Kaaru jumps out of a window as the bank alarms go off, the alley boy under one arm and a duffle bag of cash under the other.
“You’ve done it now!” She says, running down the street.
“It was a red button what was I supposed to do?” The boy whines, tears in his eyes as she climbs onto a building and starts to run along the roofs.
“Not touch it!” She yells, frustrated with the boy. “We can’t have the cops on us!” She adds as she slides down a fire escape and uses the alley way to get back to the hotel, the cops far behind them.
“It’s 2057 it’s not like it was labeled “alarm”.” The boy cries as she throws him onto the bed and stuffs the duffle bag in the closet.
She huffs and looks at him. He was young and naive. Not the best combination in this day and age.
“How old are you?” She questions and he looks away from her.
She grabs his arm and yanks him to look at her.
“How. Old. Are. You?” She growls at him and he whimpers, his tearstained face puffy and red.
“I’m seven with no last name, no family, and no education besides the biblical school the nuns sent me to.” He says, being stubborn and ornery.
She huffs and looks him over more, his brown eyes staring back at her with a fire of hatred. She lets go of him and folds her arms. He turns away and sniffs, wiping his face sloppily. She sighs and gets a wash cloth and kneels by him.
“I’m going to wash your face, okay?” She says and he frowns at her. “Now don’t give me that. You want to hear the rest of the story right?” She says and he looks up.
“Promise to be gentle?” He asks and she nods.
~storytime~
“What do you mean it had our insignia?” Genji says, dropping his katana.
“She had carved the sigil into the grip of her gun on one side. I didn’t get a good look at the other side.” Hanzo says.
“I need to get a look at it.” He declares and Mccree grabs his forearm.
“Are you nuts Genji?!” He hisses at him and Genji glares.
“She may be a spy sent to kill us.” He says and Hanzo stands.
“Brother, if you approach her, she might just kill you. I doubt Angela will be able to bring you back again.” He says and Genji nods.
“But we need to see that gun.” Genji states.
“No. What you need is someone gullable and stupid.” Mccree says, looking to Junkrat.
“The australian trash man?” Hanzo asks, folding his arms with a brow quirked.
“He ain’t trash. Just misguided and willin’ to do absolutely anythin’ for a good wad of cash.” Mccree says.
“I question your intel Mccree, but I am willing to try it to get that gun.” Hanzo says before the gun is slid to them from where K-M-S-M sits, her eyes open but half lidded with exhaustion.
“Save your money. I’d rather commit seppuku than let him touch me. Or my father’s gun. He handmade it for me and carved my family insignias into it. As well as my real name into the bottom of the mag. Taught me how to shoot. If you want your answers, you look at it and ask me questions. I’ll tell you the answers when we’re back at the base.” She says, shifting. “I’m not supposed to even be here.” She mumbles and Hanzo looks at her.
“Are you in trouble, child?” He asks and she looks away, petting her dog.
“. . . You’ll get your answers at the base.” She says as Toby pants and licks her hand.
Genji gasps, looking at the gun on the ground, the shimada insignia staring up at him. He picks it up and looks at the gun, tracing the carving. Mccree looks at it too.
“It looks like my handy work.” He says, confused and Genji rolls his eyes.
“That’s not possible. Unless you’ve been hiding a daughter from us.” Genji says and Mccree shoves him, taking the gun and pulling out a little piece of wood he was carving on the flight to the mission. “Holy shit. They’re identical.” Genji says as he looks between the two carvings of the insignia.
Mccree turns the gun over in his hand and nearly chokes, staring down at his own deadeye symbol carved into the other side.
“Shimadas! Mccree! Sit your asses down! We’ll be landing soon!” Soldier 76 yells to them, making them sit down and buckle up.
“This don’t make a lick ah sense. She’s got my symbol on here too!” Mccree says.
“She’s not telling us something.” Hanzo says.
When they land K-M-S-M is the first off and the last to enter the lobby with changed clothes and washed hair, the galaxy static as Toby curls up in her lap. Mccree stares at her, confused and upset he hasn’t gotten answers yet. Hanzo brings in cups of coffee.
“She’s upset.” Hanzo says, handing his boyfriend his black coffee.
