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Chapter Fourteen
Under Control
In the month following their meeting with President Snow's personal terror squad, Naruto, Haymitch, and the Everdeens had closed ranks. They rarely went into town or left the Victor Village. When they did it was almost never alone.
Almost never wasn't never though.
Katniss had stepped out earlier in the morning, alone. That put Naruto into a tense and somewhat irritable mood for the day. Not that he wanted to try and tell her what to do. He trusted his fellow tribute more than anyone.
Naruto didn't trust the government or its peacekeepers.
Carrine had reassured him that Katniss was simply finally catching up with the Hawthornes after they had pretty much been on lockdown for the last month. Which made some sense.
The damned Registration Tour was coming up. Naruto and Katniss would have to take a triumph train around to all the districts as the upcoming Hunger Games tributes were all registered. Something neither was looking forward to or had fond memories of. Naruto especially.
The last time the registration tour had happened, Naruto had murdered a Peacekeeper. Somehow he had gotten away with it too. He couldn't pull anything remotely like that now though. He could practically feel the eyes boring into him all the way from Snow's estate in the Capitol.
Then again maybe it was the paranoia getting at him. Hard to tell these days.
Either way, Naruto understood why Katniss was taking the chance to try and meet up with Gale and his family. The Everdeens and Hawthornes, especially Katniss and Gale had always been close.
Something that Naruto tried very hard to convince himself didn't bother him in the slightest. Not that he had a reason for it to bother him. He was pretty sure that by this point he and Katniss had moved past the point of dancing around each other.
The pair shared the couch most nights and shared kisses almost as often. They were genuinely more comfortable around one another than even alone anymore.
Then again, maybe that was Naruto and Katniss felt different.
He grunted and stood from the chair he had been occupying at that thought. All this business about the Tour and Gale and the investigators from Snow had him worked up.
As usual, his best bet to try and relax again was to work out the energy through physical activity. So he pulled on some shoes and left his cavernous mansion to start running the perimeter of the Victor Village.
As he ran and his mind wandered some more he realized that his go to wasn't working very well. Even an hour and a half in and picking up speed until he was less jogging and more sprinting all he had achieved was drenching himself in sweat despite the cold air.
"Fuck me. Why are you doing that? It ruins the peaceful neighborhood atmosphere." Haymitch called out as Naruto ran past his house again.
Naruto slowed to a stop and turned to face the older blond.
"Just running." Naruto said between breaths as he recollected himself quickly.
"'Just running,' he says. You looked like you were fleeing from those mutts again." Haymitch replied. The man winced as soon as he said it though as he suddenly seemed to remember the friend that Naruto had lost to the beasts during the games.
"Just running." Naruto said again as he walked up to his mentor.
"Yeah." Haymitch said as he eyed the boy before him. Naruto knew that by now, almost like Katniss, Haymitch could largely read all of Naruto's thoughts through his face. Even as he tried to remain mostly stoic and calm.
"Well, come inside. You need a drink, I have some better stuff I was saving for this damned train ride but I guess I can get by on the swill they give us during it." Haymitch guided Naruto in and off toward a den area.
"The stuff they have on the trains is worth more than anyone here can buy." Naruto remarked.
"Well you, me, and Katniss could honestly get some pretty easily. Price doesn't mean it matches up to the good stuff made right here in twelve though. There's a hundred stills in the Seam that I have to keep in business, you know." Haymitch almost boasted at the end.
"How the hell are you still breathing old man?" Naruto snorted at that a bit. He was feeling a little better having someone to talk with. Maybe it would be a good distraction to drink with Haymitch.
Haymitch chuckled as he sat Naruto down in a chair and retrieved some relatively clean glasses before pulling a bottle filled with liquid clear enough to be purified water.
"Let's take a couple bites of this then we can chat a bit." Haymitch said as he handed a glass to Naruto.
The boy nearly gagged from the smell. It was like sniffing antiseptic. Haymitch cackled at that.
