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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
- 89
- 90
- 91
Thank you to my beta and muse, Small Fox. This story grew from a plot idea he gave me.
Also thanks to SidonieStarr, melissen, blugirlami21, sadie237 and Bree for reviewing after chapter 89 was posted. Readers’ feedback, support and comments mean a great deal to me. Feedback keeps me writing.

Not one word of the story written this week, which is the first time since I posted the first chapter in April 2012. I am really struggling and all encouragement is greatly received.

Leader
Part 10: Endgame
90: Truce

Haru had hoped that Hikaru would not realise that he was taking his simulator but Ryuu was in charge of loading the heavy stuff and he had asked Hikaru to help him.
Hikaru scowled at the crate. “Doesn’t that exceed your personal allowance?” he asked, consulting the lists on the tablet he was holding.
“It’s classified under tools,” Haru assured him. “Tayuya-san is aware and has signed off on it.”
Hikaru gave him a look that Haru interpreted as ‘Tool? Only you, everyone’s favourite, could get away with that.’
Haru replied with one that meant ‘Why would I bother? I have Ran.’
Ryuu sighed and pushed the hovercrate across the gangplank and though the large airlock onto the Maple. Haru followed.
“I wish the two of you would try to get on,” Ryuu muttered as soon as they were well away from Hikaru.
Haru looked at him in surprise; Ryuu never made such comments.
“Issy says I should be more assertive,” Ryuu explained. “She says that I should tell you that it makes me miserable when the two of you bicker.”
Haru felt himself flush.
“I know he didn’t have to comment about the simulator, because it was obvious it had been signed off,” Ryuu continued. “On the other hand, you didn’t have to give him such a smug look.” He sighed again. “This mission is all about us getting on when none of the people who smooth stuff over are around.”

It had not occurred to Haru to think about it that way. To him the mission was about further developing Skyburrow, surveying the desert planet and re-establishing contact with the toad hybrids. Ryuu was right though; there would be no queens, no parents and no Kiba-san. Even Yuki and Hoshi, the usual peacemakers, would be back in Tarrasade.
Ryuu was looking at him expectantly.
“I’ll try,” Haru managed and was rewarded with a warm smile.

Ryuu delivered the crate to the room that was serving as Haru’s workspace for the duration of the trip. Haru thanked him and then set about connecting the simulator.
Now that they used both the Elm and the Maple, as well as moving between Tarrasade and Skyburrow, having a simulator at every location seemed wasteful. Instead Haru had designed a travelling crate that was also a booth and an installation platform. He had made one of the sides into a door, inserted an adaptor panel to make connections easy and modified the hover mechanism so it could used as an anchor. He had even put in some hooks for his clothes.
With five minutes it was ready to be tested. The booth was a little claustrophobic but Haru knew he would not notice once he was enclosed in the simulator.
“Sai?” he queried.
“Haru,” Sai replied. “The simulator is working up to specification.”
So much for running tests; Sai had already completed them.

Haru would miss him but it was right that Sai should stay with Su-chan. Shi-chan had set up a high speed data link so they would be in contact every day but the time lag between enquiry and response would gradually grow until, once Haru reached Skyburrow, it would be fifty-three minutes. It could not be shorter; they were limited by the speed of light and the processing speed of the data relays in the gates.
It was amazingly quick for such a long route but real time conversation would be impossible. Sai, with Shi-chan’s help, had been investigating other types of correspondence. Haru had not been included in the discussion. Apparently it was to be a surprise.
Shi-chan’s suggestions interpreted by Sai; Haru was not sure if he was looking forward to it or not.

Sasuke was spending as much time as possible with Naruto. Even though Naruto insisted he was fine about the older children leaving, Sasuke was not convinced. Whether he was or not, a few extra cuddles would not go amiss.
This morning he decided to drop by Naruto’s office. He hesitated at the door. Did he use the announcer? Naruto always walked straight into his office but Sasuke had indicator lights to show if he was busy or not.
The door slid open. “Come in, teme,” Naruto called.
He was at his desk, working through his HDL correspondence. “Don’t mind me,” Sasuke assured him. “I can wait until you want a break.”
Naruto glanced up at him. His whiskers gave a disbelieving twitch.
“I’ll be fine,” Sasuke insisted. “Carry on.”

He wandered about looking at the pictures. On one wall they were images of hybrids that the HDL were helping or had helped. On the other were headshots of family, which Naruto renewed regularly. Sasuke noticed a new image of Yasushi and Yoshimi that must have been taken five days before, when the rest of the family had gathered to see them off on the Ninken.
Yesterday it had been Haru, Kazuki, Hikaru and Ryuu. If Naruto was going to worry about anyone, it would be Haru.

