the door. Ieshige was likely related to the mononoke’s truth, though the medicine seller hadn’t quite figured out exactly how. But if Kura’s reaction of cowering behind the counter was any indication, he wasn’t as pleasant as his wife and that likely led to someone’s unpleasant death.
Ieshige wrestled his sleeve from his wife’s grip, heading for the door with intent and the knife.
“I wouldn’t go out there if I were you,” the medicine seller warned.
“And why exactly is that ?” Ieshige demanded, his hand now on the sealed door.
“The mononoke has transformed the hallway into its domain,” he replied. “That is no longer the inn hallway you know.”
Ieshige scoffed, yanking on the door.
The medicine seller gritted his teeth, the pronounced fangs slightly visible in the edges of his downturned mouth. The ofuda began to flare up red, starting with the lower half of the room and quickly moving towards the door. “Don’t!”
The innkeep pried open the door. The hallways were covered in writhing caterpillars and strange cocoons were suspended from the ceiling. All were bound up with a thick twine tied off somewhere in the darkness. In the center of the hallway was a massive human-sized caterpillar with the head and shoulders of a woman. She was beaten and battered, twine wound tightly around her neck and shoulders.
“Nine…?” she sobbed. “Why are there only nine?”
Ieshige yelped, dropping the knife to the ground, nearly taking off his toes with it. “You! Impossible!”
Twine shot out from the doorway, wrapping itself tightly around Ieshige’s body. He fought against the mononoke’s grip, trying to reach the knife on the floor. Yet the more he struggled, the tighter the twine dug into his arms, cracking his bones underneath the pressure.
The medicine seller threw ofuda at the twine but the mononoke wouldn’t surrender its prey so easily. It cast twine out towards him, drawing back just slightly as he repelled the attack with the taima sword. Ieshige let out a strained whine of a gasp as the mononoke yanked him forward and into its domain.
The medicine seller shut the door, barricading and sealing it with ofuda. The papers flared up red as the mononoke traveled further down the hall. As the furthest ofuda turned black and began to fall silent, the room shifted and creaked, tilting in the opposite direction before stopping at a slight incline.
The room had fallen silent. He felt Kayo grip the back of his kimono, afraid that the room would tip completely sideways. Whoever that mononoke was, she was suffering. That twine was wound so tightly around her, even in that form, Kayo couldn’t imagine what hell she’d been through.
“The form,” the medicine seller broke the silence, “is an okiku-mushi.”
The taima sword’s teeth echoed off the quiet walls.
“It is a caterpillar which looks like it has been bound with twine when it is in cocoon form,” he continued. “It is said these yokai carry a grudge from earlier eras of a servant girl who lost an important plate and was murdered because of it. She too is said to count. I do wonder how this is linked, as we are not in the right region for this tale.”
“Th-that face!” Heya stammered. She was on the ground, reaching forward as if trying to grab Ieshige or perhaps the mononoke she recognized. “It… it can’t be!”
“Do you know who that was, Lady Heya?” he questioned.
“It’s Gen,” she replied. “Absolutely it’s Gen! But Ieshige said she went back to her family to be married off to someone! There’s no way she could turn into a mononoke thing!”
“That’s a lie.” Kura’s words were muffled as she buried her face in her hands. “It’s all a lie. Master Ieshige tied her up and beat her until she died, dumping her body down the well. He made us watch so we would never question him.”
Heya choked on air. “But… That’s…. That can’t be.”
“It happened, Lady Heya, I swear it,” Kura confirmed.
She began sobbing loudly. She didn’t want to believe it, but it was hard to deny after everything she’d just witnessed. “I… This is just too much. I can’t handle this…. Poor Gen…” She managed to pry herself off the floor, heading over to the counter to find a towel to rub at her face and sob into. “Why would you do this, Ieshige? Gen was such a sweet girl!”
The room began to shift sharply as the ofuda near the nine kanji began to flare up red. The side wall tore open as the caterpillar began to pry its way inside. Tossing Kayo towards the stable counter, the medicine seller flung dozens of ofuda at the open wall as he attempted to thwart the mononoke’s advance. He reached out, catching himself on a slightly open drawer.
“ Nine! Why are there only nine?! ” the okiku-mushi demanded.
Kayo landed on the side of the counter, colliding with Heya as she slid down the tilting room. Kura clung to the edge of the counter, still grasping the bowls in her arm.
Heya held her hand out. “Kura, let go of the bowls and take my hand.”
“I can’t!” Kura insisted. “That’s how this all started!”
“I don’t care about the bowls!” Heya said. “I don’t want to lose you too!”
Reluctantly, Kura released the bowls. They clattered down the tilted kitchen floor and disappeared into the mononoke’s domain below. She grasped Heya’s hand, the innkeep’s wife pulling the servant up to safety to the side of the counter.
There was still a missing truth and reason, but the path to finding them was becoming more and more clear. With Kura’s obsession with the bowls and the fear of Ieshige, the truth was right there before them though it missed a few details. “Miss Kura, what was Miss Gen’s connection with the number nine? Was it bowls?”
“Yes!” Kura replied. “There were supposed to be ten but only nine were on the shelf. They were Master Ieshige’s best bowls, so she was accused of stealing them.”
The taima sword’s teeth chattered in confirmation of the mononoke’s truth.
“It’s my fault!” Kura cried. “I misplaced the bowl on another shelf but when I found it, it was too late! Gen had already been killed! I’m sorry, Gen! I’m so sorry!”
The medicine seller released his grip on the drawer, skidding down the tilted kitchen floor. “Your reason is despair. You weren’t at fault for the missing bowl but you suffered for it regardless.”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation. “Release! Relea---” its voice disappeared as the medicine seller slid into the mononoke’s domain. He stood on the wall, his inner self grasping the colorful sword as he watched the mononoke sob uncontrollably. The caterpillars seemed to cry with her.
“They didn’t come for me,” the mononoke sobbed. “They didn’t stop Master Ieshige. But could they really stop him? We’re just servants, nothing. If I hadn’t taken the blame, would he have brutalized us all?”
Strings shot out, attempting to snare the medicine seller. He dodged backwards, easily walking on the vertical floor as the runes kept him stable against it.
“Nine! Nine!”
Slashing through each one, he cut the strings before they could reach him.
“There were just nine! Why were there only NINE?!”
He leapt forward, deflecting diving caterpillars with runes as he headed towards the okiku-mushi.
“Ninenine nine nineNINENINE!!!!!”
It was time she was finally relieved of this binding despair. She would no longer need to count the plates as there was never one missing. All that was left was to let her know the truth. “Ten.”
As he drove the sword through her, she cried one last time. “Kura, I’m sorry for leaving you behind...”
The world felt like it was suddenly being thrown back to normal as the mononoke’s domain collapsed. He was thrown from the darkness, the outer self crashing into the now balanced floor and rolling several times before colliding with the far counter.
“Mr. Medicine Seller!” Kayo exclaimed.
He rubbed at the back of his head, fixing his bandanna as long tendrils of hair attempted to escape from beneath it. “I’m fine, don’t fuss.”
Heya peered around the counter at the wall on the far side of the room. Aside from the chewed holes spelling numbers, everything looked relatively normal. Spell papers had fallen from the walls, littering the floors. The shelves had taken quite a bit of damage. Cloths and towels had pooled at the side of the room when it tipped. Relatively normal after a supernatural encounter like that. “Gen, she’s not suffering anymore, is she?”
“She is no longer bound to the mononoke,” the medicine seller replied.
“Good.” Heya stood up, nearly tripping on her crooked kimono slightly ripped from the commotion. There they were, on the counter. The bowls that Ieshige treasured more than the people around him. All ten of them were there. They were quite a beautiful set, black with delicate golden cranes dancing along the base.
Frowning at the stack, she grasped the bowls in her hands. Picking them up she quickly and angrily slammed them against the kitchen floor. She was angry at Ieshige for all of this, for making Gen suffer, and for creating a mononoke. To think she’d married such a terrible person. “No more stupid bowls, no more fearmongering, no more disrespect. I will not have more mononoke created. From now on, I’m running this inn my way.”
The medicine seller grinned, amused. Gen was standing at the far wall, holding the bowls as she watched Heya break them. She smiled, dropping the bowls on the ground as well before holding up all ten fingers. She turned, walking out of the kitchen. With Ieshige gone, she could leave everyone in Heya’s care and know that this wouldn’t repeat itself. Everything would be just fine from now on.
