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.

My gratitude to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.

Thanks to mikako17, Guest (Ely), Squirrley, black55widow, Zach, WolfRain001, Zach, angangang, Miroku Kensei, bookworm9407, Sunshine 2400, starneko, The Only Love For Soujiro Seta, superflaj, maliya, Whispering-Softly, Alfawolf15, Rose, JustSomeGuy, kaname-luvr, when spells go wrong, Fietkashi, Drago Imperiali, Codydog, Just Some Guy, Person, 'Guest', donalgraeme, LillyTigress, Laforet, roro237 Laura-Jean95, cynder81, TwiHardFan and melissen for leaving reviews.

Also thanks to silentnight, Brown Cornelia, Phoenixewolf, embagsho, Fluff175, darkdragonalucard and danalexkayarimad who left reviews for the version that was deleted by the site administrators.

Mega-thanks to melissen for re-posting a review for each reposted chapter.

Every review, comment or message is treasured.

Author's note: scenes have been removed (ooo***ooo***ooo) and paragraphs edited to conform to the terms and conditions of this website – the unedited version is on another site.

...one.

Leader

Part 10: Endgame

107: Arousal

As much as Shikamaru hated to admit it, life without Sasuke had become... ...normal. Shikamaru missed him. He didn't know what hurt more; thinking about him or not thinking about him.

He tried not to dwell on what it was like for those who loved Sasuke even more than he did.

New rules had been established. No one sat in Sasuke's place at the table. Kuuya was always referred to as the heir; the only times he got annoyed were when an outsider called him Kuuya-sama or, worse, Uchiha-sama. No one commented when Naruto talked as if Sasuke had been tanked for a few days rather than the better part of a standard.

There had been times near the beginning when someone would suggest that they would be better off recognising the truth and moving on. Iruka would take them to one side and have a quiet word with them. He would point out that there were two possible consequences of declaring Sasuke dead. One was that Naruto would disagree with them and get cross.

The other was that he wouldn't. He would accept that Sasuke was dead, stop wanting to live and pine away. Three children of eight would be left without a parent to raise them.

After the first few divs people had stopped suggesting it.

Not that Rin would have allowed it. From that moment in the park, when she had acquiesced to Shikamaru's request, she had been adamant that there was a chance that Sasuke would recover.

Sometimes Shikamaru thought she believed it.

Hoshi had healed quickly and was out of the tank within ten days. She was... ...deeper now; not that she had been shallow before. Shikamaru guessed a brush with death could do that.

Personally he thought she was a little too serious.

Once a new routine had been established life moved on. As it always did. As it had after Ma and Pa died. Like it had after Klenn.

Kotetsu and Izumo's twin boys had been born. Ayame and Keizo had gone to Skyburrow for the birth and been back for a visit since, full of news.

It might be Ayame and Keizo as in Ayame and Keizo. Naruto probably knew but he wasn't telling and no one else was sure. The lifespan-extending treatment had been most effective for Keizo. Shikamaru knew because one night, when he had been worrying about the future, he had slipped through Rin's privacy settings and looked.

Keizo had an extra twenty standards, which went some way to explaining why he might be considering breaking the big litter's self-imposed rule; the one that said that none of them would put someone they loved through the future that their Papa faced.

Or maybe visiting the side room where Sasuke's tank was had woken Keizo up to the fact that the future was just not that predictable.

The success of the lifespan-extending treatment had depended on how much of a hybrid's non-human genome was expressed. Keizo got twenty standards; Kazuki only got twelve.

As Rin had predicted, being older made it less effective. Hana got an extra two or three standards, Kiba four and Naruto six.

Six was fantastic; far more than Shikamaru had hoped.

Only now it didn't seem to matter so much.

Shino and Anko had a baby girl and a boy in the gestator. Rin and Dan had decided that they would wait rather than give Aiko a little sister as they had planned.

He could see why. Aiko-chan was a real handful; she could run rings around even Haku. Shikamaru could not help but like her. Her questions made him think and the fact she adored Haru was just the icing on the cake.

Haru was shockingly tall. The growth spurt that had started when he was twelve had yet to stop. He was taller than Ran and catching up fast to Shikamaru.

It had left him bizarrely skinny but Iruka insisted that he would fill out in time.

Like his Papa.

Shikamaru shook himself. Iruka was right, he brooded far too much these days. He needed a dose of Sumiko, or Aiko, or Tsuneo.

He set off for the playroom.

