A/N: I advise against reading this story at full width. Also, any and all pointing out of errors will be recieved with gratitude.

After much contemplation, a whole lot of arguing, and a minor fight between father and son, it had been determined that the Kurosaki household was going on vacation. In fact, they were not only going hiking this time; they were actually going abroad. And of all the places in the world they could have gone to, their destination was New York.
Yuzu was delighted, of course, but her two siblings failed to see what all the excitement was about. Both of them worried that something would happen while they were gone (of the bad, spiritual variety), but had been somewhat appeased by some people they knew (Urahara) pointing out that when something of the sort happened around Karakura, one Ichigo Kurosaki was literally always in the middle of it (and a little too often he was the cause of it, too), so surely nothing strange would happen in his absence, at least not on a scale any bigger than what the remaining residents could handle. Isshin, of course, refrained from sharing in his children's voicing of their concerns out loud, but he did have them, none the less. Unlike them, though, he had much stronger faith in his old acquaintance and friends' abilities to handle the situation well. And his children deserved, and more importantly needed to have some time of, and if Isshin was sure of one fact, it was that they would only be able to get that if they were to go away from Karakura completely. So, practical man as he was, that was what he made them do. With his own personal supervision, of course.

The mad scrambling for belongings and appropriate ways to pack them (suitcases, which they did eventually have a sufficient number of for the trip) was nothing if not expected, with less than a week between planning the trip and actually executing it. It still caused the family of four to give the outwards appearance of being utterly unprepared (which, save for one, they were) the moment when the taxi driver pulled up to their home to pick them up.
Isshin had, of course had the forethought to check and prepare all their passports. And if Urahara had been responsible for procuring those passports? Then no one would be the wiser anyway, and it really was simpler this way. Not to mention it saved a whole lot of time.

"Are you for real?!" This exclamation belonged to Karin Kurosaki, who had just been told that she wouldn't be able to bring her drink aboard the plane.
"I'm sorry, young miss, but that is the security protocol, it's the same for everyone. If you wish, you can buy a new drink on the other side of the security check before boarding." Ichigo had to hand it to the lady, she sure knew how to stay calm and patient even faced with unreasonable kids (and teenagers). A short "Che" was the only response Karin cared to dignify her with, and her older brother just sighed quietly as he nodded to the security woman, and silently hoped that their father wouldn't make a fool of himself before, during or after their trip. It was probably far too much to wish for, but he could still hope.
Long hours later, their plane finally approached landing at a New York airport. All four Kurosakis were a little tired from the flight, not least due to the cramped space and very limited opportunities for movement. At least three out of four were very likely to take their first bout of sightseeing at a sprint, just to loosen up some stiff, cramped muscles.

Steve was on the second round of his daily morning run when he first spotted the kid. At first, his only reaction was mild surprise at seeing one of those bright-haired kids being so enthusiastic about working out; he hadn't really seen those two as traits that often combined, but as the boy got closer, he also noticed what kind of speed he was running at. Honestly, it was a little odd that he had noticed the teen at all, given the focus he had on the task at hand when working out, and the only person he was accustomed to interacting with was his regular jogging buddy, whom he tapped on the arm each time he passed him by.
High speed or not, Steve didn't really take note of the teen before, a half-minute after the fourth tap on his friend's arm, he felt a tap on his own, followed shortly by an orange blur on his left that turned into the back of a young man racing forwards with long, springy steps. In that moment, he felt a brief sensation of what it must be like to be Sam when he himself passed him by, and it was the strangest thing. Almost like second-hand deja-vu.
This time, when Steve finally stopped running, he was more than a little more out of breath than usual. Sam Wilson was sitting under a tree looking up at him, still breathing heavily himself. They both looked up as, shortly after Rogers, the orange haired teenager stopped beside them, leaning forward with his hands on his knees and evidently trying to catch his breath as well. A little incredulously, Wilson noted that the boy was wearing a t-shirt, and jeans. How the hell did he run like that in jeans of all things? What sane person even tried something like that, anyways? This kid was coming up one big enigma.

After the Kurosaki family had safely arrived at their hotel, they had in fact decided on a walk through the city to wake up their minds and bodies after the long flight, but seeing as there was decidedly a large gap between them concerning how much energy they needed to exert (Ichigo was definitely the one with the highest output, followed by Isshin, then Karin, and finally Yuzu, who was quite content with walking and sightseeing), they decided to split up, and as a result, they ended up going in three different directions, Karin and Yuzu staying together as the former rationalised she could always make use of the hotel's gym later if she needed a workout, and the latter really was much more comfortable having at least her twin sister by her side in a foreign city.
The two men in the family had both run off the moment there was an agreement that such a thing was acceptable, but it didn't take long for Ichigo to find out he wanted to ditch his father the first chance he got. He got enough of that overenthusiastic attitude back home, thank you very much. And besides, the old goat would probably be winded after a few miles and try to insist that Ichigo wait for him to catch his breath or something annoying like that. Not that the man didn't manage to be completely obnoxious no matter what.
So Ichigo was running by himself, and was quite enjoying it, along with the keen awareness of his surroundings that he needed to maintain in order to not get lost in this completely foreign place. It felt good to be aware that he was keeping himself sharp, if in a very mundane way. However, his train of thought was derailed when he spotted someone else also out on a morning jog. This guy was tall with muscular build, and appeared to be in a hurry, if his speed was anything to go by. However, that didn't quite seem right either, with the way he interacted with another morning jogger. Having observed from a distance for a while (and circled just about all the building blocks in the vicinity), Ichigo decided to have some fun with them. So, the next time their paths coincided, he broke from his "trail" and sauntered past the tall blond one in much the same fashion that same man had passed what he assumed to be his friend. It brought a small, unexpected rush with it, and Ichigo found himself smiling, and enjoying himself far more than he thought he would.

