"I had become fierce, willing to do anything to get what I wanted. This was the way hunters were born."

Alice Hoffman, The Dovekeepers.

Winter.

By: Cassandraishere.

Do you guys even like this story? Seriously what do you guys think?

(Authors note at the end)

Eleven.

District Eleven was horrible. She didn't manage to say all of what she'd been feeling, and despite the efforts she put in not to screw it up, she still managed to get a man killed.

She was actually pleasantly surprised when Peeta wrapped both his arms around her and didn't let go. His message was clear: We're in this together. She basked in it greedily; taking in his smell, how he felt. She tried not to over think her actions. Haymitch gave them a queer glance.

She didn't care.

The Train.

Katniss didn't even pretend to try to sleep that night. The guilt over the man in District Eleven was enough to make sleeping seem like an incredibly obtuse course of action, not to mention all the other feelings she had running through her like a hurricane.

Instead, Katniss left her compartment and wandered around the train. Its silence was calming as possible in her situation.

She shouldn't have been as surprised as she was when she found Peeta staring out a window, tense and still as stone.

She didn't know what to say.

"This is unreal." He sort of muttered, without a hint of emotion. "It's just… how are we going to do this?"

She knew what he meant. She's just as terrified. "I don't know."

She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and took a step closer to him, fighting down the urge to touch him and comfort him. "Nothing makes sense anymore. I thought… I thought this would be over when we went back home."

He turned to look at her, and his breath caught when he did so. It always did lately, filling him with a mix of longing and regret. She looked almost ethereal in the moonlight. "You never really leave the arena, I suppose."

"You don't." She agreed with a nod of her head, her eyes catching the moonlight just so when they fell on him. He tried not to visibly shudder when a familiar electric current ran through him. "You really don't," she sighed.

They fell silent again, staring out the window without actually seeing anything at all, lost in their thoughts.

He wished he could say something, anything, but he never had actually known what to say to her. For being a supposedly charming person, he'd never known how to construct a simple sentence or what words to use in her presence. He shook his head, feeling like an idiot.

"I'm guess I'll go to bed," she said, sort of hoping he'd walk with her. She tugged on one of her fingers when she looked at him before turning to walk away.

He did follow her, and they both stood awkwardly in the hall when they reached her door. As he turned to leave, her mouth opened and words spilled out without her permission.

"No, wait." She looked up at him. He lifted his eyebrows, meeting her gaze. " I, uh, will you… would you want to, um, stay with me? Like before, in the cave?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but she shook her head in embarrassment and muttered, "Never mind" to the floor.

But he stopped her with a simple, "Okay."

It wasn't as awkward as she feared it would be. He understood her, he had nightmares too. Once Peeta pulled off his leg and settled in beside her, she actually felt a sense of relief. He was awfully polite, letting her take most of the sheets and trying his best not to touch her, but it was all for naught because not five minutes had passed before her head found the perfect spot on his chest, and their legs were comfortably tangled.

No words were spoken. Sometimes, things don't need to be explained.

They didn't improvise in the next District. They stood like a united front, holding hands tightly and laid it on thick. She hoped that at least some people believed that the Capitol and the fame had really gotten to her head and that she was a complete moron. They even finished each other's sentences at times and Peeta dusted off his sarcastic 'Kitten' nickname. It quickly became an inside joke to cut some of the tension she carried with her at all times.

The Train.

She sat up with a gasp. Her heart beat rapidly, and her breathing came in short gasps. Her flimsy sleeping shirt was plastered to her skin by the feverish sweat that had broken out from her scalp to her toes. She quickly struggled her way out of the covers. She needed to escape to the bathroom, get her bearing and dear God please forget the images her unconscious mind had created.

It definitely wasn't a nightmare.

"Bad one?" Peeta's voice came out in a sleepy rumble and her body reacted similarly to how it had during her dream. Her panic only grew as a result. When he began to pull her towards him, as he always did after a nightmare, she pushed him away and scrambled towards the edge of the mattress as if he'd burned her.

That got his attention.

"Katniss? Are you alright?" He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes reaching for her with the other arm. His expression when she pushed him away was heart breaking.

"Don't touch me." She snapped, running towards the bathroom. She locked herself in. Peeta threw himself against the pillows again. Rejection. What else is new?

