I'm going to try to update twice a week (otherwise my upcoming trip to Ireland will severely interrupt this story.) I'll likely be updating Wednesdays and Saturdays. Enjoy!

"Tatsuki." Ichigo said as he motioned the girl over to him. She was sitting with her friends in their normal lunch time spot under a tree and he hated disturbing her but the look on her face showed that she knew exactly what he wanted to talk about and she wanted to talk about it too.

Tatsuki stood slowly and started over to Ichigo. "I'm glad you're here. We need to talk about Orihime."

"Not here." Ichigo muttered, glancing at the curious girls staring at them. "Walk with me."

"Alright." Tatsuki started to walk side by side with Ichigo until there was enough distance between them and the other girls to talk privately. "I'm worried about her, Ichigo."

"I am too." Ichigo turned to face Tatsuki and sighed. "She looks terrible. She hasn't been sleeping. I can tell. It doesn't look like she's been eating much either. She's falling asleep in class. She's weaker. When I offered to walk her home yesterday she just rushed out of the classroom. She's done the same to Ishida when he offered to walk her home."

Tatsuki looked to the ground with worry and nodded. "She doesn't talk to me much anymore, I mean, about regular stuff. She doesn't tell me what she had for breakfast or what disgusting thing she's going to cook for dinner. She doesn't talk to me about her crazy dreams that she has. Nothing. It's like she doesn't want to let me close anymore." She turned her gaze up to Ichigo hesitantly. "Worse than all of that, she lied to me yesterday."

Ichigo looked down at Tatsuki in shock. Orihime was many things, but a liar was not one of them. "She lied to you? About what?"

Tatsuki shook her head. "It's stupid. I shouldn't be upset. She probably just wanted to be left alone but..." She paused and glanced away from Ichigo. "No. No matter how overbearing I might have been, it just isn't like Orihime to lie. She told me that she's been working late hours and also staying up late watching horror movies so I suggested that I come over and stay the night to make sure she was getting good enough sleep. She rushed off as soon as I said that. She told me she had to go to work but when I showed up there to check on her, her manager said she had called in sick for the past couple of weeks and she hadn't been working at all."

Ichigo blinked at Tatsuki. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So... she hasn't been working but she told you that was why she hadn't been sleeping."

Tatsuki nodded. "I'm telling you, this isn't like her Ichigo. Something's wrong. This isn't the Orihime that we know. And now she hasn't shown up at school today I'm worried."

"I'll go see her after school." Ichigo said as he began to walk away from Tatsuki. "I'll find out what's going on with her."

"I'll go with you." Tatsuki said. She watched Ichigo retreat before turning back to finish her lunch. One way or another, they were going to get to the bottom of this.

...

Orihime winced in pain as she slowly began to open her eyes. The brightness of the light in the bathroom caused the already throbbing headache she felt to hurt even worse. She sat up slowly and realized just where she was. She felt something dry and crusty clinging to her face so she raised her hand to rub it away gently. She pulled her hand away and noticed the flecks of dried blood sitting on her fingertips. "Did I... hurt myself?"

She closed her eyes and tried to remember the night before. She came home after school, she drew a bath and put on a kettle for some tea before she eventually fell asleep in the bath tub. She remembered dreaming but this nightmare was so unlike the others. It was somehow even more terrifying. Then she woke up, she turned off the heat on the kettle and went back to the bathroom where she saw in the mirror...

"The mirror!" Orihime gasped and stood quickly but dizziness overtook her. She balanced herself against the sink and turned on the cold water to splash on her face. When she felt stable enough to stand up she glanced at the mirror but all she saw was her own reflection. Her hair was a matted mess and the blood caked on the side of her face showed that she had split her head open when she had hit the edge of the tub. The gash was about a finger's girth in width and about an inch and a half in length but she didn't waste time worrying about it.

Instead she focused on the fact that she hadn't had any nightmares after she had hit her head. A small smile came to her face as she began to wash the dried blood away. She turned off the water and picked up her brush to comb through the stubborn knots in her hair. It was painful but she managed to get her hair completely brushed out. All she wanted to do now was go back to sleep and try to gain her normal life back.

