Ah, shit. I just checked the date and realized that I'm not a day late, but rather over a week late. :( Sorry, guys.
Got moved into my new apartment and signed up for school, so all's good there. This last week has not, however, been my week. Got diagnosed with dermatitis in the least pleasant place to have it on Monday, accidentally poisoned myself and ended up in the ER on Tuesday, and then on Thursday I sprained my ankle and am in a boot and crutches. Not. My. Week.
I'm going to bet it's karma for missing an update. Otherwise, I must have really pissed someone off and didn't realize it.
Annnnnnyways, this is the longest chapter for MO to date. I hope that makes up at least a little for missing a week. To make up for it, next Friday will be the next update, as if I hadn't forgotten to update this chapter on time. :)
Enjopy!
5.
It was early Monday morning. Sakura was awake at 5:30 A.M. and out the door by six, fully dressed and on her way to get coffee in the worst mood imaginable.
Monday wasn't even a school day for her. So where was she going?
Work.
Madara had sent her an e-mail—a very distant, professional e-mail simply asking her about her school schedule—that was received by her inbox no more than fifteen minutes before she got home. As soon as she was home and it was marked as read, Sakura couldn't help but feel that she was obligated to respond.
So she had, attaching a digital copy of her school schedule.
She had thought it was harmless to respond so quickly—helpful, even, because it would prepare her for whenever work started.
Sakura hadn't, however, planned on Madara responding not even half an hour later to give her a semi-permanent work schedule for the next month. She hadn't needed to do any math or calculations to realize that her social life had just gotten a lot less existent. She would have sent him back an email telling him that working every day except weekends and after school on days that she had it would be a problem, but unfortunately, the paycheck at the end of the month was a little too tempting.
Sakura was not greedy by any definition of the word, but seeing the secondary attached document that showed, in hard math, her income at the end of the month with taxes taken out, she had decided she could try it out. So, she'd agreed to give the first week a try. It didn't occur to her that it was a little suspicious that he'd taken the time to try and convince her to agree; instead, she thought it very generous of him.
She was already hating herself and her decision.
Gripping her hot drink with way too much caffeine packed into its whole sixteen ounces, Sakura made her way to the front desk of Senju & Uchiha, where a woman who was way too cheerful for this hour of the day was sitting behind a neatly organized and ornately furnished desk.
The first level of the building was simple but spacious; the tile on the ground and walls was black speckled with olive green, gold, and navy blue flecks. There was a tall potted tree-like plant on either side of the desk, and Sakura could make out two elevators on the wall to her right. To her left was a window that took up the entire span of the wall, looking out to the busy street.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The woman had short brown hair and brown eyes, which were prettily made-up. Under the makeup, though, she could see the outline of two square purple marks on her cheeks. At first Sakura was alarmed and thought that they were bruises, but their sharp edges proved that they were just tattoos that were poorly covered up. Since tattoos were viciously frowned upon in Japan, Sakura thought that it probably had something to do with her heritage. The woman also wore a red long-sleeved V-neck shirt and what looked like a long black skirt. Sakura couldn't fully tell because she wasn't tall enough to see directly over the desk.
"I'm here because Uchiha-sama brought me on as the student intern," she replied, not feeling comfortable calling him by his first name if he wasn't there to demand it of her. Sakura didn't want anybody getting the wrong idea about them.
She handed the woman—Nohara Rin, her nametag read—the paperwork Madara had sent her to sign and show to this very woman. Rin skimmed over the signed documents and then nodded decisively.
"Alright, Haruno-san, I'll get you a temporary badge until yours is made. You're going to be heading up to Floor 12. Uchiha-sama's office is 12C. He should already be up there. Thank Kami," Rin said, a smile finding its way onto her face easily. "I hope you're good, Haruno-san. Uchiha-sama's needed some…assistance with file cabinet." She winked and her voice lowered, "He's good about it, I suppose, but there's nothing a woman's touch won't help."
Sakura hesitated, the entire situation suddenly feeling off. She'd read over the job description Konoha College had given her the night before, trying to mentally prepare herself for her first day on the job. It had said many things about what she'd be doing, but cleaning up Uchiha Madara's files wasn't one of them.
