A/N: Not my best chapter, I know. I worked kind of hard on it though so I hope you enjoy it. It's lacking a little CATO/KATNISS time but I've made up for that in the next chapter, which I've already finished. I'm planning on posting that one soon if I get a good response to this one. Enjoy! WARNING: FILLER CHAPTER.
Beauty and the Brute: Chapter Six
As the Panem anthem echoed throughout the building, Katniss's grey eyes fell on the main screen. It mapped their every move on stage, focusing in on whichever tributes were demanding the most attention. It was currently focused on Peeta, Katniss, and the few feet of space between them that, in the viewers' eyes, could never be breeched. She scoffed at the naïve, simple-mindedness of the Capitolites. She knew better.
The camera she was glaring so intently at flashed suddenly to show the ruggedly handsome face of Cato, though he looked far more dangerous than handsome. His eyes were black with rage, the hunger to kill, and if one were to glance closely enough, they would see his jaw clenched so firmly that his face was turning red. Something, or someone, had angered Cato. Katniss shuddered, diverting her eyes from the screen. She would hate to have to be part of his district team tonight. Then again, his mentor and district partner seemed more than adept at taking care of themselves.
The crowd prattled out the last note of the anthem and the tributes were ushered off the stage. Katniss was at the front of the line. She wanted to get back to her room as quickly as possible, to escape the embarrassment Peeta had placed on her with his interview. The stylists, mentors, and chaperones were slowed down by an entourage of reporters, so there were only tributes in the lobby. Katniss made a bee-line for an empty car, hoping to avoid sharing a small space with Peeta for the rest of the evening. Fate, it seemed, had a different plan. Just as she reached the elevator door, the sound of a body hitting the floor ensued from behind her.
Curiosity getting the best of her, she whipped around and gasped. Peeta was flat against the ground with Cato, all 220 pounds of him, leaning over him. His district partner had her arms wrapped tightly around his stomach as she exercised all of her strength into holding him back.
"I'll kill him!" Cato thundered, "I'll snap the little fucker in half!"
"Stop it!" Clove shrieked, "Would you use your brain for two seconds and think about what you are doing?"
The other tributes gathered around the scene, Katniss with them. She struggled to the front of the crowd and took a defensive stance in front of Peeta.
It was ironic, she realized, that only moments ago she was imagining doing to him exactly what she was now defending him from.
"What the hell is going on here?" she hissed to Cato, who was attempting to peel a stubborn Clove from his back.
"Nothing, Twleve!" said Clove, malice filling her voice, "Stay out of it!"
"How do you expect me to stay out of it when your district partner's just attacked mine?" Katniss fired back.
Clove rolled her eyes, "He gave him a little nudge. I'd hardly call that an attack."
"It's not my fault that he's weak," added Cato vindictively
"SHUT UP!" Clove and Katniss spat in accordance. The animosity between them intensified, as if the other was at fault for speaking at the same time.
"Look, " Peeta rasped as he slowly rose from the floor, massaging his lower back, "Let's just forget about all this and head back to our rooms before-"
"What is the meaning of all this?"
The shrill voice of Effie Trinkett indicated the arrival of the mentors and escorts. The other tributes scampered off to the elevators with their crews in tow. Haymitch, Effie, and the mentor and escort from District 2 stared at their arguing tributes with stern, disappointed scowls. Katniss gulped, casting her eyes down to the floor as she realized that she and Peeta were in for a long lecture that night.
"-Can't just go beating up your allies!" Brutus growled as he pushed Cato ahead of him into the District 2 apartments.
"I didn't know he was our ally!" Cato shot back, though that was a blatant lie and he knew it.
"Bullshit!" Clove chimed in while Gloria shut the door behind them, looking ill at ease by the argument going on between her tributes and their mentor.
Brutus turned on her, pinching her ear tightly between his fingers. "Don't even start with me, girl! I saw the way you were going at that District 12 rat!"
Gloria charged between Clove and Brutus, swatting the much larger man away with the back of her hand, "That's quite enough, Brutus! You CANNOT harm the tributes! You must calm down THIS instant-"
"Calm down?" His eyes grew crazed at the suggestion, "CALM DOWN? How can I calm down when these little shits constantly have their heads up their asses?"
Gloria pursed her lips, smearing pink gloss under her lips. "Go to your rooms," she told Cato and Clove in a pinched tone, "Obviously Brutus will not be reasoned with tonight."
"Yes, go to your goddamn rooms," Brutus mocked in a bittersweet tone, "I can't stand the sight of your fucking-"
"BRUTUS!"
"-faces. What? Do you think I give two shits about what you have to say anyways?"
By then, Clove and Cato had abandoned their scowls and were smirking at each other as their mentor and escort argued with each other.
"Feels like I never left home," Clove muttered, giggling at Brutus's obscene hand gestures.
Cato's eyebrow rose, "Are you kidding me? My mom would never talk to my dad that way…Not unless she wanted a serious beating." He said it nonchalantly. Spousal abuse, or abuse of any kind, was pretty normal in 2.
Clove sighed and interlocked her slender arm through Cato's, "C'mon, we have strategy to discuss and obviously, those two aren't going to be much help."
Cato lay awake in his bed until just before dawn the morning the Hunger Games were set to begin. Clove had been in his room until midnight, discussing strategies and practicing kills. Compromises had been made, many that he had been profusely against. Particularly, the matter of Peeta Mellark being a part of their alliance.
"He's strong, dedicated, AND he'll help us find fire slut," Clove had said when the boy's name had been mentioned.
Cato didn't care if he was strong, or dedicated. He didn't care if the boy could lift twice his weight. It was the latter that truly caught his attention, but not because of the truth in the statement. It was because Cato was betting that, no matter what happened, Peeta WOULDN'T help the Careers find Katniss. Instead, he would lead them away, or cause a diversion .Then, he would most likely sneak off and find Katniss on his own.
Cato would wait for that moment. He would watch Peeta like a hawk until the moment he chose to abandon them. And when the time came, he would follow him. Hunt him down and cut him to pieces in front of his fire girl. Then, he'd take her for himself and enjoy his winnings until the time came for him to kill her and conquer the games. He would get the girl and be the Victor.
He'd left that part out when he was talking to Clove. "What she won't know won't hurt her," Cato grunted as he began to succumb to his exhaustion. He smirked darkly, adding as an afterthought, "Actually, it will. Oh well. You win some, you lose some."
