Chapter 6: Forgetting

"So then, the prince swooped in! But suddenly, he turned into a zombie robot with tentacle arms! Ahh, look out! And then the princess wasn't a princess anymore and she was actually one of those crazy American cartoon characters with a gun and sword, and she had laser beams for her eyes!"

"Wait. I'm a little lost."

"Sorry, Hime-chan, but I am too."

"I thought the prince was actually a dragon with diamonds for eyes?"

"And before that, wasn't he a bento box's soul?"

"Orihime… your imagination is incredible."

Orihime Inoue sat under the tree out in the school yard with her friends, as was usual. It was just another school day, thankfully nearing the weekend, and lunchtime was soon going to come to a close.

"No, no." Orihime corrected her friends. "He's actually a puppy!"

Manhana, Ryo, Michiru, and Tatsuki all stared at her, completely lost.

"Uh… Orihime…"

Tatsuki was quickly cut off by Chizuru. "I think it's a great story, Hime-chan! They just don't have any imagination!"

"But Chizuru," Michiru protested. "You yourself just said that you were lost, too!"

"So?" The red head shot off, glaring. "It's still a good story!"

"You don't even understand it!" Manhana argued.

"So?!"

Orihime watched as her friends fought, lightly giggling behind her hand. Tatsuki scooted closer to her side. "Man, things haven't died down at all for the weekend." The tom boy muttered, scratching the back of her head. "You'd think that at least one of them would get tired of arguing by the end of the week."

Orihime smiled. "I think it's kind of funny."

Tatsuki shrugged, still smiling. "Yeah, I guess it's a little funny. But still, don't you ever get tired of it?"

When she received no reply, she turned. "Orihime?"

The young girl was staring of into space, her expression far away, not seeing anything before her. Tatsuki had been used to that happening; her busty friend wandered off into her daydreams all the time.

But… as of late, it hadn't been like it used to be. Her face didn't look happy, or full of wonderment, or even dreamy. Her expression was hard to read, and not many people noticed, but Tatsuki was starting to think she had a pretty accurate name for the look; tortured longing.

"Orihime?"

Taking her friend out of her day dreams was different, too. It used to be that she would suddenly burst out talking, acting out whatever was going on in her head, but now…

The girl slowly blinked, closing her eyes for a whole breath, before the inched open again. Her eyes were shiny and wet, her gaze far, far away. "Huh?" She suddenly blinked rapidly, shaking her head. And just like that, she was back. With a brilliant smile, she turned to her friend. "What was that Tatsuki-chan? Sorry, I guess I sort of zoned out for a second."

"Oh, I was just asking if I could come over for the night." She lied, forcing a smile. "It's been ages since I last came over."

Orihime smiled brightly. "Of course you can! It's been too long!"

"Cool. Let's head over to your place first thing school's out. My karate got canceled for the night because some idiot had to go and complain about getting his nose broken. I mean, seriously, what a woos. But sensei has to talk with the school or whatever tonight."

The rest of lunch was spent up with mostly idle chat. At one point someone asked were Rukia was, and someone else said that she and Ichigo had suddenly disappeared last hour. Someone asked if they were dating.

Tatsuki looked over at Orihime, hoping the girl was alright. Her heart was a little on the sensitive side, so she wanted to make sure that her friend was alright with everyone talking about Ichigo and Rukia and what their relationship was.

She was startled to see that Orihime didn't mind. She actually went so far as to say it looked like it wouldn't be long before they were publicly dating. She even said that she thought they looked cute together.

She didn't care at all.

Orihime… what's happened to you? Tatsuki wondered.

It had been almost two weeks since Orihime had returned from her sudden disappearance. The others, who had left around the same time as her, had come back to school slowly, but eventually everyone was attending. Orihime had been gone three days longer than anyone else.

When she returned, she had come back from her home happy, normal, and totally fine. At least, that was what it had looked like at first.

When people asked where she had been gone to, she always looked confused. Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, and Ishida would all tense up any time someone said anything about her disappearance, listening to what the girl had to say.

And she would always say the same thing.

"I can't remember."

As soon as the words were out, in came her friends, all too happy to explain that Inoue had a high fever, and had been admitted to the hospital with some sort of foreigner illness. Apparently, the fever burned away her memory of the time there.

It was evident enough. The girl had lost weight, and was paler than normal, as if she hadn't seen the sun in ages.

But some things just didn't add up.

Ichigo and the others had been gone when she had, and Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro had all seen the weird things going on when she disappeared. Ichigo, dressed in black with a huge sword disappearing into some sort of hole in space came to mind.

Plus, why wouldn't they have told anyone that Orihime was sick?

It just didn't add up.

Tonight, Tatsuki vowed, Tonight I find out what's really going on.