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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
- 57
- 58
- 59
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to Procrastination_is_key, SidonieStarr, melissen, Slynx, satterb, Phoenixwolf, disembodiedvoiceofthedying, sadie237 and SunaoTsuji for reviewing after chapter 57 was posted.
Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.
I would love to hear from more readers. Thanks again to those who review or send emails.

Leader
Part 7: Vendetta
58: Mission

Haru had assured Hikaru that he could hack into the control system for Shi-chan’s level. He, Kazuki and Keizo were on the outer surface, suited. Keizo had removed one of the maintenance access panels and now Haru was trying to connect the interface he had brought with him.
It was proving remarkably difficult when wearing gauntlets. It had been much easier in the simulations.

His radio clicked.
“This is Keizo. Haru...”
“I’m fine,” Haru insisted. “Give me a bit longer.”
Even if he managed it, they couldn’t be sure of success. The control unit couldn’t be activated by the tiny power cell in Haru’s interface; he was relying on the dedicated power plant still being operational.
“This is Hikaru.”
Haru sighed. He wished Keizo had kept quiet. Now Hikaru was getting jumpy.
“Kazuki,” Hikaru continued. “Report please.”
“This is Kazuki. Everything is going to plan. The connection is just a bit tricky.”

Haru made himself relax and finally managed to splice the connectors together. He pinged the control unit and waited. The delay seemed endless but, just as he deciding it was not going to work, he received confirmation that a connection had been made.
“This is Haru. I am in. I am connecting the data array to record the outcomes of the diagnostic programmes.”

Haru launched the programmes and then tried to monitor their progress as data streamed across the twenty character screen that was built into the interface.
He resolved to customise a helmet for his next mission. Maybe he could design and build some special gauntlets.

Finally he had all the data they had planned to collect. Haru disconnected the interface, stowed the data array in his backpack and signalled to Ka-chan that he was ready to return to the Lancet.

Kakashi-san had given them use of the Silver Leaf and the Lancet with a skeleton crew for each: Misora, Ryuka and Isaribi for the Lancet; Five, Keitaro and Ran for the Silver Leaf. Hikaru’s team was investigating the condition of the jettisoned level using the Lancet. Kuuya’s team were on the Silver Leaf, clearing a route along which the level could be towed back to Skyburrow.
Hoshi, Yuki and Ayame were running mission control in Skyburrow.
Haru has been torn. He was needed on Hikaru’s mission, but clearing debris impacted on his search for Sai. He had settled for making Kuuya promise to collect the junk rather than using it for target practice.

The Lancet was close by; they were soon in the airlock. Keizo and Haru lowered their helmets as soon as the lock pressurised but Kazuki hesitated. Haru knew why. Bottled air did not smell of Ryuka but, even with the air scrubbers turned up, the ship did.
“I don’t think you’re going to get over it,” Keizo pointed out when Kazuki finally opened his helmet; Ka-chan had given up trying to hide his addiction to Ryuka’s scent.
Kazuki sniffed the air and gave a small whimper.
“You should at least get to know her. Give her a chance,” Kei-chan added.
“You sound like Ran,” Haru complained.
“That’s because Ran talks a lot of sense,” Keizo replied. “As you well know.”
Haru felt himself flush.

He decided to concentrate on getting the data into a form that the others could appreciate. He made his way to the meeting room, one corner of which had been set up for him to work. He connected the data array to his system and had been at it for a while when he felt someone behind him.
It was Hikaru. Haru stiffened. “It’ll take time.”
Hi-chan pulled up a chair and sat down. “I know. I’m interested. I thought I would see how you were doing.”
He decided to give Hikaru the benefit of the doubt.
“Kei-chan, Ka-chan and Ry-chan are mucking about,” Hikaru added. “You know what they’re like.”
Haru did. The other two were probably trying to cheer Ka-chan up. He could imagine all the shoulder punching, pranks and bawdy remarks.

