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In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

By: mannahpierce
folder Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male › Naruto/Sasuke
Rating: Adult +
Chapters: 91
Views: 3,722
Reviews: 636
Recommended: 1
Currently Reading: 3
Disclaimer: This story has some of Masashi Kishimoto's characters from Naruto in a universe of my own devising. I do not own Naruto. I do not make any money from these writings.
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Aftermath

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.

16. Aftermath

Sasuke woke first. There were a few moments of bliss before his brain started working and the enormity of what he had done started to sink in. Yesterday he had told himself that it was simple: that he wanted a good experience with a friend to sustain him while being fucked by an ancient pervert; that sleeping with Naruto would keep the nightmares at bay; that their lives were already so entwined that not fucking was ridiculous. Spacers fucked.

What he had told himself was going to happen was like sunshine; fun and warm, much like Naruto himself.

And what actually had happened was like a supernova. Which, thinking about what had happened to Tenzo, was also like Naruto.

He tried moving away. At least Naruto’s knot had finally gone down. He slid out from Naruto’s embrace and sat a little way away. Naruto was sound asleep. Every so often a whisker twitched. Sasuke hesitantly stroked his fur. It was beautiful, so bright and soft.

He needed the head. Time to face the smiles and smirks of his crewmates. He pulled on his shorts and dropped lightly to the floor. The crew room appeared empty and Sasuke realised that it was late. There was a note pinned to the bottom edge of the drapes surrounding their bunk. It was from Iruka and gave them both the day for themselves, which was a relief.

Sasuke planned to visit the head and then return to Naruto. That was, he knew, the right thing to do. It was unfair to allow Naruto to wake alone because Naruto would think his uninhibited foxiness had scared Sasuke away. It was worrying, therefore, to find that he could not do it. Instead he dressed and walked into the galley.

Jiraiya was there. It was the last person Sasuke wanted to see. He was about to turn away when Jiraiya acknowledged him, “Sasuke-sama.”

Sasuke froze at the unfamiliar and respectful address, wondering if it were some perverted game. “Jiraiya-san,” he replied cautiously.

“Please sit down, Sasuke-sama.”

There it was again. Sasuke almost told him that Iruka had given him the day off, so he did not have to follow orders, but his politeness won and he sat.

“I apologise for what I said to you, Sasuke-san,” Jiraiya told him. “There will be no ‘next time’. I apologise for asking you to make tea, which I knew would remind you of your mother.”

Sasuke was having trouble processing what was being said even before the word ‘mother’. “You knew my mother?” he whispered.

“For those in service with the Uchiha, there was no greater honour than being invited to be present when your mother made tea for your father.”

Sasuke remembered his mother making tea for his father. Occasionally one or two guests would be present. Once, for his seventh birthday, he and Itachi had been the guests. His mother, his father, Itachi: as always thoughts of them shifted until they were memories of blood, screaming, violence and his mother’s dead face. He was brought out of it by Jiraiya pressing a pain point in his left wrist, an Uchiha technique Sasuke had been familiar with as a child. He carefully removed his hand from Jiraiya’s gasp. “Why? Why threaten me?” Sasuke asked.

“Your relationship with the fox-boy is most productive when you treat each other as equals,” Jiraiya told him.

“His name is Naruto,” Sasuke snapped. He was startled by his anger. Everyone called Naruto fox-boy, so that as not the cause. It was Jiraiya’s suggestion that he and Naruto were equals and, at the moment, he felt anything but equal to Naruto; he had submitted so utterly.

“He is a hybrid, who wears a controller and has sworn to give his life for you.” Jiraiya reminded him.

So Jiraiya knew about the plaque. Sasuke wondered exactly how much the man knew. Who had told him? The Captain? Then, suddenly, he understood what Jiraiya meant. To outside eyes, they could be slave and master. One inequality balanced the other.

“And it will do you good to have a lover, Sasuke-san,” Jiraiya leered. “Particularly one so proficient at pleasuring you.”

Sasuke scowled, knowing that he was blushing. He stood and bowed slightly, “Jiraiya-san.”

Jiraiya stood and bowed deeper, “Sasuke-sama.”

