Clove POV:
I sigh in irritation and screw up the piece of paper in front of me, tossing it over my shoulder before folding my arms and leaning against the table. I look up when Katniss laughs "Drawing not your thing?" She asks, I send a mock glare her way that only makes her laugh more.
A smile slides onto my face as I try in vain to keep my face straight. Eventually I get up and cross the room to where Katniss is chopping up vegetable for our dinner tonight. I kiss her as I pull her away from what she' s doing and wrap my arms around her waist.
She grins at me, her eyes glowing with warmth and she leans in and kissing my nose. "No luck finding your talent for the victory tour then?" She asks and I sigh in irritation, pulling away from her.
"All I'm good at is knife throwing." I sigh. I'm surprised when Katniss pulls me closer to her. She leans in presses he lips against mine, I close my eyes and allow myself to forget everything for a moment. We part, for breath and Katniss gives me that goofy grin that I love.
"You're good at kissing." She comments causing me to laugh a bit.
"I can't exactly show that to the Capitol for the Victory tour." I tell her, she stares at me for a moment so I lean in and kiss her again. "Besides, that's a 'talent' that's just for you." I whisper.
As I ty to pull away Katniss captures my lips once more for a moment. She takes my hand, tangling her fingers with mine and leads me over to the table. "So what have you tried so far?" She asks releasing my hand and retrieving the piece of paper from across the room. She straightens out the piece of paper and looks at the drawing.
"I've tried everything." I say I exasperation. "You're sister says you're going to sing." Katniss pulls a face and turns away slightly.
"I don't know…I don't really want to sing for the Capitol. I've just been trying not to think about it." She shrugs.
"Then I guess we both need to find something." I wrap my arms around her waist, resting my head on her shoulder for a moment before placing a kiss on her neck. I hear the door open and I pull away from her turning to find Prim entering the room.
She sends a grin our way and sits down at the table. "How's the talent finding going?" She asks and I roll my eyes, sitting opposite her.
"I still have no idea what I'm going to do." I tell her. "I've tried everything."
"Have you tried cooking?" She asks and I nod, wincing as I remember my abysmal attempt at creating anything edible. Prim looks thoughtful for a moment before her eyes light up.
"You're good with knives right? Why don't you try something like whittling? Our next door neighbour in the Seam used to make his living by whittling and then selling what he made." She suggests, I pause for a moment before nodding slowly.
"I guess I could give that a try…" I give her a small smile.
The next day I go with Katniss to the market. I'm acutely aware of the stares that follow us everywhere as I walk past the merchants with Katniss's am draped around my shoulders. Some people glare at me not even bothering to hide their hostility. I try to ignore it, it's to be expected, I'm a District 2 girl after all, a career, someone they've been conditioned to hate.
I notice Katniss hesitate for a moment. "What is it?" I ask, placing a quick kiss on her cheek. She removes her arm from around my shoulders and nods over to the bakery we're approaching.
"That's where Peeta's family lives." I follow her gaze and spot a man watching us from the doorway of the bakery, an unreadable expression on his face. When he meets my gaze he gives a small nod and enters the bakery.
I'm surprised when Katniss is leading me towards the building. I can see how tense she is so I take her hand, entwining my fingers with hers to let her know I'm here. She gives me a small smile before heading towards the bakery, a determined expression on her face.
We enter and the smell of bread and cakes assault my nose. Glancing around I spot a woman kneading dough in the corner. She raises an eyebrow at us but says nothing. Katniss awkwardly approaches the counter and the man that smiled at us outside surveys us with his arms folded across his chest.
"Katniss." He greets, Katniss offers a small smile.
"Mr Mellark….I…" She looks away, the man holds up his hand keeping the small smile on his face even though it looks strained.
"I know why you here."
"I just wanted to apologise…About your son…" She looks back up at him and he shakes his head.
"There's no need to apologise…You didn't kill Peeta." He takes a deep breath, his eyes filling with tears that he doesn't allow to fall, the smile completely gone from his face.
"That boy was never going to make it anyway." I turn towards the woman, she's finished kneading the dough and she strides over to the counter. "Peeta was always a weak boy, never did anything right that one."
Katniss is silent, I glare at the woman. How can she say these things? I can only assume from her appearance that she's the boy's mother. I glare at her, my free hand curling into a fist. She turns to me and looks me up and down.
"So you're the District 2 girl? " She asks casually, I purse my lips but nod.
"I'm Clove." I tell her, disliking being referred to as the District 2 girl. She nods giving me a sarcastic smile.
"Of course."
"I think we should get going…Er could I buy some bread?" Katniss says, breaking the tension. Mr Mellark nods and brings over a loaf of bread. Katniss pulls out a handful of coins and gives them too him. His eyes widen and he shakes his head.
"This is too much…." He tries to pass some of the coins back.
"Keep it…" Katniss says as she picks up the bread. Taking my hand she leads me out of the shop. When we are a fair distance from the bakery she lets out a breath and turns to me. "I'm sorry about that..." I shake my head and kiss her.
