Night Hunters

Night Hunters

Jake Sully x Daughter!Reader

NOTE : This takes place before Kiri and Tuktirey, so the reader is Jake's youngest child and only daughter.

ENJOY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR LOVES

Giggles erupted from you as you padded through the forest, rapidly ducking underneath leaves and hopping over mushrooms. Your movements were fluid--just like your mother taught you--as you briefly glanced back for your pursuer. However, when you failed to see him, you skidded to a stop.

Panting, you twisted around, looking over your shoulders. Though the hour was late, the forest was far from inactive. Creatures, that were currently not within your eyesight, chirped around you. A gust of wind blew your hair, causing you to whip around, once again. However, your soaring heart slowed when you caught sight of a group of fan lizards. You followed them with your gaze, watching as they soared higher and higher into the air.

The glow from their bioluminescent wings lit the surrounding area, giving everything they glided past a temporary glow. As they flew deeper into the forest, the glow from one of the lizards suddenly illuminated a pair of yellow eyes. Upon seeing their glow, you gasped as your heart jumped, releasing a scream before turning around and taking off at a sprint.

As you ran, you heard bigger, heavier footsteps behind you, further fueling your adrenaline rush. Giggles poured out of your mouth as you pushed yourself to run faster, desperately weaving between trees and hopping over bushes.

Grunting, you pushed your legs to move faster. You didn't dare look back, knowing that the action would only slow you down.

When you felt yourself gain a bit of distance, you ducked underneath an oversized leaf, allowing it to conceal your presence. Releasing a breath, you gently sat down and pressed your back against the plant. Reaching behind you, you grabbed your queue and brought it over your shoulder. You, then, took a piece from the rest of your hair, absentmindedly playing with it between your fingers as you waited.

Thank goodness Mommy let me wear my hair out today, you thought to yourself.

You'd been begging your mother to style your hair in the same hairstyle that she wore on special occasions--where most of her hair was down, except for the front portion, which would be pulled behind her head and held with a flower. You knew that, if you had beads in, the noise from them might give you away.

For a long moment, you didn't hear any movement around you. That quickly changed, however, when you saw a familiar silhouette come into view. The soft, nocturnal glow from the forest illuminated the area around the figure, making its shape show more prominently through the leaf. You covered your mouth as the tall figure stalked closer to your hiding place. As the figure turned, still searching, its queue whipped around behind it.

Pressing your hand tighter to your mouth, you shook with anticipatory giggles. However, when one slipped out, you sucked in a breath as your eyes widened.

The figure whipped around, now facing you. Then, at an agonizingly slow pace, it lowered itself to its knees before beginning to crawl. You held your breath as you pressed your back against the plant. It drew closer, stalking forward like a predator scoping out its prey.

Before long, it was right in front of you. The leaf was the only boundary between you and your predatory pursuer. Your heart pumped within your chest, echoing inside your ears as a pair of hands made their way around each side of the leaf.

Unable to hold yourself anymore, you squealed, giggling loudly as the hands crawled towards you, moving in a motion that resembled two spiders. As the "spiders" closed in, you pulled your feet in, tucking them closer to you. However, the spiders anticipated this movement and grabbed your ankles before you could pull them out of reach.

"No!" you squealed, giggling as you tried to free your feet.

"Oh, Y/N . . . ?" the figure finally spoke, making you giggle louder, "Where, oh where, has my babygirl gone?"

With one quick pull, you were yanked from under the leaf. The quick force caused you to fall onto your back. You covered your face, shielding your eyes from the awaiting gaze of the vicious predator that had been stalking you. However, once you came to a stop, the hands released your ankles.

Though your vision was blocked, you could feel a large body hovering over you. The feeling of a couple of loose strands of hair brushed over your hands. Then, large hands gripped your wrists and forced them away from your eyes. Immediately, you were face-to-face with the mischievous, awaiting gaze of your father.

Tilting his head, a playful smile pulled at his lips. "There she is," he growled.

Letting out a scream, you sat up and tried to run, once again. However, Jake didn't let you escape this time. After quickly grabbing your waist, he scooped you up.

"Oh no you don't," he said, laying you back down on the ground.

Desperate giggles fell from your lips as you squirmed, looking up at your father. He chuckled as he grabbed your fighting arms and held them in place.

With a subtle shake of his head, he rasped, "You're mine now."

He, then, lowered his head to your stomach and blew an enormous raspberry onto your skin. Squeezing your eyes closed, you shrieked with giggles, squirming desperately at the ticklish sensation.

