AN: Chapter 5 and 4 used to be connected but I separated them because it would have been a really long chapter. Chapter 4 and 5 are totally my favorite that I have writen so far. It might take me a while to get chapter 6 up but I have it written but it needs A LOT of work. Thanks for all of your support and if you have any ideas that you might like to see in the future feel free to tell me, I would really appreciate having your opinion.
I quickly release her hand and keep my head down, hoping that somehow Haymitch would not recognize me; I glance to Katniss to tell her that she is the one that needs to talk.
"Um...Haymitch...I was in training...and he...we..." Katniss stumbled through her words. She looked at the ground trying to think what to say. The next thing I know Haymitch collapses on a nearby couch. The odds are definitely in our favor because he is dead to the world; he's too drunk to remember any of this by the morning.
I smile as I look at the mentor remembering all the parties back home, the way my friends and I got wasted and flopped onto the couch muttering random shit that had no meaning to any of us.
Katniss just glares at him with fury in her eyes and then looks to me, "Come on we should get to the roof so if the Peacekeepers check this floor they won't suspect a thing." I start to ask what we should do with Haymitch but she interrupts, "I will deal with him in the morning, just come!"
We quietly walk over to a door on the far side of the room and she opens it soundlessly. We climb the dark stairwell to open the door to the roof.
The roof is green and lush. You can see the rush of the Capitol even at two in the morning; it truly is the "District that never sleeps". I turn in a circle, taking in the roof; it has more green in it than all of District 2. I walk over to the ledge and look down at all the crazy Capitol people in their insane clothes. Her solid voice makes me jump, "You can't leap off the building, there is a force field surrounding the roof, it won't let you fall."
I stay looking down at the city below, "I wasn't planning on it, and right now I am more worried about bleeding to death." I hold up my hand that it still wrapped up in my shirt.
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, let me run down and grab something quick." Before I could tell her that she didn't have to help me I hear the door click. I turn around to see that I am alone. I walk over to the door and put my hand on the handle to go and follow her but a gray flower catches my eye.
I kneel down next to it and involuntarily move to touch its soft petals. Grey petals with blood red veins pulsing through it. The flowers stem is not green, it's a dark shade of grey, and its leaves are a deep brown-red. I lean down and smell the flower and it smells like one thing; home.
It makes me realize how much I miss the daily routine that I had back home. First I got up and ate breakfast, then I went to the Academy and my parents went to work; my Father as a Peacekeeper and my Mother at the Town Hall. When I got home I have the house to myself until 8:00 when my parents come home and I leave the house to be away from them. I would go off and wander around the district.
"It's amazing how delicate you look next to a flower, with your shirt off, and when you're bleeding to death." I didn't hear the door open, or footsteps, so her sarcastic voice startles me and the flower in my hand nearly gets crushed.
"How long have you been standing there?" I ask.
"A while, what is that flower?"
"It's a Bloodrock, we have then back home, they are about the only flower in District 2, the rest of the District is mainly just rock, which I'm guessing is where it got its name."
"Well it's beautiful," she admits softly, studying the flower as if trying to memorize exactly what it looks like. She seems like the person who knows nature so I ask, "What kind of plants do they have in 12? Do they even have a woods area?"
She swallows and looks at me expressionless but I can tell she is thinking. She shakes her head but I don't believe her, I would say something but she beats me to it, "I got you some medicine and a bandage for your hand. From the looks of it, that kind of cut is not unusual to you."
I am not sure if it's the first time she realized or if it is the first time that she acknowledged all the scars that pattern, my arms, hands, chest, and back. All of the scars are from my training, when you are working with a teacher they purposely try and cut you to make you stronger. I have gotten so used to the pain, but also the way that my body looks with all the scrapes and scars. I don't bother explaining it all to her or ask her the question again, so I stand up and take the medicine from her. I unwrap my hand to see that the cut is still bleeding and my shirt is stained red. I put the medicine on my hand and take the bandage from her and wrap my hand up in it.
"So you can put your shirt on now." she says.
"Oh, don't act like you want me to put on my shirt, and plus," I hold up my blood dripping shirt, "I don't really want to put it on when it is like this." Katniss grabs the shirt out of my hand and lays it out on the ground next to a bench. She sits down on the bench and looks out to the district. I slowly walk over to her and sit down right next to her. I think of what to say, I'm not really good with the whole "empathetic" scene.
"What's the matter Katniss?"
"Wow, I didn't know you actually knew my name," she scoffed.
I roll my eyes at her, "No, seriously, what's up?"
"Nothing." Before I realize what I'm doing my arm was around Katniss and she looks up at me. "The least you could do is put on some deodorant!" she laughs at me.
"What you don't like the smell of a man?"
"Cato, you're not a man, you're just an immature boy." She smiles again. Her smile is beautiful and her laugh is like a light song ringing through my ears. I shake it off. I suddenly find myself wondering why I am so comfortable with her. I am about to say something but I hear the door open.
