Sombra followed Kisuke Urahara towards the shop that was in front of them, though as he did so he still had no idea why the strange void-like passage had brought him here, especially when he had no knowledge or memory of this place and it's owner. He fell back to his reasoning as to why he was following Kisuke, as he seemed to be the only person that might be able to help him regain his memories, but he wasn't sure if that was because he had no one else to return to or if he didn't want to be alone at the moment. In the end he pushed that thought to the back of his mind and stared at the Urahara Shop for a few seconds, finding that it was a two story building, with what appeared to be a single entrance that had a metallic gate that could be lowered in front of it, and a strange vehicle that rested in the alleyway to his left. He didn't have long to ponder the reason why Kisuke had such a thing on his property, as the man opened the door to his shop and beckoned for Sombra to follow... though as he entered the small shop Kisuke closed the door behind him and walked towards the back of the room.
Thanks to the lighting Sombra was able to tell that there were a number of jars and containers on both his left side and his right side, though he wasn't sure what each of them were filled with and why Kisuke had so many of them, but as he turned his gaze towards the man he found that he was sitting on the floor near the back of the room... or, upon closer inspection, the raised section of the floor that looked like it connected to a number of other rooms and some stairs.
"Manager, is something wrong?" a strong voice said, to which Sombra watched as the screen door behind Kisuke moved to the side and revealed who was standing behind it, or rather the trio of people that happened to be in another room of the shop.
From what Sombra could tell the voice he had heard must have belonged to the tall person that was standing directly behind Kisuke, though based on the fact that the person's body had some muscles it, and happened to be lightly tan colored, he guessed the person was a man like Kisuke, which was how he was able to make the connection. The man's hair was cut in a strange fashion, though Sombra only found it strange since he remembered nothing, and he had a large handlebar mustache, which was connected to his long sideburns. Sombra could also tell that the man also wore a pair of rectangular-shaped glasses, while at the same time his attire consisted of a white muscle shirt with regular pants and a blue apron. Just looking at the man made Sombra think that this was Kisuke's right hand in his business, though that made him wonder if they had problems with customers or something to need a muscular person working there at all times, but he said nothing as he focused on the two smaller individuals that were standing beside the man.
One of them happened to be what Sombra assumed was a small boy with red hair, though the boy was wearing a white t-shirt, with what Sombra guessed was the Urahara Shop logo printed on the front, and a pair of blue three-quarter length trousers, where he noticed that the bottoms of which are noticeably turned up. The other small individual was a young-looking girl with a perpetual blush on her cheeks, who happened to be wearing the same t-shirt that the boy was wearing, suggesting it was a uniform of some kind, though she also wore a knee-length, pink skirt with white dots. Sombra further noted that the girl had round purple eyes and long, black hair with a purple tint, though her hair was parted down the middle with two strands of her bangs handing in the middle of her face, opposing each other, while the rest of her hair was done up in pigtails with pink ties. He wasn't sure if they were related in some manner or if they were just fellow employees, but he had the feeling that there was some sort of connection between them, though he guessed that time would tell him the answer.
He would have thought that those three were the only people he would see before Kisuke said anything, though as soon as that thought entered his mind he spotted a small black cat that happened to be staring at him... but in a way that made it seem like the cat was trying to stare him to death or something.
"Everything is fine Tessai. Just had an unexpected arrival, that's all." Kisuke said, though at the same time he opened his fan and hid his mouth behind it, almost like he didn't like people seeing his mouth move or something like that nature, before he turned towards the entrance and looked at Sombra, "Everyone, this is Sombra, a lost soul that found his way to our doorstep just a few minutes ago. Sombra, allow me to introduce Tessai Tsukabishi, Jinta Hanakari, Ururu Tsumugiya, and Yoruichi."
"It's, um, nice to meet all of you." Sombra said, as when he had been told he was going to meet the others people that worked with Kisuke he assumed that it would be a while before that happened, instead of immediately entering the shop like this, though at the same time he wondered what was up with the cat.
"A 'lost soul'?" the young boy, Jinta if Sombra was remembering things correctly, asked, almost as if he either found that fact funny or was annoyed with it, while at the same time Sombra noticed that Kisuke's eyes flickered to the boy for a moment, though why he had no idea, "Well, you're right about the lost part, as he looks like he's in shock over seeing all this candy and meeting new people at the same time... like he's never done this before."
