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.

….

Author's musings

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)

Please look forward to number 3!