Kings of the Court

New Game

Two boys stood at an old park. One was a blond who stood at about 5 foot 7 and the other was a dark-haired boy who was taller than the blond at 5 foot 10.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at the blacktop with the appropriate lines for a basketball court painted in a faded white.

The blond took the first step towards the center where a single ball lay. Bending down, he picked it up and waited for his brother in all but blood to walk over.

The two shed their hoodies leaving them each in shorts and a tank top. Their shoes, worn down from the constantly repeated game.

Naruto bounce passed the ball to Sasuke who passed back. "Check." Was all the raven-haired boy had time to say before Naruto shot off like a rocket, nearly leaving him behind.

To respond, Sasuke made a short hop backward, stopping the blond from progressing any further. His hand shot forward with incredible speed, aiming to knock the ball out of Naruto's hands, but failed when the boy responded with a behind-the-back crossover to his left hand.

Not willing to let his friend reach the rim, Sasuke tightened his defense, moving in closer and subsequently slowing down Naruto's movements.

Sharp crimson orbs met piercing cerulean as the blond continued to dribble with his left hand. The dribbling slowed down ever so slightly before Naruto shot off like a rocket once more. Crossing the ball back over to his right hand, he went for the near surefire dunk.

If it had been almost anyone else but Sasuke guarding Naruto, they would have fallen behind the blue-eyed wonder, but Sasuke was Sasuke.

Jumping up and blocking the dunk, Sasuke slammed the ball toward the backboard, making it bounce away from the two.

Naruto was the first to land. He shot off at the ball at near inhuman speeds and picked it up before it went out of bounds. The two friends deadlocked again.

Naruto went for an in-between the leg crossover, but Sasuke was able to poke it out of place and make it slip past Naruto. Before the blond could move to get the ball, Sasuke had it again. No words were shared as Sasuke began dribbling.

It wasn't as fast as Naruto's, but it looked much more controlled. It was a perfect contradiction to Naruto's erratic and instinctual handling.

Sasuke shot forward with handling skills matching some of the greats. The precision of his dribbles matching some of the greats. After a while, he was able to find a flaw in Naruto's seemingly perfect defense. He capitalized on the slight off-balance wobbling of Naruto's leg, something only he and a few other people would be able to see mid-dribble, and did a quick pivot with his left foot, spinning back before jumping.

A perfect fade-away jumper that didn't allow the defender to jump up to their normal max height to block. He had gotten quite proficient in the move seeing that Naruto could jump to seemingly impossible heights. The ball left his hand and Sasuke looked to where Naruto was before, only to see him jumping right in front of him, eyes set on at least bumping the ball off course.

But he was too late, his hand crossed the ball's path less than a second after it passed allowing the sweet sound of a ball hitting nothing but net to ring in their ears.

"Already Sasuke? Isn't the match just starting?" Naruto walked over to get the ball from under the hoop.

"Don't be so sour dobe, it doesn't fit you. Anyways, I've been trying to perfect that move for months so I'm gonna use it every chance I get."

Naruto looked puzzled. "Didn't you already finish that like a few weeks ago?"

Sasuke simply sighed. "You know that you're just saying that so I don't get any better than I already am and completely destroy you every game."