In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

Apologies if the characters are growing differently in this world than in their own.

Reviews are always very welcome. Thank you so much to those who have left them or emailed me.

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.

22. Old and new

They did not ask the Morning Mist’s crew how they had obtained the hover platforms or if they should be returned. It was easier to treat them as a gift. Jiraiya knew that Raiga and his crew considered themselves lucky to be escaping the encounter alive. The old Uchiha would have responded to the tainted challenge by eliminating the crew.

One problem with the old Uchiha was that it had produced more Itachis than Obitos. It never had, or could have, produced a Sasuke.

Jiraiya watched Sasuke and Naruto walking towards the ship: they had not let go of each other since the combat. It was a good sign. Jiraiya had expected Sasuke to react more extremely to Itachi’s unexpected reappearance, either retreating into denial or exploding into frenzy. Seeing his fox-boy on the edge of death had helped him keep a sense of proportion. Jiraiya allowed himself a slight shudder. Sasuke might be robust enough to encounter Itachi, but he had a long way to go before be would cope with losing Naruto.

“Is he stable, Rin-san?” he asked, looking at boy who had taken the brunt of Itachi's ire.

“I will be much happier when he is tanked,” Rin replied. “It is too early to say if he will recover consciousness or if there will be any permanent damage.”

“Perhaps, when the boy is tanked and you have seen to Naruto-san’s injuries, you could spare a moment to examine Kisame-san,” he suggested.

Those within earshot turned to stare at him or at the shark-man’s body on the platform. Rin dropped back from the side of one hover platform to the other. “I do not even know how or where to look for a pulse,” she admitted.

“We wait until we are safely inside,” insisted Kakashi. “I think Naruto must have hit his heart. Otherwise I cannot imagine a single blow taking him down.”

“It didn’t,” Jiraiya informed them. “If the damage crosses a threshold level, he plays dead. It is not a conscious decision. It is Kisame’s equivalent of Naruto’s berserk. You never saw it, Kakashi, because noone ever landed a near mortal blow.”

“He’s alive then?” queried Shikamaru from where he was riding on the edge of the boy’s platform, his skin white-grey from loss of blood.

“Probably, unless Naruto made a direct hit to his heart,” answered Jiraiya.

“And Itachi knows?” asked Sasuke.

Jiraiya studied the youngster’s face, trying to deduce what answer he would prefer. “Yes.”

“Is that why you asked for his body?” Tsunade checked.

“Yes. I feared that they would dispose of him without Itachi there to stop them.”

Once inside, Rin insisted that Naruto go with her to the infirmary to be placed in a dia-doc tank. Jiraiya enjoyed watching the lovers share a tender kiss before parting. Sasuke waited until Naruto was out of sight and then scowled at them. “Jiraiya, Kakashi, we need to talk,” he stated.

They used the tiny cabin that had become, unofficially, Sasuke’s office. It could not be his office because neither cats nor crew had cabins or offices. However, it was here where he kept the things he had asked brought from the Uchiha compound and where they talked Uchiha rather than ship’s business. On the wall was the Uchiha fan.

Sasuke sat but left them standing. There was silence. “One of you should start explaining,” he suggested.

“I was told that it was Hiruzen-sama’s decision,” began Jiraiya. “Apparently he said that all you had were your memories of your family and that they should not be ruined by telling you about Itachi.”

“And neither of you thought that it would be a good idea to tell me once I started spacing? Before he turned up and started killing people?” Sasuke asked.

“Hiruzen-sama has had information and extermination contracts out on him since he went missing,” Jiraiya told him. “There was only the odd rumour and no confirmed sightings. We hoped he were dead.”

“Without Kisame he soon will be,” Kakashi added.

“Rin hates him,” Sasuke observed.

Jiraiya grimaced. “Itachi behaved badly when we came to Tarrasade for the singing of Obito’s song. Rin is not reknowned for her forgiving nature.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi flinch at the memory.

“Old man!” Sasuke scolded, immediately on his feet at Kakashi’s side. Jiraiya watched him guiding his sensei to a seat and finding him some water. He even added a splash of whisky. Jiraiya took advanatage of an off-hand gesture which could be interpretted as an inviation to sit, but decided that it would be imprudent to ask for whisky.

Sasuke sighed. “Was I the only one who liked him?” he murmured.

