Just some Katniss/Cato interaction. I actually finished this the day after I posted the chapter Eleven, but I waited until I got a couple reviews to post it...


CATO ALLENS

I find that I can't sleep tonight. I can't sleep on time, at least, and I don't know why. I have to get up early in the morning. Tomorrow I go to the district with Glimmer and Marvel, which won't be as bad as talking about Clove. I liked her. I respected her. I didn't like her as much as I like Katniss, but I liked her in the same way that I like Katniss. Glimmer and Marvel—they were annoying. My obsequious followers to do the dirty work that I didn't care to do. They were under me. They were nothing. They weren't like Katniss and nothing reminds me of them like Artemis reminds me of Rue. It's only lucky that I had that to work with and talk about when it came to her.

The Capitol will love me for that. The deadly victor being kind and soft for the sweet little girl.

I go to the train's kitchen. Avoxes are there, but I don't worry about them seeing me or anything. They're just Avoxes. Just servants. They're no more than scenery that will get you a cup of hot chocolate if you want it. They're just there, like the mountains in District Two or the ocean bordering several districts. I do ask a nearby Avox for a cup of hot chocolate. She obliges immediately, obviously not saying a thing.

I hear footsteps enter the car, and look over. It's not an Avox. It's Katniss.

"Hey," I greet her. She sits down. She doesn't seem out of it, like she seemed yesterday when we first saw each other, as though she was having a nightmare but wasn't asleep for it. She looks over at me, says nothing, and looks down. Frowns. I wonder what she's thinking about. I wonder if she's thinking about the Games. I think about the Games a lot. I think about my death. I think about just how glad I am that I was popular enough to be resuscitated. And I think about how Katniss helped me with the wound afflicted by Clove.

"You're a miracle," she says quietly, as if she's read my mind.

An Avox comes with my hot chocolate.

I process these words a second and nod slowly. "I guess I am," I agree tentatively, not quite sure that that is the word I'd use. I'm popular. I'm wanted. I'm needed. I'm a victor. A miracle? Perhaps I am a bit of one, seeing as I'm supposed to be dead. I died. But not quite. I was revived. Somehow. Someway. I don't care to think of the "how" and "why" and the "what" of that. I'm alive. What else matters?

She smiles slightly. Katniss is very, very pretty, especially when she throws out her rare but beautiful smile that will light up a dark room. "I never got to tell you how much I wanted to kill you when you died," she says, still in the quiet, soft, somewhat distant voice. Poor Katniss is all I think when I see her like this. Poor, pretty Katniss Everdeen.

"Oh, did you cry over me?" I ask, grinning at her smugly even though I'm certain that she didn't cry over me. Katniss is tough. I can tell with once glance at her that it takes a lot for her to cry, though she did so when Rue died. But I guess Rue was a lot like her sister, who I've met and I agree with her that Rue and Prim have a lot of similarities. But Rue wasn't scared of me, not when Katniss was around. Prim seemed scared when I came.

"Of course not," she retorts, rolling her eyes and elbowing me slightly. I stir the marshmallows into the warm, brown liquid in my cup and take a sip of the chocolaty drink. "Why would I?"

"Because you've seen me shirtless," I say, and the smug grin turns into a smugger smirk.

She raises an eyebrow. I can see her doing that out of the corner of my eye. Dark eyebrows. Gray, misty, fiery Katniss eyes underneath the dark eyebrows. "What does that have to do with anything?" she asks, and I chuckle, to which she only looks at me more questioningly. She waits expectantly while I take another long sip from the hot chocolate. It burns my tongue a little but it tastes good.

"Well, anyone who has ever seen me shirtless is instantly madly in love with me. And face it. You're just dying for me to rip my shirt off right now," I say, and steal a short glance at her. Eyebrows raised, she seems skeptical in a playful way, since she knows we're just bantering teasingly like we did in the arena. "You must be dying for me to get another random stab to the chest or something."

"Yup," she agrees, nodding, not pausing a second after I stopped talking to say this. "But only if I'm the one who gets to stab you."

I roll my eyes. "Ha-ha, girl on fire. Clever one."

She grins a little, her small, rare smile a little more confident than it normally is, giving it the edge of a grin. It's completely Katniss. The feelings I felt towards her in the arena are coming again. Not as strong as love but close. And I remember, just then: Gale. Her best friend. I wonder if I stand a chance with him. I'm stronger. I'm handsomer. I'm entirely better. But Katniss doesn't seem to think that way.

She folds her hands in her lap and watches me for a second while I quickly finish off the small cup of hot chocolate. I turn to her. "So, what're you up this late for?" I ask as I stand up from my chair. She stands up too.

