Tahomaru felt his life fading away as he bled on the floor of his burning home, he felt his head lifted and placed in his mother's lap, "mo…ther" he said weakly.

"Tahomaru" she said softly, "forgive me for making you so lonely, but I will stay by your side forever now, do not worry..."

Suddenly, so he could not explain it, Tahomaru's eyes shot open! Both of his eyes! The boy who was dying a second ago now jumped to his feet; "there is no time for this mother!" He cried, and then lifting her up ran towards the exit, Jukai who had resigned himself to die here watched an astonishment, when a pile of burning debris fell covering the exit; the doctor sprang into action, he rushed towards it ahead of Tahomaru and his mother, and crash through the pile of debris with his weight clearing a path for them, Dororo let out a startled shriek as the three of them fell through the opening into the tunnel, Hyakkimaru still had his eyes buried in his hands. "Tahomaru…" Lady Nui exclaimed as the boy rose to his feet, "...your eye… your face…" Tahomaru stood there in shock as he processed what I just happened, slowly bringing his hands to his face he found that not only was his right eye back, but the scar on his forehead was gone as well, Tahomaru's whole body was trembling, "what…. Happened?..." His thoughts were interrupted by a crash from the collapsing building above, "we gotta go!" Shouted Dororo, "Aniki! C'mon!" Hyakkimaru pulled his hands away from his eyes, and opened them…. He could see The souls of Dororo, of his brother, his mother, and the burly man whom he had for the longest time known as "his Mama'' but beyond that everything else was still black, he was still blind.

The old Priest, Biwamaru; having helped the five of them out of the tunnel; waited patiently for them to catch their breath and then began to hear they're telling of the situation; Hyakkimaru had been reunited with his mother, and Tahomaru had somewhat reconciled with both of them, and was now meeting Dororo and Jukai for the first time; beyond that the situation was curious, and Biwamaru heard the accounts from both Tahomaru and Hyakkimaru on what had happened, Tahomaru explained vividly and articulately, everything he had seen and everything he had felt; how he had felt himself slipping into unconsciousness before feeling a sudden surge of strength, and a sudden pain in his right eye, which told him his right eye had returned to him. Hyakkimaru's explanation was short and simple; he did not see much as his eyes were closed almost the entire time, and he had difficulty expressing what went through his mind at the time, but Biwamaru seemed to understand.

"I believe I know what happened," he said, he pointed up to the last floor of the burning palace; "up there" he explained, "I saw the energy of a demon disappear as it was slain, but almost immediately after I saw the presence of yet another demon, and energy pass between it Hyakkimaru and Tahomaru"

"What does this mean?" Asked Jukai with concern.

"I believe" continued the priest, that Hyakkimaru without realizing it; subconsciously agreed to a trade what was proposed by… another demon"

The five listeners all looked nervous at this, Dororo began to tremble, and reached out to hold Hyakkimaru's hand, only to feel that it was trembling too.

The priest continued with his observation; "I do not know who or what this demon was, and I can't say what it's intentions were, but it seems that Hyakkimaru could not leave his brother to die, and so In This moment, the demon healed Tahomaru, but took Hyakkimaru's vision yet again"

Nui gasped and put her hands over her mouth, Hyakkimaru looked at the ground Tahomaru looked like a deer caught in the headlights, not even noticing that Dororo was glaring daggers at him.

"However I don't believe this transaction could have taken place without Hyakkimaru wanting it to happen" the Priest concluded.

Dororo seemed to be placated but still mad, Jukai had reacted to the whole situation with a mixture of relief and stoicism, Lady Nui's one of almost pure relief.

Out of all of them, Tahomaru seemed to be the most shocked by this, he stood there struggling what to make of it all. Half an hour ago he was trying to kill Hyakkimaru who had been hellbent on getting his eyes back; had given them up in order to save him… But why? Though they were related by blood, they had never known each other, only fought as enemies. Why would his brother do this for him?...

Now Hyakkimaru who had been silent, it began to cry, his body shook like a leaf, before the pile of emotions betrayed him completely, mixtures of relief, frustration, and confusion, all manifested themselves into flowing tears, Dororo, Nui and Jukai tried to comfort him, but saying this Tahomaru was overwhelmed with guilt, Hyakkimaru who had had so much taken from him, had now lost even more, and Tahomaru felt that it was due to his own stubbornness, and even though he could see; he felt that he had been blinder than his brother this whole time, now his eyes too weld up with tears, until he was crying louder than Hyakkimaru was.

