The Winter Peony (Young Hanzo x Reader)

First Strike

I told ya'll I wasn't playing around anymore! 
You thought I was joking! 
I kept ya'll waiting long enough for this and I can't wait to see it finished (In a good "I did it!" way, not a bad way) 

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It did not take long for Genji and Hanzo to find out about the tea room catching fire, and both young men had been sent into a fit of rage when they were told that it had been a further attack on their lives—presumably the same group who had killed Lord [L/N]—still under orders from Shuzu meant for [Y/N] to perish in the flames.

"I'll take his head from his shoulders!" Hanzo roared as he started for the hallway from the sitting room where Ryoko had called them to. "He is still after [Y/N], and he will not stop until he is killed! Father or no, I—"

"Will sit down and listen to me." Ryoko snapped in such a harsh tone that [Y/N] could see Genji flinch as well as Hanzo. She snapped her fingers and pointed to where Hanzo had been sitting, the eldest of her sons sighed and sat back down. "Yes, it is on Shuzu's head, but the Kobayashi women have taken upon themselves to come to the home uninvited, and we can't let them know about [Y/N]'s father is dead. Nor the infighting. If they find out the head of the [L/N] clan is deceased, they will call for [Y/N] to be put into servitude and you will lose your bride my son—they may even try to position themselves into power, with a daughter of their own to wed."

"Mother?" Genji's voice was soft and timid—much unlike his wild and joyful self. "I don't understand why we must be so secretive to others. Father did a terrible thing and [Y/N] has suffered so much...Surely if we told the truth—that father has lost his sense and murdered her family, then people will understand if we disown him and make Hanzo the head of the clan?" He looked between the elders gathered around him and leaned forward. "Anyone with eyes and sense can see Hanzo and [Y/N] love each other, and that they deserve to be together. If we make father step down and answer to his crimes—"

"We would be executed alongside him my little green dragon," Ryoko said flatly. Her tone held no malice, but the delivery was cold and it stunned her youngest into an open-mouthed silence. "If they find out that the assassination of an entire clan took place from the clan that it was meant to wed into? No one in the spiral will trust the Shimada's. Every action we take will be questioned, argued and untrusted. If they find out Shuzu was trying to murder his way to the center...they may call for all our execution—even you children. An end to both clans in one fell swoop."

"No!" Hanzo clenched his fists as he grit his teeth, "We can't let that happen."

"Agreed." Ryoko nodded solemnly. "So, we need to put up a secure front, your father has already been taken to my family's old estate and kept under close guard hand chosen by me—under the tale of 'hunting the arsonist'. It is unknown where he is, when he will come back and who the unseen assailants were." She put her hands on the table in front of her and leaned on them slightly, "No one is to know the truth save for those I choose. Understood?"

The three teenagers nodded their heads in agreement, silent and obedient—aware of the dire consequences should any of them slip up and reveal the truth behind the woven story. Ryoko leaned back and sighed heavily, taking note of how her youngest son was pale in the face, almost tinted green. His eyes slowly scanning the mat below him. "I do not wish to worry you," she told him softly, then to Hanzo and [Y/N], "Any of you. But its time to set childhood aside and learn of the harsh world as it is. Perhaps it is my own fault for sheltering you so much. I wanted to keep you as far away from these dealings as possible. Let you in slowly so not to shock you, or strike fear into you." She got to her feet and shuffled around the table before sinking to her knees between her sons and pulling them into a motherly embrace. "You boys are my world, more important to me than anything this world or the next could offer. Your happiness and safety is my top priority."