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.
Warning: This story features male/male relationships. If you are uncomfortable reading about gay male relationships do not read this story. This story is about a relationship between Inari and Konohamaru.
This story is set in a very different world to ours. In 'known space', different societies and communities are often very isolated from each other and have very different histories. There is no common shared knowledge of Earth's history; in fact all knowledge of Earth as the home of mankind is lost. There is no shared law, no shared agreement of what what is 'right' and 'wrong', no pervasive religion.
Warning: The views, standards, mores and morals of the different groups in this story, including those of 'spacers', are not those of our world. They are the product of a fictional future history. Many of the behaviours they consider acceptable we do not; some of them are wrong by my definition in that they are damaging to one or more of the individuals involved and/or suggest that one individual has more intrinsic value than another.
I would like to thank the regular readers of 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns' who left reviews or sent emails. This a series of short stories that bridge a 'time skip' to the major new arc. Special thanks to xxShadowheartxx for reviewing tales 1-5 and kaname-luvr for reviewing tale 3.
Apologies if the characters have grown differently in their new environment.
Many thanks to 'Small Fox' for beta-ing.
You really need to have read 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns' to understand this story.
If you haven't...
...Sasuke's crew live in a space station called Tarrasade when they are not travelling. Inari, Konohamaru and Tayuya are the same age, about sixteen, and are cats (trainees) in Sasuke's crew. Inari and Konohamaru have been in an off-on relationship for over a standard. Want to know how all this came about? Read 'In the cold of space you find the heat of suns' and find out.
Tales in Tarrasade 6 - Friendship
This tale begins a few days after 'Kiba's day off'.
Most of Sasuke participated in the joyous reunion with the kits and the babies but a small part watched. This time Naruto wept as well as smiled. Some of the kits and Hoshi clung to him in a way that spoke of desperation. Hikaru had to be persuaded to cuddle, he obviously resented their absence, and Haru actually twisted away when Sasuke tried to hug him.
"Ha-chan," Naruto reprimanded gently.
"Papa keep To-chan and Shi-chan away," Haru replied, refusing to look at Sasuke. "Shi-chan not with To-chan and Papa." He started to cry. "Want Shi-chan."
Shikamaru and Neji were still negotiating the details of their latest project; Sasuke and Naruto had extracted themselves as soon as possible and raced home in the Dart.
Sasuke took Haru from Naruto and kissed him.
"That was from Shi-chan," he said. He kissed him again. "That is from me." He smiled. "Shi-chan sent you a present." He indicated the bag that was across his back.
The tears stopped. "Puzzle?" Haru asked.
"Maybe a puzzle," Sasuke admitted with a smile.
Iruka, Kakashi, Kiba, Naruto and Sasuke met as soon as possible, during the babies' and kits' nap.
"We have a problem," Sasuke said, placing Haru's basket from the playroom on the table. "We have more than one, but I think this is the most urgent." He picked out the five toys that Shikamaru had made for Haru. "Each one of these is broken." He sighed. "Given that we know that Hikaru broke one of them I think we can assume that he broke the other four."
"There is something about male full blood Uchihas," Kakashi observed. "They are either moody or vindictive or both."
Naruto's whiskers twitched. "No," he objected. "I will not accept that. Haru has Shi-chan, Hikaru is jealous. We solve it by giving him a Shi-chan." He frowned. "The obvious person for Hikaru is you, Kakashi-sensei, but I think they should each have an equal share of you and Iruka-sensei."
"Inari," Kakashi said suddenly. "I know he is young but he is a natural leader and he is delightfully non-Uchiha. He has no experience of the old Uchiha. He will not see Hikaru as a proto-Itachi."
Sasuke frowned. Inari was very young. "Will he agree to do it?" he asked.
"He will feel honoured and flattered," Kakashi admitted. "His ambition is to be one of your senior lieutenants, Sasu-kun, so he will not underestimate the importance of being given such an important role in Hikaru's life."
