Disclaimer: I love Suzanne Collins. She created these marvellous, Gorgeous Characters, and I feel privileged to be messing with them. I don't own them, never will and make no profit. Still love them though.

~ You know the Anonymous Review drill by now. Replies are down there… -points to the bottom of the page-

Hope you enjoy this one… : )

Read on, Enjoy, and REVIEW!!!

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Find the pun! Find the Pun! Cookies to those that find the puns!

I had my first A2 Geography lesson today. My teacher is James Bond. I'm sure of it.

FIND THE PUNS!

Next update should be wednesday.

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Peeta

I dropped my hands to my side and looked over at her retreating back, her brown corduroy bag slung heavily over her shoulders, her strides long and calculated, but hurried and frightened. My face was burning, the feeling spreading up from the bottom of my neck and rising to turn my face a blazing crimson, my eyes clouding over with embarrassment as she slammed the double doors to the gym behind her and ran.

"Dude?" Danyl was looking at me curiously, his hand running through his hair and his eyes wider than usual, "Dude, what just happened?"

"Well, I think Katniss just snogged him outta jealousy, and then she ran off," Levan said simply. Both of us gave him a look that said 'well done, genius,' and he smiled widely, missing our rolled eyes and confused expressions.

"Seriously, man, wake the fuck up." Danyl pulled a face at Levan and he shrugged. "She's obviously upset about something; what did you do?" He turned to me this time, and I felt my face heat up. I shook my head violently.

"I don't know what I did. I didn't do anything! It wasn't me…" I let the words and excuses trickle through my mind as I pulled all my stuff together and headed toward the guys' changing rooms, the team following me, picking up their stuff as they went, the gaggle of girls up on the bleachers dissipating as we walked away.

I heard a couple of them say I must have been a mind-blowing kisser, then one or two evaluating my, erm, apparently obvious skills in bed. I ignored it the best I could, though as Danyl feigned adoration and Levan looked at us like we were lunatics, I felt the embarrassment surge through me again, my face reheating almost immediately, humiliation making me duck my head and keep my eyes on the floor, trying to look anywhere but at my mates. They were so… irritating sometimes.

Part of me hoped, as I shoved my trainers into my locker and pulled on a fresh shirt from the shower I'd just had, that Katniss would be standing in the Gym by the time I left the red-painted room, that she would take my hand and lead me off elsewhere, tell me she loved me and that her attempted escape a few seconds ago was due to a nervous disposition, or her fear of being in the public eye.

The rational prat inside me told me that I was being moronic and she had run because she had done the dumbest thing she'd never considered. She'd kissed me, knowing that she didn't love me, but trying to save me from a rabid fan-girl who just wanted me because I was there and I'd won something. It was reality television, really, and the reality was we could die any second.

I swallowed as I thought about the poor girl I'd had to… I had… who had died in the arena. The girl that had hopes and dreams she had told me about only the day before. This was the girl who wanted to move on from Panem, to one of the countries across the Wyde Ocean and through the Lawrge Expanz that was the other continent, halfway across the world to teach children.

I had taken that opportunity away from her, just as Cato had taken the opportunity from eleven others, Katniss from one, Glimmer from three and the other Tributes… well from the others. I swallowed as I looked up at the doorway, not a single person remaining in the gym or the locker room, and felt quite alone. I swallowed again and looked back down at the wooden floor, determined to not look at anyone as I left the building.

The fine mist of rain that was sliding down through the air and collapsing onto my already damp skin was half welcome, half-hated. My lips curved up into a smile as I rolled my shoulders and started jogging for shelter, my leg twinging lightly after a few seconds. My knee locked out and I stumbled, but caught myself before I could do any serious damage. I was really getting used to the abuse my body suffered almost daily, stupid knocks and scars that came from running my arse off to get away from all my problems.

That, Danyl, is why I'm a skinny fucker.

"Oi! Peeta, are you coming in?" Kiran's voice made me jolt, and I looked over at him, nodding furiously. He was standing with an umbrella, watching me, his eyes wide and almost fearful. He considered me for a minute, looking into my eyes and then staring me up and down. "You look really smart, you know that."

"Erm, thank you." My brother, complimenting me? Something was up.

"I wasn't finished, dolt." I looked at him, he was grinning but his tone was furious and a little you're not going to like what I've got to say, "I was going to say, you bloody look really smart, but you can be a dense bloke sometimes, you know that, don't you?"

"What?" I looked at him, my brow furrowing lightly.

"You need to go and find her, and you need to do something. I don't care what it is, and I really don't want to know, but the pair of you need to break down the walls between you and fix whatever's wrong."

I opened my mouth to respond and his smirk wipes everything I could have said out of my mind.

"Fuck you." I retort. "Make my excuses, would you?"

"Only cuz I love you brother." Kiran held his fist out to me, I knocked it with my own and he rolled his eyes again, smacking me hard in the arm.

