A/N - Yes, I know. I'm awful. Starting another multi-chapter fic was not on my to do list, but this idea just would NOT go away. So I decided to type out the first chapter. But worry not! The next chapter of Kekkei Genkai and Unattainable are in the works this very moment! Think of this as more of a pilot chapter. It'll be a long while before I am able to give my full attention to this fic, though I do intend to finish it eventually. I figured since I had already written the first chapter, I may as well post it, so here it is.

This story is unbeta'd so ignore all of those annoying typos. My mind moves too fast for my fingers to keep up with, so I make a lot of spelling errors.

Disclaimer - This is a blanket disclaimer for this chapter and chapters to come. The title of this story belongs to the band HIM, from their album 'Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice' and all chapter titles belong to the band HIM as well. All Naruto characters belong to Kishimoto-sensei, not myself. (Much to my annoyance. Seriously. If I owned the manga....Sasuke would have grown up a bit by now. -Rolls eyes-)

So, that's all I have to say! Enjoy~

'Let's fall apart together now.'

Love: In Theory and Practice - Chapter One

In Venere Veritas

Everyone knew about Uchiha Sasuke. His name was associated with the greater questions in life. Things like, 'How did I get here?' 'Where am I going?' 'What's after this?'

A mere mention of his name brought up things like love, passion, regret and the meaning in life. Many philosophical debates were launched when someone mentioned him. Many regarded him as a genius, a prodigy.

Naruto knew better.

Uchiha Sasuke was colder than a frigid night in the middle of January. The kind that made your fingers go numb as soon as you stepped outside and sent automatic shivers quaking across your body.

Naruto wanted to change that.

Sasuke glared down at his laptop with all of the hatred he could muster. And that was a lot of hatred. He would have picked it up and thrown it across the room, but it would probably hit somebody in the head and he did not feel like apologizing today.

The screen reflected it's contents back at him, infuriating him all the more as he saw how little progress he had made. His head was at just the right angle to see those annoying lines of light running across the flat screen and it was giving him a headache.

He removed his hands from the keyboard and leaned back into the booth, flexing them. His hands had been on that keyboard for hours, so they were extremely cramped. He almost crossed his arms on reflex so he could continue glaring at the screen when someone sat down across from him.

Sasuke looked up – the glare still plain on his face – to see a tanned boy with bright blonde hair sitting across from him. Sasuke would have chucked the computer screen at his head for invading his privacy, if it weren't for the Styrofoam cup of coffee he was sliding across the table. Sasuke snatched it up and raised it to his lips.

The coffee was black, just the way he liked it.

The blonde stared at him for a second or two before a large grin spread across his face. "Hey." He said.

Sasuke gave a curt nod as response. It wasn't everyday that he had complete strangers approaching him as if they were old friends. Not to say that he'd never been approached by complete strangers, that happened more often that he would like, but it never happened with such familiarity.

"You're writing, right?" The blonde asked. Sasuke just nodded to him again and took another drink of coffee. The blonde – Naruto – smiled again. Sasuke grimaced at the fact that he came to Nine-Tails cafe` enough to know the waiters name. Though, it was almost impossible not to know, what with the other blonde – Ino – constantly yelling at Naruto all the time.

Naruto slipped the bag off of his shoulder and unzipped it. Sasuke watched him remove a bright turquoise piece of paper and slide it across the table toward him. Sasuke glanced down at it. It was an advertisement for an art gallery that would open in two days time.

"Well," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "You look like you're stuck, so I thought maybe I'd give you that."

Sasuke arched an eyebrow in response. He didn't see the connection between his writers block and an art showing.

"Come on," Naruto gave him a sheepish grin, Sasuke idly noticed how the whisker-like scars on his cheeks scrunched when he did. "Don't look at me like that. You don't have to go. I just heard somewhere that doing new things could help people get out of ruts. So I thought I'd give you something new to experience."

Sasuke raised both eyebrows at this, but didn't say anything. Did he come here often enough for the employees to know when he was experiencing writers block? If that were so, then he came here far too often.

"Naruto!" A shrill female voice shrieked. Sasuke didn't even look over as Naruto jumped. Ino's voice was unmistakable. "What are you doing sitting down?! Your shift was supposed to start ten minutes ago!"

"Oops." Naruto said, flashing Sasuke another grin. Mischievous this time. "Gotta go." Sasuke watched the blonde slide out of the booth and sling his bag back over his shoulder as he headed toward the door that was labeled "Employees Only". When Naruto disappeared through it, he returned his glare to his computer screen.

