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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
- 71
- 72
- 73
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.

Heartfelt gratitude to SunaoTsuji, melissen, satterb and sadie237 for reviewing after chapter 71 was posted.

Please read the author’s note at the end.

This is start of a new section, which is set some divs after the end of chapter 71.

Leader
Part 8: Clan
72: Promises

Haru woke a few minutes before his alarm. His eyes went to where his uniform hung waiting. After today everything would be different.

By the time he was out of the head, Kazuki was scratching at his door. He called for him to come in.
“Happy birth anniversary,” Ka-chan declared.
“Happy birth anniversary,” Haru replied.
“It’s finally here. It feels like we’ve been waiting for ages.”
It didn’t feel that way to Haru. To Haru it felt like he had been running to catch up and that he still hadn’t quite made it. There again, he hadn’t been fucking in closets for the last five divs. He wondered whose room they’d use; Kazuki’s or Ryuka’s.
“Kazuki to Haru, Kazuki to Haru.”
He flushed. “I’m listening.”
“No you aren’t but it doesn’t matter. Come on. Everyone will be in the kitchen by now.”

The plan was to do the usual birth anniversary stuff in the morning and the formal stuff in the afternoon. Haru knew Papa would have liked them to take their oaths in Tarrasade but that wasn’t possible. Izuna-sama would challenge if Papa turned up before they established that Kuuya was heir.
It had made a big difference to Kuuya to know that Papa thought of him like that. He had stepped up. He had even persuaded To-chan that it was the right thing to do, which had been a big ask given that To-chan had hated the idea.
In his way, To-chan could be as overprotective as Papa.
“Ha-chan! Clothes!” Kazuki ordered.

Luckily Haru had picked them out the night before; a new top and his favourite pants. He dragged them on and pulled a comb through his hair.

They were last. Everyone who was meant to be there was already sitting at the table: the rest of the big litter, Papa and To-chan. Kiba-san, Shi-chan and the triplets. Iruka-sensei was helping Choza-san bring all the special birth anniversary breakfast food to the table and Kakashi-san was perched on one of the counters with Ran beside him.
Then they opened all the usual birth anniversary presents; clothes sent by Haku-san, a new wallet each from Kiba-san, gadgets from Shi-chan, joke gifts from the kits and various misshapen objects from the triplets. Then Papa told them that some of the presents were waiting in Tarrasade, which was intriguing.
There was no sign of the tea caddy with the dragon on the side and no voting but Haru could live with that.

The rest of the morning went past at a breakneck pace. There was a treasure hunt followed by fun things to do in Shi-chan’s level, like trying tightrope walking and a climbing the greasy pole competition.
Kazuki won of course, although Ryuka and Yuki made sure the outcome wasn’t as inevitable as usual.

A lively midmeal followed. This time everyone was there and it ended with cake.

Then it was back to their rooms to prepare for the serious stuff. Haru dressed carefully in his uniform and checked his appearance in the mirror. What in known space was he meant to do with his hair?
A scratch at his door; it was To-chan. He came in and looked over Haru’s shoulder into the mirror.
“You look just like your Papa did at your age.”
“Even the hair?”
“Especially the hair.” To-chan moved it around a bit with his fingers and suddenly it looked fine. He pressed his lips to the top of Haru’s head. “You look so grown up.”
Haru understood. For so long he had been the straggler; the baby of the big litter. “I think we’ll need you and Papa even more now,” he admitted. “Finding our own way has got to be harder than being raised.”
To-chan smiled at him. “When you talk like that you remind me of Shi-chan. Are you ready?”
“Is it time?” Haru queried, suddenly worried that he was late and that was why To-chan had knocked on his door.
“Not quite,” To-chan assured him.

The big litter gathered outside the large double doors, each of which bore half of the Uchiha crest. Beyond was the new hall containing every member of Uchiha who could be there, which was everyone other than those in Tarrasade watching Izuna-sama.
The hall had been Shi-chan and To-chan’s idea. They wanted to help Papa feel better about not holding the ceremony in Tarrasade. Shi-chan had acquired an ancient, abandoned luxury liner and arranged for it to be delivered. Hikaru, working with Kotetsu and Izumo, had planned how to divide it up, encase the pieces and incorporate them into Skyburrow.
Then, once the liner had arrived, they had all had worked their butts off converting the ballroom before their birth anniversary.
It was magnificent. There was a large central area surrounded on three sides by a mezzanine. On either side of the doors there were sweeping staircases leading to the upper level, each of which had the best banisters for sliding down. There were huge viewing ports on the mezzanine and the ceiling could be set to show almost anything.
Today it would display the starscape from Tarrasade, to remind them of their clan’s home.

