In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

Thank you for the reviews. They inspire me to continue this story.

This is the second update this week, so if you have not looked since last weekend you may have missed one.

A reader has asked about the tanked young men rescued from Kabuto laboratory – the answer is next chapter.


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

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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.


81. Consequences

Breakfast was long finished when Sasuke woke; he had to walk the ship to find the people he wished to invite to a meeting that afternoon. However, his mild irritation at Naruto for letting him sleep soon faded as he met people and talked to them. He realised that he had been spending far too much time in his office.

“You could have told us at the midmeal,” Asuma reminded him as Sasuke watched him playing with Keitaro. “Or announced it over the intercom.”

“No,” Sasuke answered. “The first assumes that people can drop what they are doing at a moment’s notice and the second would be rude.”

“Or sent Kono-kun,” Asuma added.

Sasuke accepted that sending Konohamaru would have been an acceptable alternative. “I have learned more doing it myself than I would have sitting in my office,” he replied. He looked at the table and the floor. “For example, I know now how much mess one small child can make. Do you think nine will make nine times as much? Or do you think that there will be economies of scale?”

Asuma laughed. “I imagine you will become a great deal more tolerant of mess.” He was suddenly serious. “Of course, you could leave it to Kiba, Iruka and Naruto.”

“But I will not,” Sasuke told him. “I must move on, Asuma-san, Keita-chan.”

“Say goodbye to Sasuke-sama,” Asuma told his son and Sasuke found himself beguiled into a hug that left him smeared with paint and in possession of a still-wet piece of paper bearing a somewhat abstract representation of a flower.

Back in his office he uncapped his pen and wrote ‘Keitaro, aged three’ in the bottom left hand corner. Then he looked at his walls and decided that he would need somewhere to display such treasures.


Then Kakashi arrived as arranged the day before. Sasuke offered tea and invited him to the meeting later. Kakashi accepted the invitation, declined the tea and studied Keitaro’s painting.

“I wish to discuss Itachi,” Sasuke told him.”

“You want my opinion so far?” Kakashi asked.

Sasuke nodded.

“He seems to be the Itachi of twelve standards ago only less arrogant and infinitely more polite,” Kakashi told him, “I would like to use him to review our security. We should defend against another raid and Itachi’s mind works in exactly the right way. You could see that in the way he trapped the building on Jewel.” He took in Sasuke’s reaction. “Don’t start being hopeful. There is one more person you have to persuade not to kill him.”

Sasuke frowned, considering. There was only one other person who had been sworn to the old Uchiha. “Jiraiya?” he queried.

“Look inside your love ring to Naruto,” Kakashi told him, then held up his hand to forestall any more questions. He began walking towards the door. “I have things to do. This afternoon’s meeting should be interesting. I believe that Shikamaru has a new idea.”


Sasuke could not stop thinking about the ring so he went to find Naruto. He found him with Gaara and Kiba moving stuff from the Gourd to Gaara’s apartment. Sasuke patiently opened and closed doors until Naruto found a moment to speak to him.

“Is there something written inside your love ring?” he asked.

Naruto frowned and pulled the ring from his finger. He squinted at it and then handed it to Sasuke.

Sasuke cleaned the inside on his shirt and then angled it to the light. “In remembrance of what can never be,” he read aloud.

Naruto scowled. “That’s not very nice,” he complained.

“I didn’t put it there, dobe. Presumably whoever gave the ring to Jiraiya put it there,” Sasuke told him.

Then he stiffened. The pieces came together: Jiraiya’s reaction when he had seen Sasuke disguised as Hinata; the fact he was affected so badly when Sasuke played the biwa; the way Jiraiya had looked at him when Sasuke sucked him; a reason for Jiraiya wanting Naruto to wear the ring.

A full blood Uchiha female and one of those sworn to Uchiha as a babe; there had been no hope even before Fugaku had chosen Mikoto as the mother of his child.

But his mother had given Jiraiya the ring. His feelings for her had been reciprocated.

How could he persuade Jiraiya not to demand Itachi’s death?

“Teme? Sasuke?” Naruto was asking.

Sasuke pulled himself back to the present. “We’ll talk later, dobe,” he promised. He took Naruto’s hand and gently pushed the ring back onto his finger before kissing the inside of his wrist. “Later,” he repeated. “Gaara and Kiba are waiting for you.”


Next he came upon Kakashi, Kisame and Itachi in the corridor. Sasuke wondered if Kakashi had been speaking with Itachi about upgrading the security. It was possible; Itachi seemed a little less disconnected.

“We are on our way to train,” Kakashi told him. “You should join us, Sasu-kun. How long is it since you took any exercise?”

Sasuke’s mind went to the evening before. Worse, the look on Itachi’s face confirmed that he was thinking the same. Did he really scream so loudly that it could be heard in the other crew room?

“I could spare some time before the midmeal,” he admitted.


