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’.

I would like to thank those who took the time and made the effort to leave a review in response to chapter one. Reader feedback is very important to me. I read and value every review and email.

One reviewer asked if ‘Tales in Tarrasade’ was finished and, no, I still intend to add tales to it that are peripheral rather than essential to this story. However, for now, I am busy developing ‘Iteration’ so it will be a little while.

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.

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

This is posted in the Naruto/Sasuke section because it is part of a Naru/Sasu/Naru space saga. However, it does feature many other pairings (and a few threesomes). Apologies to those who are expecting Naruto/Sasuke or Sasuke/Naruto every chapter.

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Kisame is a shark-human hybrid given to old Uchiha as a gift. Itachi has suffered brain damage that has permanently removed about eleven standards of his memory. Haku was acquired from another crew when he was fourteen. Kisame has loved Itachi for many standards but Itachi struggles to be intimate with anyone due to the abuse he suffered as a boy and a youth. Haku loves Kisame. Kisame is deeply fond of Haku.

Want to know more? Read ‘In the cold of space you find the heat of suns’ and ‘Tales in Tarrasade’.

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Chapter two: Separation

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The ceremony for Natsuhi-san had disturbed Haku’s equilibrium. He could not dislodge the unexpected information he had gleaned from the plaque on the box that held her remains. Natsuhi-san had been only eighteen standards when Sumaru had been born, the same age as Haku’s mother had been when he had been born, the same age as Sasuke when the kits and the babies had been decanted.

Haku was nineteen standards. He had lived as long without his family as with them.

He knew why he had been so easily disconcerted. Every time the children came to the kitchen, or he went to the playroom, or Kiba-san asked him to take Haru, the memories spilled out, hot and fresh: his brothers and sisters; the other babies dumped on him by older siblings who wanted to flirt with their boyfriends or girlfriends; his mother’s grateful eyes in her exhausted face.

All it took was for him to smell Haru and feel his hair.


He was fine with Kisame and Itachi going with the trainees on their first solo mission. Not only were they by far the best choice but Haku had hopes that them sharing a cabin without him would encourage them to be intimate. So far it was Haku with Itachi and Haku with Kisame, even if the three of them were in the same room. Maybe, just maybe, Itachi would stroke Kisame to a climax or vice versa.

Haku would use the time well. He would spend time reorganising the closet and making a new kimono. If it proved necessary, he had a vibrating dildo and his imagination.


Then he overheard Inari explaining to Moegi why Sasuke and Naruto were having their children so young and in one large batch. It was not anything Haku did not know. Naruto was a hybrid. Naruto was condemned by his nature to die young. It was unfair but it was a truth with which they had to live.

Kisame was a hybrid. Kisame was no longer young.


Haku thought long and hard before he decided to ask the question. Once he had made that decision there was another; of whom should he ask it? In the end he settled on Itachi.

“How old is Kisame-san?”

Itachi looked at him. Haku could see him analysing why Haku had asked the question. “Older than Kakashi-san,” he admitted. “I am uncertain.”

Haku’s gut clenched. “About forty standards?” he queried.

Itachi’s eyes softened. “His non-human genes are from a shark, princess, not a fox or a dog. Sharks live a long time. There is even some doubt if they ever die of old age.”

“Has he had his telomeres checked?” Haku asked, unwilling to give up his fear to false hope.

“I don’t know,” Itachi admitted. “Knowing Rin, yes. Knowing Kisame, he’s never asked for the result.” He frowned. “What’s this about, Haku-chan?”

Haku drew up his legs and hugged his knees. “I promised myself I would never get this close to anyone again,” he whispered.


Itachi studied him. For once Haku looked his age, young, and his size, small and slight. Usually it was easy to ignore both because of his colossal will and the huge personality he projected. Itachi knew that Haku had issues with intimacy. He had fastened onto Zabuza after being torn away from his family and ignored standards of abuse rather than admit that Zabuza was unworthy of his adoration. Now he had Kisame, who was as kind as Zabuza had been uncaring. Only to have Kisame, Haku had to take Itachi, trapping the three of them into the tortuous journey that had led them to this moment.

“I am not the person to ask about love and relationships, Hime-chan,” Itachi reminded him.

Haku rested his head on his knees, looking away from Itachi. “I want a baby,” he confessed. “I know it is crazy. I can’t help it. It is the way I was raised. I should never have got involved with Haru and the others. Now I can’t get it out of my head.”

