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Leader	By : mannahpierce Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 2163 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: This story has some of Masashi Kishimoto's characters from Naruto in a universe of my own devising. I do not own Naruto. I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
My gratitude to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to melissen, Dawn, sadie237, eunmook, disembodiedvoiceofthedying and cynaga for reviewing after chapter 18 was posted.
Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.

Leader
Part 2: Preparations
19: Rehearsal

Haru followed Akemi into survey command and control; the dedicated facility that had been designed and installed on the Oak. He put his satchel into a locker, helped Akemi run safety checks and then settled into the data manager’s chair. Akemi took up his position at communications.
There was a twin to this room in the Maple. Haru wondered who would be in the equivalent of his seat. Shino-san? Kotetsu-san?
Papa was a tough Captain. Or perhaps not; Haru had never been part of a mission before. Maybe all captains ran drill after drill when they had a new crew. He had even inspected their ‘personal basics’; the items they would take with them if they ever had to abandon ship.
Haru’s were in his satchel with his data crystal array and toolkit.
He smiled, remembering Papa’s amazement as he went through the supplementary kit the big litter had developed. It was small and light but contained an astonishing range of equipment. Papa had picked up yet another gadget and looked at Haru enquiringly.
“Lock pick,” Haru had explained. “Itachi-san won’t let us use anything in a sim that we don’t carry in real life.”

Today wasn’t exactly a drill; more like a rehearsal. They were going through an ungated hole that had been jumped before as if it hadn’t. That way they would be ready and confident when they were tackling an unjumped hole.
“Checks,” Akemi ordered.
Haru began by checking the interface, followed by the sensors, the feeds, the displays and access to the database. “Initial checks completed, Akemi-san, all systems operating within expected parameters.”
Akemi gave him a look.
“All systems operational,” he amended. He felt himself colour. Akemi was right; people didn’t want to be thinking about limits and error margins when they were jumping a hole or, worse, in a battle.
Papa had talked about him giving Akemi support but, in truth, it was much more the other way around. Akemi had five standards’ experience of missions and he had none.
He was thankful that Akemi was so patient; like him agreeing to arrive here ten minutes early so they could run through all the checks before Papa arrived.
Doing it for real wasn’t the same as a sim; his gut didn’t do flip-flops when he was in the simulator.

Papa arrived with Dan, Inari and Hoshi. He nodded to Akemi, directed a small smile towards Haru and settled at the commander’s station with Dan beside him. Hoshi strapped herself into one of the other chairs at the side of the room.
Inari sat in the observer’s position. He would be commanding the Silver Leaf, so had no role in the Oak’s jump team. Instead he and Tayuya had been asked to monitor the process and report back.
Haru watched Papa’s fingers dance expertly across the interfaces. He hit the intercom.
“This is Sasuke in survey command and control. Please report.”
It was weird to hear Papa’s voice echoed through the intercom.
“This is Itachi in the control room. System check complete. Mulligan drive on standby. Kisame and Hikaru are with me.”
“This is Akemi in survey command and control. Communication systems checked and operational. Inari and Hoshi are with me.”
Haru’s heart was racing. It was his turn. “This is Haru in survey command and control. Data management systems checked and operational.”
“This is Naruto in weapons control. System check complete. Weapons readied. Surface network primed. Ryuu is with me.”
“This is Kazuki in weapons turret one. System check complete. Weapons readied.”
“This is Yoshimi in weapons turret two. System check complete. Weapons readied.”
“This is Yasushi in weapons turret three. System check complete. Weapons readied.”
“This is Keizo in weapons turret four. System check complete. Weapons readied.”
“This is Kuuya in weapons turret five. System check complete. Weapons readied.”
“This is Gai in the Sakura. System check complete. Docking bay doors checked. Cherry and Blossom engaged. Weapons checked.”
“This is Hamaki in the Cherry. System check complete. Weapons checked. Terai and Fu are with me.”
“This is Haku in the playroom. The crew room is locked down. Yuki, Mai, Naomi, Shou, Takara, Teruko and Tsuneo are with me.”
“This is Rin. The infirmary is prepared. Ran is with me.”
“This is Tayuya observing from communications.”
Haru watched the counter click to thirty-one and turn blue. “This is Haru. All personnel reported and located.”
Papa gave him a small nod of approval. “This is Sasuke. Proceed to threshold distance and hold relative position.”
“Itachi here. Proceeding to threshold distance from the hole.”

After that it was just like the sim. They held position at threshold distance, activated the drive and extended the field. Akemi and Haru analysed all the collected data, compared it with what was expected and sent the summary to Papa. Once they had the go-ahead, they moved forward and jumped.
There was the familiar momentary disorientation and then Haru was analysing data from the sensors about the new system.
Nothing was amiss. They moved away from the hole to the threshold and closed down the field.

