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’. There is also a one-shot ‘Silver Leaf Tales: Tying the knot’.

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.

Many thanks to those readers who have written a review and particular thanks to SyilxPrincess, Midnight Essence, v, Dreamfool, richon, disembodiedvoiceofthedying, cynaga, sadie237, Prism0467, angelj232000, satterb, unneeded and MikaSamu who reviewed after chapter 92 was posted.

As I have said many times, it is knowing that readers are still enjoying reading the story that keeps me writing.

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

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Chapter ninety-three: Harvesting

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Inari first reaction to Sasuke-sama’s message was shocked disbelief. Next he imagined having to tell the others and was paralysed with horror. Then, thankfully, his common sense asserted itself. He would play them the message; that was what Sasuke-sama would want him to do.

He watched them as they took in the appalling news; Shino, who had spaced with Ibiki, Jiraiya and Tsunade from the first days of the new Uchiha, and Anko, Tenten and Shizune, who had lost Suzume. For Inari himself the overwhelming sensation was relief; it wasn’t Konohamaru or Kakashi-sensei or Sasuke-sama himself.

He brought Tayuya’s hand to his lips and kissed it. She had gone horribly pale when Sasuke had mentioned Iruka but some colour had returned when he had assured them that Iruka-sensei would recover.

“I want to be there,” she whispered.

Inari agreed. He was glad that Sasuke was calling them home even though, in many ways, it would have made more sense to have them out here, where they could respond more quickly.


The vid from Konohamaru arrived two days later and he waited until Tayuya was safely asleep before playing it. Inari had been worried that Konohamaru might revert to how he had been after Ranmaru’s death but he looked like he was coping. He was sitting on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest. Inari could imagine exactly where the camera had been fixed to the wall.

“It was... ...awful.” Konohamaru admitted. “Not knowing who was dead and who was only missing.” He shuddered. “At one point I thought we had lost Haku and Naruto and Iruka-sensei. I don’t know if I could bear that. Turned out they made it because Naruto and Kiba and Choza reacted so quickly, particularly Naruto, and because Iruka-sensei was real quick getting into his suit.”

Inari found himself thinking about the first time Kakashi had set him against Iruka for a practice knife fight. Iruka had killed him ten times over. Iruka was remarkably fit and impressively quick.

He had missed the next bit of the message and had to go back.

“It still is awful, but a different type of awful.” Konohamaru warned him. “Asuma looks like his world has ended. I know how he feels, but I thought having children might help. Maybe they do and he would be even worse without them. Misora has closed up, Keitaro needs lots of cuddles and Akemi is being all grown up.

“Sasuke is determined to unpod the big litter as soon as we have enough people to man the playroom. Grandma Biwako agrees with him. She says we need to face adversity as a family and that includes the children.” Konohamaru managed a small smile. “I guess you and Tayuya will be on playroom duty.”

Inari hoped that he could organise it so that he spent more time in the playroom and Tayuya less.

“Rin’s agreed that Iruka-sensei can recover in the crew room rather than the infirmary, which is good. Tell Tayuya that. It will make up for her realising she’s going to be stuck babysitting.

“Neji’s running the household, which means I’m super-busy because you know what Neji’s like and I am still running the building project. Things with that got a bit hairy. People’s first response was to run away but Wasabi Engineering stuck with us and then we suddenly got all this media support. Now it’s all ‘We aren’t going to let any bombers dictate what we do’. Even the specialist fitters came back, apologised for having cold feet and are starting the installation of the park on schedule.”

Konohamaru wetted his lips. “Shika-san thinks the bomber used the project to get the access he needed. The inspector I hired is missing. We don’t think it’s him, we think he’s been killed. We think the last time the inspector went onto the surface it wasn’t him but someone pretending to be him. Maybe someone even using his body as a shell. How gross is that?

“Whoever he was, he left the bombs. They were made of this new stealthy material and a new explosive that is invisible to the detectors and they moved really, really slowly so the motion sensors didn’t spot them. They were programmed to creep along until they reached the outer skin of the household and then explode, which they did.

