"Our next competators are Keiko Nanami and Illrima Spiner." The Jounin announced as the two said genin stepped into the arena.
Keiko walked up to Illrima and gave her a cocky smile. "Ready to be defeated?"
Illrima narrowed her eyes. "Being cocky gets people no where. Lose the cockiness if you want to have even the slightest chance to win."
"Same goes for you!" Keiko hissed befoe taking a few steps back.
Illrima rolled her eyes as she stepped back as well. She looked to the spider on her shoulder and mumbled something in a different language before looked back up at Keiko once again. "I'll give you the frist move." She told Keiko calmly.
Keiko smirked before slowly moving backwords. She let out a short laugh before she said, "Why thank you for such a courtesy, now I don't have to fight to find a place."
Illrima remained unamused as she formed a few hand signs, mumblng more words in a different language before lowering her arms at her sides. "You should really consider covering your markings in battles. They give you away and make your actions predictable."
Keiko grimaced before disappearing into the bush behind her. She made a few hands signs and concentrated on the space around her first. The bush slowly disappeared, with her gone as well, leaving Illrima to try to find where she had gone.
"Amature." Illrima mumbled as she pulled her hands together. "Hyatume." The spider on her shoulder disappeared upon the word. She lowered her hands and waited for the spiders signal.
Keiko looked down towards the spider that was crawling beneath the bush. Disgusted, she reached down and squished the spider under her finger. "Gross." She murmured before turning back to concentrating on Illrima.
Illrima raised an eyebrow in her confusion. "What the...?" She shook her head and tried to come up with another way to find Keiko. She pulled her hands together once more and started spitting out spider webs that covered the area around her. "Now where are you...?" Illrima growled as she looked around waiting for movement - if she could catch the fly, she'd be eating it minutes.
Keiko shrugged before moving her hands slowly to form another hand seal. The space behind her began to turn into a dark abyss as she moved slowly out from the bush, still hidden by the darkness.
Illrima senced movement but was unable to see it. She pulled her hands together and increased her mind barrier, a small figure just barely visible feet from her. 'Strong mind manipulation.' She thought.
Keiko paused for a moment before making another seal. Another figure began to separate from Keiko until a clone was created. The two Keiko's slowly began to walk away from each other and towards Illrima. The darkness clouding both of them.
'Damnit! She's outsmarting me!' Illrima clenched her jaw and tried to think as she looked to the spider that returned to her shoulder having not actually been killed. 'What do I do? Someone like her isn't outsmarted, their humiliated!' Illrima smirked as she came up with a plan. She remained still and silent, waiting for Keiko to make the first move, just as she had said in the beginning.
Darkness had now surrounded the battle field, hiding both the Keiko clones. The Keiko clone moved forward towards Illrima and moved to stand infront of her with a smirk. "Don't get too cocky now."
Illrima remained silent and still, her eyes closed.
The real Keiko stood feet behind Illrima as she kneeled down and closed her eyes, preforming some hand seals while murmuring something gently. The ground beneath Illrima began to imprison Illrima's feet as the clone Keiko held her in place.
Illrima's eyes opened once more and smirked. "Gotcha." Spiders began to crawl up the legs of the clone, biting it and causing it to disappear. One small spider sneaked up and bit the real Keiko's ankle. Illrima smiled softly. "My poison is strong. Now that you're in my web, I believe it's time for dinner."
Keiko gasped and fell backwards, kicking off the spider that had bitten her ankle. The genjutsu was broken and and Illrima turned around to look at Keiko. Keiko narrowed her eyes as she climbed to her feet. "Well done." Keiko murmured. She went to run further from Illrima when her leg suddenly felt numb and Keiko faceplanted into the ground with a loud thud.
Illrima smiled as she stepped closer to Keiko. "As I said; you are in my webs. And my babies and I are starving." Illrima closed in on Keiko, kicking her in the rib. "Where's your cockiness now!" She kicked her again, harder. "This is my fight! It should have been called mine from the start!"
Keiko did her best to block the blows, but the longer she fought the more the numbness began to spread. Her bottom of her body wasn't able to move, and as she tried her best to stop the kicks with her hands, the numbness took over her upper body, leaving her body fully numb and victim to Illrima's melee attacks.
Illrima bent down and grabbed Keiko by the hair, pulling her closer into view as she pulled a kunai. "Time to eat."
Yama, who had been up in the stage watching it horror, jumped down and into the fight. He bent down and formed hand seals before capturing Illrima's shadow, stopping her right before the kunai plunged Keiko's throat. "Step down, Illrima."