Papa made everyone stay at their stations for another fifty minutes. Haru was glad that he had incoming data to explore, analyse and distribute. He imagined Kazuki in his turret. He would be so bored and, given that they had missed their midmeal, so hungry.
Finally it came. “This is Sasuke. The jump alert is over. Resume everyday operations. It is watch two. I repeat, it is watch two.” He looked towards Inari, who nodded. “Good work, everyone. There is no need for a debrief. I repeat, no debrief.”
Watch two meant that Gai and Dan would be in the control room with Ya-chan and Yo-chan as runners. They would deploy half of the minigate, which would then automatically align with the half they had left in the other system.
Haru’s next task would be working with Akemi to test it. If all went according to plan that would be late that afternoon. Meanwhile he had some time to himself.
He grabbed his satchel and headed for the galley; given the missed meal that was where most people would go.

Tayuya was already cooking by the time he got there, which was a relief because she made good food and kept everyone in order.
Kazuki rushed in, saw there was nothing on the table yet and whimpered. “What can I do to speed things up, Tayuya-san?” he asked.
“You and Haru could set the table,” she suggested.
Kazuki shoved the cutlery basket into Haru’s hands and dashed about; by the time Haru placed the last spoon everything else was on the table and others had started to arrive. Haru put the cutlery basket back in its place and took the chair next to Ran.
“I am so hungry,” Kazuki moaned as he sat down. “May I start, Tayuya-san?”
Tayuya waved the spoon she was holding. “Go ahead. You need to keep a good supply of meal bars with you, Kazu-kun. Now you have duties meals may be delayed, like today, or even missed.”
Kazuki was heaping food onto his plate. “I try, but I keep eating them,” he admitted.
“I’ll put out a basket. You, the other kits and Ryuu-kun must take as many as you need.”

Haru watched the food being transferred into Ka-chan stomach at a truly remarkable rate. When he looked back at his plate it was full; Ran must have served him.
“Eat,” Ran reminded him. “Were you happy with how the jump went?”
Haru nodded. “It’s scary having such a big responsibility but it’s interesting. What was it like in the infirmary?”
“Fine,” Ran replied. “We just get on with stuff.”
Kazuki paused between mouthfuls. “It’s really boring in the turret,” he admitted.
Kuuya and Keizo nodded from further up the table. “Can’t be helped,” Kuuya pointed out. “Got to be ready in case but you know nothing is going to happen.”
Haru sympathised. The route used holes that had either never been jumped or not used for thousands of standards; the chances of someone attacking them were... he began calculating.
“Food, Haru,” Ran reminded him.
Haru sighed; calculating odds was much more fun, and faster, when Sai was around.

People came and went. Akemi sat down to eat while Fu-san grabbed a basket and filled it; he, Hamaki-san and Terai-san must be eating in the small galley off their crew room. Itachi-san, Kisame-san and Hi-chan were still talking about probes and minigates as they sat down and served themselves. Ryuu sat next to Hikaru while To-chan ate quickly and went off to relieve Haku-san in the playroom. He and Papa crossed paths and kissed in the doorway. Just behind Papa were Inari-san and Hoshi.
Haku-san and Yuki arrived soon afterwards. Haku checked with Tayuya which crew members had eaten, ordered her to sit down and began preparing two baskets; one for the control room and one for the infirmary.
Kuuya, Keizo and Kazuki were despatched to deliver the baskets and Haku took his place at the table.
Haru felt Haku-san’s eyes on him and began eating more quickly. Not clearing his plate was no longer an option.
Haku-san was as tough a queen as Papa was a captain.
“May I make a suggestion, Sasuke-sama?” Haku-san began as he poured his tea.
“Of course, Haku-san,” Papa replied.
“Next time we have a manoeuvre such as a jump, we time it so that it does not clash with a mealtime.” He replaced the pot on the table. “Drills, of course, are different. By their nature are often at inconvenient times and thus I understand that the extra work they generate is inevitable.”
Haru kept his head down but risked looking sideways at Ran, who was looking back. Haku-san was telling Papa off.
“You make an excellent suggestion that I shall keep in mind, Haku-san,” Papa replied.
Haku settled for a nod of acknowledgement and sipped his tea before turning his attention to others around the table.
“Ran-kun I believe Naruto-san is in more need of your help this afternoon than Rin-san,” he directed between sips. “Hikaru-kun, you are on galley duty. I expect everything to be ready for me to start cooking within thirty minutes. Yuki-kun and Hoshi-kun, the closet could do with some attention. Ryuu-kun, I want you, Kuu-kun, Kazu-kun and Kei-kun to catch up with some corridor cleaning. Haru-kun, I know that Akemi-san needs you later, so try to get some rest.”
Haru squirmed. He wished that Haku-san have given him some cleaning to do; even being told to scrub a head would have been better than being let off entirely.
He joined in the chorus of “Yes, Haku-san,” but kept his eyes on his plate rather than see Hikaru’s resentment.

