Hi? I'm still alive as you can see and kicking! Or whatever, I can't remember the exact saying. So here is the latest chapter of Hybrid and I hope you like it. I have many reasons for not updating sooner, since I'm on my last year of high school and all, but I'll try to update faster. I think I'm getting a hold over this, and probably I will be able to update sooner since I have found some free time... But I rather not keep you waiting so here you go!

P.S.- Thanks for everything (reviews, alerts and all of that) because I appreciate it. Especial thanks to Hippie Vampire... she's one cool girl she is! Love you!

Hunting Time

This time, when Alfred woke up, it wasn't because of a bucket full of water, but thanks to the sun that was hitting him in the face. His back hurt like hell, absolutely not liking being against the tree's bark for hours non stop. His feet hurt too, and he could hardly feel his arms. His neck was the most painfull of all, having being in a bad position for the whole night. He had tried to stay awake, but after a few hours he was starting to feel drowsy, and the small lullaby Adolf hummed the whole time hadn't helped him.

He didn't see the Wolf Hybrid anywhere, so he supposed that he had left already, maybe to sleep, maybe to take care of more important things. In any case, he didn't care, but he was suddendly aware of how hungry he was when his stomach practically yelled for his attention. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, and his stomach was reminding him of that fact.

What would he give to have a hamburger right now. A big, juicy hamburger with fries and soda on the side. With a sundae and ice cream after that. God, he was drooling as he thought of that. Or maybe not necessarily a hamburger, a pizza would be enough. Or a steak, or some take out. He would even eat those nasty vegetables Ludwig and Mattie made him eat every day. He just wanted something!

As if answering his prayers, the smell of cooked food reached his nose. He didn't know what it was exactly -eggs maybe?- but the smell had him drooling again. When were they planning on feeding the prisoner? He hoped it would be soon, because he could hardly stand it. This was practically torture!

Footsteps then reached his ears. Soft and quick, they made their way towards him and the smell of food grew stronger. Raising his head, eager, he watched the Bunny walking towards him. In his hands, was a platter of food, in which he could just make out eggs and some... bacon?

"Breakfast," the Hybrid then said stopping right in front of him. That plate was just an arm's length away. If only he could untie himself he would reach for it and...

"You are drooling. Are you aware of that? Please stop, because it's disguting." Looking up from the food, Alfred watched the Rabbit wrinkle his nose in a disgusted (cute!) way. "Adolf told me not to free you, so I will have to feed you until Francis is done."

"Feed me? And what does Francis have anything to do with this?"

"Yeah, feed you. As in, I grab the fork and force it through your mouth, like with babies. As for Francis... you can't be freed from that tree unless he's around to supervise in case you try to do something stupid like running away." That being said, Arthur took out a fork and offered some food to Alfred. "Hungry?"

"You don't have to ask." The older blond opened his mouth, ignoring the slight feeling of embarrassment that came with the action. Sure, being mouth fed by a kid three years younger than him wasn't exactly how he had envisioned this mission would go, especially if the one he was supposed to catch was the one feeding him but he couldn't really start whining. As long as nobody else ever learnt about this he could live with it. And he had more pressing matters to attend to.

Because this was one of the best breakfasts he had ever eaten, almost as good as the ones in McDonald's. He nearly moaned of pleasure at the taste and it was only some scrambled eggs with bacon. "This is delicious! Who cooked this?" He just had to ask, because he could hardly believe that some Hybrids could do something this good.

"Francis," was the answer that Arthur gave. "He loves cooking and that sort of thing, so we normally let him take care of things. Right now he's trying to placate Lovino since we are out of tomatoes and to convince Feliciano that having pasta for breakfast isn't healthy. He shouldn't take long."

Alfred made a soft noise to show that he had listened but he was paying more attention to the food. The feelings of embarrassment that had been earlier had disappeared without a trace. This tasted like a piece of heaven! For that reason probably, the SA agent didn't pay much attention on his companion until there was no more food, which was when he noticed the look of disgust present in Arthur's face as those emerald eyes watched the empty plate. "Something wrong?" he couldn't help but ask, because as a hero he was meant to help others, even if that person was his enemy.