"That's because this is all new to him," Kisuke replied, causing Jinta to turn and look at him for a moment, while at the same time Tessai and Yoruichi seemed to focus their attention on Sombra, where he happened to glance up at Sombra as well, "Do you mind if I tell them? Or would you like to do the honors?"
"Go right ahead," Sombra answered, as he wanted to see what Kisuke said about him, especially since he knew so little about who and what he was, as the shopkeeper seemed to have an understanding of an Arrancar, whatever that was supposed to be.
"As you wish." Kisuke commented, to which he closed his fan for a moment and looked at both Jinta and Ururu, while at the same time Sombra suspected that he was also directing this to Tessai and Yoruichi, "I'm sad to say that the reason Sombra might in shock over seeing new things, along with meeting new people, is because he's lost all of his memories... save for his own name."
"He... lost all his memories?" Jinta inquired, though his tone suggested that he either didn't believe the statement, or if he did believe it he was making it seem like he didn't care either way, while at the same time he kept his attention on Kisuke, as if there was something that he was looking for, "How does someone just lose all of their memories?"
"Well, if we knew that we'd be able to start formulating a plan to help him recovery what he's lost." Kisuke said, causing Tessai to nod his head, as he understood what his boss, as Sombra guessed that had to be the relationship between the two of them, happened to be talking about, while he to a moment to wink at Jinta once, "I already have some ideas on how we can assist him in the recovery process, though in the meantime he'll be helping us around the shop in return. Jinta, Ururu, why don't the two of you show him around the shop and let him get better acquainted with where everything is located."
Sombra guessed that if he was going to be helping Kisuke out, once they came to an arrangement on how he was going to help him recover his memories, or at the very least try everything that he came up with, he needed to know the layout of the shop. As such he turned towards Jinta and Ururu and followed after them, since they knew where everything in the shop was located, leaving Kisuke behind with Tessai and Yoruichi, to do whatever it was that they normally did when the shop wasn't busy like this. The three of them stood there for a few moments, where Kisuke watched as the children took their new guest upstairs, before turning his head towards Tessai and nodded just a tiny bit, to which the two of them, accompanied by Yoruichi, headed into a completely different room. From there Tessai revealed the ladder that allowed them to access the special training area that he had constructed beneath the shop, which was just a large room with a seemingly desolate landscape and a number of dead trees and rocks.
It was the perfect place for the three of them to speak to each other for a few minutes, as Jinta seemed to take the hint that there was something he needed to discuss with Tessai and Yoruichi, so it was safe to assume that, unless a customer arrived in the next few minutes, they would be uninterrupted for the time being.
"I'm sure the two of you noticed what Sombra was, even if Jinta and Ururu didn't." Kisuke commented, where he pulled out his fan again, though this time around he simply tapped the side of it against the cane that he was carrying, while he looked at his friends.
"Yes. He's an Arrancar." Yoruichi remarked, speaking with a distinctive male voice that would have caused any normal person to do a double take, but since both Kisuke and Tessai were used to it, as they had been given a good number of years to do so, neither of them made a big deal about the voice, "Are you sure that it was a smart move allowing him to come here and work with the others, while you try to 'find' his lost memories?"
"Of course I'm sure." Kisuke said, as Yoruichi was the only one that really said anything about his plans or whatever he happened to be thinking about, and happened to be doing the same thing with his thoughts on Sombra, "I told Sombra that he had a decent amount of reishi in his body, and that wasn't a lie, but when I felt it I couldn't detect the usual sinister feeling that comes with an Arrancar's reishi. If he came here, with that type of reishi, Ururu would have gone crazy and attacked him the moment he stepped out of his garganta, but his power is extremely weak at the moment, so much so that neither Jinta or Ururu were able to detect him... and that means that Soul Society doesn't know that there's a fully developed Arrancar hanging out in Karakura Town."
"Sooner or later his power will grow, regardless of whether it's because we aided him or not," Tessai added, as he had been thinking about that since the moment Sombra walked into the shop with the manager, while at the same time there was something specific he had noticed that the Arrancar was missing, 'What happened to his Zanpakuto?"
"From what I can gather he lost it inside Hueco Mundo," Kisuke replied, thinking back to what he had learned from Sombra in the first few minutes they had known each other, especially what Sombra was missing, "When I made the comment about his weapon, among other things, he said he had no idea what I was talking about and the look in his eyes told me he wasn't lying. He truly has no idea what he is, just like he has no idea where Hueco Mundo is located or where this shop happens to reside, and he especially has no idea who he used to be... his memories are gone, that's the simple truth, though how they went missing is the mystery."
