Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

"Ichigo..?"

Karin sat up, startled. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she placed a hand over the frantic beating. She closed her eyes for a minute, sleep still edging its way into her thoughts, but her dream was too vivid for her to want to attempt any slumber right now. She had been back in the house when IT had happened. She could still remember every detail of that night, and she felt sick. She tried to calm her heart, and after a few minutes of deep breathing it settled down. She opened her eyes when someone knocked at the door.

Her eyes snapped to the doorway, and Rangiku came into the room, rubbing her hair with a towel. "Good morning," she said cheerily, sitting down on her own bed. She yawned widely. "It's almost time for breakfast, so if you want to get ready, we can head down."

Karin shook her head softly. "I'm not hungry."

Rangiku looked at the younger teen. She sighed, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Stop beating yourself up, kid. You did nothing wrong."

Karin sat there for a moment, tear silently trickling down her face. She wiped them away hastily. Since when have I become this weak? she thought. She laughed a little to herself, earning a worried look from Rangiku. She smiled at the older girl.

"You okay?" Rangiku said. "You don't have to go to breakfast if you don't want to, it's fine. I can bring you something up." Karin nodded, and Rangiku left shortly after.

Karin lay back down on her bed. "For once, Ichi, I have no idea what to do next."

Toushirou gritted his teeth and turned on his bed again. Damn Ukitake. He has NO right to tell me what to do. I barely know him, and he's known about me for how long? He didn't even care before. I'm shoved at him as a last resort, and he takes me in like he suggested it. He's the one who's wrong, not me. It's him.

Toushirou shivered, curling into a tighter ball. No matter what, he couldn't get what Ukitake said out of his head.

"Honestly, Toushirou, you've given me no reason to."

Toushirou felt his body go cold, and he froze. "Not again," he whispered, feeling himself being pulled into darkness. "No…"

He was standing in a room, all white. Blood was spattered on the white couch in the corner and he could see a pair of legs from behind it. "M-mom…" he called out softly, not wanting to disrupt the silence that seemed to cover the room. He glanced down at his feet and screamed. He was standing in a pool of blood, and he took a few steps backwards before stumbling. He fell into the sticky red liquid, slipping a few times before falling once more. He reached a hand out and grabbed a clump of…hair? He looked at his hand, and felt his insides go cold. It was hair, brown hair, attached to a young girl. Her brown eyes looked at him, pleadingly, the life already having left them a while ago. A thin trail of tears ran through the blood smeared on her face, and Toushirou lifted himself up, running away from the room. His feet, sticky with blood, slid on the hardwood floor as he raced away, trying to get as far away as his body could take him. He heard a laughing and stopped immediately in his tracks. "Toushiiiiirou…"

"Toushirou…"

"Toushirou!"

"TOUSHIROU! WAKE UP!"

Toushirou jumped, being caught in Ukitake's arms. He shivered, and the man held him.

"Toushirou," he said quietly, "what happened? Did you remember something?"

Toushirou just shivered and buried his head into Ukitake's shoulder, wishing he could forget what he had seen. He didn't even know what it all meant. How did he know that was his mother? And who was that girl he had seen?

"Toushirou, speak to me." Ukitake looked at the boy, but he wouldn't. Ukitake looked to the doorway, where all the others had gathered. Rangiku was looking at the boy with a lot of concern, and even Izuru and Shuuhei, who weren't on the best terms with the boy, looked anxious. Ukitake's eyes landed on Karin, who seemed to be the only one not shaken by the situation. Her eyes were narrowed and she was standing slightly behind Rangiku, to whom she'd taken a liking to.

"Rangiku," he said quietly. "Can you call Unohana? Tell her it's an emergency." Rangiku's eyes widened, and she nodded once before running to call the doctor. Izuru and Shuuhei looked at each other and started to get the other children to go back to breakfast. Ukitake looked at them gratefully, and he turned his attention to the boy once again.

"Toushirou, look at me." The boy removed his head from the man's chest and looked him in the eye. "What happened?"

"There was blood," he whispered, his eyes searching Ukitake's. "And they were dead." Tears started to form in his eyes. "Who were they?" he asked pleadingly. "What happened?"

"Ukitake." Rangiku appeared in the door way. "Unohana said she'll be here in a few minutes."

"Thank you," Ukitake answered her, never taken his eyes off Toushirou. Rangiku left and he answered the boy's question. "Toushirou, no matter what, you're safe. It'll all e okay. Remember that." The boy started to protest, but Ukitake cut him off. "Get some rest. Unohana will be here in a few minutes." He left the heartbroken kid and returned to where he others were waiting.

Toushirou stared after the man, his heart slowly being ripped to pieces. Ukitake knew what had happened, and he didn't tell Toushirou. The tears started to flow down Toushirou's face, and he let them.

"Mother…Momo…"

Karin was sitting on the couch next to Rangiku when Ukitake came back in. Izuru and Shuuhei were the only other two in the room, the younger children being sent outside to play. Rangiku broke the silence first. "Unohana said that Isane would be accompanying her too, and they had been planning on coming down earlier anyways."

Ukitake smiled at the girl, leaning in the doorway. "Thank you."

"Ukitake," Shuuhei began, "what happened back there? All we heard was Toushirou screaming."

Ukitake sighed. "I think he may have gained some of his memories back."

"Memories?" Karin asked before thinking. The others looked at her, a little surprised that she spoke.

"Yes," Ukitake said after a moment. "Toushirou doesn't remember anything up to about half a year ago."

Izuru breathed in a breath. "Wow…"

"What made him forget?" Karin found herself asking.

Ukitake's gaze hardened. "You four shouldn't be asking about it."

Rangiku whined. "But Ukitake, we just want to help him!"

"Alright," Ukitake said, "but you must not let him know. He needs to figure this out on his own."

The others nodded.

Ukitake began. "It all began the year Toushirou was born…"

A/N:

Okay, I know I said to many of you that I was going to update around Friday, but, well, I lied. ^^ I sat down today, listening to my new obsession (One Ok Rock, They're so awesome…) and I just started to write this…yeah. I had started this totally differently, but I wrote something down last night and decided to build off of it.

From now on, I'm going to:

Go at a faster pace, cuz I've been lagging

Make my chapters more interesting

Do I need to do anything else? Let me know, and I'll work on it. You guys have been so awesome and I want to make my writing the best it can be.

Okay, so Toushirou and Karin WILL be getting to know each other better NEXT chapter (which I'll try to have out really soon). And if they don't, I give you guys all rights to shoot me. ^^ If it's not out by the end of the week, yell at me to get my butt moving. Sound good?

Oh yeah, Ukitake may be telling them what happened in Toushirou's past, but I don't think I'll reveal it yet…dun dun dun…

How was this chapter? Confusing? Stupid? Good? Let me know!

Tealeyedmoon69 out