In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

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

Thank you for the reviews. They are always welcome.

And, no, this story will not stop growing in my head.

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.

34. Sasuke

Sasuke was sewing. He had fought his first battle and been promoted to crew but neither saved him from being the best seamster in the crew. Logic dictated that he should be in the closet sewing, along with Haku, Iruka and, of all people, Ibiki. He was still annoyed that Rin refused to admit that sewing would default from surgery. At least Shino had been willing to try, even if he had caused more work than he completed. Iruka had sent him back to the lab.

“We will never get caught out like this again,” Iruka grumbled for the fifth or possibly the sixth time.

“We are sure that a more casual look was not acceptable?” Ibiki checked.

“You saw what we looked like. Would you want that image in every database across known space?” asked Haku.

They had tried with the best the closet had to offer. They looked like themselves, an ordinary Traditional spacer crew with no concept of image or style. They had looked better in their slutty disguises, the truth of which had given Haku his starting point.

Naruto was in the crew room with one pair of each person’s boots and instructions to get them to precisely the same shade of highly polished dark brown. Shikamaru had cooked up the solvents, bleaches, dyes and polishes he would need using the synthesiser in the infirmary. Naruto had recruited Kakashi and Jiraiya. Even from the closet, Sasuke could hear Jiraiya’s constant stream of complaint.

Sasuke was on jackets. They had dug out a bolt of dark blue cloth from the back of the closet and selected a short, well-cut jacket. The advantage and disadvantage of the jacket is that it was constructed from many pieces of fabric. This was good because it hung well, looked expensive and it was possible to get more jackets out of the fabric. The disadvantage was that each jacket involved a lot of sewing.

Shikamaru and Neji had disassembled the jacket, created pattern pieces, modified them to fit each crewmember and then calculated that they could, just, get eleven of the short jackets out of the bolt of cloth. Sasuke had caught himself hanging over Shikamaru’s shoulder telling him about grain, bias, nap, seam allowances and that the fabric had a tendency to fray. He felt acute embarrassment each time the memory resurfaced.

Shikamaru and Neji had been triumphant when they had brought the eleven small piles to the closet. Sasuke had to admit they had done a marvellous job. They had even treated the cut edges to prevent fraying.

The next hurdle was lack of pins. Neji understood the construction of the jacket well enough to pin sections together for Sasuke to sew but they only had one small box of pins. Then Shino arrived with more pins than they could possibly need cut from stiff wire. Although blunt, they were fine for the looser weave fabric they were using for the jackets. The sharp, steel pins were collected and given to Haku, who, with Ibiki’s help, was battling with altering leather pants to fit the people who had not worn them in Soutash.

Rin had the tricky job of making the disparate pants as uniform as possible without stiffening the leather. After a great deal of grumbling, she gave in and tanked them. She then settled down to programme the ‘bots.

Iruka was systematically making eleven black mesh sleeveless tops. A crewmember in the past must have had a thing about black mesh because there was no shortage of it. The crew had been warned to find suitable black undergarments if they felt any need to wear them. Haku’s would be lined: no crew would expose their cat’s chest.

Shikamaru’s outfit had been chosen as the sample because his leather pants were already the desired colour. By the evening of the day after the jump Shikamaru was standing on the low table in the crew room modelling. He looked uncomfortable and, after an aborted attempt to get his hands into the pockets of the skin-tight pants, he folded his arms across this chest and scowled.

“Perfect,” announced Haku. “His hair could do with some work but the clothes are spot on. Great job on the jacket, Sasuke-sama.”

Sasuke acknowledged the compliment with a nod and them scowled. “We need eight badges, pins or buttons with the Uchiha crest. I’ll see what I can find.”

Haku’s chin came up. “I don’t get one then?” he queried.

Sasuke closed the gap between them and held his shoulders so that Haku could not avoid eye contact. “I want you to have one, Haku,” Sasuke said. “Swear to the new Uchiha, or even to me, and you can.”

For a moment Sasuke thought he would do it, but then Haku bit his lip and looked away. “I can’t. Zabuza is waiting for me in Tarrasade.”

Sasuke was sure he heard sighs from the others that echoed his own. He did not stop Haku twisting away from him.

“Don’t worry about the badges, Sasuke-san.” Shikamaru told him as he stepped down from the table. “Shino and I have that under control.”


