Ichigo was somewhat glad that his grandfather would be visiting more often. After his mother died, his grandfather had been the one who took him in for a few weeks and explained things properly. He hadn't know until that point about the fact that hollows existed or that they targeted those with high spiritual powers like him. Takashi had explained to Ichigo how to tell the difference between yokai, the spirits of those who were gone, and regular humans.

It had been during those weeks that Ichigo was given a crash course on yokai and the 'rules' that the exorcists had placed. Such as binding things using the true name of the yokai, or creating new life. It was less that Takashi cared about them and more like he was warning Ichigo since he had inherited the Book.

Finding his grandfather's missing cat Nyanko made Ichigo happy, even if the cat would be staying with them.

Even if the downside of learning hollows had been chasing him resulted in his father reluctantly giving Ichigo a crash course on the Soul Society and their laws.

Ichigo had initially taken karate because his best friend Tatsuki was learning, and he wanted to have some time with her. She was the only other girl in his class who could See like he could, and she even had a shiki. He had quit after his mother died, but his grandfather said learning martial arts would help later. It provided focus and made it easier for him to take down yokai and later hollows.

Stretching, he saw his new "pet" cat still lazing about on the cushion that was on his bed.

Nyanko had taken to the Kurosaki home well, even if finding out Yuzu had a bad habit of dressing things up had come as a nasty shock.

He only put up with it if no pictures were involved, and she made him extra special food for two days after. He also learned to avoid Ichigo's school, for the simple fact that Yasutora "Chad" Sado scared him. It wasn't his size, his strength or his clearly foreign origins...it was his fetish for all things cute.

Chad had the worst habit of hugging him if he came too close, and unlike Takashi's wife he couldn't escape as easily from the giant's strength. The boy was a strong as some of the bigger yokai, as he had been horrified to find out. He was a gentle giant, but still a strong one that had a love for cute things.

Takashi had laughed himself sick when he heard the news from a very amused Ichigo.

Today was the first day he returned to the karate dojo that Tatsuki practiced at regularly.

But before that...there was a yokai at the window.

"My name...return to me...my name..."

Ichigo remembered what his grandfather said. He opened the window and let the yokai inside. Then he reached into his drawer and pulled out the "Book of Friends".

Opening that, he focused on the yokai before him and waited until the appropriate page came up. Clenching the paper between his lips, Ichigo silently recited the prayer and blew.

While the blood of Reiko, his great-great grandmother was somewhat weakened, his spiritual power more than made up for the lack. The words flew out of the paper and into the yokai, as memories hit Ichigo like a brick. Good thing his grandfather had warned him about that.

Once that minor yokai had gone, Nyanko opened a single eye.

"You're as troublesome as that brat. Though your powers levels are far higher than his ever was," said the lazy feline. "I don't think even Reiko is as strong as you are."

"Really?" said Ichigo. He had only ever heard bits and pieces of his great-great grandmother.

"The amount of power you let off naturally is more than enough to make you a tasty snack for hollows. The fact you're not dead yet from that much being let off means your reserves are going to be ridiculous when you're older. And it's only going to get worse once you've had some proper training on how to channel it," said Nyanko.

The amount of energy Ichigo had was ridiculous. It could easily dwarf a minor yokai and still have plenty of power remaining. Even HE would hesitate going after the kid once he learned how to focus the power and use it, and he generally didn't think much of humans.

Shinketsu were terrifying when they were allowed to live. And that was before his mother's legacy was added into the equation.

"Ichi-nii! Nyanko-sensei! Breakfast is ready!" shouted Yuzu.

Nyanko perked up, and was out of the door (Ichigo left it open since he got the 'cat') before Ichigo had even finished getting dressed.

He was a lazy freeloader, but at the same time he was very useful. He had apparently appointed himself the "bodyguard" of the family and would check in on the twins at school regularly...mostly because it was on the way to a very well known hot spot for free liquor. It didn't hurt that unlike before, he didn't have to hide what he was except to strangers.

