A few days later.

"Boom" the sound of the explosion rocked the Lark house as the residence all fell to the floor. Jacob Lark was the first to get back up to his feet and sprinted for the door. However, it was Jade Lark that was the first to the back door. Jade frantically scanned the woodland for Kiba. Sky was already in the kitchen with his mother but Kiba had said he was testing something outside so he stayed behind at his mother's behest. Fearing the worst, Jade Lark began to look for any sign of her child.

Kiba may not have been her favorite child, he was far too much like his father for that, but he was her kid non-the less. So, when she ran out and saw a crater were Kiba normally played she feared the worst. Rushing forward and looking for any sign of him She was soon joined by her husband.

"Have you found Kiba, were, is he?" Jacob said as he rushed to his wife's side. He had forgone the stairs and jumped out the third story window, where he kept his more dangerous tools and explosives. He had jumped onto the big tree at the back of the house, skimming down to join his wife in no less than ten seconds. His brown eyes were scanning the surroundings and looking for any trace of their way word son.

"No Jacob, I just got here, you take the right side I'll take the left." They split up and looked in the forest, hoping to find some trace of Kiba. Sky had been ordered to stay in the house, just in case this was an attack and they wanted to make sure he was safe.

While Kiba had a habit of blowing himself up with his experiments, this time felt different. Normally they were small time explosions with only the force it would take to force an aura to drop. Jacob saw the trail of broken branches and kicked up dirt that leads deeper into the local woodland, presumably where Kiba had been launched. Jacob followed the trail into the woods, keeping his eyes peeled as he scanned every surface for his wayward son.

That boy was going to get the biggest hug in the world, and then the beating of a lifetime! Fooling around with explosives without the proper safety equipment. He thought the boy knew better than that. 'Calm down me, son first then scold.' he thought to himself in order to keep his panic under control.

The woods behind Lark's house was not all that thick so Jacob found the end of the trail quickly. It leads just over a rocky cliff that dropped down for ten feet. And just at the bottom, yup that was Kiba. He was curled up on a patch of dead tree leaves under a rocky cliff face. Every few seconds his aura would fluctuate and sparkle to life before dimming again. That was not a good sign. It meant his aura was still trying to fix some problem with his body but was unable to. That normally happened with broken or dislocated bones or third-degree burns.

Jacob quickly jumped down and slid beside Kiba. Concerned for his son Jacob moved his son onto his back and looked him over. Most of Kiba was fine, just minor burns and bruises, but his arm. His arm looked bad. It was twisted and mangled, the flesh charred black like coal. Green and yellow puss were spewing from its cracks while blood leaked out like a river.

Thinking quickly Jacob grabbed his hunting knife and tore off the burned part of Kiba's jacket and shirt. Then cut his own shirt off so he could make a makeshift bandage. Gently wrapping Kiba's arm he wrapped it together with another strip of the shirt before lifting his son into his hands. He was so light. Jacob often forgot just how young his son was. Despite not beating him in a spar yet he still hit like a bulldozer.

Jacob ran back up the cliff and yelled: "Honey, I found Kiba, Call Doctor Osborn." Jacob leaped passed his startled wife and ran up the stairs to Kiba's room. "Sky, get me the first aid Kit and a bowl of cool water." Jacob got to work at removing the rest of his son's shirt and getting rid of any obstructions. Even the bandage his son wore in place of gloves needed to be removed. Sky rushed into the room. His eyes grew wide at the sight of Kiba's blackened hand but still gave his father the first aid kit.

"Good, now go get me some cool water and a towel, Not cold but cool. We need to cool off the skin and then wrap it with disinfecting bandages.' Sky rushed off after sneaking another glance at Kiba. Jacob began cataloging all the supplies he needed and quickly administered a small sedative to Kiba, to keep him under and out of pain.

"Jacob, Dr. Osborn said he will be here in forty to fifty minutes. He'll bring what we need but recommends we clean and sterilize the wounds." Maria said as she tried not to look at her bloodied and charred little boy. He was so grounded when he got better. "I got this honey, you go run a cool bath. We may need it to clean off his arm later. Then activate house lockdown." Rushing off she went to do just that. Normally her husband would never get away with giving her an order but this was the exception.

