She pulled at the edge of her kimono, admiring the delicate stitches repairing the rip. She'd snagged it trying to deal with those creepy doll mononoke but there was no way they had the funds to repair it. Kayo wasn't even sure how he managed to peddle enough of his wares to feed the both of them.
She also didn't know where he got the wares. He never seemed to stop to replenish the stash in the medicine case, but it was always full. Perhaps he just had a larger stash than she initially thought. That case was pretty heavy when she'd carried it before.
Maybe he could stash the thing with yen, but that would be pretty suspicious for a merchant to be carrying that much around.
So instead of having the kimono repaired, the medicine seller stitched it up himself quite artfully and the two had enjoyed edamame with the money they didn't spend in the repairs. It was a rare treat, but after the last disaster customer they had encountered, they needed it. "I still can't believe the nerve of that lord whatever his name was."
"He was certainly not the worst," the medicine seller dismissed the potential customer's blatant rudeness.
"Not the worst?" Kayo gaped. "The guy had a blade at your throat! Then again, Odajima did end up tying you up back at House Sakai."
"Still not the worst," he shrugged, playing with some of the edamame in his hand. "At least they had the decency to escort us out and not haul us off to the authorities like one person did. Hardly a pleasant experience, I assure you. Not particularly something worth repeating."
Kayo frowned sharply. He sure had gone through a lot for the sake of just plain making an honest living and even more to put mononoke to rest. He seemed so nonplussed about it that it was hard to really tell how much he'd actually endured before they began traveling together.
"Thankfully there were no mononoke in that house," he added, digging a nail into one of the edamame. "That certainly would've made the situation worse. Nobles of that sort do not take so well with accusations they caused some manner of supernatural suffering."
"Not that they take any accusation well," Kayo huffed. "Or swords. They get really touchy about that one. But if there had been a mononoke there, you'd put it to rest, right?"
"Of course," he replied simply. He stopped at the stone stairs leading up the mountainside flanked by a pair of carved stone guardians. A pair of foxes with red scarves. He snapped the edamame in half with his teeth, chewing on it as he peered up the stairs.
Kayo turned, noticing she was about to ask a question to someone who had already stopped walking. She'd never seen him stop at a shrine before or show any interest. Most people were pretty religious, stopping at a shrine to gain the kami's blessing, but he'd never once suggested to stop. Perhaps not being human was part of it. Or whatever he was.
She still was certain he wasn't human. He certainly looked the part of a human medicine seller, but there were details that made her think twice about his identity. Those ears, those pronounced fangs he had, whatever happened when he'd actually released the taima sword. There was definitely something odd about him but any questions about it would of course be evaded.
He stared up at the foxes for a moment, oblivious to Kayo's internal debate. The statues were guardians to the shrine to Inari. They were the kami's messengers. But it wasn't the statues that had interested him the most. It was the supernatural sense scratching at the back of his neck. It was a shrine, so that was to be expected, but something about this particular one had called out to him for a brief second.
"You should probably stop your husband from going into that shrine. Weird stuff has been happening there."
Kayo nearly leapt, so lost in her own thoughts she didn't hear the pair of girls in kimono carrying some baskets had approached on the sleepy road. "He's not my husband," she grumbled.
"Oh?" the medicine seller turned, his interest piqued by the girl's words. It could be baseless rumors, but he did like to gossip now and again. "What sort of weird stuff?"
"There've been a lot of wara-ningyo nailed to trees in the shrine grounds," one girl informed him.
Wara-ningyo were just straw dolls usually nailed to trees to ward off evil spirits or sickness. They were generally pretty benign as they just didn't have the magical energy to cause much damage except under the most unusual circumstances. "Have there been any illnesses recently?"
The second girl shook her head. "Not that we've heard of. There are far too many wara-ningyo to be for that anyway."
"Last I heard there were at least two dozen," the first girl added. "Apparently the miko keep taking them down and they keep showing up."
"Well that's just weird," Kayo reasoned. "Someone has to be putting them there, right?"
"Might be a ghost," the first girl reasoned. "I heard rumors that a woman with long hair in a white kimono has been seen going up the stairs in the middle of the night. Supposedly she had fire on her head and a mirror on her chest. No one's ever seen her come back down but it's really late at that point anyway."
Kayo pursed her lips. "It's just some girl, right? Right?" She turned to the medicine seller for even just the slightest of nods but quickly huffed when she noticed he looked somewhat intrigued by the story. They'd encountered a few weird rumors that turned out to be benign. The only true rumor recently was the creepy dolls at the teahouse. It was possible it was just simply a rumor. Still, she shuttered.
"Just make sure you've left the place before midnight," the second girl added. "I wouldn't want to come across the woman in white either way."
"We should get back," the first girl tugged on the second's sleeve. "The lady of the house'll be angry if we're late again."
Kayo frowned a bit as the two girls continued down the sleepy road. "We're going to check out the rumors, aren't we?"
A smirk tugged at the edges of his lips. She was beginning to understand how this all worked. Simple rumors or not, there could be some basis to them especially with the presence of so many wara-ningyo nailed to trees. Something supernatural was here and it wasn't the shrine guardians. "Perhaps they could use some inks for their spell papers."
If it weren't for her stomach and the need to fill it, she probably would've fussed at him for turning it into a business venture. But she'd been traveling with him enough to know that he needed an excuse to be invited in. And getting some more funds wouldn't be a bad idea. "Hey, if you're going to keep playing with those edamame, at least let me have them."
