I'm sorry this always takes so long... But thanks for all the reviews!

Enjoy

Four

Her steps were surer now, steady, used to the weight of the braces and only faltering when the they pinched unexpectedly. She stood straighter and smiled more, meeting people's eyes with pride.

Ume.. His Ume was back.

Kakashi smiled under his mask as she swung herself carefully onto a barstool next to Naruto and Lee.

"G'Morning, boys."

Naruto grinned back ("Morning, Ume-sempai") and Lee gave an enthusiastic salute. "Good Morning, Nagasaki-sempai!"

Ume waved Lee off. "You don't have to call me by my last name, Lee. Ume is just fine."

"But you are one of my idols!" Lee clenched his hands in front of his face and gazed at her. "You are so resilient and so strong! And Gai-sensei says you can even get the best of him in fair one-on-one taijutsu battle!"

Ume shrugged. "I've gotten him once or twice, but that was before I picked a fight with a boulder and lost. I don't think I could take an academy student right now."

Naruto looked past her and regarded his sensei. "Kakashi-sensei, when are we going to start training again?"

"Soon, Ume's going to be joining us."

Naruto brightened immediately and Lee began to gush about how lucky Naruto was.

Ume shook her head. "We'll see how long I last anyways. Haven't done anything but strength training and rehab in months." Ume smiled and reached over Naruto to pat Lee on the back. "Besides I have it on good authority that when I've built up my strength and endurance, you are my next challenge."

Lee's grew large and he smiled brightly. "Really?"

"Yep. Naruto's shadow clones are going to get me back in shape then I'm going to need your speed to build up my own speed."

Lee jumped off his barstool and cheered.

Ume put her head down, huffing roughly.

"You did well for your first day of training in four months." Kakashi passed her a bottle of water and held out a small white pill.

Ume took the water and waved away the pill. "Don't want it."

Kakashi sighed and pulled an orange bottle from his pocket. "Take one with water when needed..."

"Don't need it."

"...Or after strenuous exercise." He passed her the pill again. "Take it or I make you take it."

Ume groused, glowering at him. "They screw with my head. I ain't takin' it."

Kakashi sighed and crouched in front of her. "Remember that conversation about me taking care of you."

She sent him a cheeky grin. "Already have a dad, Kashi... don't need another one, or more pain pills."

"Your dad is a jackass, so it's up to me to make sure you take the pills that Lady Tsunade, your Hokage ordered you to take." He grabbed her hand and forced the pill into her palm. "Take it. or else."

Ume huffed. "Fine, but I'm waking you up when the nightmares wake me up."

Kakashi nodded and sat next to her. "I wake up anyways."

Ume leaned against his shoulder and fiddled with her elbow brace. "Sorry."

Kakashi chuckled. "Nothing to worry about."

"They feel so real."

Kakashi lay back and folded his hands under his head, knowing that if she wanted to elaborate she would.

"I can feel the rock moving on me... but not rolling... it's wriggling... or... well I don't know what else." She smiled lightly, but her eyes were wide and confused. "I can hear someone cackling... calling me Weasel-chan but I open my eyes and everyone is dead."

She shrugged, turned towards him, and, catching his expression, frowned. "What's wrong?"

He forced himself to shrug, forced himself to look nonchalant as he ran a hand over her shoulder. "That sounds...odd."

She shrugged and smiled. "I've had weirder."

Shit. "Recently?" He studied her face as she shook her head.

"Naw... I've been dreaming the same thing for like three months or something..."

"Three months?"

She looked hard at him. "Yeah. What of it?"

"Just a long time." Kakashi shrugged again. "Long time not to say anything."

"Why bother you with it? I already wake you up to often."

Here we go again. "You have to let me take care of you." Kakashi rubbed a hand over his face and geared up for the fight to come. Ume hated these conversations.

"Why? I'm tired of being an invalid." Ume shuffled a little bit, trying to get comfortable. She fidgeted, loosening her knee brace and Kakashi sighed.

"You're not an invalid, you were never an invalid."

She cast a look at him, then loosened her arm brace, sitting up and tucking her arm against her side.

"You just finished a four hour training session. I'm pretty sure that makes you not an invalid."

"With a bunch of genins... real impressive."

"Neither Sakura or Naruto are normal genins and you more than held your own."

Ume smiled. "Sakura's a bright one surely and Naruto has always impressed me. He works so hard, one day, that's going to pay off."

Kakashi nodded. "You've been off your feet for four months, but you were still running circles around Naruto."

Ume chuckled. "He's easy to read, once he started working through his moves like he did during the Chuunin exams, he was hard to keep up with. He's gonna be formidable when he starts taking things seriously." She smiled down at him. "I'd like to be there to see that."

"It'd surely be a sight."

Kakashi fought down the urge to run to the Hokage's office. "I have to run a couple errands, I'll bring back dinner."

Ume looked up and arched a suspicious eyebrow. She shrugged and lifted her left leg by the knee, using Bull's massive back as elevation. She glanced at him again and began to undo her knee brace. "What you getting?"

"Tempura?"

She nodded and looked briefly suspicious, before turning to undo her elbow brace. Pakkun passed her the linen wraps she wore at night. He made a face.

Ume laughed and ruffled the dog's head, ignoring the dog's mumbles. "Can you pick me up some wraps? These are starting to stink."

He pulled his mask down and kissed her deeply. "Can do."

He left the apartment and attempted to be calm. The minute the door closed behind him, he paused and listened to Ume argue with Pakkun through the door. He wiped a hand over his face and flashed to the Hokage's office.

"She remembers."

Tsunade glanced up from the medical text on her desk. "Who remembers what?"

"Ume's been having dreams about the Orochimaru incident for three months." Kakashi sat heavily down in a chair in front of Tsunade's desk. "She said she could remember someone call her Weasel-chan and looking around and seeing everyone around her dead."

"Dreams or hallucinations?" Tsunade regarded him calmly.

"Dreams."

"Dreams are normal, especially on the pain medications she's been on, genjutsu can't repress everything, it can only repress the conscious thought process and mask the memory. She starts to hallucinate or consciously question the version of events we told her, you tell me.

Kakashi sighed. "There's nothing you can do?"

Tsunade sighed and favored Kakashi with a compassionate look. "This wasn't supposed to be forever, Kakashi, it was only to be long enough for her to heal physically. I can prescribe a weaker pain med, she's due for a dosage reduction anyways."

"Okay." Kakashi stood. "I guess that'll work for now."

"When she comes in for her assessment, we'll talk about the pain killers."

Kakashi nodded.

Kakashi set the bags down lightly on the counter in the kitchen and smiled. Ume was sleeping, Pakkun curled up on her stomach, one of Ume's hands resting lightly on Bull's muscled back. First Bull lifted his heavy head, then Pakkun uncurled himself from Ume's lap.

"We kept your woman safe for you, boss." Pakkun jumped down from the couch and padded over to him.

"Thanks."

"Kashi?"

"Got the tempura... you hungry?"