The forest of...private...training...things...

[Corvus]

SPOILER: Click to show

Doubutsu Satori 動物覚り (Animal Understanding)
Rank: "D", "C", "B", "A", "S", "S+B"
Skill: None
Effect: A technique that allows the user and the animal to better communicate with one another by understanding what they would say without words.
Special: ---
Drawback: Animal will not understand the user what so ever and will not be able to perform tasks. May only learn once per animal. If user gets a new animal user must relearn the technique for that specific animal.
Description: A user and the animal are like two peas and a pod. It becomes an understanding of interpreted friendship. A user can give commands, telling the animal exactly what to do however the user must be specific. The user is able to understand what the animal means when it reacts, and the animal understands the user when he/she speaks. If user has a Small Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "D" Rank. If user has a Medium Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "C" Rank. If the user has a Large Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "B" Rank. If the user has a Huge Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "A" Rank. If the user has a Gargantuan Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "S" Rank. If the user has a Colossal Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "S + B" Rank. This means that the user must first learn "S", and then learn an additional "B" because its such a huge creature.
Limit: Must know Doubutsu Kougi 動物交宜 (Animal Friendship), or Doubutsu Shirei 動物司令 (Animal Control)

[--/10]

Sometime later, a roaring fire crackled with the meat of the giant boar roasting above. After the beast had been slain, Akiko had butchered the beast and buried what remained; offering a prayer for it to be released from the endless cycle of death and rebirth. She added a few herbs and some wild honey she had found in the vicinity.

The large wolf napped near the fire. Akiko hadn’t wanted to waste anything, and knowing that she couldn’t even come close to eating the whole thing by herself, she had invited to wolf to stay and partake. It hadn’t turned and attacked her anyway. The chirping of crickets joined in symphony with the other sounds of the night-time forest and the crackling of the fire, helping to ease the uncomfortable silence between child and beast.

“I wish,” Akiko finally said, “you could tell me why you did that.” The golden-haired girl hugged her knees close into her chest. Her head dipped down into her knees as she spoke, until finally she was speaking into the saddle formed by her torso and thighs. “You’re smarter than you let on, much smarter than a normal wolf should be. You proved that yourself by attacking the boar but not me. And I saw you hold back on it. If it had left on its own, I know you wouldn’t have pursued it,“ tears began to fill her childish, expressive eyes, “so why did you have to kill that boar?!” As she yelled at him, her head staying down; the wolf started back, feeling the emotion in the young girl’s heart.

The forest fell silent. The sap in a burning branch boiled, breaking out with an audible snap. The sound resonated throughout the quiet forest, startling bug, beast, and girl alike. The wolf jumped a little at the sound, possibly thinking it to be another enemy, and already on edge after being yelled at in such a loud, forceful voice by such a small human child. Calming down a bit with the passing of time, Akiko pulled her knees tighter into her chest, her head drooping even lower, so that her chin now rested on her chest.

A second snapping sound, not sounding quite like the first, caused Akiko’s head to snap up. She found a great emerald eye staring solemnly, yet with a hint of curiosity. The massive wolf’s front right paw had moved closer to Akiko, and the beast’s weight had been shifted onto it. Its body had moved slightly forward, as if it intended to move, but was waiting on something. Neither Shinobi nor canine moved for quite some time, just staring at one another.

Suddenly, without any warning nor provocation, the wolf dissolved into a dark blur and flew at unbelievable speeds across the gap that separated them. In an instant, the magnificent wolf reached Akiko and passed her completely. As he did so, he reached down and grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket. He then pulled her up sharply off the ground and placed her on his back.

As soon as his right forelimb touched the ground again, they were rocketing off into the dark. Akiko wrapped her arms around the beast’s thick, furry neck, and wrapped her tiny knees around his check, trying desperately to hold on. Something made her open her eyes, which were until them tightly shut from the wind, and what she saw through those tiny eyes she would never forget.

Though her eyes refused to show her what normally they opened before her unbidden, they now unfurled a completely different world; a wonderful world of such stellar beauty. Her heart pounding, her lungs sucking in the cool night air, Akiko could feel the wolf’s heartbeat, his lungs expand and contract with every breath. And she could see a sea of stars all around her. But it didn’t feel like she saw them with her eyes, but instead with something…else.

