Title: Art photograph

Author: Tuliharja

Summary: Modern AU. Tobirama comes for a visit to Izuna while he has a vacation from his studies and work just to notice Izuna is all blue from his photograph assignment. Being the nice guy Tobirama is he decides to help Izuna by giving him an idea to finish the assignment, yet he never guessed Izuna could be so 'sentimental'. "Stupid Uchiha…I should sue you." One-shot.

Disclaimer: NARUTO belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I'm merely writing fan fiction about it.

Author's note: Thank you StepTaichou for betaing this.

-Art photograph-

Rubbing his face, Izuna lets out a loud sigh as he gazes around his messy table. The table is filled with tons of papers full of messy sketches and plans for his next assignment, as well as several paper coffee cups, a telltale sign that Izuna hasn't slept ever since he received the assignment. His fingernails are already bitten short, his silky hair is now a messy mop upon his head and he might have put on a tad too much of his brother's deodorant (which doesn't have a particularly pleasant smell) to hide the fact he hasn't taken bath for a week. Like a real wanna-be artist, Izuna hasn't washed his oversized clothes, his sweater being couple of numbers too big and his jeans baggy. Yes, Izuna looks like a real outcast in Tobirama's mind, what with the white-haired male being dressed up in a fine business suit. The young Senju had finally earned some free time from his university studies and his part time job at his father's law firm, so he had decided to come and see his 'friend'.

Tobirama and Izuna aren't exactly friends, but it wasn't like they have much choice but to interact with each other because their big brothers were best friends. Even today Tobirama can't fathom how Hashirama become Madara's friend and vice versa. The two are practically like day and night. But aside from that, along with the two big brother's friendship and meetings between their families Tobirama got to know Izuna. After all, despite their differences and such, they somehow clicked together in a way that usually resulted in bruised egos and nasty words.

Shaking his head, Tobirama carefully lifts one of the coffee paper mugs and throws it into the trashcan. One by one he throws each and every paper mug away, before he takes all the papers and puts them in order before dumping them on the top of the table, occasionally moving the stack as he wipes the surface clean. After that he finally turns to his "friend", giving him a harsh pinch.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" Izuna howls, waking up from his frozen slumber as Tobirama gives him a pointed look that only makes Izuna more irritated. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"So much your table was starting to live its own life," Tobirama answers sarcastically as he sits down in a somewhat sluggish manner, unconsciously adjusting his tie. If there was one thing involved in serious business that Tobirama did despise it was ties: they felt like a hanging rope around his neck that would more than likely kill him one day.

"Well gee, thank you for rescuing me from it then," Izuna mutters with heavy sarcasm to Tobirama who gives him a narrowed look.

"So, what is it this time?"

"Why do you make it sound like I have some sort of catastrophic crisis each time you come over here?" Izuna bites back, narrowing his eyes at the white haired Senju who closes his before searching his pockets.

"Because, it's you," comes the reply as there is a flash of silver before a small clicking noise can be heard in Izuna's studio.

"Eww!" Izuna says as he quickly jerks back in his chair before getting up and walking to the nearest window to open it. "You still smoke?"

"Says the one who used to smoke weed," Tobirama points out as he takes a drag from his cigarette and blows a ring of smoke toward Izuna.

"I was in a really emotional sta-…" Izuna starts but he gets cut off when Tobirama continued his sentence: "And your own brother smokes too."

"But that's-…"

"Besides, there has been a study about smoking that concluded that it helps you relax and can get your creative thinking better," Tobirama states his final point as Izuna sits down in a defeated manner.

"No wonder you chose law, you're just a real wrecking ball when someone tries to say something against you…" the black-haired Uchiha mutters as he leans against his hands while Tobirama allows a small smirk to show upon his lips.

"Touché," Tobirama agrees with a drag of his cigarette before he blows the smoke this time away from Izuna. "So, tell me what is bothering you."

"Just let me crawl into a black corner and die there," Izuna mutters as he buries his face into his arms, not looking at Tobirama before he carries on in a muffled tone. "I've got a shitty assignment that I need to return tomorrow."

"And you haven't done even a thing to finish it, have you?" Tobirama makes his guess, Izuna letting out a humourless laugh.

Now standing, Tobirama goes over to the sink as Izuna's small photo studio has a small kitchen attached to it. The white-haired Senju can still remember Izuna's look when he first saw this place, his face being filled with excitement. Snorting, the Senju takes a glass of water before drowning his cigarette in it. He then turns toward Izuna, looking him coolly until Izuna relocated his gaze up. Only then does Tobirama remove the wet cigarette from the glass and throw it into the trashcan before tossing the leftover water into the sink and placing the glass on the draining board which is filled of different cups, plates and bowls that both smell and look awful. Gazing around the studio Tobirama can see Izuna's various works on the walls, lights scattered on the floor along with other various things he needs for his photography. All in all, the place is a mess, it being clearer than ever that Izuna is a really messy person.

