Mononoke: The Untold

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"Hmph! That woman is really annoying...." The woman had a typical Tayū hairstyle with many kanzashi on her head carefully sneak closer to the people taking the bride out. She grumbled about the head servant woman. The bell on Uranaishi's anklet still made a small jingling sound as she took out a mirror with eight trigrams from her kimono sleeve but behind it were circles with strange symbols.
"Ara.... "Behind Uranaishi's hands, red ink eyes began to open wide and looked around wildly as if looking for something. Uranaishi watched the bride with black hair slowly put on her geta, suddenly the bride cried out in surprise and her eyes widened. A scream rang out but no one seemed to hear it except a few people present, then there were the sounds of wooden clogs as if someone was quickly running towards the bride.
Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!
"Tch!" Uranaishi clicked her tongue in annoyance when she couldn't save the bride in time, the bride fell down but Uranaishi caught her. She was no longer breathing, making Uranaishi frown, and Mononoke also seriously injured her arm. She pulled the sleeves of her Uchikake coat over her right arm.
Everyone froze when the bride fell, their eyes widening as if they had seen something scary. Silenced screams echoed throughout the mansion, it was an extremely shocking scene for the mysterious man.
"AHHHHHH!"
"She's been stabbed in the chest!"
"MAO....!?"
"Someone help! Is no one here!?"
"She isn't breathing."
"No, she isn't"
"Lady Mao!"
Clack!
"Damn it! Where's the intruder!?" A worried samurai was about to pull out his sword but was pushed back by the mysterious man's hand. The screams that had not stopped were mixed with cries of "Mao" in despair. Those screams for help continued but all attention was focused on the woman who looked like Oiran and the strange man with light colored hair.
"This is not.... the work of an intruder. Moreover.... You can't kill this enemy with a sword." The man spoke slowly while his hand remained on the hilt of the katana, preventing the other samurai from drawing his sword.
"Who are you and that woman, who is she!? How did you people get in here!?" Now everyone in the Sakai family turned their attention to those two strangers. The woman just remained silent for a long moment and looked down at the lifeless body of the bride. After that Uranaishi slowly put the body on the ground, She slightly furrowed her Hikimayu eyebrows as she reluctantly bent down to pick up the pipe with her right hand.
"Oh my god, do people ever know how to be quiet...?" Uranaishi muttered sliently and stood with her back to everyone, her right hand reluctantly held the pipe to her mouth to smoke, in the palm of her left hand she held something round like a copper plate. The circles on it rotated continuously, the red ink eye on the back of Uranaishi's hand suddenly looked back in one direction, which was towards the door, "It's here..."
"K-Kayo let him in!" The head maid spoke nervously, blaming all the blame on the maid named Kayo, causing her to stutter continuously, not knowing how to explain.
"I-I...."
"You look suspicious!" The samurai continued to question the two strangers.
"I suppose you're right to call me suspicious." The medicine man silently observed everything that happened, but his attention was still focused most on the strange actions of the woman who called herself a "guest" attending the wedding party and the bride corpse. In the hands of the medicine seller appeared folded sheets of paper, then he stuck them on the wall and made the papers lose their folds. "We can't leave it like this. If we don't set up more barriers in the back rooms...."
"It'll become dangerouse." He paused for a moment and then continued, until the talismans pasted on the wall appeared strange characters that turned into an eye in the middle and the regular letters in the talismans appeared on the paper. The eye opened wide and changed from black ink to orange ink.
"Barriers? What nonsense are you on about!?"
"Enough Odajima! Get a doctor, quick!"
"Oi! She's stopped breathing right? We need a monk rather than a doctor. Right? Don't you think?" A samurai holding a cup of wine sat down on the steps, above the bride's corpse. He spoke leisurely as if he were mocking his bride's death.
"Yoshikuni! It's your fault that this happened!" The woman who seemed to be the bride's mother angrily rushed at the samurai who was drinking sake but was held back by the others.
"You and the woman, over there.... What do you guys know.....? He also did not pay attention to the other woman but paid special attention to those two "strange guests". He He asked slowly, as if he were curious as well as interrogating.