“I wish Haku-san wouldn’t treat me as a special case,” he complained to Ran as they walked towards the playroom.
Ran glanced at him. “You are a special case.” He stopped, forcing Haru to do likewise. “You’re twelve. You don’t have the resilience of an adult. You should set your wrist chronometer to wake you up, go to your room and take a nap. Then you’ll do a better job when Akemi needs you later.”
Haru resumed walking. “I don’t want to.”
Ran caught up and they walked together in silence.
“Aren’t you going to try to make me?” Haru asked.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“We’re going to the playroom and Naruto-san is there,” Ran replied.

Sasuke had been more shocked than he wished to admit that Haku should criticise him in front of the crew. He decided that he had covered it well, poured himself another cup of coffee and analysed the situation.
Not that what Haku had done was out of turn. It was the queen’s duty to make sure that the captain considered the welfare of the crew. It was merely a matter of style; where Iruka would have lectured in private, Haku chose to make pointed remarks in public.
Maybe he had been a little over-zealous with the drills. Perhaps he had ignored the hints Haku had dropped over the last few days.
Now he thought about it, Naruto had commented that the small day-to-day duties were being postponed and that the younger children were becoming fractious because their routine had been disrupted.
He would have sighed but he was still at the table, so he took another mouthful of coffee.

He had not missed how Haku had gone on to focus his attention on the big litter, particularly Haru. Haru did look tired and he was very young to have responsibilities that truly mattered.
More coffee substituted for another sigh. He had been correct that the Oak’s crew should cover for Shikamaru and Neji’s absence; the alternative was to leave the Maple or the household in Tarrasade short-handed. However, maybe he should have thought longer before giving Haru the data manager’s role.
Too late now; Haru would be devastated if he was replaced. Also, he was by far the best choice for the role provided he was rested and not put under too much stress.
It was like handling Shika, but with the limits set much narrower.

Did Haku have any other messages for him? He watched Haru collect his and Ran’s plates and take them over to where Hikaru was loading the cleaner.
This time a sigh did escape him. The way Hi-chan stood, the look he gave Haru and the way Haru refused to make eye contact spoke volumes.
When Sasuke looked back Haku was watching him. As they made eye contact Haku gave the tiniest of nods.

Haru left with Ran. Sasuke studied Hikaru. He was still growing his hair, which was undeniably shaggy. The front was dragged back and held with the tie with the locks that wouldn’t reach falling in uneven bangs about his face. He wore only black; tight pants, boots and a sleeveless vest covered with a traditional, short spacer’s jacket.
The clothes were too old for him. His bangs were too long; Lady knew how he could see. Next thing he would be painting his fingernails.
Then he saw it; black nail polish like Itachi used to wear before Haku weaned him onto purple.
He needed to talk to Naruto.

When he arrived at the playroom he admired the structures the triplets and Shou were building while Ran was helping Mai and Naomi write stories.
“Naruto?” he asked.
“In the snug,” Ran replied.
Sasuke thought that was odd until he saw Haru’s shoes next to Naruto’s. He peered in. Haru was curled around a pillow, already asleep, while Naruto stroked his hair and murmured one of his foxy lullabies.
He felt guilty; he must listen to what Naruto and Haku were telling him, particularly without Neji to advise him or Iruka to lecture him.

Naruto crept out and slid the door closed behind him. “He’s fine. Just tired. After a nap he’ll be in his element helping Akemi check out the minigate.”
“Haru isn’t a worry,” Sasuke suggested.
Naruto’s eyes told him that he was correct.
“But Hikaru is,” he added. He smiled. “It took me until today to notice that he is trying to rebel.”
Naruto smiled back. “Not the easiest thing to do when you are desperate for your Papa’s approval. If it is any consolation, the black nail polish is new.”
“Ideas?”
“You won’t like it,” Naruto warned.
Sasuke steeled himself.
“Let him and Ryuu go with Inari and Tayuya on the Silver Leaf.”
Sasuke bit back his immediate response, which was that they were twelve; far too young to be away from their parents and the rest of the litter. Instead he made himself think. The risks would be limited; all they were doing were detailed surveys of the two planets from orbit. They would be in contact via the minigates. He trusted Inari.
Preparing for the mission would give Hikaru lots to do. Afterwards he and Ryuu would be experts on that system; Hikaru would like that.
“I shall think about it,” he promised.
Naruto looked at him.
“I shall speak with Inari and get his opinion,” he amended and was rewarded with a smile.

