Hinata choked back another sob as she gathered the rocks to her. A weak ninja like her had no place in the shinobi world. The branch and main family members alike had sneered ather, jeered at her. She wouldn't ever, couldn't ever, be the shinobi they looked up to.

Neji had proved he was better than her in the match. Her father had been furious when he'd heard of her failure. Her younger sister had been named the heir of the Hyuuga, and Hinatahad been given the choice to leave the clan or become a branch member.

Her second-to-last act of courage had been to leave the clan. Her final act of courage would be to take her own pathetic life. She didn't deserve to stain her family's reputation, the village's. Her teammates and Naruto deserved someone who wouldn't hold them back. She took in a deep breath, her last one, and plunged into the river's cold depths.

"I told you to leave her, Tobi."

"But Konan saved her. Doesn't she want her to be grateful? Doesn't she want her to give Konan something?"

"No. Let's go."

"But she might die still!"

"Come on, Tobi, before she wakes up."

"So you do think she will live." Hinata opened her eyes and started to cough and gag. She felt a hand at her back, steadying her. She spurted out water and gasped for breath.

"Konan, Konan, it's alive! What do I do?"

Hinata's breathing evened out, though her stomach lurched and she groaned in pain. The sun shone bright into her eyes, and she heard the river behind her. The river!

Hinata shifted into an upright position. "I'm still alive?" she whispered.

"Yeah! Konan saved you."

Hinata looked up into an orange, spiraling mask. She glanced down and saw his black-and-red robes. "Akatsuki!"

"Great, now she knows who and where we are." Hinata saw a blue-haired Akatsuki member sigh. Hinata hadn't heard of there being any girls in the Akatsuki.

"I was... saved by the Akatsuki?" Hinata asked.

"Tobi, you have single-handedly ruined the reputation of the entire organization."

"Konan pulled her out of the water!" he said.

"You saw her first."

"How am I still alive?" Hinata asked. "There were rocks tied to me."

"Ropes must've not been very tight. You were floating along here when we found you," Konan said.

Hinata lowered her head. "I was supposed to die."

"Well, you didn't do a very good job of it," said Konan.

"Not all kunoichi can be strong like Konan," replied Tobi.

"Strong ninja are strong, and weak ninja are weak. Gender has nothing to do with it."

Hinata jerked back at that. Her father had said about as much when he'd disinherited her. She coughed again.

"She's still sick. Maybe Sasori-san can heal her," Tobi said.

"And show her where the base is?"

"I w-wanted to die," Hinata said, and she turned to Tobi. "Please, Akatsuki-san, k-kill me." Begging for death. She truly was the lowest of the low, like her father said.

Tobi balked at the request, and hid behind Konan. "What?" he squeaked. Konan pushed him off of her. Hinata turned her eyes onto Konan.

"This is your desire?" Konan asked.

"Yes."

"Your wish is granted." Konan pulled out a kunai, and Hinata closed her eyes. She felt a rush of wind- But nothing more. Was she dead already? She cracked open her eyes. Konan was right in front of her, and her kunai was at Hinata's neck. So why-?

Konan put the kunai away back into her pouch. "Go home, kid."

"I don't have a home."

"You haven't crossed out your headband," Konan replied in a soft voice. "You still have a home."

"My clan abandoned me. I was too weak." Tobi jumped onto Hinata and clasped his arms around her.

"Ohhh, I don't want to leave her behind like this. Can we keep her?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

Hinata pitched forward and it was only due to Tobi's arms around her that she didn't hit the ground as she fainted.

When Hinata opened her eyes again, she found a red-haired man looking down at her.

"The girl awakens. How do you feel?"

"C-Confused," she trembled. If thethey weren't going to kill her, what would they do to her? Torture her for Konoha's secrets?

"She's alive!" Tobi swung open the door to the medical room. "Tobi heard voices."

Behind him, spilling into the room, were a green plant-man, a blond man, and a platinum-haired man with a scythe. Behind them, Konan entered with her arms crossed in front of her.

"What is she doing here?" the blond one asked.

"Konan saved her," Tobi said.

"You saved her, Tobi. Not me."

Tobi ignored her and turned to Hinata. "Hey, Tobi has an idea! She can stay here with us." Silence penetrated the room at his comment.

Then an orange-haired figure entered the room. "What's this I hear about a girl?" Hinata watched the blond man tense up.

"Konan saved her-" Tobi started.

"I didn't."