In fact, interacting at all with him after the mock trial hadn't been one of them. Umino-sensei had warned the entire class that once the student was hired, they were most likely not going to see the person who had hired them, as Uchiha Madara was a very high-up individual.
She had understood at first that seeing him to check in was probably going to happen, but Rin implying that she would be working with him—or at least being in his presence—caught her off guard.
"Sorry, uh, Nohara-san?"
Rin nodded her head politely, motioning for Sakura to continue.
"So, I was, uh, supposed to be the student intern from Konoha College. It didn't say anything on the description that I'd be doing much administrative work, or working with Uchiha-sama."
Rin frowned, then glanced over the papers Sakura had signed the night before. Sakura waited patiently for her answer, but didn't like it when she received a question to her question. "You didn't read the contract before you filled it out?" There wasn't disdain, but rather surprise in Rin's voice.
Sakura furrowed her brow, feeling stupid. "I skimmed it," she said quietly. It was true, she had, but a lot of the kanji she hadn't understood, and she really hadn't thought it to be that important.
"It says you're to be Uchiha-sama's personal secretary," Rin said pointedly. "It's also very binding for a student internship." She frowned as she glanced over the contract again.
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Sakura asked, suddenly feeling extremely nervous and also a fair share of stupid.
"You're contracted for six months minimum, no loopholes," Rin said, looking at Sakura skeptically.
Sakura's mouth just about flew open, deeming it obvious that she really hadn't read it very thoroughly.
"What?"
"You should probably go talk to your boss," Rin said, still frowning. Sakura couldn't tell if Rin was judging her poorly or uncertain about the implications of the document she held in her hands.
Sakura nodded, eyes hardening but not reflecting what was going on inside her head. She was terrified.
What had she gotten herself into?
Madara had expected Sakura at around seven-fifteen or so, as she was still a student and her schedule indicated that she probably wouldn't be able to handle waking up and being there by six-thirty. So when his pink-haired beauty stormed through his door—without knocking, he noticed with a smirk—a few minutes before six-forty, he was pleasantly surprised.
He deduced almost immediately that Sakura hadn't read the paperwork all the way through before she'd signed it, as he'd expected she wouldn't, and that someone had most definitely informed her about what the paper had said exactly instead of what she had naively assumed it said.
Sakura took a deep, steadying breath, which seemed to calm her a bit. "I think you gave me the wrong paperwork to sign," she said, her voice shaking—whether with fear or with anger he wasn't quite able to discern. She was trying to hide her emotions and it was almost working.
"I don't believe I did," Madara said, his smirk widening at her trembling visage.
Sakura's eyes hardened. "You must have. It says nothing about being an intern, according to Nohara-san, and that I'm contracted for six months to work with you—and no loopholes."
Madara raised an eyebrow with mock concern. "You didn't read it all the way through?"
Sakura reddened into a blush, but her eyes didn't lose their hard edge. "Well, to be honest, I tried…the words were really complex and I wasn't exactly familiar with a lot of the kanji, so I guessed that it was alright." When Madara continued to look at her skeptically, she frowned. "Look, I was a little pressed for time, alright? I had lots of schoolwork thanks to Sasuke-kun and his botched attempt at getting this internship."
"I think you mean job," Madara corrected, his smirk never wavering.
Sakura frowned even more deeply. "You knew what it said," she deadpanned.
At this, Madara's eyes flashed. Her intelligence would most likely never fail to please him. "I wrote it myself."
Her mouth hung open as she took in the implication of what he'd said. He could see the gears working at full speed, her mind trying to wrap itself around the situation. Her jaw worked for a few seconds without any words coming out before her expression took a turn for the worse and she surged forward, slamming her palms on the table. It was obvious she'd lost control of her temper.
"What game are you playing, Uchiha-sama?" she hissed.
"Madara," he corrected, calm and unwavering. His eyes fastened on hers and she had no problem at first maintaining eye contact, but as their staring contest continued, she soon began to struggle to keep a firm grip on her temper and not let fear take over. He could see it behind her eyes' hard glint; she was terrified of whatever game he was playing.
And what a glorious game it was.
