Keiko was the first one to be at the training field to wait for her team. While waiting, Keiko decided to go for a jog around the field's track. Gai and Rock Lee strolled up to field and saw Keiko's determined look. They began to run on the track as well, and easily caught up to Keiko.
"Hey, you two!" Keiko huffed, trying not to look like she was losing energy.
"Keiko, you're up this early in the morning?" Gai said with great compassion.
"She's much youthful than we thought, Gai-sensai!" Rock Lee cheered enthusiatically.
"I was always youthful!" Keiko said taken aback.
"So I see you've fallen in love with that... strapping young man... Shikamaru's cousin." Gai was leading on.
"Yama? Uh...how did you know?" Keiko laughed nervously.
"Gai-sensai and I were heading back from a long days training, when we saw you and Yama holding hands and being all googley." Rock Lee mentioned.
"Ah! Young love!" Gai sighed with a smile.
"Yeah...sure.." Keiko said and slowed down to catch her breath. Rock Lee and Gai made a quickly loop and stopped beside Keiko who was still catching her breath; neither of them were winded or broke a sweat.
"You should run more often, Keiko! It's very good for you!" Rock Lee suggested.
"Yeah, yeah." Keiko rolled her eyes and walked over to take a drink from her water bottle.
"Wow, Keiko! You're here before me?" Satomi shouted and ran over to meet Keiko. "And you're even running this early in the morning!"
"Yeah, I guess." Keiko shrugged as she chugged the water down.
"What's wrong?" Satomi asked and raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing's wrong, Satomi! It's all...right." Keiko sighed.
"'Cause you're in love, right?"
"Ah, possibly." Keiko said and straightened up.
"I don't know if you're allowed to be in that type of relationship with your sensai. I think it's against the rules."
"Rules, shules." Keiko shrugged. "Besides, Gai didn't say anything about it."
"Does he know Yama is your sensai?" Satomi asked.
"I'm pretty sure, Satomi. Go target practice." Keiko motioned to the targets.
"Nah! I'm going to join Gai and Rock Lee!" Satomi placed her stuff on the bench and caught up to the two guys who were running once again.
Keiko sighed and turned as she caught glimpse of Kazuko; she waved enthusiastically at him.
Kazuko ran up to her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Morning! What are you doing here so early? I heard the news by the way!"
"News? And yes, I actually set my alarm this time!" Keiko smiled happily.
Kazuko pulled out of the hug to look at her. "News, as in about you and Yama. The whole village knows by now!"
"Wow. That's kind of weird. The entire village?" Keiko's eyes were wide.
Kazuko nodded. "Yep! I dunno how it got around, but it did."
Just then Yama entered the field; his eyes glancing and widening as he saw Keiko. "Wh-what are you doing here before me?"
"Guess you slept in." Keiko stuck her tongue out and laughed.
Yama laughed. "I'm on time, it's eight fifty."
"For me, you're late." Keiko shook her head with a playful smile.
Yama laughed. "Well since we are all here, let's start- Satomi has already started...?"
"Yeah, I think I was a bit rude to her, so she went to run with the guys." Keiko motioned to Gai and Rock Lee.
"Figures," Kazuko snickered.
Yama sighed deeply as he called Satomi over. Today he was going to do something different for training.
"Alright, today we are going to do sparring. First I want Keiko against Kazuko." Yama announced.
"Wh-what? I can't go against my best friend!" Kazuko stated hugging Keiko tightly with a puppy-dog look in his eyes.
"Are you afraid of me, Kazuko?" Keiko smirked.
Kazuko let go of Keiko and gasped. "Hell no! I just can't fight you; I know you'd get hurt."
Yama snickered.
"Nah, you'd be the one getting hurt." Keiko laughed.
Before Kazuko could retaliate to Keiko's comment, Yama broke in. "Come on, let's go."
Kazuko sighed deeply and walked over a distance from Keiko. He smiled and pulled out a kunai.
Keiko smirked and crossed her arms over her chest. "Bring it on, buddy." Then she laughed.
Yama stepped forward. "No killing each other. This is just to test your skill and abilties; if for any reason it gets out of hand, I will step in. Whoever wins, will be facing Satomi.
"Sounds good to me!" Kazuko stated, grinning.
"Don't try to stop us, Yama. You might get hurt." Keiko giggled before turning serious towards Kazuko.
Kazuko smiled as he charged toward Keiko. His hands formed several seals before yelling, "Shadow clone jutsu!"
"Since when did you learn that!" Yama asked, taken aback.
Kazuko and his clones smiled. "Spent too much time with Naruto last summer; it's actually a pretty easy jutsu."
"Easy-shmeasy." Keiko laughed before concentrating her chakra towards Kazuko's mind. "That's all you got?"
"I'm just getting started!" The Kazuko's yelled as they all surrounded Keiko.
