I do not own Naruto or the song Metal Heart.

Yes, yes, last chapter everyone seemed a little OOC, I know, I know. Keep in mind, it's been three or four years, Hinata's Head of the Hyuga clan, Naruto's died and feels barely human, etc., etc. Even so, they're terribly different, but it's only a fanfiction. And now Sakura gets to share the OOC action, yay!

METAL HEART
chapter two

Losing the star without a sky. Losing the reasons why. You're losing the calling that you've been faking, and I'm not kidding.
It's damned if you don't and it's damned if you do. Be true, 'cause they'll lock you up in a sad, sad zoo. Oh hidy hidy hidy what cha tryin' to prove? By hidy hidy hiding, you're not worth a thing.
Sew your fortunes on a string and hold them up to light. Blue smoke will take a very violent flight, and you will be changed and everything, and you will be in a very sad, sad zoo.
I once was lost but now I'm found; was blind but now I see you. How selfish of you to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming. Metal heart you're not hiding. Metal heart you're not worth a thing.
-cat power

I don't even feel like saying goodbye to Iruka and Kakashi. Really, Hinata can probably come up with prettier words than I can anyway. It feels more permanent this way, doesn't it? I'm torn as to whether or not to pray I will return. I decide that there's no one to pray to anyway, and I turn away.

Sakura.

Is it my imagination or is she standing in front of me? I push at her chest with my hand, and she frowns. "What the hell was that for, idiot?" she growls, and I can almost pretend things are back to normal.

"You're real," I reply simply. Now moving to the next topic of discussion: why?

"Yeah." It seems that those ugly creatures called time and change have caught up to us, and we stand there like awkward preteens.

"I'm leaving," I decide to announce to her. She can tell everyone when I'm gone. They can dance around and sing, the wicked witch is dead. I wish them well.

"I know. Hinata . . . she told me." Hinata? I wonder how she knew. Then again, she's always known me too well.

"Oh. Well, here to say goodbye, then? Sweet of you." I can't help but at the last part completely sarcastically. I mean, it's not like she's tried very hard to be kind to me, either.

"No. I'm not going to say goodbye." I stiffen suddenly, and I wonder what her agenda is. "I'm coming with you."

Shock is just about the best word to describe what I feel at that moment. "With me? But . . . but . . . don't you hate me?"

She looks relatively embarrassed, and I take that as a good sign. She takes her sweet time to answer. "I never really hated you . . . but. . . I wasn't sure what to think about you, Naruto-kun. I mean, I wasn't even sure if you were human. And with that creature inside you—" I can tell from her tone, all this should be said in present tense.

"How do you know about the Kyuubi?" I demand suddenly, surprised that a mere Chuunin would know something like this.

"I'm Tsunade's apprentice. I learned a lot of things I wasn't supposed to, mostly when she was completely plastered out of her mind."

There's another long pause. I don't know exactly what to say to that . . .

"Well, will you let me come with you?" Everything about her seems to be pleading. Her eyes, her expression, and the way her body is leaning forward slightly . . . even though the childish crush I had developed for her had long-since evaporated, I still can't deny her anything when she really asks.

"Do you trust me?"

She hesitates for a second or two before speaking. "With my life." The two of us know she's lying, but I take her hand anyway, and the two of us head out of Konohagakure.

LINE

The two of us, despite our painfully apparent difference in power, are both decent ninjas. And so, we escape the notice of those guarding the exit of Konohagakure.

What then? We don't have the merest inkling of where Sasuke could be. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do to leave so suddenly. We should have invaded Tsunade's drawers and seen what we could dig out—

"Okay, from what I managed to pick up, it seems Orochimaru—and Sasuke—are probably in the hidden village of the Cloud. There have been definite signs of trouble in those parts, and where there's trouble, there's generally a creepy snake man with an obsession with young boys."

I will admit, I gape for a little while. Has Sakura planned this escape already? Plus, the fact that she is beginning to loosen up is definitely a good sign. One doesn't joke around with what they see as a scrap of metal, do they?

"To the Lighting Nation we go, then," I reply in a faux cheerful voice after an awkward pause in the conversation. Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work go-

"Naruto—" Sakura interrupts my thoughts, and I'm surprised to see her gripping the sleeve of my flax jacket. It seems she's just as shocked by her actions because she immediately lets go. You know, it's like some people expect me to burn them. What the hell do they think I am, the sun?

"How did it happen?" Her gaze is aimed at the ground, and her voice is soft and unsure. I don't like her like this, a demure and hesitant woman, because it's not what she is. She's a beautifully outspoken, strong-willed, violent mess of feminine determination and virile outrage. I hate masks and objects that show things differently that how they really are. It I had really wanted, I probably could use my limitless chakra to make myself look normal in public, but it wouldn't be me that everyone saw.

I want to be acknowledged, but as Naruto, nothing more or less than that.

"Ask me that as the Sakura I know, and I'll answer," I reply childishly, arms crossed over my chest. She glances up and I see a quick flare of fury in those green eyes of hers, and I know my words worked. That's a skill few others can lay claim to—I can piss Sakura off like nobody's business.

Even so, her voice is controlled and tight when she answers, as she's trying hard to keep herself under control. "Who am I, if not Sakura?"

I snort derisively. "Please. Back in the day you would have smacked me upside the head and demanded I explain myself. Now you're stammering and irresolute?"

Suddenly, all her repressed fury is let loose and her hands fly to her hips. "Well, forgive me for trying to be nice! Remind me to never try it again!" She pauses, as if wondering in what direction to take her short lecture, and her fist flies out to make the decision for her. I retreat, holding my injured nose possessively, whining in a high voice about Sakura's violent tendencies.