Sasuke had forgotten what it was like watching Itachi fight; the unique combination of mesmerising grace and ruthless ferocity. Of course he had Kisame to train with, so there was no need for him to hold back. Kisame concentrated on defence, occasionally throwing Itachi to give himself a few moments of respite; one all-out blow from Kisame and Itachi would break.

News of what was happening had spread quickly; Sasuke suspected one of the fighters had beaten out a long-short message. The Uchiha fighters arrived in ones and twos. Sumaru appeared and sat hugging his knees.

“How can he move like that when he is completely out of condition?” Dan asked of Kakashi.

“Mind over matter,” he replied and then turned to Sumaru. “See, Sumaru-kun? It is not about physical strength, or even reaction speed, it is about attitude.” He looked at Sasuke meaningfully.

Sasuke shrugged. “I accepted long ago that I would never be more than competent,” he replied.

Kakashi shook his head. “You may think differently of you ever end up in a real fight.”

“I have been in a real fight,” Sasuke informed him. “With Neji, when we first met. He had a knife, I didn’t. I won.” He saw the horror on Kakashi’s face. “I didn’t tell you at the time because you and Naruto felt badly about losing me.”


Perhaps, Sasuke thought as Kakashi landed yet another blow, it had not been a good idea to tell him about the fight with Neji. He was beginning to wish Naruto was there. Even Kakashi hit him less hard when Naruto was around; the growling had that effect.

“Maybe you would like Itachi to train with you instead,” Kakashi suggested.

Sasuke hoped he was teasing; Itachi was incapable of pulling his blows. “I will always have more to learn from you, Kakashi-sensei,” he replied, managing to duck one blow and jump over the sweeping kick that followed. The third move caught him but he went with it, absorbed the force he could not avoid and rolled back to this feet.

He was less prepared for the next and landed badly.

There was an ominous growling from the doorway.

He struggled to his feet, trying not to sway. At least Kakashi had the sense not to attack him again. Then Naruto was beside him, steadying him. He was snarling at Kakashi, which was not good.

“I am fine, dobe,” he insisted. “Kakashi-sensei was reminding me that I should train more regularly.”

“You will not hit him like that,” Naruto informed Kakashi. “It is unacceptable.”

There was an awful moment when Sasuke thought he would have to step between them but then Kakashi gave the smallest of bows.

“I was rougher on you than was necessary to make my point,” he admitted. “I congratulate you on your self-control, Naruto-san.”

Sasuke scowled at Naruto until he bowed back.

“I know that you would never intentionally hurt him, Kakashi-san,” Naruto acknowledged.

Sasuke flinched; Naruto always addressed Kakashi as sensei.

Then Asmua was there smoothing things over. “You are insane, Ka-chan. You are lucky Naru-kun did not rip your head off.” He smiled at Naruto. “What about working off some of that adrenalin? Against three of us? Or even Kisame?” He looked over to where Kiba was standing. “What about Kiba-san? He is a hybrid. Does he fight? Do you fight, Kiba-san?” he asked.

Kiba shook his head but Sasuke had seen Itachi’s reaction, the way he had been about to speak but thought better of it. He would speak to Itachi about Kiba at another time.

“Not today, Asuma-san,” Naruto was answering. “It is not a good idea for me to fight when I am cross.”

Sasuke forced a smile. “We will see you all at the midmeal,” he said. “Please excuse us.”


“You should not have agreed to train without me there,” Naruto told him as they walked back towards the crew room. “They are cross with you because of Itachi. Even Kakashi. Perhaps Kakashi more so. He always supports you, even if he disapproves. Like about the babies. Like about Itachi. Also, he understands Itachi. He does not like understanding Itachi.”

Sasuke was stunned. It had never occurred to him that Kakashi could be conflicted or that Naruto would understand the complexity of the situation better than he did.

“Promise not to train without me there,” Naruto insisted.

“I promise,” Sasuke replied, still lost in the thought that Kakashi had wanted to hurt him, albeit subconsciously. Looking back, he should have been alerted by the brevity of Kakashi’s visit to his office that morning.


He walked in silence at Naruto’s side. When they reached the crew room he went directly to their room, into the shower, alone. He thought about Kakashi. When had he started taking Kakashi’s support for granted? His mind kept coming back to the moment in the crew room when he had asked for Kakashi’s uninformed and unquestioning support for his plan to trick Shikamaru into becoming Haru’s genetic parent.

He was dried, dressed and seeking Kakashi before he had considered what he would say to him. He did not have far to go; Kakashi was sitting on one of the couches in the crew room.

“May I speak with you, Kakashi-sensei?” he asked. “Alone?”

Kakashi raised an eyebrow but suggested Iruka’s office as it was close by and the midmeal would start soon. Once they were inside and the door was shut Sasuke took a deep breath and began.