Notes:
So someone is knowledgeable of famous ghost stories! I saw someone guess that Okiku was potentially the mononoke, and you were pretty close! Okiku is a very famous, bloody tale about a servant girl in Himeji Castle. Her lord attempted to get her to marry him, but she denied his advances. He broke a plate (which was pretty much like breaking your life then) so she was bound, tortured, then drowned.
This lead to the tale of the okiku-mushi (aka okiku-bug). A particular caterpillar called the Chinese Windmill hung around the area which has a chrysalis that looks like it’s been bound with twine.
When I was searching for possible bug legends (I couldn’t do an entire story about the unnatural world without some kind of bug), I came across this one. The more I read about Okiku’s story, the more it sounded like something in the series, so I had to use it. And I’ve always wanted to tilt a room sideways.
Name meanings!
Heya へや (sounds like “room”)
Ieshige - house luxurious
Kura くら storehouse
Gen げん Probably "source, origin" (元).
Chapter 23: Roses
Summary:
A sudden missive
A request for tea
It's back to a palace
And who should they see?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Kayo leaned on the table as she watched the medicine seller bow to a very well-dressed man. The man looked out of place, dressed far too richly for the merchant district in the city. His presence had attracted the attention of the nearby merchants and artisans, and it made them uncomfortable. The medicine seller, however, looked absolutely unfazed. He conversed with the man respectfully, accepting some sort of scroll. He bowed deeply as the richly dressed man left.
The medicine seller turned, staring calmly back at the merchants watching him as he held the scroll in his hand. Merchants were terrible gossips, and often that was the best way to gather information about a location. However, he didn’t need them gossipping about him and his business with a particular young lord who wanted his attention.
Lord Ii had kept the tatarimokke incident secret. Not a single rumor had emerged from the palace about it in the several years since it happened. His father’s ritual suicide was marked as a means to attone for burning down an entire city, but never once was the supernatural element mentioned. A mononoke could potentially ruin a noble family. For a regional lord, it could be devastating.
The medicine seller found himself a bit fond of Lord Ii, but it wasn’t just him. That entire familial line had him intrigued. They had a tendency to attract mononoke, and it often made them paranoid. “Come, let us attend to this summons.”
Kayo wrapped the last of lunch up in a cloth, hefting the medicine chest onto her shoulders. She could make a few guesses what that exchange was about given the slight smirk tugging at the medicine seller’s lips. He was amused.
She waited until they were a respectable distance from the restaurant and prying ears before she prodded him demandingly in the arm. “What was that about? And don’t give me some vague answer. I saw that smile.”
He pulled the scroll from his sleeve, unrolling it for her to read. “It seems Lord Ii requests our presence. He has been searching for us for some time.”
Kayo frowned a bit, recalling the last time they had been summoned by Lord Ii. “Oh no. Are there more kittens under the balcony? Strange sounds in the middle of the night?”
“None,” the medicine seller shook his head. “He wishes to discuss tea. He said it was very important.” After encountering such a vicious mononoke, the medicine seller had expected more summons to investigate every bump in the night, but he and Kayo hadn’t been in Lord Ii’s domain for some time. The message was very calm and collected, so perhaps it really was just a talk about tea.
“Tea.” Kayo took the scroll. Sure enough, it was an official missive requesting to speak of teas. He didn’t go into any detail further, just noting that the missive was required to enter the castle grounds and to come as soon as possible. “Strange. Well at least we have all those teas from the southern regions still left. I wonder what kind of teas a regional lord would like.”
“We shall see.” He had a few ideas of what Lord Ii might want, but he’d like to hear it himself.
The journey to the castle only took a few days. They took a slightly longer route to avoid any boats and crossed the large bridge instead. Kayo had refused to board the river boat, not that the medicine seller could blame her. They weren’t in the Seto Inland Sea and had no chance of being capsized and stranded on an island again, but Kayo didn’t want to take any chances. Surely the young lord would understand the delay.
At the side gate, the medicine seller offered a deep bow along with the scroll serving as their invitation inside. The guard looked over the pair and then at the invitation, scrutinizing it a bit before letting them inside. A familiar red-clad samurai met them on the other side.
Akinobu looked much better than their last encounter. He walked normally as he led them through the gardens. The wounds along his stomach from the tatarimokke would’ve long-since healed. They likely left massive scars but that was better than being gutted on a balcony.
As they walked further into the complex, the samurai stopped for a moment. They were surrounded by the far reaches of the garden, most of the trees no longer flowering in the later summer months save for a few evergreens that blossomed much of the year. They were surrounded by beds of colorful flowers. “You know, it’s been quiet since you took care of that mononoke. Even Lord Ii has been calmer than before.”
“Oh~?” The medicine seller had honestly expected the opposite given how paranoid Lord Ii tended to be. “No more concerns about kittens underneath the balcony or strange noises in the night?”
The samurai shook his head. “Concerns about owls for a few months, then the worry just washed away. He’s been focused on running the han completely.”
Humans could be such a strange sort, sometimes, and Lord Ii certainly was among the stranger sort. The medicine seller found it intriguing that the young paranoid lord acted opposite what he expected. “So this is truly a summons about tea. I did have my concerns, all things considered.”
“My lord is entertaining important guests,” Akinobu said informatively. “He truly does wish to expand his selection of teas. He is quite set on this, saying it was something of a family tradition.” He headed down one of the side pathways, past brilliant purple iris and white oleander. A lake sat calmly within the flowers. A red bridge spanned it, leading to mums and morning glories still in full bloom. “With all the formalities, we’ll be heading to the side complex.”
The medicine seller stared at the samurai’s back as he led them down a path through the gardens. On his last visit, he’d seen the expansive flowering trees but gardens often focused on arrangement of trees, rocks, and water. This palace had always been different with its attention to color. “If it’s not too improper of me, how is your midsection doing, Sir Akinobu?”
“All healed,” the samurai replied, heading for a large building situated on the side of the large main complex. He still recalled the attempt to save his life. The medicine seller had no reason to do what he did, especially with how harshly the samurai had treated him. He had no reason to trust the medicine seller at all, but after seeing what he did, everything had changed. “I should thank you for what you did.”
“Hardly a need for such,” the medicine seller said politely. “Simply the work of an ordinary medicine seller.”
Akinobu slid open the door, peering at the medicine seller for a moment. There wasn’t a single thing ordinary about him, no matter how much he insisted on it being true. Everything from that taima sword to his understanding of the supernatural and how he always looked like he was seeing something no one else could. The samurai had noticed the last one before when the medicine seller looked at the garden several times before leaving. “I’ll let Lord Ii know you’re here.”
Kayo and the medicine seller settled in the room, setting the medicine chests down. The entire atmosphere had changed since they were last here. Servants bustled back and forth along the walkway. Sounds of horses in the distance. A sweet scent of flowers wafted in from the nearby garden. It was much calmer without the tension of a mononoke stalking about the place.
The door soon slid open, Lord Ii entering and dismissing the servants and shutting the door behind him. He was dressed in layers upon layers of formal kimono, decorated in the proper makeup and accented by formal headwear. He pulled the hat off, setting it on the table near the door. He sighed as he saw the medicine seller and Kayo bow respectfully. “Please, sit up, my friends.” He walked over, grabbing the stool and toting it over to the pair. “I’ve had more than enough formalities for today even though the day is just starting.”
The medicine seller sat up, placing his hands in his lap. “Sir Akinobu did say you’ve kept quite busy since our last visit.”
Lord Ii nodded. “Well he is right. It’s been busy taking over my father’s responsibilities, and a lot of rebuilding the damaged towns thanks to my father’s greed. And now that’s done, well…” He rubbed at his face, flushing a bit. He had a habit of looking older than he was given his station, but at the moment, he truly looked like his age, barely brushing 20. “I need help with courting some noble ladies.”
A slight grin tugged at the medicine seller’s lips. “There are charms that could help with a variety of---”
“----no no no, that’s not what I mean!” Lord Ii clasped his hands over his face, embarrassed like a child. “Teas. I mean teas!”
“The summons did mention such,” the medicine seller said, still grinning just a bit.
