In the cold of space you find the heat of suns

Thank you for the reviews. I read each one and really appreciate them.

For those readers who suggested names for the kits, the names will slowly start appearing from the next chapter onwards. Thank you for your help.

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.

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82. Littermates and stablemates

Gaara and Kiba lay side by side on the large bed in Gaara’s apartment.

Kiba stared at the ceiling. They had agreed that he would help Gaara learn to live other than on his ship. In return, Gaara would help Kiba learn to do nothing.

Doing nothing made Kiba uncomfortable. He shifted about. He began looking about the room. When he looked towards Gaara he saw a pair of dark rimmed, turquoise eyes looking back at him.

“You are very bad at this, Kiba-san,” Gaara observed. “The idea was to lie still and think.”

“Think about what?” Kiba asked. “All I can think of are all the things I am not doing because I am lying here.”

“I was thinking about sex,” Gaara told him.

Kiba’s eyes snapped back to the ceiling.

“I have been able to masturbate since I got my controller. Do you masturbate?” Gaara asked him.

“No,” Kiba replied. “It is forbidden,” he added.

“Forbidden by whom?” Gaara asked.

By Amachi but Amachi was long dead. Kiba doubted if Kabuto would have cared, but Kiba had always tried to behave in the way Amachi had wanted. The minkies played with themselves. The bullmen fucked anything, including each other. Kiba was meant to be better than that.

“It was forbidden when I was younger,” Kiba clarified.

“It feels good,” Gaara informed him. “I would like a den and a mate,” he added, “like Naruto has a den and a mate.”

Kiba was suddenly and acutely aware that there was only one person that Gaara could get close to and that was him. “A mate?” he queried.

“Yes, a male mate, like Sasuke is Naruto’s mate,” Gaara answered.

They were on a bed together. True, they had their clothes on and they were two hand-lengths apart but that did not change that they were on a bed; together. “Do you have someone in mind?” Kiba asked, trying to sound casual.

“No,” Gaara answered.

Kiba was relieved.

“I must be able to get close to people before I can find a mate,” Gaara continued. “I can only get close to you but you are my littermate. Littermates are not mate-mates.”

That was interesting. Being raised together did not stop the bullmen but the minkies never fucked anyone from the same litter. Kiba knew Gaara was looking at him. He turned his head and met his eyes. “You will be able to get close to others,” he promised. “You are already better with Naruto.”

“Naruto is taken,” Gaara reminded him. “You are my littermate and Naruto is taken.”

“Do you find Naruto attractive?” Kiba heard himself ask. There were moments when Kiba found Naruto disconcertingly beautiful; like the time when Kiba had seen him and Sasuke crossing the short distance between the bathroom and their room.

“Naruto is taken,” Gaara repeated.

“He is bonded to Sasuke,” Kiba agreed.

“I could show you how to masturbate,” Gaara offered suddenly. “I am much better at it now. I almost never pass out.”

They were littermates. Littermates did everything together. Kiba thought of the way Naruto had looked and sounded and smelt during those seconds it had taken Sasuke to guide him from the bathroom to their room. It made him hard.

“I’ll get towels,” Gaara told him.


Kiba made a useful discovery. It was easier to do nothing after he had masturbated.


Kiba had insisted on having a shower and putting the towels in the clothes-cleaner before Naruto arrived for the midday meal. He had also turned up the air flow through the filters. Gaara had asked why and Kiba had told him that they did not want Naruto thinking that they had fucked. Gaara had argued that Naruto would be able to smell the difference between masturbating and fucking but Kiba had insisted.

Kiba did not want Naruto knowing he masturbated. He might ask what Kiba thought about. Worse, he might think Kiba was not a suitable person to raise the kits.


Naruto arrived with a basketful of food prepared by Choza and packed by Iruka. This was the latest step in the plan. Eating together was an important social activity, so Gaara needed to be able to do it. Kiba concentrated on teaching Gaara table manners and etiquette, frequently checking with Naruto that he had everything correct. Gaara concentrated on coping with the stimulating tastes and smells of Choza’s food. Naruto concentrated on being encouraging and stopping Gaara pitching forward into his meal when he passed out.

The midday meal took a long time but all three of them agreed that Gaara had made progress.


Kiba thought that Gaara would want to be alone for the rest of the afternoon but he was keen to build on his success. Naruto had arranged to train with others and Gaara wanted to watch.

“They will have very few clothes on,” he confided to Kiba. “It is part of my research to decide what I find attractive. I do not want to miss this session because it is not only the warriors.”

The session was in the large gym, which had a gallery. Kiba and Gaara chose a bench with a back, so Gaara would be supported when he passed out, and moved it closer to the balustrade so that they had a good view.


