Chapter 8:

A/N: Seven months...almost seven months since I updated this story. PLEASE JUST STONE ME ALREADY, I DESERVE IT! I love writing this fanfic, I really do; and even more, it brings me pure joy to read the comments or see a story follower pop up in my email. I don't really know how to explain why writing this is taking so long, but mainly its procrastination. I literally have not stopped thinking about this story, but when I have time to write, I second guess my work (stupid perfectionism) or have too many things going on in my life. But I can 100% guarantee you all that this story will be finished the end of next year, which saying something because it's going to probably have at least 20-30 chapters. Enough of my banters! I hope everyone has caught on in the last chapter Sakura is starting to show some of her true personality, much like in the manga/anime when she stepped out of Ino's shadow during their childhood together; I'll elaborate more on that in this chapter. I promise I won't end this chapter with a cliffhanger (well—not an extreme one), so all the readers can breathe now :) this is a pretty long chapter with a part two coming up in a few days.

P.S. Feet are considered in Japan to be one of those most dirty features on the body.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the franchise, or the characters, nor do I own any rights to TKAM which all should be accredited to Harper Lee; however I do own the plotline to this story.


Sakura stared inside the room at a complete loss for words. 'Oh. My. God.'

The back room was in utter chaos. Dozens of articles of clothes were strewn about on the floor, all with no clear sign whether they were dirty or clean. The master bed looked like as if a tornado had torn through the sheets and once finished with the damage, began wreaking havoc all over the rest of the room. The large dark oak dresser and table stand drawers all hung ajar on their hinges with clothes spilling out of them and items from CDs to toiletries to leftover food wrappers to what looked like official business documents were all in a scattered potpourri covering the floor to where one couldn't see where the mess ended and the floor began.

Sakura stepped into the room with caution to avoid tripping over anything on the floor and to further examine the damage and upon entering, noted how all of the walls had graffiti and nearly black with numerous amounts of spray paint. The graffiti sometimes had precise messages in neat Kanji surprisingly, but the rest were random scribblings of lines and squiggles.

Sakura spun on Madara, a ghost of a half-smile on his face.

"This... is your room?! Look at this mess!" She gestured at the filth around her exasperatedly waving her arms.

Madara shrugged his shoulders, ignoring her incredulous attitude. "I was out of town on a business trip a couple of months ago and as my luck would have it, my previous housekeeper decided to quit on the day I left for town without a formal resignation so I couldn't schedule for someone else to come and clean on during that entire week while I wasn't there. Considering I was already busy with managing my investments and developing the new prototype phones for Uchiha Corp., naturally getting my penthouse cleaned fell to the bottom of my list of priorities," he takes her hand daintily and leans into her face with a mischievous sneer obvious on his handsome features, "But now that I have you here there's no need to hire help, now is there?"

Sakura jerks her hand back rudely from his grasp and Madara narrows his dark eyes and grits his teeth together, walking away without a word, leaving her in the center of the muck. "I shall return in two hours' time. I expect the room to be completely cleaned by then—", Madara glanced over his right shoulder and made direct eye contact with Sakura, "...or else."

Tiny goosebumps pricks traveled up Sakura's spine at his words, chilling her to the very core; it was not what he said, but the way he said it to her and had looked her dead in the eye with those cold black eyes of his that bored into her soul and simply resonated there...

Madara snatched his overcoat off the arm of the couch and strode out the door, locking her inside the apartment before Sakura heard the echo of his steps down the outside hallway, leaving her alone in the doorway of the bedroom. Sakura placed her now sweaty palm on the frame of the doorway to support the weight of her now suddenly heavy body and again gazed at the mess that Madara had instructed her to make vanish. Two hours? That was not nearly enough time to clean the entire room thoroughly, especially one damaged to this magnitude. Sakura let out a ragged breath at this realization and grabbed hold of the entire doorframe to support her form as she felt faint in the heart. Sakura shivered to think what horrors Madara would do to her if she dare disobey him again—he might do much worse than give her a slap on the face. And this time she really wasn't trying to offend him!

"What am I going to do?", she moaned and slowly collapsed, helpless, on the floor and then buried her head in her knees and pulled herself into the fetal position. In the shield of her arms from the rest of the world, Sakura's emerald eyes began to water despite her attempts to suppress her tears of hopelessness.

"And don't forget to use lots of bleach."

Sakura lifted her head to peek out of the small crack through her arms and saw two smudges of red through the blur of her eyes. With the back of her hand, she wiped away the water that was obscuring her vision and did a double take to see the smudges weren't smudges at all—they were shoes. Sakura slowly lifted her head to look up at the form that had spoken and her breath caught in her throat.

It was a redheaded little girl of about eight years with black rimmed glasses, a blue denim dress with her arms stuck out at her waist in a bossy manner and tapping her patent red leather strapped shoes at Sakura expectantly.

Sakura's stare fixed at the girl in awe, long forgotten memories flooding back to her conscience.

"Ka...Karin?"

"Didn't you hear what I said, Ugly? Chop, chop! Get to cleaning before I call Mommy back up here!"

Sakura was aware then that she was reliving a monstrous part of her childhood. As a young child, in order to get her trouble, Karin would completely demolish her room and place the blame on Sakura, calling her jealous of her being on the cheerleading team and after a good tongue lashing from Akiko, as a part of her punishment, Akiko would force Sakura not only to apologize but also to clean up Karin's room from top to bottom on her hands and knees.

"But you know I didn't do anything to your room," Sakura muttered under breath, almost pleading, just as she did when she was eight.

Karin rolled her auburn eyes, "So what? You're so stupid, you'd take the blame anyway. Ha, look at you all crumpled up on the floor like that. You'll never get this room cleaned and then you'll really get it from Madara, you loooooser!"

Karin stuck out her pink tongue at Sakura and made an 'L' with her fingers on her forehead.

"You're a looooooooserrrr...loooooseeeerrr...loooos—"

In a flash, Sakura had Karin by the collar of her dress, the redhead completely caught off guard. Sakura hauled Karin up to the ceiling with only one hand, still clutching the front of her dress. "You listen to me, you little bitch..."

Her face was shadowed by her pink locks, creating an eerie darkness upon her features and when she met her eyes, Karin choked on her saliva as Sakura's usually bright emerald green eyes were now a sharp, piercing clover that stared into her frightened red ones. Sakura's mouth was a pink tight line, her thin brows furrowed together.

"I...am not your slave anymore. You won't scare me like when I was younger. You see, back then I had no spine, no gumption; I just let people walk and piss all over me as they please because I wanted to be daddy's good little girl."

Sakura brought Karin down to her face to where her nose was centimeters from touching Karin's. "News flash—that girl is gone and never coming back. I won't let anyone hold me down anymore, especially not someone like you. You had control over me for seven years of my life and now I'm taking back the reins. You see Karin?"

Sakura let one of her sickly sweet smiles shine through her face that seemed to scare Karin more than her eagle eyes, "You. Don't. Win."

As if confronted by the deity medusa, Karin was petrified, her body becoming as still as stone and her skin turning from olive to muted, dinged grey rock that chilled Sakura's skin. Like desert sand in the Arabian breeze, Karin's entire body began to crumple in Sakura's hand and fell into a leveled pile of ashes to the floor, Sakura releasing her grasp to see only ash seep between the gaps of her fingers while bits and pieces of rock still lay undisturbed in her palm.

