Bake Neko

Prologue
In the Edo period, panic ensues when the Sakais' young daughter, Mao Sakai, dies right in front of her parents and a trio of samurai bodyguards. Kusuriuri appears and puts up paper barriers on the outside entrance, telling everyone to take precautions lest they end up in danger.

Part I
An hour earlier, a strangely dressed Medicine Seller (Kusuriuri) is traveling through Japan when he happens across a large mansion belonging to the Sakai family. Since there were no guards around, he manages to slip in unnoticed easily and ends up in the kitchen quarters, where he meets a young servant girl named Kayo. Kayo at first mistakes him for a simple delivery man, but a friendship between the two quickly blossoms as they start to interact. In exchange for Kusuriuri showing her some "marriage aid" charms, she reveals that the family she works for accumulated so much debt in the past that they decided to sell the marriage of Mao to the impotent head of the Shiono family in order pay them off; the main factors to this are Yoshiaki Sakai's financial incompetence and the whims of his domineering wife Mizue Sakai. Yahei, an old servant, appears and sees Kusuriuri, but Kayo orders him to go away lest he provoke his master's wrath for tardiness. When she is later scared by the presence of a rat, Kusuriuri notices several rat traps that were laying around but were not working. Kayo tells him one of her masters doesn't like using cats when her superior, a court lady named Sato, appears and scolds her for neglecting her work. Kusuriuri turns and leaves, but then he questions Sato about the absence of cats, making her blush.

Meanwhile, inside the main house Mao Sakai is saying her final goodbyes to her family and relatives when Odajima Sakai, a young samurai, announces he arrival of Mao's escorts. As he and two other samurai escort the family outside, Kusuriuri is chatting with Sato when he senses that something is wrong. Sure enough, as soon as Mao steps outside, she is mysteriously struck dead. During the chaos that immediately follows, Kusuriuri asserts himself and sticks a pair of paper ofuda (charms) on the wall like he did in the beginning, explaining that Mao's death is not caused by an assassin, but by a supernatural creature. Yoshikuni, the family's lazy alcoholic who was passed over as heir presumptive, suggests getting a monk for Mao instead of a doctor, which enrages Mizue to the point she tries to attack him. While she is restrained and taken back inside the house, Yoshikuni starts laughing at everyone's expense.

Because of his strange appearance, Kusuriuri is mistaken and blamed for Mao's "death", and promptly tied up by Odajima. They rifle through the big box full of drawers he was carrying in the beginning and find all sorts of things including strange, toy-like scales and a secret collection of erotic shunga prints. However all are shocked when they discover an elegant-looking katana in his possession, since only samurai were allowed to carry swords. Kusuriuri explains that the sword is for killing mononoke (spirits that have been influenced by humans), which is again disbelieved; Yoshikuni and Odajima try to unsheath it but they fail. Kusuriuri again explains that in order to unsheath his "katana" he must have three things that make up a being - in this case, a mononoke:

- Katachi: Meaning "shape"; the physical form of a mononoke, in other words, what it looks like to the naked eye.

- Makoto: Meaning "truth"; how the mononoke was born, what created it.

- Kotawari: Meaning "reason"; the main motives or goals behind the mononoke's actions.

Odajima, enraged, suggests sending Kusuriuri to a prison when there is a scream nearby - Mizue has fainted from the shock of her daughter's death, and Sato is heard unsuccessfully trying to wake her up. Yahei is ordered to go get the local doctor, despite Kusuriuri's pleas not to, since he believes that whatever killed Mao is still lurking outside. Sasaoka Sakai, an older samurai, suggests telling the Shiono family about Mao's death but his superior Katsuyama is against it, afraid of public reaction. After Kayo appears, she is ordered by Sato to light some candles in the room where Mao's body is placed. Odajima takes pity on the girl because of her fear and goes with her as a volunteer. After the candles are lit, the two pay their respects to the dead with Yoshiyuki, the elder Sakai patriarch, when Odajima senses a presence and abruptly gets up, scaring Kayo. When everyone else hears the meowing of a cat, they get scared, too, until Odajima and Kayo come back. Kusuriuri spots blood dripping from Odajima's robes and appears mysteriously next to him to kick the samurai back. This reveals Yahei's dead body and further terrifying those present. Kusuriuri gets out of the ropes bonding him and proceeds to throw bunches of ofuda all around the rooms of the house, finally ending with the room Yoshiyuki is in with Mao.

