"All passengers for flight 280 to Karakura please board the plane through Gate 15."

Excitement and anxiety mingled as Rukia got to her feet upon hearing the intercom announce that her flight was boarding. She took a second to straighten her light jacket and check her jean pockets one last time to make sure no small items were left behind at airport security. Then she reached down and hoisted up a heavy blue duffel bag -her carry-on luggage- over her shoulder and proceeded to follow the small horde of people emptying the waiting area at the airport gate to get onboard their respective planes.

She hurriedly finished the last of the contents in the foam cup in her hand, relishing the final jolt of caffeine in the morning, then tossed the empty container into a nearby trashcan before walking up to the relatively small line of people headed to Karakura. As she neared the flight attendant taking everyone's boarding passes, Rukia contemplated the reality of what today meant.

She was leaving. For an entire summer, Rukia was going to be away from her home in Seretei City. The idea felt terrifying and wonderful at the same time. She'd never been away for more than a couple of weeks at most; and even the few times where she was allowed off the leash, her brother still kept close tabs on her. But this time would be different, she reassured herself again.

Rukia Kuchiki was twenty years old, sister of Byakuya Kuchiki. The name might sound familiar to many, as he has been consistently featured in multiple business and media magazines, having earned his right as one of the 'World's One-hundred Most Powerful and Eligible Bachelors'. And not to get her the wrong way; Rukia loved her brother, he's the only living relative she has and it's thanks to him that she even had a home or got an education (a rather expensive one at that). But Byakuya Kuchiki was not a tolerant man, especially when it came to a little sister more than ten years younger than himself. That, combined with his generally cold persona, Rukia had grown up in a very confined and not altogether pleasant atmosphere.

But of course, Rukia still owed her brother a lot. She knew he'd given up a lot when he took her in, and she never lacked anything…materially speaking. Rukia knew he did his best, and that was enough for her. At least for some time. It had been a little over a year since Rukia had finally moved out of her brother's house; it hadn't been easy, she'd spent years working two jobs and handling her studies, but finally, her efforts had paid off. With the help of her childhood friend and roommate, Rukia managed to afford a little apartment. It was a far cry from the house that was nearly a mansion in which she'd lived before, but it was worth if for a little breath of independence. And living with her best friend -Renji, was his name- was definitely preferable to living with Byakuya. (Of course Byakuya was kept in the dark about the particulars of the living arrangements -meaning Renji and her living under the same roof-, but that was for his own good…and Renji's.)

Rukia nodded at the attendant who handed her back her boarding pass with a smile and, using a sickeningly practiced cheery voice said "Have a nice flight."

It took Rukia a few minutes longer than it should have to find her seat. Furrowing her brow, she narrowed her eyes to look at the seat number shown on her boarding pass. E15, it read. She looked up again and continued to walk down the narrow aisle of the plane, trying to ignore the annoyed mutters coming from behind her complaining about her slowness.

It wasn't her fault, she thought defensively. She'd never ridden a plane by herself, is all. Besides, the few times she had been on a plane, it had been strictly first class and completely different from this. For the first time, Rukia wondered if she shouldn't have argued against Byakuya in her decision to travel more economically.

After almost five stressful minutes, Rukia looked up to see E14 E15 displayed above two empty window seats. She ran a hand through her raven hair to push some of the rebellious strands behind her ear, before letting out a small groan of dissatisfaction at seeing her view was of the majestic…wing.

Rukia slid her duffel bag off her shoulder and began the process of hoisting it over her head and into the carriage compartment. The task proved rather difficult, as the bag seemed to be just a little too large to fit in comfortably, and the weight of it was making it exceedingly hard for her to keep it above her for long.

Damn I should have spent more time at the gym. Rukia thought miserably with a growl as she tried and failed once again to stuff the bag in its place. Just as she thought the bag was going to finally cooperate, she felt the objects inside it shift slightly, making the weight appear to double on her already-shaky arms. Desperately trying to keep the bag -with all its delicate contents- from falling, she clutched it with all her might; unfortunately, the weight and the bag's momentum proved to be too much for her and she found herself loosing her balance and falling backwards.

Her eyes automatically closed as she braced herself for the impact…but it never came.

"Huh?" she asked aloud, opening her eyes to see that someone had caught the bag on the other side just in time, keeping it up against the compartment with both hands. Rukia realized she escaped the fall because she was holding onto the bag for dear life. Realizing this, she quickly straightened herself up and, together with the other person whose face she couldn't see behind the bag, pushed the duffel up and forced it to fit in the compartment.

Rukia was huffing and she glared at the troublesome bag before turning to see the person who'd helped her. She was surprised to see it was a girl, probably not much older than herself, who was smiling as she playfully dusted off her hands and said "Phew! That was some heavy bag! I bet you have all kinds of weird stuff in there!"

