Tricks of Light

Pairing(s): SasuHina implied, if you squint

Rating: K

Author's Notes: Please excuse my lack of title creativity. I was listening to KnB OST the whole time. Honestly, I can only blame myself for writing this fanfic. Its based on Kuroko no Basket. Some of them might resemble the players from KnB. And sorry bout the bad description. Its a wonder how people can write a perfect description of a basketball game. Well, I tried.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto sadly - not even Kuroko no Basket

"Its been a while since I've seen you this worked up."

Sasuke chuckled as he removed his jacket before handing it to her. It was true though. He felt excited when he received the phone call from Tenten - their former coach back when they were in high school - about this game. They were putting up a team of talented players to play against these arrogant players. Flaunting how no one could beat them.

"Of course," he replied. "From what I've heard, they're not that bad."

"You do know that we have to go to your family reunion later, right?" Hinata asked, changing the subject. Sasuke gave her a look. "Don't get injured, all right?"

Just as Sasuke opened his mouth to answer, the sound of the whistle blown interrupted him from saying anything further. Hinata mouthed a 'Good luck' and Sasuke nodded in acknowledgment.

Kami, how long has it been since he played basketball? Sure, he still played whenever he gets the chance to but it has been long since he had really played basketball. At first he was surprised when Tenten called him to play. Apparently, she had somehow caught in a... disagreement, as she called it. She had challenged them that they would lose against a fight with them - provoking them.

Feeling their pride being challenged, they accepted her proposition.

Which lead her to form a team of talented players. To her disappointment, out of all the players she had chosen, only seven of them who were free and willing to gamble. They had agreed and meet up to practice for several days. Tenten had helped them brush up their skills and had shown them several videos of their match.

He did felt nostalgic - despite the fact that Gaara and Kankuro and two other players he couldn't remember their names were there.

Sasuke smirked as he moved to his usual position as the power forward. He passed by Naruto who threw him his fox-like grin; Neji merely glared at him - mostly because of Hinata; Gaara and Kankuro didn't even spare him a glance.

The Uchiha stole a glance at Hinata. She was worried not after she heard about the opposing players. Its not like he had gone rusty despite the fact that they are currently at college and he didn't play too often. Didn't he told her not to worry?

Wait.

No.

He forgot to tell her that.

No wonder she's worried.

Well, Uchiha Sasuke never lost before and this couldn't be any different from any of the previous matches before. Then again, there's always a huge difference between him and his opponents. Though, there were some who had came close like Gaara and Neji and occasionally the blond idiot, Naruto.

His train of thoughts were broken when he heard the sound of whistle. And the game had begin.

He begin to move when Neji had caught the ball and threw it to Naruto, who immediately caught it and move towards the hoop.

Ooh how he had missed the thrill.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

It was fast, to Hinata it had looked like the ball was flying. She had seen a fair share of basketball match before during high school. But that - that was basically nothing compared to this. She knew that players from Konoha High was fast since they are the offence type of team but she wasn't expecting the two players from Suna High were this fast. Their gameplay was mostly based on defence.

"Amazing isn't it?" She vaguely heard Tenten asked. She was lost in words. "The chemistry between them is amazing. Its almost as if they had been playing as a team their whole life." After a while she added, "Even Gaara and Kankuro could catch up with their speed."

What Tenten said to her was true. Its amazing. Their passes were flawless. Their paces compliment each other, none of then hesitating to pass the orange ball to their teammate. It felt taht it would be impossible for a team with their caliber to lose.

Their shooter, Kankuro, not once missed a basket. All his shots had went in. It was as if he was controlling the ball with strings. Even his passes were not too shabby. This caused the opposing team to grimace and their expressions had twisted in anger. It was like he was only playing with his opponents. No wonder they called him a Puppet Master.

Despite having a small stature than the rest of the players, Gaara was great at defence. Its something that she had heard that went like "No one could beat Gaara's absolute defence". That and being the best point guard. A natural leader as Tenten pointed out.

And Neji-nii... He's like a whirlwind - Hinata could actually feel pride radiating from Tenten. Ever moving, always remaining unpredictable. One minute he appeared to dunk, the next thing you know, the ball move to another direction towards whoever was free to score a point - a fake or something, she couldn't really remember even when they had told her before. She couldn't really grasp the concept of basketball.

Naruto however was like an animal - a fox to be precise. Tenten pointed out beside her that the blond was light footed. If she had to say anything about him, it would be cunning. A perfect small foward - according to Tenten.

But what really amazes her was Sasuke's speed.

She had seen it countless times but seeing him going at his full strength. He could actually be faster than a speeding bullet. He never hesitated to score, to pass his opponents. Is he relying on his instincts? The brunette beside her informed her that his speed is their biggest advantage.

Hinata didn't even notice when the buzzer had sounded, indicating the end of the first half of the game. Everything was a blur to her, even the short break in between the first and the second quarter. She smiled when she handed the towels to the players and paused when she reached Sasuke. He thanked her quietly and took a huge gulp of water. "You had fun," she stated.

Sasuke's eyes flickered to her before turning his gaze elsewhere. "They weren't too bad."

She giggled mentally as she caught the corner of his lips lifted. She had no doubt that they would lose. She believed them and so does Tenten and their team. Then, Naruto's booming voice interrupted them. "Ne Hinata-chan, did you see Teme -"
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She was right.

87 to 85.

They won.