Hey guys. Sorry it's been soooo long. To be honest, I was really debating giving up on this story. I actually thought about offering it up for another author to take care of, because I just didn't want it to remain unfinished. So much time had passed, and I really began analyzing my own work. I was embarrassed by how innocent and friendly I'd portrayed the evil Akatsuki as. Honestly… I don't think they would sit down at the dinner table and have dinner together.

But regardless of my own thoughts, over a year later, I'm still getting reviews for this baby. So I thought, why not? Y'all have been asking for an update, so here it is. I started this, so I might as well end it. Reviews are seriously what's keeping this going, if I didn't get constant updates in my email, I never would've made the time to write this.

But enough of my chatter and excuses... Here is Chapter 17 of New Recruit.

Sakura Haruno was a strong woman. She could stare death in the eye and not think twice before challenging it. She could stand up for those weaker than her and put her own neck out without a second thought. Hell, she took out Sasori of Akatsuki, one of the strongest shinobi of their time. But there was one thing that did scare her.

And that was the way Pein was kissing her.

It was gentle… unhurried. And it tore at Sakura's compassionate heart at how real it felt. She didn't kiss back. It still didn't seem like it was really happening to her. When the Akatsuki leader lifted his hand to gently cup her cheek, she lost it.

She pushed him. Hard.

He seemed startled at first, and he stared at her in slight confusion. Part of him knew why she had pushed away, and he expected as much. But deep inside… he hoped that she wouldn't. He didn't say anything to her as she got up from her spot against the wall and walked across the room. She brought a hand up to cover her mouth, like there was a bad taste there or she regretted what had happened.

Pein looked down to his knees and waited.

Sakura slumped down on the opposite side of the room, facing the wall. Her mind was racing with thoughts she couldn't slow down enough to understand.

What the hell just happened?

They sat in silence for another ten minutes, both not wanting to be the one to break the awkward silence. Pein had taken a gamble, and he knew that.

And he also began to realize that he had lost.

It wasn't long before there was a knock at her door. Sakura immediately jumped up and stared as the door slowly opened, the person there not wanting to startle them. The cautious figure was Deidara, and the medic silently sighed in relief that he was here.

The bomb expert immediately knew that something was off, for he glanced between the two a couple times before speaking. "They're gone, yeah." He saw the undisguised dread on Sakura's face, and he quickly elaborated. "Most of them retreated," he said, fumbling over his words. "Though some of them weren't so lucky…"

Sakura let her head drop. Someone that she most likely had known was lying dead somewhere nearby. She had sat here, hiding in her luxurious bathroom, while they fought for her freedom. Here she was, letting the mastermind behind all of her pain kiss her while the others clashed with the most notorious missing-nin in the world. For her. She couldn't believe her own ignorance, and tears threatened to fall.

She couldn't breathe for the second time that day.

Sakura stalked towards the door, brushing past Deidara rather harshly, hitting his shoulder as she went. He seemed surprised at her attitude, but he guessed he couldn't blame her. She was very obviously upset, so he let it go.

Sakura barely managed to find her voice, and when she did, it cracked. "Will you leave? I need to get dressed." She was standing by her bed, head down and back towards them.

Completely shut out.

Deidara frowned, and then looked at Pein. The leader simply stood, and walked out. Deidara got out of the way this time, suddenly aware that something was eating him as well. Pein left without a word, and he stood there in silence with young woman.

"Sakura…" he started, not knowing how to handle a situation like this. "You know that, um… if you need anyone to talk to…" Sakura slowly turned around to face him. Deidara was looking at the ground, obviously uncomfortable. He shifted his feet, and looked uncertainly into her eyes. The look there very nearly sent her over the edge. "I'm here if you need me, yeah."

She whipped her head back around, not wanting him to see the tears that brimmed at her eyes.

It wasn't supposed to happen this way. She wasn't supposed to talk about her feelings with the enemy. She wasn't supposed to want to open up to him. She wasn't supposed to make them omelets or listen to the stories from their childhood. But she had.

And now she was paying the price for it.

"I don't think…" Sakura started, physically pained that she had to turn down his offer. Deidara clearly didn't trust many people, and didn't open up to hardly anyone. She hated giving him a reason to think that way, and she hated even more how guilty it made her feel. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

It was silent for a moment.

She heard him move, and her shoulders were shaking by the time he reached her door.

"Sakura…" he turned back to look at her. She was a wreck, and whatever was bothering her was clearly a serious issue. He frowned again, wondering why it made him so… anxious. "The offer still stands… if you change your mind, that is." He found himself struggling for words, and it frustrated him. When had he ever become so flustered over one person? "You know, while you're here, under this roof… you're not our enemy, Sakura."

The girl turned around to look him in the eyes again, disbelief clearly written there. Deidara tried hard not to look too worried that tears were freely sliding down her cheeks now, but he knew that she would notice. He didn't really mind if she knew he cared, though.

He continued- blue eyes still locked hard on her green ones. "I wish you could see that you have friends here, regardless of alliance."

With that, he left, closing the door quietly behind him.

What was left of Sakura's hard will broke.

She crumbled to the ground, put her head in her hands, and sobbed.

It was two days before Sakura left her room again. Nobody had bothered her during that time, and only the dire need for food had forced her out.

She bathed, dressed into her black shorts and tank, and walked as silently as she could down the residential hallway. She couldn't feel any nearby chakra presences, so she continued down the stairs and into the kitchen. Nobody was there, and she sighed audibly with relief. She rummaged through the cabinets as fast as she could, deciding on two bags of beef jerky and a bagel. She took her findings and sprinted back up the stairs and into her room.

