Yes! I finally updated! Sorry for, yet again, a slow update, but I'm a slow updater. Anyway, here's chapter 9 of To Be! Enjoy!

"What is that supposed to mean

"What is that supposed to mean?" Hibiki growled.

"I don't know, but we're going to find out."

oOo

The train whistle blared loudly, signaling departure.

"Are you sure we're going to the right place?" Hibiki asked his brother, for the millionth time.

"Yes, Brother." Genji answered calmly, but his patience was wearing thin. They were going to an unmarked old deserted city. It was so old; it wasn't even on the map.

"The town used to be one of most popular and wealthiest place around, but then people started dying for some reason and everybody got scared. They did what they though were best; they all left, leaving it deserted. Even though that was a few centuries ago, nobody has ever found out what it was that scared the people so much. There were lots of ideas, but none of them were ever proved." Then, he added thoughtfully, "I don't think it even has a name anymore. It wasn't in the files." The two swapped they're own theories and soon, they arrived at their destination. When they stepped out of the train, their first impression of it was this is weird. The city didn't look deserted at all, but if you looked closer you could see that everything was incredibly dusty and undisturbed. Still, the buildings, even the town square fountain, were in perfect, pristine condition. Hibiki doubtfully kicked some pebbles.

"It doesn't look like where anybody would hide. There's not even a single speck of dust unturned." His brother scolded him.

"You, of all people, should know what you see isn't always true." Hibiki flinched at the sudden reminder of the horrid memory. The two carefully circled the edge of town and worked inwards. There was not a single trace of recent life, but they did find some interesting books. Although they were in a different language, Genji wanted to keep them. He thought it would be a nice challenge to try to translate them.

oOo

Hibiki sighed as he plopped down onto the city fountain. He and his brother had searched the entire city without any success.

"It's almost nighttime. We sound get some sleep. We need to have an early start tomorrow re-searching the city. We might've missed something." He said, and pulled two small, one-man military tents from his knapsack, soon followed by two sleeping bags. They set up their tents and settled in for the night.

oOo

Yowls and shrieks called in the distance woke Genji up. He groaned, "Brother, don't yawn so loud, you sound like you're kicking a poor cat. It's not even morning yet." But it didn't stop. Genji crawled out of his tent in annoyance. "What did I te-" He never finished his sentence. His eyes were wide in surprise. There was yellow, cracked, bared fangs at him with yellow carnivorous eyes glaring at deep into his own eyes. A yelp nearby told him that his brother had met the same fate. The yellow head looked down at its chest in shock as its life drained away. There was half a spear embedded in him. Genji panted next to the now obvious chimera.

"What in the world happened?" Hibiki growled. "This town was supposed to be deserted. Stupid military records never trust them."

"Brother, if the records were updated then there wouldn't be chimeras here and the person creating them would be in prison." Genji logically pointed out. Hibiki sighed.

"I know, it's just, just too much like Nina all over again." Genji fell silent. Snarls from behind them interrupted their thoughts.

"Looks like there's just more and more coming." Hibiki said distastefully. Then, a cross between a bird and a leopard chimera leaped at them. Both brothers thrust their spears in it. Next thing they knew, they were hacking and fighting for their lives. In the beginning, they slew the creatures without getting hurt, albeit a few minor scratches, but soon, those little scratches became bleeding gashes as the battle wore on. The humans became more and more tired as the chimeras got nearer and nearer for the kill. Hibiki cursed as a claw slithered past his guard and raked him in his left, flesh arm. His automail wasn't faring well either. It was covered in dents and scratches. Genji had gotten a couple injuries, but was holding up better than his brother. Then, he cried out in shock as he slipped and full down. With a loud howl, a bear-dog chimera leapt with its jaws slathering with saliva.

"No!" Hibiki threw himself in front of his little brother. The chimera's sharp teeth closed around his arm and with a gruesome snarl, it tore cloth and flesh like water. Hibiki smiled, even though he endangered himself by saving his brother, and stabbed forward; blood splattered all over his face. He gave a strangled gasp. One of the chimeras had landed on him and savagely bit into him.

"What the-" Just when he was about to pummel the snake-mixed creature, there was a guttural snarling and the chimera quickly twisted away to join the rest as they all backed away to a side. Hibiki saw his brother running past him in the opposite direction to the chimeras. He didn't understand until he saw that his brother was chasing a dark-cloaked figure and ran after the two, quickly catching up and tackling the stranger. With a grunted, the person fell to the ground, but slithered out of Hibiki's grasp only to have their arms locked behind them by Genji. It was writhing madly, but Genji held fast, his face set in a grim line. The thing kept on twisting and writhing to free itself, and Genji let it run out of energy, but soon Genji began losing energy and it ran away before he could be a better grip onto it. They both immediately followed it to the edge of a cliff face. It whirled around to have a metal fist barely missing its head. It grabbed the arm and jerked so Hibiki stumbled. Genji aimed a punch at the thing, but the target ducked and swept a foot under so Genji tripped. Hibiki landed a punch from the back and the thing staggered a few paces before running straight to the edge of the cliff and jumping. Snarling, Hibiki followed suite. Genji, in his despair, jumped after them.

I know its a bit short, but please to patient with me. If you have any comments, complaints, ideas, confusions, questions, etc., just review and type away! Please review and thank you for reading this!

-Dark Reborn