Disclaimer: Of course I don't own any copyrights, characters or 2x4 technology. Heck, I'm a grown-up! Well, I'm supposed to be anyway…
operation P.U.B.E.R.T.Y.
Purely
Unexpected
Blood
Evidently
Ruins
Twelfth
Year
writing operative
e.a. fish
The tree house was still and quiet in the 1:52 darkness of an early Saturday morning. What Numbuh 5 was doing up in the middle of the night Kuki Sanban, otherwise known as Numbuh 3 of the Kids Next Door, couldn't begin to guess but as she watched her friend swing her legs over the edge of the bed from the doorway, she knew she had to find out. "Couldn't sleep?" she said with a smile. Numbuh 5 started in surprise. Kuki stepped into the dark room. "Me neither. I was up to get some juice…want some?" For a long moment, Numbuh 5 was quiet. Not that she wasn't normally quiet but there was something weird about this silence, something that made Kuki extra careful. She approached Numbuh 5's bed and sat down. "Hey, are you okay?"
Numbuh 5 was staring down at her knees. The light coming in from the corridor streaked across her smooth brown cheek and Kuki thought she could see a stripe of moisture…the path of a fallen tear? Kuki suddenly felt very cold. She'd never seen Numbuh 5 cry.
"Kuki?"
Kuki blinked, startled by Numbuh 5's sudden soft utterance. It was odd hearing her first name from Numbuh 5's lips. Here in the tree house, she was always 'Numbuh 3'. "Yes?" she spoke softly.
"Do you know where, uh…where we keep the spare sheets?"
Kuki sighed. "Numbuh 5, did you…did you wet the bed?" She'd heard this kind of thing whispered about at school. They said that Muffy Jenkins had had occasional accidents until the beginning of the fourth grade. There was even a rumor that the reason Numbuh 86, battleaxe of the Moon Base, had never been to any sleepovers was because she wet the bed whenever she slept away from home. And she was twelve too, just like Numbuh 5. "It's okay. We had a really crazy mission today and Numbuh 4's birthday is tomorrow and…just all this fun exciting stuff…maybe your bladder got a little excited too." She put her arm around Numbuh 5's shoulder.
"Numbuh 5 didn't wet the bed."
Kuki felt a little chilled by Numbuh 5's tone but she just hugged her. "Don't worry. I promise I won't say anything about it to anybody.""No, you don't…never mind. Just forget about it. Why don't you go back to bed?" Numbuh 5 pushed off the bed and stood, barely giving Kuki enough time to get up before she yanked the sheet from her bed. Kuki wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a dark stain on the sheet as Numbuh 5 dragged it behind her into the hallway.