"What about Hoshi?" Iruka asked. "And the kits?"
"One step at a time," Naruto suggested. "Hikaru has shown he needs a special person. We will watch Hoshi. The kits have each other in a way that the babies do not."
Sasuke nodded his agreement. "I shall ask Inari-kun." He took a deep breath. "I have come to a decision," he announced. "If we are to be away more than three nights we will take them with us."
Naruto stared at him with a mixture of shock and delight. "We talked about this for ages. What happened to ten days?"
"It is far too long," Sasuke told them. "Even eight days, like this time, is far too long."
"Sasu-kun..." Kakashi began.
Sasuke held up a hand. "It is not open to debate," he stated. He fingered the toys. "If I tell you how to mend them, Kiba-san, would you do so?"
Kiba nodded. "I would like to, Sasuke-sama."
Inari stood with Kono-kun and Tayuya as Iruka made one last check of the apartment. He was used to Iruka-san having high standards but the time and effort that had gone into preparing the apartment for C-san had been exceptional. Iruka corrected the position of some of the furniture and moved a few ornaments before smiling at them and congratulating them on a job well done.
Then C-san arrived. Inari was mesmerised. It was not that he was exceptionally beautiful, rather the way he looked directly into Inari's eyes when he spoke to him; as if, for those moments, Inari was the most important person in known space.
His voice was amazing.
He was delighted by the apartment. A small amount of Inari's brain suggested that C-san could seem delighted even if he were not, but the rest of Inari felt pleased about every minute of work they had invested.
C-san touched one of the cabinets they had brought from the old Uchiha household.
"This is exquisite, Iruka-san. You should not have gone to so much trouble," he said.
"It was merely a matter of moving items from other parts of the compound," Iruka admitted. "The budget for remodelling the apartment is untouched. You must feel free to use it in any way you wish, C-san. This was a temporary measure, so that you would feel welcome. We are so very pleased that you agreed to take the contract and to make it exclusive."
"It suits me as well as Uchiha," C-san assured him.
"Perhaps you would like one or more of the cats to stay with you to help you unpack?" Iruka suggested.
C-san smiled. "That would be lovely, Iruka-san. Could Tayuya-kun be available?"
Inari and Konohamaru walked side by side back to the inner household. Halfway there Kono-kun broke the silence.
"Wow," he stated.
Inari was relieved. "I am glad it wasn't just me," he admitted.
"He is gorgeous," Konohamaru replied. "Do you think we can persuade Iruka-sensei that we are single and needy?"
Inari laughed. "No," he replied but part of him wished that Iruka-san would allow Kono-kun to visit C-san. It might bring an end to the fucking aspect of their oscillating relationship so that they could go back to just being friends.
"To the playroom?" Konohamaru asked.
Inari made a show of bracing himself. "To the playroom," he agreed.
Inari had worried that Konohamaru would resent that Sasuke had asked him to be Hikaru-chan's special person but Kono-kun was fine with it.
"It could not be me," Konohamaru had confided in him. "I have too much history with Sasuke and Itachi. Hikaru is bound to be like one or both of them."
Inari knew that Kono-kun still refused to be more than distantly polite to Itachi and that, occasionally, he had brief relapses into his childhood resentment and jealousy of Sasuke.
They checked the indicator light on the outer door. It was green so Konohamaru slid it open and Inari closed it behind then. As it shut the light on the inner door turned green.
"You ready?" Konohamaru asked.
Inari nodded, Kono-kun opened the door and they were surrounded by kits. Kazuki was up Konohamaru's leg and back. Inari carefully waded though the others and entered the room.
Hikaru was toddling towards him. Inari picked him up.
"Present?" Hikaru asked.
Inari smiled. He freed a hand and wiggled the fingers threatening. "Tickle present?" he asked.
Hikaru shook his head.
Inari made loud, wet kissing sounds. "Kissy present?"
"No," Hikaru complained.
"What about play a game present?" Inari suggested.
