CHAPTER TWO
Camping Rules
We'd gotten off the train at Iwa Mountain Station, and boarded buses that would take us to Camp Gobi. Everyone who had seen the situation with me and my sister, the snob squad and Kakuzu, was keeping a strangely wide berth from us, which was just fine with me. None of my sister's friends were on camp, so I hoped she'd make some new ones from other villages at camp. I mean, how bad can a bunch of seven year olds be?
This bad
"Hey look!" An obnoxious-looking boy on the bus shouted. "It's Pee-Pee!" I knew straight away that he was referring to my sister, whose initials are PPbut he shouldn't say it! Plus, he was pointing at her, and that's just rude now, isn't it?
I stood up. "Hey brat, quit picking on my sister, got it!?" I told him off.
"Hey!" One of the snobs stood up. "Quit picking on my brother!" She shouted.
"You!" I countered. (Ooh, real mature Emily)
"Freak!" The snob, the brunette, put her hands on her little brother's shoulders, and he sneered at me and my sister.
"Mole!"
"Cow!"
"Bitch!"
"Whore!"
"Slut!"
She and I faced each other, glaring daggers of razor sharp fire and deadly poison.
Luckily, we were saved from the situation turning very obscene, when a younger girl suddenly shouted: "Hey! I can see Lake Tsuchi! We made it!"
The argument stopped immediately (although the tension was about as thick as a wrecking ball) and everyone turned to look out the windows, at the lake, the forests, the beautiful mountains andCamp Gobi.
oOo
"Okay, we're here," Said the bus driver. "Now, in a nice, orderly fashionGET OFF MY BUS!!"
Cheers erupted as we all scrambled off the bus, grabbing our backpacks and suitcases and emerging into the fresh mountain air.
"This is great!" Penny shouted, holding her arms out above her. "Isn't it just great Emmy!?"
"It sure is." I grinned at her, too happy to be embarrassed. I wandered over to the side of the lake, and looked into it.
A petite, 5'0" high girl with short dark brown hair and shining hazel eyes stared back at me. She was wearing her camp uniform and white sneakers and pink socks (a girl's gotta take whatever socks she can find) and her headband. Her beautiful dark blue headband with the metal plate bearing an upside down arrow on it, the Waterfall symbol. This symbol indicated that I was a member of the Taki Cadets, which is like scouts or cadets in training you could say. I take my role very seriously. Penny can't wait until she turns ten, and can become a cadet. I'm fifteen now, and have been a cadet for five years (duh).
It's great. You learn so much, although I don't really like my team that much. They weren't even on the camp this summer.
I took the opportunity then to look at the camp around me. There was a boys side and a girls side, on opposite sides of Lake Tsuchi. I could see cabins, and a field, and a dock andin the far corner of the camp, was a paddock, with horses!
Maybe this summer wouldn't be such a turkey after all
I snapped to attention when I heard a voice calling us all to attention.
A man and women were standing out the front of one of the cabins. I recognized them from the camp brochure, they were Jiraiya and Tsunade, the camp owners.
"Welcome back to everyone, and welcome to our newcomers!" The woman, Tsunade, called. She was a pretty woman, even if she was old, and she had the biggest chest I'd ever seen.
We all stared at it.
I noticed that the man, Jiraiya, though he was equally as old as Tsunade, kept on staring at all of the older girl campers and CIT's and counselors. I remembered hearing the rumors that he was a lecher, and I rolled my eyes. At least he'd be on the other side of camp
Before I knew it, we were all walking along the path towards the mess hall. It may have been just me, but Tsunade and Jiraiya seemeddistantunhappy about something, despite their big smiles.
Oh well. I shrugged it off, and walked with Penny into the large mess hall, where campers would have meals (hey, this isn't a co-ed mess hall is itit is!?).
Our luggage was lying in the middle of a small grassy area, and I wondered briefly about it, before turning my attention to the camp owners as they began to give out cabin assignments.
I was in cabin 15-B, because I am 15. Penny was in cabin 7-A, because she is seven. All of the A to D cabins were named like that. Clever, aye?
I wanted to make sure Penny found her cabin's counselor okay but, before we could make a start on finding said person, a beautiful woman with dark hair and red eyes came up to us.
"Are you Emily and Penelope Powers?" She asked us kindly, smiling at us.
I nodded.
"My name is Kurenai Yuuhi, and I'm the counselor for cabin 7-A." She told us. "Call me Kurenai." She added, still smiling.
"You're really pretty!" Penny exclaimed, and I nudged her, even though I agreed completely with her.
Kurenai just smiled some more, and said: "Come on Penelope, time to meet the other girls and the CIT's."
"Okay." Penny said brightly, and slipped her hand into Kurenai's. I felt a strange feeling ofjealousy?, but shrugged it off as Kurenai pointed me in the direction of my own counselor, and then she and Penny went off to find Penny's luggage and meet the others of cabin 7-A.
I walked across the green to the group Kurenai had pointed me at, a group that was standing in slight fear of a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman. She glared at me when I reached her. "Emily Powers!?" She barked.
I cringed. "Y-yes?" I stammered.
"Good, then we're all here!" The woman seemed to have a permanent exclamation mark tacked onto the end of every sentence. "My name's Anko Mitarashi! I come from Konoha!" (She was wearing a headband with a swirl and triangle mark on it, so I could tell). "Let's introduce ourselves, although we'll probably forget each other's names right away!" She said it jokingly, but glared at us all as if to say you'd better NOT!
We all cringed.
