In the cold of space you find the heat of suns
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Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male › Naruto/Sasuke
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Category:
Naruto › Yaoi - Male/Male › Naruto/Sasuke
Rating:
Adult +
Chapters:
91
Views:
3,776
Reviews:
636
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
3
Disclaimer:
This story has some of Masashi Kishimoto's characters from Naruto in a universe of my own devising. I do not own Naruto. I do not make any money from these writings.
Encounters
Thank you for the reviews. They are very much appreciated and encourage me to continue the story.
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.
68. Encounters
Repairs proceeded quickly. The Oak was soon accelerating towards the hole through which Kabuto had jumped. Izumo had assured Asuma that they would be able to jump by the time they reached it.
Asuma went to find Kisame. He was in the gym rather than helping with the repairs because that was safer for the rest of the crew. Repeating the familiar actions helped him contain his fury. Asuma stood respectfully to one side and waited. Finally Kisame slowed and stopped.
“Asuma-san,” he acknowledged.
“Kisame-san,” Asuma responded. “We will be jumping in about fifty minutes.” He took a deep breath. “This jump is not to chase him. We can’t afford to chase him headlong into a trap. It is to find out if he is tagged.”
Kisame was motionless. Asuma swallowed. He had seen the table in the galley. Kurenai would be very angry if he got himself killed.
Finally Kisame spoke. “I do not want to confront him,” he admitted. “He has Itachi. If he is confronted, he will threaten to kill him.”
Asuma steeled himself. “Kabuto wants you and Naruto. Would you go to him to be with Itachi? Would you give him Naruto to get Itachi back?”
Kisame regarded him with his one, small eye. “Who are you to ask these questions?” he asked.
Asuma bristled. “I am Asuma, who saw what you and Itachi left in Tarrasade. I am Asuma, who found the shell of a child in a room with his mother’s body. I am Asuma, who watched that child suffer for six standards because of what you did not do. I am Asuma who still believes that it would be safer to kill you. I am Asuma, who used to be your friend but does not understand what you became. I am Asuma who believes you will do anything, however horrific, for Itachi.”
They looked at each other.
“I will never give him Naruto,” Kisame answered. “I do not believe that going to him would result in Itachi’s safety or us being together. I will wait to hear what Sasuke-sama intends to do.”
Asuma nodded. He turned to leave. He had reached the door when Kisame spoke again.
“You are correct to ask these questions, Asuma-san.”
“We still do not know if we tagged him, Sasuke-sama,” Asuma reported over the intercom. “He scattered interference drones and tags as soon as he was through the hole. There are three normally navigable holes, all of them mapped and none of them gated. Due to the interference, we cannot tell which one he took. I decided to come back through the hole and we are in the process of detagging the ship. I cannot imagine that he will not check for our tags once he is clear.”
“Thank you, Asuma-san,” Sasuke acknowledged. “That will be all for now.”
Sasuke moved away from the intercom and sat on the bed.
“That’s it, then,” he observed. “We cannot chase him.”
Naruto looked up at him from where he was sitting, cross-legged, on the rug. “What happens if we do not catch him?” he asked.
Sasuke considered. “Kisame may leave us on a quest to be reunited with Itachi. Kabuto may think of a way of using the symbiote.” He paused before continuing. “With the material in the tissue bank he can clone you and he create as many little Uchihas as he likes. Or little Kakashis, or Irukas, or clones and children of anyone else whose cells were in the container. He could use our genes in new hybrids.”
Naruto’s eyes widened with horror. “We must stop him. We must find him even if we cannot chase him.”
Sasuke almost said that Shikamaru would come up with a plan. Then he remembered that Shikamaru was lying unconscious in the infirmary on the Sakura. “At least he did not get the babies,” he said instead. “If they had been in the infirmary, he would have taken them.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sasuke wished he could take them back. He had managed to fill Naruto’s mind with horror while he was still denied the comfort of seeing that Hikaru, Haru and Hoshi were healthy and happy in their gestators.
“Sweetheart,” he pleaded, joining him on the rug.
To his dismay Naruto moved away from him. He tried again, only to have Naruto growl at him and retreat into the head. Sasuke heard the lock engage.
Ten minutes later he gave up on persuading Naruto to come out; he would try again later.
He checked the time. Another two hundred and eighty six minutes before they could get the safe room open.
He went to the intercom and asked anyone available to respond.
