Ah, it's been so very long. I apologize for that.

I'll let everyone know now that I read every single review, and take each one into consideration. I seriously wouldn't have gotten through chapter 3 if there weren't any. I expected a few, but 136 reviews? I can't thank you guys enough.

I would happily add MadaSaku to the storyline, except that would just complicate my storyline further than it already is in my head. Tobi will just be Tobi. No Madara or Obito. Sorry. But maybe if others want to see a MadaSaku, I may do a oneshot later on. Until then, please bear with me.

Now, that's enough of my babbling. Here is the (hopefully long awaited) chapter 13 of New Recruit.

Last time:

Taro's face immediately went from soothed to a deep grimace. Sakura smiled larger and placed one of her hands around his neck. "This is for using me as your play toy." With that, Sakura pushed her chakra into his neck, cutting every artery traveling through his throat.

Hidan simply stared, watching the assassination take place. After the body fell to the ground, Sakura took a step back. The Jashinist could tell from the way she stared at the lifeless form that she was feeling remorse, but he knew that after a time of carrying these tasks out, she wouldn't feel the growing anxiety pooling in her stomach.

Sakura was fighting the urge not cry. She had carried the task out in a fit of anger, and now she was feeling the after burn. She knew that if she started bawling here, Hidan would never take her seriously as a kunoichi.

As soon as she thought it, she questioned why she cared.

"Well, then…" Hidan's voice broke through her thoughts, and she whipped her head around to look him in his violet eyes. "I like it better when you do the assassinations. There's hell of a lot less to clean up." He chuckled and bent over to grab his kunai from the ground. "There's not even a speck of blood." Sakura slowly looked back at the body. He was right. The severing of arteries didn't require her to break the skin. It was a clean kill, but this throat was quickly turning a splotchy red color.

She looked away again.

"For Jashin's sake…" Hidan scratched the back of his neck, feeling slightly awkward with the uncomfortable medic. "Just go back to the inn. I'll put the body somewhere civilians won't find it." Sakura simply nodded at that. It seemed like the best decision at the time. Of course someone will know he was murdered by Akatsuki. Hell, it wouldn't have surprised her if some village jounin watched the entire assassination take place. But she didn't see the point in them wanting to intervene. Another missing-nin was dead and no longer a threat.

With that, Sakura turned on her heel and headed back to the inn.

It was about two in the morning when she heard the door creak open. Her half-lidded eyes trailed over to the figure that quietly closed the door behind him. When he turned around, he seemed surprised to see her still awake. "I couldn't sleep" is what she had said when he asked why she was up.

He hadn't said anything right away after she said that. He stood by the door for a good minute before stating, "The first kill is tough. Everyone in Akatsuki goes through it at some point. Leader went easy on you and had you do it early." Hidan strode over to the double bed where Sakura sat, chin on knees.

"That's only half of what's bothering me…" she whispered, eyes narrowing slightly. "I'm afraid to go to sleep."

"Nightmares." He stated with a knowing nod.

Sakura simply nodded in reply. "How long have they been screwing with your mind?" she asked.

He didn't hesitate to reply, "The last few days." Sakura turned and looked at him curiously. His eyes met hers, and she gave an involuntary shudder. "You too?"

"Four days." She murmured. The silence afterwards filled both their ears, causing Sakura to lift her hands to grasp her head. "Don't leave me alone with them." She pleaded silently.

Hidan's eyes grew slightly at that request. "…them?" he questioned.

"The nightmares…" Sakura dug her head down into her knees.

Hidan watched as the strong, hot-headed kunoichi trembled vulnerably before him. It felt wrong to him, like she would be the one to brush these things off. When their eyes met when he came in the room, her fire was gone. There was no blazing spirit in her eyes like there had been when they first met. She was weak and… exposed. He coughed faintly, clearing his throat. "Do you want me in the bed…or…?" Why was he stuttering…?

The medic lifted her head to steal a glance at him. "here," she whispered. Hidan obeyed, sliding his shoes off and moving slowly onto the bed, hesitantly. Once he was lying beside her, she slid down so that she was lying fully beside him. He wrapped one arm around her shoulder, a light heat pooling in his cheeks.

"Is this alright?" he asked. Sakura nodded and moved closer, wrapping a slender arm around his upper body. There was silence as they listened to each other's breathing. They had the same fears, and yet they were so different. "Sakura…" he whispered into her ear. She made a "hn" noise in reply, letting him know she had heard him. "What did you lose?"

