Make sure to read the author's note at the bottom. Also, I don't own Mulan.
9
-Ultimatum-
Madara only stopped rubbing his hime's back until it was clear she had exhausted herself from her tears and was yet again asleep. He had been under no illusions since finding out about her and that damned Sasuke's relationship that this would be an easy transition for her, but it was painful for him to see his beloved hurting so badly. He would do anything to kiss her tears away and soothe her hurts—just as soon as she accepted him.
And not a second before.
Uchiha Madara did not consider himself a cruel man, but he knew that if he showed any weakness at this point in time, Sakura would start to think she could negotiate her way out of this or change his mind. His bride-to-be was smart, cunning like that. He knew that if he wasn't careful she would find a way to turn the tables against him, perhaps by using his affection for her in a less than honorable way. He wouldn't judge her for it; in some way, he might be proud of her, for that was exactly how he had managed to corner her in the first place. At the same time, even though he was wary of her capabilities, something told him that his him wouldn't allow herself to stoop to his levels. While he had no moral compass when it came to getting what he wanted, he was certain that she would try t beat him at his own game without tarnishing herself. It was one of the reasons he loved her.
Still, all the information gathering in the world would not give him a comfortably certain prediction as to what she would do when she was forced between a rock and a hard place. It was possible that she would react like a trapped animal, lashing out at whoever she had to in order to be free again. He was the closest target and the one responsible for the situation in the first place, so she would aim for him first.
He couldn't allow that, so until she submitted, he would not be able to relent the assault.
He went to fetch her a blanket to keep her warm while she slept—he didn't expect that she would sleep for very long, as she had only just woken up an hour ago—and then went to his office, where the contract he had had prepped was sitting in a file folder on his desk.
He cared for her deeply, hell, he loved her, but he wasn't stupid despite all that rampant emotion. Taking her for her word on this matter would be foolish and naïve. No, Sakura would have to sign the contract he now held in his hands before he would remove the holds he had put on her and her father's lives. After that, though, he knew he would be able to trust her.
This contract would seal their fates.
Sakura woke up blearily a few hours later. This time, the headache was gone and she wasn't extremely sensitive to the light pouring in from the windows, but she still felt like shit nonetheless.
She had been lying on her stomach comfortably, but she still had a crick in her neck from the odd position she had fallen asleep in. When she sat up, she noticed that a blanket had been draped over her. Her brow furrowed at this. Madara was the only one who could have done it, but it seemed out of character for him. He had been so cruel in trapping her this way, giving her no choice but to accept him. She refused to believe that a man like that, who was willing to go to such lengths, was capable of affection.
Thinking about it clearly, Sakura couldn't really understand why he had taken such interest in her. They got along well enough—at least, before he put the plan in motion to ruin her life—and she supposed she could be considered attractive, but she certainly didn't have the capability to be a model or anything. They could talk on an intellectual level, although she doubted they were true intellectual equals, and she had liked and admired him before he ruined her life and raped her. Of course, when he had revealed the dark, twisted side to him that had been willing to take her without her consent—he had drugged her, so even if she hadn't snapped out of it, it still would be rape because she would never have cheated on Sasuke—there was no hope of any of her positive emotions towards him surviving. But still, none of what little they had had was enough to justify his behavior.
The only thing she could think of was that he reveled in her unwillingness to marry him, that she was some sort of trophy. It was as if to show to the world that he could have whoever he wanted, whether or not they wanted him back.
The thought of being used like that galled her in a way she couldn't describe. Why did it have to be her? She was certain that even women who had significant others would gladly leave them to go be with the Uchiha Madara, so why would he have to choose one of the few who wouldn't except for the ego boost?
A little selfishly, she wished that he had chosen some other woman's life to ruin. Why her? What had she done that was so special? If he needed someone to prove that he could have whatever—whoever—he wanted, why did he have to choose her?
Sitting up, Sakura rotated her neck to ease the stiffness and took note of her surroundings. In this room, a living room of sorts, there was a large flat screen TV incased in a large entertainment center. There was a couch across from it and other assorted seats fitting to a theme of navy blue and cream. In the center of the room was a low glass-top coffee table. On both ends of the couch were small black tables and the one to her right had a lamp and a bonsai tree on it.