"Well...um, that was dramatic."

She dumped the granules of rock in her hands into the pile of ashes and clapped her hands together to rid them of excess dust. Sakura inhaled a deep breath with her palms facing outward in front of her, 'that was just a weird, weird vision—you got this.'

Sakura walked back into the room, again careful to avoid trash, and searched the closets for needed tools. She cursed under her breath when she found none in either of the three closets Madara had in his room (Really, how many closets did the man need?) nor in the bathroom. Sakura went back into the hall and searched through various doors until she found what she was looking for. As she was making her way back to the room, she glanced at what was the pile of ashes, now completely gone and the floor shone spotless. The dustpan and broom clamored to the floor.

'What the hell?!", she screamed to herself in her thoughts. What was moments ago a collection of dust and rock was now only a smooth, polished wooden area on the floor.

Sakura scratched her head and walked back to Madara's room; she had no knowledge of distinguishing fantasy from reality anymore and simply said to herself, her hands out at her sides with palms facing downwards, "Calm down. This is just one of those days where you're exhausted and need a nap. Just hope and pray you're not losing your mind."

Sakura did not waste time to further investigate the phenomena that occurred and lay the bucket of cleaning supplies and the broom in a corner while she walked about the room once again to examine what exactly needed to be done first. After a solid 10 minutes and still not coming up with a plan, Sakura threw up her hands in defeat and finally decided on picking all of the trash from the floor first.

She dropped onto her knees and hands with a large black plastic trash bag by her side and instantly began attacking the scraps of file papers and wrappers scattered on the floor. At first, Sakura tried to pick up the pieces one by one, but after seeing how time consuming it was as after 15 minutes she had managed to only pick three pieces of paper and bits of wrapping, she knew that if this mess was going to be cleaned before Madara returned, she had to up the ante speed wise.

Instead of picking up every individual piece she saw, Sakura bent down low to the floor and scooped up one large amount of paper into her arms and then shoveled it into the black bag and repeated the process. By the ninth turn, beads of perspiration were already starting to drip down Sakura's head and her arms were lead. Sakura took the back of her hand and wiped the sweat away from her brow and examined her progress.

The bedroom floor had surely made noticeable progress as one-third of it was paper-free for the most part, yet she still had the other two-thirds to clean.

And once she completed the floor (if she ever would), Sakura still had the straightening and polishing of the oak dressers to do, make the bed, vacuum, and figure out a way to get spray paint off of interior house walls. Sakura touched an unmarked patch of the wall nearest to her gingerly and rubbed her fingers together, feeling the residue of dried cream paint left on. Yes, the paint used for the interior wall was definitely expensive. That ruled out the option to paint a new coat over the entire wall.

Sakura palmed her face in exhaustion just from staring at the work that needed to be done. She turned back to her tasks of cleaning the floor.

Fifty eight more armfuls to go.

"God, finally done."

Sakura inhaled a much need breath of air from her tired and sore body. Her hair was tied in a messy, drooping bun on the side of her head, her feet felt like any minute they would take off and abandon the rest of her body, and her form had a visible slumped appearance to it; but she was done and that was all that mattered.

So what if she felt like any moment she would come crashing down to the floor from a combination of lack of food, exhaustion, and heatstroke? She had set out to do a seemingly impossible task and had accomplished it with a crooked smile on her face and a dirty cleaning rag in hand.

Sakura stumbled towards the wall nearest to her and glanced at the analog clock nailed above. It read 9:59 pm. That meant she had a couple more minutes to spare before Madara came waltzing in to patronize her with a lecture on why she wasn't adequate and how she could have done this or done that better. Sakura's face drew up in a proud sneer. She would show him that she was far more than adequate as she gave him a tour of the room and then she'd reprimand him for ever doubting her.

She clasp her hands together with her eyes glistening and her bottom lip sticking out, mimicking how she envisioned Madara would beg her.

"Oh Koi," she copied Madara's smooth voice, "—this room looks wonderful! Look at the bathroom, the curtains, and the bed! You really outdid yourself, Koi. I now know I should've never doubted you."

Sakura fell to her knees, her palms flat on the floor and her head bent low, "Please forgive me, Koi! I am ignorant in the ways of people because I'm just some creepy billionaire with no real social life outside of work and stalking underage girls and—"

Madara glared down at Sakura with mild curiosity. He had walked in at 10 pm on the dot to see the peculiar sight of Sakura, still dressed in her maid outfit, 'pretending' in her little dream world, completely unaware of his presence. And quite frankly, he was not entertained by her dramatic display.

"Never in my existence would I EVER beg a woman to do anything on my behalf."

Sakura yelped in surprise and immediately dropped her hands by her sides at the voice in the doorway. Of course, it was none other than Madara, a scowl clear on his face, his searching eyes aimed at her. A tiny hint of rouge slowly crept on Sakura's cheeks as she averted her eyes from his disapproving gaze.

'Why hadn't the bastard made any noise?! Didn't he know it was rude to sneak up on people?'

'It's your own fault for daydreaming,' a clear, familiar, feminine voice echoed in her head.

Sakura lifted her head and her eyes darted around, but besides Madara, there no one else was present in the room.

"Who was that?"

Madara narrowed his eyes, "Who are you talking about?"

"That person that I just heard."

'Hello, I'm right here.'

"There it is again!" Sakura got to her feet and started to glance all around the master room ignoring Madara, much to his annoyance.

"Woman, what are you speaking of? There is no other person here besides me and I do not take fondly to being ignored," he snaps at her.

'You don't take fondly to anything from what I've seen, bub.'

Sakura put her hand over her mouth to distort her small giggle but Madara still heard her. Becoming increasingly frustrated, he yelled, "Just what are you snickering at?"

"Didn't you just here it?"

"Hear what?"

"The voice!"

"What voice?!"

"The voice that just talked!"

Madara grabbed her by the arms and shook her slightly. "Koi, it seems you've have been sniffing that pine cleaner for far too long. There is no voice and this is not the time for you to try and distract me. Sit on the bed while I check after your work."

Similar to a defeated dog with its tail in between its legs, Sakura obeyed him, her head hanging low and sat down on the master king-sized bed with her arms crossed across her chest.

"I'm not crazy, there was a voice."

"I'm sure there was," Madara said none too convincingly as he scrutinized his oak dresser. When he first entered the room, Madara was taken back not only of Sakura's little impersonating session, but how amazing the room looked just from the view at the door. Compared to its preexisting state, it was a miracle of the accomplishment Sakura had made with cleaning and organizing the entire room within what few time Madara had allotted to her.

He paced around the room, his hands behind his back. Inside of his mind he was both happy and somewhat disgruntled. He had initially planned on Sakura failing miserably at cleaning the bedroom within two hours, although he did take the precaution of paying some local hoodlums to vandalize his white walls with spray paint.

But, nonetheless, he expected her to fail with the sole intention that he would punish her for not completing his given 'task.' His body trembled at the thought of what humiliating and erotic acts he would put Sakura through, knowing that with every act Sakura would slowly lose pieces of her will until she'd break, which he knew would give a high never felt when bedding any woman.

When he broke Sakura, he would have completed his conquest and won, then Sakura would no longer be of use to him and he would cast her out in search for another conquest. Because all Madara wanted was to break her—body and soul...

