HI EVERYONE! I come bearing gifts and good news!

The gift is obviously the new chapter. But the good news is that I feel better! We still don't know exactly what's going on with the tumors. The doctor has decided to take a conservative approach and put off the biopsy for now, although he did another operation (non-invasive but kind of embarrassing to say on a public forum, but just know that it went well) and has determined that I do not have stomach or colon cancer. From the way I'm feeling these days, I don't feel sick at all, so that's a very, very good sign, especially since for a while there I was sleeping 15-16 hours a day because I felt so bad and was taking vicodin by the handful (jk, but also not). I see another doctor on Monday who will determine what further action should be taken, and we'll go from there. Even though we don't quite have conclusive anything right now, I'm going to say that because I'm feeling so much better and the doctor was not too concerned, things are looking good. :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you! to everyone who reviewed and/or PM'd me with support. Your words were bright spots in what was a very hard time. I'm sorry I didn't get back to all of you very quickly (I'm just now in the process of responding to PMs, but I thought I should post the chapter first), and I hope to be better about that in the future.

Speaking of the future...

Life is going by at supersonic speed and waits for no one, especially not me. I'm soon going to be very, very busy. Posting will stay the same as long as I have chapters prepared. This is nothing to worry about right now - I have another six chapters prepared, and am in the process of finishing the seventh one. Just a heads up that my life is going to be busier than I have ever imagined.

Now, go on and (I hope you will) enjoy the chapter!

4.

Madara wouldn't lie to himself and deny that he had been somewhat annoyed when Sakura had blatantly lied to him. However, he also couldn't deny that Sakura had a certain air of confidence about her—not like some women, who were used to using their bodies to get what they wanted or were used to being in leadership positions, but rather a subtle confidence that led him to believe she was perfectly fine with who she was, and comfortable in her own skin.

The part of him that was determined to be honest was putting thoughts in his head about how much fun it would be if she were being her fiery little self in the bedroom,only for him to tame her, force her to do as he commanded. She might be resistant, but she would eventually give in, and the passion with which she fought him would turn into passion for their mutual pleasure.

He frowned as his cock twitched. He was absolutely regretting not calling Miya the night before. There was no way Sakura would willingly let him spend his sexual frustrations on her. He was smart enough to realize now that Sakura hadn't been staring at him out of interest earlier; she had merely been observing him the way he had observed the class. Such maturity and insight on her part was also attractive. Not many girls her age or even women much older than her were smart enough to be perceptive like she was.

He shook his head to clear away the thoughts before proceeding back into the classroom, a few minutes late. However, it was his prerogative and he didn't really care if the teacher got annoyed with him. To be frank, he knew he was too powerful for the teacher to not respect him and even more frankly, he didn't really give a damn about this class or what the result of it would be. He would just choose Sasuke to work at the firm, as had pretty much been predetermined when he'd found out about Sasuke's presence in the class, and leave the politics of it to Hashirama and Tobirama. There was no reason at all to deal with this anymore.

Of course, it meant he'd never see Sakura again, which, like the entire situation, bothered him more than it should have. He felt rather cheated that he'd met a female he was actually interested in but who was also someone he would never see again.

As the next pair for the mock-trial went up to the front, Madara settled his eyes on the two students but let his mind wander. He didn't even pay attention to their names—they were unimportant at this point.

Inwardly he sighed, frustrated that this little pink-haired girl with stunning green eyes was getting to him so much. He'd known her less than four hours and she'd already weaseled her way into his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about her, couldn't stop fantasizing about what he'd do to her petite body. He couldn't bring himself to care that she wasn't as developed as he would have liked, even though her blonde friend had been—and this friend of hers was certainly interested in him from the way she had kept looking at him. But still, he couldn't take his mind off the pinkette. Her friend was insignificant.

This wasn't right—not that he cared much for social politics—but he, as Uchiha Madara, was not supposed to be susceptible to women. They were to come to him, not the other way around.

This was beyond ridiculous.

