Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
AN: Big 'thank you's to my darrling brother for this inspiration. AU. (and perhaps OOCs, hope not...)
Basketball
[Chapter 1 – Introduction.]
Tenten stared – or rather, glared – at the ball a few meters in front of her. The basketball – a hand-me-down from her brothers and was hers after they became professional players – is currently a sad looking piece of… thing. Specks of brownish mud, dirt and paint were splashed and clung around its exterior; the original colors were faded and worst of all… the ball looked saggy – like the flaps on old people's body after they grow old. No offence, people.
"Panda! Phone for you!"
With a saggy ball in front of her, and a mysterious caller on the line… She turned around to glare at her elder brother. Tenten narrowed her eyes as her painfully slow brain processed what her brother had called her. He was calling her by her nickname… and that meant that he was in a brilliantly good mood – and to tease her is one of the things he does in his wonderfully youthful mood. She cringed inwardly; Lee has been rubbing off on her lately… and perhaps his crazy father as well.
"Tell me if it's your boyfriend!" he added happily, an evil glimmer in his eye.
Tenten snorted and rolled her eyes as she grabbed for the phone.
"Hello, Tenten speaking…"
Hyūga Neji watched his opponent with a gaze akin to a hawk. Every (muscle) twitch, every contraction, every move… That's the way he takes down his enemies. His current opponent was easy to read. Under all that muscle and tough exterior, his moves were simple. A single contraction of his right bicep meant that he is ready to shoot the ball into the net, a twitch of his left arm meant that he is waiting for a chance to snatch the ball back…
The burly opponent, a street gangster that dared to challenge him, is going down.
With speed reminiscent of a panther, Neji grabbed the ball, and dunked the ball in. The street gangster can only watch in slow-mo, as the ball escaped from his grasp and the oddly eyed stranger flexing his body as he jumped, dunking the ball into the net. It was a breathtaking sight; breathtaking… and…
"D-don't you forget this, bastard! We'll get you for this!"
Neji can only watch with an air of nonchalance, as the gangster's eyes went wide with hysteria and clumsily getting to his feet, barking at his subordinates to follow, all the while muttering curses, 'devil's spawn' and what-not...