"Yoshikuni! Yoshikuni!" The woman still screamed the samurai's name in pain and hatred. "It's all your fault!"
"Nothing.... yet...." Both of them responded randomly in unison and the man with light hair turned to look at the woman. He only saw her smirking until her fangs were exposed while smoking and looking down at that bronze plate. The circles ended their rotation with a click and the woman muttered something like "Found you...", causing him to widened his eyes but then the corners of his mouth also twitched a bit.
"She.... is not an ordinary person...." that was the only thing that came to that man's mind. From the moment he entered this mansion, he felt strange, there were two Mononoke in the same place. And one of the two Mononoke had a human shape, which made him guess one thing. The woman standing next to him is a Kitsune, "Heh.... How ironic...."
"Nothing yet, huh...? How convenient" The samurai named Yoshikuni was holding a cup of sake in his hand as he spoke and then laughed like a crazy person, making everyone look at him. The mother was still sobbing and screaming her daughter's name in pain.
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"Yare yare.... Did we do something wrong?" The woman raised one of her Hikimayu eyebrows and asked sarcastically. Somehow, she and the medicine seller were both tied together in the same room. Her injured arm throbbed even though the ropes tied her arms apart through 3 to 4 layers of clothing. The rope still tied below her ample bust made the kimono fabric cling to her body a bit, although she didn't usually care if her clothes were revealing, but who the hell tied her up like that? He's definitely a pervert.
"Don't move. If you try escaping like before...."
"At least let me set up seals for spiritual protection in the back." 
"Seals!?"
"If you let me set up a barrier now, we may still be able to prevent it." The Apothecary explained calmly
"Shut up! Shut up! You're only saying that so you can try to escape!"
"Why not tie them up more tightly?" The man who was sipping sake suddenly spoke. He gave a sinister smile as he made a suggestion, making Uranaishi's face darken, "These fellows has some strange physical abilities"
"You're going to break our arms."
"Good! You deserve it!" The other woman tilted her head and stared down at the samurai who was tightening the ropes that bound her hands, causing him to flinch with chills down his spine. Then, remembering that she still had work to do, she just clicked her tongue loudly to relieve her frustration and looked away. She frowned as the rope tightened, causing the fabric of her clothes to rub directly against her wound.
"Did we check their belongings? Lady Mao might have been poisoned...." Another samurai spoke up, he spoke in a deep and booming voice as he looked towards the other two guests.
"Hang on a minute.... Didn't you say she was stabbed?"
"Hey! Where are his belongings? And the woman's too!" The medicine's voice was drowned out by the other samurai's voice.
"Here it is!" A short guard named Yahei in the hallway spoke up, next to him was the medicine seller's wooden box and a few personal items of the woman who looked like Tayū.
"Open it!"
"Yes, sir!"
"What is this?" The samurai guarding them began to search the woman's belongings first. He picked up her long pipe and then took out the scented bag hanging from the pipe. He opened it to take a deep, experimental breath. "The smell of jasmine, mixed with the smell of makeup powder."
"Of course it's a scented bag. Can you be so ungrateful yourself to go through a woman's personal belongings like that?" The woman spoke sarcastically to the samurai, making him blush. He remained silent without answering and continued to pick up another item. This time it was a bronze plate with circular shapes and strange symbols.
"A makeup mirror, I bought it from the merchants." "Fine, she doesn't have anything strange...." The samurai who was checking the woman's belongings grumbled. He wrapped it up and put it aside, then he began to check the pharmacist's wooden box. The first compartment is filled with all kinds of medicine, some of which look like candies. "What is this medicine?"
"Various types. There's no poison."
"Various types, huh?"
"He is a Apothecary and not a quack doctor without knowing the medicine he uses." The woman tilted her head and continued to mock the samurai. This guy is really funny, right? The medicine seller also chuckled softly when the samurai was mocked until his face turned red.
"My my, you lady has such a sharp tongue...."
