Just my luck!
"Sumimasen, anata no jitensha baggeji kuremu," said the flight attendant. (Roughly it translates as, "Excuse me, your bike is in the baggage claim." If this isn't the proper Japanese, then blame the dictionary I used!)
"Arigato!" said the girl, a tourist from America. She was on her way to see Japan for the first time…and to make sure she had a way around; she brought her bike with her, (much to the dismay of the Customs Agency!).
It took hours, but at last she was finally in the one country she had always wanted to visit: Japan! She had her phrasebook with her; it had the translation and the Kanji form. She looked around until she found the symbols she wanted and got her bike from the baggage claim and went to the exit. She was so excited to finally be in Japan! She had just one problem to take care of, and then she was finished…she had to get her bike repaired!
"Stupid dad and his dumb hot rod! If only he had fixed it like he promised, then I wouldn't have to… ARGH!!" she grumbled inaudibly.
She looked everywhere and still couldn't find a repair shop. She searched until night fell; by then she was grateful that the bike was still useable! She decided to give up until tomorrow; jet lag had finally caught up to her. As she wandered around aimlessly, she noticed something was off…something in the air was very, very wrong! She took off her glasses to clean them, and that was when she saw it. It was the first time she had ever seen it, but she knew immediately what it was!
-----
Woah…okay, I need to stay calm. There is a monster right in front of me, with a white mask that completely covers its face, a hole in its chest, and a second mouth within its maws. Either I suddenly gained the ability to see things in other dimensions, or…there really IS a Hollow standing in front of me! If I remain calm and walk past it without reacting, maybe it'll leave me alone…I hope!
-----
She put her glasses back on; the image was blurry then became clear as she drew closer. The Hollow appeared to be fooled by her act…that is, until it spun around and tried to kill her! She got on and went as fast as she could…even if the monster could outrun her. She was tiring quickly; then she saw something that shocked her more than she already was. A Soul Reaper.
She slowed down and watched as the Soul Reaper went at the Hollow. There was only one problem with his attacks…they were too shallow to do any REAL damage! Suddenly, he gets thrown in her direction; he collides with her before she could get out of the way. The Hollow slowly approaches; he strikes at the Soul Reaper, knocking him out of the way of its next meal. In the end, it was her bike that saved her; the Hollow struck only to get its claws stuck in the now-broken bicycle chain which whipped around and struck the mask so hard that it cracked in two. She watched in silence as the Hollow slowly went away, bit-by-bit.
The Soul Reaper, still surprised at what had finally got rid of said Hollow, took out a memory replacement device; after he used it on her, she passed out, a very nasty bruise on her ankle and a busted up bike.
"And here I thought I'd seen it all," said Urahara in amusement.
"What…?"
"Don't worry; I'll make sure she gets back to full health! You go back to the Seireitei and deal with the everyday problems."
"Thanks…" mumbled the Soul Reaper.
"Now…what am I gonna do with you?" grinned Urahara. He picked her up and carried both human and bike back to the shop. (The bike was never heavy to begin with!)
"Kisuke-san, you're back early!" said Ururu surprised.
"Urahara-san, who is that girl?" asked Tessai.
"I don't know, but she was just attacked for no reason by a Hollow. It doesn't look like she has any spiritual powers or awareness…so why it went after her is anyone's guess."
"I'll see to the girl's injuries. But may I ask why you have a busted up bicycle with you?"
"This thing was hers; if she hadn't had this with her, she would have been eaten for sure. The bike chain broke right after the thing struck, whipped around and then hit the Hollow so hard that the mask split in two. Which reminds me…do any of you know what a bike chain looks like?"
"I do, Kisuke-san," said Ururu.
"Good…I need you to go get the one that belonged to this bike. I want to know how it destroyed a Hollow with no spiritual power of its own," said Urahara. Ururu went and fetched the chain and brought it back. For the rest of the night, Urahara tried to figure out what had really destroyed the Hollow.
"Urahara-san, the girl has a wallet in her pocket," said Tessai.
