Japanese Urban Legends: The Yōkai Alliance

Chapter 1: Rokurokubi and Nukekubi

A man had done something that had offended the gods, so as punishment his first child would become a Rokurokubi. The dad was required to name her Rokurokubi, after the legendary name of the infamous yokai. When she was born, she was a seemingly normal baby, her symptoms only started to show when she turned 4. When she went to bed, her neck would stretch out, leaving her body asleep but her head wandering wherever it unconsciously pleased. She also had no idea of these events, and just thought that they were weird dreams when she woke up the next morning. Luckily, as terrifying as it looked, she posed no threat to anyone. She just drank from oil lamps, and was never violent towards people. The only weird thing about her appearance was that she was beginning to get marks on her neck, which were from her stretching out her neck, but these weren't that big of a deal, as she could easily wear clothes that covered it up. 

When Rokurokubi was still 4, her mother had become pregnant with her second child. The man had recently done something offensive again, not learning from the first time he did it. The gods then punished the unborn child, deciding that she would be born into a Nukekubi, a bloodthirsty yokai, who detached its head from its body at night, and went after small animals and people with bloodlust. He had to name the child Nukekubi. The unfortunate thing was that the wife had done nothing wrong, but this curse could not affect men, so if the man who committed the crime was married, it was always transferred over to his wife, which was obviously unfair. When the baby was born, complications set in, and almost immediately, the wife had died. The father always blamed the death of his wife on Nukekubi, despite it being his fault entirely. In order to cope with the loss, Rokurokubi took the hairpin out of her mother's hair, which was not only her mother's favorite hairpin, it was her most cherished possession. 

It was shaped like a sakura flower, which was reddish pink, with 5 petals on the flower. It had 4 red beads that attached to it, that would move as they pleased, and a red tassel attached to that. Even the stick of the hairpin was red. When Nukekubi got a little older, she loved catching small birds and squirrels and drinking their blood, which disgusted the father. Rokurokubi felt bad for Nukekubi, and never treated her badly, but was too scared to stand up for her in front of their father, as while Rokurokubi was his favorite child, he wasn't afraid to beat both of them. Nukekubi always wanted to move onto people for harming and harvesting blood from rather than small animals, but was convinced out of it by Rokurokubi, only somewhat, she as she slipped up and couldn't resist a couple of times, but never got caught or did anything to attract a dangerous amount of attention. Rokurokubi was never aware of any of these instances. 

When Rokurokubi was 10, she could lengthen her neck when she wasn't asleep, and had control over its movement, and the older she got, the better control she had over her neck, but in addition to having more control, the stretch marks on her neck became more visible, which her dad mocked her for, saying that it made her an eyesore, and that she would never get a husband, so whenever he saw her lengthen her neck, he would beat her. Nukekubi's head detachment ability let her control her floating head separately from her body. She didn't know how to do it at first however, and had to practice it in secret, along with Rokurokubi, as they would be beaten up by their father if he found out about them trying to further their unusual abilities. By the time Nukekubi was 10, she could move her head with much more finesse and accuracy. 

She had a clear line on her neck where her head detached from, which her father bullied her about, and would beat her when he saw it getting clearer, as that showed that she had been practicing her abilities more. Many years later, when Nukekubi turned 16, things were not going well. Rokurokubi was 20, and the father was desperately trying to marry her off at that point. However, the sisters found one thing in their lives to make them feel better: each other. They had become very close, and for Rokurokubi's 20th birthday, she had received a very special gift from Nukekubi, a circular hairpin. The circle itself was white, outlined with black, and the stick was coated in black too. But, there was something special about this hairpin, in the middle of the white circle was the kanji for peace, peace being the thing that Rokurokubi yearned for the most.

Rokurokubi loved hairpins, especially after the one from her mom being the only thing she had left of her, so she loved the gift. Nukekubi didn't want her to be sold off, because she would be stuck with her hellish father, and she was super close with Rokurokubi, and Rokurokubi had no choice in who she was marrying. When the time came, Nukekubi protested the marriage, and her father slapped her to the floor. Rokurokubi felt like she was about to reach a boiling point and snap, but she couldn't move, although she wanted to. Nukekubi went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife, and the father commanded her to put it down, saying that she could never kill a man like him, but she did, rage made it so that their vastly different strength didn't matter like it did in the past. 

Rokurokubi had no longer seen purpose in her abusive father, and simply burned his dead body that night, spreading his ashes over a muddy pit. The girls now had a house to themselves, a nice house, as the family was rich. Unfortunately, the father was an important member in the village, and his death was not unnoticed, and not to mention, he never showed up to marry off Rokurokubi. They two sisters had to flee, and they found themselves in a brothel, which they had to adjust to in little ways, such as Rokurokubi wearing white makeup on her neck to cover up her stretch marks. She urged Nukekubi to do this as well as while the line on her neck was very subtle compared to her stretch marks, it was suspicious, and anything that made you different in this society greatly affected your quality of life. 

Luckily, applying the white makeup not only to the face was the norm, so she didn't stand out. Rokurokubi told Nukekubi that if a customer came up to her, she should tell him that she was busy, and to go see her sister. It worked, and they earned some money that way, though they knew that they couldn't keep this up forever, and they were right. In what time they did work however, Rokurokubi sold her body to earn money and protect her little sister that no one but her could see value in. She adapted the mentality that it was her job to keep her little sister safe, and that suffering was inevitable, it was just part of the path to a better life, that didn't things easier though. One day, a very persistent man came up to Nukekubi. She was 16, and he was in his 30s. She told him to go see her sister, but he didn't back off. 

He had great pride as a samurai, and expected her to do as he said. He wanted her, not her sister. She was grabbed by the arm, but before he could do anything more, she took the decorative hairpin she had given to her sister for her birthday and stabbed him in the chest. She ran to her sister, and when Rokurokubi came back, the man was dead. This greatly affected Rokurokubi, as not only did Nukekubi commit murder, she did it with her "peace" hairpin! This would be their end if they stayed, and there was no way that no one would find out, so they ran away that night, never to return again. They now hoped to start a new life, and leave behind all of the misfortune and pain from the years of their youth. Rokurokubi had found out about the existence of other yokai through rumors. Many people complained about people they knew who met their fate through interacting with these dangerous ghosts, but didn't know how to stop them! 

Villages soon began hiring Rokurokubi & Nukekubi as ghost hunters, but they didn't really hunt ghosts like they claimed, in fact, Rokurokubi was insistent on not causing any harm to the yokai they faced. She wanted to recruit them, build an alliance, give them friends who could make them feel supported, and then, help them feel like they had value, or like they were normal. Then, she wanted to slowly ease them into society to live peaceful lives, which they had never gotten in the lives they did live, but so tragically yearned for. If they didn't do that though, there was another option, and that was satisfying the restless spirits somehow, and then they would cease to exist, but they at least would be in peace. This mission would not be easy, especially as they could never reveal that they were actually yokai, or they would be forever hunted down, and on top of that, it would acquire immense dedication and patience, bravery, and strength, but Rokurokubi was down to do it. And that is how our story begins.