IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE READ!

Hi everyone. I have some very bad news.

This past Tuesday, I got some test results back. I have 20 tumors in my liver, some as big as over an inch and a half. It explains why I have felt so sick this past little while, and why I've been so spotty with updating. We don't know if the tumors are benign or malignant yet - i.e., whether or not I have cancer - but although I'm young and it's unlikely, I will probably be out of commission for a little while. I'm going to be having a biopsy in the next week or so to check everything out, and it's probably going to be full-out laparoscopic surgery. They may have to resection my liver. We don't know much yet; we'll find out more on the 31st. I may have a hospital stay in my future, and overall, it's going to be a rough next two weeks, and if I have cancer, well...I'm not thinking about that right now.

Anyways, I just thought you all should know that. I'm going to try to keep to my posting schedule. I will try to keep everyone updated on my profile since I might not always have time to post a new update, but rest assured, I won't leave this big news out there and not keep you informed. Should it be the worst, I will try to post up as many chapters as I have before any treatment starts, as at that point I should think I'll be in a living hell. I saw my mom go through chemo and radiation and she would cry every time they took her to the hospital. Thankfully for her, she passed along in her sleep, surrounded by loved ones. I'm hoping to not have the same ending.

Now, enough of the bad stuff. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you feel so inclined, any reviews or well wishes would really make my day. Life is uncertain right now, and I can use all the good vibes I can get. :) If you have any questions, feel free to send me a PM. I don't have much to do these days other than lie in bed and take painkillers.

Enjoy the new chapter!

3.

It was half-time—the students were on break, as this class was taking up a double-period—and Madara was already exhausted.

He had been mostly right about his suspicions. Other than his great-nephew Sasuke and his partner, Haruno Sakura, the entire thing had been an absolute bore. He hadn't been aware that Sasuke knew so much about the forensics of the pseudo-case. When he'd concluded that the killer's modus operandi hadn't actually been the knife but the poison, Madara had actually been impressed. It would have normally been a difficult case to solve, but knowing the killer's M.O. had made the 'questioning' easier and more fruitful when exercised.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Sasuke and the girl, Sakura, arguing vehemently about something. The girl was getting red in the face and looked about to commit murder and Sasuke actually looked perturbed. Knowing his great-nephew, Sasuke getting riled up about anything wasn't a frequent occurrence and Madara found himself interested in knowing what they were talking about. Madara began to approach them quietly, knowing that the moment he registered in sight Sasuke would clean up his act to impress him.

"You presented it all wrong," Sakura reprimanded, folding her arms over her chest. "You even said the poison's name wrong. You're lucky nobody noticed."

Madara smirked and paused. What was this?

"It's not my fault you handed me the hardest part of the case," Sasuke snapped, uncharacteristically showing anger. "How am I supposed to know those damned Latin phrases?"

Sakura snorted. "Like modus operandi? Look, Sasuke-kun, this is a BIG world we live in. It has BIG, non-Japanese words!" Her eyes comically widened as she mocked him. "Ooh, look, I've never see anything as big as planet Earth!" She pointed skywards, making her point.

Madara chuckled to himself, not happy that Sasuke had obviously not done much of the work, but certainly amused by Sakura's harsh teasing. He watched them, from afar, and took note of Sakura with new interest. He'd caught her staring at him earlier, so he was almost certain she was interested in him, but as she had a less-than-ample chest and he was certainly an admirer of large breasts, he had overlooked her. Now, she struck him in a new light.

Outweighing the factor of large breasts, he found himself interested in the little spitfire that she was…

"Sakura, seriously. Cut it out."

When Sasuke looked actually hurt, Sakura softened. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I just wanted to make sure you got the big part so you could impress—"

"Hello, Sasuke-kun," Madara decided to greet casually, as though he hadn't heard the entire conversation. He pretended not to notice Sakura, curious as to what her reaction at being ignored by him was.

