OMG! I cannot believe how long it has been since I have updated. I feel so ashamed of myself! (whimpers) But I really want to finish this story; and I hate leaving you guys hanging! So here's my chapter! Thanks to my readers and reviewers, and stick with me guys... just a few chappies more!- Ichigo

Don't own; don't sue.

The Guardian: Chapter Eight

by Ichigo2491

Yukio threw back his dark head, studying the clear blue of the sky. Years had passed since he had fallen into the river, and he was a man now, or so he boldly thought. Miyuki had told him so, right before she kissed him. His cheeks were still warm with a blush as he headed home.

In reality, he was only thirteen, still a bit of a way from being a man, but he had decided that he was plenty old enough to make his own decisions. He tossed his head carelessly in imitation of his brother's friend, Ichiro. If Ichiro had a bossy older brother, he would not obey him meekly. Just because Rafu was getting married today did not make him an adult authority. It was time to act.

For the past nine years, the mystery of the white dog had preyed on Yukio's mind. His interactions with the demon were few and far between, but they never failed to fill him with guilt. Despite his brother's urgings that he never speak of the white demon to his mother, he had felt so duplicitous when he came home after an encounter, and looked at his mother and said "Nothing," when she asked what had happened. He couldn't bear keeping secrets from her. It wasn't right; it wasn't fair. Rin was part of her own family, wasn't she? She deserved the truth.

He was going to tell her, as soon as he got home. Striding up to the door, throwing his still-childish shoulders back, Yukio strode inside the house. He found his mother smiling and dressing Minako's hair, while the young and beautiful woman who was to marry Rafu today smoothed her elegant wedding kimono. He felt a little let down; he couldn't tell her until the wedding was over, after all.

"Oh, Yukio-chan, you must excuse us," Rin said sweetly, her cheeks flushed with exertion and happiness. Her joy at attaining such a good and beautiful daughter-in-law was obvious, and so was Minako's happiness at becoming a member of the family.

Yukio nodded and left the house, walking outside to where his anxious brother, in his wedding garb, stood alongside Ichiro. "Tell me, miscreant, how it was you got Minako to fall in love with you?" asked the newly instated headman, plainly aggrieved at the injustice of such a world.

Rafu shrugged, giving a nervous grin. "Must be my devilish charm and cunning wit," he said facetiously. Ichiro punched his friend in the shoulder.

"Don't feel jealous, Ichiro-sama," said the groom, "Chiyo is very pretty. You are a lucky man yourself."

"True," said Ichiro unhappily, "but she has not the beauty of your bride."

"She is of the kind who will bear many sons," Rafu pointed out. Ichiro cheered up almost at once.

"Very good point, Rafu-chan," he said brightly, slapping the other on the back. "Be brave, my friend, for today you become a man!"

The two were beating each other good-naturedly when they saw Yukio. "Oh," said Rafu, "nii-chan, I'm glad you FINALLY got here. Can you believe I'm getting married?"

"No," said Yukio, seeing his brother with disheveled hair, grinning like a schoolboy. "It's fairly unbelievable." He endured the light punch on the shoulder he knew he had asked for. He could scarcely believe that his brother was four years his senior… at the moment Rafu felt decades older in maturity. At least HE was going to have the decency to tell their poor mother the truth.

Kohaku came along at that moment and pulled his sons apart. "What do you think you're doing?" he scolded Rafu. "Seventeen and about to get married, and here I find you brawling like a child." He brushed some specks of dust from Rafu's clothes. The young man stood up straighter under his father's gaze. Kohaku smoothed his son's hair into a tidy position, and drew back, his eyes tearing slightly. "I'm really very proud of you, my boy," he said softly, and they embraced.

Yukio felt bitterly envious. It wasn't that Kohaku loved his older son more than his younger one, but the elder was the elder, after all. Everything he did was twice as important as anything Yukio did, because Rafu had always done it first.

Yukio stared at his father. He still looked fairly young, except for a smattering of grey at his temples, and the laugh lines spreading slowly outward from the corners of his eyes. Same with his mother, Rin; though she was small, frail, and sicklier than hearty Kohaku, she had kept her youth well.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the guests. Ichiro stood solidly on one side of the jittery Rafu; Yukio on the other, but he was just as fidgety. He did not want to be at a wedding, he did not want to stand here, beside his brother. He wanted to get his evil mission over with.

As the bride entered, however, even Yukio was caught in the spell of her enchanting beauty. As Rafu stepped forward to join his bride before the priest, the two exchanged a look of tenderness, and Yukio saw the look mirrored in the faces of his parents. Rin leaned against Kohaku, and he put his arm around her. Yukio felt warmed at this; it was so rarely that his parents touched…

The wedding ceremony was quick and simple, but lovely. When it was over, and all the guests had gone home, and Rafu and Minako were settled in their new house, Yukio approached his mother. Kohaku had just gone to chop some firewood for an old lady in the village (he was always doing good work for others, even on wedding days). Yukio knew he had to act before his father returned.

"Oka-san?"

Rin looked up at her son, her face shining. "Wasn't it a beautiful wedding? I'm so happy for your brother." She smiled, but Yukio could tell that the festivities had worn her out. He swallowed hard.

"Oka-san… I have been keeping something from you."

Rin's eyes darkened, but she said nothing. She looked expectantly at him.

Yukio watched his mother's face change as he spilled the whole story, from his first encounter with the white inu-yokai at the age of four, to the incident today in which he had been snatched off the edge of a crumbling cliff. Rin's face grew white and pale. She trembled, and Yukio feared for a moment that he had slain her with the truth. But when he finished her eyes were alive with something akin to rage.

"So your father knows." It wasn't a question. She was staring at the wall, not at her son. Yukio felt almost frightened at the intensity of her expression. "And no one ever told me."

"Oto-san thought… at least Rafu told me he thought… that it would upset you… I'm sorry oka-san. I didn't think it would upset you so… gomen nasai!" Feeling shame and guilt burning into his gut, Yukio fled the house, leaving his mother staring at a blank wall, her eyes hard and cold as ice.

Ooh.. scary thought... what is Rin gonna do? Tune in next time!