Rise From the Ashes

Chapter Nine

I meet Cato on the roof again. This time I sit beside him and lean my head on his shoulder. He slips his arm around my waist and sighs.

"Ash? This is going to sound crazy since we met two days ago but can I kiss you?" He asks softly. I pause and then nod. He leans over and softly kisses me. I kiss him back. It's nice. I want more of it. I pull back and take a deep shaky breath.

"That was..." I trail off. "I don't know but I really liked it."

"So did I." He says softly before kissing me again. We stay like that for a while, kissing and then pulling back to breathe. He pulls back a final time. "We should get to bed. See you tomorrow at the same time as today?"

"Yeah sounds good." I smile and walk to the door. Cato slips his arm around me and spins me around kissing me again. I kiss him back and can't help but giggling slightly. I pull back and step backwards. "Come on we need sleep."

"Alright fine but I think I'll ditch Terra tomorrow mornings maybe you can show me more with the bow." Cato offers. I smile and nod,

"Maybe I will." I agree. I step into the stairwell and start down the stairs. He steps into the elevator and waves at me as he leaves. I walk to my room and lay down smiling. Tonight was very nice. Almost too nice. Sleep overtakes me soon.

I go down the next morning at the same time. Cato joins me in the elevator alone and kisses me quickly. We reach the training room and head into the room and we head to the archery section. I slip a quiver around myself and pick up a bow. I pull back an arrow and aim at the target. It flies into the center and Cato whistles.

"Mind showing me how to do that?" He asks. I smile.

"Pick up a bow." I say stepping back. He picks up a bow and quiver. He pulls back an arrow and shoots. He's not good. "You're getting there." I manage. He laughs.

"You can say I suck." He grins.

"Fine you're not good. But you're way too tense. Plus you're using this like you can make it work with brute strength." I say. He nods. "Watch me."

I pull back an arrow. In a way, he reminds me of Gale when he was first learning how to shoot. I make sure I'm relaxed and release the arrow.

"Okay." Cato pulls back an arrow.

"Move your hands back. Just use your fingertips." I say. I gently move his fingers back so he's just holding onto the string. "Now release."

He releases the arrow and it flies towards the target. It hits the shoulder.

"Well you'll at least wound them!" I say smiling.

"Great now you're getting better with a sword." Cato says firmly.

"They weight the same as me." I protest. Cato chuckles. He must be twice my weight. It hits me as he steps towards me and catches my face in his hands.

"Then we get you a short sword." He answers kissing me quickly. I wrinkle my nose.

"Fine." I agree. He takes my hand and leads me to the swords and selects a short sword. I take it from him and sigh. "It does feel better." I agree.

"See? Maybe I'm right some of the time." Cato grins.

"Well maybe." I answer smiling. "But they don't always have swords."

"They don't always have bows either. Besides they're more likely to have a short sword." He says brushing a curl out of my eyes. "By the way are you keeping the curls for the games?"

"No it's way too hard to keep them maintained. They're getting back to being braided." I answer. He pouts for a second. "Hey maybe you'll see them again."

"Maybe." He smiles. "Well you are going to chop the arms off this dummy."

I swing the sword and it gets stuck part of the way through. "Maybe I can just stab them?" I suggest. Cato smiles and wraps his arms around me, he swings the sword with me through the dummy's arm.

"So maybe you just stab them. You probably have enough weapons that you're good at to help survive this." Cato says.

I smile. "Well that's very good to hear." I glance at the clock. "We need to go."

"Breakfast already?" Cato asks. I nod. "Well come on." He wraps his arm around me and we start for the elevator. I hear the elevator door opening and I drag him into the dining room. The voices of the other careers and Gale fill the room. "What's happening?" He whispers.

"I don't know." I whisper. Gale is working with the careers. "But if there's a bow we have to get to it first. You have to get to your sword." I bite my lip. "We can't let them see us leave."

Cato nods and sneaks the door open. He grabs my hand and we sneak to the elevator shooting up to his floor. He kisses me quickly and steps out of the elevator. I fly up to my floor and slip into the dining room. I load my plate and start eating. Haymitch comes to join me.

"Haymitch I would like to be mentored on my own from now on." I say. Haymitch nods.

"Alright. What changed?" Haymitch asks. I hesitate.

"I've been going down early with the boy from Two, Cato, and today I heard Gale with the other careers. If he's going to be hunting me, I want to make sure he doesn't know my strategy." I answer. Haymitch nods.

"Well after tomorrow it's just the interviews. Is there anything about you and Cato that we could market?" Haymitch asks. I blush brightly.

"I mean he's kissed me a few times." I mumble.

"Perfect we can market the star crossed lovers. Who's his mentor? Brutus or Terra or Enobaria?" Haymitch asks.

"I think he has Terra. I think the girl from his District is being mentored by Enobaria." I answer. Haymitch nods.

"Let me see if Terra and I can talk tomorrow while you two train early then." He says. The elevator doors open and Gale joins us.

"So two more days of training." Gale says starting to eat. I nod and finish my meal.

"Yeah two more days." I agree.

"Well I'm going to go get drunk. You guys do great in training today." Haymitch walks away. Gale and I fall into silence until Effie comes to take us down to train.