"Hello, Madara-sama," Sasuke said politely. When Sakura said nothing, Madara glanced in her direction, secretly disappointed. She should have at least tried to say something. He wanted to see more of her personality—not only was it an amusing pastime, but for some reason, despite his innate dislike for all things feminist, her strong character found appreciation somewhere within him.

However, Sakura was scanning the crowds, possibly looking for a way out of a potentially awkward situation. She apparently felt his eyes on her, because she looked over at him, made eye contact, and then before she gave any other response, her eyes fell away from him and she left, waving to a friend.

Madara's face quirked into a deep, momentary frown before he relaxed his facial features and focused on whatever Sasuke was saying. He didn't particularly care; Sakura's casual rebuff had bothered him more than he would like to admit.

Deep within himself, he felt something foreign stirring. It was unidentifiable, but elicited strong feelings of possessiveness towards…somebody. He wasn't sure who, or why this feeling was coming up.

Nodding at Sasuke even though he was distracted by thoughts of this strange feeling, Madara tried to pay attention his great-nephew. He found himself glancing in Sakura's direction, where she was speaking angrily with a tall, buxom, incredibly attractive blonde. When his eyes strayed to the pinkette instead of settling on the clearly more attractive of the two, the possessiveness pulsed strongly. He narrowed his eyes at her, watching her excited hand motions and fiery demeanor.

It irritated him when he recognized the feeling. When he'd been thinking about young earlier, he'd meant more so in the mid-to-late twenties range. Not barely twenty, if even that.

Strangely enough, it didn't seem to bother him as much as it should have.

"I'm sorry, Ino, but Sasuke-kun's probably gay for his uncle or whatever," Sakura spat. "He's absolutely obsessed with getting on his good side, and when I corrected him on his mistakes in the case presentation, he got all pissy and defensive!"

Ino frowned, disturbed by the news, but replied anyway, "Well, you were kind of reaming him out. I saw a little bit of it."

Sakura deflated, acknowledging on some level that her friend was right. "I guess. But seriously. I think he's into his uncle." This caused Sakura to laugh. It was somewhat forced, but when Ino laughed as well, the humor in it became real.

"I don't know, Sakura," Ino said after they had calmed down. "It doesn't seem like Sasuke-kun's like that…"

"He does have the girly hair though. How on earth does he get it like that?"

"It's natural," came the cold, decidedly male response.

Sakura, who had her back to the owner of the voice, froze, and seeing Ino's look of despair and anger, knew exactly who it was.

Turning around slowly, Sakura couldn't stop herself from wincing. It was Sasuke, just as the voice had portrayed, with Madara standing a few feet behind him and looking on with vague interest.

"Do you have anything else to say about me behind my back?" Sasuke demanded. He sounded even angrier than he had when Sakura was reprimanding him.

Sakura cringed at the anger in his voice. Ino would probably slink away soon and let her face the brunt of whatever was coming next, but surprisingly enough, the blonde stood up for her.

"I don't think you honestly want to hear it, so no, we don't."

Sakura's eyes widened comically at Ino's careless remark. Didn't she care about Sasuke's affection? This would be a moot contest if she went around talking to him like that!

And then she noticed Ino eyeing Madara.

Sakura couldn't help but stiffen in irritation.

He wasn't that attractive! Then again, Ino typically went for older guys, but seriously? This one? He wasn't in his mid- or late-twenties—he was old enough to be Sasuke's father! Yes, power, riches, and fame were attractive to someone like Ino, but weren't there better options who weren't him?

She took a moment to realize that for some reason, she didn't like the older Uchiha. She didn't know why, but she was certain that he had somehow rubbed her the wrong way. She wasn't even sure when it had happened.

Sakura took a deep breath, readying herself to say something, when Madara spoke.

"While that may be true, I believe an apology is at hand." He looked at her pointedly.

Sakura frowned, but at least she now had justification to not like him. She wanted to refuse, but he was technically her superior and she had already acted meanly enough. If she didn't want to totally alienate Sasuke, she supposed she didn't really have a choice. A frown marring her features, Sakura ground out reluctantly, "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke said nothing back and turned to Madara. "Can we go now? I told you, girls are nothing but trouble."