Inari initial surprise was short-lived; Sasuke could see him beginning to analyse the situation.
“I think it would do Hikaru-kun good,” he admitted. “I do not think that being Hikaru is easy, Sasuke-sama.”
Sasuke gestured that he should continue.
“He knows that his brothers have greater capacity than him. He has always known that Ryuu and the kits outstrip him physically and he has accepted that Haru has genius traits. Realising that you saw Haru fulfilling a role like Shika-san’s helped. Hikaru does not want to be Shika-san. He wishes to be you.”
“He should not want to be me. He should want to be himself,” Sasuke complained.
Inari chose not to respond. Instead he continued. “Then Hoshi tells you that she wants to remain within Uchiha. She is no longer going to be some elegant professional musician playing the biwa. Now it matters that she is better than him at everything other than singing and fighting.”
Singing and fighting were traditional spacer skills; suddenly the long hair, the clothes and the nail polish made sense.
“Then, unexpectedly, Shika-san is detained in Tarrasade and Haru is given the responsibility of being data manager,” Inari concluded.
Sasuke had known that Hikaru would react badly to Haru’s temporary promotion but he and Naruto had decided long ago that they would not hold back one of their children to satisfy another. “How do you see Hikaru’s future, Inari-san?”
Inari squared his shoulders and took a deep breath, so Sasuke knew he was not going to like what was coming.
“As Uchiha’s most daring and courageous captain, Sasuke-sama. The leader you send when there may be trouble. The battle commander who plays the odds brilliantly and uses every advantage to its limit.”
And, in his mind’s eye, Sasuke could see it. It was not difficult. All he had to do was imagine what Itachi would have become if he had been allowed to be himself rather than what their father had wanted him to be.
This was one of those moments, like when Klennethon Darrent had sat opposite him and accused him of not wanting Haru to be a typed-genius.
Daring, courageous captains who played the odds might be magnificent but they usually died young.
“Accompanying you and Tayuya would be a sensible first step,” Sasuke acknowledged.
“Yes,” Inari agreed. “Provided he understands why you are sending him.”

He was on his way to find Hikaru when he realised that he needed to speak with Ryuu first.
Ryuu was with Keizo, Kuuya and Kazuki cleaning corridors as Haku had instructed. Sasuke tried not to smile at the kits’ sudden enthusiasm for scrubbing, which was almost certainly a consequence of hearing his footsteps. Ryuu was wielding the polisher, which Sasuke had no doubt he had been doing since receiving Haku’s instructions.
“Walk with me, Ry-chan,” he instructed.

They headed for the viewing deck, leaving the kits squabbling over who would be in charge of the polisher, for how long and in what order.
“How are things going, Ry-chan?” he began.
Ryuu considered for a moment. “I liked being with To-chan in weapons control this morning.”
“Good,” Sasuke acknowledged. “Ryuu, when we last talked you said that you hoped you would always be with Hi-chan.”
Whiskers drooped, ears went back slightly and Ryuu’s tail curved downwards.
Sasuke acted quickly. “And we all think that is a really good idea,” he added. To his relief, Ryuu’s tail, ears and whiskers recovered. “But I need to know something. Would you mind being separated from the rest of the litter, from your To-chan?”
“I would be with Hi-chan?” Ryuu checked.
Sasuke nodded.
“I would miss you and To-chan very much,” Ryuu admitted, “and I would miss the rest of the litter, but I want to be with Hi-chan. Are we going on an adventure?”
“I have not decided yet,” Sasuke warned him. “Perhaps. What would be the best adventure?”
Ryuu did not hesitate for a moment. “For us to be trainees on the Ninken.”
Sasuke smiled. He should have guessed. “Do you think Hikaru is ready for that yet?” he asked.
“I would look after him,” Ryuu promised.
“I know you would, Ry-chan, but you did not answer my question.”
Ryuu’s ears went back a little. “No, Papa, he isn’t ready for that yet. Please don’t tell him I said that.”
“I won’t. Hi-chan is too young to serve on the Ninken. However, you and he could help Inari-san and Tayuya-san survey the two-planet system.”
“Be like proper trainees away from you and To-chan?” Ryuu checked. Sasuke nodded and Ryuu’s smile blossomed. “That would be awesome, Papa. Hi-chan would like it a lot. If he can’t be on the Ninken, he wants to be the trainee assigned to Inari-san’s missions. Please decide to allow it.”
“I have one condition.”
“Yes, Papa?”
“You record a message every evening for your To-chan. A proper message; not just a few words tacked onto someone else’s. Your To-chan and I are going to miss you very much and having a message every day will make it easier.”
Ryuu smiled. “I can do that, Papa. I already record a message for Kiba-san every day. Kazuki does too. Akemi sends them for us.”
Sasuke had not known; he wondered if Naruto did. “That’s good, Ry-chan. I am sure that Kiba-san looks forward to receiving them. Shall we go and ask Hikaru if he likes the idea of being trainee on Inari-san’s next mission?”
“Yes please, Papa,” Ryuu replied.

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Leader