"Oh yeah, the good stuff." The man said as he knocked back his glass without issue before pouring himself another.
Naruto took a breath before finding his resolve and following suit. He regretted it the moment it hit the back of his throat and Haymitch started roaring in laughter all over again.
Katniss had been looking forward to a chance to catch up with Gale for some time now. For a really long time he had been just about her only friend, and at one time she had thought he might end up being something more.
That door had been closed for a while now. She hadn't ever expected the chain of events that had led her to where she was in that regard but she had no complaints about the result.
At least insofar as starting down the path of a relationship with her fellow tribute. The suspicious attention she got from the peacekeepers all the time was a far less welcome part of her life.
Thankfully, before she could roll down that line of thinking Gale emerged from his house. It was one of the few days off that he got from the mine, but the fact he was willing to spend it with her rather than his family or in town, or even simply relaxing was heartwarming.
Her best friend looked awfully tired but he lit up some when he saw her.
"Katniss, was hoping I would see you a lot sooner than now, but I won't complain." He said as he approached.
Katniss snorted in slight humor at that. It sounded kind of like he was complaining to her, but she wouldn't rib him about it yet. It had been a long time since they had spent time together and she wasn't quite as comfortable with him as she had once been. Teasing was for later.
"Oh I missed you too, Gale." She said pointedly getting the boy to blush faintly as he realized he was being quite rude.
"I did miss you. It's really good to see you, Katniss." Gale didn't sputter, but Katniss had the idea that it was a near thing.
"So you aren't busy today?" Katniss asked to keep the interaction rolling. She was a bit worried of falling into an uncomfortable silence. She wasn't sure what to talk about with her old friend.
"Ah, I'm going into the Hob. I need to get a couple of things." Gale said as he stepped forward toward town but hesitated.
Katniss didn't say anything, she just stepped up beside him and let him lead the way. It was a familiar path but it had been quite some time since she'd taken this road up through the length of the Seam into town and over to the old industrial area that had long since been converted into the Hob. She simply followed her friend's lead as he navigated the damp and muddy roadways and pools of snow melt.
She listened to him as he rambled a bit. Mostly listing off the things he hoped to find for trade and the things he had to offer in exchange. It wasn't much in either case, but Katniss still recalled the days when even the little things could mean all the difference. A bit of wire and a sheet of tin could mean the difference between a wood stove belching smoke through a crack in its pipe right into the house, or doing its job and pushing the smoke up and out of the house.
"I could buy it for you, you know." Katniss pointed out.
"It's fine." He replied quickly.
"Really, you should let me help." Katniss urged.
Gale said nothing more but continued on toward the Hob. A year ago she probably could have told by the way he walked or the way he carried himself if that silence meant agreement or simply that he wasn't going to argue.
With Naruto it was far easier to know. He had little tells she had managed to catch on to recently and easily react to. She'd noticed he would do the same with her, as well as with her mother and sister to an extent.
"Maisie around the old steel press will have what I need." Gale said after they had continued on in silence for a while.
"Yeah, she always has plenty of scrap metal." Katniss awkwardly replied before blowing air out of her nose in frustration. This was beginning to feel weird.
She couldn't let it bother her though. Her mind was distracted by other thoughts. Like the odd feeling she was getting from Gale. He had become more tense. Or the odd feeling she was getting from the people around the Seam. They all seemed to avoid her as much as possible. Not out of any distaste, but clearly they didn't want to be near her.
Not hard to figure out why. More Peacekeepers paid attention to her than the others of the district. She was 'special' now. In ways that no one really wanted to be. Not out here in District Twelve anyway.
"Remember when they didn't even send patrols out this far?" Gale asked as he shot a glance toward a squad of four Peacekeepers giving some old man a hard time about the items in his basket. He appeared to have some moonshine, which wasn't strictly considered legal, being as home made goods like that weren't taxed by the Capitol.
"Not very long ago, yeah." Katniss replied.
