Chapter 23: Land of Dragons: Entering Camp

"Hold it!" One of the guards growled out and Toshiro obliged. "That garb…you're from a Japanese force. What business do you have here?"

"And why would they send a kid?" The other smirked.

The air grew cold but Toshiro's face remained passive. He was going to have to get used to this on every world.

"I'm no longer a member of the Japanese force…I wish to join the Imperial Army. I have friends inside who can vouch for me as they plan on joining as well."

"A traitor, eh? What makes us want to trust someone who would betray their own country?"

"Because I was forced into it against my will in the first place. I managed to escape and came here hoping to better my skills." 'Even though I'm probably stronger than this entire camp of soldiers combined.'

The guards shared a look.

"Look, kid. We don't enlist young people."

"I can assure you I'm good with a blade."

The guard thought about it for a moment.

"I'll tell the Captain about you and he can see for himself. Go on in."

"Thank you." Toshiro went ahead and bowed to hopefully earn a little trust before stepping inside.

The first thing he saw was Sora and Donald bickering and fighting with two other recruits, a short fat man in red and a taller lean man in yellow. An enormous and rotund man in blue stood by while Goofy and Mulan were attempting to break up the fight.

"Please!" She shouted at them.

They all stared at her.

'She's no good at acting.' Toshiro mentally sighed.

"Knock it off, you're worse than children." He snapped at the group.

"Hmph, says the shrimp." The man in red growled.

"What did you call me?" Kid he could stand but shrimp was too much.

The man in red was about to growl back when he looked Toshiro in the eye. Icy teal stared him down with hidden fury and he shivered involuntarily, even backing away a step.

"Come on, Toshiro, I just got slugged." Sora argued.

"You're not reacting in a very soldier worthy manner, Sora. I suggest holding your temper."

"Wise words from such a young man." A new voice said.

Teal eyes turned to see a black haired man with black armor and a red cape over his shoulders. He glanced at Toshiro suspiciously, one of the entrance guards behind him.

"Soldiers, get back in line." The man snapped at the others and they quickly obliged, Sora and friends included. Toshiro remained where he was. "I would like to speak to you alone."

Opening his mouth to reply, Toshiro quickly snapped it shut and turned as he felt the dark presence of Heartless approaching.

"I think you'll have to wait on that." Toshiro said to the man as several of the smaller Heartless, which Donald had told him were Shadows, rose from the ground to attack.

He drew Hyorinmaru and struck first as he heard Sora summon his Keyblade behind him, the other soldiers all darting off as they didn't know what to make of these creatures.

"I'll hold you to that." The man said and drew his sword as well.

"You should probably see to your men, we can handle this." Toshiro warned, motioning with his head towards Sora and Ping who had come to help him. Donald and Goofy stayed back in order to give them space.

Nodding, the Captain left to find his soldiers as Toshiro took his normal stance, the Heartless quickly surrounding the three of them.

"Hope you're ready, Ping." Sora said to the woman.

Ping grimaced as she looked around at the multiple Heartless and Toshiro recognized a look of hopelessness that he'd often see in the trainee Soul Reapers when he'd occasionally visit the Shinou Academy to assist in a lesson. Time to become the teacher again.

"Ping." He called to her and she looked at him curiously. "Don't dwell on the number of enemies you're facing, especially if you have allies by your side to watch your back. Focus more on striking them before they strike you. Rid yourself of doubt and stick to one goal; survive long enough to defeat the enemy."

"R-right."

Toshiro, as usual, was the first to attack and Hyorinmaru's long blade cut down two Heartless in one swipe before he turned and cut down another. Sora struck a Heartless coming up behind Mulan while she in turn managed to defeat another Heartless, though her sword skill could definitely use some work. He'd need to see her one on one later.

'This isn't the Soul Society, Master. You're not the Captain here.' Hyorinmaru warned.

'I'll be training her without that man's knowledge to hopefully improve her skill enough that he won't question whether she's a boy or not.'

Bringing the chain-blade to hand, Toshiro threw it towards a group of Heartless, one of them being some kind of hovering wizard Heartless, and wrapped all of them in the chain. Having the chain appear out of nowhere would probably already look strange so Toshiro prevented the ice from forming and instead pulled the three over to cut through them all with his blade. They quickly disintegrated into spirit particles and Toshiro let the chain-blade vanish.

Behind him, Sora and Mulan were taking out the last four.

"Set aside you fear, Ping." Toshiro called out to the woman as Sora killed off another Heartless. "Your duty is to protect your comrades and remain alive; fear will only cloud your judgment."

Nodding, Mulan took a calming breath and focused on the three Heartless surrounding her. Toshiro pulled Sora back, to the boy's dislike, and forced them to stand aside.

"This can help increase Ping's morale considerably." Toshiro said quietly to Sora, though still using Mulan's fake name as the Captain was close by, watching.

A Heartless jumped at her for the easy heart. Mulan at first jumped in surprise before swinging her blade around and catching the creature on it. It fell back, heavily injured, and the other two attacked instead. She kicked back one of them before swinging down with her sword and cutting through the second's head. Now there were only two Heartless. Ecstatic that she'd killed one, Mulan wasn't paying attention to the one she'd first injured as it went into the shadows and rose back up behind her.

"Toshiro!" Sora turned to the Soul Reaper in alarm; Hitsugaya was still holding him back.

Whispering something under his breath, Toshiro pointed a finger at the Heartless. The Shadow's arm went behind its back and it fell face first to the ground with a cartoon squeak.

