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Leader	By : mannahpierce Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 2189 -:- 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
- 84
- 85
- 86
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to blugirlami21, eunmook, Slynx, satterb, Aflyingmonkey, melissen, disembodiedvoiceofthedying and sadie237 for reviewing after chapter 84 was posted.
Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.
Reading a review can make my day.

This is a special Wednesday update because I feel (slightly) guilty about the cliffhanger ending to chapter 84.

Leader
Part 9: Family
85: Acceptance

The silence was horrible. There was sound, the buzz of the equipment, but no words from either the speakers or the people present. Haru felt his eyes prickling and he blinked away any tears before they could form.
He did not know what he felt. Papa was saying that he mustn’t do anything to make Shi-chan’s sacrifice less valuable but he had allowed To-chan to try and bring Shi-chan back.
Now To-chan was in trouble. Maybe he wouldn’t come back either.
“Haru-kun, can you analyse that noise?” Kakashi-san asked.
Haru didn’t understand.
Kakashi-san frowned at him. “The strange sound we heard over the radio link just before we lost contact.”
“Yes, Kakashi-san.”

It was good to have something to do. He chopped the sound from the recording, cleaned it up and ran it through a comparison database.
When the results appeared he read it out without thinking. “It’s a type ten disposal chute opening and closing.”
Papa gasped. Haru looked at him. His face had gone completely white; his lips were blue. What was so wrong? Then he had it; bodies were thrown down the bigger disposal chutes. A type ten was well large enough for a body.
Was To-chan dead?
“Sasu-kun!” Kakashi-san was out of his chair and crouched before Papa’s. “There were no sounds of fighting. Naruto himself was warning us that radio contact would be lost.”
Some colour came back to Papa’s cheeks. “Live bodies can go down disposal chutes too,” he whispered.
Haru could imagine To-chan talking a dive down a disposal chute to avoid a fight in which bystanders might get hurt.
“There may be clubbers at the bottom,” Papa pointed out.
Kono-san snorted. “As if any clubbers would have the slightest chance against even Kamatari, never mind Naruto or Sumaru.”
“I’ll get a squad down there,” Kakashi-san promised.
“Include Moegi-san,” Papa suggested.
“If she can be ready in time,” Kakashi-san replied.

Kakashi-san began giving orders via a channel to someone, probably Inari-san. Itachi-san confirmed that they had rendezvoused with the shuttle. Konohamaru-san was trying to make contact with Udon-san in Sublevel C.
Haru was thinking about Shi-chan.

Papa thought that Shi-chan was on his way back. Haru wasn’t so sure. Shi-chan was determined to keep Centre away from Uchiha, away from him and away from Sai.
He activated his throat mike. “Sai?” he subvocalised.
“I am here.”
“I think Shi-chan will head for the docks. Do you know if he has a ship?”
“I am sorry, Haru, but I will not help you.”
Haru almost forgot not to speak out loud. He did squeak, which he covered with a cough. “What do you mean, you won’t help me?”
“I promised Shika-san. He explained why he has to go. It is to protect Sumiko and you and Ran and Kazuki and all the others. I have analysed his argument and he is correct. Any other course of action will lead to you being taken and everyone else being killed or mindwiped. They will come for Shika-san and they will find me. Everything else will follow.”
“But the Central Civil Service didn’t take him.”
“That is a setback,” Sai acknowledged. “I am sure that Shika-san will find a way around it.” There was a pause. “He will make contact with the psychologists on Centre I and give himself up. It is the logical alternative.”
“But that means he will never come back.”
“It reduces that possibility to so close to zero that it is negligible,” Sai agreed.

Haru’s eyes went to Papa, who thought that Shi-chan was on his way home. Even Kakashi-san had not mentioned an alternative.
He could tell Papa, or Kakashi-san, or Neji-san.
Only he wouldn’t, because Sai was right, like Papa had been when he had told Haru not to do anything to devalue Shi-chan’s sacrifice.
It was hard. It would be much easier if his emotions were underdeveloped, like Sai’s.
“Maybe we can stay in contact with him,” Haru suggested to Sai.
“That may be possible,” Sai agreed. “Until he gives himself up, there are the data streams. We can use them for two-way communication. Once he is in the Institute on Centre I we can listen with Sai-code and he will know we are listening. It will not be two-way but it will be communication.”
Haru felt a little better. Maybe Shi-chan would work out a way to get into the data streams from Centre I. Haru would not put it past him.