Katniss braced herself against the sink's counter, her knuckles stretching her skin taut, eyes wide and chest heaving up and down.

Holy crap.

She smothered her face in ice-cold water, raking her shaking fingers through her knotted hair and re-braiding it.

It's okay. Breathe. We're fine. Breathe.

"Katniss?" The knock on the door made her jump five feet in the air. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Breathe.

"I-I'm fine." She cursed at herself for stuttering. "I'm fine now. Just feeling claustrophobic." Yes! You're a genius!

There was a hesitant pause, Katniss stilled. "Mm...Okay then." Another pause. "I… I guess I should go before Effie-"

"Good idea!" Too eager."I'll see you in a jiffy." What? Who are you?

A startled pause. "Yeah, see you."

She stayed still until she heard her door open and close. When she was sure he was gone she tossed her head back and groaned. I'm an idiot. She kicked the shower and hurt her toe. While hopping around her small bathroom she mentally reprimanded herself. Such an idiot! When did you get so transparent! And what was that dream? What are you, a disgusting pervert?

It was going to be a long morning.

She still wasn't fully recovered by the time she got to breakfast. Peeta kept watching her with some sort of studious caution. He accidentally brushed his hand against hers while reaching for something and she nearly spilled her hot chocolate.

Peeta fixed her with a long unreadable stare as he tried to understand her; she chose to stare at her eggs.

She walked out of the bathroom, tying the end of her finished braid. Peeta was already under the covers, hunched over what seemed to be an extremely exciting sketch, his hand scratching away at the paper, and his expression one of intense concentration.

She honestly tried not to bother him. She really did. But once she was settled in, she realized she didn't feel like sleeping nor did she feel the pressing need to stare into space.

She peered over his shoulder and whispered (because at night and in the silence they were sitting in, it seemed appropriate) "Doesn't it ever hurt your hand?"

Peeta suppressed a smile and turned slightly towards her, "What does?"

"Drawing."

This time he couldn't contain the smile, he found her very cute right now. Not that he would ever tell her, she'd probably punch him or something.

"Sometimes it cramps up, but I love drawing too much to give it up."

Now she actually shifted closer to get a better look at his sketchpad. He could feel her breaths on his neck. "What are you drawing now?"

"I don't really know." He shrugged. "I just kind of started, and I'll see where this takes me."

"Sounds very impractical."

"I like impractical," he smiled. "Keeps things interesting."

She gave him a look and wondered if he was making fun of her or just talking nonsense. "Do you want to keep drawing?"

"I..." he hesitated. Was this a trick question? "It would be nice?"

"I want to go to bed now."

He chuckled because she sounded like a spoiled child. "Okay then."

Once the room was dark and they were under the covers, there was a moment of silence.

"I'm not tired." Katniss said in a perfectly monotone voice.

He burst out laughing. "Then why did you want to go to bed?"

"It's fun bossing you around."

He continued to laugh until she joined him. As they sunk back into their pillows, trying to catch their breaths, their eyes met and for once things just felt right.

Peeta was spooned into her back when she woke up, so she stopped herself from stretching. His breathing moved her hair slightly, which kind of tickled, but she ignored it. She stared at the wall instead, listening to the sound the wind. It was the only real sound in the room since the window was open and the train moved so quickly.

They had reached one of the warmer Districts, they could tell the night before. They stripped the bed of all its heavy bedding and left it somewhere on the floor, only keeping the thinnest sheet. Peeta ended up sleeping in an undershirt and his boxers since it was so hot, and for the first time ever, she wondered what would happen if she cut her hair.

She was sweaty. Her hair stuck to her face and neck, and the thin sheet bugged her. She knew that she'd probably cool down a bit if she pushed Peeta off of her- at that point he was basically lying halfway on top of her- but she couldn't bring herself to wake him. He seemed to be having a good nightmare-free night and she wasn't about to end it earlier than necessary.

Instead, she let her mind space out and basked in the comfort and safety he brought and the great feeling of having slept completely uninterrupted and nightmare-free.

That is, until the knocking started.

She froze and stared at the door in confusion, still not completely aware of anything, lost in that place after sleep and before awakening. Peeta let out a funny snort in his sleep, pulling her in closer with the arm around her waist.