"How can you eat that?" Arthur asked, nose crinkled as if he had just smelt something awful.

"What are you talking about? It's just eggs and bacon, no biggie." Alfred blinked a few times, unable to understand what the problem was. He was sure it wasn't his eating habits, even if Mattie joked quite a few times about that. He sure as not ate like a pig! And he wasn't as fat as one either! Mattie was just jealous of him!

Instead of answering, all the younger one did was keep looking at the plate with so much contempt that Alfred internally wondered why it hadn't just combusted. "I believe I can answer zat," said a new voice behind them in a distintive accent. Sure enough, when the SA agent raised his head he saw the Fox Hybrid from yesterday making his way to him. "Arthur 'ere is a vegetarian. Being a Bunny Hybrid means he 'as gained some of their eating habits."

"You mean he doesn't like meat?" the other blue-eyed blond asked. In his mind, one simply couldn't live without meat. That was just impossible. How could somebody resist to that tempting, juicy...

"It's disgusting." Arthur muttered as he turned around and walked away.

"Where is he going?" Alfred asked the Fox Hybrid, whom was undoing the ropes that tied him to the tree.

"It's 'is turn to wash ze dishes," Francis took a step back as the ropes fell. Alfred tried to move, but obviously after staying a good part of the afternoon and the whole night his legs wanted nothing more than to sleep. "Careful," the elder blond helped him stay standing, holding him by his chest.

"Uh, thanks?" Alfred wondered if this was the normal attitude of a Hybrid. Weren't they supposed to be violent, dangerous, heartless and well... savages? Because he didn't think that the everyday wild creature would actually help you and feed you. There had to be a catch somewhere. "Why are you helping- ME!" That definitely wasn't a hand feeling him up! No it wasn't!

"Leave him alone you stupid frog," a sullen voice ordered. Looking up (and thankfully feeling the hand leaving his behind) Alfred saw the Canine Hybrid he had followed yesterday. He seemed around his age, arms crossed in front of him and a glare in his eyes. He was watching Francis's every move, waiting for something to happen.

"Lovino, mon petit chiot! Tu m'as tellement manqué!" The blond shouted, arms wide open and jumping to hug the younger one (and probably to slide a grope in between). The other kid simply side stepped him, his glare turning darker. "But you shouldn't call me Frog; after all I'm a fox."

"Shut up idiot. You may be a fox, but you eat frogs, so that makes you a frog." The Canine Hybrid kept glaring at him, eyes promising death (or at least something very painfull). "Now get up. You have a prisioner to take care of."

"You wound me mon amour," Francis stood up, hand over his heart to show his 'pain'. "'Ow can you be so cruel?"

"Fuck off and do your job," was the short straight to the point answer. Turning around, the boy named Lovino changed the target of his glare. "Don't you even think of running away if you know what is good for you."

Alfred tried to tower over the other one and return him with a glare of him own, but his legs refused to take his weight, and he had to lean against the tree. His glare, however was as potent as ever so he was quite sure he was awesome anyways. After all, he was simply that, awesome.

God, was he sounding like Gilbert?

While the SA agent tried to overcome the horror he had just realized, the two Hybrids continued talking in low voices.

"You will take care of him won't you?" Lovino asked the other.

"You know I will keep an eye on 'im the whole time. Ze question is who is going to keep an eye on Arthur?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want zem together at all. Arthur is too curieux for 'is own good. You know 'e will attach 'imself to ze idiot." Ignoring the murmur from the brunet that sounded suspiciously like 'Takes one to know one' the blond kept talking. "Arthur is too gentil and you know it. He's going to end up 'urting."

"What else do you propose then? You know I can't keep an eye in both of them." Lovino was growing annoyed.

"You zink it would be wise to let 'im come with us?"

"What are you two talking about?" the little bunny asked. His hands were on his hips, looking to the other two carefully. Behind him was Lovino's twin, smiling his usual doopey grin, big enough to cover half his face.

