Iteration

‘Iteration’ is part of the space saga that began with ‘In the cold of space you find the heat of suns’ and continues in ‘Tales in Tarrasade’. There is also a one-shot ‘Silver Leaf Tales: Tying the knot’.

Thanks to Small Fox for being my beta. For this story he has also been my muse, suggesting a number of the ideas that have evolved to create this arc.

I am very grateful to those readers who have written a review and particular thanks to Prism0467, Dorkchic, disembodiedvoiceofthedying, Dreamfool, v, lonelylulaby, Midnight Essence, sadie237, satterb, richon, YamanashiOchinashiIminashi, ss_dragon_lady and angelj232000 who reviewed after chapter 102 was posted.

It is very encouraging to hear from readers. It helps me push towards completing this fic and makes me more positive about tackling a sequel.

Apologies if the characters have grown differently in their new environment.

This is posted in the Naruto/Sasuke section because it is part of a Naru/Sasu/Naru space saga. However, it does feature many other pairings (and a few threesomes). Apologies to those hoping for Sasuke/Naruto or Naruto/Sasuke action in every chapter.

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Chapter one hundred and three: Tracking

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The others thought Haru might have run away. Kazuki knew better. Haru would never leave without him. He was in the household somewhere.

Haru wasn’t good at hiding but Ran was. Ran must be hiding Haru.

As soon as Kiba-san was asleep he would go and look.


He needed a duct he could enter. Kiba-san had changed the grilles in their nursery, the playroom and their gym. He would try the babies’ nursery first. If he had to, he would wait until the coast was clear and slip into Ran’s room. If Ran was there, they would talk about Haru. If he wasn’t, Kazuki would track them.

Tracking people was easy. Kazuki had a better nose than any of the other kits or To-chan. He had a better nose than Kiba-san and Kama-san.

It came with the ears and the tail.

He suspected his nose was even better than Ryuu’s.


Itachi-san told them to think before they did. Kazuki thought and came up with Yuki. He waited until they were close and Kiba-san was not.

“No having a bad dream tonight,” he warned, keeping his voice soft and high.

Yuki’s whiskers twitched. “You going to look for Haru?” he checked.

Kazuki gave the small yip they used for yes.

“I’ll sleep with Hoshi,” Yuki promised. “Bring him back.”

Kazuki responded with the double yip that meant ‘will do’.

---

Ran was eating his evening meal with Ir-chan and Kashi-san in Ir-chan’s room.

He hoped Haru was not too lonely. He shouldn’t be hungry because Ran had given him some of his stash of food. Ran always had food stored.

Kashi-san was looking at him with his one eye.

“You know that Sasuke-sama loves Haru-chan very much?” Ir-chan checked.

Ran thought about that and nodded.

“And that Haru will be lonely away from his litter?” Ir-chan continued.

Ran was less sure about that.

“He will miss Kazuki,” Kashi-san suggested. “Like he did last time they were separated.”

Another nod; Ran agreed that Haru would miss Kazuki.

“We trust you,” Ir-chan told him.

Ran looked at him and then Kashi-san through his bangs. What did they trust him to do? Did they expect him to tell on Haru?

“Just be a good friend, Ran-chan,” Kashi-san told him.


Finally he was back in his room. He looked at his door. Did he trust Kashi-san not to let anyone open it? He decided he wasn’t sure so he locked it.

Ir-chan had set up the door so it didn’t lock but Ran had fixed that ages ago.

Next he packed his bag. As well as his usual supplies he put in more food, extra bottles of water, his spare flashlight and, at the last moment, the present En-san had given him for Haru.


Then it was into the ducts. He was soon where he had left Haru. Ran had picked a junction because there was a little more space there. Not much though; they could not be side by side or pass each over.

Haru was asleep. The flashlight Ran had left with him was still on, even though Ran had warned Haru it would not last. It was down to a weak glimmer.

Ran knew Haru was scared of the dark. He thought it was sweet. The dark was friendly compared to the things that scared Ran.

You could hide in the dark.


Haru was lying curled up on his side. His hair was flat against his head. It usually stuck up. Ran touched a strand. It was wet with sweat. He risked touching Haru’s cheek with the very tip of a finger. He was hot.

Ran wondered if being too hot was bad. Fevers were bad but people got those when they were ill. Was just being hot bad?

He peered more closely at Haru’s face. It was smeared with dirt but there were some clean bits. Haru had been crying again. The tears had washed the dirt away.


Even dirty, Haru was very pretty. Usually Ran was too busy checking what was on the inside to think about a person’s outside. It was nice to be so sure of someone that you could afford to look at the outside.


Ran didn’t like the thought of Haru crying himself to sleep. He sighed. Kashi-san was right; he needed to be a good friend. That meant persuading Haru to go back and talk to his Papa.

