"Lies!" Hisamatsu shouted. "It's all lies!"

"The taima sword has confirmed the momonoke's truth," the medicine seller placed a hand on it, "the circumstance that brought it into the human world."

Lord Ii padded over to the table with heavy steps, nearly collapsing to his knees in distress. He could feel his entire being shake, partially from fear of the mononoke and partially from anger about a murder. "Tell me everything."

"From the beginning," the medicine seller added. "We must know the reason for the mononoke's anger."

"The beginning." Akinobu stared at the wall opposite of his lord. The guilt in his heart about the incident was more painful than the wound on his gut. "My lord, do you recall how your father desired the most perfect garden?"

Lord Ii knit his brow in confusion. "He spoke of it many times."

"There was a small province headed by a lesser lord that grew a specific strain of plums," Akinobu continued. "He wished for them to be his own and only his own so he sent us to speak with the local lord. He refused to deprive his province of food, and I understood so we left."

Lord Ii knit his brow in concern. "This is because of plums?"

The scales began to tip just slightly, marking the return of the mononoke. Drawing the taima sword from his obi, the medicine seller watched the ofuda cautiously, noting only the ones at the top of the walls had activated. The scales began to tip back and forth strangely as they were unable to indicate where the monoke exactly was.

"Seems so," Akinobu confirmed. "Samanosuke was sent back to the village later. It was an accidental confrontation that caused a lantern to tip over and the village set ablaze. He did his best to stop the fire but it was no use."

"The rumors of the recent fire," Lord Ii recalled.

"It was an accident," Akinobu insisted. "And he reported that to your father. But what we didn't expect was the local lord showing up as well. He wished to speak with your father, and when he was denied any assistance in rebuilding the village, he wished to speak with you, my lord."

The medicine seller watched the movements of the ofuda as they activated and deactivated almost in sequence. The mononoke was pacing above them but it was hard to track exactly where. With a sweep of his hand, the scales all floated upwards, clinging to the ceiling instead. They quickly tipped towards the ceiling directly above Hisamatsu.

"And I would've granted them the funding without question," Lord Ii confirmed.

"Hisamatsu didn't want this," Akinobu continued. "He wanted to please your father. That's where his loyalties lie. So he crafted this murder and swore us all to secrecy less we all dishonor our families and yours. By lying, that's exactly what we did. We dishonored you in the end!"

The ceiling suddenly burst open, sending scales flying in all directions. Kayo leapt behind the table with the other two girls in surprise as the black mass of a mononoke reached downward, grasping Hisamatsu in its talons and dragging him upward into the darkness.

The medicine seller didn't have time to stop the mononoke from killing once more, not that Hisamatsu seemed that decent of a human being. But he wasn't here to judge humans and their folly. He was here to put mononoke to rest.

He leapt forward, taima sword in hand as he positioned himself between the mononoke and those still alive within the room. This mononoke would likely continue killing until every last person in the entire estate lay dead and smeared across the tatami. Drawing his hand back, he flung ofuda at the mononoke's arm in an attempt to contain it. The ofuda encircled it, preventing it from moving.

Yet the mononoke would not be thwarted so easily. A second arm burst through the ceiling, sending wood splinters and siding across the room. The medicine seller drew a wall of paper ofuda across the room, preventing any injuries from the debris. "Keep talking, Mr. Akinobu!"

Akinobu sucked in a strained breath before shouting loud enough so the mononoke could hear. "The local lord died in cold blood, unable to help his own people because of something we caused! I should've stopped Hisamatsu but I was too afraid of staining my own honor. Just take me, not my lord!"

The taima sword began to chatter before letting out a wail. "Release! Release!"

"Release! Put this mononoke to rest!" A bend in the knees and a tight grip on the taima sword, the medicine seller leapt into the second arm of the mononoke. He drew the sword in the darkness, the colorful blade driving upwards in the shadows as his other self took the hilt. He burst out the top of the mononoke's body and landed on the rooftop.

The owl mononoke withdrew its talons from the roof with an unholy shriek before attempting to claw at the medicine seller.

He leapt backwards, light on his feet as his white hair flowed around him like water as he moved. The taima sword remained at his side as he pushed the other hand forward. The markings on his arm beneath the wrapped bandages shifted, forming a shield to block the incoming attack. "Lord Ii knows of your truth and reason. Your death was not in vain."

He could see the mononoke still suffered, unable to cast aside its anger for what had transpired. It was an unfortunate truth, one caused by accidents, greed, and anger. Revenge could be difficult to let go.

But it was time to put the mononoke to rest, to relieve it of its pain. With a twist of his wrist, the markings on his body shifted from a shield to a rope, shooting forward and wrapping themselves around the tatarimokke's large shadowy form. Bending at the knees, he leapt above it, driving the sword downward and through the mononoke's body.

The shadows quickly faded as his outer self landed back in the room on one knee, the sheathed taima sword held in front of him in both hands as a small brown owl lay motionless at his feet.

Lord Ii stared. He'd heard stories from his grandfather, but he never expected to find his grandfather hadn't exaggerated any of it. The medicine seller really was someone that couldn't be explained, someone supernatural and amazing. "Is it… Was that the mononoke?"

"It was," the medicine seller replied. "Now it has found rest."

The gardens were in full bloom as the brilliant plum blossoms watched over the children chasing each other in the grass. Kayo knelt down, teaching some of the girls how to play a game. Several adults were watching the blossoms sway in the light breeze. Akinobu stood guard, watching and ensuring everyone in the garden was safe.

