Hi everyone.

I'd like to think my excuses for my disappearance are valid, but I'm truly sorry for going away and not leaving any reason why.

Good news all around, though! The tumors are benign, thank GOD. But once that happened, it turned out that my sprained ankle was actually two torn ligaments in my ankle, and I had to have surgery to reattach them. I had been planning to update, but with the stress of the upcoming surgery and all the bad shit that has happened this year (2016, for those of you who have been following me for that duration, will know that this whole year has just been a huge clusterfuck of shitty luck) and I just couldn't bring myself to touch my fanfiction account. Then, the surgery...

I had a terrible reaction to the anesthesia, the worst I've ever had. Then I wasn't allowed to walk at all, and had to use crutches and my wonderful, beloved, blessed knee scooter. They put me on Percocet, which, it turns out, I have a very bad reaction to. I was terribly depressed, sleeping 16-18 hours a day, bitchy and just the whole thing was gross. I was convinced two days in that I would give up writing forever and never write again, not even to finish my fanfictions - I was DONE with writing. Thankfully, moor was able to convince me that it was the drugs, and when I was told on Wednesday that I could start trying to walk again and got off the Percocet, I have been back to my usual self. I've written 10,000 words since then for various stores (Modus Operandi, a new original fic to be put on my website, Djet, Psychophobia, also to be put up on my website when completed, and INTOXICATION, the sequel to Sweet Cinnamon and Honey for those of you who follow it! :D) I'm on a roll with the writing now...so much for giving it up forever, eh? ...lol...

So anyways, I've been in total hell for the last month since I updated. I'm sorry for abandoning you guys and this story, but I think that while I probably won't be able to keep up with the original update schedule (school...ugh) I will definitely be back in the swing of updating, as well as my other stories. I'm planning to work on A Girl and a Mountain next. :)

Also, to all of you lovelies who have sent me PMs, I'm tackling those right after this uploads!

Okay, enough rambling, and I hope you enjoy this chapter! This is all-new content, not recycled in the least!

7.

From there on out, he was able to engage her occasionally in any court case he deemed interesting enough to catch her attention. She remained wary of him, but she was slowly starting to open up more, although he could tell her trust for him was in the negatives.

That didn't bother him. In a way, it was almost admirable that she would persist in her suspiciousness of him, as they both knew the last thing his intentions were towards her was honorable. She was smart and could see that, and it would have almost—almost—ruined her allure if she was willing to fall for such a simple ruse as having barely less than professional conversations.

Not for the first time, Madara wondered what it was about Haruno Sakura that had brought on his obsession for her. Her intelligence was a part of it, her personality was another, and while her looks were enticing as well, they actually took up the smallest amount of importance in his obsession.

But even those three factors combined still did not warrant the strength of his feelings towards her. She was magnetic, the north to his south, and any chance he had ever had of letting go of her had faded the moment she had defiantly lied to his face during their first conversation, stilted though it was.

Madara stood in his bedroom, his white dress shirt unbuttoned past his collarbones and tied loosened from around his neck. He technically had a date with Miya tonight, which would inevitably end up in a high-end hotel room in downtown Tokyo—he never allowed any of his 'dates' come back to his home, no matter how familiar with them he was—but it held no real appeal to him. He was more concerned, if that was the right word, about his relationship with Sakura.

It had nearly been a month now, and he was tired of waiting. Realistically, he'd known that it would take much longer for her to warm up to him than a mere month, especially given she wasn't as willing in their arrangement as he would have liked her to be. However, it was grating on him. Coming home every day only to take off his clothes and immediately masturbate to whatever fantasy about her had popped into his head during the day was taking a toll on him. He knew without a doubt that the only way his lust would be slaked would be if he had her, body and soul.

He had realized not long after hiring her that his initial decision to sleep with her to get her out of his head was not going to happen. Sakura had embedded herself in him, regardless of whether or not she had meant to, and nothing in the world could stop him from owning her.

He had never been in a relationship, not like the one he planned to have with Sakura. Whereas he had had rather intense flings in the past, he had never intended for it to go anywhere outside the bedroom.

Sakura, though…Sakura. She would be his, outside the bedroom just as much as inside. He would marry her someday, he knew, because he couldn't see this passion waning.

Running his hand through his long hair, he sighed and finished unbuttoning his shirt. He might as well see Miya after all, but then he'd get to work. He picked up his phone and thumbed down his list of contacts. Under the guise of a popular restaurant's number was Nagato's private line. Perhaps, with some finagling and negotiation, he could convince the young man that carrying out his orders would be in his best interests without cashing in his freebie.

So much preparation, so little time.

Sakura was equally as frustrated as her boss, but for very different reasons.

"How am I supposed to get a date for the dance Friday night if Kiba won't even call me back?" she raged to Ino as they sat at a tea shop by Ino's house.

Ino drummed her fingers on the table, her head propped up on her hand and bored eyes scanning the busy street. "I don't know," she said. "Shika hasn't returned any of my texts, either. And even though there are plenty of people I'd rather go with, might as well be someone I'll at least have fun with."

Sakura smirked. "If he doesn't bail five minutes in."

Ino turned to face her, a dark but playful look in her eyes. "You know I won't let him."

"And they say men can't be victims of abuse."

Ino laughed at that and Sakura joined in. It was nice to go out with her friend and just relax for a little bit, even though there was a ton of homework waiting for her at home and she was supposed to finish up a financial report for work. When it came to working for Madara, there was no such thing as a weekend. There were days she went to work, and then there were days where the work came home with her. In all honesty, she wasn't sure how she was still coping with the stress.

