8 Maids a Milkin'

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

"What is this supposed to be?"

Sasuke was thoroughly confused when Naruto walked into her apartment carrying what she assumed were eight strange costumes. They were skimpy dresses, but she could not figure out what exactly they were supposed to be.

"Cocktail waitress outfits!" Naruto proclaimed.

"Hn?"

"Well," he explained. "I figured we don't really have milk maids anymore, so the closest thing I could think of was a cocktail waitress!"

"Idiot," Sasuke growled. "I have decided you officially have a cosplay fetish, you pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert," Naruto whined. "It is hard to figure out what to do for all these out of date gifts. I was trying to make it more modern and sexy."

"Sexy?" Sasuke asked with a blush. "Why would you want it to be sexy, especially if you claim you are not a pervert?"

"I … I just meant that … I wanted them to be fun gifts, not just boring things because they fit into the song," Naruto tried to cover. He was still not ready to reveal to Sasuke that he was trying to win her love. She needed to open her heart just a bit more before she would be ready to hear his reasons.

"Uh huh. Sure," Sasuke acknowledged ironically. "Give me those." She grabbed the outfits from Naruto and went to stuff them in the back of her closet with all of the other costumes. She was getting more and more open to the idea of wearing them for Naruto, especially after the look Naruto had given her in that swimsuit. She rather liked the way he fell over himself to impress her at the pool.

To her surprise, Naruto had actually told her how beautiful she was at the pool. She had almost thought that maybe he liked her or something, although she quickly told herself that she was just misreading the signs because she had never had a good guy friend let alone a genuine boyfriend.

Of course, she had gained many admirers over the years for she acknowledged that she was an attractive person, but she had never believed that any of them liked her for more than her looks because she certainly did not have a good personality.

Sasuke had to move some of her regular clothes to make room for the costumes. With an armful of clothes, she looked around her room for any empty space. The desk was full with schoolwork, the terrarium, and the electronic parrots. Under the bed had been filled by the goose down pillows. That only left the dresser, which was already full of clothes. It was amazing how much Naruto had filled up her life. She would have to put them out in the hallway closet.

"Whatcha' got there?" Naruto asked as she came out of the room.

Sasuke flushed at what she would have to tell Naruto. "Your perverted costumes are filling up my closet, so I have to go put these in the hallway closet." She walked past him and began hanging the clothes in the closet.

"You kept them?" Naruto asked alarmed. "I thought you would have thrown them out right away."

"It would be rude to throw out gifts," Sasuke said haughtily. "No matter how … perverted the gift."

"You learn that from Martha Stewart?" Naruto teased. "Look at you being a regular ol' home maker. You would make a great wife."

"You asking?" Sasuke countered before she could realize the implications of her words.

Naruto became awkwardly silent.

"Naruto?" Sasuke called from the hallway. She did not understand why he had suddenly stopped talking. "Naruto?" she called again as she entered the living room where he was sitting on the couch. As she rounded the couch to look at him, she saw a deeply thoughtful look on his face. "What's wrong?"

Naruto did not say anything, but he looked up into her eyes. His eyes searched hers for something. "Naruto, you're being quiet, and with you, that is usually a bad sign."

"Would you … want to be a wife?" Naruto croaked.

"What … what are you asking?" Sasuke snapped. She stormed away from him and into the kitchen. She had to keep him from seeing her face because she was afraid he would be able to read her mind.

When Naruto had asked if she wanted to be a wife, she had for some unexplainable reason pictured herself marrying Naruto in a big old-fashioned wedding. She had pictured Naruto in a stunning black suit as he watched her walk down the aisle towards him. He had smiled so brightly as he said his vows and she had thought he had looked so handsome. There was no way Naruto could ever find out what she had thought.

She paced back and forth around the kitchen. Why had she even thought that in the first place? When thinking about her future, she had never before thought about marriage because the idea of having a new family after losing her first family had still been too hard to contemplate. Eventually, she had just forgot about the concept altogether, so why did she suddenly think about it now?

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, she did not have the time to think about it right now. Naruto was in the other room and she would have to get back to him soon before he decided to come see what she was doing.

