Seven

Tyler:Sorry folks, but Tyrranus wasn't able to make it. Enjoy the story!

SASUKE looked back at the customers surrounding Naruto, their arms out as if they might catch him, though not a one stood close enough. "How did this happen?" he asked.

"I dropped the picture I was trying to hang with my shoe."

"With your shoe?"

"A spiked heel makes a great hammer."

"Of course. But why didn't you call me?"

"Are you kidding? It's taking you all afternoon to fix a toy cradle."

Sasuke scratched his nose. "I see. Tell me exactly how this happened?"

"When I tried to catch the picture, the ladder tipped and caught my skirt, front and back. I can hardly move. Damned sraped got in my way, which they do everyday, but I can't take them down. Nana loved them this way."

Like a thunderclap, the rod snapped and fell from the window, drapes and all, taking out a revolving bookrack of shoes and a blue-spatter watering can of marbles, hundreds of colorful glass aggies spreading across the floor like ants at a picnic.

One customer righted the rack and another the watering can. The rest collected shoes or chased marbles.

Sasuke shook his head. "Tearing the drapes down wasn't the answer, ladsy."

"My hands didn't move. Did you see my hands move? I didn't. I wouldn't. Nana loved those drapes." Naruto's eyes filled.

"Ach, ladsy, don't."

"I'm caught," Naruto said, his sudden frailty unnerving.

"I thought I heard you rhyme," Sasuke said, looking for Naruto's inner spitfire. "Are you sure that wasn't one of your powerful wishes Hinata talked about?"

"Are you sure somebody didn't pee in your gene pool? Sounds like you're straining your brain."

A customer chuckled as he went out the door and Sasuke felt a rare tug on his lazy mouth that might have been a smile looking to take root on foreign soil. "You rhymed strain with brain. Should I fear for my brilliance?"

"Too late for that. Just get me down before the little gray matter you do possess atrophies."

Sasuke chuckled deep in his throat. "Your blethering shivers my vitals, hellcat."

The shelf bracket let go under the strength of Naruto's grip, and the bracket hit Sasuke in the head.

"Bollocks!" He winced as the shout increased his pain, and climbed up to steady Naruto, because his hand-hold had disappeared.

When the stars stopped dancing before his eyes, Sasuke found that Naruto's waist beneath his shawl fit the span of his hands, a fine waist, not skinny, nor plump, but perfect, soft and strokable.

A rose glow washed up Naruto's neck and brightened his cheeks as he searched his(sasuke's) poor head for the spot where the shelf cracked it.

"Aye," he said, squeezing Naruto with more than a wee dram of mischief. "My brain's sprained after all, but no so much that I don't know who to blame."

Naruto ran gentle fingers through his(sasuke's) hair, which made him itch to return the favor, until Naruto found the painful knot. He held his wince, because he liked Naruto's hands on him more than he disliked the pain.

"That's some goose egg, MacKenzie." He warmed the bruise with the heat from his hand, and Sasuke could swear it was healing. He moved his thumbs upward from his waist until they ggrazed a nipple.

Naruto's entire body quivered. "My skirt," he whispered, and cleared his throat. "It's stuck remember?"

"Right. Where?" Sasuke asked, unwilling to release him.

"In the ladder."

"I repeat, 'Where?' "

"Oh. Second rung down, front right, and third rung, maybe, back left. I can't look back to check."

Sasuke frowned. "I'd like to see how you rhymed that trick."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Not to get your churlish attention, I assure you."

"That's me in my place."

"See that you stay there. Now, do you have enough brain power to get me out? If I move either way, I'll rip my mother's dress."

Sasuke climbed farther up, till his chest spooned his bottom, an entirely unnecessary, but wholly satisfying, exercise that woke another of his lazy parts.

He had become immune to the opposite/same sex, as he became immersed in his search for the kitsune, but Naruto had changed that in his dreams, the way he was changing it now, in fact.

Sasuke looked about, half afraid this was another dream. "Your shop seems to have emptied."

"For a few minutes, until the next trolley. It stops out front." He bent his legs so he could see where the ladder pinched his skirt. "I love this dress," he said, his breath in his ear sending shock waves to all his right and ready places. "Please try not to tear it."

Sasuke tried to come up with a solution, but something else came up instead. He saw that Naruto's lips were close enough to kiss. How would he react if he did? The tickle of his breath on his lips enticed him.

Tyler: It's a cliff-hanger! Bet you can't hold on! Tyrranus and viewers don't kill me! I just didn't fell like typing any longer. So, to make it up here's a preview of ch.7pt:2

Will they kiss or not? And Gaara makes an unexpected appearance! Sasuke is feeling edgy-'why does it feel like he wants to kill me?'

Ja ne!