Hikaru considered and nodded.
Inari glanced about for Kiba and received a nod which confirmed that he was on the correct track. Kiba then turned back to his conversation with Izumo who, for once, was allowing Ayame to play with Hoshi rather than holding her in his lap. Konohamaru was already under a pile of kits who were squeaking and squealing with delight.
He waited for Hikaru to select a toy from the chest and then they settled down to play.
The door opened. For once the kits were too busy to invade; only Kazuki had left Konohamaru and that was because it was Shikamaru with Haru. Inari watched Shika-san scoop Kazuki up but kept one eye on Hikaru. He seemed uninterested but Inari had begun to understand that ignoring something was a warning sign.
Shikamaru chose to sit down close to where he and Hikaru were playing. Inari assumed it was deliberate; after all, Shikamaru-san was a genius. A sleepy Haru was curled up in the hollow made by Shika-san's crossed legs. Inari watched Kazuki choosing between being with a sleeping Haru and playing with Kono-kun and the other kits; he chose the kits.
Hikaru abandoned the toy and demanded a cuddle. He climbed onto Inari's lap. Inari saw Shikamaru's small smile. Yes, the man was a genius; he had just reinforced in Hikaru's mind that it was Shikamaru and Haru, Inari and Hikaru.
"I see the pheromone mixture is working," Shikamaru observed, looking towards Ayame.
Inari looked at him questioningly.
"Izumo-san was correct. The kits were hostile to Ayame-chan. She did not smell of litter. Kiba-san and Rin-san analysed the smell of litter and found a mixture of three pheromones. We now have a spray and the problem is solved. It also means that we won't have those difficult days when we move them onto the Oak, we can spray the rooms."
"And they won't pee on anything brand new if Kiba-san forgets to put it in with the dirty clothes first," Inari observed. "Or on guests." For some reason he imagined them peeing on C-san. He was sure that C-san would smile understandingly. Then, maybe, he would have to take his clothes off.
"Inari-kun?" Shikamaru was asking.
Inari felt himself blush. "C-san moved into the apartment this morning," he admitted. Hikaru had settled into a similar position on Inari as Haru was on Shikamaru. To Inari's surprise he was napping.
Shikamaru smiled. "And is he as attractive as the fighters say he is?"
"Yes," Inari replied. "He's gorgeous. We are very lucky."
"C-san is a remarkable person," Shikamaru agreed.
Inari wondered what Shikamaru knew about C-san that he did not.
"Iruka-sensei, may I speak with you?" Inari had heard himself asking next day when an opportunity presented itself.
Iruka smiled his reassurance and indicated they should take the conversation into his office.
"How may I assist you, Inari-kun?" he asked.
There was no good way of saying it. "This may seem an odd request, but could Kono-kun visit C-san?" he replied.
To his relief Iruka-san was not at all shocked. Instead he leaned forward and patted Inari's knee. "You have done all that you could to make it work," he assured him.
Inari found himself blinking back tears.
"I shall ask C-san if he could see both of you," Iruka decided.
Inari blushed. "I was not asking for myself, Iruka-sensei," he insisted.
"I know that, Inari-kun. That is one reason why I shall ask C-san to see you," he replied.
They did not fuck, which was good because Inari was not sure that he wanted to fuck someone he did not know, even if that person was as gorgeous as C-san. Instead they talked. Inari had not realised how much he needed to talk. He wanted to talk to Kono-kun but he couldn't because everything he wanted to say impacted on Konohamaru in some way. He could not talk to Tayuya because she stubbornly refused to open up with anyone other than Iruka-sensei. He could not talk to Iruka-san because Iruka would feel responsible for Inari's unhappiness. He could not talk to Kakashi-san because he would be running the risk of disappointing his sensei.
He could talk to C-san. C-san was a wonderful listener.
"So you were pleased to be asked to be Hikaru-chan's special person," C-san commented after Inari had talked about many aspects of his life.