She felt a familiar yet at the same time foreign exhilaration as the winds wrapped around her body. It reminded her of taking flight, but still felt somehow different. They began to slow down from their unbelievable pace to one more tolerable to the normal human.

[Naota]

Ride off into that sunset with him DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! +10

[Corvus]

SPOILER: Click to show

Doubutsu Chīmuwāku (Animal Teamwork)
Rank: "D", "C", "B", "A", "S", "S+B"
Skill: None
Effect: A technique that allows the user and the animal to work together as a team. The user is able to ommit a few words here and there without giving full descriptions allowing the animal to attack with the user or how the user instructs.
Special: ---
Drawback: Animal will not work as a team with the user in combinations as well as using lesser commands. May only learn once per animal. If user gets a new animal user must relearn the technique for that specific animal.
Description: Ever seen an animal and master work with one another to the point where a word or two is uttered and they work in sync. This allows this to happen. The user is able to utter a word or two command as the Animal Companion follows. Sometimes the Animal Companion may react already knowing what user may wish for the Animal Companion to do. This allows such feats. If user has a Small Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "D" Rank. If user has a Medium Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "C" Rank. If the user has a Large Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "B" Rank. If the user has a Huge Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "A" Rank. If the user has a Gargantuan Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "S" Rank. If the user has a Colossal Animal Companion, the user must learn the technique "S + B" Rank. This means that the user must first learn "S", and then learn an additional "B" because its such a huge creature.
Limit: Must know Doubutsu Satori 動物覚り (Animal Understanding).

[--/10]

When finally they came to a stop, Akiko opened her eyes, having just realized they were closed. As she did so, the sea of stars vanished like a thousand candles extinguished at once. As she did so, the sea of stars disappeared. But what she saw instead was perhaps what the wolf intended her to see.

A pair of fox cubs tugged at the corpse of a rabbit, tearing the meat from the bone. But though it may seem barbaric to us, it was an everyday ac of self-continuation. And to Akiko it would become but one image of a greater truth.

‘Everything is connected.’ That is what the wolf wanted to show Akiko, but her eyes didn’t reflect the enlightenment that he was trying to show her. “This doesn’t answer my question,” Akiko said without looking at the wolf. Her eyes remained fixed on the fox cubs.

The wolf glanced at Akiko while she spoke, then returned his gaze to the fox cubs and their meal. Before Akiko’s eyes, a serpent slithered out of the grass and brush, heading for the cubs. Akiko got up and began to run towards the cubs, preparing a jutsu. But as quickly as she started, a large, furry paw stopped her cold.

With his other hand, paw, whatever, the wolf motioned back towards the cubs. Akiko followed his directions and looked back at the cubs and the serpent. The snake moved closer and closer, stalking, deadly. Just as it closed within striking distance, another, larger fox, presumably the mother, jumped from the bushes, cutting off the serpent.

The snake hissed. The fox growled. But neither seemed willing to back down nor be the first to attack. They just sat there and stared while the tension mounted. Neither advanced, and neither retreated.

Then it began in a flash. In the same instant, both fox and serpent lunged at each other, colliding into a tangled ball of fur & scales. The fur flew as they rolled about in the dust.

And as the dust settled, only one remained: the mother fox, protecting her brood, stood tall, the snake’s corpse in her jaws. The matriarch wobbled for a moment, long enough to tell Akiko the result, and soon fell to the ground.

Akiko ducked under the wolf’s hand, dunning forward to try and help the mother fox. But she had gone not three steps when she was suddenly grabbed by the collar of her jacket and whisked away from the scene.

The wolf brought her back to the campsite. Akiko silently broke away from the wolf and began to sulk while stroking the dying fire. “I still don’t get it”, she said, “why wouldn’t you let me help? Now those cubs are helpless.”

The wolf looked at Akiko, tilting his head from side to side like he was either confused or pondering something. Suddenly, he seemed to have come up with an idea. He moved slowly towards Akiko. Stopping when he was about a meter from her, he extended one digit and began to draw in the dust.

He started with a circle; a large circle whose ends met, very precisely, with an arrow pointing clockwise. He then wrote four words in Kanji, one at each cardinal point, oriented towards Akiko. In the suggested order from Akiko’s 12 o’clock position , they were ‘Earth’, ‘Grass’, ‘Deer’, and ‘Wolf’.

[Naota]

Very interesting read, I like philosophical shit like this. +10