"Did you know that evidently last year one of their sergeants or something went missing. They think he pissed someone off and got himself killed. You know the one, that fat, drunk one." Gale seemed to be speaking more smoothly now.
Katniss remembered him. She remembered him because of what he had done in the square in town that day. Naruto probably remembered him quite well. She wondered if he knew the man had gone missing.
That thought caused her to pause for a second. Only a second, brief enough that Gale didn't even notice, let alone anyone else.
"Yeah, I remember him. If he did get killed he probably deserved it." She responded while her mind played with the tiny little conspiracy it had imagined.
That would have been before the games. She couldn't have pictured it then, but now suddenly seeing Naruto with a knife or a rock or something standing over a corpse in a white uniform seemed very plausible.
The thought didn't bother her at all. She'd meant what she said. That bastard had it coming. Especially if Naruto had been the one to do it. Then again, maybe he had just gotten drunk on a cold night and wandered too close to the river. Lots of stories of people dying that way.
Then again most of those were just to poorly hide the fact that someone had chosen to drown themself rather than starve slowly.
Either way it didn't matter. If he had gotten away with it, or if he wasn't involved at all it changed nothing in her opinion of him. Naruto was the same either way.
She felt a bit guilty toward Gale at that thought. Her mind was off thinking of the blond while her friend was trying to have a conversation with her. She needed to do better if she wanted to maintain any kind of friendship with the boy she'd grown up with.
"Lets get those things you need." Katniss said as she stepped forward to brush the tattered tarp that covered an old entranceway aside.
"I think I'm supposed to be holding doors for you." Gale replied as he ducked through the concrete passageway.
"It's supposed to be held open for the lady, so…" Katniss teased carefully. She still felt a bit awkward but was trying to reach out.
Gale snorted in humor, which was good. He also held the next door open for her. A wooden pallet leaned against some hollow crates that actually opened into a long concrete hallway. It used to be a spillway for water or some kind of chemicals perhaps. Now it was overgrown with shrubs and weeds and filled with bits and pieces of rusted out metal.
Once more the pair slipped into silence. She suddenly wished that they had taken the far more direct route to the Hob. It was cruel to wish that even this brief time spent together was cut shorter.
At least they finally made it to the section that was more or less officially the Hob. A few people eyed Katniss worriedly but most were more interested in selling the goods that they had.
Little here actually counted as contraband. Most of it was only sold here on the Hob because it was recycled materials scavenged from the plethora of withering machinery and structures from across the district. That and the fact that prices were so low here as to actually be affordable. It was amazing how much more affordable things were when the Capitol wasn't taking a large cut in the shape of taxes.
Approaching the metal seller Gale started haggling with her to try and get a decent deal. Katniss pulled some ration tickets she didn't actually need out and flashed them at the woman when it became apparent she wasn't going to give Gale the price he needed in trade for the bits and bobs he was trying to buy.
"Three weeks worth of ration tickets for the wire, the screws, and the sheets he needs." Katniss offered.
Both Gale and the woman selling the metal paused at that in mild shock. Three weeks worth of ration tickets was beyond overpaying. It was enough to get the woman's entire stock of cleaned up scrap. They all knew it.
Gale knew it too and he jaw set into a tense position as Katniss handed over the tickets and snapped up the items she had purchased, she also snagged a little worn out cloth bag to put everything in.
"Consider this paid for too." Katniss said with a grin as the woman just nodded slowly.
Gale snagged her by the wrist as she finished tying off the bag and dragged her away from the market. Lots of people were eyeing Katniss now and not warily like when she had first entered. Now it was a much harder look.
"Let go of me Gale." Katniss hissed as she tried to jerk her hand free.
"No, we need to leave. That was stupid, what were you thinking?" He bit out as he continued to drag her along. It wasn't that hard for him, he was a large boy, now a young man and the mines had made him only stronger. Katniss was strong but she was much lighter and smaller than he was.
"It doesn't matter. I have months worth of ration tickets that I will never use. She'll spend those around the Hob and more people will eat this week than normally do." Katniss said as she finally pried her wrist free by twisting his fingers open with her other hand.
