Note: Inspired by Faint Pride's Konoha's Broken Feet. Possibly/Probably OOC. A one-shot.

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Naruto.

The sun was as bright as Naruto's smile as he banged on the door of the Haruno residence. It was a regular scene, since Sakura's mother wasn't surprised to see him at the door. She invited him in with a smile, and directed him back toward Sakura's room.

Today was their yearly celebrated "date," July 23.

Naruto opened the door to her room, and paused just to look at her. Her window was open, and a breeze came in from outside, flowing through her hair. She turned toward him, watched him quizzically. A hand unconsciously raised itself to attempt settling her hair, and the two smiled at each other warmly.

"I haven't seen you in a while," she said. "When was the last time you were here? My birthday?"

"I've been training," he answered. "I took a day off to be here."

"Straight from Jaraiya to me? Maybe I shouldn't let you touch me." She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're probably still covered in pervert germs."

"I promise I bathed."

Sakura giggled at the pseudo-serious expression on her companion's face. "Well, in that case," she held her hands out to him.

Naruto came to her, and picked her up, carrying her as if she weighed no more than a doll. He'd be able to do that if she weighed two hundred pounds, but the truth was, she'd lost weight. That wasn't the only change; each time Naruto saw her, something else was different. Every day, she was even farther away from what she used to be.

But he made himself smile, because if he didn't, he knew that he'd cry.

He carried her out of the house, all the way to the park. The first person she saw there was Rock Lee, standing on look-out. He let out a shout, and ran toward them, so enthusiastic she had to smile. "Sakura-san!" He cried.

A monstrous white creature dived between them before Sakura could say hi, and she caught it while it was still in the air, to pet. "Hello Akimaru," she greeted him, hugging the dog close to her.

"Sakura!" Kiba called, a wide grin on his face. "Now that you're here, we can have some fun."

Sakura looked up at Naruto to find him looking back down at her, and both smiled. "Okay!" He said, eyes closed with his trademark grin. Immediately, Akimaru scrambled out of her arms, running as if someone had set fire to his tail. Sakura closed her eyes and held her breath.

One...two...

Sakura squealed as Naruto tossed her up into the air, swinging her in Kiba's direction. Kiba met her in the air, catching her gently, and then spinning around in a way reminescent of Gatsuga as he sent her flying again.

"Sakura-san!" Lee called out, since Kiba's toss had sent her way out of his range--when it was his turn.

Naruto dived to catch her, and tossed her to Lee, laughing all the way.

It was a three-way game of catch that had been Kiba's idea, ever since the incident. When Sakura lost her legs, she'd gone into a deep depression. Tsunade had recommended sunlight, friends and laughter, with maybe some light exercise. And for that, this game seemed to work. Though he was loathe to admit it, Kiba had consulted the Hokage with the idea before trying it. But Sakura knew, since Tsunade had told her.

"You have some good friends," she had said, and Sakura was forced to agree. Nine Chuunins (ten, if she counted herself), a favored Genin and two Jounin, all refusing work one day out of the year, just to keep her company.

They hadn't always been her friends. At first, she was certain that they'd only been humoring Naruto. But after the first time, some came back for the second, and for the third, then most for the fourth. The numbers had never been constant. The meeting was every Sunday, and sometimes they had work.

Lee tossed Sakura, "going long" as Kiba had urged. But Kiba's "long" and Lee's "long" were obviously two very different things, since Sakura went flying much higher than Kiba jumped. Akimaru, who had been transformed into Kiba's lookalike, chased after her, but before he could close the distance, Sakura was snatched out of the air.

"Thank you, Neji," she said, smiling up at him.

He didn't answer. Not that he ever did. But ever the good sport, he tossed her to Kiba, and the once three-man game of catch was now five, including Akimaru. The game further grew when Naruto threw Sakura at Kakashi the instant he made his appearance. Then, when Kiba finally regained control, he purposefully dropped Sakura on Shikamaru's lap.

For their credit, both Kakashi and Shikamaru managed to catch her before she hit the ground, but both acts were risky and earned Naruto and Kiba a scolding from an overzealous Rock Lee.

Shortly after Shikamaru's involvement, Choji joined the game. Eight people now.

Shikamaru was especially conscious now. Every time he tried to doze off, and look at the clouds, he was rewarded by a speeding Sakura aimed for his face. He complained, of course. It had turned into a game of six against two, Choji the only one on Shikamaru's side.