It alerted Mulan and she spun around, stabbing the ambusher with her blade before quickly turning and slicing down the last one. With that the Heartless were gone and Toshiro let go of Sora, who quickly rushed over to see if Ping was okay, Donald and Goofy close behind him.

"You three." The Chinese Captain called out, singling out Sora and his animal friends. "What are your names?"

"Sora." The brunette replied. "This is Donald and Goofy."

"You show promising battle skills from what little I saw. You are welcome in my troupe."

"Sir, I think you should consider Ping as well." Toshiro said offhandedly, as though not really caring if he did or not.

"No, Ping should return home." He replied with a frown.

"B-but, that would dishonor my family!" Mulan countered in her deeper voice.

"You'd rather dishonor my troops? You let your guard down and were nearly killed."

"If Ping trains hard there's a chance of improvement." Toshiro argued. "If you don't have the time, then I will train Ping."

"You don't even belong within this country, boy." The Captain turned on the white haired child. "But…one of my troops says you defected from the Japanese force after being forced into it to begin with, and that you are good with a blade. I've seen the latter for myself, but what proof do I have that you're not a spy?"

"I can vouch for him!" Sora spoke up, raising his hand with a smile. "He's helped me out of a lot of tight spots since I found him, plus he's really skilled."

Though he still looked doubtful, the Captain decided he'd let the white haired boy stay for now and keep a close eye on him. If he could truly train someone like Ping to a true fighter, then perhaps he'd be a valuable asset to the troupe.

"Very well. You and your friends can work with Ping today while I work with the others. If he can increase his skill significantly by tomorrow, I will reconsider sending him home."

"Thank you, sir." Toshiro gave a slight bow before pivoting on his heel and walking away.

Sora shared a glance with Mulan and nodded to show it was going to be okay before the two of them followed after Toshiro back outside the camp grounds to an open area away from the others. Donald and Goofy lagged behind to gather information.

"So how tough are you?" Mulan asked the small Soul Reaper.

"What I'm going to use to help train you will be a fraction of what I can do." Toshiro replied. "What I teach you will be different from the others considering I learned zanjutsu, not whatever technique the Chinese use."

"Zanjutsu?" Sora blanked.

"Art of the sword. It's a Japanese style of fighting. These techniques might not be something that man will like, but it will keep you alive which is the most important thing right now."

Toshiro unsheathed Hyorinmaru and took a stance, both hands on the hilt and feet spread for better stability as well as perfect for dodging quickly. Mulan attempted to do the same but kept her sword in one hand. The Soul Reaper didn't correct her as the sword was meant to be used that way; he'd simply learned that using both hands increases the power of an attack. With that in mind, he moved one of his hands away from the hilt to decrease the strength of his blows for the beginner.

"Hey Sora, how tough is he?" He heard Mushu question the Keybearer.

"Never fought him one on one, but he's pretty strong." Sora replied with a grin, watching as Toshiro demonstrated how to properly swing a sword without hurting oneself. "I don't think he's been hurt once since I met him."

"Know anything about where he comes from?"

"Well…I'm not supposed to talk about it. I know where he's from, but he gets mad if I tell other people."

"Come on, I traveled worlds with you, which one does he live on?"

"It's been closed off for centuries apparently, the darkness kidnapped him and I happened to run into him."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Because I don't wanna get turned into an ice cube." This he hissed quietly and hoped Toshiro didn't hear.

But he had. Hitsugaya smirked slightly and focused back on his charge, pointing out how Mulan's tight stance caused her to stumble when she swung too hard and how to remedy it.

It continued like this for several hours until Mulan just couldn't take anymore and called it quits. The Soul Reaper hadn't broken a sweat once and ended up helping the woman back to the camp to a tent prepared for their little gang to rest. She would be tested tomorrow and Toshiro thought she would do well considering how fast a learner she was.

The others all went to sleep quickly but Toshiro did not show any signs of weariness or fatigue. He stayed near the entrance of the tent, alert for the slightest sign of Heartless or Nobodies; anything that didn't belong. A shuffling behind him made him turn as Mushu slithered through the sleeping bodies of the others and up to him.

"Okay you, you surprisingly got Sora to remain tight-lipped but I aint trusting ya until you give me answers." The dragon snorted.

"Good luck with that." Toshiro replied.

Mushu growled before looking at the blade at Toshiro's back. This close he could confirm his earlier theory; there was a soul in the sword. With the power he had left as a guardian he would be able to speak to that spirit but he knew Toshiro was very observant.

"What's with that sword, it's bigger than you are?" Mushu said in a cocky tone.

"Are you suggesting something?" Teal eyes stared down the dragon.

"Maybe."

"You realize I could crush you under my hand?"

"Ha! That is IF you could catch m-whoa, hey!" Mushu struggled as he was lifted up by his tail. When had Hitsugaya grabbed that?

"You've been caught. Now leave me alone."

"I need a head start!"

Rolling his eyes, Toshiro tossed the dragon back over to Mulan and turned his gaze back to the entrance.

The red dragon attempted to wait for the Soul Reaper to fall asleep, but ended up doing so first without any sign of Toshiro being close to falling asleep. Learning what the mysterious boy was would be harder than he'd first thought.

So Toshiro quickly fights his way into the troupe and offers to help train Mulan. Sora's going to get some training here as well, as Toshiro takes advantage of the training time. Next we go up the mountain! Enjoy!