Kazoku no Moribito
Guardian of the Family
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Full Summary
The events of Kazoku no Moribito take place nine to ten years after Kurasa no Moribito. Balsa and Tanda are now married and both of them celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary.
Among these slices of life dotted with adventure and twists, a peaceful life fills them until the day the Talsh Empire threatens to invade the northern continent. Trying to flee the possible assaults of an unprecedented war, and to protect those who are dear to them, the balance of Balsa and Tanda's family is put to the test…
Main Characters: Balsa Yonsa, Tanda, Torogai, Alika Yonsa (OFC), Jiguro Musa and OCs
Theme: Family, Babyboom (natural graphic birth scenes are included in), Next Gen, war, tragedy, friendship, fluff, Coming-Out, some part are from Guardian of Heaven and Earth references,
Tags: DarkFic, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Suicide Attempt, Depression without telling it, PTSD, SelfHarm, Grief, Possible Abortion, non-consent, Mediumnistic abilities, Family issues
Rated: Partie I & II: T, Part III: M
Year of first publication: 12.2014 – 05.2015
Year of reedition: 05.2022 – 08.2022
Year of translation: 09.2023 - ?
Sequel to: Kurasa no Moribito, preceded by Ransa no Moribito
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Prologue
Welcome Home, My Love
Balsa placed the raspberry in eight-year-old Alika's hand before removing her hand, so her daughter could see the fruit.
"Eh… a raspberry?" she asked, definitively confused as Tanda poked his head out the door. "This is my only snack?!"
"No, sweetheart," Balsa laughed. "This raspberry is currently the size of the new little baby growing in my belly."
Alika looked up quickly, with an expression of surprise.
"We're having another baby?!" she exclaimed, getting up quickly. "Already?!"
"Yes." Tanda smiled. "Are you happy?"
"Yes! I'm really happy! It means that Kasem will be able to protect the baby with me, and with Jiguro and Motoko, too!"
She jumped into her mother's arms, already putting her hand on her belly, overjoyed. Balsa took a permanent decision. As she didn't want to live, once again, the unfortunate event of losing a premature child, she decided to settle down for good. She even remembered that during a job, in Rota, she had been kindly lectured by an innkeeper on the fact of settle down.
"You're a fairly young woman. You need to stay healthy, so you can have more children and have more siblings for your daughter. You don't think about it, when you're young, about having a quiet life. But I can say with certainty that it's a good life. If you don't accept your life and settle down quickly, you'll end up like a sakawa or a wild salmon, always swimming upstream."
Balsa shook her head, putting that memory aside. She was thirty-one, and she'd returned from Kanbal; her promise to Jiguro had been fulfilled.
"Are you sure of your choice?" Tanda seemed to be worried, a few days later, following her decision.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"I'm afraid that you could feel oppressed…"
"Not anymore. Alika told me she would take over my job as bodyguard. Or maybe in another profession. It's time for me to settle down."
"Is Alika sure of herself?"
"Ask her. You'll know her point of view."
"And you? What about you?"
"I've already told you; I don't want to live another miscarriage. I'll stay in bed for nine months, if the need is, but I don't want to go through that again. My life doesn't displease me as it is. I'm on shaky ground, and I know we can always make compromises."
"So then, I understand everything. If that makes you happy, so am I."
They smiled at each other.
Surprisingly, it was not Tanda who proposed, but Balsa herself. They were outside, close to the small pond, lying on the grass and looking at the stars and a double moon like they used to do when they were children. Alika was already in bed.
"Say, Tanda…" Balsa said.
"Hmm?"
"What do you think Chagum is doing?"
"I'm sure he's, with no doubts, watching the double moons like us, locked up in this palace between four walls, with no freedom… poor child."
"It would've been fun to have him with us forever."
"It's true."
Balsa sat up. Thinking she was going to throw up her evening meal again, Tanda hurriedly got up on his elbows.
"Balsa?!"
"No, don't worry." She smiled. "I needed to get the blood circulation going in my limbs again. I began to feel numbed."
"I see."
He looked up at her, and she smiled back. The moon lit her face with its silvery glow, an infinitely soft light. He wanted to touch her cheek which seemed so soft. She pulled something out of her kimono: a small, glossy wooden box that rested in the bottom of her palm.
"I still can't believe what I'm doing right now," she said, shyly. "I think my hormones are playing a big part in my behavior."
"Hey, Balsa… we didn't even drink alcohol."
"That's why I said that I still can't believe it…"
She laughed again, like she was in a fit of giggles. Then, she calmed down and raised her head. Sagu's moonlight shimmered on discreet tears on the edge of her eyes.
"Do you... do you want to marry me?" she finally dared to ask, embarrassed like she's never been before.
Her fingers wiggled over the small box. Tanda still couldn't believe his eyes.
"You… I mean… did Master Torogai blamed you or casted a spell on you?" he asked.
"No... I did it on my own. To be honest, I was afraid of your reaction… I was afraid that you would reject me because I made you wait for so long… and left you behind so many times… it's time for me to I agree to settle definitively."
