Adult-FanFiction.org : Naruto

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
- 3
- 4
- 5
My heartfelt graitude, as always, to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Thank you to liby318, unneeded, richon, disembodiedvoiceofthedying, sadie237, GreenEyedCat, Dawn, melissen, eunmook and morlana for reviewing chapter 3. It is feedback from readers that encourages me to write.
One reader asked for a list of the children, so I have added one to my profile.

Leader
Part 1: The pod
4: Night and day

Shikamaru went over every scrap of data from the Electron byte by byte.
It would be more sensible to wait until the Dart reached the Electron. That was the plan. Itachi and Kisame had been dispatched in the Dart, carrying all the equipment Shikamaru, Rin and Kotetsu could pack into the tiny craft. They were laying a string of mini-gates in their wake. Once they had the pod, they would carry out tests and relay the data back to the Oak.
Shikamaru did not care about sensible. He needed to be busy. He had used the Electron’s spec to come up with tests that the crew could carry out. He had been getting them to compress the data they collected so that it could be injected into the data streams for him to retrieve.

He reviewed what he had so far, going systematically from one division of his mind to the next. There was a way of extracting more from the data he had and two possibilities for the Electron to try.
He dismissed one; it was too much work for the crew. He sorted out instructions for the other, added a polite request, coded the message, tagged it and squirted it into the data streams. It would be picked up by the ‘decoder’ that the more senior allied crews carried.
He was proud of the decoder. It had taken him and Kotetsu standards to get from his initial idea to a box they could put into the ships. It allowed the crews to communicate with Uchiha and with each other without telling them that they were using minigates and hacking data relays.
Like the improver, any attempt to find out what was in the box destroyed its contents.

Thinking of the improver reminded him of Klenn. The grief surged, threatening to engulf him.
And with the grief came all the other emotions: guilt that he missed Klenn more than his Pa; confusion about Neji; regret that he hadn’t spent more time with Klenn; shame that little things like having to work in the new office upset him so much.
He wanted Na-chan. Naruto never asked questions and never made demands. Naruto just held him and made him feel safe.
But it was the middle of ship’s night. Na-chan was where he belonged, in the bed he shared with Sasuke.

He checked the time even though he knew he shouldn’t. All it did was confirm how long it was until Sumiko would wake up.
He had never been so thankful for Sumiko. Life with Sumiko was all about responding to her needs. She wouldn’t tolerate his attention sliding away.

There was a touch on his arm.

It would be Neji. Only Neji would come to find him in the middle of ship’s night because only Neji knew that he wasn’t where he was meant to be, in their bed.

He reluctantly lifted his goggles.

It was Kakashi. Shikamaru just stared at him. Then he realised Kakashi’s lips were moving and pulled out his ear pieces.
“I looked in the laboratory first,” Kakashi repeated.
Shikamaru was still lost. “Is Neji looking for me?”
Kakashi pulled up and chair and sat down. “No.”
“Did Iruka-sensei send you?”
“No.” Kakashi looked about the office. “I thought you hated having to work in here.”
Shikamaru felt himself flush. He had tried to hide how he felt about the new office. “I don’t want Neji to find me in the laboratory. He’s put so much time and effort into this.” He gestured at the bays, each of which catered for a different aspect of Shikamaru’s work.
Kakashi looked about and shook his head. “Sometimes Neji worries me. Surely he realises by now that you need to have everything at your fingertips.”
Shikamaru relaxed one small notch. Maybe it wasn’t just him being difficult. “It’s tidier this way. Sasuke can’t stand a mess.”
“Sasuke doesn’t have to enter this room any more often than he did the laboratory,” Kakashi pointed out. “That didn’t kill him. The solution is easy. Put up screens so Sasuke can’t see this end when he opens the door. Then get rid of the bays and start again. I always imagined a huge circular workbench, like a ring, with you sitting in the middle on a swivel chair that doubles as a simulator. You’d have multiple 3D projectors above, for when you didn’t want to use your goggles. The workbench and all the shelves and drawers would be made of that fancy plastic that changes from opaque to transparent, so you could see what was stored there.”
It sounded great; Shikamaru realised that he was smiling. Then he imagined telling Neji that he wanted something different.
“That didn’t last long,” Kakashi observed. He stood up and stepped forward.
Before Shikamaru could react he was pulled to his feet and wrapped in a firm, close hug. It felt good. He felt safe.
“By the Lady, you are thin,” Kakashi murmured. “We understand, Shika-kun. Your emotions are in tatters. You barely know which way is up and which is down. It’s called grief and it’s normal.”
“But...” Shikamaru began.
“No buts. You are allowed to grieve for Klennethon Darrent. He was your friend. He has been an important part of your life for over a decade. He was the only person you have met who could understand how you think. In a parallel universe he would have been the love of your life.”
Shikamaru stiffened but then relaxed. Did people know that? Was it that obvious? “But not this one,” he whispered.
“But not this one,” Kakashi confirmed. “In this one the age gap was too great and he was too damaged.”
“I don’t... I don’t...” Shikamaru hesitated. He almost lost his nerve. Then he pushed on. Who else could he confide in? “I don’t think Neji is the love of my life.”
Kakashi tightened the hug but he chuckled. “Shika-kun, we know that. Neji himself knows. Even Sumiko knows. What does she say? Rings-and-forever? Even Sumiko says the two of you are rings rather than rings-and-forever.”
Shikamaru sighed. It would be so much easier if Neji was the love of his life. That was why he had pursued him. He had wanted someone special.
“The two of you are friends,” Kakashi reminded him. “You enjoy each other’s company. You share sex. You look after each other and help each other through the tough patches. You love him and he loves you, even if both of you feel there may be someone out there you could love more deeply and intensely. It is good. You need to appreciate it for what it is, not worry about what it is not.”
Put like that it sounded better than good. “Neji knows?” he queried.
“Neji knows. He also knows you hate the new office.”
“He does?”
“He does. Now, are you going back to bed or would you like to go to the galley and do something sensible like drink hot chocolate?”
“Coffee?” Shikamaru suggested hopefully.

