Pathfinder [Flashback]

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

Yoroi Kaguya

Moving through the woodlands of the fire country, the five year old Kaguya walked right behind a white tiger. If a human saw such a thing, they would have probably freaked out and would make attempts at pulling the kid away from the beast, though there was really no need for such a thing. The tiger would never do anything to hurt the young boy, while no human would ever be able to find them anyway. Being far from the prying eyes of the shinobi world, the large feline predator was responsible for keeping the young, unnamed child safe from the dangers of the animal world. The tiger knew well what it was doing and where it was going, being a true predator that knew the land it had prowled for a long time like the back of it’s paws. Wearing nothing but rags, the white haired child simply followed the animal while trying to see where they were going. Curiosity was what killed the cat, something the tiger most likely knew, seeing as it would growl at the kid whenever he tried to pass around the tiger and see where they were headed. To say that animals lacked the emotions and feelings to create a paternal bond with a child seemed like a stupid thing to say when one saw the two lurking behind the tall grass and thick trees.

Today, the tiger was trying to teach it’s cub how to find his way through the wilderness with as little trouble as possible. It was something they had done many times, though the human child often had trouble with places that had low visibility or looked the exact same as the next place they would go. Passing through the marshes, the tiger was leading the youth, using it’s paws to test whether the footing would hold by stepping in the more rickety or soft looking spots while applying it’s weight to it. If his paw sank into the floor, it pulled back and checked for other locations they could pass through. It was a good way to keep both himself and the human child from sinking into the marshes and never been seen or heard from ever again. This would not be the case as long as he had Tora to teach him all the things he needed to know if he was to survive on his own some day. It was not something he liked to think about, though the child often thought of what it might be like when Tora died. At the moment, the kid was so busy trying to orient himself that he did not even notice that for the last thirty minutes, the pair had been walking in circles as a means of confusing the child and putting it’s path finding skills to the test.

When Tora suddenly stopped moving at a certain moment, he growled at him, letting him know that he had to take the lead and take them back to their lair, something the tiger had put him through many times already. Though he could not speak the same language as the tiger, nor any other language for that matter, he always went by body language, which was always a simple thing to read with animals. Taking the lead, past experiences led him to do the opposite of what he had often done wrong in the past, walking back the same way they came without really looking around. Often did he forget to check for simple signs such as the different trees he passed, the prints on the ground, the state of the grass they had passed through, the distance between himself and far off objects he used as a navigation point like mountains or tall hills. This time, he would be sure to do everything correctly, making no mistakes in leading them back home. Looking down to see their own footprints in reverse, he noticed that he was heading in the right direction. Noticing by how the grass they pushed aside had made it’s way back to their normal location, it became easy to tell how long ago they had passed through the place, allowing the young boy to figure out the road he had to take and which fake path he had to leave behind him.

Though animals had no signs to give away in terms of facial expression, the young boy was sure that this would have impressed the large animal quite a bit. Most cubs had to learn these things shortly after they were born, though tigers grew a lot faster than humans, though their life span was also quite a bit shorter at the same time. Walking the way he wanted them to go, it took him very little effort to find their lair back at the foot of the hill this time, something that impressed the kid quite a bit. Upon reaching the place, Tora expressed it’s satisfaction by giving the young boy a lick across the face. Having done what he had been told to, he made a small hop into the air as he now knew what time it was. It was time to go out and hunt for food, his favorite time of the day.

Age : 32 Posts : 1912

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