Memories can be forgotten, but they are never lost. They just wait inside our hearts…wait for the right moment to reappear and make our feelings clear…

Hollow Ichigo-Ichigo: It's time to celebrate!!!

Renji: What for?

Hollow Ichigo-Ichigo: This is Chapter 10! I honestly never thought I would get this far!

Renji: Well, it's no biggie.

Hollow Ichigo-Ichigo: For me it is! This is my 1st fanfic, and it has 10 chapters!!! Not to mention quite a few people love it!

Renji: Maybe they're just bored and want to see what kind of hell Ichigo is going to go through.

Hollow Ichigo-Ichigo: *pouts* Oh will you be nice? Do the disclaimer so that we can get started!

Renji: Whatever. Hollow Ichigo-Ichigo doesn't own Bleach, that honor is Tite Kubo's. But if she did own Bleach, Hichigo would get more screen time, right?

Hollow Ichigo-Ichigo: Yes! I mean, he's the show's longest running antagonist, and he's had only 4 episodes worth of screen time! Hell, Don'Kanonji gets more then him! It isn't fair! Oh well. Anyways, here's chapter 10. I just want to remind you all; this chapter is about what Ichigo was dreaming about, and it will be from his point. It'll seem long, so bear with me, ok? Here we go!!!

Chapter 10: Memories long forgotten…

I remember the rain. It was falling lightly on everyone around me. Everyone was wearing black and had umbrellas and flowers. My mother had just died and it was the day of her funeral. My sisters were clinging to my dad, crying quietly. I wanted to cry, but I had run out of tears the day she died protecting me. I blamed myself for it, and the pain I was causing my family. But I kept that fact hidden inside me. I turned and looked towards the steps of the cemetery. I saw some people walk up and join the line. Many friends came to pay their respects and say their final farewells. We were coming up soon, and I tried once again to cry, but I just couldn't. I looked at my dad, who normally had a goofy smile on his face. It was replaced with a sad look, and it made me feel uneasy. I looked at the steps again, and that's when I saw her.

She was wearing a black dress and shoes. She had a black hat on and was wearing a thick veil over her face, so I couldn't see her eyes. She was holding an umbrella in her left hand, but in her right hand was a big batch of cherry blossom flowers. I could tell she was shocked to see people here by the way she stopped abruptly. I made sure that I didn't look like I was staring at her, but I was curious as to why she was here. She walked slowly into the line, just about four people away from me. Why is she here? I wondered. Soon, it was my turn to pray to mom. I'm sorry mom…I prayed silently. As I walked away, people were murmuring around me. "Who's the girl with?" "Is she yours?" they asked quietly. I watched her kneel in front of mom's grave and pray quietly. She then left some of the flowers there and walked away. As she walked past me, she flashed a quick glance at me. I then saw that her eyes were a dark blue color, and they were brimmed with sadness and worry. As she walked away, I decided to follow her, but my dad grabbed my arm. "Leave the girl be." He told me. I looked her way again before nodding.

It was about two hours later when dad said it was time to go. The rain had started falling a little harder, and the wind was beginning to blow. "Come, Ichigo. We need to leave before the storm starts." He called. I began to run his way, but then I realized something; the girl hadn't left yet. I was near the entrance the whole time, and I never saw her. As I ran to find her, heard my dad call to me. "Ichigo! What are you doing?!" he yelled. "That girl hasn't left yet!" I yelled back. I turned to see what he was going to say. He folded his arms and smiled. "Alright, go find her, but hurry. That storm is coming soon." He said. My dad and sisters began walking down the hill, and I ran through the cemetery, looking for the girl. "Hey!!! Are you still here?!" I called and called, but I never received an answer. I'm not sure how long I searched, but I couldn't find her. As I ran, I hit a slick spot and tripped. I landed in a puddle, but felt no reason to get up. I just sat there in the rain as it fell harder. It reminded me of what happened only a few days ago, when my mother died. Then finally, the tears came flowing down. "It's all my fault!" I yelled at the sky. "If I hadn't…if I…" I cried, feeling sorry for myself and my family. It was then that I noticed that the rain had stopped falling on me. I looked back up to see the girl standing in front of me. She held her hand out to me, and I realized that she was wearing thin white gloves on them. "Come, get up. You'll get sick sitting there like that." She said gently. I was too upset and didn't want anyone's pity, so I shoved her hand away from me. She stood there at first, and then held her hand out again, smiling gently. "Nothing is truly anyone's fault. Don't blame yourself, ok? Just stand up and get stronger, so that something like this never happens again." She told me. I looked up and noticed the concern in her eyes. I reached for her hand and shivered. "Your freezing!" I gasped. She gave off a small laugh. "No more than you are now. We need to get out of this depressing rain." Suddenly, thunder boomed over head. The wind blew even harder. She lost her hat and almost lost her grip on her umbrella. "We need to get out of this storm before it gets worse!" she yelled, but I could barely hear her over the wind and thunder. I was beginning to panic, and then I remembered a place we could hide. I pointed towards the forest. "The nursery shrine! We can hide in there!" I yelled. We began running at top speed towards the shrine.