They sat in the galley and drank shots of thick, black coffee laced with whisky. Shikamaru knocked back his third and imagined the lecture they would get from Iruka if they were caught.
“So what do you think about the survival pod?” Kakashi asked.
Shikamaru hesitated; he hadn’t told anyone yet, not even Sasuke. Then some part of his mind must have decided to speak because his tongue started working. “It’s very old.”
Kakashi’s cup had been halfway to his lips. Instead he returned it to the table. “How old?”
“Almost as old as Uchiha,” Shikamaru admitted. “Maybe as old as Uchiha.”
There was silence. Kakashi drained his cup before he spoke. “You know what the Far Fringe is like. They use and reuse everything until it falls apart. It was probably found in some salvage yard and put back into service.”
Shikamaru poured the coffee into the tiny cups; three quarters full for him and half full for Kakashi. Kakashi topped up the cups with whisky.
They knocked them back simultaneously. Shikamaru could feel the tension draining away. Kakashi understood about Klenn and Neji. He was right about the office. He was probably right about the pod.

They washed the cups, hid the whisky and left the galley before there was even the smallest chance Iruka would find them there. Kakashi headed for bed. Shikamaru settled onto the couch in the sitting room he, Neji and Sumiko shared; with so much caffeine in his system, sleep was out of the question. He donned goggles, earpieces and one control glove, set an in-ear alarm and dived into the data streams.

This time the hand was running down his flank, which meant he was dreaming or it was Neji.

He pushed up his goggles and pulled out his earpieces.
“You’re buzzed,” Neji accused.
“Kakashi fed me coffee and whisky,” Shikamaru admitted before he thought to censor his words. “Don’t tell Iruka-sensei,” he added.
Neji smiled but it was sad even for a Neji smile. “You could have woken me,” he pointed out.
Shikamaru didn’t know how to answer.

Neji picked him up and sat down with Shikamaru in his lap. Shikamaru did not mind in the least. He liked it when Neji did stuff like that; usually Neji asked.
He snuggled close and began playing with Neji’s hair.
“Shika,” Neji complained but did not stop him. “No chewing,” he insisted, “it damages the ends.”
“Kakashi had an idea for the office,” Shikamaru told him.
Neji gave him a hug. “Good. Is it crazy enough to work?”
Shikamaru nodded. Bizarrely, he was suddenly utterly exhausted. He lay his head on Neji’s shoulder and shut his eyes.

When he woke he was in their bed. He reached out but Neji was not there.
“Are you awake?” a voice demanded.
Shikamaru sat bolt upright. For one awful moment he had thought it was his mother but it was only Sumiko. He turned and found her sitting on a chair by the bed scowling at him.
She was wearing yellow; no one with a hangover should have to see yellow.
“Shouldn’t you be in the playroom?” he asked.
“No,” she told him, brandishing a tablet. “Iruka-sensei said that I could work here and look after you.”
Shikamaru guessed that Iruka knew about the coffee and whisky. He wondered what punishment Iruka had concocted for Kakashi.
He rolled out of the far side of the bed and dived into the head. It was the one place Sumiko wouldn’t follow him.

