I still don't and won't ever own Naruto. Thxbye.

So, sorry it's been awhile. I've been busy but I'm totally determined to keep updating this as much as possible. Thanks so much for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this next bit...I haven't written much the last few weeks so sorry ahead of time if it's a bit jumpy.

Enjoy!

"Hurano Sakura," Pain's smooth voice was light in greeting. "This is a surprise."

"It's just Sakura," she corrected him. From her seat next to him, Konan arched an eyebrow. Deidara was surprised that Sakura had dared to correct Pain. Was she totally and completely nuts? He glanced at her sideways, trying to look confident and not like he was feeling that bringing her to Pain may have been really stupid and potentially dangerous for him after all.

Pain, however, didn't look surprised or annoyed at her correction. He almost looked pleased. "Sakura-san, then." He inclined his head toward her. "Deidara has informed me of your desire to join the Akatsuki."

"That is my desire, yes." Sakura didn't sound at all nervous. Deidara tried not to look her way again, instead focusing on Pain's many piercings, wondering to himself for what must have been the millionth time just how many the guy had. In his face alone he had a dozen at least.

"I'm a valuable asset to your organization," Sakura continued, not waiting for Pain to speak. "Medical ninjas like myself are not common. As you well know, my master was Tsunade, the former Hokage of Konoha. She herself stated that my aptitude in the medical field was comparable to her own."

Konan said nothing, but Deidara could feel her suspicion. Surely Pain was suspicious as well. Sakura would have to tell them a lot more than she'd told him last night concerning why she wanted to join the Akatsuki and why they could trust her, that was certain.

"Your skills are not what I question," Pain said. "It is your motive. You are correct in gathering that the Akatsuki is in need of a medical ninja. But given your past and your loyalty to Konoha, you can understand my doubt, I'm sure."

"I understand your doubt completely. I can't offer you much other than my promise of my services and loyalty. You can keep an eye on me, restrict my privileges at first until I've proved myself. I can give you my word that I care nothing for what happened to my former village. I no longer believe what I used to. I no longer have any ties there."

Konan leaned over to Pain and whispered something in his ear. Deidara glanced at Sakura again. Still not a hint of nervousness on her face. Did she not fear for her life at all? The more he studied her, the more he gathered by the ease of her posture and calmness in her eyes that maybe it wasn't so much that she was sure of her success, but that she just didn't care what happened to her. Maybe it was more that she knew Pain might reject her offer and kill her, but it didn't matter to her either way.

"Deidara." Pain's voice cut through his thought process and he tore his eyes from Sakura reluctantly. "Sakura-san will be your partner. It will be your job to keep watch of her and everything she does while she is first here. Due to the nature of your past," he addressed Sakura now, "I will restrict you as I see fit until you have proven your loyalty to the Akatsuki. The other members will keep an eye on you as well. Deidara will inform me of anything he judges to be unfitting with what you have promised. We will work out sleeping arrangements so that you can be watched at all times. You will be giving up your freedom for some time, Sakura-san. You will be little more than a prisoner at first. I trust that is not a problem for you."

Sakura's face lit with a radiant smile. Her eyes met Deidara's with such excitement that it shocked him. He felt somehow like a co-conspirator with her, like they had planned for this all along. He was a little surprised at how quickly Pain at decided to allow her to stay. They must really need Sakura. He had to fight not to grin back at her.

"Thank you, Pain-sama." She bowed slightly. "It will be no problem at all."

"I want to meet the others," Sakura told Deidara. After leaving their meeting with Pain, he'd shown her her new room-adjoining to his as all partner rooms in the place were. The reasoning behind this had always baffled Deidara. What had Pain's intention been, having everyone's rooms connected? Late night pajama parties? Emergency missions in the middle of the night? Both were ridiculous and thus far, neither had happened. Once Hidan had remarked that not everybody slept with their partner, and Pain had sort of beat the shit out of him. The adjoining rooms hadn't been mentioned since.

Deidara supposed that in this situation it worked out pretty well, considering he was all but babysitting Sakura for the first who knew how long that she was there. He wasn't sure if he was more excited or annoyed by the prospect of being around the kunoichi nearly 24/7.

"You don't want to settle in at all first?" He finally asked her. Her request to meet the other members straight off struck him as weird. He'd figured she'd want a bit of "alone time" after being with him since she'd approached him last night.

"I can do that later," she said. She met his eyes and offered a small smile. "And anyway, I'm kind of hungry."

Deidara instantly felt like an asshole. Of course she'd be hungry. Last night after going out and ravaging the hell out of that woman, he'd eaten at a dingy diner before returning home. He hadn't even thought of breakfast this morning because he'd been too fixed on how much ravaging the hell out of the woman hadn't helped his annoying draw toward Sakura. Now she'd gone without a meal since drinking last night and more than likely felt like total shit. And yet she'd hardly stopped smiling since he'd met her.

"Let's go to the kitchen, yeah. Somebody else will more than likely be there, and we can fix you something to eat."

Sakura nodded and fell into step beside him. Deidara tried not to glance at her too often, but he couldn't help himself. Her eyes pored over the hallway, studying each door they passed with a remote, withdrawn look of curiosity. He felt like he should say something, but he wasn't sure what. Finally, he said the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm pretty sure you've already met everybody."

"Mmm," she replied. "I suppose I have. Except for Zetsu."

He glanced at her, surprised she was aware that the plant man was still alive. "He's rarely here."

"Makes sense."

When they reached the kitchen, Deidara was relieved to find Hidan bustling around, making himself God-knew-what to eat. The last time Hidan had cooked for everyone, nearly all of them had gone hungry because they had all felt it was better to skip a meal than ingest meat as raw as what Hidan had prepared for them. His love of blood didn't translate well into the realm of cooking.

"Oi. Why don't you make Sakura-san something to eat while you're at it?" Deidara called out, leaning against the door frame. He desperately wanted to have some time to himself to sort out his thoughts. It was becoming more and more evident every time he looked at Sakura and took stock of his reactions to her that he needed to blow something up. Now.

Hidan turned to face them, his eyes lingering on Sakura for a moment with a quizzical look before turning to Deidara. "She's still here?"

"What does it look like, yeah?" Deidara smirked at him.

Hidan shrugged. "I thought the bitch would be dead after meeting with Pain. Yeah, I'll make her something. I hope you don't mind your steak rare, princess."

Sakura's walk was practically a saunter as she made her way to Hidan. Deidara noticed the way he looked at her and almost smiled at the challenging way she stopped right beside him and met his gaze. "As a matter of fact, the more rare, the better." She said.

Deidara almost wanted to stay and tell Hidan to forget it, that he'd make her something instead. He wasn't sure he liked way Hidan was leering at Sakura, and he also wasn't sure Sakura would live another day after eating whatever the hell Hidan decided to whip up for her. But he couldn't kick the nagging feeling that having these kinds of thoughts was stupid, annoying and ultimately would get him into more trouble than anything else, so why not start dismissing them right now? Sakura could eat all the raw meat she wanted. Hell, she could fuck Hidan for all he cared. It didn't matter to him.

He wouldn't let it matter to him.