She looked down and opened the small box which revealed a silver ring set with a single luisha.
"I've been waiting for this moment for so long, Balsa," Tanda confessed, holding back tears of joy, his hands over his mouth. "I always told myself that I would wait for you, no matter how much time you took… and I would've waited for you until my last breath."
"Do you still want me?"
"Baaaaaakaaaa. Of course, yes, my love!"
He started crying before getting up and kissing her.
"I want to wake up by your side every morning. I want you to be the mother of all my future children, because you're a wonderful woman warrior. I could never ask for better."
"I'll probably not be able to give you back the same power of love that you have for me, on the other hand… you know me when it comes to managing emotional situations."
Tanda burst out laughing.
"Yes, I know you well. But I think you've improved a lot for a long time. Maybe Alika helped you be less cold, and to be more open-minded."
"Maybe…"
Balsa slipped the ring on his finger ring and they continued to kiss with no hesitation. They even going so far that they decided to make love under the starry sky. A few days later, Tanda gave her a package. The packaging was made of oiled paper.
"Open it," he insisted.
Balsa opened it and discovered a Yakue belt inside. It was Tanda's aunt, Ori. It was beige in color, and Balsa's name was embroidered in gold thread. There were floral embroideries, in which beads from the Sangal Ocean had been sewn into them with great care. By unfolding the belt, a sound of several mini-bells tinkled. There were mini-bells sewn all along one side of the clothe. Eyes shining with admiration, Alika observed the garment with great interest.
"What a beautiful belt," Balsa murmured, who was not used to receiving a garment of such fineness and quality. "I don't want to be a killjoy… but what's the belt for?"
"In the Yakue villages," Tanda said, "it had been customary that when the daughters are going to be marry, the families send the eldest sons to the market to buy belts like these, before the wedding day. I saw several girls in my village wearing these special belts."
He paused, turning the garment in his palm.
"The women show them to each other with pride. Which is normal, because most girls come from farming families and aren't used to having such a fine and delicate accessory. They go to town and come back with their belt firmly tied around their waists. Girls who are to be married wear them from the time their brothers bought them every day until the wedding ceremony. It's such a common custom that there are songs written about it. At the end of the rice harvest, villagers often begin to sing them. Of course, since you have no older brothers, I decided to change this tradition slightly and to customize it, too. You know me."
"Will I also have a belt like Mommy's, Daddy?!" Alika asked quickly.
"If you end up getting married, you'll have one." Tanda promised her.
"Yippee!"
Following the marriage proposal, Torogai had been so delighted, that she'd sent Alika to Kanbal, alone, on the back of a Kokku horse a few weeks before the official ceremony. It will take place during fall. Alika's duty was very simple: go get Aunt Yuka to attend the small ceremony. Yuka decided to bring a particular garment, having belonged to Balsa's mother, which had been passed down from generation to generation long before Balsa's birth: a traditional Kanbalese wedding kimono.
Torogai continued with Tohya and Saya. Tanda's family, on the other hand, hadn't been invited – except perhaps his only niece who actually respected him, Kaya. Balsa who had hoped to have a small ceremony with her close family and only dressed with her red t-shirt with a golden bow, finally found herself dressed in an immaculate white kimono. Its neckline was embroidered with a silver thread and the patterns seemed to be painted by hand. The interior lining was a sky-blue color. Yuka combed her niece's hair into a large, intricate bun, following precise Kanbalese techniques. She decorated it all with ornaments and flowers.
Balsa had all the difficulties to stay in place when her aunt and Saya tried to put make-up on her. Finally, she ended up wearing a white silk veil over her head and her eyes. She hated not seeing anything.
Alika had heavily negotiated the real gold rings with her GrandMa. She had almost intimidated the blacksmith under Torogai's very proud gaze and was the one holding the rings. This is how their union was official and celebrated. Since Tanda more or less had a last name, it was decided that Balsa would give him her.
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Author's note: Once again, and as always, Kazoku no Moribito has also had the right to a major reedition. That means that I edited and added/removed elements in. This fanfic which had two parts at the base, evolved into three parts (oops!).
It must be said that during the year the first version of this fanfic came out, 2014, I was in the middle of a breakup. This had a big influence on the turn of events. Eight years later, I've moved on and matured. So, I no longer feel the need to keep the old version and I like the newest version much more!
Kazoku no Moribito is rated as "T" in the first two parts, but the third part - which gets very, very dark – is ranked as "M". All the heavy subjects to come have been approached with the greatest care.
And the old 12th chapter, in which I described an assault, became the 17th chapter, in the third part (because yes, I don't know why, but fanfiction readers like to read about these themes a lot and they're the most popular, don't ask me why; moreover, I didn't write Part III to please readers of dark fanfics, but for the unfolding of my story).
Otherwise, to all those who have followed the adventures of Alika so far, I wish you a pleasant reading!
If you feel like it, by the way, you can still leave a little review/comments. It's always a pleasure :)
