Normal

Thought

"Speech"

Kyuubi

Warning: I don't own it… Never have… Never will… Rated "M" for language, violence and adult themes.

Chapter 57: The Happy Family Secret

Myra wondered the village, not paying to much attention to where she was going. She stopped next the locked gates she had avoided since the moment she entered the village. Myra had never been near the Uchiha compound. But there was something about it that called to her now. Miyako had shown her the vision of the temple, so there had to be something there. Myra jumped over the chained fence with ease.

The streets had been recently cleaned. There were no family crests everywhere and it had been made a clean slate. Someone had been here and washed away the past with some carpentry to fix the buildings and a fresh coat of paint. Myra walked slowly down the streets.

Though she could not see them, she could feel the spirits of the past that still haunted the Uchiha family complex. There was an odd chill in the air and the whole place felt dead. Was there ever happiness here? Myra thought. She continued down the streets until she came to a seemingly familiar house. She stopped, there was something inside she needed to see.

She placed a hand on the door and there was some life left in the house. Though weak, there was life here. Myra slid the door open and stepped inside. Flashes of memories that were not hers flooded her mind. She could hear children playing, woman chatting, men sparing, snippets of conversations, all the lives of the Uchiha clan that once inhabited the walls. Myra ran her hands along the smooth surfaces of the walls. The walls had been witness to the worst of evils and seemed to cry out for justice.

She walked past the living room, into the kitchen, and out the back door. The garden had once been full of life, but it was now dead from neglect. The long corridor to the main bedroom seemed ominous. Myra had to will herself to take step after step to get to the main bedroom. When she placed her hand on the door it was like she was frozen in place. Terror ran icy through her veins. She could not bring herself to open the door, but she had to see what was beyond those doors.

Myra slid open the doors as quickly as she could. There was nothing in the darkness of the night. The room was empty and Myra took a deep breath in relief. She stepped back on closed the doors. It had been an interesting trip down memory lane; however, the memories weren't hers. They had been Sasuke's.

She exited the house and headed for the Uchiha shrine. That was her main purpose here. She needed to know what was there. Miyako warned her of Madera and told her what she needed to do, but she had never given instruction on the "how" to do any of this. There had to be some answers somewhere. If nothing else, I beat the information out of Edgar. Damn Spirit of Knowledge has to know something.

She walked to the temple stared at the torii gates of the shrine. She took a deep breath and started walking up the stone steps. It seemed to be the only place left untouched by the haphazard cleaning crew. Myra placed a cautious hand on the doors. The shrine pulsated with the energy of the spirits that dwelled in the area. They were drawn to the temple as she entered. She steadied her self and walked to the altar, kneeling and offered a silent prayer for those that had not yet passed beyond.

There was a cold chill that ran the length of her spine and Myra knew she wasn't alone in the shrine anymore. She took a deep breath. "What should I do?" she whispered to herself.

"What I taught you to do." The voice from the shadows continued to chill Myra to the bone.

Myra stayed in a kneeling position. "You haven't taught me anything."

"My dear girl, I taught you to kill in a way that no one can return from. I gave you the ability to destroy a person's very soul." He snickered. "I hear you use it well on those you think deserve it. Of course you have only used it once out of pure rage and contempt. But even then you couldn't go the last step to truly kill the boy. He still lingers, how sad that must be. It was never my intention, but I didn't count on your Empathic and Dream abilities being as strong as they are. Oh, that fateful evening so long ago I tore your brother's soul from his body while you watched." The shadow hissed. "I triggered your sharingan that evening. Emotional trauma will do that to an Uchiha. I should give credit where credit is due. You did stop me from taking possession of your brother."

"Go to hell."

"I've been there." The shadow chuckled.

"I know who and what you are, Madara, you can't scare me. There isn't going to be any haunting my nightmares anymore." Myra was trying not to get up and run screaming.

The shadow moved closer to the kneeling girl. "I never wanted to scare you. I want so much more for you." His cold hand brushed her check.

Myra pulled away from the cold touch of his hand "I'm sure you do. I will make sure I let my father know his parenting skills aren't up to your snuff." Myra seethed.

"Oh my dear girl, you have turned out to be more than I could have hoped for." Madara paced the temple. "I wouldn't chastise your father just yet."

"I'm sure you didn't come here to talk about parenting skills?" Myra spat.

"I wanted a chance to see my niece." Madara smirked behind the orange mask. He stopped pacing and leaned against the altar.

"If l didn't already know you were an evil bastard, I might actually believe you." Myra swallowed the bile churning in her stomach.

"I will have to admit you're more talkative than Sasuke or Itatchi." Madara crossed his arms. "I never thought I would miss intelligent conversation. Don't misunderstand me girl, the boys were very intelligent, just not very large on vocabulary."

"Is this where you tell me your evil plan in detail so I know exactly how to stop you, because honestly, right now isn't a good time for me. I'm not up to the witty banter." Myra sighed.