Finally, she slumped, anger exhausted and fear taking over. She averted her eyes and sat down in the chair she had forgone when she'd rushed by it to confront him.
"Can't you just revoke the contract?" she asked, her tone desperate. "This wasn't what I signed up for."
"Yes, actually, it is," Madara replied calmly, his eyes never leaving her heart-shaped face. He drank in every aspect of it: her cute, feminine nose, her pale pink lips, her round cheeks that perfectly accentuated the look in her fearful jade eyes.
Yes, she was certainly a beauty. Her body, while perhaps lacking compared to other women he'd had, was not at all lacking in his eyes. It was something he found himself mildly surprised at—he could sometimes forgo a less-than-perfect face if the body was superb, at least for a night. But with Sakura, she seemed to have the opposite effect. While she was by no means flat or a stick, her curves were gentler than his usual type and her breasts were small, although he could see their perkiness through the bra she was wearing. Her flaws were easily disregarded and he found her beautiful.
Funnily enough, he couldn't remember thinking that about a woman, ever. There were many ways of describing an attractive woman, most of which he had used at one point or another in his lifetime. But beautiful? It usually held too much sentimental connotation for him to attach the word to a female. However, Sakura seemed to have no problem taking that title.
"When are you going to stop staring?" Sakura bit out, her face flushed.
Madara continued to let his eyes subtly undress her body while saying, "Whenever I feel like it."
"I don't know what's going on in your dirty, perverted mind, but don't think it will ever have anything to do with me."
Madara finally glanced up at her eyes, more than a little surprised by her outburst. He raised his eyebrow questioningly.
Sakura scoffed, and he could tell that she was feeling more comfortable now that she thought she had the upper hand. "You think people don't know about you? You, the head of the famous Uchiha clan, wouldn't have rumors spread like wildfire every time you slept with a woman? Which, given your playboy status and the fact that you're old," she spat this and he narrowed his eyes at her disapprovingly, "would mean that your count can't be under two hundred. Tell me, Uchiha-sama, how many people does it take to get an STD from?"
He was silent. It was quite interesting to listen to her tirade.
"It takes one," she informed him, with some misguided sense of condescendence. "And in Japan, AIDS is at an all-time high. Did you know that? You're probably HIV positive, so I would recommend getting tested.
"And with that said, I want you to take me off your payroll so I can get out of this office and never come back."
Madara began to laugh, a genuine laugh that flustered and shocked Sakura simultaneously. He took his time recovering, letting her take in the fact that he found her thoughts on the entire matter humorous.
"Something funny?" Sakura finally asked, her voice venomous. However, Madara could tell that he'd rattled her by dismissing her with his amusement.
"It's somewhat comical to me, Sakura-chan, that you believe everything you read in the celebrity newspapers," he began, his eyes never hardening. He was going to show her how little he cared for her opinion.
Sakura reddened at his implication that she enjoyed gossip, but he raised his hand, stopping her from speaking.
"You were allowed to speak freely, so I'm afraid I must be allowed to do the same." He looked at her intently and continued. "Since you are so obviously convinced that I'm what you say I am, I won't try to convince you otherwise." She seemed to be annoyed at this, as her brow furrowed. Perhaps she had hoped he would try to defend himself so that she could attempt to poke holes in his rebuttal. Unfortunately for her, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. He had much more experience weaving and winning arguments than she had—there was no contest here. "However, I will let you know that I am, actually, HIV negative." He felt this was important to tell her, given that she was going to be involved with him sexually, whether she knew it or not. "And clean of everything else you might hope to not find on the male anatomy."
Sakura sniffed and turned her head. "Good for you."
Madara smirked, continuing, "I might also add that as I wrote the contract, I have disallowed any and all loopholes. Including those I myself can create."
Sakura paled, all the blood draining from her face. "You what?"
"It's binding, my dear. You signed it." He smirked. "I can't fire you even if I wanted to."
She looked like she was about to be sick. "You're kidding," she said weakly.
"That being said, I would be a little more careful of how you speak to your employers in the future." At the gloating expression on his face, a sheen of tears glazed over her lovely, expressive eyes.
"I need to excuse myself." She stood shakily, her body trembling.