"It's ok." I reassure her, she smiles and me sadly, encircling her arms around my waist.
"I couldn't have done that without you, I had to apologise to them…Peeta…He was a good person...He didn't deserve to die."
We walk further down the street, stopping at a stall selling fire wood. Wood is rarely used for burning in District 12 as it can be difficult to get hold of. This makes it expensive most people opting for coal to keep their homes warm as it is cheaper and more readily available. Still the richer merchants of the District prefer to use wood.
I select a few pieces and pay for them, the man glares at me as I pay for them and I suspect he over charges me but it doesn't matter too much. Being a victor I have more money than I'll ever need and this man in his ragged clothing obviously needs the money more than I do.
"The hob would've been cheaper." Katniss informs me as when we return to our home. I shrug, I'm not familiar with the black market and honestly it makes me uncomfortable. I know it's illegal and yet the place is swarming with peacekeepers. In my District if the Peacekeepers knew about a large scale illegal activity like that they'd flog anyone involved and burn the place to the ground.
I sit down at the table and pull out one of the pieces of wood I'd selected and my knife. Carefully I start cutting pieces of the wood off, I can't help the small smile that forms on my lips. Chipping away at the wood with the knife is actually quite relaxing.
"Hey, Clove…"I blink and look up to find Katniss grinning at me from the door. " Having fun there?" She asks. I shrug and put the knife and my project down on the able. Glancing at the time my eyes widen when I see it's nearly midnight. I've been carving for hours. Katniss laughs slightly at my look of surprise and approaches me.
"Are you coming to bed?" She asks.
"Yeah." I stand and follow her to our bedroom, where I quickly get ready for bed. I lie down and snuggle up to her. She starts playing with my hair and I sigh contentedly, loving just being close to her. She kisses me softly.
"Night Clove, I love you." She whispers causing me to grin.
"I love you too. Night." I yawn, feeling my eyelids closing of their own accord. Before I know it I'm fast asleep.
There's a movement beside me and I open my eyes blearily. Katniss is sitting on the end of the bed. I sit up. "Are you ok?" I ask worriedly, taking in her heavy breathing and the way her shoulders are shaking.
"Yeah…I'm fine…Did I wake you?" She asks. I move close to her, sitting behind her and placing my arms around her.
"What's wrong?" I ask, resting my chin on her shoulder and kissing her cheek. She shakes her head.
"Just a nightmare." She admits, I hold her tighter.
"What was it about?"
"The games…Rue…." She takes a deep breath, shaking her head. She turns toward me and I can see tears streaming down her cheeks in the moonlight. I carefully wipe them away, placing a kiss on her forehead and she starts to sob.
I pull her close to me. Holding her until she stops crying. "I'm sorry, I just…I wish I could've saved her…" She pulls away from me and wipes her eyes.
"I know." I whisper, kissing her. I wish I could make her feel better but there's nothing I can do to undo what the games have done. We lie down together, I keep my arms around Katniss.
"Will you come hunting with me tomorrow?" Katniss asks suddenly. I nod before remembering that she can't see me as she's facing away from me.
"If you want me to." She nods and reaches for my hand. A few minutes later her breathing evens out and I smile when I realise she's asleep.
I follow Katniss through the trees, she spots a bird up in the trees and fires an arrow at it, killing it instantly. I give her a grin as she picks the bird up and stashes it into her bag.
We walk together, I manage to catch a squirrel by throwing a knife at it. I shake my head when it causes a mess. The knife is a lot wider than the arrow and therefore leaves a bigger wound in the small animal. "I think your bow is a better weapon for this." I say as I pick up the squirrel getting blood on my hands and wrinkling my nose.
"There's a lake nearby." Katniss says, pointing in the direction of two large trees. "You can wash that off there." I nod and follow her to the lake.
Katniss sits down and watches me as I wash the blood from my hands. "I could teach you how to use my bow if you want." She says and I turn to her smiling.
"Alright and I'll teach you how to throw knives."
Katniss grins, "It's a deal." She stands and walks over to a bush, after pulling back a few branches she reveals a target. "This is where my father taught me how to shoot." She explains, nodding towards the target. She moves a fair distance away and beckons me over.
I approach her and she hands me the bow. I hold it up and try to copy her stance when she used the bow. She starts telling me exactly what to do and I carefully nock an arrow. When I release it and the arrow sours through the air and hits the ground in front of the target.
I turn to Katniss sighing but she just smiles. I'm not sure how long I practise with the bow but eventually I actually mange to hit the target. Grinning I punch the air in triumph. Katniss wraps her arms around me from behind and places a kiss on my cheek.
"Well done." She grins at me. I laugh and manage to turn around, dropping the bow on the ground I hug her back and kiss her.
"Couldn't have done it without you." I tell her, we stand like that for a moment just savouring being near each other. I kiss her. "How about I show you how to throw knives now?" I suggest, she grins and nods.