Iteration

‘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’.

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.

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

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.

Thank you to those who have left a review, particularly Moonmore, Jenova625, jalana, v, sadie237, The Horseman of Death, disembodiedvoiceofthedying, unneeded, meow-ku and Jenny who reviewed chapter 36. I truly appreciate them.

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Chapter thirty-seven: Spacer

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Sasuke was having a bad day. Actually he was having a series of bad days but some were better than others and this one was not looking good.

He kept telling himself that their current situation would soon be over. The HDL mother ship would arrive, they would hand over the hybrids and then they could set off for either Tarrasade or Naruto’s planet, Sasuke had not decided which.

Only he knew it wasn’t that simple. There was still the problem of the feral children to tackle. The longer they went without a solution, the more likely Naruto was to decide they had to stay and Sasuke could do without six competing tribes of feral children; he imagined the effect they might have on his sons and shuddered. Then there were the Kaiju and Kotohime’s group, neither of which could be left on Kaze V. It did not help that every time he raised one of these problems Shikamaru would start prattling about how the solution was a new space station. A new space station was yet another huge project, not a solution.

It had been a relief to reunite the crew and it had been wonderful to depod the children. He could still shut his eyes and remember what it had been like to hug each of them. However, even that had proved to have a downside. Naruto was now insanely busy; splitting his time between monitoring the welfare of over three thousand hybrids and looking after the children.

Sasuke had made the error of suggesting he allow Ranmaru and Biwako to cover some of his afternoons with the children; he had not needed to be reminded of how icy cold Naruto’s blue eyes could be.

Then there was Iruka. He had not been happy at the state of the crew rooms. He was even less happy that Kakashi and Asuma had condoned, and still refused to halt, the excessive whisky consumption of the remaining Old Uchiha fighters, including themselves. Sasuke himself did wonder if such a protracted wake was necessary, but he had not lost a lifelong companion. He hoped that Iruka would wear Kakashi down and that Kakashi would, finally, put a stop to it. Otherwise Sasuke would have to interfere.

It did not help that Haku was still living with the feral children.

He checked his appearance in the mirror. He could not believe that he had agreed to this meeting but Shikamaru had been careful to suggest it in front of Iruka. Once he had mentioned that they owed it to Sakura, Tennyo One, to thank her personally for her assistance, Sasuke knew that Iruka would insist on it. What was so infuriating was that it was all about Shikamaru wanting to meet one of his operatives face to face but Sasuke could not say that; he had promised to maintain the fiction that Tennyo One, Two and Three worked for ‘Chaaruzu-san’.

He had to walk swiftly to the complex of rooms they used for meeting outsiders. Hamaki and Terai were on the door. They were managing to look professional, which was good, but the whites of their eyes and the tone of their skin spoke of alcohol followed by an anti-inebriation shot.

“You can’t go in yet, Sasuke-sama,” Hamaki told him.

Sasuke scowled at him.

“Naruto-san has yet to arrive,” Terai explained apologetically.

Sasuke had known that he should ask Sumaru but Shikamaru had insisted that it should be Naruto and it was true that Sakura-san might be disappointed not to meet him. Now he would be late; an Uchiha was only ever late if it was intended as an insult.

Running footsteps and Naruto came around the corner at a speed that only Naruto could achieve. Somehow he managed to stop with only a small overshoot and walked back to the door attaching his ear tags.

Sasuke bit his tongue. It was not Naruto’s fault he was so busy. Instead he pulled Naruto’s jacket straight and picked off a few hairs.


The woman was already there, of course; such people were always early. Fu was offering her refreshments in the anteroom. Thankfully, Shikamaru and Iruka were already in the smallest of the meeting rooms. Sasuke tried to ignore the fact he had been later than Shikamaru.

“You’re late,” Shikamaru observed, gleefully.


She had pink hair. Sasuke had never met anyone with really pink hair; he wondered if it were dyed.

She giggled. How could anyone clever enough to impress Shikamaru giggle?

“I never imagined I would meet you, Sasuke-sama,” she was saying. “When I was a girl I had a holo of you on my wall. You know the one, the one that they took when you were at school on Elleton. The one they updated each standard and resold to silly girls like me who had a crush on you.”

Sasuke stiffened. Shikamaru was grinning. Naruto’s eyes were full of amusement and his whiskers were twitching. Even Iruka was smiling.

