Author's Notes: Thanks for coming back to read more! "From the Heart" by Hoobastank and "I will not forget you" by Sarah McLachlan are also sung in this chapter. This is my first song-fic type chapter so please bare with me! ^.^' Also, there's a slight shocker... mwee!
Disclaimer: Alright, alright. I don't own Sailor Moon and it's respective copyrights. I do however, own the two leading characters and the story itself. No stealing!
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Episode 2: Recollections
Chapter 9 - I Will Not Forget You
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Kori looked to Rei nervously, pulling at the sleeves of her shirt. She was so incredibly nervous, butterflies were on the rampage inside of her stomach. She had never sung in front of a live audience before, she knew that for a fact. If she had then she wouldn't be like this, right? Well, unless she had stage fright... Of course the two friends had practiced numerous times over the past week since Rei had asked her to help, but that was always in private. To Kori, it was a little different singing to actual people.
Her hands fumbled with the papers in her hand. She and Rei were to sing their duet first. At least she could warm up before she had to sing her solo piece.
Rei pulled at Kori's hand, dragging the distraught amnesiac to her manager so she could meet her. "Ms. Etsuko, I'd like you to meet someone," said Rei, motioning with her hands to the raven and platinum haired girl beside her. "This is Kori Oneida. My duet partner? She's also singing that solo piece."
Ms. Etsuko looked to Rei's friend and smiled sweetly, "Have you ever sung in front of a live audience before, dear?"
Kori's eyes widened and she shook her head as a response. She felt if she spoke at this moment in time, that she would puke. Besides, she didn't want to ruin the lady's nice dress.
"Well then, that's no problem. Just relax. Rei, give her some pointers and help her warm up, please?" chuckled the woman.
Rei looked to her manager with a warm smile, "Of course!" Rei turned to Kori as her manager walked away. She could see the nervousness swimming around in Kori's eyes. "Look into my eyes Kori and sing the first few verses of the song with me, okay? It'll help you relax a bit," she said helpfully.
Kori nodded and looked into Rei's dark eyes. Taking in a deep breath, the two started to sing the song quietly. Their voices harmonized together perfectly. The song faded slowly, and Kori looked at Rei with a smile stretching across her face. Rei grinned back.
"Thanks," started Kori.
"No thanks needed!" beamed Rei with a large smile.
Kori turned to a boy with a clipboard as he approached her. "Miss Rei?" he asked quietly.
Rei turned to the boy swiftly, looking directly into his eyes. "Yeah? What do you want?" she replied sharply.
The boy scratched the back of his head and looked to his feet with embarrassment. "You're on next..." he said quietly.
"What? Speak louder!" she shouted, flying her arms up in the air.
"Shhh! Rei be quiet!" scorned Kori as she placed her hand on her raven-haired friends shoulder, "He said we're on next."
Rei nodded and dismissed the boy. She looked down at her outfit and smoothed out the wrinkles.
Kori really liked Rei's dress. It was a knee length red halter dress, and it seemed to somewhat shimmer in the dim light behind the curtains. Rei looked really nice in red, it suited her personality. Kori chuckled at her thoughts.
Kori looked down at her own dress. The dress was...somewhat revealing. After asking Rei if it was appropriate to wear since there were going to be children at the show, she had almost decided against wearing it. However, after careful persuasion Rei had managed to get her to wear it. The dress itself had no straps, the only thing holding it up was an elastic band inside the fabric. It was black with small blue pinstripes. On her feet she wore knee-high black boots. Around Kori's neck hung a silver chain, and from it hung a silver ring with a pearl embedded in it. She had no idea where the ring had come from, but she felt it had meaning to her so she wore it around her neck just to be safe.
Kori peaked around the corner of the curtain to see the audience. She stepped back, stunned with what she saw. There were so many people! She looked to Rei nervously and groaned.
"Don't worry about it, Kori. Just pretend they're all naked and it'll be okay!" said Rei jokingly. It had always worked with her, and she had gotten over her stage fright hadn't she?
Kori nodded and held Rei's hand tightly. She gasped as she heard her name being called from the stage and she swallowed back her fear. Everything would go fine!
The two friends took a deep breath and walked through the heavy curtains and onto the stage, taking the microphones they were offered. Kori had to squint her eyes to keep the bright light out of her eyes. She waited by the side of the stage with Rei and looked to the announcer.
