13

Guys, I finished 2 of my exams. One to go!!

The night after my first kill, Neteyam and I went back to the hometree, and started walking around together. 

"Hey, I just remembered. I have something for you." He said.

I tilted my head in confusion "What is it?"

"You'll see it when we get there. Follow me." He smiled and ran off, with me following him. He sure loves to run away with no warning.

We made our way to the gathering area. He went over to another area, and came back with a bow in his hands, handing it to me. It was a bit different than his, but it was really pretty.

"This is for you." He said as I grabbed it from his hands. "Use it thoughtfully."

"It's so beautiful.. Who made it?" He blushed a little as I asked him.

"I did. But don't think too much into it, it's not my first time." He said.

I smiled at him. "Still, thank you. It's beautiful." I admired it. "When did you make it?"

"It was before the festival."

"Oh right! I spent that day with Kiri." I said.

I looked at the small details. There were many wave like designs carved on it, and painted in blue. There were also many blue feathers hanging from it.

"It reminded me of you." He brushed his hand along the waves. "Freespirited and strong, like the waves."

I looked up at him, and started at his features for a bit. "Why?" I said. He looked back at me, and we pulled back a bit to make some distance between us.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"Why did you make this?"

He sighed. "You deserve it." He smiled, not breaking the eye contact.

I smile back at him, until Kiri came by. "Hey, Y/n. Brother.." She smirked.

"Hey, Kiri." He smiled.

"Oh is that the bow you were making?" She asked, as she took the bow from my hands.

"Ya like it? He says it suits me." I bragged to her, making her look at him suspiciously.

"Oh, this is yours Y/n? Neteyam, I thought you told me you were making one for fun?" She questioned him, making him shake his head.

"Well..Yea but- Like it matters." He crossed his arms looking away into the distance.

"Ohh, that's why you kept asking me if it's pretty every 4 minutes.. You should've just asked 'Would Y/n like it?'" She started laughing, and he had a surprised look plastered on his face.

"Okay, Kiri, you're free to go." He lightly pushed her away. Before she could walk off, she said something to him in Navi.

"I know you like her, Neteyam."

He didn't answer anything, he just turned to me, and I had a sly smirk on my face. "What?" He asked.

"Were you scared I wasn't gonna love it?" 

"No.." He mumbled and I walked closer to him. "What are you do-" Not allowing him to finish his sentance, I hugged him around his waist.

"One hug wont hurt you." I pulled away. "Anyway, we should go to sleep now, it's getting late."

Before I could walk away, he grabbed my hand. "Do you really like it?" He asked. I furrowed my brows in confusion. "The bow."

My ears lowered, showing how nervous I was, considering our position. He was holding my hand, and we were like an inch away from our bodies touching. "I love it."

He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "I'm glad. It means a lot to me."

"Don't think about it too much. I'm taking this bad boy out for a spin as soon as I can!" He laughed as I posed like a god with the bow. I'm really glad he doesn't hate me anymore.

"I enjoy your company, Y/n." He pat my head. "Don't dissapoint me." With that, he walked away. Of course he had to leave me and my thoughts alone like that. I was catching feelings for him, and he really wasn't helping with my plan of forgetting about him.

After I went to sleep, I woke up in my link unit in my human body. It's safe to say I've improved my Avatar, but I haven't been taking care of my human body.

I held on my back as I sat up, because for some reason my bones hurt like crap.

"You look like shit." Grace walked up to me. "You've lost weight."

"Don't worry about i- Ow!" I said as I straightened my back.

She sighed, handing me a burito. "Eat this."

I grabbed the burito and started eating as fast as I can. "I made a kill today. Neteyam says I'm getting better."

"That's good and all, but right now, I need you to focus on this body. Not the other one."

"I'm gonna be fine, it's not like losing some weight would hurt either, with all this cellulite."

"I'm serious, Y/n. You are slowly going to become skin and bones." She said as she was about to light up a ciggarete, before I grabbed it, putting it out.

"Says the one who cant keep a damn ciggarate out of their mouth."

"I'm telling you not as a boss, but as a friend, to take some downtime"

"No." I put away my empty plate. "Tomorow we're going to Iknimaya."

"You're going to ride a banshee, and most likely die trying."

"I'll be fine. If Neteyam did it, so can I."

"You're getting into this too much, you could die Y/n" She stated.

