Yeah, I am aware of the fact that It's been almost two months since I updated. I'm not even on the second chapter of my other story, either...

Arelia: Nyroc, quit ranting, please.

Huh? Oh, yeah! Our special guest today just happens to be Arelia. She's a light faerie--the last of them--and kind of annoying. And she's old, too. And she likes trees...

Arelia: -hits Nyroc on head- Hey, I'm not that old! And I'm younger than you, you antique!

Wow... I never realized that insults were part of your vocabulary...

Arelia: -hits Nyroc even harder-

YEOWCH! Would you STOP! Jeez... Just say the disclaimer...

Arelia: -sighs melodramatically- Nyroc doesn't own Naruto. He only owns a few thousand spell books that he won't let me read, the plot line, the original characters, a few more spell books, and all of the dust bunnies beneath his bed.

Hey, I do not have dust bunnies beneath my bed. I cleaned my chambers yesterday, I'll have you know.

Arelia: Sure you did...

-sighs- Anyways... Please read and review. Flames will be accepted for waiting so long to update.

"As I have loved you, so you must love one another" - John 13: 34

Chapter three

This life I pay for

"You want us to leave you alone?"

"Yeah."

"You positive?"

"Zyc, I'll be fine."

"I know, but..."

"But what?"

"Nothing."

"Spit it out."

Zyc sighed and remained silent.

"Zyc, tell me. That's an order."

"We worry about you, that's all."

Motaki sighed and turned her obsidian gaze onto her team mates. "You two worry too much," she said emotionlessly. Lakota sighed.

"We'll be at training ground seven if you need us."

"Whatever. I'm going home," she watched as her team mates sped off to train without her with a feeling of slight regret and turned onto the narrow path that led to the docks, following the muscle memory of her childhood to guide her. Letting her mind drift, she began running through the hand seals to some of her techniques in her head. Her head began to buzz as her hex seal started to sting. She looked up as she reached the edge of the forest that opened onto the Uchiha Grounds, and groaned.

"You're slow for a jonin," an all-too-familiar orange-clad ninja spoke, a high percentage of attitude in his voice.

"You're annoying for a genin."

The boy named Naruto clenched his teeth in silent fury as he rose from his cross-legged position five meters away. "How did you know I was a genin?" he demanded.

Motaki smirked beside her growing pain. "Actually, I know a lot about you."

"Yeah? Name five things," he growled, balling his fists. Motaki watched a wicked sneer cross his face and grinned even wider.

"Your name is Uzumaki Naruto. You have blond hair, blue eyes, and are about 165 centimeters tall. You are the only genin left in your particular age class because you were training with a perverted toad summoner for almost two years. You are team mates with Haruno Sakura, your unit commander is Hatake Kakashi, your replacement for a lost team mate is an annoying boy named Sai, you lost a team mate to the snake summoner Orochimaru, and you have an extremely bad attitude. Shall I continue?"

Motaki watched smugly as Naruto stared at her. "How did you..."

She shrugged. "I do as I am trained. Rogues analyze their surroundings absolutely and without question."

Naruto's expression immediately changed from awe to fury.

"Speaking of questions, what is your problem?"

Motaki sighed and clenched her fists as another bite of pain shot through her central nervous system. She looked up to fix Naruto in a silent glare, "Look, Uzumaki, I'm not in the mood to entertain right now. Do you mind if we continue this later?"

"Yes."

Of course. She had already known the answer before she asked. Her teeth ground together as another wave of pain ripped through her. Growling inwardly, she walked past the boy stiffly and made a direct line for the water in the small lake on the Uchiha grounds. Of course, Naruto grabbed her arm. Skin to skin.

The girl's scream peirced the evening air as her hex seal cut its way to the surface. Yanking out of the startled boy's grip, she let a steady stream of choice curses slip from her mouth as she gripped the tops of her shoulder in a vain attempt to rub the pain away from her upper back. She could feel the warm blood begin to trickle down her spine.

Naruto was staring at her now, a look of complete shock plastered on his face. "What the hell...?" Motaki did not answer as her hands dropped down in front of her body to rigidly form several complicated hand seals.

"Glacious arrest."

Ice began to curve its way up her subtly muscular arms and spread across her back, chasing after the spider web shaped markings that stretched over her body. Motaki sighed halfheartedly at the slight relief. Only her skin hurt this time, and her pre-existing headache didn't count. She turned an almost apocalyptic glare onto Naruto. She didn't bother to sugar-coat her almost-accusation.

"What are you?"

Regret crossed the boy's face as he looked down in shame. "It's a long story."

"I've got time to kill."

He sighed. She could tell that he didn't like this subject, but she wasn't going to let him out of the loop now. She was in waymore pain than she should have been. Naruto walked over to a nearby tree and sank down, leaning against it. Motaki followed stiffly, the ice that covered her body cracking and refreezing as she moved. She sat down opposite him as he began to tell his story.

"Kyuubi...," Motaki murmured softly, repeating the name. It had been almost an hour now, though the pain had not started to ebb. The unmelting sheet of frozen water that clung to her skin was beginning to grow warm as her chakra was slowly drained from her tired body. She let her vision trail to the edge of the water. "I'm sorry. I had no idea..."

"Don't worry about it," Naruto's voice was calm and steady, though she could tell that he was having trouble keeping it from breaking. A smile darted across his face and lit his sapphire eyes. "So, what are you?"

Motaki laughed breathlessly. "That's a very long story."

He grinned and repeated her own words. "I've got time to kill."

Motaki sighed lightly and began to organize her thoughts. "You know who Uchiha Sasuke is, right?"

Naruto nodded as sadness and pain flashed across his face. "He's the one who left."

The girl nodded solemnly, and a small, painful smile played with the corners of her lips. "He's my younger brother."

Hey, let me know if you liked it. Yes, I will gladly accept flames for taking so long to update. It beats the silent treatment that you guys usually put me through. -scowls accusingly at Guardian and Fanatic- Especially you two...

Arelia: Well, maybe if you updated more often than you do, people wouldn't have second thoughts about reviewing. Oh, and Guardian's probably angry now.

Yeah. Guardian can deal with it. Oh, and by the way, Author doesn't own Arelia. Guardian does.

Arelia: Oh, so now I'm being owned by people? Whatever happened to democracy?

It went down the drain along with freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.

Arelia: We can still bear arms, though...

With the way the elections are going? Not for long.

Please review. If there's anybody out there who actually reads this and is mad at me for taking so long, tell me. Please. Go ahead and rant. Or if you're not mad, review anyways. Seriously. It takes, like, thirty seconds. And I tried extra hard to make this chapter longer, which isn't exactly easy when you have writer's block for two months on top of school, jobs, social lives, and waiting for the stupid filler episodes to stop or the next volume of manga to be released so I have a small bit of inspiration.

Arelia: What was that about ranting...?

-glares at Arelia- Please review. If I don't get any more for this chapter I'll go insane. So please, preserve my sanity and click that magical little button.

Until next time,

Nyroc