I had spent a long time just roaming around trying to find the Akatsuki. I ran into all sorts of ninja, most of them of the Sand village. I was beginning to wonder if I was going in the wrong direction. Probably. My sense of direction sucked.

That is how I wound up in the desert I guess. It's big...and hot...and everything looks the same. Dammit. There was no way I would be fit for the Akatsuki if I kept getting lost.

My water didn't last either, even though I had done my best with rationing it. I was feeling desperate when I saw an oasis before me. I finished off the last bit of my water to give myself an extra boost so I could make it there. I sprinted to the shade and the pool I could see almost glistening there. If I ever made it that far by myself, I do not know. The next thing I knew everything was cool and my head was resting on someone's lap.

"Is she dead, Deidara-senpai?" I could feel an extra shadow move over me. It was blissful relief to just lay there, I didn't want to move.

"I can't tell, Tobi, with you hovering over her, un."

My eyes felt heavy, like the rest of me. What was going on? My throat was so dry that I couldn't even make a sound. I tried to open my eyes, and I saw a brief flash of black, but it was a different shade of black compared to the insides of my eyelids.

"She's awake! Can Tobi keep her, Senpai?"

I heard 'senpai' click his tongue, as if dismissing the other person. "You can't just own a person, un. They can talk. Besides, I doubt this one will make it, un..."

I didn't know why, but for some reason it sounded like that voice was trying to encourage me to die. I shuffled through my repertoire of curse words to use on the pessimist when I felt something cold and wet touch my lips. Water.

I drunk slowly, knowing that if I didn't I could make myself seriously sick. As I drank I heard many different noises of excitement, but all of them sounded muffled for some reason. It was very odd. I dearly wanted to open my eyes and see what the hell was going on.

Eventually, I managed to open them. Looking above me, instead of seeing a blue sky, I was a mask. It wasn't just any mask either. It was bright orange and swirled like soapy water down the sink drain...or maybe a cinnamon roll. It was a single eye hole. Inside the hole was a dark eye that sparkled, either with happiness or mischief, I could not tell.

The masked person helped me sit up slowly and my eyes locked onto a blond sleeping against the only tree in the oasis. I looked at the one who had given me the water and he put a finger up to where his lips would be under the mask.

"Hi, Tobi is me. Who are you?" He whispered so not to wake the other that I decided had to be 'Deidara-senpai'. The one who was awake had wanted me for a pet, and the other didn't care if I died.

I decided that Tobi was a lot nicer than his senpai. "I'm Kairi, just Kairi." I watched the mask for some hint of an expression, but I couldn't see any. I guessed that Tobi was mulling things over inside it.

"Kai...ri...chan?" He cocked his head to one side. I nodded, not quite used to the honorifics of this country. He continued, "Oh. That is Tobi's senpai, Deidara-senpai. He didn't mean what he said. Tobi knows Senpai really well. He's just mad 'cause Senpai didn't get to blow stuff up yet." He beckoned me closer with a gloved hand and I leaned closer. "Tobi is on a mission."

I smiled at him. Of course I couldn't take him seriously. He talked like a little kid, even if his voice seemed a little too mature. Maybe he had never been quite right up there and this Deidara fellow was his keeper. I almost laughed. A mission indeed.

That was when my eyes lowered and I found myself face-to-face with the best clue for going where I was trying to. Tobi was wearing the cloak of an Akatsuki member! How could I not have noticed before? Turning, I could see Deidara wore one too. I had actually found what I was looking for.

"What kind of mission, Tobi-kun?" I asked sweetly. I probably wouldn't understand what they were after since I wasn't really from anywhere around here. All I knew was the Akatsuki were a bunch of misfits, judged and unliked by a lot of people. It sounded like I would fit in perfectly, and that was one of the major reasons I had looked.

Tobi took a deep breath, as if he was about to spill a big secret. "Tobi can't tell Kairi-chan, cause Tobi is a good boy." He was silent for a while. "Kairi-chan? Why are you out here in the desert?"

"Well...Tobi-kun. I'm lost."

"Were you trying to go home?"

"I don't have a home, Tobi-kun." I looked at him and pushed my wavy black hair out of my face. Ah, much better. The sun was going down now, so my eye wouldn't hurt from the harsh sunlight.

"Tobi's got a good home! Maybe Kairi-chan could live with T..." He froze when his gaze turned to me. His masked face came closer. I could almost see into the eye hole. "Kairi-chan! Your eyes are different colors!"

I, who had never really looked in a mirror, knew this. People had made fun of me plenty of times because of it. "Yeah? Your point?" I hate to admit that my tone was harsher than I meant."

"Tobi thinks it's pretty."

"Oh..." I smiled. It was the first time I had smiled in I have no idea how long. The expression felt foreign to me, but I think it fit the situation.

"Well, Tobi needs to rest now, because of the mission. But maybe after Kairi-chan can come home with Deidara-senpai and Tobi."

"Maybe, Tobi-kun." I laid down after drinking more water. It was one of the most comfortable nights I had experienced in a long time.