"Aw, man, She'd better not expose us, un!" Deidara groaned, "I can't believe a couple of dangerous criminals were outsmarted by a little girl! What will we tell Leader-sama?"

Tobi dropped down next to him out of a tree, "Yeah, you're pretty lame, Deidara-san. Here I am doing your job better than you and I'm not even part of the Akatsuki yet!"

Deidara jumped up and was about to attack him again when he saw that Tobi had caught the girl, "Tobi, you brilliant fool!"

"Not bad, this bodes well for you," Zetsu told him.

"So," Deidara said to the girl, "You thought you could outsmart us, did you?" He leaned closer to her face, "But it didn't work!"

"Get out of my face," She said coldly.

"What are you gonna do if I don't?"

She bit his nose. Deidara screamed and Zetsu rolled his eyes while Tobi howled with laughter.

Eventually they began traveling to the base that Yoko had heard them talk about. Once they were near it, they knocked her out to keep the location a secret.

When she woke up she was laying in a soft bed. Ow! My head hurts, but my leg feels much better! She opened her eyes.

She was in a small but rather pleasant room. The walls were a simple white color and covered in an array of posters. The floor was a patchwork of small rugs. There were two beds in this room, arranged at opposite walls. The room was rather dark at the moment so she couldn't really make out what any of the furniture along the walls looked like. Across the room, at one of the two windows, the thick curtains were pulled back. A person was sitting there in a chair, looking out into the night.

The man stood up and approached her, "Ah, you're awake!" It was Tobi. He knelt down next to the bed, "How's your leg?"

"It feels fine now,"

"Well, that's good. The Akatsuki healed it for you," He explained.

"Huh? But aren't they criminals?" When he nodded she said, "So I guess that means they want me alive. I wonder why?"

"Maybe they're considering you for the position, too . . ." Tobi suddenly sounded glum.

"What position?"

"They're looking for a new member for the organization. I've been trying to get it,"

"Oh! Well I'm certainly not gonna compete with you for it. I'm not really criminal material," Yoko assured him.

"Heheh- well you're not fighting material, that's for sure!" He teased. Yoko glared at him, "But if they're considering you then you don't have a choice,"

"Hmm, I see,"

The door opened, "Tobi, are you bothering her again?" It was the armless person from before, Deidara. Only now he had arms, "Oh, you're awake, are you? Well I have good news- for one of you at least. One of you is going to be my new partner,"

"Oh really? Who?" Yoko asked.

"It hasn't been decided yet. Until it is, you are to remain here with us,"

"Hmph- Fine," She told him, displeased with the fact that he had just given her an order.

After Deidara had left, Tobi announced that he was going to show her around now. Yoko found that she was glad for Tobi's company; this place really gave her a bad feeling. After all, it was a hideout for dangerous criminals whom she was obviously no match for. Tobi, she had found out, was a formidable opponent and he had told her that he wouldn't let anyone harm her. So she would try to stick close him.

She wondered how it would be decided who was going to join Akatsuki. They would probably be put against each other in a fight, she realized. This thought made her glum. So what does that mean? What if I lose? Will they kill me after that? Or maybe I'll die fighting with Tobi.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she realized Tobi had led her to the living room. It was a simple, open room, but it seemed rather foreboding in her current state of mind. The floor was plain wood. Against one wall was a sofa. It faced a TV across the room. In a corner of the room there was a small table and two wooden chairs. The two chairs were occupied by a dark-haired, dark-eyed man and Deidara, who also looked rather creepy in Yoko's opinion.

"Come on," He insisted, when he saw that she was hesitating in the doorway. She followed reluctantly. They went over to the sofa. A rather intimidating shark-like man was sitting there watching TV. Tobi took a seat there and motioned to the seat next to him, between him and the shark-man. Yoko sat down rather reluctantly, even though she could sense that the man wouldn't harm her.

Tobi introduced him as Kisame. Yoko was surprised to find out that Kisame was actually a rather nice person. She ended up liking him a lot. She was even more surprised when, once he had joined their conversation, Deidara turned out to be a nice person. Itachi, the dark-eyed man, still seemed pretty scary to her, though. Yoko could tell that Kisame and Deidara somewhat trusted her now. She was glad; the more friends she had here, the better. She spent the rest of the day watching TV with them.

On their way back to their room, Tobi decided it would be a good idea to play tag. He had spun around suddenly, and tagged her and then he had disappeared before her eyes had a chance to catch up with him.

"Um- Tobi-san?" She called uncertainly.

Yoko could feel eerie presence nearby and desperately wished Tobi were here. This presence was a very destructive one, she could tell, and she didn't want to run into him. As she was thinking this, someone crept up behind her. Someone grabbed her arm and a blade was pressed to her throat, "You lost or something, girl?"

Yoko responded by stabbing the unknown attacker in the side with a dagger she had been concealing. He released her and she spun around to face him. It was a strange man with short white hair. He was holding his side looking kind of taken aback. Then he looked at her and, of all things, burst into laughter. He pulled the dagger out of his side and tossed it towards her. She caught it easily, never taking her eyes off of him.

"Heheh, you would make a good addition, wouldn't you?" He cackled, eyeing certain parts of her body, "Aggressive and beautiful," She wrinkled her nose in disgust; his aura was so foul that she was almost able to smell it. Tobi dropped from the ceiling and stood in front of her protectively. She was glad to have a barrier between her and the awful aura, "Leave her alone, Hidan…"

Hidan smirked, "Hmph, that's interesting, you guys are supposed to be competing, not helping each other," He turned and walked away.

Tobi turned to look at her, "Come on," He grabbed her hand.