A/N: Hi, AliceWolffe again! I know I just posted the new chapter a couple of days ago, but I really want to catch you guys up and get to the Madara/Sakura (this chapter is pretty much all Madara/Sakura oriented) scenes. I know so far the story is building, but I want to get to the exciting parts. I decided to make this a pretty long chapter to give you guys a treat. I have to admit, even though I've planned out the plot, I feel like my writing is philandering; please answer this question in the comments. It helps with my piece of mind. Okay, let's get to the story. Here's the fourth chapter of Euphoria!
"All dancers planning to audition for the S&U scholarship, please make a line in an orderly fashion on the left wall!"
Madara rubbed my temples feeling a large migrane approaching. He knew he shouldn't have left his asprin at the condo. Itachi was currently lining up auditioners for the new Senju & Uchiha Academy of Art, S&U for short. The Uchiha and Senju had decided to settle their mutinies by opening up a string of joint franchises and businesses to the public. Though they built new businesses, as far as rancor and mutinies settling- no, they were still well alive and fresh. But due to declining sales and a series of other events, the two major franchises needed a way to show the Japanese public that they had resolved their issues. This just so happened to be one of the methods.
"Fugaku, your son is a prodigious genius, but this has to be his most imbecile idea yet," Madara spoke to Fugaku quietly while sitting at the panel judging table.
"Madara, keep in mind that's my son your slandering. And if you have a better idea, I'd love to hear it."
Madara gave a reserved 'hm' and focused his attention on the future prospects of S&U. He actually did have a suggestion, but it involved the obliteration of a certain clan and bribing the press to keep their mouths shut. Madara had a feeling his proposition would be shot down, so he felt no need to even address it. That didn't mean he couldn't dream.
"Who thought of the idea of opening an art academy anyway?" Madara said. He knew Itachi could be pesterous, but definitely not that annoying. Fugaku thought for a moment, "I think it was Hashirama's wife, Mito if I recall her name. She was very interested in the arts at a young age and I deduce that Hasirama wanted to open this school to sate her."
Madara scoffed. He could no longer bear to continue conversation with Fugaku from the reference of that wretched woman. Madara had actually been iotas from making Mito his mistress ( he refused to be tied down in matrimony), but did not due to Hashirama's cunning deception.
You see years ago, there was a deal set between the two franchises, who were constantly arguing over which of them were the true leading business in Japan. To settle this dispute, the Uchiha and Senju leaders drew up a document claiming on which side of Japan each business could build on and literally split Japan in half. Of course, this did not work because there was actually no real drawn property line and this just gave the two clans something else to dispute over. Madara at the time was the only head of Uchiha Corp. and Hashirama of Senju Inc.
The battle over land became so great that it almost caused a civil war. The emperor, sick of the two clans brawls and grudges, decided that in order to determine the real leader of Japan they must battle for it. Whichever clan held the most business sales at the end of 60 days would have total control over Japan. A part from the total control of Japan, another reward would be that the victor would marry Mito Uzumaki, the daughter of a prestigious clan leader.
Of course, Madara reveled at the oppurtunity to have all of Japan under his rule; As far as the Mito woman went, he'd probably consummate his relationship with her and make mistress of the house or the like. He refused to make her clan mistress as he didn't trust her enough for a strenuous task like that.
So the battle was on. Uchiha Corp. developed an influx of technological products while Senju inc. monopolized the food industry. The brawling ceased for those two months since both clans were too busy trying to one up each other than to physically start a fight. Those two months came and went and the final decision was made.
The Senju had beaten the Uchiha by 2 sales of packaged ramen.
This made Madara infuriated to the depths of hell and high water.
Like him, this also infuriated the Uchiha clan and supposedly clan members rode into Senju housing departments and taunted the Senju. These actions escalated into a horrendous riot. Madara remembered the night he had gotten a call from his then executive, Fugaku.
Madara had just lain with a woman whose name he could not recall (he didn't care) when he received the call on his smartphone. "Fugaku, it's 11:00 at night. What is it?" Madara said rather bitterly answering the phone.
"Sir, we have a major disturbance."
At this Madara perked up and began dressing. While putting on his white dress shirt, he replied,"What type of disturbance? Be specific."