It won him a few minutes’ grace. Then Sumiko was knocking on the door and asking him if he was all right.

She insisted on watching him shower. Then she ordered him to put on some sleep pants and sit on a stool while she combed out his hair. Shikamaru was just thankful that Neji had taught her how to work up from the ends rather than digging the comb in at the roots and yanking it through.
“Your ribs are sticking out,” she informed him. “Iruka-sensei says you aren’t eating enough and aren’t looking after yourself properly.”
Shikamaru shut his eyes; surely drinking coffee and whisky didn’t merit this level of punishment?
“He says that you’ve looked after me for four standards and it’s time I looked after you.”
“I like being your Nii-san,” Shikamaru answered, which was true now, even if it hadn’t been when he had first been landed with the job.
The combing stopped. “Iruka-sensei says I’m selfish,” Sumiko admitted in a small voice.
Shikamaru’s eyes snapped open. Surely Iruka wouldn’t say it like that? “You aren’t selfish,” he insisted, “but sometimes you behave in a selfish way,” he admitted.
“Is that why I haven’t got any friends?” Sumiko asked.
Her expression cut Shikamaru to the core. He plucked the comb from her fingers, set it aside and lifted her into his lap. “Who would you like to be your friend?”
Sumiko sighed. “There isn’t anyone,” she told him. “Ayame and Hoshi are too old, Mai and Naomi have each other and Takara and Teruko are mean.”
“None of the boys?” Shikamaru asked, expecting to be told off.
Sumiko looked wistful. “I miss playing with Sai,” she told him.
Sai had been her imaginary friend, the one that Haru had put in the simulation for her. He thought fast. “Lots of children entertain themselves with fictional characters, Su-chan. They read stories and like the characters. Or they pretend to be a character in a game. Or they enjoy simulations that contain made-up people. If you enjoyed the simulation with Sai in it, then you ought to play using that.”
“The fairyland isn’t as fun anymore.”
“That’s because you are older,” Shikamaru told her. “We can put Sai into other stories.”
“You can?”
“I might have to ask Haru,” he admitted and watched her hopeful expression change to grumpy. “Su-chan, Haru tries to get on with you. Couldn’t you try to get on with him?”
“I hate him,” Sumiko declared.
Shikamaru’s nascent good mood evaporated. “Why, Su-chan?” he asked.
“He has his Papa and his To-chan and Ran as a best friend and Kazuki but I still have to share you with him.”
Shikamaru knew what Neji and Iruka and Haku and Kiba and even Naruto would say; he shouldn’t just give in to her. “Su-chan, I like spending time with you but I like spending time with Haru too.”
“Why?”
He didn’t know what to say. There were many reasons and each one was likely to make Sumiko more jealous rather than less. Perhaps Sumiko was right; Haru had so many other people in his life and she had so few.
But spending time with Haru was one of the few things that helped since Klenn died.
“Does spending time with Haru make you less sad?” she asked.
Whatever question he may have expected, it was not that. “Yes,” he admitted.
Her chin came up. “Then I like it,” she announced. “I don’t like Haru but I like you spending time with him.” She hopped off his lap and reclaimed the comb. “We need to finish combing your hair before it dries all tangled.”
Shikamaru blinked back tears. “Thank you, Su-chan.”
“You are welcome, Nii-san.”

He managed to escape Sumiko’s clutches after the midday meal, during which she filled his plate and watched intently until he cleared it completely.
“Did you have a nice morning?” Iruka asked once all the children, including Sumiko, had left for the playroom.
Shikamaru was not going to be tricked into confessing about the coffee and the whisky. “Yes. Sumiko has decided that I can spend time with Haru because it makes me less sad.”
Iruka’s gaze softened. “That’s wonderful, Shika-kun, a real breakthrough.”
“I wish she got on better with the other children,” Shikamaru admitted.
“She isn’t the easiest person to be with,” Iruka pointed out. “I’ll try to give her more opportunities to share activities with the others, maybe some paired work.”
“She’s going to start using the simulator again.” Shikamaru could see that Iruka did not approve. “Same restrictions as before.”
Iruka considered and nodded. “Very well. More simulator, more paired work and we’ll see if we can make any progress.”
“I need to speak with Haru about the simulator. Is he available this afternoon?”
Iruka raised his eyebrows. “Do you think I carry all their schedules in my head?”
Shikamaru smiled. “Yes.”
“They are in the simulators now, having piloting instruction. They have private study in the last slot.”