Yet Sakura did not fail, she did not cower under Madara in the face of his demands, in fact she succeeded all of those demands and more. Deep in his conscience, Madara was proud of Sakura because she did not cower under pressure, but unfortunately her success meant his entire plan had backfired. With him, the idea of failure was nonexistent.

He paced around the room some, occasionally pulling open a drawer to inspect or scrutinizing the nooks and crannies of spaces behind the master bed and dressers. He stood and out of his peripheral vision eyed Sakura. She was returning a glare to him and her arms were crossed.

"Happy now?"

A scowl set on Madara's features. What had she to be haughty about?! He still controlled her, possessed her.

Yes, he would admit she had passed the first task but there were many more to come and he was certain there would be more failures in that time than accomplishments. In the meantime, he would be patient and squelch his natural response to find some way to punish her for her arrogance toward him.

Madara said nothing and put his hands into his pockets.

"It seems you've managed to complete your assignment."

"You sound surprised."

'Koi, keep it up with your arrogance and patience be damned, I will punish you'

Of course, Madara's thoughts didn't reach Sakura and she stood with arms still crossed, "Look, I've done what you've asked of me. Now can I please go home?"

Her back was killing her from being bent over so many hours and all she wanted right now was to pass out in her bed—cot. And being around Madara always made her feel strange.

Despite her egocentric attitude moments before, the 'please' made him soften his patience a bit more.

"Yes, you may go."

"Uh, thank god," Sakura sighed in relief and she began walking to the door. Madara's outstretched hand stops her in her tracks.

"But there is one last thing you must do for me..."

"What? No! I'm tired and I wanna go home!"

He tilted her chin up toward his face, "It's a small task and one you can complete in five minutes if you behave."

Sakura hated how this man treated her like a child, but at this point she was willing to do anything to get the hell out of there.

A deep sigh passed over her lips,

"What is it?"

Madara smirked to himself inwardly, 'Oh Koi, even your angst against me will not spoil the moment I'm about to perpetrate.'

He sat down on the master bed leisurely, not wary of wrinkling the comforter, pissing Sakura off considering she had spent the last hour meticulously ironing out the wrinkles on the bedspread; and that was no easy feat considering his sheets were SATIN. How did he manage to wrinkle satin anyway?

Palms down on the sheet, Madara slightly cast his head back and using the black bottom of his right shoe, he stuck the toe into the back ankle part of his left. The shoe slowly came off of his left foot and his deep voice groaned from the new found freedom. He did the same to his right foot, except with it, he manually took it off with his hands.

Madara lightly kicked his black leather shoes away from him and placed his vision back onto her form, simpering.

Standing idly and watching him take his shoes off, Sakura's stomach tightened with a new disdain for this man; not only was he rude, proud, and domineering, he now proved to be just ungrateful. His shoes probably cost more than Sakura's monthly coverage on life insurance yet he kicked them away as if they were wooden clogs. He didn't give a damn about the people who had labored to make his stupid overpriced shoes, acting like they were more restraining than a privilege; Oh, she had had it with this man!

'And look at him, pouting his lips at me like a child; it's taking everything in me not pound his noggin in!'

"Sakura-chaaan..."

Sakura turned to stone. His voice...changed so much. No longer was it the heavy grumbling of a grown man, but the whimpering shallowness of a schoolboy. Knowing only of the stoic, sadistic Madara, Sakura was at a loss of words. Her pink hair follicles stood on end as she made a disgusted face back at Madara.

Madara paid no heed to her obvious repulse at his sudden mood change; he was simply having too much fun torturing her.

"Saku-chan, Madara has had a tiring day at work. Can you help him relax and rub his feet," he raised his right foot in gesture.

Madara found it difficult to keep the 'innocent schoolboy' act and not laugh when Sakura's face was so stricken with horror. Personally, the stereotypical innocent persona in a man never appealed to Madara considering all things effeminate were weak, especially in a man. But how could he possibly pass the chance to entertain himself by hurdling stones at his little Koi?

Surprisingly calm, Sakura slowly pointed a finger to Madara.

"You...You've lost your damn mind; Stay far away from me," she said as she raced for the door.

"SAKURA! Get back in here!"

Rolling her eyes, Sakura turned around and marched back into Madara's presence. The 'sweet boy' act gone now, Madara glared intensely at her. Internally, Madara was irritated that Sakura dared to ruin his fun. He had intended to at least have a humorous overreaction from her like always whenever he did the most mundane thing, then again this was Sakura; the girl with as many conflicting emotions as there were colors in an opal gemstone. In the light one way, the speckles appear to be blue, but simply move it an inch and the color organization is completely anew. Nevertheless, he refused to let her leave without some sort of catering for himself.

"On your knees. Now."

Sakura drew in a haggard breath and gracefully got down on her knees before Madara. Viridian eyes cast a virulent glare at him before Sakura gingerly removed his silk black socks. Astonishingly, despite being on them for eight hours, no pungent scent lingered on Madara's feet, but physically the same could not be said. His feet were white as alabaster and at glance seemed unscathed, but as Sakura handled them she could feel slight etches in his skin from small cuts and thick, tough skin on the bottom of his feet. She didn't know what she expected his feet to look like, but definitely not as white or as scarred. Sakura unconsciously ran her hands over them in wonder, forgetting Madara was watching her.

"Done, Koi?"

Sakura snapped out of her trance and pulled her hands away as if they burned.

Madara chuckled softly, "Don't be ashamed. I've had millions of women fawn over my body—you surely aren't the first."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Oh please! I touching them because they're all scratched up like you used to play with rakes as a child."

"Well, I'll have you know that I don't recall playing with rakes, but I am a man of war so do forgive me if my feet do not appeal to you," Madara grinned slyly, "but I can assure you the rest of my body will be you're every fantasy."

Trying to change the subject away from that, Sakura says, "Do you want me to rub your feet or not?"

He waved at her, flicked his wrists like royalty, "Continue."

After find a bottle of lotion, through Madara's direction from the bed, Sakura quickly went over Madara's feet, making sure to massage the heel and get in between the toes so he had no reason to call her back to do this embarrassing task. While she massaged his feet, Madara groaned with content and at odd periods, a satisfied smile would appear.

Watching his face, Sakura wanted to pinch him. Yes, she said pinch him. Childish and meager as it was, it was the only concept she could think of that she could disguise as an innocent mistake. 'This is so disgusting! Just a little longer, Sak's, you can make it just a little...'

"Done. I'm leaving and don't try to stop me," she pointed a threatening finger at him. Madara frowned at Koi. It seemed that he had been doing that often lately, frowning that is. But he was not frowning due to unmeasurable misery, but because Sakura always found a way to rip him out of his mood whenever he was in ecstasy, which was ironic considering she the cause for said ecstasy. Though it was true; Sakura had finished the job and done quite nicely so he wouldn't make her re-do them all over again for pleasure. Sakura was the type of woman to quickly either sympathize or resent a person and it's a laboring task controlling a woman that holds nothing but resent and malice towards you, nevertheless gain their trust. No, Madara had to think long term, if his 'attachment' to Koi even held up that long.

Madara flexed his toes and quirked his mouth. "I permit you to leave."

Sakura exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Her bed, she corrected herself, her cot was finally within reach when—

"One last thing, Koi..."