Hikaru watched him in silence for a few minutes before asking, “So what’s between Ka-chan and Ryuka?”
“He fancies her but they annoy each other,” Haru summarised.
“I expect they’ll end up together,” Hikaru speculated. “I mean, she obviously likes him. You can tell from the way she looks at him.”
Gossiping with Hi-chan was weird and strangely irresistible. “I thought she liked Ry-chan.”
“She did, but now all the sideways looks are in Ka-chan’s direction.”
Maybe Ryuka, like Kazuki, was just worrying about how to handle the involuntary attraction.
“It would be a good thing, wouldn’t it?” Hikaru asked. “I mean, she’s cute in a fierce way and Ka-chan is never going to want to fuck anyone without breasts.”
Haru wondered if Hikaru found females attractive; it was rare among full-blood Uchiha males but not unknown.
“Ha-chan?” Hikaru pushed.
“He doesn’t love her,” Haru complained.
Hi-chan shrugged.

The shrug annoyed him. What was Hi-chan suggesting? That love did not matter? How could anyone raised by To-chan and Papa think that? Haru concentrated on pouring the data he had processed into the simulation he had prepared.
“It’s ready,” he announced.
“Really? Great. I’ll get the others.”

Misora and Isaribi arrived as well as Keizo, Ryuu and Kazuki. Haru wondered if he should have checked through the simulation before saying he was finished. What if it didn’t run?
Then it started and he relaxed; it was operating exactly as he had planned.

Amazingly, many of the trees were still alive; they knew because Shi-chan had a small diagnostic unit embedded in each one.
Haru called up charts to show the conditions since the level had been jettisoned. The atmosphere had never been completely lost and the temperature had stayed high enough to protect the structural integrity of the trees.
He studied the data from the diagnostic units. “It looks like the trees shut down.”
“Like they would in winter,” Ryuka stated from the doorway.
The others turned to look at her.
“Didn’t you say they were birches?” she asked.
“Silver birches,” Hikaru clarified.
“Birches are deciduous. They lose all their leaves and shut down in winter.”
“You know about trees?” Misora asked.
“It was part of the job I was meant to do,” Ryuka told them. “Each time the forester got to twenty-five, the next one was bought to be raised and trained by the one before.
“A few standards after I arrived the purebred who owned the forest died and her son did not care about it or us. There wasn’t going to be another forester for me to raise and train, so when the old forester died I ran away to the city before my owner decided to sell me.”

Haru had never thought much about what Ryuka had done before she was on the Ninken. He had just assumed that she had grown up on the streets of some town, like Ran, or on a space station, like To-chan or Five.
Instead she had started out living in a forest. It made Haru realise that he knew nothing about her.
He stole a look at Kazuki. As Haru had expected, he was studying Ryuka. He looked serious and older; very unlike Ka-chan.
Maybe Hikaru was right. As annoying as Ryuka was now, she had been raised by Kiba-san, she was clever, had breasts and apparently she was cute. Even if she didn’t have many of the skills they valued, she knew about trees. Ka-chan thought she smelled good.
He had to give her a chance.
“Maybe you could be our tree expert, Ryuka-kun,” he suggested.
She flushed slightly. Her whiskers dipped and it looked like her ears might follow but she managed to keep them forward and tilted up her chin. “I don’t know about being an expert, but I’d like to help.”

So she and Haru ended up sitting together going over the seven divs’ worth of data that had been recorded since the Oak’s destruction.
“I don’t think I can help,” Ryuka told him. “If I could see the tree, touch it and smell it, I could tell you how it was doing. These are just numbers.”
Haru could see that. “If we were in Skyburrow I could load the data into my simulator,” he told her. “Maybe I can get at least a visual for you.”
“Like the simulators I use to learn about handling ships?” Ryuka checked.
“Yes, but more flexible.” He cobbled together chunks of Shi-chan’s birch tree simulation with the data from the diagnostic units. “Try that.”

