Summary: Today is a very special day for Shamada Castle. An ill-fated anniversary.
Hey folks! Another Overwatch story. Does not mention my OC. Enjoy and review.
My trigger/tagging/warning policy: I err on the side of caution. I tag and warn for things even if I don't think they'll be "triggering" per say, because 1) I might be wrong, and 2) some days you just don't need that kind of negativity in your life now matter how good the story is.
Rated for everyone.
Disclaimer: Blizzard owns Overwatch and all associated characters.
Warnings: discussion of murder/fratricide.
Shamada Castle, 1 day before the Dragons Cinematic.
"What is it?"
"Suzuki-sama, I have some questions about the unexplained changes to the security system—"
"Ignore them."
"Excuse me?"
"I said ignore them. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow. It's just our yearly security breach."
"Breach? Shouldn't we be increasing security? This emergency protocol schedule doesn't make any sense. Switching off the exterior alarms, reducing the guard… What is going on?"
"You were hired earlier this year, yes?"
"Yes, Suzuki-sama."
"So you wouldn't have heard. We keep this as a strictly guarded secret. It may never leave this room: only Security knows about it."
"I understand."
"I doubt that you do. Today is an extremely special day for Shamada Castle. An ill-fated anniversary. Every year, on this night, for the last fifteen years, we have received a visit from the same intruder, who enters the Castle temple, leaves an offering, and disappears."
"Fifteen years and you've never stopped them?"
"Oh, we could, with enough guards. But there would be no point."
"I don't understand."
"Let's see. Tanaka-san, do you have any siblings?"
"I have a younger sister."
"What would you do if someone killed her?"
"I'd go after them. I destroy them."
"Good. You sound like a dutiful, loyal sibling. So is our intruder."
"He leaves an offering for a sibling? Why here? Wait—You know who the intruder is, don't you?"
"I'm one of very few people who have been with the Shamada Clan long enough to remember him."
"And you're sure he's harmless?"
"Oh, far from it. But he is, like a loyal sibling, just looking to destroy his brother's murderer, nothing else. Just follow the emergency protocol instructions and make sure no one with something to prove is assigned to guard the temple tonight."
"If you insist."
"As your supervisor, yes, I insist."
"Forgive me, Suzuki-sama. I forgot my place. I'm sure there are extenuating circumstances. I'm just having a hard time understanding them with so few details."
"Fine. Look at it this way: what would you do if you were the one to kill your sister?"
"What? I would never—"
"I'm pretty sure Hanzo Shimada thought that, too."
Notes: This fic was inspired by Genji mentioning that Hanzo breaks into Shamada Castle every year on the same day. This implies that for the last fifteen years the Shamada Clan has failed to catch the same intruder—one they know is coming and whose training/fighting style/tactics are completely known to them. Yes, Hanzo is a BAMF, but I highly doubt that he's that good or that the Shamada Clan is that incompetent. Obviously somebody on the inside sympathizes, whether Hanzo realizes it or not.
I also think that the Shamada Clan would likely have tried to bury the evidence of the monumental fuck-up they caused, so within Hanamura/the Shamada Clan, either the Hanzo/Genji story gets turned near mythical and people don't realize Hanzo is literally real and still alive, or not many people know the story at all.
Finally, idk what actual canon with names is, but as far as I've seen, Hanamura is the city, Shamada is both the Castle and the Clan, and Shimada is the last name.