A/N: Sorry it took so long for the update. Just fair warning, with the holidays around the corner, I may be a little longer in my updates. Do not panic! I'm not going anywhere. The story will continue until I'm done.

Standard warnings: Rated "M" because it's an adult type story. I don't own Naruto. I do this to entertain my brain and keep me sane.

Chapter 65: The Stalking Painter

Sasuke wouldn't speak to anyone. His one word grunt became an answer to everything. Myra seemed a bit quiet after her laughing fit that caused Sasuke to spiral further into his sulking depression. She had pissed him off and she knew it and she didn't really care... Much...

Sasuke felt strangely upset by Myra's questions, even as disconnected as the questions were; in the context she asked them, she implied something that was unthinkable. Besides, Kabuto was Orochimaru's boy toy. And as devoted as Karin was to Orochimaru, there might have been something there as well, but Sasuke never wanted to think about it. Sasuke shook his head. He still didn't want to think about it.

Sasuke was walking by himself when he glanced up out of his thoughts. The girls had found a spot to sit and chat while Gaara and Naruto walked off to grab something to eat for everyone. Kami, I hope it isn't ramen.

Myra glanced over at Sasuke and thought about saying something, maybe apologizing for picking on him. She was listening to Sakura and Sephie prattle on about something medical, but Myra was more interested in the stalker they had picked up in the last few minutes. "Sasuke, I know you want nothing to do with me right now, but do you think you can go scare the stalker out into the open?"

"Hn." A door in her head slammed shut.

Myra smirked. "Wow, I piss you off enough and you learn to slam the mental door. You get a cookie for today, or would you prefer pie?"

"Hn." Myra sensed his mood shift slightly for the better.

"Not so much fun is it?"

"What?"

"Having someone else in your head that you don't want there." Myra raised a mischievous eyebrow.

Sasuke looked over at Myra. She looked like she was paying close attention to whatever Sakura and Sephie were talking about, but Myra's eyes were locked on him.

Sasuke closed his eyes and shook his head. "You humiliated me on purpose? Why am I not surprised?"

Myra smiled and tilted her head towards Sasuke. "I don't do anything without a purpose. I humiliated you for several reasons, one, it was funny, two, you made it too damn easy, three, you needed to learn how to shut the door, four, you needed to focus your hostilities on someone that isn't going to take it personally and isn't afraid of bitch slapping you."

"Hn."

"Now you're mad because there is one more person that isn't afraid of kicking your ass half way across the village." Myra smirked. Her attention was brought back to the conversation with Sakura and Sephie when Sephie smacked Myra on the shoulder. "Ow... What?"

"Haven't you even been listening?" Sephie frowned at Myra.

Myra raised an eyebrow. "Would you be upset if I said no?"

Sephie and Sakura rolled their eyes. "We were discussing what happened to Nakahara from a medical standpoint."

"Nakahara who?" Myra looked confused.

Sephie stared at her friend for a moment and had to shake the shock off her face. "That Yakuza guy that tried to kidnap you the other night."

"And I care about this conversation why?" Myra turned up her nose.

Sakura blinked at Myra. "You aren't even curious how the man died?"

"His heart stopped beating, what more is there to know?" Myra blinked back at Sakura.

Sakura stared at Myra. "You aren't remotely interested that the man died?"

"If he had been someone I actually cared about, then yes I would be concerned. But Nakahara was a Yakuza mob boss guilty of several crimes against humanity." Myra stood up. "I'm gonna go take a quick walk." The topic wasn't something she really wanted to talk about anyway. Besides, the stalker had been inching closer every second. If no one was going to flush him out, she would.

Sakura and Sephie stared at Myra as she walked away. "What's her problem?" Sakura asked.

Sephie shrugged. "Myra can be funny about the subject of death sometimes. One minute the world must die. The next minute life is sacred."

"I don't really see Myra being overly violent." Sakura nodded.

Sephie let out a deep sigh. "I've seen her get violent once. The room got extremely cold and then all the lights in the hallway exploded. When the dust cleared and everyone was paying attention again, well, let's just say it's the reason everyone back home believes Myra caused Dante's accident."

"Who is Dante?" Sasuke's deep bravado sent chills down Sakura's spine. Sephie jumped slightly.

"I doubt she's going to say anything about him, 'cause she hates talking about it." Sephie looked away.