There was a hiss from one of the speakers. Haru stared at it, willing it to be To-chan.
“This is Naruto.”
There was a concerted sigh of relief.
“Sorry about that. It took us a while to find a place which where we could make contact. We are in Sublevel C.”
Papa activated his microphone. “This is Sasuke. We guessed, but you could have warned us.”
“No time. We didn’t want them seeing where we’d gone. We’ve charmed our way past the clubbers and now we have to find our way to the hospice or the orphanage. Any sign of Shi-chan?”
“Not yet.”
Haru’s gut twisted but he made himself stay silent.

Shikamaru had decided that he needed a ship. Having a ship would open up options. In retrospect he should have had one tucked away somewhere, but he didn’t.
There were always good ships for sale to those with enough credit.
Abandoning his tea, he had left the bar and set off for the docks.

On the way he formulated a new plan. Hopefully he had the rest of the day until Sasuke realised that he was missing. By that time he needed to be on a ship heading for a gate.
The first step was the ship, ideally bought from someone who would be more interested in celebrating a sudden an unexpected windfall in than registering the sale.
He headed for a high security dock that was popular with couriers.

Like in all parts of the spacer quarter, most business was conducted in bars. During the day, couriers would wait there hoping for a call or someone to approach them in person.
Shikamaru hoped that the barman knew his clientele. He slid a gold credit across the surface of the bar, mostly covered by his hand. “I need a decent one man ship and I need it now. Who could I buy one off?”
The barman considered. Then gold credit was taken away by his cloth and he nodded towards a corner. “He borrowed to upgrade and has regretted it since.”
Shikamaru looked across. The man’s boots were good quality but worn, which fitted with what the barman had told him. “Sealed bottle of high-end whisky and two glasses.” He moved his hand as if to produce another coin.
“On the house,” the barman insisted.

The man looked up in suspicion as Shikamaru joined him. Then he looked at the quality of the whisky and nodded his assent.
Shikamaru cracked open the bottle poured them both a shot. “I need a ship and I need it now.”
“Don’t take passengers,” the man replied.
He tried again. “I want to buy your ship. Now. I’ll pay you over the market price.”
The man was silent as the information sank in.
“We go and look at her now,” Shikamaru told him. “If she’s adequate, you take your personal stuff off her, wipe the memory banks and walk away with more than what’s she’s worth. Enough to have a good time in Tarrasade and buy a replacement afterwards.”
“How do I know you’ve got enough?” the man queried.
“You’re a courier,” Shikamaru stated.
Now the man was on secure ground. He pulled a portable Belmenth credit token reader from an inside jacket pocket, placed it on the table and plugged the lead into the socket provided.
Shikamaru produced a thousand credit token and thrust it into the reader. He hoped it wasn’t too much. “A fee for your time.”
The man’s eyes lit up but in a good way; it made him look younger. “You need a ship that bad?”
“My need is urgent,” Shikamaru confirmed.

It felt right. The man seemed genuine. As they walked through the dock towards the mooring, Shikamaru relaxed a little but not too much. He kept telling himself that anyone trained by Uchiha could take out a simple courier. Even if he couldn’t, he had the laser pen.
The ship was far better than he had feared. “She’s nice and neat,” he observed. “Is she fast?”
The man puffed up with pride. “One of the best. I tuned her myself.”
Shikamaru looked him in the eye. “I know you’ll miss her, but I’ll look after her and you can buy her sister with what I will pay you.” He factored in everything the man had told him about the ship, calculated a price, doubled it and made his offer.
The man stared at him.
“I need a ship,” Shikamaru repeated. “She’s just what I require. And if you could delay mentioning that you’ve sold her, I would consider it a favour.”
“I could do that,” the man murmured. “Something tells me that this is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that I’d regret not taking.”
“No need for regrets,” Shikamaru encouraged.
“I’ll do it,” the man decided.