"Ladies and gentle, boys and girls, it's my pleasure to introduce Rei Hino and Kori Onedia," said the announcer, gesturing to the two girls, "They're going to sing 'From the Heart' for you." The man exited the stage and left Kori and Rei standing there alone. Rei walked to centre stage and Kori followed.
"Hi everyone! How are you all, tonight?" shouted Rei cheerfully into her microphone excitedly. The crowd replied with a loud roar.
Kori blinked the light out of her eyes and scanned the crowd. Right there, two rows from the front was Luke. Kori's mouth dropped. He was going to watch her sing? 'Oh boy...' she thought. She looked to her left and there was Usagi, Mamoru, Chibi-Usa, Makoto, Chad, and Ken sitting a few rows back. She groaned as Usa waved to her with a large grin.
Rei however, was busy introducing themselves. "Most of you already know me as Rei, and my friend here is Kori Oneida. We're going to sing a duet together. It's called 'From the Heart'..." she trailed. Rei lowered the mic from her mouth and waited for the music to start. She looked to Kori with gleaming eyes and Kori replied with a weak smile.
The
music started to drift into the outdoors auditorium. Almost as soon as it had
started, Rei lifted her microphone to her lips. She started to sing softly,
"There was a time when our dreams felt so real,
just out of reach but not too far to feel." She reached her hand out
quickly and pulled it back to her body as she spoke 'reach'. "Together we'd
finally make them come true cause anything's possible when I was with," Rei
looked to Kori and smiled as one word came from both their mouths,
"you." Rei's voice belted out across the auditorium again, "But
they kept on saying we'd never amount to anything!"
Kori stepped forward and the two sang together, their voices intertwining melodically as the music got louder, "All of the dreams we've built up from the ground, they never believed them they just tore them down," The two took a deep breath and placed their hands over their hearts and continued, letting emotions be their voices, "We will rebuild them from the start, we will rebuild them from the heart!"
Rei stepped back so Kori could sing her verse. Kori's mouth opened wide as her voice rang throughout the large room, "Cause once all we wanted seemed so far away, but with every step it was closer each day. The more that we tried it was within our grasp, the more that they told us that it wouldn't," Kori looked to Rei and grinned as they both sang, "last." Kori sang alone once again, "And everyone said we were crazy for giving up everything!"
The two broke into the chorus once more, "All of the dreams we've built up from the ground, they never believed them they just tore them down." Rei reached her hand towards Kori and she grabbed it tightly as the sang beautifully together, "We will rebuild them from the start, we will rebuild them from the heart!"
Kori let the microphone drop as Rei sang clearly, "From the heart, from the heart, from the heart!"
A guitar broke into a solo as Rei caught her breath. Kori looked bravely into the crowd and sang in a very soft voice alone, her voice picking up volume as progressed through her part, "All of the dreams we've built up from the ground, they never believed them they just tore them down." Rei joined her as they finished the chorus, "We will rebuild them from the start, we will rebuild them from the heart!" Rei proceeded to sing the last chorus as Kori sang back up, "All of the dreams we've built up from the ground (from the ground), they never believed them they just tore them down (tore them down)," Kori bent her knees slightly and flipped her hair around slightly as Rei continued, "We will rebuild them from the start (from the start), we will rebuild them from the heart (from the heart), from the heart (from the heart)." Rei finished off the song with one last, "From the heart..."
The crowd broke into a frantic cheer as the friends held hand and bowed politely to the stage. "Thank you!" shouted Rei as they exited the stage. Kori stumbled as she tried to keep herself from laughing. "Wow, that was so much fun! I wasn't nervous at all once I started to sing!" said Kori cheerfully.
Rei nodded in agreement, "See? I told you!" she laughed, "Your solo should be after the intermission. Come on, let's go find our friends." Rei grabbed Kori's hand dragged her into the lobby from backstage.
* * *
Kori looked at Luke nervously. Thank god he hadn't seen her yet. She hadn't really talked to him much in the past week and she felt bad for it. Part of her wanted to see him, yet part of her didn't. 'I wonder what he thought of our duet?' she thought to herself. She personally, couldn't wait until her solo piece.
She approached Luke and tapped his shoulder, causing him to turn around abruptly. He grinned when he saw her behind her. "Hey," he said quietly.
"Hey to you too," she replied as she tugged at the bottom of her dress. It was just a tad too short...
