The medicine seller tapped his chin thoughtfully. After the onsen incident, the supplies in his medicine chest had become rather barren in terms of poison remedies. While they could easily live off the funds paid to them by Ama and Tsurumatsu to keep quiet, that wouldn't last forever. They needed supplies.

He looked over the small farm shop in deep thought.

Kayo watched him intently as he scoured the selection of herbs. She'd learned quite a bit from him about herbs, about remedies for poisons and ingesting too much soap. But she hadn't quite understood how he chose the herbs. She actually hadn't seen him refill the medicine chest once before. She'd always assumed it was magical, and perhaps in part it was. But fresh herbs probably couldn't be produced properly by magic alone. She didn't really understand the magic quite yet. If it was called magic. Yeah it was all confusing.

"Each of these, please," the medicine seller handed the lady his selection of fresh herbs.

"Quite a collection," she mused, bundling them up for him as he handed her some coins. "Say, since you both are on the road, would you join us for dinner?"

"Really?" Kayo lit up for a moment before peering at the medicine seller. They probably needed to get on the road soon if they wanted to make it to the next town before nightfall, but he hadn't quite made an objection to the offer just yet. "Well if it's not trouble."

"Oh it's no trouble at all," the woman waved the concern. "With our children away selling our goods to neighboring towns, Terumune and I always appreciate the company. If you do not mind helping a bit around the farm, you are welcome to stay the night as well."

He had considered refusing the offer, but something supernatural scratched at the back of his mind. Something was here. "Then we are grateful," the medicine seller grinned just slightly as he bowed politely.

Setting their belongings in the farmhouse, the medicine seller shed his usual geta for a pair of straw sandals, tying his sleeves back as he stepped out into the farmland. He couldn't admit to farming much or doing this sort of labor, but it wasn't beneath him. He was a simple medicine seller, after all. A bit of labor for a place to stay with a mysterious air was hardly a bad exchange in his mind.

"Ah, you must be the travelers my dear Saki invited to stay," the farmer stood up from with a handful of small leeks, putting a hand on his lower back. "I am Terumune."

"Greetings," he offered a bow. He paused noticing a small calico cat dash by and run down the greenery. "A cat."

"I hope you don't mind cats," Terumune returned to pulling the leeks from the ground. "They are always most welcome here."

The medicine seller peered out into the field, spotting a few here and there dotting the landscape. They certainly were cute. "They are hardly a bother."

"Good to hear," the old farmer handed the medicine seller the basket he was filling. "My neighbor Miss Iwa seems to have a problem with them. She's been chasing them out of her farm lately."

"A strange thing to do," the medicine seller commented.

"It is," Terumune agreed. "They keep the rats and the yokai from eating the greens. She must have a terrible time trying to keep the greens healthy and going, especially with her husband always away." He stood up, placing more leeks into the basket before shifting to the next bed, checking to see if they were ready to be plucked.

The medicine seller couldn't think of many farm yokai that would be frightened away by cats, unless the cats had grown old enough they began to develop magic. Or perhaps that was simply a superstitious tale that farmers told themselves to reason keeping cats. "I see."

He turned his attention towards the fence as a lady in farming attire swatted a broom in the air. "Scat! Go back over there!"

Several cats scampered under the fence, scattering in Terumune's farmland. They scampered past, but one had stopped and cowered behind the medicine seller's foot. It was a small cat-like creature with a tiny bobtail that looked terribly frightened. He put the basket down, holding a hand out to invite the tiny ball of fur into his hands.

"Stop frightening the cats!" Terumune yelled across the fence.

"Keep the damn beasts out of my yard!" Iwa shouted back. "I bet everything that's happening is because of your damn cat collection! Everything's been happening lately because of them!" She huffed indignantly, nearly breaking the broomstick as she turned around, stomping off towards the farmhouse.

Terumune sighed, staring down at the small ball of fur. "Sorry little one. Seems Miss Iwa is being a pain again."

"I am curious why she blames them," the medicine seller scratched the ears of the tiny creature. He could easily tell it wasn't a cat at all but a tiny yokai. The harmless yokai was a sunekosuri, a cat-like creature whose only fault was trying to rub up against people's legs when they walked.

"Who knows," the old man shrugged. "Ever since she married into the family, things have been strange over there on that farm. I'm surprised it still stands some days."

The medicine seller cradled the small yokai in his hand, observing how it was shaking like a leaf. Something was frightening the small creature and he was quite certain it wasn't Iwa. Sunekosuri were rather friendly and liked people, even those that chased them off. It wasn't offended. It was terrified.

"Terumune! Mr. Medicine Seller!" Saki shouted across the farm. "Dinner's ready!"

The sun was beginning to set. Dinner came and went. The older couple was quite inviting and friendly, offering Kayo and the medicine seller more food than they expected. Garden greens, fresh noodles, even some rice. It had been awhile since he'd eaten with anyone but Kayo. The small sunekosuri sat next to his leg, refusing to leave his side.

As the old couple settled in for the night, the medicine seller slipped on his geta. He scooped up the sunekosuri before heading down the stairs and into the dark farmland.

"W-wait!" Kayo practically stumbled down the stairs in the dark. "Where are you going?"

"A walk," he replied.

"Oh don't give me that, buster!" Kayo fussed, jabbing a finger at him. "You know something, don't you?"

"Yes yes," he conceded. "This cat here is a sunekosuri, a small harmless yokai. It is frightened of something."

"So you're just going to go out into the dark and find it?" Kayo questioned.

He peered at the small village of a street at the edge of the farmlands. "Something is happening here."

Kayo frowned. He was terrible at explaining himself and his supernatural sense, but she couldn't blame him. Since they'd been traveling together, he began to speak more. He spoke longer sentences and explained more to her instead of simply saying 'perhaps' or 'who knows' all the time. He wasn't one of many words unless he was gossiping. But that simple statement told her enough that he sensed something amiss. "I'm coming with you."

He didn't object, offering her a slight grin before turning towards the small village. Lanterns were lit within the city and he didn't exactly expect the night life to be very active in such a remote location. Nearing the edge of the houses, he found it to be a somber occasion. Both men and women in black funeral kimono stood around the edges of the small street with a woman in a white kimono lay in the center.

A recent death. Hardly uncommon in such rural areas where people worked into the ground and likely died young. He could feel something unnatural in the air, and the sunekosuri attempting to cower into his arm was a good indication he was right.

"Come, let us finish the funeral quickly," one of the villagers urged.

"It'll arrive if we don't," another insisted. "Miss Neko will never find rest if it does."

"They've all been shooed away and it's a clear night. We have nothing to worry about," Iwa, the neighbor lady, assured the gathered.

"I hope you're right this time, Miss Iwa," the first villager worried. "We can't let this keep happening."

The medicine seller watched them quietly. They were afraid of something that would appear in the night. A number of yokai were nocturnal, but the people gathered here were worried about something specific showing up.

And that specific thing soon made itself known. Something on the nearby rooftop suddenly lit ablaze, lighting up the night sky in brilliant red and orange flames. It leapt down to the ground, causing the villagers to scatter as it neared the dead woman.

"I see," the medicine seller observed the creature lit ablaze as it attempted to frighten the villagers back away from the dead body. "A mononoke has arrived."

...

Author's notes

Sunekosuri are an interesting yokai and probably one of the more harmless. Some tales describe them as dogs and some as cats. According to legend, a sunekosuri is to blame if you suddenly trip over your own feet. After all, it's not clumsiness. It's a yokai you didn't see.