Chapter 2
"Let's get started…"
Karin stretches her legs. "Good…that's the spirit." Kisuke smirked, pointing his cane at her. With a gentle tap to the forehead with the bottom of his cane, Karin feels herself fall backwards.
"Wh-what was that for!?" she protests, picking herself off the ground.
"Take a look for yourself…" he gestures at her chest. The dark haired girl instinctively attempts to cover herself. "You pervert!" Clink! "Huh…" she finally notices a long chain embedded in her chest, running all the way to her unconscious body. "What is this…" she murmurs.
"What you're currently having is something you'd call an "out of body" experience." Urahara giggles.
Bam! Karin's feet connected with the shopkeeper's face, sending him flying. "I asked you a serious question, now's not the time for jokes. Baka!!!" the man got up clenching his bloody nose. "That could've given even Hiyori a run for her money…" his demeanor unchanged.
"What you are right now is a Konpaku, or soul…" his tone becoming serious "It's in this form that your brother is able to face against those big monsters, the hollow—"
"I already know that much…" the dark haired girl folds her arms. "How do I awaken my Shinigami powers?" Kisuke sighs. "You're just a regular disembodied spirit from a regular human with no spiritual powers. If you want to awaken your powers, first you need to learn to control your Konpaku body." The young girl looked on attentively. "Spirit energy will give you that control. The more of it you have, the better your Konpaku body will respond. And when it can move better than you material body…you'll have gained your Spirit energy."
"I think I get it…" Karin nods. "It's basically exercising the soul."
Urahara grins. "That's a good way of putting it." He puts his hand up to his mouth. "All right! It's time!" A few seconds later, Ururu walks up to them, carrying some sort of training gear. "It's a pleasure to train with you." The girl curtseys. "Ururu?" the dark haired girl's eyes widen a bit. "I didn't expect to be training with you." She awkwardly holds her head.
"Your first lesson is to hit her…" a goofy smile spread across the shopkeeper's face.
"Seriously!?" Karin's jaw drops. "The rules are simply—" Kisuke raises a finger. "The session ends when one of you can no longer move. Knock out before you get knocked out." The dark haired girl looked over at her opponent, who was now gearing up.
"But…" Karin just stands then unmoving.
Ururu takes a battle stance. The dark haired girl sighs. "I can't do it, not Ururu…" she glares at the shopkeeper. "Can't I fight Jinta instead?"
"Achoo!" Jinta drops his broom.
"Dust got you down?" Tsukabishi calls out to him as he carries some boxes into the store.
"Must be…" he wipes his nose, going back to work.
Before the shopkeeper could give a reply, some gear is dropped at Karin's feet, directing her attention back to Ururu.
"Please…put them on…" an ominous aura shrouded Ururu. "Or you'll get killed." The dark haired girl did not have a chance to process her opponents words, and found herself in line with a deadly punch, which she manages to barely dodge. BOOM! A small crater forms in the ground where Ururu's fist lands. Karin gawks at the destruction. "How—"
"See." Kisuke lifts his fan to his face. "What did I tell you?"
As the dust settles, Ururu stands over Karin, dusting off her boxing gloves. She reels back for another punch. Karin blinks a few times, ducking out of the way. BOOM! More debris spreads across the training grounds. "I don't see her." Jinta and Tsukabishi walk up to Urahara, having just arrived. "Is she dead?" Tessai folds his arms.
"I hope not, or Kurosaki-san will have our heads?" the shopkeeper lightly fans himself.
The dust settles once more. "There she is!' Kisuke tips his hat. The dark haired girl stands firm, now dressed in similar gear to her opponents. "Now I'm ready…" she spits on the ground. Ururu launches herself at Karin, who puts her arms up to block. SLAM! The dark haired girl is propelled backwards into the dirt.
"Okay, that didn't wor—" as she picks herself up, her opponent comes in flying.
Karin leaps out of the way, landing a significant distance away. "Whoa…" she examines her legs briefly, tapping them on the ground. After a moment she smirks, turning her attention back to Ururu, who readies another punch. Whoosh!
"Ha!" both Kisuke and Tessai lean forward.
The dark haired girl stands next to her opponent unharmed. Ururu throws another punch, but Karin evades it using some fancy footwork. This happens a few more times, Ururu visibly slowing down. "Just like soccer…" The dark haired girl takes advantage of this, leg sweeping her opene opponent off of her feet.
"What!!!" Jinta's jaw drops as Karin now stands over her opponent.
Something snaps in Ururu, and in the blink of an eye, she gets up, swinging a powerful kick at the dark haired girl. BOOM! Karin opens her eyes one at a time, only to find her opponent now restrained by the shopkeeper. The dark haired girl collapses to the ground, letting out the breath she had been holding. She cast her face down as realization dawned on her. "I lost…no, I never stood a chance." She tightly clenches her fists.
"Precisely!" Kisuke chimed in, giddy as always. "Huh…" Karin furrowed her brow.
"This child's fighting skills are good enough to take on a Shinigami's." he placed a gentle hand on Ururu's forehead. "No matter how much a mere Konpaku struggles against her, there's no way you can win." The man raises his fan to his face. "How does your body feel?" The dark haired girl gets up, and does a few hops, her eyes widening. "I feel lighter…" she starts to jog in place. "Actually, now that I think about it, I jumped quite far with ease earlier, and even I can admit my footwork isn't normally as good as it was just now…"
"Good…this lesson is more about getting used to moving in your current form than it is about knocking your opponent out." The shopkeeper raises a finger. "Being able to dodge and even get a hit in is above and beyond what was required of you, even if you didn't know that, but you still pushed yourself and showed some good results, so for that, you have my congratulations." The man goes on to slow clap.
