Faded Memories

Found

By,

Gamersweetheart

AN: This may seem a little OOC for Ichigo but this is a different kind of situation. This isn't a fight he can pick up a sword and win. I was hoping for more interest in this story but maybe it'll pick up with another chapter. I'm hoping it's okay, please let me know if there's anything I can do to make it better!

Kon was minding his own business, surfin' the web for hotties to look at. It was truly amazing how much you could find nowadays! Not only was Ichigo's school full of babes but this computer could give him everything he needed to die a happy soul. Sadly, the plush lion was unable to continue exploring when Ichigo threw the door open, his spiritual pressure going wild around him. "Wha-"

The crazed teenager ripped Kon's soul candy out of the lion and swiftly swallowed it. As he ran back down the stairs, Ichigo yelled over his shoulder, "Tell the others to meet us here and join my Dad's body to Inoue's!"

Now normally Kon would take his sweet time, go trollin' for babes but this was different. Ichigo seemed panicked when he rushed in with a frantic look on his face. Kon knew if he wanted to live, he better do what Ichigo said.

By the time Kon grabbed a jacket and threw some socks on, Isshin's soul candy was packed with the car running; waiting for his "son."

Kon was about to ask what was going on when Ichigo's phone started to ring.

"Hello? Sexiest man on Earth speaking."

"Kon? This is Uyru, where is Kurosaki?"

"He's on his way to Inoue's. He said to have everyone meet here. Prob. Best to meet at the clinic." The soul answered the best he could.

"I see. I shall call the others and met them there. Call if anything changes."

Click

"Wow! He's so rude! He didn't even say goodbye to me. No wonder him and Ichigo fight so much, they're the same." Both souls laughed as they made their way towards Inoue Orihime's apartment, wondering what they'd find.

Once they were close to the healer's home, Kon called 119 to make sure the Kuroskakis had their bodies before the police arrived.

This was going to be a long night.

"How long do we wait? We've been here for half an hour already." Chizuru was trying not to freak out. She really was but no matter how many jokes people made about her love for the beautiful woman, Chizuru truly did care for Orihime. This week of not being able to talk to her was pure hell. School wasn't the same without her friend's bright smile, positive attitude, and silly lunches. Orihime knew more about her than anyone else did. She acted like a prev at times, but she'd never cross the line to make her best friend uncomfortable.

Chizuru also knew her feelings would never be returned but it was okay if Orihime was okay. There was just something about the young woman that pulled everyone in and changed their lives for the better. She was trying her best to not break down, so anger was her only option at the moment.

"When I spoke to Kon, he indicated they were on the way to her place. They still need to speak to whoever shows up as far as assistance, before they can bring her here." Ishida was also on edge, but no one needed to know that.

Chad and Tatsuki were sitting in the waiting room. Neither spoke since arriving, not that it was unusual for the large man but Tatsuki didn't seem to leave his side. Normally, this was cause for some, if not all their friends to comment. They currently had more important things on their mind, so they were safe, for now.

It took a full hour and a half for the three to arrive. The clinic doors slammed open as Isshin carried Orihime close to him and dashed into the first exam room.

"Father?" Uryu questioned as Ryuken raced through the doors next but Uryu received no response.

Ichigo was next to enter, with a police officer, the same that was planning on checking on Orihime for them that night.

"Ichigo, come on." The blond man made the stunned teen sit down while they waited for his dad to come out with the news.

"Ichigo?" Tatsuki timidly called out.

"He's in shock. He'll be okay." Ryo answered for him; knowing the orange haired teen wouldn't answer his friends any time soon.

The high schoolers sat in silence while they waited for news. Ichigo kept going over what he saw in his head like it was a movie stuck on repeat. He was ready to kill someone, but he couldn't. How do you handle something like this? How the hell could he help her? And why the hell couldn't he function?! It was as if his brain shut down and he couldn't get it to tell his body to move, let alone talk. Hell, even his hollow was silent.

No one knew how much time passed before Isshin came out to talk to the teens, but everyone was thrilled to finally have some news. No matter what it was.

"Isshin, before you speak to them, I'm going to need your official medical statement." Ryo didn't want Isshin to say anything before the statement, so his case couldn't be hurt at a later date. This was one victim Ryo didn't want to let down.

"Of course, please follow me to my office." Isshin and Ryuken lead the way to give their statements while the teens were dumbfounded. Isshin never ignored them, that was one reason why they all loved him. He treated them like adults.

Ichigo wasn't waiting for them to talk though, he made his way toward Inoue's room.