Most days Haru was bored. The evenings were fine because he spent them with Ran. Sometimes they were on their own and sometimes they were with the other youngsters who were living in Tarrasade: Yuki and Five; Kazuki and Ryuka. Occasionally Kuuya or Hoshi joined them, but not often.

Hikaru, Ryuu, Keizo and Ayame were in Skyburrow. Yo-chan and Ya-chan were back on the Ninken.

Ran often offered to babysit to give parents an evening off. Haru went with him. Children were rarely boring although they could be irritating and annoying.

Whether they were babysitting or not, they would always check on Sumiko and Sai.

Nights were even better than evenings. At night he had Ran to himself.

It was days that were the problem. There were no crises to deal with; no crucial problems to solve.

Kotetsu-san kept asking him to work full time on the planetary exploration robots but that would mean moving to Skyburrow and Haru did not even consider it. He couldn't leave Shi-chan just like Ran wouldn't leave Iruka-sensei. Not until the situation with Papa changed.

So his days were spent doing duties that, at best, did not stretch him and, at worst, were mind-numbingly boring.

Maybe that was why he volunteered to help in the playroom.

Iruka-sensei encouraged it. He thought that it was good for Haru to spend time with people rather than data. He also said that some of the children needed the stimulation that only Haru or Shikamaru could give them.

He meant Aiko, but To-chan insisted that it also did Sumiko, Mai and Takara good to be intellectually challenged by someone who could think rings around them.

Kiba-san spotted him, set the girls on him, asked Ran to look after the boys and settled down to give Naomi some one-to-one teaching.

Haru started setting puzzle challenges for the four older girls while Aiko sat in his lap and observed. Teruko would only be able to do the first two or three but she never seemed to mind. Either she would stay and watch or she would go off to practice her biwa.

Sumiko sat a little way apart from the others. She had her earpiece in as usual and Haru gave her the look that warned her not to get Sai to help her.

"Sai," he subvocalised via his throat mike.

Sai gave his latest version of a flesh and blood sigh. "I know but she does not like it."

"Tell her I will talk to Shi-chan if I think she's been cheating," Haru advised.

"I shall not use the word cheating," Sai replied. "I shall find a more diplomatic term."

The session followed the usual pattern. As the puzzles got harder Mai and Takara would stop competing and start cooperating. Even Sumiko helped occasionally; sometimes her better grasp of mathematics gave her an advantage.

When they were finally stumped, at the sixth puzzle, they admitted defeat and Aiko was allowed to show them how to do it.

He was about to set out a seventh, one that required a slightly different approach, when Tsuneo ran across the playroom yelling, "Shi-chan! It's Shi-chan!"

Haru was pleased to see him. There were times when he thought that Shi-chan missed Papa more than To-chan did. He had almost completely turned in on himself, choosing to live in his mind rather than in the world that could be shared by others. Often not even Neji-san or To-chan could get through to him.

He only seemed like his old self when he was with the children.

The game Ran had been supervising and the puzzles were forgotten. Takara declared that she wanted to listen to one of Shi-chan's stories and then make up sequels but Kiba-san pointed out that there wasn't enough time before the midday meal.

Then Tsuneo said it. "I want to go visit Papa and I want Shi-chan to come too."

There was silence. Shi-chan never visited Papa, everyone knew that. Haru himself did not go very often but he made himself go at least three times each div.

"Why won't you visit Papa?" Tsu-chan demanded. "Is it because you don't think Papa will ever get better?"

Was that it? Did Shi-chan know something Haru didn't? Was Papa gone, dead, and it was just a living corpse in the tank?

"Tsuneo-chan," Kiba-san warned.

Shi-chan pulled himself together. "Of course not, Tsu-chan."

Tsu-chan grabbed Shi-chan's hand. "Come with us then."

"I'll take you," Haru volunteered.

"I want Shi-chan to come too," Tsuneo insisted. He was getting upset. His eyes were too wide and a pink spot was appearing in the middle of each of his cheeks.

"Tsuneo!" Kiba-san scolded.

Shi-chan crouched down and gave him a hug. "Of course I'll come with you."

The five of them set off with Tsu-chan and Shi-chan in front and Haru following behind with Teruko and Takara. Teruko had her biwa and Tsuneo was carrying a small drum and a pair of drumsticks.

Rin-san must be getting soft. When Haru had visited someone in a tank he had been expected to concentrate on being good. Even talking had been frowned upon.