“No shit. But so am I and I’m gettin’ some goddamn answers.” Mccree says, setting his coffee down; he sat himself down next to her and glares. “I want answers you tye dyed haired bitch.” He says and she sighs.
“What is my name?” She asks and he looks at her.
“What?” He spits at her like poison.
“Read the bottom of the mag aloud. Then I will answer whatever questions you have.” She says and he looks at the bottom of it.
“ ‘Belongs to Karru Mizuki Shimada-Mccree’.” He reads and Hanzo chokes on his coffee as they both look at her. “Who the hell are you?” Jesse says and she looks at them with a blank face.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m your daughter.” She says and they back away from her.
~reality~
The boy gasps as Kaaru tucks him into bed.
“Yeah?” She laughs. “Well that’s enough for today. Good night kid.” She smiles.
“Jesse.” The boy says. “My name is Jesse.” He says and she smiles.
“Goodnight Jesse.” She says and turns off the light before going to sleep on the couch.
Part 1 Part 2
Early in the morning at about 7 Karru wakes the dirty alley boy sleeping in her bed. His brown hair is a mess as he slowly wakes up and heads to the bathroom.
“There’s some new clothes in there for you to put on and some shampoo to wash with.” Kaaru says, looking through her bag for clean clothes to wear.
“Thank you Miss Mcada.” The boy yawns, closing the door.
By the time they’re making their way to a café for breakfast, the boy is asking more questions about the story.
“Kid, do you want me to continue or not?” She laughs.
He nods and she thinks.
“Where was I?” She asks.
“Galaxy hair and K-M-S-M’s broken arm.” The boy says and she nods.
“Right.” Kaaru chuckles.
~storytime~
K-M-S-M tears up and looks away from Mccree, his hand still outstretched. He waits patiently as Hanzo retrieves her gun.
“Just gimme yer hand Kiddo. We’ll get ya healed up and ya can go right back to yer little hidey hole of a room.” Mccree says and that hit her hard.
It hit her so hard she took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. Hanzo returns her gun and she’s led to the lift to get them back to the base. K-M-S-M got her arm casted during the flight and then slept off the painkillers with her dog Toby in her lap, her galaxy hair in her face.
“Did ya see her glare?” Mccree chuckles as he sits with Hanzo.
“It terrified me.” He said simply.
Mccree looked at him surprised. Never once had he ever told him that he was scared let alone terrified. It was unusual.
“Hanny, did somethin’ happen?” Mccree asks, unsure what else to ask.
“My father’s glare was a pillow compared to hers.” He says and Genji looks up from sharpening his katana.
“That’s all fine and dandy but that ain’t what I meant.” Mccree says, pulling him closer to help give him enough reassurance to tell the truth.
Hanzo doesn’t say anything for a moment, considering his options at the current moment. For now Mccree didn’t phrase it as an order, thus giving Hanzo an escape route to not tell his boyfriend the terrifying thing he witnessed from the young girl. But Mccree had put his trust into Hanzo over and over again and he kept making reasons for him not to. Lying on the top of the long list.
He considered it some more before realizing he had been staring at the sleeping girl on the opposite side of the plane.
“Han, did something happen between you and the kid?” Mccree asks and Hanzo gulps. “Tell me what happened.” He states and Hanzo sighs, not having a choice do to the tone in his boyfriend’s voice.
“Her gun had the shimada insignia carved into it.” Hanzo says, shock running through Mccree and Genji like a quickly caught fever.
~reality~
“And then?” The boy asked eagerly, his mouth full of fried egg.
Kaaru laughed and waved it away.
“Finish your breakfast. I’ll tell you after we get back to the hotel.” Kaaru smiles at the young boy who’s pouting.
“Can I ask a question about the story?” He asks, trying to get more out of her.
“Depends on what the question is.” She says, sipping her tea.
“Are these people real?” He asks and she smiles at him again.
“They will be.” She says and the boy smiles widely.
He shovels the food into his mouth, trying to hurry to hear the end of the story. Little does he know that his story has only begun.
Part 1
Kaaru huffed as she put her uncleaned gun part down.
“Kid, it was a long time ago.” She said to the dirty little alley boy she saved from a shifty man.
“Pwease Miss Mcada. I wanna know.” He pleads and she sighs.
“Ya really wanna know?” She asks, an eyebrow quirked.
