A/N: Characters from the show in this one. Sorry that long exposition had to be long. But it had to be done. It's important later. It also gets more interesting and deserves its rating later. But, for now, onwards!

"talk"

'thought'

Disclaimer: I lack ownage of this stuff.

"Mommy, wake up!" a young girl jumped onto the woman in bed.

Maya slowly woke up. She had been summoning yesterday and was exhausted. It took her a minute to register that the thing jumping and shaking her was her daughter, Amarosa. Maya was in her twenties, raising her daughter on her own after her husband was killed in battle. She sat up in bed, stretching.

"Morning, sweety," she yawned. "You know what today is?"

"No, what?"

"Today's the day Haku and Namu are moving in. They're my old friends, remember?"

Amarosa gasped, "Really? Hurry and get ready, Mommy!"

"Ama, slow down, they won't be here for a while."

"Do they have kids?" Ama asked sweetly.

"Not that I know of, darling."

Ama looked disappointed, "Oh."

Maya attempted to cheer her up, "I only talked to them enough to convince them to move in, so there might be some surprises."

Suddenly, the front door opened. Maya grasped her staff that resembled a thorny rose and told Ama quietly, "Stay back here." Maya slowly advanced to the front of the house, prepared to strike at any moment. She couldn't see her intruders face, but could see that he was in a simple cloak. 'A thief probably. A lousy one at that.' In a flash, she lunged at him and was surprised when a sword deflected her attack.

"If this is how you treat all your arrivals, I'll gladly never leave again," a familiar voice said, half-joking.

"Haku Bakura, you should know better than to just barge into my house," she lightly punched him. "Is Namu with you?"

Haku smiled, "Not yet. Couldn't get his ass out of bed this early if he hasn't changed."

Maya looked at his gray eyes, "You look so tired. Come, sit down."

Haku shook his head, "Wait, I wanted to show you my true form first. I'm surprised you didn't ask first thing."

"You found it? Is this why you wanted to come here?"

"Yeah, your house it off the beaten path enough that hunters shouldn't come here."

"Well, show away. I've waited years to see it."

"Alright," he smiled warmly at her. Armor, not as bulky as Dagger's, appeared on him. The armor was shades of gray but always seemed to be changing. A sword whose handle resembled the armor's color appeared. To finish it off, two gray feathered wings came out of his back. "I'm the Shadow Paladin."

An excited little voice piped in, "Oohh, so handsome." She went up to the adults. "I didn't hear fighting, so I figured it was safe."

Haku chuckled, "You must be Amarosa. I'm Haku, who your mother was waiting to hit." Ama giggled and something soften in Haku's eyes.

"Do you have children, Mr. Haku?"

"No. Not yet," Haku said still smiling. Maya detected some regret in his voice. "And you don't have to call me "mister" either. I'm living here remember."

Ama beamed, "I forgot. But now you can eat breakfast with us 'cause Mommy hasn't made it yet." Then she ran into the kitchen.

Maya chuckled, "I'll go cook. Make yourself comfortable, but keep an eye out for Namu."

Haku got out of his true form and sat in a chair. He watched her leave the room. She looked back and caught his eye. She smirked and kept going. A blush tried to creep into his cheeks.

A couple minutes later, he heard someone cursing their luggage. Haku smirked and went to the door. As soon as he heard the luggage drop in front of the door he opened it just enough to stick his head out, "Sorry we don't want whatever you're selling," and shut the door. He leaned on it to hear the results.

"Haku, open the Ra-damned door right now! That crazy woman made me get enough supplied for three armies, so get the hell out here and help me. My luggage would be stronger, but I know about Ama."

"Oh, Maya has been known to curse like a sailor so I'm sure Ama's been corrupted."

"OK, fine. Get the fuck away from the door, stop being a bastard, and help me."

"Geez, no need to swear, there's a little girl here."

Namu debated the merits of knocking Haku unconscious, but then remembered the stuff he had to lug from town. 'He is so lucky.'

Haku looked down and saw a young boy. He arched an eyebrow at Namu.

"This is my older brother's kid. Don't be scared, Haku won't bite. Introduce yourself."

