The training begins

Some of the customers were slightly disappointed after they read the sign which now sat next to the door.

Note to all customers: there is a temporary break from delivery service due to the fact that the delivery girl is on vacation. It will resume as soon as she returns!

"Temporary vacation? Won't people get suspicious when they see me riding on the street?" said Kari after she saw the sign.

"You'll be too busy training to ride, Kari-chan."

"Figures…well, let's get to work!"

XxXxX

Down in the underground room…

"What's the first thing on the list?" asked Kari with a calm grin.

"We need to see why the Hollows are so attracted to you. Your spiritual energy is just enough to defend yourself, but not enough to explain the attacks," said Yoruichi.

"How are we gonna find out what's causing the attacks?" asked Kari.

"Like this," said Urahara as he knocked her soul out of her body without warning.

"Hey! A little warning would be nice!" said Kari annoyed.

"Odd…your Konpaku doesn't seem out of the ordinary. So that rules that theory out," said Yoruichi.

"I may be weird, but even I could have told you that!"

"There must be something else then. What do you think it could be, Kari-chan?" asked Urahara.

"Maybe it's because of the fact that I have the mind of a child," she shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean I literally have the mind of a child; how else would I be able to accept the unexplained without panicking?"

"You are more open-minded than most, I'll give you that. But I don't think you have the mind of a child," said Urahara.

"I'm not joking. I may have the wisdom of a teenager, but I behave more like a child than most people my age."

"We'll have to take your word for that," interrupted Yoruichi impatiently.

"Well, how would you like to increase your spiritual energy, Kari-chan?" asked Urahara.

"I'd love to, but that would mean I'd have to fight Ururu," said Kari.

"How'd ya know that?"

"I know more than I let on. Let me guess, I have to survive the first punch and manage to land just a hit on her, right?"

"…"

"What're we waiting for?" grinned Kari evilly.

Ururu came down and got the items needed for the exercise. She recognized them instantly; her only reaction?

"I hope you two don't expect me to use that weird phrase to activate these," she said dryly.

"You can begin when you're ready, Kari-chan!" said Urahara.

"Don't hold back, okay Ururu?" said Kari before she put the gloves on.

Ururu came at her with the full intent to kill her; Kari calmly ducked her attacks and blocked a few with a little luck. Urahara and Yoruichi were impressed…they didn't expect Kari to do so well on her first try! In fact, it almost seemed like she was dancing to a silent beat.

Ururu managed to land a hit; Kari was sent flying and somehow managed to land on her feet. She went at Ururu at full speed and managed to graze the girl's cheek. Before Ururu could react, Urahara called the fight off.

"Impressive footwork, Kari-chan! Lesson one is complete!"

"I can still fight though," said Kari.

"Is that so? Well, then I'll be your opponent this time. You can call it off at any time," said Urahara.

"Works for me," replied Kari as she removed the gloves. Urahara had his cane ready and drew out the sword that lay hidden within.

"Awaken, Benihime, the Red Princess," Kari said without thinking. Much to everyone's shock, the sword's initial release activated!

"What the…?! How did you…?"

"Told ya I knew more than I let on. Though I have to admit, I never expected your Zanpaku-to to actually activate!" admitted Kari.

"We'll figure this out later. Ready when you are, Kari-chan."

"Let's go!" said Kari as she charged at him.

He dodged and then tried to strike her while she recovered from her initial attack. She narrowly avoided his Zanpaku-to; then she went at him again. Much to his amusement, Kari seemed to prefer offensive while she fought him. When she fought Ururu, she used mostly defensive. That was when he noticed something strange about the way she came at him. It almost seemed as though she was letting something other than her instinct guide her movement.

Before he could react, she managed to knock Benihime from him; he wasn't quick enough to prevent his sword from falling into her hands. He turned as she prepared to use his own Zanpaku-to against him…though she didn't even use any of Benihime's attacks.

"I'm actually impressed that you managed to take Benihime from me. But it seems that the activation of her initial release was just a fluke."

"Ironic that this is the first time I've ever used a sword," she said dryly.

-----

Who're you supposed to be?

What the… Benihime, I presume?

You can hear me?!

Apparently…

Let's see if you can use my attack as well. I assume you know how to attack, don't you?