"Tch.... What is this thing?" The other samurai continued to open the second drawer from the bottom, taking out an object that looked like a children's toy and there were many more in the drawer.
"Just a kid's toy."
"Oh...." He snorted in mockery, continued to open the third drawer, he smiled nervously with a red face. It was filled with neatly arranged pornography books. And the other samurai was also curious and opened a book to read it, but it was full of "romantic" scenes between a man and a woman.
"Ara ara, what a good image... I didn't expect you to have such a hobby, Kusuriuri-san~" Uranaishi tilted her head to look at the book with the samurai, then she burst into laughter. This was a good opportunity to tease that sarcastic medicine seller. He only coughed a little to signal to the samurai that those things were not important, but the medicine man's cheeks were a little red.
"This is the last piece. What's this box?"
"Move!"
"It's pretty heavy." The other two samurai took it out and took out the red box and placed it on the floor. The samurai wearing a blue haori opened the box, inside were layers of red cloth padding a red jeweled sword. Sealing talismans were stuck around that sword. "Hey! What's with this sword!? Why does a medicine seller possess a sword!?"
"....For killing, of course." Dead silence filled the room as everyone anxiously waited for Kusuriuri's answer. When he slowly answered, the woman's smirk widened. "So this medicine seller does have many skeletons in his closet." She thought to herself and chuckled softly.
"What!?"
"For cutting down.... Mononoke...." He spoke slowly with a mysterious tone as if he wanted everyone to clearly understand what was coming out of his mouth.
"Y-You insolent fool!"
"Lady Mizue...."
"Still talking that nonsense! What Mononoke!? How dare you!" The samurai wearing a blue haori hissed in anger and prepared to draw his sword.
"What's the trich to this?" The samurai who was sipping sake suddenly put down the sake cup and tried to pull out the sword but failed no matter how much strength he used.
"There's no trick. No hidden mechanism either." This time it was the samurai wearing the blue haori to try it out. Even though he tried all kinds of positions to hold the sword to draw it, the sword wouldn't budge.
"Can you unsheathe it?" The samurai called Yoshikuni asked with natural curiosity, leaning against the wooden box.
"It's not yet possible."
" 'Not yet' again, huh?"
"One must first know the "Form", the "Truth" and the "Regret" of the Mononoke to unsheate the sword." He explained slowly, it seemed like he liked this slow and mysterious way of talking.
"You're an interesting man."
"Not at all. There's nothing remarkable about me" He continued to answer normally but it was still like he was mocking the samurai when the woman behind him held back her laughter to the point of shaking a bit.
"I can't stand this anymore! To the guardhouse with them!" The samurai wearing the green haori shouted angrily and pointed outside
"Wait! You can't do that. We can't let this get out," But he was immediately stopped by an older samurai.
"Master Katsuyama!"
"This matter is of great concern to our house." Katsuyama continue to stop. Then suddenly there was a scream from the head maid. Sato was next to the Sakai woman Mizue, it seemed like because of some problem the other woman had passed out.
"Mizue-sama.... Mizue-sama...." The head maid kept shaking her master to wake up, but she didn't move, her face was pale as if she was about to die.
"Hey, get the doctor."
"Yahei!"
"Sir!"
"Call Tsubouchi-sensei to the house."
"Right awaym sir!"
"Hold it-"
"Hehe.... Don't step out if you still value your life." The woman spoke up, interrupting the medicine man's words. She slowly looked up with a dejected expression, her eyes drifting to the sky that was gradually turning into afternoon. "The medicine seller's barrier isn't complete yet."
"Shut up! Enough! Listen, don't say anything unnecessary. Just tell him Lady Mizue is feeling ill and bring him here." But her words were quickly ignored, she sighed and shook her head in frustration.
"Yes!"
"Send a messenger to the Shiono family as well."
"My Lord, it's still too early for that."
"Why?"
"What would they think if they learned of Lady Mao's sudden death? Even worse, what is the Lord were to find out what happened?" The woman looked out the gate, her better human vision saw the medicine seller's talismans trying to stop Mononoke. The wind outside turned from hot to cool, but the bells on her anklet no longer made a jingling sound. "It would be better to buy some time by saying she has suddenly taken ill."