Suddenly the noise of scratching claws is heard, followed by a small tremor that occurs inside the house, but strangely is unnoticed by the people outside the mansion. Odajima tries to get to the bottom of the situation but he barely manages to escape being killed also when Kusuriuri pulls him away. Kusuriuri reveals that the true culprit behind the mysterious deaths is a bakeneko (meaning "Goblin Cat"), proved by the presence of a small piece of cat fur on Odajima's clothes. Kusuriuri orders everyone to tell him the Makoto and Kotawari of the bakeneko.

Part II
While the bakeneko outside is trying to get inside the house, having had been prevented from doing so, Yoshikuni notices he drank all of his sake (rice wine) and orders Sato to get it, to Kayo's relief - until she is ordered to get it instead. Kusuriuri, who for some reason wants to get some salt, volunteers to get the sake for her, dragging along a still suspicious Odajima with him as his reluctant bodyguard; at this act Kayo gathers up her courage and decides to go, too. At the kitchen, Kayo discovers a spot of spilled oil when she slips trying to look for the sake kettle. Kusuriuri later finds the sake kettle and gives it to Kayo, and gives a large jar to Odajima (which turns out to be very heavy with so much salt) and the three head back to the main rooms. While Odajima helps him with laying down the salt, Kayo helps set up the toy scales - later revealed to be vital tools used for detecting mononoke - just outside the rooms in the halls. An impatient Odajima demands Kusuriuri to use his "katana", but is told that unless he gets the remaining truth and reasoning (Kusuriuri already has the shape from the fur), his weapon is useless for the time being.

To achieve that goal, he starts interrogating everyone, first by asking about the rat traps he noticed earlier when he visited Kayo in the kitchen. Kayo explains that she had been ordered to drive the cats away, but that was it. Unfortunately the others aren't willing to give information that is much help to him; Sato speaks up about using Sasaoka's money to buy a cat only after Kayo tells Kusuriuri she had been buying cats in secret, but is reluctant to reveal anything else. Yoshikuni cruelly reveals that the cats Sato purchased were used for testing their swords' sharpness, to everyone's horror and disgust. An offended Katsuyama reprimands Sasaoka for not stopping the killing of the cats, but Sasaoka tells him that he should have spoken up about the matter since he serves the true head of house. Katsuyama is further angered when Sasaoka tells him he is not his superior, but both are stopped from killing each other by Yoshiyuki, who pleads not to shame his granddaughter's spirit with their arguments.

Kayo notices, to her worry, that Sato is getting more unhinged. Suddenly everyone hears the ringing of bells. Kusuriuri's scales have detected the bakeneko's presence, so he follows it around until it disappears, having had been prevented from entering by the salt barrier outside and the ofuda papers. Around this time Mizue wakes up from her shock, to her husband's relief, but when she spots Mao's body, her strong grief empowers the bakeneko and allows it to pass the salt barrier and get inside. Then Mizue starts to scream loudly out of terror when her daughter takes on the appearance of "Tamaki", a young woman who looks like Mao, causing the ofuda to dissolve as well, to Kusuriuri's shock.

In her effort to escape the presence of "Tamaki", a hysterical Mizue degenerates in appearance as she heads for the doors, while Kusuriuri senses the bakeneko's presence and orders everyone to go to the back rooms, but is prevented from rescuing Mizue when Mao's corpse mysteriously grabs his leg. When Mizue finally opens the doors, everyone catches a glimpse of a spirit of a woman wearing white before the bakeneko emerges and devours Mizue; Odajima is conflicted between saving and deserting her but ultimately chooses the latter after hearing Kayo. Katsuyama is also devoured after making the mistake of attacking the bakeneko head on, while Yoshiyaki has been left behind on accident in his grief. Kusuriuri tries to fend off the bakeneko but is saved at the last minute after Kayo throws the salt jar at it, causing the creature to run away at the repulsive taste.

Another small tremor soon occurs, signifying the breach of another ofuda barrier. Odajima again demands that Kusuriuri unsheath his sword, but Kusuriuri admits that with all his powers, even he is limited by certain circumstances. With the bakeneko approaching fast, Yoshikuni suggests fleeing to the lower levels of the house, pulling a device that reveals a secret stairway leading down to a basement. While in the basement, Odajima notices a white wedding garment hung on a central pedestal, which is quickly devoured by the bakeneko following their trail. Sato suddenly experiences a breakdown and implies that the males of the Sakai household somehow created the bakeneko. With this information, Kusuriuri realizes Yoshiyuki was solely involved in the bakeneko's birth.

Part III
Yoshiyuki admits that he'll be eventually killed whether if he does talk or not. Kusuriuri reasons that since he "created" the bakeneko, he has an obligatioin to talk. A flashback plays as Yoshiyuki tells his story: twenty-five years ago, while traveling through the mountains, he came across a sacrificial maiden named Tamaki and kidnapped her. He immediately regretted doing so and intended to return her, but to his shock he discovered Tamaki went with him willingly. Yoshiyuki adopted her as his mistress to avoid public shame and indulged her with expensive gifts and food. He soon fell in love with the woman's beauty and kindness and planned to stay with her forever, but to Yoshiyuki's sorrow, Tamaki died young under mysterious circumstances.