"We were wandering with 'om you would be staying. After all, it could be dangereux if you came with us."

"What do you mean? I want to come with you!" Arthur said loudly, stamping his foot on the floor, arms now crossed. A purely adorable pout was on his face.

"Crois-moi, I wouldn't mind if you came with me." A positively pervert face marred his features, confusing both Feliciano and Arthur.

"What do you mean big brother Francis?" asked the sweeter twin, head cocked to the side. Arthur was simply blinking, not understanding a thing.

But Lovino did.

"Pervertito! Ma che pensi? È solo un bambino! Come puoi dire queste cose?" Lovino kept on shouting in Italian. His twin had to hold him back before he tried to kill the Frenchman. "Lasciami! Questo stronzo devi morire!"

"Fratello! Che fai?" Feliciano tried to calm down his brother, under the amused gaze of the Fox Hybrid and the confused one not only from Arthur, but also Alfred, who had noticed Lovino's attempts to kill the other one, but didn't understand the cause.

What did I miss?

The thought of taking advantage of the situation passed through his mind but before he could react Francis had turned towards him. "Well, monsieur l'agent, apparently you, me and Arthur are going to 'ave some alone time." The smile that crossed his face didn't calm down Alfred. It looked too lecherous to be safe.

Lovino just shouted harder.

When a raging Italian had been more or less calmed down (the promise of tomatoes later in the evening did the trick) our little group of three were silently walking through the forest. Well, two out of three were.

"Can't you be more careful? You are going to scare ze animals." Francis hissed, for once his easy-going (pervert) smile gone from his face. In its place was the serious, concentrated look of a hunter searching for his prey.

"Well sorry," was the childish answer. "Not everybody has an abnormal hearing like you two do." He added a few insults for good mesure in a low voice.

"You are aware that we can hear you right?" Arthur asked. He was walking beside the American, hands on either side of his body and ears moving on top of his head, trying to hear something. He didn't especially like hunting, rather he hated it. It wasn't in his nature to kill, but he usually had to follow Francis when they were out of food, because he couldn't be left alone.

Which was stupid, because he wasn't a baby anymore.

"Whatever," muttered the SA agent, pouting. He could hardly believe that they were able to listen to him so easily. He was the best in what he did. And maybe he had failed the Infiltration and Discretion class, but that class was stupid. Why would they try to be silent and befriend Hybrids, if in the end they were just trying to get rid of them? They could simply attack them as soon as they turned their backs, quickly and efficiently, like Hans always said.

He didn't ask himself why he wasn't doing that right now.

"What are we looking for again?" He asked, breaking the relative silence that had fallen through the forest.

"Food," was Francis's answer.

"I know that, but what exactly is food for you?" Sure they had done a delicious scrambled egg that morning, but that didn't mean they ate like he did. It just wouldn't fit the whole 'unrefined and murderous savage' image.

"Cooked meat?" was Francis's perplexed answer.

"Fresh vegtables and fruits?" was Arthur's.

"You mean that you actually eat like us?" the disbelief in Alfred's voice was palpable.

"Well yeah," Arthur's impressive eyebrow rose. "What did you expect? Insects?"

Alfred could feel himself blush. He didn't want to admit that it was something along those lines that he was thinking.

Francis seemed to read his mind. "You do realize zat even if we are des Hybrides we are quite 'uman? We need to eat and sleep, ze only difference is zat we 'ave to adapt to our animal's 'abits. Nocturnal Hybrids stay awake during ze night, and are asleep during the day. Arthur 'ere is an hebivore, so 'e eats mostly vegetables and fruits, but he 'as to eat occasionally meat for his 'uman body."

Alfred just made a small sound, thinking about it. It did make sense when one reflected about it, that you had to adapt to the parts that made who you are. So he supposed he could understand, even believe in them, at least in this aspect. They were still dangerous from his point of view.

