Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games, Catching Fire or Mockingjay. These wonderful books are property of Suzanne Collins.

1: Home

Katniss POV

A few months have passed since I came back to District 12 since the Hunger Games. At first it was a bit chaotic, but now I've settled down into a routine. Wake up, breakfast. Talk with family, visit Gale. Go and hunt, come back for lunch. Sell at the Hob. Teach a poor kid from the Seam, Melanie, how to hunt. Dinner time. Spend the evening with my family.

As I exit the house to go to train Melanie, I catch sight of Gale. He is leading Rory out of the house, probably to the woods. I wish Prim would learn to hunt, so she could feed herself if I die, but she won't. Prim is too caring to do that, even to animals. I don't really want to take that away from her, it's part of what makes Prim Prim.

I run down to my old house, an agreed meeting place for Melanie and I. I only have to wait a few minutes before she turns up. Her head bobs around the corner, dark hair flopping in her face. She has the typical seam look, just like Gale and I. Slim, muscular figure, dark hair, grey-blue eyes. She has a bow strapped over her back and is wearing suitable clothes for hunting.

"Katniss," she greets breathlessly. "Sorry I'm late, lunch went on for longer than expected."

I brush off her apology with a simple, "are you ready to go hunting?" Her eyes light up and she nods eagerly. I can tell that she likes hunting a lot, not just because of the food. She just seems more powerful and at peace in the woods. I remember the feeling, when I first started hunting.

The satisfaction when I made my first kill with the bow and arrow, the power I felt as my skills began to improve. It isolated me from others my age, but it was worth the sacrifice. Being in the woods just makes me feel more free, more aware. Like nothing really matters but the heat of the moment, where nobody is watching.

She bounds after me and ducks through the fence wires easily. I lead her a way into the woods and tell her to listen. That's one of the most important things to do whilst hunting. To be aware of the environment. I hear the crunch of leaves and immediately tense up. I nock an arrow instinctively.

That's not something that happened before. This is the lingering instincts from the Hunger Games, where being unprepared or hesitating could get you killed. I keep the arrow ready, but gesture with my head that Melanie should take the shot. Melanie nocks an arrow easily, a large contrast to her clumsy movements a few months ago.

She steadies the arrow and lets it fly towards the area of the rustling. I hear a bit more rustling. She missed. Without thinking, I release my arrow, hitting a squirrel directly through the eye. Melanie looks very disappointed with her failure. I head towards the kill and pick it up.

"That was a good try," I tell Melanie. "But for now, you need to aim more before shooting. Make sure you know exactly where the animal is. It takes a lot of practice to shoot instinctively like I did." Her face falls slightly. I know that she wanted to become as good as Gale and I with bows and arrows quickly.

We continue hunting for a while and Melanie catches a rabbit on her own. I manage to catch another two squirrels and a blackbird. The prey that doesn't go to Melanie's family at the end of the day is given to other hungry families in the Seam. This has made us some of the most popular people in Twelve.

The feeling is quite odd. I was always respected in the Hob, partly because of my game and partly because of my father. But being known all over the District, and being loved for defying the Capitol is different. It doesn't feel right and it makes it hard to know who likes you for you or for your money or reputation.

When I get home, Peeta is in the house talking to Prim. They are eating bread and laughing over something. I am grateful to Peeta for helping to feed my family when I was away, but I'm not sure why he keeps doing it now. Now we have more money than pretty much everyone in the District, we can afford to buy bread. And Peeta's not the type of person who would be my friend just for my reputation.

Peeta and Prim get along very well. Peeta and I are pretty good friends, but Prim has really taken a shine to him. I think it's because he's quite peaceful and gentle like her. She has often said she feels impatient around Gale and I because we're both so hate-fuelled towards many things, but I don't think Peeta has it in him to hate.

"Hi Peeta," I call to him as I out my bow away.

"Katniss," he says, standing up in surprise. "I didn't see you there. How was hunting?" he asks.

"It was good, I caught a few squirrels and Melanie caught a rabbit," I reply. Prim recoils slightly in disgust at the thought of this. She wants me to use my victory money to help Melanie and the others in the Seam, but I want her to be able to survive without me. Prim hates hunting.

"Look what Peeta brought over!" Prim says excitedly. I look towards the table and see a box containing four beautiful cupcakes. One for me, one for him, one for Prim and one for mum. Nice of him. The cupcakes are delicately iced and he has created our faces using the icing. I'd quite like to do that, I think to myself, remembering a failed ten minutes at the camouflage station in training. Peeta would be great at camouflage.