Shino made his way to the Sakura. He was very weary, but he understood Naruto’s need for news of his babies and believed that Sasuke was right; it would be better if the gestators were out of their shells when Naruto was released from the safe room. For that he needed Rin and Shino thought he had a better chance of persuading her in person.
He paused at the door of the infirmary. Neji was sitting at the side of the tank. He looked awful. Shino could see Rin in her office; how she could sit in there and ignore Neji’s suffering was beyond him.
Shino took a detour to the laboratory. He contacted Konohamaru, who was on communications duty on the Oak, and asked him to convey a message to Haku.
Haku replied by arriving with a basket of supplies. He and Shino headed for the infirmary.
“Visitors!” Haku announced brightly.
Neji looked up to see Haku bearing down on him. Next thing he knew he had been hugged, dressed in a warmer jacket, moved to a more comfortable chair and fed tea. Haku did not suggest that he leave the side of the tank for even a moment. When Neji himself admitted that he needed to visit the head, Haku promised he would watch Shikamaru until he returned. Once he was back, Haku sat in a chair close to him and held his hand.
Shino went to tackle Rin, who was watching Haku fuss over Neji through the window of her office.
“I assume there is no news,” Shino began.
“No, he is stable but still unconscious,” Rin confirmed. “I did tell Neji-san that there was no point in him sitting there.”
“Wouldn’t you want to sit there if it were Dan-san?” Shino asked.
Rin flushed slightly. “Maybe,” she conceded.
“I need you to come and check the babies,” Shino told her.
Rin was immediately alert. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” Shino replied, “but the Boss wants you to check them and report to Naruto-san. We think it would be a good idea to get the gestators out of the shells now that the crisis had passed. I do not feel confident about doing that without you or Naruto.” He paused, judging her response. “If you refuse, I will ask Izumo-san to help me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rin retaliated. “Izumo is exhausted. He and Kotetsu have been working non-stop.” She bit her lip. “As you have been, Shino-san. Surely it can wait. Naruto-san may even wish to so it himself.”
“The Boss says that Naruto-san is badly stressed.” Shino could see it was not enough. He decided that Rin deserved it. “Apparently he can’t get out of his head what would have happened if the babies had been in the infirmary.”
Rin scowled at him but Shino’s face was as expressionless as always.
Sasuke was despairing. Rin had made matters worse, not better. He had needed Rin to tell Naruto that everything was fine, not for her to give a detailed account of every blip in the data and conclude that the babies had been agitated and disturbed by being isolated in their shells.
Then Naruto had asked about Shikamaru and Rin had shared her thoughts about possible reasons for Shikamaru’s continued unconsciousness, most of which were as worrying as they were unlikely.
He watched Naruto pacing up and down the room. Every so often he would growl. He growled more if Sasuke tried speaking to him.
It had been easier when he had been locked in the head.
One hundred and ten minutes to go.
Sasuke decided to have a shower. It would waste some time. He started to move off the bed.
Naruto growled at him.
“Stop growling at me,” Sasuke complained. “It isn’t my fault.”
“It is,” Naruto told him. “You let him on the ship. You made me say yes by telling me my children would be ashamed of me when I was old and weak.”
Sasuke froze. Had he said that to Naruto? Even if he had not, was that what Naruto had thought he was saying? And Naruto was right, he should have never let Kabuto on the ship. At most he should have agreed to a meeting somewhere neutral, like Mercy Station.
“I am sorry,” he admitted. “I should never have let him on the ship and I should never, ever have said anything that made you feel like that.”
Naruto turned away from him. “I am not ready to forgive you,” he replied. “You can move off the bed.” He sat on the floor facing the nursery. “But stay away from me.”
At least the water running down Sasuke’s face hid the tears.
Naruto knew Sasuke was crying. Sasuke deserved to feel bad enough to cry. This mess was his fault. His obsession with Naruto living longer and not aging might have got Shi-chan killed or stopped his brain working properly; Shi-chan hated it when he could not think properly. Kabuto would breed little Uchihas and little Narutos who did not work properly. Worse, he would experiment. Naruto imagined a fox-human hybrid who looked a lot like him, a bit like Sasuke and could not think or move properly. He shuddered.
And Rin had said the babies had suffered from being in their shells. That was not a might or a maybe. That was a fact.
Sasuke deserved to feel bad enough to cry.
But his Sasuke was crying. He was crying because of what Naruto had said to him. Perhaps he had cried enough.
