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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
- 44
- 45
- 46
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to melissen, Procrastination_is_key, ahmenet, v, maliya, satterb, sadie257, cynaga, Aflyingmonkey, Anon and disembodiedvoiceofthedying for reviewing after chapter 44 was posted. Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.
Hits are nice. Ratings are welcome. Reviews encourage and inspire.

Leader
Part 6: Counterattack
45: Expectations

Earlier that morning...
“Soon the only people aboard the ship you call the Sakura will be yours. Your children. Your people. Do anything I interpret as a threat and I shall obliterate the ship.”
“We need to get off the ship,” Haru heard himself say. “Now.”
Both Kazuki and Kuuya stared at him; their whiskers up and forward.
“Are you certain, Haru-kun?” Haku-san asked.
Haru was. He nodded. “I’ll lock everything down, change all the security settings and disable all the interfaces. That will mean they have to work to get through every door and airlock. I’ll also turn off all the external monitors.”
“And the weapons,” Ka-chan added.
“I’ll do what I can,” he promised.
“What about the telescopes?” Kuuya asked.
“I’ll turn off the remote control system but they can always be operated manually.”
“We need to hurry,” Haku-san reminded them. “If they are really abandoning ship, they will soon have people outside.”
“Do it,” Kuuya decided.

Haru could hear them preparing behind him as he worked at the console. By the time he had finished they were almost ready to go; Kazuki was roping them together into two groups. None of them were big; they would get four of them into the airlock at a time.
At first Haru wondered where the rope had come from but then he recognised that it had been made from the restraining webbing in the shelving units; the elastic net that kept the supplies from moving about.
Kuuya and Kazuki had split the gas guns and the oxygen tanks from the spare suits between them; each had a net bag attached to his waist.
They were sealing and checking suits, paying particular attention to Kichi and Tatsu.

He was with Haku-san, Yoshimi and Ka-chan; he wished he was with Ran.
He found the supply of anti-nausea pills in one of the suit’s pockets and took one. As he raised and sealed his helmet, the speaker inside clicked. “This is Kuuya. Radio check and roll call.”
Everyone spoke their name, even Kichi and Tatsu.

Their cluster went first. They opened the inner door of the airlock and packed themselves inside. Haru was squished between Ka-chan and Yo-chan.
He hoped Yoshimi was going to cope with them in his personal space; Haru imagined him going berserk in the airlock and shuddered.
With the airlock so full, it did not take long to pump out the air. Haku-san opened the outer door and stepped out into space.
Haru told himself it was like stepping over the threshold of the zero gravity gym. He shut his eyes and moved forward.
It felt similar but not the same.

Kazuki tied the end of their rope to one of the handles on the hull before closing the outer door so that Kuuya could recycle the airlock.
Then they had to wait, floating there, until the other four joined them; Haru understood why Kuuya had put Kichi and Tatsu in the second group.

Finally all eight of them were outside the ship and Haku-san had tied the two groups together. Then Kuuya, Kazuki and Yoshimi coordinated a push-off and they were moving away from the Sakura.
Haru had not appreciated that they were in orbit. Below them was the Sakura but beyond that was the planet, shrouded in clouds.
Above and to his right, a long way away, he could see one of the moons.

Once they were clear of the ship, Kuuya used three of the gas guns to increase their displacement relative to the ship.
Haru shut his eyes and went through the manoeuvre in his head. Exhausting the three gas guns would give them sideways velocity relative to the Sakura. Then, when they were far enough away, they would use another three of the guns to fix their distance from the ship.
It might be better to keep going, there was less chance of being spotted that way, but the ship was their back-up source of oxygen. A spacer always kept that in mind.

Haru wondered when Itachi-san would come. He had sent Kuuya to tell them that today was the day, so Haru was sure he was close by.
Their suit beacons would be transmitting by now that they were away from the ship. The signal was similar to the ones broadcast by Uchiha pods and Uchiha ships’ beacons; encrypted and hidden in the background radiation.

The anti-nausea pill was helping but he still felt a bit sick. Papa got sick in free fall. He had told Haru to stay as still as possible, shut your eyes and pretend you were floating in the bath.
It did help.
“Get some sleep if you can,” Kuuya told them. “Sleep,” he repeated for Kichi and Tatsu’s benefit.

Thoughts drifted about Haru’s mind: how hard it must be for Kichi and Tatsu; that all their missions with Itachi-san had been to prepare them for a day like this; what the Orochimaru print might be thinking; whether Itachi-san was waiting until they had drifted further from the ship.
He hoped that Rin-san and Akemi had found somewhere to hide.