He sometimes lazed about on the roof in his true form, napping in the sun. It wasn't like there were a bunch of people who could see him, after all. Well except Tatsuki, but she was too busy laughing about the fact there was a large cat sleeping on their roof to care.

Takashi was watching his grandson learn how to fight. He sometimes wished he had thought of such lessons when he were younger, but it was a bit too late to learn. Not that he needed them, since he was often surrounded by yokai who knew not to mess with him.

Once he was done with his lessons, he and Karin were going to start their private ones.

Like Ichigo, she had a strong Sight, and not just her ability to see the dead. Unlike Ichigo, Karin had shown signs of being able to channel her spiritual energy...mostly through her feet. Likely because her power was much weaker than Ichigo, who had far too much.

Watching his grandson try and fail to channel his power with any degree of success, while his sister was able to eek out enough to coat her foot, Takashi realized that perhaps Ichigo was having the opposite problem Karin had.

He didn't have just enough to pull this particular trick off...he had too much.

"That's enough for today. I want you both to try and meditate before bed once your homework is done. Ichigo, I'm going to talk to someone about the issue you seem to be having to see if we can't find a solution."

Ichigo scowled. His face seemed predisposed for the expression. But he cheered up when Takashi bought them both ice cream for behaving.

Once the kids were safely back at the house, with Nyanko guarding the family, Takashi took a detour.

He normally avoided the store, mainly because of what owned the place.

Living human or not, there was something distinctly unnerving about Kisuke Urahara.

"Welcome," said 'human' girl. He didn't know WHAT she was, but she wasn't yokai. Nor was she a soul reaper. There was something incredibly empty about the child.

"Is your boss in?" asked Takashi kindly.

She nodded, before going in.

Kisuke was waiting for him.

"Well, well. I never thought to see you here, Natsume Takashi."

Takashi gave him a blank look. It didn't surprise him that the former soul reaper captain knew who he was. It was rare for him to run into anyone who didn't know who he was, or at least heard about his reputation. He was well known among the exorcist community for being sympathetic to the ayakashi, and the fact he openly ran an inn that was dedicated to a neutral ground for both exorcist and yokai.

Most were torn between awe in meeting someone with such strong power, or derision because they perceived him as 'soft' because he was friendly with yokai and wasn't ashamed of it.

At least even the Matoba clan honored his strict neutrality enough that they didn't harass the yokai that stayed in his inn. Takashi had even gone so far as to mark the boundary clearly for those with the sight to insure there would be no mistakes.

The few times one of that clan tried to pretend they hadn't noticed the boundary line, they'd run afoul of Takashi's "guard dogs". They were well known enough that they had made plenty of enemies and not just with the human side of things. There were plenty of yokai who were happy to patrol the area and kick the clan out of they tried to use any of their shiki or yokai to try and force someone past the boundary line just to seal or forcibly capture them.

And if they cried foul, well, Takashi had littered the entire boundary with cameras that monitored the land 24-7, so he had video proof they were in the wrong.

"So what can I do for the infamous Takashi?"

"I need something that can eat or contain a large amount of spiritual energy. My grandson is having trouble with your Hollows chasing after him."

"My hollows?" repeated Urahara amused.

"Don't play coy with me, soul reaper. Everyone knows hollows are the domain of your kind, not mine. My grandson's bloodline might protect him from yokai, but it hasn't done anything to deter those feral beasts."

"Might I know your grandson?"

"The entire family has a yokai bodyguard," deadpanned Takashi, not even hiding it.

"So the infamous Madara has been found again."

Takashi didn't bother to confirm or deny it. If Urahara wanted to tangle with Nyanko, that was the soul reaper's problem, not his.

"Such an item will not be cheap. And I'll need to know how much energy this kid has to make sure it doesn't break within days, if not weeks."

"He's a Shinketsu with a direct bloodline to Reiko through my daughter. And he inherited the bulk of the spiritual Sight. You don't really need any more details than that."

Urahara was silent, before his sharp gaze matched Takashi's flat one.