By the time we made it to the shrine, the rain was falling really hard and the wind was blowing so hard that the trees were creaking. I opened the door, relived that it wasn't locked, and we walked in. She ran and leaned against a wall, and I shut the door and sighed. "We made it!" I said happily. She gave off a short laugh. "Yeah. Now we need to wait for the storm to die down some." She said quietly. Te building began to creak slightly, and I shivered. I wonder how long this old building will last… I thought, and then I realized something. I'm scared. I heard a loud coughing noise come from where the girl was sitting. I walked over to check on her. "You ok?" I asked. She simply nodded, but I didn't believe her. I laid my hand on her forehead, and slowly pulled away. "You're getting a fever." I told her. She smiled softly. "Yeah, I know. Don't worry about it." She told me. I stared at her for a moment. "Don't worry about it? Are you crazy?" I asked her. She simply laughed, and it made me feel funny. "Maybe I am. But like I said, don't worry about it." She repeated. I noticed that the rain had stopped some. I went to the door and she gave me an odd look. "What are you doing?" "I'm going to find my dad. You need help." I told her. I began to open the door and felt the wind hit my face hard. "No! The storm isn't over yet! It's too dangerous out! Don't go!" she yelled, but I ignored her. I ran out into the rain and wind, determined to help her. I could hear her call for me, but I didn't stop running. The rain was stinging my eyes as I ran, but I ignored it. I checked my watch, which read 7:30 PM. Suddenly, there was a snap from above. I looked up and saw a huge tree branch coming down. I tried to run, but fear prevented me from running. "LOOK OUT!!!" I felt hands push against my back and I hit my head hard on the ground. Before my world went dark, I heard another snap and a cry of pain.

When I opened my eyes, the rain was still falling hard, but the wind had subsided some. I slowly pulled my head up, the left side of my face covered in mud. My vision was slightly foggy, but I could still tell where I was. I glanced around and saw a figure behind me, lying still and underneath a large branch. That's when I remembered what had happened; the girl had pushed me out of the way of a falling branch! I crawled over to her quickly, afraid that it might have crushed her. When I got to her, I almost sighed in relief when I saw that she was still breathing. I reached out slowly and rolled the branch off of her. I heard another small snap, but the girl didn't cry out, so I guessed that it wasn't a bone. I remembered the snapping noise from before and her crying in pain and I slowly rolled her over. I stared in fear; she had a bone in her lower leg sticking out of the skin. I placed my hand on her head, but quickly pulled away. She's burning up! I thought with fear. She slowly opened her eyes, which looked foggy and uncertain. "Hey!" I said, glad she was awake, but I couldn't tell how much pain she was in. But I'm confident that she could feel the bone sticking out of her leg. "You…you 'k?" she asked, her voice sluggish. I just stared at her for a moment. It was my fault that her leg was broken and that her fever was worse, and she was asking me if I was okay! "Yes, I'm fine." I whispered quietly. I slowly pulled her arm over my back and lifted her up. "Tha's good…" she said quietly into my ear. I didn't want to hear her anymore; I was just too ashamed of myself. I lifted her onto my back and realized how light and cold she was. "Hold on to me, ok?" I asked her, hoping that she heard me. I felt her warm head nod slowly and she gripped my black coat tightly. I ran as fast as I could back to the nursery shrine, hoping I could get there before the storm kicked up again. Luck was on my side because once I got back and shut the door, the wind began blowing again. I leaned the girl against the wall and tried to think of what to do. Even though I was only nine, I was taught some basics about wounds, seeing as my dad ran the local clinic. I went back to where the small nurses' office used to be and fished around until I found some gauze bandages. "Good, there still some here." I sighed. I ran back as fast as I could and landed in front of her. "I need to get as much of those wet cloths off of you." I told her. She motioned me to get closer to her and I leaned in close. "I have….cloths underneath this dress. Go ahead and…" she tried to finish, but I could tell she didn't have enough energy to talk much. I lifted her arms up and slowly pulled the soaking dress off of her and took off her gloves and shoes. I grabbed the bandages and unrolled them. "This…is not your…fault."

