Hey all! First off, this starts off before Rukia shows up. Like before the second trimester, in school terms. Don't expect this to be super fast-paced. Saika isn't going to meet every character in the first chapter, and even though there's gonna be an IchigoxOC pairing, they aren't gonna start making out by the end of the second chapter. I will be keeping the Canon Characters as IC as I can, but if you happen to notice any OoC-ness please let me know!

Disclaimer: Fuck your disclaimer. This SITE is called fanfiction, we all know nobody owns anything except our OCs.

This is the new, edited chapter.

I stepped out of the taxi and walked around to grab my stuff out of the trunk. My mother and I had just moved to Japan and arrived at Karakura Town after leaving Tokyo Airport. Today, Mom was wearing off-white jeans that flared out a bit around the feet with a blouse that was an abstract mix of browns over a dark brown. She also wore some gold bangles on one wrist and medium-brown, sandal-like pumps with cork soles instead of a tiny little stiletto heel. I wore a gray tank, black cargo pants, and sneakers, with a studded leather cuff-let on one wrist and a watch on the other.

"Wow!" Mom exclaimed, looked forward in excitement, "It's such a lovely day! Saika-chan, we should have a picnic!"

"Right, sure," I replied sarcastically, dragging both of our luggage out of the taxi's trunk, "Right after we finish unpacking our stuff and arranging the furniture. I'm sure we'll get done in time to make the bentos and discover a suitable place to have it."

Mom looked at me with a dead-pan look on her face. "You're such a buzz-kill, you know that?"

I smirked. "Sorry to be the voice of reason, Mom." I dropped my mom's crap as soon as I hauled it out of the trunk. I swear she brought everything except the kitchen sink with her! Me? I had my backpack (containing my laptop, camera, and some books), my small carry-on bag (full of books and manga), and a large duffel back stuffed with all of my clothes. Noticing I actually had a free hand, I decided to be nice and grab one of her bags, too.

"Saika-chan, you're so strong being able to carry all of that at once!" I knew better than to take that as a compliment. "Waaaah!" she suddenly bawled dramatically, rubbing her eyes, "Why can't I have a cute daughter who doesn't pick fights like a yankee and likes shopping and make-up and cute things like thaaaat?" See, told you. Although, for the record, I normally wasn't the one picking fights, just finishing them. I walked up to the door to our new place and dropped my mom's bag on the step as a dug for the keys. Finding them, I left my mother to wallow in her self-pity as I entered the threshold, taking in my new surroundings.

I liked the place. Downstairs there was a small kitchen, a living room suitable for two people, a half bathroom and a closet. Upstairs consisted of two bedrooms and another bathroom, this one with a tub and shower.

"I call first dibs on the bedrooms!" I yelled over my shoulder, and went into the room closest to the stairs. I left the larger master bedroom for my mom, since she had more stuff than me and it had an extra window. Hey, I could be a brat sometimes, but I wasn't totally selfish... Also, my room had the fire escape attached to the window, and this was preferable for two reasons. One: It made it easier to sneak out when I wanted to. And no, not to go meet boys... Two: I wasn't familiar with the neighborhood, so if there were gonna be any creeps tryin' to sneak in through a window, it was going to be through mine. I had weapons, guts, and a helluva lot more fighting experience than my mom. She also slept like the dead no matter what. Since the furniture had yet to arrive I simply dropped my crap in the middle of the floor and walked out.

"How do you like the new place, Sweetie?"

"It's not bad," I replied.

"I'm glad then," she answered, and proceeded taking her things to her room. She knew which one I took already.

I'll bet your wondering why we moved, right? And where we're from? I'll keep it short for you; we're from the States, my mom was a nurse, decided to move to Japan -where my dad was from- and took a job teaching English. Thanks to Dad, we were both fluent in Japanese, so I didn't feel like a total fish out of water. I heard a noise outside and, looking out the open door, saw a moving truck park itself in front of the house.

"Oi, Mom! The rest of our crap's here!"

"Saika, stop talking like such a yankee!" she called back, coming down the stairs in a slight pout. We were total opposites, my mom and I. She liked cute clothes, fashion, romance novels, and almost never used slang, let alone swore. I liked comfortable clothes, food, shonen manga, almost always spoke slang to some degree or another, and didn't have a problem throwing a swear word into a sentence that needed it. She had long, wavy brown hair and pretty green eyes; I had semi-long black hair that was straight and ruggedly cut and blue eyes, courtesy of my dad.