Naruto found a towel and approached the shower. He opened the door, reached in, turned off the faucet and wrapped Sasuke in the towel. Then he carried him to the bed and cuddled him.
Asuma was wondering where he was going to find the fifth person off the list so that they could open the safe room. According to their usual routine, it was the middle of the night. Shino, who had done everything anyone had asked of him and more, was curled up on one of the couches asleep; Asuma had promised to wake him. Rin had gone back to the Sakura. Shikamaru was unconscious and Neji was with him. That left Kakashi, who was still sleeping off the effect of Rin’s shot, and Iruka who was in bed with Kakashi.
Sasuke had gone suspiciously quiet but Naruto was begging Asuma to get the safe room open so he could check his babies.
He had decided that he would have to wake Iruka. He was about to knock on the door of his and Kakashi’s room when it started to slid open. Asuma jumped back to a more appropriate distance.
Iruka smiled at him. “I set my alarm,” he explained.
Naruto was in the nursery before Sasuke would have thought it possible. He could hear him cooing to the babies.
Sasuke checked his appearance, not good but not dreadful, and opened the door.
“Asuma-san, Iruka-sensei, thank you. Where is Shino-san? I wanted to thank him also.”
“Already in bed,” Asuma informed him. “He has worked incredibly hard. I took the second shift and Iruka-san got some sleep but Shino-san has been up almost the whole time.” His eye studied Sasuke’s face. “You all right, Sasu-kun? I expect being trapped in there waiting was also hard.”
“I am fine,” Sasuke lied. “Naruto will feel better when he has viewed each baby. Why don’t you go home? I will contact you in the morning.”
Asuma hesitated but nodded and took his leave.
Iruka also studied Sasuke. He was obviously not fine. He looked dreadful. “I have slept,” he said. “We could talk.”
Sasuke shook his head. “I need to view the babies with Naruto.”
Iruka understood. “I will be in the galley for a while,” he promised.
Sasuke half expected Naruto to growl at him when he entered the nursery. Instead he switched on the projector so that Sasuke could admire his daughter.
“They are fine now,” Naruto admitted.
“We will ask Shino-san if there is a way of playing them your heartbeat when they are isolated and in their shells,” Sasuke suggested. “I am sure that would help.”
Naruto turned his attention from the viewer to Sasuke. He closed the space between them, picked Sasuke up and sat him on the platform. “I forgive you,” he whispered and kissed him.
Naruto waited until Sasuke was asleep. He slid off the platform. There was one more thing he must do.
He slipped into the infirmary on the Sakura. Neji was asleep on one of the treatment beds. Naruto was almost certain that Haku had put him to bed; the tapestry cushion and the embroidered bedcover gave it away.
Shi-chan was in a tank. Naruto studied him. He did not look sick or injured. Rin-san had said she did not know why he would not wake up. Even the dia-doc did not know.
Naruto had his own way of waking Shi-chan. He snaked one hand into the tank, through the gel, towards Shi-chan toes. He tweaked Shi-chan’s big toe, twice. Then he waited a bit and tried again.
The third time he was almost sure that Shi-chan moved his toe between the first and the second tweak.
Then the monitors started bleeping.
Naruto swiftly pulled his hand and lower arm from the gel and wiped it on the inside of his jacket. He sat on one of the chairs next to the tank and looked innocent.
Neji startled awake. “Naruto-san?” he asked.
“I got out of the safe room and wanted to see Shi-chan,” he explained. “Is that machine meant to be bleeping?”
Rin hurried into the room with very little on, followed by Dan who threw her some clothes.
“Is he worse?” Neji asked.
“No, but something happened.” She looked at Naruto. “Did you touch the gel?”
Naruto’s heart fell. The tank had gone crazy because it detected his hybrid flesh; he must have imagined Shi-chan moving his toe. “I just wanted to touch him,” he admitted.
To his surprise she was not angry. “I understand, Naruto-san. That explains the strange readings and the alarms. Nothing to worry about.” She began resetting the monitors.
Neji was folding the embroidered bedcover and Dan was offering to make tea. Naruto decided that he would stay for one cup, to be polite, and then go back to Sasuke and the babies. He was very tired.
He was finishing his tea when a softer, but insistent, noise came from the monitor. Rin put down her cup and made her way over to the display. Then she turned to Dan. “We need to get him out, he might be coming around.”