The blond buy looked at him out of lilac eyes, "My name's Malik."

"Well, come in, Malik. Namu and I can take it from here. Go see Ama, she'll be happy to see you." The boy smiled and ran past Haku.

As soon as he was out of ear shot, Haku asked, "Is he really yours? He looks just like you."

Namu shrugged, "Hard to say, but my brother did marry the woman. Already had a daughter with her. Not my fault we were drunk. Then again, my brother probably does the horizontal lovedance every night."

"That's more than I wanted to know. But now I'm the only one here without a little clone."

Namu put a hand on Haku's shoulder, "You'll find the right one soon."

"Yeah, I hope."

"Don't worry about it pal. I don't have kids either. I just borrow my brother's."

Haku laughed, "Alright, let's get this stuff inside." He helped take care of everything but two identical swords.

Namu grabbed them, "These are my weapons of choice. I'm training Malik to fight with them. Ama is a sword fighter, too. I saw her once. Apparently, Tana women have typically been fighters, and Maya's the odd one out."

Haku sighed, "You two have no idea how much I missed our training sessions. After you two disappeared, life got pretty boring, until the hunters got my mom."

"You've been on your own? For how long?"

"Years now. I stopped counting. I didn't want to count."

Namu sighed, "I'm sorry, Haku. One of us should have helped you."

Haku smiled a bit and waved it off, "Don't worry, I'm fine."

Ama bursted into the room, "Breakfast is ready!"

The two entered the kitchen and got some food. The three adults caught up on the years, while the two children bragged about their sword skills. Light flooded the kitchen, highlighting Maya's right cheek. Haku and Namu saw the scar, from the bottom of her eye to the bottom of her jaw. Haku felt anger rise inside him, 'Who would do that to this beautiful woman?'

Maya saw they're stares, "I'll explain as soon as they're gone. And don't kick them out." Namu nodded and Haku lightly touched her hand. She gave him a soft smile, "I'm fine, if that's the problem." Haku relaxed a bit, but still kept the worry and anger in his eyes.

The children challenged each other and ran outside, grabbing wooden swords along the way. Haku spoke first, "Maya, what happened? Who did this?" the emotions left his eyes and entered his voice.

"It was a while ago. I was gathering some herbs for my remedies, when I heard something behind me. I turned and this black...thing attacked me. It was shapeless and I could feel this evil energy radiating off it. It tried to take over my body, but failed, leaving me with a nasty gash. I healed it."

"Two weeks later, I heard rumors in town of a similar attack. Only this guy got two gashes, but he was otherwise fine. I think the gashes are a counter, like how many bodies it's tried to claim. I think it's searching for a host."

Haku reacted immediately, "That terrible. We'll have to be on guard. Who knows who it'll attack next."

Namu had his hand on his chin, "Did you get any impressions at all from it besides evil? I mean, like motives or anything like that?"

"No, but as soon as it failed, that thing got really pissed and I swear I heard it say "Damned Tana.""

"Then you be careful, if it knew your name."

She nodded, "Trust me, I am, especially with Ama around."

----Later----

Maya was walking by the river, humming a tune to herself. She was gathering plants for the remedies. After she plucked a flower, she gazed a bit away. Smoke was rising on the other side of a small hill. "I better see if they need my help," Maya said aloud.

She climbed the small hill. Then she hid herself. 'Soldiers, and they're starting the fire.' Maya looked around some more, 'They're gathering the villagers and taking them down there. Let's see what down there is.' She stealthily snuck down to the village and snuck down the steps to the subterranean room.

Maya had smelled something pungent on the way down, but now the smell was nauseating. She nearly vomited at the cause of the smell. The soldiers were throwing the villagers into a bot of boiling liquid. A couple men in official's robes oversaw. Maya stifled a gasp when she saw a man in priest's clothing as well. 'No, no, the Pharaoh would never do this. Who is that man?'

She didn't have time to contemplate. All the villagers were now in the pot. The soldiers dumped the boiling liquid into a hole. After a few minutes, the hole was made larger to reveal a mold with seven item inside.

The priest ordered, "Take the Items quickly."

"Yes, Lord Aknadin."

