Chapter 23

"When It All Came Crashing Down"

A/N: With only 3-4 chapters left, I'm hoping that I wrap up this story well, and I know that I've had some inquiries regarding the whereabouts of Sasuke Uchiha…trust me, I haven't forgotten him, and there is a reason he sort of up and disappeared back in chapter (13?). He will return, and there is a lot to say about Itachi, who will begin playing a larger part in the storyline, he's definitely moved on up in the police department, and doing well. I'll end this inconvenient and rather unnecessary author's note to say thank you to all my readers, old and new. If you are just now happening upon this story, I hope you enjoy it to the fullest, and I would love to hear from you in a review of what you think of it. I alway enjoy reading those. I was very upset to lose my story the first time, which had over 130 followers and 120 favorites in only a few months, and I am sorry to all of you who thought I had deleted it on purpose, I did not. A very awesome and kind follower had downloaded the chapters and was kind enough to send them to me for reuploading, as I had no backup on my end; using a communal laptop is difficult. Anyway, on to the story! Cheers!

Zetsu Black had a conniption fit when he was informed that the meeting had to be canceled for an emergency. Nevermind that it was a baby being brought into the world in the back of a Blue Chevy truck by the hands of Madara Uchiha; it was supposed to be his moment of triumph, he had played it over and over in his mind; damn near salivating at the thought of humiliating Madara. Bringing down his assistant manager and friend was the icing on the cake. He just about destroyed his office when he got the call that the inquiry was postponed; Zetsu had never handled disappointment well.

He tapped a pen impatiently on the conference room table, in cadence with his high-polish left shoe, which would soon be replaced with a new pair after a small scuff appeared on the heel. His mother sat quietly next to him, reading through all her documents before the meeting. Her upper lip twitched in annoyance at the incessant tapping sound, reaching over and lightly rapping Zetsu on the hand to stop him before returning to her reading.

"Be quiet Zetsu, mother is trying to read through all this before the meeting."

Zetsu reluctantly obliged and tossed the pen away, letting it slide across the table. "This is ridiculous. Everything was supposed to start at 8:00 am and they're already fifteen minutes late! I'm done waiting!"

"Patience, son. Whining will not make things happen faster." chided Kaguya with a dismissal wave, not even glancing up from her papers. Zetsu leaned over to get a look at the documents she was perusing through.

"You got the video in there, right? I worked really hard to get all that, and getting that Naruto kid to fess up was a pain in the ass."

"Oh?" remarked Kaguya absentmindedly.

"I had to trick him! You know, if you keep rearranging the same question and repeating-"

"Sigh…I know son, you told me, all week long in fact. Very nice. But your little vendetta against Madara and his…"friends" has caused you to miss the bigger picture. We're working towards bigger things. Not just terminating Madara."

Zetsu rested his chin on his palm, nodding. "Yeees yes, the leverage, I know. What about Hashirama?"

Kaguya had finished reading and shuffled her papers into a perfect, neat little stack in front of her. Reaching into her purse she pulled out her compact and began inspecting her impeccably applied makeup. "Hashirama won't lose his job today, though he'll wish he had. To be honest, Madara and his little hussy might be getting the better deal between them. Once the store gets shut down, and I leverage a buy-out with our competitors, having failed stores on his record as a District Manager won't bode too well on his resume."

Her son snickered wickedly to himself, he'd worked a long time for this, and he'd finally acquired the cause to terminate his one-sided archenemy. A sudden noise at the door shifted his attention with a startle, and he almost jumped out of his seat. Several men and women, all executives at corporate shuffled in. They all wore immaculate, expensive navy blue suits, though the only other female executive besides Kaguya wore a black pencil skirt with matching blazer and a red shirt. Her heels clicked as she walked solemnly to a seat towards the opposite end of the table from Zetsu and his mother.

"So nice to see you again, Miranda." greeted Kaguya politely. Miranda, however, only acknowledged her with a curt nod, she had never been a fan of the pale, white-haired CFO or her "assistant" of a son. The other execs, none of which Zetsu knew very well, seated themselves quietly. Four seats remained empty at the end of the table. Zetsu looked at his watch again and was about to complain about tardiness when Madara appeared at the double doors. He was dressed very well in his dark denim jeans and black long sleeve shirt tucked in with a black leather belt and silver buckle. His expression was enigmatic, unreadable. Zetsu had hoped at the very least to see some ounce of concern on his face, something to give him satisfaction. But he knew Madara would never allow him that.