"Who cares anyway. These past few months were everything I've dreamt off. If spending more time with those people is going to lead me to death, then so be it." 

"I had to learn it the hard way. You don't wanna get attached." She though about her school, and all those lost memories.

I sighed. "What if I already have?" I wasn't going to say bye to Neteyam any time sooner. I've spent too much time with him to do so.

"It's not our planet, Y/n. We can't stop whats coming to them." She said with pain in her voice.

Tommorow morning, I woke up in my Avatar body, prepared for the life and death situation I was about to encounter. Na'yori was taking me and some other Navi females to an edge of a rocky cliff. Iknimaya is a test every young hunter has to pass. 

At one point, we had to get off the horses and climb up the cliffs on our own. When we made it to the top, we heard animal noises and calling sounds coming towards us. Before we knew it, Neteyam came on his Ikran to where we were. Him and I smiled at each other, earning a glare from Na'yori as he got off.

He pat my head as he walked past me  "Don't die." He had a serious look on his face.

Na'yori rolled her eyes. "Hey Newbie." I looked at her as she called out for me. "You will go first." She smirked as the others started to laugh.

She led the way through the cave, as we went across a group of banshees. There were many of different colors and sizes. I can't even lie, I was terrified. Despite the beauty of these creatures, boy were they scary.

Neteyam put his hand on my chest. "If anything starts getting out of control, just run away and fo-" I put my hand against his.

"I've got this."

He sighed. "You must chose your ikran, and if it choses you, move quickly, like we trained."

"How do I know if he chose me?"

"He will try to kill you."

I let out a shaky breath. I'm doing this. 

"Y/n." He said. "If you die, I'll kill you." He squeezed my hand.

I rolled my eyes playfully. 

"I'm serious. You mean a lot to me, even tho I don't show it." He said, taking me back a bit. Those words were just what I needed.

"Get a move on, Newbie!" Na'yori yelled from behind. I quickly let go of his hand, grabbing a rope, and slowly approaching the ikrans. They all flew away as I approached them.

"None of them wanna kill me!" I yelled. That was until I felt a shadow fall over me. I turned around, and there was a larger in size , pitch black Ikran, with yellow eyes. It was slowly approaching me. It was also female, and when it comes to Ikrans, females tend to be more aggressive.

I hissed at her, and it returned an aggressive shriek. "There you are." I smirked, before I grabbed my rope and threw it over her mouth, to close it. The last thing I want was to get eaten right now.

It threw me away, getting released from the rope. I didn't give up yet tho. It started to charge at me, and I kept dodging until I had enough. I sent my first ever prayer to Eywa, and jumped on it's back as I tightly tied down his mouth. It started to jump around, trying to get me to fall off  and it almost worked.

Na'yori and her friend's were clearly mocking me the entire time, and Neteyam was prepared to step in at any moment. There were many thoughs going through his mind right now, and they mostly looked like:

'Please don't die Y/n.'

'What will life be when you aren't with me?'

'Do I shoot down the banshee?'

'I haven't been honest with her, I'm going to regret it.'

That's also when he admit his feelings towards me to himself, but he didn't wanna make it visible so he just stayed in place.

Before the Ikran could fight me any longer, I quickly grabbed her queue and made the bond. I felt a rush go through my body, and felt the animal calm down.

"That's it.." I pet the ikran on it's head. "I'm naming you Azra"

"First flight seals the bond." Neteyam ran over to me, checking me. "Go!"

I quickly took the rope off of its mouth handing it to Neteyam.

"Uh.. Forwa- AH!" I let out a scream as the banshee marched fowards, making me grab onto the back of it's neck. I let out a long scream, which turned into laughter as I gained control. It was exactly like the dreams I was always describing to my therapist.

I was finally living the life I urged for, for so long. I looked up in the sky, as I heard shrieks of another banshee, only to see Neteyam on his very own. He came down to my level, and let out an excited laugh as he flew side to side with me.

I smiled back, still terrified. He told me to follow him, and I did as he said. He led me on a flight through mountains. He showed me parts that I've never seen on Pandora before, and it was mesmerizing.

He was happy about me succeding in something so fast, and especialy since this was his favourite activity. Soon enough, Neteyam and I started to hang out even more and more, not leaving each other for one bit. Half of the time we spent flying.