Gale's words caused Effie to gasp. "Oh my god, oh my god, what is the boy saying?", she squealed, completely out of control. Well, she was not the only one who was surprised, even I was standing there, dropping my jaw and staring at Gale on the screen. The longer I looked at him the more I started blushing. My heartbeat became faster and faster. In the same second I felt it again: the feeling like you could faint any second. Was he serious about that? I realized that we met each other a little over five years ago. Had he really loved me all the time?

-Flashback-

The sun was shining brightly as I made my way to the woods. I tried to get as far away from the Seam as possible. These days I couldn't stand being there for too long. To many memories…

When I reached the place where my father had hidden his bow, I stopped. This was exactly the place where the best moments of my live had begun. Thinking about all these hours I had spent here with him made me sad. It had been three weeks since he died in the mine accident. I didn't cry when they told us. I just couldn't believe that he would never walk through this door again, that he would never lift me up and twirl me around again. He wasn't going to come back. It took me two days to finally show some kind of emotion. It was exactly the moment when they buried his casket. That was the first time I cried and to be honest it was also the last time. Of course I loved my dad and I was really not a cold person, but I had to take care of Prim and mum now, so I couldn't afford to be weak…

I took the bow with one hand and touched him with my fingers, trying to imagine dad's hands. I knew it was weird, but it was the only possibility to be close to him one last time. A strange noise coming from the bushes caught my attention, but all I could see was black hair, disappearing behind the bush. Just wait…

I tiptoed closer, avoiding to make a single sound, then I pounced at the troublemaker. The person lost balance and fell back on the ground, me landing on the top.

"What the hell…?" A boy with dark hair stared at me angrily.

"What are you doing here? That's my hunting ground!" This dude should better not think about hunting here. We were already running low on food, I couldn't afford to loose this area.

"Wait, your hunting ground? You are seriously hunting?"

Then I realized what I had just said and shut up immediately. It was forbidden to hunt and if the boy told the peacekeepers I would lose everything. "That's not your business. And now shoot, what are you doing here?"

Suddenly the boy started grinning. "Such a small girl and already so cheeky." He touched his shoulder, massaging it. "And already pretty strong."

"So what? I am eleven. Don't you dare and call me small again, you got me?"

...

He looked at me for a while, still smiling, then I got tired of that. "WHAT?"

"Would you get off me now? I can't move my leg."

"Oh." I had forgotten that I was still half lying half sitting on him, ready to attack. I stood up in an instance and wiped the dirt off my trousers.

The boy was still staring at me. "He, you were at the funeral of the mines men, weren't you?"

"Could be." He started to annoy me.

"God, calm down, okay? I am not doing anything. Do you have a name, ninja-girl?"

"Katniss. Katniss Everdeen", I answered quietly while I was thinking about getting mad at him because of the "ninja-girl."

"Catnip?"

"I said KATNISS."

"Alright. I am Gale. Gale Hawthorne." He offered me his hand.

I looked at him. He seemed to be older than me, but he had the seam look, the olive taint and the dark hair, even the grey eyes. I shook his hand and he smiled again. For some reason it made me smile, too I turned round to leave and I wasn't surprised when he started walking next to me.

"And you really know how to hunt?", asked Gale.

I nodded and grabbed a small stone. I threw it against a tree and shot one of the birds that were flying away. A couple of seconds later it landed on the ground, right next to us.

"Not bad." Gale seemed to be impressed as he picked up the bird, examining it. The arrow had gone right through the middle of its body. "You are really good."

...

It was strange but I slowly started feeling comfortable in his presence. He was different than the other guys I knew from school, he was friendly and already quiet mature although he couldn't be older than fourteen.

"Did you father teach you how to hunt?", he wanted to know while we were walking.

I stopped and scanned the surrounding, then I nodded.

When we came by a big rock I sat down in the grass. Gale looked at me in an apologizing way. "Sorry, but I have to go."

"It's okay."

He was running down the small hill quickly, but after a couple of metres he turned round. "See you soon, Catnip." Then he disappeared.

-Flashback Ende-

Five years later I was standing her, watching Gale on the screen. In my opinion he still looked like the thirteen year old boy I attacked in the woods back then. Yeah, he really hadn't changed much. But things between us had changed, a lot, but I had just realized that now. His words caused a warm pleasant feeling to rush through my body. I started paying attention to the interview again and my stomach seemed to be full of butterflies.

The audience was exactly as touched as I was. The whole area was still quiet, even Ceasar Flickerman had troubles finding the right words in this situation. "That was absolutely touching. Thank you, Gale." He stood up and pointed at Gale. "Ladies and gentlemen, Gale Hawthorne."

...

A moment later Gale appeared at the end of the stair which was leading in the hallway where Cinna, Effie, Haymitch and I were waiting.

"Boy, you did great" meant Haymitch and patted his shoulder. But Gale didn't seem to notice him, he walked straight to me. "Katniss, you were…"

I laid my index-finger on his lips. "Thank you, Gale. Thank you."

When I softly touched his lips with mine everything else was unimportant. I didn't care that Effie, Haymitch and Cinna were standing right next to us, staring at us. I didn't care that we could be seen by every camera or by every Capitol worker. The only person that mattered to me right now was Gale…