There was darkness.

"A world without you isn't worth living!"

A bright flash of light.

"SEENNAAAAA!"

Senna woke up in a sweat. Sitting up, the dark haired girl held her head in her hands as she moaned. "Why.. Why does that dream keep haunting me?" She whispered to herself, shutting her eyes to allow it to replay in her head once again. It was incredibly confusion – She never saw the man who the voice belonged to, and she didn't quite understand her own words either.

"I must be going nuts. Too much manga for me." She spoke quietly to herself, before laying back down and sighed with a small smile on her face. Tomorrow was yet another day of school for her, and she needed rest. It wasn't easy being the American exchange student in Japan, and their language wasn't the easiest for her to remember.. But at the same time, it was really fun, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and she couldn't wait. Her foreign exchange family was going to take her to a festival. She had read about them – They had games as well as plenty of Japanese culture. There'd be a bunch of food there she had never had before either. However, she'd never have the energy to enjoy it all if she kept herself up all night just thinking about it!

"Oyasuminasai." She whispered to herself before shutting her eyes, slowly but allowing sleep to overcome her once again.

...

A very aggravated Ichigo Kurosaki sipped on his juice box as he glared off to the side. Why was it that he could never have a nice, peaceful lunch?

"ICHIGO! C'mon man, what do you mean you're not going to the festival tonight?!" Keigo yelled, standing up in shock as his friend just revealed his plans for the night didn't include the festival around town that everyone just seemed to know about. Ichigo just grunted, keeping his glare off side. "I don't see what the big surprise is. I don't want to go."

"Man, you owe us big time! Being away for so long..." Keigo pointed at Ichigo as if he was guilty of some crime. "Tell him, Mizuiro!"

"You have been away for awhile, Ichigo." Mizuiro said thoughtfully as he glanced up to the sky, trying to remember how long exactly it was. "However, I'm going with someone else so I'm not exactly going to be around-"

"WHAAAT?!" Keigo stared at Mizuiro as if he had grown another head before falling to his knees so dramatically that one would wonder why he wasn't in the acting business. "All my friends are ditching me! Whywhywhywhywhy..!"

"Festival?"

Ichigo froze in place. 'Wonderful.' He thought sourly, 'Now she's curious..' "Rukia, don't you eat lunch with Inoue and the others?" He asked, turning his head so he could see the small shinigami standing behind him. Rukia beamed, with her act that Ichigo could only mentally facepalm at.

"I thought I could eat with the big strong men today!" She chirped with her Chappi bento bag in hand. It didn't take long for Keigo to get over his overdramilization faze as he saw Rukia and broke into a smile. "RUKIA-SAN!" Running over to grab her hands, Keigo stared at the female student with hopeful stars in his eyes. "You gotta persuade Ichigo to goto the festival! We must save him from his dark, lonely room..!"

Ichigo growled as he glared at Keigo. "Would you stop it! I don't want to go-!"

"You never told me about a festival, Ichigo." Rukia looked to the orange haired teen as her eyes sparkled with interest. Ichigo glanced away from the black haired girl. He saw where this was going, and he wasn't going to be any part of it. "I don't see why I'd have to. It's a festival. I'm not your babysitter. Go if you want."

"Rukia-san! You should come with me, we'd have such a great time..!" Keigo looked to Rukia with stars in his eyes. Ichigo could only roll his eyes, as if Rukia would go with Keigo..

"Sure!" Ichigo heard her chirp happily, and had a hard time holding himself up. What in the world..?! He stared at Rukia as if she had grown two heads, and she looked back to him with a sly look on her face. Why that little..!

'Oh, this was going to be a long night.' Ichigo could already tell he was in for a ride as he turned his attention away from the two, sipping away on his drink. Rukia knew damn well how weird Keigo could be, and Ichigo knew that was going to be used against him tonight.

It seemed the fates WANTED him to go to this stupid festival. 'Whatever.' Ichigo thought to himself, 'It's not like I had anything else to do tonight..'

...

At the end of the school day, Ichigo made his journey home alone with an invisible storm cloud over his head. He was tricked, and lured by the tiny shinigami once again – And there was no way his chilvarious mind would allow Rukia Kuchiki to go to this festival with Keigo.

'How do I always get in these messes..?' Ichigo thought to himself grumpily, deep enough in his thoughts not to notice what was going on until he heard a girl yell out.

"Senna, look out!"

...

It was a beautiful day outside. Perfect weather to just get out of school. The weather was nice and cool, the sun was shining. Things couldn't be better! Senna found herself smiling as she enjoyed skipping through the slightly crowded sidewalk. Of course, with her friends from school trailing behind her. "Senna, wait up!"

'Why does everyone always have to be such stick in the muds?' Senna thought sourly. However, she closed her eyes as she continued to smile. Why listen when one could enjoy their way home so much better this way? Of course, it'd be better if she could fly.. But she could always pretend, right?

'Just like a bird.' The high school student thought to herself, picturing herself up in the crisp autumn sky with the clouds floating around herself. It was like her plane ride here, only better. She could go as high as she wanted to, where she wanted to. Things were always so much better up in high places. So uncomplicated...

"Senna, look out!" Was the last thing she heard before running into what seemed to be a brick wall. Gravity played its part, and so she found herself on the ground with her sky flying days over. "Ouch.." She mumbled, that definitely was going to do a number on her tush. Opening her brown eyes, she looked up to see a tall guy with.. Orange hair? 'Wow, that's something you don't see everyday.' She thought to herself. He stared down at her, and she returned it.

And found herself stuck staring in a pair of raw umber brown eyes.

His eyes were like a magnet. She wasn't quite sure why, but he had her attention.. Just like she seemed to have his. There was a connection held there, and as quickly as it came by.. It left.

It didn't take long for her friends catch up to her. It also didn't take long for them to see the new position their friend had taken. "Gomenasai! Our friend is a foreigner, and doesn't understand much Japanese." Senna gave them a side glance, before staring up at the boy who was now offering his hand to her, looking at her with.. a look of knowing and some.. Pity? She frowned as she stood herself up, dusting off her school uniform. "I understand enough to know what you're saying." She replied stubbornly, in the best Japanese she could, and the other three girls sighed.

Whoever the guy was, his look of 'pity' turned into annoyance. He turned around and put his hands in his pockets, and continued on his way... Wherever it was, without a word. She wasn't going to feel guilty though, she didn't need any pity. Despite that..

"Scary.." Senna heard one of her friends whisper to the other. The dark haired girl didn't comment, and instead watched the guy walk off with.. Interest.

'Who was that guy?' She pondered. It wasn't everyday you ran into someone that seemed to captivate you like that. She mentally blanched after that thought. 'Senna, you're making yourself sound like your in some mushy romance novel.'

"Senna, you can't just run off like that! I don't know exact what America's like, but there's some people here that aren't so nice!" One of the girls said in a scolding manner. One of the other girls nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah! He could of hit you, or even worse!" Senna looked to the two girls as if they were too concerned in the matter.. Before she seemed to snap attentive with a sudden thought. "I'm going to be late!"

Once again, she took off leaving the other girls sighing, before glancing towards each other. One question seemed to run through all of their minds as they looked back towards the fleeing girl.

"Are all Americans so weird?"

...

A/N: You'll have to re-read this chapter if you've already read it before I updated again, because I added more. Why? Because chapter two would have been too short, and chapter one was pretty short as well.. So why not fuse both together? Anyway, re-read and then continue onto chapter two.. Where the action begins. If you already haven't, review too. I like to know what people think, and it helps me become a better writer.