---

When Haru woke up it was dark but only for a moment before the flashlight came on. Ran was there.

“Saving energy,” Ran told him.

Haru knew he shouldn’t have fallen asleep with the flashlight on. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“I brought a charged one,” Ran assured him. “Do you want some food?”

Haru didn’t until he saw the tasties Ran had brought him. He munched on Choza’s crunchy clusters and drank water from the bottle Ran offered him.

He would need to find a lavatory soon; no one mentioned things like that in stories.

Ran pushed a small package towards him. It was wrapped in coloured paper and tied with a ribbon. There was a tag with Haru’s name on it. Haru looked at Ran. Was it from him?

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It’s a present from En-san,” Ran replied.

Haru unwrapped it carefully. It was a folding word grid. En-san had made them for him when he had been kidnapped. You turned back each corner in turn. Every time a word changed, giving a slightly different four word message. You ended up at the beginning. The message on top was ‘We miss you Haru’.

“I want to go visit them,” Haru declared on impulse.


As soon as he said it, Haru knew it was silly. If you were running away you didn’t go and visit people. Especially not people who were locked away.

Was he really running away? Where could he run too?

He missed Ka-chan and the others. He missed Kiba-san. He even missed Papa; just not the stranger inside Papa.

“We would have to go into the voids,” Ran reminded him.

Haru couldn’t do that. He had promised Papa. He thought about it.

“We go through the ducts, out into the corridor near the hatch to the shaft. Down the shaft, through the hatch to the lower corridor, into the ducts and out in En-san and In-san’s apartment,” he decided.

“Down the ladder?” Ran queried.

Haru pushed away his fear. “I can go down,” he insisted.

Ran looked at him. Haru expected him to ask about up, but he didn’t.

They both knew that it was a one-way trip. Either someone would tell on them, probably Hana, or coming out of the ducts would mean that the scanners spotted them.

---

Ran agreed. It wasn’t a good plan. Maybe Haru wanted to be found.

The route was a new one. Ran scouted the first part before going back for Haru. They crawled along the ducts, climbed out, replaced the grille and dashed along the corridor to the hatch.

The hatch cover was easy to open and the platform beyond was easily big enough for two. Ran brought out some cable from his bag while Haru pulled the door closed behind them.

“What are you doing?” Haru asked.

Ran tied one end of the cable around Haru’s waist. “In case,” he whispered. He then knotted the other end about his own.


Haru went down first. Ran hoped he did not slip. If he fell, he would pull Ran from the ladder. Tying them together did not make Haru safe, it only made Haru feel safe. He would be less scared and less likely to fall.

At least Ran hoped so.


They went past the platform to the upper void and carried on down. Ran’s plan seemed to be working. Haru was descending steadily. Ran heard him step onto the platform.

Ran untied them, then he cracked open the hatch cover and scouted the corridor.

---

Inryoku had given up. It was easier to live with a crazy, happy En-chan than a sane, miserable one. As soon as the door was closed and locked he started to prepare for the fantasy child’s visit. There were berries picked from Konan’s plants and plates piled with the snacks Choza-san had sent them. En-chan had begged origami paper from Konan and was now sitting making decorations.

He was humming happily.

“You can wear your face paint,” En-chan announced suddenly. “I don’t think it will scare him this time.”

“Good,” Inryoku acknowledged. “I suppose there is no chance of me doing some reading?”

“No,” En-chan confirmed. “I need our eyes and hands for this.” He finished the star he had been making, bounced up and took their body over to the console. “You can choose music or an audio drama. I don’t need our ears.”

Inryoku chose one of his favourite pieces of music.

“What if he doesn’t come?” Inryoku asked.

En-chan’s fingers stilled for a moment. “Then he’ll come tomorrow night,” he replied. “Everything will keep. We’ll put the berries in the chiller or pick fresh ones.”

He was so very convinced; Inryoku could feel it.

“You haven’t mentioned him to Konan-san or Hana,” Inryoku commented.

En-chan shook his head. “They may feel that they had to tell,” he explained. “You don’t feel you have to tell because you don’t believe he’s real.”


Inryoku finally managed to persuade En-chan to settle down in their chair and read. Everything was arranged on the low table; decorations, food and two labelled presents.

He was woken by a surge of excitement from En-chan. The child was standing in the same doorway as before.

“En-san, In-san,” he acknowledged in his soft voice. “I brought someone.”

Haru stepped out from behind him.


Inryoku no longer knew where his emotions stopped and En-chan’s started. He no longer cared whether he was sane or crazy. Haru was hugging him and he felt so very, very real.

“Don’t cry, In-san,” Haru scolded. “En-san, tell him to stop crying.”

