AN: Well, wasn't i hard working today? :D well, wasn't that much, since this was more or less supposed to be one chapter, rather than two, so i owe you one. :)

Chapter 4 Forgive, Forget

Ichigo still stood inside his inner world, his screaming had stopped, his eyes were closed, but it seemed as tears glimmered inside the corner of his eyes. The screaming had long stopped, and he just continued to stand there, and get everything inside his mind. Zangetsu and Shiro were watching him closely, fearing that he'd snap and freak out any moment.

Ichigo's mind was crystal clear, and he tried to push his emotion a little down. To his own surprise he managed to calm himself down, until he could look rational at everything.

He opened his eyes and looked his Zanpakuto directly in his eyes. "I know what happened. Where to did she run off? I have to speak to her…" he said with a stern voice.

Zangetsu hat a concerned look on his face, but he pointed him the direction, he knew the little girl was somewhere, anyway.

Before Ichigo walked towards the little girl, he went to his spirits, and hugged them both. They were surprised by this sudden action, because Ichigo rarely showed any affection towards other people, in form of physical contact.

"We'll make it this time. I won't let them die again." Ichigo said, and hurried off to find the little girl. He didn't care about the reaction his spirits showed, he needed to get things set right, and clear the situation, to make a plan how to go on.

As he continued to walk his mind circled about the last memory he had. This voice, that was hers. He somehow activated the Hogyoku, but that still doesn't explain what exactly happened, and why she is suddenly in his inner world. It shouldn't be possible, just to enter one's mind, right?

While jumping down to another of the sideway buildings, he noticed the small girl sitting right on the edge, with her legs dangling happily. Somehow Ichigo's instincts kicked in, as he saw the little girl so close to falling off the edge, down into the depths of his mindscape, to hell knows what down there exists. That came probably from dealing with his little sisters, and how protective of them he was.

He shunpoed right behind her, and snatched her off the edge, and pulled her into his arms. She was surprised by this, as well was he, when he realized what he'd just done.

She stared up at him, with wide eyes, but not uttering a word. Of course, his face went as red as a strawberry and he was so embarrassed about the way he acted towards her, and put her down. Even though he couldn't stop himself from saying: "J-Just don't do that ok? I-It's dangerous to sit on the edge… "After all she was just a little girl, wasn't she?

Confusion spread over Ichigo as he didn't get any reaction from the girl, because she just continued simple to stare at him, like he was some alien. Ichigo was now even more embarrassed, and tried to apologize, in fear of scaring her. "Look, Hogyoku, I-"… "No!" she screamed at him, and a cute little pout decorated her tiny face. Now it was Ichigos turn to stare wide eyed at her. He didn't imagine her having such an outburst. Did he say something wrong? ….

Before he could continue his musings, she started to speak again.

"No, not Hogyoku! That is not my name!" she pouted. Ichigo understood now, he had an idea how to interact with her. After this statement, he was pretty sure, that she didn't just look like a kid, but acted like one, too.

"Alright, alright! Do you mind telling me your name? I am sure you already know mine, wouldn't that be unfair?" he asked her nicely, and smiled at her. With a huge grin, she announced: "Yes, Ichi! My name is Shikari." She put her tiny fingers up the air in a cheery way, which reminded him of Yachiru.

"So, Shikari it is… it is uhm, nice to meet you, but could you tell me why you are here, and what exactly happened just now?" Ichigo asked carefully, since he didn't want to scare her, or scold her.

The little girl seemed to understand that this was a serious topic for him, and sat down cross-legged, with a more or less stern look on her face. Ichigo got the message and sat down as well.

"So... I am the Hogyoku. But that is not my name, stupid name! I first belonged to Urahara Kisuke, who was my creator, but he wasn't worth my attention. He seemed weird, I didn't like him, so I didn't allow him to use me… than Aizen got me… h-he wasn't nice and forced me to do things, to hurt people and destroy. I was so afraid, but he threatened me, he showed me terrible things. You know that I have the ability to grant peoples whishes, giving them power whatever they want… I could even make a giant lollipop! But nobody wanted that." She pouted and went on. "That day, when Urahara Kisuke was killed…" she hesitated, not sure how Ichigo would react concerning that topic. "… You were so angry, and there was so much Reiatsu in the air… I-I could feel your regret and sorrow, so I used that power to grant your wish… It was enough power to activate myself, so I did it."

Ichigo was a bit taken aback. She already told him a lot about herself, and he didn't imagine her to be so mature, given the right situation, but he started to understand his actions.

"Okay... but that doesn't answer my question. What exactly did you do?" he asked, with a little more impatience in his voice.

"I sent you back in time!" She cheered. Okay, now she's back to her old self. Ichigo let out a rather long sigh.

"How far?" he asked. She seemed to think about that for a few seconds, as if she weren't sure about that herself, before she answered: "Uhh... dunno? Maybe 130 to 180 years? We have to find out!"

A soft smile was on his face, he had enough time to make all his friends again, and take care of Aizen before he would betray the Soul Society, that relieved him a lot, and he could relax a little bit.

"You're so much nicer than my old master!" she mentioned, and jumped at him, to hug him. Almost jerking away Ichigo was uncomfortable and said. "M-Master? I'm not your master; I just used you once, didn't I? No scary fusing and weird butterflies."

Guilt showed on her face, and she looked down.

"No… Don't…"

"I am sorry, Ichigo… but in order to fulfill your wish, we had to fuse…" she confessed shyly.

Realization hit Ichigo hard, and he feared to become an ugly monster, like Aizen did. In his fear he asked her what was on his mind. "So, what form do you take? Did you change anything? Tell me!"

From out of nowhere she pulled a huge mirror and held it for Ichigo to look himself over, with the simple statement: "Hollow-niisan helped..."

"HICHIGO SHIROSAKI! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU,…!"

A few meters away:

"Seems he noticed, huh?"

"Yeah…"

"Better start running."

I'm pleased to write a chapter, that has a little fun in it, after all that depressing stuff, i hope that doesn't scare some of you away T_T

So good, so far. It'll take me a few days, i've got no idea further.

Please review. :)