Sky soon returned with the bowl and towel. Placing it on his brother's nightstand and crouching down near his father. "Son, place the hand in the bowl and use the towel to cool of the other parts of his hand." Jacob got to work smearing antibacterial cream over his son's hand and harm, to kill off any infection.

"Is Kiba going to be ok dad?" Sky was worried for his brother, Sure he was loud, secretive and annoyingly cryptic. But he was also caring, funny and loved pulling off the best pranks. His big brother was the best big brother in the world! But looking at him now, he looks so sick. His skin was so white and pale, like those zombies from that Scroll show he liked to watch. The Stumbling Dead.

They quickly worked to clean off the wound until Doctor Osborn walked in, white lab coat swirling behind him. A wheelable station rolled in by two large men with white scrubs on. One looked to be a Bull Faunus while the other was a human. Both were built like tanks that could walk.

"I got here as quickly as I could, I see you cleared the wound, Good, now everyone leaves, Me and the boys need space and time to work on him. Don't Worry Jacob, Jade ill make sure your boy pulls through." Jason Osborn was a longtime friend of Jacob lark, going back to when they first met when they were only ten years old.

Osborn was a tall man with short choppy brown hair. His features spoke of his highborn statues and clothing indicated he was part of the nobility. Their parents had tried to make them friends almost from the get-go. It worked and they ended up going into hunter training together. However, Osborn could not stomach Hunters work. He was not like Jacob, he was not bloodthirsty and battle hungry. He was softer, and the demands of being a hunter was just too much for him. Evenly Jacob kicked Osborn into gear and told him to find a new profession. "Get out of this job before it sucks that last bit of your soul." As he put it.

Osborn found his niche in healing rather than fighting. Becoming a professional doctor instead of a hunter. He even made a name for himself in the vale medical circuit. And then made a secret name for himself in the Vale underworld. But that was the past and now he had a patient to attend to.

… …

The Lark Family sat grimly around their living room. Sky was hugging his mother as he cried into her shirt. Normally she would scold him for that but for this one time, she would make an exception. She cuddled him close to her long black hair and drank her cup of tea. Tea relaxed her, it was familiar. If she drank it then nothing was wrong, she was in control. She did not need to think about how her little boy might lose his hand. Nope just her and tea.

Jacob paced behind the couch, his restless energy getting the better of him. What he really wanted to do was go out to the yard and investigate what happened. But it was fully dark now and he didn't have the advantage of Faunus night vision. He looked at his wife drinking tea and envied sky his tears.

Everyone grieves differently, Jacob and Jade never shed tears when they grieved, they had their own private ways of dealing with their grief and preferred it that way. Even that had taken years to develop. They could cry after their boy got better. He would have to. He didn't think Jade could take any more tragedy without breaking down.

Now all Jacob had was himself and his thoughts. Thoughts swimming with images of his little boy. His boy was smart and skilled. Seeing patterns where others would have seen nothing but a mess. He experimented and learned when he wanted and trained diligently. Even giving himself a run for his money. But he was also only twelve. A boy that by all rights should have only started learning what a gun is, not designing the most lethal weapons known to mankind.

Despite his genius and brain, he still had the body of a kid and could not defeat his Father yet. He came close to it. Nearly beating him in a spare, but each time Jacob would pull off a new trick and beat Kiba again. That's the thing with geniuses, you always needed to show them something new. You always needed to challenge them or you lost their respect.

Then there was the project his son was working on. Creating a whole new mine on the outskirts of Vale, while trying to keep it secret from the rest of the world was not easy. And yet he was somehow doing it.

Jacob was not going to question his son about that. Gods know he had more quirks about him then was strictly necessary. But perhaps it was time to set up some ground rules.