Choosing to ignore the last remark, Rukia looked at the girl and said, "Thanks for the help. I lost my balance there and, well…" she looked away as an embarrassed blush threatened to cover her cheeks; she tried covering it up with a cough.

The girl didn't seem to notice, and she just smiled more widely and said, "No problem at all! Stuff like that happens to me all the time, I'm so clumsy!" The girl said dramatically. "I'm Orihime Inoue, by the way." The girl said, her brown eyes wide and friendly as she extended her hand, which Rukia promptly took and proceeded to introduce herself.

"Nice to meet you, Rukia." The girl, Orihime said in a refreshingly sincere voice. She went on to talk about how the other day she had been at the grocery store, getting a fresh supply of red bean paste (what on earth did she need bean paste for?) and as she had been reaching for the upper shelf, she tripped over a small wet area of the floor, and then an employee rushed to help her, but as he started to help her up, he tripped over the same spot and wound up falling as well…

Rukia tried to keep up as the girl went on to chatter a mile a minute.

Orihime had long, dark orange hair that was held back by two aqua flower pins on either side of the girl's heart shaped face. She was taller than Rukia -but then again, who wasn't?- and was wearing a flower printed skirt that went down below her knees, with a sleeveless white shirt. Rukia couldn't help but notice, Orihime was rather…endowed in her assets, which tended to bounce slightly as she started getting more energetic in her stories.

She seemed nice, though. Not the type of person Rukia was used to, that's for sure, but she thought she could get along with her. Orihime's rapid and seemingly endless chatter didn't require Rukia to put a lot into the conversation, which was a good thing, as her mind was rather occupied at the moment.

"-and then the manager showed up, saying that- Oh! You're in E15?" Orihime paused her tale to ask this as Rukia began to slide into her seat.

Pausing to check her ticket for the hundredth time just in case, Rukia looked back up and said "Yeah, I am."

Orihime bit her lower lip and her childlike eyes looked up at Rukia sheepishly. "Would you mind switching seats with me? I'm E14, but I usually sit on the window seat, otherwise I get sick and then I have to-"

Rukia interrupted before the orange-head launched into a fuller explanation. "It's okay, I don't mind."

"Thank you, Rukia!" The petite raven-head didn't have a chance to reply as she was engulfed in a breathtaking hug by the cheerful brown-eyed girl.

"Mmmffl!"

"What? Oh, sorry!" Sweet relief filled Rukia as once again oxygen filled her lungs. "Thanks again, Rukia!"

"Don't mention it." she said, laughing shakily as she tested her arms for feeling before taking her -Orihime's- seat. Orihime might look inoffensive and friendly, but she could probably strangle a bear if she wanted to.

Rukia listened to Orihime's excited chatter for most of the flight, tuning her out a few times when the girl got overly carried away or her own thoughts whirled her away.

The flight to Karakura was eight hours long -a killer pain in the back-, during which Rukia had plenty of time to mull over the possibilities this summer would offer for her.

Two months -two whole months- away from Seretei; away from Byakuya, away from everything. Just her and her camera. She'd been planning this for years, having started to save up even before she began saving to move out of her house. She'd known this was what she wanted, and now that it was finally there, just a couple more hours away…

The main purpose of the trip was, of course, business (otherwise Byakuya would have never approved). Rukia would graduate college in another year approximately; she was majoring in photography. Her choice of career had been…questioned, to say the least, by her elder brother, but she had known what she'd wanted. It hadn't been easy convincing Byakuya to allow her to pursue that dream, but in the end, they both knew it was Rukia's decision, and she had her heart set on photography. In the end, she'd finally convinced Byakuya to let her major in photography, with the condition that she do a minor in Business. To say the last three years had been arduous was the understatement of the century, but Rukia didn't regret it once. She would do all it took. This summer would be no exception.

See, Rukia had always loved photography, that was undisputable; but when she began pursuing it as a career and began practicing it, she quickly realized she was missing one important detail: Inspiration.

As much as Rukia tried, she could never quite capture something she was truly proud of in Seretei. She tried people, scenery, weather, animals, -hell! She'd even taken pictures of traffic. But though the pictures were good and undeniably artistic…something was lacking. At least, that's what her late mentor and friend, Kaien Shiba was his name, had told her once.

That's where Karakura came in. Karakura was a small town in which Rukia had been born. She didn't actually remember anything about the place, and only knew that was where she came from due to one of her brother's rare explanations of her past. So, why go to Karakura of all places? The place wasn't exactly known for its scenic beauty or its thriving culture, and it wasn't likely to be brewing with opportunities for a young photographer…

The reason why she chose Karakura then? She wanted a fresh start. What better place to get a fresh start than the place where you were born? Rukia wanted to start over, and she thought this would be the perfect place. She wanted to go back to her origins in search of something. What that something was, she didn't know. All she knew was that it was what she needed to get true inspiration; and she felt in her heart that Karakura was the right place to look for it.