Gaara’s eyes flitted from person to person. Kiba’s perusal was less overt. If there was a pattern to what Kiba found attractive it was in behaviour rather than looks: Naruto on his way back from the bathroom; Shikamaru when he looked at Neji in a certain way; Haku when he gazed longingly up at Kisame; Sasuke when he was so tired that his eyelids, with their impossibly long eyelashes, drooped.

He suggested that it was how a person behaved rather than what he looked like, to Gaara. Gaara admitted that it was a possibility and went back to avidly consuming the half naked men with his eyes.

By the end of the session Gaara had a list: younger rather than older; slighter rather than heavily set; moved gracefully; blond. Height did not matter. Kiba looked over the ones who could be considered blond and saw Dan, Naruto and Kakashi.

“You find Kakashi and Dan attractive?” he asked, trying to work out if ‘blond’ was code for ‘Naruto’.

“Yes,” Gaara admitted, “but they are a bit old and I don’t really like them having only one eye.

There were far more brown haired people than blond people. If the crew was anything to go by, there were more reddish haired people than blond people. “Maybe someone would dye their hair blond for you,” Kiba suggested.

Gaara considered. “They would not be blond. They would be pretending to be blond.”

Kiba thought about the few people he had known. “One of the young men in the tanks is blond,” he said.

Gaara perked up. “Can we go and see?” he asked.


Kiba tried to put Gaara off the idea; there did not seem any point in considering someone who had been tanked to stop them dying. However, Gaara was persistent and Kiba was not used to winning an argument with an adult. They made their way to the infirmary. No one was there, at least no one conscious.

Gaara almost passed out at the unfamiliar smells but a touch from Kiba brought him back.

Kiba peered into the each of the tanks in turn. Gaara did not get past the second, which contained the young man with long, white hair.

“He is beautiful,” Gaara whispered, only taking his eyes off the body’s face to scan his body. “Do you remember what colour his eyes are?”

“No,” Kiba admitted. “Gaara-san, he may be a horrible person. He may be cruel. You should not decide you like someone just because of how they look.”

“Are you sure you can’t remember what colour his eyes are?” Gaara repeated.


“Exactly why do I keeping finding Gaara in my infirmary?” Rin-san asked during one midday meal.

The question was addressed at Naruto but he looked to Kiba. “It is my fault,” Kiba admitted. He decided to lie a little to forestall the more embarrassing lines of enquiry. “We were going to places that smelled strange. He looked at the young men in the tanks. He likes the look of the blond one.”

“He is remarkably handsome,” Dan observed, which won him a killer stare from Rin.

“What is their status?” Sasuke asked.

“We will never get the symbiote out of their bodies, no more than we can get it out of Sumaru’s,” Rin informed them. “The truth is that, even if I give them all the treatments I can think of, they are unlikely to survive. The only reason Sumaru’s people survive is that the ones that don’t have died out generations ago. I can’t even put them in stasis, it will kill them, and they are slowing dying in the tanks. They will be dead within a standard.”

Shikamaru looked up. “Can’t you genetically alter them to have at least some of the predisposition?” he asked. “I mean, you have Sumaru-kun’s genome and Natsuhi-san’s, maybe some more in the records. Run a comparison, guess at the genes that give resistance and back engineer targeted tissues.”

Rin stared at him. “It would be complete guesswork. It is far too experimental to risk,” she insisted.

Shikamaru shrugged. “It was just an idea. I thought it might be better than dying.”

“Do it,” Sasuke ordered. “If they die they die. We will have tried our best.”


It was only a few days later when Kiba went to Gaara’s apartment and found him agitated. He looked like he may have already passed out more than once, so Kiba did not ask questions until they were settled on the couch together.

Gaara told Kiba that he had gone to the infirmary only to be turned away. Apparently Rin had made some comment about the young men in the tanks receiving treatment.

Kiba decided to tell Gaara about the conversation in the galley. “It is better to try and cure them then leave them to die slowly in the tanks,” he finished.

Gaara stared at him. “You will ask Rin each day and tell me how he is doing,” he insisted.


Kiba listened carefully to what was said at meals. If there was not enough information to satisfy Gaara he would ask Dan. He did not ask Rin.

They were trying Shikamaru’s idea. They had altered the young men’s genomes to be more like Sumaru’s. They were now going to rouse one of the young men to see if it had helped them adapt to the symbiote.

“Which one?” he asked of Dan after the midday meal.

“Why...” Dan began and then smiled. “Gaara-san,” he surmised. “No, it is not Gaara’s blond.”


The young man died. Rin used what she had learnt to inform a second round of genetic modification. The other two made it. Rin admitted that she had no idea whether the genetic modifications had helped.


Kiba went to the infirmary, to collect information for Gaara. The blond one was still unconscious but the other was awake and Dan seemed pleased with the idea that Kiba would speak with him.

He was dark haired and black eyed, with unusually thick eyebrows. He was not handsome or even ordinary; he looked odd.

