Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I do not profit from this.

A/N: SasuSaku. This is naturally a little darker than the other romances. MAJOR spoilers for Sasuke and Itachi in the Shippuuden manga. Do not read if you aren't up to date in the manga. You have been warned.

Shuttered Windows

Frogs croaked as they jumped along the bank of the lake. The pink-haired girl dipped a hand into the smooth water. Not far away, a fish darted up, nibbling on something that had landed in the water, sending ripples through the water.

“Sakura,” someone said from behind her. She turned around, causing a straying lock of hair to slip over her eyes. Sasuke reached out and pulled it back. Sakura’s stomach fluttered in ways it hadn’t since he had rejected her years ago at the intimate touch. It was almost loving… “You look terrible.” Well, maybe not so loving.

She grumbled, “Do I have to fix myself up every day?”

Sasuke sat down on the dock with her, eyeing her outfit critically. “I don’t think throwing on a kimono and putting your hair up in a messy formal bun qualifies as everyday wear, especially here.”

He cast an eye on the deserted house full of traumatic memories. Sakura protested, “And why did you come here?” A small wooden box like a coffin rested in his hands.

“Respect for the dead,” he answered icily, holding the box close to his chest. “This is a strange place for you to be.”

Sakura stood up quickly. She patted the sides of her kimono nervously. “Same here. Respect for the dead. I thought you might not want to be alone this time…” She trailed off. It was up to Sasuke to move on, Naruto had warned her. Even though the village had begun to accept him again and the stigma against the Uchiha clan that resulted in the massacre had been halted, Sasuke was still a ways away from becoming a whole person. He might not want to be disturbed.

Sasuke’s eyes softened and he looked tired and sad. He looked down at the box. “I got his eyes back. That was all I could get.”

Sakura bit her lip. He had broken her heart, yet she couldn’t help but ache with him. She couldn’t imagine what he must have felt after the truth about his brother came out. She didn’t want to know how it felt.

She opened her mouth, hesitant to speak. She asked softly, “Should I go?”

Sasuke shook his head. “It's fine.” He hesitated before admitting, somehow sounding as sullen as ever, "I've had enough of being alone."

Sakura gave a sympathetic smile. “I know,” she replied. Her hand moved up as though to touch his shoulder, but dropped back down. Sasuke nudged his head toward the cemetery. Understanding, she followed after him.

They didn’t go far before they entered a small shrine built near the center of the compound. Sakura inhaled sharply as she looked around. The walls of the shrine had seals with names of the dead on them. Sasuke gave her an unreadable look and removed a small panel from the wall, slipping the small box into the cache inside. He returned the panel and placed a seal over it. He paused to take a deep breath.

“Sasuke-kun?” Sakura inquired cautiously. She froze as he looked back at her with a grateful smile. He bit his thumb and sketched a sign on the paper, along with the name Uchiha Itachi.

“We would remove the eyes of the dead before burying them. Their eyes still hold secrets,” he said, simply for the purpose of talking. “No one can get to them here. This seal is one of the many secrets of the Uchiha clan. When they died, it was my duty to see to it that their eyes were sealed away. And now, I do the same for the man I wanted to kill.”

Sakura hesitated before answering firmly, “It wasn’t your fault. He wanted you to kill him. That’s why he…”

His eyes were forbidding. She had said too much. “He’s still dead.”

He looked back at the seal. “Goodbye, nii-san,” he muttered.

He stood up and turned towards the door near Sakura to leave. Sakura didn’t move. She bit her lip as she fought back an odd feeling of sadness for the former criminal. As he passed her, his footsteps halted. Sakura froze at the sensation of arms wrapping around her and warm lips on the top of her head. “Thank you, Sakura.”

Sakura became aware that she was crying only after the tall dark-haired man’s footsteps faded away.

A/N: The title is really kind of abstract, but I think you get why I called it 'Shuttered Windows.' Anyway, I think this story could kind of be considered a tribute to Itachi, because I still think he's awesome even though he terrified me when he first appeared in the series. Kind of like what Gaara did when he killed the Rain ninjas.

Edit: I'm such a dope. I just caught an error. Sharingan eyes can still be used after their original owner died, as long as they are in mint condition and protected. Oh well, you get the idea. ^^;