Naruto and Gaara walked up to the table with mounds of food. Sasuke was glad to see there was only one bowl of ramen. "What did we miss?" Naruto smiled and then immediately frowned as he noticed Myra's absence.

"Persephone was going to regale us with insight into Myra's violent history." Sasuke rolled his eyes. He didn't believe Myra could be truly violent either.

Gaara and Naruto sat down at the table and were going to listen carefully. Sasuke sat next to Sakura and they leaned in to listen to Sephie's story.

Sephie took a deep breath. "I wouldn't say Myra got violent, more like she scared the shit out of EVERYONE. It was about two weeks after the party she won't talk about."

"I hate to ask this question, but what party? And who is or was Dante?" Sasuke demanded.

Naruto frowned. "Dante was Myra's first…"

"Dante was the guy Myra was hung up on for a while until an after the big game victory party where the football team thought it would be fun to drug her and pass her around like a party favor. Dante was the ring leader of the whole idea." Sephie sighed. "There… Now you know. Meanwhile…After two weeks of Myra mopping around her house, I had finally convinced her that she needed to go back to school, despite the rumors. She needed to go back to being invisible for a while and just let it go away.

"Myra walked into class and ignored the snickers and whispers. She was fine until Dante got near her. The first few days after the party, Dante was the loudest of gossip mongers. A few days later it had gotten old, and he seemed worried about Myra." Sephie shrugged.

"By the Monday that Myra came back, Dante came to me before he approached Myra and asked if she was ok. He seemed relieved when I said she was alive. I told him he needed to just leave her alone, but he didn't listen. Dante approached Myra at her locker. I was down the hall and I don't know what Dante said to Myra or what Myra said to Dante that cause the sparks to fly… literally.

"The entire hallway got icy cold and it was hard breath. It was like the life was being sucked out of the hallway. Then the lights in the hallway started to explode, starting with the lights above Myra's locker and the explosions continued outward. After the screaming and panic died down, I saw Dante in a crater against the wall, his feet dangling in the air, Myra's hand around his throat, and her eye's were glowing a nasty red color.

"It was the first time I saw her eyes change color like that. There was more mass fear and panic from the watching crowd. Dante's buddies in crime took steps back when she turned to glare at them. They looked like they had seen a ghost. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen. Myra dropped Dante and just loomed over him for a second. Everyone heard her tell Dante that if he ever came near her again, she wouldn't hesitate to rip out his soul and feed it to the Great Lord of the Ethereal."

Naruto went pale. Myra had called the Kyuubi the Lord of the Ethereal once. "That's because it's just one of my titles."

"I didn't think you ate souls."

"Great Kami, Brat, did you never... You haven't, never mind. You need to take a trip to the library and read... It might do you some good to brush up on your folklore."

Sasuke looked pensive. "Dobe, what does the Kyuubi say about that?"

Naruto went pale again. "Huh?"

"What's a Kyuubi?" Sephie asked.

"The Lord of the Ethereal." Naruto looked away from everyone. Sasuke's eyes widened. Sakura gasped and Gaara nodded. "Why does it not surprise me?" Naruto sighed.

"What would it take to rip out a person's soul?" Sephie tilted her head.

"Theoretically, in order to remove a person's soul, you would have to exert a force of chakra equal to or greater than the soul you are trying to remove. In all cases of soul removal, the victim has died." Gaara kept his calm. Though he was extremely grateful to have Shukaku gone from him, the pain was not something Gaara liked to remember. "The pain of the extraction is excruciating and not something I would wish on anyone."

Naruto shivered. "I wonder if she can do it."

Sakura's eyes went wide. Sasuke glanced over at her. "Sakura, what is it?"

Sakura put it together. Myra's disappearance after the night club, Gaara's reference to death after a soul is removed, Nakahara's death, the other medical records she had been looking into because of Sephie's sudden interest in the shinobi aspect of all the Death Dealer murders, all of it clicked and Sakura figured it out. She blinked back at Sasuke. "I don't think one person is capable of doing something like that." Sakura covered.

0 – 0 – 0

Myra walked through the park for a little while until she found a nice shady tree. She took a seat under the tree and took the moment to just stare at the sky. It was a clear day, so there were no clouds. She was watching the birds fly about and listening to the other forest animals scurry about. Myra hadn't gone far from the table where everyone was sitting, eating and chatting.