“I know you!” the young man declared, pointing at Kiba. “You were there! You were one of them!”

“Please calm down, Lee-san,” Dan said patiently. “You must rest. It is true that Kiba-san was liberated from the laboratory on Jewel, as you were.”

“He was one of them! He held me down while the grey-haired one stuck needles in me!”

“I am sorry that I hurt you,” Kiba told him. “They owned me. When you are owned you do as you are told.”

The dark haired young man, who Dan had called Lee, blinked. “Slavery is evil,” he stated. “It was not your fault. I no longer blame you.”

Kiba decided not to explain that you had to be human to be enslaved. “That is kind of you, Lee-san,” he acknowledged, “I am honoured. I thank you.”

Lee smiled at him; he had relaxed and suddenly looked fragile. From where Kiba sat beside Lee’s bed he could see the white haired young man lying on one of the other treatment beds.

“Do you know him?” Kiba asked Lee.

Lee followed his gaze. “Yes. His name is Kimimaro. I was with him and Jirobo-san when we were taken.”

Kiba guessed that Jirobo was the one who had died. “You are close?” he asked, knowing that Gaara would ask.

Lee grimaced. “No. We were fighters in the same stable. I am sorry that Jirobo-san is dead, but no, I was not close to him and I am not close to Kimimaro-san.”

Ring fighters; that made sense to Kiba. The bullmen had been sent out to find three healthy specimens, so they had chosen to raid one of the stables. The stable owners offered food, accommodation and a promise of glory to young purebred men with few prospects other than crime or eking out an existence on the edges of starvation.

Kiba was slightly surprised that Lee was a ring fighter. He seemed too slight. On the other hand, the odds against him winning would be high; if he was any good he would be exactly the type of fighter stable masters used to trick the bookies into paying out.

“What is he like?” Kiba pushed, knowing that Gaara would be desperate for information.

“We rarely spoke,” Lee admitted. “He and Jirobo-san were the best fighters in the stable. Kimimaro-san can even fight blindfolded.”


Kiba went to check the kits before reporting to Gaara. He was worried about the kit with the tail. The kit had stopped gaining mass. It was a bad sign. He decided to do one more check before discussing it with Naruto. If he left it any longer, Naruto would wonder why Kiba had not raised it. He would visit Gaara, tell him about Lee and Kimimaro, warn him that he would be unable to visit him for a goodly number of days and then speak with Naruto.


Gaara began missing Kiba immediately. It was as if the idea of Kiba not visiting was enough to remind him what it was like to be lonely. It made him realise that Kiba would not always have time to spend with him; the kits should and would always come first.

Like Sasuke would always come first to Naruto.

He must make more friends; even though it was difficult, even though meeting people made him pass out.


So, the day after Kiba told him he would not be visiting, Gaara went to the infirmary. He was familiar with the infirmary from when Kimimaro was still tanked. He had spoken to Dan. He told himself that he was visiting Lee, because Kiba visited Lee and he was filling in for his littermate; it was not about seeing Kimimaro.


Lee was in a side room. He looked up when Gaara entered.

“I am Gaara,” Gaara began. “I am Kiba’s littermate. He cannot visit you so I am here in his stead.”

Lee managed to bow, despite being in a bed. “I am honoured, Gaara-san. What is a littermate?”

Gaara considered. “My foster brother,” he decided. “Kiba is my foster brother.”

“Please sit down, Gaara-san. Is Kiba-san well?” Lee asked.

Gaara sat on a chair. “One of Naruto’s kits is doing badly. Kiba looks after the kits.”

“Kits?” Lee queried.

“Babies,” Gaara decided. It was close enough. “Naruto is Sasuke’s mate. Sasuke-sama is the leader of the Uchiha.”

“I am on Sasuke Uchiha’s ship?” Lee asked. “The Sasuke Uchiha? The Last Uchiha?”

Gaara wondered whether Dan or Rin ever spoke to him. “Yes,” he answered.

“And Naruto-san is the Naruto they showed in the holovideo, his partner, the fox-human hybrid?”

Gaara did not think there was a second Naruto and Naruto was definitely a fox-human hybrid. “Yes.”

“Are they as in love as they looked in the holovid?” Lee asked.

Gaara had not seen the holovideo. “Naruto is bonded to Sasuke. Sasuke loves Naruto very much.” He considered. “They wear love rings. They have a den.” A thought suddenly occurred to him. “They are gestating children.”

Lee clasped his hands. “They are starting a family? How full of hope for the future.” He smiled. “And what do you do, Gaara-san?” he asked.

Gaara pondered what he did. “I used to lead a whole people but I resigned. I am learning how to live. Naruto and Kiba are teaching me.” He could see that Lee did not understand. “They are canine-human hybrids who have lived with purebreds. I always lived apart. They are showing me how to live with purebreds.” He decided to leave off ‘without snapping their necks’.

