CHAPTER FOUR

Dickory Dickory Dare

That night, we had a sing-a-long with the rest of the girls at camp. The boys went back to their own side and had a sing-a-long of their own, and so I stood with my cabin and tried not to sing too loudly.

The small conversation between Karin and Kin was still in my mind.

"Okay, so Emily's the one who sang that duet with the Hyuga, right?"

"Yeah, isn't she great?"

What was that supposed to mean? And, Sasuke's reaction to my knowing Neji was...not too enthusiastic, to say the very least. I really thought I'd have to keep out of this one...

I was sitting in between Hinata and Matsuri. On my left, Hinata had a soft, gentle voice like whispering willows. On my right, Matsuri's voice was strangely deep, although not masculine at all it didn't seem to match her normal voice. It was deep, rich and throaty, and I liked it. Tenten, sitting beside Hinata, had a voice a little bit like mine, strong and powerful and slightly soprano. Our CIT's, sitting nearby, had high soprano voices like twin bells.

I could also hear this very soprano voice, and it attracted the attention of my fellow bunk-mates. We scanned the area in search of the voice.

"There!" Matsuri suddenly whispered, and we followed her gaze over to...

"It's Anko!" Tenten exclaimed.

She glanced over in our direction and we pretended to look at something else. When she looked away, we exchanged a glance and started giggling.

"Camp's going to be fun, isn't it guys?" Tenten said, grinning as the song finished.

"I hope so." Matsuri replied, exchanging a glance with me. I read her glance. She still didn't trust Tenten that much.

"I heard from Hana that we're going to have a talent quest on the last week of camp..." Hinata said shyly, and then she grinned. "Oh goody, we're singing this song, my mum used to sing it to Hanabi and me when we were little!"

"My Dad used to sing this to Penny and me all the time." I remembered, and we began singing the old nursery rhyme song (I don't know why Tsunade started us singing it...)

...

Hickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock,

The clock struck one...

The mouse ran down...

Hickory dickory dock!

---

Dickory dickory dare, the pig flew up in the air,

The man in brown...

Soon brought him down...

Dickory dickory dare...

...

I'd always loved that second verse, it's so funny. I always liked to believe that the pig flew up in the air as a dare, hence the first part of the rhyme.

As I settled down onto the grass, a nagging feeling began tugging at my stomach. Something Hinata had said...

Oh well. I smiled to myself and watched as a shooting star flew across the sky (or was it a flying pig?). Camp was going to be great...

oOo

That night, after lights out, Anko had to tell us eight times to go to sleep, before she threatened to make us sleep outside and we all shut up. We lay in bed, listening to the crickets chirping in the woods outside, and the deep breathing of both our CIT's and, soon, or counselor.

None of us campers could sleep though, and we all lay awake in silence, not daring to say a word for fear of Anko's threat. And so we lay there listening to the Iwa Mountains and Camp Gobi at night. I strained my ears far enough and thought I heard an owl hooting, and the distant lapping of the waters on Lake Gobi's edge. The water was a reassurance, after all I come from Taki, where water (especially waterfalls) are everywhere. I thought of Mum, sleeping all alone in our big old house, and I sighed. I hoped she wouldn't be too lonely. Maybe she would buy a dog or something whilst Penny and I were away. The thought cheered me up a bit, and I glanced at the shelf beside my bed.

Aside from my water bottle, hopping-frogs stationary and retainer case (I am a sad owner of those little plastic teeth straighteners) my top shelf was also playing host to the music box from my great-grandmother, and the doll that looks like me that my cousin made for me. I never go anywhere without them, and I remembered that evening, before we went to bed (not necessarily to sleep) when I had taken them out of my bag and unwrapped the plastic that I had wound around them for safe-keeping.

OoO

"Oh Emily, those are gorgeous!" Matsuri had exclaimed, running a hand over the doll's sky blue dress and frilled lilac bonnet and apron.

Tenten was more interested in the music box, which was made of phony (I think) gold and studded with dozens of pretend (I think) jewels.

"It's not expensive but I like it." I said, and the other girls agreed.

We sat on Matsuri's bunk in our PJ's and I opened the music box, which played - you guessed it - Hickory Dickory Dock.

We all laughed as the little silver plated (I think) mouse ran up the clock inside the music box. Some music boxes feature a dancing princess or a swan on a lake, but mine has a mouse running up a grandfather clock!

"It was made many, many years ago for my great-great-great-great grandmother by my great x four grandfather, who was courting her at that time." I explained, as the music ran down and I closed the lid.

Hinata had a faraway look in her eyes. "Do you know what I brought with me?" She didn't wait for an answer, and instead went over to her shelves and took down an ancient-looking silver mirror and matching brush.

"Oh, I was noticing them before." Matsuri said. "Where'd you get them?"

"From my mother," Hinata said, letting us see the pretty items. "Before she, umm...died of cancer..."

We all said sympathetic things.

"Anyway, they were...given to her by my father, when they were courting..." Hinata smiled, and blushed, and we all smiled too. All four of us seemed the romantic types. Tenten, I noticed, seemed very quiet, and I was just about to ask her what was wrong when Anko came in and told us it was time for bed.