"And Tobi brought her back here. She can stay with us, right? Konan will look after her, 'cause she doesn't have many active missions, and she can train the girl to become strong." The orange-haired man turned to Konan and raised one eyebrow.

"I pulled her out of the water and dropped her on the shore. Anything that happened after that is his fault, and I will not be responsible for her."

"Why didn't you just kill her, un?" the blond man asked.

"She was half dead already. Why waste the effort?"

"Can we eat her?" The plant guy asked, and Hinata flinched.

"I wanna sacrifice her to Jashin!" the man with the scythe added.

The orange-haired man sighed. "We can't let her leave here with what she knows. Option one: kill her. Easiest for us to deal with, most probable. Option two: keep her here. This requires sacrifice and the possibility of sensitive information getting leaked to outside sources. Tobi, you brought her here, so if she stays, you will be removed from active duty for an undetermined amount of time," he said.

"Okay," Tobi sighed. "Tobi will be a teacher!" he brightened up. "Tobi will be Tobi-sensei!"

"If she gets loose, we'll kill you, understand?"

"Yep!"

The orange-haired man glanced around the room. "Is Option two accepted?"

"I guess, un... she can cook, right?" the blond man asked. For the first time since the beginning, they all looked at Hinata. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded.

"Disappointing," the plant man said. The scythe man just shrugged.

"Tell the others when you see them, if you want her living. Tobi, you're in charge of her. Don't do anything foolish. Konan, you're with me. We're going out."

"Hai, Leader-sama." This man was the leader of Akatsuki? Hinata wasn't surprised.

The room emptied, the blond one complaining for food and the scythe one groaning that he was going to 'sleep like the dead.' The plant man gave her a look out of the side of his eyes that brought a chill to her spine.

"Do you have any injuries or sickness?" the red-hahaired man asked her.

"N-No," she muttered.

He nodded. "I am Sasori. I'll be taking my leave now." He left, and Tobi turned to her.

"I'll show you around! Follow Tobi!" Hinata's hand was grabbed and she was pulled out of the room. "Living room," he waved, and she glanced at the two couches and love seats.

"Kitchen," he pointed out behind it. He pulled her along the hallway until it started to curve. "Rooms, rooms, rooms- this one is Tobi's!" He opened the door. It was nondescript enough with a desk and chair in the corner. "You might be sleeping with Tobi," he mused. "We'll get you an extra futon."

"Thank you," Hinata murmured. If it hadn't been for Tobi, she really would be dead right now.

"No problem! Around here," he took her past the bedrooms, "are the training rooms. Well, some of them, anyways." After they passed the training rooms, she saw a room with black walls, ceiling, and carpet. A large table was around it, with chairs. "That's the meeting room. Tobi thinks it needs more color." Hinata nodded absently. "That's it! Oh, by the way, my name is Tobi-sensei. What is yours?"

"H- Hinata." She had almost said 'Hyuuga' but she wasn't a Hyuuga anymore, and didn't think that it would be smart to tell him that anyways. She didn't want her eyes plucked out.

"Well, Hinata-chan, that's most of the base. What do you want to do now?" She took a step back. She didn't have an answer. Even if she wanted something, it would be rude to ask anything of Tobi now.

"What do you want to do, Tobi-sensei?" It felt odd to use the suffix 'sensei' to Tobi's name. All of Hinata's previous instructors had been serious and knowledgeable, and Tobi didn't quite seem to match her expectations of the word. Still, she was nothing if not dutiful.

"Tobi wants to eat! What will Hinata-chan be making? Rice? Pasta? Oh, Tobi wants a pig roast with mashed potatoes! Can Hinata-chan make mashed potatoes?"

Hinata blinked. "Y-yes..." Where was she going to find a pig to roast? She didn't even know how toroast a pig. Did its entrails need to be removed? What about its eyes? Hinata had cookedinfrequently at the Hyuuga compound because the kitchen was not really the place for the Hyuuga heiress. "We m-may have to skip the p-pig roast."

"That's OK with Tobi! Make spaghetti instead, Hinata-chan!" That was the other thing. They had only just met, but he already talked to her with such informality. Part of Hinata wanted to scream about politeness with strangers, but Tobi had saved her life. And Hinata had never once raised her voice to anyone.

She opened several cupboards to find what she needed, but it really wasn't all that difficult. "Make enough for twenty people, Hinata-chan!" Tobi told her. "Except the mashed potatoes. Those are mine." Hinata nodded. Soon, three pots of water were boiling and Hinata was peeling the potatoes Tobi had located for her.