“Kiba-san is a hybrid?” Lee asked.

Gaara stared at him. “You did not notice his fangs?” he asked.

Lee flushed. “I thought they might be artificial,” he admitted.

“Kiba is a dog-human hybrid, Naruto is a fox-human hybrid, I am a tanuki-human hybrid. A tanuki is another member of the canine family like foxes and wolves.” He studied Lee’s expression. “Do you dislike hybrids?”

“No!” Lee insisted. “I have never met any except for the weird ones who captured me.” He shuddered.

“Kiba said they were bull-human hybrids,” Gaara told him. “I understand they are all dead. Kiba said that Itachi shot each one in the head.”

“Oh,” Lee replied. “Good.” He shuddered again. “They were not nice.”

Gaara did not know if they were nice or not. They performed acts that were not nice, like kidnapping Lee and raping Itachi, but they had been ordered to do so. He had killed hundreds of people without being ordered to do so. Did that make him less nice than the bullmen?

“How is Kimimaro-san?” he asked, wishing to change the subject.

“I do not know,” Lee told him. “He woke up and asked Dan-san for a separate room. Kimimaro-san always refused my overtures of friendship,” he admitted. “The last time I tried he told me that he would kill me if I spoke to him again so I decided that I would wait for him to speak to me.”

Gaara was not to be deterred. “I shall introduce myself,” he decided.


Kimimaro was in the next side room. He opened his eyes when Gaara entered. They were a vivid green. Gaara was not disappointed. He looked at Gaara for a moment then closed them again.

Gaara decided Kimimaro was resting. He found a chair and sat down. He was very handsome. Watching him was pleasurable. Even the two red spots on his forehead were more of an enhancement than a blemish.

Then Kimimaro made a strange clicking sound. Gaara was not sure how he did it. His lips did not move.

“What is that sound you are making?” he asked.

The vivid green eyes opened. “You can hear it?” Kimimaro demanded.

“Yes,” Gaara answered.

“You are not purebred,” Kimimaro observed. He shut his eyes. “I do not associate with hybrids. Go away.”

Gaara was puzzled. “Why do you not associate with hybrids?”

Kimimaro turned his head away. He did not open his eyes. His neck was long, white and gorgeous. “Hybrids are abominations,” he answered. “They are not pure.”

Gaara suspected Sasuke would put him out the nearest airlock if he called Naruto an abomination. Gaara was more understanding; he was accustomed to being called a monster. “You are hardly pure, Kimimaro-san. You have the symbiote inside you now.”

Kimimaro was very still. “There is something inside me?” he queried. Then he started shouting, demanding that Gaara should leave and that Rin should come to speak with him.


Gaara would have stood there and watched him yell but Dan appeared in the doorway and politely asked him to leave. He did so and almost walked into Kisame, which made him pass out.


He woke on one of the treatment beds. Kisame was sitting a safe distance away waiting for him to waken. He looked different. Gaara realised that he had a limpet regenerator on his forehead.

“I apologise for causing you to lose consciousness, Gaara-san,” Kisame told him.

“I walked into you, Kisame-san,” Gaara acknowledged. He recalled Kiba telling him that one way of extending a conversation was to enquire about a person’s health. “Have you injured yourself, Kisame-san?”

Kisame touched the regenerator. “No. The plaque I wore was an Uchiha plaque. Itachi gave it to me. Itachi is no longer Uchiha, so I cannot wear the plaque. It had to be cut out.”

Gaara nodded. He understood about the plaque. He did not understand about Itachi and Kisame. He had asked but no one could explain it to him. He considered asking Kisame, but decided against it.

“What was wrong with our guest?” Kisame asked.

Gaara considered. “He thinks hybrids are abominations,” he replied.

Kisame grinned. Gaara almost passed out. Kisame had many pointed teeth that Gaara was sure would strike fear into any mammal. “Does he?” Kisame queried. “Please excuse me, Gaara-san. I will not be long.”


There was a short silence, then yelling, then Dan’s voice objecting, then more yelling that was more like screaming than yelling. Kisame reappeared and resumed his place on the chair.

“Our guest will keep his ideas about hybrids to himself in the future,” he informed Gaara.

Gaara hoped that Kisame had not hurt him.

Dan stalked into the room and hit Kisame on the arm. “Damn it, Kisame, I had to sedate him. Did you have to?”

Gaara had not known that Kisame and Dan were friends. Only a friend would dare hit Kisame like that. “Kisame-san was being kind,” he insisted. “Now Kimimaro-san will not call Naruto an abomination in front of Sasuke-sama, so will not end up being tossed out the nearest airlock.”

The other two turned and looked at him. Dan started to laugh. Then Kisame began laughing.

Gaara discovered that laughing was infectious. He knew that he would pass out. His last thought was that he needed more experience of laughing.

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