A soft breeze on his face; Naruto was standing behind his right shoulder and blowing gently to attract his attention.
“You worry too much about Haru,” Naruto whispered. “Haru will be fine.”
Sasuke was on the edge of denying it before deciding that Naruto knew him better that he knew himself. “Who worries you?” he asked.
“I worry a little about each of them,” Naruto confessed. “Perhaps Hikaru more than the others because he is the least settled and therefore the most restless. I think this will suit him. He is rightly proud of what he achieved in Skyburrow and being with Inari will be good for him.”
Sasuke gaze went to the picture of Hikaru that Naruto had chosen. It showed both his desire to stand out and his practicality. His long hair was streaked with blue but the front was pulled back from his face to keep it out of his eyes. From his right earlobe hung a fabulous feathery concoction that had definitely never seen the inside of an Uchiha jewel box but behind the same ear was a pen.
“I think their biggest challenge will be feeding themselves and running their crew room,” Naruto pointed out.
Sasuke could hear the smile in his voice. He turned and smiled in return. “Tayuya is not known for her patience and they won’t have Yuki to bail them out.” Thinking about Yuki brought the other kits to mind. “I wish we could have let Keizo go with them.”

Naruto’s smile faded. “That was what we decided, teme. Two of the kits sworn to Uchiha, other than Kuuya, to be here in Tarrasade with you. Kei-chan and Ayame will be running the shop here. That’s a challenge for them. When Yo-chan and Ya-chan are back we can reconsider.”
“By then Izuna should be on his way to the other side of known space and we can stop worrying about it,” Sasuke suggested.
Naruto’s whiskers twitched. “I shall not hold my breath. I cannot believe it will be that easy to get rid of him. Is the meeting still on? He hasn’t postponed it or done anything else tricky?”
Izuna was coming to Uchiha Headquarters for a meeting the day after next. “No, but he did ask for formal negotiating conditions for the duration of the meeting. He even put the request in writing.”
“What does that mean?”
“No challenges. Even if someone made one it would be invalid.”
Naruto frowned. ”What is that about?”
“Neji thinks he will want to talk without Kimimaro present. He probably hasn’t told Kimimaro about the offer.”
“You are not seeing him alone, teme,” Naruto warned. “You can choose from me or Sumaru or Kakashi but one of us is going to be there.”
He had been intending to see Izuna one-to-one. “I’ll be fine, dobe,” he tried.
Naruto shook his head. “Not happening, teme. This is the man who drugged Shi-chan. You have to stop thinking that he’s honourable. He isn’t. Not by our standards.”
Sasuke sighed. Was history really all about who told the story rather than what had actually happened? It was a sobering thought.
Naruto pulled him close and nuzzled his hair.

Haru had resolved to do it. The Maple had been underway for more than a day, heading for one of the ungated holes. If he waited any longer it would become even more awkward. It was just a matter of finding Hikaru alone; it wasn’t the kind of conversation you had in front of other people.
Then he noticed that Hikaru was on cooking duty with Ka-chan. Tayuya-san had said that swaps were fine, so Haru asked Kazuki for one.
Hikaru looked at him in surprise when he arrived instead of Ka-chan but chose not to comment so Haru didn’t either.
“The simulator...” Haru began as they stood side by side slicing vegetables. That’s how he was determined to refer to it; ‘the simulator’ rather than ‘my simulator’.
Hikaru did not look at him. Perhaps his knife hit the chopping board with a little more force.
“...if you want to use it, that’s fine.”
There was no reply, just more chopping. Haru waited. He hadn’t planned what to do if Hikaru didn’t answer.
“No,” Hikaru said finally. He scraped the peppers from the board into a bowl. “Thank you for offering,” he added in a tone that implied that he was saying it to be polite rather than because he meant it.

There wasn’t much else Haru could do. He couldn’t ask about the simulated girlfriend (or boyfriend) because he was not meant to know about her (or him).
They finished the preparation and started cooking. Hikaru was cook because everyone, including Haru, knew that Haru was likely to spoil the food when his attention wandered. Haru fed the discarded pieces of vegetables into the recycler, put the chopping boards in the dish cleaner, wiped the counter and cleaned the knives. Then he went onto setting the table.
“How are you and Ran doing with your knife fighting lessons?” Hikaru asked.
Haru stiffened. Why was Hi-chan asking that? “Fine,” he replied defensively.
“Have you asked Inari-san who will teach you while you are away from Iruka-san?”
He hadn’t and he was sure that Ran hadn’t either; Ran just wanted the lessons to go away. “No,” he admitted.
“I was going to ask Inari-san to teach me. I could ask him to teach you and Ran too. I think Inari-san would understand best about how difficult it is for Ran to allow people to touch him.”
Haru was stunned, not only by the offer but that Hikaru had thought about Ran. “Thank you,” he managed.
Hikaru turned to him and actually smiled. “You are welcome.”

