Chapter 7: Lies

Orihime hummed to herself as she walked down the halls of her high school, heading to her last class. She was careful not to get lost in thought as she walked, because that always ended badly, but as soon as she made it to class she allowed her mind to wander.

She was confused. All day her head had been hurting, and she didn't know why. Time after time, she would return to thoughts of her disappearance and then her reappearance around two weeks ago. But no matter how hard she thought, all she got was… Well, it was odd. For a moment, sometimes, she would grasp something. And then, just as soon as she felt it, it would evaporate, slipping from her grasp like wisps of steam.

Her friends had been helpful… sort of. If she asked any one of them, they would tell her she had been admitted to Kurosaki Clinic, free of charge. When she asked about things a little harder to answer, like what she had or why no one at the school was told, or even why they had been gone then too, they would flounder.

She remembered the day she woke up in the hospital. She had opened her eyes, her head pounding, to see the roof of the clinic.

"She's awake!"

She'd groaned a little bit, the loud call not having helped at all.

Over ran Ishida, Rukia, Chad, Ichigo, and Yuzu. Questions were fired off like gun shots, one after the other, never giving her a chance to reply.

"How do you feel?"

"Does your head hurt?"

"Are you okay?"

"Do you need anything?"

Finally, Sado intervened. "Give her some space."

They had all backed up then, quiet, watching her with hopeful eyes.

Orihime had blinked again, and taken in a deep breath. There were thousands of questions welling up in her mind, but there was one pressing question that had to be asked first. "Where am I?"

"You're at our family clinic." Yuzu had helped. "Feel better, Inoue!" She called, just before leaving the room to go make dinner.

The others kept watching her, trying to see what her reaction would be. She didn't know why they all looked so anxious, but it was starting to make her weary.

"Why… what happened?" Her head was swimming, and all the color in the room was making her eyes hurt. It was all too… bright.

"You mean… you don't remember?"

She had looked up at Ishida, confused. "No… the last thing I remember is… Tatsuki-san kicking Chizuru-chan for hugging me. Why, what happened? It's the first day of the new semester, I don't want to be gone too long."

They had all shared a look, clearly amazed. Rukia had stepped forward then, looking as if she was about to tell her a pained truth. "You mean… you don't remember anything? Nothing about the winter war at all?"

"Winter… war?"

"The Arrancars, the Espada, Hueco Mundo? Nothing?"

"I… I'm sorry. I guess that all sounds sort of familiar but… I don't know why…"

"It's the movie we saw." Ichigo suddenly said. "Before you passed out. Remember? It was called the Winter War. Actually, it was a pretty stupid movie."

Everyone looked at him in confusion, before slowly, looks of realization hit them.

"Oh." Rukia said stiffly. "Yes. She has been passed out since the movie. Hasn't she?"

"With that foreign disease." Ichigo helped, nodding. "All this time."

Orihime was confused. "How long have I been asleep? You make it sound like I've been here more than a day."

Now Ishida spoke, though for some reason he looked extremely guilty. "Yes. Sorry Inoue, but… you've been asleep for just over a month."

"A whole… month?" Her heart gave a pang, hating the idea of missing so much of her life. "But… I…" She gulped, and realized she felt like she needed to cry. "I think I'd like to be alone now."

They had all left, looking guilty, but she didn't blame them. It wasn't their fault she had missed so much of her life.

"Orihime Inoue?"

Orihime blinked back to reality, looking up at the teacher who had called her name. "Hai?"

"Did you hear me? I asked what your thoughts on the matter are."

She blushed. "I'm sorry… can you repeat the question?"

The teacher nodded, patient with the girl who she had been told had missed a whole month of her life in a comma. "We're talking about the theme of the story. The author writes about a man who has no human heart, and how it was impossible for him to love. Your thoughts on the theme?"

"I agree with the author." A random classmate drawls. "If the guy didn't have a heart, then of course he couldn't love."

Most of the class nodded their heads, all finding the discussion fairly pointless.

"Mr. Kanzana, I was not speaking to you. Orihime?"

She paused. And she thought for a moment. "Well… I think that the author had it all wrong." People looked over at her, confused. "You see, it doesn't matter if he didn't have a human heart. His heart alone was still there. He just didn't realize it. Your heart can be anywhere. In your head, in your stomach, in your chest… In your hand." She paused, wondering why sudden feelings of melancholy came over here like a great wave.

"Very perceptive Inoue." The teacher said, surprised.

"I don't get it." Some kid said, off to her right. "The heart is in your chest. What does she meant it can be anywhere?"

"That heart is just an organ." Inoue said quietly. "A physical manifestation. The actual heart… it's always there. Someone can choose to get rid of their heart completely, but… you can never have it ripped from your chest." She stared off in to space, the sudden feeling that she was forgetting something extremely important coming over her.

The girl next to Orihime leaned over in her seat as the rest of the class moved on. "Inoue-san?"

Orihime blinked and looked over at the girl.

"Are you okay?"

No. "Of course!" Orihime smiled brightly, her bubbly persona filling the atmosphere. "I just got lost in thought for a second there."

"O-oh, okay."

Orihime listened to the rest of the lesson, absentmindedly doodling Gothic number 4s in her notebook. She didn't know why, but she had recently found herself growing attached to the number. It was weird, because she had never actually had a favorite number before, but now she was starting to notice how beautiful the four was. It was fun and easy to draw, too, so why not?

It was minutes later that school was let out. Orihime smiled as she gathered her things up, though she stood a little later than anyone else.

"Remember your art homework everyone!" The teacher yelled over the chaos. "Have a good weekend!"

That's right. Orihime thought to herself as she headed for the door. I forgot all about the art homework.

She was actually looking forward to the task. They had been going over portraying emotions. The homework for the weekend came in two parts. For the first part, something that evoked a feeling of sadness in the artist. The second part was to draw something that made the artist feel happy. It could be literal or they could draw something that represented a situation, or they could try to draw the emotion itself.

She was so caught up in her own head, thinking about the art assignment, that she didn't look where she was going. A second later she found herself falling to the ground, having ran into someone, her notebook falling open on the floor and her bag spilling open.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She looked up to find that she had run into Uryuu, so she smiled. "I didn't see you there, Ishida-kun!"

He smiled, pushing up his glasses as he knelt to help her gather her things up. "It's quiet alright." He said kindly. His eyes fell to the floor, as he reached out to pick her notebook for her. He scooped it up, about to hand it over, when something on the page caught his eyes. He froze, staring at the page with wide eyes.

"Uh… is something wrong?" She asked, trying to see what he was staring at.

He jerked back to life, hurriedly pushing the notebook into her hands. "I'm fine." He stood up, looking around for someone it seemed. "I'll see you around, Inoue."

"… Okay." She watched as he headed off in a random direction, his body language telling of his distress. "I'll see you later…"

She had just stood up, slipping the notebook into her bag, when Tatsuki found her.

"Hey, Orihime!"

"Tatsuki!" She turned, smiling, and waited for her friend to catch up to her.

"Ready?" Her friend asked, walking along beside her as soon as she caught up.

"Yep!"

Tatsuki grinned, hefting her bag up over her shoulder. "Movie and popcorn, here we come!"

Orihime just laughed, following after her friend.