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08

If not for Jake's own curiosity, he would've forgotten about Aponi. It was interesting to him, the effect that someone could have on a group of people the way she did. 

He spent the week leading up to Valentine taking him to see her studying and training with Neytiri, only getting closer to her as the days went on. She had an effect on him that no other girl had ever had before. It was nice. 

Being around her was nice. 

He followed Valentine's lithe figure into the woods, surprising himself at the reaction he had when he saw Valentine still dressed in the clothing the RDA gave them. He hadn't realized how much his mindset had changed since he had arrived at the base, since he had met the Omatikaya. 

Jake's careful gaze followed the other man as Valentine let out a holler, sounding much like Neytiri's call for her banshee. He stood awkwardly and turned away as Valentine's mate, Ayeyma, greeting him with a kiss. 

"Who is this?" A feminine voice rang out, and Jake jumped as a female Na'vi jumped down in front of him, face stoic. "He's an Avatar." The way she held herself and walked around him reminded Jake of Neytiri. 

This must be Aponi, then. She was every bit of gorgeous that Jake had seen in Valentine's photos. 

"Easy, tiger." Valentine chuckled, walking up to the woman and ruffling her hair. She pushed him off playfully and hissed, a smile on her face. Her body turned to Jake and she greeted him, watching as he did it back to her with a quirk of his lips.  

"The names Aponi." She introduced, walking around Jake again and poking at random parts of his body. It was mostly just for a reaction, to see if he would get annoyed. "What's your name?" She asked after a moment of circling him, not paying attention to the way Valentine and Ayeyma walked away. 

"Jake Sully." He said, and Aponi hummed as her face lit up in recognition. She pursed her lips, eyes tracing Jake's face and body with a guarded expression. She didn't look very impressed.

"You're the one the Omatikaya took in." She said, and Jake slightly nodded, waiting for a bad reaction from her the way Neytiri had when he mentioned her. She just hummed again, grabbing his arm and taking him further into the forest. Jake looked around confused, watching her pick up a bow and a knife, strapping it on her body and looking back at Jake as he stared at her. "We're hunting." She explained simply, turning back around to grab arrows and pushing the bow into his hands.

Okay. This was not how Jake expected their first meeting to go, but he could roll with it. 

They went deep into the forest before Aponi stopped, crouching down and calling him over. Jake kneeled down next to her as she pointed at the fresh tracks of some kind of animal, closing his eyes to let his other senses help him track the animal. 

Aponi took this time to look at the side of Jake's face. He was pretty.

Too pretty. She groaned inwardly, shaking her head before standing up and heading towards a tree. "Hey, where are you going?" Jake asked, standing up and going to follow her. Aponi placed a hand on his chest, looking up at him with a small smirk. He tried to ignore the way her smirk made his tail whip around behind him playfully. 

"You've been training, haven't you? Go find our meal for the night." She urged, pushing him back lightly and giggling as he looked around, exasperated. By the time he turned back to say something back to her, she was gone, far up in a tree and Jake couldn't see her.

-

That was how their interactions happened for the next couple of weeks, albeit becoming fonder of each other as the days passed. It had becoming increasingly harder to lie to Neytiri about where he was going, and at one point he simply stopped telling her he was leaving.

That's why Neytiri followed him today. Just to keep her bearings and make sure her student wasn't doing anything stupid or endangering himself, obviously. There wasn't another reason for it, none at all.

She watched from the trees as Jake went far into the woods before yipping loudly. Neytiri found herself relax at realizing he was probably just hunting, and found herself warming at the thought he was actually trying. 

Until someone familiar came out of the underbrush and slammed into his side. 

Neytiri felt the blood leave her body as she watched Aponi smile at Jake, the same smile she once only had for her. Before she realized what she was doing, she had jumped from the tree and tackled Aponi with a war cry. 

"Oh, shit." Jake cursed while staring at the two beginning to fight, attempting to pull Neytiri off Aponi and letting out a groan as he was kicked away by Aponi. The two women rolled around for a moment before Aponi gained the upper hand, flipping the two so that she was on top with her knife pressed against Neytiri's neck.

"Aponi, stop!" Jake yelled, and Aponi complied, easing the pressure of the knife off of Neytiri's neck. She hadn't realized who the woman exactly was, just seeing a person trying to kill her. 

There was only heaving breathing for a few moments as Neytiri struggled before giving up, staring up at Aponi. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she saw the woman's face, blinking harshly to keep the tears away. 

Aponi felt her heart drop from her chest as she realized who she was on top of, harshly pulling her knife away from Neyitiri's throat with an expression of disbelief. "What?" She whispered quietly, not realizing her grip on the other had gotten looser. With a growl Neytiri flipped them over, sitting on Aponi's chest and hissing down at the woman.

She looked just as beautiful as the day Aponi lost her.

Jake grabbed Neytiri and moved her off of Aponi, trying to soothe her yells by turning the both of them away. Aponi got up, wiping the blood from her lip and nose with a hand. She blinked, suddenly inside her head as every moment since she left Home Tree flitted through her mind. 

"...ni."

Her first clean kill without Neytiri. 

"Ap..."

Crying into Valentine's arms because she heard the entire conversation between Neytiri and her mother.

"Aponi!" 

Neytiri filled her mind and she barely realized Jake was speaking to her until her head was lifted by his hands, a desperate look on his face. "Are you okay?" He asked, swiping a finger over the blood on her lip before stepping back as she flinched, watching Aponi back away from the two like a cornered cat.

"What is this?" She whispered, staring at the two with wide and unblinking eyes. She looked so small all of the sudden, picking up her knife and bow from the side of the clearing as she backed up next to it. "You set me up?" She asked, voice breaking. 

"Aponi, I-" Jake tried to walk towards her and felt his ears go down at the sound of her feral hiss, watching as she crouched low on the ground. Her expression was angry, hateful, and she looked like a wounded animal to Neytiri. 

"Never come back." Aponi yelled, motioning for them to leave. Jake stood up straight and tried stepping closer, stopping once he felt Neytiri grab his arm. "Kä!" Aponi screamed, now in tears. 

Neytiri and Jake both couldn't help but think she looked gorgeous, even when she was crying. Even when she was staring at them with hatred so potent it made her features crumple up in anger.  

The two walked away while Jake kept looking back at her, both of them hearing Aponi's sobs as she rushed up into the trees, leaving no evidence that she had ever even been there. 

There wasn't any talking as they went back to Home Tree. Nothing was said at dinner, and nothing was said when Jake found Neytiri sitting high up in the Home Tree later that night, crying silently. He just sat next to her and let the woman lean into his side, doing his best to comfort her.

Jake hoped someone was comforting Aponi that night, too.