Gale rounded on her with a still set jaw and a stern look.
"That's great, except for when you get jumped in an alley walking home or something. You know better than that, someone will come after that kind of thing if they know you have it."
"I know, but then I can just give it to them. I was going to give you some too when we got back to your house." Katniss shrugged.
She was pretty confident that District Twelve's desperate people would try exactly what Gale said they would, but she had no intention of trying to fight them. She literally had more than she could ever need and was happy to give it out to her people. Plus she wasn't exactly defenseless. She had several knives on her person. A habit picked up from Naruto.
That and the Capitol would move heaven and earth to protect one of their victors from being killed like that. Or to punish whoever was responsible. Everyone knew that.
Gale's mood seemed to worsen.
"I don't want charity." He grunted out.
Katniss rolled her eyes. Why be prideful about that. She had been on the receiving end and charity. Could mean life over death. It was an annoying notion Gale seemed to share with Naruto. Both of them were prideful. Naruto would go out of his way to payback anything another gave him.
"You and Naruto are too prideful for your own gold. It isn't even charity, it's more like a gift. You are my friend, right? Or did that change while I was gone suddenly." Katniss said evenly.
Gale seemed to darken even more at that.
"You have changed since you left. Besides I was pretty sure we weren't just friends when you left. I know you are keeping up appearances because the Capitol is always watching but here, just us you can be like how we were before you left." He said. His tone sounded like he was trying to talk sense to her but his words had her confused.
"What?" Was all she managed to ask.
Gale stared back at her. Slowly her mind ran over everything he had said and she tried to process it. Before she could fully Gale leaned in toward her causing her to push him back.
"What are you doing?" She asked as he blinked at her in surprise.
"What do you mean? I was trying to show you we can start back where we left off. I get you had to put on a show for the games and have to keep it up for appearances but look its fine. When we are in private we can just be like we were before you had to leave." Gale said.
"You and I remember things differently. We were friends, Gale." Katniss insisted.
"Let me prove this to you." He pressed harder.
Leaning again. He expected her hand to try and push him away this time and swept it aside as he leaned in closer and his lips mashed against her own. His arms moved to encircle her but she forced her own in the way and pushed to the side slipping free of his almost embrace and breaking the sloppy kiss he had forced on her.
Katniss slung the bag of metal at his head causing Gale to have to duck to avoid it. She glared at him as she stumbled back into a wall of an abandoned factory building. Finally finding her voice again she almost hissed at him as she spoke.
"Don't touch me again. Don't come near me."
"Wait, Katniss." Gale began but she circled around him keeping her distance.
He reached out. "I didn't mean to surprise you like that. I just needed to show you that you don't have to just put on that show."
"What fucking show?" She demanded as she avoided his hands once again.
"I am not playing around Gale. Stay away." She said as she finally turned and raced away.
She heard him calling out to her as she went. He didn't seem to be following her, still she looped around through the buildings till she found a secluded spot to tuck herself up against the wall.
Only then, when she was alone and away from anything that could see her did she feel her eyes begin to burn with tears. A storm of emotions raged in her chest but the most paramount were those of anger and betrayal.
"Idiot." She growled, though she wasn't sure what she meant by it. Her head swam as she fought herself to regain control.
Slowly but surely she stopped the slight shaking of her hands and dried her eyes. She refused to cry from what had happened it wouldn't solve anything, she didn't need useless things right now.
Instead as she slowly began to weave through the dilapidated district twelve back toward the Victor Village, Katniss planned about how to handle the things that had happened. She wouldn't tell Naruto.
He was far more aggressive and hot headed than her. He was also her actual boyfriend. She had seen plenty of similar incidents play out in the Seam before. It wouldn't help either of them if he was locked up for assault…or worse.
She planned to avoid Gale. At least for a long time. That was not the friendship she had remembered. He had seemed off when they met at his house but now…she didn't know what to think about him. That was of course besides being angry with how he had acted.
