KATNISS'S POV

Gale walks me to my front door and kisses my forehead.

"See you for hunting tomorrow morning?" he asks. I nod and step inside.

"See you tomorrow," I say. I watch him walk to the dirt road, and we wave goodbye. I shut the front door, then dash to my shared bedroom. I open my window, preparing to climb out when Prim walks in.

"Gale and Katniss sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" she sings. I wince. She saw that? Then she sees what I'm doing, "What are you doing?? Sneaking out?" I shake my head.

"Not sneaking. Just trying to get out of the house without Gale seeing me. I'll be back soon!" I reply, jumping out the window, and chasing quietly after Gale. He climbs under the fence, and after a while, so do I. I follow him through the woods, but with me limping, so he gets pretty far ahead. I hear some far-away talking, but I can't make out the words. Crap! They're there already!

I start running, but I trip over a tree root. Dang it! I hurry to get up and I start running again. I burst into a small clearing just in time to see Peeta shove Gale to the ground at my feet. Gale has cuts on his face and his shirt is ripped in places. Then Gale jumps up and shoves Peeta into a tree. Gale punches Peeta in the stomach, causing Peeta to hunch over. Peeta's face only has a couple scratches on it, but his shirt is all but completely torn up. I'm too shocked to say anything.

Then when Peeta punches Gale in the jaw, causing Gale to stammer backwards, I start screaming. "Stop, stop! Stop it, guys!" I scream. Tears are welling in my eyes, threatening to pour over. Gale lunges for Peeta, but I jump and grab Gale's right arm. "Stop! No! Stop!" I whimper. I start crying. Everything blurs with tears. I try to wipe the tears away, but they keep coming. I slump to the ground, trying to stop my head from pounding so much.

I can hear Gale and Peeta shove each other a bit while I'm sitting on the ground in a sobbing, sniffling ball. Soon it gets quiet, like Peeta and Gale are watching me cry.

All of a sudden, I feel their arms around me. Peeta is rubbing my back, and Gale is holding my hand and stroking my hair. I slowly stop crying to where it got just to small sniffles, and they were both saying sorry to me. Their voices sounded really sincere, and almost like they were sad to see me cry.

"I-I'm sorry," Peeta whispers in my ear, and he gently kisses my cheek. Peeta walks away into the woods.

Gale walks up to me and helps me up. I get dizzy from the crying headache, and Gale steadies me. He picks me up and we walk in silence. I'm resting my head on his chest, sniffing any last sniffles and trying to stop my headache.

We're just a small distance away from the fence when Gale and I hear a faint growling coming from ahead of us, in the bushes. Gale freezes in his steps, and I cling to him in fear. We don't even have any weapons!

Gale slowly steps over to the nearest tree, and whispers in my ear, "Climb as high as you can. I'll try to follow you." Gale lifts me to the first tree branch, while still keeping his eyes on the bushes in front of us. After I'm hanging from the branch, Gale starts climbing in a branch right next to me.

The growl gets louder, and I start whimpering because I can't get a grip on the next branch. Usually I'm great at climbing trees, but I'm so nervous that my hands are shaking and sweating.

GALE'S POV

The growling is getting louder, and Katniss is still on the first branch. I'm standing over her, trying to coax her into hurrying up. I try to grab her hand to help her up, but I can't because I'd have to lean over so far that I might fall down with her.

Then the growling stops, and we think we're safe until a huge bobcat jumps out of the brush at Katniss.

Katniss screams, and adrenaline courses through my body. The bobcat bites and holds on to the hem of Katniss's dress.

"I'm slipping!" screams Katniss. I jump to a branch right next to Katniss, hang by my arms, and in one swift motion, I kick the bobcat right in it's side. The bobcat flies into the bushes and hisses. I climb back into the tree and pull Katniss up with me.

We're standing on the same branch, and Katniss is in my arms. I'm rubbing her back and stroking her hair.

"It almost got you, there, Catnip," I whisper in her ear. Katniss gives a small giggle and then a sniff.

"Think it's safe to go down?" Katniss asks, and we look down. The bobcat is circling the tree. Katniss clung to me tighter.

"Let's climb higher," I suggest, and we start climbing.