An Odd Type of Painting...

[Uchiha Itachi]

There was something about this painting that he couldn't quite get his finger on. Something about it that intrigued him to no end until he was able to figure out what it could possibly mean. The painting hanging right in front of him was completely blank. Well, almost. There, almost invisible, and apointed right in the middle of the paper was a little black dot. The paper was about the same height as him, so why would the artist bother wasting the entire paper with a single black marking? He was the Uchiha prodigy, and yet- for something as aimless as this- he couldn't figure it out.

THE Uchiha Itachi, was dumbfounded.

Not that he'd show it of course. He rarely showed his emotions no matter what. Another cold breeze of air rushed past him as the door opened to the Art Gallery for people to walk in. The air conditioner still running inside didn't help the matter at all, considering it was practically freezing. It was the middle of winter, for God's sake. The cold air blew past his cheek, stinging it slightly as Itachi hunched his shoulders to bury himself into the warmth of his black scarf. His winter dark gray coat offered little warmth to him at this time. But he wasn't about to admit how cold he was.

'Stupid weatherman...'

The thought of the painting was brought into his mind once again as his eyes shifted to the top of the paper, and then down. Over and over again, he repeated this process. Finding no sign of meaning the first time doesn't mean there was nothing there. But it couldn't be. For an Uchiha's eyes, it was almost exactly perfect. Nothing could get by the keeness of them. Still, there was nothing. Not another splash of paint, eraser marking, not even another small dot. So what did this painting have to mean? Even he did not know.

And it was killing him.

[Akasuna no Sasori]

A job. Why you ask would, Akasuna No Sasori need a job? To pay for the house. He hadn`t wanted to share a dorm with some nose picking person, who probably didn`t even know what true art was. It was everlasting. They`d probably say it was a painting or sculpture. Whenever Sasori discussed with Deidara about art, they`d always bicker and shoot insults. He had no idea why the blond haired man couldn`t comprehend what true art was. Deidara would always say the same thing. It irritated him to know end. Sasori didn`t even know why he kept arguing with Deidara. Sasori knew he was right of course. He usually was. Though, he still felt the need to tell Deidara off. Art was not a 'bang'. It lasted forever.

Unfortunately, nothing ever lasted forever in the world Sasori lived in. So there was hardly any evidence to back up his view on true art. Moving his thoughts away from his view on art, Sasori entered the building. It was unique, but the colors were quite plain. The only colors Sasori had notices, were white, black, and gray. Though the paintings on the walls and other works of art that lied around the Art Gallery, made up for the lack of colors.

Sasori looked over the Gallery. No one had come in yet. Besides the employees. Sasori looked at the time and realized that there were 30 minutes until the Gallery opened. He let his mind wander for a moment. He remembered meeting the new person that had entered the Akatsuki`s (The name they liked to call their group) group of friends. If you could call them friends. More like... people you just knew. Or something of the some sort. Tobi was the boy`s name. He was quite the nuisance. But he wouldn`t question Pein`s choices. Kisame had 'fish like qualities'. He never liked being called a fish, or shark, or anything that had to do with the sea life. Sasori hadn`t payed much attention to the man. He was polite, but had an unnatural amount of blood lust.

Hidan was quite the religous man. But he cursed so much, it was annoying. Kakuzu was a greedy idiot. He always talked about how much money they`d need to save. Or something like that. Zetsu was almost like Kisame. But he had a split personality, and it seemed like he liked eating meat a lot. Pein-sama and Konan were mysterious individuals. Hey had once met them, but they were quiet and hadn`t spoken much. Uchiha Itachi wasn`t a person you`d want to mess with. Of course, no one would want to mess with any of them. Especially the leader of their group. But there was something that radiated off of him. Was it dominance? Superiority? Triumph even? Sasori couldn`t tell, nor did he want to know.

Slowly coming out of his thoughts, Sasori looked up at the clock. It had been surprisingly been 45 minutes. He looked around the gallery, and realized there were now several people there. It was loud. He hated when his peace was interrupted, but he had a job. He couldn`t just lay around doing nothing. It was unacceptable. It was also one of the ways, he could lose his job. Getting up from where he had sat, Sasori noticed a familiar person in front of a painting. It was blank, except for one small black dot. He looked at the person again. He lifted an elegant eyebrow, once he realized who it was.

Uchiha Itachi.

Sasori mentally shrugged. Why should he care he was there. It was none of his business. He didn`t even care. Maybe the Uchiha had an interest in art. Maybe not. Like Sasori had said. (Or thought) It was none of his business.

[Uchiha Itachi]

'Curse this....'

Itachi was never really much of an artist. He wasn't bad either, but his skill was exceptionally well enough to be able to tell the capability of a painting. As much as he hated to admit it, Itachi had lacked the insight of life and the ability to tell what the artist was thinking about whil he was creating his painting. Its not as though he didn't care. Many famous(and rich) entrepanuers were going to meet him one day and it was important that he understood everything they were to say so that they would assume he was interested in such a thing. That skill was still off, however, with his pride and inability to see past what can be seen. His eyes of an Uchiha weren't so mighty and keen afterall.

Inwardly, Itachi sighed and turned away from the painting of which he couldn't dispell from his mind. It was struggling and fairly annoying to him that he couldn't get the answer right for once. Though he looked away, he still couldn't help but wonder about it. By this time, the Art Gallery was filling up quickly and becoming louder and louder each minute. Even so, his mind was set on one thing only as he blocked all other noises out- making it so that only his heels clicking against the marble floor was able to be heard in his head. Itachi shivered slightly, feeling the coldness catch up to him once again and brush past the back of his neck. It was only then that he was able to finally notice someone he recognized- which was fairly easy considering his red hair- Sasori.