When Naruto woke Sasuke was watching him, which was odd because it was him who watched Sasuke, not the other way around. His naked body looked battered. There was a bite mark on his shoulder, another on his neck. There were bruises on his hips and around his mouth. The wondrous events of the previous night tarnished as Naruto noted each corresponding injury. He sat up, whimpering, desperate to see if he had done any more damage. He wanted to weep.

“Stop it, dobe,” Sasuke told him. “You are not allowed to ruin the best night of my life by obsessing over a few bruises.”

It took a few moments for what Sasuke had said to sink in, then Naruto smiled. “Me too,” he replied, “the best, by far.” He thought about it a bit more. “Nothing else comes close. You were awesome.”

Sasuke smiled at him. Sasuke so rarely smiled. “And you were incredible, Naruto. Truly incredible.”

“Incredible is good?” Naruto checked.

“Incredible is excellent,” Sasuke confirmed.

As both cats were unavailable, Shikamaru had been ‘asked’ to sort out the midday meal. He had planned to creep through the crew room and only make food that could be prepared silently. He had spent half the night trying not to imagine what it would be like to be the object of an unleashed Naruto’s desire. If Sasuke needed to sleep for days, or have a session in the dia-doc tank, Shikamaru would understand.

So the last thing he expected to see was the two of them larking about in the galley. He stopped where he had a line of sight but was still far enough away that they were unlikely to notice him. It was fascinating. Sasuke looked… …happy. He also looked as if he had been in a fight, but he did not seem to mind. There was lots of yelling of ‘dobe’ and ‘teme’. Naruto was holding a spoon up out of Sasuke’s reach and Sasuke was trying various tactics to obtain it. Finally Sasuke hugged him, tilting his chin up as if seeking a kiss. It worked; Naruto dropped his arm to hug back. Sasuke had the spoon in a trice and began stirring the soup. There was another exchange of ‘teme’ and ‘dobe’ and then Naruto’s eyes turned to him. Shikamaru wondered how long Naruto had been aware of his presence.

The two of them had been preparing food for everyone. Sasuke took the Captain’s tray to her while Naruto set the table and Shikamaru cleared up.

“Happy, Na-chan?” he asked.

Naruto turned his glorious blue eyes to him and gave Shikamaru a thousand watt smile. “Yes. He is mine and I am his.”

Shikamaru wished he could be confident about Sasuke’s side of the equation. “There was no missing how much you wanted him. That howling.”

Naruto did not appear even the least bit embarrassed. “He gave himself to me, Shi-chan. I was the real me and he still wanted me. I sucked him,” Naruto displayed his fangs, “and fucked him but this morning he still wants me.”

“You’ve left out the bit about him having two amazing orgasms, if the screaming was anything to go by.” Shikamaru reminded him. He was glad Naruto had told him, it made him surer about Sasuke, but he knew that Sasuke was too private a person to want them having such a discussion. “Na-chan, maybe there’s some stuff you should keep between you and Sasuke.”

“There is,” Naruto told him. “Then there is some other stuff I need to share with my best friend.”

That touched Shikamaru deeply, “Thanks, Na-chan.”

Kakashi was watching the two of them. Naruto was lying on the couch with his head in Sasuke’s lap. Sasuke had a viewer in one hand while the fingers of his other hand played in Naruto’s hair. At that moment, Kakashi wished that there was no Uchiha, that they could be what they seemed, a traditional spacer crew whose only cares were survival and each other. He waited until Ibiki took his cup back to the galley and then followed him in, “May I speak with you, Ibiki-san?” he asked. Later, pleased but not surprised by the outcome of their conversation, Kakashi leaned over the back of the couch and said to Sasuke, “It’s time, Sasuke.”

Naruto heard what Kakashi said to Sasuke, so he did not ask when Sasuke lost interest in whatever he had been viewing and excused himself, although he was intrigued when he reappeared with a box, which he placed on their bunk. Sasuke’s eyes invited him over. They sat, cross-legged, opposite each other. It reminded Naruto of the time in the bathroom in Tarrasade. Sasuke opened the box’s lid. “It is time for me to tell you who I am, Naruto, and who we are going to be.”



This is where the one-shot Silver Leaf Tales: Tying the knot fits into the story. If you have got this far and have not already read it, you could choose to read it before going on to the next chapter.


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