Fugaku then went to detail about how two hours ago young Uchiha clan members climbed over Senju housing gates and caused a ruckus with Senju clan members that were strolling about the perimeter. Yelling turned into blows and a fight had broken out. Elder Senju who had heard the discourse had come to separate the two, but the Uchiha had called for backups. There was a dispute about the real events that had happened prior and a riot took place. The Senjus recruited more from their clan and the Uchiha did the same. Uchiha police had arrived on scene said that was so much blood that the concrete had become permanently stained.
"Oh god. Keep the press away from the scene and off our backs, I'm on my way over," Madara commanded before pocketing his phone. He pointed to the now awake woman lying in his bed.
"You, harlot, get out of my bed and leave."
Madara ran out his condo door, brashly putting on articles of clothing as he made his way to his silver Mercedes Benz. He sped to the Senju housing grounds, running a few red lights in his wake.
He parked outside of the gates and banged rudely on the black steel iron gates. Eventually, after clarifying his reason for being there, the guard let him in and his eyes grew large as he accessed the total damage of the area.
The Senju banners were torn to shreds, blood seemed to seep through the cracks of the cobblestone walkway, and entire buildings had dents, fractures, and the occasional hand smear of blood on the walls. There was already a paramedic treated the dozens of wounded who laid carelessly strewn all over the street. Madara could see Fugaku in the distance on his phone with a frazzled expression upon his face, which slightly shook Madara as he rarely saw Fugaku change expression from his usual scowl. He strode over to him and said, "What the hell took place here?!"
Fugaku nodded once, shut off his phone and turned to Madara, "Just like I said, a riot."
"Looks more like war broke out," then Madara remembered something. "Who started this?"
Fugaku led him over to an ambulance truck where three males who couldn't be a day over 15 years sat on the truck benches. When they saw Madara, instant fear reflected in their eyes. "U-um Madara-sama, we-" one of the boys began. Madara cut him off, "Shut your insolent mouth. DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE CLAN MEMBERS YOU PUT IN DANGER! ! You're in enemy territory you idiots, what were you thinking?!"
Madara was passed pissed off. The boy that had addressed him earlier suddenly found a seed of courage. "We were fighting for our clan! The Senju did not deserve to win and we weren't going to let them get away with this."
Madara's soul was on fire. "Fighting for your clan?! Boy, what do you know about war! If you truly wanted you clan to prosper you wouldn't have commited such inane actions that has put the welfare of your relatives at stake. Fugaku, remove these simpletons from my sight before I throttle one of them."
Fugaku then lead the boys from the back of the ambulance out of the sight of Madara. Madara rubbed his temple and raised his an eyebrow when out of the corner of his eye he spotted something. There, lone in the darkness stood Hashirama standing over a body with a white tarp covering. Hashirama looked up to meet Madara's gaze for an instance and Madara swore first the first time he saw a new emotion in Hashirama's eyes: resentment. Hashirama quickly turned and walked away without speaking a word.
Madara then knew that there would never be a solution to the feud between the Senju and the Uchiha, then again he always knew, but since his clan was screaming for peace, he had no other decision, but to oblige. And look where peace got them, disheveled and standing on Senju territory which a street full of blood and corpses...
Later that month, after hiring a spy to acquire the documents, Madara checked the sale's records of Senju inc. after the competition. Turns out, as he thought, the Senju were full of dirty rats. Part of the agreement before the sales competition was that the clans could not tamper with the others sales. In the sale's records of Senju Inc. it said that the price of each ramen package was 500¥ and from looking at the number sold, Madara deduced that the total amount of yen rake-in should be the same amount as laptops sold by the Uchiha. That could only mean one thing; someone from the Senju had tampered with the sales mechanism price in the Uchiha database. Madara was internally outraged at the fact that it was actually a tie, but he didn't worry. He had gotten retribution from Hashirama, oh he had gotten him good...
Madara was so consumed in his reminiscing that he hasn't noticed that the auditioners had taken stage. Madara leaned slightly forward and saw that Hashirama was seated three seats away from him on the left sitting in between advisors and ballets experts. Good, there was no need to argue at an occasion like this. Fugaku was seated beside Madara and Itachi beside his father. The auditioners bowed and Madara gave a 'hm', he had a feeling this would be boring and tiresome.
