Chapter 1
Katniss POV:
I always hated the Capitol. I hated them for forcing our children to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. I hated the poverty that they forced the districts to live in. And I hated living in the weakest, poorest, and helpless district of them all; District 12. The reaping for the Hunger Games was every summer. My younger sister had just turned 12 a few months ago, and is now in the reaping draw. Because her name is only in there once, I reassured her that she would not get picked. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened. I volunteered for her, making sure she lived at all costs. To make my bad luck affect me even more, Effie also calls Peeta Mellark. The boy who saved my life as well as the rest of my family, by tossing me the bread he burnt for me. I need to survive in order to come back and continue to support my family, but I would never forgive myself, as well as anyone else in District 12, for killing this boy who saved my life so many years ago.
A couple of days go by. All four of us, Haymitch, Peeta, Effie, and I all go through the events with little emotion as possible. When it comes time for training, Haymitch tells us to avoid what we are best at, so the other tributes won't be able to plot against us effectively yet. This also gives us a chance to get better at things we don't know how to do yet. Our mentor tells us we should work as a team, but Peeta and I go our separate ways when training begins.
I learn simple things, such as fire building and learning the different kinds of plants. I never keep track of my "team mate" but I assume that he is practicing with the weapons. Later, all of us talk about the game makers over dinner.
"They watch you to get a feel of how easily each tribute can adapt before the games." Haymitch has been a mentor for our district's tributes for 23 years. Every year they usually die in the first day or two.
"I doubt they pay attention to us until we start dieing." That's the first thing I heard him say all day.
"Peeta is probably right." I agree. "They didn't pay attention to any of us the entire time."
I couldn't sleep in fear of dying in the games. Whenever I did sleep, I always had a quick nightmare. The only one I remember was Peeta was fighting off the male tribute from 1 when the tribute kicks desert sand into his eyes. Peeta is blinded and is stabbed repeatedly. I jolt awake panting. "Oh god." deciding I was thirsty, I walk out of my room in search of water. Not knowing my way around, I soon find myself on the roof. "Fuck." I mumble. I turn to find my way back when hear my name.
"Katniss?" I turn and notice Peeta sitting on the ledge of the roof.
"Oh, hey. I didn't know you were up here."
"Did you want to be here alone?"
"Actually, I was just trying to find some drinking water." The more I thought about it, I actually wasn't thirsty. "But I don't really care to find it now. Um, could you not sleep or something?"
"Yea. I kept having nightmares." He's looking out into the city lights now. Even though the light sources are so far away, they are illuminating his face in a very flattering manner. "Were you really just thirsty? If so, how are you so damn calm?"
Shit. He seems angry. But I didn't do anything wrong. "Actually, I couldn't sleep for a while, and when I finally did, I had a nightmare." About you. My thoughts add unconsciously.
"Oh." is that really all he has to say? The silence is slowly getting awkward and I feel the need to break it. But with what? "Hey, are you excited to die for stupid fucking reasons while everyone in the districts watch their loved ones kill others and be killed by strangers?"
"So Peeta, you remember that night a few years ago?" He's giving me a blank stare. His expression is like a boulder, cold and immovable. "It was raining... And you were giving burnt bread to your family pigs..."
His expression softens a bit and nods. "You looked so fragile. It frightened me." I shiver. Is it really that cold? Or am I disgusted that I terrified someone that saved my life. Maybe this is how he's distancing himself away from me so it'll be easier to dispatch me.
"It saddened me to see how desperate you were." He nuzzles half of his face into his arms.
"Well, so does everyone else in our district. Everybody is starving to death." I'm getting angry, but definitely not at Peeta. He's the good guy. I'm upset at the Capitol for degrading us for generations.
Great, he's glaring at me again. "Katniss?"
"Yes?"
"What was your nightmare?"
"Um, well... These two uh... male tributes were fighting in the desert, one kicked sand in the other's eyes and stabbed him to death." I thought about telling him who the tributes were, but it would've felt weird. He was in the nightmare mainly because those were the only two tribute's faces I remembered. That, and I couldn't imagine Rue fighting. The girl from the agriculture district. She is so small and fragile-looking. "What was yours."
"You." Well fuck. What is that suppose to mean.
"Pardon?"
