Normal
Thought
"Speech"
Kyuubi

Warning: I don't own Naruto. Rated "M" for language adult situations and themes.

Chapter 61: Pie makes it all better

Consciousness came slowly to the blonde. There were no alarms or any noises that told him it was time to wake up. He did notice that he was the only one laying in bed. Naruto could feel her presence in the house so that made him relax, if only a little.

His eyes blinked open and he saw the empty spot that she had occupied most of the night. Naruto had brought her into the bedroom after she had woken him up screaming about someone named Minato.

Myra woke up just enough to latch on to Naruto and sob herself to sleep again. He put her to bed and hushed her to sleep. Myra would jerk, or whimper, and Naruto would remind her it was a dream. After a while, she slept peacefully as long as he did not let go of her.

Naruto sat up on the bed and gazed at the clock on the nightstand. It was another late morning and the finals of the Chunin Exams had already started. He jumped out of bed and got dressed. When the door opened he was assaulted with the aroma of food. There was so many different smells that he wasn't sure what he wanted to smell first.

The sound of someone cooking in the kitchen was next to come to his attention. Naruto rounded into the kitchen, nose first. On the kitchen table were foods he had seen before, a few he never heard of, and a few more he was very curious about. Myra was standing next to the stove stirring one pot, poking at another, and keeping an eye on the oven. She seemed to be happy and humming a catchy little tune.

Naruto walked up behind her. "What are you doing?"

Myra turned around. She had flour on her nose and her hair was frazzled, but she had a bright cheery smile that brightened the room. "I'm being domestic." She said as she kissed him on the nose.

Blue eyes blinked a few times. "I didn't know you could cook."

"You never asked, I never had the chance, and now I have to make several apologies." She turned back to the stove. "Nothing says I'm sorry like good food."

"Who are you apologizing to? Choji?" Naruto surveyed the mounds of food on the table.

Myra let out a soft chuckle while she pulled a flat cookie sheet from the oven. "Well…" she slid the hot chocolate chip cookies on to a cooling rack. "There is Sephie, Gaara, you, Sakura, a few other people…" she set the empty cookie sheet off to the side and took a deep breath. "And Sasuke…" She seemed rather unenthusiastic about Sasuke.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah… About teme… You need to tell him about Madara."

Myra stopped stirring the sweet smelling confection in the large pot for a moment. "I know…" the bright cheery feeling in the room dimmed for a moment, but the room regained its luster as she started to stir again. "Which is why I am cooking; I deal with stressful situations better when I have pie."

"When did you start cooking?" Naruto picked up a cookie.

"Oh, I think it was about seven this morning. I couldn't sleep and I was hungry. So I started cooking." Myra shrugged. "Then it turned into a situation where I finished cooking what I wanted and thought I would share. So I let you sleep, I ran to the store to get a few more things that I thought I would need to make a lovely picnic lunch for all of us to sit and watch the rest of the Chunin exams." She smiled brightly and turned off the stove.

Myra turned back to Naruto, who had a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth and three more in his hand. He was looking extremely guilty and hid the cookies behind his back. Myra let out a long sigh and shook her head. She pointed to the door of the kitchen. "OUT! If you are going to steel my cookies, I can not have you in my kitchen."

The blonde looked at her with very large sad blue eyes and pouted. "But they're so good." He swallowed the cookie in his mouth.

Myra smirked. "Thanks, I try. Now go open the door for Fu… Sasuke… Offer him a cookie to get him to be less bitchy… And I will be here finishing up my pie." There was a knock at the door. "Then after I know he is less bitchy… We will discuss… stuff." She smiled forcible.

Naruto frowned at the idea of giving up one of the cookies in his hand, especially to Sasuke. The blonde shrugged and stole one more cookie before he exited the kitchen to answer the door. Myra smirked and continued to hum her little tune. Cooking was a relaxing exercise. She had started at seven that morning when she couldn't sleep anymore. The nightmares had been intense as usual, but Naruto holding on to her had made them a little more bearable than normal.

Myra had started her morning by making blueberry waffles, then moved on to scrambled eggs and bacon, with that culminated into a sudden urge to make southern fried chicken, peach cobbler, potato salad, a garden salad, corn on the cob, green beans and bacon, mashed potatoes, and of course, cherry, apple, blueberry, and pecan pie. While she was in the baking mood she continued the confections by making chocolate chip, sugar, shortbread and peanut butter cookies. She was pouring the blueberry filling into the pie shells as Naruto and Sasuke came into the kitchen.