A middle aged woman wearing a black knee-length dress and pumps walked up the steps and onto the stage. "We would like to thank all the auditioners for coming out to Konoha theatre before we begin. Each auditioner will be given a number that shall determine their line up order. There are a panel of eight judges and each auditioner will have a maximum of six minutes to perform. Once they are finished performing, they will exit to the right of the stage and are permitted to leave. The auditioners who will proceed to the S&U Academy of Arts will get a call back through a phone call before Dec. 30th, 8:00 pm. Lets give our auditioners a round of applause and start the audition," she said before stepping down and seating herself behind the judging table.
Back behind the curtain, auditioners waited in anxiety and excitement. There were brief utterings of "Could I do that better?", "I hope they don't take off points.", and "I feel like I'm about to vomit." Sakura experienced none of those emotions as she stood calmly behind the curtain. The girl on stage at the moment was performing an excerpt from "Swan Lake". She had two more people to go before it was her was mentally rehearsing the steps in her head. She almost jumped when someone tapped on her shoulder. Sakura spun around and was met with a sharp faced girl that looked about her age with brown eyes and maroon hair that terrifyingly reminded her of Karin. "Are you auditioning?" The girl asked. Sakura nodded with vigor. The girl gave a smug smile and petted Sakura's hair. "Aren't you a little early for Halloween? I mean, who with class or taste, dyes their hair pink before an audition? What are you trying to do, match your pointe shoes?!" By now a couple of other girls had chimed in at laughing at Sakura. Sakura knew she had to ignore them, but she couldn't. She had to say something. "This is my hair's natural color," she replied, but the tormentors laughed even harder at her. Sakura turned around and mentally said, "Bitches." Sakura's eyes widened, she hadn't cursed in at least 7 years if you don't count the occasional dropped-pot-on-foot cases. She shook it off and ignored the cackling of the girls and tried to concentrate on her routine.
The auditions had droned on for at least two hours with numerous counts of people performing, but Madara half apathetic about the whole ordeal; he needed the other half to pay a little attention since this does involve Uchiha Corp. and business. His eyes carelessly wandered the theatre ceiling until he heard the announcer yell, "Number 17!"
Madara perked up slightly, but slightly changed to full attention when he saw someone familiar waltz onto the stage. It was her. He'd know that strange color hair anywhere. This Sakura had been on his mind, but had been forced to the back of it since he was convinced that he'd never lay eyes on her again. Now that he could, Madara scrutinized her with both precision and curiosity.
Sakura positioned herself in the middle of the stage and bowed before standing in position, patiently awaiting for the music to start. A few seconds later, the song rang out as clear as a bell and Sakura began to dance. She slowly felt herself slipping into her mental world as she performed. Usually, she'd be terrified to perform in front of a crowd, but she had something special.
"Before you go, take this." Tsunade took something from her pocket and placed it in Sakura's hands. Sakura felt the cold, hard object with wonder before opening her palm. The wind was nearly knocked out of Sakura when she realized what she was holding. "Tsunade-sama, this is- no, I won't take this from you. I know how valuable it is to you."
Tsunade chuckled. "Sakura, I'm not asking you; I'm telling you. I know you have stage fright and I promise if you wear that, you'll be invincible." Sakura smiled. It was moments like this that she cherished with her mentor. No interruptions, or drama; just two close individuals talking and showing compassion to one another. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Sakura looked at her watch. "I better hurry or I'll be late. Bye!" She yelled as she ran out the door. "Bye. And good luck," Tsunade muttered the last part.
The judges watched in awe. Never before had they seen such talent and grace. This girl was definitely the best out of all the auditioners. Performers behind the curtain stood star-struck and with airs of envy emanating from them. The judges watched her every move, but not nearly as closely as Madara, who eyed the girl with hunger and lust. He stared as her lean muscles flexed in order to spread her legs just enough to pointe steps and noticed how her creamy porcelain skin seemed taut over her calves as she jumped, but still supple and soft. He watched as she closed out her performance with her pirouettes and stealthily hit the stage floor while caressing her face. 'How erotic,' Madara thought. He felt a pull towards this woman, a newly sparked fire within his being.
Sakura stood up from the floor, bowed once more before exiting to right of the stage. Madara stared in slight confusion as she collected her things and proceeded to walk out. 'Oh no Koi, you're not escaping me again.'