"Katniss? Are you up here?"
I look to her and her face is solid, she whispers so only I can hear, "Peeta… quick go hide somewhere I don't want him to see you!"
"What? It's not like we were hooking up or anything!" She gives me a death glare, so I grin and get up. I hide behind a bush so I can still see them through the leaves but it would be hard for Peeta to see me.
Katniss starts the conversation, "Peeta! Hi, um, what are you doing here?"
"Well, Effie got up at 2:30 to do her hair and makeup, like usual, when she saw Haymitch passed out on the couch. So, she started screaming at him to get up and how he promised us to stay sober," So that's why Katniss was not as worried about him seeing me and more angry with him about being drunk, "and that woke me up, I was surprised to not see you out there trying to kill Haymitch so I looked into your room and you weren't there. So I went back to where Haymitch and Effie were then...umm...never mind."
She looks nervous but her voice doesn't shake, "'Then...umm...' what? Tell me."
"Then he started muttering stuff about seeing you sneak in with some guy." I hold back a burst of laughter, and I see Katniss take a glance in my direction; I snicker wondering what she is going to say. She keeps her eyes focused on where I am, "Well, he is drunk, he is just making stuff up, he probably saw me get up and come out here."
"Yeah, probably. Why are you out here anyways?"
"I couldn't sleep; thinking of home." She looks back at him.
Peeta smiles at her and says, "Yeah I was thinking of home too, but you will be back soon."
It's the look in his eyes that gives it away; it's plain as day and I feel stupid that I couldn't see it before. I realize that Katniss is too driven to realize how much he cares about her. Suddenly I get a genius plan. I ponder how I am going to go about it. I come to a conclusion that is fool proof, even someone like Everdeen can't mess it up.
When Peeta turns his back towards me I stand up and lean against a wall near by them. I watch in amusement as Katniss' eyes stare at me as she tries to hide her every emotion, yet try and tell me to go back into hiding. I just smile at her and say, "Hey, Peeta." The sound of my voice makes him jump. He turns sharply and stands in front of her like he already knew my plan. I start to walk towards them.
"Peeta, you don't need to protect her she knows that I would never hurt her."
Katniss speaks up from behind him, "You would hurt me, because you have! You pushed me against a wall and bruised my wrist, and just an hour ago you held a sword up to me chest and gave me 20 seconds to pick a weapon before you cut me to little pieces!" I didn't plan for her to explain all of that, but when I see Bread Boy's jaw clench, I just smile realizing that my plan is going better then I thought it would.
"You're right, Everdeen." She scowls at me because I went back to her nick name.
"Back off!" Peeta speaks up.
"I'm sorry! Am I making you...angry?" I see Katniss's eyes grow big and I know she has realized what I am doing.
"Peeta, whatever you do don't-" I push Peeta out of the way and cover her mouth with my hand, so he doesn't know what she is about to say.
"Now, darling, we don't want to tell him that." She glares at me with her stone eyes. I give her one of my winning smiles. She tries to remove my hand but she trips and falls to the ground. I pin down her arms so she can't move. She turns her head towards Peeta and says, "Peeta don't-" I didn't think she would try again to tell him not to show his specialty, so I do the first thing that came to mind: I kiss her. She struggles a little at first but then she calms and accepts it. Suddenly, I don't hear Peeta's angry breathing. The birds' chirps are gone. All I feel is her soft lips against mine. I loosen my grip on her arms.
The world starts to come back as I look down at her face. I don't know if it is a trick of the eye or not but it seems as if she smiles. I forget everything I had planned until the strong grip on my shoulder brings me back to reality. I feel a strong shove that pushes me onto my back. I look up to see Peeta standing over me.
I sit up to say, "Oh, come on just punch me! I know you want to." I turn my head and look at Katniss and smile because I know he would never do anything like that. I hear the skin on skin contact, and then the pain set it. As I slowly stand up I feel the familiar sting.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me."
"Well don't act surprised, you told me to!" I did tell him to, but none of us thought he actually would, so I punch him back harder and in the stomach.
"What the fuck are you two doing?" Katniss yells at both of us.
"Stay out of this!" Peeta says back. Both Katniss and I are surprised but I smile slightly, almost proud of him for saying that and taking a stand against her. Sadly she catches me smiling and she slaps me, her nails scratching my face as her hand crosses my face.
"You bitch!" I push her against a wall. Peeta then pushes me off of her and I land on my back, hard. I groan, and close my eyes. When I open my eyes again everything suddenly looks fuzzy and I can't focus on any object. I feel someone touch hand and pain shoots through my body.
"Cato! Cato...come on Peeta you have to help!"
"Why should I? He doesn't deserve help."
"He is bleeding, please! I don't really want to help him either but we will get in so much more trouble if we don't."
"Fine, I will go down to the floor and make sure that no one is there. Bring him down in a minute."
I feel myself stand up, and then everything goes black.