There was another long silence. She lifted her head from her pillow and looked into the Jashinist's anxious violet eyes. Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, she opened her mouth to answer him.

After sneaking unnoticeably out of The Hidden Waterfall village and retrieving their weapons from the bush, they made their way to the nearest chakra gate so they could transport back to base. Sakura started fiddling with one of the long tassels hanging from her straw hat. She really liked doing that.

"Oi, Sakura." The medic-nin's attention was brought to the immortal that was walking a few feet in front of her. "Look." He lifted an arm to point up at a bird flying towards them at a fast pace. Sakura panicked and slipped a kunai from her sleeve. Hidan only chuckled and told her to calm down, which she did hesitantly. The bird landed on his outstretched arm, and Sakura watched intently as he removed a piece of paper that was tied to the bird's foot. The bird transferred itself to Hidan's shoulder as he unrolled and read the note. "Change of plans," he stated after a minute. Sakura cocked her head slightly to the side in a questioning manner. "Leader wants us to meet up with Kisame and the Uchiha bastard at the Grass border. They'll inform us what to do from then."

Sakura simply nodded and watched as Hidan sent the bird away. "The Grass border is south of here, and it shouldn't take too long to get there." Sakura stated more to herself than to Hidan. "We should get there by sundown." She said a bit louder. The Jashinist nodded and they headed out towards their destination.

They traveled in silence for a while, and Sakura was grateful for that. She hardly had any time to think anymore, and she still hadn't come up with an idea on how to free Naruto. A glower formed on her face and she lifted a hand to twiddle with her straw hat tassels. She tugged and twirled the white fabric, feeling the unease pooling in her stomach. Naruto didn't deserve to be locked up like a zoo animal, and that made her irritated. Everything Naruto had ever done had been for the benefit of another. Was he still unconscious in there? If he wasn't, were they giving him enough food? What if he was injured? She wouldn't be able to get to him if he was.

Sakura stopped fiddling with the tassel and lifted her hand to rub her right temple. Why didn't she think longer before making the decision to join Akatsuki? She should've thought of something quicker, and then she wouldn't be in this mess. She should've seen through Pein's disguise. But she didn't, so now she's stuck in Akatsuki. Because of her, Naruto was alone in a base full of S-Rank criminals.

She had to get him out somehow. No…

She would get him out.

Itachi and Kisame had arrived before them, and were standing in the middle of a small bridge. Kisame grinned and waved, showing two sharp rows of teeth. Itachi showed no sign that he had seen the two of them.

"Well you guys really took your sweet time," said Kisame, smiling broadly, "I thought you'd never show up." Hidan just huffed and muttered some expletives under his breath. Sakura looked at him and giggled lightly. Hidan just stuck out his bottom lip in a pouting fashion. Kisame's eyes got wide. "Woah… You're not gonna' blow up at her laughing at you?" Hidan just shrugged. "Okay, what the hell happened to Hidan? Did you guys develop some kind of sentimental bond within the last few days or something?" Both the medic and Jashinist blushed slightly, because, well… they sorta had, even though neither would admit to it. Hidan simply rolled his eyes and groaned, and Sakura shuffled her feet uneasily.

But they were nothing more than friends; at least they were in Sakura's mind.

"So what are Pein's orders?" questioned Sakura. Itachi looked at her then, at the mention of Leader's name. She could've sworn she saw the slight raise of an eyebrow, but she brushed it off.

"Leader wants you and Itachi to stop off in a small village on the way back." Explained Kisame, "One of Akatsuki's important allies is suffering from an unknown poison he got from an attack by ANBU."

The first thought that went through Sakura's mind: Itachi? Pein wanted her to go with Itachi? She settled with saying "He wants me to heal him" instead. Kisame smiled and nodded. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but why does Pein want me to go with Itachi?" Sakura glanced at the Uchiha, and said shinobi glanced back at her, blank stare in place.

The shark man seemed as if he expected this question. "Leader has solo missions for Hidan and I, and, well… he doesn't really trust, er… want you to go by yourself." He flashed a wavering smile.

Well… damn. That kinda' stung.

But didn't he understand that she wouldn't just up and leave Naruto behind?

However, she could understand where he was coming from. She was a member of Akatsuki against her will. But the fact that he didn't trust her to go on a mission by herself almost hurt her feelings, as corny as it sounded.

…Almost.

Sakura just muttered a "yeah" and slowly turned to Hidan. He met her eyes with a blank expression, and he tilted his head slightly to the side.