After a moment, Jake raised his head, wanting to get a look at your face. Upon seeing your joyous expression, he broke into a smile before beginning to laugh himself. Then, he lowered his head again, placing his lips back on your belly. This time, he blew a shorter raspberry before shaking his head back and forth, making playful growling noises into your skin. You threw your head back, hollering with childish laughter, once again.

Then, without warning, he raising your arms before alternating between your hollows and neck, blowing short raspberries into your skin. Your laughter spiked, increasing an octave as the sensation became nearly unbearable.

Sensing your lack of breath, Jake let up, raising his head to watch you. He smiled fondly as your giggles slowly quieted down. Shaking his head, he chuckled before lowering his head to you again. Thinking he was going to blow another raspberry, you shrugged your shoulders, shrinking away from him as anticipatory giggles bubbled up again.

This made him laugh more. "No more tickles, baby," he said, placing a kiss on your forehead, "Just wanted to give you a kiss."

You let out a breath as he released you. However, since you were too tired to move from your position on the ground, you simply stayed put. As Jake leaned up, he positioned himself to sit down before turning back to you. When he saw you panting on the ground, he threw his head back in laughter.

"Aw, babygirl," he chuckled, reaching down and picking you up, "Too ticklish for your own good?"

You shook your head, leaning against him as he placed you on his lap.

"No?" he asked, chuckling as you shook your head again, "Well, you definitely have it worse than your brothers, that's for sure."

"Why should I suffer for that?" you exclaimed, making Jake place a hand on your head and laugh again.

The sudden sound of a low growl ceased both of your movements. Looking up, you quickly realized that the growl hadn't come from your father. Jake jumped up, pushing you behind him as he faced the direction of the growl. As he kept his left hand on your stomach, keeping you behind him, his right hand reached into his belt and pulled out his knife.

Fear spiked within you as a thanator slowly emerged from the bush. Gasping, you reached up and grabbed Jake's hand.

"Daddy," you whimpered, feeling your heart rate pickup.

""It's okay, babygirl," he replied.

Though he was now heavily distracted, he took the time to give your small hand a gentle squeeze. Peeking around his much taller body, you watched as the thanator let out a venomous hiss. Jake, who had not taken his eyes off of the carnivorous creature, narrowed his eyes before tilting his head. Then, he let out a hiss of his own, challenging the creature.

Shivers ran down your spine as you heard the chilling sound. You'd never heard him hiss in such a way.

Just as the creature began to stalk forward, a loud squawk was heard from above. You gasped as Jake's ikran suddenly flew in from above the trees. Crowing loudly, it landed in between Jake and the thanator before turning to hiss at the approaching creature.

You barely had time to register the moment before Jake scooped you up and hopped onto the creature's back. With you sitting in front of him, he secured the bond before giving it an order.

"Yah!" he yelled, signaling the creature to take off.

Sucking in a breath, you leaned back against your father's chest as the ikran took off in a vertical position, briefly missing the thanator's reaching claws as it jumped.

As the ikran took you through the trees, wind rushed past your ears. Heart pounding, you reached out and grabbed your father's wrist. After glancing down, he freed one of his hands and gripped your waist.

"I got you, sweetheart," he said, "It's okay."

Too stunned to respond, you simply nodded and allowed him to hold you to him.

At last, you surpassed the treetops and reached the night sky. Your jaw dropped as you took in the view. Below you, the forest's glow was still visible. Above you, stars gleamed through the dark blue blanket that coated the sky. Neighboring planets were also visible, filling the sky with their blue radiance.

Jake temporarily released you to level out the ikran before gripping you again.

Your father had never taken you on his ikran before, not that he'd ever intended to. Jake had planned for your first time to be after the final hunter exam, should you choose to become a hunter. However, in that moment, he knew that this exception was more than necessary. He couldn't have been more grateful for his ikran's aid in getting you out alive.

"Whew." He released a breath. "I shouldn't have had you out this late, anyway. Your mother's not gonna be too happy with me."

You looked up at him. "Please don't stop our night adventures, Daddy," you replied.

He glanced down at you before smiling gently. "Don't worry about that now, babygirl," he responded, "Just try to get some shut-eye, alright?"

After releasing a sigh, you nodded before leaning back against his chest. You felt him place a kiss on your head before rubbing your stomach. With one last look at the sky, and the glowing forest below you, you closed your eyes.

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