So they were ready when a mother ship in Fire Shadow livery was waiting for them on the other side of the next gate. Hiruzen-sama himself was aboard, which was unanticipated, and he requested a private conversation with Sasuke. Shino took the portable holocamera into Sasuke’s tiny not-an-office and set it up so the Uchiha crest would be visible above where Sasuke was sitting. Once Shino had left, Sasuke established the connection and Hiruzen-sama’s image appeared before him.

“Sasuke-kun,” the old man greeted him. “You look well.”

“Hiruzen-sama,” Sasuke replied. “It is good to hear your voice again.”

“I have a shipload of Uchiha fighters determined to rescue you.” Hiruzen-sama warned him.

Sasuke flinched. “I do not need rescuing, Hiruzen-sama. The most I want is transport to Tarrasade for the Silver Leaf and our three allies. Otherwise, we will proceed to Tarrasade along the more conventional route.”

Hiruzen-sama smiled. “Tell me you have been promoted to crew, Sasuke-san. If you are still cat it will be nigh impossible to convince them.”

“I am crew, Hiruzen-sama.”

“And Naruto-san is with you?”

“Naruto is very much with me.”

“They are not positively inclined towards Naruto-san. Tenzo was their leader. It may be best for you to make very clear what Naruto-san means to you.”

“We have that in hand, Hiruzen-sama.”

“You have expected our arrival?”

“Not your arrival, Hiruzen-sama, that is a delightful surprise. We anticipated that a mother ship might be dispatched to proffer assistance after the unplanned incident on Chanx.”

“Yes. Chanx. You resolved the situation without encountering further problems?”

Sasuke made a dismissive gesture. “It was merely inconvenient.”

Hiruzen-sama amusement was obvious. “Make the offer of transport to your allies. Warn them that it may be necessary for them to remain on their ships for the duration of the journey. Whether you decide to travel with us or not, Sasu-kun, I am inviting you and your crew to spend this evening with us at a social gathering. Please extend this offer to Tsunade-sama. You can dock in bay two. I will expect you at the beginning of the last quarter of the day. Dress is likely to be rather too military for my liking.”

Sasuke could not resist asking. “How many of them are with you?” he asked.

“All ten, Sasuke-kun. They are not good company. However, I have my staff and I have brought Konohamaru-kun. Whilst he is not looking forward to seeing you again, he is very excited at the prospect of meeting Naruto-san.”


Iruka oversaw preparations while Haku battled with Neji’s hair. He dealt with the uneven length of it by plaiting the front close to the head. The back was left loose and the ends trimmed. Blue eye drops enhanced the colour of his eyes slightly. The effect was Hyuga but not quite Hyuga, which was enough for Sasuke.

The badges that Shino and Shikamaru had made were fastened to each jacket’s collar as insignia. Sasuke was no longer surprised that Shikamaru could conjure a way of producing twenty-two enamel on silver badges, nor that he and Shino had managed to make them. Shino had made a point of showing Haku the extra pair before he handed them to Sasuke for safekeeping.

Sasuke and Naruto dressed each other in their knives and their jewellery. Sasuke took a deep breath and took his father’s ring from his lockbox. He wondered if he would ever think of it as his own. He considered and then slid the ring onto the duty finger of his left hand. His father had always worn it on his heart finger to make the point that he loved Uchiha more than he could love any individual. Sasuke did not do that. He told himself that the ring fitted better on the larger finger.

There were whistles and stamping when he and Naruto appeared. Sasuke smiled. Naruto did look magnificent. He had looked even better without the jacket, but the jacket suited him well enough. Only Jiraiya seemed unimpressed and Sasuke had to resist the urge to put his left hand behind his back. It was natural for Jiraiya to be upset; he had dedicated every step of his life to Uchiha. Sasuke wondered if the ten on the other ship would feel similarly. He began thanking each person for their effort and ingenuity. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jiraiya taking Naruto to one side. He wished he knew what they were discussing.

Naruto was waiting for him when he finished his rounds. He guided him back towards their bunk.

“Jiraiya says that there is a ring in your lockbox that belonged to your mother,” Naruto told him. “Please will you get it?”

His mother’s duty ring was in the lockbox, the one his father had given her. He fetched it. Naruto opened his hand and displayed a simple gold band.