The evemeal was good; Hikaru had stuck to some of Choza-san’s simpler recipes. Everyone was there; Inari-san had said that it was more important for them to bond as a crew than have someone physically present in the control room. Those on watch, Akemi and Kamatari-san, had specialised interfaces fastened to their forearms.
Haru wondered who had decided the make-up of the crew; Inari-san or Papa. Maybe they had worked together on it. There was Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san, In-san and En-san, Tatsuji-san, Kono-san, Kamatari-san, Shizune-san, Misora, Akemi, Isaribi, Ryuka, the four of them, Ran and, of course, Inari-san and Tayuya-san.
The atmosphere was good. Kamatari-san was always fun and the banter between him, Kono-san and Tayuya-san was as slick as between the kits. After the meal, once the cleaning up was done, they had a sing-song. Tayuya-san played her flute, Ryuu drummed and Hikaru got out his biwa; Haru had not realised he still had it.
Hikaru also sang, which sounded amazing. Haru almost regretted not having singing lessons.

Afterwards, he and Ran went back to Ran’s room. All the personal rooms on the Maple and the Elm had interconnecting doors, although they looked like wall panels when they were locked shut. It made setting up the crew rooms much easier, because some people needed two rooms connected and some three.
Thinking about it, Shi-chan, Su-chan and Neji-san now had five back in the crew room in Tarrasade.

Ran had unlocked the door between his and Haru’s room, which was a relief because Haru was not sure what he would have done if he hadn’t.
They snuggled together on Ran’s bed. Haru wanted to talk about what had happened between him and Hikaru but he decided to ask Ran about his day first.
“Shizune-san is letting me and Isaribi do one of the twice-day gestator checks,” Ran told him. “We’re going to do them together until we get to Skyburrow and the gestators have been installed in the new nurseries.”
Haru could see Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san with twin boys but he still hadn’t quite got his head around En-san and In-san being parents. Not that he was alone in that; In-san was still pretty jumpy about it.
“Other than that, it was all the usual sorting things out stuff. Anything interesting happen to you?”
Haru described his conversation with Hi-chan.
“Maybe Ryuu spoke to Hikaru too,” Ran suggested. “It would be good if the two of you could get on rather than merely coexisting.”
Haru knew that was true. “And the knife lessons?”
Ran grimaced. “We can’t say no, not when Hikaru is offering to share his one-to-one time with Inari-san.” He sighed. “It will be fine. I will be honest about how I am feeling and Inari-san will make allowances.”
Haru gave him a hug for being brave and Ran relaxed into it, which was nice.
Time to discover if Ran was in the mood for anything more than snuggling; Haru’s fingers crept under the hem of Ran’s shirt, seeking out his skin.

Sasuke and Neji were going over the details of the planned meeting with Izuna. Neji was scanning the letter Izuna had sent; the one asking for formal negotiating conditions. He was frowning. Given that his eyebrows were actually puckering, Sasuke knew that something major was amiss.
“What is wrong?” he asked.
“The cadence of this language is very odd,” Neji observed.
All Sasuke had noticed was that the letter was excessively wordy.
“Has Shika-san seen it?” Neji asked.
Sasuke activated the intercom. “This is Sasuke. Please could Shika-san come to my office as soon as is convenient.”

There was no reply but it was less than a minute before the door announcer sounded. Neji handed the letter to Shikamaru as he entered.
“Coded message,” Shikamaru confirmed. “You may want to take this down or record it. You ready?”
Sasuke nodded, pen and card ready.
“AHB planning atrocity. Need to meet secretly. Do not bring any hybrids. Bring passion flowers.” Shikamaru’s gaze went to the chronometer on his wrist. “There are station coordinates for a location in the Inner Residential Ring.” He frowned. “It’s one of those brothels that masquerades as residential apartments. It’s today in less than a hundred minutes’ time. He tells us which entrance not to use, so I’m guessing we can use any of the others.”
They were both looking at him. Sasuke’s mind went into overdrive. He turned to Neji. “Find Kakashi, send him here and find out if Sumaru is available. Don’t use the intercom.”
Neji nodded and left. Sasuke turned to Shikamaru. With so little time remaining, he did not have time to tell Naruto and then fight about going without him. “No telling Naruto. He’s with the children for the afternoon. Hopefully I can be there and back before he realises anything is up.”
Shikamaru opened his mouth to argue and then shut it again. “Yes, Sasuke-sama.”