He raised the cup of coffee to his lips absentmindedly as he shifted his glare to the flyer in front of him. The brightness of the paper made him squint his eyes as the fluorescent light reflected off of it. It read 'Konoha and Suna universities are proud to present a combined project filled with art and passion. Opening of the 'Cursed Seal' gallery on December 12th, 2010.'

Sasuke almost snorted, but it would have taken too much effort. 'A combined project of art and passion', huh?

Sasuke tensed suddenly as his phone started to ring, the generic ring tone chimed loudly in the quiet of the cafe`. He answered it as fast as he could, not wanting to disturb anyone.

"Yes?"

"Sasuke?" Sasuke fought the urge to groan. He should have checked the caller ID. Then he would have known who was calling and to promptly hit the 'Ignore' button he was so fond of. "Hey," The voice continued. "It's Sakura."

"Hn." Was the only response he gave as he unzipped the black bag sitting next to him and slid the turquoise paper inside of it. It looked horribly out of place among all of the white papers and black folders already stuffed inside of his bag.

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Sakura's tone was teasing and Sasuke grimaced. He hated that he knew anyone well enough to be teased, even if was a childhood friend.

"Hn." Sasuke stuck with his usual response. It was failsafe. Courtesy demanded he answer her, but it never dictated how much he had to say. So the minimal amount of verbal communication was just fine with him.

"Right, well," Sakura's voice seemed to hesitate for a second. "How's the writing going?"

A silence so loud it could be heard in outer space greeted her. It was more than enough response on Sasuke's part. He didn't discuss his writing with anyone but his publisher, and that was forced. She knew better than to ask, but always did anyways.

"That bad, huh?" She laughed and Sasuke bristled. Almost as if she could hear it through the phone, she immediately stopped. "Calm down, I was just kidding."

"Hn." He said again, noticeably more hostile this time.

"Anyways, I was calling to ask if you remembered about my party? You know, the engagement party I've been telling you about for the past two months?"

Sasuke almost nodded as his gaze shifted back to the computer screen in front of him, but then realized she couldn't see him. "I remember." He said curtly.

"Really?" She sounded skeptical. He almost rolled his eyes. Almost.

"Yes." He confirmed, pleased with how irritated he sounded. Of course, him being irritated never bothered Sakura. He could be downright hostile and she'd still smile at him. A glare that would usually send women running just made her raise an eyebrow at him.

"Then what's the date?" Her tone was smug, as if she already knew he didn't know. Which she probably did. She knew him far too well for his own liking. He did know that date, he just didn't have it memorized. No, it was stored inside of the Blackberry he now had pressed to his ear. And she would know if he tried to go through it to get the date, and then the teasing would never stop.

So he stayed silent instead. He expected her to sigh, but she let out a sharp bark of a laugh. "You are so lucky I like you so much. If anyone else forgot the date, I sure as hell wouldn't call them ten times to remind them."

"Tch." Sasuke said. Another failsafe. At times he didn't feel like using his customary 'Hn' he would mix it up a bit and throw in a scoffing 'Tch'. And that response was very appropriate because Sakura had indeed called him ten times previously to discuss this very thing.

"It's the twentieth, Sasuke." Sasuke could have slapped himself in the forehead when he realized that he already knew that – yes, he had been told that ten times already – but he didn't. Uchiha Sasuke wouldn't be caught doing something like that, ever. It wasn't his way.

"Kakashi and I expect you there at six." Sakura continued. Judging from her airy tone, Sasuke figured she'd started multitasking. That usually happened when she called him from work. "And yes, Sasuke, you need to bring a gift."

"Is that all you needed?" He asked. His right hand was on his keyboard again. He promptly used it to hit 'Crtl' and then 'A', effectively highlight his entire novel. His fingers started inching toward the backspace button.

"No." Sakura huffed. And then she was quiet for a moment before...."Your brother called me."

Sasuke's hand paused for a moment. It was hovering over the 'L' key. It always took him a very long time to debate whether or not he really wanted to erase all of his progress and start over, so his hand had been going very slow anyways.

"What did he say?" Sasuke asked, pleased with how uncaring he sounded.

"He wanted me to remind you that you do, indeed, have a family. And that family expects a call from you now and then to tell them that you are alive. They do not want to hear of your continued existence from press releases and publish dates."

