Iteration

Author’s note

Look out for an extra posting this week. There will be a new tale in the ‘Tales in Tarrasade’ series and it will be Kisame/Haku/Itachi.

‘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.

Sincere thanks to readers who have taken time to rate the story or write a review or contact me by email (my email address is in my profile). Regular reviewers have my enduring gratitude – without you I would have stopped writing this saga many months ago.

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 who are expecting Naruto/Sasuke or Sasuke/Naruto every chapter.

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Chapter thirteen: Confession

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Haku knew his suspicions were justified when Ranmaru was waiting for him in the galley the morning after their little talk. Ranmaru had a tea tray ready. The tea bowl Haku had used the day before was placed in front of the chair that Haku had occupied the previous morning. When Haku appeared, Ranmaru placed the kettle on the stove.

He sat down and allowed Ranmaru to make him tea. He sipped the tea and waited.

“Haku-san, do you think it is possible for someone to do something that is wrong without knowing it is wrong?” Ranmaru asked.

Haku tried to control his emotions as carefully as his expression. “Of course, Ranmaru-kun. We can only do our best at the time.”

“And do you think good people do bad things thinking they are good things?”

“Yes,” Haku answered immediately. He smiled. “My mother had thirteen children, far more than she could care for, because she thought it was the right thing to do. She was trying to do the right things and she loved us, but thirteen was far too many.”

Ranmaru smiled tentatively in return.

Then Sumaru arrived and Haku resolved to arrive earlier in the galley the next morning.


After a morning of mulling over possible consequences, Haku decided to speak to Neji. He made sure that they were well away from the others by suggesting time sorting laundry in the closet.

“I think Ranmaru is on the edge of telling me something,” he admitted.

Neji’s hands stopped mid-fold.

Haku scowled at him. “If you and Shikamaru and Kakashi get involved again he will clam up. Also, it may be something significant or it may be something that is important to him but trivial to us. I am telling you because I decided I should tell someone and you are the one least likely to overreact.”

Neji gave one of his ghosts of a smile. “Thank you. I think. Is there anything you want me to do?”

“Get up really early tomorrow morning but stay in your room,” Haku told him.


Next he questioned Konohamaru.

“He’s much quieter than on the Silver Leaf,” Konohamaru admitted. “He says he is tired and hides in his room.”

“Maybe he’s finding it all a bit much,” Haku suggested. “Does he do anything in his room other than sleep?”

Konohamaru considered. He smiled. “We’re still fucking twice or three times a day.”

Haku shook his head. “Then you are probably tiring him out, Kono-kun. You need to be careful. He is only young and very keen to please. It is up to you to be the responsible one.”


It felt like the middle of the night when Haku took up station in the galley with the door to Iruka-sensei’s crew room open. He had been there about thirty minutes when Ranmaru crept in and closed the door behind him. He went to the stove and switched on the kettle and, when it had boiled, brought it over to the table. Haku lifted the lid from the teapot and Ranmaru poured the hot water onto the tea leaves.

Haku replaced the lid and Ranmaru sat down.

“If they decide to kill me will it be quick?” he asked.

Haku’s gut clenched. It was not a good start. “Yes,” he promised.

“I am a spy,” Ranmaru admitted. “Only I don’t want to be a spy. I want to swear to Uchiha and be Konohamaru’s lover.”

Haku forced himself to stay calm. “You will need to tell us more than that, Ranmaru-kun. Do you want to tell me and then tell it all again, or should I get Neji?”

Ranmaru just looked at him.

Haku guessed he was near the end of his tether and simplified the question. “Can I get Neji?”

There was a long pause and then a nod.

Haku opened the door, stepped through it and shut it. Then he pressed the activator for the alarm he had given Neji before readmitting himself to the galley. He sat back down and poured three cups of tea.

“He will be along soon,” Haku said, hoping that Ranmaru was too distracted to realise that Neji was appearing far too quickly.


They asked him to start at the beginning. After a few minutes Neji asked him to stop.

“Ranmaru-kun, you are going to feel some disturbing emotions from Haku and I,” Neji told him. “They are not directed at you. They are because some of the things you are telling us will upset us. Can you understand that?”