“I was like all the other girls at the spacer school; we watched the media coverage from Chanx, when you went missing. None of us slept. We were so worried about missing an update.”

“There is a school for spacers?” Sasuke asked in the faint hope of distracting her.

“Yes. It’s filled with people like me whose families are trying to stop their children running away to space as soon as they reach fourteen.” She smiled directly at him and Sasuke felt strangely vulnerable. “All us girls, we were desperate that it wasn’t true, that you had not already found a partner. All those dreams shattering. Then you gave the first interview and we decided that we could live with it because at least you had not fallen in love with another girl. I mean, Naruto-san is amazing. None of us could even imagine competing with him.”

It was the first vaguely sensible thing the woman had said. “Naruto is the light of my life,” he heard himself say.

She looked like she would swoon. “That is such a romantic thing to say. I can’t believe I am sitting in a room with the two of you. My school friends would be so jealous. And you have children. How wonderful. I expect they are adorable.”

“We are very careful not to expose them to public attention, Sakura-san,” Sasuke said severely.

It had zero effect.

“I am sure we can trust Sakura-san not to talk to the media,” Shikamaru said slyly.

Her eyes lit up. Sasuke had to admit that they were an interesting green; they were an unusual shade, like the hair.

“Yes, why don’t you show Sakura-san?” Naruto suggested. “Sasuke always carries pictures of the children,” he added.

Sasuke glared at him. Reluctantly he took the slim wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket, over his heart. On the front of the wallet there was a close-up of Naruto’s face.

He hesitated. He did not want to give his precious wallet to a stranger. On the other hand he did not want to get any closer to her.

Naruto took the decision for him. He vacated his position next to Sasuke on the couch; sitting on the arm on Sasuke’s other side instead.

She was beside him in a flash. Sasuke reluctantly opened the wallet to display the holographic images of Kazuki and Kuuya.

She squealed before declaring how cute they were and pointing out features of which Sasuke was well aware because he was their father and he saw them every day.

There were another four double pages to get through.


Finally, she was gone.

“That was interesting,” Iruka admitted as Shikamaru and Naruto were almost incapacitated by laughter; Naruto was rolling around on the floor and there were tears streaming down Shikamaru’s face.

“She had no manners,” Sasuke observed coldly.

“Don’t be a snob, Sasu-kun,” Iruka chided him. “She cannot help the background she is from and, without her, the operation would have failed. It was she who realised the significance of Shibito-san’s message and those extra two days’ delay she introduced, at the risk of her own life, were crucial.”

“I know,” Sasuke admitted. “I did thank her and I was polite.”

“It could be worse, Sasu-kun,” Iruka reminded him. “Kakashi could have been here.”

Sasuke was not so sure; hearing it described to Kakashi in detail, as he knew it would be, was almost as awful a prospect.


He left Naruto and Shikamaru sniggering and left, intending to stalk back to his office, but Hamaki stopped him.

“Sasuke-sama, may we, us two and Fu, come and speak with you?” he asked, gesturing to include Terai.

All thought of the woman fled. Neither Hamaki, Terai nor Fu had ever asked to speak with him, never mind the three of them together.

“Of course Hamaki-san, Terai-san. I am going to my office now. Why don’t the three of you join me there when you are ready?”


He prepared a tea tray for four and set the display frame to the picture of Naruto with the children. When the three of them arrived they perched awkwardly on the edges of the comfortable chairs.

Sasuke imagined they were contrasting his office to his father’s.

He poured them each a cup of tea. They watched his hands, fascinated.

“I remember that you particularly liked this blend of tea, Fu-san,” he said. “My mother would always make sure that she had some when you were due to share a meal with us.”

Fu smiled and all three relaxed. Sasuke was pleased that reminding them that he was more like his mother than his father had worked.

He sat back with his cup. “How can I help you?” he asked.

They glanced at each other and then Hamaki took a deep breath. “Ever since Rin-san explained about how she made a baby, we have talked about it,” he admitted.

“But we decided we couldn’t,” Fu interjected.

“We decided we couldn’t,” Hamaki confirmed, “because we are your kamikaze unit. So if we died, the baby wouldn’t have parents.”

“And we don’t want to give up being your last ditch defence,” Terai added, “because it is the greatest of honours.”