Naruto jumped up. “I can lift him out,” he offered.
Rin nodded. Dan covered the bed Neji had been using with towels. Naruto lifted Shikamaru out of the tank, held him for a few moments over the tank until most of the gel had fallen away and then transferred him to the bed. Neji and Naruto then rubbed him down to remove the rest of the gel and to stimulate blood flow while Rin attached sensors to his temples. Dan then draped the bedcover over him.
“You watch him,” Rin told Neji. “Dan and I will be in the office.”
Naruto started moving towards the door.
“Stay,” Neji requested. “Please.”
Naruto nodded and sat down on the other chair. He watched Neji take the chain off from around his neck, remove Shikamaru’s ring from it and slide it onto Shikamaru’s duty finger. He then closed his hand around the other ring; Shikamaru’s love offering to him.
“I thought I had lost him,” he admitted. “Twice.” He opened his hand and looked at the ring. “I am not like you, Naruto-san. I do not know if it is forever. I know I love him now, but I do not know what I will feel in ten standards, or twenty, or fifty. People change. Situations change.”
“Humans live a long time,” Naruto agreed. “I hope Sasuke finds someone to love when I am gone. I hope he gives him a love ring.”
Neji smiled. “You are sure it will be another male then,” he observed.
Naruto smiled back. “Very sure,” he replied. “Neji-san, the ring means that you accept that Shikamaru loves you and you will be with only him until you give the ring back. He does love you and you do not want to be with anyone else. I do not understand why you cannot wear the ring.”
Neji suddenly put the ring onto his heart finger. Naruto was pleased. It would mean a lot to Shi-chan. He smiled.
It was late morning before Shikamaru woke; as always.
Author’s note
As I said at the beginning, I am very grateful when people leave a review. It helps me remember that other people enjoy reading this story, perhaps as much as I enjoy writing it.
I realise that I do not often answer individual reviews. This does not mean I do not read them. I do. I am excited every time I see that there is a new one.
I have a few days’ break at the moment, so I am intending to push the story along as much as possible. I know that I should keep chapters back when I have time to write so that I can update regularly when I have less time but I am not very good at doing that. Once I have finished a chapter I want to share it.
I did a count and realised that I am handling 49 characters including the children, the babies, the badies and the ‘maybe badies’ [KD and GP]. No wonder I feel my head is going to explode sometimes.
Warning – the Kabuto situation is not going to resolve quickly. Oh no. That would be far too simple.
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.
68. Encounters
Repairs proceeded quickly. The Oak was soon accelerating towards the hole through which Kabuto had jumped. Izumo had assured Asuma that they would be able to jump by the time they reached it.
Asuma went to find Kisame. He was in the gym rather than helping with the repairs because that was safer for the rest of the crew. Repeating the familiar actions helped him contain his fury. Asuma stood respectfully to one side and waited. Finally Kisame slowed and stopped.
“Asuma-san,” he acknowledged.
“Kisame-san,” Asuma responded. “We will be jumping in about fifty minutes.” He took a deep breath. “This jump is not to chase him. We can’t afford to chase him headlong into a trap. It is to find out if he is tagged.”
Kisame was motionless. Asuma swallowed. He had seen the table in the galley. Kurenai would be very angry if he got himself killed.
Finally Kisame spoke. “I do not want to confront him,” he admitted. “He has Itachi. If he is confronted, he will threaten to kill him.”
Asuma steeled himself. “Kabuto wants you and Naruto. Would you go to him to be with Itachi? Would you give him Naruto to get Itachi back?”
Kisame regarded him with his one, small eye. “Who are you to ask these questions?” he asked.
Asuma bristled. “I am Asuma, who saw what you and Itachi left in Tarrasade. I am Asuma, who found the shell of a child in a room with his mother’s body. I am Asuma, who watched that child suffer for six standards because of what you did not do. I am Asuma who still believes that it would be safer to kill you. I am Asuma, who used to be your friend but does not understand what you became. I am Asuma who believes you will do anything, however horrific, for Itachi.”
They looked at each other.
“I will never give him Naruto,” Kisame answered. “I do not believe that going to him would result in Itachi’s safety or us being together. I will wait to hear what Sasuke-sama intends to do.”
Asuma nodded. He turned to leave. He had reached the door when Kisame spoke again.
“You are correct to ask these questions, Asuma-san.”