Madara nodded, looking back down at the papers in front of him. While he was loath to dismiss her, he knew that she was going to go cry in the bathroom. Good, he thought to himself. He would get to see more of the spitfire personality that had so captivated him just as soon as the tears ran out.
Sakura stared at her blotchy red face in the mirror of the ornate bathroom. She wasn't a pretty crier, just like the rest of the human race—excepting Ino, who did everything beautifully—and so she had really and truly needed to excuse herself when she had been about to burst into tears.
She wondered, in her defeat, if Madara had ever cried in his entire life. No, she reminded herself, he just likes to make other people cry.
Her best and only option was to suck it up and try to survive the next six months.
Six whole months. Half of an entire year.
At least that meant her paycheck couldn't be reduced, or at least she really and truly hoped not. Obviously it couldn't go under minimum wage, but she'd agreed to the job for the money.
She regretted it so badly. Now she knew why he'd made the offer so tempting—he wasn't planning on letting her out of it once she agreed. It all made sense now—that he'd insisted she take the job and how he'd bothered to do the math on her paycheck. It certainly hadn't been borne of generosity.
Sakura wasn't sure exactly how deep she was in, but she knew that whatever game Madara was playing was well beyond her league and her years. Whatever he was aiming for was bad and it needed to be avoided. She was hoping she was wrong, but there wasn't much reason for an older male to go to so much trouble for a younger female other than sex. If he thought he could woo her, he wasn't doing a very good job of it.
Trapping someone in a job they hadn't even wanted wasn't a very good start to any relationship, much less so when one's goal was to get into the other person's pants.
In the end, the only she thing could do was try to not let him get to her, evade whatever tactics he tried to use on her, and then pray that the job was over sooner rather than later. She was a smart girl and she knew she wouldn't be fooled by his advances. No matter what happened, she could always say no. It wouldn't go any further than that.
Heaving a sigh, she swallowed the lump in her throat and exited the bathroom.
The walk down the hallway back to his office was the longest walk of shame she'd ever endured. She couldn't believe she'd been so naïve as to trust Madara. Uchiha Madara, the man who could spin a lie so many ways you would be certain it was the truth by the end of it, even if you knew it was false. After all, he was a defense lawyer—lying was his job.
Sakura hung her head in shame and quietly opened the door to his office, not bothering to knock. If passive-aggressiveness would make him miserable, good. He deserved it.
Madara didn't pay attention to her at first, instead continuing to work on whatever paperwork he'd assigned himself. Sakura sat back down on the seat from which she had left to go cry, frowning with annoyance at the fact that he hadn't given any sign that told her he noticed she had arrived. However, as he wasn't assigning her any work, she took the liberty to simply sit there, more or less twiddling her thumbs. If he didn't direct her, she certainly wasn't going to direct herself.
It was a beautiful thing, this passive-aggression. He would really regret hiring her.
He seemed to read her mind. "You know, you may not want this position, but you'll be required to use me as a referral when you apply to future jobs as you have no other experience. That said, I would recommend you ask me what you can do."
Madara didn't once look up from his paperwork, but his words were clear. Help, or else. Sakura sat for a moment more, feeling weak. This was just too horrible.
Wearily, Sakura stood and went over to a file cabinet that looked much like Rin had described when they spoke. She pulled open one of the unlocked drawers, as a few were locked with a combination and keyhole. Just as she opened the drawer, Madara spoke up.
"I told you to ask me what to do," he said firmly, still not looking up from his work. His pen hadn't even stopped moving. It was like he had eyes in the back of his head.
Sakura glowered at him behind his back, not saying anything. She couldn't bring herself to listen to him. It was just too demeaning; he was on a power trip. He just wanted control.
Standing angrily, Sakura walked back over to the chair she'd now claimed as her own and decided that two could play at this game.
"If you want me to ask, why don't you acknowledge my presence first?"
She swore a smile ghosted over Madara's lips, but she couldn't be sure because he was still focusing on his paperwork. He still didn't look up from it, but said, "Sit there as long as you like." His voice was smug. "I'm sure your next employer will be very excited to hire you, given that you're belligerent, a control-freak, and constantly disrespect authority."