"My goal is simple and you already know what it is. I do not need to explain the "how" it would be a waist of your time and mine. Besides, I wouldn't want you to actually come up with a means to stop me. I am old enough to have grown out of the Uchiha overconfidence. However, I've become rather cynical and paranoid in my old age." Madara snickered.

"So is this where you drag me off somewhere and…" Myra took a deep breath.

Madara chuckled manically. "My dear girl, I am NOT a barbarian and I am not COMPLETELY with out a heart."

"Just soulless…" Myra muttered.

"And you say you're not up for witty banter." He stood up and touched her face again. Myra recoiled away from him. "I am actually here to make you a deal. Come with me willingly and no one you love has to die." Madara smirked.

"That's a load of crap." Myra shook her head and stood up. She would not look at him in the eye. She knew better than to do that. She kept her focus on his feet. "I go with you willingly and the people I love come after me and die in the process. It's a catch twenty-two. They choose to die for my return. No deal." She started to walk out.

"I had to at least try. As a parting gift I will give you what you came here for. In the garden out front is a stone. The stone is hollow and you want what is inside it, not that it will help you." Madara started to fade into the shadows. "I will be seeing you again." The last thing that faded in the darkness was Madara's glowing red eye.

As soon as Madara had faded, Myra rushed out to the front of the shrine and got rid of everything in her stomach for the last few years. She stood up and whipped her mouth clean, taking a moment to calm her nerves. Myra put her hand on the temple wall and felt the energy pulsate again. It soothed her stomach to know the spirits of her ancestors understood her pain.

The wind swept across the garden of the shrine and swirled around a large stone that seemed out of place amongst the others. Myra put her hands on the stone and it opened to reveal a small book. She pulled the book from its hiding place and inspected it. The book was an old hand written volume and it was written in English.

Myra opened to the first page and read the words hearing Miyako's voice as she read. "As I leave this world for another, I leave my life for you. Learn from it and do with it what I could not. – Miyako Uchiha Ravenheart."

0 – 0 – 0

Myra was sitting in the garden reading when her breasts started to vibrate. She jumped sky high before she remembered the hiding place for her cell phone. She pulled it out and looked at the caller id. Myra steeled herself and answered. "Yes father."

"Where are you?" The elder Ravenheart asked tersely.

"Outside."

"This is no time for being a smart ass. Your Grandfather called…" Rai's voice was businesslike.

"I thought you were on vacation… I thought I was out of service until this training crap was over." The girl grumbled.

"Not when we happen to be in the same village as the contract." Rai countered.

"Let me guess… Nobu Nakahara…" Myra rolled her eyes.

"Yes. I take it the recon mission didn't go as well as planned."

"He knew who I was. I played the silly rich party girl that likes to flirt with danger. The boys showed up and things got ugly." Myra sighed.

"I know. The clean up crew is at the club now arresting his associates. You know what you have to do. Nakahara is a wanted criminal and now he's marked. I already have the authorization from Tsunade and the Civilian Council." The elder Ravenheart sounded serious. "Unless you want me to do it?"

"No dad. I want this one. Nakahara has a few ghosts he needs to meet… One of them is a five year old little girl. I want to give her the justice she deserves." Myra stood up.

"What time do you think you will be home?" Rai sounded concerned.

"Not too late I hope. I will keep you posted."

"Good luck and come home safe." The line went dead.

Myra turned her phone off, tucked it back into place and stood up. Club clothes weren't the idea outfit for a hit, but they would have to do. She didn't have time to go back to the apartment and change.

0 – 0 – 0

Myra waited in the shadows on the hotel roof. He had come to a very seedy hotel that didn't look all that respectable. Myra opened her sense to feel out the Yakuza criminal. He was easy to find in his hotel room, packing his belongings.

Nakahara had tried and failed to kidnap an important member of the Ravenheart family. Ravenheart Industries didn't believe in turning the other cheek. The Yakuza didn't take well to failure so he was now a marked man. And worse, Konoha and Suna ninja knew he was in the village. It was only a matter of time before he would be very dead.

Running from death was the only option. Nakahara packed as much as he could as fast as he could. He was filling a briefcase with cash when he heard the foot falls in the other room. He pulled his hand gun from the holster at his side. He stood at the side of the door as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

A kunai came from the living area, knocking the gun from his hand and pinning his wrist to the wall. "Guns are useless." Myra's voice was icy and cold. She walked up to him and kicked the gun out of his reach.

Nakahara pulled the kunai out of his wrist and tried a desperate attempt to stab her with it. She caught his hand and punched him with the other knocking him back several feet. "You can't get out of this. I can't let you."

"Please… I'll pay you three times what they will." Nakahara cowered on the floor. "There, in the briefcase... Take it all, it's yours, just don't kill me." The man pleaded.