She pointed to the data set for a tree and the projector generated a three-dimensional image that illustrated its condition.
“It’s a lot better than numbers,” she admitted. She looked at him. “You can do stuff like this because you are so clever.”
Haru concentrated on the screen. “Everyone is particularly good at different things. I’m particularly good with numbers and solving problems.”
“I’m not particularly good at anything,” Ryuka replied.
“Yes you are,” Haru insisted. “You just haven’t realised what it is yet. Maybe it’s trees or maybe it’s one of those things that are hard to pin down. Like To-chan. He makes people realise they are special and it makes them better at everything they do.”
“Naruto-san,” Ryuka whispered. “You are so lucky to have been raised by him.”
“Yes,” Haru agreed.

They worked in silence for a bit. Ryuka scored each tree on a one-to-five scale where one was healthy and five was dying. Starting with the worst affected, they worked backwards through the data to the point when the damage occurred. Then Haru looked to see what had been happening in the environment.
The two most detrimental factors seemed to be loss of artificial gravity and high levels of acceleration. At one point, near the beginning, the two had happened together and about a fifth of the trees had been so badly damaged that they had slowly died.
Luckily the autonomous control system had kept working and the artificial gravity had been re-established.

Haru checked the power profile. The level didn’t have anywhere near enough solar collectors. Instead it had been draining the inbuilt emergency power cells, which were nine-tenths empty. He doubted that the environment inside the level could have been maintained for another div.
He made a note to replace them as well as designing and installing an additional array of solar collectors.
“Why?” Ryuka whispered.
“Why what?”
“Have woods on a spacecraft. It’s...” she trailed off.
“Shi-chan likes trees. Also, he thought we needed somewhere to run about and play. He was brought up on a planet.”
“Shikamaru-san,” Ryuka checked.
He nodded.
“You don’t look like him.”
Someone must have told her that Shi-chan was his genetic parent. “I look like Papa,” he agreed.
“Kazuki and the others, they are clones of Naruto-san,” Ryuka checked.
“Yes.”
“Will they grow up to be like him?”
Haru was about to mention epigenetic variation but then he remembered how much Ryuka admired To-chan and that Kazuki might decide he liked her. “In many ways,” he replied. “I don’t think Ka-chan’s ever going to be that tall, though.”
Ryuka stared at him for a moment and then giggled. “Or lose his tail.”
“Or his ears,” Haru added.
“And he’s silver rather than gold.”
“But in lots of ways he is like To-chan,” Haru insisted, which was, when he thought about it, true.

Hikaru called a conference. They set up live links between Skyburrow, the Lancet and the Silver Leaf. Kotetsu-san, Izumo-san and Kakashi-san were invited to participate.
Haru presented his findings about conditions within the level, including how important it was not to interrupt the artificial gravity or subject the surviving trees to high acceleration. Kuuya then showed the route.

They decided not to disturb the trees; Ryuka said that it would be best to keep them dormant until they could care for them properly.
Working from the outside, they would connect extra power cells and install a wireless interface so that they could operate the control unit from a distance. Then they would move the whole structure to Skyburrow.
Kotetsu-san was proposing using rocket units rather than towing.

It made sense. It would give them finer control and, if they left the rocket units attached, they would be able to move the woods again if it proved necessary.
They had salvaged over seventy rocket units from the wreckage of the Oak; they had more than they could possibly need.

Kakashi-san agreed with them that they should push forward while Papa was away. Kotetsu-san would pack a delivery drone with power cells, connectors and anything Haru needed to build the wireless interface. As soon as the power cells arrived, Keizo, Kazuki, Ryuu and Hikaru would begin connecting them.
Then, once the wireless interface was ready, Haru would connect it and phase one would be complete.

Meanwhile, the Silver Leaf would return to Skyburrow and prepare for phase two, fitting the rocket units.

It was hard work. Keizo trained Ryuu, Kazuki and Hikaru to connect the power cells while Haru built as much as of the wireless control unit that he could without the missing components. Once the drone arrived, Haru managed to finish building the interface before the team outside had finished installing the power cells.
Ka-chan came back to the Lancet to escort him over. This time Haru had built in push and clip connectors. Within minutes he was running diagnostics; testing the wireless interface and checking that all the power cells were operational.

