The Stories of The Arena

the kaminari's

They had left their spot a few hours ago, enjoying the last moments before the reaping began. Trekking through the greenery with what they had managed to gather, they chose not to hunt that day, even after Hitoshi's attempt at shooting down a 100 pound deer with no proper plan on what to do with it afterwards. Hitoshi still insisted he could have heaved it over the fence though Izuku knew he was letting his pride overcome common knowledge, it was refreshing seeing Hitoshi worry over such a typical teenager thing like pride, it almost made it seem like they were two young kids in a normal life before he remembered they were in the woods hunting for the sake of survival, these small views of normality happened constantly in his mind before it was ruined by their miserable surroundings

The pair had already gone through their usual trading schedule, visiting certain houses for specific trades and wandering around the hob afterwards seeing if there was anything that caught their eye. Normally on reaping days most businesses were closed but the hob was still alive and fairly busy, the whole situation could have been much more pleasant if the time between now and the reaping didn't continue to shrink at a considerable pace, not to mention the knowledge of the large amount of times both of their names were about to be entered into the reaping did not help to ease their stomachs either, the situation loomed anxiously over every citizen in district 12's heads.

"My mums going to help me get ready for the reaping." Izuku said suddenly, they had been walking around for a while, procrastinating from the compulsory grooming everyone in the district had to do before the reaping, apparently it was to make their district seem more lively and hopefully gain sponsors but Hitoshi knew better, it was like dressing a pig up before you slaughtered it mercilessly. It was all for the show part of it before it really got to the gruesome part of the whole hunger games.

"It's fine, I can visit the apothecary by myself."

Hitoshi was used to visiting the apothecary now, Izuku used to visit often by himself and Hitoshi would go home with his share of the spoils but after Izuku shared his knowledge about herbs and plants Hitoshi started tagging along too. He had a half friendship with the owner's son, he traded with his family and ended up lingering around to talk with the boy who worked there, Izuku normally always left before Hitoshi. It was almost like a small glimpse of a normal life when he was with the Kaminari's son before he realised he was in district 12 and the magical facade disappeared.

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked, he held the bag of herbs out to Hitoshi, raising an eyebrow. "You don't have to, we can always go tomorrow."

He rolled his eyes before he snatched the bag from the other male, an annoyed look on his face. "I'm not a baby Izuku. I've been plenty of times with you and I know what to do."

"If you say so."

Izuku waved to the taller male before setting off to his home in the distance. Who did Izuku think he was? Hitoshi knew his way around the district, did he think he'd get nervous about trading a couple of plants. He shook his head in annoyance before walking towards the apothecary shop, the homemade wooden sign proudly hanging at the front.

Kaminari's Apothecary

There were no doctors in District 12 so Apothecaries were the healers everyone depended on, which is why the Kaminari's were so well off, or well for their district standards they were pretty well off, no hunting, no extra names in the reaping, no stale bread or going to bed hungry. What Hitoshi would do to have a life like that.

It wasn't the best but they got by.

Hitoshi knocked on the door, and almost instantly the door swung open. A woman was on the other side of the door. Mrs Kaminari was clutching onto the handle, her red face and puffy nose were evident on her features, she must have been crying recently.