This is Me

Summary: Haru's singing at a contest, but she feels she can't finish the song. Will someone help her out? "This Is Me" belongs to Disney, Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas. I OWN NOTHING!

AN: I OWN NOTHING! "This Is Me" belongs to Disney, it's writers, Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas. The Cat Returns and it's characters belong to Studio Ghibli. This was made for fun and to play with characters.

This Is Me

Haru stood behind the curtain, looking onto the stage. The juggling girl before her was finishing her act and it was almost time for her to go on. Turning back, she caught sight of her best friend Hiromi, who was the MC of the talent show, along with Hiromi s boyfriend Tsuge and her original partner for her song, Machida.

"You know, I don't think I can do this," she said, walking farther behind the curtain. "Just tell everyone I got laryngitis and can't sing, or a bee stung me or something."

"Oh, no, Haru," Tsuge said as he grabbed her shoulders. "You promised you would sing, and you will."

"You've just got pre-performance jitters," Machida said, hopping around on his crutch for his broken foot. He had become good friends with Haru after she lost her crush on him and he broke up with his girlfriend, who always got jealous when he talked to any girl but her. "I have those and I've been in a band for four years. You just need to get out there and have fun."

"But what about the guy's lines of the song?" Haru asked. "With Machida out of commission cause of that leg of his, I don t have a partner."

"I told you, we've got the perfect partner for you," Tsuge said, tapping his clipboard that he had as stage manager. "His voice blends perfectly with yours, you don't worry about a thing."

"Seriously, it's not a good idea; I don t know why I even signed up." Haru said, shaking her head.

"You signed up because you wanted to show you were more than the class klutz," Hiromi said, smiling as she accepted a microphone from a stagehand. "Just believe in yourself, and your fears will vanish." She held it out.

Haru smiled. Almost just what he said, she thought. "Okay, thanks guys." She took the microphone as the juggling girl bowed and walked off stage with a round of applause.

Hiromi smiled back, and then walked on stage. "Wow, what a great trick," she announced to the crowd. "And what a great show! Now we have one last act. Everyone, give a warm welcome to Haru Yoshioka, singing This Is Me ." She backed off stage as the audience cheered and Haru walked on stage.

Standing in the spotlight as she bowed to the audience before taking her starting position, everyone could see the dress she had made especially for this occasion. It was a sundress in a soft cobalt blue that reached to her knees. It had an empire waist under a silvery sash and short puffed silver sleeves. On her feet she wore silver, low heeled sandals and she had a silver charm bracelet with matching earrings. The only thing out of place was a cat necklace she wore. It had a gold chain and was an orange cat head, to remind her of her greatest adventure, and to help her believe in herself.

Holding her head down as she faced the curtains, she waited for the crowd to quiet as the music started. The soft guitar intro went into her cue.

~I've always been the kind of girl~
~That hid my face~
~So afraid to tell the world~
~What I've got to say~
~But I have this dream~
~Bright inside of me~
~I m gonna let it show~
~It's time to let you know~
~To let you know!~

Quickly, she turned around as multiple spotlights landed on her.

~This is real~ she sang out with all her heart
~This is me~
~I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now~
~I'm gonna let the light~
~Shine on me~
~Now I've found,~
~Who I am~
~There s no way to hold it in~
~No more hiding who I wanna be~
~This is me~

She strutted around the stage, throwing simple hopping dance moves to her steps.

~Do you know what it s like~
~To feel so in the dark~
~To dream about a life~
~Where you re the shining star~
~Even though it seems like it s too far away~
~I have to believe in myself~
~It s the only way~

~This is real~
~This is me~
~I'm exactly where I'm suppose to be now~
~I'm gonna let the light~
~Shine on me~
~Now I've found,~
~Who I am~
~There's no way to hold it in~
~No more hiding who I wanna be~
~This is me~

Here it is, she thought. The part where no one will sing and they ll all laugh or look around uncomfortably until I start again. She closed her eyes waiting for it, but the sound that reached her ears was not that.

~You're the voice I hear inside my head~
~The reason that I m singing~
~I need to find you~
~I've gotta find you~

Haru turned and gasped at what she saw. Standing there was a tawny haired young man, maybe two years older and a head taller than she was, wearing a red vest over a white button up shirt with a blue bow tie that matched her dress, cream colored pants and a top hat, which he dramatically tossed to the ground as he walked toward her. Could that be? she thought, unsure until the young man met her eyes. They were the same green, and held the same soul as they always did. It is!

Baron smiled as he sang the rest of his lines.

~You're the missing piece I need~
~The song inside of me~

Haru hurried toward him as she sang the next two lines with him.

~I need to find you~
~I gotta find you!~

Haru's smile threatened to split her face as she sang her next verse with Baron, the one who had captured her heart, even when she had given it to another.