"Same reason as you, probably," she tells me. "I can't sleep. Where all are we going tomorrow?" Katniss yawns.

"One, Four, and Three," I answer her. We walk through the train to the room where the comfortable couches are and where the television is: a sitting room of sorts, I guess. The train closely resembles the trains we all took to go to the Capitol for the Games after the reapings. It took no time at all. The reaping was at nine o'clock and we were there long before lunch, since District Two is so close to the Capitol.

"Ah," Katniss says, yawning again.

"You seem tired. Why don't you try to go to sleep again?"

"Because I can't," she snaps, but seems like she didn't mean to snap immediately after.

I set aside the snapping. She didn't mean to. "Why not?" I persist, not getting it.

She looks up at me. We're sitting across from each other. Her fiery gray eyes reach my blue ones and she says coldly, "You're never going to get it." I would understand that it was just an outer district thing if it weren't for the tone she used, like I was too stupid to even try to understand, like stupid was typical Cato and she should never expect anything more from me.

"Oh?" I retort, and furrow my brow.

"Give it up, Cato." She stands up like she's going to leave and turns slightly towards the door. But she stops and stays in the room anyway, narrowing her eyes with great slightness. "You don't care. You never cared. It's not about the sponsors anymore, Cato. It's about life. Mine, my sister's, my mother's, Gale's." She turns again, beginning to leave. "We're not allies anymore."

I stand up and put a strong hand on her shoulder, turning her around and not trying to keep the roughness away from this. "Yeah, well, Katniss, it is about the sponsors. It's all about what the Capitol can give you," I say. It's the first thing that comes to mind, but it doesn't sting her because it's not a stinging remark. The fact that she thinks I only care about her on the screen to get love from the Capitolites—that stings, when I'm so close to maybe loving her.

Not right now. I don't love her now.

Before I can add to it, before I can say anything about what she really thinks about me, she shoves me away from her, looking appalled. "I'm just for fun, then, right?" she spits angrily. Tempers rising quickly, we claw at each other over something stupid. But neither of us cares, though I see the idiocy of the fight. Both of us desperately need the final word. "I'm just Cato's girl, Cato's, Cato's, not mine? Just to get people to like you?"

"Maybe you are!" I growl back, and don't move at all when she shoves me. "You're not worth anything more than that anyway!"

The fire in her eyes grows immediately. She glares at me, snaps something under her breath that I can't hear, and storms off. I feel satisfied that I told her off well enough that she walked away without even trying to get the last word. The door opens for her and she leaves the room. I sit back and yawn for a moment, the fight not affecting me yet.

And then it hits me that I'm a big idiot. But she's an idiot too. We're both short-tempered and irrational when we get angry. We'll say anything, whether we mean it or not, to be the superior one, to win the word battle that we rage through when we fight against anyone. Thrown together, knitted closely together as a couple, we're bound to fight, I guess. And no matter how silly I think it is now that we were fighting because she said something out of justified crankiness, I'll fight back again next time until she burns me too hard or I burn her too hard again.

But she's still pretty. Even when she's angry.

I'm too tired for the fight. I still admire her, but I'm also furious at her, and myself. Tired, tired, tired. And maybe a bit hungry.


KATNISS EVERDEEN

"You seem tired. Why don't you try to go to sleep again?" he asks me, an innocent question. He doesn't know what it's like to not be a Career. He doesn't know how much of a monster he is.

"Because I can't," I snap. I didn't mean to snap, even though anger towards him rises in me rapidly.

"Why not?" he asks. Not getting it. Never getting it.

I look up at him. My plain gray eyes meet his icy blue ones. "You're never going to get it."

"Oh?" He frowns a little bit.

"Give it up, Cato," I hiss at him. He doesn't care. He's never cared. He's too arrogant to consider caring for real. I stand up and prepared to leave, but stop. I narrow my eyes. "You don't care. You never cared. It's not about the sponsors anymore, Cato. It's about life. Mine, my sister's, my mother's, Gale's." I start to leave. "We're not allies anymore."

He stands up and puts a hand on my shoulder, turning me around roughly. "Yeah, well, Katniss, it is about the sponsors. It's all about what the Capitol can give you," he spits.

I shove him away from me immediately. The monster. The sick, cruel, stupid bastard who wouldn't hesitate to kill me if we were to go back into the Games together. He doesn't move from my shove.

Appalled, I bark, "I'm just for fun, then, right? I'm just Cato's girl, Cato's, Cato's, not mine? Just to get people to like you?"

"Maybe you are! You're not worth anything more than that anyway!"

I glare at him with fury in my eyes. I hate Cato Allens. I hate him so, so much.

I mutter a few special words, making sure he can't hear them, and storm away.

Hate him. So, so, so much.