"You were hunting and the male tribute from one ambushed you. You didn't go down without a fight, but nonetheless, you went down."
Oh no. We both fear the same tribute attacking each other. I'm so terrified, I don't know what to say.
"Katniss, can we go find that water? I'm getting thirsty." I nod. My throat feels like sand paper.
After about half an hour of searching for the damn kitchen we found it. The next problem was finding cups. There was a refrigerator that had a button that made water come out. We couldn't fit our faces in the opening so we needed to search. We open multiple cupboards and find only plates and silverware. We eventually find bowls and settle for those. Peeta accidentally pushed the button for ice and multiple cubes slide across the floor. We scramble to pick up the cubes. We're both on all fours searching for the cold little devils in the dark; we couldn't find the light switch either. "Peeta, how many were there anyway?"
"Shit, I don't know. If I knew where the towels were, we could just slide that across the floor and corral them."
"Too bad we don't know where those are either." We both chuckle a bit and realize how funny that wasn't. I lost Peeta in the darkness so I stand up. I literally take one step, slip on a cold devil and fall towards the ground.
"Ow fuck! Katniss, how did you fall?" Clearly, I landed on Peeta.
"I stood trying to find you." the entire floor is wet too. "Why is the floor wet?"
I tried to get some water because I was still thirsty and ended up overflowing the bowl. I didn't realize they don't hold much volume."
The floor was clearly recently polished and soaking wet, which made it hard to get up. It was so dark I couldn't tell how I fell on Peeta. "I'm going to try to get up, okay? Could you give me a hand?"
"Sure." I try to push myself up but my hand slips and I fall face down again into Peeta. My face ends up right next to his neck. He was really warm, I could feel the heat inches away. I try again, I feel him shift a bit underneath me and one of his hands tries to help me up. I think he was aiming for my shoulder, but missed quite a bit. He ends up accidentally placing his entire palm on my left breast. My face flushes. I'm not even wearing a bra.
"Uh Peeta? I don't think you realized, but that's my chest..."
"Oh shit! I'm so sorry!" He takes his hand off. I try to get on my knee, the night gown I'm wearing slides up a bit. Peeta tries to reach for my waist to help me up, but grabs my hips instead. This was an improvement from the last mistake, so I let it slide. I try to kneel but I slip again and end up sitting on him. Sitting right in his lap. Through the thin pair of lacy underwear I found in the drawer, I could feel his lap. All of it. I blush and try not to draw attention. He sits up, supported by my weight, he has no problem.
I'm still blushing, I try to apologize. "Peeta, I'm so so sorry if I hurt you, I slipped again, and I-"
Peeta had wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me closer to him and kissed me. Deeply. I succumb to his sweet aroma and his warm body heat. My hands begin to wander on their own, refusing to listen to my brain. One hand runs through his hair while the other feels his muscular torso. Hey! Dumb ass hands! My brain screams. Stop feeling him up! Stop! Stop! Stop! But do they listen? No.
His hands are slowly making their way up my gown, hinting me that it needs to come off. Now! I quickly peel it off of me and his hands are already on my chest. Gently massaging and following the curves. His tongue is going up and down my neck, with a few nibbles here and a few kisses there. I pull his face to mine and kiss him passionately. He kisses back and my wanderers make their own way to his shirt. I don't hint to him. I literally tear his t-shirt off of him, leaving it in a wet pile of rags next to us. I move my face to his neck and suck gently. Pausing a few times to give a little bite. And lick it better when I let go. His hands are on my bottom. Gently squeezing it, feeling the softness. My hands ebb and his zipper, slowly unzipping them, making sure he feels my hands there. With every touch I anticipate, he gets more excited. I helped him take his pants and boxers off leaving him naked and me with a pair of lacy panties. He picks me up, with my legs wrapped around him, he carries me to the nearest couch. Guessing the size, it was similar to a bed. He lays me on my back, holding my arms above my head. He kisses me gently and slowly moves to my jaw line. Kissing a few inches lower every few seconds. He reaches my nipples, nibbles them gently, causing me to moan. He chuckles and I could feel him laugh while his mouth was attached to my breast, sucking and licking them. He moved lower, continuing the light kissing, and reaches my underwear. The city lights give some light to this new room and I see him smiling up at me. "I bet you want me to kiss down here too."