He nods excitedly, sitting on the floor of the hotel room. She nods slowly, starting the story.
~story time~
It was a chilly day in Autumn, roughly two years after Overwatch was recalled and a year since they were made legal once more. Many of the people involved now had opportunities to have lives outside of work but many didn't; though the opportunities were there and available, many of the men and women involved never really needed any of those things. Some even found all the company and life they wanted and needed within their coworkers. Take, for example, Soldier 76 and his undead husband Gabriel Reyes, formerly known as Reaper before Talon was shut down and the agents were reformed. But even their love was expected. People even made bets on it, it was so expected. Including Gabriel’s son, Jesse Mccree, who was adopted at the ripe old age of 13 from an abusive foster home by the newly weds. He always knew they would end up back together.
But there were many more bets made. The most expensive of which made by the Shimada brothers. They mainly were competing with each other to see how far the other would go for their side of the bets. The elder of the two, Hanzo, won. Sheerly because his boyfriend told him which side to bet on.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Hanzo. Dating? Impossible as it sounds, he made it work. His boyfriend just had to endure 3 break ups, 4 self harm attempts, Hanzo betting his engagement ring against his brother, and 37 drunken nights sobbing his heart out. He only was able to due to his impeccable patience and a whole lotta fuckin whiskey. But nevertheless, Hanzo was grateful. His boyfriend even more so when they finally got their asses in gear and got married. And it only took them 9 tries! After they got Hanzo’s engagement ring back was when the real fun began.
Some late October, early September they were finishing the planning up when a young agent joined the ranks. Her hair hidden in a hoodie and her only companion was a little white dog. She called herself Agent K-M-S-M and her dog was Toby. She was a damage healer; first of the kind. She was odd though, barely letting herself get close to anyone. Especially Hanzo and Mccree, the two unpredicted love birds. She hid herself, not talking to anyone. She was extremely young and solitary. But when she let herself go a little, she was a complete and utter nerd.
It was late December before anyone knew her real name. She had let it slip when she was speaking of her family she left in a town nearby. Hanzo thought it fishy she had a Japanese name meaning Fire. She was getting too close to them and she was weakening. It showed too. Only her father knew what it was like to go soft. But she didn’t speak of him often. Mccree was the hardest working however to get to know and understand her. It wasn’t until the week of Mccree and Hanzo’s wedding that he had a breakthrough.
They had been on a mission in Oasis, Iraq and while K-M-S-M was healing Mercy, she was shot, her gun being thrown from her while she clutched her broken left arm. She was helpless and Mccree, the softhearted idiot he was, ran to protect the two healers. Hanzo was too tied up in melee combat to notice until the cowboy used his Deadeye to wipe out the rest of the people. It confused his opponent enough to kill them thoroughly. But even he wasn’t sure why Mccree used it so quickly.
Once they all grouped up, the first to ask K-M-S-M if she was alright was Mccree. She had hunched herself over in a corner away from them, trying to reset her arm when he offered to help her up.
“Come on kid. Lemme help ya up.” He smiled at her.
“Bug off Mccree. I can get up myself.” She said, in very obvious pain.
“Kid. You’re hurt. Let us help ya.” Mccree tries to reason.
“I said I don’t want your help!” She pulls away from him.
“Just let me help you kid!” He says, shouting.
She whipped around so fast her hood dropped, revealing long locks of hair that was black fading into an alive galaxy that moved with her hair. And her glare put Hanzo’s father’s to shame. She was standing and glaring each one of them down.
“I’m 16. I can make it on my own.” She grits her teeth.
“Who ever said you had to?” Jesse asks and her eyes widen.
~reality~
“What happened next?” The boy asks Kaaru.
She smiles and chuckles.
“It’s late kid. Ask again tomorrow and I might remember some more.” She says before putting him to bed in her bed and going to sleep in the chair for the night.
He cuddles up and goes to sleep quickly, eager for the day ahead.
So, recently I've been mulling over actually starting to post Kaaru's story, starting with her birth, BUT, I have no idea if I should. I would love to share the characters I've created but I'm simply worried that I might now give her enough substance or too much. Kaaru and Jedediah are very complex people and I've put nearly 2 years into their development. I'm just nervous of posting anything. I'm just in need of some positive feedback about it because I dont even know if anyone wants to learn more.