“Itachi could be charming,” Kakashi said suddenly. “It was easy to like him. If he had not been under so much pressure to excel, if no more had been expected of him than was expected of Obito, he might have coped. Instead he was repeatedly forced beyond his limits and we discovered, to our cost, that he was fragile.”

“Everyone says that he loved you, Sasuke,” Jiraiya insisted, “a little brother to whom he could show affection without fearing your father’s disapproval.”

“He killed our mother,” Sasuke said, dully.

So he had worked it out. “Your mother,” Jiraiya clarified. “Mikoto-san did not join your father’s household until two standards before you were born. Itachi did not have a mother, he had a series of nursemaids. When Fugaku-kyou was finally persuaded to have another son, he resolved not to make the same mistakes again. He married the most charming and delightful Uchiha woman of her generation. He allowed her to transform his household into a wonderful place for a child to be raised. He even agreed that he would minimise his interaction with you, in light of the damage he had done Itachi. Mikoto-san tried very hard with Itachi but it was difficult for him to respond. His life improved immeasurably but he saw everyone making your childhood perfect when his had been loveless and harsh.”

Sasuke finally understood, “I was never a spare,” he whispered. “I was Itachi’s replacement.”

Jiraiya decided that this was the moment. Better now, with them there, than Sasuke realise in the dead of night. “The massacre happened the day before your eighth birth anniversary…”

“No, old man!” Kakashi objected but it was too late. Sasuke could not help but see it.

“He was going to disinherit Itachi and declare me heir. That is why every full-blood Uchiha had been called home. He was going to make them swear to me. He was going to force Itachi to swear to me.” Sasuke laughed and it was not a good sound. “I thought I was going to swear to Itachi. I was so excited.”

Jiraiya watched Kakashi go to him, hold him. Kakashi was so much more of a father to him than Fugaku-kyou had been capable of being.

“We think your mother went against your father’s wishes and decided to tell Itachi what was going to happen,” Jiraiya told him. “She thought she was being kind, trying to prepare him so that he could behave appropriately.” Jiraiya could imagine it: Fugaku-kyou’s plan to tell Itachi in the presence of every Uchiha bodyguard, who by weight of numbers could overpower even Kisame; Mikoto-san telling Itachi when the two of them were alone and becoming the victim of his reaction. Once he had killed Mikoto, Itachi had crossed into territory from which there was no return.

“I have had enough,” Sasuke admitted. “I will go to the infirmary and check on Naruto.”

Kakashi insisted on walking with him. Sasuke was grateful for the silent companionship. He was feeling sorry for Itachi and he resented it. At best Itachi was a dangerous psychotic and, as such, should be terminated.

Damn Jiraiya and his mission to produce a wise Uchiha. Uchiha were proud and easy to offend. They overreacted to every slight to their honour. They did not understand people. They were, in essence, feral. Between Jiraiya and Shikamaru, the new Uchiha was in danger of being depressingly logical and civilised. Then Sasuke thought of Naruto and smiled. Perhaps not all that civilised.

The new infirmary had seemed unnecessarily large but four patients made it barely adequate. Shikamaru was receiving a blood transfusion. He was already looking better and made some joke about being Rin’s portable bloodbank. The boy, Haku, was tanked with various ‘bots creeping over his skin or working on his wounds. Kisame’s body was in the new dia-doc tank and Naruto was in the old; the same tank Ibiki had put him in on that first day.

“Will he have to stay in it long?” Sasuke asked.

Rin actually smiled at him. “He asked the same. No, we have supergens but I needed to run a full diagnostic to check we have not missed anything. Another two-hundred minutes at the most.”

“And Kisame-san?” he asked.

“The old man was right, he isn’t dead. His metabolic rate is so low that I can barely measure it. The heart wall was damaged but not breached. I have no idea when he will wake up.”

Sasuke nodded. “Please inform Jiraiya or Kakashi if he shows signs of waking. Also, please inform me when you are planning on waking Naruto.”

Rin frowned. “There will another forty minutes of treatment once Naruto is awake, applying the supergens. I will contact you when we are close to finishing that.”

“No, you will inform me when you are planning on waking him from the tank,” Sasuke told her.

Rin opened her mouth to argue but capitualted. “Yes, Sasuke-san.”

“And, Rin-san, thank you for the brilliant and exemplary work you have done this day.”

Rin coloured slightly. “It is my job, Sasuke-san.”

