Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make money off of this work.
Summary:
Learning the rules and mechanics of space policing and tolerating a less than perfect crew were the only lessons that Kakashi had promised him on that fateful day. So Sasuke had thought that was all in life but a childish blond and his mysterious past may drag him into the space conflict that no one had ever dreamed would occur.
Couples: NaruSasuNaru, more later.
Comment: This is my first ever fanfic so I'd appreciate any type of input. Reviews, criticism, corrections, questions, flames, you name it. I'd like to know if people are interested. But please be gentle and enjoy. This is a repost with edits.
Chapter 1
They're all idiots.
Sasuke fumed as he walked towards the ominously drab building that constituted the labor factory of Amano.
He felt like punching or, at the very least, tripping his laid back instructor who, for the past hour, had been staring at him waiting for an apology. He'd rather die than do that so he settled on staring at the looming building, horribly bland in it's off white, yellowish, color. It had shaded windows that didn't reflect the light, but still his eyes burned. The brightness of the building paint reflected the spiteful rays of light, made his annoyance even worse as he trekked along closer to the building.
Unlike his mood, the simulated weather was as clear as can be. The sky was the lightest of blue, too fake, the sun as intense as staring at a bare light bulb, fucking bright, and, thanks to some spiteful programmer, the air was filled with atmospheric sounds of birds singing their gleeful morning songs, chirpy.
All of it made him want to bang his head on the nearest wall.
But, Sasuke reminded himself, dying in such a boring and idiotic way, not to mention in the middle of commoner central, would be shameful.
"You know we have to do this. We're short on man power and, well, androids aren't inexpensive," Kakashi muttered, "he's the third android that you've destroyed for not following your direct orders. This way, if they don't follow your orders, it's not because of programming."
"Hn."
"They're not inexpensive at all..." Kakashi intoned.
"I heard what you said," the dark-haired boy angrily retorted, "It's not like it matters. They're just clunky machines. Besides, I'm paying you," he haughtily finished.
He heard older man sigh, "No… you're not. Your parents' will is. Even with how much they pay me, with the rate you've been breaking our workers you'll be indebt to me in no time."
Sasuke felt a retort on the tip of his tongue but the amused tone in Kakashi's voice stopped him. As he glanced to his right, Sasuke knew that the older man was enjoying this, the sadist.
Even while lecturing, he could feel the glee emanating from the idiot. Could see the vague outline of a smile through the black scarf the old man wore around the lower half of his face and a disturbing shine in his lone visible grey eye. He knew that Kakashi liked the lectures he had with Sasuke because, as the grey haired lecher said, it was "bonding time" for teacher and pupil. The perfect time for Sasuke to learn invaluable lessons that he wouldn't figure out without the help of a much more experienced space traveler. Maybe if his teacher was more respectable, more disciplined, normal, he would have a longer fuse.
Times like these, Sasuke wondered why his parents thought Kakashi would be a good guardian for him. Sure the man had gone through more missions through space than any other captain available in Konohagakure, but the fact that the man couldn't put his damn smut-filled book-chip away to seriously discipline him irked Sasuke to no end.
Kakashi Hatake's name had been nothing more than a stellar general Sasuke had heard his parents discuss mainly for the battles he won under the Uchiha name. His father spoke of the young general as if he were part of the family, with fondness and pride that Sasuke had never heard directed towards him. His mother had laughed and smiled, as she did with Sasuke whenever he told of his frustrations in the school, at those adventures that his father chose to share with the family.
The day his brother smirked at Kakashi's adventures, Sasuke had yelled at his parents that he hated the man. When his mother had giggled that he was acting childish, he'd locked himself in his room, refusing to leave his room and eat until his kind brother had promised to fast until Sasuke himself ate. After that day, his family no longer discussed Kakashi whenever Sasuke was present. Not long after, his brother slowly became distant and cold, his father stricter and his mother more frantic and paranoid when it came to his safety.
It wasn't until the day of the funeral that Sasuke met the man, dressed in the garish green uniform of the Imperial Military. The general who would be his keeper until he became of age.
Until the day that he could seek revenge with the law on his side.
"You look constipated Sasuke."
Yeah, he probably hated Kakashi for being the son that he could never be, but having lived with the man for five frustratingly long years, the feeling was nothing more than red-hot irritation.
