Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait . I've had a slight writers block recently, and I got the next couple of chapters laid out. I'm not going tell you what they are though, 'cause that would just ruin it. =:P
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 3: Triumphs
Chapter 10 - Apologies
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Light filtered through the closed blinds in the small room, bringing Kori out of her tentative slumber. She groaned and brought a hand to her forehead groggily. Where on earth was she? She certainly wasn't at the concert where she last remembered where she had been. Then again, she didn't remember much of anything these days. So many things were coming back to her right now, she flinched as she noticed the piercing headache throbbing in the back of her head. She lifted her head off the pillow slightly to get better bearings of her surroundings. The walls around her were painted to an off-white, and looking at them only made her eyes and headache hurt more. Setting her head back on the pillow gently, she let out a groan. How did she get here? Where was 'here'? Kori guessed she was in a hospital, but that was a wild guess. The last she remembered was falling off a stage eight feet up and into the arms of her boyfriend. 'Boyfriend...?' Kori's eyes shot open and she bolted up into a sitting position. 'Boyfriend? Luke!'
"Luke!" she cried out, clutching the sheets of the bed tightly until her knuckles matched the colours of the walls. "Lucas!" she yelled out as a nurse came into the room hastily.
The raven-haired girl looked at the nurse menacingly. "Where am I? Where's Luke?!" Where was he? She needed to apologize. Even if she had nothing to apologize for, she felt she had the obligation to. She did put him through hell, after all.
"Do you remember your name, miss?" asked the nurse.
"Yes! I remember everything! Everything," she gasped.
The nurse looked at the distraught girl on the hospital bed and continued with her work.
"Just tell me, where is he?!" Kori fought off the nurse trying to take her blood pressure who hadn't replied, but fell silent as she watched a blue-eyed boy walk through the doorway holding a bouquet of lilies.
"Leave us alone, please."
"But-" refused the nurse.
"Just go, she'll be fine," argued the boy holding the beautiful flowers.
Kori jumped off the bed and leapt into Luke's arms, hiding her face in his neck. He smelt so...familiar. A familiar she now recognized. She smiled with her own contentment.
"I'm so...so, sorry," he heard her mutter after some time.
He smoothed her hair, taking in the scent he had missed so much. "Hush now, it's alright. I'm here. Always have been."
"Yeah I know but...I..." Kori tried to continue but was cut off by her own sobs.
"Hey, look at me," said Luke gently, "You have nothing to apologize for." He lifted her chin with a finger and he smiled gently as her eyes met his. Although they were glazed over and filled with tears, they were still beautiful.
"I must have put you through hell and back," she whispered, nuzzling her face back in his neck. After getting no reply, she backed away and sat on the bed, looking at the floor.
Luke walked over to the bed and sat next to her, draping his arm over her shoulder. The flowers he still held in his hand, and he brought them in front of Kori's face.
When smelling the faint scent of her favorite flower, she opened her eyes gingerly and smiled. She looked to the boy next to her and pressed her lips against his gently.
The sensation was breathtaking and Luke didn't know how to handle it at first. For the first few moments he sat there, contemplating on whether he should kiss her back, afraid that she would pull away. He sighed inwardly when she placed more delicate kisses over his lips, and he began to return them. Never in his life had he been so comfortable, and he hoped that there would be many more perfect moments like these in the future.
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Pulling the dress she had worn at the concert back over her head, she grimaced inwardly as she noticed her headache was still there. Popping back the couple of painkillers the nurse had left for her, she placed the ugly hospital rags on the bed and left the room to join Luke. She had only been in the hospital over the night, so she only had her dress from the concert to wear. Although she wasn't too fond of hospitals, she was glad that her friends had brought her there the second time around. Why they hadn't the first time still ceased to amaze her.
Kori finally reached the waiting room, and grasped Luke's hand from behind him where he stood waiting.
"Let's get out of here," he said with a sloppy grin.
Kori nodded with agreement, a little too much for her own comfort. The headache still lingered in the back of her head, although she had taken the painkillers to relieve it. Hopefully it would disappear over time.
Leading his newly-awakened girlfriend out of the hospital and out onto the sidewalk in front of it, Luke pulled Kori into an embrace that made her feel like she was going to melt.
"I missed you."
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Heh heh, short, I know. But this was all I could do for now. I should - key word being should - have the next chapter up shortly and will follow the rest of the team's investigation.