OoO

I smiled, thinking about all of the fun I was going to have at camp. I hoped I'd see Matsuri's friends, the Sabakus, again, and I hoped I'd see Shino and Kiba and Akamaru again. I wanted to find out how Kiba had snuck his dog into camp.

I wasn't too fussed about seeing the girls in 15-A again, and I could wait to see Karin's friends again, although Dosu and Zaku didn't seem that bad, but Kin and Sasuke gave me the chills.

I began to count sheep. One...two...three...four...five...

I got up to about twenty-seven before I began to feel sleepy, and I thought I might have just found my sleepy time after all...

Then...

Scritch scratch...

"What was that?" Matsuri was still awake, and I heard her sit up in bed.

"Huh?" Tenten mumbled from her bunk. "Wazzup?"

"I heard something..." Matsuri whispered.

Scritchity scratchety...creeeeaaaak...

"So did I..." Hinata whispered.

I began to think about cougars again, as the door opened quietly. Oh no oh no oh no!!!

Creeeeaaaak...

I was holding my breath. I think everyone was. Anko and our CIT's were sleeping blissfully through this, how could they..?

"ROAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!!" A terrible beast leapt into the room and it's face was all bloody and so was it's body and it had horns!

Hinata, Tenten and Matsuri screamed. I've never been much of a screamer (mum never let Penny and me scream and squeal like, as she puts it, too stuck pigs) but I managed a very scared and startled: "Oh my God!" And that was when the 'thing' began laughing.

"Huh?" Tenten said, as our CIT's woke up and Anko ripped back the curtains to her bed.

"What's going on here!?" She asked angrily, as the 'monster' leaned against the doorframe, laughing, and more laughter could be heard coming from outside.

"Wait a minute!" Tenten's surprise was instantly replaced by anger. "That's not a monster, it's the boys!" I heard her leap out of bed with a mighty crash, and I'm sure that the floorboards cracked as she landed, and then she was racing across the length of the room, after the would-be monster.

Not to be outdone, Matsuri, Hinata and I raced after her, and Anko, Hana and Ayame raced after us.

We raced out into the moonlit and firefly-lit night, just in time to see Tenten crash-tackle somebody to the ground.

"Hey!" Our monster yelled. "Get off me Tenten!"

"That sounds like Naruto's voice!" Hinata exclaimed, as we hurried down the steps of our cabin and across the path to the grassy area.

"That's because it is Naruto Uzumaki!" Ayame realised, as Hana and Anko disappeared into the trees.

"Who?" I asked, as lights turned on in other cabins, campers, CIT's and counselors alike awoken by our screaming.

"Naruto Uzumaki is Konoha's biggest prankster," Ayame explained, as Tenten struggled with our assailant. "And I know because he's always on clean-up duty at Ichigo's Ramen, where I work, because he's broken some dish or spilled another customer's ramen. How he managed to become a cadet is beyond me."

"Well, that makes two of us then." Matsuri commented, as Hana and Anko reemerged from the forest, dragging two people along with them.

Anko was holding a familiar-looking golden-haired boy by the scruff of his top, and Hana was dragging another familiar-looking boy by the arm...

"Kankurou!" I recognised the angry voice of Temari Sabaku as she came flying down the path to meet her brother. "Oh, I should have known!" She added, cuffing her oldest younger brother around the ear.

"Hey, watch it sis!" Kankurou complained.

"Kiba!" Hinata cried softly, seeing Hana's younger brother in the cabin light now. "What are you..?"

"Scaring the hell out of you guys, and Kami, it worked!" Kankurou cried gleefully, which earned him another whack from his big sister. "Ow!"

Tenten, meanwhile, had wrestled Naruto into submission, by pinning him to the ground and holding one arm behind his back.

"I was not scared!" Tenten cried, and I recognised a blow to one's pride when I saw one. "I was surprised! That's a different thing!" And she twisted Naruto's arm around even more.

"Ow! Tenten! Mercy, mercy!" Naruto shrieked, just as the blonde form of Tsunade came hurrying down the path towards us, taking long, angry steps.

"What in Kami's name is going on here!?" She cried angrily and then, seeing Naruto on the ground, apparently bleeding, with Tenten holding him down, she yelled: "Naruto Uzumaki! Explain yourself!"

"It was Jiraiya's idea!" Naruto whined, and everyone else's eyes opened wide, except for Kiba and Kankurou, who just nodded vigorously when Tsunade looked at them to check.

"Oh it was, was it?" Tsunade mused, as Tenten finally got off of Naruto and came back over to us, covered in tomato sauce. Tsunade went on: "Okay then, I think I may escort you three," She meant the boys. "Back to your own side of the camp, and have a little chat with you and Jiraiya. Girls," She added, glancing at us. "Back to bed."

"Yes Tsunade." We said.

Suddenly, I noticed what all of us were wearing. PJ's...

Hinata in her frilly white and pink nighty, Matsuri in her boxer shorts and silk top, Tenten in a long old sports top and me in me pink silk (slightly see-through) nighty.

We all hightailed it back to our cabins and slept the rest of the night with our door locked, just in case...