“We still do not know if we tagged him, Sasuke-sama,” Asuma reported over the intercom. “He scattered interference drones and tags as soon as he was through the hole. There are three normally navigable holes, all of them mapped and none of them gated. Due to the interference, we cannot tell which one he took. I decided to come back through the hole and we are in the process of detagging the ship. I cannot imagine that he will not check for our tags once he is clear.”
“Thank you, Asuma-san,” Sasuke acknowledged. “That will be all for now.”
Sasuke moved away from the intercom and sat on the bed.
“That’s it, then,” he observed. “We cannot chase him.”
Naruto looked up at him from where he was sitting, cross-legged, on the rug. “What happens if we do not catch him?” he asked.
Sasuke considered. “Kisame may leave us on a quest to be reunited with Itachi. Kabuto may think of a way of using the symbiote.” He paused before continuing. “With the material in the tissue bank he can clone you and he create as many little Uchihas as he likes. Or little Kakashis, or Irukas, or clones and children of anyone else whose cells were in the container. He could use our genes in new hybrids.”
Naruto’s eyes widened with horror. “We must stop him. We must find him even if we cannot chase him.”
Sasuke almost said that Shikamaru would come up with a plan. Then he remembered that Shikamaru was lying unconscious in the infirmary on the Sakura. “At least he did not get the babies,” he said instead. “If they had been in the infirmary, he would have taken them.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Sasuke wished he could take them back. He had managed to fill Naruto’s mind with horror while he was still denied the comfort of seeing that Hikaru, Haru and Hoshi were healthy and happy in their gestators.
“Sweetheart,” he pleaded, joining him on the rug.
To his dismay Naruto moved away from him. He tried again, only to have Naruto growl at him and retreat into the head. Sasuke heard the lock engage.
Ten minutes later he gave up on persuading Naruto to come out; he would try again later.
He checked the time. Another two hundred and eighty six minutes before they could get the safe room open.
He went to the intercom and asked anyone available to respond.
Shino made his way to the Sakura. He was very weary, but he understood Naruto’s need for news of his babies and believed that Sasuke was right; it would be better if the gestators were out of their shells when Naruto was released from the safe room. For that he needed Rin and Shino thought he had a better chance of persuading her in person.
He paused at the door of the infirmary. Neji was sitting at the side of the tank. He looked awful. Shino could see Rin in her office; how she could sit in there and ignore Neji’s suffering was beyond him.
Shino took a detour to the laboratory. He contacted Konohamaru, who was on communications duty on the Oak, and asked him to convey a message to Haku.
Haku replied by arriving with a basket of supplies. He and Shino headed for the infirmary.
“Visitors!” Haku announced brightly.
Neji looked up to see Haku bearing down on him. Next thing he knew he had been hugged, dressed in a warmer jacket, moved to a more comfortable chair and fed tea. Haku did not suggest that he leave the side of the tank for even a moment. When Neji himself admitted that he needed to visit the head, Haku promised he would watch Shikamaru until he returned. Once he was back, Haku sat in a chair close to him and held his hand.
Shino went to tackle Rin, who was watching Haku fuss over Neji through the window of her office.
“I assume there is no news,” Shino began.
“No, he is stable but still unconscious,” Rin confirmed. “I did tell Neji-san that there was no point in him sitting there.”
“Wouldn’t you want to sit there if it were Dan-san?” Shino asked.
Rin flushed slightly. “Maybe,” she conceded.
“I need you to come and check the babies,” Shino told her.
Rin was immediately alert. “Is there a problem?”
“No,” Shino replied, “but the Boss wants you to check them and report to Naruto-san. We think it would be a good idea to get the gestators out of the shells now that the crisis had passed. I do not feel confident about doing that without you or Naruto.” He paused, judging her response. “If you refuse, I will ask Izumo-san to help me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rin retaliated. “Izumo is exhausted. He and Kotetsu have been working non-stop.” She bit her lip. “As you have been, Shino-san. Surely it can wait. Naruto-san may even wish to so it himself.”
“The Boss says that Naruto-san is badly stressed.” Shino could see it was not enough. He decided that Rin deserved it. “Apparently he can’t get out of his head what would have happened if the babies had been in the infirmary.”
Rin scowled at him but Shino’s face was as expressionless as always.
Sasuke was despairing. Rin had made matters worse, not better. He had needed Rin to tell Naruto that everything was fine, not for her to give a detailed account of every blip in the data and conclude that the babies had been agitated and disturbed by being isolated in their shells.