Sakura belched all the curses she could think of in her mind. She hadn't cursed in years, but Madara's constantly assholery pushed every button she had. 'What the eff is wrong with him?! I have done everything, every goddamn he has asked of me, but he's just so f*cked up, he takes pleasure in making my life hell! Know what, I should have told him NO, consequences be damned!'

Sakura knew that she had in fact told Madara outright NO the night he wanted her to sign the contract and beyond, but now as she recollected those bitter memories, had she done enough?

Attempting to mask the desperation in her voice, Sakura whispered, "Madara, what do you want from me?"

Madara detected the solemn demeanor Sakura had tried to hide and inside, he almost felt remorse—but the feeling quickly ended.

"I am not going to hurt you, Koi. Only treat you for exemplary service."

Sakura's eyes slightly widened, partly from infantile curiosity and the hope that 'treat' did not hold any sexual (that word felt so foreign) connotation. Though having treats in her eyes were only for nine year olds, Sakura crossed her arms and pointed out her chin.

"Treat?"

"Yes, a treat. You have been so committed to your work that I have decided to reward you." Madara motioned to her and patted the place beside him on the bed. Sakura hesitantly sat down and Madara told her to close her eyes, which she did. Then he asked her to open her mouth, and Sakura was wrought with disgust. Her eyes snapped open and she began, "You disgusting pedop—"

"Finish that sentence and I promise you, I'll give you good reason to call me such a name."

Sakura gawked at him like a fish before closing her eyes again and slowly opening her mouth in a small 'O.' She heard soft rustling beside her for a time when Madara said, "Open a little wider."

Sakura slightly opened her jaws wider. Then something round and hard was popped into her mouth. She closed her lips and looked at Madara quizzically. She rolled the new, foreign object across her tongue and an instant dark, warm, sweet sensation filled her mouth. The taste was definitely familiar...

"Caramel?"

Madara nodded, "You're welcome."

Sakura narrowed her green eyes at him for patronizing her. She attempted to speak through the hard candy in her mouth, but it made her sound like she had a lisp, "I spend the past three hours of my life toiling away for you and all you can bring to the table is some stinking caramel?"

"Koi, must you be so crude? There will be many, many more assignments to come and I can't simply reward you with diamonds every time you do what I ask; it would spoil you. But a nice caramel is a small, economical reward that expresses my gratitude for your accomplishments and does not adulterate you at the same time. So again, you are welcome," he patted her lightly on the head.

Madara pursed his lips to hold back the boisterous laughter at viewing Sakura's face, frozen in a mixture of incredulous emotions and exasperation.

"—and you may return home now."

Sakura nodded in a daze and made her way for the door.

"Don't you want me to drive you home, Koi?"

"Bus," was all she said as she closed the door. She was heading down the stairs from the building when she heard Madara following behind her. He grabbed her elbow and dragged her beside him. He sneered at her, "A bus...it's like I'm taking to a peasant girl..."

Madara dragged her back to his car, unlocked it, and opened the passenger door for her. Sakura got in and didn't wait for Madara to strap her in her seatbelt.

Madara closed her door and strode to the driver's seat and sat down beside her. He turned the ignition and put his hand on the back of Sakura's headrest as he looked behind him as he backed out of the parking lot.


"IIInnnoo, hello, anyone in there?"

Ino's mind came back to the present and looked at the person waving in her face. Tenten stared at her friend with great concern.

"Is something wrong? You seem really out of it today."

Ino uneasily laughed and waved the notion off. "I'm fine, just a little worried about an assignment that's due soon."

Hoping she bought the lie, Ino changed the subject. "Where's Shikamaru and Neji?"

"Shika is in engineering making up some homework from when he was out last week and Neji went to the bathroom."

Ino nodded and continued to sip her vitamin water in silence when Tenten turned back to her.

"Wait a minute, since when have you been concerned with your grades? I thought you wanted to be a florist?"

Still trying to protect her facade, Ino snapped at her like lightning,

"Well—Well since now! It would be idiotic to go to this hellhole every day and not accomplish anything during it. And are you saying being a florist doesn't require any brains?!"

"No, Ino, I was just—"

"Cause I'll have you know I'm not a dumbass and I can make good grades and—"

"Ino, calm down, Kami!"

Ino stood up and pointed at Tenten, too enveloped in her facile anger to stop, "Don't tell me to calm down! If you know what's best for our relationship you'll leave me alone right now, Tenten."

And then Ino stormed out of the cafeteria, burst through the double doors, and stomped down the hallway. When she was a considerable distance from the cafeteria, she slowed her pace and leaned against a row of lockers, sliding down to the floor. She didn't mean to yell at Tenten as she had, but she couldn't just out right tell her what was bothering her. It was unspeakable—literally. Shikamaru, Tenten, Hinata, Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, the entire friend circle, even Rock Lee vowed not to speak of the Unspeakable; that time was gone now and good riddance to it. From what she understood, Naruto and Hinata were the only ones who still had contact with the Unspeakable, earning the silent scorn among the group, but when Naruto had his heart set on something there was no changing it. So they ignore what Naruto and Hinata do when they're not together and resign themselves to only their friend circle, along with a few other popular teens at the school. But Ino couldn't help but to wonder about the Unspeakable, ever since she had handed the Unspeakable that Kleenex over the bathroom stall. What was she supposed to do?! Just let her sit on the toilet and her eyes out until 2:30 pm?

Even if the Unspeakable was a leper, no one should have to endure bullying, especially not alone. Because then depression sets in and it almost always leads to sui—

"What am I doing?"

"I don't know, but whatever it is I want you to stop," Tenten said tapping her foot.

Ino looked up at her friend and immediately felt embarrassment over her behavior in the cafeteria.

"Tenten, listen, I'm sorry and—"

Tenten shook her head, "No need, I already forgave you on my walk down here."

Ino released a sigh of relief and pulled her knees close to her chest. "I don't know what's wrong with me. It's like I know I have better things to do and think about, but I just can't let this go..."

"Let what go, Ino?," Tenten sat on the cold tiled floor beside her.

Ino shook her head, her blonde hair moving in front of her eyes,

"You're going to be angry..."

"I just got lashed out in front of the entire student body by a chick that thinks goody bags that include Chanel and Prada is normal; trust me, whatever it is it can't be that bad."

Ino looked at Tenten's trusting face for a moment then exhaled deeply before beginning, "You know about her, right?"

Tenten was lost, "Who?"

"Her...The Unspeakable person..."

Tenten stiffened beside Ino. Whenever the Unspeakable's name popped up, there was always an awkward silence. "Um, yeah, what about...her?"

Ino swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and cocked her head at Tenten. "Have you noticed anything...weird about her?"

This time, Tenten giggled. "Yeah, pretty much everything about her. Though I guess the whole hair situation she couldn't help because of some messed up genetics, but I'm still skeptical if she never dyed it because hair just doesn't come in that color."

Ino ridiculously rolled her eyes.

"No, not like that. I mean have you noticed she's been acting different? Like she grew a pair over night or something?"

Tenten shrugged, "I don't know, guess I never thought about it. I remember when Sasuke told me what happened in English one day, but that's about it," Tenten eyed Ino curiously, "Why do want to know?"

"Because...I don't know. You're right, it's stupid."