Then the door opened.

The moment Effie rolled into her room, talking a mile a minute, she knew it was simply too early for her to be expected to listen to her and not physically harm her. Katniss groaned and put her face against Peeta's other arm, which she had been using as a pillow.

Then suddenly, Effie stopped speaking. She didn't know why, but she was certainly glad she did.

She sang of victory too soon.

Now she talked in such a high pitched voice that it would probably hurt even dogs. She was outraged and demanded she look at her right this second.

Katniss sat up, her annoyance getting the best of her when she shouted, "Will you shut up!"

At some point during this altercation, Peeta woke up with a loud yawn. He stretched spread-eagle before he sat up, pushed the hair out of his face, smiled at Katniss, and just sat there.

"Peeta Mellark, you will leave this room right this second!" Effie stomped her foot as she spoke and pointed towards the doorway. Peeta, seemingly not having noticed her until then, sort of jumped. His ears turned red and he climbed off the bed. He threw her an apologetic look from the doorway before rushing off in a flurry of embarrassment.

Traitor.

She received the lecture of her life. Not ever had Katniss been at the receiving end of such an abusively constant use of the words improper and unladylike.

It was embarrassing. Just then did she remember what she was wearing, and for some reason she didn't want Effie to see her in a light tank top and sleep shorts. She could see why Effie would've made assumptions; she was from the Capitol after all, plus the hazardous way the heavy bedding was laying on the floor could be misinterpreted for passion.

Katniss tried not to roll her eyes as Effie gave her 'advice'. Something about being 'discreet' because they were young and in love or some bullshit; she reminded her of her mother's existence, as if her mother's opinion of her was of any actual importance. And there was something in there about how distasteful it was to be with child before thirty.

After Effie left, she had the most wonderful shower because she'd finally figured out what to press to get the cold water to come out. While Katniss rinsed her hair, she laughed, really laughed, because the idea of acting like those girls at school–sneaking around with boys—was so entirely ludicrous that she simply couldn't help herself.

The next time she saw Peeta she glared at him, trying to communicate with her eyes how annoyed she was with him for just leaving her there to be lectured by Effie of all people. Haymitch was already drunk and laughed at them. Effie snapped at him.

"Ooh feisty today!" Haymitch shouted between crippling bouts of laughter.

She rolled her eyes and began to work on what Effie called 'French Toast'. She didn't know what French was, but she knew toast and it certainly didn't look like whatever lay on her plate in a pool of syrup. Besides her, Peeta sat drumming his fingers along the table top as he watched Haymitch and Effie's usual antics with an amused gleam in his eye.

By the time they stopped actively arguing and the only sound in the room was that of their utensils scrapping against their plates, the train stopped. Katniss and Peeta both shared a look before glancing out the window.

A beautifully wild beast stared back at them. The train had stopped right next to the ocean.

"Oh I do hope this doesn't take too long," Effie murmured as she looked around for an attendant. "We can't have anything impeding with the schedule."

"Schedule this, schedule that. Schedule, schedule, schedule!" Haymitch said with a loud snort of laughter.

"Effie!" Peeta said before the woman could say anything in retaliation. "Effie, could I maybe take a walk along the tracks?"

"Of course dear, we'll be here for a bit." Effie nodded and her wig did a little bob. Peeta stood, tucked in his chair and motioned for Katniss to follow him.

Well that was an invitation she wasn't turning down.

Almost like a giddy child she took off after him, the promise of fresh air and soil was intoxicating.

Also, she'd never seen a body of water larger than her father's lake.

As they walked side by side her eyes took in everything around her. The white, untouched sand and the warm oranges and pinks that danced across the sky created the most beautiful collection of colors she'd ever seen as the sun set. The ocean seemed to ripple with millions of crystals as the sun's rays touched its waters just right. The water was still, and calm.

"That's my favorite color," Peeta pointed towards the sky, "orange."

She smiled, "it's very pretty." She walked away from the train tracks and towards the beach, "mine's green."

"Green, huh?" he said as he followed behind her, "should have seen that coming."

She bent over to remove her boots, "I'm kind of predicable."

"I wouldn't say that," Peeta said softly, so softly that she wondered if he'd actually spoken at all.

