Original AN:

So sorry it took so long for the new chapter but I had an existential crisis over the realization that I have no idea how to write fight scenes. Please bear with me. I will work on improve them while the story progresses!

Enough of me, hope you enjoy the chapter:)

New AN: re-wrote this, still lacking the fight scene department but caring less about it so I might actually get new chapters out (knock on wood xD)

.o0o.

After Usagi's success, Urahara called the girls together.

"Now that all of you have some control over your spiritual energy, it is time for you to learn the first kidō spell. Kido might seem impractical in battle at first because it demands a chant to use. In fact, there are a lot of Shinigami that never use it use outside of class. However, if you are familiar enough with a kidō spell, "he raised his hand, "you can shorten the chant," he pointed a finger at the nearest rock, "or skip it altogether."

A bright light shot from Urahara's index finger hitting the rock with enough force that small shards are flying around, making the girls step back. After the dust settled, they could see a small but clean hole all the way through the rock.

"If you use a kidō spell without the full incantation it will lose a lot if its power which you have to counter by putting more energy into it."

"So you need a high enough level of reiatsu for kidō spells to be useful during battle?"

"Good question, Ami. Yes and no. The more powerful a spell, the longer the incantation. Low level spells like the one I just shoed you can easily be used by every Shinigami. Even without the full incantation."

"I assume that it won't be as destructive when we us it?" Rei glanced at the rock.

Urahara smiled.

"My reiatsu is a little above average."

.o0o.

Urahara had given each girl a piece of paper with the kidō chant written on it and as he expected, Rei was a natural. She got the spell working within fifteen minutes and with a decent amount of power packed behind it as well.

"This is actually really similar to what I do to get rid of evil spirits."

Ami succeeded shortly after.

"It's like using the correct formula for a math problem—once you have it, it works every time."

Both of them were working on shortening the chant in between helping the friends.

Minako got the hang of it the following morning. Watching them practice until nightfall, Urahara decided to tell them about his idea. He approached the group of rocks they made their corner.

"I was thinking of letting you go up against a hollow soon."

Minako choked on the water she just drank and Usagi almost dropped her rice ball.

"What?"

"But we have no swords," Ami pointed out while clapping a coughing Minako on the back

"And Usagi and I haven't managed the kidō spell yet."

"It will be good exercise. Some people find their Zanpakuto through meditation and practice, that's true. But some also find it in battle. We cannot leave this option unexplored now, can we?" He looks at their sceptical faces. "I won't let you die. Don't worry."

"Why is that him telling us not to worry makes me worry even more?"

.o0o.

The girls got woken up in the middle of the night by Urahara telling them that he felt the spirit pressure of a weak hollow. In the span of only a few minutes, they were out of their bodies and running through the streets of Karakura Town. The hollow was indeed quite small, smaller than the one they had faced back in Tokyo. It turned towards them, letting out a howl.

"Just like we practiced, girls!" Minako yelled.

The hollow attacked and the girls scattered, surrounding it in the process. Rei, Ami, and Minako aimed at it and spoke the short chant but only one of their spells graced the hollow as it jumped up high, high into the air. It landed right behind Minako. She spun around, barely avoiding it's attack. Rei aimed at it again but it jumped once more.

"Dammit. Why can't it just sit still?"

"I've had enough."

Makoto bent her knees slightly and once the hollow touched the ground again she sprinted towards it. With a yell, she jumped and punched the hollow right between the horns of its bone mask. Small cracks formed. The hollow let out a blood curdling scream. It slammed an arm into Makoto, sending her flying into a lamp post. Usagi screamed and ran to her friend's side. She knelt down and held her close to her.

"Don't worry, Usagi," Makoto coughed, "I'm fine, just a few bruises. Nothing I haven't had before."

Usagi blinked away tears.

"Don't scare me like that Mako! You can't leave me! Promise me you won't lea-"

"Watch out!"

Usagi looked up at the rapidly descending arm of the hollow. She pushed Makoto behind her and stared the hollow dead in the eyes."

"Not again," she whispered. A bright light erupted from her forehead, blinding the hollow and everybody else. With a pained howl the monster stumbled backwards, disappearing into a dark cloud which vanished shortly after.

"What the hell is going on here, Urahara?"

A boy with bright orange hair stood where the hollow had just been, holding a giant sword in his hand.

"Kurosaki." Urahara hid a pout behind his fan. "You interrupted their training."

"Who's what?"

"Though… the training seemed to have succeeded partially, so I will forgive you."

The girls stared between the two men.

"Succeeded? Are you kidding me? Makoto almost died!"

"It's just a few bruises," Makoto said weakly but her words remained ignored.