"Another part of this mystery is his appearance," Yoruichi spoke up, because there were some parts of Sombra's appearance that were strange, even for an Arrancar, to which both Kisuke and Tessai nodded their heads for a moment, indicating they had seen it as well, "his ears, legs, and tail are unusual, even for an Arrancar... and that's not counting that curved horn of his."
"I'm sure that the nature of why he looks that way will reveal itself to him, and to us, in due time," Kisuke said, to which he turned his eyes towards Tessai for a few seconds, as there was one thing he knew they had that could put put to use, once they started assisting Sombra in his recovery, "Tessai, do we still have that spare katana that Yoruichi found some time ago?"
Kisuke was sure that the weapon in question was a Asauchi, the weapon that belonged to a low ranking Shinigami, but at the same time he had to wonder why such an important weapon had been discarded in such a manner, as it's previous owner was nowhere in sight. They had been lucky to recover such a weapon, as there was no telling what an ordinary hollow would have done with the weapon, though it wasn't the only one the cat had found, as a second one had been spotted sometime after the one they recovered. Yoruichi stayed away from the second one, as the Shinigami had come to claim the body of one of their dead comrades and took the body, along with the weapon, back to Soul Society, though so far no one had come looking for the first weapon they had recovered. Originally he had been planning on keeping it safe, until he found a way to give it to Soul Society without them accusing him and his associates of killing the Shinigami in question... but, since they still had the weapon, it might be useful for Sombra to carry it for now, especially since he wouldn't be able to create a Zanpakuto spirit since his power was tied to his lost weapon.
"Yes, it is resting in the drawer you put it in when Yoruichi brought it back," Tessai replied, though he was interested in what the store owner had planned for both Sombra and the weapon, a plan that would likely be revealed at some point in the future, "Shall I present it to him now, or should I wait for now?"
"Let's give him a few days before giving him the weapon," Kisuke said, as he wasn't planning on sending Sombra out to do anything dangerous, especially when he had just lost his memories and had no idea who he was anymore, though he suspected that it also applied to his combat skills as well, "In exchange for us helping him recover his memories, if such a thing is possible, he's agreed to help run some errands, though someone will need to show him the ropes and make sure that he knows what to do."
"And how would he be able to run these 'errands' you haven't told him the specifics of?" Yoruichi asked, to which a smile appeared on the cat's face, causing Kisuke to moan as he realized that he forgot something important when he first encountered Sombra, "I don't think an Arrancar can use a gigai like a Shinigami can. That will make it hard for him to interact with everything around the shop, not without making customers wonder if there's a ghost or something inside the shop... and might draw unnecessary attention in the process."
Kisuke had to admit that he hadn't thought about that when he first met Sombra, as he had been focused on the fact that an Arrancar had arrived outside his shop, by using a garganta no less, without any memories and was missing what was supposed to be the seat of his power. Now that he thought about it he realized that there was no way of telling whether or not an Arrancar could use a gigai, but right now it appeared that he needed to clarify something with Sombra, to which he nodded his head and headed back up the ladder they had used to get down into the training grounds. Once all of them were back up in the shop, and the entrance to the underground area was covered once more, they walked out of the room that they were in and sought out Sombra, Jinta, and Ururu, though it was rather easy to find the three of them since the front door was open. Kisuke kept the sigh inside him when he found Jinta picking on Ururu again, why he didn't want to know this time around, and found that Sombra was trying to stop it from happening, though it appeared that Jinta was ignoring him as well.
As it turned out Ururu had pointed out to Sombra that Karakura Town, informing him of where they were located, was full of a variety of people, which had prompted Jinta to declare that some people were too nice for their own good, some acted like doormats for others, and a fair number of them were bullies... despite the fact that he heard of an orange haired boy picking on the bullies that were occasionally desecrating the graves of those that had recently died. It was in that moment that Kisuke spotted the last customer of the day, as he had one last appointment before the shop was supposed to close, walking over to where they were standing. Despite the fact that the person looked like a high school student, as he happened to be wearing the attire from a nearby school, and on top of that he wore a long coat and a newsboy cap, all designed to make it harder for people to tell who he was, even though Kisuke and the others knew both him and his associates at this point.
"Ah, Mr. Hirako, you're right on time," Kisuke said, to which both Jinta and Ururu stopped fighting for a moment, as they both knew it wasn't good to do so in front of a customer, even one they were used to seeing, before noticing that the young man in question barely glanced at Sombra, playing the part he usually played when he came here, "If you would follow me inside we'll get the transaction complete and let you be on your way with your delivery."