Inari wondered why he had responded to that and not to the rest. He flushed. "Yes," he admitted.
"Why?" C-san asked, gently.
"Kakashi-sensei suggested me," Inari replied. "Sasuke-sama told me."
C-san waited.
"I know he thinks I have potential," Inari told him. "I know that he has plans for me. I never know if what I am doing is enough. He always looks at me as if he is expecting more. He could have suggested Asuma-san, or Ibiki-san, or Shino-san. Instead he suggested me."
C-san smiled at him. "Remember that, Inari-kun. When he was asked who would be was the best role model for Sasuke-sama's son, Kakashi-san chose you."
Kono-kun had visited C-san two days earlier, so Inari was not surprised to see his door open inviting Inari to talk. Inari pretended not to see it but then felt guilty and left his own door open when he would have preferred it closed. Within minutes Konohamaru was leaning on the doorframe and Inari had invited him inside.
"Well?" Konohamaru asked, obviously expecting similar confidences as he had shared two days before.
"We talked," Inari told him.
"Then what? Kono-kun demanded.
"Then nothing," Inari admitted. "We just talked. I guess I needed to talk more than I needed to fuck."
Konohamaru stared at him, eyes wide. Inari watched the familiar dark eyes fill with tears and his heart sank. What had he said this time?
"Kono-chan?" he queried.
But Konohamaru shook his head, blinked back the tears and left, muttering some excuse about forgetting something. Inari leaned back on his bed and closed his eyes. Maybe he was meant to follow; maybe not. Sometimes following was a good thing; sometimes it wasn't.
"What's wrong with him?" Tayuya queried.
Inari sat bolt upright. Kono-kun had left the door open so it was perfectly acceptable for someone to speak to him. However, it was a shock that it should be Tayuya.
"I am not sure," Inari confessed. "I think I said something that upset him."
"What did you say?" Tayuya asked.
Inari felt his skin flush. He wished that Tayuya had not chosen this time to be so uncharacteristically talkative. He considered evading the question but he knew he should encourage Tayuya's rare forays into meaningful communication.
"He asked what I had done with C-san and I told him we just talked," Inari admitted.
Tayuya scowled. "That sounds harmless. Are you sure you said it like that?"
Inari sighed. "I said that I must have needed to talk more than I needed to fuck," he confessed.
Tayuya stepped inside and slid the door closed. Inari wondered if he should point out that she had not been invited. He imagined Konohamaru's reaction if he realised Inari's door was shut with Tayuya on the inside.
"So you told your best friend that your need for someone to talk to was so great that you would prefer to talk than fuck when faced with a gorgeous courtesan," Tayuya summarised. "That's like telling him that he's been making the two of you fuck when all you wanted was to talk."
Put like that Inari could see why Kono-kun might be upset.
"Of course that's been obvious to everyone but Konohamaru for ages," Tayuya added. "He must know that you are more miserable when the two of you are fucking. He isn't that dense."
"Miserable?" Inari queried.
"You know," Tayuya replied. "Watching even more. Talking even less. Doing that thing when you almost say something but decide not to because you are afraid of upsetting someone."
Inari did not know what was more surprising, that Tayuya knew him so well or that she was willing to admit it.
"I thought the whole idea of sending Konohamaru to C-san was that he wouldn't need you to fuck him and you wouldn't feel that you had to keep fucking him," Tayuya added.
Inari did not answer. He could not think of a reply that did not reflect badly on Kono-kun.
"You are hopeless," Tayuya declared and left.
Inari was relived. Unfortunately his relief was short lived because Tayuya had left his door open, as she had found it, and he soon heard raised voices; Tayuya's and Konohamaru's.
He could not hear all of it but he could hear enough to know that it was about him and that Tayuya was not reacting well to whatever Kono-kun was saying.
He knew he should stop them.
Instead he quietly slid his door closed.
Konohamaru already knew he was selfish and did not treat Inari with enough consideration. He did not need Tayuya telling him so.