Itachi did not know what to say. In retrospect, he should have known it was coming. There had been the occasional conversation and there was the way Haku held Haru when the child was too sleepy to notice.

He knew he should say something or do something. Instead he looked at Haku’s delicate shoulders and prayed that they did not start shaking; Itachi did not know what he would do if Haku began crying.

Instead Haku uncurled himself. He straightened his kimono. Itachi watched the persona he presented to the world reform and harden. His eyes were expressionless, as if made of glass.

“I have things to do, Itachi-san,” Haku informed him “Please excuse me.”

If it had been a test, Itachi knew he had failed.


He went to find Kisame. The big man had been training and was in the fighters’ baths. Lady Luck was with him, Kisame was alone, submerged up to his nose in the water he so enjoyed.

Itachi sat on one of the small stools. “Haku wants a baby and is terrified that you are going to die on him,” he announced.

Kisame closed and then opened his eye. “If Haku wants a baby he should have one,” he replied. “I shall check with Rin-san that I have fifteen standards in me to support him while he raises a child.” The eye closed and opened again. “You will also support him, Ita-chan. You owe him too much not to do so.”

Itachi relaxed one notch. Kisame was correct, as he so often was.

Kisame boosted himself out of the bath in one easy movement. Itachi wiped him down with a towel, taking care to work with his scales rather than against them. Kisame dressed in the garments Itachi handed him one by one as they exited the baths.

“Rin-san first,” Kisame told him. “Then we find Haku-chan.”


Haku was in the closet with Neji folding clothes. It was a ritual they continued to share, even though Neji was busy with work that was crucial to Uchiha’s success. Haku knew that Neji had realised that something was wrong. However Neji would never ask and Haku had no intention of saying, so they folded clothes without speaking.

Then Kisame was there, in the closet. Kisame did not belong in the closet. He was far too large. Haku stared, frozen to the spot. Kisame plucked the underpants from his hands and handed them to Neji.

“Please excuse our intrusion, Neji-san, but we have urgent business with Haku-chan,” Kisame stated.

Neji smiled slightly. “Feel free, Kisame-san, Itachi-san. Haku-san and I can fold clothes together at another time.”

Haku only then realised that Itachi was in the doorway. He would have thought more but Kisame had swept him up and they were moving out of the closet and towards the crew room.


Kisame deposited Haku on the couch in their sitting room and Itachi slid the door closed. Itachi watched as Kisame crouched down in front of Haku and began speaking.

“According to the official Uchiha record, I was decanted forty-three standards ago. Rin-san thinks I shall live as long as a purebred, possibly longer. She believes that she can produce customised age-retard nanobots for me as she is doing for Naruto-san, Kiba-san and Gaara-san. Will this room be the nursery, or can you arrange for us to have another?”

Haku stared at Kisame and then at Itachi.

A knot in Itachi’s gut unravelled. He had passed the test after all. He had played his role; he had told Kisame and, by doing so, he had given his tacit agreement that there would be a child.

“Could it be a girl?” he heard himself ask. He could not cope with the notion of a boy.

“A girl would be nice,” Kisame added. “The family is a little imbalanced at the moment; eleven boys to only four girls.”

“I was thinking of a girl,” Haku admitted.

Itachi imagined a little girl who looked like Haku. It was a good thought.

“We will have to check with Sasuke-sama that he will authorise the use of Itachi’s chromosomes,” Kisame was saying. “I cannot see it being a problem provided we avoid producing a full-blood Uchiha.”

His daughter; Itachi’s thought processes froze. He risked looking at Haku, who was smiling as if what Kisame had said was both expected and welcome. He told himself to breathe. This was not the moment to be panicked into denial. Kisame knew best.

“I think her legal parents should be you and Kisame, Haku-chan,” he managed.

Haku frowned slightly but Kisame nodded. “It might be for the best,” he acknowledged. “It would be best if there were no question of the child being of the Uchiha clan.”

Itachi could settle for that. If there was an opportunity for him to persuade Haku to use other chromosomes, he would take it. If the worst came to the worst, he would tell himself that they were Sasuke’s chromosomes and beg Rin to ensure that only those chromosomes he shared with Sasuke were used.


The process moved forward frighteningly swiftly. Instead of opposing the idea, as Kisame had feared and Itachi had hoped, Sasuke added his voice to the chorus suggesting that they conceive the child before Itachi and Kisame’s departure. Itachi found himself relieved that he had been quick to speak with Rin. She had completely understood his desire for the child to resemble him as little as possible.