Rukia realized then how much she had relaxed since first getting on the plane. Whether it was thanks to Orihime, or by her own inner musings, she felt a lot better about this now.

She heard the pilot announce the plane would be landing in approximately fifteen minutes.

Rukia looked down and noticed that Orihime had dozed off on her shoulder at some point. Instead of being freaked out, Rukia actually felt some fondness as she looked at the sleeping girl. She almost felt bad when she gently shook the other girl's shoulder to wake her up.

"THE PIRATE-EATING ROBOTS SHOOTING LASERBEAMS ARE HERE!"

If Rukia hadn't been buckled in her seat, she would have jumped back a mile after Orihime snapped awake and yelled out.

"Err…Sorry to wake you, the…umm, plane is landing…"

Twenty minutes later, Orihime and Rukia joined the rest of the passengers and exited the plane, the latter with her heavy duffel bag in tow. The two made their way to the baggage claim, Rukia receiving the last of her luggage shortly after Orihime, and continued their way out of the airport.

Thanks to the time change, it was just past noon when they arrived at Karakura. As Rukia stepped out of the air-conditioned gates of the airport, she was struck with a wave of hot air that slapped her like a ton of bricks. Almost automatically, she shrugged off her jacket and tied the sleeves around her waist to keep it in place as she continued to roll her two oversized bags over the pavement.

She took a moment to glance around. Yellow cabs were lined up right outside, and buses leading to various different places announced on their sides waited a little off the side. Dozens of cars sat still in the heavy traffic caused by all the people come to pick up someone. Rukia even spotted a couple of limousines at some distance, her gaze lingering on them with some nostalgia, knowing that if she hadn't been so stubborn, she could have one just like it waiting for her at the moment. Shaking the thought out of her head, she focused on the many cabs, trying to decide which one to get on. Would it make a difference? Maybe she should have done a little more research before heading here…

She was about to ask Orihime about her current predicament, when the orange-haired girl spoke. "So Rukia, how long will you be visiting Karakura?"

"Oh, the rest of the summer. About two months I guess." Rukia answered, not immediately registering the look of glee that settled on the other girl's face.

"That's wonderful! All summer? Wow!" Orihime exclaimed, her huge smile splitting her face. "We'll have so much fun! I wonder what we should do first…" she trailed off and put a finger on her chin and pouted as she thought.

"How long are you staying?" Rukia asked now, curious at the girl's reaction.

"Me?" Orihime pointed to herself for emphasis. "Oh, I live here!" she clarified.

At this, Rukia's eyes widen in comprehension. "Oh! I just thought, sorry-"

"That's alright." Orihime waved around her hand dismissively, her smile already returning with ease. "I can show you around sometime, if you want." she said, a bit more calmly now.

Rukia nodded and even offered her a smile. "That would be great." she said honestly. What better way to start looking for whatever the hell it was she was looking than to have someone personally take her around town? It was perfect.

"Alright!" the busty girl exclaimed as if she had just gotten the answer to a particularly difficult question. "You're not doing anything tomorrow, right?" Without waiting for Rukia to answer, she went on. "Why don't you come over to the coffee shop I work at? I have to work there tomorrow but my shift ends at noon. You can come over then. We'll meet and then we can go out and do all sorts of fun stuff!"

Orihime's excitement was a bit overwhelming, especially for Rukia, who was used to her stoic emotionless brother, but it was strangely comforting in this new, unknown place. And tomorrow was pretty sudden but, heck! Why not get a head start? Rukia accepted Orihime's offer to meet at the coffee shop she mentioned, and Orihime quickly produced a pen (Rukia wasn't quite sure where exactly from) and scribbled a phone number on Rukia's palm. She promised to call Orihime later that night after she was all settled in her motel, and she would then give Rukia the directions for the coffee shop.

After that, Orihime spotted the car in which a friend of hers had come to pick her up. She climbed into the passenger side, keeping half her body out of the open window to wave at Rukia one last time and make her promise to call again. Rukia did so, then smiled and waved at the retreating car, before staring down at the hastily written numbers on her open palm.

'Well, Rukia. Not a bad start.' she thought, pleased with herself. It looked like coming to Karakura really was the right decision.

A honk alerted her to a different matter at hand. Looking at all the different cabs and buses, Rukia groaned as she realized she forgot to ask Orihime which one she should get on.

Now the real first challenge of her independence began: learning how to use public transportation.

A/N: I just uploaded the revised version for this chapter, so yeah. Enjoy, review, you know the drill :)