Storytelling

Author's Note - All legal stuff is in chapter one, and reviews are made of awesome.

Storytelling

"Okay then. Once upon a time…"

"Oh, come on Dom, I'm not a child!"

"Maybe not, but this story always struck me as being too much like a fairy tale for anybody's good, so I'm gonna tell it my way. With minimal interruptions. Okay?"

"…"

"I'm sorry, were some words hiding in that grumble?"

"I said, okay."

"Okay. Let's start again, shall we? Once upon a time there was darkness, and then a deep voice said 'Let there be Light! And there was li…"

"Oh come on!"

"No need to shout. I'm just messin' with ya."

"Please, Dom. I want to know."

"Alright, once upon a time, there was a great war with the Dai Shi, and the animals who were against him came together with the humans that he was trying to crush. They had all fought in their own ways against him for a long while, but they had also all lost. Finally, someone, no one can remember whom, or even if it was an animal or a human, had the idea to combine their strength. Unfortunately, there was much distrust between the two groups, and the alliance was shaky, at best.

At the next battle against Dai Shi, the new allies fought bravely and while they didn't lose as badly, they did still lose. After several more battles, and several more defeats, it was clear that something had to be done. It was at this point that the strongest of the animals, the Lion, decided to try something entirely new.

The Lion went to one of the humans it had befriended, and said 'Warrior, we are much alike you and I. I regard you as not a human, but instead a piece of myself. I would ask for your help, and the help of your people, in a dangerous endeavor.'

The warrior, whose name was Kaito, was overwhelmed by praise from such a noble beast. He responded in turn, 'Lion, you astound me everyday with your bravery, and strength. If it does not offend you, I would call you brother for the rest of my days. Whatever you need of me I will do. Whatever you need of my people they will happily supply.'

The Lion was pleased by this, and told Kaito what his idea had been, 'Warrior, I am tired, and my body is wounded. Soon, it will die.' Seeing the horror on Kaito's face the Lion quickly continued on, 'my soul however is still strong, and wishes to fight on. I ask you warrior, let my soul share it's time here on the Earth with you in your body. Share with me your life, and in return I will share with you my strength, my spirit, and all that is myself.'

Kaito sat staring at the Lion, stunned nearly beyond speech. 'Oh, great Lion, it is my honor and my privilege to share with you my life, my body, and all that is myself.'

With these words, and a sharing of blood, Kaito took up his dagger and killed the Lion.

But when the Lion's soul left its former body it did not continue on into heaven. Instead it swiftly made its way to Kaito, and entered its new residence. It's said the screams of Kaito sounded like growls. Growls so loud they split the night in two, and people thirty miles away quaked for they were certain a storm to end all storms was upon them.

Warriors and Animals from all over the camp came running to Kaito's tent, where they found the man passed out, and the Lion dead with Kaito's knife in his side. 'Kaito has turned against us!' they all cried. 'We must be rid of him!'

But, the Lion's mate the mighty Bear stopped them all. 'No,' said the bear, 'I wish to know why Kaito has done such a thing.' And when Kaito awoke, he told them all, of how the Lion had confessed to be dying, and of his last request.

'This is treachery! these are lies! Mighty Lion would never shackle himself to such a lowly creature!' cried the animals.

But the Bear looked deep into Kaito's eyes, and saw the Lion looking back. 'This man holds the soul of my mate!' the Bear shouted, and this silenced the naysayers, for all knew that the Bear and the Lion were destined. 'And I will join him.' This caused a flurry of reaction, but Bear would not be swayed, and in the end Kaito's wife Namia stepped forward and said that she would share her being with the Bear, if the Bear would accept her.

The Bear looked deep within Namia's soul, and smiled at what he saw there. 'This woman is strong, and fierce. She is honorable, and I am happy to share all that I am with her.'

The next time the animal-human alliance met Dai Shi's forces on the battlefield, Kaito and Namia were leading the charge. It was a great victory.

At the celebration that night, the remaining humans and animals mixed their spirits, their strengths, and all that they were. And from that day to this their descendents, and their descendant's descendents have all share spirit with an animal that matches them in temperament, and soul."

