The zipping of my arrow is the only sound that doesn't belong in the woods that you can hear, the kill made of the rabbit I just brought down the next one. I hadn't even breathed and neither did Gale. I can't even tell you how good it feels to be out hunting again just like old times, even if it's not exactly the same. For one we're not in our woods, we're in the forest just outside the ruins of what used to be District 13. For another we're barefoot to be quieter and our shoes are left with the ankle trackers and communicators in a pile as we take down a large number of animals who are far too trusting of us. It's easy hunting and relaxing, rejuvenating me. Out here I don't have to think about the rebellion or the war going on. Or Peeta in the Capitol, obviously being tortured…

"Nice shot Catnip." Gale breaks the silence as I go over to retrieve my kill and my arrow, wiping the arrow off on some moss.

"Thanks." I murmur, studying my clean right through the eye kill before putting it in my game bag. We have far more than enough to bring back to the kitchen and it's only been around an hour of our two hour time for hunting, so we decide to just relax and take a break by a pond not far from here. Sitting down on the dry dirt just off the mud from the water, we sit in silence and chew some mint leaves before I break the silence this time.

"I wonder if this is what it would be like if we had to run away if this rebellion doesn't work." I wonder aloud. I feel Gale's eyes on me though I don't look up before he answers me.

"Well we'd have our families with us for one." He points out.

"True." I concede. It's not like we would leave them after all. It's strange to think about running away again, though I guess it's not really new for us. The first time being that fateful day when I volunteered for Prim to go into the Games, the second being where I brought it up on that cold winter day at the lake where Gale told me he loved me. And I stupidly said I know, the worst possible thing I could have ever said.

"And besides, we won't have to. This rebellion's going to work and we're all going to be fine." Gale tries to comfort me with and I look at him incredulously. For one this is not the ranting Gale I've always known nor the one who doesn't think the best of everything.

"Liar." I call him out and he shrugs. He knows as well as I do that we all could very well not be fine at all even on the off chance we're all actually alive to be fine at the end of this.

"Let's just say we do have to. Let's pretend." I wish aloud, not exactly sure why. I really just don't want to go back to reality for once.

"Okay." He agrees easily before leaning close to me, taking me by surprise and pressing his warm lips gently to mine as my eyelids on instinct shutter closed at the contact. He hasn't pushed me or the love stuff or anything since we've been to thirteen and I'm surprised he does now. After a moment of still thinking with my eyes closed I slowly open them to find Gale looking at me with an almost guilty but half satisfied smile.

"What was that for?" I ask finally and he gives me another guilty smile before answering.

"Well you said we were running away and that's the first thing I would have done." he informs me before looking down, clearly thinking he did wrong. I find myself actually believing him and feel a little guilty myself for not seeing that coming. He looks down before muttering, "Forget it." and staring off into the distance, clearly feeling the awkward tension between us because he broke that friendship line once again.

And suddenly I just hate that line, that awkwardness. I hate it all and just wish that we could be normal again but I know that's not going to happen. It's my fault for hurting him in the first place with my fake love in the first Games, my fault that I had to pretend to be engaged…married…pregnant to save him. And I would do anything to get that deep frown off his face right now. I can't stand it.

So what do I do? I gently put a hand on his cheek until he looks at me with hurt eyes he fails to hide before I kiss him.

When I pull away he looks at me strangely before asking almost guardedly, "What was that for?"

"That's the first thing I would do if we ran away." I assure him but he just laughs at me.

"Liar." He calls me out on my lie, and it's the truth. To be honest if we were really running away that's just what I would be doing; running.

"No I'm not." I protest even though he knows the truth. He knows me too well and I know him too well. Which means this time I see it coming when he leans into kiss me again.

This time it's more passionate and I find myself kissing him as hard and with just as much verve as he is, not quite knowing what's taken over me. But the sensations running through me, the warmth that I felt tingling every sense I have just like on the beach with Peeta in the Quarter Quell take over quickly and I don't think about it, just let it take over. Gale's tongue brushes my bottom lip to open my mouth and I do so, his tongue slipping inside my mouth and exploring as I do the same. I've never actually done this before and don't really know what I'm doing but Gale doesn't seem to mind.

Our hands explore our bodies as Gale pushes me eventually onto the ground and I find myself liking this position, Gale hovering over me and kissing me again and again as I lie beneath him and my hands press onto his shoulders as he eventually breaks the kiss.

"Still think this is the first thing you would do?" he asks me in an almost seductive tone as we both breathe hard, trying to catch our breaths.

"Yes." I lie again, but this time it's so easy to detect that he just chuckles again through his heavy breathing, the laughter tickling my cheek.

"Now you're a dirty liar Catnip." He chuckles and I find myself blushing by the way he says it. You can hear the double meaning quite easily in his tone. It's true in the literal sense in that I am lying and I'm currently pretty dirty I would guess since I'm on my back in the dirt on the ground, but I can tell he also means in in the more…lustful way. Like I'm really enjoying this and I can guiltily admit to myself I am. I don't care about crossing lines or anything at the moment. I don't care that I'm not supposed to have any feelings at all for my 'cousin' or that we're just outside of District 13 and this isn't our woods or our way. I just don't care at all and I feel that lust taking over me, and I'm sure my eyes are just as black with want as Gale's are which are looking down at me with sheer desire on the heels of his declaration.

"Prove it." I whisper, the want overtaking me. And prove me he does.