Safely back in the Lancet’s airlock, Haru leaned against the bulkhead. He could feel his eyes closing, even before the pumps shut off.
Next thing he knew he was sitting on a bench with his helmet down and Isaribi crouched opposite him. Ryuu, Keizo and Kazuki were hovering anxiously.
Hikaru wasn’t; he was over the other side of the room, stripping off his suit as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
“Can you hear me Haru-kun?” Isaribi asked.
Haru nodded. “I’m fine.”
“That’s good,” Isaribi acknowledged. “Now take your suit off so I can check you over.”
“Shall we bring him to the infirmary?” Ryuu asked.
“No, here will be fine.”

Isaribi only took a few minutes to confirm that it was exhaustion.
“You must not push yourself past your limits, Haru-kun. It increases the risk to yourself and those around you.”
Haru flushed. He would have to work out a way of getting a stim for next time.
“At least you were not reckless enough to take a stimulant,” Isaribi continued. “If you had done, I would have felt it necessary to bring it to Iruka-san’s and Rin-san’s attention.” She smiled. “You will be fine after a few days of rest.”
In two days they would be back in Skyburrow. Spending most of the trip curled up in his bunk didn’t seem such a bad idea.

Haru slowly pulled on his clothes as Isaribi packed up her medical kit. Keizo was checking over their tools, Ryuu was collecting the stuff that needed recycling and Ka-chan was hanging the suits in the sanitizer. Hikaru was still at the far side of the room; apparently unconcerned about Haru’s minor crisis.
Then Isaribi left and Hikaru finally turned around.
“You all right?” he asked.
Haru was confused for a moment but then he saw Hi-chan’s expanded pupils. He’d taken a stim. No wonder he had lurked at the far side of the room while Isaribi had been there. “I’m fine,” he replied.
Ryuu gave a small growl, registering his disapproval of Hikaru’s behaviour.
“You heard what Isaribi-kun said,” Keizo warned.
Hikaru shrugged, Ryuu growled again and Kazuki rolled his eyes.
Haru was too tired to join in.

He spent most of the journey back to Skyburrow sleeping, only leaving his bunk to eat, catch up on the data his search drones were sending back and check on the output from the new wireless interface.
There were no new leads about Sai but the wireless interface was working well.

Once they were docked, waiting for the bay to pressurise, Haru caught himself fretting. Would Ran come to the docking bay to greet him? Perhaps he was on watch or on duty in the infirmary. Surely he would be there if he could be?
Haru would definitely try to be there if Ran was docking. What did it mean if Ran didn’t feel the same way?

Then the airlock opened. Haru hung back, allowing Keizo, Kazuki and Ryuu to go first, followed by Hikaru. Then Misora gestured him forward and he had no option other than walking through the airlock and down the gangplank.
Ran was there, of course he was; Haru felt like an idiot for doubting him.

He hurried over only to slow down as he approached. Ran smiled and opened his arms, inviting a hug. Haru wrapped his arms around Ran’s chest and Ran pulled him tight. It felt good; really good.

Not only had Ran been there to meet him, but he had moved his duties about so that he and Haru could spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening together.
They invited Kazuki and he decided to hang out with them after the evemeal but not before.

Within minutes they had dumped Haru’s pack in his room and were sitting on Ran’s bed. Haru filled Ran in on everything that had happened. Ran listened carefully, as he always did.
“So you bonded a bit with Hikaru and discovered that Ryuka is not as awful as you thought she was,” Ran summarised.
Trust Ran to be only interested in the people-stuff. “What about you?” Haru asked.
“I think Yuki might be succeeding in distracting Five from his plan to wait for you and me.”
Haru was not surprised. Yuki had set out to make himself irresistible. “Do you mind?” Haru asked.
Ran thought about it. “No. Do you?”
“No.” As attractive as Five was, Haru would prefer to have Ran to himself. Then he realised that Ran was studying him. “What?”
“I think I can live with a tendency to be possessive.”
Haru flushed. “Good.”
“Not jealousy. I can’t live with that. It’s ugly.”
“I know,” Haru admitted.