"Hn." Sasuke's hand started moving toward the backspace button again. Sakura sighed.

"Sasuke," Her voice was serious. Again. And Sasuke really didn't want to have this conversation. Again. "You have to talk to your family sometimes. I'm tired of having to tell Itachi that yes, you are indeed alive, and yes, your lack of communication has nothing to do with you being hospitalized over long periods of time for mental help."

Sasuke snorted, very much against his will. He had no desire to find that amusing, but couldn't really help it. His brother's sense of humor was as twisted as ever.

"Sasuke, are you listening to me?"

"Yes." Sasuke's fingers were on the backspace button now. All he would have to do is press down and two hundred thousand words would disappear forever.

"Are you going to contact your family?"

"Eventually." Sasuke closed his eyes as he finally made up his mind. He took a deep breath, but just as he was about to press down, he met with some unwelcome interference. He opened his eyes and glared up at Naruto, who had yanked his wrist back from the keyboard. He had a tray in his hand and the customary orange apron around his waist. Sasuke was extremely annoyed when the blonde proceeded to smirk and shake his head.

"Yes, well, make it soon." Sakura said into his ear. "I have to go, the boss is here." And with that, she hung up the phone. Sasuke lowered his own from his ear as he watched Naruto move his wrist away from the keyboard and drop it in his lap. Then he turned around and walked away, still shaking his head.

With a sigh of annoyance – Sasuke would never admit it was a sigh of defeat – he hit the save button on his open word document and closed the program.

He had never intended to delete it anyways, he told himself.

Sasuke wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. As he stood staring up at the old building in the middle of Konoha's college district, he decided he didn't really care. He had nothing else to be doing today, so there hadn't been a reason for him not to come.

Though, there hadn't really been a reason for him to go, either.

He wasn't particularly interested in art, at least, not as far as he knew. He wasn't particularly interested in people either. He hunched his shoulders inside of his jacket as a harsh wind kicked up. He had a feeling it was going to snow today. It was about time, too. It always seemed like the later in the season the snow came, the later it lasted.

He watched college students filter into the building. Most of them were laughing, or smiling as they chatted to their friends. Talking on their cell phones or texting. Sasuke almost had an urge to smile. He hadn't been to the college district since he graduated last year. The urge passed quickly and Sasuke's face remained blank.

A sad feeling welled inside of Sasuke for a moment. He hadn't spoken to any of his friends since graduation. Not because none of them were willing to stay in contact, but because – other than his novel publications – he had kind of fallen off the face of the earth.

The only person he'd really kept in contact with was Sakura. And that was because she kept showing up at his apartment, so he couldn't really avoid her. It made him sad to think that the only real human contact he'd had in the last ten months was with one person.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment as he pushed the feeling away. When he opened them again, he was determined.

He walked inside the building, pushing the glass doors open with ease. He found himself at the back of a rather long line. It didn't take long for it to shorten as people paid for admission. By the time he was at the admissions table, a line had formed behind him. He wondered idly if it was normal for so many people to show up to a college art showing.

The girl sitting in front of him gave him a small smile. "It'll be ten dollars." Her voice was quiet, he noticed as he handed her a twenty. Her head dipped as she rummaged through a box for his change, causing a veil of blue-black hair to fall over her light eyes.

He accepted the bill she was handing him with a blank face, before walking through another door into and extremely wide hall.

There were people everywhere, talking as they migrated around the room, staring at different squares on the wall that Sasuke assumed were the paintings. He cast his eyes around the room for a moment, not entirely sure what he was looking for, before he walked up to the nearest painting.

Sasuke's eyes widened minutely as he took in the picture before him. It was a sea of dark colors, surrounding a man sitting on a throne. The man had long dark hair and eyes like a snake. His skin was deathly pale and he appeared to be laughing as he looked at the scene at his feet.

Beneath the throne, there were two people. One was blonde, one with hair as black as pitch. There was a sword sticking out of the blonde's back, blood gushing from the place it had penetrated. The blonde's body seemed to form a cage around the black haired man's body, as he lay beneath the blonde. The only part of the raven's face that was visible were eyes wide with shock.

The meaning of the painting became quite clear when Sasuke glanced down at the title. Love. So the blonde haired man had sacrificed himself for the raven, as the man on the throne cackled at their misfortune.

That was extremely depressing.

