"A mononoke," the red samurai sighed. "Not this nonsense again."
"It's not nonsense!" Kayo pointed out sharply, using the medicine seller as a perch to look taller. "They're real things that come into the human world with a vengeance but they can be stopped!"
"Miss Kayo," the medicine seller attempted to get her attention.
"When we know the truth, form, and reason, he can slay it!" she continued.
"Miss Kayo," he repeated.
She huffed, pursing her lips. "What?"
"You're going to break my neck.," he replied. She had pushed against the side of his head and shoulder in a particularly uncomfortable position that was wholly unnatural. He couldn't fault her for how she was trying to get the samurai's attention. He simply wanted to keep his head on his shoulders in the process. He rubbed at the side of his neck as she climbed back down.
"What is your disrespectful woman going on about?" the samurai demanded, practically jabbing the butt of the katana into the medicine seller's ribs.
"My apprentice is correct about the nature of mononoke that exist in this world," the medicine seller replied. "They are created by strong human negative emotions, and I would imagine recent incidents may have created it."
"What exactly are you implying, merchant?" the samurai demanded again.
"Oh nothing that would concern a high-ranking samurai such as yourself. Just ramblings of an ordinary medicine seller," he replied coyly.
The red samurai scowled, looking rather offended. "There's nothing ordinary about you!"
The medicine seller stared at the samurai for a moment. Something was off in this situation. His supernatural senses were screaming out from something other than the murdered body lying smeared across the tatami in front of them. They were outside, which meant the mononoke could be anything and anywhere. Given the information so far, he couldn't assess the form or the reason just yet, though he had an idea of the truth.
A smear of black in the night sky caught his attention. He grabbed for Kayo, pulling her back by the collar of her kimono and wrapping a hand around her eyes. Holding his free hand, he called out for the taima sword but it was too late. The black mass had struck the samurai in front of them, clawing at his chest.
Kayo didn't object. She could hear the noise. Something awful was happening.
"Miss Kayo, turn around," the medicine seller spoke quietly as he released her. The taima sword reached his grasp, and he leapt forward, jabbing the sword at the black mass. The black creature let out a bone-shattering screech, knocking Kayo into the wall and pushing the medicine seller back a few feet.
This was definitely a mononoke without a doubt and a particularly angry one. The medicine seller leapt forward, abandoning his geta and perching on the railing in his tabi socks. Brandishing the taima sword with his left, he pushed back with his right. The black mass was incredibly strong, nearly pushing him off the railing as he resisted it. "What has made you so angry?"
The samurai rolled backwards into the wall, gasping for air in shock and pain. "What is that thing?!"
"Get back!" the medicine seller demanded, pushing against the black mass with his right hand. Blood trickled down his fingers as he fought it but he eventually won, the creature retreating into the darkness of the night. Tucking the taima sword into his obi, he hopped off the railing. Reaching down, he hoisted the wounded samurai onto his shoulders. This samurai appeared to be a very specific target to this black mass, and the medicine seller wanted to know why.
The samurai attempted to protest. "What are you-"
"Don't talk," the medicine seller told him sharply. "Everyone. Follow me. We need to tend to his wounds immediately. One of you two, please find Lord Ii and tell him what's happened before the mononoke returns."
The two women stared at each other for a moment. "I-I'll go," the younger woman volunteered. "Kawa can go with you." She stood up with shaky legs, barely able to scamper off down the walkway.
The woman in the green kimono followed the medicine seller, Kayo following suit after she retrieved his geta.
Kayo slid the door open to their room, dropping the geta off and kicking her sandals into the corner before scampering off towards the chest. With a heave, she lifted the chest, toting it over to the table.
Shoving the tea set off to the side with his foot, the medicine seller lay the samurai down on the table. "Miss Kayo, please gather the scales. I need to know how much time I have before the mononoke returns."
"R-right!" Kayo understood, pulling the bottom drawer open. "Okay, Mr. Scales. I need your help!" She held out her arms and the scales came to visit her once again, piling onto them and bowing politely at her.
The medicine seller began working at pulling the shredded plate armor away, revealing the nasty wounds underneath. The samurai's stomach had mostly been damaged, deep scratches spanning much of his belly. The mononoke had attempted to eviscerate him right on the spot.
"I'm…. those scales are moving on their own…." the samurai babbled.
"Don't talk," the medicine seller repeated. He placed a small towel over the wound. "Hold this," he instructed Kawa, the woman in the green kimono. "Put pressure on the wound." As she did, he tied his sleeves back before turning to the medicine chest, quickly removing the mortar and pestle along with a handful of ingredients.
Kayo busied herself with scattering the scales mostly around the door that faced the walkway plus a few in the back where she wasn't sure if it were a door or a closet. As she placed the last one, they dropped their bells, tipping but remaining quiet. She sighed in relief. "What sort of nasty mononoke was that?" she questioned, taking the mortar that he handed to her.
"A particularly angry one, though I cannot claim to have seen one that takes to evisceration," the medicine seller replied, digging out a sponge to apply the medicine and handing it to Kayo. "We'll need to learn more about it before it kills again. That medicine will sting at first, but it's effective."
