InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ The Tyger ❯ The Tyger ( Chapter 1 )

The Tyger

By: Keiri

 

A one-shot based on the poem The Tyger by William Blake.

InuYasha

Kagome POV on Sesshoumaru

 

 

She hated him.

 

He was model perfect and well liked, for all that he was the most unsociable person in Japan. His voice was cultured and smooth and his beauty was incomparable. He was one of the richest men alive, not only because of what he had inherited, but apparently he was a genius in the business world.

 

Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

In the forests of the night

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

He was also, behind that mask of bored politeness, cold and indifferent. That man thought only of himself and how much he could gain by speaking to the fools that were always beneath his feet. So, where was the monster behind the mask tonight? What was his agenda? He sure as hell doesn't enjoy speaking to someone who he considers a lower class.

 

In what distant deeps or skies

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What hand dare seize the fire?

 

“What do you want, oh great lord?” I asked snidely. His usual scowl, in place when he had no one to impress, didn't phase me. I had known him all my years from childhood to now.

 

“You are entirely too disrespectful.” He said in a clipped tone before walking past me and on toward his brother's room. It was his first time in his family home in years and my first time seeing him personally in almost as long. His hair, long and silvery, fluttered behind him and I felt my heart clench ever so slightly. Yes, I hated him, but once, long ago, I had loved him.

 

And what shoulder, and what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? and what dread feet?

 

Had he forgotten his childhood in his bid for fame? Had he forgotten his two best friends, his own brother and myself? I sat in the garden behind his home and wondered these things. I had grown up playing in this garden at this house with the two boys who lived here. My own childhood home was not that far, only a few blocks.

 

I wondered, aloud, what went through his head and if he even remembered being a cheerful child who loved to make mud-pies and scare me with insects. And who, in turn, would protect me from his brother's more dirty tricks.

 

What the hammer? what the chain?

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp

Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

 

I felt, more than heard, movement to my right just before HE sat, not too far but not too near, by me on the garden bench.

 

“You shouldn't be thinking of the past.” He said quietly.

 

“And why not, when the future and present aren't exactly things to look forward too?” I demanded, making my eyes wide in an attempt to prevent the tears that threatened to flow.

 

“You can never truly have the past again, especially that past. I am no longer the same person and nor are you. InuYasha, on the other hand, has not changed one bit.” I choked out a laugh and glanced at him. Sure enough, there was a slight, nearly invisible, smile. It wasn't a sneer or a meaningless smile that didn't reach his eyes, either. It made his whole face seem more human and more beautiful, in my opinion.

 

When the stars threw down their spears,

And watered heaven with their tears,

Did he smile, his work to see?

Did he who made the lamb make thee?

 

“Sesshoumaru, for god sakes, you're only twenty six years old! What happened that made you this way? I left for four years to go across the sea for college. And I return home to find that one of my best friends hasn't been home since I left. And then you don't come home for the two years I've been home. What's the matter?” I held my tears in check. I would not cry in front of this imposing person who had once been my nearest and dearest companion. I waited in the growing silence and finally stood up in frustration, ready to leave the peaceful gardens for the guest room I knew their parents had had set up for me.

 

“You left, that's what happened.” He said in a low voice.

 

I whirled on him.

 

“What?” I asked incredulously.

 

“The fame, the power became too much. It was like a ledge that one stood on just before becoming high with it all. And you weren't there to stop me from falling over it. Are you happy to hear that it overpowered me?” His voice was now bitter, his gold eyes glittering with barely concealed anger and frustration. I knew I looked stupid, with my mouth agape.

 

“But…you were the one who insisted I should go to America to pursue my career in law!” I kept my voice as low as I could. Wouldn't want to wake the whole household, would we?

 

“That was…the beginning of my masks. You wanted to go to the best schools and wanted my approval. I pretended to be happy for you and supportive, because that's what you needed.” He stood and walked past me to stand, blocking the entryway, in front of me. Then he just waited, for me to say something, for me to walk away. For what?

 

“Sesshoumaru…” I said hesitantly. “Can we start over? I mean, with little things, like talking again? For just while you're here?” I kept my eyes lowered. If I had to hear rejection, I sure as hell didn't want to see it as well.

 

“Let's go to the fair tomorrow.” He said suddenly. I looked up and caught a full smile on his face. It made his eyes light up and glow like the afternoon sun.

 

He turned on his heel, walking away.

 

“We may even bring that irritating whelp along.” He called over his shoulder. The moment I entered my room I couldn't prevent myself from laughing until the tears coursed down my cheeks. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope for him. I could only hope.

 

Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of InuYasha; InuYash, Kagome, Sesshoumaru. They all belong to Rumiko Takahashi. And the poem, The Tyger, belongs to William Blake, even if he is technically dead. The title of this story, I think, actually belongs to him too. I do, however, own the plot-line, if there is one, of this one-shot.

 

AN: Well, I finally managed to put my favorite poem in a story. Is there such a thing as a poem-fic? I know there's song-fic, but maybe we should do poem-fics too? Forget my babbling. I hope you all enjoyed this.

Wesotych Swiot! Ha, I'm learning Polish!

(Vesowighk Shiviot)

 

Keiri/Aymia/TaiYoukai, whoever in the hell I am today.