In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

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

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.

26. There

Nothing happening was better than strangers breaking down the door. Nothing happening was worse than Haku returning. He and Neji were playing Go. Sasuke had moved a small table up to the chair and released Neji’s left arm. He wanted to untie the Hyuga completely, but felt that doing so without discussing it with Haku was unwise. Neji did not asked to be freed from the chair. Sasuke took that to mean that Neji agreed with his analysis of the situation.

Give the circumstances, the game was surprisingly fulfilling. Neji was at least as skilled as him, probably more so. Sasuke imagined Neji defeating Shikamaru: unlikely but perhaps possible.

Finally there were footsteps. Sasuke moved into position by the door. The rhythmn of the knock was correct and Haku seemed to be alone. He looked completely different than when he had left, but Sasuke was accustomed to Haku’s ability to transform himself.

“It’s worse than we thought…” Haku began, then stopped as he caught sight of their captive. “You’re playing Go with him?” he demanded.

“It was a way of passing the time,” Sasuke informed him. “Haku, this Neji. Neji, this is Haku. How is it worse?”

Haku dumped the bags he was carrying on the floor. “They forced the ship to lift. The port authorities threatened to destroy it.”

Sasuke’s mouth dried and his heart pounded. “Were they all on it? Are they safe?” he asked.

Haku frowned slightly. “I think so. There was nothing said that made me think otherwise. There were pictures of them carrying Naruto into the ship.” He considered. “Yes, they were all there.”

Sasuke relaxed. “Good.”

Haku actually smiled at him. “Yes. Good.”

“You can stay here,” a voice said from behind them.

They both jumped, Haku more so.

“There are many transients in this district.” Neji explained, “The city has no requirement for non-citizens to have identification. There is no neighbourliness in this building. I have been here long enough that I am not thought a newcomer. If I vouch for you, it should be enough, provided you no longer look as you did.”

Hake scowled at him. “Why?”

Neji merely held hs gaze. “Consider it a job application,” he replied.

Haku’s eyes widened. “You told him?”

“Haku, everyone on the planet knows. One more doesn’t make a difference.”

“You trust him?”

“Yes.”

Haku considered. “Very well. I agree that he could be an asset. We are much more likely to blend in with his help.”

“We should establish your disguises and our cover story as quickly as possible,” Neji continued, “in case they decide to start house to house searches.”


Sasuke stared at the clothes and other items spread across Neji’s bed.

“It is a brilliant idea,” Neji told him. “Even more so given that you are staying here with me. Haku-san should be commended.”

At that moment, Sasuke wanted to strangle Haku. He looked to where Haku was standing and smirking. “Haku, get over here. I haven’t a clue where to start.”

There was no decent mirror in Neji’s apartment but Haku seemed content with the effect.

“You look a bit too classy for this district and for him,” he observed, gesturing towards Neji. “Otherwise it’s perfect.”

“The clothes are all new,” Neji suggested. “Around here, people’s clothes are usually older and more worn.”

Haku nodded. “We’ll pick up some secondhand stuff when we can and wash these to take the sheen off.”

“It needs to be all day, every day.” Neji reminded him. “Anything else increases the risk. You need names. My cousin’s name was Hinata. That would feel natural to me,”

“Hinata it is,” Haku agreed. “I’ll be Udon. You ready for training, Hinata-san? We’ll start with walking.”

Twilight was giving way to night. Sasuke was tired. So much had happened in a single day. This morning he and Naruto had been been preparing for their trip into the city. He closed his eyes, remembering their morning cuddling; the feel of Naruto’s body against him. He dragged himself back to the present; Hinata-san would look much less convincing with an erection. He went to close the drapes and saw an image reflected by the glass. He froze, staring. It could have been his mother looking at him. Neji reached passed him and closed the curtain.

“It’s probably best not to stand at the window,” he suggested.

“I look like my mother,” Sasuke whispered. He shook himself and forced a smile. “Only she was much more beautiful.”

“I doubt that,” Neji replied, moving away from him in the direction of the tiny kitchen.


Next morning Neji left for work on time, leaving Sasuke and Haku to talk tactics. They sat at the table.

“Hinata-san,” Haku achnowledged with a smirk.

Sasuke did not rise. “Udon-kun,” he replied. “To work,” he continued. “I fear that the information gathering will fall to you, Haku. It would be out of character for Hinata to be running about the city. We need to keep our eyes on the search for us, we must try to track the Silver Leaf without appearing to do so and we should be alert enough to recognise any messages the others are trying to send us. Such a message could be difficult to spot, given that it will need to be obscure enough to avoid the media’s attention.”

They started by listing the sources of information that might be available and the means they required to access it. Some forty minutes later Sasuke called a halt because Haku’s concentration had gone. He started to look about the tiny kitchen for the makings of some tea and perhaps a snack. It was soon obvious that Neji lived on prepared food bought from street vendors. He sighed. “You will have to buy supplies. Perhaps we should start with that.”