Kayo dipped the sponge into the salve, kneeling down and rubbing it across the samurai's skin. He grimaced but he didn't fight her, letting her continue her work.
"I can't… I can't believe Lord Ii was… right about this mononoke stuff….." the samurai confessed between gasps for air.
The medicine seller turned back to the table with another bowl of salve in hand. Carefully, he rubbed it directly along the wound, wiping his fingers on the towel. "In a moment, this should feel tingly."
"Mononoke are pretty terrifying," Kayo admitted, moving to rub the salve on the more shallow wounds. "But if anyone can help with them, it's Mr. Medicine Seller. He'll help relieve it of its anger and then it can rest."
"Help it?" the samurai questioned. "It just murdered Samanosuke!" He sputtered a bit, leaning to the side as the pain from the wound caused him to cough and wheeze.
The medicine seller pressed down on the samurai's shoulder to keep him from moving. "Mononoke are borne of dark human emotions. They did not ask to be created, to carry that regret and pain." He threaded the needle, carefully working on the wound to stitch the wound in the torso back together. "Something happened during the assassination attempt to create this." He glanced at the taima sword, which remained quiet. "I wonder…."
The sliding door rattled a moment, and the medicine seller sprang to his feet. The scales hadn't made any noise to indicate that the source of the noise was the mononoke. It could be anything but thankfully it wasn't trouble. It was Lord Ii and the younger woman.
"Oh kami protect us," Lord Ii knit his brow in worry. "I could barely believe what happened when Momo told me. If the body on the walkway wasn't enough…"
"He shall live," the medicine seller informed him, settling back on his knees to finish the stitches. "I drove it back, but it will return again."
Lord Ii buried his face in his hands. "To think another mononoke has ravaged our home."
"Certainly not a tanuki again," the medicine seller informed him, tying off the stitches. "This mononoke is much more aggressive. Did anyone else die last week or was it solely the assassin?"
Lord Ii knit his brow, the concern for the estate and its people twisting itself across his face. "I only know of the assassin. I haven't noticed anyone missing either. Could the assassin's brutal death have caused this?"
"Possibly," the medicine seller replied, "but there's more to it. We have not yet learned the full truth of how the mononoke was created."
"What more could there be?" Lord Ii worried. "Regret that he couldn't finish the job? I don't want to lose anyone else. I've already lost Samanosuke, nearly Akinobu too. I need to-" He cut himself off as the scales on the floor suddenly turned sideways, their bells jingling as they tipped towards the door.
The mononoke had already returned. The door slid open, the black mass glaring into the room. Lord Ii stared at it, wide-eyed and terrified. He desperately wanted it to be kittens under the walkway again.
The medicine seller leapt up from behind the table. Swiping his hand to the left, he shoved Lord Ii out of the mononoke's path, causing the young lord to get tangled up with Momo and tumble down to the tatami. The medicine seller wasn't certain how discriminating the mononoke's evisceration spree would be, but it became very apparent when it completely dismissed Lord Ii and dove directly for Akinobu on the table. It was hunting.
Pulling the taima sword from his obi, he leapt over the table, meeting the mononoke halfway. "What is your truth? Your reason? What are you truly?"
The mononoke didn't answer beyond an unholy screech that rattled the teakettle on the floor and the screens on the walls. The medicine seller wasn't expecting much more than that given how irate it seemed to be. There was something about that assassination attempt that was more than just a brutal encounter. Something else sat just behind what he'd been told, a hidden and likely gruesome truth that someone wasn't saying.
The mononoke reached forward, grasping the medicine seller's bare arm with shadowy talons and squeezing it tightly. He could feel the pain forming in his arm. He bore his teeth at it, fangs and all, as he pressed forward with his unhindered left hand grasping the taima sword.
He managed to push the mononoke back out the door though not without consequence. The mononoke's claws had torn at his skin, ripping it before finally releasing it. He swiped his hand to the side, shutting the door from a distance. Pain rippled up his right arm while blood dripped down it, but now wasn't the time to worry about the damage done.
Shoving the taima sword into his obi, he worked with his left hand, his right arm now somewhat useless. In a sweeping motion, he plastered the walls with ofuda paper which lit up like red stars in the night sky as the mononoke paced back and forth outside on the walkway. Scratching sounds ensued as it attempted to break in, followed by something shrill and bird-like in nature.
The medicine seller paused for a moment, watching the door carefully as he listened. Those sounds were distinctly owl in nature, even with the distortions of the mononoke's voice. "I believe we are dealing with a tatarimokke."
The taima sword chattered in confirmation.
This could prove to be difficult.
...
Author's notes
Now I would reason that, while not a doctor, the medicine seller likely knows how to treat more than just sickness and similar ailments. Here it just happens to be treating and stitching up a near evisceration caused by an angry tatarimokke, probably something he'd learned dealing with mononoke. Knowing the ins and outs of remedies and salves and even some basic stitches would make him a very good peddler of medicines and anesthetics.
Akinobu is just fortunate the medicine seller knows this and acted quickly. After all, the mononoke seems to be hunting him. But why?
I do wonder.