Illrima moved her eyes to get a look at Yama. "I believe this is against the rules, Jounin."
"I don't care. You won the fight. Step down." He hissed.
Illrima used all her strength to fight Yama's shadow and drop the kunai. Yama released her and she backed off. Yama ran over and picked up Keiko in his arms.
"Illrima Spiner of the leaf village is the winner!" The announcer called through the speakers.
A Jounin walked up and approached Yama. "You weren't allowed to do that."
"I think these fights should be stopped when one is about to die. And in this case, it would have been one from our own village."
The Jounin shrugged but nodded. "Lady Tsunade will be speaking with you later."
"I don't care. I'll take it." Yama sighed. "But right now I'm taking her to the nurse."
The Jounin nodded. "I will have someone send for you later."
Yama nodded as he walked off toward the nurses station, holding Keiko tightly in his arms.
"I was totally going to win that fight!" Keiko hissed in pain. "If you hadn't stepped in!"
Yama rolled his eyes. "Just shut up."
"No! That was my fight, Ya-" Keiko suddenly tensed in immense pain as she bit her lip. She gasped sharply once the pain subsided slightly. "Yama!" She whimpered.
Yama frowned at her as they entered the hospital. The nurse greeted them and told Yama where to take Keiko. He carefully laid her down on the bed as a nurse came in.
"This will hurt a bit, alright?" The nurse told Keiko before facing Yama. "You should wait outside."
Yama looked at Keiko before nodding to the nurse.
"No, he will NOT!" Keiko yelled the last part into the nurses face as pain ripped through her body.
The nurse seemed taken aback as she looked from Yama to Keiko. "He has to, Miss Nanami."
"No...he does not." Keiko gasped.
Yama frowned at Keiko as he looked to the nurse. "She will just keep fighting you..."
The nurse sighed. "Fine. I need to get this poison out before it kills you. Miss Spiner has sent far too many people here."
Yama leaned against the wall opposite the bed, watching Keiko. "I'm right here, alright?"
"Better be, or I'll...beat you." Keiko hissed.
Yama sighed. The nurse rolled her eyes as she placed her hands over the spot the spider had bit Keiko. Her hands glew a blue aura as the poison slowly started to pull back from Keiko's system and to the nurses hands. "Sorry for the pain. It will be over soon." The nurse murmured.
"Yama..." Keiko winced, trying hard not to scream.
Yama walked back across the room and took her hand in his own. "It's alright." He soothed.
The nurse watched them, still focusing on removing the poison. "Almost done, Miss Nanami."
"No...Yama..." Keiko muttered.
Yama looked at her with confusion as he let go of her hand. "Wh-What did I do?" He asked nervously.
Keiko let out a small laugh admist her pain. "I just wanted to say thank you." She giggled before screaming at the nurse.
Yama frowned at her. "Nurse, hurry. I think the poison is getting to her head."
The nurse laughed slightly as she tried to hurry up the process.
Keiko winced and tried to smile at Yama before pulling Yama's hand to cover her eyes. "It hurts."
Yama sighed as he frowned at her. "Just be happy you're not dead."
The glow around the nurses hands faded and she stepped back. "Mr. Nara, can you stay with her for a while. She will have a slight pain through her body and may feel dizzy. I'll be back in about ten or so minutes to check on her."
Yama nodded as the nurse left the room. Yama walked over and pulled up a chair beside Keiko's bed. "Still hurts?" He asked, still frowning - he hated seeing her in pain.
Keiko nodded slightly. "Because of your dodo head and allowing her to do that to me!"
"If I hadn't let her, you'd be dead." He murmured with a deep sigh.
"I was kidding Yama. I'm serious though, thank you."
Yama looked up to meet her eyes. "Y-You're welcome."
"I know I would have died, and I actually thought I was going to back there. I thought I had that fight, I guess I underestimated her at first...and then got a little too cocky as if I had already won the fight near the end. Ugh...I HATE spiders!" Keiko shuddered at the thought of Illrima's spiders.
Yama smiled and patted her head. "It's okay. You don't need to thank me. I was just watching out for you."
"See, you should say loving things like that to me more." Keiko smiled and laughed.
Yama smiled in return, about to say something when the door burst open with Kazuko in a panic.
"Keiko! Are you alright? I saw your fight! You did good, but that Illrima is a bitch!" Kazuko had several deep cuts in his arms, chest and face, but seemed to pay no attention to them as he shook Keiko's shoulders violently.
"Kazuko, stop!" Yama growled as he pulled Kazuko from Keiko.
