A/N: This is an In Character and In Plot fic about a friendship, and something more, between Clove and Foxface (who I have named Finch). It completely fits with the actual storyline. Next chapter and in future chapters there is smut, so be warned (or turned on, either way). And please please review. -Lu

CHAPTER ONE

CLOVE

Blood rained from the sky. Clove crashed through the undergrowth. The vines that tangled around her ankles appeared as snakes in her venom ridden mind. As she crashed to the ground in their midst they opened their mouths and hissed at her, revealing fresh venom dripping like diamonds from their fangs. She couldn't help it, she screamed. Three of the snakes sunk their teeth into her leg and searing pain spread from their bites. She tried to kick at them furiously but the effects of the tracker jacker venom began to take over her mind. As one of the snakes wound around her neck and hissed in her ear everything went black.

FINCH

She heard the shouts of the Careers from her hideout and froze instinctively. She distinctly heard Cato's furious bellowing and tensed herself for flight, but his shouts grew more distant. Still, it would probably be safer to change location. As she was creeping from the mouth of the burrow she had formed a new noise met her ears and she froze again. It was a person, crashing through the undergrowth. It wasn't Cato though, too small. Just as Finch was about to take flight in the opposite direction a panicked scream ripped through the air. Her head whipped around. She didn't recognise it but it was clearly a girl, probably one of the Careers. There was another scream. The panic and pure terror made her feel sick. It was probably one of her enemies, someone who would kill her without a second thought, but she couldn't stand the sound of another person in such fear. Suddenly the screams stopped and then there was complete and utter silence. Were they dead?

Against all her survival instincts she found herself creeping through the trees towards where the screams had come from. Her entire body was tensed and ready to take off at the slightest hint of trouble. But as she rounded a group of bushes the sight of a body on the ground made her halt. She crouched down and watched closely, but there was no movement. She looked around the trees but there was no sign of anyone else. A canon had fired but no hovercraft had come for the body, so were they dead?

After several tense minutes of silent observation she decided to check. She might as well see if they had any food or supplies on them she could use. Her footfalls were almost silent as she padded towards the body. When she got closer she recognised the Career girl from District 2. Clove. For some reason she had taken note of the name when she heard Cato call it out across the training centre. She had been watching this girl. They were about the same size but their talents were very different and that had intrigued Finch. She was the type of person who liked to sit quietly in the corner and study people, and she had studied Clove. She hadn't been able to deduce much though. Except that she was fierce, tough and highly defensive.

She didn't look that now. She wasn't dead though. Finch could see her chest rising and falling still. Hesitantly she bent down and picked up one of Clove's knives, which had fallen beside her. She slipped the blade into her own jacket, thinking it may come in handy later. As she did she noticed the sting on Clove's arm. She immediately recognised it as a tracker jacke. So that's what the Careers had been running from, and with good reason. Finch had read about them back home and they were nasty. They tapped into your worst terrors. She tilted her head to the side and wondered what Clove's worst terrors were.

She glanced down at the other knives in Clove's jacket. Really, if she had any survival sense at all, she would take one of them and slit her throat right now. Clove would probably only come after her later, hunt her down mercilessly and take enjoyment in giving her a slow and painful death. But she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Something was stopping her from picking up that knife. There was logic, she understood logic, but there was almost a solid force telling her not to kill this girl. Absolutely no reason at all, but as she looked at Clove she knew she couldn't kill her.

Did she just leave her here to die? Finch couldn't be certain that she would die, she seemed to only have one sting. Quickly she made a decision and picked up all the knives she could find on Clove. She guessed she had more hidden but she couldn't do anything about those. She padded quickly through the woods and buried the knives a little distance away. At least without them it might take Clove longer to kill her later. Finch might be unable to outright kill her, but she wasn't just going to make it easy for Clove to slay her later.

She returned to the clearing to see what other supplies she could get from her. Just as she was on the edge of the treeline she glanced up and saw movement. Instinctively she dropped into a crouch and froze. She had the instincts of an animal; hide and freeze until you could assess the threat and then flee, fight if cornered, but always preferably flee. It had worked well so far.

