Hi! SUPAH-FREAKY-FAST-UPDATE. WOOOOOAH.

And I'm doing this:

1) Because belated Christmas gift. Because...I still feel bad.

2) Guys...WE BROKE 200 REVIEWS! FOR MY FIRST STORY!

3) I love you. :3

But yeah, as for this chapter... KATNISS.

And a whole lot of nothing happens, there's just some fluffiness lodged in here. Next chapters will be MUCH more revealing.

Enjoy!

The first thing I register as I come back from the darkness is a rushing sound, like waves beating against rocks.

The second is a slight humming, like when the blood rushes from your head to your feet too fast.

And the third is sniffling, like when Prim is hungry, and her stomach screams at her.

I feel the gentle caress of a something brushing over my forehead, clearing away damp strands of hair. My head rests on something softer than the ground I collapsed upon.

I feel...safe. Did I die? It's much too calm to still be in the arena - maybe my fight with Marvel ended differently than I imagined.

No.

I can't be dead. I can't leave Katniss alone - I have to help her! I have to protect her. If I can't do that, then what did I die for?

Open your eyes. Get up. Now.

I feel that tingling sensation you get on the inside of your eyelids when you're trying to wake up from the middle of a nightmare. My limbs twitch, and then I sense the breakthrough - light blinds me through the slits of my eyes. I can make out some shapes, but all of them smear together like water colors. There's a figure lurking, that much I can tell.

Marvel?

I try to scream, but the only sound that my sore throat manages to make is a small croak. The stroking sensation against my forehead stills and the sniffling stops.

"Peeta?"

Okay, that's definitely not Marvel.

"Peeta?" The hand comes down to lovingly stroke my cheek.

Katniss? My eyes fight through the fog a little more until I can make out the cut by her eye and the tears running down her cheeks.

"Katniss," I croak. I try to reach out to her, but my arms are dead by my sides.

The most heart wrenching smile breaks out across her face.
"Peeta," she whispers, a happy sob cutting her off. She lunges at me then, her hands framing my cheeks as she begins to pepper frantic kisses across my face. "I - didn't think - I'd - find you," she murmurs in between pecks. "I - never thought you'd - wake up."

Okay, I must be dead.

A small chuckle bubbles from my chest. How is this real?

The intense feeling of Euphoria washes over me, like I'm tucked away, wrapped in a warm blanket - Katniss' lap my pillow, her lips pressed into my chin. The chuckle turns into a full force laughter, that is, until a sharp pain in my side cuts me to pieces. I gasp and clench my teeth - hissing between them.

"Shhh," she coos, "Relax, you're safe. Here -" she shifts under me, moving my head onto a pillow before leaving my sight. She returns moments later with a canteen in hand. "Drink. You had a bit of a rough night."

She helps tilt my head to meet the lips of the bottle, and I take a couple of small sips before my stomach turns.

I turn my head away, unable to finish. My stomach feels like it's been jumbled around, not in the normal "Katniss" way - but like when I got the flu in the second grade and threw up on the swings. I don't think I'm going to be sick...but I think I am sick, yet oddly - medicated feeling.

My ability to form words is at a low point. It seems as though my brain is pulling a muscle just trying to conjure up anything remotely human sounding.

Say something to her, damn it! She saved your life! AGAIN.

Katniss adjusts the sleeping bag around my frame, pulling it up to my chest. No words come.

It's then, though, I notice that I'm missing some clothing. My shirt is gone, and in its place, bandages that wrap from my navel to my armpits. A faint trace of red trickles from just below my chest to hip bone. Marvel's cut.

I shakily lift my hand and follow the line. There is an acute bite at the source of my fingers and I flinch.

Katniss notices me examining the wound. "You need new gauze," she says, mostly to herself. "I'll be back."

She flees again - leaving me alone.

My eyes try to readjust to the lighting - there is sunlight, though little. And not from overhead, but from somewhere behind me. And there are a lot of rocks - a stone wall hanging above me.

A cave?

Is this where Katniss has been hiding this whole time? I loll my head to the side and observe the utensils lining the walls.

Two water canteens, a couple bags, another sleeping bag, pillows, some jars - ones that resemble the one that Rue gave me, and lo and behold - a toothbrush.