Madara hopped out of his seat, much to the surprise and dismay of the other judges. "Madara, where are you going?" Hashirama questioned and Madara brashly replied a near silent, "bathroom ".
He could have cared less if Hashirma heard him, he didn't answer to anyone, but himself. He raced up the aisle as the judges watched in confusion and burst through the door.
It was twilight and the stars were beginning to appear. Sakura was almost out of the parking lot when she suddenly heard loud footsteps behind her. "Halt!" Madara called and Sakura stopped and turned to see a man she recognized from the judging panel. He seemed to simultaneously appear within inches of her. She deduced that he could run so fast because of his long legs. "Yes?"
The man did not answer. He continued to stare at her for what couldn't have been more than five minutes, but felt like an hour to Sakura. She began feel uncomfortable under his gaze and, hoping she didn't sound too rude, asked again. "Didn't you...call me for something?"
"Your performance was exquisite," was all he said while still looking at her with his dark onyx eyes. Sakura blushed at his compliment and as the sun was setting, she got the chance to examine him under the street light glow and admire his aristocratic looking features. The man had a sharp chin, straight nose, slightly full pink-tinged lips, long spiky thigh-length brown hair that cascaded over his muscular shoulders, a strong,lean build, but not too lean or too stocky, though she couldn't tell very well since he was in a business suit and pitch black eyes that showed no reflection of emotion, at least from her perspective they didn't. Sakura would remember eyes like those anywhere - those were the eyes of an Uchiha. They reminded her vaguely of Sasuke's except this man's held a permenant puffiness around them. Though overall, like most of his clan the man was drop dead gorgeous.
"Excuse my rudeness, my name is Madara Uchiha," Madara said as he bowed.
Sakura giggled at her daydreaming, "Thank you very much, Madara-sama. That means a lot to me coming from an important man like yourself." Madara gave a sly half smile, "Ah yes, well I rarely give out compliments, but yours is-" He squinted his eyes at her as he raked up and down her form and his half smile grew larger, "-very deserved."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at his scrutiny then shrugged, suggesting that he probably had never seen a female with pink hair before.
"Name?"
"Sir?"
"Your name koi, you never told me your name."
Did this man really just call her 'love'?
"Oh, it's Sakura. Sakura Haruno."
"Yes, Cherry blossom..."
Sakura wanted to blame it on the lights, but she thought she saw the strange man lick his lips. Plus, the way he kept staring at her was kind of creeping her out. She stood awkwardly for a moment before saying,"Um, Madara-sama, forgive me for my rudeness, but shouldn't you be in there?" Sakura pointed to the theatre building. "I didn't think auditions would be over so fast."
"They'll be able to manage without me, besides it would be ungentleman-like to abandon a young vulnerable woman out in pitch black night. Why don't I drive you home?"
Sakura thought it was nice gesture, but couldn't possibly accept it. She wouldn't cheat her way into a scholarship by kissing up to a judge and the man was still practically a stranger. Underlying all of that, Sakura sensed something about this Madara, like he had an unnerving intent to the point where she really didn't want to get in any enclosed space with him.
"Thank you for the offer, but I'll just walk. My house is only a couple of miles from here..."
She saw a small line form ontop of Madara's brow.
"Having a woman walk in the night alone? I won't hear of it. My mother would cane me if she heard I did such things. Please, do me the honour of letting me drive you home."
Sakura raised her eyebrow again. She guessed there were just some people that wouldn't take 'no' for answer. She tried to again reassure him, "No, it's quite fine. I do this all the time, it's no biggie."
Sakura saw the line on Madara's forehead triple and his face slightly scrunch up from apparent frustration.
"Do you know who I am?"
"A man who judges dance auditions."
Madara chuckled sarcastically.
"Huh, I see. Well Sakura, I'll tell you right now...I'm not the kind of man most people say 'no' to."
"No disrespect sir, but I just did."
Madara was flabbergasted. A woman-turn him down? It was unheard of and damn near laughable. He controlled the majority of Japan and has ruined lives with the flick of his pinky, yet this woman can stand here and reject him like he was common street trash.
Sakura couldn't hear him properly, but she thought she heard him mutter, "This one's really going to make me work for it..."