Ino stood up and began brushing off the dust from her black Chanel mini with the high waist and gold 'double C' belt.

"Oh my god, Tenten, why did you let me do this?! Shit, this cost like ¥43500 and I had my ass sitting on the ground with Kami knows what on it! You know their lazy asses don't sweep this place."

Tenten held her side as she burst aloud with laughter.

"Now that's the Ino I know!"

She put an arm around Ino's shoulders with Ino following suit and the pair made their back to the lunch room.

"Hey, Tenten, can you not tell the others about what just happened?," Ino whispers to her quietly. Tenten knew Ino was embarrassed and could never bring herself to make her face the rest of their friends like that.

"Of course. This was strictly a girl-on-girl moment and I'll never bring it up again," Tenten made an 'X' over her heart.

"Thanks, Tenten."

"No problem, plus..."

Tenten stopped walking and looked at Ino with a deep nostalgic gaze, "—it's not like I don't wonder."

And in that small sentence, Ino understood too well what Tenten meant: 'I wonder about her too...'

The two went through the cafeteria doors, smiling in each other's embrace. As promised, they did not talk of the Unspeakable one inside the cafeteria or for the rest of the month, nor did they mention her to the rest of the circle; she need not be mentioned when she was no longer relevant.

But this code of silence would not last for much longer. For just as the Unspeakable's name is a sure sign of impending Spring, change would come to the circle and a great injustice would come to the light.

For the Unspeakable had a name most synonymous with approaching change: Sakura


That week in Konoha passed by idly for Sakura, mostly due to her late nights with Madara. Nightly, he drove her to his penthouse (why he hadn't taken her back to his other house she had no clue) and had little tasks for her to fulfill; washing dishes, wiping down baseboards, vacuuming the kitchen floor—which was hardwood. After every one, Sakura was spent with exhaustion and beaded with sweat. Sakura resented Madara for many things, but his reinforcing of the simple housewife stereotype upon her came to be added to the already voluminous collection.

While she was cleaning the house, Madara would sit upon the couch, eyeing her with explicit interest. Occasionally, she'd send a cold glance his way and then march out the room to start her next task. Madara never punished her for her smugness though; he only chuckled in an almost mute tone, his deep voice sending constant vibrations down Sakura's back, despite how hushed his voice was.

After she completed her chores for the night, he would pack her into his midnight black Lamborghini and drive off into the night to the Konoha bus station. The first night after Sakura completed her work, Madara had caught her on the way out the door and forced her into the car, declaring she had the 'naivety of an unhunted hare that stalks toward bear traps with confidence.' Sakura then rebutted as to why she couldn't ride the bus alone; she had been doing it for years after all and certainly did not need Madara to babysit her at 17 years of age.

Madara didn't make any eye contact with her and simply replied, "You are naive because you do not know how you are dressed right now would call even a saint to temptation."

Sakura crimsoned at this and hurriedly faced the outside window so Madara wouldn't notice.

Nonetheless, Sakura got home safely with Madara tagging along beside her until the bus stopped a block from her neighborhood and from there she walked to her house. It highly amused Sakura to see Madara do something so mundane considering his usual lavish lifestyle, but what was even more surprising was Madara almost seemed panicked during the ride. Neither spoke during their short ride, but Madara seemed plenty occupied with examining his surroundings as he constantly looked over his shoulder and leaned forward whenever a new passenger boarded and glared at them with intensity. Once, a middle-aged man, conclusively drunk from the way he swayed, boarded the bus, using the silver handle rails for support. After achieving a level of control of his feet, he caught sight of Sakura and Madara smushed together, a position Madara, not Sakura, chose. He grinned at the pair with a mouth full of gums and yellowing teeth.

"Well, well, well, would cha look a'here? A big, strapping young man pressed up against his lady," he spoke through slurred speech and chortled as if laughing at a personal joke, "—and a little perty thang she is to. Tell me young lady, what's yor name?," he added a stale hiccup to Sakura's face as he leaned towards her. Sakura raised a questioning eyebrow at the man. Sakura used to the ride the bus all the time as a child, it's how she got back and forth between school, the house, and Rising Star, but in all her time riding never had she encountered someone so publicly obscene as this drunk man was. But out of good character, Sakura decided to tell him her name anyway.

"It's Sa—"

"Be on your way," Madara cut Sakura off.

"Why? All I wanted was the name of the perty lady. Ah well, I guess a picture will have to do," and in a second, Sakura shielded her eyes as the flash from the camera, hidden under the drunkard's dingy, heavy coat, blinded her. Madara's reaction, however, wasn't as passive as the pinkette's. Instantly, He had the man by the collar, looking at him with such ferocity that Sakura felt unnerved, and wasn't even on the receiving end. The drunkard, now extraordinarily sober, raised his hands in futile surrender.

"H-hey man, calm d-down it's only a photo."

Madara was not pacified, "and if you have good sense in your body, you will give me your camera."

The frightened man quickly handed over his camera and satisfied, Madara turned him loose. He popped open camera back with ease and produced the film reel inside the camera. He pocketed the reel and careless whether or not he caught it, threw the camera back to the man and sent him a deadly glare, making the stranger stark with attention.

"If you know anything about me, do not cross me. I have ridded myself of others of your kind that have meddled into my life. I suggest you not be the same. Now get off this bus and if I ever see an inkling of you in my presence again," he softly whispered just loud enough for the man to hear, "I will end you."

The bus driver, after hearing the commotion, called back, "Hey, what's going on back there? Do I need to put all of you off?!"

Madara gripped the strange man's shoulder rather harshly, causing him to slightly flinch as he spoke in his usual slick-tongued manner, "No, sir. We are all fine back here, but I think this man," he patted the stranger's shoulder, "—would like to exit on the next possible stop."

Surprised, the driver settled back into his seat and continued to steer. After standing holding his collar for 10 minutes, Madara all but hurled the stranger out the folding doors at the stop, brushed his coat to free any dirt particles and seated himself back down beside Sakura, and despite her onslaught of questions that followed after, kept silent and simply checked the emails on his phone.

Sakura badgered him for a few minutes, but after receiving no progress, crossed her arms and pouted.

Tonight as she lay in bed, Sakura recalled the incident with amusement. The idea of MADARA UCHIHA being threatened by a random drunkard to her was so impossible, it was hilariously ridiculous. And to think he would be threatened over HER? Maybe if she was an heiress or famous model, actress, musician, socialite, heck even a ditsy rich girl living in upper Kyoto, but a teenage ballerina with no hedge funds or socially acceptable status? Yes, hell has definitely frozen over. Sakura kicked over her covers and strangled her laughter by forcing her head into her pillow, but that only worsened it. Tears flowed from her eyes as she rolled on her cot in a boisterous fit of giggles.

Sakura finally managed to calm herself after awhile and empty silence followed. It came to her attention Madara practically knew everything about her from school records and possibly by hiring private eyes, though she really hoped he hadn't stooped that low, but she had no idea who Madara Uchiha was except Sasuke's great uncle and CEO of Uchiha Corporation, and even in that light she had no idea what exactly it was he did for a living.

She assumed he previously dated models and actresses, but wasn't too sure. Sakura was never the type to pry into someone's personal business and that included celebrities and the like so she rarely had any knowledge of Japanese gossip that circulated in the media or tabloids. To her, following a bunch of celebrities' scandals was idiotic considering people had enough trouble managing their own lives. The only time she had seen or heard any mention of Madara was in the girls' locker rooms of Konoha high and Rising Star academy.