It actually doesn't hurt all that much at all, but I'm so glad to see Sakura acting normally that I gladly play along with the game.

"What the hell happened to you, Naruto?" Her tone's softer now that she's got that hit under her belt, but she's keeping true to her promise of not being nice to me.

I cough nervously, letting my hands fall to my sides. "I'll just let you know that if anyone asked but you, I probably wouldn't tell them—"

"Hinata knows, doesn't she?" Sakura shoots back, refusing to allow me to the pleasure of being particular to her.

"No. She never asked," I reply pointedly, but without much vehemence behind it. I'm going to end up spilling the beans one way or anything, might as well do it now. "Jiraiya went off, like he usually did. I was left, training and practicing whatever new jutsu he left me that time. Now that I think about it, I never really learned that one, seeing as how I died in the middle and all.

Anyway . . . despite the fact I am one, I never really thought about other Jinchuuriki, except for Gaara, because he's pretty hard to ignore, y'know? Maybe I should of. I feel kinda guilty now, because they've all suffered like I have, or at least I would assume they that they probably would. Even me, the one person who would understand them, doesn't even think of them.

I've thought about it over and over, how this is my punishment for that. How I deserved to have been killed by Risu." I can see Sakura wants to interrupt me with questions, but I cut her off by lifting the palm of my hand. If I stop now, I'll never finish.

"Anyway, Risu-sama came up behind me while I was concentrating, but Kyuubi has a nose for these kinds of things and tipped me off to her presence. I managed to avoid her first blow, which would have probably lost me my head, and all chances of me sitting here right now.

She didn't look human, Sakura-chan. Really, she didn't. I don't know if it was anger or pain or sadness that twisted up her face like that, but I pitied her so much, right then. I knew what she was without either of us having to say a word and I assume she knew I was the Kyuubi—"

"You're not the Kyuubi, Naruto," Sakura whispers, but I pretend I haven't heard her.

"Kyuubi's telling me that I should really call the Rokubi inside Risu he, since it was generally male. Only the . . . Jinchuuriki was female." I take a big gulp of air, and I continue. I don't really want to tell Sakura this, but I know I have to. If I want her to full accept me, she has to know me completely.

"She told me she would kill me. Risu told me her name, not that I would remember it for very long . . ."

Woman. Tall, busty, short green hair, intelligent, but sad, green eyes. On her shoulder is a tattoo of the symbol of the Hidden Village of the Rain.

There are scars running across it, like someone tried to bleed off the tattoo with a sharp knife, or kunai, as the case may be.

Around her one can make out a chakra outline, a dark, sizzling lightning yellow in the shape of a cat. From her form is emitted a sort of purr, like the roll of thunder.

Boy. Short, blonde, bright blue eyes and a curious, but guarded expression. On his forehead is tied the head protector of the Hidden Village of the Leaf. The woman takes this in, and grins a grin lacking any sort of delight.

She can make out the blue aura, tinted with red like blood. The Rokubi inside her whispers angry directions, and who is she to deny the one person who has cared for her—be it from selfishness or love?

You're the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, aren't you? My Biju says he knows your own pretty personally. He wants to know how he God feels locked in there like the rest of them.

Her tone is mocking, and she says the word God like a curse.

Inside the boy, the Kyuubi snarls in response, but the boy holds back the angry reply. Who are you?

Risu Not that it matters. You're going to be dead soon, anyway. With that, she runs at him, her speed amazing. The boy can barely dodge her attack before she's launching another one. Her yellow chakra snaps out at him like a whip, and burns his skin like lightning. The Kyuubi howls at the boy to let him out, to leave the fight to him. The boy knows nothing of a battle between demons, and this Rokubi has been his rival for centuries.

The boy understands rivalry. He knows nothing better. He allows the Kyuubi complete control of his body.

And soon regrets it.

The Kyuubi seems to be the easy winner in the beginning, but it's only a ruse of the Rokubi's to lower the Kyuubi's chakra enough for his plan to be carried out. The Kyuubi has too much pride in himself, he's too sure of his victory to expect it. So when there's a hole on his chest, he can only gape down at it in shock as he falls to the ground dead.

The Rokubi howls in triumph, and in his opened chamber, Risu hugs him and caresses his fur with loving hands. Victory. Pointless as it is, to these two abandoned souls, nothing could be sweeter. The Rokubi allows Risu to once more take control of the body, and she moves over to the boy's corpse to reap their victory on the loser. She's halfway done with removing the right arm when she receives a sudden kunai to the back of the head, and the woman falls over the boy, her blood spilling into his, like the red chakra had done to the boy's blue one, and two and their Jinchuuriki vanquished in one day.

"Jiraiya brought me to Tsunade, who . . . who made me the way I am," I finish lamely, and look up at her expectantly. I can truthfully say I have no idea what to expect from the pink-haired girl.

"Is it true, then? That you have a metal heart?" I reach over to grab her hand, and I feel her flinch, but I don't let it discourage me, despite the fact it makes me want to cry. I zip open the top of my jacket, and I place her hand over the cold metal plate under which my heart lies.

"Do you feel a heartbeat?" She shakes her head, no, she doesn't. I let her hand go, and it's gone from my chest in an instant. As I pull the jacket up over my exposed chest and synthetic neck, I say, "If you were to press your ear against it, I think it would sound more like a clock's gears and ticking hands than a pumping organ full of blood."

She doesn't answer, and soon we're moving on in silence.

Rather short. Blegh.

EDIT! This chapter was tweaked a bit, primarily the flashback scene.

Just so it's known, there's not likely to be much romance in this story (ZOMGWTFBBQ!) so there's no NaruSaku or NaruHina, etc., etc. Note the much which tips you off. There may be a pairing or two, but probably not with Naruto.