A shock of pink hair appeared behind Madara as Sakura followed him in quietly. She had an obvious look of trepidation on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concern that had apparently been sitting there for a while. They seated themselves in silence, Obito and Hashirama were the last to arrive. Obito had the expression of bitterness on his face, hating the fact that his wife was in the hospital with their newborn child and he had to be here of all places, with the last people he ever wanted to see. He sat down in a huff, making sure to cause as much noise as possible as he yanked the chair out and plopped down, skidding the chair loudly closer to the table.

Nobody seemed willing to speak first, as everyone just stared at each other. Madara, never a time waster, decided to hurry it along. "Let's get this over with, Kaguya. You obviously seem eager to get started." he said in low and grumbling tone.

"Oh, yes, very much so. But I'm disheartened, honestly. Such gross misconduct from one of our best managers, I loathed to call this meeting today, but the company's policies must be respected, as you kn-"

"Can you just get to the point, madam?" interjected Obito with gesture of his hand that said "hurry the hell up, you harpy!"

Kaguya hid her rising temper well, acting like the sudden rudeness didn't phase her. She pulled out two documents from the stack in front of her, sliding one across the table to to Madara. "Now, Madara, I never act on suspicion, you know that. But your conduct has been proven by evidence. Do you recall the night of the storm a few months back? April, or May, was it?"

Madara sighed to himself. "Yes. It was May. What about it?"

Kaguya smiled, " Ah yes, May, forgive me, my memory can be sloppy. We reviewed security tapes as part of protocol in light of the incident that happened in the produce bay…and, here…" She pointed to a picture that appeared to be screen capture from the security footage. "…is you, and Miss Haruno, kissing. Would that be an accurate assumption?"

Madara gave a sideways glance at Sakura, who appeared to become pale as she realized that she had openly displayed affection with her boss, on camera. She avoided Madara's sideways stare by looking down at her hands. The raven haired Uchiha looked back to the photo and nodded, "Yep. I would think that would be a rhetorical question, as its obvious what's happening there; unless you are that unfamiliar with such forms of affection…"

Zetsu bristled at the biting retort from the Uchiha, opening his mouth to say something. But Kaguya silenced him with a touch on his shoulder before continuing.

"Thank you for confirming that for me. I wouldn't get smug just yet, however...Now…this series ofscreen capture from the security footage is from January of this year." She slid the other paper over to him. Zetsu distributed copies for the other execs, who's cheeks all turned slightly pink when they looked at the contents of the document.

Madara took one look at the photos on the documents, and anger immediately rose up within him. Obito had taken one look at it and turned away, embarrassed for the sake of Sakura, who, upon looking at it herself, felt fit to burst into tears of humiliation. Hashirama blanched as he too looked away. "Oh God, is this necessary Kaguya?!…" He asked, his lip curling in disgust.

The photos were from the security footage within the cold storage. Security cameras Madara was not aware existed. They had been installed after Kiba's workplace accident apparently, according to the document in front of him; but somehow Madara was never notified.

His face felt hot, not with humiliation, but unbridled anger. The images on the paper were…yeah, he remembered that day. He slid the the paper back across the table with disdain, slowly rising from his chair to lean over, glaring at Kaguya and her welp of son in utter disgust.

"Felt the need to print that out, huh? Just had to do it, didn't you Zetsu? We both know you didn't have to do that, much less distribute it. I don't care what you do to me, but you did it to her!"

He motioned to Sakura with a nod, who was staring blankly at the table, tears falling down her cheeks. This had been the worst day imaginable. But Zetsu and his mother weren't done yet. Zetsu pulled out a printout of a group email. The original sender was Obito.

"Well, at first we thought that it was just you, and only you and your…close employee, would be terminated. But then your assistant manager slipped up and sent an email to you. Obviously it wasn't intentional to CC several other employees in it, but here we are."

Obito read the email. He'd sent it to Madara asking if he'd patched things up with Sakura, and if he'd stopped being a stubborn jackass. He'd never been very good with the company's new email system, and now he was paying for it.