Sasuke rose an eyebrow as he looked over the massive amount of food. She had cooked for an army, or just Naruto, he couldn't really tell. He took another bite of the chocolate chip cookie and just stared. "Hn." The cookie really was pretty good.

Myra fussed with the blueberry pie filling and the two pie shells. "Good morning…" she said flatly.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted in his usual tone.

Naruto elbowed him in the side. "Be nice teme… She made cookies."

"Do you have to hum that damn song? It's getting annoying…" "It woke me up this morning…"

Myra was smiling as she finished filling the two pie shells. She walked over holding out the spatula and the bowl. "Who wants the bowl? And who wants the spatula?" "You shouldn't have been listening."

Both boys looked at each other. Naruto gave Sasuke a devious grin. "I get the bowl…" There was an electric spark between their eyes as old rivalries started to bud again. Myra smiled and handed Naruto the bowl.

"Hn. Fine… I'll take the spatula." The Uchiha grabbed the spatula from her hand.

Myra let the boys have the childish moment of licking the bowl and spoon. It was the best part of cooking anyway. After she had put the pies in the oven to bake, she turned to Sasuke and Naruto. They were fighting like kids over the last morsel in the bottom of the bowl. Myra let out a sigh and took a deep breath. "I saw Madara last night and he made an offer I almost didn't refuse." Myra had Sasuke's undivided attention which gave Naruto claim on the last little bit of blueberry pie filling in the bottom of the bowl.

"What?" There was a growl in Sasuke's voice that Myra could not ignore.

"I was at the Uchiha temple last night trying to find my "roots" as it were and to clear my head a little. I don't know if he was there waiting for me, if he was the one that called me to the temple, or he got there after I did. Regardless of all of the when, or even the how, the point was he was there. He basically offered an olive branch, so to speak. I go with him with out any fuss or muss, and everyone lives to tell the tale. Honestly, the mood I was in last night, it was extremely tempting." She looked away from Sasuke to Naruto and smiled. "But there was something else that kept me from taking his offer."

Myra felt the anger in Sasuke start to build along with the underlying worry he didn't want to admit to. Naruto had already gotten over his anger. Madara was gone for the moment and Myra was safe. There was no need to be angry anymore. The Uchiha set the spatula down and glared at Myra. Myra smiled. "Would you like another cookie?"

"Why didn't you come to me? We could have tracked him! We could have dealt with him right then and there! Kami, how stupid are you!" Sasuke shouted.

Myra held her ground, even though it was very difficult. She was still very tired and very weak from the chakra depletion. The Ten no Shi jutsu took as much out of her as it did the victims. The little tune she was repeating in her head was how she was managing to keep Sasuke out of her mind. If he knew how to push hard enough, she would crack like an egg. For the moment, she was going to keep that information to herself as long as she could. "I guess you don't want another cookie." Myra took off her apron and walked into the living room.

Naruto shot a glare at Sasuke. "Damn it Sasuke!"

"Why am I being the one vilified here? She runs off to do what ever she fucking pleases…"

"Just like another Uchiha I know…" The blonde grumbled.

"SHE IS NOT AN UCHIHA!"

"I AM NOT AN UCHIHA!"

Naruto stepped back a step as both of them yelled at the same time. "Could have fooled me…" he mumbled under his breath.

Sasuke turned to follow her into the living room. "Look you Crazy Bitch! What the hell were you thinking running off like that in the first place?" The tune in her head got louder as he got closer to her.

"I don't know Fucktard? I wasn't really thinking much at all. It was more like I wanted to get away from being YELLED AT! If this is going to turn into a "let's bitch at Myra because she did something un-Sasuke like", you can leave." Myra sat down on the couch and turned up her nose at him. "To think I SLAVED over a hot stove to say I was sorry. Bad Sasuke… No more cookies for you!"

Naruto was hot on Sasuke's heels. "Teme, you don't need to be so harsh."

"She gets away with MURDER and no one does a damn thing about it."

Naruto glared at Sasuke. "Just like an Uchiha I know…"

"Hn." Sasuke glared back.