Less than a hundred minutes later Shikamaru was on his way to the nearest gate with the new identity for the ship ready to go. A worm would burrow through every database linked to the data streams, creating a history for the ship reaching back to its construction. He would have a jump slot at the gate, apparently booked well in advance.
Maybe Haru and Sai working together could detect what he had done but he doubted it.
Once he released the worm he would stay away from the data streams; he had no intention of giving Haru any leads as to where to find him.
He made one last check and then activated the first step in the process.

That done, he stripped off his clothes and fed them into the cleaner. He only had the one set with him; he turned up the ambient temperature to compensate for being naked.
Then he set the alarms and decided to get some rest. A one-man fugitive slept whenever an opportunity presented itself; a lesson he had been taught by Kakashi and that had been reinforced when he was on the run from Pein.
His mind was calm; even the deeper layers seemed settled. He took it as confirmation that he was doing the right thing.
He lowered the captain’s chair to the acceleration position. It would double as a bed.
Sleep came surprisingly easily.

Naruto stank but it did not stop Sasuke hugging him. He did not even care about being in a lobby full of people.
“Shi-chan?” Naruto queried.
“No sign,” Sasuke admitted. If Shikamaru was coming home he should have been here by now. “We have people looking but...”
Naruto’s arms tightened around him. “I have been thinking about it. Shi-chan does not want to be found. He believes he is protecting Haru.”
Sasuke swallowed. He still did not want to accept it. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Only they never made it as far as their room. When they entered the shared area of the crew room, there was someone waiting for them.
It was Sumiko and she had been crying. She thrust a small package at Sasuke. “He left this for you. I found it in his room.”
Naruto rubbed Sasuke’s upper arm. “I’ll go shower. Then I will come and find you.”

Then he was alone facing Sumiko. He decided to sit on the couch in the hope she would sit next to him.
She did but with a considerable space between them. The package was proffered again and this time he took it.
“It’s his ring,” she told him. “I can tell by the shape.”
He tucked it into the inside pocket of his jacket.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” she asked.
“Talking to you is more important.”
She thought about it for a moment before nodding. “It went wrong, didn’t it?”
Sasuke was not sure what she meant or even how much she knew. “What went wrong?” he queried.
“The plan. He was going to do what Klenn-san did. He was going to join the Central Civil Service to escape the psychologists.”
“He told you?”
She shook her head. “I worked it out. Did it go wrong?”
“Yes, we think it went wrong. For some reason the Central Civil Service did not take him.”
Tears started running down Sumiko’s cheeks. “So he’s not coming back in ten standards’ time?”
Sasuke started to put an arm around her, only to be stopped by a look that would have been worthy of Haku at his best. He dropped his arm back to his side. “We don’t know. This is Shikamaru. He may find a way.”
She fixed her gaze on the far wall. “No. The Centralite psychologists won’t ever let him go.”
“Maybe he isn’t on his way to them.”
She turned tear-filled angry eyes on him. “Of course he is, because otherwise Centre will take the people he loves and hold them hostage until he does and if they do that they will find out about Haru and...” She trailed off for a moment before taking a deep breath. “...and going away from us would have been pointless.”
She was right and they both knew it.

They sat in silence, side by side, until Naruto joined them, his fur still damp from the shower. Before Sumiko could object he had picked her up, sat down and settled her into his lap.
She scowled at him but he pretended not to see it.
“We will be looking after you,” he stated. “That is what Shi-chan wanted.”
Sasuke’s throat closed. Shikamaru was gone and Naruto had accepted it. It was like Sumiko had said; even if they could find him it would be foolish to stop him. This way they kept Haru safe.
Sumiko looked like she was going to start crying again.
“What do you want to call me?” Naruto asked.
It worked; she was distracted by the question. “Na-chan? Like Nii-san does?” she asked.
Sasuke’s gut twisted. Every time she said it, Naruto would be reminded of Shikamaru.
Naruto smiled at her. “Na-chan it is. What about Sasuke?”
For a horrible moment, Sasuke thought she might choose Sasu-chan.
Instead her eyes filled with tears again. “I don’t know.”