'No surprise...' Itachi had known Sasori from school. They were both in a group of friends (if you call them that) called the Akatsuki. He knew Sasori was an artist, a genius some might say, with a belief in everlasting things. Itachi rarely sociated with people or even made friends with them personally. But each of the members of the Akatsuki had special talents that made them stand out. He was a prodigy, as everyone had known, and he knew Sasori and Deidara- a blond accomplice- were both talented artists with different point of views. Itachi were associates with them, not because of their personalities, but because of their skills. He was afraid or ashamed to admit the fact that he was a shallow person because he believed that everyone was. They do things for the sake of the gain and it was a natural thing.

Feeling as though he had nothing else to do, Itachi decided to stop looking like such a loner and achnowledge him. Walking up to him, he called out 'Sasori...' monotonously. It was his usual greeting with a nod and people didn't expect more from that no matter how close they were to him.

[Akasuna no Sasori]

'Sasori...'

Sasori had already knew who had called out his name. By the low and smooth voice, it was of course Uchiha Itachi. He was a prodigy. The heir of the Uchiha clan. Sasori was slightly surprised that the Uchiha would greet him. He was after all a man of few words. Sasori nodded, acknowledging his presence. He could tell Itachi couldn`t get the meaning of the painting before him. Many couldn`t. Even he had trouble understanding such a painting. Though, he did admire it. To a point. He still believed true art was everlasting.

"Itachi-san..."Sasori greeted in his usual dull tone. He crossed his arm, and attempted to think about a topic he could strike a conversation with. There were many topics. The weather, pets, clothing, or something else. He wasn`t exactly one to spark and interesting conversation with.

"What`s your view on art, Itachi-san?"Sasori asked bluntly.

((I`m really tired. My body`s aching, I don`t really care for the length of my post. Sorry if it`s short or something.))

[Uchiha Itachi]

[[That's okay.]]

"Art..." Itachi replied without a second thought. It sounded much more like a statement than a question to him. He looked towards the wall to the left of him where another painting was hung. It existed there as though there was a meaning to it; even when not alot of people had stopped for just a minute to admire the artist's hard work.

"Art..." Itachi said again nonchalantely, "...is useless and pathetic unless the artist puts his soul into it." And that was about as deep to art as the Uchiha prodigy could get. It didn't bother him at all if someone else bothered him about how wrong he was. It was his own view on something for once and nobody- not even the leaders of the Uchiha clan- could have changed it for him.

"I guess its then, that the art piece has a real existance." He mutters a little awkwardly, looking back to Sasori.

"You know that someone spent alot of time and effort to create something, that it becomes so significant." The older Uchiha paused for a moment and turned away again. He stuffed his hands into his coat pocket to warm them and laid back casually.

"Even if someone else doesn't believe so, the person who created it achnowledges its reality and understands it more than anyone else."

[Akasuna no Sasori]

He arched and eyebrow, considering Itachi`s response. He could understand why the Uchiha thought that way about art. But he still had his own view on it. Sasori crossed his arms and nodded casually. He looked at a nearby clock. It was 11:54am. Almost time for his lunch break. Did Sasori ever tell you how much he hated having a job? He found it useless and boring. But he didn`t have a choice. Either move in with some snot nose pig, or pay for the house. He`d rather chose the latter. Sasori wanted out of this nauseating place. He slightly hungry. Not that much though. He looked at the clock again. 11:58am. Only 4 minutes had passed.

Sasori looked at Itachi, he looked more weary of the world then the first time they had met. Though he still had the look of power and superiority, when they had first met he had that look of arrogance and youth.((I just used a Gai/Lee line....)) But now he seemed wiser, older. Sasori remembered himself when he was younger. He was young, arrogant, and well your usual outcast. Coming back to reality, he once again looked at the clock. 12:03pm. Finally, his lunch break had arrived.

Glancing at Itachi, he had asked something he would never have asked in a million years. Or longer. "How`s life, Itachi-san?"He asked in an all so casual tone.

He mentally slapped himself. Has he really gone insane? He hated socializing. With anybody. Yet he had attempted to make small talk with the elder Uchiha. He was just asking to be slapped. Or smacked. Either way, he felt like an idiot. Which was hard for an artist like Sasori, when he was the one who usually made other people feel stupid.

((Sorry for the delay in my post. Again sorry if my post is short.))

[Uchiha Itachi]

'How's life, Itachi-san?'

This question came as a slight surprise to the older Uchiha but he didn't dare show it in public. Looking away, he paused for a moment to think. Sasori had asked it so casually like he's been saying it to everyone every single day. He was sure he didn't really expect a lengthy answer that he just gave about his view on art.

Itachi turned back to Sasori with a slight, barely noticeable smile -and for the first time- looking like a well grown adult. "Fair." he answered just as informally. He, too, wanted to sound as though he was alive. Not some emotionless, no feeling person with a superiority complex. Just an average human for once. His Uchiha pride was going to get in the way a couple of times, but changing required sacrifice.

Though he was still going to be as silent as ever, when Itachi chose to give an answer, it was going to be one that made the other person's time worth while. Lately, he had been thinking about his life and he's concluded that he hasn't completely done anything. Sure, he was a genius, but he was born that way. Okay, Itachi was able to inherit a quantity of money from his parents, but only because he was the first child. For once, he wanted to do something for himself and not for anyone else or their gain.

A moment as passed and Itachi caught himself staring off into the distance with a slight smile. He turned back to Sasori with his usual face but a small glint in his eyes. "Sasuke is still annoying though." He added before Sasori could suspect anything of him becoming soft.

[It's okay. If you need more time, you don't have to rush.]]