Summary: Of all the strange and interesting people Uzumaki Naruto had met over the years, Edward Elric definitely took the cake.

Note: This story does not follow the Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist timeline.

Also, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are sixteen years old.

And for hell's sake, let's just pretend that ninjas read newspapers.

"Al?"

"What is it, big brother?"

"We're definitely going to get your body back. I promise."

"Mm-hm. You too, Brother."

Sun Boy

Ch. 2

"Sun-san"

Edward wiped his mouth as his latest pain spasm rocked his frazzled nerves. The bile and remnants of his lunch that he'd spewed out covered the ground in front of him. The road lurched and swayed as he staggered to his feet, leaning against a tree for support. As he gazed up at the verdant canopy, he couldn't help but think about what his brother was doing right now. Had his brother been restored? Was he living in Resembool with Winry and Granny Pinako? He chuckled and looked down at his right glove. That single white glove (it was more brown than white by now) hid his abomination from public eyes. He hated his automail arm, no matter how many advantages it had. It reminded him of his mistake, a mistake that nearly cost his brother his life. They'd both wanted their beloved mother back, but what happened that night still haunted Edward to this day and would for the rest of his damned life.

Once he'd regained his breath, Edward cautiously walked down the dirt road, squeezing his eyes shut to make the headache pounding relentlessly against the back of his eyes to go away. It hurt so damn much. He cursed bitterly and mentally flipped Truth the bird as he continued on his way.

As he passed into a slightly more civilized area (as in there were suddenly a few more houses in his surroundings), he looked around for anyone ahead who might need some help. There was a mother and her baby girl, who was bawling her tiny little lungs out because she wasn't getting her food. Near them in a corner was a stooped old man with a cane, thoughtfully stroking his white goatee while staring down at what appeared to be the remains of a flower pot. A young boy and girl ran past him, chasing and shouting and playing and generally making lots of loud and happy noises. Edward smiled wistfully. There had been a time when he and Alphonse had been like that. Now . . . Edward shook his head to be rid of his morbid thoughts. Focus, Edward told himself.

He stopped near the old man and asked, "Would you like me to fix that flowerpot, old man?"

The old man looked up and squinted at him with dark, beady eyes. "That'd be helpful, young one," he rasped.

Edward bit back the automatic response of "I'm not small!" and merely told himself that the old man was saying he was young (and he was!). He clapped his hands together and put them on the broken pieces of the flower pot. It flashed with bright blue light. The pot was once again whole, except for a small little chip on the rim where apparently a piece had been missing. But the old man didn't care and thanked Edward for his generous deed. Edward nodded his head in acknowledgment and moved on.

As he started walking out of the tiny civilian village, he couldn't help but hear a snippet of conversation from some women passing by.

"Did you see his picture? Isn't he gorgeous?"

"Hun, he's way too young for you. You're like, forty and he must be eighteen!"

"I'm thirty-eight! That would only be twenty years of difference!"

"But seriously, you want to marry the Sun Boy? That's not possible. He's a young wanderer, and way too young for you."

"Oh, shut up! I look young, don't I? Maybe he's really thirty-five years old or something . . ."

"Yeah, like that would happen. He's gotta be eighteen. I know it!"

And the women walked away out of sight. Edward blinked slowly as he replayed the conversation in his head. Sun Boy? Who's that? he thought, shrugging his shoulders and making his way out of the village. Well, not like it's any of his business, right?

Wrong.

Nobody knows what their future will be like, because it is unpredictable. You make your own fate. Edward Elric knew that. But nothing would prepare him for what would come in his . . .

Edward soon learned who exactly the Sun Boy was.

His hands shook in repressed fury. They had named him . . . a boy. A BOY. A fucking B-O-Y. He was a man, damn it! He was not some little wanna-be hero of a kid! And they had the BALLS to . . . to call him . . . short. This newspaper was shit. He angrily shredded it into little pieces and threw them over his shoulder. He was going to find the fucker who wrote this piece of crap and strangle him. Or her. Whoever gave him such an ersatz nickname. He paused. Well, it wasn't really fake . . . his hair and eye color did seem to be the color of the sun. Fine. He wouldn't strangle them. He would . . . scream the crap out of them, punch them with his automail fist, and give them a kick with his automail leg. Yes, that seemed good enough. He laughed evilly in his head.

Edward calmed down and took a look around. He seemed to be in a bustling little village surrounded by water. He didn't exactly remember how he got here; maybe across the gargantuan bridge extending from the island to the mainland. He heard somewhere fleetingly that it was in the Nami no Kuni, the country of waves. Ah, no wonder.

"Hey!" he heard a young voice call out to him. Edward turned around to look questioningly at the owner of the voice.

A kid (seemed to be in his pre-teens) came running towards him. He ran up to him with a grin. "You're the Sun Boy, right? You sure are short! I've heard loads about you! Gramps needs some help fixing part of the bridge that broke off when a boat accidentally smashed into one of the supports. Come on!" the kid grabbed his hand and dragged Edward off to an unknown destination.

"I'm not short!" Edward weakly retorted. But the kid ignored him.

"By the way, my name's Inari!" the kid beamed at him.

