~Katniss~
My palms sweat as I walked into the Training Room. Twenty two pairs of eyes were on me and Peeta as we came through the doors. Their faces displaying everything like an open book, their emotion, their envy, and their hate for us for out-shining them in the Tribute Parade last night. As if sending the flames back at us, only real ones instead of synthetic. White flames of anger bubbled up in me as they kept staring.
"Why do they keep looking at us?" Peeta asked completely missing the obvious that my hunter skills have picked up.
"Because they want to kill us with our own flames." I hissed back at him like coal in a raging fire. The eyes of the Tributes turned away as Atala started and instruct us on what to do. But there was one pair, however, of angry eyes that stayed on me the entire time. And they belonged to one person, and one alone. The icy, cold, murderous stare of Cato. As she was talking I looked around the room at the various choices of weapons. My eyes caught sight of the archery station, but Peeta nudged me with his arm and got me to stop staring at them and look at other stuff. Just in time too, because Cato noticed me looking at something and tried to follow my line of sight. Once she dismissed us Peeta took my arm to stop me from going over to the archery station.
"Remember what Haymitch said." he reminded me.
"I know, not to show your skills. I hate it when he's right." I complained and he chuckled. He jerked his head towards the Knot Tying station and I nodded, following him over to the surprised trainer standing there, happy to have some students. After about an hour of tying knots and mastering a few, the two of us moved over to the Fire Building station to learn how to set fires. I managed to get the hang of it and had to help Peeta a few times, when he almost caught on fire himself I couldn't help but chuckle. Despite the current situation the two of us are in, we couldn't help but laugh at some moments. We gained a couple of watchers when we laughed or chuckle together, and when we did we quieted down quite a bit. Even when their eyes turned away they kept glancing at us. And it was after the third time that we laughed that we became serious about what we were doing.
Cato kept staring at me, and I knew why, because I was here in this training room with him. He had never seen me train before and was probably curious to see what I could do. But I was going to listen to Haymitch and not show anything. And I could see that he was getting angry about it. Eventually Peeta and I ended up at the camouflage station and I watched as he painted his arm to look like a tree.
"Hey I think you have a shadow." Peeta said looking over my shoulder. I turned and saw the little girl from District Eleven. Rue. She is so small, so innocent. She didn't deserve this, she shouldn't be here. She is like Prim, neither of them should've been here, but sadly there is nothing I could do for Rue except keep her alive in the Games for as long as I can.
~Cato~
What was she doing? She wasn't showing off any skills. Plus she was sticking by her District partner's side the entire time. Why was she doing the survival skills rather than show off the skills she learned at the Academy? That's what's going to get her sponsors. So what the hell is she doing? I couldn't help but get jealous when she and the boy, Peeta laughed together. Why are they laughing? Oh yeah because they were best friends back home, in Twelve. District Twelve, I still can't believe that's where she's from. Now that I look at her, I recognize the tan skin and gray eyes from her District. And the way she moves and is built, she doesn't seem like she is from Twelve. And it isn't from her training back in Two, she was built when she came. What is it that made her the way she is, the distant look is always in her eyes now, except when she is with Peeta and sometimes Clove.
"Will you quit staring at her? You're making yourself look bad and the Gamemakers suspicious. They can't know that we know her, at least not now." Clove warned and I looked away from Katniss to the Gamemakers. They were in fact noticing me watching the District Twelve pair. I shook my head and went back to throwing spears. "What wrong with you anyway?" Clove asked.
"I just have some unanswered questions. That's all." I said turning to grab another spear.
"Like what?" she asked.
"Like why she isn't working with weapons and showing off her skills that could get her sponsors? She was strong even before she came to the Academy to train with us. So how was she so strong? How did she earn that eight to get her there? Peeta as well, he looks strong, not as strong as me or Eleven but still strong."
"From what I hear, his family owns a bakery back in Twelve, so that explains his muscle, as for Katniss, I have no idea. That's still a secret she is hell bent on keeping." Clove told me and I nodded.
"So what do we do? Act like we don't know her until we get in the arena? Or do we sit with her at lunch and act like you did back in Two?" I asked becoming more and more sarcastic. I wanted to sit with Katniss, she always had that hard exterior in Two, but here she still has it but not as pronounced, her face was void of emotions. Why?
"You mean how she and I were friends and you two weren't speaking to each other? Yeah cause that'll make for a good lunch." Clove said to me with a tinge of attitude.