Zetsu followed by handing out a booklet with copies of company policies in it. This was it. "In accordance with the company's strict "no relationship policy" between upper management and employees, I'm sorry to inform you, that your conduct has been in direct, spiteful violation, warranting immediate termination. Obtio Uchiha, you knowingly kept this information from corporate, and even encouraged it, also in direct violation of mandatory disclosure."

"So we're fired, that's what you're moving on to, right?" Hammered Obito, who had also risen from his seat. Hashirama tried to get his attention with an "ahem" but Obito ignored him. "If we're fired, just say we're fired!"

Madara had all but stood in front of Sakura, barely able to contain the urge to jump across the table at Zetsu. While the imp across from him was gleeful at the current situation, Kaguya kept her joy tempered with a simple, flat smile.

"Oh Madara, you knew this would happen eventually. I…always win."

Miranda, the stern and stoic exec, who had remained quiet the entire time, turned over the papers facedown on the table. "Oh Kaguya, I rather think you had a vested interest in this. Your…son, it seems, has a personal vendetta here, but you, I'd rather think has had her eyes to something more far-reaching. Honestly I don't see the validity of printing out and distributing the images you have, and by the way, Sakura, from what I've seen here-" she nudged Sakura's arm with her finger. "-You, are a lucky woman."

Kaguya blinked slightly, not expecting one of her inferior execs to speak out with such audacity. But Miranda continued without pause. Handing a tissue to Sakura, she turned back to Kaguya and Zetsu. "I could think of several things to say that your "yes men" that surround you wouldn't have the balls to say. They all hate you Kaguya, and your brat. What you've done here, this, this takes the cake. I don't know what your angle is, but I'll be damned if I don't find out." She pushed her chair back and got up, leaving the table with every pair of eyes on her. She walked to the door, stopping to turn and look directly at Kaguya.

"I'm smarter than you, you old witch. I'm more clever, and I will find out what you're up to. This won't go down the way you think it will." She ended her words by slamming the door behind her. There was a brief silence before Obito broke it. He pointed behind him at the door, "Yeah, whatever she said!"

Madara and Zetsu were chaining lightning in their glares at each other. The assistant to the CFO was just dying to rub this all in. "You seem so angry, Madara! This is your own fault, you know. To think, all those employees you screwed over just so you could go screw that huss-"

"Watch it, you amorphous little amoeba…I don't work for you anymore." Cut in Madara, his voice low and dangerous. His mouth curved into a snarky smile, confusing Zetsu.

"The thing is, you needy twat, the only person I believe even wants to screw you…is that harpy you call a mother."

Zetsu immediately shot out of his chair, ignoring his mother who was pulling his arm to yank him down again, "Zetsu! Sit down!" she said in a stern, raised voice. She didn't care about insults, she was more concerned about the words that came from Miranda. But Zetsu was a hothead, nonetheless.

"TAKE THAT BACK!" he yelled at the now-former manager. Madara opened his arms wide, taunting him. "Oh? Wanna hit me? I'll give you one good punch, and you better hope I don't get up from it."

Hashirama stood up, "Madara, what are you do-" but Obito cut him off.

"Leave it alone, man…leave it alone. Just let him have this one."

Sakura could feel the rage building in Madara, could even feel the heat coming off his body. She looked up at his face, a perfect masking of his true intentions within a wide grin. She felt the sudden urge to move her chair away.

"Oh come on, you pussy! You crawled out of your mommy's black hole of a vagina hating me!"

Zetsu snarled, pulling his tie loose, he was letting Madara get to him. Kaguya sensed this and stood to intervene. "Enough Zetsu! You'll sit down now!"

"Better listen to your mommy, Zetsu, or else you might not be getting any tonight for being such a good boy." Madara's words hit their target and Zetsu flew across the table, landing a well-placed left hook across the Uchiha's face.

"SHUT UUUUP!" He screamed, heaving. He put all his strength in the punch. For a moment he watched in satisfaction as Madara stumbled backwards. The execs in the room were stunned. What just happened? They were mere yes men, but they weren't violent. Obito dragged his hands across his face and stood to walk over to Sakura, coaxing her out of her chair and leading her to the door. She protested, "Wait what are you doing, he just punched Madara!"

