Once again, I have to thank all my wonderful reviewers. You guys really mean a lot to me. While I would write and post my stories regardless of whether anyone reviewed or not, I feel greatly encouraged when I get feedback of any kind, positive or negative.

Magic Fear: O.O … here's your update, please don't kill me *hides behind keyboard* lol

Still not dead yet: Thank you for always reviewing. You are such a great encouragement. Yes, the five rings was a little cheesy, but hey I figured the whole story was kind of cheesey, so I went for it

Sawara Emily A.K.: Thanks. I'm really glad you like the story. Sometimes I feel nervous that no one will like the story, but I would be happy if even just one person enjoyed reading the words that I wrote.

Anata Kiyoshi: I'm glad you caught the trend. It was so hard keeping it straight at first since sometimes I would have two days covered in one chapter or I had to make references to days in the future. Honestly, I'm still paranoid that I screwed up somewhere. In fact, I just rechecked the days in my head just before posting this story. Lol Thanks for reading. I hope you will get some enjoyment from the rest of the story.

Moopad: I love the upcoming gifts. I just had sooooo much fun thinking them up. I actually haven't written the last two chapters yet and I am having so much fun thinking up the wildest craziest thing I can for a grand finale.

Vangola Maelstrom: I thought so too. I like Sasuke as a female. No matter what people say about her being out of character when she is sweet and shy and stuff, I think they are wrong. A lot of times, I think people just take Sasuke at face value for being a bastard, but I think there is a lot more behind his character than that and I think it is kind of an insult to the writer of Naruto to just characterize him as such a simple character … wow, okay sorry for the rant. Lol Thank you for the review.

DXS Fan:

Thanks for the review. I read some of your stuff. Sorry I didn't review, though, I have been kind of busy and just posting the stories as quickly as I can. You're a great writer, too, and I'll try to get around to reviewing your stuff.

Sorry everyone for taking so long to reply to your reviews, I've been sick and still having to get everything ready for Christmas. Anyway, without further ado, please read and enjoy.

Seven Swans a Swimming

~*G*O*L*D*E*N*~

Stupid.

She was stupid. She should have known better than to give Naruto a key to her apartment, but it had been late after a busy day of pillow fighting, then convincing Mr. Hayate that the strange noises coming from her apartment were just the tv, and finally watching movies with Naruto until early the next morning. So, at the time, giving Naruto a key so he could let himself out and she could continue sleeping on the couch had seemed like a good idea.

She was stupid for letting stupid Naruto take advantage of her in her tired stupidity.

Now, she was faced with the sight of … 1,2,3,4 … 7 pairs of white wings behind 7 very, very skimpy white bathing suits. If he expected her to wear those things, he would find himself face to face with some REAL white winged angels after his death by her hands.

"NARUTO!" The little devil had to be hiding around here somewhere. She stood up groggily and started shuffling around the apartment tiredly. He wasn't in the living room. He wasn't in the bathroom. He wasn't in her bedroom. The only place left for him to hide was the kitchen.

As she walked into the kitchen, she saw no sign of Naruto, but she did see a rather large pot of coffee set beside a large omelet and a small envelope. Sasuke approached the food slowly. If there was something perverted in that note, Naruto would be pulling feathers out of his ass for all of 2011.

She opened the note cautiously and started reading.

To my angelic true love,

On the seventh day of Christmas,

My true love gave to me

Seven swans a swimming.

P.S. The eggs are swan eggs and are supposed to be an aphrodisiac.

Sasuke crumpled the note in a mix of anger and embarrassment. She knew she should be furious at the implication, but she found it strangely intriguing. "Swan eggs, huh?" she wondered. "How exotic."

She started eating slowly. They really did not taste all that different from chicken eggs, which was good, but she wondered if they could really be considered an aphrodisiac when they did not seem any different from normal eggs. Although, maybe it was just the idea of eating something that came from an animal considered to be a symbol of love.

For Sasuke, coffee was a much more romantic food and a good judge of a person. The kind of coffee you made and drank said a lot about the kind of person you were. She had learned a lot about that from Naruto. It was fascinating to listen to Naruto describe a person based on the coffee they ordered and even more so when he was able to predict an order before a customer said anything. When he had done it to her, she was intrigued and after a while, decided it would be a fun skill to learn.

Furthermore, it had given them something to talk about while Sasuke was still uneasy around him because it gave them a lighthearted subject to talk about before she was comfortable talking with him about any more personal topics.

For a long time, she had wondered about Naruto's defining drink. Because he made so many different many different types of drinks for his customers, Naruto had never revealed his signature coffee. What kind of coffee would she predict for Naruto?

On the surface, he seemed like someone who would like a really sweet drink because of his loud and hyper presence, but he was also very insightful and able to appreciate more exotic flavors. Perhaps he would drink a bittersweet European coffee or an extremely flavorful ristretto.

What had he prepared for her this morning? She took a deep breath through her nose and was assaulted by a rich coffee scent. A sip revealed an extremely sweet coffee made mostly of milk and sugar with little actual coffee. Hm … he knew she did not like overly sweet things, so why did he give her this drink?

Did he not want her to have a lot of caffeine? The energy she would get from sugar would not last very long, but at the same time, she would not be as jittery from caffeine. Did he have something planned for today? Too much caffeine was not good before doing something active. Perhaps he would try to take her swimming as the poem suggests.

Well, she would just have to wait for him to show his stupid self. For now, she would just enjoy her breakfast and try to forget about the bird flu hazard in the living room.