Sasuke stared at it for a few moments, before making his way to the next painting. It was equally good, though the style was very different. Sasuke assumed it had a different artist. It was a man standing alone in the middle of a barren desert, flecks of sand could be seen blowing in the wind as he looked out at the setting sun. Brilliant streaks of color were strewn across the sky.

Sasuke continued like this, ignoring the other people in the room as he went from painting to painting.

There was one that made him stop and stare for several minutes.

It was divided into four equal parts on the canvas. The top one depicted a blonde little boy, who had his hands pressed to his eyes as he cried, completely alone.

In the next one, the blonde was looking up in awe at a man with dark hair pulled up into a ponytail who had a scar across his nose. The man smiled back at the boy.

In the next two, more and more people had emerged. In the third frame, the blonde boy looked just as amazed as he stared at the group of people that had grown around him. A dark haired girl who looked a lot like the girl at the admissions table, a brunette boy with pointy teeth and large grin, a stoic looking red head who had his arms crossed....

In the last frame, the blonde boy was looking out of the painting and smiling. The group of people around him had grown so large that Sasuke could no longer see the yellow and blue hues of the background that had surrounded the blonde since the first frame.

The man with scar was still there, along with the quiet looking girl and brunette boy. The stoic redhead had shifted positions and was standing next to the blonde protectively. A blonde woman with a large bust had one hand held up in a peace sign with a large smile on her face and a hand on top of the blonde's head, as man with crazy long white hair stared at her longingly. There was an old man with a pipe in his mouth and a slight smirk on his face. A boy dressed in all green with a bowl cut, a boy with sunglasses on and a collar so high it covered his mouth, a bored looking boy with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, a blonde girl with a long ponytail who looked suspiciously like Ino from Nine-Tails cafe`...

"Do you like it?" Sasuke jumped, surprised at the sound of a voice so close to him. He recognized it, and looked over to see Naruto staring at him with a sheepish expression on his face. His mouth kept twitching, as if it didn't know whether to smile or frown.

"Hn." Was Sasuke's only response as he turned back to the painting. The truth was, he did like it. It was extremely well done, and Sasuke wasn't surprised when he glanced down to read the title.

Bonds

"He speaks!" Naruto exclaimed, a wide grin breaking across his face as he held a hand to his chest and closed his eyes. "Be still my heart!"

Sasuke snorted. In annoyance, not amusement, mind you.

"Did you paint this?" He asked, his tone impassive. His eyes were on the painting again, and he noticed how similar the blonde boy looked to Naruto.

"Yeah," Naruto said, stepping closer to Sasuke and tilting his head as he squinted at the painting. "It's kind of like a self-portrait, you know?"

Sasuke didn't answer. He continued staring at the painting. He wasn't exactly captivated by it, but there was a certain fascination. While the point of the painting was clear, he couldn't help but feel there was an underlying message.

"But, and don't tell anyone this-" Sasuke looked over as Naruto pointed at him, a slightly serious expression on his good humored face. "It's not quite finished yet. It's missing something."

"And what would that be?" Sasuke sounded indifferent, but he was genuinely curious. The painting seemed perfect to him. It was emotionally moving and from an artistic standpoint, he was guessing Naruto was a genius, as he had never seen a painting so well done by a college student.

Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke and pointed at the last frame. Next to the blonde boy, even though he was surrounded by so many people, was an empty space.

"Someone is supposed to go here." Naruto told him, staring at the painting with narrowed eyes. "There are so many people in the painting, but no one would fit there. It didn't feel right. Someone is supposed to be standing next to me here, but I can't figure out who."

Sasuke tilted his head slightly as he took in the painting again. The blonde boy was smiling in the last frame, and though he seemed genuinely happy, he looked a little frustrated.

Naruto looked over at him and eyed him appraisingly for a moment. "I'm surprised you actually came." He said finally.

Sasuke glanced at him, before turning around to go to the next painting. He watched a group of girls walk away from it just as he arrived. He wasn't entirely surprised when he realized Naruto had followed him.

"I mean," Naruto continued, as if Sasuke wasn't blatantly ignoring him. "I'm glad that you came, really, I am. I wanted you to see my paintings. But I'm just...surprised. When I gave you the flyer, I wasn't really hoping for much. I figured you'd pretty much ignore it, cause, you know, you seem like a busy person and kind of anti-social and..." Naruto suddenly stopped talking as Sasuke stared at him quizzically. He raised a hand and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry." He mumbled. "I'm rambling."

