I can remember playing with him when I was a young demon. Of course, he was younger than I was; his smile, though, was so cheerful you couldn't help but like him. Normally, I wouldn't have been interested. Two reasons kept me by his side – one was that smile. The other was the fact that…

"You remind me of my little brother," I told Amanuma. He blinked, then I guess he took in what I had said.

He pointed a finger at himself. "Me? I remind you of your brother?" It was clear that the boy was surprised. I nodded in response.

After a minute, Amanuma had let my statement sink in. He sat down in front of me, one of those curious little kid looks on his face. "Who was your brother?"

The way I stared at him was like I was drilling into his soul; it was that intense. My lips gave no insight to my emotions, but my voice did. "…Excuse me?"

"Your brother…" Amanuma was obviously a bit wary of asking. "…What was he like?"

I sighed. There was no escaping this kid. Rubbing my forehead, I began to answer. "I…I haven't seen my brother in a long time…"

Tears welled up in Amanuma's eyes. "How sad!" He wiped his eyes, thank God. Now I knew what a little crybaby he was.

"The last time I saw him was…well…" I counted on my fingers. I was about 3100 (I'd lost count a loooong time ago), so that would mean…

"About 1500 years," I finally said.

"Wow! You're really old!" Amanuma shouted. I knew it wasn't meant to be rude, but I couldn't stop myself from shouting back. "Hey! I'm not that old! I'm actually quite young!!"

Instinctively, Amanuma quieted down and let me continue.

"My brother and I used to play a lot…We were really close. I swear, you couldn't tear us apart…" I chuckled. "Mostly 'cause he clung like a magnet!"

Amanuma laughed. "Really?"

I nodded. "I can't count all the things we did – hide and seek, tag, jump rope, lava skipping…we even trashed Mr. Beelz's lawn a couple times…" All the happy memories that were coming back to me lightened my mood…Especially the image of the two us pissing on Beelzebub's front yard. Now that was a fun pastime.

It hadn't occurred to me that Amanuma would only know a few of these. He stared at me in confusion. "Huh?"

I shook my head quickly. "Uh…Demon stuff, you wouldn't know…" I still couldn't hide a snicker. "Anyway, we did things like that for a really long time…" This was the hard part of the memories coming up.

Gazing at the ground, I told him. "Our mother…was exorcised."

Apparently, Amanuma knew what exorcising was – and what it did to a ghost, even a demon. He gasped, putting both hands over his mouth. He proceeded to shake his head. "…Your mother?"

Tears were starting to come from my eyes as well. I gritted my teeth, eyes closed. "Yes…She wasn't doing anything wrong, but a priest just…exorcised her as he sense her. She never…did anything to deserve that!"

Amanuma gulped. "What…what happened to the priest?"

"That's the next part of the story. You see, my brother and I were now orphans. That meant we would have to travel, be shiftless vagabonds. But I had my sights set on something first – I wanted to kill that priest." My tears stopped, and my face was solemn and emotionless. "I wanted to rip that holy man limb from limb; make him suffer.

"I went to that church, marched through the door – straight through it, mind you. I'm a demon, and that's possible for me – and shouted at the priest. Of course, he couldn't hear me, but he sensed me. At once, he grabbed his damn Bible and began reciting the exorcism ritual." Amanuma looked as if it were an enthralling ghost story. He was silent but scared stiff.

"What happened next?"

"Well, let me tell you – That exorcism, just the beginning, hurt like nothing I've ever felt. I screeched, and fell to the floor. If someone tells you trying to get rid of a ghost is impossible, tell them it isn't. It's real, and it hurts.

"As I writhed on the ground, who should rush into the church but my little brother. I couldn't believe it, but I knew one thing – Exorcisms aimed at only one thing will affect only one thing. As long as my brother remained hidden from the priest's senses, he'd be safe. Here's the thing: He didn't.

"That priest stopped the ritual and started screaming at us, hollering about the unholy. I swear, he was yelling so that Saint Peter would hear him. Then he brought out a crucifix. Those things are pure trouble, let me tell you." I stopped, trying to recollect the incident. That was the problem: I couldn't.

I sighed. "I can't remember much of what happened after that. I do know that I shove my brother out of the church as fast as I could, but stuck inside myself for too long.

"When I woke up, I wasn't in that church anymore. I was back in the underworld, in the house my mother made. It was almost empty. There was another demon in there, named Hiei - he's the short one with the big spiky hair and cloak – who told me he'd nursed me back to health.

"I shot up and screeched at him, asking him if my brother was okay. Naturally, he didn't know. I've…never seen my brother since…"

Amanuma was nearly sobbing now. "H.how do…do you know he's…alive…?"

"Because," I replied, "we're brothers. We have symbols for things. Things only the two of us knew…err, know. You have to know something – when we were little, we'd draw a horned claw so that the other knew where we were. I've checked – no one else uses that symbol. I've seen it around the underworld for hundreds of years. He's still out there."

This made Amanuma smile. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

I got up. I went over to him, and picked him up. He jumped out of my hands, and landed on my shoulder. He slipped down, while smiling, and I realized what he wanted. I caught him behind my back, and he wrapped his arms around my neck. His breath was warm against my skin.

"What was your brother's name?" he asked.

"…Nuka," I replied.

"That's a nice name," Amanuma said as he rested his chin on my shoulder. He sighed deeply. "You sound like a good brother, Kuku."

I laughed. "Haven't heard that one before!" He must've picked up my name from Yusuke. Not that it really mattered, but still…

With Amanuma on my back, I began my trek back to the realm's entrance. Surely, the boy would let us out. I had faith in him.

Something I hadn't had since Nuka.