They ended up going to Haru’s workshop before the evemeal; Haru was jumpy about not having checked the link to the wireless interface.
Haru didn’t know he called it his workshop rather than his laboratory. It served the same purpose as his laboratory in Tarrasade. Like his laboratory, it was between Shi-chan’s and In-san’s. It even had a plant that hated Haru; En-san had insisted on replacing the one that had died on the Oak.

At one side were his desk and his simulator that Shi-chan had brought with him from Tarrasade. On the other was his simulator from the Oak, which had been salvaged and he was repairing.
Ran went over and started talking to the plant, while Haru connected his data array and started integrating the new data and programmes. Then he contacted Keitaro and asked him to dedicate a channel for the wireless interface.
Within twenty minutes he was satisfied. The wireless interface was working perfectly and he had a simulation of what was happening in the woods that could be wound back to any time over the previous seven divs.

That done, he updated his search for Sai. Nine Sai-sized, Sai-shaped objects had been located. Six of them had been checked out by probes and dismissed. Haru did not hold out much hope for the other three.
He would check the junk that Kuuya’s team had collected but he knew that Ran had already looked it over and found nothing.
Maybe Sai was truly gone; vaporised without a trace.
Ran’s hand on his shoulder. “If anyone can find him, you will,” he said softly. Then he turned Haru around in his chair. “Meal time. Ir-chan will give me one of his reproachful looks if we are late.”

All the adolescents and adults were there, even those on watch, but none of the children. Usually that meant there was an announcement.
Sure enough, Kakashi-san asked Choza and his helpers to join them at the table for a few minutes before the meal began.
“We are closing in on Kabuto and therefore, possibly, on the original Orochimaru and on Pein,” he told them. “Sasuke-sama will be taking the Elm to join the hunt. The Dart will depart this evening. I shall be on it and with me will be Inryoku-san, Enerugi-san, Shizune-san and Misora-kun. Asuma-san and Misora-kun will then bring the Dart back.”
“Between my departure and Asuma-san’s arrival, Dan-san will be in command here.
“It is uncertain how long Sasuke-sama, Naruto-san and Shikamaru-san will be gone so this may be tough on the triplets and on Sumiko-chan. We expect you youngsters to step up and help Kiba-san care for them.”

Haru wondered about Naomi. She could not go with Hamaki, Terai and Fu any more than the triplets could be with Papa and To-chan. Others must have been thinking the same thing because Yuki asked and Kakashi-san told him that Naomi was staying with Haku-san in Tarrasade.
Then Hoshi asked about Hinata-san and the baby.

Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-san exchanged looks and Kakashi-san nodded.
“Hinata-san has decided to return to her family on Hyuga,” Iruka-sensei told them. His tone was neutral but his expression hinted at the outrage Haru suspected he might feel.
“Just for a visit?” Ayame checked.
“No, she will be living on Hyuga,” Iruka-sensei clarified.
“But what about the baby?” Kuuya asked.
Iruka-sensei took a deep breath. “Neji-san has agreed with Hinata-san that the baby will be best off with his or her mother, so the baby will live on Hyuga with Hinata-san.” He looked to Choza. “Shall we begin the meal, Choza-san? We would not want it to spoil.”

“You knew,” Ran observed quietly once they had all served themselves and people were beginning to eat.
“Su-chan told me but she wasn’t meant to,” Haru replied.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, listening in on the conversations around the table, which were split between discussing hunting the Akatsuki and what had happened between Neji-san and Hinata-san.

Yuki was incensed about Hinata-san and the baby. His eyes were flashing and his whiskers were twitching with agitation. Haru watched him talking passionately to Hoshi and Ayame; gesturing with his hands so that his kimono sleeves fell back exposing his delicate wrists.
Ran nudged Haru under the table and indicated Five with his fork.
Five’s eyes were riveted on Yuki.

Haru had to admit that Yuki was worth looking at. He had grown his fur into a magnificent mane. Like the rest of the litter, Haru had asked to touch it. It felt like silk; purebred hair was coarse in comparison. Today he had the front restrained into plaits that had blue ribbon woven into them. The rest flowed down his back.
He had done something to his eyelashes, Haru wasn’t sure what, so they seemed longer and curled more. His eyes were further enhanced with some subtle application of colour.
The kimono he was wearing had blue in the pattern; the same blue as his eyes and the ribbons in his hair. Underneath, Haru knew, he had taken to wearing a sleeveless vest and very tight pants.
It was amazing how many day-to-day tasks required him to take off his kimono, particularly when Five was about.

