She showed up bright and early the next morning, just like Urahara told her, which is really something considering just how close she came to dying last night, but with a smile he realized she was only able to by her own power, which even Renji thought was impressive.
"She's here." Tessai whispers to Urahara as he emerges from the basement after making some last minute preparations. "Kisuke, is that a bruise on your face?"
Urahara waves it off as nothing.
"I think I'll feed the strays before we get started."
At the back of the shop is a thin strip of green - some might call it a small garden - and a sliver of a patio, that meets an cement wall. He sets a bowl of warm milk on the patio, grinning like a child on the day before his birthday.
"Here, kitty kitty!" He calls and right on cue, a slew of the feline denizens from the alleyway adjacent to the house climb over the wall and in a chorus of meows, partake in a milk lapping frenzy.
One cat, however, remains sitting on the wall staring intently at Kisuke. It has a thin, black coat and eyes that feature large, shiny gold pupils.
"Don't you want some nice warm milk, pretty kitty?"
...
Karin had been idling at the front of the house for a solid twenty minutes by the time Kisuke comes to the front door, stretching and yawning.
"Did you just wake up or something?" Karin says, glaring at him as though he were the hollow that attacked her last night.
"Nah. I was just out feeding the strays." He says, smiling sheepishly. "Besides, I figured that if you were really serious about being trained by me, you would stick around for as long as it took."
"You make me sick."
"Aha, aren't you supposed to call me Sensei now?"
"I'll save that for when you've actually taught me something." Karin says, crossing her arms stubbornly. "So, where is this training going to take place? At some abandoned warehouse? An old World War II airplane hanger? I remember you said you took Ichigo someplace big."
Urahara does not answer. He just whistles as he leads her into the living room, where he stops at a square hole in the ground. "Here we are." He says, and when Karin cranes her neck to look down said hole, Urahara kicks her in the behind, making her fall through it.
One surprised scream later, Karin lands facefirst unto an uneven bed of craggy natural rock, in a room that was certainly larger than all of Urahara's small shop.
"What...the...hell?" She groans, looking up at a pair of elevated split toe straw sandals. Beyond them, and the smiling Urahara wearing them, she sees a bright blue sky speckled with slowly moving white clouds up above, in place of a ceiling. "There's a sky in your basement."
"Looks just like the real thing, doesn't it?" Urahara says. He is standing over her, holding his cane along his shoulders with one hand and, curled up comfortably in the other...
"Why do you have a cat?"
"Well I for one think that cats make lovely pets, but she's an extra special case for a variety of reasons." He says, stroking along the satisfied feline's head and back. "Her name is Yoruichi, and I guess she decided to join us at the last minute. If you do well enough in today's lesson, you might earn the opportunity to learn a thing or two from her."
"You have got to be kidding me." Karin says, as she was beginning to doubt - not for the first or last time - the question of this man's sanity.
Urahara points the cane at her. "My lesson, my secret underground training ground, my rules. Stand up, Kurosaki."
She does so eagerly, brushing the dust off her shirt. "So, where do we start?"
"We start by you telling me exactly why it is I should be up so early on a Sunday morning to train you."
"Because..." Karin says, clenching her fists and looking down. "Ever since Ichigo left, those hollows have been showing up everywhere. And they're always after me, which puts Yuzu, my dad, and anyone else who's around me in danger."
She glares at Urahara with that same determined look in her eyes.
"I can't keep hiding from my power anymore, or relying on other people to fight my battles for me like I've been doing. Since other lives are at stake, I need to become strong enough to defend not only myself, but people like Yuzu who can't even see ghosts."
Urahara nods his head as he contemplates her answer, secretly impressed at how similar she was to Ichigo. "I like your answer." He says after a while, as he repositions his hat,"Yeah, that'll give us something to work with."
Yoruichi jumps out of his arm and climbs unto a nearby spire of rock, then Urahara walks toward Karin with his open hand out.
"Do you still have those hollow repellant pills you bought from me last week?"
"Yeah, but even these don't seem to be any help at all anymore." She reaches into her pocket to take out the unmarked plastic container filled with the colorful, swallowable capsules. "But I haven't taken any this morning so -"
Urahara snatches the container from her hand and with a throwing arm that would make any pro ballplayer envious, hurls it across the room.
"Never use them again, because they're actually soul repressing pills. They lower your spiritual pressure so hollows are less likely to single you out."
Karin grimaces when she recalls how much she paid for those 'soul repressing pills'.
"You are going to give me a refund, right?"
Urahara clears his throat and coughs loudly, continuing as if he hadn't heard her; "Anyway, I'm glad you decided to wear shorts today, because this first exercise is going to be all about kicking."
"Smooth transition, Sensei." Karin snarks. "And knowing you, I'll bet that's not the only reason why you're glad to see me in shorts."
Catching Karin completely off guard, Urahara sets the flat end of his cane against her forehead and with one firm shove is able to force the soul right out of her body.
After doing this he steps back, fanning his face coolly.
"You have just died. Congratulations!" Urahara exclaims cheerfully. "But you're only a regular soul right now, so we've still got a long ways to go."
The soul of Karin is connected to the body by the Chain of Fate attached to her chest. Just as Urahara said, her's was a Whole soul; unarmed, wearing her plain clothing rather than the traditional black Shihakusho of a Shinigami.
"Huh?" Karin gasps, and tries desperately to pull the chain loose. "It's choking me...I can't breathe..."
"I'd leave that alone if I were you. If you pull that chain out...well, then you really would be dead. We're not quite there at this point."
"And how exactly do you expect me to fight like this?" It was as though her lungs were being crushed with each breath she took, and the area around the point near her solar plexus where the chain was attached felt heavy and numb.
Urahara smirks. "Figure something out quick, 'cuz it looks like she's itching for a-" He is cut off by a flying sandal to the face.
"I said I'd do my own introduction, dumbass!"
Karin's soul turns to face the half barefoot assailant; a younger looking girl in a red tracksuit, whose face is freckled and whose dirty blonde hair is tied into two pigtails.
More worrying than her innocent looks, though, is the fact that she is holding a Zanpaktou.
"How did you sneak up on me like that?"
"Who said I was finished talking? If you would just shut your face for a second you might learn something!" The kid screams at Karin. Then she announces, with an inside voice that was still a few decibels too loud, "I'm Hiyori Sarugaki, and Kisuke said he needed someone to mess up Ichigo's kid sister so that's why I'm here!"
The downed Urahara holds up a finger. "Protect yourself using only your legs and feet, Karin!"