“It was super high-tech, which Shika-san thinks excludes all the crazies. My front-runner is Pein. Others are suggesting the AHB, which would be worrying, or Kabuto, or Orochimaru. Of course it could be someone new who didn’t like how powerful Uchiha was getting. Maybe even Centre.”

Inari doubted that. They would need to be much more powerful before Centre bothered with them.

“Enough about that. What else? Oh, Moegi did great. She was at the medico school in the plaza and she managed to get back here with back-up medicos within twelve minutes of the alarms being sounded. Pretty impressive. Can’t believe how she’s got herself together. And there’s this guy called Udon who is kind of working for us. He’s a Scavenger but I guess that might not mean much to you because you weren’t raised in Tarrasade.

“I’ve compressed and attached some of the media coverage, so you can catch up. I’m really glad you are coming home. We really need you all and, to be honest, I’m missing my best friend. Give Tayuya a kiss from me. Feel free to show her this if you haven’t already. See you soon.”

Inari closed the vid and switched off his tablet; he would look at the attachments in the morning, after Tayuya had viewed Konohamaru’s message.


Time for bed; he ran a swift diagnostic, checked that all the security systems were running before setting off for his room. He slid down the closest ladder from the upper level to the one containing the crew room.

It was silent; the shared areas were deserted. On balance Inari thought that was good; it implied that people were following their normal routines.

The light in their room was very low but not off. Tayuya liked it that way whilst she slept and it suited Inari because he was often later to bed than her.

It also meant that he could watch her sleeping. Her dark red hair was spilled over the pillow; a pale hand with its long, elegant fingers rested on the bedcover. Asleep she looked slight and delicate; her body gave no hint of the ferocity of spirit that resided within.


He loved her but...

It was wonderful that becoming Tayuya’s lover had not jeopardised his friendship with her, unlike what had happened with Konohamaru. Even so, Inari wondered if they were friends first and lovers second and, if they were, what might happen when she fell head over heels for someone else.

Would she turn away from it? If she did would that be good, because it showed how she valued their relationship, or bad, because she would be sacrificing the opportunity for something amazing?

What they shared was not amazing. It was comfortable and warm and it suited Inari very well. Inari did not hanker for heights of bliss because they risked caverns of despair.

But Tayuya? Where had the wild girl gone? Was this the women that girl would want to be?

Was he holding her back?

He sighed. Was he thinking too much or too little? Was he creating problems that did not exist or ignoring issues he ought to be addressing?

It was the type of thing he would have talked about to C-san but C-san was gone.

Tears welled up from somewhere deep. He remembered the basket of goodies C-san made for each of them every time they went on a mission. He thought of the compassion and wisdom in those deep, brown eyes. Eyes that no longer saw. Compassion and wisdom that had been lost forever.

He caught a sob and controlled it. He did not want to wake Tayuya. He would creep away.

“Inari.”

He looked towards her. She had sat up and was summoning him to her.

He obeyed and she held him while he wept.


Next morning Tayuya did not mention his tears so he chose not to speak of them. They watched Konohamaru’s message together, Tayuya had a brief rant about not having joined Uchiha to become a childminder and then he watched the media clips Konohamaru had selected for him while Tayuya worked with Tenten in the galley.

Then Shino downloaded the latest data package from Tarrasade. Inari was surprised to discover that it contained new orders from Sasuke-sama; an additional mission to complete on their way home. They had make seven jumps instead of three, lay a new string of minigates, hack an isolated relay and visit a planet to collect data. The new tasks would extend their journey home by two days but were too urgent to leave until another ship could be dispatched.

Inari recognised Shikamaru’s handiwork. He hoped that they were helping to track down the bomber.


The plan involved them working as three teams of two. Shino and Anko would stay with the Maple, drop off the other two ships and lay the new link to the mini-gate network. Shizune and Tenten would be on the Spear, hacking the relay and eavesdropping on a space station. Inari and Tayuya would take the Lancet and visit the planet.

Inari researched the space port with trepidation. The original mission plan had avoided the space stations in this sector; they were not places he would want to visit alone, never mind with Tayuya.