Orihime went to her room and put on her pajamas before crawling into bed and letting out a heavy sigh as she closed her eyes. Everything would be alright. It just had to be.

...

"Are you afraid of me, woman?"

She gasped as she heard the ever so familiar voice but as her eyes drifted up to gaze in front of her she saw nothing. She whirled around in search of a face to put the voice to but there was no one. There was not a single soul around, save for her own. She opened her mouth slowly to speak. "Wh-where are you?"

There came a soft exhale that could have passed for a snicker before the voice spoke again. "I'm right where I should be."

She stepped hesitantly forward and searched the darkness for that familiar face but the blackness was vacant. "Where is that?"

There was silence then and it seemed to stretch on forever before she finally heard the voice against her ear and felt what seemed to be a clawed hand running through her hair. "Right here."

She whirled around again but there was nothing behind her. Nothing to the side of her. Nothing anywhere. Her heart rate picked up as she began to panic. The voice sounded so close she was sure she'd heard it right behind her and she knew, she just knew she'd felt a hand. "Why are you doing this?"

"You never learn." The voice replied almost mockingly. "You refuse to learn fear. You refuse to feel despair." There was a pause then. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for more when finally the voice came through with a low, feral growl. "You forgot."

Her pulse quickened and the words echoed. They sounded distant now but the translation of tone was not lost on her. These words contained fury and venom. "What did I forget?"

There came another noise that could have easily been a chuckle, then silence. She felt clawed hands gripping her shoulders and pulling her backward against a cold, hard body. She tried to fight but it seemed the harder she struggled the tighter the grip became. She opened her mouth to scream but she felt a clawed thumb forcing its way into her mouth and pressing down violently on her tongue. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and growing louder.

Thump... thump... thump.

...

Orihime flew out of bed as the loud thumping sound of a knock filled her apartment. She stood on shaky legs and made her way slowly to the front door. She was expecting her neighbor there to check on her like she had been every so often lately, so when she opened the door to find Ichigo and Tatsuki standing there, she was surprised and horrified. "Tatsuki-chan! Kurosaki-kun! What are you doing here?"

"Can we come in, Inoue?" Ichigo asked calmly until he noticed the gash on Orihime's head. At seeing the wound he stepped forward instantly and stared at her worriedly. "What happened to you? Are you alright?"

Orihime blinked widely at the concerned look on Ichigo's face before forcing a smile. "Oh, what? My head? I slipped getting out of the bath last night. It's no big deal."

"No big deal?" Tatsuki said as she planted her hands on her hips. "Orihime, you're lucky you didn't bleed to death with a gash that big!"

"It's nothing." Orihime smiled and motioned for them to sit. "Would you like some tea?"

"No thanks." Ichigo stopped Orihime before she could enter the kitchen and avoid him and Tatsuki once again. "Inoue, what's going on? You didn't even bother to heal yourself."

"I..." Orihime looked away from Ichigo. She didn't know how to tell him that she hadn't been able to use her Shun Shun Rikka since the nightmares had started so she lied. "I must've misplaced them somewhere."

Ichigo smiled and shook his head. "Come on, first things first. I'll take you to the clinic and get you patched up." He reached out to her and in the instant that he did something in her gaze snapped.

"That isn't necessary." Orihime protested as she took a step back from Ichigo. "It'll be fine. It'll heal on its own."

"Inoue, you need to get some help. It's a bad wound." Ichigo stepped toward her slowly. "Come on, my dad won't mind."

"I said no!" Orihime shouted. She shoved Ichigo away from her but the action only caused her to fall backward to the ground.

Ichigo stared down at Orihime in awe before kneeling down to check on her. "Inoue, what's going on? You haven't been yourself lately."

"How would you know? You're always so caught up in everything else, you don't even know what she's like anymore Kurosaki." Orihime said as she tugged away from Ichigo's awaiting hand.

"Orihime, that's enough!" Tatsuki said as she stormed over to her friend. She leaned down and pulled Orihime up by her arms. "Why are you acting like this?"