“I wish to apologise. Not for deciding to give Itachi another chance, because that was a decision that was mine to make, but for demanding your support without explanation when I wanted the crew to sign their chromosomes over. It was wrong of me.”

Kakashi sat on the edge of Iruka’s desk. He folded his arms across his chest and waited.

Sasuke realised he had not actually apologised. He bowed. “I apologise, Kakashi-sensei.”

“I accept your apology, Sasuke-sama. Whose chromosomes did you need? Shikamaru’s?”

Sasuke nodded. “Although yours also proved useful,” he admitted. “And we used a smattering from the others.”

“You used mine?” Kakashi queried but then shook his head. “I don’t want to know. Sometimes you are too like your mother, Sasu-kun, only she was so utterly charming that we felt privileged to be manipulated.”

Sasuke did not want to be reminded of his mother. The thought of his mother and Jiraiya being close had been too disconcerting. Then, unexpectedly, Kakashi’s arms were around him. He leaned into the hug.

“We expect so much of you,” Kakashi admitted, “and I wish you had not been forced into having children so early.” He pushed Sasuke to arms’ length. “Nine? Couldn’t you have persuaded Naruto to put some of the kits into stasis? It was bad enough when it was triplets.” He took in Sasuke’s expression. “All right, I accept that was a stupid suggestion.”

“It will be a joy,” Sasuke insisted.


Sasuke convened the meeting directly after the midmeal. He had invited Kakashi, Iruka, Shikamaru, Neji, Asuma and Naruto. There was no cat present to make refreshments. Sasuke himself made tea.

“This meeting is for me,” Sasuke began. “I have yet to fully grasp our current situation, never mind where we are heading. I would like to start with everyone making a contribution. Please do me the honour of speaking honestly and without formality. I shall start.

“I want to be there for my children,” he began. “I want to see them every day. I want to help raise them. That means either staying in Tarrasade or having a clone of the household on this ship or another like it.

“I am not willing to sacrifice being with my children to grow the new Uchiha.”

He looked to Kakashi.

“We must look forward,” Kakashi said. “Long term we need a command structure and a household. We need both to be transferrable between Tarrasade and a ship. If there is crucial conference that requires Sasuke’s presence, or if we need the command in a more central location, we move the household and the command to the ship and go.

“However, we must begin distinguishing between command and operational. Many tasks will be carried out by crews who will go out and come back. That will mean accepting that we need other crews. We will either have to split this crew, this family, or recruit others. Long term, we will need to recruit.”

Sasuke turned to Shikamaru, who took a deep breath.

“We still need credit. We do not have the resources we need. Missions like ridding Kaze of slavers are excellent for our reputation but we were stretched to our limits. We need some steady income streams.

“I have an idea. It uses three pieces of technology in a new way. The first is the new light speed communicator relay they were selling on Chanx. The second is my database of holes. The third is minigates.

“You see, a minigate, with an aperture this big,” Shikamaru extended his index finger, “is remarkably affordable. I asked the Gaters if it were possible to build them and, although they thought I was crazy, they said it was.”

“A communication network,” Sasuke surmised; his mind already full of the possibilities. “Can we afford to fund it” he asked.

“We can start small,” Shikamaru replied. “Set up one route and use it to fund the next. I’m looking at possibilities.”

“I am looking forward to hearing more,” Sasuke admitted. “Do you wish to raise anything else?”

Shikamaru frowned. “We ought to set up an academy to train youngsters. And I agree with Kakashi, we need to separate command and operational.”

Sasuke moved on. “Asuma?”

“We have to look at recruitment as a process rather than something that just happens. Sasuke, you and Naruto will have to accept that there will be an inner core to the new Uchiha, like a family, but many others with a more professional and less intimate bond. Also, the academy should form part of the recruitment strategy.”

“Neji?”

“The Kabuto débâcle taught us that we cannot allow strangers close. I agree with Asuma that we must establish a recruitment system. The academy should carry forward the best aspects of catting and of the old Uchiha.”

“Iruka?”

“We must think forward, plan more but retain flexibility. If we have an academy we must get it right, or we will not produce the type of adults we wish to recruit.”

Sasuke turned to Naruto. He always offered him the opportunity to speak, even thought he usually chose to say nothing. “Naruto?”

“We must not lose sight of who we are,” Naruto reminded them. “The old Uchiha was about perfection. Those who fell short or broke had no value. They were discarded. The new Uchiha is about fulfilling potential. Each person is precious. Even if they are not family, they will be Uchiha and we must care for them.”

Sasuke was humbled; trust Naruto to give him so much when he had expected so little.

“And we are going to have a litter of nine,” Naruto added. “Awesome!”


Sasuke came out of the meeting with five items written neatly on a card: prepare for babies and kits; command and operational; communication network; recruitment strategy; academy. He went to his office, propped the now dry painting up on a shelf, switched the display frame to the drawing of Naruto and took out a large sheet of paper.

He uncapped his pen and began.

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