After a few minutes he began to relax; the Sea system was much more civilised than the space stations they had been avoiding. It was what Shikamaru called a ‘three-stager’. The four planets had been colonised early, long before gates, and developed in isolation. Millenniums later a gate was installed, reconnecting it to the rest of the human race, and then, six standards ago, the gate had been fitted with one of the new, cheap light speed communication relays.

The Lancet was dropped off in an adjacent system and jumped through the gate. They were heading for the third of the four planets; Jiro. Amachi had been active there, so Shikamaru suspected that it might contain one of Orochimaru’s bases. Their mission was to acquire three major sources of information that Shikamaru could not reach remotely; a library, the public records and a media archive.

Inari sorted out a suitable cover; it would not do for people to realise that Uchiha was interested in Jiro. They would pose as researchers for an academic who was studying post-recontact cultures. He chose the name Kaiza and Tayuya selected Yokobue. Calling forward once they jumped through the gate, he made appointments with the three people who were most likely to provide access to the required information.

The plans was that they would only be on Jiro for a day. If they could not get the information within that time they would hire a local agent to acquire it for them.


Tayuya landed the Lancet without a hitch. The space port was traditional and appeared well-run. They rehearsed their cover stories and packed any equipment they might need into Inari’s satchel. Then they secured the ship and walked.

It was a beautiful morning. The gravity was slightly short of standard, the sky was turquoise and the sunlight had a peachy tone. The air smelled complex yet strangely fresh; Inari recognised the scent of the sea.


Before they had cleared the spaceport it was clear that Jiro was unusual. There were many hybrids, even more than there had been in the Warren; only half the people were purebred. So far every hybrid Inari had seen was canine-human or mustelid-human, which was consistent with Amachi having had a hybrid engineering business on the planet.

Only they didn’t look like Kiba or Hana, nor like Kamatari, Sickler or Nerugui. The Amachi hybrids Inari had met were essentially humans with few animal characteristics. These hybrids were substantially doggy or obviously mustelid.


They crossed the spacer quarter into the city and headed for the university library; Inari had an appointment with the Chief Librarian.

Inari did not know if she was convinced by his tale of working for the academic, but she was very convinced by the prospect of enough credit to develop a whole new wing to the library. There was a brief verbal spar about the time scale Inari was suggesting and the practicality of establishing a team of people tasked with digitalising the library’s contents. Inari resolved it with a Belmenth credit token of a size that made the woman’s eyes water.

“The first instalment,” he reminded her.

She looked at him. “I expect you will want a proposal, action plans and project costings.”

He shook his head. “I want you to pay the people you employ to do the work a decent wage. Other than that, I want a swift and constant flow of data and I want you to prioritise the sources as specified on that list.” He pointed to the tablet he had given her.

She only hesitated for a moment. “We could copy the sources at the top of the list and have them couriered to your ship. When are you lifting?”

Inari was impressed at how quickly she had adapted. “Tonight,” he admitted. “Send what you can manage to get done by then. After that, it all goes through the Stellar Exchange. The details are in the tablet.”


After the library it was the public records office. The Chief Clerk turned out to be motivated by personal gain. Keeping one unimaginative man and his family in luxury proved to be a great deal cheaper than building a wing onto a library.

The more recent records were electronic, but on tape.

Inari swapped a credit token for the latest backup and then made a down payment for the older material to be copied and sent on. He offered a bonus if key records could be copied and couriered to the ship before they lifted.


Tayuya looked at the cardboard box of minitapes he was holding.

“We had better get rid of that,” she suggested.

Inari had hoped that the clerk would come up with a container that did not have ‘Property of the Government’ emblazoned across it.

He waited outside while she went into a shop and bought another satchel. They checked that the tapes were not ordered in any particular way before tipping them in. Then they lost the box and looked for somewhere to eat.

Inari left it up to Tayuya to choose and they ended up sitting in a street cafe watching the comings and goings in the market.