It was hard to believe but for most of that kid's life, Jacob had believed he wasn't even his father. That he was just a byproduct of a poorly thought out tryst of his wife's. The kid was nothing like either of them, with his messy brown hair in contrast to his own silver, the Sharp teeth and eyes screamed Faunus to him. He had hated that kid and was so close to kicking him out. Then the attack on their summer home happened. It was when he saw That Grin. The same grin his father and his father before him wore when violence was to be had. That was when he entertained the thought that he might indeed be a Lark.

So, without anyone knowing he had a test done on his son to figure out how the teeth, eyes, and claws happened and to put to the ground once and for all if he was the father. When the doctor came back with the results he was not only happy to note that not only was Kiba his full-blooded son but that there was no Faunus Blood at all. It was in-fact an odd mutation that changed him. They had no idea how it happened but Jacob did not care, He dad a true heir and that was all that mattered. Sky would have made a decent heir but Kiba, Kiba was special.

He had a viciousness and ruthlessness that his brother just lacked. Not to say he wasn't kind, he carried his brothers home from school far too many times to not care for him. The scar on his hip was a testament to what happened when you even alluded to harming what was his. Never had he seen Kiba work so hard to kill him then when he threatened to make Sky face a deadly challenge instead of him. He was proud that he had such a loyal son. Because that was it, the one thing that defined Kiba above all the other traits that would otherwise make him a monster, Loyalty.

The door to the upstairs hall opened and Doctor Osborn descended the stairs. He looked tired and disheveled but not depressed. That was a good sign. He walked down to the couch and said, "Good news, he can keep the hand and he'll live.' We all let out a sigh of relief as he said that. Then he pulled out a clipboard from somewhere. Jacob never did learn where or how Osborn learned to use hammerspace.

'But, he's not going to be able to move that hand for a few months. He suffered multiple third-degree burns to the arm and had several fractures and a break. We set the break and the dislocated shoulder back to normal. The muscles around his hand all have third-degree burns and will require constant treatment. Then there were all the hairline fractures to his ribs, skull and legs. But none of those should be life-threatening or debilitating, just painful. He did suffer a few fractures to his spine, that would normally be concerning but his aura control must be beyond excellent since it was nearly finished healing that first and was getting started on all the little fractures. I was worried about a concussion and examined his head. He has some swelling we are monitoring now and are keeping an eye on. If it gets too bad we will have to remove a piece of his skull to let out the pressure. But I suspect we won't have to since I saw some of his aura moving in that direction. Probably in response to the most dangerous areas. As for his hand, it will take more than just aura to heal that. It will help and by the time his hand is healed he will probably have mastered Aura self-healing. However, it will still take several weeks to regrow all that muscle, fascia and fibers. He can speed it up all he likes but he will only be able to do it a muscle fiber at a time. Do not let him do it all at once or things will become complicated." Osborn gulped down some of the tea Jade set out before consulting his notes again.

"This time next year he should be as good as new if not better."

The family let out a collective breath of relief at hearing this. A heavy weight was lifted from their shoulders as they heard that Kiba was not only going to live but was still going to be able to use his hand. Then they set about getting ready to deliver the mother of all lectures for getting into this situation in the first place.

… … ….

Kiba awoke feeling terrible. His eyes could barely focus on his ceiling and there was a familiar dizziness going on that indicated he had a concussion. Learning from one to many trips to the hospital Kiba didn't move a muscle as he opened his eyes again to look around.

This was his ceiling, so he was home. He could still feel his arms and legs; however, his left hand was throbbing and extremely painful. Chancing a look around he spotted his little brother Sky reading a book on a chair next to his bed. By chance, he looked Kiba's way and smiled when he saw his brother's eyes open. Putting the book down, some Syfy book by the name of Galaxy Wars, and rushed out the door saying, 'He's awake."

Before long the whole Lark clan was in the room. His mother uncharacteristically doting over his pillow and his father looking over his bandaged arm. "Son, as much as I would like to question you about what happened. You really should go back to sleep, you still have several injuries that need to be mended and while your aura is doing a fantastic job of it, you still need to rest."

Since his head was still swirling in knots Kiba was libel to agree. He closed his eyes again and soon drifted back to slumber.

