A/N: Here it is! Thanks to all my reviewers, you guys keep me going! Also, let me know in a review if you'd like me to keep the story centered on only Cato/Katniss or if you'd like a few side flings between other tributes as well. Enjoy!
Beauty and The Brute: Chapter Three
The District 2 apartments were comfortably silent until Cato stormed in. Gloria, Cato and Clove's overly enthusiastic escort, and Brutus, their mentor, were out rallying sponsors before the games had even started. Clove was resting on the couch, twirling a pocket-knife in her fingers and imagining the feeling of it ripping through human flesh, when the sound of glass shattering against the wall interrupted her musings.
"I'm going to kill that insolent little bitch-"
Another vase hit the wall and shattered into millions of jagged edges.
Clove sighed in annoyance. Cato could be such a drama queen sometimes.
"Aw, did wittle baby Cato get his feelings hurt by the big bad Fire Skank?" she mocked, hardly bothering to glance at her enraged district partner. She knew this would only increase his agitation; Cato hated being ignored.
A hand that could probably crush rocks into dust roughly grasped her pointy chin and forced her to look at him, face to face. She choked back an amused snort. Marring the pale, flawless skin of Cato's cheek was the red outline of slender fingers. Clove didn't need to guess who they belonged to.
"Whoa…Didn't know the little rat had it in her," she admitted, carelessly swiping her fingers over the enflamed skin, "Looks like 12's got themselves a real spitfire this year!"
"Shut the fuck up Clove!" Cato snapped, roughly releasing her face from his hand and yanking the pocket knife from her grasp. He hurled the knife at an Avox, who had been standing silently in the corner and fortunately had enough sense to duck away from the sharp weapon. "I swear, the minute we step foot in that arena I'm going to find her and-"
"And what?" Clove urged, "Fuck her to death?"
Cato chuckled darkly, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea…"
She scoffed in disgust. "Always thinking with your dick. You know these are the Hunger Games, right? The ones you've been training for since you were five? Weak, sentimental thoughts over some ugly rat from the Seam are only going to distract you."
"I won't be distracted!" Cato roared, causing the Avox sweeping up the shattered vase to jump slightly. Clove didn't even twitch.
"Oh really? The Cato I know would never, never let some silly girl get away with so much as touching him. You're a Career, not some lovesick puppy dog-"
A deadly silence engulfed the room. Cato's fists were clenched tightly, and for a moment Clove thought she would have to make a quick escape to her room before he beat her to a bloody pulp. Instead, Cato responded in a flat, emotionless voice. "I'll show you," he whispered, "I'll show her, I'll show everyone. This is what I was made for."
Clove reached out and took his hand, smiling adoringly at him, "There's my Cato."
Katniss moaned in relief as the warm water poured from the shower head and washed over her sore muscles. Heating water took too much time in the morning, so she rarely had hot baths back home. This was one of the few pleasures of the Capitol that she actually enjoyed, other than the lamb stew.
There was a knock on the door and then Effie's annoyingly perky voice calling for her. "Katniss! Hurry along now, dear, we have another big, big day ahead of us!"
Every day was a big, big day in the Capitol.
She climbed out of the shower, hastily drying herself with a towel, and threw on her training suit. She didn't have time to manage her damp, tangled her so she threw it in ponytail and rushed out of the bathroom to join Peeta and their team.
Effie ushered them to the elevator quickly, chastising Katnisss along the way about making them late once again. All of the other tributes are already at the different stations, fine-tuning their skills before their private sessions with the Gamemakers.
Katniss sends a longing glance at the archery station, where the District 1 girl tribute was unsteadily shooting arrows at a large dummy. She barely missed the red painted target on its chest each time.
Steady the bow. Hold it higher. Pull the string back further. Katniss' mind silently repeated the mantra of instructions. If only the girl could hear her. The arrow shot from the slightly quivering bow and hit the collar bone of the dummy, nearly an inch above than the target.
"Why don't you show us some of those archery skills, 12?" A voice whispered chillingly in her ear, causing her to jump slightly. It was Cato. She had almost forgotten that he had seen her shoot an arrow the night before.
The scene from the rooftop replayed itself in her mind. Cato, crushing his lips against hers, taking her breath away. The thought should've repulsed her. The memory of his hands brushing against her hips should've made her stomach churn with contempt. Instead, there were butterflies swarming through her chest, dropping into her stomach, stirring lower and lower. She released a shaky breath. His presence was suffocating her.
She spun around, desperately racking her brain for words to deny her dexterity with a bow, when Peeta saved her ass. Again.
He really needs to stop doing that.
"Katniss?" he snorted, "She couldn't shoot an arrow if her life depended on it!"
Cato's eyes narrowed in disbelief. "Really?" he said gruffly, "I guess I must've been…mistaken." He let his heavy gaze drift between the two of them, before brushing past them. "See you at interviews, Fire Girl."
"What was that all about?" Peeta hissed once the burly tribute was out of hearing distance.
Katniss shrugged nonchalantly, keeping her eyes glued to the floor. "I don't know."
Peeta didn't look convinced but he let her off the hook. The two spent the next few hours practicing snares, quizzing each other over edible plants, and pretending to have meaningful conversations with each other for the benefit of the cameras. They needed to put up the front of a unified district.
Lunch came much too quickly, and the tributes were soon being called by district to enter their private session. Marvel of District 1 was called first, and then Glimmer, and finally, Cato of District 2.
Cato stood confidently, receiving claps on the back from the remaining Careers, and sauntered purposefully past Peeta and Katniss' table on his way out.
"I'll be thinking of you the entire session, Fire Girl."