"I am going to show you that Papa is getting better," Tsuneo told Shi-chan.

Haru did not miss the way that Teruko was looking up at him.

"What's up, Te-chan?" he asked but Takara scowled at her and Teruko shook her head and looked away.

When they got to the infirmary, Tsuneo checked out Rin-san's office.

"First you have to pick a time when Rin-san isn't here," he explained.

Haru watched Shi-chan's eyebrows shoot up.

"She's never here at this time because she walks up to get Aiko from the playroom," he continued. "Then you go into Papa's room and you shut the door." He gestured them inside and Takara closed the door behind them.

Haru noticed that Shi-chan was staying as far away from the tank as possible.

"Next you have to take this out of here and put it in here instead," Tsu-chan told them, pointing. "That's so the alarm doesn't go off. Only you have to change this for that at the same time or Rin-san will see what we did when she checks and get cross. Don't worry, we put it back afterwards." He looked at Takara. "Three, two, one, change."

They synchronised perfectly, disconnecting the alarm and connecting the data recorder in a loop, cutting off the actual monitor.

Haru was impressed. At least it wasn't up to him to stop them, not with Shi-chan standing there.

Tsuneo gave his best smile. He darted over to Shi-chan, grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the tank. "You won't be able to see from over there." Once they were close to the tank, Tsu-chan dropped Shi-chan's hand and knocked, hard and repeatedly, on the side of the tank. "Hello, Papa. It's me, Tsuneo. This time I've brought Shi-chan and Ha-chan as well as Ta-chan and Te-chan."

Sasuke had been stuck in a place that he knew was not real. He did not know how long he had been there. It was populated with a mixture of people he knew and others that he did not think he had ever met.

Not that people's identities were fixed; they had an unsettling way of morphing from one to the other.

If he were dreaming, he would prefer to be seeing Naruto. Or more of his children would be nice; something other than the knife thudding into Hoshi's chest or wandering about not being able to find Haru.

Instead people he loved and trusted changed into Izuna, who was really Madara, or Orochimaru, who kept coming back no matter how many times he slit his throat.

One of the worst bits was looking into a mirror and seeing his father looking back at him.

Then Tsu-chan had appeared and everything had changed.

He had a green tinge and a squished nose. Worryingly, it looked like he was trapped and trying to get out. He was thumping on a transparent wall. Sasuke wanted to help him but he was unable to get there.

A strange, deep voice called Tsuneo's name. Then Tsuneo was moving away into the distance.

After that the hallucinations, or dreams, or whatever they were, became more about sound and less about vision. They usually included people talking but all the voices were distorted like the voice had been that first time.

Then he had recognised Naruto and, after that, he chose to hear the voices the way his memory told him they should sound.

Usually it was Naruto. Sasuke would never get tired of dreaming about Naruto's voice. Naruto would talk about the children, or the crew, or both.

Once he started hearing Naruto he saw Madara and Orochimaru and his father a lot less often.

He still heard, and saw, Tsuneo thumping against the plastic wall, trying to get out, calling for him, but now even that dream varied. Takara and Teruko were often there. Sometimes Te-chan would play her biwa, Ta-chan would sing and Tsu-chan would bash on the transparent wall with sticks.

He wished he could hear them properly or, better still, break down the wall and hold them.

Even if Haru had missed the way Papa reacted, or the jump in the monitor readings, he would have seen the way Shi-chan's eyes widened with surprise.

"Sai?" he subvocalised.

"Haru," Sai acknowledged.

"Can you find a connection to Papa's tank?"

"Are you sure? You said that you did not want to know about Sasuke-sama's condition."

"I'm sure."

"There is data flowing from the tank but it is not being recorded. Do you wish me to record it?"

"Yes please, Sai."

Teruko started playing her biwa. Takara was singing. Then Tsuneo started drumming on the side of the tank with his sticks.

Shi-chan's eyes were riveted on Papa's face.

"We need to get Rin," he said as soon as the song had finished. Then he was gone, out the door.

Tsu-chan's eyes widened. "We're in so much trouble," he declared.

Haru thought quickly. "No, it'll be fine. Put the connections back the way they should be." He went back to subvocalising. "Sai, I need you to change the data record. We need it to show Papa's reaction to the song." He looked over at Tsuneo. "And if you could make it that Tsu-chan was playing his drum rather than the tank that would be great."

There was a pause. "Done."

"How long have you been doing this?" Haru asked in his normal voice.