Obito continued to usher her out the door, "Yeah, and its about to get really ugly." He turned to Hashirama, who had begun rolling up his sleeves. "Hey, Hashirama, you got this? I'm not about to let a pregnant lady hang around here."

"Yeah I got this." Hashirama replied, sliding his chair in slowly.

Zetsu's gratification evaporated when he saw Madara get up from his stumble backwards. Blood was trickling down his lip, dripping from his chin. But he was still smiling. "Oh, Zetsu, I've been waiting for this just as long as you, come here."

Zetsu watched with belated realization as a fist landed square on his nose. It was on. Zetsu was not a fighter, but he tried. He grappled with Madara as punch after punch landed on his abdomen, face and chest. This continued for about 15 seconds before he felt an arm curl around his neck as all the execs fled the room, one of them on the phone with the police in a panic.

Hashirama's grip around Zetsu's neck tightened as he flailed. Madara spat blood out of his mouth and wiped it with his sleeve. His blood was pumping now. "I've got reasons to snap your filthy neck, you little rat."

He leaned in close to Zetsu's face, his breath a mixed scent of wintergreen and blood. "But there's nothing I could do to you, that you haven't done to yourself."

Kaguya had backed away to the doors, unwilling to jump in to the fray, even for her own son. When she heard Madara's words, she spoke up indignantly. "You attacked my son! I'll have you arrested."

Hashirama released his hold on the hapless assistant, letting him fall to the floor rubbing his neck and gasping. He walked over and picked up a phone that had been left on the table, propped up by its case. "You know, Obito leaves his stuff everywhere. Oh, look, he left the video recording on!" He added with a grin. Kaguya went pale. Well, paler than usual.

"Unfortunately for you, your execs called the cops, but Madara won't be in the back of that police car." Hashirama drove his point home by rewinding the footage to the timestamp where Zetsu leaped across the table and punched Madara in the face.

"Tsk tsk. Should really learn to control that temper, Zetsu."

"This, this isn't fair! You were fighting me!" Zetsu stammered, panic rising in his voice.

"Oh no, I was just defending myself from a angry, tantrum-throwing former boss." Echoed Madara. A noise behind them caused everyone to turn, as three police officers walked in. A familiar shock of purple hair appeared, Anko. She gazed at Zetsu, then at Madara. "Really, Madara? Again?"

Madara smirked and rotated his sore shoulder. "Ah, you know me, I like to be direct.."

As per protocol, Madara was placed in handcuffs, and made to sit down in one of the chairs. He seemed rather smug for the situation, though.

"Ugh. Okay, so what happened, we received a call for a fight in progress?" barked Anko. Hashirama handed her Obito's phone, "Whatever you need to see is on there."

Anko ignored Zetsu's protestes, even as Kaguya echoed them. She watched the video intently. "Hmm…Madara, you still have excellent form."

"Thank you, but it'd be nice if I could scratch the itch on my face right now." He motioned his cuffed wrists in irritation.

Anko laughed and pulled her handcuffs, ordering Zetsu to turn around. "Put your hands behind your head, you're under arrest for assault and battery."

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Yelled Zetsu, even as the cuffs were latched onto his wrists and he was led out the door, he still cried "police brutality". Kaguya followed, yelling about a lawsuit and how she'll bail her son out in a heartbeat. One of the officers removed Madara's handcuffs with a "thank you for your cooperation" and exited the room to follow the howling Zetsu through the building.

"Fucking weirdos." Muttered Hashirama. Madara nodded in agreement, wincing as he noticed a bite mark on his arm.

"That fucker actually bit me!"

"You might need a rabies shot for that." Replied the district manager with a raised eyebrow."

"Probably…where did Obito take Sakura?"

Hashirama rolled down his sleeves with sigh, "I think he might have taken her to the parking lot. Hey…what are you going to do?"

Madara looked at him with a tilt of his head, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you have no job anymore, how're you going to take care of Sakura?"

Reality has a way of whacking us over the head, and Madara's head was starting to spin. I lost my job…shit.

"I don't know…I haven't thought that far ahead about it…"

As Madara made his way out the door, Hashirama followed, "Well you'll land on your feet, I'm sure. Hey, that cop's coming back."

