Hello followers(: I was reading my last chapter, catching up with myself and I noticed I had a very bad spelling problem. Technically, it's not all my fault though because my keyboard hates me, and I was in a hurry. Also, I might get a few things mixed up here, so just tell me if your confused or don't understand (Chances are, I won't understand why I wrote whatever you didn't get, but I'll fix it) But here's your next chapter, hopefully longer and better than the last… enjoy(:

Previously:

Just like a tidal wave, it all came crashing back.

"Cato! Cato!" A giggle cut through the air. The warm summer breeze was flowing freely through a young Katniss's hair.

"You're never going to find me!" A mini Cato yelled, streaking through the trees.

"Oh,I will!" Katniss whispered to herself, climbing up the nearest tree. She watched Cato run behind tree after tree quietly.

Slowly, she walked to the edge of the branches, jumping from tree to tree but making her sounds and shape unnoticeable. Her father had taught her that.

Mocking birds screeched to one another, watching Katniss curiously.

"Hello?" Cato called, not hearing her approaching footsteps. Then, not hearing a reply, he called out again, retracing his footsteps.

Katniss pulled two fingers to her mouth and let out a four-note tune. The mocking jays repeated it, filling the forest air with the beautiful melody.

But the song itself meant that whoever let it go, means you're not safe.

And in their little game, Katniss considered Cato wasn't pretty safe as long as she was hunting him down, playing or not.

"Maybe we should take a break," Cato's shaky voice reached her ears and she giggled.

Then, from behind her, a man reached out and wrapped his hand around her mouth. She squealed, biting at his hand and scratching at his sides. The man slowly turned her to face him and Katniss was forced to stare at his mangled features.

It wasn't a man at all.

It was some type of serpent mixed with human features and its fangs reminded her of a vampires.

Her eyes widened as it slowly opened its mouth, the human part of it completely disappearing so the rest of the serpent shown. Then Cato called out again, closer, and the serpent changed to its human form.

"There you are, Katniss." Cato sighed with relief. The monsters hands retracted slowly, staring at her intently.

Katniss turned and looked down at Cato with wide eyes. Cato paused, questioning her with his eyes.

She belted out a fifth note tune, the one that meant real danger and Cato's own eyes widened.

"Hey Kat, I'm going to go get the bucket for this frog I found," Cato lied, looking behind the tree Katniss was standing in, "I'll be right back, don't get too busy while I'm gone."

Katniss nodded and turned back to the thing behind her. He nodded, as if pleased she didn't give him away and brought her closer.

"What are you?" Katniss whispered, pushing herself away from it. He held up a dagger and hissed at her.

"I'm Adamidis. My kind is dwindling, and we need food. You kids look healthy," The creature grinned, his face clouding over with the features of a snake.

Old stories like this were told to young kids to keep them out of the forest. Apparently, they're true, for the real thing was sitting right here in front of her.

"There's more?" Katniss asked as she saw out of her peripheral vision, a blonde head of hair.

"Yes," it slithered closer to her, bringing the daggers tip to meet her cheek.

"Why do you have a weapon if you have fangs?" Katniss asked. The serpent paused for a moment, staring at her blankly.

"You will be dead soon anyway," The creature mused, bringing the dagger back and slamming it into the branch, pining her down.

Then he started choking. Blood splattered on her clothes, coating her face. Then the blood started to sizzle, and so did the monster. Behind it, Cato stood, his fathers' hand-me-down sword gripped tightly and steeling into the creatures back.

"Cato," Katniss whispered, tears trailing down her face. Cato came to her, wrapping his slightly larger body around hers as if to create a barrier between them and the world.

"Katniss, you're safe now. I told you I've been practicing," he said, sounding giddy. "That's the first monster I've ever killed!"

"There's more Cato. This isn't good, we need to go back home. Hurry!" Katniss grew even more upset. Every time she closed her eyes she felt the serpents' hands wrapping around her mouth, dragging her into the darkness.

"But Katniss, if there's more, shouldn't we be killing them so they don't kill anyone else?" Cato said, giving her a ridiculous look.

"Cato, you got lucky. We got lucky. We're not even nine yet, we will die if we go chasing after them," Katniss pleaded, climbing slowly back down the tree.

Both Cato and Katniss's fathers were monster killers. The Capitols mutations sometimes escaped their boundaries and headed for the forest, killing off innocent kids and adults. The Capitol just turned their cheeks the other way, not wanting to forfeit any of their lives.

"We should at least try," Cato pleaded back, eyes wide with excitement.

"Cato promise me, you'll never leave," Katniss commanded, covering her face with her hands so he wouldn't see her tears.

"What?"

"Promise me. Promise me you won't run off to hunt those things and leave me," Katniss begged.

"I can't make that promise…" Cato trailed off. Katniss's tear streaked face stared back at him, suddenly hollow, missing her youth.

"Then we can't… we can't be friends. I don't want to see you ever again." Katniss confirmed, almost live she was trying to convince herself that's what she wanted.

"Wait… Katniss," Cato caught her arm as she went to turn, "I promise."

"Don't make an empty promise Cato. I want the real thing." Katniss huffed.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Cato said, crossing his heart.

"Good." Katniss smirked.

Cato rolled his eyes, but smiling still. He looked to his left, staring out towards the sunset. It was setting beautifully, the orange glow surrounding the other hues of orange and red. Giggles and screaming could be heard from the distance, but in that moment, everything was perfect. Cato smiled even wider, grabbing Katniss's hand.

"Come on!" Cato exclaimed, "Let's watch the sunset."

Katniss smiled, turning her head to see if they had any other company. Seeing nohing, she finally followed Cato up the tree. They both looked out toward the sun, breathing out a sigh of peacefulness.