“Y-yes!” Lord Ii rubbed at his face, taking a deep breath. “The ladies from neighboring han and some from the regions within this one. I want to impress them with this region’s traditions, and this one was once known for its teas.” He fumbled with his robes just a bit, trying to get them to a comfortable position. This was far too many layers. “You see, my grandfather enjoyed tea, but my father obsessed about fruit and discarded all the teas after my grandfather’s death. The ladies are expecting teas and I know nothing about them. When you were last here, you mentioned talking about teas. You’re the only knowledgeable person I know to handle this request since you knew my grandfather.”
“That does explain the lack of variety in your green teas.” He turned just slightly to pull out one of the drawers of the medicine chest. Not the one with all the bedroom charms. “Your grandfather was rather fond of the teas I would bring from regions across Japan. Even after the bakeneko incident, he summoned me several times for tea suggestions.”
Lord Ii watched the medicine seller pull several tins from the chest. “I had no idea. He never mentioned you with teas, just with the bakeneko incident. He told that tale several times over when I was really young.”
“Teas do not tell exciting stories children wish to hear,” he set some more tins on the ground.
“That’s true. I probably wouldn’t have listened to them,” Lord Ii shook his head. It was too late to hear the tales from his grandfather now. His grandfather had died while Lord Ii was still young, leaving him with only a few memories. “What were his favorite teas?”
“Flower teas,” the medicine seller replied. “Local flowers, exotic ones I picked up on travels, anything that smelled like a garden poured out of a pot.”
“Noble ladies do enjoy flowers,” Kayo added. “Especially the fragrant ones.” While the Sakai house did like the traditional bitter green teas, they did enjoy the flower teas as well. They had also sold flower teas to noble houses in their travels along the way. Ginseng too, but this was to impress the ladies, not help them in bed.
“As Miss Kayo suggests, they are quite popular with nobility.” The medicine seller opened the tin, offering it to the young lord. “Orange blossom was one of your grandfather’s favorites.”
Lord Ii took the tin, sniffing it. He had to admit the tea was rather fragrant and appealing.
“He was also quite fond of rose tea,” he offered another tin. “This particular blend he enjoyed was mixed with southern flowers not found in this region. I always kept some I would not sell to anyone else. It has been favored by your family for some time.”
Kayo peered at him for a moment. She’d seen the tin before in the chest, unmarked and always sitting in the back. After being stranded on the island in the Seto Inland Sea, he had been very specific about which blend of ingredients went into it. Just how long had he been making this specific tea for the Ii family?
The lord took the other tin and sniffed it. He stared at the tin for a moment, focused on the rose tea. “This smell. It’s the tea that my grandfather demanded right before he died. He wanted the last of the tin, saying it was the last of his favorite teas.”
Lord Ii curled his hand around the tin. Admittedly he didn’t know much about his grandfather as he would’ve liked. Right now, he had an opportunity. He had someone sitting before him who knew him and knew him well. Somehow the medicine seller hadn’t aged at all, but after seeing him fight the tatarimokke, he was certain that the medicine seller wasn’t exactly human. “I have a favor to ask. Could you tell me---”
“My lord.” The servant’s voice interrupted through the closed door. “Please pardon the interruption. Your presence is requested for the upcoming meal.”
Lord Ii rubbed at his face. He wasn’t ready for this formal lunch just yet. There were too many preparations. Perhaps this diversion in thinking about his grandfather was at the wrong time. He had to focus on the here and now. “Alright, I’ll be there in a moment.” He turned back to the medicine seller. “I’ll take as much rose and orange blossom teas as you can offer. Anything that might be local as well. Do you have any local teas?”
“Very little,” the medicine seller replied. “I would need time to make them.”
“Use whatever you need from the gardens and the kitchens,” Lord Ii offered. “I’ll summon you tomorrow to hear all about them. For now, it’s all formalities and food.” The young lord stood up, straightening the numerous layers of formal kimono before shoving the stool back over to its proper location.
“Before you go.” The medicine seller pulled something out of the chest, holding his hand out. “Pumpkin seeds. They help with nerves.”
“Perfect.” He held out his hand, the medicine seller dropping the seeds into it. Anything to help. Unlike rebuilding the han, trying to impress other lords and ladies was much more difficult. “I let the staff and Akinobu know the task. I look forward to learning more about the teas my grandfather enjoyed.”
Notes:
Guess who’s back? It’s Lord Ii of course! Certainly couldn’t have a story without our favorite over-stressed regional lord, now could we? Hopefully he’ll be able to enjoy some teas this time around. Maybe.
Chapter 24: Chrysanthemum
Summary:
A flowerbed full of colors
They could be for teas
They could be deadly
Hard to say
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The flower garden within the palace was extensive, filled with dozens of different kinds blooming brightly in the summer heat. Reds, blues, whites, all arranged in attractive combinations around large ponds with koi and stone bridges. Stone lanterns jutted up near the walkways, and markers labeled the various flowers in the beds. It stretched across the length of several large buildings and expanded outwards towards the far walls. The selection of flowers was as vast as the garden itself, but the medicine seller was looking for specific ones.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a garden like this before,” Kayo marveled. “It almost feels like we shouldn’t be plucking flowers from here.”
“Lord Ii’s grandfather did often request teas made from local flowers,” the medicine seller crouched down, inspecting the lotus bloom floating on the pond.
“It sounds like they’re a lot alike,” Kayo peered over his shoulder. “Lord Ii and his grandfather.”
“They are very alike,” he replied, reaching forward and plucking the lotus blossom from the pond. He shook the water off before placing it into the basket. “Their kindness, their concern for people, their paranoia that something lurks within the shadows. But there has been a history of mononoke in this location. It is only natural.”
She squinted at him. “A history? Just how many mononoke have you fought here?”
“Who knows.” He stood up, turning towards the brilliant pink flowers.
She huffed. The answer wasn’t two so there were more than that. There were certainly times in recent months where she saw him as mostly human then statements like that made her question exactly who and what the medicine seller actually was. He certainly wasn’t completely human, given what he could do, but there was also the possibility he wasn’t human at all. He could be a yokai or divine or something entirely unknown.
She stared at his back as he crouched down to look at the mums.
He turned, peering at her over his shoulder and wondering what had occupied her mind. Perhaps questions that were best left unanswered. “The flowers will not pick themselves, Miss Kayo.”
“R-right.” She knelt down next to the flowers, looking over the brilliant hues of mums. “Which ones are the best for teas?”
“The most brilliant in color and do not show any signs of withering,” he replied. He wrapped his fingers around a particularly bright yellow mum. “This one, for example.”
Kayo surveyed the patch of mums. There seemed to be a lot of really brilliant mums though a few had begun to show signs of withering and browning.
“Find some large ones,” the medicine seller added. “They can be used in a blooming tea.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen blooming tea before,” Kayo admitted, searching for the largest and brightest mums she could find. “Does the flower bloom in the tea or something?”
“It does,” he confirmed. “The flowers are dried and bundled in with tea. When set in water, the bundle opens like a blooming flower. It is quite impressive, certain to entertain his esteemed guests.”
“Then I’ll find the best flowers for this blooming tea!” Kayo said with determination. “He’ll attract the perfect wife and they’ll be happy together! I’m certain of it.”
Marriages were a formality of status, but he wasn’t going to crush her enthusiasm this time. She had wanted to be married and have a family, and she was instead traveling with him. It was by choice, but there was still a part of him that wondered if she still had that desire to settle down somewhere.
Hearing rustling, he looked down the pathway. At the far edge of the garden was a high class lady in a long formal kimono. Her hair was pulled up in the stylish updo and decorated with expensive ornaments. She leaned over, sniffing the flowers of a large white oleander bush.
Kayo paused in her picking, noticing that the medicine seller was staring at something. She squinted at the noblewoman who didn’t seem to notice them yet. “I thought all of Lord Ii’s guests were elsewhere for lunch. Does he have a sister?”
“He does not.”
Kayo frowned a bit. Lord Ii didn’t seem to be the type to have a courtesan, nor did she actually look like one. She looked much more like Lady Mao but increasingly formal, if that was even possible. She had never met a regional lady before. That was the term right? She wasn’t sure. “Mother?”
“Doubtful.” He had never met Lord Ii’s mother, but the woman appeared to be closer to Ii’s age than his parents’. He watched her walk away from the oleander bush and head down the pathway. Perhaps she simply was late to the lunch or was doing her best to avoid it.
He returned his focus to the flowers, feeling the supernatural sense clawing at the back of his mind. He dropped a few more mums in the basket before hearing sandals slapping against the walkway.
The samurai stopped next to them, sucking in a deep breath. “Mr. Medicine Seller. Miss Kayo. I need you to come with me immediately. One of the ladies has suddenly fallen ill after smelling a scent no one else did.”
“Peculiar,” he said.
“That sums it up,” Akinobu agreed.
It could be a yokai or it could be that the lady had fallen from sickness and was hallucinating. The medicine seller hadn’t quite shaken off the supernatural sense as he stood up with the basket of mums and lotus in hand. He and Kayo quickly followed Akinobu, dropping off the flowers and fetching the large medicine chest. As they approached the quarters, there were a number of voices shouting inside.
Akinobu stopped at the door, offering a polite bow at it to announce their arrival. “Lord Ii. I’ve brought them as requested.”
The door slid open and Lord Ii slipped out, shutting the door behind him. He leaned against it with a sigh. This was supposed to be formalities over a stuffy lunch, not absolute and utter chaos. Yet somehow he found himself caught amidst it again and surrounded by bizarre circumstances that made his skin crawl. He rubbed his hand on his face, hearing the shouting continue inside. “How well can you handle formal chaos?”
“I have encountered my fair share,” the medicine seller replied. “Perhaps you should wait out here, Miss Kayo.”
Kayo quickly nodded. While much of her life she’d been a servant, he tended to handle nobility a lot better than she did, even with his sharp tongue. She was more used to noble households but not regional lords . It felt like a different situation.
As Lord Ii opened the door, the medicine seller offered the polite, respectful bow proper of his class.
“You can’t be serious, Lord Ii,” one of the men in the room scoffed. He was taller, wiry with a large collection of wrinkles gathering at his eyes. He wore a formal green kimono and folded his arms, absolutely irritated. “You brought a merchant ?! This lowlife can’t help my daughter!”
“Let us not be so hasty, Lord Goh,” Lord Ii said. “He has served my family for some time and is the most knowledgeable person I know with medicines. He also happens to be the easiest to fetch. Given Lady Chou’s worsening condition, I felt it best to act fast.”
“I can’t believe this,” Lord Goh scowled. “Are you going to stand for this, Lord Oku?”
The lord in red sighed a bit. “Given the sudden sickness, I would say yes. I’d like to see what a trusted merchant of the Ii family actually can do.”
Lord Ii motioned forward. The medicine seller set the chest down on the floor, kneeling next to Lady Chou. Grasping her chest, excessive sweating, drool. This wasn’t some random sickness. It looked more like a poisoning. He reached for her wrist, feeling the two men and two ladies in the room suddenly stare at him. Dealing with mononoke was easier than dealing with a room full of high-ranking nobles, but he had work to do. They could watch all they wanted.
He took her wrist, feeling her pulse race then suddenly plummet. There was only one thing he knew that could cause these sorts of symptoms. Oleander. Setting her arm back down, he quickly pulled the ingredients from the chest. Oleander was quick, but he’d simply have to be faster.
“What are you doing?” Lord Goh demanded. “What is that you’re giving her?”
“Let the man work,” Lord Oku insisted.
“It is charcoal,” the medicine seller replied, carefully sitting Chou up a bit. The poison had already acted fast enough that she was barely able to move, her heart rate rapidly dropping. “Drink this. It will counter the effects. Unfortunately, it tastes terrible.”
She didn’t have the strength to hold the bowl but sipped from it as he held it. She wrinkled her nose, feeling the thick remedy drip down her throat. She felt like she could breathe again, though she still felt weakened. She leaned against his arm, breathing deeply.
“She’ll be alright, right?” one of the ladies in a rich pink kimono questioned.
The medicine seller nodded. “It will take a day or two to feel normal, but she will live.”
Lord Ii tried not to look rattled. “What caused this? She mentioned it was a scent.”
The medicine seller pushed the drawer in the chest shut. “It was----” He was interrupted by a loud clamor of noise just outside the door and a sharp supernatural sense clawing at him. He stood up, flinging open the door. Outside just past the balcony was the lady from the garden, a smile spanning ear to ear with hauntingly sharp teeth as she grinned with murderous intent.
“Sh-sh-she came out of nowhere!” Kayo yelped, pressing against the wall. “It’s the lady from the garden who sniffed the oleander!”
“That’s not human!” Akinobu stared, drawing his sword. “Is it--- no don’t tell me it’s that !”
The medicine seller pulled his hand back, ofuda between his fingers, as he smelled something sickly sweet coming from the garden woman. Oleander. He quickly clamped a hand over Kayo’s mouth, dragging her inside. “Inside, now! Don’t breathe that!”
Akinobu didn’t question it, nearly leaping inside the room and shutting the door behind him.
Lord Ii stared at the closed door, shaking his head just slightly in worry and fear. “Please… please don’t tell me…”
The medicine seller leaned against the door, plastering the door with ofuda as he felt his heart begin to race and his vision begin to blur. His stomach churned. “I’m afraid so, Lord Ii. You have on your hands another mononoke.”
Notes:
Blooming teas are originally Chinese and look really damn cool. I couldn’t quite find when they were created as the history of things in China seem to “just happen” sometimes (believe me. This happens for a lot of things I’ve looked up), perhaps there were blooming teas during the Edo Era in Japan.
I do wonder how many times the medicine seller had made teas and fight mononoke for the Ii family. Hm.
Chapter 25: Oleander
Summary:
A deadly poison
A rush of flowers
Quite the strange gathering
of people we have here,
isn't it?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
He could feel the flower’s poison take effect. His heart was racing, skipping here and there. He felt faint and lightheaded, his knees threatening to buckle underneath him. His stomach churned, threatening to upheave what little remained after breakfast. His vision was starting to blur as he stared at Lord Ii for a moment. Oleander was survivable in small doses but it felt like he’d consumed an entire plant all at once. It explained the symptoms Chou was exhibiting. The amount the mononoke was using was lethal.
He turned to look at Kayo as she attempted to help stabilize him. He leaned against the door, his hands digging into the frame as he attempted to keep from collapsing. “Charcoal medicine. Two doses. Quickly.”
Kayo nodded, scampering to the medicine chest and nearly tripping over her kimono. She practically threw the ingredients into mortar and pestle, blending them and taking them back over to the door. She handed one to the medicine seller and one to Akinobu. She sucked in a strained breath, watching the medicine seller with worry. He’d put himself through a lot when countering mononoke, but she’d never seen him look so human before. If she had hesitated, she worried he might actually have died.
The medicine seller quickly downed the mixture, wrinkling his nose at the awful taste as he slid down the doorway and sat on the floor. This was certainly one troublesome mononoke, though the room staring back at him likely would be just as troublesome. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling his heart begin to slow down. The best remedy for oleander poisoning was to wretch the stuff out, but right now he didn’t exactly have that luxury. The charcoal mix was working well enough.
Akinobu leaned against the wall next to him, the remedy working well for him as well. Unlike the medicine seller, he only got a whiff of the smell before he held his breath, yet it was still enough to knock him off his feet. The medicine seller had barked the warning at the risk of his own health. “I really hoped to never hear that word out of you again, you know.”
“It’s hard to deny what was out there,” the medicine seller said.
Akinobu frowned. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“What the hell is going on?!” Lord Goh demanded. “What is all this nonsense about mononoke?!”
“It’s haunted,” the lady in pink mused.
“Hime, please,” the lady in purple next to her fussed.
“All old castles are haunted, Furi,” Hime pointed out.
“That could be it, my daughter,” Lord Oku said. “Many do have haunts in the walls.”
“That would be cool, father,” Hime agreed.
“It would,” Lord Oku agreed.
“Enough of this nonsense!” Lord Goh hissed. “What’s really going on here, Lord Ii?!”
Lord Ii tried to not start pacing back and forth. He stared at the ground, curling his hands uncomfortably. He had hoped to put all this behind him, to repair the han, and to look towards the future. Without his father’s greed and forcefulness, he thought there wouldn’t be anything to create a mononoke. He had hoped it would, at least, but something had.
But just as worrisome was the effects the mononoke had. Sure it wasn’t smearing his samurai across the balcony, but that didn’t make it any less deadly. He peered at the medicine seller, finding the merchant still leaning against the closed door.
Lord Ii rubbed at his face. “Mononoke are supernatural creatures that take on a grudge from someone who has died. But the problem is, no one has died.”
