"Have you been hunting before?" Katniss asked.

She joined Johanna at the table where she had been eating some breakfast that Katniss made for her. She knew Katniss had just gotten off the phone with Peeta, after she explained how he showed up at Annie's house late last night. Those words weren't exactly what she had expected Katniss to say straight after getting off the phone with Peeta, but she was probably trying to distract herself, and Johanna was okay with that, because she didn't feel like she ever knew the right words to say to Katniss.

"I actually haven't..." Johanna said after mulling the question over for a moment.

"Would you like to come with me today?"

"I'd love to!" Johanna nearly squealed. Good thing she didn't, even though she was feeling giddy. She was still amped up on the hype of getting to spend time with Katniss right now. Just being in her presence was something special.

Katniss seemed relieved that Johanna had said yes. But what else would she say? No? Of course not! Katniss stood up and leaned over to peck Johanna's lips. It left such a warm sensation inside of her, even something so small. The weird thing was, that sometimes even the smallest, shortest kisses seemed to be the most intimate ones.

She got up to go get her bow, and Johanna grabbed her axe. She knew she couldn't hunt with it, but she made it a habit to never wander off into the woods without it by her side. Maybe she could gather some firewood for the night while Katniss got some birds or something. She knew she was going to be useless, but she got to spend time with Katniss so she didn't care.

When they got out to the woods, Johanna was surprised how much it reminded her of home. It wasn't exactly the same, but Johanna could live with this. It was nice. They got to a beautiful lake, and Katniss told Johanna about how her dad used to take her to the same place, "Would you like to stay here for a little bit?" Katniss asked as Johanna walked to the edge of the lake, but not touching the water.

"And where are you going to be?" Johanna asked, turning to face Katniss.

She looked off into the distance, "Up that way a little bit. There should be deer... would make a nice meal for us."

Johanna didn't like the idea of splitting up at all, especially since they had only reunited a few hours earlier. But Johanna didn't want Katniss to know truly how much she had missed her, and she didn't want to be clingy. "Alright, should I gather some wood?"

Katniss nodded, and Johanna grabbed her arm and pulled her close, practically glaring at her, "Be safe." She grumbled, acting angrier than she really was, and then gave Katniss a goodbye kiss. Well, she didn't want to call it a goodbye kiss... more like a 'see you later' kiss. She watched as the other girl bounded out of sight. She wasn't sure exactly what she should do now.

She turned to a nearby stump, and envisioned a target on it. She threw her axe. It twirled through the air, nailing her target perfectly. She smirked to herself, proud that she hadn't lost her touch during her time in Four. It made her think of how they had asked her to be a mentor for the Capitol Hunger Games, the very last games they were going to hold... they had asked all of the Victors and of course she, and every other one of them had refused. She wasn't going to help them. Maybe it was the right thing to do, but Johanna didn't want to go through all of the emotional trauma of the Hunger Games. She'd had enough of that by now, hadn't she?

The Games were starting next week, when the twenty four tributes would be reaped from the pool of Capitol Official's children. There would be a lot of friends and family members fighting against each other. Perhaps these kids had never done anything wrong to deserve this, but neither had the countless number of kids who were reaped and killed in the seventy five other Hunger Games. She knew she was going to be tuning in, and not because she was forced to.

A loud, shrill scream snapped her out of her thoughts, and she whipped her head up towards the forest. It wasn't particularly far, but it wasn't incredibly close either.

"Katniss?!" Johanna started to yell. She recognized the scream, she'd heard it before when they shared a room in District Thirteen. She wouldn't ever forget that scream, because it was a sound that haunted her. "Katniss!" She called again, panic-stricken.

She darted into the woods, axe in hand. She had no idea where she was going, but she would run all day if she had to, in order to find Katniss. She kept calling her name out, but there was no other sound from Katniss. Johanna started to fear the worst, and perhaps something had happened to Katniss in the short time they were apart. Maybe she was hurt, and Johanna was the only one who could save her.

She remembered the direction in which Katniss said she was going, and ran that way, because it was her best bet.

After a good three minutes of pure sprinting, Johanna practically collapsed against a tree, out of breath and light headed. She closed her eyes, because the world started spinning around her. When she opened them again, she saw Katniss only a few feet away from her, huddled up and hiding her face in her knees.

She walked over, still too out of breath to speak. So she placed her hand on Katniss's shoulder.

The girl jumped, and reflexively punched Johanna in the jawline, knocking her backwards. Johanna rubbed her jaw... it was definitely going to bruise. She was pretty surprised that she didn't get knocked out from it, because her head definitely hurt even more than it did before now.

Katniss must have realized what she had done, because she was backing away in shock, her hands covering her mouth. Johanna groaned and got to her feet, even though she was a little wobbly now.

"I'm so sorry Johanna, I didn't... I don't know what happened." Katniss said through her hands.

"It's okay Katniss," Johanna said, reaching out for her, but she backed away still.

She moved away from Johanna as if she were afraid she was going to hurt her with one little touch, "It's not okay. It's not."

"Yes it is, it was an accident. Now come here," Johanna said, holding her arms out towards the girl. Katniss shook her head and backed up another step. Johanna only huffed at this. "Come here, NOW." She ordered. A few more seconds passed, but Katniss ended up running right back into Johanna's arms, squeezing her tight.

Johanna was just relieved that Katniss wasn't hurt, she stroked Katniss's back, "What happened? Are you alright? I heard you scream."

"It was nothing." Katniss muttered.

"It didn't sound like nothing."

"It was a bad memory." Katniss said.

Johanna nodded, though Katniss probably didn't know that because she was still tight in Johanna's embrace. And it felt good to be able to comfort Katniss like this, because Katniss would do the same for her. Maybe that's what they needed to do... they needed to take care of each other like this. They'd take turns having their bad days until there were no more bad days to be had. That was the hope.

"Let's get you home." Johanna finally said.

Katniss didn't like that, "I didn't get any animals!"

"We can get something tomorrow, I think we should go home now." She was talking very soothingly to Katniss, it wasn't a tone she was used to using, but being like this didn't make Johanna feel any less empowered than that time they were in the elevator together. This, at least, was nice.

Katniss finally agreed, and Johanna carried Katniss's bow, so that Katniss could keep her arms tight around Johanna's waist as they walked, and Johanna could sling her arm protectively over Katniss's shoulders.

"I'm sorry about punching you," Katniss said again.

"You know... it happens." Johanna shrugged, "And I think I deserve it."

Katniss made a sound that was almost like a laugh, if she could even manage one right now, "No you didn't. You've been nothing but sweet and loving. Which is strange because when we met I never thought that was something I'd say to you."

Johanna couldn't help but laugh at that. It was the truth, Johanna was actually turning into something of a softy, at least for Miss Everdeen. "Maybe I can be like that because I've had it bottled up inside of me for so long with nobody to give it to and now I have you... And if sometimes you punch me, then I guess I'm just going to have to deal with it, because being apart from you would hurt so much more than being punched in the face." Johanna almost frowned when she spoke, because she could feel herself changing a little bit back to her old self. Not that it was a bad thing... it was just strange.

Katniss lifted her head up and kissed Johanna on the jaw, where it was already starting to bruise. She winced, and it stung a little bit, but she was going to let it slide, because it was a nice gesture. "Feel better?" Katniss asked. Johanna could hear the hint of amusement in Katniss's voice, and she smiled.

"Just like magic!" She laughed.