There were two CIT's and three other girls in my cabin. Here they are, in order of introductions:
Hana Inuzuka, a counselor in training from Konoha, was a Konoha cadet who wore her headband around her arm (you can do that). She had dog brown eyes and dark brown hair, and listed her likes as dogs, dog-training, veterinary and reading books about those three things. She also added that he little brother, Kiba, was here as a camper.
Her co-CIT was called Ayame, also from Konoha. She had dark eyes and light brown hair, and worked as a waitress in her spare-time. "When I'm not at summer camp, that is!" She joked. "You're never too old for summer camp!" We laughed.
Next, the campers introduced themselves.
Tenten was from Konoha. She had dark brown hair tied up in two buns and light brown eyes. Her likes included ornamental weapons and antiques, and she couldn't wait to try her hand at archery. She was a Konoha cadet, and wore her headband proudly on her forehead.
Hinata Hyuga was also a Konoha cadet. She was really pretty, with soft dark hair highlighted indigo and pearly white eyes. She was really shy and stammered a lot, but managed to tell us that she looked forward to spending time getting to know us, and that her little sister Hanabi, and their cousin, Neji, were also here at camp. I think I know him...
Matsuri was a Suna cadet and, like Hinata, wore her headband around her neck (you're allowed to do that too). She listed her likes as helping people and animals, and had a strong dislike of weapons. I wondered how she and Tenten would get along. Then again, I wondered how she and I would get along, since I'm not too fond of weapons either, especially guns
Then, it was my turn. "My name is Emily Powers, and I'm from Taki. I like horses, singing and playing the piano. My little sister Penelope's here at camp too." I smiled at everyone, and they smiled back at me, except for Anko, who was too busy trying to organize our luggage, and keep as out of the way of the boys, who were making their way over to the other side of camp (ha, they had to walk).
Then, we went to our cabin.
"Home sweet home!" Hana announced, and we all laughed again.
The cabins, it seemed, were furnished entirely in wood. Dark, mahogany, really nice stuff. There were three sets of bunk beds, and a single bed that was curtained-off, for Anko, I guess. Counselors get to have some privacy.
Hana claimed the top bunk on one of the beds, and Ayame took the lower bunk. Tenten took the top bunk of another bed, and Hinata took the bottom bunk.
"You can have the top bunk." Matsuri said to me.
"Thanks." I said, slinging my backpack onto the top bunk closest to the door. "Mine." I declared, and Matsuri grinned.
"So, tell me about your family." She said, as we began to unpack our stuff.
I paused, and then said, carefully: "I live with my sister and our Mum, who's an author"
"Oh!" Tenten interrupted. "I think I've read some of her books" She frowned. "Didn't she write War On Guns? Wasn't she the one whose husband was killed by gunfire?"
I nodded. "Yes, that's it."
Matsuri looked at me with some new-found respect. "My parents were killed by guns as well." She said softly.
"Oh" I replied. "Sowho do you live with?"
"With Garaa." Matsuri said happily and, before I could ask who Garaa was and why Matsuri was blushing, there was a knock on the door, and a dark-haired, dark-eyed woman stuck her head in the door.
"Hi Anko!" She smiled. "I was just about to take my girls on a tour of the camp! Why don't you join us!"
"Great idea Shizune," Anko smiled, and then herded us all out the door, halfway through unpacking.
Shameless fast-lane livers
oOo
Cabin 15-A turned out to bewell, interesting, to say the very least
The CIT's, Yurika and a smiling girl from Taki, Ruki, were nice enough. But the campers...
Tamaki looked a lot like one of the snobs on the train.
And Ino Yamanaka, Sakura Haruno and Karin...all three were cadets (Karin was of Oto) but...
"Uh oh..." Tenten stopped in her tracks. "It's Sasuke's fan club!"
"Who's Sasuke?" I asked, at the same time Matsuri wanted to know: "What's his fan club?"
"Sasuke Uchiha," Tenten informed me. "Used to be one of the most popular Konoha cadets, until he went to Oto and became an Oto cadet. And his fan club are the girls who want to bear his children..." She added, for Matsuri's benefit.
"Oh dear." I said.
"Hi," Said the short-pink-haired girl. "My name's Sakura Haruno," She had sparkling bright green eyes and seemed friendly enough. "And I..."
"My name's Ino Yamanaka!" The girl with long blonde hair interrupted, her periwinkle blue eyes glaring at Sakura before she smiled at Matsuri and me. "Who are you?"
"I'm Matsuri," The Suna girl smiled. "From Suna. And this is Emily Powers, from Taki."
"Hey," The pink-haired Oto girl, Karin, suddenly walked over to us and stood in front of me. "I know you, you sung solo in the Roll 'N' Rock at the beginning of the year. You sung I Will Always Be With You, a duet with Neji Hyuga."
"Do we have to keep bringing this up?" I groaned.
"Oh!" Hinata exclaimed. "Now I remember you! Neji talks about you often!" She added, and I blushed.
"He, uh, does?" I remembered Hinata's cousin now, tall, raven hair, amazing white eyes and a singing voice like a masculine angel...he was a really good singer, but apparently people liked my singing too...
Hinata nodded, and then realised everyone was looking at her and blushed and looked at the ground.
"Hmm..." Said Karin, frowning slightly at me. "My friends want to meet you..."
"Your...friends?" I repeated.
"HEY!!" Anko suddenly fairly shouted. "ARE YOU GIRLS DONE GOSSIPING, SO CAN WE GET GOING OR WHAT!!??"
"Yes Ma'am!!" We all yelled, and hurried to catch up with her and the others.