"He's Isshin's son, Ichigo, isn't he?"

Takashi wasn't going to confirm or deny anything. Urahara sighed, tipping his hat.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing Isshin about this eventually, once Ichigo was old enough to be told. I'll try to make something to contain or 'eat' some of the stray power Ichigo has. The fact he's related directly to you means I'll have to make it stronger and might need some yokai parts to do it."

"I can get some scraps from my guests, but I won't have any of them killed," said Takashi.

"Fair enough. But in payment I'll want three bottles of that special 'house blend'. Not the one you give your competitors, but the yokai blend."

"Deal," deadpanned Takashi. Considering he charged through the nose for his human guests to try it, four bottles was a bargain.

"By the way... I have a rumor that might interest you."

Takashi turned to face him again.

"Go on."

"There's a shinigami that's sealed in the north, on a small island in the middle of a lake. Supposedly his zanpakuto spirit has been wandering around trying to find him, and if you can get to the area you might be able to remove the sword before it goes berserk."

"You mean treating it like an item spirit, rather than a zanpakuto?"

"From what I understand this particular one had a rather dangerous power, and it would piss off the old geezers pretty good if they knew a known spiritualist like yourself had managed to get his hands on it and summoned the spirit to act as a guard against hollows."

"Dangerous how?"

"It could control the minds inside the worlds of other zanpakuto."

"This sword have a name?"

"Muramasa, according to what I've found."

"I know him. I'll ask if he'd consider living at the inn full time rather than dropping by."

Urahara's mouth dropped.

"You've seen him?"

"You forget, my inn is a known resting area for yokai, ayakashi and humans. So long as they don't break the neutrality clause, I could care less what they are. He's come by a few times since I opened. Said my inn was 'restful'."

Urahara shook his head. Natsumi Takashi was well known for being kind to all spirits. He just didn't realize it extended to homeless shinigami swords as well.

Takashi brought up the idea of Muramasa calling the inn his home when the wayward spirit wandered in a month later. His visits were becoming more frequent and for longer periods since the odd yokai (though apparently he was a zanpakuto spirit) had first discovered it. Something about the inn seemed to stabilize his soul to the point he wasn't coughing up blood for a few days.

Muramasa had given up the idea of finding his master. Unless the shinigami lead him straight to where the man was, it was unlikely he'd be able to find it without some serious luck on his side.

However as comfortable as he felt in the inn, he still like something was missing. So Takashi brought up a second option. Thanks to the fact Ichigo openly admitted hollows were chasing him, and that Nyanko occasionally went missing at the worst times, his grandchildren needed a more reliable protector. Something that would be able to deal with the hollows in a rather permanent manner, since Nyanko-sensei disliked dealing with them.

Five minutes within the range of Ichigo's rather large spiritual energy pouring out, and Muramasa's condition stabilized. While he wasn't the zanpakuto of the boy (he could sense that Ichigo already had a sword in him waiting to be released) he could still 'feed' off the teenager's power that was practically pouring out.

He chose to explain Muramasa away as Ichigo's new "shiki" to Nyanko-sensei and Isshin. Considering Muramasa could easily pretend to be a 'bound yokai', it wasn't too far a stretch and kept people from asking awkward questions.

He even had a cover story prepared if the soul reapers noticed.

Muramasa's master had been sealed, and Takashi knew his grandson was in need of something to protect him from hollows. So he offered to help bind him to Ichigo. No one would question it, because yokai would be able to tell what he really was on contact, and the soul reapers wouldn't know the difference unless someone said something to them. By which time they'd assume he was Ichigo's zanpakuto and ignore him anyway.

And, as an added bonus, Muramasa seemed adept at being able to take in large amounts of Ichigo's spiritual energy and make it easier for him to channel it properly.

It was a win-win scenario for everyone, especially when Takashi found and removed the physical representation of Muramasa without destroying the seal. Even if the most they did was hang it over the mantle in the dining room, almost like a decorative piece.