“We have had to use more of your chromosomes than would normally be the case, Haku-san,” Rin told them. “This is to avoid producing a child who would qualify as a full-blood Uchiha or who looks too Uchiha.”

Itachi admired how she skated across the surface of the truth without actually lying.

“Given that you were naturally born, Haku-san, your genome was surprisingly clean,” Rin continued. “A small amount of scrubbing and there were many possible combinations of chromosomes that produced a high calibre individual with the characteristics you had chosen.”

She brought up a profile that showed a lot of green and listed the genetic relationships as Haku (64%) and Itachi (36%). Before they had time to look further Rin activated the appearance predictor.

Itachi watched an ordinary baby become a cute child, a pretty girl and then a beautiful female version of Haku. He glanced at the others and registered Kisame’s expression. There was no way that he was going to query the genome; not when he had seen his future daughter.


Then, only two days later, they were in the docking bay transferring luggage and supplies to the Oak. Various people came and went, mostly to wish the trainees luck with their first solo mission. Often they would stop and exchange words with Kisame. Occasionally someone would speak to Itachi.

“Someone wants a word,” Gai told him, gesturing towards one of the corridors.

Itachi saw C-san and made his way over.

“Itachi-san,” he acknowledged. “Congratulations, Haku-san told me.”

Itachi did not know what to say. He had cancelled two therapy appointments with C-san because he did not know what to say.

C-san squeezed his arm. “It was inevitable, Itachi-san,” he assured him. “Haku-san was always going to want children. Better this way, quick, than long, drawn out and painful. You will have Kisame-san to support you. You will make a better parent than you think.” He smiled. “Good luck with the mission. Look after them all.” He pushed a basket containing four beautifully wrapped parcels into his hands. “There is one of these for each of the trainees. They are labelled. Make sure they each receive the correct one or it could be embarrassing.”

Itachi took the basket. “Thank you, C-san. I appreciate you coming,” he admitted.

“Next time, keep your appointments,” C-san told him. He walked off down the corridor. After six paces he turned back and waved. “Haku, Kurenai and I have plans to shop for the nursery when he gets back,” he told him.

Itachi waved in return. With luck Haku would have finished shopping by the time he and Kisame returned.


Sasuke arrived next. He was accompanied by Naruto who was carrying a sizeable chest. Itachi thought he recognised it as coming from the old household.

“Where should I put it?” Naruto asked.

“In Tsunade-sama’s old cabin,” Sasuke told him.

Naruto vanished into the Oak. Itachi looked at Sasuke questioningly.

“It’s empty,” Sasuke told him. “It’s for all the stuff Kisame-san buys for the baby.”

Itachi laughed. It was an excellent gift.

Sasuke smiled. “It is good to hear you laugh,” he admitted.

Itachi was engulfed in a hug. He always forgot that Sasuke was taller and wider than him. Sasuke held him tightly.

“It will be fine,” he whispered. “We will look after Haku while you and Kisame are gone. Once you are back there will still be five divs for you to get used to the idea of sharing Haku and Kisame with a baby.”

Itachi was grateful that Sasuke did not mention parenthood.

Sasuke stepped back. “Safe journey and a successful mission, Itachi-san,” he said.

Itachi bowed. “Sasuke-sama,” he acknowledged.


The captain’s cabin on the Silver Leaf was compact. Haku made them move everything they did not need for everyday living into packing cases in the pressurised storage bay that was to be their gym. He then told Itachi what items to put into which lockers while Kisame mounted bunks high up on the short wall without a door. Three other bunks were brought from the crew room and mounted lower down to be used as a couch and two desks. Once the process was finished it was plausible that two people, one the size of Kisame, could live in the cabin.

The shower was impossible; Kisame could not stand in it and there was no space to install anything bigger. Haku went to tell Inari that one of the showers serving the crew room would have to be out of bounds so that Kisame could use it.

The head was useable provided Kisame remembered not to stand up too quickly.

Itachi would be doing the cooking; the galley was that small.


Haku was seething by the time they returned to their crew room on the Oak. Kisame captured him and held him in his lap.

“We will be fine, Hime-chan,” he whispered. “If we cannot cope we will move to the gym and use the cabin as our office.” He smiled. “We did not always live as luxuriously as we do now. You know that.”

“I know that,” Haku acknowledged.

“We will be fine,” Kisame repeated.

“You will be fine,” Haku agreed. He scowled at Itachi. “Itachi will look after you. He will cook edible food and make sure you have clean clothes.” He sighed. “We need to negotiate a time share with Inari for the clothes cleaning facilities.”