"Once again, make my excuses, and fuck you." I nodded and took off running in the other direction, leaving through the top gate, feigning illness and hoping Kiran would be able to tell I'd pull that card.

-x-x-x-

Ok, it's cold. It's wet, cold and I want to go home. With Katniss, preferably. Could somebody tell me where she is?

"Seriously, there're only so many places you can hide in the fucking Seam." I growled furiously, to nobody but myself. I groaned as I turned another corner and was met, once again, with a deserted street.

Thirty-seven minutes later, I turned back to the Winner's Circle, let myself into the house and found a towel and a couple of blankets. I was freezing cold, feeling sick and pretty sure that Katniss had gone somewhere she didn't want to be found. I figured I could go back out later to find her if she wasn't in by five, but at this precise moment, I was too fucking cold to move, and it was frustrating me a lot.

I found an old digital music player resting on the coffee table in the living room - I'd not had a proper chance to explore, but this had been in plain view all the time. Lightly tapping the screen, I stuck the playlist on shuffle and left it to go about its merry way. The beats emanating from the speakers built into the walls, though light and airy, were fast paced and beautiful, relaxing but tightly wound up, something to love but something to get annoyed by because of its incessancy.

I rose from my chair twenty minutes later, finally dry and able to feel my toes. I shook lightly as I found coffee in the top cupboard, nearly falling from the chair I was balanced on as the leg gave out and snapped off. One more thing messing with my body. I cursed aloud again, picked up the chair and put it by the door, knowing I could take it out to the market and get it fixed on Saturday. I would get it fixed on Saturday, because if I didn't do these things, the place would fall to shit, and I would only blame myself.

At quarter past five, I left the house to a horrific downpour, even with an umbrella, my hair was plastered to my head in seconds, my shirt becoming a second skin by the time I reached the gates further down the street. I swept a hand through my hair, knowing that it was standing up at ridiculous angles and I probably looked like a moron, but not really caring.

Honestly I think I was past caring. There was nothing at this point that would bother me, I was tired, I was sick of nightmares, and I was sick of holding everything in, holding in all of these thoughts, desperately trying to hold myself together to try and keep hold of everything before I went insane. There was nothing that actually bothered me any longer.

The rain was still sheeting down as I stepped back down towards the main market square. As I stepped past the bakery, I looked in through the window and saw my father setting trays on the counter, my brother Orrin looking at the loaves of bread as though they had mortally offended him.

"Hey, you." I turned at the sound of her voice, seeing her half-silhouette, half-soaked in the rain.

"I wondered where you'd gone." I took a step forward. "You're soaked…" She looked at me, quirking her eyebrows lightly, "Well… get under the umbrella." I gestured and she joined me.

"Er… I'm really sorry for…" She blushed and looked away, flicking a hand through her braid, it dripped at the end. "I shouldn't have run out-"

"Well, I can't say I handled it well-"

"I wanted to tell you, but… I mean, you were with your friends, and I just couldn't-"

"Katniss?" I laid a hand across her mouth and she looked at me, her dark eyes bright in the rain. I leaned over, the umbrella falling sideways slightly, dousing us with raindrops as we crept closer to each other, hardly daring to move but honestly, there was nowhere we'd rather shift to at that moment.

Her lips were soft and sweet as they melded against mine, twisting with my lips, touching gently, then pulling back and trying again. My fingers shifted down her arm, I gently slid my hand into the small of her back, her fingers laced together around my neck, pulling me down to her level, holding me tight.

She swallowed as she pulled away, rain dropping from the tendrils of hair on her forehead, sliding down her cheek to rest at the corner of her lips. She smiled lightly and wiped it away with the tip of her finger.

"Let's go home."

… -x-x- …

Your favourite thing to do when it's raining?

I'll update, if you review? How's that for a compromise? Can we have some words on my characterisation? I want some opinions… what do you want more of, less of… ?!

Xxx

A/N:2 - to my anonymous reviewers:

Ruerose: STILL waiting for the stupid book to come! I've ordered it off amazon because I can't trust my local bookshops. Gah! I hope you enjoyed this chapter too, I hope it was fair length and it made a lot of sense, it's all starting to come together now : ) Hope you enjoyed, let me know! Love ya xxx

Jamika: That's the kiss I think everyone's been waiting for… what do you think? She's finally got her head sorted, but I wonder if there's more to it than this… hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll update soon, hope to hear from you again… (with more fantastic con-crit?) Love ya xxx

Nairobi: Hope this one's good! I'm really pleased you loved the characterisation of Katniss in this and most definitely this one's a bit longer than the last - it's Wednesday that's probably going to be the longest yet, a lot of explanations, apologies and just making sense of it all… Yush, Katniss is ALWAYS confused, and she never talks to anyone, really, it should be nice, for a change, for her to talk it out with Peeta… maybe? : ) xxx