The proportion of hybrids was lower than in the spacer quarter but still high; Inari estimated it as a third. Inari soon realised that hybrids had lower social status. There had not been any hybrids in the library or the records office. In the market the hybrids were buying food and other necessities while many of the purebreds were purchasing luxuries. The waitress called him ‘sir’; whilst she was polite to the dog hybrids on the next table she did not treat them with similar respect.

Refreshed, they set off for the offices of the local media company Shikamaru had selected.


They were barely over the threshold when Inari realised that they might be in trouble. There was a large room filled with desks and excited people rushing about. From the ceiling hung screens.

One was labelled ‘Tarrasade’. They were showing news of the bombing on a loop. He and Tayuya stood, transfixed, as Sasuke spoke about the bombing.

He had done a wonderful job of it.

“Terrible, isn’t it?” a voice said.

Inari attention turned to the speaker, a dark-haired man.

“Kaiza-san?” the man queried. “I am Yotsuki.”

“Yotsuki-san,” Inari acknowledged. “This is my associate Yokobue,” he said, gesturing towards Tayuya.

Yotsuki’s eyes lingered a little too long on Tayuya before he bowed. “Yokobue-san.”

Above and behind Yotsuki, Inari could see that the Tarrasade screen was showing archive material of Uchiha. Occasionally he would see his face, or Tayuya’s.

All through his conversation with Yotsuki he expected someone to recognise either or both of them but it did not happen.

People only saw what they expected to see.

Yotsuki had a data crystal recorder. They left with a copy of the media company’s archive on one of the blank data crystals Inari had with him.


Once they were well away, Tayuya caught his eye, he smiled and they both began laughing. Inari thought it was probably from relief rather than amusement.

They decided to return to the Lancet, so that they would be there in good time for any courier deliveries.


They had entered and crossed the spacer quarter without incident. Inari had begun to relax. It was a nice planet. The hybrids that lived there seemed content, even if they were disadvantaged.

It was good to smell the sea again.

Then they reached the junction to their mooring and what he saw there was like an unexpected punch to the guts. There was a crew waiting for them. Even though it was a planet rather than a space station, the situation was too familiar for them to miss it.

“What do they want?” Tayuya whispered. “We haven’t got a cat.”

Inari swallowed. It was a crew of eight male canine-human hybrids and he was pretty sure they wanted Tayuya. His mind began considering alternatives. If they could fade away before they were seen they could work their way to the ship from another direction, or hire local heavies to escort them.

“They’ve seen us,” Tayuya warned.

“We need to stand our ground,” Inari replied. The decision was automatic, based on thousands of Kakashi’s simulations.


The crew began hurrying towards them. They were a motley lot with little of Naruto, Kiba or Gaara’s elegance.

“They don’t look aggressive,” Tayuya observed.

It was true. They looked keen and happy in a very doggy way. Inari studied them more carefully. They weren’t wearing uniforms but each of them wore a Naruto-blue bandana somewhere; around neck, upper arm, head or forehead. On each of those bandanas was sewn a metal plaque displaying the simplified outline version of the Uchiha fan that Sasuke had designed for their allied crews.

“They are one of ours,” he told Tayuya. He could hear the relief in his own voice.

“Do you know which one?” Tayuya asked.

Inari was cross with himself. He should have checked which ships were in port and whether any of the Uchiha allied crews were registered in the Sea system.

“No,” he admitted.

“Well, there are seven hundred and forty-three of them,” Tayuya reminded him.


They walked up to meet them. The crew stopped as they approached, each member standing straight.

“Captain Inari. Tayuya-san,” one of the smallest greeted him. “I am Pakkun. I speak on behalf of the crew of the Ninken. It is an honour to meet you.”

He proceeded to introduce the rest of the crew. Inari doubted that some of them could speak; like many of the cat hybrids they had met, they did not have the mouths for it. He wondered if they used sign language, like Roshi.

He bowed when Pakkun finished. “Captain Bull, Pakkun-san, Uruchi-san, Shiba-san, Bisuke-san, Akino-san, Uhei-san, Guruko-san,” he acknowledged.

There was some wagging of tails and pricking of ears that he had remembered each of their names.