“No, Rin-san, it is amazing talent supported by extraordinary expertise. I am honoured that you chose to join the new Uchiha.” Sasuke meant what he said but he also knew the effect of voicing it. He was not the only one, Sasuke was keenly aware of Shikamaru’s expression. “Rin-san, Shikamaru-san,” he said as he took his leave.

“Sasuke-sama,” Shikamaru acknowledged.

Sasuke went to the crew room. As he had hoped, there were people in the galley: Ibiki, Shino, Iruka and Kakashi. He sat at the table and accepted a cup of tea from Iruka. Iruka was pottering, doing small tasks that usually Sasuke would do. He offered to help and was told to drink his tea. A plate of biscuits appeared and was empty before its base hit the tabletop.

“We did miss our midmeal, Iruka-san,” Ibiki reminded him.

“And I thought you had all raided the galley to compensate,” Iruka replied. “It certainly looked as if you had. Sasu-kun, you have spoken to Rin-san, how many do you aniticipate for the meal this evening?”

“The usual number, Iruka-sensei. Rin-san intends fitting Naruto with supergens and Shikamaru looked fine. I suppose Rin-san may decide to stay in the infirmary in order to keep an eye on our guests.”

“Rin-san can have a tray if that is necessary,” Iruka agreed. He sighed. “Very well, who would like some soup to tide them over until their evening meal?”

Sasuke was sipping his soup, musing on the rather odd thought that his mother would have approved of Iruka, when a call came though from Rin. His first thought was that Naruto was coming out of the tank early, but Rin-san sounded stressed and was asking for Kakashi and Jiraiya. Kakashi indicated that Sasuke should go with him and Sasuke apologised to Iruka for abandoning the soup half eaten.

Kisame-san was awake. By the time they arrived he was toweling away the residue of the gel and informing Rin that she was welcome to treat the wound in his chest but that the treatment needed to be brief and its result portable. Sasuke gave in to the urge to hug him. The nap of the shark-man’s skin, sandpaper rough one way and silky smooth the other, was a sensation from his childhood. The huge man held him gently.

“Sasu-chan.”

“I had just realised you were alive and then you were dead again,” Sasuke complained. “You almost killed Naruto,” he accused.

“I was slow realising what he meant to you,” Kisame admitted.

“He wears my plaque,” Sasuke reminded him.

“I wear a plaque, Sasu-chan.”

Sasuke understood. Itachi did not care for Kisame as he did for Naruto. “I apologise, Kisame-san. I know how hard it is for you to go aganst Itachi’s wishes. Thank you, both for this time and before.”

“Please never mention the other time,” Kisame asked. “He believes that this was the first time. As it is, there is a possibility he will not forgive me.”

Kakashi snorted. “As if he could live without you. I assume you know where to find him.”

“I will tell you nothing,” Kisame warned him.

“We know that,” Jiraiya said from the hatchway. “Are you sure you want to do this, Kisame?”

Kisame touched his plaque and shrugged. He looked towards the boy in the tank. “I can usually stop him, but I have to be there. There are good times, when he is calm and in control.”

“And Genma?” Kakashi asked.

Kisame looked away. “As I said, I have to be there. He slipped away from me. I am sorry, Kakashi-san.”

“If you outlive him…” Jiraiya began.

“I will not outlive him, Jiraiya-san,” Kisame stated. There was a silence. “What do you have for me before I leave, Rin-san?” he asked.

Sasuke could see that Naurto was exhausted. So could Iruka. The two of them tried to persuade him to sleep rather than attending the evening meal but Naruto was determined to sit at the table with the rest of the crew. Sasuke understood how he felt. This was their home; their family. Everyone watched Naruto eating one handed, the whole of his left arm and shoulder encased in supergens, thinking about what had so nearly happened. The flow of the conversation avoided that Naruto had almost died and that they had met Sasuke’s mad killer brother. They did talk about Haku, which started them telling Shino and Rin about the day Naruto had been tossed into their lives. After the meal Naruto and Sasuke sat together on one of the couches for a short time until Iruka sent them to bed. Naruto lay on his stomach while Sasuke ran his hands and his body over the gold-tinted skin. Naruto made small noises of sleepy contentment that faded into whispery snores. Sasuke lay beside him, stroking his hair, trying to focus on the better parts of the day, including this one.