A/N: Okay, Ultear's second chapter! Here we'll see just how she close she becomes to the man who saved her life and bought her a better future at the cost of his own. NarutoxUltearr, ladies and gentlemen! Any AU or OOC that is found within this oneshot is purely an interperation based on the character's pasts on my part, and in no way reflect the original characters. I own nothing! I apologize for the shortness, but my meds are limiting my ability to write! That being said, beware! A bit of this chapter ought to be rated M for mature! There, now that the disclaimer's out of the way, relax, read, review, and, of course...

...ENJOY!

If I scream...if I cry...its only because I feel alive.

~Ultear

Time

Ultear woke with a fright.

She knew she should feel afraid-sleepwalking in the middle of the night could not be a sane thing to do-but the salt scent and the roar of the wind calmed her. The moon shone down on the snow, making them glitter like thousands of tiny lights flickering just beneath the surface, rolling over and over. Ur stood on wet snow and searched for landmarks. About a hundred yars away, the craggy finger of the cliff and her-their!-cottage jutted into the frozen tundra.

Somewhere out in the darkness, the wolves crooned their faithful call. The familiar sound reassured Ultear. A few miles away, the cottage flashed its beacon. Wrapping her arms around herself to keep from shivering, Ultear looked down at her clothes. She was wearing her flannel pajamas, but she must have put her hoodie on in her sleep. She was barefoot, which made sense. She never wore shoes when she went outside.

She stood there a moment, savoring the feel of the snow beneath her feet. It was glorious. Her body wanted nothing more than to spring the remaining distance to the water's edge and dive beneath the surface. No one would notice, and even if they did, they wouldn't care. The only one's who'd caution her against such recklessness were currently sound asleep in their cottage.

This was her home now; just as it had been for nearly a decade. Seven years had passed since her eigth birthday. Seven glorious years of warmth, love and happiness. She'd savored them, never taking a moment for granted. Deliora had been defeated. Crushed, really. Between the powers of her mother and the legendary dragon slayer who'd first guided her here to this time, the beast hadn't stood a chance.

She still remembered it; watching, as the dragon slayer and her mother froze the creature solid and reduced it to mere snow on the wind. He'd been magnificent that day. No, perhaps magnificent wasn't quite right. Marvelous. Yes, that was the word. He'd been marvelous that day. So was her mother, but that was a given. Ur her mother was always brillinat. Always beautiful. She'd watched her that day, and hoped to be like her; to be as beautiful and brilliant someday.

That day was fast approaching.

Ultear was growing up. Her once short hair was no longer so, the midnight tresses framing her hear shaped face and falling to the snow in a swirl of snowflakes. No longer small and no longer petite, she'd blossomed into womanhood. She became more beautiful each day. Maybe, someday, soon, she'd finally catch his eye. Finally confess her feelings to him. Finally convince him of how she felt. She didn't see him as just a father figure. Not at all. He'd saved her life. Given her a new start. Taught her the ancient art of Dragon Slayer magic. It was ironic, really. How could a human, even a fellow dragon slayer, teach another human the magic for slaying dragons? But this was Naruto-sama. He could do anything in her eyes. Anything at all...

Her cheeks warmed at the thought.

"Ultear."

Despite hearing her name called, Ultear jumped. She nearly leapt out of her skin, such was her surprise.

"Don't scare me like that!"

She turned and followed her footprints back along the moonlit stretch of sand. Ur was standing there. Like her daughter she wore pajamas, her voulptuous frame sheathed in black slacks and a pale shirt. Her onyx eyes glimmered like black jewels in the blackness; their once gentle tint fraught with concern and now, relief. More like winter ice than summer skies, she sighed, bequeathing a cloud ot steam to the night. She ran a hand through her hair, the black mess perfecting itself at the touch of her fingertips. Her smile had returned.

"Honey, what're you doing out here, this late?" Her mother sighed, tousling her daughter's hair. "You'll catch cold."

"If I scream...if I cry...even if I catch a cold, its only because I feel alive." Ultear thought to herself. "That's right. I'm alive. I am alive."

"Thinking about him again?" Ur asked, wrapping her arms around her daughter. Ultear nodded into her chest. Ur sighed. Stroking her child's hair with the love only a mother could know, she pulled her close and held her tight. "You're going to have to tell him someday." A devilish grin. "Unless you'd like me to...

Ultear, red in the face, said no!

Ur laughed, kissing her on the forehead.

"I'm kidding." She reassured. "Gods, you're so cute when you're flustered!"

"Mom!" Ultear whined, burying her face in her mother's bosom and hoping her hair would hide her blush. "Stop it!"

Over the past few years, Ultear had grown her hair out. Much to her delight, Naruto claimed to like girls with long hair. Though Gray and Leon teased her incessantly about it, Ultear was proud of her hair. That, and the Ice-Make magic she'd inherited from her mother. Ultear was a proud child, but she was not a foolish one. She knew when to admit her mistakes, and this was not one of them. Nor was her mitsake for falling in love. It wasn't her fault, really. It was his.

Naruto hadn't aged a day since they'd arrived in this time.

Ultear had first begun to notice his startling lack of age when she was ten. By the time she'd hit puberty, he still hadn't changed. Tomorrow they celebrated her fifteenth birth day and she was certain that she'd find Naruto as unchanged as the day she'd first met him. She remembered asking him about it, once, when she was younger. Surprisingly, he didn't refute her question. Though his answer was just as cryptic:

Naruto had grinned.

"The challenge of my life...is to find out how far I can take it." He'd said, staring up at the night sky. "If you believe in it, than anything is possible."

The words had stirred something in Ultear. Anything was possible. Was it possible then, for him to love her? She'd nutured a crush on him for years now, a crush slowly rising into something more; something called love. She knew she was too young yet to act on her feelings, just as she knew her mother accepted her feelings toward Naruto. Ur did not hold any semblance of romance toward the blond, though she remained grateful and continued to flirt-much to Ultear's exasperation!-with him to this day. Her mother did her best, but Naruto seemed immune to her charms, whether out of a sense of responsiblity or duty.

'He's mine.' Ultear thought to herself suddenly, vehemently. 'Only I can have him."

"Is that so?"

Ultear turned red as a rose. Kami! She'd spoken aloud!

Ur smiled.

"Then let's bag you a man."

There was a silence.

Then:

"Nani?"

A/N: Ah, the bond of a mother and a daughter! That's right! Thanks to his use of the Arc of Time: Rewind, Naruto is unable to age! Which will EVENTUALLY make him fair game for Ultear, who is now fifteen! Remember, Naruto was either nineteen or twenty when he used the spell, which means he is frozen at that age, the aging process being significantly slowed or stopped outright. The next few chapters will chronicle Ultear's attempts to seduce (sometimes quite commicaly) her beloved blond.

Prepare for hilarity!

R&R! =D