Pakkun’s ears drooped slightly. “Please forgive us approaching you when you are operating undercover. We discussed it and decided that it was the correct thing to do.” He drew himself up to his full, small height. “We heard about the bombing this morning. It was on the news. We wish to offer our condolences and our unlimited support in tracking down and punishing the bombers.”

Inari was impressed and intrigued. “That is kind of you. We will convey your regards to Sasuke-sama and the rest of the crew.” He reconsidered their plans. They could leave a message for the couriers at their mooring, redirecting them to a bar or eatery. “Would it be possible to share refreshments with you before we lift?” he asked.


They reluctantly took their leave of the Ninken’s crew later that evening; they needed to lift if they were going to make their jump slot at the gate and rendezvous with the Maple at the ungated hole in the system beyond.

“That was fun,” Tayuya admitted. “It was good to be distracted.”

Inari was grateful to her for saying that; it made him feel less guilty about enjoying himself.

“We’ll have to send them a special picture of Kakashi-san,” she added.

He had to smile at that. Finding out that Kakashi was the crew’s hero had been a high point. It had been so unexpected; Naruto had seemed the more obvious choice.

Pakkun and Bisuke had sung ballads with the others howling the choruses. Inari had been surprised at how many songs there were about new Uchiha. The one about Kakashi, which appeared to be based rather loosely on facts, was by far the crew’s favourite.

Inari had been carrying the gadget he had used to record his deals with the librarian and the clerk. He had not been able to resist turning it on.


After Jiro it was unrelentingly hard work, peppered by eating and sleeping, until they jumped into the Tarrasade system. Once they had filed their reports about Jiro, Inari and Tayuya spent any spare time had feeding the tapes through a player so that the data could be streamed into crystals.

Inari concentrated on making sure that no one was so tired or so distracted that they made the type of error that endangered the ship or the crew.

Then, all at once, Tayuya was docking the Maple and they were at the airlock waiting for the air pressure to equalise. Inari wondered who would be in the bay waiting for them. Konohamaru would be there, but who else?

There was quite a turn out. Sasuke-sama himself was there as well as Shikamaru, Neji, Moegi and even Sumaru. No Kakashi but Konohamaru was quick to tell him that Iruka had been moved to the crew room the day before and that Kakashi was with him.

Inari blinked back tears as Konohamaru hugged him; too many people were absent.


He had not even left the docking bay before Shikamaru was demanding the information they had collected on Jiro. He was delighted that they had managed to download all the information on the tapes into data crystals.

“Walk with me as far as the laboratory and tell me about Jiro,” Shikamaru insisted.

Inari nodded and they started towards the door.

“Meeting in twenty minutes in the small meeting room,” Sasuke-same called to him. “I want you there Inari-san. Please make sure that Shika-san is not late.”

Inari had expected a one-to-one debriefing with Kakashi or Sasuke; that was what usually happened.


“We want to move against Orochimaru as quickly as possible,” Shikamaru explained as they walked. “That was why I diverted you to Jiro. There is a high chance that he had one of his bases there. I am hoping to find evidence of it in some of the data you brought back.”

Inari’s head filled with questions but he decided to only ask one. “You are sure it was Orochimaru?” he asked.

“74% sure,” Shikamaru replied. “Hopefully more when I integrate the information you collected. What did you think of the Ninken’s crew?” he asked in what appeared to be an unrelated question but, knowing Shikamaru, was probably not.

Inari considered. “Very loyal to each other and to Uchiha. For them, Uchiha is something to aspire to; a dream. I think they are very good at some things, the ones they have had a chance to practice, but poor at others. I don’t think any of them will have received any training in anything.” He was struck by a sudden thought. “I expect that it was a real shock for them when they got through the selection process; it was probably the first time they had ever been told that they were special.”

Shikamaru’s eyes unfocused, suggesting some genius-level thinking, and then he smiled. “That’s interesting,” he commented and then loaded the data crystals Inari had given him into readers. “I’m just going into the data streams for a few minutes,” he warned.

Inari would have liked to go to the crew room but he knew he could not do that and get Shikamaru to the meeting on time. Instead he watched Shikamaru and the chronometer while feeling uncomfortable that he had not found an opportunity to offer his condolences.