Sakura sat up briskly, accidentally banging her head against the wall behind the head of her cot. "Shit," she cursed and rubbed the injured spot, but paid no mind to the throbbing pain as an epiphany settled in her mind.

What if Madara's other women had been through what he's putting her through? What if they had found a way out of his twisted game? Could they help her too escape from his grasp?

Sakura ran for her laptop on her dresser and began frantically typing.

Her eyes darted over news articles and released tabloid pages while she hardened her mouth into a thin line.

"No...no...uh, no...c'mon, no...what the eff? Even I know that's false..."

Then her fingers stopped and she slowly back away from the screen, a molasses slow grin spreading across her face.

"Yes...yes, yes, YESSSS!"

Sakura clapped her hands together and jumped with joy. Finding her had been tedious, but apparently Madara did have one documented girlfriend. From the impression the tabloids gave her, Madara was not only a persuasive business man, but an acclaimed playboy, which considering his presumptuous attitude upon first meeting her wasn't too far-fetched. But there was a woman named Mito Uzumaki who was the sole daughter of a prestigious family who Madara had courted during the building of Konoha. The article said the two had a whirlwind romance before Mito mysteriously confessed that she no longer loved Madara, but another man and from there all trace of her had gone cold. Sakura was elated that she had found this woman and tried to pay no mind to the fact she and Naruto shared the same surname. After all, Sakura had searched and searched and this was the only evidence she could find of Madara having a serious relationship, which excludes all of the other numerous published articles of his possible one night stands and beautiful escorts to social events. And so, it was Mito or nothing.

Sakura's green calculating eyes narrowed. The idea of Madara having a whirlwind romance with anyone was laughable, but Mito's sudden departure could possibly be the evidence she was dying for. Mito already came from money, so there was no need to blackmail her and if Madara was particularly fond of her as she had read, she knew he would not simply let Mito leave him, especially for another man; his pride wouldn't let him.

But if Mito had considerable wealth, why would she be interested in Madara anyway? In her mind, Madara's wealth was the only redeeming quality about the man and if he had not it or power, Sakura wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. So was it his looks? Madara was definitely handsome, but Sakura doubted he was handsome in his younger years considering from what she heard in the school hallways. Madara's physical attractiveness came from his maturity and rank, not a boyish face and certainly not his attitude. Sakura nibbled on her bottom lip. Now that she carefully considered it, wasn't Sasuke the same way? Brooding, aloof, haughty, and had considerable wealth and power, not to mention a Greek god-like body? And wasn't that what attracted Sakura to him in the first place, his confidence and good looks? Sakura waved the thought away. No, Sasuke wasn't like Madara, all they had in common were bloodlines; Sasuke, most of the time was cold towards her when they were younger, but at odd times he still showed he cared, if only a little. Whenever she, Naruto, and he were paired up to do a project for school together, Sasuke always provided Sakura with plausible feedback for her ideas, even if he dismissed them. He cared about the group and knew that she was the only other person offering good help, considering Naruto liked to slack off during the brainstorming, intellectual phase of the project, though enormously helpful during the hands-on phase when the two needed an extra pair of hands. Sakura's knees shook a little at the thought of Sasuke when they were younger. He was still so handsome and popular and aloof, but still holding good morals. A foreign, warm sensation passed throughout her body and Sakura held her arms against her body to quell her shaking. She would not—could not think of the past right now. It was over and as of this moment, her worries were her present and possible bleak future.

Sakura typed 'Mito Uzumaki' into the search bar of her computer. She pulled up the wooden chair from the foot of the cot. It was going to be a long night and she had some researching to do.

She swore, by morning when the sun clawed its way up over the trees, she would be free from the dictator that is Madara Uchiha.


And unto her it is befallen that she not find the faithful fruit which she had so earnestly prayed to the heavens for, for it was her own foolish hope that had led her to this inevitable, inescapable despair. She would not cry as that was no longer her way of dealing with sadness; she simply stared emptily at the computer desktop, with no emotion or care: only lost dreams. Mito Uzumaki had never been an adoring lover of Madara at all; as a way to elevate production and marketing sales, Mito was offered only a bargaining chip, nothing more. Neither Madara or Hashirama were in a serious, consummated relationship so the offer of Mito was used as leverage for the clans' benefit rather than the affections between the three parties. The previous photo she had seen with Madara and Mito strolling in a garden turned out to be only a coincidental meeting as Madara had just finished a formal luncheon with the Hyuuga clan and Mito so happened to be there accompanying one the Hyuuga's head matrons.

'Is this it? The end?'

...

'Am I fated to be the pawn of this humanoid animal until he bores of me?'

A minute notion came to her. 'And what if he never bores of me? Am I forever to be his slave?'

All questions, met with no answers.


"Okay class, today we begin a new unit. After careful consideration over the previous summer, the school administration has decided to introduce an English Literature unit as a part of our curriculum."

Standing on the edge of his desk in a white dress shirt, slacks, and ever present black mask, Kakashi scanned the classroom for reactions before continuing.

"In this unit, we're going to read four books by authors from Europe and America. Now I say this in seriousness, this unit may not be the most comfortable for most of you. There will be some controversial topics discussed from time to time, but the goal of introducing this unit is produce more well-rounded students, or so the Administration says. They think if you all have more exposure to different types of literature, it will better prepare you for futures in business, commerce, and life in general. Now that we've set down the basics of this next unit, any questions?"

At the sight of a tanned hand stretching towards the ceiling, Kakashi sighed to himself and pointed to the person.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Uh Kakashi-sensei, if the stuff we're gonna read is in English, how are we supposed to understand it?"

Instantaneously, the entire class groaned in sheer agony. The situation would have been somewhat comical had Naruto not have been so serious about the question. Hinata put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

Kakashi put his face in his palms then looked up at the blonde haired student. "Naruto, every book has been translated to romanji. Speaking of that, I know most of you in here are more familiar with kanji and kana, so if you need help understanding the material I am free anytime. Anything else?"

Watching for anymore hands and seeing none, Kakashi continued with his lesson.

"This first book we will study was written by an American author who has won a Pulitzer Prize for her piece. The book was written years ago, but is still widely acclaimed in America today. The author's pen name is Harper Lee and the book will read first is called..."

Sakura lackadaisically twirled her pen in front of her, her eye never leaving its slender form. The new unit did not interest her, but then again at a time like this in her life, what possibly could? She would suffer through this unit and move on with the course until she passed it and be done with it forever. In her view, she was already hollow like the inside of a balloon, just waiting for some chivalrous individual to pin her and end her slow suffering, what worse could a book do to her plight?

For the day's assignment, Kakashi-sensei asked the students to complete a small project with one partner or more about the setting of rural United States during The Great Depression and its significance on the book they reading; being they all just received it, they were only responsible for basing the project off the first three chapters.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei! We just got the book, now we have to do an analysis of it? What the hell, Sensei?! I have stuff to do today like make up an Algebra exam, football practice, basketball practice, golf practice, buy a new month's supply of ramen, and not to mention feed my cat!"

