In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

Warning: The views, standards, mores and morals of the different groups in this story, including those of ‘spacers’, are not those of our world. They are the product of a fictional future history. Many of the behaviours they consider acceptable we do not; some of them are wrong by my definition in that they are damaging to one or more of the individuals involved and/or suggest that one individual has more intrinsic value than another. In this story, ‘spacers’ consider youths of fourteen capable of giving informed consent and they consider a job description that includes providing sexual favours to others, including much older people, to be normal and acceptable.

4. New scents

Naruto sniffed the air. It was thin, with traces of scents rather than overpowering odours. Even his own smell was dilute and unusually fresh. He listened. It was quiet. There were many people, probably seven, sleeping. No, six people sleeping and one awake but resting. The one closest was resting. He opened one eye, then the other. He was in a bunk, in the corner of a room, close to the ground. It was very clean and…

His hands flew to his whiskers. Last time he was somewhere this clean he had woken to find that they had cut them off close to his skin. They refused to understand why that had upset him so much, would not listen to him telling them about the advantages of having them. They wanted him as normal as possible. The day they told him that they were going to file his teeth was the day that he decided that no amount of food and warmth was worth it and he ran away.

His whiskers were fine. Everything felt fine. If he wasn’t so incredibly hungry he would feel excellent.

The person who was resting, the one on the bunk that was higher up on the adjacent wall, sat up and looked at him.

“My name is Shikamaru,” he said, and then jumped down from the bunk, landing in a crouch on the balls of his feet. “How are you feeling?”

“My name is Naruto,” Naruto told him, “and I am hungry.”

Shikamaru, who was young but crew because he wore a knife, showed him where the head was and then took him into the galley and began putting food in front of him. After many platefuls the food stopped coming.

“Iruka will be cross if I let you eat so much that you hurl.” Shikamaru explained. “You can have more later.”

Naruto leaned back and burped. “Is Iruka your queen?”

“Yes, but he does not like being called that.”

“And there are seven of you, other than your Captain. Unless there is another crew room. Or if some people sleep elsewhere. Or if your cat is in the captain’s cabin.”

Shikamaru’s hand strayed to his knife and Naruto tensed, not knowing what he had done wrong. “How do you know that?” the young man hissed.

Naruto cowered slightly. “I heard them sleeping. Six people sleeping, one resting. You were the one resting.”

The young man relaxed. “Your hearing is that good? Yes, there are eight of us. The captain, six crew and the cat.”

Naruto was disappointed. He wasn’t sure how he had got here but this was the best place he had seen for a long time, possibly ever. Only they already had a cat. “I can’t pay for the food,” he admitted. “The only thing I have to offer is my arse and I guess you won’t want it if you’ve already got a cat.” He scowled at Shikamaru who seemed to have found what he said incredibly funny. “What should I do now? Do you want me clean up in here?”

Shikamaru managed to stop laughing, at least for a moment. He pointed back into the crew room, up at an isolated bunk in the top far corner. “That’s Sasuke’s. He our cat. Go and introduce yourself to him and tell him I told him to look after you.”

Sasuke the cat sure slept soundly. He didn’t even wake up when Naruto sat on the edge of his bunk. He was pretty, really pretty, and Naruto couldn’t imagine them needing someone else. He frowned. It wasn’t like a spacer to sleep that soundly. He leaned close and sniffed his sweat. Sleepdrug. That explained it. He scrambled down the wall and looked for Shikamaru. He found him talking with an older spacer in the galley. The conversation stopped immediately.

“My, who has the prettiest blue eyes,” the older spacer drawled.

Naruto had heard that before. “And bright blond hair and cute whiskers,” he added flirtily before turning to Shikamaru. “Sasuke’s taken sleepdrug so he’ll be grumpy if I wake him.” He brought his gaze to the older spacer’s face, then hooded his eyes slightly, knowing the effect it had. “Is this when I get to pay for my food?” The man’s reaction was immediate and acute. Naruto could smell his arousal.