"Brother I'm sorry!" He exclaimed!

He approached Hyakkimaru in adjuration, but the two of them ended up collapsing into one another, before they knew what was happening, they were weeping in each other's embrace.

Tahomaru and Nui were delighted to learn from Dororo; of the vast treasure which had been hidden by the Brigand chief Hibukoro, and that Dororo was willing to give it to the people of Daigo so that they could lift themselves out of poverty. They had survived the recent War, but barely, and Daigo Kagemitsu, had only just returned to find his lands in such a ruined state, his home was burnt down, and his wife and son could not be found, he believed that they had been killed.

Dororo still did not fully trust Tahomaru, but nonetheless; set out to collect the treasure with a small band of men, mostly farmers, and a few soldiers provided by Tahomaru, but the child was still worried about Hyakkimaru; of course Hyakkimaru was never much for words, to begin with, but even still the silence worried Dororo.

He was however able to open up more with his mother, and his surrogate Father Jukai, whom he now correctly referred to as "Papa".

He and Tahomaru were no longer enemies, they had developed an understanding of one another, but the brothers were mostly silent when together, there was still an awkwardness between them. Hyakkimaru knew that Mutsu and Hyogo had been like family to Tahomaru, and even though he did not directly cause their deaths, he still feared that Tahomaru on some subconscious level, blamed him for it, and still blamed him for the desolation of the domain.

Tahomaru on the other hand, more so than blaming himself for the pain he had caused his brother, could not help but wonder if their roles have been reversed, after all; Hyakkimaru was the firstborn, he should have been the heir, and yet he had been the one raised in the palace, while Hyakkimaru struggled every day just to survive, even thinking about how much smaller he was despite being a year older; made him uneasy. Tahomaru was just under 170 centimeters tall and weighed 60 Kilograms, normal for a boy of his age. Hyakkimaru on the other hand, in addition to being shorter, weighed only 34 Kilograms.

This of course had not made Hyakkimaru any worse of a fighter, on the contrary, he used it to his lightweight and nimbleness to his advantage, but Tahomaru could not help but think that had he been in his older brother's position; he would not have survived, and so, the two of them walked in silence along the path, until they came to the bottom of the stairs, the stairs that led to the Hall of Hell…

"Are you sure about this brother?" Tahomaru asked, "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No… I need to go to father by myself"

Turning one last time to see his brother's saddened, face before he left Hyakkimaru put a hand on his shoulder and smiled,

"Don't worry" he assured him, "I will come back"

Tahomaru smiled back and nodded, and Hyakkimaru began his ascent up the steps, both of them were eager to talk to the other when Hyakkimaru returned, both had so many questions for the other which they did not know how to ask, as for what he would say to their father; neither of them had any idea what could be said or how the encounter would go, and so Hyakkimaru continued up the steps, tightly holding on to the statuette that Jukai had given him, the one of the Goddess of Mercy.

Chijoku no Jō was an infamous man, even during the era of warring states, where samurai who failed to adhere to the code of honor were everywhere; Jō stood out from among the crowd. To have called him a brute was an understatement. His unmatched skills as a swordsman allowed him to get away with his behavior for a long time, but even still, his perversions, and overall disloyalty to his Lord eventually caught up with him, so when his Daimyo expelled him from his realm, he left with a band of followers, and the Daimyo's head, along with loot from the palace, and kidnapped woman from the Daimyo's own family, this earned him the name "Chijoku no Jō" Jō the disgrace. Detestable as he was, Jō did have one human virtue, though he lacked loyalty for anyone above him, he treated his subordinates like family, he was a man who never drank alone, so when three of his men were kidnapped, and then returned to him completely insane, he vowed revenge, and on this particular night he was going to get it.

"Where the hell is the bastard that calls himself Nimuru!?" Terrified patrons scattered at the terrifying sight of Chijoku no Jō, he was a large muscular man with short black hair and a large pale flat face; and with his long sword drawn, he was an imposing presence; but one man in the back perked up at the sight of him. He was a sanguine man, of average height and looks, he stood up from his table and greeted the gangster; "Jō! You finally found me! A bit longer than I expected though, and here I was trying to make it as easy on you as possible…"

"YYYAAAARRRRRGGHHH!" Jō did not even ask to confirm if this was Nimuru, he charged at him in a fit of rage, and cut clean through him, from shoulder to hip.