.. … …

The next time Kiba woke he was feeling leagues better. His head was no longer spinning and his body didn't feel like it had just withstood the full power of a Biju Bomb. Or the angry punches of a dozen angry kunoichi after a guy was caught peeping. You have got to love Aura healing. He did not envy Naruto his host healing one bit. Not even for marrying Hinata. His little Princess was more like a Sister to him than any potential wife material. It was like keeping around a pet bunny all the time.

Even Shino turned out to be brotherly to him. Even if he was still freaked out by the stink bugs. Contrary to widely held belief Kiba was probably the cleanest Ninja in Konoha. His sense of smell never turned off and he needed to bathe multiple times a day just so that he didn't pass out from his own stick. Otherwise, he could knock himself out with his own stank. A fact that his wife found both funny and relived for. She never had to tell him or his kids it was bath time and since he helped clean the house regularly she loved him even more.

Distracting himself was not going to do anything now so Kiba slowly moved his arms in front of his face. His right arm looked fine if bruised, but his left arm was concerning. It was still heavily bandaged and must have a lot of numbing agents since he could not feel a thing below his shoulder.

The fact most of the bandages where red was a pretty bad indicator as well. The door to his room opened and a man in a lab coat walked in with his little brother close behind. The man smelled like antiseptic and metal. The smell of a doctor. Sky was following close behind and was caring a tray full of bandages.

"Well, good to see your awake. We can get you off M35 then. Your concussion was getting rather bad and we were worried that we might have to operate. But if your awake now then the swelling must be subsiding. Now give me your hands and let's see what we can work with. Can you remember anything before your accident?" the doctor asked as he reached into his coat for a small knife.

"No, sir."

Osborn Started peeling off the red bandages off his hand and Kiba had to stifle a shudder at what was left. In his line of work, he knew this was always a possibility but it was still unnerving to see his arm blackened. The layer of char had been scrubbed away to reveal the dreaded skin underneath. It was a miss-mosh of blacks, purples, whites, and reds. All mixing into a parody of what an arm should look like.

"Not as good as I had hoped. Normal I would have already gone ahead and amputated but Jacob tells me you're a bit of a prodigy when It comes to Aura." The doctor began to probe and prod some of the darker areas as well as cut parts off before stuffing them in a beaker.

Kiba tore his eyes away from his arm and looked up at the man hopefully. Kiba had to admit, at least to himself, that he was a little scared. His new life had barely begun and here he was, laid out on his bed. Questioning if he should have his arm amputated. There is no experience you can have, no torture or please you can go through that would make losing an arm ok. No matter what Sasuke said, he was never quite over losing that arm. Even if the prosthetic was almost as good as flesh and blood.

"Yes, I'm really good at it. I'd say an expert if I was older. So, for now, I'm just a genius. What do you need me to do with my aura?"

Osborn chucked at Kiba's Confidence. "Well Kiba, first I want you to try and send a pulse of aura threw your body and see if it reaches into your arm." Kiba closed his eyes and a black shimmering aura appeared for just a second before it seemed to recede into himself. Inside his body, Kiba could feel the Aura buildup in his main aura Chamber located near his stomach. With a force of will, he pulsed the chakra through his system, close to how he would dispel a genjutsu.

The aura slowly moved through him and pulled through every pore of his body, however when it reached the part of his arm that connected to his elbow, the connection faced resistance. It was a little staggering to feel his own arm pushing back at him. He wrestled with it but could only push a sliver of aura passed his elbow.

"That's it, let your aura flow back. Well, young man, you are most certainly advanced. Most people four times your age would not be able to do something like that. It takes a fine amount of control and understanding of the inner workings of the body to do that. Now I need you to concentrate your aura in the area where you felt resistance. Don't try to push past, just let it settle."

Kiba wanted to protest and scream, it was painful to do that and would hurt again. But he sucked it up and repeated the process. Osborn raised his left hand and his own Aura began to shimmer into place and then concentrate in a thin membrane on his hands. He began to move his hands closer to the arm but retracted when Kia flinched back.