"I wish I could change that." I muttered loud enough for her to hear me.
"I'm sorry what?" she said acting like she didn't hear me.
"You know what I said." I bit back.
"Yes I did, but what are you going to do?" she asked then lowering her voice. "Confess that you love her in the middle of the Games and hope that you both can go home? Cause that'll happen. I know that you like her and want to be happy with her but one of us is going to come out alive. What are you going to do if she doesn't make it?" she asked me and I was at a loss for words. I don't know what I would do. I would make sure that her family is okay though, I owe her that much for all that I have put her through at the Academy. The bell for lunch rang and I watched as Katniss, Peeta, and the little girl from Eleven, Rue, walked through the doors to the small cafeteria to eat lunch. The little girl must remind Katniss of her sister, they look about the same age. And they both look so innocent. During lunch the three of them sat together and I could see that Clove wanted to go sit with them but she refrained from doing it. I guess we are going to act like we don't know her until we go into the Arena. As they three of them ate their lunch they talked and told stories, Peeta talked about the different types of bread in a basket that sat on their table, probably talking about the different ones from different Districts. Rue watched him with interested eyes, while Katniss looked fidgety, constantly tapping her fingers against the table.
"What are you staring at Cato?" Glimmer asked flirtatiously and looked in the direction of Katniss, and scoffed. "Ew what would you want with District Twelve scum?" she asked.
"Well the boy seems to be strong." Marvel commented, thus answering for me. We all gave him a perplexed look. I was more shocked that he isn't as stupid as he seems. "What? It's true, and the girl from Twelve looks like she's hiding something, she seems strong too." he looked at all of our confused faces and confirmed my suspicions. "I'm not that stupid you know."
"Whatever. They'll die in the Bloodbath. I'll kill them myself." Glimmer said with disgust and Clove's hand clenched. My own was gripping a fork so hard I bent it. While Glimmer sat there and continued to demean Katniss, I stood from my seat and stormed back into the training room. Within a few minutes of pacing I heard the door open and saw Katniss walking through the door.
"Done eating already Spitfire." I sneered at her.
"As it turns out." she bit back. She walked over to another survival skill station and got to work on it, she was matching edible and non-edible plants together. She seemed to be doing well too.
"What are you doing?" I asked her almost annoyed as I walked over to her.
"What are you talking about?" she replied turning to look at me. I backed her up against the wall with my hands on either side of her head, cornering her with my face mere centimeters away form hers.
"You've spent two years like me, you trained, and yet you aren't showing any skills with weapons to get any sponsors."
"Maybe that's the point." she replied, looking deep into my eyes. Her gray, no silver eyes boring into mine.
"Huh?"
"Maybe the point of me not showing my skills is so nobody else will know it until the Arena." she explained, lightly placing her hands on my chest and pushing me away, and I let her. A tingle erupted from where her hands rested on my chest. It felt good, this feeling that her touch gave me. Did she feel the same thing when she touched me? Or when I touched her?
"Still have secrets don't you?" I asked her, crossing my arms, and smirking trying to ignore the tingling sensation for the moment. She shook her head at me and gave me her own smirk.
"All will be revealed in due time." she said almost playfully then backed away when more people started to file into the room. To hide any suspicions, I backed away from her to the other side of the room. When Peeta came in two people later she nodded to him and they walked to the camouflage station again. I watched them as he painted his arm in various ways and she watched him with curious eyes. He was good, almost too good.
"You have got to stop staring at her." Clove said walking up behind me and I glance at her.
"I can't help it. There's something about her that-"
"Made you fall in love with her. I get it. Will you just tell her already?" she said, interrupting me, and walking away before I could reply back. I grunted and walked back to the sword station, and begun swinging one back and forth, chopping up a dummy until the end of training hours. Before I knew it the day was over and Katniss and I were the last ones to leave. As we stepped into the elevator I tried to start up a conversation.
"I understand why you are hiding your skills."
"Oh?"
"It's the same as why you hid your identity, so people can't use it against you." I told her and she chuckled slightly.
"You confuse me Cato." she said, staring at the elevator doors.
"How?"
"Around everybody else you're cold and heartless. But when we are alone your demeanor changes. You aren't the brutal killer you're trying to play off. You're more nice and calm. And I'm not in the mood for head games."
"Who says I'm playing head games?"