“We have missed you so much, Haru-chan,” En-chan admitted. “Let go of him, In-chan, I want to look at him.”

Inryoku reluctantly let go; frightened that Haru would dissolve and what seemed so real was only a dream or a hallucination.

Haru had grown. He looked much healthier. He was smiling; happy to see them.


He didn’t vanish. Instead he ate the treats, admired the decorations and chattered the way that Haru always had. He only faltered a few times; when he spoke of Shika-san and his To-chan.

Inryoku was upset to hear that Shika-san was unwell. If that was true. If this was real. If it wasn’t all a dream.

If it was a dream, he hoped he wouldn’t wake up any time soon.


Haru waited for Ran to go to the lavatory and explained that he was the original empathic child from whom the Ranmaru prints had been made. He told them not to talk about it in front of Ran because Haru did not know how much Ran knew about the prints.

It made sense; Pein might have considered the empath so valuable that he kept him on the ship. It would be like Shika-san to take him and make sure that someone cared for him.


Inryoku had just decided that it was real when another child popped into view and he knew it was a dream. Children didn’t have furry ears, whiskers and a tail.

“Kazu-chan!” Haru squealed. “In-san, En-san, this is my brother, Kazuki. Ka-chan, these are my friends In-san and En-san.”

Kazuki craned his neck in their direction. “Smells like one person, moves like two,” he observed.

Haru nudged him. “Be polite,” he insisted.

The silver fox-boy bowed. “In-san, En-san,” he acknowledged.

“Kazuki-chan, “ En-chan replied.

The child had blue eyes; the same colour as Haru’s.


Inryoku let En-chan take over for a bit. He was racing about emptying all the food he could find onto plates and filling cups with fruit juice.

Then, when they went back into the living room, there were two more. These ones were bigger and they didn’t have the fox ears and tail. They did have whiskers. Their hair, or fur, was gold.

“Ya-chan and Yo-chan followed Ka-chan,” Haru explained. “Ka-chan tracked us.”


They ended up sitting in their chair, with Haru sitting in their lap. Ran was on the far side of the room, perched on a chair he had brought from the kitchen. The three other children were sitting on the floor around the low table, finishing off the last of the food and playing with the decorations.

A small, unwelcome thought crept into Inryoku’s mind. These were the three extra children they had kidnapped. The three that Pein had insisted were ‘disposable’.

Pein had been so wrong. Inryoku shuddered. Thank the Lady the Deva had come to his senses and made sure they were safely returned.

“You all right, In-san?” Haru asked him.

He hugged Haru close. “I am fine, Haru-chan.”

---

Sasuke, Shino and Asuma were in the control room. Kiba and Kakashi were in the crew room. Shino would stay at the communications console but the other four of them were fitted with microphones and earpieces.

Asuma checked that the microphone was off. “Kiba’s sure he ate it?” he asked.

Sasuke nodded. “You know how Ka-chan gobbles and Choza checked his bowl afterwards.” He pointed at the main screen. “Look, there’s the signal.”

“I am not doubting that the transponder is in his bunk,” Asuma explained. “I am querying whether Kazuki is with it. If he saw it in his food, he’s bright enough to know what it is.”

Sasuke hoped Asuma was wrong. The whole plan turned around Kazuki swallowing the transponder.

“There he goes,” Shino announced.

“By the Lady,” Asuma muttered.

Even Sasuke was shocked. How fast could Kazuki move? It was as if the signal vanished from one place and then appeared in another, with only the slightest wisp of a trail in between.

“He’s in the ducts,” Shino announced.

He paused in the ducting that fed air into Ran’s room. Sasuke guessed he was picking up the trail. Then he was heading away from the crew room.

Asuma activated his microphone. “Asuma here. He’s on the move. Hold station until we have a destination.”

There was the buzz of a carrier wave in Sasuke’s earpiece before Kakashi and Kiba responded.

“Kakashi here. Acknowledged.”

“Kiba here. Understood.”


Sasuke watched the small, jumping blob on the screen. Would he go into the voids? How should Sasuke respond if he did?

He didn’t. Instead he dropped down one of the shafts so quickly that Sasuke gasped and jumped to his feet, thinking Kazuki must have fallen.

Asuma stood and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Think Naruto,” he reminded him. “He’s sliding down the ladder.”


The blob went down to the platform that served the lower void but then climbed up to the one above. Then it was in the corridor, through the ducts and into a room.

“Where’s that?” he demanded.

Shino took a deep breath. “It’s the Zetsus’ apartment.”


Sasuke froze. Haru had run to Zetsu, one of the people who had kidnapped him. He swallowed. He must control his emotions. He had to get Haru and Kazuki out of that apartment. Ideally he would take Shikamaru, but Shika was still sedated.

He activated his microphone. “Sasuke here. Kakashi, Kiba, meet me at the top of the main stairs.”


