Hi everyone! This is my first Hunger Games story but I have already written (and am writing) 3 stories for House of Anubis. Also I am working on an Austin and Ally one but this has been hanging on my mind for months now so I thought, 'HEY WHY NOT JUST WRITE IT AND UPLOAD IT TO FAN FICTION?' Anyway, I hope you enjoy the little taster of it and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE review it as it means that I know whether people like it and want me to write more or not. Enjoy! :P

Summary :-

" Everything about us is wrong but then why does it feel so right? He's a career tribute. I'm not. He's from district 1. I'm from district 12. He is strong and powerful. I am weak and defenseless. He is Peeta Mellark and I am Katniss Everdeen."

It's Forbidden:

"Welcome, welcome to the District 12 Reaping for the 74th Annual Hunger Games!" the sharp, clipped capitol voice of Effie Trinket rang out. She waltzed onto the stage looking like a rainbow had thrown up on her and I wondered how she could dress so brightly for a time like this where you were practically seeing which one of your friends or family members was going to be brutally murdered this time round. It made me sick just thinking of the whole concept of the Hunger Games, each district had to offer up a girl and a boy between the ages of 12 and 18 as tributes. They would be sent to the capital where after a couple of training days, they would be thrown into an arena where they would have to fight to the death. There was only one rule that people followed there: KILL, OR BE KILLED. But anyway, back to the reaping.

This was my fifth reaping event I had been to and let me tell you it gets scarier every time. You stand there helpless, not knowing whether or not your name is going to be the unlucky one that will be pulled out of that ghastly bowl. Unfortunately for me, my name is now in that bowl 23 times. I know other kids have theirs in there much more but 23 is still quite a big possibility. I stand there in my line towards the middle of the crowd as Effie walks towards the male contenders' bowl. They have changed it from ladies first this year I see. Tension rises as she slowly allows her fingers to trace over the tips if what seems like every single slip of paper until they greedily grab one and hold it up for the audience to see. An eerie silence fills District 12 as Effie walks back to the microphone ready to announce District 12's male tribute this time round. She takes a breath and pauses, allowing the audience to grow more and more anxious until finally,

"Congratulations to our male tribute for the 74th Annual Hunger Games," she pauses slightly as all of the boys are silently praying to God,

"Jayden Holmes!"

A scream erupted then; a loud, painful girly screech that I can almost clarify is his mother's. Jayden Holmes is a boy in the year below me; he had just turned 15 and has no other siblings. His father went missing a couple of years ago and his mother hadn't been the same since, it almost reminded me of my own mother. Meekly, a few boys parted and Jayden came out from the swarm of them. He turned around to see his screaming mother being carried away by the Peacekeepers, as she was unable to control her despair. Once he finally made his way up to the stage, silence had cast over the audience again as Effie smiled. I noticed she had already chosen the girl's name. I drew in my breath as she smiled a sickly sweet smile before she began talking again.

"Lovely Jayden and congratulations. And also congratulations to our female tribute for the 74th Annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen! Come on up Katniss."

In that moment I felt hundreds of eyes stare at me and I could hear mother and Prim start crying, apart from that – silence. Everyone from the seam (and a few merchants) knew me, mostly from Prim who was nearly impossible to hate and I was her sister. Slowly walking forward and up the steps, I met eyes with Jayden who looked absolutely terrified and was willingly showing it. Me on the other hand, I was trying my best to stay calm for Prim and my mother but as soon as I looked into her tear felt eyes I lost it and completely broke down before suddenly, everything was slipping away from me and my mind filled with darkness before I lost consciousness.

I woke up on an unfamiliar couch that was unbelievably comfortable. I looked around to see that people surrounded me. Some, I recognized as Effie, Jayden and Haymitch Abernathy, whom I had seen on TV from previous Hunger Games – he was going to be my (and Jayden's) mentor fro this process. Others I had no idea who they were but I assumed them to be the prep teams etc.

"Aah wonderful Katniss, you're awake! You gave us quite the scare at the Reaping – you didn't wake up the entire journey here!" The capitol accent rang in my ears – then I remembered about the Reaping and that I was supposed to be fighting to the death in 3 or 4 days time. On the TV they were about to show all of the Reapings from the 12 different Districts. Claudius Templesmith was talking now about all the different rule changes this year. They had changed the order of everything so that instead of District 1 going first it would be District 12 followed by District 11 etc. Also, if boys normally went first it would be girls this year and vice versa. But the most interesting rule by far was that there was to be no communication with anyone outside of your own District (apart from in the arena itself). Not that this affected me but it was rather interesting, as normally they liked tributes to socialize with each other so that alliances could be formed and also hatred towards one another to make targets to kill. This normally consisted of the careers spotting the easier weak prey to kill in the bloodbath and the bigger, stronger threats so to look out for. Anyway, following these new rules, District 12's Reaping was shown first. I was embarrassed at how weak and defenseless I looked. I was sure that the tributes from 1, 2 and 4 were all laughing at me. Watching through the rest of the District's Reapings a few tributes stood out for me; a big burly boy from 11 who looked as though he could crush me with one finger, his companion was a small, delicate 12 year old girl who instantly made me think of Prim back home, there was a girl from 5 who had very distinct and foxlike features make up her face, obviously the careers looked brutal, especially Cato and Clove from 2. Clove was only small but she looked like she would show no mercy and Cato had volunteered so obviously he had been training his whole life for this. They then moved on to District 1 and a boy's name was called out, Peeta Mellark. A blonde, well-built boy of my age with piercing blue eyes stepped out of the crowd and into view. Something about him almost froze me in the state I was in and I couldn't help but gaze at the screen. He looked nervous but was doing well to keep his calm, unlike someone from District 7 who had broken down crying until the peacekeepers had to literally drag her up onto the stage but seemed to regain his cool as Glimmer (I know, stupid name huh?) came and joined him and they smiled for the cameras. I don't know what it was, but there was something else about him, something that was drawing me in closer, something that was making me dread the new rules about no contact with other Districts. I didn't know what it was but I did know that this boy was special.