By the time Katniss was back at the Victor Village she felt like she was back in control of her emotions. Using a window on one of the empty Victor houses as she passed it she checked to make sure she didn't look suspicious and turned for her house only to stop as Naruto stumbled up leaning heavily on the wall.
"Katniss, how was your day?" He asked with a slurred voice.
"Why are you drunk?" She asked as she reached out to hook an arm around him and hold him up.
"Haymitch gave me some uh, local stuff. Can't remember why though. Too much, I should have stopped. Sorry." Naruto slurred as he wrapped and arm around her waist and leaned against her.
"Come on, up the stairs." Katniss said as she ignored his drunken state as best as she could.
"No really, sorry. I know you don't like me like this. I really meant to stop but Haymitch kept saying one more. Like eight one mores." He muttered as they climbed the steps up to her house.
"Great." She grumbled as she managed to get the door open and headed for the living room.
Her mother and sister peeked out from the kitchen before shaking their heads and returning to whatever they were doing. Katniss huffed a quiet 'thanks for the help' in their direction before depositing her drunk idiot onto the couch.
She didn't expect him to pull her down with him and lock her up beside him.
"You are upset. I really am sorry." The boy said a bit pathetically.
"It's fine. I just…it's fine." She said with a sigh as she kicked off her shoes and helped him with his.
Naruto stared at her with glossy and narrowed eyes. She paused to look back into his gaze only to break the stare when she felt his hands find hers and squeeze surprisingly softly for someone nearly blackout drunk.
"You look sad. I hate that." He grumbled.
"Well, lay back and try to sleep. I will look different when you're sober." She commanded.
He grunted but did as she said. Still he seemed to be staring at her. His hands squeezed hers one last time before he closed his eyes and almost immediately drifted off.
Katniss only sighed in frustration and a bit of exhaustion of her own. After a moment though she laid against the blond and let his arms wrap around her. It was comfortable and warm…even if he smelled kind of like a jar of moonshine soaked in old sweat. She turned and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
They would talk about this when he could think straight and she didn't feel so…tired. She followed after him into sleep.
When Naruto woke up the next day, he profoundly regretted his decision to sit and drink with Haymitch. Not so much the fact he had spent time with the man. It had kept him somewhat occupied and without worry for hours, but more that he hadn't had the willpower to refuse the drinks after he lost count.
He wasn't even sure how he had gotten home, or rather to the Everdeens. However he was happy to find Katniss laying with him on the family couch.
"Finally awake?" She asked softly, causing him to shift to better look at her.
She looked tired, probably having just woken up. Though he narrowed his eyes a bit as he felt like something else was digging into his brain. A thought tied to a faded memory from the night before.
"How are you?" He asked.
"Still tired, but now I also smell like a sweaty brewery like you do." Katniss said as she lifted an eyebrow as if to point a finger at him in blame.
He winced but she simply snorted in humor as she sat up and pulled him along with her. She followed it up by planting a kiss on him. Though Naruto felt like it was a bit more intense than he was used to for a good morning wakeup.
Not that he planned to complain. The grimace from Katniss showed that she wasn't quite in the same boat.
"Okay, you need a shower and to brush your teeth. Prim washed the set of clothes I had you leave here so you can use the downstairs bathroom to clean up." She said as she climbed off of him and the couch.
Feeling a bit cheeky, Naruto let loose with a big yawn as he stood up as well.
"Need one too?" He asked.
Katniss paused before grinning at him. She turned her head as if thinking about it before shaking back and forth causing her hair to sway.
"Maybe one day. I'm showering upstairs. Make it quick mom almost has breakfast finished." Katniss said before slipping out of the room and upstairs.
Naruto watched her go, not sure if he was actually disappointed as he had only been joking. Maybe a little.
He made his way to the bathroom and made a quick job of cleaning himself up. He got dressed and beat Katniss to the kitchen just as Prim and Carrine set the table for the morning meal.