Neji was the one who finally called an end to the game. Sakura was tired. And Shikamaru was dripping with sweat and promising not to come to the next get-together.

Liar.

"About time," Ino said when Neji carried her to sit with the girls--and Shino, who had somehow been excluded from the game. He was, Sakura noticed, not for the first time, good at remaining undetected.

"Sorry," was all she could say--and barely managed that, since she was still gasping giggles.

Ino made a face, but went to get to get a glass. "Here," she said, putting it in Sakura's hand.

Sakura grabbed the straw and took a sip, while she eyed the blue liquid in the glass. Blueberry, she thought. It's good.

"We thought you'd be thirsty after that, so I made Shino here useful." Ino smiled when Sakura choked, involuntarily picturing bugs swimming in her drink. "Have no fear, he only paid."

Shino's reaction was indecipherable, hidden behind the collar of his coat and his shades. But Sakura still felt guilty. Shino had been one of the constant figures in these get-togethers, appearing even when his teammates didn't. She took another sip through the straw, determinedly not shuddering, and watching him until he turned enough to see her. "Sorry," she mouthed, but he shook his head.

Now that their game was over, Shikamaru had resumed his prone position on the grass, watching the clouds. Ino was helping Hinata pick flowers. Kiba and Akimaru were running around, Akimaru once more looking like a dog. Naruto was talking loudly while he and Choji were sharing a bag of potato chips. Kakashi was reading. And Neji...well...Sakura looked at him. He was meditating.

Sakura, on the other hand, was reflecting. She hadn't expected the solid friendship each of them had offered her. She'd thought instead that they would be Naruto's friends, and only tolerate her. But everyone was here.

Except Sasuke.

It hadn't been very long ago that she'd wait on that bench for him to come back. She'd stay until sunup if she had the night off, no matter how often Tsunade told her that she needed a full night's sleep to recharge her chakra properly. The practice easily came to an end however, when she'd stumbled onto Akatsuki. They weren't going to hurt her. There was no reason for it.

But she'd known why they were there. They wanted Naruto.

She'd been overconfident. There was only one Akatsuki, and he didn't look intimidating. He wasn't Itachi. She thought her training with Tsunade would even the odds. She'd been wrong. She hadn't even been able to slow him down. She'd just refused to stay down, until he'd almost killed her.

He would have done it. She'd seen it in his eyes. But Itachi had appeared out of nowhere and stopped him.

"She's not worth the effort," he'd said. "And he's not here."

Did they think that he'd be here? He was never here anymore.

But when she began to hope that they would just leave, Itachi recognized her. "Where is he?" He asked her.

Being this close to death made her fearless. She glared up at him. "Not here."

He decided to be 'kind.' "If you tell me where he is, I can take you to Sasuke."

She smiled, even when she coughed up blood. "He'll kill you."

He caught her chin, angled her head up. She was a fool, to think that her will could match his. "Mangekyou Sharingan."

In the end, the shape Gaara had left Lee in was a cakewalk compared to her. She'd needed to go through several high-risk surgeries, but the surgeries to fix her legs had such a low success rate that it almost didn't seem worth it.

Almost.

Late at night, Sakura would remember what it was like to walk.

"It's getting late, Sakura," Ino said. "I need to get back home. I'll see you later."

"Bye," Sakura waved, half-heartedly.

So the party was breaking up, now.

Sakura looked up at the sky wistfully, imagined that Sasuke was looking up there, too.

"Happy birthday, Sasuke," she murmured.

Far away, in the Hidden Village of Sound, Sasuke sneezed.

Orochimaru looked at him sharply. Ever since Kimimaro had caught ill, he'd been paranoid where his Dream Containers were concerned. Of course, Kimimaro opted to cough up blood instead of just sneeze, but that was besides the point. "What's wrong?" He demanded.

"Nothing," Sasuke answered, "I just sneezed." But when Orochimaru turned his attention away, he looked up at the sky.

"Thank you, Sakura."

Note: I should be working on my Digimon Tamers fanfic right now, but this fanfic demanded to be written. It's not very good, and has almost no structure. I just liked the idea of everybody playing catch with Sakura. There are a few other images to the story that I didn't quite manage to work in...like Ino making a wreath of flowers to bury Shikamaru with, and Neji helping Sakura pick flowers she can't reach (with a long-suffering expression on his face).