As he sat there stewing, a storm raging behind his eyes, he glanced at Sakura and found she was staring at him. An inner part of him leaped and he immediately quashed it, but as they made eye contact briefly until she deemed it suitable to turn away, Madara felt his attraction growing. She was so irresistibly intelligent. Instead of averting her eyes immediately, which would show guilt, she held his gaze for several seconds before 'deciding' that she'd looked at him long enough. He could tell that she was still afraid of him, as her eyes had suggested earlier, and so her intelligence was reflected in that she knew how to hide her fear by pretending that she was in charge. He smirked at the thought. She might not have been interested in him sexually, but she was curious and already trying to win the very real power struggles going on between them.

It was then that he suddenly came up with a brash decision that he was uncannily steadfast in. She was curious about him—which meant that she had some kind of emotion or agenda. He doubted it was an agenda, as she seemed rather innocent in the ways of scheming, so she felt something concerning him.

She was young and impressionable. His influence could go a long way into making her truly an adult woman, perhaps one that he would be interested for long-term—

He paused. No, he was getting too far ahead of himself. It was, of course, the time in his life where people typically had already stared their families and perhaps a part of him was curious about that, but he knew that he didn't honestly want children. He wasn't even sure he wanted a wife, but that would be expected of him as head of the Uchiha clan. Children were also obviously expected, but he wasn't too concerned about getting out of that one. There were plenty of younger Uchiha who could take over the clan head position when the time came.

Still, though, thoughts of Sakura remained. The thought of her sprawled out on his bed, begging for him to enter her. The thought of her wanting his attention, rather than wandering off to see her friends. The thought of her completely surrendering to him, capitulating and catering to his every need. No, he could tell she wouldn't like it—and that, for some reason, made the outcome all the more desirable.

He went back to his previous train of thought. He would choose her over Sasuke for the internship. No, Fugaku would not be happy, but he had valid reason to choose Sakura over Sasuke, the very beginning of which was to ask Sasuke to pronounce 'modus operandi.' Sakura had a valid point in her argument, one that he would now use against her.

He was sure that she wasn't incredibly interested in the role of intern at Senju & Uchiha. But he had found over the years that he knew how to be incredibly convincing…

And besides, curiosity had a habit of killing cats and other unfortunate individuals who succumbed to it.

Weaving his fingers together, Madara rested his head on his hands, unable to stop himself from feeling rather accomplished.

While his face hadn't changed in expression once the entire time she had observed him, Sakura had been able to see a veritable war being raged behind Madara's eyes.

She wasn't sure what he was at war with himself about, but she was absolutely positive it didn't concern her, so she decided not to care.

The final presentation had finished and Umino-sensei and Madara both stood at the same time. It looked coordinated, but as Iruka looked at his superior with mildly repressed shock, Madara was undisturbed by the fact that he was leaving early.

Iruka scrambled to say, "Thank you everyone! Uchiha-sama will be sending the selected student an e-mail concerning the internship, so—"

"I will speak to the selected student right now." Madara interrupted him, acting completely oblivious to his impoliteness. Sakura scoffed inwardly. From what she'd observed, this Uchiha Madara was much more aware that he let on—and there was no mistaking Uchiha Madara for being unaware. "Umino-san, are there any empty classrooms I may use to brief the student on the internship?"

Iruka nodded quickly. "Yes, Uchiha-sama. Room 41A should be empty until about 3 P.M."

Madara glanced at the clock. Sakura couldn't stop herself from watching him. Despite the fact that she couldn't help but be a little intimidated by him, he fascinated her.

"That gives us about fifteen minutes." He sighed, sounding exasperated. "Alright. Haruno Sakura, please come with me."

Sakura was shell-shocked, not standing up even after a minute of the results being announced. While she had been admittedly fascinated by Uchiha Madara, it hadn't been in a let-me-see-you-every-day sense. In fact, if she had seen him on the street corner after school she wouldn't have even given him a second glance.

Then there was the fact that Sasuke was glaring daggers at her, along with the hostile stares of a couple of other students who had wanted the position.

"What the hell did you and him talk about in the hallway?" Sasuke demanded quietly. Sakura blanched.

"I don't—"

"Haruno-san." She noticed he didn't call her by her first name publicly, which she was thankful for. "I'm waiting." This was true. Madara was already standing by the doorway, holding it open.

Iruka looked disgruntled. "Uchiha-sama, the other students weren't supposed to know the results. I don't want there to be any resentment in my—"

Madara shot Iruka a derisive look that said very clearly, 'Shut up. I don't give a damn.'