"Sasuke, it's over and done with. Stop being such an ass." Naruto groused

"Can I have a moment alone with her please?" Sasuke asked Naruto almost politely.

Myra raised an eyebrow. Naruto looked very suspiciously at Sasuke. "Why?"

"Hn."

"That isn't an answer." Naruto growled.

"Because he wants to talk to me alone for a minute. It's ok Love… I can take him…" Myra grinned.

Naruto walked over to Myra and looked down at her almost as suspiciously as he did Sasuke. "Are you gonna be ok?"

"I'll be fine." Myra gave him half a smirk and took his hand in hers. "I was a bit reckless last night and Sasuke does have a legitimate reason to bitch. Best to just let him have his say, then I can have pie and all will be right in the world."

"All right then, I will get ready for the Chunin Exams and be right back." Naruto kissed her on the forehead. He looked up from Myra and glared back at Sasuke. He didn't have to say anything. The blonde growled at Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked like he didn't care one way or the other, but it was a silent understanding. Naruto would beat the ever living shit out of Sasuke if Naruto got back and Myra looked remotely unhappy. Naruto closed the front door behind him. Myra watched Naruto leave before she said anything. "I'm sorry about last night. Shit got out of hand and I didn't handle it as well as I could have."

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Sakura explained very clearly what happened. I'm over that. I want to know what else Madara said."

"Things I really don't want to repeat." Myra shuttered and looked down at the floor.

"Myra, everything he says has a double meaning. He's an evil manipulative bastard." Sasuke walked over to her.

Myra kept her gaze on the floor. "He was being honest with me. It was creepy, HE was creepy. He said he would see me again, so I just need to be on the look out." Myra stood up and walked over to the book case near the TV. She pulled a small leather bound book from a nook. "He pointed me towards this." She ran her hands over the diary. "It's Miyako's diary. Madara doesn't think it will help, but I think maybe it will."

She handed Sasuke the diary. He took the diary from her. "Why are you still fighting me?"

"Why are you trying to force your way in?" Myra rubbed at her eyes as she sat back on the couch. The Uchiha blinked and noticed the fatigue on her face, then noticed it hidden behind a smile. "Sasuke, I'm not overly comfortable with the idea of you poking your nose in my head. I never forced my way into yours, I didn't have to, you are extremely LOUD about your thoughts because you never grew up with the idea there could be someone else listening. I grew up with two spirit birds that communicate telepathically and will pry when think its necessary, or when they think it's funny. It's a defense mechanism that I have learned to keep other people out of my mind."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded. "I will accept that answer for now." He walked over to the couch and stared down at her. "But you are hiding something." He grabbed her wrist. Myra tried to get him to let her go. It was a struggle that took a matter of moments, but it was enough for Sasuke to confirm the fatigue. "You're exhausted and you have enough chakra to keep your body functioning."

"Tell me something I don't already know." Myra jerked her wrist from his grasp.

"You should be in the hospital." He continued to stare at her.

Myra shook her head. "No hospitals. All they will tell me to do is sleep, and sleeping isn't a good thing right now." She got up and started to walk into the kitchen.

"You have nightmares too… Don't you?"

Myra stopped at the door of the kitchen and took a deep breath. "Yeah I do. My chakra gets low enough and I don't have the energy to change or suppress them." She continued into the kitchen.

Sasuke followed her back into the kitchen. "That night?"

Myra took the last of the pies out of the oven. "Yes… Your nightmare… My nightmare. There are a few minor differences, but yes. I get to watch a few people die and I can't do a damn thing about it. It's a bit frustrating and a bit depressing, but I get it over it and let it go. It reminds me why I became a shinobi. I want to help people, and then maybe, I can make up for the people I couldn't help." Myra shrugged.

"It wasn't your fault." Sasuke hung his head.

"It wasn't your fault either." Myra placed three pieces of warm blueberry pie on plates. Sasuke was feeling guilty that he couldn't stop the massacre and stood brooding on the other side of the kitchen. There was silence between them while Sasuke brooded and Myra plated the pie. The Ravenheart girl pulled some ice cream from the freezer and topped the three pieces of pie. As a final touch, she lovingly topped the pie and ice cream with some whipped cream.

She walked over and handed Sasuke a plate and a fork. "Pie makes everything better." Myra genuinely smiled at him.