Ino seemed to notice her suddenly glum look and frowned. "What's up, Forehead?"

Sakura sighed and took a sip of her tea. It was in that heavenly middle between piping hot and lukewarm, and she was going to savor it while it remained at the perfect temperature.

"Ugh," Sakura moaned. "It's just everything. Do you remember how I told you I was picked for that internship?"

Ino nodded. "Is it that bad?"

"It's worse," Sakura confided. Ino gave her a look and Sakura nodded. "But you have to keep this to yourself. I recently read over the contract and one of the things mentioned was a confidentiality clause."

Her friend raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Of course there's a confidentiality clause. You're working at a law firm."

"No, that's not what the clause is for." Ino frowned, and Sakura looked surreptitiously around the room, even though there was no one to overhear who would care. "He tricked me. It's not an internship at all."

Ino's frowned deepened with concern. "What do you mean?"

Sakura went on to explain the story: how he had offered her wages in exchange for her agreement, the convoluted contract that didn't do what it said it did, including the confidentiality clause that made her glad she hadn't thought to complain about Madara's duplicity loudly and publicly, and his assumed intentions towards her.

Ino's jaw dropped lower and lower throughout Sakura's explanation until it was stretched to its limit. Then, when Sakura had finished, she looked torn between amusement and anger.

"Yeah, right, Forehead. As if someone of his status would ever go so far for a college student. But you really did have me going there for a minute."

Sakura blanched at Ino's disbelief, but realized she should have expected it. After hearing herself say it all out loud, it really did sound ludicrous. And really, it was like her best friend had said—why would a man like Uchiha Madara go after a girl like Haruno Sakura?

"Why would I make something like this up?" she asked after a long silence, unable to hide the hurt in her voice. Sure, it appeared pretty ridiculous on the outside looking in, but it was nowhere near as funny when you were the person in the situation.

Ino's brow furrowed and she looked at her disapprovingly. "Sakura…"

Sakura hadn't realized just how much it had meant to have Ino believe her. If anybody would take her seriously on this, it was Ino, and even she wasn't. It hurt, but Sakura also didn't blame Ino. If Ino had come up to her saying the same thing, she would be reacting exactly how the blonde was.

But how could she prove it to her?

"I'll show you the contract," Sakura declared decisively. If that didn't convince her, then nobody would ever believe her.

Ino's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Are you serious?"

"Like I said, why would I make this up?" Sakura wasn't angry, not really, but she supposed she sounded it, because Ino looked intensely concerned for a long moment.

"Okay. Show it to me on Friday, when we're getting ready for the dance, okay? If this is true, and not some super crazy prank you're playing on me—and good job, by the way, if it is—you probably shouldn't bring it to school."

Sakura nodded, and they lapsed into awkward silence. Once she realized that conversation was effectively over, her too hurt and Ino too suspicious, she stood up and placed a few bills on the table.

"I might as well go home and get some homework done," Sakura told her. "Can't get behind."

Ino smirked, and it seemed that even though they disagreed on Sakura's plight, all was more or less well between them. "Like you'd ever get behind, Forehead."

"Pig," Sakura sneered playfully. "I'll see you Friday, then?"

Ino nodded, also standing up. "If not before. But you're so busy these days, I hardly ever see you."

Sakura knew it would be pointless to remind her that that was directly caused by the job she had but didn't want, but knew that that would only make things awkward again, so she kept it to herself. She waved goodbye and headed down the street towards the bus station.

Sakura was filing away paperwork in the appropriate cabinet when she heard Madara's cell phone ring. She startled at the sudden noise in the oppressive silence, but Madara quickly answered it.

"Hello?"

Sakura could vaguely hear a voice speaking on the other end. It was deep and not nearly as cultured as Madara's, but it was clearly identifiable as a male.

Madara rarely received calls on his personal cell at work. Sakura couldn't help her curiosity, so she focused on what the man on the phone was saying.

"-can be done Friday evening," she heard the man say.

"Is that so?" Madara said, humming in what seemed like appreciation. "Very well. I suppose that's as soon as possible."

The voice was speaking too fast for Sakura to catch everything, but she heard, "-Hachi Street-" Odd, that was the street Ino lived on. "-father—enemy—useful information—It will be done at 9 p.m."

"I will make the arrangements," Madara replied calmly.

For some reason, Sakura felt a twist in her stomach. Somehow, she was almost certain she wasn't supposed to have heard what was said, and not in just an 'it's bad to eavesdrop' type of way. It almost felt like this was something that would actively hurt her if she understood the implications.

A bead of sweat trickled down her spine and she swallowed hard. Better to just put it in the back of her mind and not worry about it. Whatever was going on with Madara and whoever this man was, she was positive she didn't want to know.

And did it really surprise her that her boss might be involved with illegal dealings?

…Not as much as it would have if it had been anybody else, no. In fact, she wasn't surprised at all.

She tuned out the last of the conversation, focusing on making sure the files went into their correct places. She couldn't help but hurry a little, in fact. She didn't quite understand why, but she wanted to be around Madara less than usual right then, which was really saying something.

She hurried to back to her office, but didn't close the door in case he needed something from her. There was rarely a point in the day where she had a legitimate excuse to erect the barrier between them, but right then she wished she had one.

The rest of the day, Madara seemed exceedingly jovial—as much as a person like he was could be, at least—and was clearly very, very pleased about something. Sakura didn't know what that might be, but she had a feeling that it was very bad for someone somewhere.

It never occurred to her that the person it was bad for was, in fact, herself.

That's a wrap for now! As soon as I write the next chapter (Chapter 11) then I'll post Chapter 8! Cheers, and thanks for sticking with me through this!