A short sequel to 'Remember Me?'

This time, in Ichigo's POV

Again, same stuff applies with Ichiruki. It exists only for plot purposes.

To Remember You

What had he done wrong? Clearly something, as Tatsuki gave him hostile glances whenever he looked at her. And what about Inoue? She seemed to be acting a bit strange too. She would say she was alright, but he got the feeling something was wrong with her too. This was all too much. First Rukia left, and now two of his friends were upset.

Obviously, it didn't take long for even Ishida to give Ichigo weird looks. Frustrated, Ichigo decided he needed to talk to them. With Ishida, it was obvious that he and Ichigo didn't always get along, but for him to be given such steely looks, something was obviously wrong.
He found Ishida after school in the crafts' club. Ichigo walked in and grabbed Ishida by the collar of his shirt. "What the heck is wrong with you!" He said, giving him an annoying, frustrated look.

Ishida brushed off Ichigo's hand. "That is what I should be asking you, Kurosaki. The fact that you were so inconsiderate is what lead to this. How could you not have noticed, when it's plainly obvious that she's liked you for so long, only to have her heart crushed?" He looked at Ichigo with a frown. Ichigo's face turned from frustration to confusion. Who liked him? Surely Ishida wasn't talking about Rukia.

"What are you talking about!" Ichigo said. He was honestly confused. What had he done wrong to warrant such hostility from Tatsuki and Ishida anyway?

Ishida laughed in disbelief. "You can't tell me, that after all this time, you never noticed that Inoue-san has loved you?" Inoue-san...loved...him? He stepped back in shock. No, that couldn't be possible. Inoue had never- "She always has. Back when we went to the Soul Society to save Kuchiki-san, Inoue-san thought of you and your well-being. In Heuco Mundo, when we went to save her, she cried out to you. She's always thought of you, Kurosaki. She's always wanted to be their to protect you. It's not a surprise that Arisawa-san acted the way she did. I just can't believe you never noticed, when everyone else did. Everyone but you. Now if you will leave, I would like to get back to my current project." He dismissed Ichigo's presence and went back to sewing.

Ichigo walked out of the room, his head spinning. Inoue loved him, but he never noticed. No wonder Tatsuki was so angry.

But no matter how Inoue felt, he couldn't change his feelings for Rukia. The next person he had to talk to was Inoue. He found her a bit later at the park alone, where she was walking home. "Inoue!" He called out to her, as she turned around. She could feel her heart hurt when she saw him, but she wouldn't let herself get in the way of his relationship with Rukia. If he and Rukia were happy, that was good enough for her.

"Kurosaki-kun!" She said, smiling.

"Inoue, I talked to Ishida...I honestly had-" Inoue shook her head.

"No," she said, looking away as tears came into her eyes, "it's alright. I should have told you how I felt." She then looked at him, smiling and crying. "Though, as long as you and Kuchiki-san are happy, that's good enough for me. After all, you're both my friends, right?" Her voice quivered and broke as she said this. "I'm sorry about what happened because of me. I'm sorry. I didn't want anything like this to happen. You should just be happy with Kuchiki-san. Don't worry what anyone else thinks. I-I have to go..." She waved quickly, and walked away holding in her tears until she arrived home.

"I'm sorry, Inoue..." He said quietly to her as she walked away.

Then there was Tatsuki. What would he even say to her? He didn't know. Was it even worth it to go to talk with her? Probably not. She would just say the same thing Ishida did, but she'd be a lot angrier about it. He decided against talking to her. It wasn't worth doing at this point.

At school the next day, Inoue wasn't at school, but he could see that Ishida was reluctantly treating Ichigo normally, probably because Inoue told him not to be mad about it. There was one person, though, who refused to look at him.

That night at home, Ichigo went through the old photo album, looking at pictures of his mother, sisters and father. He then saw several of him and Tatsuki. He remembered how he could never beat her back then. In spite of that, she was always there to defend him from bullies, and be there for him when he needed a friend. She was there when his mother died to help him through that hard time. Even when they were in middle school, she still remained his friend. He then realized how poorly he had treated her over the past few years.

"Do you remember me Ichigo?" She had said.

He remembered. He remembered all the times Tatsuki had been there for him. Yet, when Inoue was taken to Heuco Mundo, he brushed her off. He told her it had nothing to do with her. He might as well have said, "You're worthless," right to her face. But even after he treated her like that, Tatsuki later told him that she understood that he did things because he was trying to protect those he cared about, even if it meant some people might've gotten hurt.

Tatsuki seemed to understand him, even if she didn't know why he did things a certain way. No. Tatsuki mattered to him. She was important to him. His first friend, and someone he cared about.

The next day, Ichigo found Tatsuki leaving the dojo after work. "Tatsuki!" He called out to her as she turned around. She looked at him with a hurt expression, but didn't reply. "Tatsuki...I'm sorry." She didn't seem to have any inclination to speak, so he continued. "I should have known better than to hurt Inoue the way I did. I guess that hurt you too. And for that, I'm sorry. I never noticed how Inoue felt about me, but I can't change how I feel about Rukia. I deserved that punch from you. I'm sorry that I haven't been a good friend to you, like I should've been. I'm sorry, Tatsuki."

Tatsuki gave a small laugh. "Ichigo, that's not why I'm upset you." He gave a started grunt. "Am I upset that you hurt Orihime like that? Yeah, I am. Though, I didn't know that she knew you were with Kuchiki-san until a few days ago when she told me. I'm angry that you hurt my best friend. But...I guess you hurt me too, along with Orihime. What you just said now, it proves it. I'm just your friend, Ichigo, like you said. Though, I guess maybe one day, you'll truly remember me, but right now, and as long as you don't look closely at how people feel around you, you won't truly remember them. And you won't remember me, because, I'm just your friend, aren't I, Ichigo?"

Tatsuki didn't say anything else to him. Instead, she left him more confused. He watched her walk away. Remember her? Of course he would remember his friend, Arisawa Tatsuki.

/End

Note: What Tatsuki is saying is that Ichigo won't remember her for how she was (that is, how she felt about him.) Tatsuki liked Ichigo, but even after that, Ichigo didn't realize this, and called her his friend without realizing how she felt. I really think this describes the relationship between the two very well. Tatsuki cares for Ichigo, and understands him best of all his friends, even Rukia, in my opinion. Of course, Ichigo is oblivious to how Tatsuki sees him and their friendship (whether she has any sort of romantic feelings for him or not) and how she's always there for him. Ichigo seems to treat her badly from time to time, but acknowledges her sometimes as well. She cares more for him than he does for her, and he doesn't even realize it. This is why I like this ship so much more than any Ichigo pairing.