I wanted to yell at her really badly, but I didn't have enough strength in me for it. "What?" I asked instead. "I…have been sick since I…got…here." She explained slowly. I held my finger to my lips in order to get her to be quiet. "You have a bad fever. Please stop talking so much." I said to her. I didn't want to hear her anymore, it was too much. I took her leg gently in my hands. "I need to straighten it out, and it's going to hurt." I warned. She didn't even look at me, so I slowly straightened her leg. She cried out in pain and it made me flinch. I quickly grabbed the gauze and wrapped it tightly around her leg. As I did so, I noticed something else; there was a small stick sticking out of her side. Her dress was so baggy that it was easy to pull the dress off without noticing it. That must have been the other snapping noise I heard when I rolled the large branch off of her. I thought. I pushed her over slowly and seized the branch. "Do your best not to scream." I begged quietly. I pulled it out quickly, and, to my surprise, she didn't scream at all. I quickly wrapped it with what was left of the bandages. I then took my coat and squeezed the water out of it and ripped it in three pieces. "Please say dad won't get upset." I prayed. I took one piece and wrapped it over her leg, one around her chest, and placed the other on her head, hoping it would cool her down some. I ran back to the kids play section and grabbed some blankets. I threw two of them on the floor and slowly picked the girl. I laid her as gently and slowly as I could on the blankets. I threw the last one over her and went to the restroom. I threw off my shoes and tore the sleeves off of my white shirt and tried to tear my pants legs to make them shorter. I have no idea still on how I did that! I ran back in there and climbed under the blanket with her. I needed to make sure we both stayed warm since we were soaked to the bone. I felt her shiver and it caused me to shiver as well. "By the way, my name is Ichigo Kurosaki. What's your name?" I asked her. She smiled gently. "My name is…" she started to say, but the fever claimed her. I sighed in frustration, but there was nothing I could do. So I decided to get some sleep myself.

Warm rays of sunshine landed on my face and forced my eyes open. I couldn't remember where I was for a moment, but the stirring figure next to me brought it all back. That's right! There was that storm and…she pushed me outta the way… I thought groggily. She sat up and shook her head. "Mornin, Strawberry!" she said. I stared at her for a long time before saying anything. "That ain't my name! My name's Ichigo!" I yelled. She only giggled, and it made my insides feel funny. "Which means Strawberry." She explained. Among other things… I thought to myself. I just shook my head and got up. "I need to find my dad." I told her. She suddenly started to shiver. "Please don't leave me…"she begged quietly. I walked back over to her and patted her back. "I won't be gone long, k? My dad runs a clinic not to far away, so we'll be back quickly." I tried to explain. She nodded, but for some reason, it looked like she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head and she fell backwards. I barely caught her before her head hit the hard floor. Her head was practically burning up. I needed to get my dad, but I couldn't leave her. What am I going to do? I thought, panic beginning to fill me. That's when I heard my name being called; "Ichigo! Are you out here?!" It was my dad. "Dad!" I laid her down gently and ran towards the door. I pulled it open and saw my dad in the distance. "Over here!" I yelled and waved. He ran as fast as he could and picked me up, holding me tightly. "I'm glad you're alright, Ichigo." He said, and I started crying. As he put me down, I ran back into the old shrine. "That girl needs help, dad!"

I stood by her nervously. We had to take her to the hospital for her leg. The doctors said that she almost got pneumonia, but we brought her in just in time. "Your son did a good job with her leg, ." they told my dad. He patted my shoulder lightly. "I didn't raise him to be useless." He said with a smile, trying to lighten up my mood. It didn't work, needless to say. I still felt responsible for this. "You can take her to your clinic if you wish." I looked up at the doctor and then at my dad. He smiled. "Yes, we'll take her." My eyes went wide. He looked at me. "That's ok with you, Ichigo?" he asked. I nodded real fast. I had a lot of questions to ask her, even though I'd have to wait for when she got up. When we took her back to our clinic, my sisters crowded around her bed. "Is she gonna wake up soon?" Yuzu asked. "Yes, we just need to giver her some time." My dad said and turned to me. "Come on, Ichigo. Let's let her rest quietly." He told me. I followed him out of the room, glancing back at her one more time. "Good night." I whispered.

Chapter 10 end

Whew! Sorry I cut it short! This chapter is gonna be continued in 11! Review pretty please!!!!!! Cookies and milk to the 1st review!