"Well, see ya' later then, Sakura." He turned back around and headed across the bridge, sparing a quick glance at Itachi that she couldn't really see. She felt somewhat upset by his… uneventful goodbye. She expected a little more after what she had told him the night before. Almost on cue, Hidan whirled around to face her. "Oh yeah, when you get back, I have something I want to show ya'." With that, he gave a curt wave, and then turned back around. Kisame waved too, turned on his heel, and ran ahead of Hidan. The Jashinist quickened his pace until, within seconds, they were out of sight. This left Sakura alone with one of the few surviving members of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi. She knew she wasn't really in any danger with him, but she still felt the nervousness in her stomach, and the alarm in her head was shouting, "DANGER! DANGER! DANGER!" Reluctantly, she pushed it out of thought.

"So…" started Sakura, "Where exactly is this village?" She half expected not to receive and answer, since he had remained quiet since they arrived.

But to her relief, he did answer. "Southeast of here, near the border of Rain and Fire country."

Sakura swallowed a lump in her throat. Fire country… that meant leaf-nin.

"In order to avoid problems with leaf-nin," he said, as if reading her mind (which he probably was, Sakura suspected), "we would have to travel along the border. That means a longer trip."

Sakura coughed lightly and voiced the other option, "Or we could cut through Fire." He nodded. The medic-nin shuffled lightly on her feet, that uneasy feeling in her stomach getting more and more unbearable. She didn't want to face any leaf-nin. If they did, the next shinobi to aim a kunai at her throat may be a dear friend. Kami knows she didn't want that to happen.

Itachi seemed to watch her as she went through this disturbing thought process. His eyes seemed to relax and he sighed. "We can take the long route." Sakura seemed surprised by his voice, and at first she didn't register that he had spoken. By the time she realized what he had said, he had already turned around and started walking.

She didn't object though. She wasn't going to let this opportunity go to waste.

She shuffled her feet forward, following the Uchiha from a distance.

Pein tapped his fingers restlessly against his desk. His head was propped up on his other hand, and he was looking over some shipment contracts. In other words: he was bored out of his mind. He let his mind wander to the Kyuubi host that was caged up behind his chair. He had woken up long ago, and for a good two days constantly banged on the chakra bars, which only resulted in burnt hands. Now, though, he remained silent. Well, as silent as the obnoxious blonde could be.

"I swear, if you so much as lay a finger on her…" he had growled for the fifth time that day. He let it stop there, allowing Pein's imagination to take over. The Akatsuki leader simply chuckled and leaned back in his chair.

Her… well, he could certainly thank the Jinchuuriki for bringing his mind back to her. And in case you, dear reader, couldn't realize…

That was sarcasm.

To the extreme, actually. He had done everything in his power to keep his mind off of her. He had even sent her on another mission right away so he wouldn't have to see her. This woman was making him think in different ways, and he didn't like it. He couldn't focus on his work, and he began to wonder about the civilians of foreign countries would think of his actions.

Civilians that have absolutely nothing to do with his plans.

And it pissed him off. He was tired of her constantly squeezing her way into his mind. He had better things to do than fantasize about the beautiful, talented, smart-

Wait a minute.

He had to stop this. At this very moment, it had to end. He took a deep breath, and released it slowly. There… she was forever out of his mind.

He immediately thought of silky pink tendrils of hair.

"Damn…" He dropped his head to the desk with a loud thunk, surprising the imprisoned Naruto. A woman stood unnoticed in his doorway, and she watched Pein's emotional turmoil play out on his face. She furrowed her brows, and walked away, tucking a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear.

Ah, there we have it. Don't worry PeinSaku fans, I'll bring Sakura home soon enough :) she's been away far too long. As an apology for making you guys wait so long, I've doubled the length of my normal chapters for this one.

I have no idea when the next chapter will be up. It could possibly be in a few days, or a few weeks. I work in mysterious ways ;)

For all you silent readers out there- SPEAK UP! Write a review! It may help me update faster! And please, just writing, "please continue" doesn't inspire me to write whatsoever. Still appreciated you like it, but guys… that tells me nothing. Oh, and I want your opinion.

The main couples in this story are PeinSaku, HidaSaku, DeiSaku, and minor ItaSaku. Should I add a little TobiSaku in there as well? Tell me what you think!

Well, I think I've written enough for now. See you guys in chapter 14 of New Recruit 3