"Ah but it seems Usagi has found her Zanpakutō."

They looked at Usagi who was still sitting on the ground, Makoto behind her. She blinked up at them, pointing a finger to herself?

"Me?"

"Holy shit. The weirdo in a hat is actually right."

"Language, Minako."

"Usagi did it!"

She looked down at herself and let out a squeak. Now dressed in the same black garb the boy was wearing, she gently, carefully touched the red and blue handle of the slim katana hanging on her hip.

"Can someone finally explain to me what the hell is going on here?"

They looked back at the boy, still standing there, sword—or Zanpakutō rather—in hand and brows furrowed.

"I'm training these girls to become Shinigami."

The boy started laughing loudly, stopping after he looked at the girls' serious faces.

"Oh. You're not kidding?"

Minako crossed her arms, eyes narrowed.

"No. He is not."

The guy started laughing again.

"That's a good one. A bunch of random girls trying to become Shinigami. Urahara. Since when are you teaching random people with barely any reiatsu to become Shinigami?"

"They do have a decent reiatsu. And they are handling themselves quite well. I'd say they might eve be able to make it up to the level of a seated officer."

"These girls? They look like they'd run from a spider, much less face a hollow. Have they ever even seen a fight outside of a movie?"

Minako gaped at him for a few seconds before taking the few steps to him and jabbing her finger into his chest.

"Listen here you little shit." He looked down at here with slight surprise. "We have faced too many battles to put up with your bullshit. We did not save the whole damn galaxy for you to look down on us!"

He snorted.

"Fought what? Your pillow."

"This guy…"

"Mina… Calm down."

"I will fucking murder him."

"You couldn't even give me a scratch." He turned to face Urahara. "You should send them home. They will make my job unnecessarily difficult. I can't kill hollows and babysit some wannabe Shinigami."

With a frustrated growl, Minako jumped at him. He swung around but a light blinded him an barely a second later, she was standing in front of him. Arm outstretched. A sword in her hand. He was holding his as well, blocking Minako's blade with his own only a few centimetres away from his left cheek. His face showed surprise staring into her angry eyes. A few breaths passed without any of them moving. Then he blink—or she did—and they both let their blades sink.

"Whatever." He gave them a last once-over. "Try not get yourself killed with your new toy."

And with that, he left.

"By the stars. I hate that guy."

"Minako!"

"What? I did not curse!"

"No. You did it!"

"Did what?"

"You have your Zanpakutō!"

"I do? I do!"

Urahara watched as the girls celebrated their two friends' success. He tapped his chin lightly with his fan. It seemed he could still not assess them properly. Why, just a few days ago he had been fully convinced that Usagi was a hopeless case and now she was the first to get her Zanpakutō. And the immense power he had felt when she did. It was unlike anything he had felt before. He wished he would have had more time to analyse it but her reiatsu was back to her normal level.

.o0o.

Something shifted in Usagi's attitude the days after their encounter with the hollow. She still complained about every scratch but she got up faster and managed to give Minako quite the work out during their sparring.

"One more round." Usagi was on one knee, covered in dust and small cuts. She leaned on her sword for support and got up. Across of her, Minako smiled lifting her sword, pointing it at her friend.

"Bring it on."

Rei sat down next to Urahara, watching her two friends silently. The match was over quickly with Minako pushing Usagi into the dirt once again. Ami went up to them.

"Both of you, sit down. No more sword training for today. We're checking out those cuts."

"I have to admit, your friend surprised me," Urahara said, watching Ami clean the girl's wounds.

Rei smiled.

"Usagi? She's a cry-baby, unreliable, clumsy, and thinks with her stomach. But she is also kind-hearted, gentle, funny, and loyal the ones she loves. She is our pri-… friend and we will protect her." Her smile faltered. "It's not always easy for her. As proud as I am of her for trying to become a Shinigami, I just wish she wouldn't have to fight anymore." Rei looked at Urahara. "I'm actually not surprised at all that she was the first to succeed. She has lost loved ones one too many times." Rei took a deep breath. "I'll get back to meditating."

She stood up abruptly, leaving a bewildered Urahara behind.

Ami finished up tending to the girls' wounds and Urahara called her over.

"I noticed you looking after your friends' injuries all the time. Your skills seem to go beyond putting on band-aids. Did you take classes?"

She blushed slightly.

"My mother is a doctor and I am planning on studying medicine as well."

"I see. You kido is also very good so far. I can teach you a basic healing spell if you want. It is only useful for minor cuts and bruises as bigger injuries would use up too much energy but-"

"I would love to learn it!" Ami's eyes shone. "Please teach me!"

He smiled and wrote the chat down.

