Japan's prime minister peered into the office; it wasn't like Japan to still be up and working at midnight, he preferred to go to bed early in order to get an early start. "What's going on?"
Japan was flicking rapidly through a huge stack of files; army personnel records. In his hand he held a sheet of scrawled notes. Sketches, physical descriptions, the names China had heard them call each other; anything that might help him find his targets. A stack of possible perpetrators was growing beside him. He felt ill; the twisted feeling of a parent knowing their child has done something truly unforgivable, and they are the one that led the child to do so. Almost worse was the knowledge that he didn't feel the same concern for the human victims; he'd seen the same thing happen too many times. Though perhaps the fact that he was ashamed of feeling so little meant he was starting to care ... He put the thought aside. That could be dealt with later.
"My brother was there when his capital was taken," Japan said shortly.
The prime minister looked at him oddly. "Well, yes. That was rather expected. You killed him yourself at least once, why are you upset this time?"
"They didn't just kill him. He's ... he's still recovering. Mental distress slows our healing."
The man looked thoughtful. "China's out of action? Hm, perhaps we can use that. Thanks for the information, I'll have to bring it up in the meeting tomorrow," he mused.
Japan looked at him in horror. For once, strategic sense took a backseat to his concern for his family. "Sir, I know this is odd. I know I've never reacted like this before, but this feels worse. China is hurt, and despite everything we're still family. I ... I don't know how to explain it. I feel like I should feel weak for thinking this way, but I feel more ashamed of how I was before."
The prime minister shrugged. "Honestly, that's a more human point of view than most people would like to admit. It's all fun and games until it happens to someone who matters. Look, it's regrettable, but it's part of the job."
Japan slapped the file in his hands onto the table and shouted "Damn it, they took my brother for sport in his own home and strewed his guts halfway across the city! we might be at war, but he's my brother! And ... and I did this to him. I got him hurt." Japan choked and sat back down, resting his head on his hands. "I got my own brother raped. Hell, if this happened to him, what's happening to Korea? He told me he thought something bad was happening to his people and I told him it was probably just a cramp, and what happened to him while he was being dragged back here all those times he ran away? I thought I could trust my people with him, he might be a thousand years old but he's still hardly more than a child ... Fuck, I've been so stupid." Tears dripped onto the paperwork. "Building an empire is not worth this. I want to stop."
"Too late, I'm afraid. I'm sorry for your brother, but he knows as well as we do it comes with the job." The man touched the paper in Japan's hand. "You never did answer my question. What is it you're doing? You've been in here all day and half the night, you're making yourself ill."
Japan pulled the paper away. "You want to know what I'm doing? This is the description my brother gave me of the ones who fucked him!" he shouted, and shook the paper threateningly as if it were a weapon. "I'm going to find whoever it was, and I'll make them wish they died in his place! You can handle the stupid war, I'm dealing with this-"
The man snatched the paper from his hands and tore it in half. "Forget about them! We have bigger problems. Just forget about it."
Forget about them.
A nation must obey their leader at all times, no matter their opinion of the orders. In this case, Japan had wanted nothing more than to forget what he had done.
He blinked, and refocused his eyes. "What were we talking about, sir? I have the strangest feeling it was important. Was I angry about something?"
His boss looked surprised for a moment, then relaxed. "Nothing, Japan. Nothing at all. You must have fallen asleep."
Japan looked at the stacks of files. "What's all this doing here?"
"You said something about checking the files were in order."
"Did I? I must have been feeling terribly overconfident, this could take years ..."
"Well, I think it's time you went to bed. This can be sorted out in the morning."
"Yes. Good idea." Japan clutched his head and wobbled unsteadily out.
The prime minister tucked the torn paper into his pocket as he turned off the light.
So. Yeah. Government censorship really fucking sucks, mmkay? Not meaning to demonise Japan's government or people as a whole here, but they did have a pretty big problem with censorship of history, which is kind of fading a bit with the spread of the internet. To anyone reading this, don't let people tell you that acknowledging what your ancestors did wrong might diminish your national pride - after all, your country also produced awesome people like you, yeah?