“Everyone ready?” Kuuya asked.
They took their places: Haru and Kazuki in front, followed by Hoshi, Yuki and Hikaru and then Yoshimi, Yasushi, Ryuu, Keizo and Kuuya. The Uchiha crest split, the doors slid apart and they walked forward.

The crew was drawn up in two rows on either side. At the front, under the crest hanging from the mezzanine, was Papa. He stood alone, as he would only ever do when surrounded by crew. To-chan was at the head of the row to Haru’s left, five empty spaces beside him. Kiba-san was opposite To-chan. Next to him were the other five places, waiting to be filled.

Kazuki went first, which felt right since he had been first to be born. He swore to Papa, giving Haru a chance to rehearse his oath, and then went to stand next to Kiba-san.
It was Haru’s turn. His heart was thumping. As he walked forward he realised that his mind was completely and utterly blank.
Luckily his body seemed to know what to do. He stopped at the right place and put his hands in Papa’s. Then Papa was speaking and, someone, he guessed it was him, was replying.
Papa squeezed his hands and he managed to phase back in for the last part of the exchange, the part where he promised to serve Papa until either one of them died or Papa released him.
Then he went and stood next to To-chan, opposite Ka-chan.

His other brothers and sister were swearing to Uchiha. Hoshi was first and Kuuya was last. Once Papa had accepted Kuu-chan’s oath he declared that Kuuya was heir and slid the heir’s ring onto his duty finger.
Everyone applauded. Then Papa said a few words about them being the future of Uchiha and thanked every member of the crew for the role they had played in raising them.

The ear piercing was next; Iruka-sensei had suggested should be part of the celebration. Keizo went first. Shino-san and Kotetsu-san, who had witnessed his naming, pierced his earlobes and put in gold rings that were the same buttery yellow colour as his hair.
Second was Kuuya, whose gold earrings had a touch of copper, picking up the red of his fur.
Yoshimi and Yasushi sat down after Kuu-chan. They had identical pairs of studs; pale blue sapphires set so that you couldn’t see much of the metal fittings.

After that it got more complicated because it wasn’t just about jewellery. Hikaru and Ryuu were next. Inari-san brought forward a box. Inside was a full set of tags and the matching jewellery that Hi-chan would wear. Somehow Papa had found amber-coloured sapphires and the metal work was amazing, decorated in sinuous patterns in different coloured golds.
For now they just wore the matching sets of studs.

He and Kazuki were next. To Haru’s relief, their set was much simpler: blue sapphires set in platinum; well-worked but smart rather than fancy.
Neji-san pierced his earlobes and Dan-san did Ka-chan’s.

Finally there were Yuki and Hoshi. Their set was blue sapphires in gold and more elegant than smart or ornate. Yuki was delighted and Hoshi, who didn’t care much about jewellery or clothes, was happy for him.

The boxes of tags were set on a table at the side and To-chan walked towards Papa bearing a tray. On it, Haru knew, were seven knives.
Not ten; Papa had decided that even Hoshi didn’t have enough physical strength to wield a knife effectively, never mind him or Hikaru.
This was Papa’s compromise. He had held the kits and Ryuu back so that the big litter could move forward together, but they would become junior members of the crew while he, Hi-chan and Ho-chan remained trainees.

There was a huge cheer each time a knife was presented by Papa and strapped on by To-chan.
“I think...”
Haru jumped. Kakashi-san was right beside him.
“...it is time to begin remedial knife-fighting classes for you and Ran. Otherwise the two of you will be trainees forever.”
Ran didn’t mind keeping fit, but he hated hand-to-hand fighting. Maybe knife-fighting wouldn’t be so bad for him; you didn’t have to touch someone when you fought with a knife. Haru was just poor; he would lose concentration and provide his opponent with an opening.
“I’ll ask Iruka to help. He managed to teach Shika-san when I had given up hope.”
It was a good idea; Ran didn’t mind Iruka-sensei touching him. “Thank you, Kakashi-san.”
Kakashi-san chuckled. “You won’t be so grateful when you are covered with bruises from Iruka’s practice knife. He’s ridiculously fast for a purebred without an implant or symbiote.”