Haru woke up; Kazuki was tugging on the arm of his suit. As soon as he saw Haru’s eyes open, he pulled out the communication cable from his suit and plugged it into the socket in Haru’s.
“The radios won’t work,” Ka-chan told him. “And now something is happening on the Sakura.”
Haru turned slowly so that he could see the Sakura. There was activity. A shuttle was leaving. Haru held his breath. Was it coming towards them? There was nothing they could do if it did.
“What do you think is interfering with the radios?” Kazuki asked.
“Don’t know. Maybe they are being jammed?” Haru knew that the Akatsuki used jammers. He was more worried about the shuttle. He wondered how visible they were or whether anyone was looking for them; perhaps the Orochimaru print thought they were still trapped in the bunk room.
Kazuki was still focused on the radios. “Will Itachi-san be able to pick up our beacons?”
Haru did not know. Shi-chan probably could because he would work out a way to filter the signals out of the interference. “Maybe?”
“Hope so,” Ka-chan replied.
The shuttle did not come their way. To Haru, its trajectory suggested it was heading towards the planet.
Two other shuttles followed.

Then, once the third shuttle was well away, the Sakura exploded.

Sasuke stared at the debris that had been the Sakura. It was as Neji had warned; the Orochimaru print had decided to go out in a blaze of defiance and had taken their children with him.
Naruto’s mourning howl spoke for both of them.

Inryoku was speaking but Sasuke did not process the words.
“Sasuke-sama, please listen to what Inryoku-san is saying,” Neji asked.
Sasuke made himself pay attention.
“You should not assume the prisoners were aboard,” Inryoku repeated. “These images are forty-nine minutes old and, given the distribution of the wreckage, the explosion was about a hundred minutes before that. About noon. ”
Ship’s noon was just after the electromagnetic blast generated by exploding the Linden would have reached the planet. Sasuke’s gut twisted; their actions had precipitated the Orochimaru print’s decision.
Inryoku looked towards Shikamaru. “Shika-san, when did Itachi-san send the message that we received through the minigate?”
Shikamaru did not answer. Sasuke looked towards him. His eyes were still fixed on the display. His features were slack. His complexion was somewhere between grey and yellow.
“The message was finalised and transmitted so that it would reach the data relay at midnight,” Neji answered for him.
“They could have easily have left the ship between midnight and noon,” Inryoku pointed out.
“Orochimaru likes to pretend to kill people,” Enerugi added. “He does it to remind those who love them what they have to lose.”

The Zetsus were right. Even if there was only a small chance that the prisoners were alive, they needed to act on it.
Naruto shook himself. “We should not believe that they are dead until we see their bodies. Even then, we should be suspicious.”
Sasuke’s spirit lifted a little; trust Naruto.

Shikamaru still had not moved. Naruto could not go to him; he was still shooting the occasional lump of wreckage. Neji probably could, but he was choosing to be too busy.
Enerugi was looking at him expectantly.
Sasuke unstrapped and made his way over. He unlocked Shikamaru’s chair and turned it so he was no longer staring at the display.
He crouched down in front of him. “Shika,” he called, gently.
Shikamaru’s eyes focused. “Sasuke?”
“What are the chances that it is a trick by the Orochimaru print or that they were suited or podded and therefore survived the explosion?”
“Not zero,” Shikamaru admitted.

The display moved away to his right; he was turning. Then Sasuke’s face came into view. It was close, demanding his attention.
Then Sasuke asked a question and some autonomous part of Shikamaru’s mind generated the answer. “Not zero.”
“Shika, we don’t want to find out that there was something we should have done,” Sasuke reminded him.
There was a small chance that at least some of them were alive. “No,” he admitted.
“What should we do?”
That was easy. “Presume that they are in space, in suits, with one tank of oxygen.”
“Can we get to them in time?”
His mind had already done the calculation. “Yes, but the Spear will be there by now.” There was a stab of thought from somewhere else. “Finding beacons against this level of background radiation will be difficult. I do not know if Itachi has the facilities to do it. I am not sure if I can do it.”
A different voice, not Sasuke; In-san. “Sasuke-sama, the Spear is not at the planet. It is not close to the planet. It is close to the position indicated in Itachi-san’s message.”
“What?” Sasuke demanded. He was gone, back to his chair.

Inryoku was pointing at the feed from the telescope that Shikamaru had set to scan. It had found the Spear. It was intact but surrounded by debris. As they watched, a minky fighter approached it and was destroyed.
“Can we stop to help?” Sasuke asked.
They couldn’t. The only way to make it to the planet in time was to accelerate constantly for the first half of the journey and decelerate for the second. “No,” Shikamaru answered.
“Set course for the planet. We’ll think what to do on the way.”

