Hi guys, I really do hope you're enjoying the story!

I know it seems to be going slow, but you're witnessing the rise of their relationship.

Just to clarify, in my story, Cato and Katniss are 21 years of age. I know it isn't true to the books, but because of all of the sex, I wanted to make them of legal age. So the reaping age in my story is between the ages of 12 and 21, just for clarification.

Thank you for reading guys! Please leave reviews as they'll help me with my writing!

Message me what you would like to see as the story progresses and I'll do my best to include it!

Thanks again!

Another day, another training session. This session I was quite looking forward too. Haymitch has given me permission to use my fighting skills in training.

"This could be a gateway to an alliance" he said, sipping his coffee, smelling too strongly of liquor.

"Haymitch, the careers know she can fight - what does that mean now?" Peeta asked, out of everyone, Peeta was the most skeptical about this, despite desperately wanting to train using the weights.

"I just don't see how it could possibly work, I mean the careers are allies just because their districts are next to each other, they have things in common, training academies for one" Peeta said in explanation.

"But Peeta, I can fight with a sword, and I didn't train at an academy" I piped up, over my cup of tea. Peeta huffed, it looked like he had given up.

"See you later" he said to me and got up and walked away from the table. I turned to Haymitch.

"So you're coming down with me today?" I asked. He nodded but said he was only coming with me to take me down, he didn't plan on staying.

"Listen sweetheart, you're going to be faced with some decisions today, just make sure you think real hard before agreeing or disagreeing to them. This could cost you your life" said Haymitch. Fuck he was right. Any decision I made today could either kill me or save me, I had to take today seriously.

Down in the training centre, I kept to myself. I didn't want to draw attention to myself, unlike yesterday. I snuck a glance at the careers from underneath my arm, and could see Cato staring at me. I turned away from him almost immediately, and continued with tying the knot on my snare. I could hear them all laughing in the distance, probably at me. I could hear Cato keeping up the facade.

"She thinks she'll survive just by tying a few knots?" he laughed but I didn't know if he was pretending, or if he was being serious, because he kept shooting me horrible stares, that hurt my feelings in a weird way. I remember him telling me not to get upset if he was mean to me, but I can't help feeling as if he is doing it on purpose. He was doing it too often, that's what made me think he was being serious. For the rest of the day, I stayed alone, occasionally talking to Peeta at a few stations. At the end of the day, each district started to leave the training centre, followed by a peacekeeper. As Peeta and I were walked out of the room and towards the elevator, a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me into a corner, even the peacekeeper didn't notice I had gone.

"Who the fu..." I started, but the face that came out of the shadows was Cato's.

"Hi" he said simply. I didn't reply, but instead tried to pull my arm back without anyone noticing.

"Katniss, meet me down here tonight, at 2am, I'll be here for an hour, if you don't show, I'll go back up" he said, and let me go, rejoining the careers who hadn't even noticed his absence.

Back in my room, it was 1:45am. I was hesitant to go back down to meet Cato, but I needed answers to certain questions I needed to ask. I was wearing my sweat shorts and a black t shirt, and headed down barefoot. As I walked into the training room, I could see his blue eyes by the wall. I closed the doors, and started walking towards him. Once I got there, he pulled me into his arms.

"You okay Katniss?" he asked. I didn't hug him back, my arms held down by my sides. I desperately wanted to hug him, I wanted him to kiss me and hold me, but I had to be strong for myself.

"Cato, let go" I said, and he did immediately.

"Listen, I don't want to see you anymore" I said. Cato's face fell, but he seemed to become angry.

"Katniss, what is up with you? Yesterday in training? You know they're plotting the moves you'll take next right?" I guessed he was talking about the other careers.

"You killed me, you betrayed me" I said, but he gave me a look of confusion.

"I killed you?" he asked, questioning my facial expressions.

"I had a nightmare last night, you found me in the arena and called the others to come and kill me. You strangled me, and then you..." I was cut off, Cato had pulled my face up to his and kissed me.

"You're mad woman, I would never betray you. I was raised to respect women and take care of my family" he said, and he kissed me again, this time, I kissed him back. The kiss soon became passionate and our tongues found each other. His hands were resting on my hips, and eventually found my ass. He squeezed my ass and I began to undo his shirt. I wanted him so bad, but this could be part of his master plan.