"How were you able to…? Oh," started Urahara. One look at her wallet and he knew how Tessai spotted it. It was hard to miss, since it was bright green, deep pink and had key-chains on the change purse!
Two days later…
"Ow… What…what happened? Where am I?" she said tiredly.
"Kisuke-san, I think she's awake!" said a young girl's voice.
Wait a minute…Kisuke?! And that voice…it sounded EXACTLY like Ururu! Am I…there's no way I could be…!
Her thoughts were interrupted at the sound of clogs hitting a wooden floor. When she saw the shadow on the thin paper door, she knew immediately where she was.
"Good to see you're finally awake, Anne-chan!" said Urahara.
"I take it you discovered my wallet," she said dryly.
"How'd ya know?"
"Because the last place I put my ID in was that fashion disaster," she grinned.
"I'm surprised you even carry such an awful-looking thing," commented Jinta.
"Can it, Jinta!" she retorted.
"What the…! How do you…?!" said Jinta.
"That's for me to know and you to brood over. Besides, the only reason I even have that thing is 'cause my aunt gave it to me."
"That still doesn't explain why you even carry around that thing," said Jinta.
"I have a bad habit of misplacing things when I need them. It'd be pretty hard to lose that and still not be able to find it!"
"Good point!" laughed Urahara.
-----
"So how did I get here and what happened to the bike. I seriously doubt it came out of that unscathed."
"What do you mean, that?" asked Urahara.
"That memory replacement thing chooses a random memory for seeing something you shouldn't, like a monster coming at you and some guy dressed in samurai get-up saving you. Too bad it only works on those who don't already know the truth."
"So you know what actually happened two days ago?" asked Tessai.
"Let's see, I got lost, have a Hollow chase after me and then I finally get saved by a Soul Reaper. Am I right?" she grinned evilly.
"How do you know that's what really happened?" asked Urahara suspiciously.
"All I had to do was look at the bruise I got from when it tried to grab me. It was pretty easy to figure out the rest. And don't look at me like that, Urahara-san!" she said annoyed.
"How did you know my name?"
"I know all of your names. The girl behind you is Ururu, the runt is Jinta, the one with glasses is Tessai, and you're Urahara," she finished.
"Impressive…though I would like to know a few things about you and that bike you had."
"Had…it was trashed, wasn't it."
"Pretty much. Actually, if you hadn't been under it when you were attacked, you probably wouldn't be alive. And it wasn't a Soul Reaper who saved you, it was your bike."
"Wha…?"
"No joke…the bike chain broke and hit the mask so hard it split in two. I'd say you got dumb luck," joked Urahara.
"Ironic that the first thing I had planned was to get it fixed…" she said amused.
"The way that piece of junk is now, you'd be better off buying a new one," said Jinta.
"Um…why did you need it fixed, Anne-san?" asked Ururu nervously.
"The gear shifts, right?"
"Yup…the person who gave me that bike was too busy working on his car to fix it like I asked," she said annoyed. She winced when she moved her ankle.
"I wouldn't move that too much if I were you. It was pretty swollen last night; I think it might be sprained," said Tessai.
"Figures… My luck has never been that good."
"What I don't get is how the chain snapped at the right moment and happened to destroy a Hollow's mask in the process!" said Urahara.
"It's called karma. Ever heard of it?"
"What goes around comes around…right?"
"Yeah. It seems that by bringing that old bike with me to get it fixed and ride around Japan actually saved me. That was the reason I was still outside at night…I was trying to find a repair shop."
"So by saving the bike it saved you?"
"That's the only thing I can come up with. Though what I still don't get is why I was suddenly able to see that Hollow clearly…I've never seen ghosts or spirits or anything before…so why now?"
I wonder…did my Bleach manga collection do something? It makes sense…in an Outer Limits sort of way.
"So why did you come to Japan, Anne-chan?" asked Urahara, changing the subject.
"Part of it was because I've always wanted to come here. But mostly it was to get away from my own family."
"Why's that?"
