The forest maintained silence for quite a long time. Each tree that remained stood tall and strong, as if they were embracing the forewarning of another attack.

Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in the Sand, was no more than a few miles away, now, and Deidara was anxious to reach the Village's boundaries. He and Tobi had been walking for days now; they were tired and hungry(Well, Tobi was the only one complaining about how hungry he was, and, not even a little bit surprisingly, HE was the one who ate all of the food in the first place; and now they had none…).

Deidara looked back at his new partner; Tobi was still being as annoying as ever: trotting around everywhere, acting like a total goofball, and STILL taunting him with what was behind that swirly orange mask of his. The fact that Deidara had no clue what Tobi REALLY looked like was starting to seriously irk him.

"Senpai? PLEASE? Can't we just stop to sit down? It'll only take us a minute to recuperate! I PROMISE I'll be a good boy and stop complaining!!" Tobi turned to his senpai and pleaded.

Deidara had to restrain himself from igniting one of his C2 bombs on him. "NO, Tobi, as I've told you for the thousandth time, we CAN'T stop, un!"

"But Tobi's TIRED!!!!" Tobi danced about.

Deidara glared at the orange-masked idiot. Sometimes, Tobi just pissed him off; yet, there were always those times that Tobi had either helped him, or even made him laugh….on the inside. Unfortunately, this was neither of those days. He just wasn't in the mood to be pissed off, or laugh for that matter.

Tobi looked eagerly as his senpai; he just wanted to rest for a few minutes. "Please?" Tobi saw Deidara's face soften a little bit; it wasn't much, but Tobi noticed it.

"Fine, baka. We can stop for a few." Deidara sighed and scolded himself for giving in as Tobi squealed happily in the background.

------

The sky is so blue today, I thought, looking at the crystal-clear sky. It almost looks as if you could see yourself off of its shiny surface. I gazed in deep thought at the small white cloud that floated by. It's like I could fall right into the sky!

At that moment I realized that I was sitting upside down. As I flopped over, a sharp pain burst though my head, causing me to flinch and squeeze my hands against my temples; headaches are common with me, with being a ninja and all, but the problem this time was recognized when I removed my hands from my head.

I was bleeding! And quite badly, too!

"Omigosh!" I cried, gaping at the blood that drenched my fingers. The pain returned and I flinched again, wishing the pain away.

I tried to stand up, only to fall right back down against the tree that I was stuck, upside down.

"Ugh….I wish Ryu was here…." I really wanted my teammates to be with me; however, I had no more teammates to be with. My already broken ninja squad had just recently broken up for good: my best, and only, friend in the entire world, Jane, had ran off to discover her past, and Ryu, the only person I could ever really count on, had left me for a special organization that he claimed would help him discover his true self. I pondered what life would be like if they were still with me, and had never left.

Just then, I heard a crackling in the bushes a few feet away: footsteps advancing towards me, silently, yet noticeable.

I couldn't move, due to all the pain and blood loss, so I lay there, preparing for an ambush.

------

Tobi bounced around happily, searching for a good place to rest. "What looks like a good, hidden area, senpai?"

"I don't know Tobi, and I don't really care, un." Deidara turned to Tobi. "Just find a place, yeah."

Tobi finally settled for a small clearing he saw past some bushes between a few trees. "Senpai! Over here!" Tobi gestured for Deidara to follow; he did so reluctantly.

Deidara followed close behind Tobi, gazing around to make sure the area was clear and safe to be in. His eyes skimmed the ground and trees until they fell on a weird lump laying against one of the trees; a curled-up, bloody lump.

"Senpai! Look!"

------

I braced myself as well as I could, preparing for the unknown. I had no strength left, and if what was coming was a threat, I would have no choice but to surrender.

"Senpai! Over here!" a high-pitched voice cried out. I heard the bushes rustle again until it stopped; they must have spotted me, I thought. "Senpai! Look!" I tilted my head slightly to the side to look up; what I saw frightened me and comforted me at the same time.