"Thank you!"

She retreated to a more quiet corner, close to where Rei was still meditating.

In front of Rei was a small fire bowl. She had asked Urahara for one the day after their fight. He had been confused at first but intrigued once she explained that she had a strong spiritual connection to fire, being protected by the planet Mars. He did not question her though he made a mental note to look into mythology relating to planets. The girls had explained to him that their powers came from their soul and were given to them to protect Earth from invaders. But that was it. He was certain there was much more behind that simple explanation. And he was willing to be patient, collect the crumbs they gave him unthinkingly. He was still convinced that he heard the name Sailor Senshi before. Somewhere a long, long time ago. Maybe during his time as c-.

The flames suddenly blazed up, interrupting his train of thought. They got higher and bigger. He readies himself to put them out but a figure brushes them aside. The flames retreated back into the bowl, clearing the view onto Rei, looking at the blade in her left hand with fascination.

"I think I heard a voice."

Her friends ran up to her.

"A voice?" Ami pulled out the small laptop she seemed to carry with her at any time and started typing. "What did it say?"

Rei shook her head.

"I couldn't understand."

"A voice?" Minako frowned. "Did you hear a voice, Usagi?"

"No, did you?"

"No. Are you sure you did not lose a few braincells staring into a flame for hours and days?"

"Minako…"

"Sorry."

Ami put her laptop away and reached for Rei's right hand.

"You got burned. Let me see if this kidō wors on burns as well."

"A new kido?"

"Yes, a healing one. Urahara just taught me."

"Like… just now?"

"Have some trust in Ami, she's a genius. She won't spell your hand off. Right, Ami?"

She nodded but her focus was already on Rei's injury. She put her hand above the burnt skin, almost touching it, and mumbled a few words. A small blue light emitted from her fingertips moving to Rei. And the injury started fading. Then the light got bright, enveloping Ami. A second later, she was dressed in black, a sword on her hip.

"Told you she's a genius. Healed Rei and got her Zanpakutō!"

.o0o.

Usagi's light snoring and the cicada were the only thing disturbing the silence of the humid summer night. The girls had celebrated their recent successes and were now all fast asleep. All but one. Makoto was staring at the ceiling above her. Unlike the nights before, it was not the discomfort of the bruises she got from the hollow that kept her up—they had been fading incredibly fast and Ami had healed the rest. What was keeping Makoto up was the bitter taste of failure. The failure of being the only one not having gained her Shinigami abilities yet. The failure of still struggling with the first kidō spell. Her friends tried to explain it to her over and over again that is was similar to using their Senshi abilities but that only worked for the stupid shield orb. With a sighed curse, she got up, careful not to wake the others, and went down to the cave. She got one of the training dummies and started punching it. Kicking it. She went through all the dummies and with a frustrated growl, she punched a rock leaving a dent in it. She punched it again. And again.

"What has this rock done to deserve your anger?"

Makoto spun around. At the bottom of the ladder sat a black cat.

"Luna? Oh. Yoruichi."

Yoruichi jumped up at the rock.

"Now tell me."

Makoto kicked a stone across the cave, listening to the clatter until it stopped.

"I don't think I am cut out to be a Shinigami."

Yoruichi bowed he head in a slight nod.

"Go on."

"I can't get this stupid kidō spell to work. At first I thought I was fine. Urahara did say a lot of Shinigami never use them outside of class and Usagi doesn't get hers to work either and she was the first to get her Zanpakutō." She took a deep breath. "But now… one after the other, my friends go theirs as well and I'm the only one left. And I don't know what to do. Meditation doesn't work. Training with the stupid wooden sword doesn't work. And trying to work on my kidō doesn't work either." She kicked the rock again. "I wish I could simply punch a hollow to dust."

Makoto leaned her forehead against the rock, breathing heavy.

"There is actually a way to punch a hollow to dust. However, it costs more energy than using a Zanpakutō. But it could prove to be a fitting fighting style for you."

"Tell me. Please."

"How far are you with the spirit orbs?"

Makoto frowned.

"I can create a decent shield. Directing the energy isn't really a problem to me. It's the spell."

"It is quite simply in fact. You can direct your energy to your hands to make your punches harder. To your feet to be faster. To your legs to make your kicks more lethal. You are already strong. Use it."

"That… Huh."

She closed her eyes for a moment then started smiling. Her right fist was glowing in a soft, green light. Yoruichi jumped of the rock just in time before Makoto opened her eyes and threw her fist at the stone with a grunt. It split clean down the middle.

"Damn. That feels good."

And finally, a green light erupted from her forehead and Makoto was holding a Zanpakutō in her hands.