"Cato stop" I said, and he did. He pulled away from me, and gave me my space.

"Katniss, I've had a shitty day, I really need this, I need you" he said. And with those words, my mouth found his lips once more.

"Let's go to my room" he suggested, and together we headed for the elevator.

Cato's room was huge, much bigger than mine. His king sized bed was set in the middle of the room, and he had 3 floor length windows looking out onto the Capitol below. As he shut the door, he pulled me towards him by my t shirt, and pulled it over my head. His hands found my ass as he lifted me into the air, my legs around his body. He sat me down on a chest of drawers close to his bed, and proceeded to take off my sweat shorts. Now completely naked, I sat with my legs wrapped around Cato's body, whilst his hands explored my pussy. Oh god, it felt so good. He continued to kiss me until his lips found my neck. He began to finger me and his pace quickened and quickened.

"Holy shit Cato... oh my god... " I breathed as he continued to please me, whilst his mouth found my chest.

"God you have no idea how much I want you right now" he said, and he put his hands underneath my ass and pulled me forward to give him access. Soon enough, his erection was pushing on the opening of my pussy.

"Don't tease me" I breathed, getting impatient. He moved my face up to his, and kissed me, pushing his erection into me. I felt his muscles as he pounded me, getting quicker and quicker. God this was so good, I didn't know how much I need it too. He has a fistful of my hair as he held me to him, continuing to thrust his cock inside me. One hand was on my ass, and he occasionally lifted me up just so he could smack it. Soon enough my muscles were tensing, and I found my release, seconds before he did too. He didn't pull out straight away, but kissed me very strongly, holding my chest to his.

"That was nice" he said, and he smiled.

"It was indeed, but it wasn't what I was expecting to do when I came to meet you you know?" I said, kissing his neck. His cock was still inside of me, but he began to move it slowly, back and forth.

"And what did you expect to do?" he teased, and he started thrusting again. I let my head fall back in pleasure as he began to get quicker with his thrusting. Oh god, again.

"I'm not finished with you just yet" he said, and started pounding away at my pussy. My muscles tensed up once more, and I was exhausted.

"You're exhausted?" he laughed. It was true that I didn't do anything, but even still, it's been a long day. He pulled out this time, and passed me my t shirt and shorts from the floor.

"Thank you, how kind" I teased as I pulled them on. I sat on his bed waiting for him to get changed.

"So, what do you wanna do?" he asked me. What did he mean?

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Are you going to join us or not?" he said, and my face fell at the words. Haymitch told me to make decisions carefully, with my life on the line.

"Well I was told that your allies are supposed to benefit you. How will you benefit me?" I asked, leaning towards me. He smirked and sat on the bed next to me, pushing us both back so we were lying on our backs.

"You can have sex anytime you want" he said with a smile, and I knew he was being cheeky. I gave him a playful slap and asked him again.

"Cato, seriously, how are you going to benefit me if I ally with you?" and this time he sat up to answer.

"Well what do you want out of this alliance? Trust? Someone to protect you? Whatever you want, you can have. I'll make sure of that" he said, and his hands found my legs as he pulled me down the bed towards him. He leaned over me, his arm hovering next to me to keep his weight off of me. His nose was touching mine, and he was waiting for me to answer.

"I want you to promise that you're not going to kill me" I asked. He looked me in the eyes and brushed his lips on the tip of my nose.

""Katniss, I promise I won't kill you. If this is about your dream, it was only a dream" he said matter-of-factly.

"What if it was trying to tell me not to trust you? All of this could be to do exactly what you want, and it'll get me killed" I said.

"Katniss, you're thinking into things that aren't true" he said. He kissed my lips and then stood up, pulling my hands so I was sat up. We fell asleep together that night, I was lying on his chest. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping, he didn't look like a killing machine at all. I should be leaving right now to go back to my own room, but I couldn't bring myself to leave him. What if he was telling the truth? If I joined them, I'd train myself to fight them, if it came down to it and Cato really did betray me, at least I could defend myself. This alliance might keep me alive for longer, and there was no doubting I would perish in the Games. I decided to sleep on it, and give him an answer in the morning.

I lay awake for hours, Cato holding me to him. It felt good to sleep next to someone, feel their skin on your skin - it was comforting. I looked at the alarm clock on his bedside cabinet, the time was 5am. I probably should get back to my room before the others noticed later.