“We would never let you down,” Fu assured him.

“Never,” the other two echoed.

“I know that,” Sasuke assured them. “I trust you utterly.”

There was a short silence and then Hamaki spoke again. “Then Inoichi died and we couldn’t drink because we were on duty, so we talked. We talked a lot.”

“We really want a baby,” Fu interrupted. “Haku-san has often said that he would help us raise her. We think we would cope. We would follow Haku’s advice and try to be good parents.”

They were looking at him. Sasuke suddenly realised what they needed. He stood. He brought his hands together and he bowed deeply.

“Hamaki-san, Terai-san, Fu-san, please will you do me the honour of allowing me to be parent-in-reserve for your daughter,” he requested.

They were on their feet, hurriedly bowing.

“You don’t have to do that, Sasuke-sama,” Hamaki assured him. “We only wanted you to say you would make sure she was looked after.”

Sasuke bowed again, this time even deeper. ““Hamaki-san, Terai-san, Fu-san, please will you do me the honour of allowing me to be parent-in-reserve for your daughter,” he repeated.

This time they bowed in unison.

“We would be honoured, Sasuke-sama,” Hamaki replied.

“We accept,” Fu added quickly, as if he was worried Sasuke would withdraw the offer.

“Thank you, Sasuke-sama,” Terai answered. “We are honoured to accept.”


Sasuke walked slowly from his office to the crew room for the midmeal. It had been quite a morning. In retrospect he had to admit that his response to the woman must have been amusing; he had surprised himself at how horrified he had been. His conversation with Hamaki, Terai and Fu had put the whole ridiculous encounter into perspective. He steeled himself for the inevitable humorous descriptions during the meal.

There were none. Neither Shikamaru nor Naruto mentioned it. Even Iruka was surprised. Sasuke could see him studying the two of them, wondering what they were up to.

As he was doing.

Naruto went off to the playroom to be with the children. Sasuke left to return to his office. He was well along the corridor when someone ran up behind him and Shikamaru fell into step beside him.

“I need to speak with you,” Shikamaru told him.

Sasuke sighed. It would be the space station again. If not, it would something else followed by the space station.

“We agreed that you could not talk about the space station without my permission,” Sasuke reminded him.

Shikamaru did not argue; he merely smiled. “I will not speak of the space station without your permission,” he confirmed. “Can we talk in your office?”


Sasuke did not offer to make tea. He did not suggest they sit in the comfortable chairs. Instead he sat at his desk. Shikamaru seemed unconcerned. He sat on the desk and, before Sasuke could tell him to get off, he placed a tape on the surface.

“What’s that?” Sasuke asked suspiciously.

“A recording,” Shikamaru told him. There was an annoying pause. “I made it this morning,” he clarified.

A chill ran down Sasuke’s spine. He imagined clips, images or video with commentary. Shikamaru, Kakashi and Asuma would be able to tease him for standards.

“You can talk about the space station,” he conceded through gritted teeth.

Shikamaru shook his head. “That is not enough,” he replied. “You have to listen. You have to listen properly with an open mind. If I think you have done so, whatever you decide, I shall destroy both this copy and the original. I give you my word.”

Sasuke could order him to destroy both tapes and Shikamaru would do so. He was merely making a point. It did, however, imply that the space station was more than one of Shikamaru’s crazy dreams.

“Very well,” he conceded.


A considerable time and two cups of real coffee later, Sasuke had to admit it was making sense. Uchiha would not own it, although they would be one of the investors and it would be linked to their new communication network by minigates. Sasuke suspected that Shikamaru would own the bulk of the station via several of his companies and identities.

Best, the station could exist in time to address some of their current problems. Shikamaru had a plan to create the basic space station using a modular self-assembly system and had already bought numerous shipments that were available at a bargain price because the original purchasers either no longer existed or could not pay.

“What would you have done if I said no?” Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru shrugged. “Probably put the components together with some stuff from elsewhere into more saleable combinations and sold for a profit,” he admitted. “I don’t think I would have gone ahead with the station because the location is so perfect. I want Uchiha to be able to take full advantage of it.” His eyes unfocused. “I am thinking of buying the company that makes the modular system. It’s a good product but it could be great with some small additions of technologies they don’t know about and their marketing is awful. Perhaps I could create an identity that could be the partner they need to really fly.”