"Little Kiba, I'm only going to monitor your aura as it moves through the body, no need to be afraid. Just keep holding your aura there." For the next hour Kiba grit his teeth as he flowed his aura into the deadened part of his arm, the sting was becoming more barrable but he had yet to find a conferrable flow. Threw out the whole ordeal Osborn kept monitoring Kibas vitals and occasionally writing things on a clipboard.

"That's enough Kiba, you can relax. You must have some pain tolerance to keep that up for an hour but you passed the test. You can keep your arm. During the time that you were concentrating your aura, I could verify some healing to your harm. Not much but it should be enough to keep it. I'll send over my son in a few days with a more detailed report and analysis. Sorry to say but you will need to do that again every day for a year. I know it's quite painful but it will get easier. Now get some sleep."

… … …

Dream World.

Kiba awoke up again in the dream world. Dazedly he rose up to his feet and took in the forest. It was still as pristine and perfect as the last time he was here. However, when he looked down at his left hand it was muddled and faded, a ghostly parody of its former glory. It was even transparent if he let the light from the dream sun pass through his fingers.

He looked around the clearing and spotted Bast, this time sporting a deep pink kimono with floral patterns on the sleeves. However, unlike last time when she was bubbly and cheerful this time she looked sullen and a little guilty. It was not a good look for her.

Next to her stood a tiered looking gentleman with a dog's head. A Doberman to be precise. Not like a Faunus that looked human but more like a weredog. The canine head blending seamlessly into a fur-covered coat and strong limbs. His eyes were covered in a golden mascara that tapered off into a fine point. A Sleek Black suit gave off the impression of both wealth and power. Its tailored designed showing off the big shoulders for the dog man while also emphasizing his massive arms.

He was also doing a half bow to Kiba as well. "I am sorry for the inconvenience young man, but I am afraid that I have some explaining to do." His voice was a deep baritone that you could feel begin in the pit of our stomach and expand outwards. It was less like listening and more like hearing him with every fiber of your body. Like how you could feel the music from a club but not necessarily understand it. Hearing his words was more akin to hearing a talking avalanche then any sound a human could make.

"I'm guessing you must be Anubis then? You're a lot more powerful than your sister made you seem. Long walks around the park?" Kiba asked as he wondered why the two were bowing towards him.

"Inter-dimensional battles caused by my little sister actually. It is a full-time job making sure that the adage of curiosity killed the cat does not apply to her. But that's not why I'm here today. I'm here to apologize on my and my sister's behalf of your injury." The Doberman god straightened his back again and looked almost scoldingly at his sister.

"Explain."

"I had informed Bast that she was to give you one of my blessings when she last saw you. She did not. And when she remembered she flung it out at you without checking up on you first. Unfortunately, at the time you were doing a very sensitive aura project and receiving the blessing destabilized your aura at the worst possible time, causing not only physical damage to your arm but spiritual as well. In any other circumstance, the blessing would have been a great boon and helped with any struggle. A Deus ex Machina if you will. I had asked Bast to give you the blessing the last time you were in the dream world, but like a fool she forgot." At this, he glared at the Faunus like woman as she looked away from him. She was guilty and knew it but could not quite face them in her shame.

'Ow to hell with it.'

She jumped from her position and came sailing at Kiba with the full force of a goddess of Cats. The only thing that kept Kiba up was a lifetime of Headbutts to the stomach from overeager dogs and children. "IIIIMMMM, SOOOOOOO SORRY." Tears were welling out of her eyes and her cute pink cat ears were drooping down. She hickuped every other word as she said. "I am so 'hugk' sorry. I didn't 'hugk' mean to hurt 'hugk' you. Please 'hugh' forgive me?" She cried and wailed and it took Kiba holding her for a good twenty minutes before she subsided. Twenty minutes that he spent in silence just thinking.

"As glad as I am she has the strength of character to care about other people. It is a trait that sadly few gods and goddesses share until soundly beaten. I just wish she didn't have to do it so often. I swear one of these days she will piss of the wrong guy and I'll be too late to help her." Anubis walked closer and sat down beside them. Now that he was less formal and more concerned he was easier to be around. His voice also stopped its war against reality and subsided it a more normal but growly tone.

