Hi this is my first fanfic so take it easy on me. :) Basically it's where Katniss has an adopted sister, Belle. Katniss gets reaped for the Hunger Games and Belle does something that may put them and their family in danger...

(give this story a chance, after the first chapter it gets interesting)

Rated T for mild swearing and violence.

Katniss POV

I woke up to the sound of her screaming; Prim, my little sister, already having nightmares in her first year of being eligible to be picked for the annual Hunger Games.

She was 12 years old already and that fact alone unleashed a cage full of butterflies inside me that had never been there before. I'd feared for myself of course, but thinking about that compared to sweet, innocent Prim being reaped and thrown into a fight to the death was nothing. It wasn't new though; my other sister Belle was just a few months younger than me so we were in it together. Of course we weren't really sisters, but we were close just the same. Belle was found amongst the rubble of a house that had been set on fire by a squad of peacekeepers when she was just 6 months old- her parents had died in the fire. Before the peacekeepers could go looking for her my father took her in and we adopted her. My mother and father decided to call her Belle, since nobody knew her name anyway - my mother always gushed at how her name suited her so much because it meant 'beautiful' in some old, dead language. It was true, she was the object of attention when she walked by, though she hated to admit it and blushed anytime it was said. She had bright blue eyes and gorgeous long blonde hair - a typical merchant look.

I sighed inwardly as Prim sobbed and I rushed to get to her bedroom. Just like the rest of District 12, our house was small and dusty, but decent enough to live in. Altogether there are 12 districts in the country of Panem, each having a specific duty that supplies goods to the centre of the country; the Capitol. District 12 is the mining district, keeping the wealthy people of the Capitol warm while District 12 froze in the winters. District 1 is luxury, District 2 is masonry, District 3 is technology, District 4 is fishing, and so on until you get to the less useful districts like coal mining. We aren't the only district that is overruled by poverty, but we're certainly the worst. I count my family lucky that we have a roof over our heads.

I reach Prims bedroom and find her wrapped up in the covers, sweating and shaking and wailing. I make my way over to the bed and get in with her, sitting her on my legs and warming her up with myself. I don't need to ask her what her nightmare was about, I've had them myself,

"Shh, shhh," I rock her gently back and forth to soothe her. "Prim you're not going to get picked. This is your first year, your name is only in there once they're not going to pick you," I repeat my words over and over to calm her down and eventually her breathing is back to normal. She looked up at me with her tear filled, blue eyes and takes in my attire. "Where are you going?" I try to give her a reassuring smile. "Hunting. I think Belle is already out there, she'll be waiting for me. We'll be back soon," I promised her. She nodded understandingly.

We all knew it was mine and Belle's hunting that kept us alive. It was illegal under any circumstances, but it was what we needed to do to survive. After my father died in a mining explosion we had nothing left. My mother left us for a while; not physically but mentally. She fell into a huge depression that left us weak. Our family was given a little bit of money after my father died to cover the cost of a month of taxes until my mother could find work, but she never did. So we were left to fend for ourselves, while my mother remained an empty shell in the corner of the room. No matter how much I tried to tell her, beg her, to help us she just stared at me with blank eyes. Sometimes if Belle or Prim tried to get her to talk, she'd find their eyes and open her mouth, but a second later she's close it, as if she'd forgot what she was going to do. Me and Belle did our best to hunt, and sell the meat we shot at the Hob, but eventually customers ran dry in the summer and I gave up. I never forgave my mother.

I tie my hair in my signature side braid and grab my bow and arrows. I pull my hunting boots on, trying not to disturb the house. This was the day that the district slept in. We called it Reaping Day, the day when the next tributes of the Hunger Games are reaped. The system was a simple but deadly thing. As punishment for the war in which the districts rebelled against the Capitol, two tributes, one male and one female, between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district would be picked out of a raffle-like draw to be taken to the Capitol under custody and thrown into a fight to the death until one sole victor remained. The victor would be bathed in riches beyond their wildest dreams, and a new house would be provided for them in the victors village in their district. This was the cost - 24 children each year would be taken out of their district and 23 would be slaughtered. And this is how it's been for 74 years.

I make my way out of the house and I'm greeted with the fresh scent of grass. Taking a moment to inhale, I catch a sound to the right of me. I spin around and meet eyes with a peacekeeper, Darius. His bright ginger hair ruffled up and his gray eyes filled with amusement.