“No.” said a voice behind him and the older spacer’s interest dipped. “Shikamaru, are you going to introduce us?”

“Yes, Iruka-sensei. Naruto, this is Iruka, who looks after us all, and Genma, our boatswain. Iruka, Genma, this is Naruto.”

Naruto had known where he was with the older spacer, Genma, and he had liked Shikamaru. He did not know how to behave with this queen who did not want to be called a queen. Shikamaru had called him sensei. Perhaps… He grinned and rubbed the back of his head. “The food was great and it is so clean and warm here. Thank you, Iruka-san.”

It worked. The man smiled. “You are welcome, Naruto. Naruto, the Captain wishes to talk with you.”

Naruto had not expected the Captain to be a woman, or to have such an amazing chest. Naruto had seen the occasional entertainer, but none of them a bosom like that. He desperately wanted to lay his head on it, so desperately that he had trouble listening to what she was saying, never mind understanding her. He was disappointed when she decided to leave.

Once she was gone he could focus on the big, scarred spacer, Ibiki. He was scary to look at but didn’t smell vicious and Naruto soon realised it would be fine as long as he told the truth. As he had nothing to lie about it was easy. Ibiki was most interested in his last crew and Naruto told him everything he could remember, which wasn’t much other than being constantly fucked and continually hungry. He’d had better times, like when Ibiki told him that Kakashi had killed the psychotic knife-fighter. Ken had been truly scary. Sasuke was lucky to have someone protecting him who was strong enough to kill Ken.

“Iruka will be joining us for the next part, Naruto.” Ibiki told him.

That was good. Maybe he had a chance of staying after all.

“How old are you, Naruto?” Iruka asked.

He would start with a question that Naruto couldn’t answer. He shrugged, then pulled himself together as Iruka frowned. “I have no idea, Iruka-san.”

“How many standards have you been sexually active?” Ibiki asked.

“Being fucked?” Naruto queried. Ibiki nodded and Naruto thought about it. He’d count from when he’d realised that being fucked meant eating regularly. “Five, maybe six,” he answered. He knew immediately that he had made a mistake. Iruka’s face had turned from a warm brown, like a hazelnut, to a sickly yellow. He should have lied. This crew was nice. They wanted a cat, not a whore. They wanted someone clean, like Sasuke.

“It’s not his fault, Iruka.” Ibiki murmured.

Iruka turned on him. “Do you think I don’t know that?” he snarled.

Naruto blinked. There was more to Iruka that showed on the surface. “It’s the fox bits,” Naruto heard himself telling them. “They mean I get over stuff quick and keep going.”

Ibiki smiled at him. “So you know for certain it’s fox genes?” he asked.

Naruto nodded. “The orphanage tested me. Before I ran away. They cut off my whiskers and they wanted to file my teeth.” He showed them his canines.

Ibiki and Iruka exchanged looks and small nods. Iruka tried to look serious but his eyes were smiling. “Naruto, I am going to suggest that you stay with us for a division, as a trial. If it works out you can stay with us. If not, we will find a nice crew that suits you better.”

“Yes!” Naruto yelled.

“I am pleased that you are pleased, Naruto, but you need to listen.” Iruka was saying. “You will be our guest, not our cat. That means no fucking.”

Naruto knew that was a really bad idea. “Iruka-san, I know you are trying to be nice to me but that won’t work. It wouldn’t be a proper test.” He remembered the way Genma had looked at him. “And I like fucking. I didn’t when I was younger but I do now. Since I started to squirt it’s been great.” The last was not quite the truth. Sometimes it had been great. Other times it had been painful, or scary, or both, like with Ken.

“You have Kakashi,” Ibiki muttered in a voice that was so low that non-foxy ears would not have heard it across the table.

Iruka sighed. “Very well, a proper trial, with fucking.”

Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head.