"Well as of right now we are in, er, a transition between switching last year's returning hires and the new hires so I'm very sorry for the lack of organization." The pudgy blob of fat, named 'Gomi the manager' explained for the third time. "Normally we're very current with the requests captains, such as yourself, send to us but I've also hired new employees, whom are inefficient apparently, within my system. Rest assured that they'll be dealt with for losing your paper works, ergo I will…."
At this point Sasuke's glare had intensified as his day went from bad to worse. The fat incompetent had been blabbering incessantly about the problems their company was dealing with for the past few, measly, minutes that they'd spent within the building.
The huge manager had popped out behind the front desk the moment Sasuke had yelled at the secretary for not having their request filed. He had slowly leaked out of the small backroom door, one fat foot at a time, and, after Kakashi kicked Sasuke's heel twice while informing the man of his name, had refused to shut up ever since despite Sasuke's scathing glare.
"…ese are the latest batch of hires from the edulabor-system," the man joyously proclaimed, "And, as per your request, they are all quite pleasing to the eyes." At this Sasuke redirected his glare at Kakashi, who just winked back as he handed the new request form to the other man.
Both actions went unnoticed by the Blob as he quickly scanned the paper and continued with his explanations. "Your paper says you're inquiring about a good looking mechanic which, I'm sure, is for your son's benefit. I've ordered all the hires to this room. You may ask them any question about their experiences and, once you're done with your selection, just slide your creds on the security device," at this the Blob pointed towards the metallic box collars the hires wore around their neck, "and you'll be good to go. The transaction should be completed in a day or two. Should you be unhappy about your hire, you can return them no later than two months."
"Are there any experienced mechanics who are good looking? I'd like to have workers who already how to handle themselves on a ship, so is there any way to see your return hires?" Kakashi asked, the latter question mirroring Sasuke's thoughts.
"Well," the Blob hesitated, "there is one that has caught the fancy of many of my customers, however he's been returned twice for insubordination." The Blob's eyes looked askance, "I would send him away for general labor but he is fully certified as a technophile. Not to mention his crimes, from the reports I've been given, ranged only from raising his voice against the captains and refusing to perform certain orders so I can't justifiably send him to the general pool. Needless to say, I don't recommend him as a new subordinate and, besides, his credentials rank him as one of my most expensive hires."
"Ah, then we'll take him."
The fat man seemed to consider, but hesitation quickly won out. "But Naruto's reputation…he isn't fit to be your subordinate."
"Then we won't order him to do anything that he'd have a reason to turn away." Now, Sasuke noticed, Kakashi's eyes took on a more intense and serious glint. "If he does act up, I'll take responsibility."
"I still insist you pick another. I don't know how disobedient he is, after all the other captains could be lyi-"
Sasuke felt a harsh headache forming. He knew that, with how wordy and stubborn the Blob was, the negotiations would take hours if he left the two idiots alone. He wanted to leave and start learning the space policing trade again.
Or at least get out of the searing simul-sun and dismal surroundings. Increasing the force of his glare, Sasuke declared, "It's our money going into your pocket. Kakashi's chosen, do you or don't you want our business?"
At the mention of money and Kakashi's name, the Blob seemed to forget his problems and snapped back into business mode. "Yes, you're right. It is your choice. Just be certain that-"
"Gomi-ka, your appointed customer is waiting for you." The high pitched, overly chirpy, voice of the brainless secretary boomed over the speaker at the corner of the room. "She'd like to consult you on the new pleasure hires."
Once the intercom quieted, the fat man seemed ready to talk them out of their decision but thought better.
"Ah, well it seems I must get going. Please take caution with your choice. And thank you for choosing our agency for your laborer needs." With those last wastes of air, the bag of garbage lumbered off to the front of the building.
"How can that retard leave without telling us where this mythic hire returnee is?" Sasuke griped at the chuckling Kakashi beside him. "This room is just as empty as the last room we checked! You should report that manager as incompetent. Actually, report him twice – no – three times. One for each time he delayed our business."
They had started looking at the new hires, asking them how much training they'd received from the engineering branch of the edu-labor system, when both he and Kakashi knew that the hires weren't what they were looking for. Most were new hires, with no experience at all. New to the point that most only passed the first level of technophilia while others only knew technology slightly better than Kakashi. When one had commented that he passed edu-labor because he was bright on paper but had no physical experience with electronics, Sasuke had enough of the suggested hires.