Thirty-five minutes later they were ready to leave. Sasuke checked his image in the mirror. As annoying as it had been to have Sakura and Haku pulling him this way and that, he had to admit that they had done a wonderful job. A purple-haired, blue-eyed, golden-skinned stranger was looking back at him. Even his posture and gait were different, thanks to adhesive strapping across his back and what felt like pebbles in the boots he was wearing.
At least they had not dressed him as a girl. Haku had suggested it but Sakura had insisted that he was too muscular and Kakashi had pointed out that the brothel was likely to only have male clients.

Neji, Kakashi and Sumaru had been subjected to similar, if less extensive, makeovers.

By the time they left, Shikamaru had created a whole identity for each of them. They would arrive at the Inner Residential Ring using the elevator. All the records, even the camera feeds, would agree that the elevator had come from Prime.
As they walked, cloaked and hooded, out of the household, Haku handed him a posy of passion flowers from Konan’s garden.

It did not look like a brothel. It appeared to be a normal apartment, albeit belonging to someone who liked to entertain. What appeared to be a household servant greeted them and showed them into tastefully decorated receiving room. After a few minutes a formally dressed woman appeared.
“Are all of you guests?” she asked.
“Yes,” Kakashi answered before Sasuke could decide what she meant.
“Please would you follow me,” she requested.

They went through a corridor into another room that was distinctly more decadent.
“Please take seats.” The woman gestured toward the couches and chairs. Once they had settled. “Are you looking for multiple experiences or a single, shared scenario?”
Sasuke’s mind boggled. Then he remembered the flowers. “I was told that if I showed you these, you would know what I wanted.”
She smiled. “I understand.”

Sasuke wished he did. She left and they waited. After a while, just as he was getting restless, a person in a kimono entered and bowed respectfully.
He or she was so like Haku that Sasuke had to look twice to make sure it was not him.
“Wecome honoured gentlemen. I am Tokeisou. Please follow,” the person said; Sasuke was almost sure he was male. So that was why Izuna had specified those particular flowers; the courtesan’s name was Passion Flower in the old language.
“I always knew he wanted Haku,” Kakashi muttered.
Sasuke took a moment to realise what Kakashi meant; if this was the courtesan Izuna visited, the resemblance could not be a coincidence.

They went through another corridor to a traditionally decorated room. Izuna was sitting on a zabuto. There was another positioned opposite, across a low table. Others were in a line at the side.
Sasuke took the place at the table. The others chose to stand rather than sit.
“It suits you,” Izuna commented. “Very fetching. Would you like tea?”
“No.” He could not bring himself to be ungracious to the beautifully dressed man who reminded him of Haku. Sasuke bowed in his direction. “I thank you for the offer.”
Tokeisou flushed and bowed deeply.
“Leave us,” Izuna ordered. His tone was unnecessarily sharp and Sasuke saw the courtesan flinch.

Once he had gone, Sasuke stared and Izuna stared back. Finally Izuna cracked.
“They have some type of bioweapon that they believe is specific to hybrids.”
Sasuke’s gut clenched.
“They are going to give me some tomorrow to release during the meeting. Even if there are no hybrids at the meeting, they believe it will stay active long enough for you to carry it back into the household. They also intend to release it all over the station.” Izuna paused. “It is probably a false alarm, the active agent is probably ineffectual, but the intent is there.”
Sasuke did not know what to say. All he could think of was racing back to Naruto and making sure that he and the kits were safe.
“I thought that you would appreciate me warning you in advance, so that you can take precautions,” Izuna hinted.
He pulled himself together. “I do. Do you have a sample of the bioweapon in your possession?”
“No, they are delivering it to me tomorrow before the meeting. I cannot stop them releasing it. All I can do is ensure that you have a sample to analyse. If I do that, if I give the substance over to you rather than releasing it, I will not be able to go back to my apartment. I will expect you to shelter me as well as honouring your offer.”

Sasuke was about to give his word but then he remembered what Naruto had said; Izuna was not honourable by new Uchiha standards. He could be trying to trick them into sending the kits away or putting them into stasis so that he could challenge. He had only asked for formal negotiating conditions for the actual meeting; there was no truce beyond that.
So Sasuke only repeated the commitment he had already made. “I will honour my offer to relocate you as described with the resources I have listed provided you swear not to act against my interests or the interests the clan.”
“If you want the sample, you will have to agree to shelter me,” Izuna pressed.
Sasuke could feel Naruto’s eyes on him, even without his presence. He would not be panicked into a concession. If the bioweapon was real, he was confident that Rin could harvest a sample from the environment.
Izuna was stuck between him, the AHB and whatever Bettencourt had threatened. Sasuke knew that he was by far the best of those three options. The knowledge gave him an advantage and he was determined to use it.
He looked Izuna directly in the eyes. “If you want shelter, you will have to swear never to challenge me for the clan leadership.”
- 89
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- 91
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