Tsu-chan looked at Teruko for help.

"Four divs," she answered, "but Papa never moved before last time."

Haru nodded his approval. "Don't mention changing the connections or hitting the tank." he advised, hoping that Rin-san would be too busy analysing the new data to look too closely at the old.

Shikamaru had wondered if his eyes had been playing tricks on him but then he had seen the expression on Haru's face.

He had to get Rin. Then he would get the triplets to play the song again and, hopefully, Sasuke would react.

He wished the data recorder had not been disconnected.

At least Rin understood it was important. She left Aiko with Dan and accompanied him back to the infirmary. On the way she asked lots of questions, but they were about him rather than Sasuke.

He realised that she was assessing whether he was having a breakdown.

"Has there been any change in Sasuke-sama's condition?" he demanded.

She frowned. "No, there has been no significant change to the way he has responded to the standard tests."

He almost asked her whether she had done an in-depth analysis of the real-time data flowing from the tank, but stopped himself. She would find the repeats, when the triplets had looped the data recorder. He did not want to get them into trouble.

Rin was not happy to see Haru and the triplets.

"They played Papa a song and he reacted to it," Haru explained, handing Rin a tablet.

The surge of relief was almost enough to make Shikamaru stumble. Haru must have asked Sai to capture the data.

He should have thought of that.

Rin took the tablet. Shikamaru waited.

Then it came, Rin's nod.

"There was definitely something," Rin agreed. "I shall run a full round of tests. I shall include more sound stimulation than is usually used."

"I could play a rhythm on the tank," Tsuneo volunteered, demonstrating in the air with his drumsticks.

Rin glared at him. "No, Tsuneo-chan. How many times have I told you? You must never ever touch the tank."

Things had changed again. Now there were flashing lights and sounds. Sasuke had preferred listening to Naruto, or even Tsuneo trapped behind the transparent wall.

Then he started to feel, which was different. There were prickling sensations and irritating itches and the occasional pain.

He was really thirsty.

Then he went to sleep, which was weird because he could not remember waking up or going to sleep for a long, long time.

When he woke almost everything was different. He was lying on something with something soft over him. He was still thirsty though.

"Teme," Naruto called softly.

He opened his eyes. Yes, it was Naruto and his voice was just perfect, like his eyes and his whiskers and his smile.

"Dobe," he replied but all that came out was a croak.

Then Naruto's arms were around him and it felt so, so good.

After that Sasuke was not so sure. He knew he should be grateful that he was alive, but he felt pathetically weak and horribly uninvolved. Every time he saw one of the children he was acutely aware of the time and the experiences that Madara had stolen from him. They had all changed so much.

Rin did not want to let him out of the infirmary. She was talking about him being there for another ten days, maybe longer. Naruto did not argue, he just turned up with an enormous trolley loaded with stuff and began converting the side room into somewhere Sasuke might want to be.

Faced with the choice between that and installing some equipment in their room, Rin chose the latter.

There was no way he could walk to the crew room, so they timed the move for early in the morning when Naruto could carry him without them being seen.

It was their room but different. Naruto had done his best but there was no missing the medical equipment and there was even more stashed next door in the old nursery.

Naruto put him on their bed, arranged the pillows to support him and draped their best cover over him. He put a tablet and a music player within reach.

"Get some more rest," he recommended. "I'll be back soon."

Sasuke was fed up of resting but could not find the energy to do anything else.

The door slid open. He looked up, hoping to see Naruto, but it was Iruka.

He had not knocked, which was a little strange.

Iruka came in, shut the door behind him and looked around for a chair. When he did not find one he sat on the edge of the bed.

"I do hope you are not going to mope," he began. "I've had my fill of moping. Shikamaru has been appalling and Kakashi hasn't been much better."

It was not what Sasuke had expected to hear. He looked up and was caught by Iruka's eyes. What he saw there gave him just enough time to brace himself.

"You made a terrible mistake," Iruka reminded him. "You went through that gate when you should have waited. It almost got you and Hoshi killed.

"You've paid a price for that but so have we. The last nine divs have been awful. We had to act as if you were recovering, for Naruto's sake and for the triplets, but none of us, not even Rin, knew if you had a real chance.

"Most people couldn't cope. They turned inwards. They started clinging to those who were closest to them and forgetting others. This crew, this family, has been held together by me and Haku and Kuuya and Naruto. That was fine for Naruto, who has been living in some alternative reality, but Haku and I have had enough.