By noon, she was growing bored, and her recent depression had her exhausted beyond belief. She was out of food, so that activity was out. She looked at the few books on her shelf with disgust, having read them too many times for them to be entertaining. She had already taken a bath, and soaking too much would be bad for her skin. She wasn't physically tired, so sleeping was out as well.

Sakura groaned, and her mind went back to everything that had happened. In her two days of isolation, she had established a few things.

One: she had to get Naruto out of this place, and fast. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed that they wouldn't extract the Kyuubi from him. Pein was obviously lying to her when he said they wouldn't, and she grew frustrated with herself when she took it personally. She knew that he would do anything to achieve his maniacal goal. So she decided to think of herself as an undercover agent, waiting for the opportunity to strike. When that opportunity arose, she would take Naruto and leave without looking back.

Two: not all of the Akatsuki members were bad people.

Hidan was a tortured soul, who covered it up with a bad boy exterior. He was a nice guy, but hated when he was portrayed that way. She found him easy to talk to, and she wanted him to be able to turn to her when he needed to. He was a friend. He was still insane, regardless, but what shinobi wasn't?

Tobi was… she couldn't even describe him. His child-like demeanor disturbed her to no end, and the bona fide pleasantness he emanated simply made her smile. He was sweet, like a kid brother, and she found herself wanting to protect him.

Deidara was a great guy, and he was highly intellectual and fun to be around. He could easily send butterflies into her stomach with his trademark smirks, but other than that, they were very strictly friends.

Kisame was a riot and Konan was a sweetheart, but Itachi was a bit on the cold side, and she was pretty sure Zetsu wanted to eat her. She didn't know the first thing about Kakuzu, but she knew he gave her the creeps.

And Pein…

Sakura shut her eyes and fell to the bed, not wanting to think about her recent encounter with the man. She grimaced, realizing that she had come to her third and final realization.

She was attracted to the leader of Akatsuki both physically and emotionally.

Saying it in her head calmed her a little. At least she finally understood her feelings and wasn't denying them anymore. That never seemed to go over well, so she finally decided to just acknowledge them.

It was another question answered, but it raised so many more that she didn't feel like dealing with at the moment.

A knock on her door pulled her out of her stupor, and a flare of chakra let her know that it was Hidan. She cocked her head to the side, wondering what he would want with her. Hadn't he heard that she was an emotionally unstable wreck and that no one should talk to her? (She was certain that's what Deidara and Pein were telling everyone, and that's why they hadn't bothered her.)

She opened her door to reveal the silver-haired Jashinist, who grinned at her upon her appearance. He wasted no time in grabbing her wrist and pulling her out into the hall.

"I don't care if you feel like shit and want to kill us all," he said, smiling the whole time. "I told you before that I had something to show you, so damn right I'm gonna' show you."

She stumbled after him, calling out to him and demanding that he slow down. Their walk didn't last long, and he stopped outside his door. He opened it with a hand sign, and pulled her into the room. His room was much like hers, but it smelled like metal, weapon polish, and… was that hair gel?

After he resealed his door, he looked at her again. He grinned, satisfied that she was finally talking to someone… even if she was talking rather loud.

"Damn it, Hidan! I can walk on my own! I don't need to be dragged around like a fucking pet!" She glared daggers at him, but he didn't seem put off by it.

"Language, pinky."

Her glare disappeared completely then, and she even found herself giggling at the irony of his comment. She sighed, brushing off her previous anger with a wave of her hand. "Okay, now that you have me here, what is it you wanted to show me?"

He smiled again, as if he remembered why she was here. He walked over to his shelf and grabbed a scroll, then walked back over to her with it. "I've had this thing for ages," he said. "I have no idea what it means. Fucking complicated shit. All I know that it's a medical jutsu."

Sakura's interest was instantly perked, and she snatched the scroll out of his hand when he held it out to her. She opened it slowly, not wanting to rip the paper. Sakura was silent for a minute or two, reading over what it said. Hidan waited patiently, which surprised the medic, but she didn't let it show. A smile overcame her lips when she realized exactly what this was.

"It's definitely a medic jutsu, and by the looks of it, and pretty high level one, too." She paused, rereading a part of it. "It allows the user to create a perfect replication: a clone with the exact chakra level of the user. The clone has some sort of disability, which makes it useful for only medic jutsu… but I suppose if you knew some kind of absorption jutsu, you could just replenish your own chakra from the clone. It doesn't say anything about a usage limit…" she trailed off, eyes widening in realization.

Hidan was catching on, too. "A justu that doesn't take use up any of your chakra…"

Sakura's smile stretched into a full blown grin. "Hidan, I believe you've found the source to unlimited chakra." She shook her head. "Do you have any idea how rare this is? Anyone would kill for something like unlimited chakra." She giggled, ecstatic that she could find something like this.

His grin fell into a small smile. "I guess. But there's no way I'd be able to master something like that." He looked at Sakura expectantly. "This seems like something you could do, though. I don't have nearly enough chakra control for something that complicated."

She stared blankly at him for a minute. "What are you saying?"

He shrugged. "You should keep it. It's not like I'll ever use it."

"Are you kidding?" Sakura's jaw dropped. "Do you know how much this could sell for? You'd be set for life!"

Hidan snorted, giving her a slightly offended look. "My religion frowns upon materialism."

Sakura could only stare, wide-eyed and disbelieving. "I mean," she started. "If you really don't want it…"

He smiled at her. "I don't. Go ahead."

Sakura smiled back. She thanked him eagerly, eyes still reading over the jutsu hand signs again and again.

If she wasn't an S-ranked kunoichi already, she definitely would be by sometime next week.