Yama placed a clone near by for extra safety; he honestly had no idea of the power his squad possed yet, so this was better then not preparing.
Keiko watched as each of his clones ran towards her, watching intently at each for the one who was the real Kazuko. "Seriously, Kazuko, this trick is getting really old!" Keiko trained her eyes on one of the Kazuko and dodged all the others.
The Kazuko that was being targeted suddenly disappeared. "Seems the love you got caught in is messing with your abilites!" The Kazuko's stated while laughing.
Keiko laughed in response, and quickly turned around to ram her foot into Kazuko's stomache. Kazuko went flying a few feet away. All the clones surrounding Keiko disappeared as Kazuko's back hit a tree, hard.
"Ungh!" He groaned as he tried pulling himself to his feet. "H-Heh..." He snickered as he pulled out a kunai once more, quickly charging toward Keiko. Her arm came out to block his own, as he ducked and placed a kick at her thigh now sending her back several feet.
Immediately, as soon as she hit the ground she rolled backwards and disappeared into the forest behind her. Quickly steadying herself she did three hand seals and closed her eyes. "Dispersion." She whispered.
Kazuko stood still, his eyes glancing through the trees and bushes surrounding him. "Come out, come out, where ever you are, Keiko." He teased, his kunai held tightly in his grasp. The words floated about in Keiko's mind as she concentrated in the path of where the voice came from. Suddenly her mind's eyes detached from her being and headed towards Kazuko's voice. When his figure came into view, her mind connected with his.
A laugh shook his head with a menacing whisper, "I got you."
A shiver ran through Kazuko as he tried to remain relaxed. "G-Good try, but I know this trick," He stated, trying to hide the uneasiness he was expirencing.
Keiko snickered as she made an illusion of his little brother several feet away from where he stood.
"Kazu-san! Kazu-san! Look, I'm here for once! Come, let's play!"
Kazuko staggered back several feet from his "brother". "Th-that's... a-a dirty trick!" Kazuko stated, his eyes now darting around despretly.
"Kazu-san! But I am your brother!" Kazuko's brother stepped closer with his arms out open. "Am I imposing on something?" His brother frowned and cocked his head, a tear started to run down his cheek.
"C-Canazu... Cana-san... n-no... Keiko, stop!" Kazuko's breath hitched as he stared intently at his brother; it seemed so real!
"Come on! Let's go play, Kazu-san!" Canazu turned around and motioned for Kazuko to follow him as he began to walk to the location of where Keiko was hidden.
Kazuko's feet began to move; his eyes trained on his retreating brother. "C-Cana-san... b-brother... I'm sorry..." Kazuko bowed his head as he lunged out his arm, the kunai slicing his brother as the ilusion dissapeared reavealing Keiko only feet away. "I will kill you later," Kazuko stated sniffing.
Keiko's eyes narrowed as she was back to her own body and quickly pulled back away further into the forest. Suddenly another laugh subtly floated through Kazuko's mind. "You thought you had it, didn't you?" Keiko snickered.
Kazuko's eyes widened as his head darted around again. 'When did she do that?' He thought bitterly. He sighed deeply as he stopped moving all together. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the sounds around him, seaching for any signs as to where Keiko was hiding.
"There is a little surprise back at the raining field, Kazuko. Why don't we retreat back to there?"
Yama's voice came from the training field, yelling out Kazuko and Keiko's names, commanding them to return.
Kazuko shook his head of thoughts; the training wasn't over, no one had won. "Nice try," He whispered, more to himself then to Keiko. He sighed once again as he felt a shiver run up his spine; to his left he heard a slight stirring in the bushes and his head snapped around, a kunai flying in the direction of the sound.
Keiko winced as she felt something burry deep into her arm. The illusion was broken and she quickly moved to pull the kunai out of her arm. "Idiot!" She snapped and quickly made her way out of the forest. In the light Keiko could see the wound much better, and a fair amount of blood trickled down her arm.
Despite the fact that he had injured Keiko, Kazuko smirked. "Ready to play fair?" Kazuko asked in a cocky tone.
"I am playing fair!" Keiko called back.
"Heh, yeah, bringing my brother into this is so fair," He mumbled as he pulled out a new kunai.
"Well, what else was I suppose to use? You've already figured out most of my other tricks." Keiko shrugged and watched as Kazuko emerged from the forest with a killer look on his face.
"No tricks then."
Before a response could be given, Kazuko charged toward Keiko with immense speed. Keiko's eyes widened, and then she groaned. Throughout the entire academy, he was always the fastest. No one could amount to his speed, and when a battle was waged but wasn't going his way, he always resorted to his specialty. Keiko narrowed her eyes and tried to spot where he was. He was moving too fast that she could only see glimpses of his smirking face. Kazuko threw a hit at Keiko, sending her backwards. She tried to regain her balence before a kick landed on her back causing her to stumble forwards.