Working out how to help the Spear gave Shikamaru something to think about, which helped. So did Naruto’s conviction that the children were still alive.
If it was a delusion, it was one that Shikamaru had decided he was willing to share.
At least they had established a tactical advantage. The Akatsuki now only had the T2 ship, an assortment of small craft and the Orochimaru print’s willingness to kill indiscriminately.
“You could communicate with the Spear using flashes of light,” Enerugi suggested.
It was a good idea; they could use long-short.
“Could we launch the Blossom?” Naruto asked.

Shikamaru had to think about that one. The Blossom did not have artificial gravity, so it was limited to the levels of acceleration or deceleration that its occupants could tolerate. Dropping the Blossom as they passed was out of the question; it would have the same velocity as the Renaissance and by the time it had decelerated it would be on the other side of the system.
Various calculations later, he worked out the best place to launch it. It had to be before they built up too much velocity, which proved to be surprisingly soon.
He hesitated. As soon as he told the others it was possible, Naruto would volunteer to pilot the Blossom and he was, without doubt, the best choice.
Sasuke would need Naruto with him when they reached the wreckage of the Sakura.
“Sasuke-sama?” Tatsuji requested in his soft, whispery voice.
“Yes, Tatsuji-san?”
“If it proves feasible, please allow me the honour of piloting the Blossom so that I can provide assistance to Itachi-san and Kisame-san.”
“Uchiha thanks you for your service, Tatsuji-san, and I shall keep your request in mind.”
Shikamaru breathed a sigh of relief.

Haru was sure the Spear would arrive after the shuttles had left and the Sakura exploded,
When it didn’t, he started wondering what must have happened to Itachi-san.

Kuuya changed the plan, deciding that they were far enough away and using three of the gas guns to bring them to a halt relative to the wreck.
Haru knew that meant he was thinking about their oxygen supply. Each tank was good for twelve hundred minutes. They had four spares, so that was extended to eighteen hundred minutes.
He, like Kuuya, had been sure it would be enough.
If no one came, they would have to go back to the wreckage and look for more tanks. Even that would only be a stop-gap. What would they do if the Spear had been destroyed?

He studied the others. Tatsu seemed to have switched off. Haru remembered the lively child who had put leeches in his bed, so different from the prisoner on the ship who had cried all the time or this silent, still boy.
Kichi held Tatsu close, as he always did. Haru shivered, imagining it being him and Tsuneo.
Yo-chan didn’t look good. He was sweating, which was weird because they weren’t doing anything. His eyes were dull. Every so often he would mutter or growl softly. Haru wondered if the drugs that the Orochimaru print had given him were wearing off.
Everyone else was normal, including Haku-san, which was a relief after what he had seen in the galley. Kuu-chan and Ka-chan were a bit more serious than usual.
Ran was Ran. Ran was always Ran.

He napped, because there wasn’t anything else to do and sleeping was better than worrying. He was woken by Kazuki and Kuuya changing his oxygen tank.
Haru knew what that meant; they had reached six hundred minutes and their tanks were about half empty. Swapping four of them to the spares meant that they wouldn’t get into the situation where the eight of them were running out and all the oxygen was concentrated in only four tanks.
Haku-san, Ran, Yoshimi and Kuuya would change to the half-used tanks when theirs ran out at twelve hundred minutes.
At least all the tanks had been tested so there would be no last-minute surprises.

Soon Kuuya would have to make a decision. Did they go back to the wreckage and look for more tanks?
It would involve risks. The Orochimaru print could have nekos watching for them. There would be shrapnel; like the piece that had cut through To-chan’s suit and into his back.
Kuu-chan and Ka-chan were connected; talking. Haru could imagine Kazuki arguing that he should go ahead and Kuuya refusing to let him go alone.

Ran was awake. Haru pulled out his communication cable and plugged into Ran’s suit.
“It’ll be fine,” Ran assured him immediately. “We can go back to the Sakura.”
“I know. Lady knows how many spare suits there are in the wreckage,” Haru replied. “I just expected Itachi-san to be here by now.”
“You may have to build a raft out of the wreckage and power it with gas guns,” Ran suggested with a smile.
It was the kind of solution Haru had come up with when they were younger and playing make-believe.
“Not very feasible,” Haru admitted. “Finding eight pods. That might work. Getting out of the suit and into the pod might be tricky through. Maybe we could find an intact airlock and use that.”
Suddenly having to go back to the wreckage didn’t seem so bad. Some of the pieces looked pretty big. Maybe they could make a mini space station.
“You should get some more sleep,” Ran advised. “Conserve your oxygen and your energy for when we need you most.”
Haru knew that Ran was right but Kuuya signalled that they needed to talk.