Naruto smoothed her hair and kissed her forehead. “You think about it. Can we call you Su-chan?”
She nodded. Then she looked fierce again. “I want to stay living in my room. You can take away the sitting room, but I want my room.”
Naruto drew her close for a hug. “No one is going to take away your room, Su-chan. For now, we’ll leave things the way they are.”
She relaxed a bit. “Good. I can look after myself most of the time. I already clean my room and my head and my shower and the sitting room and the kitchenette.”
“That is good, Su-chan,” Sasuke acknowledged, “but we do not want you to be lonely.”
“I don’t want to live with the triplets,” she insisted. “I don’t like them.”
“Su-chan,” Naruto warned gently.
She flushed. “Well I don’t like Takara. Teruko’s not too bad and everyone likes Tsuneo. Takara doesn’t like me either.”
That was definitely true. “Like Naruto said, we will leave things as they are for now,” Sasuke confirmed.
“Nii-san let me ping his chronometer if I needed him,” she hinted.
“We’ll organise a pager,” Naruto promised before Sasuke could stop him.

At this rate she would be calling him Sasu-chan and summoning him at all times of the day or night. He had seen the way she had treated Shikamaru.
“Sasuke-sama, may I speak with you?”
The tone was so unfamiliar that he had to look to check who it was. It was Iruka and he looked seriously displeased.
“Go,” Naruto encouraged. “Su-chan and I will be fine for now.”
“My office?” Sasuke asked.
“Mine is closer,” Iruka replied.

Once they were there with the door shut, Iruka pinned him with his gaze.
“You find him and you bring him back.”
“I can’t,” Sasuke replied.
“You won’t. According to Kakashi, you aren’t even going to try. Are you going to try, Sasuke? Or are you going to let him give himself to people who are going to vivisect his mind? None of the typed-seven geniuses they have are sane. Not one. Why do you think that is so?”
Sasuke had not thought about what the Centralite psychologists would do. That had not been the plan. Shikamaru was meant to be joining the CCS. He felt sick.
“Straight answer required, Sasuke. Are you going to make him come back?”
“I don’t know where he is.”
“I’ll tell you where he is. He’s still in this system, at least for now. Have you done anything to find him? How many people do we have searching the docks? Have you even got Haru working on monitoring the traffic? Have you even put a message out there ordering him to come home?”
“Iruka-sensei...”
“Don’t you Iruka-sensei me. How many of those things have you done?”
“We have people at the docks.”
“Yes, Kakashi told me. You have six. Six people asking questions. Is Haru working on it?”
“I don’t know,” Sasuke admitted.
“Have you sent him a message ordering him home?”
He hesitated.
“Have you?” Iruka demanded.
Sasuke snapped. “No and I am not going to because this is the only way to keep Centre away from Haru.”
“Is it?” Iruka queried. “What about hiding? Or faking his death? Why didn’t we talk about this as a crew, as a family? How long have you known that Centre had been told about him?”
An upsurge of uncertainty diluted his anger. Had he been too quick to accept Shikamaru’s sacrifice? Had there been another solution?
“How long?” Iruka demanded.
Sasuke thought back to when Izuna had been on the liner. “Almost a standard,” he admitted.
Iruka went a sickly sallow colour and then a bright red spot appeared high on each cheek. “That is unforgiveable,” he stated. “Please leave before I say something I may regret.”
“He was going to join the CCS,” Sasuke explained. “I never agreed to him going to the psychologists.”
“Go away, Sasuke.”
“No. It isn’t my fault and it isn’t Kakashi’s and it isn’t Shika’s. It’s Izuna’s because he told Centre that Shika is a typed-seven.”
Iruka looked him directly in the eyes. “No, it is yours. You let that man into our lives. You trusted him. We accepted him because you wanted it. You told him all our secrets and we have suffered for it ever since. Even now, you are so obsessed with the problems he has caused that you didn’t even question Shikamaru sacrificing himself. What is wrong with you?”
The words were like being stabbed again and again. “Iruka-sensei,” he pleaded.
“I am ashamed of you, Sasuke. Go away.”
The door slid open.
“Go,” Iruka repeated.
He couldn’t move.
“If you won’t, I will,” Iruka stated.
He walked out and the door slid closed behind him.
- 84
- 85
- 86
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