“I will clean the clothes. Itachi will cook the food. We will both keep everything clean,” Kisame promised him.

Itachi waited until Haku had gone to the galley to organise the evening meal for them and the crew.

“Do you think we can hide the fact that I can’t cook for the next five days?” he asked.

Kisame smiled. “I think we should try,” he replied.


To their relief Haku calmed down after the second day, so they had a pleasant three days together before the Silver Leaf undocked.


After two days feeding themselves on Itachi’s cooking from the tiny galley, Kisame decided that they needed to negotiate a time share of more of the facilities, including Sumaru. As he explained in his communication to Inari, he was not suggesting a change in the purpose or the nature of the mission, merely in the fine detail.

By the third day they had a daily hundred minute slot in the galley and Sumaru to clean up after them. Often Sumaru would eat with them; between growing and using his symbiote the lad needed to consume almost as much food as Kisame.

“Tayuya says we are eating too much,” Sumaru told them one late afternoon as they tucked into the huge stir-fry Kisame had made. “Inari told her that it had been sensible to assume that everyone ate one-person’s worth of food but now that we know that Kisame-san and I eat three-people’s worth she will need to recalculate.”

“How did she react to that?” Itachi asked.

Sumaru considered. “She found a tablet and started working it out. It’s weird. She stays calm all the time. I wonder if Rin-san gave her something.”

Kisame smiled. “She is trying to be responsible and grown up, Sumaru-kun. Did she make any decisions about the food?”

“She says the fresh stuff will be too expensive on the space station where we are docking next, so we will have to use rations to stretch the fresh stuff out until we drop to the first planet.”

Itachi and Kisame looked at the piles of vegetables in each of the three bowls.

“Did she suggest you told us that?” Kisame asked.

Sumaru pointed to the notice board. “She left you a note,” he told them.


Apparently Tayuya’s resolve to stay calm and reasonable did not stretch to them missing her note and eating half the remaining vegetables; they could hear her shouting at Sumaru from their cabin.

“We could break out the hydroponics,” Kisame suggested.

Itachi shook his head. “It would need to be their decision, not ours.”

To their relief it occurred to one or more of them. Numerous containers growing bean sprouts appeared as well as a more substantial installation in the laboratory. Itachi and Kisame shook their heads at the location; Konohamaru had sacrificed optimal performance for short-term convenience. A corner of a pressurised storage bay would have been better but would have involved three times as much work.


By the time they jumped into the system with the space station, fifteen days after undocking from the Oak, both Kisame and Itachi had been thoroughly reminded of the shortcomings of spacing on a ship without an experienced queen. The clothes cleaning equipment had broken down because one or more people tried to take short cuts. The water system started making knocking noises because the hydroponics should never have been located in the laboratory. There were a number of small arguments and then a big row about the standard of cleaning.

During the big row even Inari had lost his composure and shouted but at least it had cleared the air. Inari and Sumaru had done the grunt work of moving the hydroponics to the storage bay while Konohamaru had finished mending the clothes clearing system and Tayuya had cleaned. Then Konohamaru had rewired and replumbed the hydroponics while Tayuya had seen to the backlog of laundry and Inari and Sumaru had cleaned.

They were all looking forward to their visit to the space station.


This had been the first system they had visited that had a communication relay in one of the gates; Inari had hacked into the datastream as soon as they completed the jump.

Itachi had shadowed his examination of the data. He agreed with Inari’s analysis that there was nothing particularly unusual about the Warren, as the locals called it. It was larger than the average station, with many residents as well as the usual transients. There was an underclass, so they would need to protect themselves against petty criminals. Despite the residents, it was a spacer station with the docks and station defence under spacer control.

They were here because the concentration of hybrids fell outside the normal range. Shikamaru had a hypothesis that there was a hybrid engineer operating in the Warren or on a planet close by. They intended to collect intelligence to help Shikamaru distinguish between those two possibilities and to consider whether the HDL should open a local office.

Kisame and Itachi attended the pre-docking briefing; visiting a strange space station was too risky not to consult them. They could see nothing amiss with Inari’s plan. They would pay top rate for a secure mooring. They would live on the ship, only entering the station for up to half a day at a time. They would move as a crew, sealing and trapping the ship each time they left it. Everyone knew what they were looking out for. Each person had instructions of what to do in the unlikely event that they were separated.

They docked, armed themselves, sealed the ship and walked.

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