Then Naruto had asked about Shikamaru and Rin had shared her thoughts about possible reasons for Shikamaru’s continued unconsciousness, most of which were as worrying as they were unlikely.
He watched Naruto pacing up and down the room. Every so often he would growl. He growled more if Sasuke tried speaking to him.
It had been easier when he had been locked in the head.
One hundred and ten minutes to go.
Sasuke decided to have a shower. It would waste some time. He started to move off the bed.
Naruto growled at him.
“Stop growling at me,” Sasuke complained. “It isn’t my fault.”
“It is,” Naruto told him. “You let him on the ship. You made me say yes by telling me my children would be ashamed of me when I was old and weak.”
Sasuke froze. Had he said that to Naruto? Even if he had not, was that what Naruto had thought he was saying? And Naruto was right, he should have never let Kabuto on the ship. At most he should have agreed to a meeting somewhere neutral, like Mercy Station.
“I am sorry,” he admitted. “I should never have let him on the ship and I should never, ever have said anything that made you feel like that.”
Naruto turned away from him. “I am not ready to forgive you,” he replied. “You can move off the bed.” He sat on the floor facing the nursery. “But stay away from me.”
At least the water running down Sasuke’s face hid the tears.
Naruto knew Sasuke was crying. Sasuke deserved to feel bad enough to cry. This mess was his fault. His obsession with Naruto living longer and not aging might have got Shi-chan killed or stopped his brain working properly; Shi-chan hated it when he could not think properly. Kabuto would breed little Uchihas and little Narutos who did not work properly. Worse, he would experiment. Naruto imagined a fox-human hybrid who looked a lot like him, a bit like Sasuke and could not think or move properly. He shuddered.
And Rin had said the babies had suffered from being in their shells. That was not a might or a maybe. That was a fact.
Sasuke deserved to feel bad enough to cry.
But his Sasuke was crying. He was crying because of what Naruto had said to him. Perhaps he had cried enough.
Naruto found a towel and approached the shower. He opened the door, reached in, turned off the faucet and wrapped Sasuke in the towel. Then he carried him to the bed and cuddled him.
Asuma was wondering where he was going to find the fifth person off the list so that they could open the safe room. According to their usual routine, it was the middle of the night. Shino, who had done everything anyone had asked of him and more, was curled up on one of the couches asleep; Asuma had promised to wake him. Rin had gone back to the Sakura. Shikamaru was unconscious and Neji was with him. That left Kakashi, who was still sleeping off the effect of Rin’s shot, and Iruka who was in bed with Kakashi.
Sasuke had gone suspiciously quiet but Naruto was begging Asuma to get the safe room open so he could check his babies.
He had decided that he would have to wake Iruka. He was about to knock on the door of his and Kakashi’s room when it started to slid open. Asuma jumped back to a more appropriate distance.
Iruka smiled at him. “I set my alarm,” he explained.
Naruto was in the nursery before Sasuke would have thought it possible. He could hear him cooing to the babies.
Sasuke checked his appearance, not good but not dreadful, and opened the door.
“Asuma-san, Iruka-sensei, thank you. Where is Shino-san? I wanted to thank him also.”
“Already in bed,” Asuma informed him. “He has worked incredibly hard. I took the second shift and Iruka-san got some sleep but Shino-san has been up almost the whole time.” His eye studied Sasuke’s face. “You all right, Sasu-kun? I expect being trapped in there waiting was also hard.”
“I am fine,” Sasuke lied. “Naruto will feel better when he has viewed each baby. Why don’t you go home? I will contact you in the morning.”
Asuma hesitated but nodded and took his leave.
Iruka also studied Sasuke. He was obviously not fine. He looked dreadful. “I have slept,” he said. “We could talk.”
Sasuke shook his head. “I need to view the babies with Naruto.”
Iruka understood. “I will be in the galley for a while,” he promised.
Sasuke half expected Naruto to growl at him when he entered the nursery. Instead he switched on the projector so that Sasuke could admire his daughter.
“They are fine now,” Naruto admitted.
“We will ask Shino-san if there is a way of playing them your heartbeat when they are isolated and in their shells,” Sasuke suggested. “I am sure that would help.”
Naruto turned his attention from the viewer to Sasuke. He closed the space between them, picked Sasuke up and sat him on the platform. “I forgive you,” he whispered and kissed him.