“My daughter almost died!” Lord Goh said sharply.
“I know, I know, Lord Goh,” Lord Ii sighed. “This is only the start of its attack. It won’t stop until the mononoke is slain. What is it even using to attack?”
“Oleander,” the medicine seller said. “The mononoke is using oleander to enact its revenge in lethal doses. It has turned it into an airborne poison, despite sniffing oleander being completely safe.”
“Airborne poison from a supernatural creature. How wild,” Hime commented.
“Hime, this isn’t a game!” Furi jabbed a finger at her.
The medicine seller stood up, finally steady on his feet. “It can be countered. For now.” He knelt down at the medicine chest, hooking a finger around the drawer that contained the more supernatural ingredients. “Miss Kayo, if you would assist.”
Kayo nodded, taking the offered bowl. She could feel the nobles all with their eyes on her, and it bothered her more than it seemed to bother him. She hated how judgmental they could be, especially when faced with a mononoke that one of them likely created. These upper upper class sort seemed to be even worse, always thinking they could do whatever they want. Except for Lord Ii and perhaps that Hime and her father who both seemed far too calm about the situation.
He pulled several ingredients from the drawer, mixing them up before dropping them into the dish. He mixed a few more before finding a match and lighting it.
“That stinks,” Lord Goh commented.
“It will stink worse if the mononoke poisons the room,” the medicine seller stated sharply as he shut the drawer in the chest.
“You insolent merchant!” Lord Goh hissed. “Lord Ii, do something about him!”
Lord Ii sucked in a deep breath. He wasn’t one to be irritated, but right now, this lord was grating on his nerves. He was beginning to understand why the medicine seller sometimes had such a sharp tongue and reacted the way he did. “Do not interfere with his work, Lord Goh. Mononoke are not to be taken lightly. If it isn’t handled, we all could easily die.”
Kayo tightened her grip on the bowl. That was definitely ‘regional lord voice’ if she ever heard it. Lord Ii normally sounded so calm, but that voice was enough to quiet Lord Goh and his annoying yelling instantly.
“Now then,” the medicine seller said. “Has anyone died recently?”
Lord Ii shook his head. “Not at all.”
“Missing?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” the young lord replied. “No missing servants, no samurai, no guests. Only ones who have already left.”
The medicine seller frowned, fishing the scales from the bottom drawer in the medicine chest. Without any recent deaths, the truth could be from another source such as strong emotions or an older incident that had only recently awoken. Or there could be something hidden that Lord Ii wasn’t aware of. Likely the last one. Lord Ii liked to believe in the best of people, but the medicine seller honestly expected the worst.
“Actually,” Hime spoke up, “I do wonder if this is related, Mr. Medicine Seller. The girl from the far reaches of this han, Matsu. I heard she was heading here as well, but when I arrived, she wasn’t here.”
“Oh~?” the medicine seller questioned, sending the scales around the edges of the room. They settled on the floor and walls before dropping their bells and falling quiet. “I do wonder what became of Lady Matsu.”
“I heard she became ill and had to return home,” Lord Ii said. “Though given the circumstances, I wonder if that wasn’t what happened. Did you see her leave, Akinobu?”
“I did not, my lord,” the samurai replied. “I received word of it from Lord Goh’s entourage.”
“That is curious,” Lord Oku said. “To think she would not leave word with Lord Ii’s people before she was left.”
“And what exactly are you implying?” Lord Goh scowled. “My daughter found Lady Matsu sick in the garden and suggested she go home. I simply passed on the message.”
The medicine seller pulled the taima sword from his sleeve. No reaction just yet, but they certainly were growing closer to the truth. The gathering in the room was a chaotic mess, much as he expected a group of high-ranking nobles to be when faced with a mononoke. Few ever took it well, especially when the information came from someone on the bottom of the caste system. But this time, he’d barely said anything. Lord Ii had done most of the talking so far, riling up Lord Goh considerably. Perhaps it was stress, but given his daughter was the first target, there was a chance he was somehow involved.
He stood up, shutting the drawer with his foot and tucking the taima sword back in his sleeve. There were times when mononoke reflected their truths back onto those who had caused them. “I do wonder if Lady Matsu was poisoned.”
“A poisoning. How scandalous,” Hime commented.
“This is just conjecture, Hime!” Furi jabbed a finger across the room at the medicine seller. “Stop fabricating things that aren’t there! For all we know, someone could’ve slipped something into Matsu’s tea. Same with Chou!”
“Except that Chou didn’t drink any tea yet and you did,” Hime pointed out.
Furi gritted her teeth for a moment. “I think you’re remembering things wrong again!”
Kayo pulled at the medicine seller’s sleeve, standing on her toes to whisper in his ear as the ladies squabbled over the details. “Lady Furi is acting like she’s keeping a really big secret.”
“Oh?” the medicine seller mused.
Kayo nodded. “See we servants tried to keep secrets from the masters of the house when we’d break a plate or something, and that’s exactly how we’d respond. Squirming, attempts to cover it up. It’s just high class cover-up instead of something at our level. Gossips just can’t handle secrets.”
He peered behind him at Lord Ii who was preoccupied with the ladies’ conversation and consumed by worry. “Seems we’re not the only ones who noticed.” His lips curled just slightly downward as the bells on the scales rang out. The scales spun several times before simply pointing towards the center of the room.
Flower buds manifested on the tatami mats, blossoming in brilliant pinks and whites marred with red bloodstains. The flowers surrounded Chou, blossoming on her kimono as the branches and leaves attempted to pull at her bedroll.
“Get back!” the medicine seller barked, pushing Kayo and Lord Ii away from the flowers. Drawing his hand back, he flung the spell papers at branches, working to contain them. Whole flowers littered the floor as they fell from the branches during the attack. The branches reached out, attempting to grab anything within range.
Lord Ii untangled himself from the jumble of formal robes and Kayo as he pushed himself up from the floor. He stared at the flailing roots and floating flowers covered in blood. This was definitely different from the tatarimokke, and it was getting past the medicine seller’s barriers. He gasped as one of the branches attempted to drag the medicine seller towards the center of the room by the arm.
“What is your truth?” the medicine seller demanded, sliding the taima sword out of his sleeve with his free hand. “What has made you so angry?” He brandished the sword at the branches, causing them to recoil. The strength and ire of this mononoke was intense, attempting to fight back against him.
“Get back, plant!” Akinobu demanded, slicing through the branch with his sword. It sliced cleanly through, the branch suddenly gushing blood at him and the medicine seller as it recoiled back through the ground, dragging Chou down into the darkness below. The samurai shook like a leaf, staring at the blood caking his kimono, armor, face, and hands. “It’s…. It’s bleeding?!”
The medicine seller plastered the hole in the floor with ofuda before rubbing his face with his sleeve. “It is tree sap, Sir Akinobu.” He knelt down, picking up one of the flowers that had fallen during the fight. Tsubaki flowers that appeared to have been dyed in blood. Perhaps it was the same tree sap that had gushed like blood out of the cut roots. “The mononoke has claimed its first victim. It’s form: furutsubaki-no-rei.”
The sword chattered in confirmation. This could be troublesome.
Notes:
chinese matches were different from what we know as modern matches. They were created much earlier around 600AD, made of pine and sulfur (used to light the pine on fire when struck). Since Japan does borrow from China, chinese matches might be in the medicine seller’s chest! He has a lot of oddities in there.
Tsubaki is the name of the Japanese Camellia. Tsubaki are very fragrant and have a wide variety of flower shapes and colors that have a rather odd habit. Instead of dropping petals like most flowering trees do when wilting, they just drop the whole damn flower.
Chapter 26: Iris
Summary:
vibrant flowers
their beauty is deadly
nowhere is safe
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Lord Ii stared at the flowers littering the floor. He wanted to believe he was dreaming, that this was all a stress-induced nightmare and he’d soon wake up and be shoved into countless layers of formal kimono in a few hours. But this wasn’t a dream, and he was very much awake, tangled in a sea of formal kimono as blood-like sap stained the tatami floors. No matter how much he tried to create a more positive environment, another mononoke had threatened his home. Just instead of eviscerating owls, there were deadly flowers. “Furutsubaki-no-rei.”
“Yes,” the medicine seller said. “It is believed that a very old tsubaki tree can develop its own spirit. That is the form as a yokai, at least. Mononoke however are created by unnatural means. A death, a poisoning, a regret carried on to an otherwise natural source.”
