Sorry that this took so long...And I know it's not very long...I really didn't feel like people were reading it and so I let myself get distracted by another fanfic... I hope you can forgive me and review... let me know you are reading.

Three

"Are you sure that you're okay with this?" Ume huffed lightly as she hobbled herself into her apartment

Rolling his eyes, Kakahsi closed the door behind him and helped Ume ease herself onto the couch. He took the forearm crutch from her and set it off to the side before turning back to her. "I'm sure and you repeatedly asking me if it's really okay isn't going to make me change my mind." Kakashi strode into the kitchen and started a pot of tea. "Besides it's about damn time. We've been fuckin' for years."

Ume glowered at him. "That is true, but casual fuck-buddies do not good roommates necessarily make."

Kakashi glared at her. "We have never been casual, Ume. Not even when we were kids."

Ume blushed. "Don't be ridiculous-"

Kakashi scoffed and handed over her painkillers and a cup of water. "Casual fuck-buddies do not have ten-year relationships, especially not ten-year mutually exclusive relationships."

Ume went white and Kakashi suspected that it had nothing to do with her injuries. "Can you grab me some crackers? Those painkillers are killing my stomach, ach."

"Ume."

Ume looked up from beneath her eyelashes, but couldn't meet his eyes. He sighed and knelt in front of her, one hand on her good knee and the other pulling his mask down then reaching for her chin. "I spend 95% of my nights here anyways, so what's the difference?"

She shrugged and looked down at the heavy casting around her knee. "It's bad enough that I'm crippled, possibly permanently, I don't want to be a bother-"

"You're not a bother, Ume." Kakashi kissed her lightly and caught the look abject hopelessness cross her face. "You're not. If anything I'm bothering you, invading your space."

"You're giving up your privacy-"

Kakashi chuckled. "Like I said I spend 95% of my time with you and only you. Hell living with you will just make it easier to get in your pants when you're better."

"If-" Kakashi glared at her and stood as the tea kettle and Ume fell quiet. "Kashi... I'm just trying to be reasonable."

Kakashi came back with two cups of tea and sat next to her. "Let me be the reasonable one.." He grinned down at her. "You just be Ume."

Ume scoffed and shook her head. "I won't be able to handle the disappointment Kakashi... the uselessness. If I ever truly recover, a big if... I will never be ANBU again. I will be... I can't be..." She huffed and turned suddenly watery eyes from him. She swiped at her eyes and breathed shakily before turning to him again. "I'm not best for you, Kakashi...You deserve so much more than I am ever going to be able to give you again. I am a crippled ex-ANBU who will most likely be living on my retirement pay for the rest of my life. You are an asset to this village and you don't need to be concerning yourself-"

Kakashi leaned over and kissed her deeply, one of his hands worked her hair out of it's ponytail and removed her hitai-ate, then cupped her jaw as his kiss became a little rougher and he growled into her mouth, demanding that she respond. When she did, he smiled against her mouth and pulled away.

"You forget that you've already come leaps and bounds in your recovery." Kakashi kissed her again lightly. "Even Lady Tsunade didn't think you'd be up and walking after a month and a half."

Ume huffed. "That doesn't mean-"

"Stop trying to run me off."

Kakashi held the door open and let Ume into the Hokage's office ahead of him. Ume smiled shakily and made a bee line for a chair, handing Kakashi her crutch.

Tsunade smiled and stood coming out from behind her desk. "You're looking good Ume, your balance is much better already. How's the pain?"

Ume grunted as she lifted her casted leg up so Kakashi could put an ottoman under her leg. "Arm feels okay, I guess. Knee still throbs, but not nearly as bad."

Tsunade loosened Ume's sling and slid it out from under her arm. "To be expected, I assure you. How often are you taking the pain meds?"

"Once a day at the most." Ume shrugged. "I try not to take them, don't like the way they make me feel, give me nightmares and screw with my stomach."

Kakashi grunted from behind her. "Trying to get her to take them is like pulling teeth."

Tsunade chuckled and palpated around Ume's knuckles. "If you can handle it, there's no reason to take them, but keep in mind that there is also no reason not to take them. So no need to suffer for nothing. How does that feel?"

She shrugged. "Does hurt all that much."

Tsunade nodded and grabbed a pen off the desk and ran it along her toes. "Feel that?" Ume nodded and Tsunade stepped back. "You really are healing rather well, Ume."

Ume nodded impatiently. "So... does that mean I can get the operation... the same one you used on Gai's student?"

"It's an option certainly, but you need to think about this." She spared Kakashi a glance. "Both of you. Ume, the chance that this procedure could end your life is immense, greater than with Lee."

Ume's brow furrowed. "Why?"

She shrugged. "You're older than him for one. Lee's body still heals relatively quickly because he's so young. You're twice his age and you stopped healing that quickly ten...fifteen years ago. On top of that, you're wounds, despite Gaara's destructive power, were much worse than Lee's, it wasn't just broken bones and severe bruising, it was bones over old, barely healed breaks, severe bruising, shredded muscle and completely shattered joints. You have more metal in your left leg than you have bone and there's no telling how that's going to react with the jutsus I would use."

Ume glanced at Kakashi. "So your saying that I shouldn't do it."

Tsunade sighed. "No. I'm saying that you should seriously consider every option, talk it over with Kakashi. You two really should consider settling down anyways, popping out a couple puppies."

Ume blushed. "Are you serious? Do I look like the motherly type? I would end up fuckin' the kid's head up."

"What do you think?"

Kakashi sighed. "No."

"No what?" Ume looked at him, pleading for him to let her do this, to take this risk. "I will not spend my life crippled and useless!"

"No."

Ume cussed and struggled out of her shirt, bearing the long, jagged scars running from shoulder down her arm. "Look at me, Kakashi. I am broken, ugly."

Kakashi struggled to keep calm. "The procedure won't help with the scars, Ume."

"How can you want to keep me like this? What is so appealing about my broken, scarred body, Kakashi?" She blinked back tears. "Why won't you let me heal?"

Kakashi lost his temper. Blowing up, he stomped toward her and towered over her. "You are alive! And that is all that matters! I don't care if I have to push you around in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. You are alive! And I will do whatever it takes to keep you that way for as long as possible." He put a hand to her cheek and ran a thumb over her cheekbone. "You want to risk your life over something that doesn't matter to me, do it but I need you to understand that as long as you are alive, I can bear anything."

Tears were running unchecked down her face now. "What if I can't?"

He kissed her. "I will bear it for you."