In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

Spacer crews travel the Far Borders and the Fringe of occupied space, trading. Spacing is an ancient and honourable profession carved out by millenniums. Most spacers start out as fourteen-year-old boys seeking a future. Few survive a decade spacing.

11. Reluctance

Naruto was going to overhaul him. A fox-boy who had raised himself in gutters was performing better than Sasuke Uchiha. Damn Shikamaru: Sasuke had been able to keep at least some of his advantage before Shikamaru had become Naruto’s advisor. Now whatever he tried only gave him temporary respite. He had gone to Ibiki and respectfully asked to attend the sessions he was giving Naruto. That meant he had kept pace for the strategic, tactical and technical aspects of ship security. Then they moved onto weapons and Naruto wiped the floor with him. Battle simulations were even worse, Sasuke’s reaction time was too slow and he struggled to keep track of all comrades and opponents. He dreaded to think what Naruto’s scores would be when Shikamaru finished recalibrating the simulations to reflect Naruto’s foxy senses.

Piloting proved humiliating. Naruto was a natural.

His eyes scanned the more detailed breakdown of his score. There had to be something. Finally, with deep reluctance, he allowed the pointer to hover over what Naruto called ‘sex-stuff’ but Iruka had titled ‘Entertainment and companionship’. To his surprise, there was more in the category than fucking and sucking. There were actually three components to his paltry score: giving Jiraiya blowjobs, playing Go and conversation. He investigated the other possibilities and noted a few things he did for the Captain. He would ask her to make a report to Iruka.

He even briefly wondered about offering his services as a masseur to the rest of the crew, but only briefly.

Then he saw it. He quickly moved the pointer away. There had to be something better, but there wasn’t. He couldn’t even offer his arse, because noone would want it. He moved the pointer back. It was particularly valuable because it was categorised as a missing skill, something noone in the crew was currently offering. Even allowing for that, it was highly rated. In addition, gaining a threshold number of points in the ‘Entertainment and companionship’ category would earn him a balance bonus, something that Naruto had already gained.

Could he cope? Could he cope with the consequences of not coping? He deactivated the display and went to scrub something, anything.

That night he was on the verge of slipping into sleep when he remembered the conversation with his mother: how disappointed she had been that Itachi had given up; how vehemently he had declared that he would not do the same.

That was why he had kept going after she had died, even though it made him sad.

Sometimes there was a price to pay. Like when Kakashi used his implant.

Shikamaru had been monitoring Sasuke’s movements every since he had started assisting Naruto. It helped him anticipate what Sasuke would do next, so that he was ready with their next move. Shikamaru actually admired Sasuke for lasting so long and for never complaining that the performance tracker was so blatantly weighted in Naruto’s favour. Iruka had set it up that way so that the fox-boy could be compared to Sasuke at the start, never considering Naruto’s potential or that the contest would last longer than a standard. Shikamaru estimated that Naruto would overhaul Sasuke in between five and eight days, depending on how many points Sasuke managed to glean. Amazed to see that Sasuke’s latest points came from the dreaded ‘sex-stuff’ category, Shikamaru snapped Iruka’s security like a dry twig and checked the details. So that was what Sasuke did when he was with the Captain.

But what was he doing in the first of the pressurised holds in the middle of the night? Shikamaru considered his options, then went there and set up a camera. He was not going to lose any sleep over it.

Next day he reviewed the tape. So Sasuke had one last move and, by the Lady, it was a good one. Shikamaru wondered why he had not used it before. He ran the tape again, zooming in on Sasuke’s face. Were those tears?

After that, Shikamaru waited each evening to see if Sasuke would do it but every day the moment passed. It was driving Shikamaru wild. Had he decided to give Naruto his moment? Or was it that he did not want to show weakness in front of the crew? Was he really going to spend his life serving this infuriating man?

And it wasn’t fair. Sasuke was still the better of the two.

So he did it. The next evening, when Iruka asked, as he always asked, whether anyone had any ideas for entertainment Shikamaru fetched the lute from where he had hidden it and held it out towards Sasuke.

Sasuke started at the biwa and then at Shikamaru. An initial wave of anger broke into confusion. If he played, Naruto would not surpass him, not for a while, perhaps ever. Shikamaru was scowling at him. Sasuke saw his own hand reach out and curl about the neck. He found a seat of the correct height and settled. He checked the tuning, loosened up by playing a few scales and began.

Kakashi leaned back and shut his eye. For him it was the sound of the Uchiha household, a gift from the past.

Jiraiya was absolutely still. By the Lady the boy could play. It was more than technical excellence. He had his mother’s gift of making the music speak.

Iruka leaned against Kakashi’s shoulder, Genma and Ibiki settled into their bunks and Shikamaru sat cross-legged on the floor.

Naruto had begun edging away as soon as Shikamaru appeared with the lute. One of the problems with music was that it worked for human ears but not for fox ears. Then Sasuke started to play and he realised, to his amazement, that it was beautiful. He crept back and curled up next to Shikamaru.

Sasuke waited until the last note faded away before opening his eyes. Naruto bright blue eyes were looking up at him. “Is there more?” he asked.

“That was wonderful, Sasuke,” Iruka said with a smile.

Genma sat up and plucked the metal stick from his mouth. “Can you explain to us, Brat, why we haven’t been enjoying that since the day you arrived?”

Playing always left him so open. Sasuke replied without thought, “It hurts too much.” He stood up. “Shikamaru, did you bring the case?”

“One more,” Naruto begged. “Please.” He put out his hand and touched the very edge of the lute with his fingers. “Lutes usually make me want to howl. This one sounds beautiful.”

“Do you know ‘Voyage Home’?” Ibiki asked.

Sasuke sat down and began playing the familiar tune. To his surprise Kakashi started the first verse on the second repeat of the first line. Sasuke adapted quickly. When the chorus came, Ibiki and Shikamaru joined in, followed by Jiraiya. Iruka and Kakashi then alternated verses, playing the parts of the two lovers, while the others sang the chorus. At the end, like in all good spacer ballads, the lovers were dead, leaving the chorus to finish up.

Shikamaru then went to fetch the case and Iruka to make hot drinks. Once the bika was safely in its case, Sasuke answered Iruka’s call to pick up a drink from the galley. Kakashi was there and Iruka promptly left, closing the door behind him. The cup was plucked from his hands and placed on the table. He was pulled to his feet, wrapped in Kakashi’s strong arms and, for once, Sasuke did not fight it.