"That's what brothers are for, big or little, were there to protect our sisters. Besides, it was an accident so I forgive her." Kiba grinned his trademark smile and Anubis felt a similar grin on his own face.

"Let me see your hand, I got to check the damage." Anubis examined the hand for what left like twenty minutes. Kiba observed that the man's hand was completely callused over, with three big spots that might hold a pen. Kiba used this time to pet Bast's head, her purring sounds were rather comforting and soothing in this freaky situation. Her long white and pink hair felt like the softest silk and smelled like fresh jasmine. Putting a calming effect on Kiba.

"Well, it's not as bad as it could have been. What were you doing anyway that made even the smallest Aura disruption cause this?" Anubis let his hand down and looked him square in the eye. Anubis's eyes were a vibrant and intense orange. As vibrant as the setting sun but as intense as an explosion. A small ring of Silver surrounded the orange before drifting off to blackness.

"I don't remember the incident, but my journal said I was going to be testing a transformative technique. Hopefully to be able to transform my hands back into my claws. So, it must have been done when I was in the middle of testing it. Talk about horrible luck hu?" They sat there in pleasant silence while they watched the Sky. It was a very odd sky, mostly since the clouds would transform into the most random of things. A fire truck, A xenomorph, and a hyperactive pony.

"There is some good news. Since the arms been damaged so much the arm won't be able to allow so much Aura to enter it, reshaping it back into chakra. This could be good since once the hand heals and you get some practice, some of the more finicky jutsu should be possible. On the other hand, no auto armor for that hand." Kiba smiled at that revelation. Beaming at Anubis like a Kid in a candy store. Or an Adult in a Liquor store.

"That's a decent trade-off to me. Having to mold highly condensed chakra all the time takes forever and a hundred thousand hand seals. I know, I checked. If I can use it more effectively with one hand then it's all good bro." Kiba lifted his good arm and lifted It in a fist to Anubis.

"You seem awfully Ok with this even for a ninja." Anubis fist bumped and then laid back down on the ground. It had been way too long since he had last relaxed. Being the dog god of the underworld was a stressful full-time job. One that sadly gave little in the way of vacation time.

"I deal with what I got, it's like basic Shinobi 101 training. If you got a breath in your body, then you keep fighting. No use giving up and never surrender. That's what I've always believed."

"Sounds about right. That's mostly what Life is now anyway or death in my case. Make the most of what you got. But I still feel bad about causing you unintentional pain. Especially to someone from the Inuzuka. And you still got to go through therapy and rehabilitation. Is there anything you want? Mabey going back to see your old family?" Anubis opened a portal in front of him. Threw the portal Kiba could see the Picturesque scenery of Konoha in all its splendor. Kiba felt a soft pang in his heart when he looked at the Hokage monument, looking down and protecting the village.

"Nah, I made sure my Kids were well off before I died and my Wife probably found someone else by now. Sure, I miss them and will never forget them. But If they can't carve out a life for themselves with what I left behind then they never deserved it in the first place." Anubis looked surprised at the this. Closing the portal with a snap of his clawed hands.

"That's kind of harsh, isn't it?"

"Tough love is still loved. I made sure they would be ok. But I will not coddle them. Coddling is for babies. If they and the clan are to survive the oncoming storm then they must train and surpass their old man." Above Kiba, the clouds shifted into a montage of training from when he was still a kid. Destroyed trees, Crushed weights and even a few bottles of water littered the sky as Kiba thought of them.

"What oncoming storm?" There was no apocalypse or anything scheduled for that world. Hell, they even beat their own goddess and god a decade ago. Since then no god, deity or astral being has even set foot in that dimension, the only exception was those that didn't know or were too stupid to live.

"It's the ninja world. There's always some other threat." Kiba looked him in the eye and dared him to disagree.

"Good point. However, the idea of a clan of people working to get even stronger then you were, is a very disturbing idea." They stayed like that for a good deal more till Kiba felt the pull on his mortal body and vanished. Leaving a very Annoyed Bast behind, Kiba was really good at petting hair and he was as soft as a dame pillow!