There were two guys standing right in front of me: one was closer, pointing at me, while the other stood a little further back, mouth open. I stared at the one pointing at me; the one who spoke. He had a strange, swirly orange mask that concealed the majority of his face except for his left eye, which was dark, yet seemed to glow a crimson red; the mask set off his dark complexion as well as his short, fluffy black hair. I glanced at the other; his long blonde hair was put up into a half pony-tail, and his long bangs were completely covering his right eye, which I found, after the wind blew a bit, was concealed by a black device that went half way around his face, with one blue and one red lens. Both wore long, black cloaks with high collars and red and white clouds. It seemed as if the cloaks were more of a uniform, symbolizing a group of some sort. But they were ninja, I could tell from the Blonde's headband; however, there was a weird slash though it.

These guys are no good, I thought to myself. If they're apart of a group or organization, as well as having their headbands slashed, then they've got to be bad news!

------

Deidara looked at the lump. He saw it stare at Tobi for a while, then saw it shift its gaze towards him. Deidara couldn't help but stare right back. He concluded by its attire that it was a ninja; he also formulated that it was a girl, by the short pants and nice legs.

Whoa! Was he seriously looking at her like that? Deidara had to snap his thoughts back into his head and think of something else.

"Oh! Are you okay?" Deidara heard Tobi ask the bleeding ninja. "Do you need help? What happened?"

Deidara glared at Tobi. Was he actually trying to help her? They were rouge ninja, after all! They were the bad guys! They're not supposed to help people! Tobi, however, didn't seem to realize that, and ran over to the girl.

"Tobi, un! What do you think you're doing, hm?" Deidara walked over to his partner, who was kneeling over the injured ninja.

"But, senpai! This girl needs help! Look at her head! She's badly hurt!" Tobi placed his hands on the girl's shoulders and tried to sit her straight. "Are you alright?"

Deidara kneeled beside Tobi.

--------

"Are you alright?" Tobi asked me again.

"Uh…y…yes. I…think so." I replied, my words staggering in my mouth.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Tobi held up three fingers.

"Uh….three." I looked up at the orange mask that bobbed up and down in approval. Then the blonde scooted closer to me and looked at me with intense eyes.

"What's you're name?" he asked.

I didn't really feel like giving him an answer, so I came up with one of those sappy comebacks Kiirah-sensei always hated. "What's yours?"

The blonde turned red, then turned to Tobi. "She seems fine to me!" He got up and turned to walk away, but stopped and turned back to me. "All I did was ask you a simple question, and you couldn't even answer, yeah! How RUDE, un!" He started to walk away. "Come on, Tobi."

"Chiherah," I answered him quickly. He stopped and turned back around with a half smile on his face. For some reason, I felt more comforted with him looking at me. "Chiherah Ka Lee."

"Heh… I knew you'd come to your senses soon enough," he smirked.

-----

Deidara smiled down at the girl. She'd given in. She was indirectly pleading for his help. He liked that. It made him feel good.

"Well, I answered your question, now answer mine!" Chiherah looked up at him. She had pretty eyes: they were blue with a hint of green, but more blue. Her hair, without all the blood in it, was actually a really pretty, shiny gold; not as yellow as his, but a bright gold.

"If you must know, it's Deidara." He kneeled back down next to her.

"Nice to know," she said, her eyes still locked into his. "Now I can address you properly. So, Deidara," Chiherah consulted him.

"Yes, un?"

"Why do you make those funny noises after you talk?"

Deidara's face shifted to a glare and turned red. Did she really just ask a question like that? This was a first for him; no one he ever came across asked him that. Yet, the problem wasn't that he was asked that question; the problem was that he didn't have an answer to it.

"I just do. Get over it." Deidara spat through clamped teeth. Was that the best he could've come up with? Just the mere question wandered through his mind, making him ponder.

"You don't have to do that after EVERY sentence, do you?"

Chiherah continued to stare at him, not menacingly or as if she was annoyed, but she just stared at him, as if she was trying to see inside of him. He could almost feel her gaze.

"So what if I do, hmm?" Her stare was still penetrating deep into his mind; he could feel it inside of his skull. He didn't know if she was planning on insulting him and the way he was, or if she was just curious. One thing was for sure, though. If she even thought about insulting him, he'd blow her into pieces.

"Nothing…" Chiherah's eyes began to soften a little. "I think it's so kawaii!!!" Her glaring eyes squinted tightly and her face beamed with a bright smile that could've brightened even Itachi's dark room.

Did she just call my speech cute??? Deidara thought. His eye twitched a little, but then settled down when he just saw her smiling.