Akinobu rubbed more of the red sap off his face, attempting to remain calm despite how much his hands were shaking. “Tsubaki trees… Then why the oleander poisoning?”
“The yokai furutsubaki-no-rei is known to poison its prey though actual tsubaki is harmless and is used in medicines,” the medicine seller replied. “This mononoke is likely using flowers from the garden.” He turned back to the medicine chest, brushing the tsubaki flowers off and setting it back upright. He was concerned the mononoke would change the flower used to attack, making it difficult to encounter. There were fire mixtures and ones that involved gunpowder, but he’d rather not destroy Lord Ii’s estate if he could help it. “I wonder what it may try next.”
He peered at the nobles gathered on the other side of the room. So far, no one was really talking. Lord Goh stared horrified at the gaping hole in the floor covered with ofuda. Furi was sobbing. Lord Oku leaned against the wall shocked but calm. Hime was trying to comfort Furi. “Now. Who wants to talk about Lady Matsu?”
“What is it with you and Matsu?!” Lord Goh hissed.
“Oh nothing,” the medicine seller waved his hand dismissively. “Definitely not the only clue we have to finding the mononoke’s truth.” He sat back on his feet, placing the taima sword between his hands as he observed the lords and ladies gathered. Eventually one of them would talk. It was like Kayo had said. They had a secret, and with stress, secrets tended to spill out.
Before the tatarimokke incident, Akinobu likely would’ve threatened the medicine seller for such a comment. It was definitely sharp and impolite, but the medicine seller didn’t use that tone once towards Lord Ii. That was all that mattered to the samurai. He shifted his weight to one side, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword silently. His hands were still trembling, but he had to be prepared to face more bloody roots to protect his lord if they returned.
“Are you going to do something about this, Lord Ii?!” Lord Goh demanded.
Lord Ii was growing more and more irritated at the rude tone Lord Goh was taking. He’d taken it with Lord Ii himself earlier, and now he was trying to make demands like he owned the place. He wanted to snap at Lord Goh, but he kept it polite and somewhat formal. “No, actually I’m not. Someone has created this mononoke here, someone is its truth. I’ve worked tirelessly to make this place pleasant for my entire han the last several years. I won’t have someone who is willing to murder an innocent person stay here and lie to my face about it.”
Lord Goh scowled. “This is ridiculous. You’re far too willing to believe this nonsense. You’re nowhere near the lord your father was.”
Lord Ii gritted his teeth. “My father in part created the last mononoke that murdered half the samurai here. I am nothing like him.”
“The truth behind the ritual suicide,” Lord Oku observed.
“Yes,” Lord Ii gripped the edges of his kimono tightly. “It was the only way to make up for the damage that was done. I aim to carry on my grandfather’s legacy, not his.”
“A noble desire indeed,” Lord Oku said.
“Naive!” Lord Goh hissed.
Lord Ii frowned. Were there not a mononoke outside, he would’ve had Lord Goh thrown out. Sure, he was still young, but that didn’t mean he was going about this blindly.
“Is it though?” Lord Oku questioned before Ii had a chance to respond. “This han has always been known to be pleasant. Carrying on this legacy is important. It is why we accepted the invitation to come here.”
Lord Goh scowled. “You’re a fool, Lord Oku. This is an arrangement of status, not of pleasantries. You have no idea what it takes to run an entire han .”
“I do not,” Lord Oku said, “but I can already tell Lord Ii knows more than you do.”
“How dare you!” Lord Goh hissed.
The medicine seller quietly listened to the conversation. It was becoming more and more apparent which one was the truth. Unless Lord Oku was an exceedingly good actor, he wasn’t the source. But the medicine seller didn’t quite suspect him when the mononoke first made its appearance. It was Lord Goh who had caught his attention the most. Furi was definitely a close second, but he wasn’t quite certain of her involvement. Lord Oku and his daughter were simply a bizarre pair who seemed far too calm when faced with a mononoke.
He glanced to the side as the scales on the far wall tipped sideways and pointed to the back. It was only a matter of time before the mononoke returned, though it was much quicker than some he’d encountered. Another row of scales tipped to the back of the room and then another. Kayo skittered down to her knees next to the medicine seller. Even Lord Ii had approached, reasoning it safer with the one who knew how to fight them.
Without warning, the scales on the back side of the room tipped suddenly and pointed at Lord Goh. The rest of the nobles quickly backed away from him.
Dozens of iris sprouted up from the floor, winding their purple blooms around his legs. He yanked his leg out, scratching at his arm as he backed away. The itch wouldn’t leave him, nor would the flowers, and he found himself scratching at his arms uncontrollably to a point that the skin simply peeled away from them. He screamed at the skin caked under his nails, finding himself unable to stop until he’d scratched too much of his own skin away. The blood soaked his formal kimono, pooling on the floor as he collapsed in a bed of purple iris.
The medicine seller didn’t even have a chance to react before the mononoke claimed him. He flung ofuda at the flowers, the paper brushing right through them and plastering itself against the wall. This was one tricky mononoke, but he wasn’t without his tricks. “Get over here. Quickly!”
Lord Oku and Hime quickly scampered across the room, but Furi was ensnared by creeping vines shooting off the walls. They ensnared her, pulling her back into a net woven of vines and morning glory flowers. She gasped, panicking as she fought to reach out towards Hime’s outstretched arm. Suddenly she grasped at her head, screaming and clawing at her eyes. “Damn you, Matsu!” She clawed at her face, digging her nails into her skin and eyes. “You lowlife nobody! I should’ve known you wouldn’t stay dead!!!”
Hime withdrew her hand quickly, diving across the room into her father’s arms. “Furi. What have you done?”
The vines and flowers pulled Furi further into the wall, forcing the air from her lungs as her face turned blue.
Simple flowers had suddenly turned fatal. Morning glories could cause hallucinations and irises could cause someone’s skin to itch. But in this case, those reactions had caused their deaths. He had to stop the flowers before this got out of hand. The medicine seller brushed his arms outward, dividing the room in half with a wall of ofuda. “Miss Kayo! Prepare a mixture of salt and vinegar! Use the ones in the bottom drawer!”
“R-right!” Kayo quickly set to work, pulling the ingredients out of the drawer of more questionable materials. Salt and vinegar certainly were more ordinary, but anything he kept in that bottom drawer was likely anything but normal salt and vinegar. Fortunately they looked like regular ingredients, and she quickly poured them into a bowl, mixing them together.
She peered up at him, finding him gritting his teeth and the fangs at the back showing as he used the taima sword to repel the irises and morning glories. He took the offered bowl in his free hand. “You’ll want to stand back.” As they backed towards the front wall, he called the ofuda back and threw the mixture from the bowl in a wide arch. As it touched the irises, they quickly withered and died, leaving Lord Goh’s destroyed body behind. The mixture struck the morning glories, drying out the vines that kept Lady Furi’s body crushed against the wall. Her body fell to the ground with an unsettling crunch as the remains of the bones snapped.
Kayo clamped a hand over her mouth as she attempted not to stare at the bodies ravaged by flowers . “Oh kami.”
“I’ve really had enough of dead bodies,” Akinobu grimaced.
“I do not believe this room is safe anymore, Lord Ii,” the medicine seller tucked the mixture bowl back into the medicine chest. With a quick swipe of his hand, the scales all dove into the bottom drawer before closing it shut. He slung the medicine chest over his shoulders. “We must leave.”
Lord Ii furrowed his brow in worry, still staring at the destruction on the other side of the room. “I thought it was dangerous to go outside with a mononoke. Though...”
“It can be,” the medicine seller replied. “In this case, it is worse to stay here. When the mononoke attacked this time, I felt a slight mist in the air. It is using the straw and wood to grow the deadly form of these flowers. It is the reason my ofuda are not as effective. They are just paper.”
Lord Ii rubbed at his face, attempting to remain calm though he felt like his entire body was trembling. “What do we do now? I thought perhaps Lord Goh was the source.”
“He might have been,” the medicine seller said, “but there is more than one way to learn a mononoke’s truth and reason. Do you have tsubaki trees in your garden, Lord Ii?”
The young lord nodded. “A number. They always have such beautiful flowers. I don’t want to have to dig up my family’s trees, but…”
“I do not believe you will need to, Lord Ii,” the medicine seller said. “However, the trees may tell us the mononoke’s truth and reason.”