Just watch me.

-----

"I recommend you get ready to get out of the way, Urahara-san," said Kari as she prepared to use Benihime's attack.

"Thanks for the heads up."

"Nake, Benihime!" said Kari clearly and calmly. Sure enough, a strange blast of spirit energy shot from the sword close to Urahara!

"I don't believe it! How did you…?!"

"If you think that's unnerving, then I guess I shouldn't mention Benihime's reaction," said Kari.

"You could talk to my Zanpaku-to?!"

"I think that now would be a good time to call it quits for the day…" said Kari as she tossed Benihime to Urahara.

"This is getting very confusing…"

"So what do we do? Should we continue or what?" asked Kari.

"I say we keep going. Only neither of us will use anything other than our fists," said Urahara finally.

"In other words we do hand-to-hand combat until one admits defeat?" asked Kari.

"Exactly."

"Works for me. Mr. Yoruichi, can you keep an eye on the weapons?"

"Sure."

"I'm ready when you are, Urahara-san," said Kari after she put her chain down next to Yoruichi. Urahara sat Benihime down beside the feline as well.

Kari took the first strike, Urahara ducked and sent one of his own. Pretty soon it became clear that hand-to-hand combat wasn't their strong suit. Their moves were slow and very sloppy. Both were quickly tiring from the exercise…though Kari had a secret that they didn't suspect.

At first, it didn't appear as though anything had changed…then Kari's moves became better for no reason.

"Kari, were you holding back on me before?" asked Urahara after he narrowly avoided her kick.

"No…I used the wrong tactic while fighting is all," said Kari vaguely. Her attacks became more accurate and faster than they were before. Neither Yoruichi nor Urahara could figure out what was going on. It wasn't until Urahara came close to her that he realized she had something in her ear.

XxXxX

"All right Kari, what do you have in your ear?" said Urahara.

"Ack…I was hoping you wouldn't notice!" said Kari in dismay. She paused for a moment before she took out a strange circular device from her right ear. It took them a moment to realize that it was playing music.

"Sorry…I forgot to take my headphones off. I thought I turned my CD player off, but I accidentally hit play. That's why my moves got better so suddenly," she said apologetically.

"You were listening to music while you attacked me? That doesn't make any sense…"

"I don't think she thought of it as an attack. Let me guess…you were letting your body move to the sound of the beat," said Yoruichi.

"Yup…I hope you're not mad at me for not taking them off, Urahara-san," said Kari.

"Well technically you weren't doing anything wrong. A CD player and headphones don't exactly count as a weapon unless you throw them; and all you did was listen to your music," said Urahara.

"So do you guys want me to take it off so we can continue or what?"

"Actually, I think we can continue this and still let you listen to your music. I think we have a CD player upstairs; we can play it on that," said Urahara.

"I just hope you guys can handle my music," grinned Kari. (Uh-oh… Urahara and Yoruichi are going to regret this!)

After an hour of listening to her CD and fighting at the same time, Urahara admitted defeat. Both were exhausted from fighting; Kari's spiritual energy had gone up quite a bit, but she still needed to work on it. Yoruichi looked at her and said, "You have a strange taste for music."

"Actually, that was a mix CD we were listening to. What did you think?" asked Kari.

"It had a fairly good beat to it. I can see why you were listening to it and fighting."

"Where did you get it?" asked Yoruichi.

"I made it. I wanted to listen to my favorite songs and still have a wide variety," said Kari.

"You definitely had a wide variety! No two songs came from the same singer," laughed Urahara.

"How long is that thing anyway?"

"About 77 minutes. I could only fit 80 minutes on it, so I had to choose what I put on it carefully."

"How would you like to go to Lesson two tomorrow?"

"I'm not that naïve… If I can't pass Lesson two I become a Hollow!" said Kari annoyed.

"How did you…?"

"I don't feel like saying right now. Besides, I seriously doubt that I even have Soul Reaper powers," said Kari.

"Well, since we're done for the day, I suggest we go back upstairs and have a little talk about what happened with Benihime earlier."

"Why do I have a feeling that this will not end well?" said Kari dismayed.

Yoruichi jumped onto her shoulder as she went up the long ladder…