"What're you doing up this early Everdeen?" he asks playfully, smirking. I hint a smile back at him. "Nothing much, just catching a bit of District 12 air." He chuckles. "I'll believe that when I see it. Where are you really going?" I narrow my eyes at him. "Taking a walk. Anything wrong with that?" Now he laughs, enjoying my increasing frustration with him. "So if you'd let me past, I'll be going-"

"Not so fast Everdeen," he steps in front of me, his tone turning serious. "I know where your thinking of going and I don't think it's such a good idea," he says.

"I'm not going anywhere! I'll probably pass the Hob on my walk and pay in a visit to Sae to get some soup. Ask her later if you want," I snap, trying to make my voice sound truthful and cocky. Darius's smile makes it's way back to his face and he starts to walk towards me.

"Good. I'll pay Sae a visit later." he smirks and manages to flick my braid before heading the other way. I allow myself a smile and jog to the edge of the village. Darius and some of the other peacekeepers aren't as bad as the others. Some even buy our game. Darius is about my age, 16, and teases me most days.

After walking through the village, I make my way closer and closer to the District 12 fence that separates the woods from the village. After some distance from the nearest shop, I break into a run. Shit. Belle and Gale would be waiting for me and I'm about half and hour late. I reach the fence and duck down to get underneath the wiring. I automatically listen for the buzz of the electrics that are supposed to defend the district against wildlife but as usual I hear nothing. The powers been shut off for years now. Maybe the people who power it don't even know it's turned off. Or maybe they just don't care. When I'm at the other side of the fence, I walk quietly though the woods so I don't scare off any game. I go to the stream and automatically my hunting senses are in gear as I see a deer drinking. I step behind a tree and slowly pull back an arrow onto my bow and aim. I can just hit it's eye if I aim a little more-

SNAP

A twig snaps behind me and I hear my best friend's voice.

"What're you going to do with a 100 pound deer catnip?" I look back to Gale and back to the deer and already it is gone. I swing round to glare at Gale.

"Damn you Gale! That was the first deer I've seen in a year!" I shout angrily, not caring that I'm probably scaring off half the game in the woods. He laughs and I let out an annoyed huff. "Where's Belle?" I ask, impatient. His smile still remains as he says "I thought she was with you?" I roll my eyes.

"Hey don't be like that, what were you going to do with a deer on reaping day huh? This place is crawling with peace keepers." Poaching is illegal and punishable by death if you're caught.

"Darius will buy from me," I mutter, before remembering that I told Darius I wouldn't hunt and remember his warning.

"Not today." He shoots back, his smile faltering. "Come on. Belle is probably at the lake. Let's go look." And with that we head in the direction of the lake.

We don't say a word to eachother until halfway through the journey.

"Is Prim ok?" Gale asks.

"She's been better," I sigh.

"Nightmares?"

I give him a nod. He sighs this time, and starts to shake his head.

"What?" I ask.

"The games. They're just sick. Every time reaping day comes round I hope that something will change this year, anything, but obviously fucking not. The Capitol think that watching people die is-"

"Gale," I snap. "Nothing is going to change. People get picked, people die. That's how it's been for 73 years and it's not going to change."

"How do you know-"

"Because I know!" I burst out. "Ranting about it when we come out here is better than ranting about it in the village, but it's not going to do anything to change the way-"

"Jesus I could hear you two arguing from a mile away, you wanna cut it out?" A voice interrupts.

Gale and me look forward and see Belle smiling towards us, clearly amused. Her crystal blue eyes stand out against her pale skin, catching me off guard for a minute. I'd seen it everyday since I could remember and I still have the same reaction. Her dark brown and slightly blonde hair is let down. Her perfect pink lips frown and her cheeks blush slightly as she notices the way we're staring at her.

"Hello?" She arches her perfectly shaped eyebrows at us. In some ways I used to be jealous but I know looks really don't matter to me, as long as I can hunt. Eventually she narrows her eyes. She hates being treat differently over her looks. It's a mystery to most people how she got her flawless face, since no one actually knows who her parents are.

"Where have you been?" I demand. "Why didn't you wait for me?" At that her lips curve up again.