There was a moment of awkward silence in which they just stood staring at each other. She left him to his own devises, unsure how to approach the situation exactly. Instead she walked into the tide until her ankles were submerged.

She never knew that water could be so magnificent. She stood, her toes digging into the soft sand beneath her, and inhaled deeply, the salty smell something foreign yet immediately enjoyable. She watched the wave's crash down and the foamy bubbles that settled around her, childlike wonder growing within her.

Katniss really loved nature.

She wondered if the fish in the ocean were any different than the fish in the lake. They had to be. How many fish were there out there? Could they all be eaten? Or were there any fish that were poisonous, like plants in the woods?

She turned towards Peeta and found him sitting on the sand studying different shells he found closely. Apparently he was just as fascinated with this different environment as she was. She smiled involuntarily and asked him if he wanted to go swimming with her.

He looked up at her, squinting, since the sun's rays were falling right on his face and in the moment, for some reason, her heart clenched. "Wish I could, but I don't know how to swim."

Of course he doesn't! How could she forget that? There was nowhere to swim within their District.

For some reason she couldn't stop smiling. "Well, I learnt to swim before I learnt to shoot, so I consider myself a master."

"Is that so?"

"I could teach you."

This immediately caught his attention. He looked up and dropped the shells, the strange new object losing all of its novelty to him.

"You would?"

"Yeah, why not?"

He hesitated before shrugging and giving in "Ok."

At the beginning she honestly tried to teach him how to swim. It was awkward at first, since he had to leave his prosthetic behind on the shore, (It was made entirely out of very heavy metal) and he, to her surprise, turned out to be slightly uncomfortable without it. Despite the fact that he'd been sleeping without it. But he did learn how to float, and could pull off a butterfly stroke with minimal mistakes (which impressed her), but then he discovered that splashing her with water was better than swimming.

"I thought you wanted to learn how to swim!" She tried to glare at him, and fails.

Only because he pushed a small wave at her, of course.

Peeta laughed at her, his curly blond hair plastered to his forehead. "I've learned enough."

"Hmm," she tried to look uninterested in his childish game but she was starting to realize that the longer she spent around him, the harder it was to stay mad and to tell him no.

So instead she splashed him in return.

She laughed more on that beach than she had in the past year and maybe the year before that as well. Peeta was stunned by this development, having never seen this side of her. It was as if they had managed to put all their problems far away and actually live even if it was only for a short period of time.

Katniss challenged him, gloating about how good she was at holding her breath. Naturally, they had a competition while staring each other down underwater.

It was in the middle of one of their competitive breath-holding dives that Peeta got distracted by something he saw shining bellow them.

Always distracted by beautiful things, Katniss thought as they both re-surfaced.

"For you!" Peeta announced with a boyish grin, a single peal nestled on the palm of his hand.

Katniss' eyes widened as she gingerly accepted her gift, a small, somewhat shy smile pulling at her lips. "Thank you."

Behind Peeta the train's whistle rang. Their little vacation from the real world was over.

She helped Peeta limp towards the shore so he could put his leg back on and collected her boots, tying them together by the shoe laces and tossing them over her shoulder. She hadn't thought about it before, but they had both gone into the water fully clothed. It wasn't much of a problem then since they were both wearing a light t-shirt and khaki shorts but as Peeta stood on his two legs again she realized it would be a big problem.

Peeta's shirt was white and completely soaked.

She had never been so fascinated with someone's torso in her life.

Both of them got back on the train; both of them thought they were doing a good job of not staring at each other; both of them were soaking wet. Judging by the mockery and laughter falling out of Haymitch's mouth, and Katniss' feet stomping down the hall, Peeta could only assume that neither of them looked stoic.

I feel the need to apologize for having dropped off the face of the earth. I seriously meant to make this a serious chapter but it wanted to be pure fluff. Also, you guys deserve fluff! I hurt you with the other chapters! Its not been completely checked by my beta so it might be terrible, but hey, I'm back!

FOLLOW ME ON TUMBLR, I'M NEW TO IT: waywardangel-wilds

Also if some of it doesn't make sense it's because I mostly wrote it at ungodly hours.

:) Thanks for reading!

Cassandraishere