"O-Oh... sorry." Kazuko mumbled as he blushed.
Keiko glared at Kazuko before jumping to her feet and shoving Kazuko up against the far wall. "Can you not see I'm in a very painful state?"
Kazuko laughed nervously. "W-Well, what you're doing now doesn't really support your statement."
Keiko glared at him before moving back to the hospital bed and laying down. "And you interrupted what Yama was just about to say."
Kazuko unruffled his shirt as he looked over at Yama who began blushing. "I-I was just gonna say that I loved you." He murmured, scratching the back of his neck.
Keiko turned to look at Kazuko. "See, you ruined a romantic moment. Good job." Keiko said before turning back to Yama. "And I love you too!"
Yama smiled to Keiko. Kazuko laughed again. "W-Well... on a different note," He faced Yama. "I won the fight! I'm a chunin!" He grinned.
"And Satomi?" Yama asked him.
Kazuko nodded. "All but Keiko I guess." He laughed again. "But you put up a great fight, girl!"
Satomi finally came rushing into the room and stopped to take a quick breath. "You need to slow your butt down, man!" Satomi walked over to shake Kazuko's shoulders. "I'm not as fast as you!" She laughed.
Kazuko grabbed Satomi's shoulder's to stop her from shaking him. "Stoop itt! I'm getting dizzy!"
"So the two of you are almost considered my equal now." Yama smiled.
"Yes, Yama-sensai!" Kazuko laughed.
Keiko turned to glare at Yama. "And I'm stuck as an unequal."
Yama shook his head. "You're an equal too, Keiko."
"Just cause you lost, doesn't mean that you don't deserve to be a chunin. Actaully, if that girl hadn't cheated, you would've won!" Kazuko laughed.
"Cheated? How did she cheat, Kazuko? There is no such thing as cheating in this sort of battle unless there is an outside force. She won fair and square, and I'm just weak." Keiko muttered.
"You're not weak." Yama said sternly. "We just need to work on that cockiness you have."
"You don't like my cockiness?" Keiko laughed. "Kidding. But I mean, it's annoying that I have to repeat the Chunin Exams." Keiko murmured before drawing her knees to her chest. "Are you still my Sensai?"
Yama laughed and nodded. "I am. Maybe I will be able to talk to Lady Tsunade. Possibly I can get you to a Chunin level like them."
"Can you do that?" Kazuko asked.
Yama shrugged. "It's worth a try."
"Well, I mean...If you won't be my sensai when I'm a chunin, maybe an extra year or two wouldn't hurt." Keiko laughed jokingly.
Yama laughed. "I am still your sensai, as I am theirs. It's just.. different than before. We are considered equals and do not have to depend on me in the same way."
Keiko shrugged. "So does that mean we can now battle it out as equals?"
Yama smirked. "They can."
"Huh?" Keiko asked in confusion.
Yama smiled at her confusion, he thought it was cute. "I mean, even if you were a chunin, I'd never battle you."
"But we're equals~" Keiko whined.
"Do I get to fight you as an equal now?" Satomi grinned.
Yama sighed. "Yes. And Keiko, I'm saying I wont fight you because I love you, not because you're not my equal."
"If you loved me, you'd fight me." Keiko pouted.
"No, Keiko." Yama sighed.
"Yes." She stated.
Suddenly the nurse returned. "We have a lively group in the room." She said as she moved passed Satomi and Kazuko over to Keiko. "You're sitting up now, do you feel better?"
"No." Keiko replied. "These two," Keiko pointed to Satomi and Kazuko, "ruined the moment for Yama and I."
The nurse sighed. "I'm sorry about that Miss Nanami. But I am asking about your health, not feelings. So, how do you feel? Any dizziness, numbness? What about pain?" The nurse felt Keiko's forehead. "You have a slight fever."
"You should have gone into the profession of a nurf shark." Keiko laughed.
The nurse raised an eyebrow. "Nara, will you take her home and look after her?"
Yama nodded. "Come on, Keiko." He held out a hand to help her stand up.
She took his hand and stood up, smiling gently as she wrapped her arms around Yama's waist. "I feel funny." She muttered awkwardly before slumping into Yama's side.
Yama held her standing and picked her up in his arms, looking over at the nurse.
"Some people don't take well to the Spiner poison." She shrugged.
"She will be alright though?" Yama asked, concerned.
The nurse nodded. "Just keep that fever of her's down and she will be fine."
Kazuko looked at Keiko nervously before pushing Satomi out the door.
"I'll take you to my place, Keiko." Yama mumbled as he headed out of the hospital.