"Katniss should almost be done. Feeling better?" Carrine asked.
"Smells amazing." Naruto said as his stomach rumbled.
"Ham steaks, eggs, and biscuits. I hope it's good." She said as she and Prim set a pair of jugs on the table, one filled with orange juice and another with water.
Before coming to the Victor Village none of them had ever had orange juice. Since then it had become a requirement for breakfast.
"Everything you girls make is always good." Naruto said as he pulled the chairs out for both Prim and Carrine.
"A gentleman when I'm out of the room." Katniss teased as she stepped into the room.
Pulling her chair out for her too, Naruto took a good look at her. Her hair was a bit damp making it darker than normal which contrasted with her gray eyes and blue dress. He swallowed a bit thickly.
"You look good today." He said as he took his own seat.
Katniss blinked before chuckling lightly. "As opposed to usual."
"That wasn't…" He began before shaking his head. It was nice to see her in such a mood. Especially when they were set to leave for their tour in a matter of days now.
As Naruto and the Everdeens ate breakfast a knock at the front door interrupted the meal. Carrine stood and went to get it only to frown as Haymitch and Effie Trinket stepped in.
"Miss Trinket." Carrine greeted.
"Miss Everdeen." The woman replied.
"Bad news, Naruto, Katniss, President Snow wants the tour a bit earlier than initially planned. This year is the Quarter Quell so after your triumph he wants to hold some festival in the Capitol. Sounds like a blast." Haymitch grumbled.
The man was disheveled and stank of booze. Clearly having just been woken up by Effie.
"Of course. Sit down and eat something, Haymitch, we'll go get our things." Naruto bit out angrily as he stood from the table.
He patted Prim on the head and gave Carrine a small hug before disappearing out the door headed for his own house.
"Don't mind if I do. Smells great." Haymitch said as he dropped into Naruto's empty seat.
"Just one day could go nice for once." Katniss growled before leaving herself and heading up stairs to collect her things.
Haymitch shrugged at that. It wasn't like he was calling the shots. The biscuits were incredibly good as well. Damn shame breakfast was interrupted.
Katniss hadn't bothered saying goodbye to Gale or the other Hawthornes. Naruto had known something was amiss immediately because he had been the one to try and make sure she had the time to do so if she wanted.
Whatever had happened between the two of them had caused problems. Naruto felt like he should be glad of it. Instead rather than happily quashing any jealousy he might have, it bothered him to know Katniss was upset.
Not one to really dance around subjects like that well he had attempted to ask but met a wall from her as a response. He was wise enough not to keep pushing. If she wanted to discuss it, she would in time.
He hoped. He was still pretty new to the idea of a relationship let alone navigating his significant other's emotions. Hell, he barely understood his own emotions most of the time.
By the time the train had stopped in District Eleven though they had both put the conversation, or rather lack of one behind them for the time being.
They had been given cue cards to read and marched out in front of hundreds of people. Including the families of both Rue and Thresh. Naruto had grabbed Katniss's hand when they saw Rue's mother and siblings standing on a platform in front of a banner with Rue's likeness on it.
He gripped her hand tightly and helped her to calm down as best he could. It was hard for him seeing the family of Thresh as well. An old man, a young woman, and three very young children.
Naruto had only Katniss and her family back in Twelve but Thresh had so much more here and it hadn't mattered. Thresh was dead and he was alive.
He felt guilty that he had no desire at all to trade places with his friend. Not even to help his friend's family from their grief.
Thankfully before his mind could spiral down that train of thought any further the ceremony properly began. The people here in District Eleven seemed especially subdued. Which Naruto chalked up to being a direct effect of the fact that they seemed to have a lot heavier Peacekeeper presence than was in Twelve.
Even now, after the games the difference in Peacekeeper presence was enormous. District Eleven almost looked like a giant prison with barricades, armored trucks, and much more heavily equipped Peacekeepers roving the region.