They had been walking for a little bit more than an hour. While Alfred was tempted to whine about not finding anything, he didn't dare to. Arthur was three years younger than him and he wasn't whining. In fact, he seemed to be almost skipping in joy. The basket that the younger teenager had picked up before they had left was half-full with different types of berries and other wild fruits they could find. Alfred had tried to take some of them without the Bunny Hybrid noticing but that hadn't worked well. Everytime his hand had almost reached the basket it was slapped away. Violently.

"Ow! Would you stop that?"

"Stop what? YOU are the one that's trying to steal the food!"

"Silence mes petits," Francis then ordered both ears turned towards the same direction, listening to something Alfred couldn't hear, but Arthur could.

"We found some deers." Arthur explained just as Francis sneaked his ways towards the unsuspecting troop of deers.

The other two followed, walking as silently as one could with leaves in the floor. When they reached Francis, the Fox Hybrid was hidden behind a bush, watching the animals closely. "The one to the left looks good enough. All alone, no apparent child or anything like zat and 'urt."

"You mean the one that is away from the group?" Arthur murmured softly.

"Oui," Francis nodded softly. "Looks big enough don't you zink?"

"I think it would do." The younger one nodded his head, and turned towards Alfred. "We have to stay here and wait. Francis will go ahead and catch the deer. If we go, we will be too many and we could get caught."

"What?" Alfred was outraged. "Why would we have to wait for him to come? And why is he going after that one? It looks weak. He should go for the other one. The one who looks fat enough for three."

"Are you joking? That one is pregnant! And look! She's in the middle, surrounded by everyone, we wouldn't be able to catch her!"

"Leave that to me," the dirty blond smirked. "I will have her in no time at all."

"Wait!" the younger one tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Alfred was quite confident on his hunting skills. In the Specialized Army training program, each candidate had to go through a whole month living in the wild. Sure, the place was monitored constantly, in case any of them got hurt, but each trainee was left to his or her own devices. They had to be able to create their own 'houses' out of anything they could find, learn what was safe to eat and what wasn't, but over all, they had to learn how to hunt. When in the wild, each trainee had the barest of essentials, which were some rope, a knife and a list of instructions. The list was extremely helpful, since it explained each and everyone of the steps one had to do to survive. How to get water and purify it, how to make a fire small enough to be unnoticeable and manageable, but still big enough to warm one considerably well. Alfred had been one of the students who had gotten the highest marks, since had had been able to live without help for a whole month and had been a considerably good hunter. Many said he was a natural, and there was even a joke around saying that Alfred wasn't really a human, but a Hybrid in disguise. Nobody took those rumours seriously, since nobody believed that Hybrids could ever be that smart.

The thing was, Alfred forgot a tiny, little, essential detail. He didn't have a weapon with him.

While being left alone in a wild with only a knife as protection, the reason many had been able to pass the test was because they had used their intellect. They had created their own arms, like thousands of millennia ago their ancestors had done, and with them they had been able to hunt and perfect their skills. They wouldn't have been able to survive otherwise, like the few who hadn't thought about that had proven.

In other words, as talented as Alfred was, he couldn't do anything if he had nothing to use to disable his prey. That could have costed him his life.

When Alfred had approached undetected by the herd, his hand had automatically gone for his gun. Realizing he had nothing to catch the animal but his two hands, the dirty blond decided to go for it. In his mind, as long as he wasn't detected nothing could go wrong, since he was stronger than the average human, thanks to the DNA changes that he had to go through to become a full-fledged Specialized Agent. He believed he could have easily caught her and disabled her before the doe realized what was happening and attacked back.

He hadn't counted on the buck though.

His plan had gone flawlessly up until that point. When had tackled down the doe, most of the herd had already dispersed, frightened by the predator none of them had expected. Alfred's full attention was on the doe he held, trying and failing to get her under control, so he didn't see her mate. What Alfred didn't know was that this was that time of the year, when deers joined and mated and he had no way in knowing that around this time of the year males were especially protective of their chosen one, especially if they considered the other one a possible rival.

Especially if they were white-tailed deers.