"Go home, woman. You have no place in this discussion." Orihime replied as she narrowed her gaze on Tatsuki.

"Stop it!" Tatsuki shook Orihime lightly but the look on her friend's face was still unsettling. "What's gotten into you?"

Orihime's glare deepened before turning it to Ichigo and back to Tatsuki. "Wouldn't you like to know..."

"Orihime!" Tatsuki tightened her grip on Orihime and she shook her again but as she did so her longtime companion lost consciousness and began to fall. She caught her in her arms and turned to look at Ichigo from over her shoulder. "Something's wrong."

Ichigo nodded. Tatsuki didn't need to tell him that something was off about Orihime. He could see it in her eyes before she even spoke. He could sense that something was amiss. She didn't feel the same.

...

She opened her eyes. Everything was swirling in darkness. She felt suspended in the air, no stable footing anywhere that she could see. She felt heavy and weighed down despite the fact that she seemed to be levitating. She clenched her eyes shut tightly, praying it would all just go away.

That was when she heard that same voice only this time it wasn't asking the normal taunting question. This time it was much more frightening and even more cryptic. "I'm almost there."

...

"Orihime!" Tatsuki shouted as she tapped her friend's face. "Orihime, are you alright?"

Orihime gasped and sat up quickly. She glanced around to find herself in the examining room at the Kurosaki Clinic. She blinked widely as her eyes fell over the faces of the entire Kurosaki family before turning to Tatsuki. "Tatsuki-chan, what am I doing here?"

Tatsuki looked down at Orihime worriedly. "You passed out."

"I... I did?" Orihime rubbed the sore spot on her head where she had split it open. She found the wound was newly stitched, likely thanks to Isshin, so she quickly pulled her hand away from it. "I don't remember anything."

Ichigo stepped closer to Orihime and stared down at her. "You don't remember anything?"

"I remember you two showing up at my apartment. I remember offering you tea and then..." Orihime's brow furrowed in thought. "and then, I can't remember."

Isshin nodded slowly to himself. "Black outs aren't uncommon with severe head injuries. You're lucky that was the worst of it. Inoue-chan, I'm going to ask that you stay overnight."

"S-stay!?" Orihime shouted. "I can't stay!"

"You aren't in any condition to be by yourself tonight." Tatsuki said as she placed her hands firmly on her hips. "I could take you home with me but right now I think the clinic would be the best place for you. That way, you're already here in case something goes wrong. Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan will be here to help take care of you, alright?"

Orihime laid back and pulled the sheet on the bed up to cover the blush on her face. "Tatsuki-chan."

"I have to go home now, okay Orihime?" Tatsuki smiled down at her friend and patted her head. "You just get a good long sleep and I'll come to visit you tomorrow."

Orihime watched helplessly as Tatsuki turned and left, quickly followed by Isshin and his daughters. Ichigo was the only one left in the room and the silence was awkward. "Kurosaki-kun..."

"What's going on, Inoue?" Ichigo stepped over to the bed and sat on the edge of it to stare down at his friend. "Something's not right. I can sense it. Back at your place you were completely different. I know you don't remember but you weren't yourself at all and I know you have to know why. This all started before you hit your head. Why haven't you been sleeping? And why have you been lying to Tatsuki? She worries about you, you know. You can't do that to her." He let out a soft sigh and glanced away from Orihime before turning his eyes back. "I worry too. Ishida, Chad, we all worry about you. Let us help you." He reached out slowly and placed his hand over hers. "Please."

Orihime blushed and shook her head. "Thank you, Kurosaki-kun. But this isn't something you can help with. This is something I need to figure out on my own and deal with. I'll be alright, I promise."

"Alright." Ichigo smiled down at Orihime and nodded. He wasn't biting. There was much more to this all than Orihime let on and he would find out what it was. He knew now that he wouldn't learn the truth from her. He would have to figure it out for himself. He stood and tucked Orihime in gently. "Yuzu should be here with some food for you soon. I'll check in on you before I go to bed and then again tomorrow morning. Get some rest, Inoue."