Once all the formalities were over the party started. There was more food that Haru had ever seen piled onto a long table at one side and drinks on a smaller table opposite. The music, which was pre-recorded while everyone was eating, started and Yuki danced out into the centre of the floor.
“Dancing with To-chan!” he announced.
Haru, like all his other brothers and sisters, abandoned all thought of food or drink, shed their jackets and hurried out onto the floor. To-chan joined them and all fourteen of them danced until the small purebreds and then the older purebreds gave out, leaving To-chan, the kits and Ryuu stamping and leaping and twirling.
“Will they ever stop?” Tsuneo asked from his perch on Shi-chan’s shoulders.
It was a good question. Haru suspected it depended on whether it became a contest about who could last the longest.

It didn’t, because Papa danced onto the floor, moving in a way that was distinctly non-Papa-like, and To-chan immediately lost interest in anyone or anything else.
Papa joining in was the signal everyone else had been waiting for; the party proper had begun.

Haru piled a plate high with tasties, grabbed a beaker of fruit punch and started up the stairs. He was sure he had spotted Ran up on the mezzanine but when he got up there he could not see him; perhaps he had gone down the other way to get some food.
He decided to sit down at one of the tables close to the viewing port and have a word with Sai.

Sai, like Ran, understood that birth anniversaries were about the big litter and that this time Haru would be even busier because of the ceremony. Shi-chan had promised that he and Su-chan would make sure Sai wasn’t lonely.
Even so, Haru thought he would check.

He fished the earpiece and throat mike out of an inner pocket. He put the earpiece in carefully, making sure he avoided touching his newly-pierced earlobe. He stuck the tiny microphone to the skin of his throat, above the larynx, where it could pick up his words even if they were subvocalised.
“Sai?”
“Haru,” Sai answered.
The response seemed immediate but Haru knew it that, for Sai, it was not.
“Felicitations on your birth anniversary and congratulations on taking your oath to Uchiha-sama.”
“Thank you,” Haru replied.
“I am fine with Sumiko-chan and Shika-san,” Sai assured him. “You should enjoy the party. Will you be sharing sex with Ran now that you are old enough?”
Haru knew that he was blushing. “No. Maybe. I don’t know.” The thought of it gave him a stiffy.

A voice behind him. “Haru.”
It was Papa and To-chan was with him. Haru was frozen, with part of his mind telling him to stand up and the rest wanting to hide his stiffy under the table.
To-chan solved the problem for him by sitting down, which meant that Papa did the same.
Papa placed a small, slim box on the table. “I promised you this,” he said and slid it towards Haru.

Haru opened it. It was, as he had expected, a plaque; identical to the one on the collar around To-chan’s neck.
“Haru,” To-chan began.
Haru looked up from the plaque and was caught in his oto-san’s gaze.
“The bond this represents is permanent. It is broken only by death. It goes far beyond the exchange of rings, or any marriage contract, or even an oath to a clan. Both you and the other person have to be absolutely certain before you make it.”
“I understand,” Haru replied.
Papa sighed. “I wish I were sure that you do. On the other hand, I do not want you to have to go to the extremes I did when I needed one and there was none available. Please wait, Haru. For you and Ran there is no rush. He is not about to be ripped from you and killed because of what he is.”
Haru’s gut twisted at the thought of it. He looked at the plaque nestling in its box and then closed the lid. “You have decided to trust me,” he pointed out.
Papa considered and then nodded. “Yes, I have decided to trust you to use it wisely, which may mean never using it at all.” He stood up and Haru was about to do likewise but Papa gestured for him to stay sitting down. “Eat your food.”
To-chan followed Papa but looked back over his shoulder and smiled. “Ran is probably looking for you. I’ll tell him where you are.”

Haru stared at the box for a few minutes and then slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket. He was just about to bite into a tasty when Shizune-san, who was promenading around the mezzanine with Asuma-san, wished him all the best on his birth anniversary and he abandoned the tasty to reply.
That set the pattern for the next ten minutes; polite conversation and uneaten food. He wondered where Ran had got to.
He had just decided that To-chan had missed him when Ran’s voice came from behind him.
“We need to sit somewhere else unless you want everyone to speak to you.”
Haru turned around. Ran had a plate in one hand and a beaker in the other.
“The best place is that bit,” he continued, pointing at the small part of the mezzanine that was beyond the staircase. “People walk up one staircase, around here and down the other.”