"Uchiha-sama," Sakura said, standing and bowing apologetically. "I don't think my schedule allows for—"

One look into Madara's calm eyes, apathetic to her case and growing ever more impatient, Sakura closed her eyes, prayed for patience and then collected her things. She would explain things to him after they left class. No need to cause a scene.

I'll fix this, she mouthed to Sasuke before she left. He rolled his eyes fractionally before turning his attention to Iruka, who was already beginning to lecture on the differences between healthy and unhealthy competition. Good on him for trying, but it wouldn't make much of a difference.

Sakura exhaled hard, thanking Madara quietly as she passed through the door he was holding open for her, and then flinched in her step at how loud the door had slammed behind them.

They arrived in 41A. Madara sat down at one of the desks and motioned for Sakura to sit next to him. Hesitantly, she placed her backpack down on the ground and then sat.

Before she could open her mouth to make excuses for why she couldn't work as an intern, he cut her off.

"If you don't take this offer, no one in your class will." His tone was harsh at first, but then softened into the tone of someone who was giving advice. "It pays well and you have flexible hours, being a student. You'd be an idiot to pass up this opportunity."

Sakura was looking at him with hardness in her eyes, obviously offended by the harshness of his tone and then the fact that he was implying she was an idiot, because she had already expressed that she didn't intend to take this job offer.

"Uchiha-sama—"

"Madara," he corrected.

"Madara-sama," she continued respectfully, although she seemed a little wary at the name change. "I really don't have the spare time to do this." Sakura looked relieved that she'd actually gotten a full sentence out, but not for long. As soon as she opened her mouth again, Madara spoke once more.

"¥1800 per hour."

Sakura's mouth, which had been previously open, now gaped.

"You will also have paid sick days and benefits," he continued. No, this hadn't been a part of the deal—initially the student was to work for free as an intern, but Madara had just agreed to pay her over double Japan's minimum wage.

He didn't care. This was personal now, and when he wanted something, he would get it. Besides, she'd be working for him as a personal secretary, like an actual job—but he wouldn't mention that until she accepted. He knew that with pay like that, she'd eventually put school to the back of her mind and be coming to work more and more often. He'd sate himself of her. Madara knew—hoped—that eventually, he'd solve the problem that was Sakura and then he could drop her like he was going to drop Miya someday. Women were fleeting, just like the pleasure that an orgasm brought. That was why it was important to have many.

Sakura tried to grasp the number he'd just put in her head. She was nineteen years old, almost twenty and she'd be working for ¥1800.

Unbelievable.

Nonetheless, she knew it was obvious her will to say no was breaking. Sakura's parents had never been very well-off, so the prospect of having some spending money was almost inconceivable.

Finally, she'd be able to keep up with Ino on shopping trips!

That was the thought that sealed it, but of course she was weighing college tuition as well in her mind. Tokyo University would be a viable option if she was able to juggle school and work appropriately, and—

"Sakura-san, are you going to keep me here all day?"

Despite Madara's rudeness, he was smirking and it was obvious he knew she'd been swayed.

"I suppose I can't really turn an offer like that down," Sakura admitted. "It has to be part-time though. I can't miss school."

She couldn't read Madara's mind, but she could see he was triumphant about something. She couldn't tell what, but she found herself just a little too curious and more than a little wary.

"Very well. Write down your e-mail address so I can send you your schedule. Your phone number as well, so that we can contact you."

"Home or cell?" she asked, but felt it was dumb. Of course she'd give him her house phone, so she began to scribble down her family landline.

"Cell," he said wearily, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Feeling even dumber, she hastily erased the home number and scribbled down her cell phone number.

After all was said and done and they were about to head out, Sakura couldn't help but ask warily, "Can I ask you a question?"

Madara glanced at her from the corner of his eye as they left the classroom, just as several students were lining up against the outside wall, his expression unreadable. Even his eyes were masked. "Yes."

"Why did you choose me? I mean, there are students a lot more interested in this than—"

"I only accept top-notch work, Sakura-san, and those who are team players. You will do fine at the firm. Sasuke is interested in the job—and the profession—for the money and especially the glory. You are not."

With that, Madara stepped away from her and they parted ways, her mouth hanging open.

I know, I know, only minor edits here. :( Trust me, the next chapter is where things really change!