After the meal he, Ran and Kazuki went to Ran’s room. They talked about the mission, the choice Hinata-san had made and Yuki’s campaign to attract Five’s attention.
“What about you and Ryuka?” Ran asked Kazuki once the conversation about Yuki and Five had petered out.
Ka-chan bristled. “There is no me and Ryuka.”
Ran shrugged. “If you want to lie to yourself, that’s up to you.”
“I’m not...” Kazuki gave up. “I don’t know what is happening with me and Ryuka,” he admitted. “Ryuu and Kuuya keep pointing out to me that she has stopped flirting with them, but I don’t know if that isn’t just shock after what happened.”
“Even Hikaru thinks the two of you might suit each other,” Haru told him.
“Hi-chan?” Ka-chan gave a little whimper. “Is everyone talking about us?”
“No more than they are talking about Yuki and Five,” Ran assured him. “It would help if we could get to know what Ryuka was thinking. Does she talk to any of the girls?”
Haru didn’t think so. He shook his head. Kazuki looked glum.
“Then it’s down to you, Haru,” Ran decided.
“Me?” Haru was horrified.
“Yes. You teach her mathematics. She’s working with you on the woods. You’ve told her you’re male-only so there’s no possibility of a misunderstanding. She knows you know about what happened in the kitchen, so if she’s going to confide in anyone, you’re the obvious choice.”
“I am?” Haru queried.
Ka-chan was looking at him hopefully.
“I’ll try,” Haru promised, even though his toes curled with embarrassment at the mere thought of it.

After considering his options, Haru invited Ryuka to try out the simulation of the woods. He explained that his simulator was both the best and the only one hardwired to his system, so she would have to come to his workshop.
Within seconds he was wishing that he had thought it through more carefully.
“I have to take my clothes off?” Ryuka queried.
Haru felt himself flush. “There are loads of sensors and they have to be able to touch your skin,” he explained. Then, belatedly, he realised that she was teasing him. She had said she had used the standard simulators, so she knew she had to strip. “I’ll wait in the corridor if you like,” he offered.
“No need,” she told him and after blur of movement she was standing in front of him in the tiniest pair of panties and nothing else.
Part of Haru was pleased that he didn’t respond any differently than he would to seeing Hoshi naked. The rest of him imagined how Ka-chan would react if he caught Haru looking at the infamous ‘titties’.
“Climb in,” he instructed.

At least she was impressed by both simulator and simulation; particularly the sounds and the smells.
“If it wasn’t for the flicker, it would be nearly perfect,” she told him as she dressed.
“Flicker?” he queried.
She dipped her ears, apologising for criticising. “My eyes are different to yours.”
Haru prided himself on making his simulations work for hybrids as well as purebreds, like Shi-chan did. “I’ll look into it,” he promised.

They talked about the trees for a while. Then Haru suggested a mathematics session and Ryuka agreed. Before he knew it, Haru realised that Ryuka’s concentration was waning and he hadn’t even edged towards mentioning Kazuki.
Trouble was, he didn’t have any idea where to start.
Maybe he would have more success next time.

He was winding things up when Ryuka, unexpectedly, took the initiative.
“You and Kazuki are close,” she stated, studying him with suddenly fierce eyes.
“Yes,” Haru agreed. His pulse rate was soaring. What was she going to say? What if he mucked it up for Ka-chan?
“What should I do if I want to get to know him better?”

It was a good start. The problem was, Haru didn’t have a clue. “Do things together?” he suggested before remembering that the way she smelled drove Ka-chan wild. “Maybe in space suits?” he added before he could stop himself. “Or in a really well ventilated large space?”
She was staring at him as if he was crazy.
Haru made himself think. Shi-chan’s level was huge; Ryuka’s scent would be diluted. “Maybe work together on the trees,” he proposed. “Once we bring the level in. You said that we should look over the trees and perhaps trim the dead bits off before we brought them out of hibernation.”
She considered and then nodded. “I shall ask Kazuki for help with pruning the trees.”
Haru congratulated himself for salvaging the situation.