Keiko coughed and quickly threw up her arms in defense as she saw his hand fly at her face. When she deflected his hand, a foot collided with her other side. "Kazuko!" She groaned and tried her hardest to climb to her feet. Kazuko paused for a moment on the other side of the field. "You're annoying, you know that?" Keiko screamed to him.
"You should've known bringing my brother into this would have made me mad." He stated taking a several steps forward.
Keiko made an apologizing look as she slipped her hands behind her back. Kazuko and her had trained together for years, and he knew how to determine which jutsu she was going to use by the hand seal. As quickly as she could, before he could realize what jutsu she was using, she made the hand seal and everything went still.
Kazuko stopped in his tracks. He lifted his hand to look at it; everything felt laggy to him. His eyes lifted again and stared at Keiko with anger; he hated this jutsu, and she knew that!
Keiko smirked, but then Kazuko's vision began to blur and she disappeared from his sight. The scenery around him began to disappear around him and the only thing that was normal was just where he stood.
"Dammit," He mumbled, clearly irritated. His eyes glanced around in what felt like slow motion as he tried to see Keiko, but failed.
"Kazuko." Keiko whispered, but it seemed to be coming in every direction. Suddenly Kazuko felt something touch his arm, and as he turned to look, Keiko had her head resting on his shoulder.
"Come on, Kazuko... What are you waiting for? Too slow for you?" Her voice seemed to be extremely slow and demonic-like.
Kazuko growled as he tried to shoe her away from his shoulder; her body slowly disappeared into nothing. "Ugh! Cut the crap!" He yelled, even more irritated than before.
Darkness started to come out of the ground and snaked around his legs, holding him completely still. Keiko walked out to stand in front of him as she stuck out her tongue. "This is just driving you completely insane, isn't it?"
"You have no idea!" He hissed at her, struggling against the darkness.
The darkness from above came down and wrapped around his arms, pulling them out so he couldn't move them either.
"I never would have thought I would use this jutsu on you to actually inflict damage." Keiko stopped to think. Her voice sounded demonic-like once again as she whispered, "It's amusing."
Kazuko's breath hitched once again as he lowered his head. "Damn you and your illusions. I know for a fact, to Yama and Satomi, I look like an idiot." He mumbled.
Keiko began to laugh as she turned to wave at Yama and Satomi. "Do you see them, Kazuko?" Keiko giggled as she allowed their figures to be seen through the darkness.
Kazuko's eyes drifted in their direction. Satomi appeared to be giggling while Yama watched the battle intently. His head lowered again as he smirked. "You know, Keiko. What would you do, if something ever happened to your precious Yama? Would you cry?"
"That is none of your business, Kazuko." Keiko said sternly as she stepped forward and lifted his chin to look into his eyes.
Another smirk left his lips. "Now what? Gonna hurt me, or humiliate me more?"
"Oh, how I would love to continue to humiliate you, and I just might at some point in time just for the fun of it. But I do have a bit of guilt in making you look like a completely loser infront of our entire squad, so I'll just get this over and done with." Keiko smirked as she pulled the kunai out of her pouch and held it gently against his face.
"Not the face! I'm too sexy for that!" Kazuko's voice was shaking as his breathing became ragged.
"Of course." Keiko rolled her eyes. "Then how about-" Keiko quickly reached around and pulled his head back as far as it went an held the kunai to his throat.
"Y-You won't kill me... y-you already admitted you'd be lost without me," He whispered.
"Oh, Kazuko!" Keiko laughed. "Haven't you forgotten that this is merely an illusion? I could slit your throat right now and it would make you feel like you're dying; but in reality you'll just be lying on the ground writhering in what seems to be immense pain, crying, and bawling. There wouldn't be any blood. This kunai..." Keiko allowed Kazuko to see the kunai. "Is simply an illusion, it isn't real."
"Then... do it and get it over with," He mumbled.
"Nah..." Keiko let go of his hair and stepped back enough so he could see what she was doing. The fake kunai slipped out of her hand and before it hit the ground it broke into darknes and laid about on the soft green ground. She reached back into her pouch and pulled out another kunai. "Now this...this is real." Keiko snickered.
Kazuko remained still, his eyes following her movement; he couldn't tell if she was lying or not.
More darkness snaked out from around them and reached to pull his shirt wide open. "Now this is going to be fun."
His eyes now widened. "Sh-shit..."
Keiko stepped forward and lightly dragged the sharp end of the blade across his flesh. A little blood surfaced, but none fell. "Does it hurt?" Keiko asked with a smirk.
Kazuko winced as his breathing picked up once again. "K-Keiko... s-stop!"
"But why?" She whispered into his ear as she dragged the kunai vertically down the middle of his chest, a bit harder so as to draw more blood.