When she was finished with eating and cleaning up her breakfast, she decided to go get ready. But, what should she wear? She had no idea what Naruto had planned for today if anything.

Maybe … maybe she could wear one of the swimsuits just in case. Besides, if she wore it under some jeans and a sweater, no one would notice if she ended up not needing it.

After a quick shower, she walked around the living room in a towel to examine the different swimsuits. She could immediately rule out any of the swimsuits with less fabric than a doll's dress, which only left two choices from that stupid Naruto.

One was a sporty halter and shorts, while the other was a more delicate tube top and skirt bottom. The sporty one was more practical, and before she met Naruto, she would automatically choose that one. But now, she was thinking that the other one would make her look prettier for Naruto. When had she started worrying about what Naruto would think of her appearance?

She angrily grabbed the skirt suit and stormed into her room. The thought was embarrassing and when she was embarrassed, she got angry. Naruto had better take her swimming after all the effort she was taking to look nice for him.

However, two hours later, there was still no sign of Naruto. Maybe he really did not have anything planned for today. Did she really want to see him that badly?

After another fifteen minutes or so, she picked up her phone to call him, but would that make her seem too desperate? She stared at the phone and dialed then deleted then dialed his number over and over again. It took another twenty minutes for her to decide to call.

"Finally," she heard Naruto mumble on the other end of the phone.

"What?" Sasuke asked in confusion.

Naruto was quiet for a moment. He was not sure whether or not to admit that he had set up this little test for her to see how long it would be until she came running to him. Maybe a little bit of the truth would not hurt. "I was waiting for you to call," he said.

"Why didn't you just call me or come over here yourself?" Sasuke grumbled.

"I thought you might like some time alone," he said teasingly. "We have been spending a lot of time together recently. Aren't you annoyed with me?"

" … no," she whispered. And, she found that was completely true. She usually liked being alone, but recently, she found she would rather be with Naruto. It felt so nice to be with Naruto. Suddenly, she realized how lonely it could be in her apartment without him.

"What was that?" Naruto teased again. "Did you mis~s me, sugar?"

Did she miss him? Why was she always thinking about him? Why did she want to spend time with him? She really did not want to think about the answers to those questions because they would mean opening her heart and she still was not ready to do that.

"Naruto, just get your ass over here now," Sasuke yelled into the phone. "We are going swimming!" She immediately hung up on him after that. She was blushing like a crazy person, so much so that she was afraid Naruto could tell even over the phone.

She heard a knock on the door only a second later. She frowned. That could not be Naruto already; however, when she opened her front door, she saw that it was, in fact, Naruto. He was lying on the pillows he had brought yesterday and wrapped up in one of her blankets.

"What are you doing here?" she asked as her eyebrow started to twitch. She was torn between anger and happiness.

Honestly, with all the emotions Naruto was making her feel, she was getting dizzy. . Embarrassment. Curiosity. Anger. Happiness. And that was all only from this morning.

"I thought you went home," she grumbled. "I gave you my key, didn't I?"

"I just needed to be able to go out and get your gifts," he said with a yawn. "I could not just leave you helplessly asleep in an unlocked apartment."

"Why didn't you just come inside afterwards? Why sit out here and wait for me to wake up?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

'I had to wait until you drank your coffee,' he mumbled quietly.

"What was that?"

"I did not want to wake you up. You were so tired. I thought it would be … safer (for me) if I just waited out here and let you sleep," Naruto covered.

"You could have come inside and … slept with me," she said blushing brightly behind her scowl.

Naruto chocked at her words. She had to be doing these things to tease him on purpose. She just had to be. No one was that sexy on accident, but …oh … if she was, how much sexier would she be if she actually tried? Now it was Naruto's turn to blush … ahem, well, flush … in a manly way.

"Do you want to go swimming now?" Naruto asked to change the subject.

"Do you even have a swimsuit?" Sasuke asked in return.

"No," he replied sarcastically. "I figured I would wear one of the ones I got for you." He scoffed.

"Hm … not a bad idea," she taunted. "I bet you would look so~o sexy."

"What am I? A piece of meat?" he asked in a girly voice. "Stop objectifying me!"

"Shut up," she snapped with a slight chuckle in her voice. "You better hurry up and clean up this mess if you want to come to the pool and see me in the swimsuit you got me." She grabbed her purse from the nearby table and ran to her car.

Naruto was too shocked to move. He never thought she would actually wear the swimsuits she got her. "Wait!" he called after her. "Which one are you wearing!"

He heard her laughing from the parking lot. "You'll just have to come and find out!" she shouted up at him.

He scrambled to throw all of the pillows and blankets into the apartment before shutting and locking the door. He ran down the stairs and out to his car, just in time to see Sasuke speeding away in her own car. Thankfully, he knew where she was going. There was a public indoor pool not far from here that they had both visited in the past.

It was a quaint little place run by a guy that they had gotten to know well. Iruka Umino taught at the University that Sasuke went to. She was even hoping to become his graduate student in a few years. It had a small cafeteria set up inside that Naruto's café supplied, so he got to go there whenever he wanted for free.

And Naruto did go frequently. He had gotten pretty close to the guy and considered him to be a part of his family. One day, he hoped Sasuke would become a part of his family, too, but for now he just wanted to see Sasuke in one of the suits he had picked out. He knew any one of them would turn him into drooling idiot. His true love was so hot.

~*A*N*G*E*L*~

P.S. I'm starting to love this storyline so much I've been thinking of doing a spin-off story, please let me know what you think.