"Calm down Sasuke. You're the one who stormed out of the main hires room," Kakashi chimed. Sasuke saw the joy on the general's face, could feel it wafting off the man in waves. Asshole. "We could have asked one of the other hires," the older man grinned.
"I'd rather not talk to those beginners."
Kakashi smiled, "I guess I wouldn't either, with the way they were ogling you." The older man's smirk couldn't get any bigger. "I mean, they were staring at you like you were water in a desert."
Sasuke was about to trip his guardian, you created that misunderstanding you cretin, but a loud exclamation, one that Sasuke didn't understand, cut through his irritation. A clattering of metals colliding and a dull thud followed less than a second later. Curious, and hankering for another reason to file a complaint on Gomi the inept, Sasuke headed towards the noise.
There was no real way to find which room the sounds had come from. The walls were all nondescript and clinically plain light grey. Once again, they had to check all the uselessly empty four rooms left in the hallway in order to find the illusive returned hire.
"The whole staff of this god forsaken factory is use-" Sasuke complained until he felt acute pain as the door he had turned and reached to slam open. The last thing he saw, while his vision tilted and swirled as the world seemed to drop away from his feet, was a dark face and the most brilliant, gorgeous, blue eyes he'd ever seen on a hume.
Falling in a blood red sea of color, as shrieks of red-tipped pain and black-stained outrage sounded all around him, Sasuke knew that that he was dreaming. Despite the terror he felt, Sasuke couldn't help but search for those screams once his foot touched the ground.
He didn't know if it was to help his family members escape or to stop the heart wrenching noise. All he knew that as soon as he reached that place, all would be quiet, gone, except him and that man. He didn't care that, as an Uchiha, he should be thinking of helping his clan members more than finding the reprieve of the real world once he confronted that man.
Anything to make his heart settle and to stop this nightmare from playing, once again, in his mind.
This time, there were no people in the room. The clan's symbol littered the walls and the ground where people usually were. The clan branded all that they owned with the symbol, a way to distinguish their high class and quality furniture from the other clans, the other nobles. Sasuke had been raised to be proud of it and he was used to turning his head to see three, four or five of them in a room. But this… this was different.
The symbols were haphazardly spread around the room. One curved around the corner of his family's rectangular table flush against the right wall. One spread, irregularly shaped like a splatter, across the wall on his left. One looked crumpled at the farthest right corner of the room. The rest were spread all over in various forms of disarray, a foot or two away from the biggest, perfectly shaped, uchiwa at the center of the room.
The Uchiha's symbolic fan, once pristine white and red, regal in its simplicity, oozed liquid color. Those on the walls slowly dripped color towards the floor, gathering towards the central symbol. The colors were different, wrong, imperfect, wrong, wrong, wrong. The normally white bottom was a blood red while the top, usually red, was a dilapidated white. He wanted to erase it. To scrub the stains away and stop the mess it was making.
Sasuke took off his bright white shirt, usually a dark blue, green or black, and used it to wipe at the mess gathering on the biggest fan. At first the color wiped off the emblem cleanly, its former design showing through the parts he'd passed but, as he tried to clean more of it, the liquid turned warmer, more viscous, wrong.
He scrubbed harder, face cold, cheeks warm, take it all away, until his shirt was the same blood red of the oozing mess.
Impure.
He threw the shirt away and tried to scoop the seeping mess with his hands, too warm, away. The liquid flowed faster than his hands could move, made his hands and knees slip and, frustrated, he started clawing, unclean, at the mess until he felt it. The emblem felt soft, warmer than the liquid and pulsated quietly, squirmed.
Impure, too warm, wrong, unclean, alive, dying, dying, dying.
He kept at it. Clawed the symbol, it has to be cleaned, until he felt warmth pulling his knees.
At this, Sasuke took of his eyes from the floor and looked around him. The walls looked still, nothingness, but he felt it. Felt the undulating movements of something warm, something alive, something wrong, around him. Trying to sink him. At this his mind snapped.
I have to get away, I can't die, I won't die.
He tried to stand, run away from the pressure, the disgusting rippling, but the more he struggled, the more he sank.
He clawed and clawed, tore at the moving floor around him, trying to find purchase but he was sinking deeper and deeper, all red, get away, get away, too red, too warm.