Letting out a soft 'tch', Tobirama crosses his arms front of himself while eyeing Izuna.

"I've got to present an art photograph that will be black-and-white and print it onto an A1 canvas size," Izuna tells Tobirama who merely raises his eyebrow to this. Letting out a grunt, Izuna throws his hands in the air.

"It's not that simple!" The Uchiha states as he looks seriously at Tobirama. "There's got to be a message behind the photograph and it has to look like something…something amazing! Otherwise I can say goodbye to my photography degree."

"Is taking one picture such a big deal?" Tobirama asks, a bit taken aback. Taking photographs doesn't seem like such a big deal to him, but then again, he never has quite been an artistic person.

"It's! One photograph is worth a thousand words," Izuna says back as he finally stands up, starting to pace nervously. "I've tried to photograph stuff from plants to animals, from animals to humans, from humans to stuff, from stuff-…"

"Stuff?" Tobirama cuts off Izuna's rant who gives him a look before the Uchiha carries on.

"Yes, stuff! But that's beside the point! Nothing has worked and everything looks like garbage! If I want to get an A plus from the course it has to be something… something that won't open its meaning to the viewer right away when they first look at it," he explains now in a trembling tone. He stops, looking at Tobirama in an almost desperate manner as he approached him. "And if I don't take that photo and return it tomorrow at eight a.m sharp, I'll fail the course which pretty much covers half of the studies."

Tilting his head Tobirama gazes at the side of the room before closing his eyes and letting a silent sigh escape his lips. For a while they stayed like this, Tobirama against the kitchen sink and Izuna studying Tobirama's every movement carefully, almost scared that he will disappear if he looks away. Finally, Tobirama opens his eyes and looks at Izuna.

"Just photograph something important to you," Tobirama answers as Izuna looks him dully before a light appears in his eyes.

Spinning around, Izuna strolls up to his worn-out bag and takes out a worn out camera. He then looks at Tobirama with almost childish glee, Tobirama already regretting his words. The next thing the Uchiha does is pull him outside along with him, before they start walking towards their old elementary school. The school seems at the moment almost eerie as there isn't anyone there because of the temporary vacation all children have this week. Pulling Tobirama behind himself Izuna stops in front of a fairly scuffed swing that is hanging from the only tree at the school's yard. With a soft smile, Izuna gazes at Tobirama who snorts.

"I didn't know you were so sentimental," Tobirama points out as Izuna huffs at his comment before taking a photograph of the swing, it coincidentally being the very same swing where Tobirama sat all those years ago when Izuna first met him.

"I'm not!" he claims, rolling his eyes. The rest of the afternoon followed the same pattern of Izuna photographing the swing from different angles. Just as Tobirama is about to doze off, Izuna decides that he has taken enough pictures ('Yeah, no kidding," Tobirama thinks sarcastically) before the two males headed back to Izuna's studio. In there Izuna creates the photographs, choosing the best of the best before scanning the best one and to printing it onto the canvas. After he is done it's already late, or 'tomorrow' as a more sophisticated person would say, as the process took the whole night. The dark-haired male turns to Tobirama to thank him for helping him just to notice the white-haired male is already sleep on his worn-out couch.

Giggling to this, Izuna resists the urge to draw on Tobirama's face with permanent ink, instead taking a quick shower before changing his clothes to ones that don't smell repulsive and make passersby want to puke. Izuna then proceeds to pack up his things before heading to the university. Not wanting to be inconsiderate, he takes a moment to write a message on a pink-bunny sticker note for Tobirama who finds it after he wakes up. On the note it reads in Izuna's messy hand-writing: "Thank you for the help! Remember to clean the studio while I'm out! Love, Izuna."

Eyebrow twitching, Tobirama tosses the note away yet he eventually ends up cleaning Izuna's studio as he knows the Uchiha won't do it and if he didn't, the next time he visits Izuna's studio might indeed eat him. After finishing with all the cleaning Tobirama leaves the studio, not leaving a note in return because there is no way he will write anything on pink-bunny notes and Izuna seemingly doesn't have any other sticky notes.

A few weeks later Tobirama gets an envelope at his workplace that is addressed to himself. In it is an article about Izuna and his "marvellous" photograph that is now in an exhibition as it was, in the professor's words, "quite something". Eyebrow yet again twitching, Tobirama tosses the article away as in the photograph Izuna took is himself in the swing, when at one point he just got tired of standing. He still remembers how he told Izuna to remove that photograph as Tobirama never has been fond of people photographing him. Plus, the way Izuna named the photograph made Tobirama want to burn it as he simply named it "Still same old grumpy".

"Stupid Uchiha…I should sue you," Tobirama mutters, glaring at the article before he takes it back from the floor, just to place it in an empty photo frame on top of his desk.

OWARI.