Here in the square they stood on guard towers and in lines surrounding the crowd of people, again reminding Naruto of what a prison might look like from the inside. They had been driven to the venue in armored trucks as well, passing field after field of laborers being closely watched by even more Peacekeepers armed with rifles and even the occasional machine gun.
"Without further ado, the Victors of your Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Naruto Namikaze!" The Mayor of District Eleven announced loudly.
There wasn't a bit of applause. Simply the staring eyes of hundreds of people. Naruto knew immediately he wasn't going to even attempt at reading the card given to him. He wasn't sure why Effie had bothered giving him one. She honestly should have known better.
"Thresh saved my life." He began causing Katniss to turn and look at him for an instant before turning back toward the crowd and cameras.
"He saved my life and he didn't have to. Shouldn't have had to." Naruto said, pausing as he realized he was about to simply ramble. Thankfully Katniss was there with him to help pick up the slack. Fighting tears in her eyes as she stared at the family of Rue.
"I wanted to do that for Rue. I'm sorry." She barely forced out in a whisper causing Naruto to reach out and take her hand in his.
"We wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for Thresh and Rue. So since we don't need twice the winnings between myself and Katniss, I would like for the remainder of my Victor's spoils split between Rue and Thresh's families for the rest of my life." Naruto declared, causing Katniss to squeeze his hand tighter.
The crowd actually applauded then, clapping and in some cases smiling. As the Mayor and guards attempted to lead them back but Katniss stood firm and Naruto made sure she had a chance to say her piece.
"Thresh was Naruto's friend, and he helped me to get out of the Hunger Games arena alive. Rue was my friend though and now, even though she is gone I see her in the flowers in the meadow outside my house. I hear her when the mockingjays sing. I see her in my sister Prim. She was too young and too gentle, and I couldn't save her. I'm so sorry." Katniss said as tears welled in her eyes.
Naruto moved over and wrapped her in his arms both to comfort her and remind her that she wasn't alone in those thoughts. As he did so and Katniss began to cry, an old man in the crowd pressed his fingers to his lips and held up the silent salute that was used in Twelve for respect, before adding to it the whistle used by Katniss and Rue in the games as a signal.
Almost instantly the salute spread through the crowd as dozens of people lifted their arms with the same three fingers showing their respect for the victors and the fallen. Even the families of the fallen tributes joined in.
The Peacekeepers reacted almost as swiftly as the demonstration began. Collapsible batons clicked into place and the rows of armored men stormed forward into the crowd, smashing anyone who dared stand in their way and shoving them away. They marched directly toward the old man causing Katniss and Naruto to try and move forward to do something.
Before Katniss could reach the bottom of the stairs though she was grabbed by two large Peacekeepers while another three met Naruto. As Katniss was dragged back toward the Justice building kicking and shouting for them to stop, Naruto let loose.
"Don't you fucking touch that man!" He roared trying to break the hold of the men grabbing at him, shoving one down only to earn a crack to the side of the head from a baton.
He'd taken worse blows in the arena though. He swung for the man who had hit him, but before his fist could connect the other two began pelting him with their own batons driving him to the ground and causing him to see stars.
"Naruto!" Katniss screamed as she saw him stumble and blood running down the side of his face.
Another pair of guards helped the first three in hefting the dazed victor up off of his feet and carrying him off the stage back into the building.
The last thing Katniss saw of the crowd was the start of a riot as the old man was shot execution style.
The medics had handled the injury but Katniss was the one that cared for Naruto back on the train. The monitors running their tour were extremely unhappy that Naruto would still be wearing the bandage on his head at their next stop on the tour.
Haymitch was unhappy for another reason entirely.
"The two of you need to lock that emotional stuff down. Otherwise you are going to get a lot more people killed." He growled at them in the privacy of Naruto's room as they sped along the countryside.
"We didn't kill that man." Naruto snapped back.
"You made it happen though. You two are set to do thai thing for life, and you cannot be going up there and stirring up trouble every chance you get. How many times to Snow's black coated thugs have to come and knock sense into us until you get that? Or maybe you won't learn until they kill one of you, or her mother or sister?" Haymitch continued to rant.