When only his hands were able to touch the top of the floor, he heard it, his brother's kind voice, the last kind gesture.
"We're special brothers, Sasuke…brothers stick together." Claw faster, away from everything. "Mother and Father are proud of you." Faster, "I'm proud of you," away from it all, "I love you."
Sasuke's eyes snapped open, view blurry, to meet worried sapphire eyes on a smudgy – too close – face. His heart gave a lurch – too close – and, at the next blink, he found himself standing, his left leg aching as it lowered. He raised his eyes again, shocked, to find those blue eyes hurt and angry all at once. The blond, blond and blue eyed boy, looked ready to jump at him and fight but, after staring at Sasuke for a couple of seconds, his anger seemed to deflate.
"Didn't have to kick me asshole," the blond spat as he rubbed his abdomen and winced, "I didn't mean to hit you with the door."
Sasuke stared. Willed the blond to feel how stupid he sounded, "Door?"
"Yeah, dude. You appeared behind the rec room door and banged it good," at this the blond's face lit with a smile towards Sasuke, "I've never seen anyone make the door bounce back with their head."
"Nice to know you're amused." Too bright.
"Yeah, it was hella funny," the blond's face turned serious, "but I think you owe me an apology for that kick. I was just checking up on you, trying to see if you had a concussion and if you were hurt something else since you started crying."
"Cr…crying?" Sasuke stared uncomprehendingly at the blond. His cheeks felt warm, but he refused to touch it. It must have been the dream – nightmare – that he'd had. But, racking his memory of what it was about, he couldn't remember. All he knew was the red, red world and the burning hot dread weighing down his heart.
"Er… nevermind, eye for an eye right? I hit you, you hit me, we're all good." The blond looked away sheepishly, hand rubbing the back of his head. "So… what were you and tall dude doing in the halls?"
Tall dude? Sasuke finally looked at his surroundings. They seemed to be in a small room filled with wires, old computers and other electronic memorabilia.
Actually, Sasuke snorted, it couldn't even begin to qualify as a room. The room was a plain bland eggshell white and was only big enough to fit a single metal bunk, which lay flat on the eastern wall. Around three feet of space separated the bed from the western wall, where he'd kicked the blond earlier. The door, thankfully, swung outward. It allowed air in to the room but discouraged cleaning the electronics away from the entrance.
The air smelled like a mix of oil, wet dog and old dust.
"He said he'll get you some ice for your head and some drink to calm you down. I sent him to the vendi in the rec room but I don't know if he could buy anything from that thing." The blond sat down on an obsolete cube-like monitor near the door, looking at everything but him. "You guys may be able to, but we aren't allowed to buy ice packs from the vendi without supervision. One of the guys choked himself with one."
"How do you choke on an ice pack?"
"Managers aren't forced by anything to make sure all of us are sane. They give us the minimum amount of care and we're left to do whatever."
"The guy thought chewing on a chemical filled ice pack is fun?" He sneered at the lack of judgment, "So that's what they teach you in the gen-edu systems. Being idiots?"
The blond looked up at that. "He was a newbie from the system, separated from his batch cause he passed his tests later than them. Cause none of the newbies were his batchmates, he was real quiet and they didn't really try to talk to him." His eyes brimmed with emotions that made Sasuke uncomfortable. "Returnees and newbies separate themselves in the canteen and all that, so I couldn't really talk to him unless he wanted to be beaten by the other hires."
He felt…he regretted mocking the guy. He felt guilty for whatever the other was feeling and he wanted to take away the disappointment the blond directed towards him. Sasuke didn't want to hear anymore, but he kept his mouth shut as a gesture of apology.
The other boy didn't seem to understand what the gesture cost to Sasuke and continued. "I guess he couldn't handle the isolation and one day we found him in the canteen holding an opened ice pack in his hand. When I found him, he was already cold so he'd been there for a long time." Finally the other boy took his melancholic eyes off of Sasuke and looked at his clasped hands, "The manager said that no one could have done anything if he was crazy but I dunno."
An awkward silence filled the air after the blond story and Sasuke didn't know what to do. He couldn't comfort the other even if he wanted. Uchihas were to interact with commoners at a distance and the comforts his mother taught him were anything but. When he thought that the blond might have forgotten he wasn't alone and his legs felt tired from walking all day and standing up so long, Sasuke turned around and sat on the bed.