Opening the plain white door, the group of friends found their favorite healer lying in bed. The light cream walls and white bedding caused her dirty, matted hair to stick out like a sore thumb. Her normally light skin that glowed with life was now ghostly white. The tube in her mouth made something in the young man break like it did the day his mother was taken from him.

"Inoue." His broken whisper received no response. He sat by her side in the chair left there. As he looked at her face, the whole left side was bruised and swollen. Her back eye made her sunken eyes stand out more than they already did.

"Why is her neck bandaged?" The dark-haired woman question with tears in her eyes. Orihime was covered from her shoulders down but it was already clear whatever happened, it was serious.

"She won't be waking up for a while." Isshin signed and ran his hand through his hair as he stood in the doorway.

"Look, I understand you all care for her but I can't tell you what's going on. This is a legal issue now." Isshin knew it would piss them off and Orihime-chan didn't have any family nearby but with the police involved he couldn't risk it. The doctor could see the others about to respond so he lifted his hand to stop them. "I'll call her aunt and get the okay to discuss it with you. Now, you may stay, but be quiet." With that, Isshin left to call Orihime's aunt to fill her in and get approval to tell her friends.

A little while later, Kurosaki-san came back in with an update.

"Inoue-san has given me permission to tell you the basics of Orihime-chan's condition. I don't want any interruptions until I'm done, please." He waited for each teen to nod, minus Ichigo who still hadn't moved a muscle from his spot next to the gentlewoman.

"She has a fractured cheekbone, severe rope burns to her wrists and ankles, puncture wounds on her neck from the dog collar they made her wear, bruising along her face, neck, arms, rips, and legs. She had a couple of broken ribs which lead to her lung collapsing. I believe her powers kept her alive, Orihime-chan knew if she healed herself, she would be putting herself and us in risk for exposure. Her reiatsu spike must have been when they fixed her lung then died out because she's so weak. There is... there are signs of molestation-"

The younger Kurosaki was on his feet in an instant. He threw his chair against the far wall before turning towards the door, ready to punch the wall or hunt down whoever hurt Orihime. Isshin stepped in to stop his son. He dodged each and every punch that came his way until he found an opening to put Ichigo into a headlock.

"Stand down, son."

Ichigo struggled a while longer before he gave in.

"Now, as I was saying, she was severely dehydrated and starving. Her organs started shutting down, she's only alive because of her powers, they took over when each organ started shutting down."

"How bad is it?" Chizuru asked.

"I won't lie to you, it's at the point where all her EC (extracellular compartment) cells and organelles moved to water elsewhere to try and save the body. Think of them as grapes but now raisins. I'm sorry but I don't know when she'll wake or what she'll be like once she does. I do think you should each speak to her before saying goodnight. You can come back in the morning, I'll drive you all home when you're ready." Isshin walked out of the room, trying his hardest to hold his own tears at bay.

Each teen took their turn speaking to her sleeping form. Wishing her well, and a speedy recovery. Once Isshin was done speaking to social services, he came back and took all the tight knit group of friends home to try and rest. Ichigo refused to move even once from the healer's side after his break down.

Returning to the clinic, Isshin found his son still sitting by the young woman's bed.

"Ichigo?"

"..."

"Ichigo, come on son. You need some rest." When he placed his hand on Ichigo's shoulder, the young man finally spoke.

"I, I just stood there. I didn't do anything for her." It was a whisper, a confession.

Isshin knelt next to his son and spoke softly. "It's normal. Everyone has that flight or fight response but there is also freeze. It wasn't like war, this was a woman you care deeply for who was hurt. You did what you had to, to survive what you were seeing."

"I thought she was dead. Look at her!" He stood up causing the second chair clattering to the ground with tears starting to fall down his face as rage took over.

"I know, trust me. We have to do this the right way so we can lock up the man who did this to her."

Isshin watched his son shake, trying to hold all these emotions at bay but took him into a hug. Squeezing while Ichigo tried to fight it until he caved.

Pain, fear, anger, it all came out while in the safety of his father's arms.

Isshin held his son while he cried, trying to hold in his own tears but failing. The whole situation brought up his memories of his late wife's last night on Earth. The pain he never wanted his son to go through again.

"Is she going to make it? Will she be okay?" His words were hard to understand through the emotion thick in Ichigo's voice but Isshin understood.

"That's a hard answer. She'll live but I don't know if she'll be okay. The Orihime-chan we all know and love may not come back." Ichigo grabbed his dad's shirt crying harder at the answer while his dad kept telling him they'd figure it out.

Many lives were changed tonight. Only time would tell if things could ever be normal again.