Frantically, she looked around the kitchen for an excuse as to why she had come in here. Eventually, she spotted her coffee pot still half full in the machine, so she could say that she just wanted to finish the pot before it went bad.

After pouring a cup for Naruto and herself and throwing them the microwave to heat up, she walked slowly back into the living room. Naruto was sitting on the couch quietly in the same position as when she had left. He glanced up at her when she came to sit next to him on the couch.

"I set a timer for the coffee. I just heard it and went to get us some coffee," Sasuke explained solemnly. If Naruto did not know her better, he would probably believe her because she had such a intellectual and convincing voice.

"No, you didn't," he said in a soft deep voice.

Sasuke held her breath. She did not want to face this. It was a silly slip of the tongue. Why couldn't he just let the subject drop? "What are you talking about?"

"Sasuke." He said her name so intensely that a shiver went up her spine. He lifted his head and looked her in the eyes. "Sasuke, have you ever thought about having a boyfriend?"

"Why …" her breath hitched in her throat. "Why are you asking?"

"I …" he paused and rubbed his head in frustration. "I had wanted to wait, but now I think I should just say it."

"Naruto?" she whispered breathily. What was going on? When had her and Naruto switched from two buddies having fun to a boy and a girl in a boy and girl situation?

"You have already become an old bitty. You have no hope of getting married, so you shouldn't worry about it," Naruto said, breaking the tense atmosphere and earning himself an extremely powerful punch to the back of the head.

Sasuke was fuming. She had actually let herself consider the possibility of dating Naruto and he had to go and say something absolutely stupid and insulting. With a growl, she stood up and stormed out of the room and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. "GET OUT!" she yelled from behind her door.

If possible, Naruto was even more shocked than Sasuke. With the way Sasuke had stormed out earlier, he was sure she was upset and disgusted with the idea of getting married to him. Now, he was confused. Sasuke would not have gotten so upset if she was not hurt by his comment. Had she really thought about marrying him?

Maybe … maybe she was ready to consider the idea of dating him. He groaned. If that was true, he had just completely messed everything up. Sasuke had let herself think about the possibility of love and he had crushed her dreams.

He had to fix this fast or there would be no hope of ever getting her to open her heart again.

Just seconds after she had left, he scrambled off the couch after her. "Sasuke!" He rushed towards her bedroom. "Sasuke! I'm sorry!" He pounded on her door. "Sasuke! I was only joking!" He banged his head on the door. "Sasuke! Please! Please come out and talk to me!"

"GO AWAY!"

Naruto had never heard her this emotional even when she had told him about the traumatic circumstances surrounding the death of her family. It was faint, but he had even heard a slight trembled in her voice.

"Sasuke!" he begged. "Please open the door!"

He desperately tried to force open her door, but she had a lock placed on the door for extra safety. Ironically, he had been the one who had suggested adding the lock. Eventually, he ran out of energy, so he slumped to his knees.

"Please, Sasuke," he said softly. "I can't … I can't lose you now."

He heard her gasp from the other side of the door. There was still hope.

"Sasuke! Come out so I can ask you out properly," he proclaimed confidently as he stood up.

"Stupid." Sasuke whispered behind the door.

Naruto heard the door lock click open. Quickly, he burst into the room before Sasuke could change her mind. What he saw shocked him.

Sasuke was crying.

During the three years he had known her, Naruto had never seen her come even close to tearing up, let alone actually crying. Even though he knew it was wrong, he was actually flattered that she was showing this much emotion because of him. (He would be beating himself up for that for years.)

"Sas…" he started and took a step towards her.

"Don't!" Sasuke snapped with a sniffle. "All these gifts, all this time we've been spending together, all the things you said about me being beautiful … what were your reasons?"

Naruto just stared at her. Was she really ready to date? One wrong move right now could cost him everything he had built with her so far and he would never be able to get it back.

"Just … just please," Sasuke sobbed. "Please tell me what you want from me."

"Sasuke," he said carefully. He stepped towards her slowly. Sasuke flinched away, but Naruto caught her in his arms. "Sasuke, I love you."

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