Sasuke walked swiftly to the rendezvous. Kakashi was not going to react well to the news. As he approached them, Sasuke could tell that Kakashi was reading his mood and was already uneasy. He steeled himself. They were going to retrieve the children with as little fuss as possible. Any discussion could wait until morning.

“Kakashi-san, Kiba-san,” he began.

Sasuke-sama,” Kakashi acknowledged, followed by Kiba.

“You are not to overact,” Sasuke continued. “Kazuki is in Zetsu’s apartment. We have to assume that Haru and Ran are there too.”

Kakashi’s sharp intake of breath and his expression confirmed Sasuke’s expectations.

“They will be fine,” Kiba assured them. “I have seen the Zetsus with the baby. They are very kind and gentle.”

Kakashi scowled at him. “Zetsu is an enemy,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

Sasuke wondered if he should interfere but Kiba was too quick.

“Am I still your enemy, Kakashi-san?” he asked.

Kakashi scowl softened to a frown. “Of course not,” he replied. “You are Guardian, Kiba-san. In Uchiha there is no position of greater trust.”

“I confess that I struggle to see the distinction between my situation seven standards ago and the Zetsus’ now, Kakashi-san,” Kiba insisted.

Kakashi’s expression confirmed that, in his mind, there was a chasm between the two. “You are sworn to Uchiha,” he stated.

“Maybe the Zetsus would do the same if Sasuke-sama offered them the opportunity,” Kiba pointed out. He turned to Sasuke. “I recommend that I enter the apartment, Sasuke-sama. The Zetsus are accustomed to me.”

Sasuke considered and then decided. “I agree but I do not think you should announce yourself,” he answered. “I don’t want Haru to have the opportunity to flee into the ducts.” He looked towards Kakashi. “Can I trust you to behave yourself, Kakashi-san, or do I need to leave you here?”

Kakashi did not hesitate for a moment, which was a relief.

“My place is at your side, Sasuke-sama.”

They walked down the stairs side-by-side.

---

Ran was watching the others. The kits were arguing over the last few tasties. Haru had finally stopped talking and fallen asleep on In-san and En-san’s lap.

In-san was stroking his hair, which was nice.

Then, with no warning at all, Kiba-san was in the doorway. The kits’ eyes and mouths were round with shock.

“Why, there are even more of you than I expected,” Kiba-san said. “Time to go home, children. Thank you for looking after them, Inryoku-san and Enerugi-san. What do you say to In-san and En-san, children?”

The three kits stood up and bowed. “Thank you, In-san and En-san. It was a lovely visit.”

In-san and En-san stood up, being very careful not to wake Haru. “You are welcome, Ka-chan, Ya-chan and Yo-chan,” they replied.

“Out you go,” Kiba-san told them. “Wait for me in the corridor. Ran, what do you say?”

Ran was surprised to be included. It felt rather nice. “Thank you, In-san. Thank you, En-san.”

In-san and En-san bowed.

“Kakashi-san is waiting for you outside,” Kiba-san told him.

Ran nodded but moved slowly. He wanted to keep an eye on Haru. Kiba-san held out his arms for him.

“I’ll make sure Haru is safe,” he assured them. “I’ll come by tomorrow and we’ll talk.”

En-san nodded and then In-san. They handed Haru over.

He did not wake.


They walked though one door and then another. Kiba-san shut them behind him; he had no problems carrying Haru with one arm.

Out in the corridor were the three kits, Sasuke-sama and Kashi-san.

“He was sleeping in the Zetsu’s lap,” Kiba-san told them. “He has not woken. Perhaps I should carry him, Sasuke-sama?”

Sasuke-sama wanted to carry Haru, Ran could feel it. Instead he nodded and allowed Kiba-san to do it. It wasn’t right. His Papa should be holding him.

“Sasuke-sama should carry him,” he whispered.

All eyes turned to him and Ran wished he had been silent.

“Ran?” Kashi-san queried.

“If Haru wakes up, he needs to know his Papa loves him,” he explained.


Kiba-san nodded and handed Haru to Sasuke-sama. Haru shifted and his eyes fluttered open.

“Papa?” he asked.

Sasuke-sama kissed his forehead. “I love you, Haru-chan. Go back to sleep.”

Haru managed a wordless mumble as his eyes closed. Sasuke-sama held him close and led the way with the kits and Kiba-san following. Ran watched as Kiba-san swept them up so that Kazuki was perched on his shoulders and he had Ya-chan and Yo-chan on either arm.

Ran walked beside Kashi-san, a little way behind.

“Well done,” Kashi-san told him.

Ran nodded.

“Do you want to hold my hand?” Kashi-san asked.

Ran considered. “Not yet,” he decided.

---