They moved. There weren’t any tables there, or chairs. Haru decided to sit on the floor with his legs through the balustrade. He put his plate to his right, expected Ran to put his plate beside it and sit beyond.
Instead Ran sat on his left, so close that their thighs were touching, and put his plate on the other side.
In one way it reminded him of sitting on the edge of the tree house. In another it was completely different because his stiffy was back.

Down below enough of the musicians had finished eating for the band to have started to form. Kuuya and Keizo were on drums, Tayuya was playing her flute and Hoshi had joined in on her biwa.
Hikaru started to sing. He sounded good; his voice filled the hall easily.
Ran finished his drink.
“Do you want me to get you another?” Haru asked.
“No,” Ran replied. “Are you going to bother with any of the sweet tasties?”
“I don’t think so. Too much cake earlier.”
They stacked the plates with the two beakers on top and Ran put the pile on the floor to his left.

Haru watched the dancers, acutely aware that Ran had settled even closer. Yuki was dancing with Five, Kazuki with Ryuka and, to Haru’s delight, Ryuu with Isaribi.
“There’s no sign of Yo-chan and Ya-chan,” he pointed out.
“There’s no sign of us,” Ran reminded him.
Haru turned to him. “Yes there is, they only have to look up.” Ran was looking at him. Their eyes locked. Haru leaned in and kissed Ran’s lips, as he had many times before.

Only this time it was different; Ran kissed him back. It was only a small movement of his lips but it was enough to ignite a firecracker of desire that sizzled through Haru’s body and ended up in his groin.
Ran pulled away with a small moan of what sounded like pain.
“Sorry,” Haru admitted. He knew he had to be careful; the closer they became, the more open Ran was to his emotions.
“Don’t be,” Ran assured him. “It’s just hard to know where my feeling end and yours start.”
Haru didn’t know how to reply. Was that a good or a bad thing? Ran would have to decide.
“Try not to worry about it,” Ran told him and then smiled. “Some hope, you worry about everything.”
“I don’t,” Haru complained. “I might overthink things a bit,” he conceded.
Ran laughed. “Might you?”
Haru knew he was being teased but he didn’t care. Ran didn’t laugh often and he loved the sound of it. “May I kiss you again?” he asked.
“Greedy Uchiha,” Ran accused but prepared to be kissed.

Haru was even more careful this time. The kiss was brief and gentle but delightfully two-sided. Afterward he put his arm around Ran’s waist and they watched the dancers below.
Papa had joined in with the musicians. To-chan and the triplets were nowhere to be seen; he had probably taken them off to bed.
“I asked Shika-san about empaths,” Ran announced.
That surprised Haru. Ran had always said that it was just another feature, like brown hair, and he did not care why it worked any more than he cared why his hair was brown.
“He said that Centre had done a lot of work researching it. It’s a recessive characteristic governed by a single, tightly-linked gene complex.”
Haru knew what that meant. Some ancient genetic engineer, probably one of the Elite and definitely from well before the Purge, had decided that empathy was a desirable characteristic.
“There are two main versions,” Ran continued. “The other one makes the person ten times more sensitive than I am and has visible genetic markers.”
“What are the markers?” Haru asked.
“Red hair and emerald green eyes.”
“So you are the blend-in version,” he suggested.
“Shika-san suggested that they might have wanted people like me as child-minders or medicos while the other version was probably bred to be courtesans.”
Haru thought that was a reasonable deduction.
“I think it’s more about taste. Not everyone wants a sex-slave that’s blatantly obviously and so sensitive that he or she can barely function.”

The word ‘sex-slave’ alerted Haru; Ran was angry. He wished he had more time to decide on the best way to respond, but he didn’t. He shrugged. “Kamatari-san was bred to be a rat-catcher and Kiba-san to be an irrationally loyal servant and To-chan to be the ultimate companion and Kisame-san to be an unbeatable fighter. The point of new Uchiha is that you don’t become what you were meant to be but what you can be. That’s why you belong with us.”
Ran turned his head and looked at him.
“Anyway, you’d have been useless as a sex-slave,” Haru continued. “Too stubborn. Too independent-minded. Far too inclined to speak your mind. Worse, you refuse to put up with bad behaviour and that’s probably number one on a sex-slave’s to-do list.”
“A sex-slave’s to-do list?” Ran queried.
“Yes, you know.” He looked upwards and fluttered his eyelashes. “Oh master, you are wonderful. Oh master, everything you do is marvellous because you do it. Oh master, you are a god in bed.” He looked back at his best friend. “Seriously, Ran, you’d be crap at it.”
Ran smiled. “I would be, wouldn’t I?”
“Absolutely.”