"As for Kuuya, he's fifteen. I don't care if he's a hybrid and hybrids grow up quickly. He should be enjoying being young, not carrying a burden that is yours not his.

"So the sooner you pull yourself together the better. I don't care if you are physically weak and you don't want people to see it. I don't care if you feel disconnected and excluded. I don't care if you haven't got your emotions under control and you're scared you'll cry in front of people.

"You need to do your job and you need to do it now. Do you understand me, Sasuke Uchiha?"

It was as if Iruka's words had ripped away layer after layer until only the uncomfortable truth was left, laid out for him to see.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei," he managed.

"Good." Iruka placed a tablet within his reach. "I'll be back in a bit with your breakfast. Then we'll talk."

The tablet let him access the current rosters and all the reports that had been written over the last nine divs. Talking to Iruka was even more useful. By midmorning he was exhausted, but he had his finger back on the pulse of the crew.

When Naruto returned, Sasuke told him that he was going to have a nap, followed by Kuuya joining him for a working lunch. The schedule for that afternoon was nap, Haku, nap.

"Then I want to be at the evemeal," he announced. "Even if you have to carry me there and I fall asleep at the table."

Naruto's whiskers twitched. "Could you fit in a visit from the triplets?"

"A quick one," Sasuke agreed. What had Iruka said about Shikamaru? "And I had better see Shika, even if it is only for a few minutes."

Naruto smiled.

He stayed conscious throughout the evemeal but there were a few dicey moments, like when the edges of his vision narrowed or he almost slipped from his chair and Naruto had to steady him.

It was well worth it just to see the pride in Iruka-sensei's eyes.

He even managed to look like he walked from the kitchen, although Naruto did most of the work. Once they were over the threshold of their room, Naruto swept Sasuke up as he slid the door shut with his foot.

"What's the schedule?" he asked with a growl to his voice. "Nap, bath, nap?"

Sasuke put his arms around Naruto's neck and kissed his nose. "I was thinking bath, fuck, sleep."

"You won't stay awake long enough," Naruto teased.

Sasuke kissed him on the lips. "Try me."

The bath turned into a bit of a nap but before that happened he enjoyed seeing Naruto wet and naked, confirming that Little Sasuke had got over being tanked even if Sasuke had not.

He woke up as Naruto lifted him out of the bath, wrapped him in towels and carried him through to the bed.

Sasuke kissed him. "Are you going to fuck me?"

"No," Naruto replied. "You aren't ready for that yet."

"Blow job?" Sasuke pleaded.

Naruto shook his head and put him down on the bed.

Sasuke refused to let go. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me," he whispered.

"You are the centre of my world," Naruto replied.

"Can the centre of your world have a blow job?"

"Teme."

"Dobe."

Some less than subtle writhing later Naruto gave in.

ooo***ooo***ooo

Sasuke's mind slowly reconnected with his body, helped by a warm, wet tongue licking him clean. Then Naruto worked his way up the other side of Sasuke's body via his nipple to his lips.

Growling-possessive-Naruto was just below the surface; Sasuke could sense him. He snaked a hand down between them.

Naruto tried to pull away but failed. "Teme, if I'd known you were going to be this lively I would have put my thingy in."

"I don't want you to put your thingy in," Sasuke replied. "I want you to take me. Like you did that first time." He deployed the eyelashes. "I want to belong to you."

It was enough to send Naruto over the edge. He threw back his head and howled.

ooo***ooo***ooo

Naruto howled and Sasuke screamed.

Throughout the household people smiled at each other or just to themselves. Plushies were hugged. Lovers kissed. Cups were filled and toasts made.

All was right with Uchiha.

The End

...

Author's note

It has been quite the journey and I would like to thank all of you who have been on it with me; those who have been there from the beginning and those who have joined on the way.

If you have been here from the beginning, this all started at the end of December 2009 with the posting of the first chapters of 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns'. It was meant to be one short fanfic of 30 chapters. Now it is almost four years and 345 chapters later.

There will be an epilogue. Maybe around Christmas (2013) or the New Year (2014)

Next will come an original. That was the idea. A short fanfic to get me writing again and then an original. Well, part if that worked out as planned. It certainly got me writing again.

The new story is unlikely to be posted on this site or on the sister site for original fiction. If you want to be kept in touch about the details, you need to send me a PM. Or maybe I will get all modern and start using social media. Who knows?

...