"How much time is left?" The woman, whose face remained expressionless and bored, secretly used the tip of one finger to write on the medicine seller's hand.
"Not much left." The medicine man writing down such an answer made the woman frown and sigh. She was thinking about whether to act or wait for Mononoke to show up.
"Forgive me my impudence, Master Katsuyama...."
"What is it!?"
"Concealing the truth might lead to further complications."
"What!?"
"We cannot control what people will say. Is it worth hiding the truth only to complicate matters?"
"But we have to! Can't you see that?"
"I'm afraid I disagree with you. Best to be honest and seek help not only from the Shiono clan, but from everyone. Had we always been honestm the Shiono...."
"I know what you're plotting" The woman yawned and unconsciously leaned on the medicine seller's shoulder. She closed her eyes and her breathing became a little lighter. The blood from the wound on her right arm flowed continuously, probably soaking her kimono sleeve and Uchikake coat sleeve. "Why don't you come out with it?"
"Hm...? Are you injured...?" The medicine man felt his hands were covered in liquid so he tried to ask the woman in a low voice. It seemed like she had fainted or fallen asleep. "Miss....?"
"I'm merely concerned for you. If you're saying this is some plot then Master Katsuyama, do make clear what it is that I'm plotting."
"I won't fall for that!"
"Um.... I'm here to light the candles....." Tense silence filled the air here, until a small voice of a girl named Kayo spoke up, her voice trembling a bit as she spoke.
"Kayo.... Go and light some candles around Lady Mao as well" The head maid, Sato, spoke up and ordered Kayo to do more chorses. The little girl trembled a bit and wanted to respond to Sato's words, "What!? Now, get going!"
"But, the body....."
"What about it?! You'd better not think of disobeying me! Hurry up and do it!"
"I'll go with you." The samurai wearing a blue haori spoke up. Then he and Kayo also left, leaving the others in the same room. At this time, the woman tied up with the medicine seller also slowly woke up and looked outside. It's already dark now, is that Mononoke still persistent, or is that medicine man's talisman effective?
Rattling....
A few minutes of silence passed but a strange noise like someone scratching the wall caught the attention of a few people.
"Oi, did you hear something?" The sake-drinking samurai, Yoshikuni asked. He looked around to find a coincidence that sounded like him.
"No, nothing at all." The samurai with big lips and birthmarks on his face answered. As he finished speaking, a cat growled, its sound coming from outside the garden. Everyone heard it this time, they all turned their heads to look in the direction where the growl came from with with a frightened expression.
"I-It's just you, Odajima!" The sound of the door opening was heard, but only the samurai wearing the haori and the girl named Kayo appeared, startling everyone. "Don't frighten us."
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing."
"Is Yahei back? Why is he taking so long?" The aged samurai with a loud, grumbling voice spoke as he watched Odajima and Kayo walk back to their places.
"The doctor probably has many things to tend to."
"Our problem is serious!" The two clan heads started arguing again, but didn't they hear the strange sound of a gong? "I don't care about his other matter!"
"Serious? But it was you who said not to suggest anything was serious."
"Well, in any case.... he's taking too long!"
"Huh?" Odajima, who was walking, suddenly stopped when he saw a few drops of water falling on his neck.
"Odajima, did you see anything?"
"What do you mean, sir?"
"A cat."
"There are no cats here." More drops of "water" fell down, soaking the carpet under Odajima's feet, immediately attracting the attention of the medicine seller and the tall woman. Odajima's expression was so wide-eyed with shock that when he raised his hand to see what water fell, it turned out to be blood.
"Oya, this is getting tense...." Uranaishi looked at her copper plate, the circles were spinning wildly, even those red ink "eyes" were looking up at the ceiling on top of Odajima's head. Before the samurai could recover, a man with bright hair appeared in front of him, surprising him even more. Before he could ask anything, the medicine seller kicked him aside.
THUD!