Yoshikuni theorizes that Tamaki was very possessive of Yoshiyuki and after she died, her soul possessed the body of a cat to prevent young women bearing similar appearances to her from taking her place next to her former patron. Sato's madness empowers the bakeneko to the point where it fully resists Kusuriuri's powers and seriously wounds him. While Odajima flees to the basement carrying Yoshiyuki, Kayo tries to aid Sato but ends up being choked by her. Odajima sees what is happening and tries to go help, but he also ends up in a chokehold by Yoshiyuki, who threatens him to protect him or he'll snap his neck. Out of desperation to save Kayo, Odajima begs Kusuriuri to "do something!", which moves the medicine seller to forcefully unsheathe his sword in a last stand against the bakeneko. But without the real truth and reasoning, Kusuriuri's sword refuses to activate and the bakeneko finally pushes through, leading to the deaths of Yoshikuni, Sato, and Sasoka. Their remains are then strewn across the basement walls along with everyone else who had been devoured, traumatizing Kayo as she witnesses the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Kusuriuri ends up being thrown in the past where he is healed by an apparation of Tamaki, petting a small kitten. He is also shown by the bakeneko what really happened after Yoshiyuki took in Tamaki twenty-five years ago: after being abducted by him, Tamaki insisted that Yoshiyuki take her home. Yoshiyuki retaliated by imprisoning her in the very basement Kusuriuri and the others were hiding in and using her as a sex slave. During her imprisonment, Tamaki took in a young orphaned kitten and cared for it in secret, hoping the cat will escape the basement once it gets strong enough. One day, Yoshiyuki's elder son, who turns out to be Yoshikuni, snuck into the basement out of curiosity and attempted to rape her. He was caught by his father, who mistook Tamaki's rape for seduction and beat her until she died. The cat, who had grown attached to Tamaki, attacked Yoshiyuki in an attempt to protect Tamaki but ended up fleeing at her insistence instead. The regret from its failure to protect Tamaki eventually combined with the suffering she faced at the hands of the Sakai, caused the cat to turn into the bakeneko that exists now. Tamaki's body, meanwhile, had been dumped in a nearby well by a young Sasaoka 25 years prior.

Now armed with the real truth and reasoning, Kusuriuri is able to sheath its sword at its full power, transforming it into a weapon of spiritual energy and himself into a powerful, otherworldly being. He fights and exorcises the bakeneko, successfully curing it of all its hatred and turning it back into its original form, an old cat, in its death. Kayo and Odajima, both revealed to be innocent as they were also taken to the past with Kusuriuri, make a burial shrine for Tamaki's cat to make up for the wrongs done to it and Tamaki, and depart to live the rest of their lives elsewhere. Kusuriuri, disgusted by Yoshiyuki's cruelty and depravity, leaves him in the basement to make him remember what he had done. He leaves the largely empty house and manages to catch a glimpse of the spirits of Tamaki and the bakeneko finally emerging together into the outside world.

Culprits
Yoshiyuki - For abducting Tamaki, imprisoning her and repeatedly assaulting her (both physically and sexually); beat her to death her as "punishment" for being raped by his eldest son, Yoshikuni.

Sasaoka - For helping to hide the murder by dumping Tamaki's body in a well, and for assisting Yoshikuni in his needless slaughtering of 20 cats.

Yoshikuni - For raping Tamaki, which resulting in her being beaten to death by Yoshiyuki, his father. Yoshikuni also did not intervene when his Yoshiyuki falsely accused Tamaki of "seducing" him, and later purchased 20 cats that he slaughtered in order to test the quality of weapons that he had purchased.

Sato - For being aware of Tamaki's plight, and showing not an ounce of compassion whatesoever.

Trivia
- The "Bake Neko" story arc was later adapted into a manga, illustrated and written by Ninagawa Yaeko in 2008 and titled Mononoke, a year after  Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror  was released.

- In the spinoff sequel also titled  Mononoke , the fourth and last episode arc is also titled "Bake Neko". This arc follows the same storyline using the reincarnations of the previous characters, and takes place presumably during the Meiji Restoration Era.

-The word 'sakai' most usually depicted with the characters for ‘rice wine (sake)’ and ‘well’, the Sakai clan's kamon (or emblem) is an encircled well (maruni igeta), and Tamaki's corpse is disposed of by dropping it into a well.