Karin frowns. "I don't appreciate being deceived like that…" she folds her arms. "But I've got to give credit where it's due." She practically murmurs the last part. "I'll take that as a compliment." Kisuke smiles widely. "So in celebration of your passing the lesson, let's—"
"Water break!?" the girl's grey eyes beamed.
Before she knows it, with a mighty swing, Tsukabishi brings down a massive axe on the girl's chain, splitting it clean in two, half leading to her human body, the other half remaining embedded in her chest. "Wha!" Karin's pupils dilate. The shopkeeper smiles while his accomplice poses expressionless.
"Let's continue to Lesson Two."
"Once there existed numerous living beings with the ability to detect the existence of Hollows, and other Souls. These beings were known as the Quincy, and most of them were exterminated by the Shinigami over two hundred years ago in order to prevent the collapse of worlds, which is an imbalance of souls between Soul Society and the Human World. Unlike Shinigami, Quincy completely extinguish hollows instead of sending them to Soul Society, thus souls from the Human World do not return to Soul Society and therefore the souls would increase only on the side of the Human World. As a result, the Human World would become heavy in souls, causing Soul Society to spill over into it, mixing life and death together. In essence, Quincy are the polar opposite of Shinigami." Ryūken parks his car in the Karakura General Hospital parking lot.
Yuzu laughs nervously. "I'm sorry, but I didn't really get most of that…"
Unfazed, the man adjusts his glasses. "That's of no consequence." He gets out of the vehicle, opening the door for the young girl. "Let us make haste." Ryūken leads her through the facility, the halls bustling with activity as medical staff do their rounds. Yuzu withdraws herself, evidently uncomfortable. The white haired man notices this, exhaling, he extends a hand down to the girl. Bewildered, she ganders at the man, who does not meet her gaze, but keeps walking with his hand stretched out. A few seconds passes as they continue to traverse through the establishment, and just as Ryūken is about to retract his gesture, Yuzu clasps his hand tightly. He gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, and the two make their way further into the hospital.
"We're here." The white haired man opens the door to his office. He lets go of the girl's hand, striding over to a bookshelf on the far side of the room.
He pulls one of the books, revealing a staircase behind the shelf. "After you." He motions for the young girl to enter, which she does with reluctance. Yuzu descends down the staircase, coming face to face with a large door, which automatically slides open as she approaches it, leading to a massive room with multiple levels. On the upper levels the young girl spots windows, where grass can be seen just outside, suggesting to her that much of the room must be underground, forming the basement of the hospital. The chamber itself housed no furnishings or objects.
"Whoa!! What is this place!?" Yuzu practically squawks.
Turning back to look at the man who led her here, she finds him having drawn a bow, and the arrow aimed right at her. "Run." He releases, the arrow primed for the young girl's chest. She somehow barely manages to roll out of the way, surprised at her fluid movement. "Ishida-san, what are you doing!?" he fires more arrows, which she evades, except for one that scrapes her ear. "Ouch!" she rubs her hand over the wound, bringing her fingers up to her eyes, frightened by the red liquid that's now stained her fingers. "I told you to run." The man warned, preparing to launch another attack. With no delay, Yuzu begins to flee. Though her assailant is hot on her heels, and moving at inhuman speeds
A frantic Karin attempts to somehow reattach her severed chain.
"What did you do!?" beads of sweat roll down her face.
"Calm down Karin-chan." The shopkeeper fanned himself before continuing to speak. "Now that your Chain of Fate has been severed…you can't return to your body." He lifts the fan to his face. "You're going to die." He utteres the words without casually. Karin wore a morbid expression on her face, as her thoughts raced with her heartbeat. So many things at once, she wanted to kick Urahara, she wanted to scream in rage, but one thing brought her back to her senses. "I know it can be nerve-racking at times, but remember to take step back, deep breath, release, and—"
The dark haired girl's expression changes. "What do I need to do?" She smirks, now oozing confidence.
"The encroachment of the chain will begin soon." Karin raises an eyebrow. "When it reaches your chest…a big whole will be eaten there and you'll become a hollow, the end." The man throws up some confetti. Karin gulps. "Okay…and how do I stop that from happening?" The man shuts his fan. "You must become a Shinigami." The girl frowns. "That doesn't fully answer my question."
"Then perhaps this will…Shattered shaft!!" Karin focuses her attention towards where the shopkeeper was now pointing. "Go!!!" a massive dark whole opens right under Karin's feet, swallowing her up in an instant. "Heh…surprised? That's my highest level fake out."
"AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Karin plummeted.
"Is it even deeper than before?" the man places a hand on his chin. "I worked even harder after that time with Kurosaki-san." Ururu pumps a fist.
"Oww!!" Karin finally finds herself on the ground. "That jerk." She tries to get up."Wha…What's wrong with my arms!?" she notices that her arms have been bound behind her back by some sort of black bands with iron shafts protruding from them. "Binding spell 99!" the young girl turns to face Tsukabishi, who's sitting cross-legged in the pit. "Kin-restrict! I'm sorry, but until this lesson is over…" his fingers intertwined intricately. "I have to bind your arms!"
"Alright! Now come back up here!" Kisuke peeks down the hole. "That's lesson two, the Shattered shaft!!"
"How am I supposed to do that!!" the young girl gazes up at the man.
"You don't have time to waste." The man smirks devilishly. "Look. The encroachment has begun."
Karin's pupils become specs as she spots little mouths eating away at her chain.