A/N. Hey guys! Here's chapter what, 11? Really? Even if I have been sucking with the whole updating thing, I can barely believe it! Hah. Enjoy!

Special thanks to~

QueenOfDarkHearts – Don't worry hun, I have already been planning on that, but in a little while though. Soon!

EternalFalsity – I'm glad you like their personalities! Heh. Don't worry, the whole Games thing will happen soon. But for now we have to build that up. Have no worries though! Soon you'll have everything you want

For My Personal Pleasure – Your reviews mean so much to me! They're always great fun to read Ranka just seems to have the personality of Caesar, at least in my opinion. I'm still trying to figure out where to put in other characters. Mori and Honey would have been good for Thresh and Rue, but eh. I'll figure it out sooner or later.

And to the guest who recently reviewed chapter 1 – Their roles are exactly the way you want them to be. Katniss is the one who hunts and Peeta is the one who bakes, but that doesn't make Katniss the one with the whole male bravado and such. No need to fret, dear.

Now to the chappie!

Chapter 11

Kaoru's POV

"Wake up Kaoru, it's time for another big, big, big day!" Renge's voice fills my ears and I groan quietly, but for once I don't react violently or grumpily over being woken up in the morning.

Getting out of the bed, I tread over to the dresser and pull out some clothes for me to wear, then take a shower like I should.

Once I was all dressed up, I run a hand through my slightly damp hair and head down to the dining car, taking a seat next to Hikaru.

"Good morning, Kao. How'd you sleep?" He asks, looking over at me.

"I slept pretty well, actually." I answer, reaching over and grabbing a buttered roll. "How about you?"

Hikaru nods, swallowing a forkful of hash browns. "I slept decently, at least"

He and I fall into a comfortable silence as we wait for Renge and Nekozawa. Renge was presumably late because she was working on waking Nekozawa up still.

"Nekozawa, wake up!" Renge's voice wafts down the hallway of the train. Yep.

A few minutes later, Renge and Nekozawa enter. Renge looks accomplished and sits in her seat, getting some food. Nekozawa looks like he was still sort of asleep, but waking up because he had something important to say.

"All right, kiddies. Listen up." He mumbles, sitting next to Renge. Hikaru and I look at him from across the table, giving him our full attention. "Tomorrow, the interviews are taking place." He pours himself a glass of… whoa, is that orange juice?

"Yeah, so?" Hikaru responds, while I'm still shocked that Nekozawa was drinking natural orange juice without booze.

"Well, today is the day you train for them." He sips the juice. "So we have approximately eight hours to prepare you mentally and plan what you do, then you have to go to sleep, then wake up to get dolled up." Hikaru and I nod. "So Renge and I are splitting the times. Four hours with her for presentation, four hours with me for content. Sound good?"

I nod. "Yeah.

Hikaru agrees.

"Great! After we're done here eating, Kaoru, you go with Renge first."

I inwardly groan, but I nod anyhow.

"Fine."

"So I'm going with you first?" Hikaru asks, probably for clarification.

"Yep, bull's-eye son." Nekozawa responds, eating a piece of sausage.

Breakfast seems to fly by, and before I know it, I'm being whisked off to go into my room with Renge.

First, she begins training me on how to maneuver in my suit and dress shoes. Since I am the more "feminine" tribute, I have a tight, curvy kind of suit, which was stiff and made it hard to even sit in. The shoes were also incredibly difficult, being as I'm used to leather that actually moves and bends, not stiff and stubborn dress shoes.

Nekozawa has been doing this stuff for years, I can do it to.

It doesn't take me long to be able to move around in the suit and such, and we move on to body language. Sitting up straight, eye contact, hand gestures, friendliness, smiling, smiling, and more smiling. Renge says to either start sentences with a smile, say them with a smile, or end them with a smile. A smile is the gateway to the kokoro. Whatever that means.

When lunchtime comes around, my cheek muscles hurt and twitch every once in a while, not used to being used so much.

Going down to the lunch table, I sit next to Hikaru again, sighing as I start putting food on my plate.

"That bad, huh?" He cuts in, an amused tone to his voice.

I shoot him a look. "You think? I've never smiled more in my life."

Lunch flies by, and once over Nekozawa takes me into the living room area. We sit down, and he stares.

"Huh?" I ask, looking down at myself.

"How do you feel about Hikaru?" He asks offhandedly, scanning my appearance.

For some reason, my cheeks ignite and I look up at him slowly. "Wh-what do you mean? He's my brother! I love him, heh."

Nekozawa shakes his head. "C'mon, sweetheart. You don't just love him like a normal brother, do you." It was stated more as a statement than a question. "I've seen the way you look at him, interact with him. I may not be the brightest tool in the box, mostly since I'm drunk a lot, but hmmph. I can tell how you feel about Hikaru."

I didn't even realize I was staring down at my lap until he was done. My cheeks burn and my heart thumps within my chest, was he right?

"I think it'd be a great thing to bring up in your interview. I'll throw Ranka in the tip that you have a love interest, he'll most likely bring it up. You should say Hikaru."

My eyes snap up to look at him. "Huh? Why?!"

"It'd be a great way to get sponsors, Kaoru." He actually used my name. He must be serious, dead serious.

Biting my lip, I look down at my lap again. Do I feel that way about Hikaru? Even if I did, realizing it now would only be more painful in the long run, even if Nekozawa is exactly right.

Taking a deep, deep breath, I close my eyes. "Fine." The word leaves a bad taste in my mouth. "Fine. I'll tell everyone that I'm in love with Hikaru." Reopening my eyes, I look up at him. "Will it get him sponsors?" I ask quietly.

Nekozawa nods. "It should. People would want to see you two together." He sighs. "You want to see you two together also."

I look away. "We're going into the Hunger Games. It'd never happen, even if I wanted it to."

Once we get that obstacle out of the way, Nekozawa relaxes on me a bit, letting the reigns loose just a tad. "All right. So now we've got to work on that personality of yours."

"What about it?" I snap at him, huffing.

"That." He answers simply, and he and I delve into the different possibilities.

I'm none of the things he suggests, and it doesn't take long before he actually starts drinking booze. By the time the session is over, I'm no one. No one decided.

"I give up, Jelly Bean. Just try to answer questions, not screw up the love confession, and act like you don't openly hate everyone and everything."

I just leave and eat dinner in my room for that time, thinking about all of the different outcomes of the night.

Would Hikaru hate me?
Would the audience be disgusted?

Shaking my head, I crawl underneath my covers and sigh, closing my eyes. Tomorrow was going to be hell for me.

But nothing like the hell of the Games coming up.

A/N. Review, follow, and favorite! The interviews are next chapter, hmm, if I get at least more than 5 reviews I'll post the interview chapter in the next week definitely!

Review = Serenades from Tamaki :3