Madara looked ahead and indeed saw Anko approaching him. Hashirama continued walking down the hallway, but Anko stopped Madara.

"So…I got the statements from the other parties; you got fired today?"

"…Yep." replied the Uchiha with a sort of dilapidated tone. "Its fine though, I'll figure something out."

Anko handed a handkerchief over to him when she noticed his mouth was starting to bleed again. She thought for a moment while he wiped the blood from his chin with a "Thanks".

"Always acting like nothing bothers you, typical. Hey, Madara…I know you don't have any kind of "official" criminal record, have you thought about maybe-"

"No, I'm not going to be a cop again Anko."

The purple-haired officer huffed, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "You know, Itachi is the Police Chief now, he would love to have you on the force again."

Madara laughed, then winced when his jaw popped weird. That little bastard could throw a punch.

"I might have a problem answering to my own nephew, you know."

"Worse than answering to the weirdo I just arrested? Or his creepy mother?"

Well that made him think for a moment. "That's…a fair point, actually." he said slowly. "But I'm 33 now."

"Yeah? Age limit is 40, you know that. Anyway, just think about it. Here's the card for the police academy enrollment center. With the last name Uchiha, I doubt you'd get passed over."

"Thanks Anko, I'll think about it…now, I need to go find Sakura."

Anko kept pace with him as they exited the corporate building, smiling to herself. Madara noticed it from the corner of his eye. "What are you smiling so much about?"

"Oh, nothing, I just figured you'd always keep that attitude from way back on the force, you know, Ain't no woman gon' keep me down…"

"For one, I've never talked like a hillbilly! Two, what can I say? She was very persuasive…"

Madara parted ways with Anko with a firm handshake, and made his way to the parking lot. Like Hashirama had said, there was Obito and Sakura, waiting by his truck. He walked briskly over to the two, acknowledging Obito but grabbing Sakura in a fiercely protective embrace. "Hey…you okay now?"

Sakura was just happy to see him. Honestly, this whole day she felt like a just a supporting character, watching everyone's lives change in a heartbeat. She'd spent the last hour talking with Obito, more calming him down than the other way around. Obito felt lost without his job, his entire career, and with a newborn to boot.

"Well, none of us have jobs anymore, Madara."

Madara sighed, "Yeah, I know. We'll figure it out."

Sakura looked down at the ring Madara had given her. The engagement ring was quite unique. Instead of a diamond, a ruby held center stage mounted on a white gold band. She cried when he presented it to her that day after Rin had her baby. "You know, I really don't like big crowds or big gatherings, can we just…go to a justice of the peace?"

Madara laughed, partly in mirth but mostly relief. "Oh thank God you said that, I hate people."

Obito piped in, "Hey lovebirds, we're still broke over here!"

Madara remembered the card Anko gave him, and pulled it from his pocket, handing it to Obito. "What do you think about that?" He asked.

Obito read the card and his eyes widened. "You wanna be a cop again?"

"Oh no, not just me, you're doing this too."

"Don't I get a say in this?!"

"Have you ever had a say?" Madara replied. Obito thought about it.

"No, but still, I don't have that, what do you call it, physique, for being a cop." He was met with another laugh from his former boss.

"No you don't have it, but you'll get there, lay off the chips and sugar for a while."

Sakura was stunned. A cop?

"I didn't think you'd ever want to do that again! What changed your mind?" She asked, staring at him inquisitively. Madara rubbed his jaw tenderly, which still hurt.

"Well, being fired, that helped a little. Honestly-" he cupped her face in his hands and peered into her eyes. "-I worked for ten years at a job where people were always mad at me for one reason or another. But for you, I'll go back to a job where everyone is always mad at me and they shoot at me."

"Yeah, you're really selling this career to me, Madara…" Muttered Obito, rolling his eyes.

Madara opened the passenger door of his truck and helped Sakura get in. Before she could buckle her seatbelt he climbed up and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss. His lips felt warm, welcoming and she leaned into it, and for an instant, all the worries of the future seemed to melt away, until Obito shouted from the back seat.

"OH MY GOSH YOU TWO, I'M STILL SITTING HERE!"