Twelve reviews so far! Since you people seem to love my story so much, I'm actually going to remember to update!

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At the Akatsuki Hideout

The Leader paced furiously around his bedroom. Out of the 200 people that made up the organization, including the core members, only two could heal somewhat. Two. Too many people were getting sick and being sidelined by injuries. They were the strongest and most feared group in the whole world and they didn't even have one talented healer.

His thoughts turned to possible people that they could capture to be forced into healing the members. The obvious choice was Tsunade, renowned throughout the shinobi lands for her unmatched healing abilities. But her being Hokage made it too difficult to get at her. The next best thing was someone who was apprenticed under Tsunade.

Loud knocking interrupted the Leader's thoughts. "Come in," he said, not bothering to hide the annoyed tone of his voice. A nervous teen wearing the traditional black and red uniform of a low-ranking member walked into the room. "What is it?" Leader snapped.

"Um, I just returned from spying in the Fire Country around Konoha, and I heard some thing that might interest you, sir," the teen stammered out.

"Go on," Leader said.

"Well, everyone here knows how your want a medic and I heard news that would be beneficial on that topic. Haruno Sakura, the Hokage's prized student, ran away from Konoha and been declared a missing-nin."

Silence greeted the revelation as the Leader thought. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. This was exactly what he wanted. "Go tell Itachi and Kisame to come here. They have a new mission," Leader ordered.

With Sakura

Sakura jumped quickly through the trees, all her senses on high alert. Her missing presence was probably noted by now and teams of hunter-nin were on her trail by now.

It was her heightened senses that saved her life.

A kunai sliced silently through the air at her. Sakura felt it a second before it would've hit. Instead of being hit in the back of her head, she got a small cut on her cheek as she dodged to the side. The kunai buried itself in a tree as two huge chakra sources revealed themselves. Sakura began to tremble; she wasn't strong enough to take on whoever it was that had come. With the amount of chakra these people had, they were S-class criminals, more than likely.

"If you stand quietly, we will not hurt you," a voice told her from the trees surrounding Sakura. The voice vaguely reminded Sakura of Sasuke's voice. It had the same cold, emotionless tone as his.

Slowly, Sakura knelt on the branch she stood on, the picture of obedience. Secretly, she charged her fist with chakra so that when the chakra sources came close enough, she would be ready. But when she saw who stepped from the trees, her blood ran cold.

Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame silently appeared from the shadows of the forest.

"We do not wish to harm you," Itachi said. "We are here merely to take you with us, not kill you."

"What do you want me for?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Our organization, Akatsuki, is in need of a talented healer, and you are the best choice."

"And if I choose not to come?"

"We will either bring you in by force or kill you," Itachi said, no emotion whatsoever in his eyes.

Sakura began to laugh. This surprised even the Uchiha, though he didn't show it.

"You might as well kill me. I'll be no use to you. I wasn't even the greatest healer in Konoha," Sakura said when she finally stopped laughing.

"You don't understand," Itachi said. "You are coming with us no matter what."

Sakura didn't even see him move. The last thing she felt was pressure on the back of her neck and then she fell into blackness.

When Sakura awoke, her arms and feet were tied. After her momentary disorientation passed, she began to fight her bonds. But the ropes tying her up absorbed all the chakra she channeled to her hand, so she couldn't use her super strength.

"Welcome, Haruno Sakura, to the Akatsuki's headquarters," a shadowy voice said.

A figure stepped into the light from the shadows at the corner of the room. The man who emerged wore the black and red robes of a core member of Akatsuki and his hair was spiky.

"You've been a bad little apprentice, haven't you, running away like that," he continued. "I wonder why some one with a perfect life in the perfect village would run away."

"My life was anything but perfect," Sakura said, bitterness laced in her voice.

"Then, if you hate the Leaf Village for what they've done to you, why don't you join us? As a healer here you'd be respected far more than any person in Konoha could respect you."

"None of them respected me. They all thought I was too weak," Sakura whispered, her own words condemning her.

"So you're willing to stay with us, if only to spite the people who scorned your amazing talents?" The Leader's soft, almost compassionate sounding, words broke through barriers in Sakura's mind that had never been broken before. His words made her think of all the suffering she had endured in Konoha because no one remembered her.

"That's right, you would never be alone again if you stayed with us. Everyone would admire you and want to be your friend."

Those words were the only thing that crumbled Sakura's weak, remaining resistance.

"I'll join you and heal your members," Sakura said, an indescribable look in her jade eyes.

"Good, I'll assign you one of the core members to look after you for the first week and to show you to where your room is. You'll start your work tomorrow."

Uchiha Itachi walked in to the room.

"Itachi will show you how things are done around here. Report to me at the end of each week on how things are going."

Itachi turned around and started walking, clearly expecting Sakura to follow him. Many members stared at Sakura as she and Itachi walked through multiple hallways to the wing where the core members' rooms were.

Five of the doors had names etched on them: Itachi, Kisame, Deidara, Toby, and Zetsu. The sixth door had Sakura's name on it.

"As the organization's only real healer, you get a room in this wing," Itachi said. Sakura stared around the large bedroom. It had a bathroom attached on the side, a bed, a desk, and a closet.

"Wait a minute, did you say I was the only healer?" Sakura said, Itachi's words now penetrating her head. But he was gone already.

Upon inspection, Sakura found the closet was full of the uniform of the core members, complete with the black and red robe. Sakura collapsed on the bed. What have I gotten myself into? she wondered, dread twisting like a snake in her stomach.

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Yay, new chapter! It was kind of short, but the next one will be much longer. And I asked this last chapter but no one responded so I'm going to ask again, does anyone know of a sight where you can post your own original stories? I really need to know. Now, be a good reader and go review!