Mononoke: The Untold

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"Hey, I'm out of sake. Someone get me some more." The alcoholic samurai spoke up and held up the cup containing the wine. Everyone in the room looked at him silently, this wretched samurai only knew how to bossing people in times of danger. "Sato...."
"Right away!" The head maid spoke tremblingly, then she continued to blame the girl Kayo. "Kayo, go get it. Hurry and fetch the good sake. You know where we keep it."
"I-I don't want to...."
"What do you mean!?"
"You were the one he asked! I don't want to leave this room!"
"How dare you talk back to me!"
"Tch! Arguing all day long! If you can't do anything, then shut your mouth up! If you don't go, I will." The woman with fox ears stood up with an annoyed look on her face, she motioned for the two girls to stay and watch the room. She walked to the door, turned her back on them and took a long drag from her pipe. She slightly raised her face to exhale the smoke.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" The mysterious man slowly walked to the place where the woman was standing, making Odajima startled and ask loudly.
"I need some salt. I might as well get the sake, too."
"Don't move unless I tell you to!"
"It will come for us again. I need to be ready for it."
"No way! Stay put! You haven't earned my trust yet."
"Then why don't you come along with me? I'd appreciate it if you did, actually." The man with light hair put his wooden box on his back and walked up to the woman. He subtly said sarcastically Odajima, but silently looked at the woman's right arm, which was trying to hide it due to injury.
"Sure! I'll go! I'm sorry for foiling your one and only opportynity to escape!" The woman giggled but silently as she heard the other two arguing, one liked sarcasm and the other an idiot liked a challenge. These two seem to make a good duo. But the woman put her hand on the door and made the giant eye disappear, then the medicine man took down the talismans.
"I'm opening it." The man with light hair said, making everyone hold their breath and wait. "I sure am lucky, having a bodyguard." He mockingly thanked the samurai but it was hidden in his words as his voice was calm and serious.
"You think that idiot understands?" The woman next to him couldn't help but ask softly and teasingly, making the mysterious man smile though he didn't response.
"I'll go as well!" The girl Kayo finally agreed to follow, the girl followed behind the woman with silver hair and slightly grabbed her Uchikake sleeve. The hallway was unusually quiet, but the two strange people were not afraid at all.
"Now, then.... Shall we get going?" They began to walk to the kitchen under the guidance of Kayo and the flickering light of the moon.
"You're heading to the kitchen?" Odajima suddenly asked
"I just need some salt."
"Yeah, right. They're going to try and posion us!" Odajima whispered to Kayo, which wasn't really a whisper since Uranaishi had better hearing.
"They're not like that. Why do you have to talk about him like that?"
"Well, uh...." The woman sighed, what a human.... She rolled her eyes sarcastically and pushed open the kitchen door.
"Where is it?" They reached the kitchen, the medicine man asked Kayo. The woman walked around the kitchen, curiously opening the lids of large jars to look.
"I'll go get it. We keep it behind the stove. Wait right there." Kayo said, a bit worried and turned to look at the other three people. "You guys won't leave or anything, right?"
"I won't move! Don't you worry!" Odajima said with a serious face making the other woman giggle. But suddenly the sound of Kayo groaning in pain attracted everyone's attention.
"Ow! Who spilled oil over here?" Kayo complained, the woman came closer and helped her sit up, but with her left hand. "Thank you.... It's usually stored some place out of the way."
"Inexcusable! Who could have done this?" The medicine man just silently placed his hand under his chin and tilted his head to look at Kayo and Odajima. Then a moment later, he gave the other samurai a large heavy salt jar, and gave Kayo a small sake kettle, and for the other woman, he put colorful candies in her hand, making them bewildered. "Heyyy! You expect me to carry this!?"
"To make sure I don't have a chance to poison it." When the strange man answered, the other woman burst into laughter.
"You're getting on his nerve, Kusuriuri-san"
"You overheard me?"

"You talk so loud, it'd be impossible not to hear you."
"You're making fun of me!"
"Uh-oh. SO you noticed."
"Hold it! Where are you going!?"
"I said we need to be ready." The medicine man answered vaguely, he and the other three returned to the room. The woman still looked at the mysterious man in confusion, why did he give her candies? Isn't Kayo the youngest person here? Could it be that in his eyes, Uranaishi is like a mischievous child? Those thoughts swirled around in her head, the medicine man always had a serious face that made her difficult to read. So this is how other people feel when talking to her...