I nearly laugh at the fact that the ability to decorate cupcakes would be able to help in the Hunger Games, but then I realise that I am linking a lot of things to the Hunger Games now. But I can't run away from the past, I remind myself. I can't change what happened and even if I could, I wouldn't. If I hadn't gone in then Prim would and she and Peeta probably wouldn't be alive now.

"They look nice," I tell him. "How did you make them?"

"Simple cake recipe," he says. "And a bit of fondant icing. It's not complicated. Prim learned how to ice a cupcake a few days ago." I turn to Prim, who nods.

"That's nice," I tell her. Each to their own I suppose and Prim is definitely more of a baker than a hunter. Maybe Peeta still comes over because of his friendship with Prim and me. Whatever the reason, I'm not going to complain. His bread and cakes taste very good and he makes Prim happier and helped our family.

Whenever Gale comes over he seems a bit hostile towards Peeta though. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because Peeta got away with staying out of the Hunger Games or because he lived the pampered life of a merchant kid. I don't think Gale has ever liked Peeta that much, only tolerated him. Because of this, they tend to stay away from each other mostly.

"How's Melanie doing?" Peeta asks me. Maybe he's hoping for another hunter to start bringing around cleanly shot prey to sell to his family. Most of the other hunters bring theirs in with arrows through the body.

"Better than I thought she would," I admit. "She has a talent with the bow and arrow, she's only been training for about two months and she can already shoot some moving targets."

"Maybe it's that you're a good teacher," he suggests.

"Maybe," I reply. "But she's good anyway."

I decide to leave Prim and Peeta to whatever it is they were doing before I came in, taking my cupcake and thanking Peeta as I go out. I don't have much common ground to talk about with Peeta. He's a nice boy and he did save my life probably a few years back, but I still find it hard to relate to him over anything.

His problems are about his mum shouting at or hitting him. My problems are about putting a convincing act for the victory tour and mentoring. His hobbies are baking and frosting. Mine are hunting and training. He makes a better friend for Prim than for me, despite the two year age gap now that Prim is thirteen.

I decide to visit Gale. He's back at his house now with Rory after the afternoon that they spent setting snares and hunting. I open the door and go straight in, Gale gave me a key. His house is nicely decorated. It is minimalistic like mine, but has some nice touches that make it comfortable and homely.

"Gale!" I call him.

I hear him rush down the stairs and see come to a stop in front of me. "Katniss," he says. "Why are you here?"

"Peeta and Prim were having a meeting at my house, I didn't want to interrupt them," I reply. I hug him in greeting and give him a short kiss, which he returns. He has put on a bit of weight since the games, which is unsurprising, so now he has a thin layer of soft fat around him.

"So what do you want to do?" Gale asks me.

"I don't know. Just talk I guess," I reply. I've needed to talk to Gale about our future for a while. "What are we going to do now?" I ask him. "The Capitol won't leave us alone after we defied them. What do we do for the victory tour?"

"Same thing we did in the Games," Gale replies. "Make our love for each other so obvious that even the Capitolites can understand it. I was thinking," he says, "that I should propose to you."

Gale proposing? That would be a great show for the Capitol, but that's just not what I want my proposal to be. A great show for the Capitol. I want that moment to be just me and Gale, in the woods or somewhere private. I want it to be for me, not for an audience of Capitolites.

"That is a good idea," I say slowly. "But are you sure you want that moment to be in front of so many Capitolites?" I ask, hoping he will say no.

"Of course not!" Gale replies angrily. Not anger to me, but anger to our situation. "But as far as I see it, that will be the only thing that will really convince them of our love."

"I guess," I reply. "This isn't just about us getting out alive now." Gale nods and I rest my head on his shoulder. It feels good to relax on him, just me and him. The way I wanted it to start out. It is a nice moment as our breathing synchronises and we feel almost as one person.

It is interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Grumbling, Gale and I get up to answer it. I can't think who it would be since anyone who would be here would have a key. We open the door and I look into the face of the person I least wanted to see. President Snow. His cold, snake-like eyes stare into mine for a moment, then he asks, "may I come in?"

We know better than to refuse him.

xXx-X-xXx

Cliffhanger on the first chapter.. Sorry. Anyway, this is the first chapter of the sequel to I Volunteer. If you haven't read that one already, please read it because this one probably won't make much sense without it. So what do you think of the story so far?

-MoonOfPluto