Yes, it was most definitely time to go. Sakura looked for any way to elude the situation. "Hey-um, I really gotta get home and-um...feed my cats." Sakura lied and began to walk off, leaving a bewildered Madara behind her. "Nice meeting you."
'Where does Koi think she's going? Guess I have to do it the hard way,' Madara thought to himself and clicked his teeth.
Sakura felt a draft of wind blow against her spine before she felt someone grasp her shoulders. "Hey, get off me!" A warm hand came over her mouth and she felt herself being lifted into muscular arms. With her mouth now free, Sakura yelled, "Madara, put me down!"
Madara ignored her pleas and strode over to his midnight black Lamborghini. He put her down only for a second, but not even before her feet touched the pavement, he had his hand wrapped around her small waist. He opened the passenger door and pushed her in. He leaned in and and attempted to buckle up her seat. "No, no! Get away from me you sick bastard!" Sakura screamed while punching his chest, which proved to be futile efforts. Madara did not seem phased and strapped her in, actually he quite was amused. "Such a dirty mouth for such a fragile vixen. I usually don't allow anyone to curse me, but I'll permit it...this time." Madara shut the door and walked over to the driver side with an arrogant bounce in his step.
Sakura yanked on the seatbelt, grunting in utter frustration when it wouldn't budge. Madara opened the door and sat in the driver's seat. He buckled his seatbelt and snuck a look at Sakura. She was staring dead at him with a look that could have set a forest on fire.
Madara smirked and started the engine. "What...do you...think you are doing?" Sakura spat with all the malice she could muster. Madara did not reply and put the Lamborghini in drive.
The car rode out of the parking lot and away from the theatre. The car rode past various corner stores and vendors and onto a highway when Sakura realized the longer she rode, the farther she was from home.
That was when she began to panic. "I need to go home," Sakura said, trying to calm the blood rushing through her veins.
"..."
Now she was angry. "I want to go home dammit! I'm pretty sure you can go to jail for kidnapping a seventeen year old last time I checked!"
The Lamborghini pulled over to the side the highway despite the honking of traffic. Madara cut off the car. He faced her with no expression written on his face.
"You're seventeen?"
Sakura rolled her eyes, "Well, yeah." She was usually was not this rude, but he had it coming.
Madara raised an eyebrow. He muttered something about, '-changes everything.' He collected himself and started the engine again. "Alright, what's your address?"
Sakura tried to keep her jaw from hitting the floor. This man, who she didn't even know except that he sat at a judging table during her audition, just attempted to kidnap her and take to kami knows where - is now asking for address, where she lays her head at night and spends the majority of her livelihood in?
"524 Oshio street," Sakura said before sighing and folding her arms. The pair turned around and rode from the highway to her address in silence though Madara occasionally peeped at her to see her expression.
When the car eased onto her driveway, Sakura wanted to lurch from her seat, but remembered she was restrained by her seatbelt. Madara leaned across her, much to Sakura's dismay, and hit a button on the side and the buckle and the seatbelt released with a 'click.' Madara returned to his original position and turned to Sakura with a gentlemanly smile glazed across his face.
"You're welcome for the ride."
Sakura sat there for a moment staring at him, shocked and confused, before exiting the car without even thanking him. She almost ran up the driveway and unlocked the door and immediately closed it behind her. Sakura peeped out of the blinds of the window when she didn't see the bright headlights in the driveway not fade for ten minutes.
After they were out of sight, Sakura backed away from the window shaking. Her body hit something and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She had bumped into a table and a vase fell onto the floor. She sighed, abandoning it on the floor, and went to her room - basement.
She called her father, Karin, and stepmother's name, but got no response. Why was she not surprised? Sakura headed to the basement, unlocked the doors, and locked them behind her. She kicked off her converse and flopped on her bed, burrowing her head into her plush pillow.
What had happened today? She was almost kidnapped, at least she thinks she was kidnapped. Was she? Sakura internally rolled her eyes. Who was she kidding, who'd ever want her, especially in that way...
Sakura giggled to herself. Yes, she was just imagining things. Mr. Madara offered to drive her home and he probably wanted to make a stop on the way or something. She kept repeating this to herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Maybe she was imagining things again, but as she ran-walked up the driveway she swore she heard Madara say,
"Goodnight, Sakura-chan. I'll see you soon."
A/N: Please review. You have no idea how I enjoy reading them :).