They went back to watching the dancers. Haru thought about mentioning what Kakashi-san had said about knife-fighting lessons and decided not to because Ran might not like the idea.
“We could go down there for a bit,” Ran suggested.
“You sure?” Haru checked. Ran didn’t like crowds and there was a lot of uninhibited behaviour; the sake and whisky had appeared as soon as the children had gone to bed.
“For a bit. Then we could go back to my room.”
That sounded good.

As Haru expected, Ran didn’t last long. Ran collected their jackets and Haru went to the table at the side and picked up his half of his and Kazuki’s tags. Then they started back for the crew room.
“I like the studs,” Ran assured him. “The stones are exactly the colour of your eyes.”
“Papa is fussy about stuff like that.” Haru confirmed. He checked. Ran was wearing the simple gold rings that Iruka-sensei had given him when he became a trainee. They had become so familiar that he no longer noticed them, like the hairstyle that he had disliked so much when it was new. “You could grow your hair long,” he suggested.
Ran gave him the look that asked where that had come from. “So could you.”
“Too much trouble,” Haru replied; he had seen how much time Hikaru spent on his hair and that Yuki spent on Hoshi’s. Then he realised what Ran had meant. “Oh. Sorry.” He tried again. “Have you thought about growing your hair?”
“Yes but I’ve decided not to. Too much trouble.”

They reached the crew room.
“Do you want to visit your room first?” Ran asked.
Haru’s mind exploded with what Ran might mean. Was he meant to have a shower? Or use the e-machine? Did Ran see things going that far?
“Forget I said that,” Ran suggested, pulling him into his room and closing the door behind them.

The room looked the same as it always did. Ran hung his jacket on a hook and Haru put the box he was carrying on the shelf near the door before followed his example. Then he remembered the plaque and experienced a quick panic while he checked it was still there. Papa would not be happy if it was found on the floor somewhere.
It was still inside the pocket. Haru pulled it out, intending to put it on the shelf for now and transfer it to his lockbox tomorrow.
“Is that it?” Ran asked.
Haru hesitated but opened the lid and displayed the contents.
Ran stared at the plaque. There were a few long seconds of silence.
“For now it’s for emergency use only,” Haru assured him.
“It is difficult not to see it as a badge of ownership,” Ran admitted. “Even though I know it is so much more than that.”
To Haru it was the ultimate symbol of a love that transcended all boundaries and obstacles. He shut the box and went to place it on the shelf. “I don’t think we should even think about it.”
“Good idea,” Ran agreed.

Ran took off his boots, belt and leather pants, so Haru followed suit. It left them in the underpants that Haku-san insisted all the crew wore under their leather uniform pants and the short, dark-blue vests the trainees wore in place of the mesh tops of the junior and senior crew.
The underpants were long to protect the leather, ending just above the knee, and were very close-fitting, because the adult crew had a tendency to wear their uniform pants tight. Haru could not help but think that Ran looked good in them.
“I’ll make us some tea,” Ran volunteered.
Haru didn’t really want tea but he was content to lie on the bed and watch Ran prepare it.

Next thing he knew, someone was draping something over him. For a split moment he wondered if it was To-chan, but opening his eyes confirmed it was Ran.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“It’s fine,” Ran assured him. “Shift over.”
He moved closer to the wall and Ran lay down beside him, pulling the cover over them both. He switched off the light and turned over so that his back was to Haru.
Haru snaked an arm around Ran’s waist and pulled him close.
“I am not your plushie,” Ran complained but he made no effort to move away.
“Better than a plushie,” Haru declared, drifting contentedly back to sleep.

Authors’s note:
I spend many hours on this story every week. I have given up all other writing and most other leisure time activities. I have promised to finish it, and I will, but every scrap of encouragement is treasured and valued.
Heartfelt thanks to the handful of people who review or feedback regularly. Is there anyone else out there? The number of hits has dropped away. Is it because people have lost interest? Or do they wait and read three or four chapters at a time? I have no idea.
You can feedback by:
- Leaving a review
- Posting on the forum thread (based on other people’s experience if you are writing more that a sentence or two you may like to write it in WordPad or similar, save it and then copy it in)
http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/21106-the-world-of-mannah-pierce/
- Sending me an email at mannahpierce@ntlworld.com
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