"Does... does Hinata-chan like Tobi?" he asked, and she looked up at him.

She blushed. "T-Tobi-sensei saved me. O-of course."

He laughed. "Does Hinata-chan stutter when she's embarrassed?"

Her face turned red. "N-n-no."

He grinned. "Does Hinata like Deidara?" It caught her off guard.

"Who?"

"The blond one! Tobi goes on missions with him sometimes." Tobi leaned forward. "Does Hinata-chan like him?"

"I d-don't know. I've only met hi-him once." Tobi continued to ask her questions about the different Akatsuki members and her favorite foods. Every once in a while he would ask something really, really unexpected, and Hinata almost wondered if it was some form of interrogation. Or a personality test?

Regardless, she was so busy trying to remember when the last time she had fried octopus was, that she didn't see a few other Akatsuki members drift in.

"Are you making food, un?" Deidara asked.

"I'm starving," the plant man, Zetsu, said. Hinata flinched.

"Obviously," Sasori answered Deidara. "Otherwise, would Tobi be here?"

"True," Deidara nodded, and Tobi launched into a tirade about how Deidara never got Tobi food when they were on missions and how it was illegal to starve someone that long.

Deidara rolled his eyes. "Crime organization, remember? Baka."

When Hinata brought the food out of the kitchen, the dinner table was filled with everyone she had seen earlier, including Konan and the leader. "Itadakimasu!" Tobi cheered, and everyone echoed him before digging in. Hinata ate slowly and watched as the seven people around her consumed the portions meant for twenty.

After dinner, she washed the dishes. Just as she was finishing up, Tobi popped in. "Hey, Hinata-chan, Tobi-sensei wants to show you something!"

"O-okay." She put the last plate away and followed him into his room. He pulled out a previously unnoticed ladder, set it against part of his roof, and slid open a part of the roof to reveal a hidden exit.

"Climb up after Tobi!" He told her. When Hinata emerged, her eyes widened. The stars were so bright this far away from Konoha, and the night air was brisk and cool. Had it really only been yesterday that she had attempted to take her own life?

Tobi laid down on the roof tiles, and Hinata sat next to him, about two feet away. "Tobi likes laying here. He comes here to think and relax away from the others. Hinata-chan can come out here, too."

"Thank you," she murmured. Louder, she asked, "How come no one has found the base yet?"

"The entire place has a strong genjutsu placed on it," Tobi told her. "Only a real master looking for it would be able to see through it." She nodded. "Oh, look, there's the constellation Scorpius!" Tobi started to point out the constellations in the sky and then told ridiculous stories about each of them that were nowhere near the truth. Eventually, he started to make up his own constellations as he went.

"That one is, um, Tobipheus. It's in the shape of a tiger. See those stars there? It rears back on its hind legs. Back in Tobipheus's day, there was a drought in the land. Tobipheus was born a half-human half-mermaid hybrid, and he loved bananas. One day, he was in the market, and the emporer approached Tobipheus with bananas and mashed potatoes- err, a quest, I mean. Tobipheus accepted the emporer's gift- request- and returned with him to the palace..."

Hinata had become more tired as the stories went on and started when she realized Tobi had started to get up. "Tobi's tired. He and Hinata-chan need to sleep because tomorrow Tobisensei starts her training!"

She nodded and they re-entered the building. Tobi laid out his and Hinata's futon. "Tell Tobi or Konan if you need anything. Good night, Hinata-chan!"

"Good night, Tobi." She would have to sleep in the same clothes she had tried to drown in. She removed her coat and placed it on top of her blanket, grateful for the tank top she was wearing underneath. She would wake up early enough tomorrow morning to put it back on before Tobi woke up.

The next morning, Hinata woke to Tobi's pokes. "I'll see you in the kitchen. After breakfast, we start training!" Hinata was then left to herself. For a moment, she had thought she was back in Konoha, and the Akatsuki had been a strange dream.

She zipped up her coat and put her futon away before heading to the kitchen for a breakfast of rice. All too soon, she was standing across from Tobi in a training area. She shifted on her toes and waited for him to speak.

Author Confession: The Spiral Mask is actually complete. I'm uploading one chapter a week. I'm counting the story as part of Nanowrimo, since I wrote it in three weeks. Reviewers are awesome!