Then suddenly something fell from the ceiling with a crash, that thing was the small servant named Yahei that the woman had previously warned about.
"Can you guys stop screaming for a good damn 10 minutes!?" The screams started again and Uranaishi had to remove the rope and use her hands to cover her ears. Her eyebrows twitched in discomfort. When everything gradually calmed down, she frowned and put her hand down. "Thank you very much", she said sarcastically and approached Yahei, the dead servant.
"This is the missing servant." The medicine seller calmed down and spoke. The other woman walked closer and bent down to carefully examine the corpse. It looked like this pervert had been scratched to death by Mononoke. Large scratches appeared on the throat and chest. "Fools...." Uranaishi muttered under her breath.
"Yahei! How did he....?!"
"W-Where did he come from?"
"It's coming!" The mysterious man did not answer the question, but frowned and was silent for a moment before speaking. His ropes untied themselves.
"You!!" Odajima gasped in surprise then shouted and prepared to pull out his katana and rush towards the medicine seller. With just a jingle of bells, the sword that the medicine man was carrying appeared in his hand, he pointed it at the other samurai's face.
"Don't get in my way." He moved the sword around the room as if threatening everyone in the room before resting the sword on his shoulder. He then began projecting talismans onto the walls of the room, causing everyone to once again scream in terror. "Where are the others?"
"The elder master and Lady Mao are in the back room!" The strange man ran into the room behind where the old master and the bride's body were.
"What is it?"
"It's dangerous to be alone. You're better off with the others." The medicine man said and talismans appeared around him, he made a few more hand gestures causing hammer talismans to automatically stick to the walls of the room. "Vanish!", the talismans suddenly turned red as scratching and screaming sounds came from outside the room.
"It's alright. It cannot enter." The medicine man reassured, one hand moving towards the walls, the other holding the other's wrist.
"It?" Then there were noises, the room shook as if there was a big earthquake mixed with Mononoke's angry screams and horror screams from people.
"I don't know what tricks you're playing but I'll get to the bottom of this!" Odajima was angry and couldn't stand it anymore, so he opened the door to the room. The screams became even louder when he was suddenly pulled back in, the door slammed shut and there were two children sitting in front of the door. On the door appeared a giant red ink eye over the medicine man's talismans. He was now lying on the lap of a woman with white hair and large, fluffy fox ears on her head.
"Ẹnoying yourself?" She smoked a cigarette and then blew the smoke right in Odajima's face, this joking and sarcastic voice belonged to the woman who was tied up earlier. Odajima was startled to see the strange woman and immediately stood up, only for him to trip and fall backwards. Then the room shook violently and suddenly stopped. The medicine man stuck the charm on the door frame but couldn't hold back his curiosity and glanced at the other woman once.
"It's presence has faded."
"W-Who are you, woman!? And what was that!? I couldn't make out its form." Odajima looked at the woman in fear, then looked at the two children with similar appearances sitting right in front of the door, then he looked at the mysterious man with eyes begging for an answer.
"I've told you already. It's a Mononoke." The medicine man replied with an annoyed expression. "If you step beyond the barrier, you'll fall prey to it. But the barrier won't hold forever. If we leave it as is....."
"We'll..... End up.... Like them....." The medicine man spoke slowly and in staccato words, threatening each with the death of the bride and servant. "Mononoke must be cut down. But in oder to unsheathe the Sword of Exorcism, the contitions must be met."
"Form, Truth and Regret must be displayed to the sword. First the Form." The strange man spoke silently as he picked up a clump of black hair from the clothes of the samurai who had just opened the door.
"This is Bakeneko...." The other woman leaned her head in to look at the medicine man, and they once again spoke at the same time. The head on the hilt of the pharmacist's sword made a clicking sound as if agreeing with their answer. Her smirk widened, she laughed softly and stepped back. "Oya.... It seems like, you and I both have "common" knowledge. I'm not interested in explaining so I'll leave it to you...."
"The interwined fates of men give the Mononoke its Form. And so, I'll ask you all to tell me the Truth and Regret!"