"Ungh!" He cried out in agony as the pain struck him.
She stepped back and pursed her lips. "What shall I write?" Keiko laughed as she began to carve "I'm a loser" into his chest and adomen. When she was finished she stepped back and motioned for him to look.
He panted as his eyes looked down at his chest. Tears sprung to his eyes from pain and shame as he watched his blood hit the grass. "D-Damn you..." He mumbled weakly.
Keiko giggled and instantly stopped the illusion. Before Kazuko could realize what had happened, Keiko pulled an actual real kunai from her pouch and swung her arm to slice his face lightly before backing away.
Kazuko fell onto his back panting. He reached up with a shaking hand to touch his chest; his hand revealed no blood. His hand then reached up to his cheek, blood. Kazuko slowly rolled over and weakly pulled himself to his feet. His body was still in shock as he tried to maintain his balence. From the side, Yama looked nervously at the pair; debating if he should stop the fight.
"Th-that was fricken torture!" Kazuko sceamed at Keiko, tears falling down his cheeks.
"Hey, this is to show our abilities. I thought I'd start hardcore." Keiko shrugged.
Kazuko wipped at his tears before glaring at Keiko. "You are so dead!" He screamed, charging forward.
"Oh boy." Keiko's eyes widened; she knew when Kazuko was for real angry. Guilt rising in her gut, and fear wracking her mind, she turned to run towards Yama. She felt pathetic, but she had seen Kazuko at his worse and the destruction he could inflict on her. Unfortunately, in her haste, she had run to the clone Yama had placed not far off, instead of his real body. "Yama!" She desperately screamed, but just as she had caught his arm to hide behind him, he bursted into a log. With nothing to keep her balance she fell onto her back with a sudden feeling of completely sorrow.
Yama caught onto the situation and jumped in front of Kazuko, grabbing onto him before he reached Keiko. "Calm down!" He ordered.
Kazuko's hate filled eyes faded as he slumped in Yama's arms. He sighed deeply as he fell back onto his back. "S-sorry..." He mumbled, feeling guilty; he let his anger take over him, again.
"It's alright," Yama stated before turning toward Keiko. "you alright?" Yama asked her, concern in his eyes.
Keiko could only nod as she breathed deeply with sudden exhaustion.
Yama nodded as he let out a sigh of relief. "Good job both of you. I think I know what your abilites are now, however. Keiko, I think you went a little bit overboard." Yama stated as his eyes narrowed on her.
Keiko looked sheepishly as she smirked with a shrugg of her shoulders. "Sorry, Kazuko."
Kazuko closed his eyes and nodded as he continued to try and get his breathing back under control.
"Truly, Kazuko. I am sorry, I didn't plan on hurting you that badly. I guess the torture was pretty painful?"
Kazuko weakly sat up and glared at Keiko; he figured his look alone would answer her stupid question.
Keiko, once again, looked sheepish and she shakily stood to her feet and offered him help to his feet.
Kazuko looked away from Keiko and crossed his arms, not moving.
Keiko rolled her eyes and turned to go and get a drink from her water bottle from the bench. "Sweet, sweet water!" Keiko sighed as she dreamed of the second water washed her throat and made it not so dry anymore.
Yama looked down on Kazuko. "Are you really alright, Kazuko?"
Kazuko nodded simply as he pulled himself to his feet, stumbling sightly. Kazuko walked over and sat down on the nearby bench. Looking over at Yama he said, "I am not fighting anymore today."
Yama nodded in understanding and looked over at Satomi. "You witnessed what you are going against tomorrow, I suggest to prepare yourself and be ready tomorrow morning. You can all go home now."
Satomi nodded firmly and ran off to start her practicing. Kazuko angrily stood and stumbled away and Keiko stumbled over to Yama. "I feel very weak." Keiko said and laughed slightly.
"You used up a lot of chakra. Just go home and rest," He told her with a smile.
Keiko shook her head and slipped her arms around his middle. "I dun wanna." She said childishly.
Yama laughed as he hugged her back. "Well you need to. I have some paper work I have to do for Lady Tsunade."
"Can I come?" Keiko brightened.
Yama stared at her strangly. "W-well, I guess, but it will be boring." He told her simply.
"Nah." Keiko smiled gently.
Yama laughed. "B-But what about your friend? He still seems mad."
"Trust me, if I try to talk to him when he's angry, he's stubborn as stubborn can be."
Yama shrugged. "Alright then, you can come I guess."
"Alright." Keiko said happily and began to walk away before Yama, but her energy was instantly drained and she fell to her knees.
Yama walked up to Keiko and smiled. "Now is this because of the fight, of because you got up too early?"
"I feel...l-like I have energy none so ever." Keiko said tiredly.
Yama bent done and picked up Keiko in his arms as he headed toward his apartment.