Kuuya and Kazuki had come up with a plan. To Haru’s surprise it involved him and Ka-chan going ahead.
It was a bad sign. Itachi-san and Kakashi-san had driven it into the kits’ minds, particularly Ka-chan’s, that Haru was an asset that must be protected. Being near the wreck was more dangerous than being well away from it.
“You are the only one that can work out how to use the wreckage,” Kuuya explained through a hardwired link.
So Kuuya thought Itachi-san wasn’t coming. It was no longer about the future, it was about surviving now.
“You must be careful,” Kuu-chan emphasised. “You are to have a good look while Ka-chan collects tanks and gas guns.”
“I will be. When?”
“Not yet. We thought we would give Itachi-san another five hundred minutes. There isn’t any urgency. We can all be back at the wreck within two hundred minutes. We’re discussing it now because Ka-chan and I know how your mind works. You’ll have better ideas if you sleep on it.”

It was easier to fall asleep this time, because planning how they could use the wreckage was less worrying than thinking about what had happened to Itachi-san.
“Wake up, sleepy-head. Time to go and do some scavenging.”
It was Ran, so there was no sign of Itachi-san and Kuuya had decided that it was time to act.
“You must be careful,” Ran reminded him. “If you get yourself into a mess, Kazuki will do something stupid to save you.”
Thinking about what Ka-chan would do made the warning more real. “I’ll be sensible,” he promised.
Ran unplugged the communication link and gave him a hug.
Haru could hardly feel it through his suit.

They had two of the six remaining gas guns. The plan was to use half the gas in one gun to accelerate towards the wreck and the other half to slow them down when they got there. The other one would be for emergencies.
If it went as planned, it would take a hundred minutes to reach the wreck.
Kuuya untied them from the others, bound them together and connected their helmets so they could talk. Haru faced away from the wreck. Kazuki was pressed against his back, his arms around Haru’s waist and the stock of the gun braced against the belly of Haru’s suit. Kuu-chan checked that they were lined up before moving away and giving them the signal to go.
Ka-chan fired the gun and they were off.

As they accelerated, Haru thought he saw something move against the background of stars. He didn’t say anything, because he knew Ka-chan was concentrating on keeping the gun straight and switching it off at the right time.
“Do you see that?” Haru asked once Kazuki had shut down the gun and stowed it in his belt.
“Where?”
Haru pointed.
Kazuki looked. At first his eyes were scanning but then they focused and his whiskers twitched. “It could be a ship.”
Haru pulse quickened. “Ours or theirs?”
“Too far away to tell.”
“Do you think Kuu-chan has seen it?”
“Doubt it.”

They watched the speck become a dot and then a tiny, faraway shape.
“Not one of ours,” Kazuki decided.
Haru swallowed. It could be the T2 enemy ship or the T3. They watched for a while longer. “Doesn’t look like the T2 or the T3,” he observed. “Wrong shape.”
Ka-chan studied it. “She’s very pretty.”
Haru wished his eyesight was a good as Kazuki’s. He stared at the shape. It looked vaguely familiar. Then it clicked. It was Klenn-san’s ship, the Renaissance.

That was when Haru was sure he was crazy or it was a dream. Perhaps there was something wrong with his oxygen supply.
Only a hallucination could explain why Klenn-san was here to rescue them when he was dead.

“Isn’t that Klennethon Darrent’s luxury yacht?” Ka-chan asked.
That was a relief; if it was a hallucination, they were sharing it. “Yes,” he replied.
Kazuki seemed unconcerned. “Good. I can’t see Garner-san selling it to the Akatsuki.”
It was a good point; if it was real it was probably friendly.

The ship had obviously seen the wreck because it was matching velocities. Then a bay opened and a shuttle launched.
Ka-chan was using the gas gun to push them towards it even before it came to a halt with its airlock door open.

The airlock started to cycle as soon as they had the outer door shut. The pump had to be powerful, because before he could think about checking the oxygen sensor on the arm of his suit the inner door was open.
It was To-chan and Papa. Behind them, standing a little way back, was Shi-chan.

Haru’s helmet was open and To-chan was hugging him. After that Papa hugged him while To-chan hugged Ka-chan. Kazuki was telling them who was in the other group.
Then To-chan rushed away to move the shuttle closer to pick them up.
Shi-chan looked bad, like he had after Shikaku-san had died.
“Garner-san lent me the ship,” he explained.
“Did you get past the disruptor?” Haru asked. “Or use one of the other holes?”
For some reason, the questions made Shi-chan look even worse. “Later,” he replied.
Haru edged closer. Shi-chan looked like he needed a hug but they didn’t usually do hugs.
Then Shi-chan’s arms were around him and Haru was glad he was wearing a suit because otherwise he was sure his ribs would crack.
“I am so glad you are safe,” Shi-chan whispered.
Haru agreed.
- 44
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- 46
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