Once Iruka had left, Shikamaru thought about going to the office but delayed by having another cup of coffee. He watched Choza making up a tray for Keitaro to take to Sasuke’s office.
Lately Neji and Sasuke had worked through the midday break most days.
Shikamaru stared at the surface of his coffee. His mind started to drift and divide.

An unexpected touch on his shoulder and it wasn’t Neji because Neji was taking the seat opposite him. “Shika,” Sasuke greeted him; his voice rich and low. “How are you? Naruto is worried.”
Shikamaru knew that meant that they were both worried. “I caught up on some sleep this morning. Then, when I woke up, Su-chan looked after me.”
Sasuke’s eyes smiled. “Lucky you. I hear you and Neji are going to have another go at getting the office right. Maybe Izumo and Kiba could help with that.”
In other words, if we put our best people on it perhaps the noise and disruption will be kept to a minimum. Even so, Shikamaru appreciated Sasuke giving his permission.
“Have you eaten?” Neji asked, looking at the cup of coffee.
“Yes, Sumiko insisted I ate twice as much as I usually do.”
“Good,” Sasuke commented. “I want you to relax for the rest of the day. We have rescheduled this morning’s strategy meeting for tomorrow. Why don’t you go to your woods?” He looked at Neji. “I am sure I could manage without Neji for a single afternoon if you want company.”

It was nice. Shikamaru still had not caught up with all his trees; how each one had grown and matured while the Oak had been in storage. Alone he could have been ambushed by unexpected emotions or distracted by stray thoughts. Instead he enjoyed being with the trees; Neji always knew when a touch or a word was needed to bring him back to reality.
He considered spending the second half of the afternoon in the onsen, but he wanted to speak to Haru.

The big litter were spilling out of the simulator room when he arrived. The kits were on a high and even Hoshi was chattering about how much fun piloting was.
His eyes searched out Haru. Would Haru prove to be merely adequate, like him, or would he have a talent for it, like Sasuke?
Haru’s eyes were sparkling almost as much as Kazuki’s; Shikamaru was glad.

Shikamaru waited at one side; if Haru did not notice him he would put off speaking to him until a better time. Gradually the children calmed down and went their separate ways in twos or threes. Once Kazuki had rushed off to the gym with Yoshimi, Yasushi and Keizo, Haru came over.
“I want to speak with you about Su-chan,” Shikamaru admitted.
Haru’s face fell. “Yes?” he queried, warily.
Shikamaru explained that Sumiko missed the games she had played with Sai. “I was thinking about some more challenging scenarios than the fairyland,” he explained. “Perhaps some of the story scenarios your litter used to enjoy when you were younger.”
“But including the Sai character,” Haru checked.
“Yes, including Sai,” Shikamaru confirmed; it was not like Haru to be so slow. “You could give me the code for the Sai character and I’ll do it,” he offered.
“No!” Haru squeaked. “No, it’ll be fine,” he continued in a more normal voice. “Why doesn’t Su-chan pick some story scenarios and she and I can take it from there?”
Shikamaru was pleased that Haru was going to include Sumiko in the design, as he had the last time. “Thank you, Haru-chan. I appreciate it. I am sure that Su-chan will too.”

He had half-hoped Haru would ask for an extra lesson or suggest a game of Go but he seemed set on studying. Shikamaru wandered through the playroom, not entirely sure what he was doing. Perhaps he was checking on Sumiko.
Naruto was in the oldest part of the playroom persuading the triplets, Shou and Nagato to tidy up. Shikamaru leaned on the wall and watched.
Suddenly a blond missile was running towards him. “Shi-chan! Shi-chan!”
He crouched down and caught Tsuneo in a hug. Shikamaru had no idea why Tsuneo called him Shi-chan. Other than Haru, none of the other children did.
“A story, Shi-chan. Please tell us a story,” Tsu-chan pleaded.
Shikamaru guided him back to the others. “I think we have to finish tidying up first,” he suggested.
Instead of sulking or arguing, Tsuneo rushed about tidying, encouraging the others to do likewise.
“Do you have time?” Naruto checked.
Shikamaru nodded. “Sasuke gave me the day off.”
Naruto’s eyes were anxious. His whiskers twitched.
“It was a bad night,” Shikamaru confessed, “but it’s been a good day.”

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