𝙀𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙉𝘼𝙇 𝙇𝙊𝙑𝙀. 𝙉𝙀𝙏𝙀𝙔𝘼𝙈 ¹

𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙚. 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣

They were grabbing at Lo'ak's tail and teasing the two of them. Fei glanced worriedly at Neteyam. "Shit," she whispered.

Then there was that look on his face of venge and anger. Her eyes widened. "Neteyam, don't-" She pulled his arm back. For a moment, the furrow in his brows softened. At least, until he heard the teasing once again. He mumbled a "sorry" and ripped his arm out of her grip.

She panicked. If a fight were to break out, which was bound to happen with Lo'ak's instinct of violence, they would all get in big trouble with both of their parents. She took a deep breath and paced forward.

She had to do something.

She watched as Neteyam pushed the shoulder of Aonung, putting a finger to his chest. "You heard what she said, leave them alone." It was stupid what she was doing. It would be easier for people to figure them out, especially her brother.

And suddenly, she stood beside Neteyam. "Aonung, please." Fei only asked so little of him. For some reason, which she did not understand, he didn't have nice in his vocabulary when it came to the Omiticaya family.

He had only given her a side glance with a hint of confusion. When he looked back and forth from Neteyam to Fei, she had finally realized how badly she fucked up. Surely he couldn't have figured out the huge secret they had kept, right? There was still time to correct it.

"Father would not want this." She scrambled to tell him. 

"Back off," Neteyam demanded. "Now."

The words had finally gotten through his thick skull, as he backed away and put his hands up to surrender. Still, with his hard expression, he kept his suspicions.

"Smart choice." He looked at the other boys. "And from now on, I need you to respect my sister."

Rotxo snarled, but quickly shut his mouth when he received a harsh glare from Fei. She shared a look with Neteyam. Both of them knew they had to act separately. When she told him what she had to do, he gave her the hint of a nod.

Slowly, she stepped to stand beside her brother, hitting him on the shoulder as a scolding. You and I need to talk, she told him by the fury of her face. The corner of her lips turned upward when Kiri stuck out her tongue to gag at the boys.

With every bone in her body, she wanted to join Neteyam and tell him how angry she was at her brother. How proud she felt when she saw how he deescalated the tension. She wanted to go back to the grove, where they could kiss and talk and forget that they were the future chiefs of their clans.

But now, they had to play their part as perfect leaders on opposing sides.

When they started walking away and her stupid brother started whispering again, Fei knew in the back of her mind that she needed to step back. There wasn't anything stopping Lo'ak anymore.

"Lo'ak," Neteyam whispered once he realized he had stopped to turn around.

"I got this, bro." He assured, walking back up to Aonung. "I know this hand is funny," He began moving it around and stuck out his extra finger. "I'm a freak. Alien. But it can do something really cool, watch."

The stupid part was, Aonung had become invested in whatever Lo'ak had been doing. Fei rolled her eyes and cursed in her mind. While they had been distracted, she slipped away and joined in between Kiri and Neteyam.

When he slid his hand around to hold hers, she swatted it away. Right, he thought, disappointed at the fact that he could hold her hand.

"First I ball it up real tight like this, okay?" Lo'ak looked back up to see the older boy still distracted. "Then," he pulled back and swung his fist straight at Aonung's cheek. He did it once with his right hand, then switched back to his left.

He fell to the ground. Fei flinched at the contact. Even if she knew he deserved it, the instinct to side with her blood brother still lingered.

"It's called a punch, bitch," he spat and pointed a finger at the boy. "Don't ever touch my sister again."

Every one of the Metkayina boys snarled, charging at Lo'ak. Fei sighed and rubbed her eyes, resisting the urge to turn around and walk away. It wasn't until they started pulling Lo'ak's tail back and ganging up on him that Neteyam scratched his head with a sour expression on his face and gave a quick look to Fei.

Sorry.

She nodded toward the brawl and bit her tongue. For a moment, they only looked at each other. Their understanding nature was one of the things that made them fit so perfectly. 

Neteyam rushed forward to punch one of the boys. He kneed Rotxo who had ran toward him, dropping on the ground in pain. Immediately, he was tackled.

Kiri had been shouting for them to stop. "So stupid!" Fei stood next to her and tapped her foot. She was waiting for the perfect time to break it up. However, she couldn't suppress a giggle at the sight of the fight.

When Lo'ak's tail was being pulled, he shouted in pain and gripped Aonung's ear with enough force to rip it. "My tail!"

"Ow, my ear!"

Fei and Kiri shared a playful look. The fight had become quite funny in the span of a few seconds. It was that moment that she realized she had to stop them now.

"Enough!" She roared. There were few times when she used her commanding voice. It was a great skill that would be needed when she would become the chief. Their fighting ceased. By the glare she held, they had dropped whatever they were doing and backed away.

Majority of the boys kept their heads down in shame, especially Aonung's friends. The girl had always scared them since they were younger. All, except Neteyam, who looked almost mesmerized by her assertive behavior. 

She snapped her attention to her brother. "You will tell father about what you did. You will tell him you are sorry and you will never do this again." 

Then, she spoke to all of them. "Go home. All of you." But when she got to Neteyam's eyes, she lingered there a little too long. The admiration on his face dusted her cheeks with a light blush.

Even if it was quick, Kiri caught it. She widened her eyes with an uncontrollable smile and bit her lip to keep in her surprise. She would have to talk to Neteyam about it later.

And no matter how inconspicuous, Aonung saw a flash of it too.

i have dedicated my entire badussy into his story bc all of ur comments inspire me to write. whenever i feel author's block coming on, i read the comments and watch some neteyam edits and i'm back in the game. 

also, the reads on his book have doubled in 24 hours???? like i keep on saying this but thank you all!!! if you told me a week ago that a neteyam fic idea i had would turn into the top story of him on wattpad i would have actually peed my pants laughing this is so insane