Naruto's superfluous rants always uplifted the class in what would otherwise be a devastatingly boring course. A desk behind him, Hinata leaned in his ear and said below her breath so no one would hear, "N-Naruto-kun, you bought a cat?"

Naruto grinned slyly. "No, baby, of course not, but old man Kakashi doesn't know that," he replied with a chuckle.

Hinata mouthed "Oh" and leaned back in her seat.

"Naruto, quit complaining. You can do this assignment or fail the entire unit, your choice."

Naruto folded his arms and huffed at his teacher. It looked as if there was no way out of this mess, so he would have to suffer through it like the rest of the class. Then again, he did have Hinata, his sweet, caring girlfriend who would most definitely aid him through this seemingly impossible project. Naruto looked back at Hinata with pouty face and as if reading his mind, she smiled knowingly, solidifying she would partner with Naruto on the project to help him. Hinata personally knew the way Naruto learned did not involve leafing through hordes of books on subjects or copying notes from a slideshow. Naruto gained knowledge from personal life lessons he experiences with others. It was a special way, but to her Naruto was a special guy, so it was befitting. How exactly she would get the project's point across to him was beyond her at the moment, but somehow she would find a way to connect the assignment with his life.

After assignment their homework, which was due by the end of the week, Kakashi gave the class free time for the rest of the period and he sat at his desk reading what looked to be a manual on how to teach the new unit, given by the Konoha High insignia on it, but Sakura knew better. Kakashi wasn't reading the manual at all, it was just a cover up so he could read his pervy books during class without anyone noticing. Given the way he pursed his lips every ten minutes and even cracked a smile occasionally, Sakura could say the jig was up.

She glanced around at her classmates, so carefree and ignorant, free of the strife of being a teenager if only for an hour or so and yet she—

"Hey, you," someone tapped on her shoulder. Almost dazed, Sakura looked to her left at a 5,11" tall guy with dark brown hair that covered half of his face. She had no idea what his name was, but judging from his incredible height, he must be on one of the sports teams. But that was even more odd, if he was into sports, why was he talking to someone like her, a social leper?

'Maybe he has a nerd complex,' Sakura thought while looking at the guy. He unclenched one of his hands and threw something on her desk. Sakura stared from him to the paper quizzically before uncrumpling it and reading the note:

Would you be my partner?

Sakura looked at the guy and he hurriedly shook his head and chucked his chin to the right of him. So he didn't like her and could not be seen talking to the class voodoo doll from fear it would tarnish his reputation.

Dickhead.

Sakura looked opposite to her and tried to spot anyone who caught her eye. Her eyes passed across dozens of people laughing, making plans, or telling lies about what they did last week, but none caught her gaze until her sight rested upon two eyes staring at her expectantly. Sakura immediately looked forward again and tried to calm her pulsing heart rate. There was no way. She looked back again and Sasuke was still staring at her in all his beautiful, confused, and slightly annoyed glory. Inside, Sakura wanted to scream, "Take this, Karin! Sasuke doesn't want you anymore and finally came to his senses. Chaaaa!"

But because it would be inappropriate and the rest of her class would stare her like a freak (they already did, but that was beside the point.), she decided it best to keep her composure and simply mouthed to Sasuke, "after class." He, in return, rolled his eyes and nodded in agreement.


Not too long after, the bell rang and the class hurriedly filed out of the room. Sakura made sure to be one of the last to leave. Sasuke gathered his things and strode towards her.

"So will you?"

"Oh, be your partner? Yeah, sure. B-But um..."

"What?", he said with slight curiosity and annoyance. He hated it whenever females were flustered around him. It made things a thousand times more awkward and complicated than they should be.

"Uh, Sasuke, no offense, but you have the highest grade in the class, you have the highest grade in all our classes. Why do you want to partner with me?"

Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly.

"Shikamaru's going to be partners with Ino and I thought about Neji, but he's going a trip this Thursday and would be exempt from turning the assignment in at the end of the week. And we both know Naruto, so that's out," he leaned forward a little, "—and that leaves you."

Sakura caught on quickly to the situation. Sasuke hadn't personally sought her out as his partner, but resorted to her as a last choice, further damaging what little self-esteem she had left.

"And you're the only girl that doesn't annoy me as much in this class."

Well, true Sakura rarely spoke to Sasuke and no longer twittered about him like an idiot like when she was younger, so she took his statement as a compliment and inwardly patted herself on the back for acting mature. He did say 'as much', but that was neither here nor there.

"Uh, thanks. That makes sense. Soooooo...when and where do you want to get started?"

"Can you stay after school?"

Sakura shook her head. She had classes at S&U immediately after school and couldn't afford to miss a single day.

"But I can come early to school and we can meet in the library in the mornings."

Sakura said these things begrudgingly. Anytime sparse time she could spend with Sasuke was precious and not to be taken for granted.

Sasuke pondered on her suggestion. "That could temporarily work, but it isn't nearly enough time for us to complete the entire project."

Sakura figured that was the case. She had to approach this situation with caution; if she didn't, Sasuke might be compelled to choose another partner after assessing she couldn't solve such a minuscule problem from what, on her part, looked like selfishness when it was just the opposite. Sakura would give anything just to sit down and have a two minute conversation with Sasuke after all these years of not speaking to each other. She couldn't let this moment slip through her fingers because she had dance right after school.

Sasuke sighed, his face stoic while running a hand through his raven locks.

"Look, just forg—"

"No, Sasuke! Eh," Sakura cleared her throat, hoping she didn't sound too desperate. "I'll try to work something out so we can work together after school. But for now, we can go ahead and read the first three chapters of the book and gather a little of information. And then tomorrow, you can meet me at the school library and we'll start on typing the paper."

Sasuke was silent for a moment, then finally said, "Alright. I'll be here at 5am."

Sakura inaudibly let out a sigh of relief.

"I'll be there, Sasuke."

"Hm," and Sasuke walked off to his next class, Sakura following behind him at a comfortable distance. After he was out of sight, she pumped a fist in the air and an exclaim of excitement slipped through her teeth. Realizing people were staring, she regained her composure and too walked off to class, a fresh bounce in her step.


"Sasuke-kunnn!"

"Hm," Sasuke replied back in greeting.

After spotting him from across the cafeteria, Karin sauntered through the rows of tables and latched onto his arm.

"Oh Sasu-cakes, I missed you today."

"Karin, I told you not to call me that and let go of my arm," Sasuke snapped at the redhead. Dear kami, what was he thinking? There no particular reason why he was dating Karin. As a matter of fact, he didn't even know if he even liked the woman. But from his perspective, he was popular and she was also popular and as they say, 'birds of a feather flock together'. Their 'arrangement' didn't have to make sense because in high school, the same rules do not apply as they do in everyday life; it's a whole different ball game and the ball was in Sasuke's court. Besides, if it kept other girls from mauling him on the way to class, so be it.

"Sasuke-kuuuuunnnnnn!"

Dammit, he should have chosen someone with less of a voice box. He already had the Dobe to deal with and if this kept on, by this time tomorrow, he's going to be deaf.

"Karin, dammit stop screaming in my ear!"

Sasuke jerked his arm away, causing Karin to almost fall on him. Instead of catching herself, Karin instead went for Sasuke's neck and wound her arms around him.

"Aw Sasu-cakes, why are you being so grumpy today?" she said in a baby voice while trying to pinch one of Sasuke's cheeks as he swatted her away.