"I brought some sake." Kayo pushed open the door, startling everyone once again.
"What is that?" Odajima once again asked curiously
"You've never seen salt?" The man scooped some salt into his palm and held it up, he continued to mock the samurai. He began spreading salt on the floor in straight lines around the room.
"I know it's salt! I'm asking what it's for!" Just like that, the samurai walked around the room with the medicine man to mock him. "Heh! I thought you'd do something more fancy with it."
"What the hell is this?" The medicine man remained silent and continued to spread salt until Odajima raised his foot to step on it but was stopped by the weird man's sword.
"You can make fun of it all you want. However, don't break the line." Kusuriuri said with an expression that was definitely pissed off.
"Line? Of salt?"
"Exactly."
"It's all just superstition. Don't make a big deal about it."
"If that's what you think, that's fine. But do not step into the enclosure of salt. For any reason." Kusuriuri continued speaking with an extremely serious expression.
"Umm, is there anything i can help with?" Kayo walked over and shyly asked, interrupting the tense atmosphere.
"Actually, there is. You are much more dependable than this half-wit big mouth." Once again the pharmacist continued to make fun of Odajima, making the fox-eared woman giggle. But it only took a moment for her to frown and look away. She walked over to where the other two children sat down. Quietly held out his injured right arm for the two children to bandage.
"Who are you calling a half-wit!?"
"Hold this." The strange man paid no attention to the samurai and looked at the woman for a moment before continuing. A drawer from his wooden box automatically opened, causing Kayo to flinch. "Hand me what's in the box, one thing at a time."
"All right!" A white metal children's toy suddenly floated into the air startling Kayo once again.
"What's that contraption?"
"Never seen a scale?"
"A scale?"
"Hold out a finger." The man with light hair continued to ignore the samurai and talk to Kayo. The girl held out a right index finger. The man with light hair continued to ignore the samurai and talk to Kayo. The girl held out her right index finger, and the scale seemed to have a soul jumping onto her fingertip, rotating itself back and forth. "It's okay... Just like that." The scale suddenly bowed to Kayo made the girl happy and had a big smile on her face.
"I think it likes you, Kayo. Lift your finger up a little." As soon as Kayo lifted her finger, the scale automatically floated above the house and then it flew down to stand on the medicine seller's fingertip. Then it flew into the air again and landed somewhere far away from the pharmacist and near the salt line. "Keep doing that."
"Okay!"
"What are you measuring with this? The weight of the Mononoke?"
"Distance"
"Distance?"
"To measure the distance to the Mononoke."
"Don't you know what scales are for? They aren't for measuring distance, they're for weight!" The medicine man remained silent and continued his work. At this time, the other woman was lying in a corner with one hand resting on her cheek. She was already sleeping with two strange children kneeling seriously behind her. Occasionally the woman's fluffy fox ears fluttered gently, making Kayo want to touch them. "Hey! Are you listening? You said you were going to get rid of the Mononoke"
"Yeah...." The scale on the floor near the pharmacist's feet suddenly tilted to the right toward the woman who was resting. Then they immediately return to equilibrium.
"Then we shouldn't be wasting our time like this! Hurry up and kill that evil beast! If you can't do it, then you've been lying all along!"
"I'm sure I told you. To destroy the Mononoke, we still needs its Truth and Regret. Until those become clear, the sword can't be unsheathed." He picked up his sword to examine it. There were already many scales waiting in the room.
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"The interwined fates of men give the Mononoke its Form, I want to know the Truth and Regret." At this time everyone was back in this room. The medicine man slowly explained.
"So, what is this Truth and Regret you talk about? And why should we talk about them?"
"Truth is the basic facts. Regret is the motive behind its grudge."
"So, what about it?"
"Something happened and for whatever reason, the spirit bears a grudge. Unless everything becomes clear, the sword will hold no power and cannot cut down the Mononoke."
"The reason behind it, huh?" Silence reigned here again before the medicine man interrupted the silence.
"Firstly, why are there no cats in this house? Someone must have done something to a cat. What could it have been?" The strange man looked around but no one dared to answer. Only the alcoholic samurai spoke up.
"A cat's grudge can haunt humans? You think a lowly beast is capable of such an extreme act?" He asked back with disdain and disgust at the furry thing like a cat, causing the fox-eared woman to glare at the alcoholic samurai. The tension is obvious as the mysterious man looks from the woman to the samurai.