"Prove to me that you're not." she said as the doors opened to the second floor. I took her hand and dragged her to the apartment, feeling the same sensation from earlier. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm sure everybody would like to see you outside the training room." I said looking back at her with a smirk. She gave a small smile as I opened the door to find Clove, Brutus, and Enobaria sitting in the living room.
"Well look who it is." Brutus said standing up to greet her. Clove got up and hugged Katniss who returned it.
"I'm not mad at why you're here. I totally understand." Clove said to her.
"I know." The older girl told the younger. I smiled softly at the two of them, this must be how Katniss acts around her sister. Clove pulled away from Katniss and turned to Brutus with annoyance.
"You knew that she would volunteer for her sister."
"Yes." he replied indifferently
"Why didn't you tell us?" I asked.
"Ask her yourself." he said gesturing to Katniss. I turned to her with expectancy and she looked at her feet.
"It was all part of what I was hiding." she said and I nodded. She turned away for a second but I stopped her by gripping her arm lightly.
"Can I talk to you?" I asked her quietly, we both looked at the other three people in the room who left to go about their own business and looked back at each other. "Privately?" I finished and she nodded. I lead her back to my room where we could talk in private. I could feel her grow nervous as we got closer and closer to the destination. "Don't worry I'm not going to take advantage of you. I just want to talk." I reassured with a chuckle and she nodded as I opened the door and walked in.
"So what did you want to talk about?" she asked as I closed the door tightly behind us.
"I wanted to talk about what we are going to do once we get into the Arena."
"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm not joining the Careers if that's what you mean." she clarified and I just chuckled again.
"No that's not what I mean, and that option is completely up to you. No I wanted to talk about what we are going to do. Clove refuses to kill you, Rue or Peeta. And I'm right there with her." I said moving to sit on the bed.
"What does Rue have to do with this?"
"It's no lie that she reminds you and Peeta of your sister. Killing Rue would be like killing your little sister. And Peeta is your best friend." I explained to her and she looked at me surprised.
"Um, thank you. That means a lot." she said as she walked over and sat on the bed next to me.
"Your welcome." I replied placing my hand on top of hers.
"So how about this. I won't kill you or Clove if you two don't kill me, Peeta, or Rue. Deal?" she offered and I chuckled.
"I wasn't planning on killing the three of you anyway and what makes you think that you could kill me or Clove?" I challenged jokingly. I looked at her and she smirked.
"You don't know my skills. I could probably kill you in your sleep." she said with some seriousness. I laughed out loud and leaned back on my bed, closing my eyes, putting my hands behind my head, and taking a deep breath.
"What makes you think that you could kill me?" I asked her, my eyes still closed.
"The fact that I'm almost out the door and you didn't notice." she said and I shot up in time to see her hair fly through the door. I took off after her and missed the elevators. So I sprinted out of the room to the stairs and raced up to the twelfth floor, a bit winded when I got there. When I arrived at her apartment I saw her standing in front of her Mentor who looked upset.
"What's going on?" I asked out loud. Katniss turned to me looking even more upset and her arms crossed.
"You." Haymitch said pointing a finger at me. "Go back to your floor. This doesn't concern you." he said pointing towards the elevator.
"Haymitch calm down, nothing is going on." she defended.
"My ass." he snapped, glaring at her. She rolled her eyes, groaned and walked away. He shook his head at the ground and looked at me. "Get back to your floor." he said and took off after Katniss, her spitfire attitude really coming out. As I stood there waiting for it I heard the two of them arguing.
"I don't see what the problem is! You had no problem when you saw me on the Victory Tour or when I was training at the Academy. What changed?" she asked.
"What changed is is that this is the Hunger Games!" he roared. "And he's a damn Career and so is Clove. I don't want you anywhere near them. They may have been your friends back in District Two but they have been training for years. It's easy for them to cut the ties."
"We made a deal not to kill each other! They won't kill me, Rue, or Peeta. And I won't kill them."
"And how do you know they'll honor that? They are Careers Sweetheart. You may have known them for two years but how well do you really know them? How do you know they won't kill you?" he questioned. His voice ringing through the penthouse. It worried me. Did she not trust us? Trust me? Questions ran through my head until I heard someone speak again. "I don't want you spending time with either of the District Two Tributes. You are to leave the training room with Peeta and stick with him at all times. Understood?"