Alfred only had time to hear Arthur's shout before he felt a lacerating pain in his side. He had no time to defend himself before he was pushed aside, bitting his lip to stop himself from crying out. He believed he heard the little Bunny Hybrid again, but he wasn't completely sure. All he could feel was the pain. He placed his arm around his right side, feeling the blood that was seepign through his clothes. He tried pressing his wound; no matter how much it hurt, attempting to stop the blood flow. He was taking fast, shallow breaths, painfully realizing that he couldn't take deeps breaths.

"'ey, can you 'ear me?" The answer was a groan. "You are quite lucky, mon cher. Ze deer wasn't able to do any... serious damage." The SA agent felt hands pressing over his wounds, helping him to stop the flow. "Arthur, bring ze bandages and some water, he's loosing a lot of blood." His shirt was taken off as the Fox Hybrid inspected the wounds. "Zat is definitely going to scar."

Very soon Arthur came back, carring everything Francis had asked him to. The water was in a small bucket they always brought along, in case something went wrong during the hunt, like now. He handed over the water and a towel, which they were going to use to clean the wound. Anything else, like creams and others to desinfect the wounds were back at the camp, since they had a higher than normal immune system and many wounds only need a little bit of water and bandages. In cases like this one, the one who hadn't been hunting left in search of help. In this case, Francis was the one to leave, knowing that Alfred had little chance on escaping.

"You are an idiot, did you know that?" the Bunny started the conversation, hardly paying attention to the moan that answered him. The dirty blonde's head was in his lap, and the younger one absent mindedly played with his hair and his cowlick. "How could you just go, unarmed, after a pregnant doe, surrounded by the rest of her herd? Don't you know that deers are especially protective at this time of the year? If all the other SA agents are as stupid as you are I wonder how you have been able to survive for so long..."

Alfred couldn't answer for two reasons. If he even dared to open his mouth he knew that he would only be able to sprout incoherent gibberish, something that would totally kill his whole 'badass' image (not that his actions hadn't already taken care of that). But deep inside himself the American knew that he had pulled a pretty stupid stunt there. If Hans had been present he didn't even want to imagine in how much pain he would be, considering that he would have probably punched his head in hopes of "getting rid of the stupidity that belongs only to you Agent Jones" not even thinking about the rest of his injuries.

Opening his eyes slightly, the young man looked upwards. The sight that met him wasn't one he expected. The little Bunny Hybrid's head was directly over him, looking down towards him. Their eyes met, blue clashing with green and the older one found that he couldn't look away. The forest green orbs were drowning in tears, crystal clear drops falling down each of his cheeks. He felt one of them fall on his own cheek and he blinked. The pain was hardly registering in his mind, his brain seemingly dead for the time being.

He hardly noticed the others arriving. Nor his body being taken away, he could hear everybody around him, one voice giving out orders but he didn't listen to the words being said.

All he could do was repeat the image in his head. A young boy, just recently arriving puberty, crying over somebody he had just met. He had, for a second, forgotten that he had a Hybrid in front of him, and for that second he had actually believed that he was seeing a normal child crying.

He never knew that Hybrids could cry.

Okay so.. Translations!:

Lovino, mon petit chiot! Tu m'as tellement manqué!- Lovino, my little puppy! I've missed you so much!

gentil- Okay, so here it's not 'gentle' as one may believe, but rather is 'nice'. In French, to say 'gentle' you would rather use 'doux' which also means 'soft', so kind of the same thing...

Crois-moi- Believe me

Pervertito! Ma che pensi? È solo un bambino! Come puoi dire queste cose?- Pervert! What are you thinking! He's only a child! How can you say such things?

Lasciami! Questo stronzo devi morire!- Let me go! This bastard has to die!

Fratello! Che fai?- Brother! What are you doing?

monsieur l'agent- Usually is for when you are talking with somebody from the police, but Francis here is saying literally 'Mr. Agent' so you can take it both ways...

Silence mes petits- Silence my little ones

Read and review if you want, or if you have anything that I may have missed or should work on (constructive criticism!) or whatever. I'm going to bed anyways, because it's one in the morning over here and I would like some sleep, so see you next time!

Love, Jime-chan!