Edward supposed the kid's underlying motive was to be the first person to get his real name. Not gonna happen. He was silent as they continued to their destination. Coming to the outskirts of the village, they approached a moderately small house, where a young woman out front was watering the plants.

"Mom!" shouted Inari, dropping Edward's hand. "I brought someone to help Gramps!"

The woman looked up with a kind smile, which stung Edward in his heart when he was reminded of his own mother. His mother . . . he shook his head. She'd died years ago, but his memories of her (her smell, her face, her skin, her cooking, her beautiful voice and laughter, her praise) would remain in his heart and mind forever.

"Hello," said the woman. "My name is Tsunami. My father is out in the back with some of his co-workers. Would you like me to take you there, Sun Boy-san?"

Edward scowled at his nickname. "I'm not a boy," he bit out, not wanting to be too harsh to a woman who reminded him of his mother. "I'm a man."

Tsunami continued to smile at him. "But if you do not give me a name to call you by, I will refer to you by your nickname," she said gently. Edward seethed, but knew she was right. Fine. He'd tell her his name, but he'd have to make her promise to keep mum about it ('because he didn't want his name to be known to the world).

"If I tell you my name, will you promise not to tell anyone?" he whispered. "I don't want people to know."

Tsunami put her hand over her heart and said in mock-solemnity, "I promise."

Edward glanced down at the kid and said, "You too. Promise not to go blabbing your mouth off about my name."

"But if Mom addresses you by your name and people are nearby, won't they know?" questioned Inari innocently.

Damn, the kid's got a point.

Edward wanted to rip out his hair in frustration. Tsunami looked at him worriedly. "Having people know your name can't be that bad, right?" she asked. Edward shook his head.

It can be so bad that I'll end up dragging this world into my own problems and I don't want that. I guess being called by my nickname isn't THAT bad . . . that's it!

"Tsunami, right? I've decided not to tell you my name, but you can address me as Sun-san if you'd like." I can deal with that.

Tsunami smiled. "Well then, Sun-san, shall we be off?"

"That's the guy who saved us!"

Naruto slammed his hands down on the table, staring down at the picture that stared up at him. According to the paper, the strange man had been nicknamed "Sun Boy". It certainly fit. They had no recordings of his name, but according to an extra article on the side, he preferred to be called "Sun-san". The article went on to list his various deeds (including fixing a bridge, a sick man's ninja tools, a broken house, and making a doll for a little girl). It also inserted a detailed description of him so that people who were hoping to run into him could (Naruto thought that with the guy's golden hair and golden eyes, he'd be hard to miss).

Shikamaru and Kiba, who he'd been having lunch with, stared at him in faint surprise. "You ran into this guy?" Kiba asked, shaking the newspaper under his nose.

"Yeah!" chimed Naruto. "He saved me from an untimely death and beat the crap out of our opponent. Then he imprisoned him in a cage and left him there."

"I don't believe you," Kiba stated in disbelief. "There's no fucking way a pretty boy like that is that strong."

"Sasuke's a pretty boy, isn't he?" replied Naruto snidely. Kiba gave him the finger.

"Did he tell you his real name?" asked Shikamaru, studying the picture more closely. "He seems very young."

"Nope. While he was arguing with Sasuke, he said he was only twenty years old," said Naruto. Kiba choked on his tea.

"Twenty? Are you kidding me?" he exclaimed. "He looks like he's sixteen! The article even says that he's really short. I bet he's a legitimate midget."

Suddenly the temperature dropped several degrees. A nearby customer whirled around, flung off the hood of his burgundy traveling cloak, and screamed, "WHO'S SO SHORT HE COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR AN ANT AND BE TRAMPLED ON BECAUSE PEOPLE THOUGHT HE WAS AN ANT AND COULDN'T SEE HIM?"

The restaurant was mysteriously silent.

Naruto pointed.

Kiba gaped.

Shikamaru stared.

The customer faltered.

"Hey, it's you!" shouted Naruto, zooming over to the man and shaking his gloved hand vigorously. "Thank you for saving us, Sun-san! Come on, I want to show you all the sights in Konoha! Yeah, this is Konoha, where I wanted to take you, but noooo, stupid Sasuke said you shouldn't be shown the way to the village because 'it's a hidden village'. What is your real name, by the way? I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

The man stared at him, stupefied by the fast stream of words that just exited Naruto's mouth. Shikamaru stood up.

"Give the guy a break, Naruto," said the shadow user. "Sorry about Kiba insulting you. Just go finish your lunch."

"Uh . . . thanks," replied the man, throwing his hood back over his face to hide his embarrassed flush.

Not that it did any good.

Within minutes, the entire village of Konoha knew about the Sun Boy's presence. Women swooned at the sight of him. Men pestered him for help. Ninjas harassed him (as in popping up unexpectedly to test his reaction time).

Finally, he could take it no more and beat a hasty retreat to some remote place in the village where suddenly, no one could find him. What an enigma.

And it so happened that Rock Lee was training by himself when he came upon Edward taking a nap in a tree. Oh dear.

Um. Done? Second chapter, yep yep. Quick update for once. I really got into writing this, even though I barely have any reviews. Edward has a new alias. Sun-san. Lol. Please review. No flames. Constructive criticism appreciated.

MangaFreak15