She blinked through the strands of her hair that had come loose from the complicated braid her stylist had twisted her hair into. She tried to quieten her breathing as she watched the movement in the clearing.

CLOVE

Clove woke from the nightmare that had trapped her and stared at the canopy above for a few minutes, trying to catch her breath again and convince herself that it wasn't real. Oh but it was real once wasn't it? said a mean little voice in her head. She told it to shut up.

Once she felt the heaviness of the venom dropping away from her limbs she struggled to sit up. She glanced around the clearing and froze when her gaze connected with a pair of frightened green eyes. It was the girl from District 5 and she was watching Clove anxiously, poised for fight. Clove swore and reached automatically for her knives, only to find them all gone. She stared back at the girl, who still hadn't run.

"Did you take my knives?" she called, putting more confidence into her voice than she felt. Without her blades she was scarily underarmed. She had mastered basic hand to hand combat but because of her size it had always been her weakest area. And she didn't know what the deal was with this girl. She had received a decent training score, even though she had displayed no obvious talents in training. For all Clove knew she had hidden some great fighting skill from them.

The girl stared back at her with enormous, frightened eyes, but didn't say anything. "Well, did you?" Clove demanded angrily. Slowly, cautiously, the girl nodded.

"I hid them," she called in a soft voice that shook slightly.

"I can still kill you without them you know." She hoped that she sounded threatening in that but to be honest she was quickly trying to assess where she was and what lay at her advantage. She hated going against an unknown opponent with unknown skills and weapons. She was definitely at the disadvantage.

The girl lifted slightly as if she was about to run. "Wait!" Clove called out before she knew what she was doing. Her hand flung out in front of her to calm the girl. She really needed to get her knives back. She was as good as dead without them. "Where are they?"

The girl's eyes flicked to the side slightly but she didn't run. "You'll just kill me if I tell you," she whispered.

Clove took a deep breath, trying to decide how best to play the situation. She was starting to realise this girl wasn't any threat to her, not in the sense that Clove feared. She looked absolutely terrified. If she believed Clove wouldn't hurt her, then she might return her weapons. "I won't kill you," Clove said, looking her dead in the eyes. It was something her brother had taught her. Stare people down and they almost always believe you. "I promise."

She could see that the girl didn't believe her. Smart child. But she hesitated, her eyes flicking nervously around the clearing. Something about her reminded Clove of a nervous forest animal; the way she studied the shadows of the trees for any sign of danger, the swift way she moved through the woods, the delicate, agile movements of her body. It was almost endearing.

Clove could read the deliberation in her eyes. She just needed an extra push. "I've lost my alliance," she said clearly. "I can hunt and I know where to find water. We'll live longer if we team up." She had to admit, although she was just saying it to get her weapons back, the plan had logic. She had no idea where Cato and the others were, let alone if they were still alive. Why shouldn't she team up with this frightened wood nymph? She had done something to get that 8 training score after all and she had survived this far, longer than many others. "Please," she found herself saying. It wasn't a word she had ever used very much in her life before. Normally she wasn't asking for things. If anyone was stupid enough to oppose her to begin with they soon reconsidered when a blade was pressed to their throat.

The girl turned slightly to face her. "I'm not going to tell you where they are. Not until I trust you."

Clove blinked at her as she processed the words. She felt her annoyance rising but pressed it back down. She had to make this girl unafraid of her. Flipping out wasn't going to help that. But she also realised that somewhere in that frightened bargain was an agreement. Well, looks like she had a new alliance. As she climbed to her feet she stared dubiously at that new alliance. Not one she had ever thought she'd be making. "Okay."

"Okay," the girl replied.

"I'm Clove, by the way," she said slightly sheepishly, brushing the leaves and twigs from her clothes.

"I know."

"Oh." That caught her by surprise. She looked closer at the girl. She stared back at her with sharp, analysing eyes. "So you're...?" she queried.

The girl stayed silent for a moment and Clove thought she wasn't going to answer her. "Finch," she said eventually in a small voice. Finch, how appropriate for this little creature that hopped around the woods.