I hear timid footsteps.

Out of sheer instinct, my heart starts racing and I try to sit up, panicking.

Did someone find us? Where's Katniss?

I manage to mumble Katniss' name, but the articulation resembles Haymitch after he's had a few. I throw the sleeping bag off of me, instantly freezing against the chilling draft. Goosebumps prickle along my skin and I attempt to call out her name once more.

"Peeta!" I hear her gasp. She has a white bandage roll in one hand and a jar in the other. Her eyes flash wide and she rushes to my side. "What are you doing? Stop moving," she scorns softly. Her hand gently pushes back down against my chest. "What's the matter?"

"I - I - thought you, where you...toothbrush."

Toothbrush? Seriously, Peeta?

It doesn't really fit with what I was trying to say, but that's the word that decides to pop out.

Katniss stares at me unblinkingly, and for a second, I think I've scared her. Then, she breaks into a happy cackle, shoulders heaving. It's the happiest sound to ever touch my ears.

"You poor baby," she sighs when she's finally caught her breath. "The Captiol has some really intense pain killers, don't they?" She reaches behind her and grabs the roll and jar. "Do you need more?"

I do.

But if those are the cause of my astounding incoherence, then I'll pass. I'd rather talk to Katniss with some pain then be so drugged up I can't form a single sentence.

"No...thank you," I stumble. She doesn't laugh this time; however, her teeth sink in her bottom lip as her cheeks spread into a goofy grin. I try to smile back, but the muscles in my face feel a bit numb.

"Oh my God," she snickers. "Stop. Just stop. You look really... I don't even have words." She chuckles under her breath again as she starts to unravel the gauze from around my torso. "This may be a bit cold," she warns before continuing. Her eyes glance down to my uncovered bottom half and she reaches down to pull the sleeping bag up again. Katniss was kind enough to put some shorts on me, but other than that and the few bandage wrappings, I'm mostly nude and freezing my ass off.

One Katniss fully strips me of the soaked gauze, she dips her hand into the jar behind her and gathers some clear liquid gel on her finger tips. She softly traces the seam of my cut, but the iciness of the gel makes my entire body violently shiver.

"Sorry," she murmurs. She unrolls the new bandages and makes quick work of resetting my wrap. As soon as she's finished she moves down to my legs. "These are significantly deeper than the one on your side," she mentions as she rolls up the flimsy leg of my shorts. "These will take a lot more medicine and time to heal." She eyes the jar with a cross look on her face. I can see from here that we're running low, but she doesn't acknowledge this out loud. She gingerly tends to the two other wounds, apologizing every time I shiver or wince.

"Are you cold?" she asks worriedly. I try to shake my head 'no' but another fierce tremor takes over me. "Here." Katniss grabs the other sleeping bag and drapes it over my upper half. "Better?"

Yes...I guess. But I just want her near, and well, here's an opportune moment!

"No," I say. "Come here."

She's still for a moment, a perplexed look on her face like she doesn't understand what I mean by 'here.' Then I stretch my hand out to touch her face, my arm seeming twenty pounds heavier than usual, and brush her cheek.

The light bulb goes off, and in an instant, she's pressed up against me under the covers. The smell of her hair and the heat of her body is like coming home. And I feel like as though the empty hole in my chest has once again been filled - and I no longer feel like an animal on the prowl. I no longer worry that I will lose myself.

Because I feel human.

"Better?" she asks again, a teasing tone in her voice. I turn my head towards her, our faces so close our noses brush. I don't try to speak, worried that my dumb words will kill the moment, but crane my neck trying to close the remaining space between us.

When my fatigued muscles won't allow me to go any farther, Katniss takes matters into her hands - by grasping my face and kissing me.

My heart takes off sprinting. It's softer than the first time we kissed, slower too. She's treating me like I'm easily breakable, like I'll shatter if she touches me with anything more than the strength of a moth's wing. I try my hardest to respond, but my face is still numb and I'm not sure I have much control over the muscles of my mouth anyway.

She stills her lips and gives a throaty chuckle against my mouth.

"Wha -?" I try to ask, but she shushes me with one last kiss.

"Don't take this the wrong way, Peeta," she begins, giggling. "But could we maybe try this later? Your face seems to be a little...loose."

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