All of the lamps had gone out, The Tea house was dark and empty, except for a single human, Chijoku no Jō who stood perfectly still, except for him, only two things were in that room; The corpse of a man which never existed, and the true form of Nimuru, The white leopard with the skin of a snake, And he circled around the disgraced samurai.

"Who the hell are you?" Asked Jō with apprehension.

"I am what you might call, a demon"

"A… a demon?"

"Yes a demon" he continued as he walked in circles around him, "a demon from the cradle of civilization, when heaven's vault became unsealed, I was one of the spirits to escape"

"Who… are you!?" Jō repeated.

"My name" replied the demon, "is one that you men of the rising sun would have trouble pronouncing, your language is simply too soft" And he snickered at this comment, "so I go by Nimuru" he continued closing in on Jō, "and I have come all the way to the land of the rising sun…"

"My men… why did you do that to my men?"

"I figured what better way to attract your attention? After all, You and I are burns of a feather"

"So you did this to punish me!?"

"Don't try to act so brave" laughed Nimuru, "And that way we are not alike" he now stood in front of Jō, looking him directly in the eyes. "You are a coward Jō, But no I did not come to punish you, I came to offer you a chance to put your meager talents to use, After all, you like to hurt others almost as much as you like to fight people who are weaker than you"

Jō opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.

"Didn't you see!?" Cried Nimuru jumping up so that his paws were on the man's shoulders, and his head higher than his.

"Didn't you see what I did to those three losers!? They wanted to die but couldn't even muster the cognitive faculties to do so! Ahahahahah!"

And Jō found himself gazing up into those eyes, into the cruel eyes of Nimuru, And he found himself being drawn into those eyes… he was interested in what this demon was selling.

the demon's laughter filled the air, and way off in the distance, on another one of Japan's many Islands, Dororo and the men of Daigo who followed came to the cave where Itachi lay, guarding Hibukuro's hidden treasure, from anyone but Dororo who would dare come near, and in the land of Daigo, despite the desolation, the two sons of its lord were now brothers again, they walked through Daigo's streets and towns helping when and wherever they could, and would sometimes visit the graves of Mutsu and Hyogo. "I Knew it was selfish of me" said Tahomaru on one of these days, after the time for formalities had long passed. "but I had thought of those two almost as if they were my own brother and sister"

"I never really knew what either of those words meant," replied Hyakkimaru "although... I think that I remember hearing the word... 'brother'... when I got back my ears... I think that a woman was crying... she was crying for her 'brother'"

"Did you ever think of Dororo as your brother?" Tahomaru asked. Hyakkimaru's face now looked pained. "I don't know" he finally said, "I don't think I know... what 'brother' really means" he confessed, almost chagrin, "tell me Tahomaru" he implored, "what is the difference between 'Brother' and 'Friend'?"

Tahomaru thought for a minute, his smaller size aside, Hyakkimaru's innocence really did make it seem like he was much younger than he actually was. "I guess..." he finally said, "that a brother is a friend, who has the same blood as you do"

"and Mutsu and Hyogo?" Hyakkimaru asked.

"what about them?"

"did you have the same... blood?"

"no Brother, Mutsu and Hyogo did, but I did not"

"and us?..."

Tahomaru couldn't help but laugh a little, "Yes Brother, we have the same blood"

"and... how come?... why do we have the same blood"

"well..." explained Tahomaru, "its because You and I come from the same parents"

"but what does that mean?" asked Hyakkimaru

"sorry?"

"what does it mean that we came from the same parents?"

"well... even though I was raised by mother and father, and you were raised by Dr. Jukai, we still both came from the same mother and father, do you understand?"

*visible confusion*

"Um... I know that Mama is our Mama, but I still don't get why?... How does it work?"

"Just what exactly are you asking brother?..."

"I know that Mama both of ours and... that father is our father but... what makes them our Mama and father?"

"Brother are you about to ask me...?"

"where did we come from Tahomaru?"

"Eheh..." Tahomaru could only respond to this with an awkward smile, "You know what Brother? I think this is a question for you to ask mother when we get home"

"Okay..."

"All you need to know now," said Tahomaru putting an arm around Hyakkimaru as they walked, "is that we brothers are bound together by blood, and that is a very important bond"

"very Important Bond..." Hyakkimaru repeated back.