"You looked so peaceful sleeping for once. I didn't want to wake you." She says. I have to give it to her, it was the first night I didn't dream of anything. "Well you had me worried," I mutter. With that we walk to the hills, the only place we feel free to talk how we want without worrying about cameras. Usually Gale starts another rant about the Capitol and his ideas how if we were all to stop watching, the Capitol would be shown up. I usually counter back that the people of the Capitol however, view watching children fight to the death as entertainment and would never stop watching and Belle backs me up, expressing her specific dislike to President Snow.

"He's just a sadistic killer and he knows what he's doing, it's nothing to do with the Dark Days", " it's all just a game to him" and more, are the things she stresses over. But today no one says a thing. Except Gale.

"What if we ran away."

Me nor Belle react, unsurprised at his sudden interest to leave district 12. Belle scoffs.

"Yeah. Okay."

"No I mean really, what if we just took off and ran away from all this-"

"Oh please Gale, we wouldn't make it 5 miles-"

"No I'd get 5 miles, and I'd go that way," he points to the west.

"And what about our families?" Belle asks.

"We could take them with us." He says.

"Prim in the woods?" I ask. He chuckles slightly.

"Maybe not."

I've tried teaching Prim how to hunt, but most lessons end in her bursting into tears and suggesting that if we ran fast enough we could save whatever animal we shot.

It's silent for a while, the small sounds of nature taking over. I think about the whole situation. "I'm never having kids." I say. The whole idea about having children while living in a country where they'd have a chance at fighting to the death scares me, and I wouldn't dream of it.

"I would," Gale says. I turn to him. "If I didn't live here,"

"But you do live here-"

"But if I didn't." Gale cuts across. I sigh.

We share a loaf of bread Gale brought with some goats cheese from Prim's goat and I decide it's time to make our way back home. Before I make a move a thought comes to my head and I dread to hear the answer. "Gale," I say slowly.

"Yeah?" His gaze moves from Belle to me.

"How many times is your name in today?" There's a pause in his breathing. "42." Another shot of worry goes through my body. Belle's shoulders slump. If your family is poor enough, you can put your name down for tesserae. The option to receive tesserae is available in the districts of Panem to children between the ages of 12 to 18 (those eligible to participate in the Hunger Games). If their family is struggling for food, they can have their name added additional times to the reaping only once per family member, in exchange for an equal number of tesserae. I remember after my father had died and we were starving, I wasn't eligible to get any tesserae because I was only 11. I kept telling myself if I could only hold out until May, just May 8th, I would turn twelve and be able to sign up for the tesserae and get that precious grain and oil to feed us. Eventually my birthday came and as soon as I turned twelve I ran down to sign up for it. Gale has had to sign up way more than me to support his family of 4 others; 2 little brothers, a sister and his mother. His father died in the same mining accident as mine did.

"Come on Belle we've got to go get ready." Gale stares at me for a long moment and also stands up. We make our way through the fence and back to our houses. While Belle skips ahead I start to think to myself what would of happened if we were younger and unable to sign up for tesserae, when I pass by the bakery. I take a short glance at the window and immediately look to the floor in guilt. And image of the bakers boy, Peeta I think he's called, comes to mind. Back in the days I'd given up on hunting and decided we were better off dying, I remember sitting by a tree in the cold rain, starving. I was next to the bakery and going through their trash bin, trying to find something decent enough to eat. The bakers wife caught me and immediately chased me away. I remember thinking what a witch she was.

"Katniss!" Belle exclaims, shattering my thoughts.

"What?" I ask, and then I see that I've walked straight by my house. I backtrack and mutter a sorry to Belle. She shoves my arm on the way past playfully and I smirk and kick the back of her leg, making her stumble. She laughs and runs off her room. I put down my bag and hear an angry hissing sound. To my delight, I see I've stepped on Prim's cat, Buttercup's, tail. He really isn't anything like a buttercup. He's an ugly orange colour that reminds me of puke, with a half bitten ear. We despise eachother, although Prim loves him. Once I tried to drown him but Prim caught me and pulled him from me, sobbing and hugging him to her chest. Ever since, he's had a grudge against me. He hisses at me again. "Shut up." I snap, and go to get a bath.

photo-gallery/2406410/amanda-seyfried-lucky-magazine-cover-february-2010-02/

Guys by the way, to give you a view on what Belle looks like I've put a link to a picture that shows what she looks like, look up Amanda seyfried, she basically is her (and later on she sings like her.)