Sasuke was pretty sure he surprised both himself and Naruto when he just shrugged dismissively. Naruto's eyes widened for a second before a large grin broke across his face. The scars on his cheeks scrunched again and his blue eyes twinkled.

Twinkled? Really? Sasuke scoffed to himself. What possessed him to use such an adjective to describe Naruto, he had no idea. But he really didn't like it. Sasuke didn't think anything twinkled. He hated twinkles.

He looked at the painting in front of him. This one didn't seem to be painted by Naruto. There was a girl with long dark hair and deep eyes in it. Her expression was serious and confident and Sasuke idly noticed how beautifully she was depicted. She was surrounded by a mass of blue, white and teal lights that sparkled like a pile of diamonds.

"This is Hinata's self-portrait." Naruto told him, his tone matter-of-fact. When Sasuke turned and raised an eyebrow at him, Naruto answered the obvious question. "The girl at the admissions table." He explained. "That's my friend Hinata."

"Is she conceited?" Sasuke asked, noticing that the similarities toward the girl at the admissions table and the girl in the painting – while quite obvious – were not exactly truthful. The aura of the girl in the painting was nothing like the girl he had seen. The difference in beauty was rather blatant.

Naruto scoffed at him and rolled his eyes. "No," He said curtly, crossing his arms over his white button down shirt. "This is how Hinata wishes she were. Which is why it's titled 'Wish' in case you didn't notice. Hinata's really shy, so she wants more confidence in herself."

Sasuke merely nodded. He wasn't sure why Naruto felt he needed to tell the girls entire back story, but it would take too much effort to point that out.

"So...Sasuke?" Naruto seemed to hesitate as he said Sasuke's name. Sasuke arched an eyebrow at the familiarity. Naruto was the only person he had ever met who had the audacity to address him so informally. Especially considering the only semblance of a relationship they held was Naruto delivering his coffee. "Are you busy on Saturday?"

"Excuse me?" Sasuke deadpanned. He wasn't exactly sure where Naruto meant to go with that question.

"Saturday." Naruto said slowly. "Are you busy? Cause if you're not, I was wondering if maybe you wanted to catch a movie or something."

Both of Sasuke's eyebrows were raised now. He watched a tinge of red color Naruto's cheeks as he realized the implications of what he'd said. "Not like a date or anything." He quickly corrected, waving his arms around as if to make his point. "Just like, you know, hanging out."

Sasuke thought about it for a moment. He wasn't sure why Naruto was suddenly showing such interest in him, or what it meant. He didn't know Naruto in the slightest, and the blonde seemed to be rather loud and annoying.

Sasuke opened his mouth to politely decline the invitation, but what came out was not the words he had ordered his brain to deliver. "Whatever."

Naruto beamed at him. "Right," He said, scratching the back of his head again. Sasuke wondered if that was a nervous tick of his. "Well, come by Nine-Tails at five. I'll meet you there."

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, before turning on his heel and walking out of the brightly lit hall. His chest suddenly felt tight, and the room had begun to feel suffocating in all of it's vastness. Naruto being in his personal space only seemed to increase the rate of his frantic heartbeat. His breath was coming in quick bursts as he stumbled out into the cold December air, his stomach flipping over nauseously.

Sasuke wanted to groan, but he was pretty sure he would throw up.

He fished an orange bottle of pills out of the messenger bag that was slung over his shoulder and popped the top off. He tossed one into his mouth and swallowed it dry.

He hated panic attacks.

When Sasuke returned to his apartment, it was well after six o' clock in the evening. He turned the lights on and watched as his apartment brightened instantly.

The walls of his apartment were a light shade of gray, the kitchen had a standard black and white checkered scheme and his living room was well furnished with a black couch and matching love seats.

He sunk down into his couch and closed his eyes for a second, breathing steadily. His panic attack had calmed enough for him to have a coherent grasp on his thoughts – finally.

He snapped his eyes open and reached into his bag, pulling out his laptop. He sat it down on the glass coffee table in front of him and waited impatiently as it booted up. He opened the word document that contained his novel - pausing shortly to open Windows Media and set one of his favored play lists on repeat – before he started typing frantically.

He didn't stop until around four in the morning, exhaustion finally winning out over determination.

He cleared about fifty thousand words that night.

A/N - And that's the first chapter. I'd love to hear what you think! And just to let you all know, there will be no evil plots of doom or epic battles in this fic. It's purely about relationships and how much they can effect people! Woohoo! Hope you enjoyed!