“I’m not sure how, but after the tatarimokke, I’ll believe it.” Lord Ii turned to the door, hesitantly putting his hand on it. The medicine seller didn’t stop him so he slid it open. It was a pleasant afternoon outside, contrasting the destruction within. “Come. I’ll show you the way.”
Notes:
Well looks like this mononoke’s a lot of trouble, isn’t it? More dead by flowers in unfortunate and unusual ways. I do wonder what happened to Matsu.
Chapter 27: Tsubaki
Summary:
A flurry of flowers
A mysterious tree
What had become of Matsu
What will become of Ii?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
A flower garden seemed like the last place they wanted to be with a flower mononoke wreaking havoc on the guests, and yet somehow it had become the safest. They were surrounded by ordinary flowers showing off their display of bright colors in the afternoon sunlight.
Lord Ii lead the nervous party through the garden, flanked by Akinobu. This was his second mononoke, and it honestly didn’t make it any easier to handle. It had been a few years since the last one smeared samurai across the balconies and he learned how truly vile his father was. This time, it was something else, something which also made him unsettled even without knowing the full story. “Tell me something, Mr. Medicine Seller. My grandfather. Did he encounter more than just the bakeneko?”
“A bakeneko?” Hime turned, glancing over her shoulder at the medicine seller walking a respectful distance behind them.
“There were three,” he replied, holding up three fingers. “The bakeneko was the last. The first one was a namazu, a catfish which is believed to create earthquakes. The second was an ohgama, a toad which breathes rainbow smoke and fights with a spear.”
“There are toads that breathe rainbows?” Hime stared. “How Matsu would’ve liked to hear stories about that one.”
“Quite a dangerous foe, I assure you,” the medicine seller said. “Both the rainbows and the spear.”
Lord Ii stopped on the pathway, hunching his shoulders just a bit as he bit his lower lip. Three mononoke. His grandfather, the kind regional lord, encountered three of them . What little he knew of his grandfather was that the han loved him. He was fair and just with his ruling even with the strict rules and regulations the shogun placed on the entire country. He loved his people, even the lords which helped watch over the vast lands. “Why are there so many here? Why are there so many mononoke created in a peaceful han?”
The medicine seller dropped his hand back to his side. There was an interesting trait the Ii family seemed to have. Its kindness attracted trouble. It wasn’t often he encountered people and families that attracted mononoke, though the Ii family seemed to attract them more frequently than other cases. They intrigued him, but in a way, he also felt for them. The troubled souls of the family seemed to exist across time, finding ways to cross paths with mononoke to no fault of their own. He glanced at Kayo before peering back to Lord Ii. “Hard to say.”
Lord Ii frowned. “Is there no way to prevent them from being created? Am I really so naive to think this is possible?”
The medicine seller stared at Lord Ii’s back as the young lord stood unmoving on the pathway. He certainly was asking the deep, difficult questions today. “As I have said before, humans are capable of great evils, the force that is needed to create a mononoke. However, there are those capable of great good.”
Kayo frowned sympathetically as Lord Ii fell silent. “You’re not naive at all for thinking that! It’s really noble!” As she blurted out the words, she clamped a hand over her mouth and ducked behind the medicine seller. That was far too direct a thing to say to a regional lord.
Lord Ii turned, his brow knit in worry. “Miss Kayo?”
She gripped the medicine seller’s shoulder as she peered out from behind him. “I um. Don’t think it’s naive at all, no matter what that rude Lord Goh said. I feel the same way. I don’t like seeing people suffer from this. That’s why I demanded he make me his apprentice.”
“There was a lot of demanding,” the medicine seller confirmed. He frowned a bit. “Ow, stop digging your nails into my shoulder.”
A small smile finally crossed the young lord’s lips seeing Kayo so determined to tell him he was right but also uncertain of how to handle speaking to a regional lord. It was somewhat amusing to him as he didn’t see either of them lesser despite their status. “I remember you mentioning that before. Slaying the mononoke is the only way to relieve them of their suffering. So many possible ways to create one, but I do know I can rely on you to help them.”
“It is what I do,” the medicine seller said.
“That is really cool,” Hime said with a nod. “To think all of this existed and most don’t know about it.”
“I haven’t heard of it either, Lord Ii, even though we do serve your han,” Lord Oku said. “My sympathies for dealing with so much.”
“We can endure. We’ve kept much of it hidden,” Lord Ii shook his head. “Apparently very well. That my grandfather encountered three mononoke and no one really knew. Perhaps he had only told me of the bakeneko incident so I wouldn’t worry.” He sighed. He wasn’t sure how he was going to handle this one now that a lord and two ladies had died. “For now, we should focus on the furutsubaki-no-rei. I want Lady Matsu to find peace.”
Hime knit her brow a bit. “Matsu…” She glanced at the medicine seller for a moment. If he could do what Lord Ii said he could, then Matsu would be in good hands. She followed Lord Ii and her father.
After a short walk, Lord Ii pointed at the garden beds “There. The tsubaki trees that have been here for generations.”
In the middle of the flower beds were several large tsubaki trees. They usually bloomed in the springtime, leaving them flowerless in the summer. The beds surrounding them were filled with flowers. Hydrangeas, tulips, poppies, and irises. Further down the pathway was the oleander along with the mum beds they had picked through earlier for tea.
“What are you hoping to find?” the young lord questioned.
“Hard to say just yet,” the medicine seller replied. He freed his arm from Kayo’s grasp, slipping the medicine chest off his shoulders and setting it on the ground next to Kayo. Carefully, he stepped over the iris and poppies, pushing aside the hydrangeas as he stepped further into the garden. He leaned over, tapping a thoughtful finger on his chin. “The ground is disturbed, the flowers nearby dead. Perhaps from poison. Miss Kayo, a bowl if you will.”
Taking the bowl she offered him, he scooped up the dirt and a dead flower, carefully stepping his way back out the garden. He knelt down next to the medicine chest, pulling several ingredients out and setting them on the ground.
“Can you figure out what it is?” Kayo questioned. “I hope it’s not something that’ll kill us. I mean… should we be this close to the tree if it could be the mononoke?”
“A furustubaki-no-rei is capable of separating itself from the tree,” the medicine seller said, mixing the ingredients into the dirt. “The mononoke is not here, which will give us time. However, Sir Akinobu, if you would keep a watch out for unusual movements or strange smells. This will take a moment to discern what is in the soil.”
“Unusual movements. Right.” The samurai stared out into the flower garden, keeping a tight grip on his sword’s hilt.
“Large flowers, strange vines, trees which do not belong,” the medicine seller elaborated. He continued his work, mixing the ingredients together until something reacted and the soil began to change colors. “Oleander poisoning. It causes not only irregular heartbeats but vomiting and other unpleasantries. It is quick-acting and very lethal.”
“What a terrible way to die,” Lord Ii frowned.
“Matsu didn’t deserve something like that,” Hime knit her brow. “She was always so pleasant and enjoyed talking scary stories over tea. She would’ve been fascinated by what’s going on right now.”
The medicine seller returned the dirt back to its resting place. He slid the taima sword from his sleeve as he returned to the pathway. There was enough information to separate the truth from lies, even if the source was now plant food. “The poison would’ve been quick, but the effects would have been devastating.” He watched the sword in his hand. “The mononoke’s truth is that she was poisoned, oleander mixed in with her tea when she first arrived. She truly was sick in the garden, but that is also where she died, her heart stopping from the poison.”
The taima chattered, confirming the truth.
“I bet they looked down on her,” Hime said. “Lord Goh did the same to us, like he thought I wouldn’t be as worthy as his daughter simply because my father isn’t a regional lord.”
“So he thinned out the competition,” the medicine seller reasoned.
Kayo buried her face in his shoulder. “How terrible.”
“That leaves the mononoke’s reason.” He felt his senses prickle.
“M-mr Medicine Seller!” Akinobu shouted, drawing his sword suddenly. “This weird enough for you?!”
The medicine seller turned, finding the samurai brandishing his sword at massive hydrangeas blooming and overtaking the pathway. “The mononoke.” This one was reasonably quick, killing as quickly as oleander could. He wedged free of Kayo’s grasp, taima sword in hand. Hydrangeas weren’t poisonous nor did they cause uncontrollable itching. But they were known to determine how acidic the soil was where they grew.