"I know! Why don't I slip over to your place tonight and help get the kinks out of your back. I'm sure that would make you less grumpy," Karin whispered with a wink.

Sasuke was in no mood for a headache tonight.

"You can't. I have to do homework and get started on a project tonight."

"Come on baby," Karin leaned over his shoulder and provocatively whispered in his ear, "You never turn me down." Her hands reached across Sasuke's shoulder and rubbed his thigh, dangerously creeping towards his groin.

"Hey Teme, how come you told Hinata and me to get a motel, but you can get foreplay at the lunch cafeteria table in front of everyone!"

Naruto's outburst caused Karin to completely release Sasuke (which he was grateful for) and blush with fuming rage. After hearing the commotion, students surrounding them had directed their gaze at Sasuke, who remained nonchalant as always with his hands folded in front of his face, and then to Karin, who blushed so intensely she could have given Hinata a run for her money.

"SH-SHUT UP, YOU IDIOT!"

Karin looked on the cafeteria table for something to throw at him. Her eyes landed on Tenten's juice bottle which she seized and chucked at the blonde haired boy, who ducked, bringing Hinata down with him.

"Karin, what the hell! You could have hit Hinata. Oi Sasuke, handle your chick!"

"She's not my chick."

Karin stared incredulously at Sasuke.

"B-But Sasuke-kun..."

Sasuke turned on her, his black eyes cold. "Any woman who is behaving as you are now is not my chick. Go buy Tenten another juice and don't call me for the rest of the week. And don't come over my house either. Go."

Karin took a sharp intake of breath and looked at Sasuke with a pleading face, hoping he would change his mind and after seeing he wouldn't, she stomped away to the cafeteria line.

Naruto and Hinata took a seat across from Sasuke, gazing at Karin in simmering anger.

Naruto looked at Tenten seated beside Neji on the left hand side of Sasuke.

"Tenten, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm cool. But the audacity of that mangy thing! I should have whipped out my knife on her for pulling some stuff like that."

"Hehe Tenten, that would have been awesome! Why didn't you?"

"Because I was in shock, Naruto! Who the hell expects something like that?"

"But still, you could have—"

And an entire conversation brewed, including people from neighboring tables and even those that weren't anywhere near the scene joining in. Sasuke simply exhaled heavily and ignored the growing crowd around him. Hinata whispered to him softly, "Sasuke, know I don't have anything against you, but I hate your girlfriend."

Sasuke gave her a look that if directed at someone who didn't know Sasuke would look the same as he always did, but she could see the fire beneath his stare.

"She's not my girlfriend."

Sasuke got up from the table, slung his messenger bag over his shoulder and walked off into the crowd without another word.


"Wait a minute, repeat yourself."

Sakura huffed. She had been trying for the past hour to explain to Madara why she couldn't come to S&U tomorrow after school, well more so why she couldn't meet him after classes at S&U were over.

"I can't go, Madara because I have a project to do. I'm really not supposed to be here with you now, but you won't let me go."

Madara gave a small smirk.

"It's naive of you to think I would simply let you go without being given an explanation as to your need to leave. And remember to add the '-sama' after my name. It's inappropriate for a servant to address their master in such a casual way, you should know this Koi."

Sakura had no patience or time to indulge in Madara's antics regarding the way she speaks to him. His approval was essential because he co-owned the academy and if she were to miss a single day of class, her entire registration at the academy would be eradicated along with any hopes of Julliard. Sakura needed Madara with her on this, whether she wanted him or not. But being the sadistic man he is, Madara kept toying with her on the topic and treating her grade at Konoha High as if it were a joke.

"Madara, it's already a quarter till nine and I haven't even started reading the first page of the book yet because I'm here with you. I really need you to pull some strings...please."

His hand forming small semicircles as he swirled the Merlot around in his wine glass, Madara sank deeper into the cushions of the dark suede couch he purchased yesterday after experiencing pains in his back. Listening to Sakura go on like this for the past hour, he could see why he had bought it. Work was definitely a humongous stress factor in his life including friends and family (or lack thereof), but he had taken on a new chip to carry, one which had bubblegum pink hair and the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen yet the audacity of a tiger. Despite her constant disregard for his position over her, Madara always reveled in Sakura's company. Most of the time she was cleaning the penthouse and grumbling insults at him, but Madara enjoyed these moments more than regular conversation. Knowing Sakura detested him did wonders to his ego, not dousing it, but instead inflating it to the point of narcissism. Koi's constant irateness towards the Uchiha stirred his insides like never before. All his life, Madara had been praised and envied by most around him. Sakura was a different story, a total one eighty. The woman wanted nothing to do with him! And that was why he adored her so.

Madara decided long ago he would make some calls to S&U Academy and permit her to miss 3 days' worth of class; as she said, he did co-own the school. He could have told Sakura of his intentions an hour ago, but it was too adorable watching his little Koi stress over something so small. He, Madara Uchiha, could turn the world on its side if he willed it, but Sakura was still a naive child despite her academic prowess; it was natural she still only saw him as some random wealthy man. She has not yet graduated high school and already had the mindset of a determined career woman, furthering his amusement of watching her fret over situations he already handled. Poor, poor Koi.

"Madara, come on! I'll-I'll stay extra nights on the weekends or something or I'll clean more when I'm here. Just let me do this, it's for a class grade, do you really want me to fail my senior year because you wouldn't let me finish a stupid project? Really Madara, is that what you want?! After trudging through these past three years of hell, I completely fail because of you. You make me sick—"

"It will be handled by morning."

Sakura stood aghast over Madara. She had not expected him to be so compliant after refusing to even listen for the past hour.

"Well...thanks."

"I'm not letting you off so easily, Koi. You must do something for me in return."

Sakura snarkily replied, "Madara-sama, I would loooove to, but since you took so much time to help me straighten out my S&U schedule this week, I'm afraid we're out of time. Plus I still need to read three chapters and you wouldn't want all the hard work of setting up my schedule to go to waste now would you?"

Madara eyed the teenager with suspicion. He had again underestimated Koi. Because of her age, he mistook her to be too naïve and easily excitable. But as he said before, Sakura had the mindset of a business woman and sometimes in business there comes a need to get dirty. And she was getting filthier by the day. In an odd sense, Madara was proud of her. She had yet again exceeded his expectations. If things kept up like this, she may find a breach in the contract and try to renege on her allegiance to him. That was unacceptable. She must be put in her place immediately.

"Clean the grout of the tiling in the bathroom and rearrange my medicine cabinet by code number."

"Wait, what? No! Did you listen to anything I just said?"

Madara brought his wine glass to his lips, tipping the dark, semisweet liquid into his mouth. He savored the fine taste of the wine and closed his eyes in contentment.

"The medicine cabinet key is in the top drawer of my nightstand and you know where the cleaning supplies are."

Sakura was about to angrily retort at him when he pointed down the hallway to his bedroom, signaling her to obey him. In a flurry of anger, Sakura unzipped her jacket and flung it on the floor and marched off.

Madara silently relished in her bout of anger. She was too cute for her own good.

Bring the glass back to his lips for another sip, a slick smile found its way to his visage.

"The balance has been restored."

A/N: I would like to give a special thank you to Taraneh Rose for lighting a fire under my ass and compelling me to write, no matter what.