She couldn't hear the conversation, unless she wanted to listen via Sasuke, but that would be an invasion he wouldn't like. She thought she done enough invading for one day. The stalker had followed her into the clearing area of the park. It was interesting how he had set out an easel and his paint brushes. He was doing and excellent job of pretending he had no interest in her.

Maybe he wasn't interested in her. It could be her over paranoid imagination playing tricks on her. Myra finally settled that it was her overactive imagination and relaxed against the tree. She closed her eyes for a moment and allowed her senses to wonder the park.

There was a family of small mice like creatures living in the roots of the tree. The tree had several nests of birds high in its branches. Deeper under the tree was a mole trying to find its way to a very large grub. She started to move her senses outwards. There was an emotional hot spot, or cold spot depending on your point of view, hovering around the area the painter was seated.

The boy himself was cold. Not unemotional, just cold. Myra snickered to her self. The boy was colder than Sasuke, if that was even possible. Myra moved her senses to the painting. There was plenty of emotion in the painting. Empathy had its draw backs, like being able to feel the emotions of every man, woman, creature, and departed spirit lurking around, but art was one of things that Myra could understand. Art was a window to a person's soul and a testament to the things a human could create rather than destroy.

If she had to describe the painting to a blind man, she wouldn't have been able to tell the poor guy much. The passion that flowed from the tip of his brush into each stroke was amazing. This was something the boy enjoyed. It gave him peace of mind and a medium to express the emotions he seemed to bottle up. Myra opened her eyes and stood up. He had been watching her, it was only fair that she went and watched him.

0 - 0 - 0

Sai watched Myra get up from under the tree. He had to admit she looked very much at peace with the world, snoozing under the tree. It was hard for him to believe she was as dangerous as she was. But then again, Sakura didn't look dangerous at first glance either.

Sai rubbed at his jaw. It had been several years since Sakura had hit him for being a complete ass and the bruise had gone away just as many years ago. That didn't mean that anytime Sai would think about appearances being deceiving, he would reactively rub at his jaw as a reminder.

He continued to paint the picture of Myra lazing under the tree. It was a nice piece. He had wanted to catch Shikamaru lazing under a tree or on his favorite roof top, but the chance never presented itself. This wasn't exactly the picture he wanted, but it would have to do until he actually caught the lazy bum.

Myra walked up behind Sai. "You're very good." She smiled.

"I paint to relax." Sai continued his brush stroke.

Myra stared at the painting and could see the emotion in each stroke. It wasn't the subject matter that invoked the emotion; it was the act of painting itself that made the boy want to paint. She smiled. "I can understand that. Some people train, others wrestle bears, I like to curl up on a couch with a good friend, pie, and a movie."

Sai blinked. "I did not see Naruto-kun as the type to sit through a movie."

Myra chuckled. "I don't know. I haven't tried it yet." She held out her hand. "Myra Ravenheart."

Sai stood up from his stool and took her hand. "I am Sai. I am pleased to meet you."

Myra's mind clicked. He had been following her all day until recently. She smirked like a cat that ate the canary. "Do you always stalk your subjects?"

Sai's face never wavered, but he did have an "oh shit" emotion. "I'm not a very social person. I may be friends with Naruto-kun and Sakura-chan, but Sasuke-kun and I do not really like one another." He went back to his painting.

Myra could tell Sai had feelings of attachment to Naruto as a friend, Sakura brought on sadness, but understanding, and a little fear of Sasuke. "I wouldn't worry about it. Sasuke hate's everyone. Once you have a healthy understanding of that, he's easier to get along with."

"He does not hate Sakura-chan." More sadness came from Sai.

Myra tilted her head. "Ok so there is one person on the planet Sasuke doesn't hate."

Sai stopped painting. "He does not hate Naruto-kun."

Myra furrowed her brows. "Do you at all understand the concept of sarcasm?"

"I read about it in a book, although I have yet to try my hand at it in conversation." Sai continued painting.

"So painting is your thing huh?" Myra nodded.

"It is very calming. I can let out the aggressions of the day in each stroke." Sai stopped again. "I am sorry I was… stalking you. I did not mean any harm."

"Pft. Don't worry about it. I didn't realize I was so unapproachable."

"I do not believe you are unapproachable; however, as I have already stated, Sasuke-kun and I do not get along very well." Sai's brush stroke seemed angry.

Myra smirked. "So... That doesn't mean you can't hang out with your friends." Myra grabbed Sai's hand. "Come on scardy cat... I will protect you from the big bad Sasuke."