"Cato, wake up" I said, quietly, but he was in a deep sleep, he didn't hear me. I slowly got up, stretching my arms whilst sat on the side of the bed. I tucked him up in the blanket and kissed the top of his forehead.

"I'll do it, but don't let me down Cato" I whispered before I left. I made it back into my room within 5 minutes, and settled down in my own bed, already missing him. After having no sleep, training was going to be a challenge today. But on the bright side it prepared me for the Games. It was training in itself. I got up and helped myself to the breakfast buffet that was being set out by an Avox. I looked at the Avox girl as she was preparing the plates and cutlery, and looked into her face. No. It couldn't be. I stepped closer, making it obvious I was looking at her. I recognised her, and I know where from. A couple of years ago, I was hunting in the woods alone in District 12. I had shot down a turkey when I heard the rustling of the woodland floor behind me. I was terrified it was peacekeepers coming to drag me away to the Capitol, but it was a girl accompanied by an injured boy. She was half walking half dragging him on her shoulder and it seemed he had been bitten by something. I peered out from behind the tree, and she caught a glimpse of me. She fell onto her knees when the boy fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"Help, please" was all she said before the hovercraft appeared from above, dragging them into the sky with huge metallic claws. That was the last I had seen of her, until just now, and I was sure it was her.

"I know you" I said casually to her. She didn't look up, but her hands had stopped putting plates on the table. I walked over to her, taking the plates from her hands.

"It's okay, you can talk to me, I won't hurt you or tell anyone" I said. She tried to speak but instead a weird gurgling sound came out of her mouth. Of course, Avoxes don't have tongues. I realised my mistake, and sat her down.

"I'm sorry I didn't help you" I said apologetically, but she waved her hand as if to say 'it was years ago'.

"It doesn't matter how long ago it was, I should have done something, pulled you behind the tree with me" I suggested, but she remained quiet, not moving her arms. There was the sound of a door opening, and Effie walked out to find the Avox girl and I sat down having an attempted conversation. At the sight of the Avox sat down, Effie flustered.

"Oh my goodness, why are you sat down? You have work to do!" she screamed, and immediately the girl stood up. She kept her head faced down in respect, but Effie continued.

"Well I never, an Avox sitting down on the job. I must tell Seneca" she said, and with that name mentioned I jumped from my seat and pleaded with her.

"Effie please, I was lonely and wanted to talk, but I didn't realise.." I stopped because it was clear Effie knew what I meant.

"Very well, just don't let me catch you sitting down again, and I won't mention anything to Seneca" Effie said, and waved the Avox girl away. Effie came and sat next to me in the seat that was occupied moments ago by the Avox girl. She took my hands in hers.

"Katniss, whatever is going on, you can tell me and I promise I won't say anything to the others" she said, and with that being said, I told her everything. I told her about Cato and I, leaving out the sex, and how I wanted to trust him but didn't know how. I told her about the alliance proposal.

"Oh Katniss, it's so hard being a woman. Our heart tells us to do one thing, with our mind telling us to do the opposite. But it is what you decide to do; follow your head, or follow your heart. It's your life Katniss, and if you think it's a good idea, then you go for it" she said, and pulled me into a hug. I hugged her back, reminding me of hugging my mother whenever the moment came around. She held me for a minute or two and let me go, still holding my hands.

"I won't tell Haymitch, but I highly recommend you mention this alliance to Peeta. Does he even know?" she asked. No, Peeta didn't know, but I didn't want him to find out.

"He doesn't but I don't want him to know Effie, it'll either break his heart or make him angry" I said, but the tears were starting to fall. I couldn't imagine Peeta being angry in the Games, I didn't even know what he was capable of when he was angry, let alone if he had a weapon in his hands. Effie just waved it off, saying he would never hurt a fly, let alone hurt me. But what is stopping him from hurting me? His sense of compassion, or was he in love with me for real? God my head was a mess. I didn't know what to do. I decided to follow Effie's advice, and I had chosen to follow my heart. Cato was apart of it, and I wanted to stay with him throughout this. I would tell him later, if I could get him alone somehow.

"Thanks for the chat Effie, I think I've chosen" I said, and she nodded supportingly. I got ready for the last day of training, and rode the elevator down to the training centre, trying to think of a way to tell Cato that I agreed to his alliance.