Sombra watched as Kisuke and Tessai led the young man inside the shop and closed the door behind them, though what struck him as odd was the fact that he had seen the person glance at Jinta and Ururu, confirming that he must come here every so often for items, but he paid no attention to him at all... almost like he was invisible for some reason.
"Is it normal for customers to ignore people?" Sombra asked, as he wasn't sure what was going on at the moment, but he was sure that either Jinta or Ururu would be able to tell him something about why the young man had ignored him like he wasn't even there.
"No, not really." Jinta replied, as most of the customers he had seen always interacted with him and Ururu in some manner, or with Tessai and even Yoruichi when the cat was around, though he also knew why the person in question would have done that, "Besides, for someone like Mr. Hirako, ignoring you would have been impossible... he's one of the few people that Mr. Kisuke orders things for that can see spirits, ghosts, and people like you."
"People like me?" Sombra inquired, as that really didn't make much sense to him, mostly because of his missing memories, so he was hoping that Jinta had a better explanation than what he gave him, "What exactly do you mean by 'people like me'?"
"Well, people like Mr. Hirako can see the souls of the dead," Jinta answered, where he then remembered that he was talking with someone that had lost their memories and had no idea what he was talking about, to which he sighed and picked up the discarded broom he had been carrying earlier, "Look, just forget about it for now. I'm sure that Mr. Kisuke will tell you everything you need to know in the future, when he's not busy with customers or putting deliveries away."
Sombra stared at Jinta for a moment and thought about what the boy had said, as it almost sounded like he meant that he was some sort of spirit that had come back from the realm of the dead, but he had to wonder if that was true or not, because he felt like he was alive. Based on what he had been told only certain people could see beings like him, if Jinta had been telling the truth, which meant that everyone that worked at the Urahara Shop could see him, especially Yoruichi, but that only made him wonder what would happen if he encountered someone that couldn't see spirits. Even with the little information he had been given had been enough to make his mind wander and think about what was going on, because now he had a lot more to think about and had next to no answers to actually help him figure out who and what he was, or who he had been before losing his memories. He was sure that Kisuke had the answers that he was searching for, in regards to what an Arrancar was, what the strange void like passage he had walked through earlier had been, and everything that Jinta had started to tell him about before cutting himself off... though he guessed he would have to be patient before the answers came to him, especially since he now had too many questions running through his mind.
A sound drew him back to reality as Mr. Hirako stepped outside, carrying a bag with the delivery that Kisuke had told him about when he arrived, to which he watched as the young man nodded his head towards both Jinta and Ururu, while once again doing nothing towards Sombra, making it seem like he couldn't see him, before he headed down an alley and disappeared as quickly as he arrived. Once Mr. Hirako was gone, and Kisuke confirmed that there were no other customers coming today, Sombra watched as Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu started to clean up the rest of the outside while Kisuke made sure the sign said that they were closed for the rest of the night. From there they all headed inside the shop, and made sure that Sombra came inside with them, before the metallic gate closed behind them, where Kisuke informed him that there was a back entrance they used when the main entrance was lowered. While Tessai and the others went to make dinner, as it was apparently getting to be that time of the day, Sombra felt that he needed to ask something and Kisuke was the only one that could give him the answer.
"Mr. Kisuke, there's something I need to ask you." Sombra said, to which Kisuke raised an eyebrow as he stared into his eyes, while at the same time Yoruichi sat nearby and observed them, as if the cat thought something was going to happen between the two of them, "Jinta said that I'm a spirit and that only certain individuals can see me... what did he mean by that?"
"Arrancars are spirits that ordinary people cannot see," Kisuke replied, as he had known that Jinta would tell Sombra something before the end of the day, but he decided that it was best he knew part of the answer until he was ready to explain everything to him, "the same is true for ordinary ghosts and spirits. There are several circumstances that allow people to see you and the other spirits, but I'll explain that at another time, when you aren't full of question from everything else you have already learned. Arrancars are spirits that possess great power and they train themselves to master and use those powers, though they are not the only type of spirit that commands such power. Tomorrow I will tell you more about what I know about the spirits and what our arrangement will be... but for now you should relax a little, because tomorrow is going to be a busy day for all of us."
Sombra wasn't sure what Kisuke meant by that, since he figured that a good amount of his time would be spent learning what he knew before his memories were taken before being sent out on the errands Kisuke wanted him to perform in exchange for his help... but he followed the man anyway, wondering what the future held for him and what he might learn in the process.