The beast was barely visible within the bright light of the flames. It was taller than most men, covered in some manner of fur with large teeth and a very angry expression. Reaching forward, it snatched the dead body straight out of the coffin.

Kayo gasped, staring in shock. "What is that?"

The medicine seller didn't answer, simply handing the cowering sunekosuri to her. He pushed through the crowd, standing in front of the mononoke. He pulled the taima sword from his obi, brandishing it at the mononoke. "What is your reason for doing this?" he questioned it.

The creature didn't respond, grasping the dead woman in its arms as it bore its teeth at the medicine seller. It didn't need this interference from some stranger in a colorful kimono. Bending its knees, it leapt up onto the rooftops, quickly leaping from home to home to flee.

The medicine seller turned, quick on his feet as the geta slapped against the barely cobbled road. Spreading his arms, he summoned dozens of ofuda spell papers, flinging them at the mononoke. Several snagged the mononoke in the leg, causing it to trip and drop the woman. She tumbled off the building, nearly colliding with the ground had the medicine seller not caught her. He dealt with far too many deaths to disrespect the dead so easily.

He watched as the mononoke disappeared into the night. He couldn't pursue it into its domain just yet. He'd have to wait for its return.

"Neko! Nekoooo!" a woman shouted between sobs. "Thank you, stranger!"

The rest of the crowd caught up, exchanging expressions of relief that Neko hadn't been lost.

"What was that thing?" one of the men questioned.

"A mononoke." Handing the body back off to the sobbing woman, the medicine seller turned, peering into the night. "A creature born of strong negative human emotions. This one has taken the shape of a kasha." The taima sword chattered a reply as he tucked it back into his obi.

"A… a mononoke?" the man repeated. "But it was a cat?"

"A kasha is simply the form it has taken," the medicine seller confirmed, "a cat-like yokai which feasts upon the bodies of the recently deceased. Yet it is still not a cat."

"The cats are still to blame!" Iwa hissed. "Until they came around, this wasn't a problem!"

"Cats are common in fields," the medicine seller pointed out. "They eat mice."

Iwa scoffed. "There are far too many. They'll become dangerous like that one!" she jabbed a finger at the small creature in Kayo's arms.

"That," the medicine seller indicated the small ball of fur, "is also not a cat. It is a sunekosuri."

"A what?" the man panicked.

"A yokai which consumes insects and weeds," the medicine seller informed them calmly. "It is hardly a threat unlike the mononoke which attempted to steal Miss Neko." He nearly grinned at the irony that the one who was nearly carried off by a cat-like yokai was literally named Cat.

"There's no way that this sune-whatever isn't a threat," Iwa insisted, folding her arms angrily.

"It's kind of cute," one of the woman admitted. "It's so tiny and adorable."

"Neko would've liked it," the woman holding the dead woman sobbed.

"You're all as bad as Mr. Terumune!" Iwa hissed. "That thing is just as bad as all those strays. They're a nuisance that need to be dealt with!"

"The cats good for the fields," Terumune announced, approaching the group. "We heard the commotion. Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine thanks to this man," the panicked man replied. "That thing attempted to steal Neko from us. A monosomething?"

"Mononoke," the medicine seller corrected him.

"This is ridiculous," Iwa threw her hands up in frustration. "What is wrong with all you people?"

"You are always so insistent to blame problems on someone or something else," Saki fussed at her.

"A giant flaming cat just nearly stole Miss Neko!" Iwa jabbed a finger at the darkness where it had disappeared.

"Mononoke," the medicine seller corrected her.

"Whatever!" Iwa hissed.

"It can be slain, to relieve it of the regret that drives it," he informed them.

"You can stop this thing?" Terumune looked helpful.

"I can," he replied, "if I can learn its truth and reason, how and why it came to be."

"You're just fishing for information," Iwa jabbed a finger at him.

"There you go, accusing people who come to help," Saki shook her head. "Ever since you came to this town, I don't think you've ever trusted a single person here."

"How dare you judge me, Saki," Iwa hissed.

"You do nothing but complain," Saki pointed out. "Ever since you married Mr. Kamekichi and moved here. You won't even come to visit when I cook extra noodles."

"You're far too friendly, Saki," Iwa commented. "Inviting random people to stay with you when you have extra noodles. We wouldn't have Mr. Butts-into-our-business and his cat-loving wife here to interfere." She jabbed a finger at the medicine seller.

