I missed that car seat phase of my son.

You know, right when you decide you can finally take them from the safety of your home, and trust something other than your own hands to keep them safe. He was crawling, and then he was talking and by the time I came back?

"Dad I'm too big for a car seat." 7 years old and he'd rather race me to our destination on his bike.

He's a man now.

The sting of my second fang still burns and I can't help but feel like my mother's child. Aloof in the upbringing of my own children. Me and the other able-bodied Inuzaka did our part in changing the fate of an entire village and he was here growing on his own without the guidance of a father.

Or a mother. Tsume joined ya on the battlefield as soon as she was in fighting shape. Instead, the family too old to fight had raised him into the warrior I'd always expected him to be.

On his first hunt, he didn't hesitate. On his first battle, he held nothing back. And when the time came? He wasn't scared to enlist. That's my boy.

He was 3. The first time I left and in the blink of an eye he was 13.

At 20 he had the same mark on his face. God help him because when he came home to tell me, there were no tears. Just smiles and a longing look that I'm sure begged for my pride.

And he has it.

God willing he'll kill his fair share, and maybe, the thirst for my pride will be sated.

-Koga Inuzaka

xXx

The essence of man can be determined in many ways.

His feet crunched against harsh gravel and dust. Boots ran in every direction against the unforgiving terrain but only a few found refuge in the temporary cover of larger stones and their foliage.

Did God intend for them to die there or were they fated to die in another battle, similar volleys of lead fire?

Kiba had wished for war. He just didn't know he'd wished for this.

"Squad 2 move left. Take the sound's position in the library store. Squad 3 is 400 meters west from their position to support you." He barked out over a crackling radio, he hears a beep back in seconds.

"Roger. Squad 2 moving."

This wasn't just practice anymore. Lives were in his hands and the feeling was almost surreal, frightening.

Satisfying?

A swell of purpose guided the pull of his trigger finger before lead crashed through the skull of a Sound solider.

"Inuzakas are built for this." He continuously muttered to himself from his posted position just at the hill next to a small town.

The shops were in burning shambles, it's local occupants long since gone once the Leaf forces began marching just a few clicks West from their location. Looting had spurred in the sudden evacuation and now all that was left were empty shops, burning debris, and what seemed like an endless supply of Sound soldiers barricading the once peaceful town.

He kept an eye through his scope and a finger on the trigger as his other hand reached for his radio.

"Squad 2 this is Mange Actual. Status on that library." The building in question was just out of his immediate view, the mass majority of it blocked by the towns school and administration building.

The line gave back nothing but static.

He fired off another round at an unsuspecting soldier who dropped dead in the street.

"I repeat. Status Squad 2?"

A voice replied, but it wasn't squad 2.

"Call off your attack Mange, your soldiers are in Sounds possession.

"listen to me asshole, you put one finger on their heads and you-"

Bang.

The sound was muffled as the thud of a body hit the ground. But it was real. He'd heard that sound before.

"Oh I'm sorry, is the big bad Leaf scared of a few casualties? Pity."

Kiba could only hold his tongue. His mouth ran dry as he looked for the right words to stop another-

BANG.

Another one, gone in the blink of an eye.

xXx

Gaara could only offer his condolences. Kinda was stark white and quiet when he bettered Gaara's home. A handful of tags in his fist, and this time just like the last time, they were all Leaf tags.

Kiba's first mission had been a success. 37 Sound soldiers eliminated on foreign soil. And every mission after they had been a success as well. Kinda was a war vet now, but at what cost.

He'd served alongside some of Konoha's bravest. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, Lee, Sakura, even Gaara. It's like everyone who grew up with answered the call and decided to become a fucking hero.

But no one ever told them how much kryptonite there would be.

Kiba found he lost a little bit of himself with each dog tog he had to bring back home.

Each family he had to break it too.

That he was their leader And that's why-

"I'm sorry Izawa, your boy was brave."

Or.

"I wish there could've been something I could've been done Ichigo, your brother isn't coming back."

Or perhaps, his least favorite.

"I'm sorry Hinata... I couldn't bring Neji back with me."

"We made it Gaara." Kiba muttered absentmindedly. "We're still here." He said, the grip of his hand blanching hot white as gripped as hard as he could on those takes. Hard enough to ignore the pain of the buzzing needle, his shortcomings, the war.

All of it.

"I think mother and father would be proud of me and my friends. What do you think?" Kiba's voice sounded a bit absent, probably in need of reassurance.

"Was your father a soldier too?" Gaara asked.

"The best."

"Then I'm sure his fangs ache just as much as yours."

xXx

A/N: The end of that Kiba story for now.