Lord Ii perched himself at the highest point in the gardens along a stone wall up the hillside. The medicine seller stood beside him. It was rather improper to position himself as he did, but Lord Ii had insisted he stood at his side as an equal. The young lord had favored the medicine seller before, but after he'd helped quell the mononoke's rage and uncover an insidious plot, Ii was certain he was more than just a simple medicine seller like he insisted.

"They all certainly look like they're enjoying themselves," Lord Ii observed.

"They do," the medicine seller agreed.

"I think opening up our gardens to the public was the right thing to do," Lord Ii added. "Don't you?"

The medicine seller glanced at his companion for a moment before turning back to the gardens. "Perhaps."

"Enigmatic as always," Lord Ii snorted a bit of a laugh. "Well, even with father's ritual suicide and Hisamatsu's death, I don't feel it's quite enough to repay the people for the accidental fire that took down Isemachi. I've diverted funds to help rebuild the town, but given what transpired, sharing the gardens with the people of this han is a good step in the right direction. These trees, this fruit, this garden, it belongs to the people."

Lord Ii glanced at the medicine seller, but the mysterious man simply was watching something else. Ii could guess all day what he was seeing, but all he could observe was that he was watching an empty section in the garden.

"Akinobu looks like he's adjusting after everything, doesn't he?" Lord Ii broke the silence.

The medicine seller shifted his attention from watching the spirit of the fallen local lord standing by the plum trees to the red samurai standing off to the side, watching over the children playing. The samurai stood stiffly but his expression seemed rather pleasant and warm.

"He wished to commit ritual suicide, to clear his honor for his family," Lord Ii continued, "but I didn't feel that was something he needed to do. He was forced into the situation and nearly lost his life because of it." He watched Akinobu shift stiffly knowing that he still was healing that stomach wound beneath the layers of armor and fabric. Lord Ii still trusted the red samurai, wishing for him to stay at his side during the reparation and rebuilding.

"It's harder to live with what happened and make amends than simply to end it," Lord Ii added. "We both know this to be true."

"Humans are capable of terrible things," the medicine seller finally spoke.

"Isn't that the truth," Lord Ii agreed.

"But there are those capable of great good," the medicine seller added. "I do wonder how history will remember you."

Lord Ii glanced at the medicine seller, finding the slightest of grins tugging at his features. "You're an interesting one, you know that?"

"There's nothing interesting about me at all," he countered.

Lord Ii snorted a laugh. His statement was terribly ironic. Everything about him was interesting. "Well, Mr. Uninteresting. I do wonder if we'll see each other again."

The medicine seller grinned, amused just thinking how many times Lord Ii would likely summon him with every bump in the night now that he'd seen a true mononoke and not just a litter of kittens.

"D-don't smile like that!" Lord Ii fussed. "I can't tell if that's a yes or a no!"

"I wonder," the medicine seller mused, turning a bit back towards the gardens. The dead local lord hadn't moved much, staying near the plum trees as he watched the people enjoying the gardens. Perhaps his spirit would stick around to guard over the gardens. Perhaps it would find peace and move on. Hard to say at this point.

He turned back to the living. Lord Ii had a good heart, even if it was constantly paranoid about everything. He couldn't quite blame the young lord after what had happened, but there was always a chance it would be more kittens underneath the balcony next time the young lord tried to summon him. "As long as mononoke enter the human world, I shall be there to find their truth, form, and reason."

"P-perhaps you'll just come by with some intriguing teas next time you're in the area," Lord Ii quickly suggested. "You know, instead of slaying mononoke or finding kittens under the balcony."

A slight smile tugged at his lips. "Perhaps I shall."

...

Author's musings

Thank you all for reading! Honestly I hadn't expected such a large turnout. When I first started writing this, I thought to myself "there'll be what 5 readers at most?" Boy was I wrong. I'm thankful for each and every kudo, bookmark, subscription, and comment. I wasn't expecting this, and I'm glad you all enjoyed this journey!

For now, it is ending, but only for now. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response, I'm currently working on a sequel. A new set of cases with a new theme and even weirder encounters. This type of tale takes quite a bit of time to weave, so it may be some time before a new tale shows up. Each story requires researching cultural aspects and unusual yokai, referencing legends and tales, weaving together terrible atrocities, and keeping them all different. Maybe Lord Ii will make a return. Please look forward to it!

As for this story. Oh boy, this was a fun one to create, finding the reasoning for a tatarimokke that wasn't typical. Originally this tale was written before the mahjong parlor, but it just felt like an ending tale. The characters are almost all color-coded and named accordingly.

- Lord Ii. Not color-coded. His name essentially means good, a reference to his nature

- Akinobu, the samurai in red. Aki means bright and shining, refering to the bright colors he wears and him being the one to bring the truth to light. Amusingly enough, aka (red) can also refer to a baby, and tatarimokke are often spirits of babies.

- Kawa, the handmaiden in green. Kawa means river, and since blue and green are the same word in Japanese, a river can be green.

- Momo, the younger handmaid. Momo means peach and is a reference to the fruit in the story

- Hisamatsu and Samanosuke are both pretty typical samurai names

The idea of plums in a garden stems from the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo. They're pretty expansive and probably very pretty, if I ever managed to get there when they were blooming. Plum blossoms are also a symbol of rebirth, as they signal in when all the flowers are going to return after winter.

Thank you all again for reading! Until next time!