Myra smirked and walked over to the briefcase and opened it. "Hmm… Nice chunk of change"

"I knew you would see it my way." Nakahara smirked.

"I never see things anyway but my own and MY way is very different from the rest of the world." Myra took a breath. "Nobu Nakahara, you have been condemned by the Yakuza, Konohagakure, and those you have murdered in cold blood. You have the choice to take your own life and save yourself the end that I bring you." Myra kept her eyes on the briefcase.

"And if I refuse and kill you instead?" Nakahara stood up. The room was getting cold enough for him to see his breath.

"I don't think you understand." Myra looked up at him, her sharigan blazing red in her eyes. "You feel that cold? That cold is generated by the gathering of the ghosts of your victims that have not crossed into the hereafter."

Myra scanned the room to see fifty or more faces of people the man cowering before her had killed. This is why she hated using her sharingan. The Ethereal was the space between reality and the afterlife. It was a place where spirits of nature, demons, angels, and the dead roam. The sharingan could see through the veil between the worlds and she could see those that still lingered around places, people and things. Criminals like Nakahara had only fifty or so. Madara had thousands. Myra's stomach churned over again and she choked down the bile.

"They have come to wait for your death. If you cross on your terms they have no claim to drag you to the underworld. If I kill you, they will drag your soul to the underworld where it can never return." Myra walked closer. "The choice is yours." She held out the kunai.

"You are the Death Dealer. I tried to kidnap the Death Dealer, but I thought…" Nakahara was shocked.

"You thought that I was a helpless bitch… I remember. I warned you… I did everything I could to get you to reconsider and let it go, but you persisted." Myra gazed at her feet.

Nakahara grabbed the kunai from her and stabbed her. "Now I get to brag about killing Death…" He grinned.

Myra looked up at him with fire in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but the dead can't brag about anything." Myra stepped back from the man. The walls around him started to warp and the faces of those that he had killed faded into his vision. He looked down in horror as he saw his own body lying on the floor of the hotel room. A thin chakra thread that connected him to his body was clearly visible.

The spirits started to gather around him, clawing and scratching at Nakahara's soul. There was a scream of pain and anguish that no one could hear. Nakahara watched as Myra walked up to his body. With one swipe of the kunai, the thin blue chakra thread was cut. Myra closed her eyes and started to cry. It was over and Nakahara was gone to the unknown, dragged down by those he had killed.

The shell of the man she had been sent to kill lay on the floor drooling and a blank stare on his face. His heart was still beating and his chest would rise and fall with each breath. The man was dead, but his body hadn't figured it out yet. It would be a matter of hours or less until the body would expire. Myra closed the briefcase and pulled out her cell phone. Before she had pushed the power button to turn on the electronic device, she felt a small presence in the room. Myra closed her eyes again and opened her sharingan to see the little girl standing at her feet.

The little girl had tears on her face and was trying to tug on Myra's skirt. The Ravenheart girl kneeled down to look at the spirit face to face. "You can go home now. The man is gone. You don't have to stay here anymore." She tried to sooth the long dead spirit.

"I don't know where my mommy is." The little girl cried.

"Was she with you?" Myra was holding back her own tears.

The little girl nodded. "She was with me when he took us. I heard her scream and then I don't remember much after that." The girl started the sob more. "Then I was stuck with that man for so long. The others kept an eye on me, but I never saw my mommy again."

Poe fluttered to the window. Myra looked up to Poe. "Can you take her to where she needs to go?" Looking at the bird with sharingan activated was almost blinding. The bird was a glowing mass of bright blue light.

"I can take the child. She will be safe with me." Poe cooed.

Myra smiled. "Go with Poe. She will take you where you need to be."

The little girl still looked very sad and scared. "I want to stay with you."

Myra looked over to Poe. The bird tiled her head. "Child, I know you are scared, but your mother is waiting for you on the other side. She will be very happy to see you again."

The sad teary face turned to happiness. "My mommy is waiting?"

"Yes child, your mother is waiting." Poe answered.

The little girl smiled and the room started to warm up. Myra stood up and smiled down at the girl. "Safe journey to you."

"Thank you." The girl hugged Myra's leg. Myra felt the cold of her spirit, but could also feel the warmth of the girl's happiness. Myra pushed at the girl to make her go with the bird sitting on the window sill. The little girl gave Myra one last smile and waved. The Ravenheart girl waved back and watched the two glowing balls of light leave the hotel room. Myra let her sharigan fade. As much as she hated using that jutsu, it was moments like this that almost made it worth it.

Myra took a deep breath and settled her nerves again. It had been one hell of a night. Picking up the pieces was going to be just as harrowing. She pushed the power button on her cell phone and waited for it to turn on. There were several messages from Naruto and Sephie. The brunette shook her head and sent the text to her father to let him know there was a body that needed pick up. With a firm grip on the briefcase, Myra exited the hotel room as easily as she had entered.