Getting up to speed during the meeting was a challenge. Kakashi, Neji, Itachi, Sasuke-sama and Shikamaru had been discussing the situation for seven days; every sentence spoken assumed something Inari did not know.

He wished he was less tired.

“Do you have anything to add, Inari-san?” Sasuke-sama asked.

Inari considered. “Not much,” he admitted. “I was surprised that the news from Tarrasade reached Jiro so quickly. I think it emphasises two things, the effect the cheap light speed communication relays are having and the phenomenal interest people have in new Uchiha. That was underscored by the ballads the Ninken’s crew sang. They had not made those up, they had heard them in spacer bars.

“The other interesting thing was the Ninken’s crew. They were incredibly loyal, even though their only contact with us was through the selection process and the message you had sent them, Sasuke-sama. They wear the crest with pride. They collect every tiny piece of information about Uchiha they can find. They know what each one of us looks like and our names. They live for the moment when they finish their probation and qualify to serve Uchiha more closely. Maybe some of that is because of their nature, dog-human hybrids are bred to be loyal, but I wonder how many of the other seven hundred plus crews feel the same way.”

There was a short silence as the others processed what he had said.

Kakashi spoke first. “Congratulations, Sasuke-sama. This is the first indication that any of the allied crews feel a personal loyalty to Uchiha.”

Shikamaru’s fingers flew over the interface. The familiar diagram of known space appeared. “Interestingly, we have other confirmation of that. I’ve been analysing the messages of sympathy that have been coming in.”

Inari watched coloured dots appear, each representing the origin of a message. They spread out from Tarrasade along the chains of gates with light speed communication relays.

“Here are just the ones from allied crews,” Shikamaru said and the process repeated with fewer but still many dots. “I estimate that almost all crews who have received the news have sent a message. I was thinking of asking Neji to view them once he has the time.”

“Good idea,” Sasuke-sama confirmed. “Excellent work, Inari-san.” He paused, obviously considering. “Neji-san, I would like to record a reply to be sent to anyone who has sent a message and a second one specifically for allied crews. Can you spare the time to help me with that before the evemeal?”

Neji nodded. “I shall make time, Sasuke-sama. We will need Konohamaru or Shino.”

“Can you alert the allied crews that we may be asking them to help us find the bombers?” Shikamaru asked.

“Will we?” Sasuke-sama queried.

“That’s the way I am thinking at the moment,” Shikamaru confirmed.


What followed was a discussion of Shikamaru’s strategy for tracking down Orochimaru. It was, like all Shikamaru’s plans, simple in intent but with layer upon layer of fiendishly complicated detail. The idea was to expose every known or suspected hiding place and track everything that was known about his movements, both recently and back over the centuries.

Of course there was always the chance that Orochimaru, Kabuto or Deidara would be spotted, but Shikamaru was not relying on that.

Inari decided he would settle for understanding the intent for now; he was too tired for more.


Finally he made it to the crew room. Tayuya had placed his stuff in his room. He sat on the bed, thinking about whether he and Tayuya should give up their separate rooms and live together as they did on missions.

He wish he understood his reluctance.

Konohamaru had gone to set up the cameras in Sasuke-sama’s office. He was not sure where Tayuya was. He decided to sit in the shared area until the evening meal.


There was one unmissable change. The door to the room next to Iruka and Kakashi’s had been replaced by double doors.

Tayuya appeared as if from nowhere and sat beside him.

“That’s Iruka-sensei’s recovery room,” she explained. “When the double doors are open it will be like he is in the shared area and we all can visit with him. When they are closed, like now, he is resting or with Kakashi-san.”

“Have you seen him?” Inari asked, trying not resent having been dragged into meetings rather than being given a similar chance.

She smiled, driving all such unworthy thoughts from Inari’s mind.

“Yes. He is very tired. The regeneration takes all his energy at this early stage.” She patted his arm. “Let me get you a coffee. It will perk you up enough that you might manage to enjoy the evening meal.”


The coffee helped but nothing could make the evening meal enjoyable; there were too many empty places at the table.

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