"Ah, I see you're awake Sasuke," Kakashi interrupted the uncomfortable silence as he stood near the door. He didn't seem to see the blond and walked towards Sasuke, handing him an ice pack, "I thought we needed to cart you off to the hospital for a second there," his guardian gave him a once over, "couldn't get a drink from the vendi but you're calm enough."
"Where are we?" I want to go home.
"Hm?" The taller male smiled at him, "I don't really know. We were trying to find our man when you ran into a door." The older man shook his head, "I need to teach you to be more observant, especially, when you're frustrated."
"You're my guardian, you're supposed to keep me safe. That's part of your responsibilities." Sasuke frowned and glared at Kakashi while he tried to find a good spot to put the ice pack on his face. He hadn't been feeling the pain until now, as the bridge of his nose and the back of his head throbbed with vengeance for being ignored for so long.
A quiet cough caught both of their attention to the blond who looked agitated and, thankfully no longer pensive. "I'm right here you know. The one who led both of you guys into this room." The soot covered boy raised an eyebrow, "My room, by the way."
"And who are you, blondie?" Kakashi looked the younger boy head to toe. "Not to mention you're pretty suspicious covered with dust. You came from a technology filled room, which was where we heard some very suspicious racket, like you were breaking and entering."
While Kakashi spoke, the blond's face went from inquisitive to absolute glee. "Buh…breaking and en…entering," the blond guffawed, "Man, you guys are stupid."
"Says the idiot who let two strangers in his quarters," Sasuke snorted as he turned up his nose and looked down at the blond, "very smart to let people you don't know into a room filled with computers."
"Tch! Not like it matters, all those are junk on their own. Broken comps that they want me to fix, scraps from unfixable shit. Unless either of you are technos," he nudged the monitor next to his feet, "you can't use these. Most of the stuff in the rec room is shit too."
"How would you know? Aren't you a dimwitted kleptomaniac?"
"Klepto-wazamasac?" The blond tilted his head, "why don'cha believe I'm a techno? Too sexy, huh? Most people think technos are fat slobs. And see," Sasuke's eyes followed, horrified, as the blond boy ran his own hand, unhurriedly, from chest to lower abdomen, "no fat whatsoever."
"You are a slob," Sasuke willed the blush that tried to rise on his cheeks and gestured to the mess all around them, "and you ruined something in that other room." He didn't need the other's attention at all.
"Hn, a sexy slob… I could live with that," the blond leered at him. Sasuke could feel the ear-splitting grin that Kakashi sported besides him. "Well, since neither of you wants to tell me your names, who are you looking for? You may be here on legit business, but some of the others won't hesitate to call the cops if they see you snooping around without the manager."
"Then the manager is a complete idiot."
"Yup!"
Sasuke stared incredulously at the blond. "You just insulted your employer…" The blue eyed boy gave a mischievous grin. "Do you want to get fired?"
"How the hell would I get fired," the boy directed a confused frown at him, "s'not like I work here."
"Then you are a thief," Sasuke sniffed, "Kakashi grab him. Maybe we'll get money for turning this buffoon in."
The blond stared even harder and slowly, creepily in Sasuke's opinion, his face split with a shit eating grin, "You guys are stupid! My god! Why else would I be here, a lame ass labor factory, in a freaking small room?"
"…"
"I'm a hire, duh. I wouldn't stay in this dump if I wasn't." The blond walked towards a computer with burnt out wires. Knelt and rubbed his face, tears at the corners of his eyes, against its shell, "these nighmares make technos cry. I wouldn't live in a room like this if I had a choice."
Idiot. "Breaking company equipment," Sasuke smirked, "taking off your collar without permission. If you have time to-"
"Thank you for your help. We are looking for Naruto." Kakashi interrupted with a monotone as he gave Sasuke a look, "Sasuke's just on one of his mood swings. He doesn't bite."
"Huh. Doesn't really matter to me, kinda expected it from a little rich kid." The blond uncrossed his arms and transferred his mesmerizing eyes to Kakashi as he walked towards the man, offering his hand. "Name's Naruto Uzumaki, the best techno you'll ever meet in your life."
A/N: I've been searching for some Sci-fi fanfics with robots, gene splicing and stuff like that and, since I have yet to find any except for Asuka Kureru's awesome Crossed Wires (check it out), I decided to write one. Hope to see you guys next time.