Ranmaru considered and nodded. Then he continued telling them about living on the streets and child-catchers and extermination.

It wasn’t a story that took long to tell.

“You have no idea who sent you?” Neji asked.

Ranmaru considered and shook his head. “They never used names. I could describe them,” he added, hopefully.

“That would be very useful but it would be better done later,” Neji told him. “The only person you know is a lady called Konan-san who had a house where you lived for three standards and then visited for the next three.”

Haku watched Ranmaru thinking. “I could name the teachers and the neighbours and the other children at the school,” he volunteered.

“That will also be useful. Again, we can do that later,” Neji replied. “And all they told you to do was to make us accept you? You have no idea about how they intend to contact you?”

“They taught me how to observe and remember,” Ranmaru said. Then his eyes filled with tears. “They told me to make someone love me, so I did, but I didn’t know I would love him back. I don’t know how they intend to contact me.” He swiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. “Konan-san didn’t know about the men on the Hellion,” he added for the third or fourth time.

Haku was struggling to keep his rage under control. If he ever got hold of that woman he would wring her neck.

“I am sure Konan-san only had your best interests at heart,” Neji assured him.

Haku was impressed. If he ever needed anyone to lie for him he would pick Neji.

“You had done it. Ranmaru-kun,” Neji told him. “We had accepted you. Why tell?”

Tears began pouring down Ranmaru’s cheeks. “I don’t want to be a spy. I don’t want to hurt Konohamaru. I would prefer to die.” He glanced at Haku and then looked at Neji. “Haku-san promised that it would be quick if you kill me.”

“Do you think we will kill you?” Neji asked, to Haku’s surprise.

Ranmaru was very still, although the tears continued to flow. “Everyone says that Sasuke-sama makes good decisions. If he decides I should die it is the right decision.”

Haku looked at the small camera with a microphone Neji had set up on the table. He pitied Sasuke, but he was pleased that Neji had pushed for an answer.


They told Ranmaru that he would have to stay in his room until they docked later that day. Neji told him that it was fine if he just slept but gave him a list of three things he could do: outlining his training, describing the men who had trained him or giving more detail of the area where he had lived with Konan-san.

Ranmaru went into his room and they locked the door behind him. Then Neji went to wake Kakashi and Shikamaru while Haku braced himself to tell Konohamaru.


Konohamaru stared at Haku while and after he spoke. Haku wondered if the words had gone in. Finally, he reacted.

“You are sure?” he asked.

“Yes, he confessed because he loves you and he does not want you to be hurt by these people, whoever they are,” Haku repeated.

“He told you,” Konohamaru stated, dully.

Haku decided to try; Sasuke-sama might decide in Ranmaru’s favour. “Ranmaru loves you,” he replied. “If he had told you there might have been a split second, maybe longer, when you had foolish thoughts. He spared you that.”

Konohamaru looked puzzled and then flushed. “I wouldn’t. I would never be disloyal to Sasuke. Never.”

Sometimes Haku forgot that the two of them had been raised in the same household for six standards.

Konohamaru’s face twisted in a way that Haku knew he did not like. “It was all pretend,” he observed.

That was not good. Haku dragged Konohamaru with him to find Neji. Luckily he had yet to show the recording to Kakashi and Shikamaru. Haku was thankful that they both hated getting up early.

“Konohamaru needs to see and hear it,” he insisted, daring Kakashi to contradict him.

Kakashi studied Konohamaru for a moment and then nodded.


Haku found the recording even more upsetting than being there in person. It was harrowing listening to Ranmaru switch between emotionless narration, like when describing being in the cage watching the other children exterminated, and the agonised pleading that came into his voice every time he mentioned Konohamaru.

By the time it was over Shikamaru was crying and Konohamaru was paler than Haku had ever seen anyone who was not dying. Haku told himself that putting Konohamaru through it was justified; it had stopped him recreating Ranmaru as a cold-hearted deceiver.

Kakashi turned to Shikamaru.

“You’ve got a lot to do, Shika-kun. Get that packaged up to send to Sasuke and then start thinking about who these people are who have put this much effort into infiltrating us.” He then walked to Konohamaru and laid a hand on his shoulder. “Well done, Kono-kun. You made him realise what we are about. It was because of you that he chose to end the deceit.”

