Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games. Please don't sue!

A little off to the side of the crowd in District Three, there was an older girl in a ratty trench coat. She gave off a thorny sort of vibe, and no one seemed to want to get anywhere near her except what appeared to be her brother and parents.

It's not that Akai Koomori was nasty at all, really. She just had her own way of doing things, which seemed to intimidate most of the other kids at school. They thought of her as a downer, a punk, and a loner, and those were three big taboos on the social scene.

However, once one got to know her, her loyalty knew no bounds, and she opened up almost everything to her friends.

That said, of course, there were some people she could never have patience for.

"Oh, look. It's Prince-flipping-Jarrah. I wonder what's going to happen to all his fan girls." she smirked as Jarrah stepped onto the block.

"Omigod! Jarr-Jarr! NOO!" several voices screamed.

Aka never liked the popular crowd. She thought that anyone looking for topical friends just for sheer quantity was pathetically shallow.

She preferred soul sisters (and occasionally brothers) who knew everything there was to know about you and loved you for it, warts and all. Those were hard to find, but incredibly worth the search. She would follow them to the end of the world, no questions asked.

Of course, her friends were second to her family. The Koomoris were an incredibly tight family unit. They always watched out for each other, even putting their own lives at risk for the sake of the others. After all, they were all they truly had in this world-they had to stick together.

One occasion especially came to mind:

Aka had decided to take the shortcut home from school, through the dark alleyway. She had known it was incredibly dangerous-after all, it didn't get the name "Armpit of District Three" for nothing-but her brother was there. He always looked about three years older than he was, and he had been over six feet tall, so she doubted any assailants would come after her. Suddenly, she heard a buzzing.

An awfully familiar buzzing.

"Tracker-jackers!" she yelled. "RUN!" Most of the time, they only found tracker-jackers at the edge of District Three, but occasionally some sick joker smuggled them in, with sometimes-fatal consequences.

She ran, and ran, but the tracker-jackers were slowly gaining on her. She was sure she was a goner.

Then, her brother, who was several feet ahead by now, stopped, turned around, ran back, and started carrying her baby-style away, toward the nearest building. She felt him flinch as a single stinger found its mark, and he stumbled into the house, nearly giving some poor, poor middle-aged woman a heart attack.

He had then grinned. "I guess it's going to take a lot more than one bumblebee to slow me down, huh?"

Aka, shaking off the memory, turned to the nervous spokesperson, who was choosing a slip of paper from the Reaping Ball.

"…and the girl tribute from District Three is…"

Aka gazed at him intently.

"Akai Koomori!"

"NOO!" Aka could hear her brother scream. He then regained some composure and said, "I volunteer."

Aka thought about this for about two seconds. Her brother was eighteen. Next year, he wouldn't be in the Reaping Ball anymore. He was smart, and had won a scholarship to a prestigious university in the Capitol itself, he had just gotten engaged to the girl of his dreams, and he had his whole life ahead of him.

The Capitol had no right to take that all away in two seconds.

"No," Aka said. "You don't. I'm going to do this. You actually have a future worth saving. I don't.

Her brother gaped.

"Darling, please reconsider. Your brother…your brother could actually win. He could do this and come home!" her mother pleaded. Aka knew she could get angry at her, but why?

"Mother, I'm sorry."

As Aka strode up to the platform, she sighed nervously.

"Oh God, I hope I haven't made the wrong choice."