Gale and I exchanged a short glance, then we collected our supplies and followed her. We were extraordinarily careful this time, although we were sure that we could trust her. But the other tributes could find us and the chance that they were much closer than we thought was really big.

"Do you have an idea where she is going?", Gale wanted to know.

I shook my head. "No, how could I?"

...

Rue stopped a couple of minutes later, smiling at us. "Here we are."

We looked around, completely confused, but we couldn't find anything that could help us. Rue started to chuckle and pointed at a rather small rift in the rock. "Just go inside." Gale took the lead and had a closer look at the rock, then his face lit up at once. "Brilliant. Follow me, ladies." Suddenly he disappeared into the rock. A cave?

"I thought you could need some shelter.", Rue said and followed Gale into the cave. Could this girl read our minds? I went after her, really thankful. We finally had some kind of shelter, thanks to her. Since the small rift was hardly visible, the cave was really hard to find, so it was definitely the best hiding place you could find. Inside the cave I suddenly felt the urge to hug Rue and pulled her tight.

"Thank you!", I whispered and it felt like I was holding my little sister.

Rue smiled at me happily. "You're welcome!"

...

In the meantime it was already late at evening and Rue started yawning.

"Girls, why don't you go to sleep while I am doing the first watch?" Gale said.

"Thank you!" Rue agreed in an instance and curled up in a corner. A couple of seconds later you could only hear her deep and steady breathing.

Gale was sitting at the other side of the cave, leaning on the wall and opened his arms. "Come here. You look like you could fall asleep any second as well."

I snuggled up to him and he wrapped his arms around me, covering us with a blanket. After all that had happened today it was really comforting to feel his warmth.

He gave me a long and sweet kiss. "Good night, honey."

"Good night."

...

The sun was already shining through the rift when I opened my eyes for the next time. Had I been asleep really that long? Why didn't Gale wake me?

"Morning!" Rues quiet voice came through the cave.

"Morning!" I hadn't noticed that Gale had moved during the night. Right now he was asleep, his head resting on my lap. I softly ran my fingers through his hair. At his side even the Hunger Games were bearable.

Rue smiled at us and nodded in Gale's direction. "He fell asleep just a couple of minutes ago. Must have been up the whole night or did he wake you?"

I shook my head and grinned. Staying up the whole night, protecting two "little" girls was just so…him.

...

I slowly freed my legs, carefully so that Gale wouldn't wake up and used my part of the blanket as some kind of pillow for Gale.

Rue looked at me quizzically. "Where are you going?"

"Listen, I am just getting something to eat, alright? Stay in the cave."

"Should I come with you?"

I shook my head forcefully. "No. Promise me that you'll stay in the cave, okay?"

She nodded. "Fine." Then Rue stood up and wrapped her arms around me. "Take care, will you?"

"Sure. I'll be careful." I caressed her cheek, grabbed my hunting equipment and left the cave. My whole body was still a little stiff from the night on the hard ground and when I stretched I noticed the dark clouds. Although the sun was still shining, the sky was already nearly black. Not too long and there would definitely be a thunderstorm.

...

I tried to hunt really fast, always keeping an eye on the clouds. I was just busy collecting berries and mushrooms when it started to rain. I quickly made my way back to the cave, but before I could reach it the rain started pouring and my clothes were soaking wet immediately.

...

"Katniss, you're back! We were already worried about you!" Rue hugged me as soon as I had entered the cave.

I gave her a little smile. "Rue, I have been gone only for an hour."

"Two hours at least." Rue protested and looked at me. "Oh my god, you're soaking wet! Put off your clothes and slip under the blanket quickly! You are going to catch a cold otherwise." She pulled me with her and handed me the blanket.

"Ähm…Rue?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think that this is a good idea."

"Why n…" She finally noticed Gale. "Oh.." She was so busy with taking care of me that she hadn't really paid attention to the fact that there was a guy in the cave as well. Not to mention the cameras... Rue blushed and looked at the ground, embarrassed.

"Oh..don't worry about me, yeah?" Gale meant, a wide grin on his face and leant on the wall casually. I stared at him incredulously. We were in the Hunger Games, could be dead any second and he seriously had the nerves to be cocky? I could just shake my head, but for some reason his behaviour made me smile. The alternative would have been to be scared to death and that wasn't too helpful either. Why the hell did I even think about something like that?

...

Rue looked at Gale, then at me and back. "Well…I am outside for a moment, getting some fresh air." With that she was gone.

Gale pulled me tight slowly. "I missed you, little one."

"Little one?"

"You know, I am still taller than you are. But that's not the point."

"What is the point then?"

"What about the I-missed-you-part?" He started caressing my lips with his own. We completely ignored the fact that whole Panem could be watching us right now. But to be honest, I really didn't care. I didn't care that there could be cameras in the cave. This stupid Capitol should see that its arena couldn't keep me from being happy, even if it was just for a little moment.

...

Unfortunately I couldn't get rid of the dark side of the arena either, no matter how much I loved being close to Gale. After we had broken apart I rested my head on his shoulder.

"I am scared that this could be over soon." I whispered.

"Me too. But I hope that we have plenty of time left until they find us," Gale answered and I prayed that he was right…