His competitive nature did not allow him to give away any ground, and by the time they were finished running – naturally, he could not stop before either of them – he felt pretty winded. He counted it for a victory that the two others did not appear any less so, though, and felt a victorious grin fight its way onto his face. He had run two whole rounds more than the tall blond one, who looked like he didn't usually have competition.
The other guy – he hadn't had the time, or catched his breath enough to ask for either of their names – looked over at the both of them with incredulity from where he was sitting under a tree, well on his way to catching his own breath, but not quite there yet. At that point, Ichigo himself only had enough composure to shoot a glance over at the taller man and flash him a toothy half smirk that spoke of the exertion he had just put himself through, and didn't yet quite notice the third presence looking at them both. The flash of teeth was quickly returned, followed by an extended hand and an adjacent introduction.

"Steve Rogers," was said with a minute inclination of the head. For a short moment, the teenager just stared. Then he suddenly recalled that he was supposed to reply in kind, and promptly did so.

"Ah, Kuros- ah, no, Ichigo Kurosaki," he quickly corrected himself, while distractedly scratching the back of his head, making himself look all the more awkward due to simultaneously making a small bow to accompany his introduction. When it became clear that he wasn't going to take the offered hand, it was slowly lowered, and Steve gave a short nod of his own in return in stead. By that time, Wilson had had the time to collect himself somewhat, and picked himself up off the ground to join the meet and greet in front of him.

"Sam Wilson here," he introduced himself, momentarily forgetting about Steve's recent failure and extending his hand to the newcomer, just to retract it a moment later when he remembered. "I don't suppose you noticed me when you were flying past here earlier?" he added rhetorically, having noticed that the main part of the boy's focus had been on his taller, blonder friend when he came rushing by – not that he'd been paying attention, mind. Just an observation.

"Ah, yes, I did, I just did not have the time to say hi, is all," came the retort from Ichigo, whose accent was gradually making itself more pronounced. A short pause, then; "I did not mean to be rude." The slightly awkward looking half-smile made it seem like outright smiling wasn't really something this kid did all that much. The hand was also back up behind his head, like some kind of subconscious gesture of awkwardness. "You are quite fast, I am impressed," Ichigo said to Wilson, after a short pause and having let his hand drop back down to his side. While he himself had managed to outrun the man, he could tell quite easily that for a normal human his performance was well above average. Wilson himself did not seem to agree though.

"Sure doesn't feel like that when the two of you leave me in the dust like that. I'm also not so sure how I'm gonna take that compliment of yours when you outperform me in such a way. Thanks anyway, though." He was trying to keep his tone light, in an attempt to curb any negative feeling before it could form, because Captain America? That was one thing, but a teenager he was totally clueless about? That was something totally different, and he was almost sure he didn't like it. Never mind the kid had the same look in his eyes as the two of them; like he'd been to war. Now, he wasn't completely sure, but at least pretty certain that Japan (that was where he thought he was from, at least) didn't have a standing army, and even if it did, this kid couldn't possibly be old enough to join, and that only left unpleasant alternatives, really.
For a moment he wondered if he had overdone it with the self-deprecation, after a short spell of silence, and- Yep, there was the awkward hand gesture, all right. It made Sam momentarily wonder if this guy lived in an anime, or if Japanese people actually acted like that. (He had a feeling they did.) This kid sure made it feel that way. "Eheh, I need to stretch my legs after the plane," Ichigo said by way of explanation, obviously not catching on to the fact that that wasn't really a viable excuse for outrunning a literal superhuman. The comment did apparently pique Steve's curiosity, though.
"If you don't mind me asking; where're you from?" the supersoldier asked, while looking at the teenager in interest.
Again, the first response was body language speaking of awkwardness, but this time subdued, and quickly followed by a verbal response. "Karakura, Tokyo. You probably didn't hear of it, is a small town. You live here?" the return question was obviously directed at them both, and Sam and Steve exchanged a quick glance before answering.
"If by 'here' you mean New York, then yeah, we're from around," came the reply, from the one Ichigo remembered presenting himself as Rogers. "Isn't it a bit early to be out running, though? I mean, you did just arrive here, isn't that right? Shouldn't you be back at the hotel sleeping off the jet lag or something?" he further enquired, pointing to the fact that it was still rather early for most people to be up and about.
"Ah, no. I needed to stretch my legs for a bit, the rest of my family also. I am not so sleepy, more restless. My sisters will probably be walking around for a while longer, so no one important is going to miss me. Do you plan to work out more? I could use some more exercise, if you allow me to join you."

The visibly astonished faces of his two new acquaintances did not seem to deter the teen at all, though on the inside his hopes for positive response dwindled. However, at the same time that Wilson started to slowly shake his head, Rogers – just as slowly – started to nod his. He met Wilson's look of disbelief with a steady gaze that reassured him that he would not be involuntarily dragged into this.
"I do have an idea that I think might work," the supersoldier divulged, finding the idea of getting to know this boy better more than a little compelling. He was, after all, not used to being outdone physically the way he just had been.

Surprise as well as delight lit up the face of the Kurosaki boy; surprise at the positive response, and delight at being able to (hopefully) get a proper workout. With friends, no less.