If this was where she was going to spend the rest of her life, the place could do with a little more color. Not that Madara would allow it. She was just a means to an end for him; a trophy wife to show off to the world. He would probably be praised for taking a no-name civilian as a wife and called a philanthropist. He'd be called humble and willing to associate with the masses, having fallen in love with someone who was a stranger to fame. She, on the other hand, might be called a gold digger, or scorned for having married up so blatantly.
No one would know the true circumstances of the arrangement. She would be forced to smile like this had been her idea, too; she would have to kiss him in public, show affection, give him everything he hadn't earned.
Disgust solidified like a pit in her stomach. She wouldn't let this happen. She couldn't.
But what else could she do?
Frowning, she stood up and began to look for her purse. Wandering into the dining room, she didn't find Madara, and decided that she didn't particularly want to see him anyway. Trying not to make noise, just in case he thought she was still asleep, she searched the large room for her purse.
She finally found it in the foyer by her shoes. She didn't remember leaving it there, but it didn't matter. Now she had her phone and she could call Sasuke.
Except her phone wasn't in her bag. Panicking, she emptied the entire purse's contents onto the floor, uncaring of the mess it made. Unfortunately, it was still nowhere to be found.
Had Madara taken it?
"Looking for this?" asked an all-too-familiar voice that sent disgusted shivers down her spine.
When Sakura turned, she saw Madara holding her phone, dangling it by its keychain. Her eyes narrowed angrily. How dare he invade her privacy like that?
"I didn't think Sasuke would believe the authenticity of our night together without some…evidence. Calling from your phone did well to convince him that you truly had left him," Madara explained casually. He extended the hand holding the phone as if to say, 'it's done its job ruining your life, so you can have it back now,' but in a fit of rage, Sakura smacked his hand away. The phone skittered across the tile before coming to a halt a few feet in front of the wall to their right.
"How dare you?" she demanded. "How dare you!"
All over again, the situation collapsed into her awareness, but instead of despairing, she raged.
"What gives you the right?" she hissed, standing to her full height—which wasn't much, as Madara still towered over her, but that wasn't something she was paying attention to at the moment. "What gives you the right to just ruin someone's life on a whim? You think that because you have all this money and power and the fact that you're famous and all of Japan sings your praises that this is okay? Do you not have any sense of right and wrong?" She began to advance on him, getting right up in his face. To his credit, he didn't lean away or break eye contact. "You think you're hot shit because you can have anything you want, and apparently you think you can have anyone you want, too! But I'm going to tell you right now, you can't have me! I refuse to be a trophy wife so you can prove to the world that you can buy people the way you'd buy a new car!" Saying it out loud only made her even angrier. "I'm a person! I have a life! I have goals, dreams, a future, and all you care about is boosting your ego! Well, guess what? Here's your answer: go fuck yourself!"
She screamed the last sentence in his face, but he didn't so much as flinch. Like a mountain weathering the storm, Madara stood tall and let her rant at him.
The comparison made her go pale. It reminded her of a quote from one of her favorite movies when she was a child: Mulan. Shan Yu, the big bad guy who had always terrified her, had been about to kill the emperor, and although he was facing his impending death, all the emperor said was, 'No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it.'
Was that what she was? Was she the wind, howling and raging and battering the mountain, but like the mountain, Madara would never submit to her? If she was the wind, she would never win this struggle for the upper hand.
Breathing heavily and determined not to cry, even though tears were pricking her eyes all over again, Sakura stood a shaky step back. She had told him to go fuck himself—she had given her answer. She doubted he would accept it, but it wouldn't be outside his ability to ruin her life while he was at it. In fact, it was completely likely that he could still find a way to force her to marry him anyway.
She'd deal with that another time. "I want to go home," she whispered. Sakura wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the floor, unwilling to look at him anymore. The anger had left her in a whoosh, deflating her completely.
"Very well," Madara said calmly, and he left, presumably to get his keys. She hated that he would be driving her home—couldn't he just give her money for a cab?—but couldn't argue against it.