Something flew towards him like a projectile, deflecting it with the taima sword. The projectile impacted the flower beds, dissolving the flowers where they stood. “Acid.”
The medicine seller turned back to the acid-spitting hydrangeas. “Lady Furi poisoned your tea, and Lord Goh looked down upon you like you weren’t worthy. Your reason is the feeling of unworthiness and despair as they watched you die and bury you in the garden!”
The taima sword chattered in confirmation. “Release!”
He ran past Akinobu, diving into the mass of hydrangeas. Blue petals flurried around him as his inner self drew the colorful taima sword. The petals swirled around in the massive garden of flowers as they drew upwards into the sky. Tsubaki trees lined the flowery world, their blooms in pristine pinks and whites. Irises and morning glories peeked out from between the bushes and the trees, offering a splash of color. The flowers stood still as if waiting for him to arrive.
The mononoke stood in the middle of the flowers, her hair falling down over her shoulders and her kimono bloodied and caked in dirt. She contrasted the serenity of the garden, murdered and crying. She stared at the medicine seller with his long billowing white hair and golden tattoos that seemed to move separate from him. He looked like someone right out of one of the picture scrolls she and Hime liked to read. “What are you?”
He looked back at her silently, holding the colorful taima sword in his hand. She hadn’t attacked him yet, and she didn’t seem to have any intent of doing so. Once in a while, a mononoke simply wanted to be relieved of its pain. This one seemed more curious from a love of supernatural tales.
“A shinigami perhaps,” the mononoke said. “Mr. Shinigami, can you end this suffering? I don’t want to hurt Hime but I can’t stop myself. I can only hope that Lord Ii does not blame me for all of this.”
“He does not. He only wishes for you to rest.”
“I’m glad. I just wish I could’ve shared stories with him about the haunts in our estate. I wonder if he would’ve liked them.”
She stared up at the blossoms in the sky as he drew his sword. He dove forward as the flowers attempted to hinder them. The hydrangeas spat poison at him, the morning glories attempted to bind his ankles. The golden markings shifted, forming a barrier around him. He caught the sweet scent of oleander, dispersing it with his hand as he formed a large fan with the markings.
A tear rolled down her face. “I want them to stop, but they won’t listen.” But it didn’t matter any more, did it? She felt the blade through her midsection, and unlike before, she felt relieved. She grasped him, pulling him into a hug as the blade plunged deeper through her. “Please tell Lord Ii and Hime I’m sorry.”
“I shall.” With a quick twist of his wrist, the medicine seller swung the sword outward in a large arch. The flower world burst into a colorful explosion as the mononoke finally found peace. The outer self crouched on the walkway in a shower of petals with the sheathed taima sword drawn out to the side.
“Is… is it done?” Hime stared. “What… what actually just happened?”
“I have no idea,” Lord Ii replied. “But however he does it, Lady Matsu can finally rest.”
……
Lord Ii stared at the tsubaki tree in the garden. There was a marker now in front of the tree, a simple stone one without words and a single stick of incense placed on top. A few days had passed since the mononoke incident. The room destroyed by flowers had been sealed, and formalities had ceased in the complex.
He had done a lot of thinking while standing in the garden, staring at the tsubaki tree. While he needed to figure out how to explain why a regional lord and his daughter were dead in his castle, he found himself more focused on his grandfather and the present situation. “I’m not sure how my grandfather handled all this so well.”
“He did not,” the medicine seller said. He stood behind the young lord, his hands resting at his side as he watched over the peaceful garden. Akinobu was further down the pathway, standing watch despite nothing being there to attack anymore. “To the last day I brought him tea, he was unnerved by the sounds of frogs and kittens.”
Lord Ii laughed. “To think he jumped at sounds like I do. Though after two mononoke, I am probably going to be summoning you every time I hear a bump in the night again.”
“I almost expect this,” the medicine seller smirked.
“Though perhaps Lady Hime will help with this,” Lord Ii said with a smile. “To think of the selection, she is absolutely perfect for me. Someone who is fascinated by the supernatural and isn’t afraid of it. And she has a good heart. In a way, if that mononoke hadn’t shown up, I might have not realized this, I might’ve passed her over. It is unfortunate that Lady Matsu had to suffer for this to happen.”
“Good can stem from darkness,” the medicine seller said.
“And while there are evil people, there are also those with great good,” Lord Ii stole the line from him. “Lady Hime is a very good person. I know this han will do well with her beside me.” He turned to the medicine seller behind him. “You know, Lady Hime has become fascinated with you, with what you can do. Not that I can blame her. Everything you do is nothing short of amazing.”
“Simply putting mononoke to rest,” he waved his hand dismissively.
“She wants to paint a scroll to tell the tale that happened here,” the lord added. “Something to honor putting the mononoke to rest.”
“That seems a bit much,” the medicine seller commented.
“Hardly,” Lord Ii shook his head. “You’ve now slain five mononoke here. Who knows how many others before that. Perhaps with his father and the father before him.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Lord Ii snorted a laugh. “One day, I’ll get an answer out of you.”
“You should ask Miss Kayo how well that is going for her,” he said, amused.
Lord Ii laughed. “Well, Mr. Mysterious. I wish I could ask you and Miss Kayo to stay a bit longer, but I know you have places to be. And well, class caste and all of that.”
“Class aside, mononoke will not rest by themselves,” he said.
“Hopefully next time, you’ll be able to visit and talk tea and not have to deal with another mononoke,” Lord Ii said hopefully. “Do be sure to bring unusual teas with you next time. I’d really like to see what the rest of the country has to offer.”
“Perhaps I shall.” He offered Lord Ii a polite bow. “Until next time.”
He watched the medicine seller leave, hoping that their next encounter didn’t involve poisonous flowers or evisceration, but he was starting to have his doubts. When the medicine seller showed up, mononoke followed. Or maybe it was the other way around. But perhaps that simply was how it was. Still a talk about tea and no murders would be nice.
The medicine seller glanced out into the gardens, finding Matsu sniffing the oleander. There were locations rich with supernatural energies and those who tended to attract mononoke. And when both intertwined, he would be there to find the truth, form, and reason. And perhaps once in a while, he would discuss teas.
Notes:
Thank you all so much for reading my second mononoke fic! That so many people have read and commented and followed and left kudos means so much to me.
A bit of a long chapter, but the conclusion had to be epic, after all. I really wanted a fight in a flurry of flowers and tbh that’s the whole reason I searched for a flower mononoke. I researched so many flowers, the effects of eating them and rubbing your face in them, so much to a point I’m pretty sure google was getting suspicious I was either a botanist or a writer.
I was also really entertained by the idea that certain people and families tended to attract mononoke. Good people who meant well but always seemed to be surrounded by tragedy. The idea came from the bakeneko arc from the show. While I'm pretty sure that the Mononoke version of that tale is a nod to the Ayakashi one, it still felt like the medicine seller was encountering a descendent of Kayo who he recognized and realized kind of attracted mononoke. I've been playing on it for awhile but the thought that maybe Ii was also one of those people amused me. So I do wonder how many times the medicine seller has actually handled mononoke that the Ii family has attracted.
As tradition, name meanings! The men’s names have no historical meaning but here are the ladies names:
Chou “butterfly”
Furi “hanging sleeves” (think of furisode, very long-swingy sleeved kimono)
Hime “princess” (appropriately ends up being an equivalent of a princess)
Matsu “pine tree” (a symbol of longevity but also ironically dead)Now some real talk. Pandemic hit me pretty hard and I honestly hadn't been able to write at all for around 6+ months. It's a good thing I write ahead but at times it was even hard to edit and post. All your comments really kept me going. Seeing everyone get into the stories and get mad at the culprit or cheer when Lord Ii returned really meant a lot to me and kept me going. I truly appreciate it more than I can properly express.
This means that we're in a different situation than last time! I haven't actually started part 3 yet, and tbh I can't decide which one to do. So I'm looking to you all to help me decide. Here are the ideas that I've come up with and the one that has the most support I'll write next:
- Continued adventures of Kayo and the medicine seller in the Edo era with a new bizarre theme (after black magic and natural world mononoke, there's still a way I can make it weirder)
- Tales of the modern era including urban legends
- Tales across time where the medicine seller encounters mononoke specific to certain eras and may encounter a few friends along the wayWhat do you all think? I'll probably write them all eventually but what should be next?
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