Casey stared at him, his expression vaguely shocked.

"Questions?"

"…. Yeah. How do you know that story? I mean…'

"Master Mao, caught me pulling a prank on a couple of second years one time when I was a Cub. He made me learn it word for word, inflection for inflection. It took weeks." Dom grinned in remembrance, "Plus, whenever he asked I had to quote it back to him, word for word, or I got an extra mile added to my daily run and an extra hour added to daily meditation."

"Huh." Casey looked at him a moment and then visibly returned to the reason they were sitting in the kitchen in the wee small hours. "Why did I freak out on you? I mean that's a great story, but it still doesn't tell me why I…"

"Tried to kill me?"

"Exactly."

"Okay, usually you learn to work with your animal spirit at the academy over time, ya know? There are strict rules and regs to keep you in check as you learn to control it and yourself. Plus, the masters are there if you get out of hand. But, Casey you've gotta understand, you're getting on-the-job training and not a lot else, so you're accessing your tiger spirit a lot more deeply, and a lot more thoroughly than most Cubs would, or even could. So, you and the Tiger are much more closely tied than most of the others. Which means your emotions affect the Tiger, and the Tiger affects you too."

"…"

"…"

"Still, not quite sure what you're getting at Dom."

"Oh, well, your in love with R.J." Casey glared at him, and Dom thanked every god he'd ever heard of that he was able to keep from laughing at the younger man's expression. He took a deep breath, and continued on. "Because of that the tiger took a good long look at the wolf, and must have decided that the wolf would be just fine with him, so when you saw me come out of R.J.'s room the Tiger took over out of sheer pain and anger. And because you've become so immersed in him, he had the ability to control you're limbs."

"Now I'm even more freaked out then I was."

"Casey, it's okay. You still had control of your mind, and the tiger's not gonna try it again. It might be loathe to believe a human, but my rhino vouched for me, and it will believe him."

Yeah, but… Dom… I don't want to lose control like that again." Casey's voice was small, and shaky. Dom took a deep breath, and cursed a blue streak at Master Mao in his mind. Putting this kind of responsibility on a first year that had barely begun his training just wasn't right.

Dom let the breath out again and put his hand on Casey's shoulder, "Casey, I know it's freaky but you can't let it get you down. We need you too much in this war." Casey didn't look reassured, and Dom gave the shoulder under his palm a squeeze. "If you want, you could always ask one of the Master's to give you some extra training. Maybe help you reach some equilibrium with the tiger."

Casey let out a mirthless chuckle, "I can just picture that, 'Hey, Master Finn I was wondering, could you help me tame my tiger spirit before I jump your son and kill his best friend?' Yeah, that'd go over well."

"How about, Swoop or Phant? Either of them would help."

"Maybe, but they're really more connected to Theo and Lily." Casey looked up at him again, and Dominic had a sudden feeling of dread.

"Dom," Casey's voice was cautiously hopeful, "maybe, maybe you could teach me. I mean you know all the details and everything already."

Dom closed his eyes briefly. He opened them again with every intention to turn the Cub down. He wasn't anybody's teacher! He wasn't even technically a Master, Casey deserved better. He deserved someone who actually knew what he was doing. He definitely deserved someone who hadn't had every intention of sleeping with his soon-to-be-mate just hours before.

Casey's expression, part hope, part fear, part embarrassment, and part desperation, changed his mind.

"Yeah, okay." Dom could hear the resignation in his tone, but couldn't help it.

"Really?!"

"Yeah, really."

"Great! When do you want to start?"

Dom took another breath, (it was not a sigh, he did not sigh damn it!), "Tomorrow. We'll start tomorrow. Barring the end of the world, of course" This last was said with a tired grin, which Casey returned. "For now, I think we should both go to bed."

"Good idea. Goodnight Dom."

"Goodnight, Casey I'll see you in the morning." Dom waved as the youth went off in the direction of his and Theo's room, and then turned in the direction of his own hammock. Morning would come soon enough, for now it was time to sleep.

The next morning all hell broke loose in Ocean Bluff