“We swap,” Naruto told him. He took the duty ring from Sasuke and handed him the gold band. Naruto then took Sasuke’s left hand and placed his mother’s ring onto his heart finger. “I love you, Sasuke,” he stated.

Sasuke’s heart beat faster. He understood. He took Naruto’s left hand and slid the gold band onto the third finger. “I love you, Naruto.”


Sasuke made sure that he walked with Jiraiya to the airlock.

“Thank you,” he said simply.

Jiraiya frowned at him. “Couldn’t have you with a naked heart finger. It would make them doubt the tags.”

Sasuke had not thought of that. “And the ring Naruto is wearing?”

Jiraiya’s skin flushed, which proved to be very disconcerting. “Someone gave it to me a long time ago. If Kakashi could give him the tags, I could give you the ring to give to him.”

Sasuke waited, but the name of the giver was not forthcoming. Instead Jiraiya indicated Sasuke’s left hand.

“It is right that you honour your mother. And the fact that those pretty stones are arranged in the Uchiha symbol will keep those who served the Old Uchiha happy.”


Hiruzen-sama himself greeted them as they disembarked. On the old man’s right was Asuma, perhaps the most approachable of the surviving Uchiha elite fighters. On his left was a youth that Sasuke was surprised to recognise as Konohamaru: in his mind’s eye the boy had still been a child. The boy’s eyes were riveted to Naruto. Sasuke suspected he was going to become very familiar with that reaction to Naruto’s presence.

“Tsunade-sama,” the old man acknowledged, “Sasuke-san, Kakashi-san, Jiraiya-san and Naruto-san. It is good to see you again. Some of you may remember Asuma-san and this is my grandson, Konohamaru-kun.”

Sasuke stepped forward. “Hiruzen-sama, please allow me to introduce my other crewmates. This is Iruka-san, who looks after us all. This is Rin-san our medico and Ibiki-san, who specialises in security. This is Shino-san, of the family Aburame, Neji-san and Shikamaru-san.”

The old man’s eyes lingered on Neji. “And the youngster? I know what you crews are like about your cats, but allow an old man his foibles.”

Sasuke glanced toward Iruka, who nodded. “His name is Haku, senpai.”

“Perhaps you could relax your conventions, Iruka-san, and allow Haku-kun and Konohamaru-kun to associate. Konohamaru-kun will be joining a crew as cat some time this standard.”

Sasuke was torn between fear of what Haku would say and delight at the thought of Konohamaru being shocked to his core.

“We will allow it,” Iruka decided. “Haku, you will report to me every twenty minutes. I expect you to only discuss what is appropriate.”


Formalities over, they began to slowly make their way in the direction Hiruzen-sama indicated. Asuma fell in beside Sasuke.

“Looking good, Sasu-kun.” His eyes roved over Naruto, who had been summoned to walk beside Hiruzen-sama. “Difficult to imagine someone that gorgeous being that deadly. Nice tags.” He glanced down at Sasuke’s hand. “The works, hey?”

“Without reservation,” Sasuke declared.

Asuma seemed surprised, then nodded. “And a Hyuga?” he queried.

“Neji-san says he is not a Hyuga,” Sasuke replied.

“And the other one?” He nodded toward Shikamaru.

“Kakashi found him,” Sasuke answered.

Asuma’s eyebrows went up. “Keen to get him, was he?”

“Very,” Sasuke confirmed.

“Rin-san finally gets to swear to Uchiha.”

“I see no reasons to exclude women,” Sasuke said mildly.

“True. I know some talented females who may be interested.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“And Kakashi has found himself a cute bunkwarmer, that’s a surprise.”

Sasuke decided to keep walking rather than precipitate a scene that was likely to escalate. “We are all very fond of Iruka-sensei,” he stated, his tone icy. “Personally, I owe him a great deal.”

“Message received and understood, Sasuke-san.” Asuma replied. “You know,” he continued, “this was not the way we saw it. We thought you would come back bringing Kakashi and maybe Jiraiya and we would begin.

“Instead you turn up with a whole team. They are going to realise you have already started and that they have been left behind.

“And when they see him in the flesh,” Asuma nodded towards Naruto, “they will realise just how different from your father you actually are.”