She gathered her phone and put her things back in her purse before slipping her shoes back on. She only waited a few minutes after that before Madara reappeared. He slipped on his own shoes and then silently led her to the car, locking the door behind them.
She sat in the car silently, staring out the window as Madara drove. His lack of reaction to her tirade irritated and relieved her simultaneously. He hadn't threatened her at all, hadn't brought up any of the bad things that would happen now that she had turned him down. She peeked at him from the corner of her eye. He was driving calmly, his face blank and almost peaceful—there was no sign of a storm brewing or an indication that he was going to retaliate. It was almost as though he wasn't affected at all by the fact that she had said no.
Words, almost forgotten, replayed in her mind.
'And you, Sakura, are the only thing that matters to me. It is unfortunate that you are hurt by this, but I always get what I want.'
If that was in any way true, was it even possible that he was giving up?
She got her answer when they arrived at her apartment. Sakura moved to get out of the car, but Madara locked the door before she was able to open it. Trapped in the car with him, she froze with fear and barely dared to turn her head to look at him.
"I understand your decision, Sakura," he said calmly. Sakura briefly wondered if he actually did. For a fleeting second, she wondered if he was going to let this whole thing go. "I can only hope your father understands why his life is ruined after all this. Will you tell him the truth? Because Sakura…"
The door unlocked and she was now free to go. She opened the door, certain that she didn't want to hear the rest of his sentence, and put a foot outside before his words stopped her.
"…you may be able to change your mind, but if you leave now, Hatake's life will forever be ruined. I will make sure of that until my dying breath, no matter whether or not you accept my proposal in the future." He paused, looking at her with those intense black eyes. "It is your decision."
She froze for a long moment, mostly out of fear than from thinking over his new ultimatum. Finally, she looked up at her apartment building, staring at the front door of the home she had spent the last five years in. Time seemed to come to a halt. She remembered inviting Naruto and Sasuke over shortly after they moved in. She remembered throwing her sixteenth birthday party there, where Kiba and Naruto had gotten into a drinking contest until both passed out on the floor. Her otou-san had been on a business trip and she remembered panicking when they thought they couldn't remove the vomit stains. In the end, Kakashi found out anyway, and she had been grounded for two weeks. Blinking back tears, Sakura sighed and swallowed with great difficulty.
In the end, she stayed in the car. Madara pulled out into traffic and began the trip back to his home.
Silence reigned.
IMPORTANT! READ THIS!
So, there's a poll on my profile. I'm at a crossroads.
For all of you who have read my other love-triangle MadaSaku stories, this was the original plan: in Entropy, it was MadaSakuTobirama and it was always intended to be MadaSaku in the end. In Why the Caged Bird Sings, I added Sasuke as part of the love triangle, although originally the Kill was a MadaSaku story featuring interaction with Sasuke, but it was not the final pairing. However, I changed that because I didn't want to seem predictable; that every time there's a love triangle in my stories, Madara always wins.
However, MadaSaku was the original pairing for this. After the Naruto ending, I HATE SasuSaku, and it was never really my favorite to begin with. OOC!Sasuke is the only Sasuke I'll read.
Long story short, in order to preserve my unpredictability, I'm giving the decision to my wonderful readers. For the next week, everyone gets to vote Sasuke, Madara, or Author's Choice. The results will not be shown and I will not declare who won until the story is complete (basically, you'll find out for yourself). If Author's Choice is the winner, you will not know it: I'm only going to make it clear whether Madara or Sasuke won, which will be evidenced by the story. This way, everyone wins. You get a say in the final pairing and in the end, it will be the readers' decision, not mine, which dictates it.
Note: To those of you who would normally vote for Sasuke but are afraid that since I don't like him the story will not be satisfying, DON'T WORRY! Fuck, I already have an ending for him and if that's who wins the poll, it'll be a damn good ending. (Same with Madara, of course.) Basically, don't let my opinion of Sasuke prevent you from voting from who you want the final pairing to be.
The poll is open until January 20th, 2015. Vote as soon as you can because once it's closed, it's closed!
There should be an update sometime next week after the final pairing issue has been resolved.
Happy Voting! By the way, only poll votes mean anything. Opinions in reviews don't count. :(
Reviews are love!