Naruto made to stand and face his mentor only for Katniss to press a hand to his chest and keep him down.
"Stick to the cards Effie gives you and keep your heads down." Haymitch said before turning and leaving the two alone after that.
Katniss didn't say anything as she curled up against him and shuddered slightly. She blamed herself, perhaps more than he blamed himself for what had happened. It was her added words that had led the man to give them that sign of rebellion in the first place.
"We didn't do that Katniss. It was the Capitol. It's Snow and the Capitol that are to blame." Naruto insisted.
"I know, but don't we need to try and calm things down, to stop this from happening more?" She aksed quietly after a moment.
"Is that what you want to do?"
She was silent after that. Thinking.
"Nothing changes if we don't do anything. Maybe if we stir people up enough though things are forced to change."
"And my mom and sister die for it?" She asked.
Now it was Naruto's turn to be silent. Carrine and Prim had become family to him since the end of the games. He loved them like his own and the thought of putting them into danger drew him up short.
"No…you're right. We have to do like Haymitch said." He finally said, heart breaking along with his will to stand up. He had people he cared about now, not like before the games. It wasn't just him that they could punish to keep him in line.
The pair didn't sleep that night but the next day they did just as instructed and read the cards in District Eight. As they did so the people seemed to only glare up at them, feeling betrayed. It ate at both of their souls.
In District Three, two people lifted the silent salute to them trying to perhaps remind them that they could do something. Katniss and Naruto managed to barely continue their speech as the pair were dragged off by the Peacekeepers and likely shot away from the crowd.
In District Nine they screamed and begged for Katniss and Naruto to stop reading the cards and tell them what they really wanted to say. In the end it only seemed to drive the audience into an uproar.
At night, Kantiss and Naruto huddled together on the train and held on another close. They kissed and pushed thoughts of the day away as they hid from what was going on within one another's comfort.
By the time they had come to the Career district though it was worse than before. Here they were cheered and welcomed. Here children gave them bouquets of flowers and told them how they wanted to volunteer like Katniss when they were old enough. It sickened both of them to their core.
They tried their best to forget every night but every stop was a reminder not only of the position that they were in, resting under the executioner's ax, but also of what they had endured in the arena.
Naruto was secretly a romantic at heart and would have preferred a happier time for him and Katniss to have taken the next step for their relationship. Instead they hid from the grief by finding pleasure with one another.
Haymitch didn't even tease them. He wouldn't dare.
Eventually the tour was drawing to a close though, and the Victors and their entourage were brought to the Capitol for it's annual Victor festival on the day of Registration for the rest of Panem's youth in the Hunger Games.
Coriolanus Snow was rarely ever happy. It had been decades since he had felt such warmth in his chest. At the moment he sat and watched the repeated broadcast of Katniss Everdeen and Naruto Namikaze give their speeches to crowds of seemingly adoring fans in the streets of District Two.
At least there the people knew who was in charge. The order of things.
Snow was interrupted from his viewing, and honestly from his brooding as a man stepped into the room.
"Have the preparations been made?" He asked him.
"They have. Just like you wanted, I altered the third Quarter Quell. Well actually I just switched it with the sixth Quarter Quell. Originally the third was supposed to have all the contestants starved beforehand to remind them that the Districts weren't producing food during the revolution. Now our Victors will be returning." The man replied.
"Good, enjoy the party, Game Master." Snow dismissed the man and turned his attention back to the broadcast of the Victors across Panem.
So that is that, yes I skimmed over Naruto and Katniss doing the deed. We don't need to see that, this isn't a smut story sorry kids.
Gale made a definite move and shouldn't have, That won't be the last we see of him or the last we hear of this issue.
Snow is changing the rules as he sees fit. So we are gearing up to enter the 75th annual Hunger Games and Third Quarter Quell.
Anyway
Till Next Time