Luke took in her appearance. She was absolutely stunning. Even more so than their first date had been. The dress she wore fit to her curves splendidly, showing off her body. Not to mention that the dress was stylish. She had kept her hair down, and he so desperately wanted to touch it, to smell it, to just feel it in his hands would be enough. But that ring she wore around her neck, he had seen it somewhere before. Her left finger...Luke gasped when he realized what it was. He wondered where she had found it. However, the fact that she wore comforted Luke.
Kori
blushed when she noticed him staring. Playing with her hair nervously, she
tilted her head and looked him in the eye to get his attention.
"Oh...I'm s-sorry," he stuttered. 'What a moron I am,' he thought to
himself. She had caught him staring at her! How embarrassing...
"So..." she said with a smile, "Are you going to watch my next song?"
"Of course! I wouldn't miss it for the world," he replied.
Kori smiled and gave him a quick hug before running off to get ready for the next act.
Luke sighed. That hug felt so...right. If only she would remember...Luke turned and headed back to the stage to take his seat.
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Kori fiddled with the microphone in her hand. She was incredibly nervous again, even more than she had been before. She felt as if something was going to happen, but she didn't know what it was. At least it wasn't the same feeling she had gotten when those Nega people had shown up. She was about to go on stage to perform her solo, and it was near the end of the show.
After hearing the announcer informed the crowd of her performance, the lights dimmed and she walked onto the stage quietly, taking her place at the front centre stage.
She waited for the music to start, and was relieved when after what felt like hours the music finally began to play. She waited for the soft guitar solo to end and softly began to sing,
"I
remember the nights I watched as you lay sleeping
Your body gripped by some far away dream,"
She tilted her head slightly to the side and brought slender fingers to hang by her face. She looked into Luke's eyes which she felt watching her from the audience as her voice wavered beautifully with the music,
"Well I was so scared and so in love then
And so lost in all of you that I had seen,"
She raised her face defiantly and swayed to her voice,
"But
no one ever talked in the darkness
No voice ever added fuel to the fire
No light ever shone in the doorway
Deep in the hollow of earthly desires."
She shut her eyes and was surprised to see images flashing past her eyelids. So familiar...
"But
if in some dream there was brightness
If in some memory some sort of sign
And flesh be revived in the shadows
Blessed our bodies would lay so entwined."
Kori stared into Luke's blue eyes as she sang the chorus,
"And
I will, oh, I will not forget you
Nor will I ever let you go
I will, oh, I will not forget you"
Kori's body filled with emotions that she didn't even knew she held. Her body began to tremble slightly as she finished the chorus and began the next verse,
"I
remember when you left in the morning at daybreak
So silent you stole from my bed
To go back to the one who possesses your soul
And I back to the life that I dread."
Luke
watched from the crowd as Kori looked into his eyes as she sang. It was as if
she was searching his soul for the answers he couldn't give her. But what was
that in her eye? A glimmer of hope? Luke gasped as she sang with all her heart,
"So I ran like the wind to the water
Please don't leave me again I cried
And I threw bitter tears at the ocean
But all that came back was the tide..."
Kori
flung her arm behind her as she shut her eyes again and began to sing. Her body
was trembling so much now. She began to feel dizzy, but she figured it was just
from her nervousness,
"And I will, oh, I will not forget you
Nor will I ever let you go,"
Kori smiled and leaned over the stage, reaching her hand out to Luke with a smile as she sang. Luke...Lucas...Moon Kingdom? Kori blinked to clear her vision as she finished up the song,
"I will, oh, I will not forget you,"
She paused for a music break and brought her hand to her head as she waited for her cue. So much was coming to her, so many feeling and emotions. She couldn't explain it if she had to. She looked to Luke who was looking to her with concern and let out a weak smile. She softly began to sing, as if it was just for him, standing on the edge of the stage,
"And
I will oh I will not forget you
Nor will I ever let you go
I will oh I will not forget you...
Ohhhhh,
I
will, oh, I will not forget you,
Nor will I ever let you go,
I will, oh, I will not forget you,
Nor
will I ever let you go,
I will, oh, I will not forget you..."
Kori's vision blurred and went black as she collapsed off the stage and into Luke's arms.
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Whee! What do you think happened to Kori, hmm? It's pretty damn obvious haha. Currently, I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to take this story from here. There is only one episode left to write, but I'm running out of ideas. If you have any, please give me some opinions! Please review ^.^