Once Ryuka had gone, he decided to look into the flicker. To his surprise, there was a tiny oscillation in the intensity of the light. He solved the problem by adding a component that smoothed out the voltage.
Only he couldn’t forget about it. It bugged him. His mind kept going back to it: when he was on kitchen duty; while eating his meal; in the middle of the night.

Finally he gave up trying to go sleep and switched on the light. He was sure the oscillation had not been there when the simulator had been in his laboratory in Tarrasade; Kazuki had tried it more than once and he would have mentioned it.
So either the oscillation had been caused by something Shi-chan had done to the simulator, which seemed unlikely, or it was in the simulation itself.
Haru checked the chronometer; it was midway between midnight and station’s dawn. He sighed. It was hopeless. He might as well go to his workshop and investigate.

Many tests later, he had made progress tracking it down. It was associated with the wireless interface he had connected to Shi-chan’s level. If he disabled the radio link, it vanished.
It still didn’t make sense. He had tested the wireless interface on the Lancet before installing it. He had the test data. There was no oscillation.
It had to be coming from the control unit. Perhaps a component had been slightly damaged.
He checked the chronometer. If he stopped now he could get some sleep. He had a busy day ahead of him; he needed to be rested.

On the other hand, he had a way of checking whether it was a component in the control unit. He had run a full diagnostic during his first space walk.
It wasn’t a component in the control unit.

In the end he had to give up because he was on breakfast duty. He went back to his room, dragged himself through the shower and pulled on fresh clothes.
Hoshi gave him a look but didn’t comment. Misora was too caught up in cooking to notice.
The triplets were first and Haru could see that he wasn’t the only one who hadn’t slept. Takara was being mean, Teruko was snivelling and even Tsuneo was grouchy. There was no sign of Sumiko.
Kiba-san looked like he was on the verge of growling.
“Maybe you could go and wake Su-chan,” Hoshi whispered.
“Me?” Haru queried.
“I shall get Sumiko-chan,” Kiba-san told them, his tone ominous.

After that it went downhill quickly. Sumiko refused to come out of her room. Takara did something, Haru missed what, and Tsuneo started to cry.
Tsu-chan almost never cried. This time he was doing it with a vengeance. He began wailing, “I want To-chan, I want To-chan.”
Haru wished he had locked himself in his room, like Sumiko.

Then, thankfully, Iruka-sensei arrived and things began to improve. Yoshimi and Yasushi were recruited to cheer up Tsuneo and Teruko, Takara was sent to her room and Iruka-sensei persuaded Kiba-san to give up on Sumiko until after breakfast.
Next thing Haru knew all the duties had been moved around. He was with Ran, looking after the triplets and Sumiko, while Kiba-san had a morning to himself.
He didn’t have the energy to object. Anyway, if he did, he would only draw Iruka-sensei’s attention to how tired he was.

It wasn’t too bad. At first they only had Teruko and Tsuneo, who were content to play together. When Sumiko joined them she sat in a corner sulking with a tablet in front of her. Finally Kazuki, of all people, turned up with Takara.
Ta-chan and Te-chan played make-believe while Ka-chan tussled with Tsu-chan.
“What’s wrong?” Ran asked.
Haru rambled on about the oscillation until he realised that he was repeating himself.
“Why is it bugging you?” Ran asked.

It was an excellent question. Why was it bugging him? Why hadn’t he been content with removing the flicker from the simulation?
Why was he so intent on finding the source?

Suddenly he was on his feet.
“Cover for me,” he asked.
Ran did not question him; he just nodded.

Haru ran to his workshop. The one thing he hadn’t done was analyse the oscillation. When he thought about it, all he knew was that it was very high frequency.
His hands were trembling as he slowed it down; ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, a hundred thousand times, a million times. Yes, within each oscillation there was a repeating pattern.
It was the long-short for ‘Haru’.
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