"Someone is here though, and they are powerful. Feels like that Urahara guy from yesterday."

"Ah~ so you did decide to show after all" the blond man slid close another door and approached me with a grin as he fanned himself "How wonderful~ So…"

I stared at him blankly, waiting to see if he was going anywhere with this. He remained quiet as he studied me.

"So…? You gonna say anything or just stare at me?"

"Don't be disrespectful, Nori" Kame's deep voice scolded me.

"He's a stranger though- what respect do I owe him?" I jumped as the hatted man's voice broke my concentration on what Kame was going to say.

"Can I get in on this conversation that you're having without me~?"

"Uh…" I hadn't realized that I had actually voiced my sassy question to Kame aloud in front of this stranger. But what struck me as even more odd was the fact that he didn't seem very spooked by the event.

My right eyebrow shot up to my hairline as he materialized a fan from nowhere and began to fan himself and hide his half-smirk with the object, "Come join me for some tea at the table, miss~ we can continue to talk about some important things over there as well."

He opened the rice paper door for me and gestured me through it, to which I just shrugged and walked through. Once he had closed it he led me shortly down a hallway and gestured me into another room that had some cushions lying around a wooden table. He took his seat in a relaxed position and once again materialized the fan. The table had already been set with two cups and a kettle sat in the middle.

"Please have a seat~" He eyed me through the shadows cast by his hat.

I began walking towards the opposite side of the table to another cushion when I decided to voice a question that had just come to me "Urahara, this isn't like a setup for a porn audition is it? Because if it is, I'm sorry to inform you but no I don't take the offer."

"Nori!"

His expression changed to mild shock before it morphed into him giggling pretty hard. I said nothing as I sat on my legs and folded my hands in my lap, and made sure my back was straight. I may not be the most mannered person ever, but I do know how to sit properly at least. Kame's voice continued to echo around in the back of my head however as he reprimanded me once again for how I "conduct" myself "inappropriately, like a baboon". I could hear it though; Kame was slightly entertained by my lack of a verbal filter.

Urahara began to sober up and he studied me closely "Please, call me Kisuke~ I have to say…" he trailed off.

"Ishikawa, Nori."

He smiled as he reached over to pour some steaming tea into my cup, "Well Nori, you have quite a way with words."

I looked at him dead in the eyes "Really? My great-grandmother preferred to refer to it as 'diarrhea of the mouth'".

Kisuke chuckled and set the kettle back in the middle of the table after serving himself "I suppose that's another way of describing."

Kame seemed to have given up on trying to lecture me on ways of conduct and being "appropriate". He's always known that I never really paid any attention to that sort of stuff; however, he's always persevered no matter what. I guess that seeing how laid back Kisuke was about my attitude and way of talking had mellowed him out slightly.

He hummed slightly thought as he took a sip of his tea. "So," he set the small ceramic cup back down with a slight 'thump', "this may seem a little farfetched, but the reason that Tessai and I had approached you yesterday was because you seem to have-"

"Powers? Spiritual pressure? A necklace that has an old Zanpakuto spirit in it? A blind eye?"

Kisuke froze for second them stared at me again. He seemed to be calculating me and what to do next.

"Nori, what are you doing?"

"Well you were sure he's a Soul Reaper, so what in those sentences would surprise him? I doubt I'm telling him anything too new."

Kame settled slightly at that.

"I see that you know more than we had estimated earlier…" His eyes drifted to my necklace.

It wasn't anything flashy, not by a long shot. It was merely a flat grey stone, like the ones that were good for skipping rocks on the water, and a perfectly symmetrical oval. A black ribbon was wrapped securely around it and finished as a bow on the back of my neck. I suppose Kame's home seemed rather plain to a normal person, but anyone would see upon closer inspection that there were hints of green minerals that sparkled. Get close enough and you can even feel the very energy of Kame in the stone.

I don't let people get close enough for that.

"Hmmm…" Kisuke's fanning increased "So that necklace is the key to this whole thing?"

"It's more like I was the key and the necklace was the lock."

Kisuke's smirk reappeared "Mind telling me the story?"

"Not really."

He nodded as a cue to tell me to continue. The expression on his face was utter concentration on everything I was about to say.

"My great-grandmother gave it to me."

It was silent for a minute.

"And…?" Kisuke attempted to continue me to go on.

"That's all," I lifted the cup to my lips and took a quick sip of the steaming tea inside "there's not much of a story to how I got it. It had been in my family for hundreds of years before my great-grandmother and I discovered that I was soul that Kame had been waiting for to merge his powers with" I clarified.