"It sure has been a busy day," Cato said, reclining against the branch.

"Yeah," Katniss laughed, "It has."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Brought back to reality, Katniss almost gasps at Cato.

"Do you… do you remember?" Katniss asks vaguely.

"The day I killed that monster and us watching this sunset? Yes," Cato whispered, staring down at his hands.

"But… but why haven't I remember this before?"

"You don't remember a lot of things Katniss. You've never remembered that one day though. Because that same day, there was a storm. The winds blew hard, knocking down trees. One strong branch hit you in the head. You didn't know who I was when you woke up." Cato sighed, looking back up into her eyes.

"But why can I remember now? In that memory, it was like we just met…" Katniss trailed off.

"That's because we did. A couple of my friends and your friends had to have a play date, their parents' orders, and we were the odd balls left out. So we exchanged names and played." Cato stated, leaning back much like he had in the memory.

"That still doesn't answer how I remember," Katniss said, growing grumpy.

"Well maybe that was buried so deep down, it took a familiar sign of that memory to reappear. Maybe that's all we need to do to get your latest memories back." Cato said, a spark of hope lighting up his eyes.

"Why do you care?" Katniss asked quietly, watching his facial expressions intently. Cato searched her face in return. After a pregnant silence, he answered.

"I've always cared."

"But why?"

"It's something you can't control Katniss. You either care or you don't. You can care a little, or you can care a lot. In my case…. It's a lot."

Katniss looked back out to the beautiful sun and thought for a moment.

"When did you start caring?" Katniss asked.

"What's with all these question?" Cato replied, raising an eyebrow.

Katniss just stared until he finally answered.

"I started caring that day. That memory that returned to you. I looked up, and just barely caught the glimpse of your white teeth when you opened your mouth. Then I looked into your eyes. I'd never seen someone so scared looking. Then you let out that song and I knew." Cato paused, going back to staring at his hands.

"But you hardly knew me," Katniss said, still confused. "If you knew there was danger, why'd you go?"

"Well part of me was excited. I wanted to save the damsel in distress, the prettiest maiden of them all. Then I could truly win the affection I yearned for," Cato grinned, "but then I also knew that if you were in trouble, I had to be there for you, no matter what it was."

Katniss tried to come up with something, anything to keep her head from spinning.

"So you liked me then?" She finally asked.

"I like you even more now," Cato said bravely, meeting her eyes. Katniss stared back, grasping the branch behind her to steady herself. Her heart was beating quickly, and almost too loud, Katniss was afraid Cato would hear it.

"What are you thinking, Katniss?" Cato asked, leaning forward.

"I-I don't know," She answered.

"Okay then, what are you feeling?" He rephrased the question.

Katniss looked down to her hands. She couldn't be truthful to him, but it was obvious he was being truthful to her. But if she admits this one little thing would he hold it against her later? Feelings could never lead to any good.

"Nothing," She answered, looking back up to catch his reaction. His face turned blank and he nodded.

Inside Cato, Katniss had snapped the fragile string holding his heart up high, letting it crash to the bottom. He could tell, by her last facial expression that she was troubled, trying to sort it out, that she did feel something. But none the less, it shredded his heart to pieces. Funny how love works.

"You don't have to be scared," Cato stated.

"I'm not scared," Katniss defended.

"Then why are you lying?" Cato asked. Then he started his descend down the tree.

"I'm not lying," Katniss countered.

"Of course you are," Cato teased.

"Why are you so arrogant?" Katniss asked to change the subject slightly.

"Because I am Cato," He chuckled. Katniss huffed, following him down upon the forest floor.

"Do you think this is enough? Or do I need to get more game?" Katniss changed the subject again.

"I think that's enough for at least a couple days, don't worry." Cato confirmed.

"Help me get it back?" Katniss asked sheepishly.

"Of course I will."

"Thank you."

"Not a problem, darling," Cato winked at her playfully.

Katniss gave a fake groan of disbelief, giggling a little as well. So together, they walked back to get the animals Katniss had killed and dragged them back to camp.

"So what else do I not remember that you do?" Katniss asked.

"I'm not sure. I think you do remember a lot of it, that's why you still make your decisions the same way you always have, but you never know. They might come back, they might not. Let's just focus on not letting these ones go," Cato joked.

"Oh I'll try," Katniss laughed.

"So do you remember some things? Like when you were smaller?" Cato asked.

"I remember everything except for you. And how all those people got here," Katniss sighed.

"Do you remember all the things you did for those people?" Cato asked.

"Like what?" Katniss asked.

"Like saving their children's lives, giving them food, fixing what needed to be fixed." Cato went down the list.

"Yeah, I remember most of that. Some of it's blurred out, and I didn't save a child's life… I just directed him from danger. That's all. It was really nothing." Katniss exclaimed.

Cato stared at her incredulously.

"You're so selfless," Cato said under his breath. Katniss heard it, barely, but decided to ignore it because he probably didn't say that anyway. It's just her mind playing games with her.

AN: Okay guys, I did the best I could, so I hope you liked it. Do you guys like it enough to even continue? I'm sorry if it's losing its touch.

I's also like to say one thing, if you have a problem with the way I write or if it's too childish for you, don't read my stories. I don't care if I lose a couple readers or not, I'm doing this because I like this. Yes, I care about your opinions, but as far as telling me I might as well give up or quit writing, it's not going to happen. This site helps me become a better writer than what I am. Thank you for your consideration. (See what I did there ;P)

On another note, like I said in my newest chapter to, Our Summer of a Lifetime, my AN was the only thing that uploaded here. The same happened to my one-shot. I'm very sorry for the delay; I just noticed it not too long ago. I'll retype my one-shot and post it later, but in the meantime, tell me what you guys think(: