Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, no matter how much I may want to.

Reincarnation is a funny thing. Why are some people reincarnated, while others are not? Who makes the decision on whether you get to be reborn? Is it the same person who decides whether you go to Heaven or Hell? Or is it some other force entirely?

When one is deemed worthy of being reincarnated, one of two things can happen. First, you can just be born again, keeping all memories, abilities, and feelings from when you were first alive. Or you can completely start anew, with no memory of your past life.

After her death, Inoue Orihime is given a second chance. Born renew, with no powers or memories of her previous adventures, she has the opportunity to live a normal, happy life. However, just because she doesn't remember her past, doesn't mean the memories have been erased. They lay dormant within her, buried deep in her heart. Certain events will bring them back to life, such as people from the past that have also been reborn.

Along with Soul Society, there is another realm parallel to Earth. If Soul Society is Heaven, then this world is surely Hell. Just as the Shinigami work to defeat the Hollows, the members of Zetsumei work to create them. Deep within this realm lies a secret; one that will change Orihime's life forever.

This is where our story begins; one hundred years after the young girl's death in the year 2010. And remember: things aren't always as they seem.

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The monster came flying towards them, faster and fiercer than it had been just a moment ago. The thing refused to stay down; no matter how many times it was hit, it just sprung back. Swords, arrows, energy blasts…none of them had any effect.

There were four of them fighting the creature. In the lead was a boy with bright orange hair. He wielded a giant sword, as long as he was tall; he referred to it as Zangetsu. Directly behind him stood two more boys; one was large and had an unusual arm with enormous power, and the other was skinny, with glasses and a large bow made entirely of spiritual energy. And behind all the others was a girl, with long red hair and beautiful hair clips in the form of blue snowflakes. Although there were no visible signs of her power, hidden inside the clips were six fairy-like creatures with strength of their own.

To the girl, it seemed as if she was always in the back, watching everyone from behind. She had been protected numerous times, and although she had been blessed with a unique power, she could never seem to do anything but get in the way. In battle, she was the one they sent away first when things got bad; when someone needed to stay behind to look after others that happened to be nearby, she was always the one they asked. Always from the sidelines, she watched as her friends fought, and protected.

She could attack. She could defend. She could heal. So why was she so useless? The answer was simple: she lacked the will to fight. Yes, if her friends or loved ones were in danger, she would certainly do everything in her power to protect them. But when it all came down to it, she didn't have the fighting instinct needed to fight to her full potential. She hated to see anyone in pain, including her enemies; thus, when in battle, she couldn't bring herself to attack with her full power.

The creature in front of her was different. The others referred to it as a Hollow; a soul that had either been devoured or turned evil by its own anger or greed. With the right equipment, one can cleanse the Hollow of all evil energy and purify its soul. However, the only one capable of doing so was the orange-haired teen; so, once again, she was useless.

This particular Hollow was stronger than most. Even when hit by the magical sword, the Zanpakuto, it refused to leave the world of the living and rest in peace. The other two had joined in the fight, sending attacks of their own at the monster, but none seemed to have any effect. The Hollow had a large shell on its back that matched the while mask it had over its face, and used it to deflect oncoming attacks. It also had spikes on the shell, and after repelling their attacks yet again, it sent them flying in all different directions, most of them headed for those who were attacking it.

The girl saw her chance to help. "Hinagiku, Baigon, Lily!" she yelled, the three fairies whose names she called appearing from her clips. "Santen Ketsuhun! I reject!" As she said the kotodama, a large triangular shield appeared in front of the oncoming spikes. They hit and bounced off, clattering harmlessly to the ground.

"Thanks, Inoue!" The orange-haired boy said, turning and giving her a smile. She blushes slightly and shifted her gaze to the ground. "N-no problem," she stuttered. The boy, slightly confused at her embarrassment, turned to resume the fight.

But the Hollow was gone.

Suddenly, a scream pierced through the night, followed by blood spurting into the air. Everyone turned, and saw the girl lying on the ground, the Hollow standing right behind her.

Orihime awoke with a start, breathing heavily. Her violet blankets were wrapped tightly around her, a sign that she had been tossing and turning greatly in her sleep. She sat up in her bed, beads of sweat rolling down her cheek. Her fingers felt numb; she looked down to see that she was unconsciously gripping her comforter so hard that she had cut off the circulation to them. She released the blanket from her death grip, and sighed as she pushed a stray strand of hair from her face.

She had had the dream again.

The terrifying vision had disturbed her dreams for as long as she could remember. It was always the same: the same people; the same attacks; the same monster; the same feelings of despair and weakness. Every time, there would be the image of her lying on the ground, surrounded by blood. And every time, the dream would end at that same spot, leaving her to wonder what happened next.

But she knew. Every time, the dream ended with her death.

Even though she never actually saw herself die, she just knew that was the outcome of the dream; which was why it scared her half to death each time she saw it. What's more, the contents of the dream beforehand were just plain weird. People with strange powers, the weird fairy things she could control…even the 'Hollow,' as the others in her dream called it, was strange. The white mask it wore spooked her to no end.

She didn't even know the people she fought with, though they obviously knew her, from the way the orange-headed boy had addressed her. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen them from somewhere; though she wasn't sure she wanted to know them. She had used her own strange powers to protect them; but while doing so, the Hollow had been able to sneak up on her, without anyone noticing it. But how? There were three others there besides herself; surely one of them would have seen it. The sad truth was that none of them had been paying her enough attention to notice that it was right behind her, ready to strike.