"Apprentice!" Kayo hissed.

"That man just saved Neko from being consumed!" the sobbing woman defended him.

The medicine seller glanced between those gathered. The farming village was a tangled social nightmare that made it difficult to tell who might be the origin of the mononoke. There was the sobbing woman and her frightened husband. A handful of couples that looked like farmers given the worn look of their hands. Saki and Terumune were among them, now arguing with the neighbor Iwa with her noticeably absent husband. Someone passable as a shrine maiden stood off to the side with a bewildered look. People began to shout at each other.

The medicine seller frowned, jabbing the taima sword between all of them, quickly silencing the squabbles. When the silence overtook the crowd, he questioned the people gathered. There must be some clue as to the source. "When did this mononoke first appear?"

"About a month ago," the sobbing woman replied. "It stole Miss Nene. It was devastating!"

"We mourned for a week," the panicked man added. "We had hoped it wouldn't return but it did about a week ago when it stole Mr. Tadasuke! The poor old man!"

"Did something occur just before the kasha appeared to steal Miss Nene?" the medicine seller questioned.

The gathered crowd exchanged glances, attempting to remember anything that happened before a month ago. "There was the last harvest," Saki recalled.

"Something that could cause regret," the medicine seller clarified.

"My husband sometimes sleeps naked!" one of the women confessed.

"I put the fire out sometimes at night so get my wife to sleep closer to me!" a man shouted.

"I've bathed in the river!" someone else shouted.

"That's our drinking water, you gross jerk!" another hissed.

The medicine seller pursed his lips together. He had gotten them to talk, yet the issues they confessed to were hardly something capable of creating a mononoke. Perhaps the bath one but that one was mostly just rude.

Several small sunekosuri darted out from between the houses, cowering around the medicine seller's feet. This mononoke wasn't just terrorizing the human population. The cats and the small yokai were suffering as well.

"There's just so many of them!" Iwa shrieked.

"Do you not like cats?" the medicine seller questioned.

"Such pests!" Iwa hissed in reply. She attempted to kick them away, but the medicine seller quickly stopped her foot with the taima sword.

"Tell me something, Miss Iwa," the medicine seller stood back up to his full height. "Did something happen to you in the last month?"

"I don't like what you're implying," she replied indignantly, turning and storming back towards her farm. She yelped in surprise as the shadows lit ablaze and she found herself face to face with the malignant spirit. "Get away from me!"

The kasha reached forward, grasping Iwa with its fiery arm. She attempted to writhe free but as the flames began to catch on her kimono, she reached forward, placing a hand on the kasha's face. "This is revenge, isn't it?"

The kasha didn't respond, simply staring at her with a fierce anger in its eyes as it drew Iwa close to it almost like a fiery hug.

She leaned into it, feeling the fire begin to consume her. "You loved those beast cats more than you loved me. You all did. You deserved what came to you, as I deserve this for doing it."

Kayo gasped, clamping both hands on her mouth. She was shocked at the exchange between Iwa and the Kasha, barely able to react more. "Shouldn't we help her?"

The medicine seller listened to their words as they spoke, his taima sword poised in a defensive position. It was clear that Iwa knew she was guilty of the mononoke's truth and reason. Saving her wasn't possible either as the flames had quickly engulfed her entire form. No amount of burn salve could help with this. "We cannot."

The kasha opened its jaws wide, consuming what remained of Iwa.

...

Author's notes

There are so many wild cat-like yokai in legends. The Kasha is definitely one of the weirder ones I found (the weirdest was the cat that would blow fires out at night so you get cold when sleeping).

Japan seems to have this wild awe for magical cats, and not all of them are bad. The sunekosuri is a cute one, but that kasha, man that kasha. It is massive and sometimes described as human-sized and engulfed in brilliant flames that never burn it. It eats dead bodies so that the dead never get to rest.

The medicine seller is really fond of cats, and thankfully so is this village. Except for Iwa. But she's now Kasha food. This is why you shouldn't be mean to kitties, Iwa!

Writing the possible truths for the Kasha were incredibly enjoyable. This village has some hilariously dirty laundry. A pity none of them created the mononoke but now everyone knows that someone likes to bathe in the drinking water. That is pretty rude and gross.