He plucked one from his hand, offering the rest to her. He was satisfied with chewing on just one. It was a rather crisp edamame, making it rather satisfying to snap as they traveled up the stairs. His geta clacked against the stone as they climbed higher and through a number of torii gates. Each one was said to purify the soul. A mystery in how something supernatural and possibly malicious could've gotten through so many. Perhaps it never left.
She peered at the fox statues that appeared to be watching them. At least they appeared to be rather cute with their red bibs around their necks.
The medicine seller was focused on something else. As they reached the top of the hill and crossed through the last torii, he felt something brush his senses for a moment before quickly moving away once again. The shrine was surrounded by large trees, a few sporting large nail holes with bits of straw stuck within them. Tree after tree seemed to have a hole. There really had been a number of them recently.
With no visitors in sight, the miko had busied themselves with sweeping and tending to the shrine. One of the shrine maidens approached with a rather bright smile looking like she hadn't seen a visitor in days. "Welcome."
Kayo peered at the miko for a moment, half expecting to be thrown out, but this was a shrine not some nobleman's house. She mirrored the medicine seller as he offered the miko a bow.
"Do you perhaps," the medicine seller stood back up, "need some fresh inks?"
"I'm terribly sorry, Mr. Medicine Seller." The miko frowned a bit. "Without visitors to the shrine, we haven't been able to write many fortunes with the supplies we have."
He considered leaving for a bit to return that night and see the woman in white himself. He could quickly determine if the rumors were true or not, but it wouldn't exactly help slay a mononoke if it did appear. He'd need to speak to the living to fully understand how it came to be. "Perhaps a fortune will do instead. I do hope our luck will improve."
"Oh my, I hope you haven't had too much bad luck," the miko said thoughtfully.
"Just some rude people," Kayo mumbled.
A grin tugged slightly at his lips as he chided her despite it. "Manners, Miss Kayo."
The miko smiled at the pair. "Let's hope a few prayers will help turn your luck to the positive. It'd be a shame for a husband and wife to be so down."
Kayo huffed. It was a logical assumption that she'd be the wife and not the apprentice. It was how roles often were, but it was getting rather old how people simply assumed it each time.
"Apprentice," he corrected the miko.
"Oh my, I'm so terribly sorry," the miko bowed.
"It happens often." He focused on the miko for a moment, his senses tingling once again. Perhaps it was being so close to the shrine that sent his senses into a knot, but he had to be certain. Yokai could live at a shrine perfectly fine, as could the kami themselves. If the yokai or even the spirits crossed into the mononoke realm, that's when they became concerning. He'd hoped that a shrine would at least not be a place for a mononoke to be born, but humanity could be ugly anywhere.
"Yes the fortune," the miko laughed nervously. "Follow me." She turned, leading them down the stone walkway, past the collection of several dozen round tubs of fermenting sake and large bells that swayed slightly in the winds. There was a small fountain at the start of the plaza where the trio washed their hands before entering the grounds.
The medicine seller noted more trees on the outskirts of the plaza had holes in them as well as a few structures on the grounds as well. The columns of the gazebo housing a large bell had a few fresh holes in the wood. That was far too many wara-ningyo than was really necessary.
In the distance he spotted a rather large graveyard scaling up the hillside. A pair of foxes guarded the graveyard, watching over it carefully and perhaps guarding it from whatever was now inside the shrine's walls. The markers scaled farther up the hill than he could see, marking the shrine as rather old. A few small shrines dotted the edges of the grounds as they walked towards the main building.
"Ah a visitor. Welcome welcome," the shrine priest beckoned them forward. "I am Yoshimune, the priest here at this humble shrine. And this here is Fuku, our head miko."
Good Faith. A rather inviting name for a priest, the medicine seller mused to himself. With a head miko named Good Fortune.
"I'm Kayo," she introduced herself. She wasn't even sure how to introduce the medicine seller. She still didn't know if he really had a name. "And he's-"
"No one particularly interesting," the medicine seller interrupted.
The priest laughed, amused by how quickly the medicine seller had avoided giving his name. For someone claiming to not be interesting, he sure was intriguing. "I take it you two are interested in some fortunes?"
The medicine seller nodded. "We are-" His words were quickly drowned out by a shrill scream echoing across the empty courtyard. He turned towards the source of the screams, the scene in the courtyard catching even him by surprise. Across the courtyard were dozens of wara-ningyo nailed to the wooden posts. Across the courtyard stood several terrified miko gripping their brooms as they stared at more wara-ningyo on the nearby trees and even their brooms. Anything that could have one nailed to it, did. "Oh my."
Of course he would say that. Kayo could feel her knees knock together in fear and all he could say was 'oh my.' Those things weren't there a moment ago. She would've noticed them. Just how did they all appear so fast. "Is… is it…."
"I do believe so, Miss Kayo." He set the medicine chest down on the ground as he observed the scene laid out before them. "This is the work of a mononoke."
...
Author's musings
Shrines to Inari are pretty popular throughout Japan, dedicated to the kami of foxes, rice, tea, sake, agriculture, and a handful of other things. The foxes are messengers to the gods and always have a little red bib on the statues.
I'm amused by the idea of Kayo questioning the medicine seller's humanness. The basis comes from various theories that he's only half human, the other half might be kitsune. Certainly not impossible. There are legends about half human, half kitsune people who have incredible magic. But who knows. He could just be a very strange human!