“Shika-san,” Sasuke called softly.

Shikamaru came back to him. “Sorry, Sasuke-sama,” he admitted. “I’ll think that through later. Having the HDL mother ship means that building can start even if we can’t get the Gaters to let us jump the queues for some gates, which we probably can because they see us as their best customer. Another advantage of that sector is that there is an excess of retired spacers. A few adverts in the right bars and there shouldn’t be any problem putting together a workforce for the port and the spacer quarter and the defences. I know a company who specialise in making over dysfunctional ports. They would be just perfect for the job and they would jump at the chance of building a port from scratch. I’ll have to arrange transport but that will be fine.”

Sasuke had no doubt that Shikamaru would talk through every small detail given the chance. “You can have a functional and safe station in time for us to offer it as an option to the hybrids from the Warren,” he suggested.

Shikamaru smiled at him. “Yes,” he agreed.

“Does Naruto know?” Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru flushed slightly. “I have spoken to Na-chan about it. We agreed that he would not ‘know’ about it until I had persuaded you it was a viable option. He said that he did not want to ask you because you had done so much for him and the HDF lately.”

Sasuke smiled; trust Naruto to worry about that. “So you set Sakura-san onto me to give you some ammunition,” he suggested.

“No!” Shikamaru insisted. “I had no idea she had been one of your fangirls. It was just one of those flukes.” He smiled. “It was funny. Your face.” He began sniggering again.

Sasuke picked up the tape. “I am trusting you to get rid of the original, Shika-san.”

“There is nothing on it,” Shikamaru admitted. “The meeting was not recorded.”

The urge to tackle him to the ground and tickle him until he wet himself was almost overpowering. However, while Neji or Naruto had the right to do such a thing, Sasuke did not. He would have to realise his revenge in other ways. He favoured Shikamaru with a knowing smile.

Shikamaru responded by looking worried, which was satisfying.


Naruto’s delight almost made up for not being able to punish Shikamaru. Sasuke had gone to the playroom and whispered the news in his ear. The look in his eyes and his smile drove thoughts of fangirls and Shikamaru’s tricks out of Sasuke’s head. Naruto had given him a knowing look and pulled away.

“Be good, teme,” he scolded. “Later,” he promised.

So Sasuke read Hoshi and Ayame a story, thinking about the little foster sisters they would have soon, first Mai and then Hamaki, Terai and Fu’s little girl. Meanwhile Naruto played tussle with the boys. Even Haru and Yuki joined in, which was a surprise.

“Hi-chan said Ha-chan and Yu-chan were girly,” Hoshi told him with her uncanny ability to tell what he was thinking.

Inside Sasuke sighed. It was always Hikaru. On the outside he smiled. “Wow, Hi-chan paid Ha-chan and Yu-chan a compliment,” he declared. “That was nice of him.”

Hoshi giggled and Ayame looked confused.

Sasuke rescued Haru and Yuki and then the five of them played a make-believe game until it was time for the children’s evemeal.

Shikamaru took the third adult’s chair at the meal, much to Haru’s delight. He then helped with bath time and putting the children to bed.

Once they were all settled, Shikamaru looked to each of the adults in turn for their agreement.

Then he started a new story, which included how a brave warrior called Inoichi had saved hundreds of people’s lives.

Sasuke watched the children’s faces, aware that some would see the significance of the story while others would not. Kiba had already plucked Haru from his bunk and was holding him. Naruto was sitting close to Hikaru, stroking his hair. Sasuke had his back against Hoshi’s bunk, knowing that she would creep into his lap if she needed him.

But it was Yuki who came to him first and it was Ryuu whom Naruto needed to comfort for the longest.

“I will sit with him until he is fast asleep,” Kiba assured them as he took a sleepy Ryuu from Naruto. They watched as Ryuu burrowed into Kiba’s familiar embrace and then followed Shikamaru from the room.

Neji was waiting for him on the couch. Shikamaru curled up beside him.

“Thank you, Shikamaru-san,” Sasuke acknowledged.

“It is the best way,” Naruto reminded them.

They knew that; one day Shikamaru might have to tell the children that one of their parents was not coming back, or Kiba, or Ranmaru, or one of the many people who played a more significant part in their lives than Inoichi had.

It was part of being a spacer.

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