Katniss POV
It is my first night with the careers, and to say I'm scared is a understament.
I am sitting away from the others, who are lying around a fire. Even Peeta is with them. He has barely glanced at me since I joined them. Glimmer is sitting next to Cato, and she's trying to sit seductively. Clove shoots her a little glare, and then rolls over and begins sharpening her knives. I notice how she keeps glancing at Peeta, and he at her. Then I notice how they both, quite casually, inch closer to each other. If I wasn't watching them closely, I wouldn't have noticed. Once they were sitting fairly close to each other, Clove continued sharpening her knives, and Peeta played with his water bottle. I begin thinking about times in the Training Center, when the two of them would look at each other the same way they are now.
I don't think Peeta and I were ever the true star-crossed lovers.
Soon, everyone has fallen asleep. Cato is on watch tonight, and I can tell Glimmer was angry because she was hoping to sleep beside him. After Cato snaps at her to leave him alone, to which I couldn't help but smile, she sneers at him, and then goes to sleep close to Marvel. Peeta and Clove have fallen asleep, back to back.
I stay where I am, unwilling to move. Cato has wandered over to the tree line, plucked a flower and is back on the ground. I look at the ground, and begin to play with a handful of grass. After a few minutes, I look up to see Cato watching me.
"Come over," he says. I hesitate, but I do join him. The whole time, the warning Haymitch gave me is buzzing in my head.
Don't let your guard down.
I sit beside Cato, and wrap my arms around my knees. I am still scared, and then I realize how thirsty I am. I still haven't had a drink since the games started. I spot a water bottle resting beside Cato. I stare at it, and he catches me staring. He snorts, and then holds it out to me. My body moves faster than my brain, and I grab hold of the water bottle and drink half of it. And then the other half. I hand Cato the empty bottle, and he smirks at me when he realizes it's empty.
"Thirsty?" he asks, still smirking.
"Sorry," I say, a blush creeping to my cheeks.
He smirk grows, and then he just shrugs. "Don't worry about it," he says and then looks back at the flower he's looking at. I look at it two. It's a beautiful, delicate looking purple flower. But I've never seen it before.
"What is that?" I ask him. He opens his mouth to answer me, but then he decides against it. He throws the flower away.
"You should get some rest," he says. "You'll be tired tomorrow."
"What about you?" I ask.
"I'll be fine," he says.
I nod, and then lie down, close to him, and roll over. "Cato?" I ask.
"Yes?" he asks.
"Thank you." I say.
"You're welcome..." he says softly. Sleep is beckoning me, so I close my eyes and curl up. Just as I'm about to fall asleep, I hear him say one last thing.
"Fire flower."
Cato POV
Katniss is asleep beside me, her chest rising and falling delicately with each breath she takes. She is close to me, and then she sighs and rolls over, falling place right beside me, so that her head is almost resting on my thigh. I don't move her, because I don't mind having her so close.
I wait three hours before waking Marvel for watch. I carefully stand, making sure Katniss doesn't hit her head as I move. I walk over to Marvel and kick him. He sat up immediately, pulling his knife out. I leap back, just as the knife would have come in contact with my stomach.
"Watch it." I growl. If he had so much as touch me with that knife, I would have killed him before he could have wiped the sleep out of his eyes.
"Whatever," he mumbles and then walks over to a place far from me. I glare at him, and then I turn and go back to Katniss. I lie down beside her, and then roll back on my back and stare at the sky. I hear Katniss stir beside me, and then she rolls over. Her eyes are still closed, and her voice is thick with sleep.
"What time is it?" she asks.
"Still late. Go to back to sleep,"
"Goodnight, Cato." she whispers. She
nods, and then curls up and rests her head on my shoulder. I don't know if she meant to, because she is still half asleep, but I didn't want to move her. I rest my cheek on her forehead, and then words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them.
"Promise me something," I whisper.
"What?" she asks.
"Don't die." I say. I am asking her not to die here, in this arena. I am asking her to be strong. She stares at me, and it takes her a moment to answer.
"That's not something I can promise."
Hello :) so, this is a fluffy chapter :P the next one will be more action packed ;) please review!