The blood on these hands (Clove Kentwell)

Chapter 17

All Iris saw was darkness, she could barely even see her own hand in front of her face. But she could make out a faint body in the distance so she decided to follow it. At first it was walking then when Iris started walking after it, it started running, almost like it was trying to play tag. Iris ran as fast as she could but was never able to catch up to the person. Finally after some time running the person in front of her stopped making Iris almost run into them. They turned around and Iris smiled so big it hurt her mouth as she saw Clove standing there with her hand out. Iris took Cloves hand and Clove started running again. Iris ran hand in hand with her as she saw some light in the darkness. Her and Clove ran towards it and it got bigger and bigger until they were almost able to touch it.

    Iris woke up in a dark cave she took in her surroundings and felt her arm. It was bandaged up and wasn't bleeding. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye as she turned her head to look. She saw Clove sitting there silently looking at her. "Sleep well?" Clove asked Iris as she smiled. "Yeah, but how did you patch up my arm?" Iris asked not intending to tell Clove about her dream. "With Peeta's health bag." Clove said pointing to the empty bag on the floor with the number twelve on it. Iris suddenly remembered what happened yesterday as a headache hit her. She thought about Peeta and Gabe as the headache got worse, she remembered her what happened to her arm and why she passed out. But then looked back at Clove who was still staring at her. "Have you just been watching me sleep." Iris teased. "Yes I have and I must say you look really cute when you are asleep and when you wake up." Clove said as she winked at Iris. Iris just rolled her eyes and turned over. "Man, your even cuter when your grumpy." Clove said with a smirk because sue knew she was getting a rise out of Iris.

   Iris didn't say anything back but instead tried to stand up which wasn't a good idea because she instantly fell back over. Clove came and caught her right before she hit the ground and sat there for a second with Iris's head in her lap. "You better watch your step there, I might not be there to catch you next time." Clove said while still smirking down at Iris. Iris just stared back at her not saying anything. Clove took this as a challenge of course and stared right back but to make it a little harder on Iris Clove put her hands on her chest as she looked down at Iris in her lap. Iris folded almost immediately once she felt Cloves hands. "Hm that's what you get for trying to intimidate me." Clove said as she kept her hands on Iris's chest. "Ha ha very funny but if we are not going to do anything interesting I am going back to sleep." Iris said never looking back at Clove as her heart was pumping at the touch of Clove. Iris was sure Clove could feel her heart because it was practically jumping out of her chest. "Fine take a nap all you want but I am not leaving this spot." Clove said rubbing Iris's shoulders a little bit. Iris just looked at her for a second then closed her eyes and as irritating as Clove could be sometimes, Iris could always find peace when she was around. She felt Cloves hand come up and touch her forehead and put a strand of hair behind her ear. Clove leaned down and placed a kiss on Iris's forehead, Iris couldn't help but having a big smile on her face. She heard and felt Clove chuckle as she put her hands back on her shoulders and started slowly rubbing them making Iris tired. Iris drifted off to sleep but this time with no nightmares, no dreams just calming peaceful sleep.

   Iris once again woke up but this time she was less alert because she knew where she was. But she realized she didn't feel Cloves warm hands on her chest anymore. Iris shot up and went to the entrance of the cave. There she saw Clove throwing a knife at a rabbit. "You gonna eat that." Iris asked teasing. "I mean yeah what else would I do with it." Clove fired back. Iris hummed and went over to the rabbit that had a few knives in it but it was already dead. Iris didn't question why she threw so many knives at it, instead she was just silent as she went and got all of the knifes out and picked up the rabbit. She walked over to Clove and without a word gave her the knives back. Iris went back into the cave and set down the rabbit. She went back outside to find some sticks so she could make a fire, but as soon as she stepped outside Clove was standing there with sticks. Clove then went around Iris into the cave "You coming?" Clove asked while still going into the cave. Iris smirked to herself as she thought back to the first words she ever said to Clove on the elevator, then she was right behind Clove.

    Clove tried to make a fire but she wasn't doing it right. "You haven't made a fire before have you." Iris said as she watched Clove struggle. "No, back at home we never really worked on the survival part, we were mainly focused on combat training." Iris didn't move as she just watched Clove struggle finding it cute how frustrated she was getting. "Well are you just going to sit there like your helpless or are you going to come and help me?" Clove asked almost irritated. Iris chuckled to herself as she got up and went behind Clove and sat down where Iris's legs were on either side of Cove and Iris could see over her shoulder. Iris grabbed Cloves hands a she rested her head on Cloves shoulder. She put her hands at the very top of the stick and started moving them down faster. Then after a little bit of doing that they had a small fire going. Iris didn't get up and decided she was just going to sit behind Cove for a little bit with her head still resting on her shoulder. "Are you going to sit here or are you going to go get the rabbit so we can cook it." Clove said but this time she wasn't annoyed she actually was looking at Iris with that smile. Iris glanced down at her lips for just a little to long so Clove caught her. "Hey, eyes up here." Clove said she she put her finger under Iris's chin, forcing Iris to look her in the eyes. Their faces were centimeters apart so Iris could feel Cloves breath on her lips. She then caught Clove staring at her lips too but she didn't say anything afraid to ruin the moment. Clove kept her finger under Iris's chin as she leaned in to kiss Iris. Iris hesitated for a second but then decided against it and leaned in too.

    It was just a magical as the first time they kissed but this time Iris's heart skipped a few beats as she felt Cloves lips on her own. Iris wrapped her arms around Coves stomach as she tried to pull her closer.  Iris felt her heart do a full summersault in her chest as she felt Cloves hands come over her own on Cloves stomach as she looked over her shoulder kissing Iris. But it came to and end as soon as it started, Clove broke the kiss "you should probably go get the rabbit before it gets bad." Clove practically whispered to Iris. Iris whined for a second before getting up and getting the rabbit.

   She got the rabbit and came and sat down right next to Clove then started cooking it. She felt Cloves head fall on her shoulder as the rabbit took its time cooking.

    Once the rabbit was done Iris took off what she wanted and gave the rest to Clove. Clove sat up and took the rabbit and started eating. They were done with the rabbit fairly quickly as it became night outside. Iris went to go lay down by herself and rolled over so she had her back to Clove, but suddenly she felt a warm body press against her back and Iris was instantly calmed by Cloves presence. She drifted off to sleep with no nightmares, and only one thought in her head, and that thought was Clove. How she looked, how her skin felt, what her lips felt like. Clove was all Iris could think about. And then she drifted off into a deep sleep.