Naruto waited until Sasuke was asleep. He slid off the platform. There was one more thing he must do.
He slipped into the infirmary on the Sakura. Neji was asleep on one of the treatment beds. Naruto was almost certain that Haku had put him to bed; the tapestry cushion and the embroidered bedcover gave it away.
Shi-chan was in a tank. Naruto studied him. He did not look sick or injured. Rin-san had said she did not know why he would not wake up. Even the dia-doc did not know.
Naruto had his own way of waking Shi-chan. He snaked one hand into the tank, through the gel, towards Shi-chan toes. He tweaked Shi-chan’s big toe, twice. Then he waited a bit and tried again.
The third time he was almost sure that Shi-chan moved his toe between the first and the second tweak.
Then the monitors started bleeping.
Naruto swiftly pulled his hand and lower arm from the gel and wiped it on the inside of his jacket. He sat on one of the chairs next to the tank and looked innocent.
Neji startled awake. “Naruto-san?” he asked.
“I got out of the safe room and wanted to see Shi-chan,” he explained. “Is that machine meant to be bleeping?”
Rin hurried into the room with very little on, followed by Dan who threw her some clothes.
“Is he worse?” Neji asked.
“No, but something happened.” She looked at Naruto. “Did you touch the gel?”
Naruto’s heart fell. The tank had gone crazy because it detected his hybrid flesh; he must have imagined Shi-chan moving his toe. “I just wanted to touch him,” he admitted.
To his surprise she was not angry. “I understand, Naruto-san. That explains the strange readings and the alarms. Nothing to worry about.” She began resetting the monitors.
Neji was folding the embroidered bedcover and Dan was offering to make tea. Naruto decided that he would stay for one cup, to be polite, and then go back to Sasuke and the babies. He was very tired.
He was finishing his tea when a softer, but insistent, noise came from the monitor. Rin put down her cup and made her way over to the display. Then she turned to Dan. “We need to get him out, he might be coming around.”
Naruto jumped up. “I can lift him out,” he offered.
Rin nodded. Dan covered the bed Neji had been using with towels. Naruto lifted Shikamaru out of the tank, held him for a few moments over the tank until most of the gel had fallen away and then transferred him to the bed. Neji and Naruto then rubbed him down to remove the rest of the gel and to stimulate blood flow while Rin attached sensors to his temples. Dan then draped the bedcover over him.
“You watch him,” Rin told Neji. “Dan and I will be in the office.”
Naruto started moving towards the door.
“Stay,” Neji requested. “Please.”
Naruto nodded and sat down on the other chair. He watched Neji take the chain off from around his neck, remove Shikamaru’s ring from it and slide it onto Shikamaru’s duty finger. He then closed his hand around the other ring; Shikamaru’s love offering to him.
“I thought I had lost him,” he admitted. “Twice.” He opened his hand and looked at the ring. “I am not like you, Naruto-san. I do not know if it is forever. I know I love him now, but I do not know what I will feel in ten standards, or twenty, or fifty. People change. Situations change.”
“Humans live a long time,” Naruto agreed. “I hope Sasuke finds someone to love when I am gone. I hope he gives him a love ring.”
Neji smiled. “You are sure it will be another male then,” he observed.
Naruto smiled back. “Very sure,” he replied. “Neji-san, the ring means that you accept that Shikamaru loves you and you will be with only him until you give the ring back. He does love you and you do not want to be with anyone else. I do not understand why you cannot wear the ring.”
Neji suddenly put the ring onto his heart finger. Naruto was pleased. It would mean a lot to Shi-chan. He smiled.
It was late morning before Shikamaru woke; as always.
Author’s note
As I said at the beginning, I am very grateful when people leave a review. It helps me remember that other people enjoy reading this story, perhaps as much as I enjoy writing it.
I realise that I do not often answer individual reviews. This does not mean I do not read them. I do. I am excited every time I see that there is a new one.
I have a few days’ break at the moment, so I am intending to push the story along as much as possible. I know that I should keep chapters back when I have time to write so that I can update regularly when I have less time but I am not very good at doing that. Once I have finished a chapter I want to share it.
I did a count and realised that I am handling 49 characters including the children, the babies, the badies and the ‘maybe badies’ [KD and GP]. No wonder I feel my head is going to explode sometimes.
Warning – the Kabuto situation is not going to resolve quickly. Oh no. That would be far too simple.