"Well, which would you rather do; go see another country on your own or continue with a monotonous schedule that only changed every weekend?"
"True."
They chatted a while before they finally came to the one question they were afraid to ask; what would she do now after she'd been attacked by a Hollow and had a sprain ankle with a busted bike?
"Going home is definitely not an option."
"You can't exactly get around on a busted bike and bad ankle."
-----
Before they could continue pointing out the obvious, Ururu came in with news that made Urahara's good day go bad.
"Kisuke-san, the light went out in the kitchen."
"Again? Great…good thing we have the electrician on speed-dial by now…" he grumbled.
"An electrician?! It sounds to me that your light bulb just blew out. That's no reason to call an electrician!" she said surprised.
"What's a light bulb?" asked Urahara, confused.
"You're kidding, right?" One look at his face proved he really didn't have any idea what a light bulb was.
"Then I'm going to guess that you have no clue how to change a bad bulb," she said dryly.
"Nope."
"Good grief…how is it that you can make a Gigai and a Gikongan easy, yet you can't change a light bulb without help?!" she muttered to herself. It soon became clear that she was trying to get up.
"What're you doing? You shouldn't walk with your ankle as bad as it is," said Urahara in concern.
"I know…but if you guys can't even change a bulb without an electrician, then you really need help," she said, wincing.
"You mean that you have a degree in the electrical field?"
"Wha… You mean have I taken classes on how to fix electronics."
"Yeah."
"The only electronics I can fix are computers, DVD players, and the occasional stubborn game console. You don't need to take any special courses to change a light bulb," she snorted.
"Strange…they always made it seem like it was really difficult."
"I think they just thought you guys were too lazy to do it yourselves."
"Is there anything we can do?" asked Urahara.
"Ururu, do you know what the bulb looks like?"
"Yeah…the electrician man usually has it in his hand when he comes down to get rid of the bad one."
"Can you get me one that hasn't been used? I know how to change them and it won't cost anything to do it," she said with a grin.
Tessai held her up; Ururu brought the bulb and handed it to her. She unscrewed the old bulb and out the newer one in its place. She looked at Urahara and said, "Try the light switch now. It should come on."
He flipped the switch and sure enough, the light came on. He had a surprised look on his face when she came down.
"Huh…I still don't know how you did it so quickly. The other guy usually takes thirty minutes!"
"He was probably checking the fuse first. There are two reasons why the lights would go out; either the fuse blew or the bulb went bad."
"Well, at least I don't have to pay the usual 1500 yen!"
"The only thing you had to pay was for a new bulb. Good thing you sell them at your store."
"Yeah really…" muttered Urahara.
"So tell me Anne-san…was your bike the only thing you brought on your trip?" asked Tessai.
"Actually no…I brought two bags with me, but I couldn't get them when I left the airport. If I had, then I would have been a danger to pedestrians."
"So how are you supposed to get your stuff?" asked Jinta.
"I just have to call them and tell them the address and room number. I thought I was going to stay at a hotel while I was here."
"Do you know any other useful things?" asked Urahara thoughtfully.
"Yeah…"
"Well, if you're as handy as you were just now, then I don't mind if you stay here," said Urahara.
"Okay. I think I can handle that," she said with a grin.
She called the airport and told them the address to send her bags to. An hour later, a man came and dropped them off. Tessai took the first while Jinta, (under her EVIL suggestion), took the other.
"Woah! This thing's heavy! What'd ya got in here, bricks?!" he said as he attempted to pick it up.
"Nah…just the next best thing. Bet ya didn't think that books could be so heavy, did you?"
"Books?!"
"Yeah… That duffle bag is also my boredom bag. You know, something to do to pass the time?" she grinned.
"How many books do you have in there?!" said Urahara as he saw Jinta struggle.
"Roughly my entire Bleach collection…and the D N Angel volumes."
"And that would be how many?"
"Around 26."
"Yikes…you must love to read!" said Urahara.
"You kidding? They used to have to get me to quit reading during class!" she laughed.