And so, she had died.

Orihime shook her head vigorously. "What am I thinking?" she said aloud, glancing across the room to the clock on the wall; it read 6:38. "It's only a dream; it's not like it means anything." She left the warmth of her bed and stepped onto the cold wooden floor, heading for the bathroom. She splashed cold water from the sink on her face, ridding her mind of all thoughts of sleepiness. Grabbing a purple towel off of the shelf above the toilet, she began to dry her face. When she removed the fluffy cloth and hung it up on the towel rack, she saw dark circles underneath her eyes; the dream had obviously kept her from sleeping well.

She sighed and headed back to her room. The bus came to pick her up around 7:15, so she had to get ready. She quickly slipped into her school uniform, which consisted of a white shirt and a grey skirt. Once dressed, she set herself down in front of her mirror and began applying eyeliner so as to hide the ever-darkening circles under them; they were the reason she had bought make-up in the first place. It seemed that every time she had the dream, she would need it.

"Orihime? Are you up?" Her brother, Sora, called from downstairs. He was her only family. Their parents had died when she was three, so, being eighteen at the time, he decided to take care of her. They were always there for each other, and hardly ever fought. It was he who had given her the blue hairpins; it was odd how they showed up in her dream, and stranger still that they held some weird power. However, in real life, they were just regular clips that she used to keep her hair out of her face.

"Coming!" she called, and after taking one last look in the mirror, she ran downstairs to join her brother for breakfast. As she came bounding down the steps, her overly-large breasts bounced up and down in rhythm to her feet. It really was no wonder that she was one of the more popular girls in school; the guys were always swooning over her. To them, she was as close to a goddess as they were going to get. And, being the ditz that she was, she rarely even noticed when the guys were hitting on her.

"Good morning, Orihime,"Sora said, smiling. After his sister was settled and happily munching on her rice, he asked, "Did you sleep well?" Over the years, he began to notice that when she wore excessive make-up around her eyes, she hadn't slept well the night before. Of course, the fact that she was constantly yawning was an obvious sign.

"I slept ok," she answered, setting down her rice bowl to have a sip of tea. Glancing over the cup, she could tell that her brother didn't believe her; it was written all over his face. "Did you have that dream again?" he asked quietly when she had set the cup down. Since she had been having the dream since she was very young, she had told him about it whenever it had occurred. Lately, however, she had decided that she didn't want to worry him, and had tried to keep it to herself. But her brother knew her so well that it was no use trying to hide it. She nodded.

"You've been having it a lot lately,"Sora noted. It was true; the dream had been occurring more frequently as of late. When she was younger, it seemed to happen only a few times a year. Now, however, it had become a few times a month; sometimes as often as twice a week. She had even gone to see the counselor at school a couple of years back, but, after seeing how happy and carefree Orihime was, the woman decided that it was nothing to worry about.

Orihime glanced at the clock, which now read 7:09, and gasped. The morning had gone by much faster than she had thought. "I'm late!" she cried, dashing back up to her room to grab her pack. After stuffing her homework from the night before inside, she proceeded to the door and slipped her shoes on. "Bye, Nii-san!" she called behind her as she rushed out the door. As she was walking out, she tripped and tumbled down the steps outside. She sighed. It was going to be a long day.

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Orihime sat at her desk, massaging her knee, which had a small gash in it. On the way to the bus stop, she fell two more times, and had also tripped while exiting the vehicle. Her knee had landed on a rock, which was the reason for the trail of blood that was now running down her leg.

She felt a bandage being pushed over the wound, and winced at the sudden pressure. She looked up to see a black-haired girl leaning over her, applying first-aid to her knee. She smiled. "Thanks, Tatsuki-chan."

The girl sighed. "Really, Orihime," she said as she finished applying the bandage. "You should be more careful. It's amazing you haven't broken any bones with the way you're always falling down and running into things." She stood up from where she had been leaning and stretched. Ever since Orihime had first met the tomboyish girl, she had been attracted to her. It wasn't that she was in love with her or anything like that; it was just that she had a strange feeling that they were meant to meet. It wasn't until she had saved Orihime from drowning in the river when she was eight that they actually became friends.

The bell rang, signaling the start of the school day. Their teacher walked in, and began taking roll. Orihime yawned, tired from the lack of decent sleep the night before, already wishing for the day to end. She was just about to space out and enter her own little world when the teacher said, "We have two new students joining us today. They're both from different schools, but happened to transfer at the same titme. I would like to introduce Kurosaki Ichigo-san and Ishida Uryuu-san." As she said this, the two students entered the classroom; one had bright orange hair, while the other had glasses that he kept constantly adjusting. Orihime gasped.

They were the two from her dream.

Author's notes:

In the statement, 'If Soul Society is Heaven, then this world is surely Hell,' I was only speaking figuratively. I realize that Soul Society is not really Heaven, but it is similar in the way that it is where the good souls go when they die. I was only comparing the two; please note that Zetsumei isn't really Hell, only a place that is similar to it.

Welcome to chapter one of Hidden Memories. I hope you all enjoyed it. This is just an idea that came to me while I was trying to get to sleep at night, and I'm not really sure what people will think of it. Please review, if only to tell me whether or not I should continue it. Also, I don't think that Chad will be in it much. He was reincarnated like the others, but lived in Mexico with his grandfather. He will appear in flashbacks from time to time, but won't be a main character. Thank you all for reading.