Just a note to all readers: The first chapter written in italics was taken directly from the movie 3 Swords of World Conquest. The rest is my own, my ideas of what happened later, but not in the movie at all. Sesshoumaru may hate his brother and scorn the human kind, but something in his past must have triggered this right? I do not own any of the characters or what happens to them, I just race along with the rest of the world on great ideas that the artist created. Sigh…what a great concept this lady came up with. No one really knows what happened to Sesshoumaru after his father departed to Izayoi's side. So I took the opportunity to play along with this. Now that my spiel is over, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter Three: Father

Sesshoumaru felt a small pang in his chest when the human woman mentioned his father. Looking into his arms, the hanyou was squirming around, trying to catch a stray piece of hair that kept flying in front of the tiny face. Lifting his gaze to Izayoi, he frowned.

"What did my father tell you?" Sesshoumaru asked. He was curious, but he didn't want to sound curious. The youkai prided himself in being cold and distant on the outside, despite the fact that many emotions raced through him.

Izayoi sighed, and felt a tear fall onto her cheek. "He was proud of you. I wish…" She broke off her speech with a choke. Fresh tears fell onto her face, and she turned away.

Sesshoumaru smelt the salty tears and he frowned. 'Why is she crying?' Looking at her, he was uncertain as to what to do. Shrugging, he looked back down to the infant in his arms. Inuyasha had finally caught a piece of his hair, and was waving it around staring at it. The way it shimmered in the light when he held it in one spot, then shimmered differently in another spot. Feeling uncomfortable, Sesshoumaru lifted his head again, when he heard Izayoi try to restrain her tears. 'Definitely a lady.' He mused. With the woman hiding her tears and holding in her grief stricken sobs, Sesshoumaru wondered what it was about her that had intrigued his father so much that he had actually lost his heart and now his life.

Izayoi brushed her tears away, feeling the youkai's gaze on her. Blushing embarrassed she took a deep calming breath. She needed to be strong for her son. Glancing over her shoulder she met the golden eyes of Sesshoumaru and she felt the tears well up again seeing her husband's eyes and that same look of confusion. Turning away, she mentally scolded herself. Sesshoumaru was no where near her husband. This young youkai hated the human kind and held no sympathy or love for anything it seemed.

However what she had witnessed earlier and now with him holding Inuyasha she wondered if it was all a façade with him. Frowning, she wiped the tears away angrily. He had threatened her son's life, but yet right now he held the baby gently.

Sesshoumaru felt his frown deepen, and he looked down once again in his arms. Inuyasha still held his hair, but was now looking up at him with full trust and innocence. The baby cooed and startled Sesshoumaru at the sudden sound. "What?" He asked the infant.

A yawn was his answer, and he snorted. He already saw the traces of where the pups milk teeth would come through and he shook his head. 'So the pup has inherited more from my father then just the eyes.' Turning back to Izayoi he also saw a brief bit of her in the pup, not much but a little. He had her tiny mouth, and her little nose. Inuyasha's facial structure was definitely his father's, and the hair was a given.

Peering back at the pup, Sesshoumaru pulled the blanket down a little, revealing the puppy ears, and he felt a smile pull at the corners of his lips. Lifting his fingers, he traced the small lobes and found they were soft. In response to his touching the ears, they twitched, and then turned slightly flopping down to lay flat against his head. Chuckling, Sesshoumaru blinked at his amusement in how the ears moved to his touching. They twitched again, and moved forward in response to his chuckle, and the baby cooed again.

"Not human's ears or youkai ears, but that of my father's true form." Sesshoumaru muttered to himself. "Strange."

"What is?" Izayoi turned around still rubbing her eyes, but her tears were gone.

"The pup's ears." Sesshoumaru muttered absently.

Izayoi leaned over, looking for something wrong with them. "What's wrong with them?"

Sesshoumaru lifted his gaze and stared at her. "Look at them, they are not human or youkai. This small difference will be his undoing. With youkai ears he could have hidden them, so he would not be noticed as that much different. He will be scorned and teased, not accepted by either human or youkai. Does this not concern you?"

"He will have his mother's love. To me how other's perceive him is of no matter, as long as he learns that love will heal all hurts."

Sesshoumaru frowned. "Love? This cannot heal everything, lady. It was my father's undoing."

Izayoi stared at him in shock. The hurt that rippled through her at his harsh words, caused tears to well up in her eyes again. Angrily she stood up and walked away. "What would you know of love?" She hissed.

Sesshoumaru remained silent. Did he know love? Shaking his head he looked back down at his half brother. Love? He didn't know the word, or what it meant. He didn't care. Did he? Shaking his head again, he closed his eyes. He did know love, the love his father gave him when he was a pup. Opening his eyes slowly, peering at the child in his arms, this child would grow without the love he had, would grow up without the protective presence of their father. Inuyasha would grow up without their father's guidance, and discipline.

Love. Sesshoumaru had felt love, but that had been crushed along with the building his father had died in. The hurt, abandoned feeling that coursed through his blood now only seemed to tighten its grip on the heart he never knew he had. Shuddering at the stinging in his eyes, Sesshoumaru took a deep breath and growled deep in his chest. Inuyasha jumped at the small sound, and glanced at where the sound had come from. The tiny ears twitched towards the sound and the pup whimpered.

Sesshoumaru opened his eyes wider and stared at the small baby. Tightening his arms around the child, he felt his brows furrow. 'Growing up in a human village will not help him in life.' Sesshoumaru thought silently. 'He will need training, and guidance, but without father, who will do this?' Shaking his head, Sesshoumaru glanced over at Izayoi who stood with her back to him, arms crossed in anger. Smirking, he wondered if she was strong enough to ease the boy's later tears and heal his hurts.

Was he bound to this child now that his father was no longer there? Would he have to be a part of Inuyasha's life, despite his wanting to refuse it? This child would grow up being jealous of his youkai brother, Sesshoumaru knew that. However the tables were turned, as Sesshoumaru remembered the loss of his own mother. Sighing, he glanced once more at Inuyasha who had a small frown on his forehead still looking for that sound that had come from his chest.

Smiling slightly, Sesshoumaru allowed another growl to enter his chest to see what the pup would do, and Inuyasha's ears twitched again towards the sound. The frown deepened on the child's forehead and Sesshoumaru chuckled.

Izayoi smiled to herself, as she heard yet another laugh escape the youkai behind her. Perhaps he wasn't so different from his father as she had first thought. This one only needed a slight push in order for him to be released from the coldness he engulfed himself in. Maybe Inuyasha could find a way to ease this teen's fears and coldness.

Inuyasha gripped the hair and held onto it tightly, looking around him curiously at the sounds that came from the one holding him. It looked to Sesshoumaru that Inuyasha held the hair hoping it would protect him from anything that might jump out and get him. Feeling a frown crease his forehead, Sesshoumaru found that Inuyasha was too young to feel uneasy. "Are you afraid, little one?" Sesshoumaru whispered so softly, that only Inuyasha would hear his words.

The baby stilled at the deep voice and peered up into deep golden eyes. The little hands gripped the hair tighter.

Sesshoumaru sighed. How could one so young feel fear so early in life? Emotions rippled through the air emanating from the baby, and filled the night. Shaking his head, Sesshoumaru once again turned his gaze to Izayoi. She was definitely a fiery woman for a human. Strong, and witty. Frowning, Sesshoumaru stood up and walked over to her.

"Take the pup, I will get some food." He muttered.

Izayoi raised a single brow, but took Inuyasha and nodded.

Drawing his mouth in a thin line, Sesshoumaru darted into the woods quickly in search of food.