“I can’t see him,” Konohamaru stated.

Kakashi shook his head.

“Can I send a message to Sasuke?” he asked.

Kakashi squeezed his shoulder. “Yes, of course.”

---

Ranmaru found himself strangely calm. He had watched Haku slide the door shut and then laid down on the bed and slept. Now he was sitting at the desk working on one of the tasks Neji had set for him; recalling as much detail as he could about the men who had trained him.

Haku brought him food. He was glad it was not Konohamaru. He was not sure if he could bear to see Konohamaru.

“We will be docking this afternoon on schedule,” Haku told him. “We have forwarded what you told us to Sasuke-sama. I do not know if he will have made his decision by the time we arrive. It would be best if you were ready to disembark when we dock.”

Ranmaru nodded. “Thank you, Haku-san, for everything.”

Haku studied him for a moment, then gave a small bow in return. “You are welcome, Ranmaru-kun. I am honoured that you chose me to tell.”


A voice, perhaps Gai-san’s, announced that they had jumped onto the system. Ranmaru sent what he had done to Neji, showered and dressed in smart clothes that were not his uniform. He did not pack. Instead he made the clean clothes into neat piles that would be easy for Haku or someone else to transfer to the closet. He put the worn clothes, sheets and used towels into a basket.

Then he sat on the bed and waited.


Kakashi-san came for him. He was in uniform. He said nothing other than that Ranmaru was to accompany him. They walked through the ship’s corridors and down two sets of stairs. After more corridors they came to Gai-san, also in uniform, standing at an open airlock.

They stepped through and walked along a tubular corridor made of many sections that resonated to their footsteps. Ranmaru guessed it was the link between the ship and the station. At the other end there were three people that Ranmaru did not recognise but all had the eye patches that marked them as fighters from the old Uchiha; they fell in and walked behind them.

Once through the next airlock they were in a very different place. Gone were the crude metal bulkheads and raw electric lamps that Ranmaru associated with space stations. Carefully finished and skilfully lighted walls, floors and ceilings were tastefully decorated and adorned with works of art. It looked old in a good way.

The corridor opened up into a space dominated by massive double doors. In the centre, bisected by the junction between the doors, was a huge red and white circular symbol; the Uchiha fan with which Ranmaru had become so familiar. Two of the fighters walked past them and slid open the doors with remarkable ease. Ranmaru was briefly distracted wondering how they worked.

Then he saw what was beyond. The room was huge. At the far end, on the wall, was the Uchiha symbol. Under it stood two men, one dark haired and one golden, in Uchiha uniforms. Arranged in two rows facing a centre aisle were others, male and female, also in uniform.

He recognised some of those from the Silver Leaf and the Oak; he thought that he could see Konohamaru at the far end of the row to his left.

“You walk alone, Ranmaru,” Kakashi-san told him.


Ranmaru took a deep breath. He did not know what awaited him at the other end of the room. Perhaps Naruto-san, whom Sumaru called Sasuke-sama’s shield, would kill him. If so, Haku-san had promised that it would be quick.

He would walk well, so that he did not bring more shame to Konohamaru.


He concentrated on the two figures in front of him. They were dressed as they had been in the first holovideo rather than the second; Naruto-san was wearing his silver bodyguard tags and Sasuke-sama the matching earrings and bracelets.

In person they were much more imposing than in the recordings. Naruto-san was magnificent; tall and powerful. However as he drew closer it was Sasuke-sama’s eyes that captured his attention; dark pools too wise for a young face.

In that way they were like Haku’s eyes.


He was there, at the front, and Naruto-san had signalled him to stop.

“This is Ranmaru,” Sasuke-sama began, his voice carrying easily across the huge space. “Others placed him within Uchiha to act as their eyes and ears but he has chosen to tell us of this subterfuge.

“Ranmaru, do you renounce your allegiance to the people who sent you, including the woman you know as Konan-san?”

He had not expected to be asked a question. Once he managed to understand what Sasuke-sama had said he realised that he was being asked to give up his loyalty to Konan-san as well as to the men.

Konohamaru and Uchiha against Konan-san and the men who had despised him.

The promise offered by Konohamaru against the memory of Konan-san.