His lips find mine again in a fiery kiss but they don't stay there for long, his lips sucking and gently biting my jaw and neck as his hands work on the buttons of my shirt as mine go under his and my hands caress and memorize his toned muscles, even more toned from the recent training here in District 13. As he unbuttons the last button on my shirt and my stomach and chest are exposed save for my standard District 13 bra, the embarrassment and shame take over the lust a bit and I'm blushing again, my hands stopping where they are on his stomach as I freeze and close my eyes, not wanting to see what Gale is thinking of me.

"Katniss." He whispers gently, and I slowly open my eyes again to find his looking down at me in complete understanding. Of course he understands; no one knows me better. I bite my lip once before nodding for this to continue and the lust comes back into his eyes and I feel myself feeling the same, grabbing the back of his head and pulling it down to me for our lips to meet again. As we do so I sense my shirt coming off as well as the bra as I break the kiss long enough to rip off his shirt and when my hands trace the scars on his back from the whipping I feel really bad but then his lips and tongue are sucking on one of my breasts that I sort of forgot to realize were now exposed as one of his hands rubs the other and for once I can't find it in me to care. A moan escapes my lips without my permission and incredulously it only seems to drive him crazier as his movements get a little rougher and more pointed.

Strangely I like the roughness though; it fits us. While I've been polished and most of my scars over the years have been wiped away by the Capitol aside from those from the last few months, Gale still has all his, the calluses on his hands still there from hunting and more from mining. But they feel real unlike my smooth ones now and I can't help but want more of it. That's all I can remember or care about at the moment-the desire the want, the more, more, more.

And the more comes when it's not Gale who takes the next step but me, frantically unbuttoning his pants and unzipping them. I can feel the hardness of the thing that I've only seen on dead or almost dead men and despite my desire I'm a little scared. But he seems to know this and takes my hand away before placing it and the other one above my head before unbuttoning my own pants and ripping them and my underwear off, leaving me completely exposed her on the ground.

But I don't have too much time to be embarrassed as he distracts me with his lips on mine as he incredulously puts one finger into me in a rhythm that would have me panting and moaning if his lips weren't taking them away before he puts in two, and then three. I finally can't take it anymore and break the kiss to groan in pleasure and he takes that as a cue to amazingly put his lips on me, sucking and licking as his fingers go in and out as I grab onto his hair and strangely push him further down than away, my body taking control.

Until I lose control, seeing stars and white and completely losing my vision as waves of pleasure coarse through my entire body, leaving me shaking. Smiling is the first thing I see when my vision comes back and Gale kisses me on the lips again fiercely, letting me taste myself on him. It drives me to go further. Do more.

Now I have the courage to do what I meant to do earlier and I want to make Gale feel the same way that he just made me feel. I confidently take him in my hand even though I still don't know what to do and look down at him before my eyes go a little wide but I try not to show my fear. Instead I focus on how silky and smooth and hard it is under my hand and experimenting, I slowly at first but then faster take my hand up and down it. Gale moans and it drives me wild, makes me feel like I have some sort of power as I decide to do what he did and kiss the top gently as my hand still goes up and down, his moaning my name only encouraging me. Until he stops my hand and pushes me back into the ground again, the breath leaving me as I hit the ground.

But his sheer desire and lust and love in his eyes calms me as he kisses me gently and asks with his eyes if I'm ready. I give a slight nod and he presses his lips hard to me as my legs instinctually go around his waist and lock them there, our hips grinding together and everything feeling almost right. And then his fierce kiss steals the cry from me as he enters me completely and stops moving to let me adjust.

I try to keep the tears from falling out of my closed eyes because it does hurt but I can't stop now. I lay there for a minute until I get used to it and nod a little as my legs slacken and we begin a slow pace, our hips meeting each other. Strangely I'm the one to pick up the pace though as I moan harder or faster and we keep going until I'm seeing stars again. As the pleasure goes through me in harder waves this time I feel Gale see his own stars as he spills into me before we collapse and catch our breaths again.

I finally look up to him with an amazed look, unbelieving that you could ever feel this good. He chuckles once before kissing me lightly on the lips as he pulls out and somehow I miss the contact that I had amazingly already gotten used to. But I take that as my cue to get up and get dressed and he does the same because we need to get back to District 13. Back to reality.

We hold hands and don't speak as we walk back to where we left our shoes and trackers and stuff and as we collect them Gale finally breaks the silence with an almost smug smirk, the desire still evident in his eyes.

"So did I prove you wrong?" he asks me, going back to our conversation before…that happened.

I blush before responding. "No, that's still what I would have done first."

He laughs seductively again at my insistence before letting my hand go as we get to the gate. "You really are a dirty liar." He tells me as he walks off, clearly a little cocky but definitely happy with our day of 'hunting.' I roll my eyes at him a little even though he's right and go to my own compartment, where Prim is waiting for me. Oh right, it's Reflection time. Yeah, I've definitely got some reflecting to do.

"Hi Katniss!" she exclaims as I come in and she pulls me into a hug before quickly pulling out of it. "Why are you so dirty?"

I try not to blush as I answer her, "Oh I fell. It's no big deal." I insist.

"Oh well as long as you're not hurt." Prim replies, a little concerned but clearly buying it. Well I kind of fell. But it is a big deal and it did kind of hurt. And I did something I never thought I would but I can't tell Prim or basically anyone that.

I really am a dirty liar.