Her jaw dropped and her mouth gaped open. She couldn't really argue with belligerence, but control-freak? Disrespect authority? This was not going to go undefended.
"I'm not a control-freak," she said coldly. "And I only give authority to those who deserve it. In other words, not you. And belligerence? Quite frankly, somebody needs to put you in your place."
Madara finally looked up at her, the masked expression on his face frightening. "And you believe that yourself, a young, not even twenty-year-old woman, without higher education, with maybe twenty-five thousand yen to her name, who lives with her parents, and who wouldn't even have a job without the person she is try to 'put in his place,' should be the one to humble me? You, my dear, are extremely naïve and have no sense of place in this world. You would do well to go to an obedience school for women."
It occurred to her that he was definitely a misogynist. The Western feminine movement that was slowly making its way towards Japan obviously didn't impress him, but that wasn't what bothered her.
Despite her tough attitude and her angry face, Sakura had been cut deeply by his words. They were mostly true. She wasn't sure how he'd figured out even an estimate of what she had in her personal bank account or that she lived with her parents, but it was accurate. She had twenty-two thousand yen in her bank account, give or take, and most of her expenses were covered by her parents still, even at nineteen. But didn't most nineteen year olds live with their parents? Maybe, maybe not. Ino lived with her parents and she knew Sasuke did, but her friend Naruto didn't have any parents to live with so he was on his own. Of course she didn't have higher education; she was nineteen. What he'd said was definitely kicking below the belt, because he was being scolding and condescending towards her mostly because of her age and the fact that she was a woman, but it stung nonetheless.
She wanted to make it clear to him that she didn't even want the job, but in her sensitive, wounded mind she knew that it would only prove his condescending words. Sakura couldn't even respond.
So another part of her took over. The strong, confident Sakura reacted and she was given a new perspective. As much as she hated it, Uchiha Madara was her boss. She couldn't disrespect him and she had to listen to him. This was her role, and as much as she regretted it, she had gotten herself into this situation. She was going to be his personal assistant for the next six months. Looking at it as optimistically as she could, it would very much reflect well on her on any resume if she could get on Madara's good side. If she performed well and did what he asked, it could actually really benefit her. She would figure out the rest later, like how to avoid his possible advances or whatever else he might be after, but she would swallow her pride now and be responsible. It occurred to her that her childhood was over and she had entered the working adult world.
She would just have to rise above his cold, cutting words and be a woman instead of a girl.
But that didn't mean she would give him what he really wanted by hiring her. She would be calm, cool, collected and most certainly professional. There would be no trivial conversation, no games, nothing. As long as it was job-related, she would accommodate him, no questions asked. She would be the best personal assistant ever, and she would live through the experience. Hardening herself and cutting off her angry, tumultuous emotions, Sakura rose to the occasion.
Straightening herself in her seat, she noticed Madara had gone back to his paperwork. Nodding inwardly, she asked as politely and professionally as she could, "Madara-sama, what would you like me to do?"
He paused in his work and looked up at her, smirking triumphantly. "Good, you've learned your place. I suppose I won't have to order you to go to obedience school after all."
Sakura nodded, not taking the bait to show her temper, even though she seethed with fury inside. "I'm glad you will be spared of that expense," she agreed meekly, although if it wouldn't have been illegal to pummel him to death with her fists, she would have. As it was, she was all but biting her tongue to hold back a scathing remark.
Madara raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more for a good few minutes, simply staring at her. Knowing her place, she did not meet his eyes. He was her superior and she would treat him like it.
"You may get me coffee. Black, with two packets of sugar on the side."
Sakura nodded and stood. "Where would you like me to go?"
"There is a coffee shop on the corner. Ask Nohara-san for my company credit card for the purchase. Anything you would like will come out of your paycheck."
She nodded in understanding. "Alright, Madara-sama. I'll get that for you now." She turned to leave.
Just as she reached the door, Madara spoke again.
"It disappoints me, Sakura-chan, that you would break so easily. I believed you were stronger than that."
Sakura ignored the back-handed compliment. "Some would say, Madara-sama, that strength is directly correlated with surviving. If I can survive working for you, I should think that death would no longer frighten me."
With that, she turned on her heel and left.
Reviews are love!