"I wouldn't know. But there's definitely a Mononoke." The strange man replied. The woman with white hair slowly sat up properly, she took a long drag from her pipe and exhaled smoke. By now the smoke from her pipe had begun to spread throughout the room.
"But, a grudge? I mean, they kept coming into the kitchen, so I'd splash water or chase them out. But they wouldn't hold a grudges or haunt us for that?" Kayo asked tremblingly, her heart filled with guilt for doing those things to stray cats. "There's no way!"
"It's possible."
"Why? It's not that serious."
"Mononoke have their own reasoning." The medicine seller answered but kept his eyes forward, occasionally glancing at the woman with fox ears. But she remained silent and smoked, seemingly not at the point where she would get involved. "Their grudges can sometimes never be explained or understood. Like a big misunderstanding, the grudge may not require any logic or coherence."
"No way.... Other people have done stuff a lot worse than what I did!"
"Ara...." Uranaishi tilted her head to look at Kayo. She looked like she was waiting for that girl to finish the story. The ears on her head fluttered slightly.
"W-What do you mean?" The head maid, Sato stammered, as if she had a habit of being startled or she herself was involved in this matter.
"I know about it! Sato-san has been buying cats"
"Buying cats?" The man with light hair turned his attention to Kayo and slowly asked back.
"All I did was pay for them and nothing more." Sato tried to argue back.
"And? What happened to them?" The medicine seller asked with a serious expression.
"I don't know what became of those cats. It was all Yahei's doing."
"Whose money was it?" The woman's fox ears fluttered a bit as she continued to listen to the story. She took out from her kimono sleeve a bronze plate with many strange circles and symbols. When the medicine man mentioned whose money she suddenly became silent, she worriedly avoided the man's eyes. "You don't have to answer...."
"It was Sasaoka-sama's! Sasaoka-sama tole me to buy the cats and Yahei took them away. That's all I know."
"Actually.... Well....." The samurai wearing the green haori hesitated.
"We slayed them..... Hahaha! Isn't that right? I think about twenty of them. We got some good imitation Kotetsu katanas." The alcoholic samurai replied, he even laughed sarcastically when he mentioned killing those unfortunate cats. "Even though they were fake, the blades were good quality. The fur of a cat is very soft. The bones are delicate, but the hide is thick. It's perfect for testing a sword, right Sasaoka?"
"Indeed." The samurai wearing the green haori nodded in response, albeit reluctantly. 
Neko.... Wait a minute Neko is also distant relatives species from Kitsune, which means.... The medicine man was a bit panicked and suddenly looked up towards where the woman with white fox ears was sit.
But he couldn't see her anywhere. Feeling a cold feeling down his spine, he immediately looked towards the alcoholic samurai.
"I will tear you apart and feed those filthy flesh for Mononoke" The woman standing in front of him smiled so fiercely that her fangs were exposed, her forehead was full of veins and veins bulging. Her cat-eye pupils shrank into a straight line, expressing the woman's extreme anger.
"Ojou-sama, stop!!" But she swung those claws on her right hand down, making big long scratches on the wall behind the samurai. But there were two children who blocked his attack. One of the two girls was caught in the woman's attack and was bleeding causing everyone in the room to freeze and gasp. Those two children did not even flinch but knelt down in front of the woman.
"Uranaishi-sama, please calm down ma'am. He is also an important character in this story, you cannot kill him now." The two children from the moment they appeared until now said in unison, hoping their mistress would temporarily forgive that alcoholic samurai.
"So you're just a lowly monster like them! Hahaha!" Seeing that the other woman had stopped, he did not hesitate to trample on that tolerance. The woman's eyes widened, once again she raised her right hand with sharp claw-like nails, preparing to attack once again without paying attention to the two children still kneeling on the ground.
CLANG!
A loud clanging sound was heard as the medicine man decided to intervene with a deadpan expression, he used his sword to block the woman's clawed hand.
"Ojou-sama, I know he did something unforgivable. But since we have the same job, please calm down." The woman gave him a death stare that sent chills down his spine, she was serious and not joking. Just only her strength that surpassing the medicine man's, made him sweat a little.
He was looking for some way to calm her down but the tranquilizer pills in his wooden box were far away from him. Suddenly, the pressure on his sword was relieved as the woman retracted her claws. She looked quite angry but pulled the other two girls to a corner of the room for treatment. She grumbled something in her mouth that even the medicine man couldn't understand. But he knew that the woman was just like a sulky kitten throwing a small tantrum to relieve her frustration.