"Kame?"

"Yeah the Zanpakuto spirit inside is name Kame. He's cool."

"Turtle… so some sort of power to do with earth I'm guessing?"

I nodded to confirm his suspicions "Power over earth".

"Like Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender~" He grinned at his idea.

Being in the middle of a sip, tea sputtered from my mouth and I felt my right eye twitch. It was not only caused by merely Kisuke's drawn similarities to that fictional character- this new information that there was a girl named Toph that was apparently similar to me had sparked Kame's interest and all I could hear in my own head was him talking about how he needs to meet her and how we need to ask her questions about training. My fucking head was going to explode.

I could feel a vein on my forehead sticking out as I jumped to quickly correct him. "No Kisuke! Not like Toph! Okay?! And oh my god Kame, shut up! She's from a cartoon on TV!"

"And what makes you think we aren't~?" Kisuke sung as fanned himself and enjoyed some more tea.

"Well I have to admit that that was a slight disappointment."

I massaged my temple as I slammed the cup back down on the table. "Look I wasn't born with these powers like her. They're Kame's powers; I never originally had them. As I said before, I was the key and he was the lock. I unlocked his powers that I now have."

Kisuke face conveyed extreme interest in this whole thing. "How did Kame get trapped in that stone? If he was originally a Zanpakuto spirit then he should've died when his wielder died."

I listened to Kame go over the whole story again- or at least the portion he knew of- for a minute. It must've looked odd to Kisuke as I continued to 'mhm' and nod to an invisible person.

"Well" I paused to make sure I had the story in order "Kame doesn't know the entirety of what went on and he doesn't remember all of it either… from what he's told me, he had been wielded by a person who was at war with themselves. They were having choosing between the good and evils sides. Eventually, they decided that the power that Kame gave them could no longer be theirs because it wasn't safe any longer; they were afraid of what sort of damage could be done once they were consumed by their darkest desires and interests.

So… they used some sort of ancient… kido? Kame isn't sure about the specifics on that part, but he was sealed into a stone. Into the very element he controlled. Ah, there is something interesting about the whole thing though."

During the whole story and explanation Kisuke had been leaner closer and closer to the table in intent listening fashion. He reached towards the kettle to pour us both more tea, "And what's that?"

"That this person that wielded him wasn't alone. He believes that if memory serves him correctly, there had been some sort of… band of them. A group of Soul Reapers that had Zanpakuto like him. He feels that there are more stones like him of the other elements it seems."

Kisuke looked rather skeptical as whisked his tea around slightly, "There are many Soul Reapers that wield elemental Zanpakuto though."

"No," I shook my head, "He means like what he had been. A raw element Zanpakuto- like… a Zanpakuto that has complete control over an element. There's no need to call out attack names or anything, you just use your will and the Zanpakuto controls the given element."

All Kisuke had to say to that was a short 'hmmm'.

I jumped slightly as the bell in the front of the shop rung and a voice boomed through the shop.

"We're home, boss!"

"I'm just in the backroom discussing business with Miss Ishikawa, Tessai" Kisuke yelled to the front of the store "We should be done shortly, so just keep Ururu and Jinta busy for a while~"

I shifted and groaned at the feeling of my feet falling asleep. Kisuke waited until I was settled into a more comfortable position before he went on.

"I've never heard of such a Zanpakuto before, but I can't refute it either. Zanpaukto's ability greatly depends on the person that wield them, so therefore it is very possible that there could be others~ as for them being trapped in stone too… haha well that we may never know~ it would take my lifetimes to check every stone there is."

He eyed up my necklace again "Can it ever taken off?"

I shook my head and watched as his eyes lit up in attentiveness when I explained to him the whole 'this necklace and spirit are getting sucked into my body' speech.

"So in turn for his powers, you gave up your vision?"

I frowned at the way he worded, "You make it sound like I had a choice in the whole mess. It's more like I'm the only soul that he could bestow his powers up, but in order to make me understand and appreciate them properly my vision must be sacrificed."

Kisuke bobbed his head "It's all very interesting I have to say… And I also have to say that I agree~" He smiled as though he was proud of himself.

"Agree to what?"

"I agree to training you of course~" he chuckled.

"Um when did we…"

"Why question it, Nori? He's strong and he knows what he's doing. This is a great opportunity for us- and for you more importantly."

"Oh- okay then I guess."

"Great~"