Mom talked to one of the guys from the moving truck, and shortly after that they were hauling stuff in. Being bored with nothing better to do, I pitched in and started carrying boxes in. There weren't very many; some dishes and kitchen utensils, towels, and blankets. I stuffed them in the kitchen for the moment and went to find Mom, who was outside telling the guys where to put the furniture she had bought online.

"Hey," I said, "I'm gonna explore town for a bit, okay?" I took a map out of one of my pockets and waved it at her, as if to say 'And I won't get lost.' Not that I really needed the map; I have a good sense of direction.

"Wait, what if the men don't put your furniture where you want it?"

"Then I'll just move it," was my blunt reply, "It ain't that heavy."

"So not cute!" she exclaimed, pouting, "But fine. Just be back before your curfew, alright?"

~A short time later~

So far, my exploration of Karakura had been uneventful but still enjoyable. I found a residential neighborhood but avoided it; houses were houses, I didn't care what every single one looked like. I was more interested in finding the shops and arcades, stuff that could amuse me.

'Well,' I thought, looking up thoughtfully, 'I suppose houses would be amusing if I was scoping them out.' However, me not being a burglar, this wasn't the case.

Shortly, though, I came across a place with a rather large front yard. Well, sort of a yard; it was mostly dirt actually, with a paved path leading to the door. There was a sign above the entrance.

"Urahara Shop," I read aloud, curious. The place gave of a different vibe from all the other shops and whatnot. 'Could have something to do with its more traditional architecture, though.' Being the curious, inquisitive, and sometimes rather impulsive person that I am, I decided to investigate this Urahara Shop and started walking up toward the entrance. It was tiny compared to the buildings around it, and there was a small delivery van to the left side. The (awesome) sliding doors were wide open, and there was a guy sitting casually at the entrance waving a fan at himself. He wore a long, dark brownish-green jacket over a green, yukata-like shirt, and green pants with wooden sandals that looked like a pain in the ass to walk in. His hair was a light blond color. And he had a hat; green and white stripes. That was a cool hat. I'd steal it if I knew him better.

"Ah~!" he exclaimed happily, waving at me with aforementioned fan, "A customer? Welcome to the Urahara Shop."

My first impression? I liked him. He had a laid-back, jovial attitude. "Thanks," I replied, approaching him. "So, uh, what do you sell here?"

The man stood as I approached. "Hm?" he hummed, thoughtful. He had a really expressive face. Then he smiled again, "Ah, you must be new here! I didn't recognize you. Come in, come in!" At this he gestured with his hands a motion that almost looked like "shoo, shoo!". Despite his height (he was like six feet or something) he didn't have an overbearing presence like a lot of other really tall people could. Walking in, I found that there was a pretty diverse selection of things being sold.

"Whoa," I blurted, standing there and looking around. I probably looked stupid but hey, I don't think this guy was judging much. Immediately, the goodies section of the store caught my eye; I hadn't eaten in forever and the prices I had glanced at seemed really good.

"Let me know if I can help you with anything, Miss!" I looked up to see him take up a position behind the cash register, sitting on a stool. I sent him a smile to show I had heard him and continued looking around the store. Like I said, there was a little bit of everything in there, and since I didn't have much from the move, I decided to pick myself up some things. I had some cash on me from doing errands for neighbors back in the States that I had converted to Yen when we left. Snagging a hand basket, I grabbed a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and a hairbrush. Then, I went to find lunch. There were a lot of candies and sweet snacks, but there were some others as well. I grabbed a couple onigiri, a pack of dango with the brown sauce, and a Japanese-style pop. You know, the ones with the marble on the top? Yeah, just 'cause they're cool like that.

"Hey, is it alright if I hang out here while I eat this?"

Cool-Hat Guy looked at me as I finished setting my stuff on the little counter, again with that thoughtful look on his face. "I don't see why not!"

"Thanks."

After I paid for my things, I stepped back outside and to the side of the door, so I wouldn't be in the way, and plopped down on the pavement.

"Ittadakimasu!"

In case you don't know, here are some definitions.

Onigiri: riceball, usually has some sort of filling, and at least a thick strip of nori (dried seaweed) on it to allow one to hold it without rice sticking to their fingers. The onigiri sold in convenience stores, however, are triangular and completely encased in nori, most likely to prevent the wrapper from sticking. They taste delicious, by the way.
Dango: small, round balls of mochi (chewy substance made with rice flour), usually sold three or four on a skewer. Can sometimes be sweet, but in the case of the story, the dango gets the flavor from the brown sauce.
Ittadakimasu: this is an expression used when someone is about to eat. Something along the lines of bon appettit.
Yankee: a term used in Japan to refer to a girl that is tomboyish or a punk.