Neji served the customer with his usual grace, despite it being past his time to leave. Normally he would not have minded, but the past three evenings had been different: he was impatient to get back to the apartment to check that all was well. He quickly briefed his replacement, took leave from his boss and headed for home. On the way he bought some flowers and six of the little pastries had been well received the day before.

The step, the doorway, the stairs and the landing, all were much cleaner than they had been when he had departed that morning. Neji frowned at the thought of Hinata being out of the apartment: it was much safer if she stayed within. He rapped out the agreed signal and opened the door.

She was in the tiny kitchen preparing their meal. They exchanged greetings. Neji held up the box of pastries and then placed it on the table. Instead of giving her the flowers, he found a vase and arranged them himself. Every surface in the apartment was now clean. Even the drapes had been washed and the carpets beaten. Neji asked if he could help with the meal but his offer was refused. He sat at the table and watched her cook. Their knock: Neji let Haku in and the two of them sat at the table.

“What were you doing letting her clean outside?” Neji demanded, his voice low.

Haku’s eyebrows rose. “He was doing it by the time I got back from the market. I helped. It was faster and less risky than arguing about it. As it was, it worked out fine because one of the search parties turned up. Little housewife scrubbing the steps. Couldn’t have been more perfect. They’re definitely losing interest; most of them were more interested in chatting her up than asking questions. I mean chatting him up. Damn it. He’s so convincing it’s scary.”

Neji did not find it scary. He found it many things, but not scary.

A carefully modulated alto voice came from the kitchen. “Can one of you set the table, please?”

It was wonderfully strange. The tablecloth, Neji was sure he had never owned such a thing, was spotless and had been ironed. There were matching napkins. Haku acted as if preparing the table for formal dining happened every day: Neji had not sat down at a table to eat since his grandmother had died. The pastries had been arranged on the best plate and were given pride of place. The food was simple, but perfectly cooked. They ate. They conversed. After the meal he washed the dishes and Haku put them away. They played Go while Haku lay on the floor and used a viewer to check the news. Neji had not been so happy in a long, long time.

She went to bed early, pulling across the curtain that separated the sleeping area from the rest of the room. Neji guessed that she was tired from all the cleaning. He put away the board and the stones before sitting down on the couch. Haku looked up at him from the floor, shook his head but said nothing.

Settling on Chanx had been Neji’s surrender, the moment he gave up the last shred of hope that his life was going to be other than mundane and pointless. The insane, frantic journey that had started just before his tenth birth anniversary was over. All his fellow travellers, everyone he had ever cared about save one, were dead. He had tried to make it as a spacer, as he had promised his grandmother, but his time as cat had almost destroyed him. He had clung to the hope that it would be better as crew. The truth was that he was less miserable working in a shop and living in the tiny, shabby apartment than trapped in a ship with men who made his skin crawl. Solitude had its advantages.

Then Sasuke and Haku had broken into his apartment and his world was recreated. Sasuke’s intellect and integrity shone. This was the type of man Neji had been raised to serve. Even Haku, complicated and conflicted Haku, was a joy to observe and puzzle. Even Hinata, who did not exist, was wonderfully real.

And he had not broken his promise to his grandmother. He had not told Sasuke that he was Hyuga. Sasuke had told him. He could live with that small distinction.

“Neji?” Haku asked.

Neji had been expecting it. He knew that Haku had waited until the sounds from the other side of the curtain indicated sleep. “Don’t Haku,” he replied: half plea; half warning. He could tell that Haku was not dissuaded. “I need these memories,” he added.

There was silence. Neji decided that Haku was not going to reply. Then he spoke, “What about when she’s gone?”

Neji considered, “I shall think of her as Sasuke’s sister, who I was privileged and honoured to visit with for a short time.”

“Good solution,” Haku agreed. “At least you didn’t fall in love with him, with Sasuke. He’s taken.”

“The one with yellow hair,” Neji agreed. There had been endless reruns of the holos. “Naruto.”

“Yes. Naruto. He is special.”

That interested Neji. “Because he’s a hybrid?”

“No, because he is Naruto. You’ll understand when you meet him.”

“Will I get to meet him?”

Haku scowled at him. “That’s the plan. You look after us here. You get to join the crew.”

Another crew: Neji hoped he would cope. “I have spaced before. It has always been… …difficult.”

“This is my fifth crew. This is the best. None of them smell. Iruka-san, he’s the queen, he really cares.” Haku considered. “We have a proper meal every evening, like the one we had tonight. Only without a tablecloth. We have placemats. Shikamaru plays Go even better than Sasuke.”

Neji was touched that Haku should be reassuring him. “That sounds pleasant,” he admitted.


Sasuke woke. He kept dreaming of his mother, which was hardly surprising since she looked at him from every reflective surface. At least he was dreaming of her alive, which was an improvement. When he did not dream of his mother he dreamed of Naruto, which was comforting but inconvenient as Neji’s apartment was small and he knew that Neji would not appreciate listening to him climax. Neji was very proper. Sasuke wondered how he would adapt to the crew room. He contemplated what he would do the next day: there was really nothing left to clean.

Perhaps Neji had some mending he could do.

He missed Naruto so.