Ino gasped in indignation while Sakura snorted. She turned to Ino. "Guess who was right?"

The blonde nodded at Sakura resolutely. "Yeah, I suppose you were." She took a long look at Madara again before shrugging. "Hey, class is about to start. I'll talk to you later, okay? Call me!"

Sakura waved, ignoring the two men who hadn't left yet. She wasn't sure if she should excuse herself or if she should just wait for them to leave.

A cell phone went off and since she didn't recognize it as her ring tone or Sasuke's, she knew from its proximity that it had to be Madara's. She sighed, snuck a peek at Sasuke, who wasn't paying any attention to her, and then began to walk away.

"Sakura-san, wait."

It was Madara. She stopped, pausing in her gait politely. She kept trying to instill in herself that she needed to be respectful to this man, even though he didn't really command any from her naturally, what with the way he was using her given name even though they barely knew each other and the fact that she didn't even like him in the first place. However, not liking someone didn't mean one could disrespect them, and the Senju & Uchiha law firm was an established, well-respected firm. Making any enemies in the business world wasn't exactly high on her to-do list.

She turned around when Madara said nothing in her direction, instead answering his phone. She averted her eyes but frowned, trying to remain patient. Today had been bad overall—she had hurt and angered Sasuke, been 'put in her place' in front of him by his great-uncle, and she still had tons of homework to do when she got home. All Sakura was looking forward to going home and falling asleep. She was smart, so she could probably take this one day off from homework… All she had to do was sit through the rest of the mock trials and then she was free to go. This was her last class of the day and it was Friday. She could do whatever the hell she liked.

Annoyed with waiting when the conversation seemed to drag on, she began to walk back to the classroom. This was prompted by noticing that Sasuke had already left to go back as well. Madara, however, caught her on her shoulder as she passed him, causing her to whirl around with barely-suppressed anger.

It seemed like he was just finishing up the conversation now that she had decided to leave, which annoyed her greatly. He hung up the phone casually, as though he hadn't just been incredibly rude, and then pinned her with his eyes in such a way that made Sakura's skin crawl.

"You did well with figuring out the modus operandi of the criminal," he said lightly.

Sakura nodded slowly, not understanding why this was important.

He continued. "It was also admirable that you gave the credit to Sasuke. Why did you do that?" He seemed genuinely curious, which softened Sakura's attitude slightly. It had definitely alienated him from her when he had forced her to apologize to Sasuke, and even though he was petting her ego completely unsubtly, it was enough to give her the motivation to at least reply.

Still, she was hesitant to respond too honestly. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. "I'm getting the best grades in the class. Sasuke needed the help, so I figured it would benefit both of us if he got the bigger part. I did a lot of the work behind the scenes." She kept her tone even and unassuming.

"So it had nothing to do with my presence?"

Sakura frowned. How had he known? It possibly could just be arrogance—the Uchiha clan had that in spades—but the way he said it was too knowing, too confident. He had to be awfully perceptive to figure that out, which wasn't unlikely, but still…

She remembered her and Sasuke's conversation earlier, and how he'd interrupted her speech. Of course; why was she even surprised that he had eavesdropped? Still, though, it was terribly uncouth.

Smiling saccharinely to hide her annoyance, Sakura shook her head. "No. Sasuke-kun likes you a lot, but it had nothing to do with you being here today."

She made the brave gesture of looking him in the eye. His dark eyes gleamed with intelligence, as she saw how he frowned when they both knew that she had lied to him. As they made and held eye contact, Sakura suddenly felt truly intimidated for the first time. This man was much older and more powerful than her. She shouldn't be disrespecting him the way she was. The way his eyes pierced her, searching for something, made Sakura extremely uncomfortable.

When what felt like much too long a time had passed, Sakura finally broke. "Well, I'll see you in class," she said shakily, averting her eyes. She bowed perfunctorily and then quickly turned away. Swallowing hard, Sakura continued on to the classroom, feeling his eyes on her back the entire time.