Tears came to Maya's eyes, 'He is a priest. Why did this happen?'

A black mist rose out of the tablet, "Return the Items at once!" it roared, grabbing the priest. Maya nearly fainted, she could recognize that voice anywhere.

"No, we need these Items!" He yelled, shoving the last Item in his eye.

Maya was struggling with her nausea now, 'I'm a healer, I've seen some disgusting things, but that tops the list.'

The thing disappeared. The soldiers went to help the priest. "I'm fine, let's go men."

"Yes, sir." They left, never noticing the blonde woman.

Maya snuck out after they left. She started running back to her house, but something else caught her eye. A red cloak was on the ground, covering something. She moved the cloak and saw a small white haired boy underneath. "He must have run from the village, poor thing." She started to pick him up, but stopped when the right side of his face became visible. One gash went from his temple, over his eye, to the bottom of his jaw. Two other gashes ran parallel to each other horizontally from ear to nose over the first. "No, no. Ra, please save this child." Maya prayed. She put her hand near the wound and couldn't feel the presence of the creature. "Oh, Thank You, he's safe." She smiled a bit. Maya picked him up, "I'll clean you up at home, little one."

Maya got home quickly with the still unconscious boy. Haku saw her come in with the bundle and ran over. He saw the wound and the boy's white hair, unsure of which to be fascinated with. "Is he alright?"

"It's hard to say. Haku, please fetch some water for the boy. He'll be thirsty when he wakes up." Haku nodded and went.

When he returned she had healed the wound to a scar. She put some herbal liquid over it, "This will keep it healed and should stop the evil if it is inside him. Put the water there." Then she looked around, "Where are the others?"

"Namu apparently forgot to get something in town and the kids followed him. They were arguing over who the better helper would be. Poor Namu didn't know what he was in for."

Maya chuckled a bit. Then the boy started stirring. Indigo eyes opened and glanced around with frightened looks.

Haku kneeled beside the boy, "Don't worry, you're safe here," he said soothingly. The boy relaxed. Haku gave him some water. The boy took it gratefully. "What's your name?"

The boy took a sip before responding quietly, "Angelus. What's yours?"

"I'm Haku and this is Maya. Angelus, where did you come from?"

Tears came to the boy's eyes, "Kul-Elna. It's gone now. The soldiers came and set everything on fire. The took my parents and everyone underground and threw them in something, it smelled awful. They turned it into seven things. This cloak is all I have left of my dad." He was sobbing by the end of his story.

Maya gently embraced Angelus, "Oh, sweetheart. Don't worry. They won't get you here. You'll stay with us."

"R-really?" Hope starting to show.

"Of course. How old are you?"

"Seven."

"Then you're the same age as the other two children."

"There are more people?"

Haku looked out the window, "Yep, here they come."

Namu was carrying three beds through the door. He couldn't see through them. "One for me, one for Haku, and one for company or whatever." Namu set them up in their proper rooms and returned to the main room. He saw the white haired boy talking to Ama and Malik.

Haku shook his head, "Not mine before you go there."

Ama motioned to the adults, "Come to the kitchen, the kids will be fine for a few minutes while we talk."

She explained what she saw to Haku and Namu. Namu shook his head, "I fear for the worst with things like that happening."

"But we handle what we can," Haku said. "As long as he stays here, he should be fine."

"We'll have to be careful. If that evil is inside, Ra help us if something triggers it."

Haku answered with strength in his voice, "I'll protect him, then."

They agreed and returned to the living room. The children were showing Angelus around the house and telling him about training. The adults smiled at them. Maya quietly sighed, 'For his sake, I hope nothing happens to any of us, especially Haku. This evil better not be too strong, for all our sakes.'

A/N: Long chapter! Wow, but I do have to say it looks much better on my document than it does when it uploads. And if anyone has any questions leave a review and I will answer what I can (no spoilers, just explanations if something was unclear to you).

I just realized I've already killed 100 people in three chapters! (Dagger + 99 Kul-Elnans) That's insane. And, as a teaser, there will be more death in the next chapter. Who and how I cannot say. Should be up tomorrow though. And I'll try to keep a running death count. I may be the bloodiest authoress yet.