Their row had caused Naruto to come out of the nursery and ask them to be quiet. Kono-kun had been mortified.
At least it had stopped their argument. Konohamaru had escaped back into his room. This time he had shut the door.
He laid on his bed and let the tears flow. Even his visit to C-san, which he had enjoyed so much, seemed tarnished. Perhaps Tayuya was right, perhaps Inari had gone to Iruka-sensei and begged for Konohamaru to be allowed to visit C-san.
Perhaps Inari had always hated fucking him. Perhaps he had always done it out of pity.
Perhaps he was only Konohamaru's friend out of pity.
A knock on his door. Konohamaru sprang up, wiped the tears away and checked his face in the mirror. It had to be Inari; only Inari would knock on his door when it was closed.
He slid the door open. Inari was standing there with a tea tray. Konohamaru let him in.
"Tayuya says I am silent when I should speak," Inari began once he had poured tea for both of them and they were sitting side by side on the bed with their backs against the wall; their usual positions.
For once Konohamaru did not say anything. He listened.
"You are my best friend," Inari assured him. He took a deep breath. "When we fuck it muddles me up. It was fine when it was just mucking about, but the fucking is too intense. I am not ready for that. I am too immature. I never told you that, so when I went cold on you, you thought it was your fault. It wasn't. It was mine. And then I would make it worse by changing my mind and agreeing to fuck again, because you are so sexy and it was fun. Only it still muddles me up, because I am not ready."
Konohamaru found himself smiling slightly. "So I am sexy?" he queried.
Inari flushed. "Yes, very. You did hear the rest of what I said, didn't you?"
Konohamaru nodded. He wondered if he should complain that Inari was trying to take all the blame. Maybe it would be better if he just accepted his half. "We're ready for a relationship like that physically, but not mentally and emotionally," he suggested.
It was painful to see the depth of Inari's relief.
"That's it exactly," Inari replied. His voice shook. "I miss you so much when the fucking gets in the way and we are no longer behaving like friends."
Konohamaru had never thought of it like that. He bumped his shoulder against Inari's; hard enough to make his tea slop about his cup but not enough to make it spill provided Inari reacted quickly. It was an old game.
"Now we get to visit C-san, perhaps we can go back to just being friends," Kono-kun suggested. "C-san can look after the sex-stuff until the other parts of us catch up with our hormones. Then maybe we will try again but maybe we'll be best friends like Shika-san and Naruto."
"That would be great," Inari admitted. He smiled at Konohamaru and raised his cup in a toast. "To being best friends."
"Best friends," Kono-kun echoed.
The End
Other Tales in Tarrasade
Tale 1: The Cook and the Nursemaid - POSTED
Can Choza break the bad habit of a lifetime and find someone who appreciates him?
Tale 2: Knives - POSTED
Can Lee make himself extraordinary enough to counter Gaara's obsession with beautiful blonds?
Tale 3: Vacation - POSTED
Shikamaru decides that Naruto needs cheering up.
Tale 4: Pas de trois
Partners in the dance - POSTED
Kisame's miracle - POSTED
Can Haku circumvent all their problems and achieve his aim of melding him, Kisame and Itachi into a threesome?
Tale 5: Kiba's day off - POSTED
Iruka persuades Kiba to have a day off while Sasuke and Naruto are away. Surely they can cope looking after Naruto's litter for a single day?
Tale 7: Honour your parents (25/02/11)
Shikamaru receives a message that sends him into a funk. Can the crew help him out?
Tale 8: Patron
Entreaty (26/02/11)
Appeal (27/02/11)
His relationship with The Last Uchiha has made Naruto the most famous hybrid in known space. Can he use his fame to help other hybrids?
Tale 9: Homeward bound (28/02/11)
Gaara has decided to return to Kaze and Lee, of course, will do with him.
Tale 10: Opening the cage (01/03/11)
Kakashi realises Iruka is depressed, but why