(Waves happily as she takes a sip of her delicious tea.) Hello and welcome to my new story Ghost Eyes.(grins unabashedly) Yes, I know there are plenty of Naruto characters somehow see ghost stories out there, but, BUUUUT, there almost always about Naruto or female Naruto. I wanted to try something different and so I snagged Sakura and forced her to see dead people. (cackles insanely as she rubs her hands together.) I give wonderful thanks to my dearly beloved friend Writer168 who endured my countless questions and nagging texts until she finally shoved this in my face with her stamp of approval. (showers her in love.)

"We are all broken, that's how the light gets in."-Ernest Hemingway

It's quiet in the village of Konoha and everyone minus a few(someone had to have night shift guard duty.) had long since decided to sleep once the moon had made an appearance in the sky. A calm soothing night one that hadn't been allowed for a long while due to war and death, but now the citizens and shinobi could rest well knowing that the Yondaime Hokage was watching over them.

Small wails echoed from the room at the end of the hall.

The room itself was a pastel pink and the floors were covered in dark pink shaggy carpets. The window was open allowing a cool breeze to blow in ruffling the sparkle pink curtains and causing the ivory rocking chair near it to move a bit. In one corner of the room held the changing tables with diapers and exotic baby powder galore while in the other corner of the room held the closet with baby clothes plenty that some would find their way into donations because the baby would outgrow it before even trying it on. In its center was a crib carved from the wood of a Sakura tree far down in Tea Country, a dark reddish-brown color which was smooth and sturdy enough to keep the baby it held safe and sound. (the seals at the bottom saw to that.)

And the wails continued louder and harsher than before.

When four minutes trickled by and the wails had yet to stop, someone started to walk down the hallway. He peered through the first door he passed and saw two grown figures slumped against the bed and floor, bags heavy underneath their eyes and exhaustion swept on their skin.

First-time parents.

He supposes he could allow them to rest for a bit. He remembers what his parents had been like two once upon a time with his little brothers. As he finished his path towards the source of the small wails, he slipped into the room and passed the flower night-light plugged into the wall.

He cast no shadow.

"What's the matter?" he questions softly from his usual stern voice. "Shh, your kaa-san and tou-san are trying to catch up on their sleep. But you remember me, don't you? When I sang you to sleep a few days ago during the thunderstorm?" The baby quieted down to slight hiccups, still looking fussy as she squirmed in her pink onesie. Her bright green eyes were big and bold as the tear tracks unforgiving clung to her rosy cheeks. He stretched a hand into the crib and tried to smooth out her tuft of light pink hair that was the color of peonies, his pale fingers only brushing through her head. He gave out heavy sigh, it was worth a try.

But her cries did end up stopping as she gazed up at him in silent wonder. At his white-shaggy hair, his leaf headband plate, and at his pale white skin which was nearly translucent. She reached up and made small grabby hands at him. "It still amazes me that you can see something like me, Sakura-chan," he murmured. He saw her being carried around the village once when her mother decided to stock up on groceries, the little baby against her chest as the girl's eyes peeked over her shoulder. She was cute(he had a weakness for cute things though he'll deny it.) and he decided to wave, knowing she wouldn't wave back because the world of the living didn't see people like him anymore unless they were the Yamanaka priestess, her trainees, and a Nara on occasions.

But her green eyes the color bright jade glimmered curiously and she extended her hand back to him, fingers curling and uncurling in his direction. He looked behind him and all around, no one was there.

She could see him.

"Do you know how long I've been here?" He continues lightly ignoring the pain that came with the question. He tried to turn the mobile hanging over her crib but his fingers merely went through them like always. "Do you know all the other people like me I've met? There's never been a you before, and you have to be careful."

HIs eyes flickered up to the door. He'd have to put her to sleep soon before her parents roused and start to wonder why their baby stopped crying and why their baby was staring at a spot on the ceiling. So he did what he remembered his mother had done and sung a gentle tune to lull her back to sleep.

'Hush little baby, don't say a word. You have to keep your secret safe, not heard.'

Sakura blinked up at him, her eyelids drooping as she sucked her pacifier.

'You're the only one who can see us ghosts, you have to keep in mind who you trust the most.'

He glanced out onto the streets and saw the dead that still walked where no one could see them.

'Not everyone will come and sing like me, sometimes they'll try to tell you who you ought to be.'

He leaned against the crib and smiled down at her. She'd have to grow up listening to things other people couldn't hear and see people that should have been long put to the grave. He didn't want her to grow up alone with the consequences of the gift she was given, and he had every intention to help her through. He leaned more into the crib and smiled at the little girl. She will grow up listening to the dead her whole life and live to bear the things she shouldn't and get hurt. This gift she bore had consequences that could end her life.

'One day you'll know what comes best for you.'

The dead held no secrets, nor tried to spare anyone who decided to listen. Once they found out she could see past the grave, they would go to her, spouting what they knew and giving her more knowledge she would wish she hadn't known. He frowned deeply at her, concern flickering in his deep crimson eyes. Poor, poor Haruno Sakura. She was only a child.

'Or you'll end up dead, as I did too.'

Author Question: What goes would you like to see next?