Konohamaru or Konan-san; it was always going to come down to that.

“Yes, Sasuke-sama, I renounce them,” he answered and heard a communal sigh.

“Ranmaru, if you swear to Uchiha you are ours for your lifetime. In return for your loyalty we will care for you but if you betray us your life will be forfeit. Do you understand?”

It was a much easier question but Ranmaru was momentarily lost to elation. Sasuke-sama was talking about allowing him to swear to Uchiha.

“Ranmaru?” Sasuke prompted.

“I understand, Sasuke-sama. I will be loyal. No one asked for my loyalty before. They told me what to do and I did it.”

“It is good that you will not be forsworn,” Sasuke told him.

Ranmaru was not sure if he understood that.

Sasuke-sama stepped forward and offered his hands. “Can you take my hands, Ranmaru?” he asked in an ordinary speaking voice. “I have been told that this is difficult for you as an empath.”

Ranmaru did not hesitate. He held out his hands and allowed Sasuke-sama to take them. His emotions were clear and deep, like water; trust and belief and, above all, his love for Naruto and his family.

“Ranmaru, will you swear to Uchiha and to me, Sasuke Uchiha, as the embodiment of Uchiha?” Sasuke-sama asked him using the voice that filled the room.

This time there was no delay. “I swear to Uchiha and to you, Sasuke-sama,” Ranmaru replied.

“Uchiha accepts your service,” Sasuke-sama announced. “That is good, Ranmaru.” he said, looking over Ranmaru’s left shoulder. “You have made Kono-kun very happy.”

And Konohamaru was there, beside him, with an arm around his shoulders.

“Thank you, Sasuke,” he said and Ranmaru could see tears in his eyes.

Sasuke-sama placed a hand on Konohamaru’s shoulder. “It was a relief that I could be both a responsible leader and a good foster brother this time,” he replied.

Ranmaru could feel how much it meant to Konohamaru that Sasuke-sama was acknowledging their shared childhood.

---

Sasuke flopped onto the bed and watched Naruto stripping off his uniform. It had been one hell of a day and they had not even made it to the evemeal.

It had started when he had been pulled out of bed by Naruto who had dragged him to his office because there was an emergency communication from Shikamaru.

There he and Naruto had watched the recording of Ranmaru’s confession. Sasuke had found it acutely painful. Ranmaru was little more than a child and, as soon became apparent, in many ways he was appallingly naïve. The litany of his neglect and exploitation had been difficult to stomach.

But not as bad as viewing Konohamaru’s formal request for mercy. He could still imagine Konohamaru dressing in his uniform and setting up the camera. What he had recorded and dispatched was far too like the petitions his father had received for Sasuke’s comfort. Konohamaru should never feel the need to kowtow to him; they had spent six standards of their childhoods together.

He had been about to play it for the third time when Naruto had captured his hand.

“Enough,” he had whispered.

“They both trust me,” Sasuke had replied. “Even Ranmaru trusts me.”

Naruto had drawn him close. Sasuke had felt his breath and then his lips against his scalp. “He was sent to work against us but he has seen what we are and wants to join us,” Naruto had reminded him.

A small voice in Sasuke’s mind had whispered that it might be another layer of deceit but he had dismissed it; he would not resurrect Uchiha’s ruthless paranoia. “We will take him in,” he had decided.

“That is our way,” Naruto had agreed.


The ceremony in the hall had been Jiraiya’s creation. Sasuke had agreed to it because, as Jiraiya had said, it was important that everyone participated in Ranmaru’s conversion.

There had been moments when Sasuke had wondered if Ranmaru had understood what was happening and, worse, that he was not going to break free of his ties to the woman.

At least it was over. They could change out of their uniforms, have a cuddle and then oversee the children’s meal and bedtime before sharing an evemeal with their reunited extended family.


They were mid-cuddle when there was a knock on their door. Sasuke rolled away from Naruto and onto his feet. He punched the button of the intercom connecting their bedroom to the crew room.

“Yes?” he demanded, not bothering to be pleasant.

“Sasuke? This is Shikamaru. Rin’s found something in Ranmaru’s head.”

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'Tales in Tarrasade' tale 13 is set at this point in the space saga.