"Fine." I heard her say, the elevator dinged telling me it had arrived. Katniss had come through from where ever they were talking, paused to look at me and I could see tears in her eyes, yet not spilling over. Shaking her head she stormed into her room and slammed the door. Their Escort, Effie, I think her name was walked out of her room muttering about yelling.
"I swear these people from Twelve have the worst manners. Constantly yelling, oh-" she said noticing me standing there. "Is there something I can help you with dear?" she asked me just as Haymitch walked in. I glared at him and clenched my hands into fists.
"Nothing." I said through gritted teeth and stepped into the elevator to go down to my floor. Once the doors had closed I punched the wall, leaving a dent, and making the lights flicker for a second. When I got back to my floor I stalked straight to my room, ignoring any questions or comments from anybody that I passed. That night I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing with questions about Katniss.
Does she trust me?
Does she trust Clove?
Does she trust us?
Will she defy her mentor and try to talk to us?
What had so suddenly changed that Haymitch doesn't want her to see us?
There was a pounding on my door and I didn't even answer it. Brutus barged into the room demanding answers.
"What the hell is going on? You missed dinner, stormed in here with no excuse what so ever. Now what the hell is wrong?" he demanded with a hard glare on his face. I sat up on my bed and looked at him.
"Haymitch is ordering Katniss to stay away from Clove and I. She isn't allowed to see either of us." I told him and groaned.
"Did anything happen that made him do this?"
"Not that I can think of." I say helplessly. "We made a deal that Clove and I wouldn't kill Peeta, her, or Rue and she wouldn't come after us." I explained to him and he looked at us shocked.
"Really?" he asked scratching his chin. "Does Haymitch know?"
"Yeah but he doesn't think we'll keep the promise." I told him and he groaned.
"Dumb ass Haymitch, I try to work a deal with him and he goes off." He complains out loud.
"What deal?"
"Never you mind boy. Now get something to eat you need your strength." he said walking out of the room.
"If it's about me I should know about it." I shouted, walking out behind him.
"All in due time Cato. Now eat." he ordered as a Avox brought a plate of food and set it on the table. I sat down and did what I was told, hoping to get some sort of clue out of Brutus but he just walked into the hallway. Oh boy.
~Brutus~
Stupid Haymitch. What the hell is going through his mind? We could get these kids out if they were allowed to spend time with each other. If the Capitol thinks that they work good together, who knows what they might want. But Haymitch seems to have other things in mind. So I'm going to go figure out what exactly is going through his head.
As I stepped into the elevator I noticed a big dent in the wall. Must have been from Cato, the boy never was good with his temper when it came to certain things. And this must've been about Spitfire. He has always seemed to have a soft spot for her. The elevator finally arrived in the District Twelve apartment or should I say penthouse if the elevator goes straight to it and not the hallway. I walked through it until I found Haymitch in the kitchen pouring himself something to drink, surprisingly it wasn't alcohol.
"Staying sober?" I asked making him jump.
"Don't sneak up on me and what are you doing here?" he questioned, putting his knife back in his boot, concealing it.
"I want to talk about Cato and Katniss, and why you want them away from each other."
"Ah that."
"Yeah that. What the fuck are you thinking?" I demanded.
"I was thinking a secret romance." he said walking away from me to the balcony. I followed after him with a confused expression gracing my facial features.
"How is it a romance if they can't see each other?"
"If they can't be with each other now, it will drive them crazy. Making them long for each other and want to be near one another. So when they get into the Arena, they'll make sure nothing happens to the other. I already know the deal they made about not killing each other."
"And that will help the situation. Very good Haymitch." I congratulate him, clapping him on the back.
"I try."
"But how do you know they'll long for each other when the are in training?" I questioned.
"Peeta said that Cato and Clove watch Katniss from time to time, wishing they could talk to her. And that Katniss does the same to them. If things work in our favor, a little romance can be played up and we can get them out."
"I know that if Katniss dies, he'll be a wreck. I can tell that he cares about her a lot more than he let's on." I told him, crossing my arms and looking out over the Capitol.
"Katniss is a wreck whenever she loses someone she cares about. Her dad when he died, when her mom went catatonic on her and her sister. If she loses Clove or Cato, two people who cared about her despite how little they knew about her, I don't know what will happen." he explained.
"I can see that they've become attached to each other. On the tour they worried about her when she was "sick" and when they found out about her back and being whipped, Clove nearly cried and Cato got very protective." I told him.
"I think this little plan will work. The odds sound in our favor."