~This is real~
~This is me~
~I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now~
~I m gonna let the light~
~Shine on me~
~Now I've found,~
~Who I am~
~There s no way to hold it in~
~No more hiding who I wanna be, yeah~
~This is me~

Baron smiled almost as much as she did as he sang the counter point to her lines

~You're the missing piece I need~
~The song inside of me~
(~This is me, yeah~)
~You're the voice I hear inside my head~
~The reason that I m singing~

The two stared deeply into each other's eyes as they sang the last duet of the song.

~Now I've found,~
~Who I am~
~There s no way to hold it in~
~No more hiding who I wanna be~
~This is me~

Haru reached her hand up and clasped it with Baron's as the music died down and the crowd cheered. Turning to them, Haru caught her mother standing up before the whole auditorium gave her and Baron a standing ovation. In response, the two bowed and smiled as Hiromi came back on stage.

"Okay everyone, that was the end of our talent show!" she called. "Now, let's welcome back all the students who performed tonight, including me!" She gave a dramatic bow as the audience laughed and the other nine acts came out. "Okay, now, you know the drill, crowd favorite wins the prize of 20,000 yen and a gift certificate to Crossroads Cafe. Now how much did you love Act 1, Sakura Nara and Harry McKenzie singing Come What May?" A moderate amount of applause went up for the two. "Okay and Act 2..."

Such it went, each act getting a fair bit of applause, most being the juggling girl, who was Act 9.

"Finally," Hiromi was finishing the roll call, "let's hear it for our final act, Haru Yoshioka and her partner Baron Von Gikkingen singing This Is Me!" It was almost as if a dial was turned up that raised the volume in Haru s ears as every single person in the auditorium cheered as loud as they could for her and Baron. Even the ones who were avid supporters of the other acts clapped for them instead of remaining silent. It was a good three minutes before the noise died down enough for Hiromi to finish.

"Well, I guess that's a clear winner, folks. May I present to you, the winners of this year's talent show, Haru Yoshioka and Baron Von Gikkingen!" Hiromi stepped aside as Haru and Baron were pushed to the center of the stage to receive the flowers and prize from the headmaster of the school. Haru was in absolute shock. Not only was Baron here, as a human, but they actually won the talent show, something she never dreamed would happen. Seeing her shock, Baron smiled and leaned down to her ear, saying, "No one will remember you as a klutz anymore."

Turning to him, she smiled before accepting the bouquet of flowers from the headmaster, as well as the gift card. When Baron had received his own, they waved to the audience as they walked backwards behind the curtains, which closed before them, blocking everyone else from their view.

The second the curtains closed, Haru took Baron's hand and pulled him along with her, ignoring the other students congratulations and her friends' calls of "Where are you going?" She didn't stop until she and Baron had climbed a set of stairs to an isolated corner of the catwalks, where no one would really spot them before turning to him.

"How-" was the only word she could get out before she was caught in his arms as he pulled her against him.
Baron held her close to him, running his fingers though her short hair, which had grown out in the last six months, so the front brushed her chin. Though he caught her by surprise, she quickly melted into his embrace, for the moment not caring how or why he was here, just that he was.

"I missed you so much, Baron," she said into his shoulder.

"I missed you as well, Haru," she could feel the rumble in his chest as he responded.

She pushed against him so she could see his face. "Why are you here? How'd Hiromi, Tsuge and Machida know you? How are you a human? How d you figure out I was in the talent show?" she asked him, the questions bubbling out until Baron put his finger to her lips.

"I can only answer one question at a time," he chuckled, taking his hand down. "You told Muta that Machida broke his foot and couldn't perform. He told me and I decided to help you. I went to Hiromi and said I would sing with you. She, Tsuge and Machida took a talking cat statue very well." He chuckled and Haru thought back to a few days after Machida hurt his foot, her friends looked a little freaked out when she found them backstage, but they quickly got over it.

"But how are you a human?" she asked insistently. "I can't figure out how you can do that."

Baron stepped back and reached into his vest pocket, where Haru saw a gold chain she hadn't noticed before, leading from it to the other side of the vest. He pulled out a gold pocket watch, a very old style one, with an inscription on the cover, saying "Mutator formarum tempar frustrum". Opening it, he said, "I found this in a book at the Bureau just before Machida broke his foot, along with a note telling me how to use it." He showed Haru the inside.

The watch had a face and two hands, but instead of twelve numbers, it had six faces. At the twelve o clock position, his normal creation face was set and all around it were various others, such as a dog, a full cat, a bird, a fish and, at the six o'clock spot, a human face.

"It lets you change into any one of the shapes on the face for up to twelve hours," he explained. "I figured that if there was ever a time to test it, it would be now."

"Why now, Baron?" Haru asked him. "You could have used it any other time, but why did you choose now?"

"Because I have a great thing that I need to tell you." He pulled a flower from behind him, handing it to her.

Accepting it, Haru looked at it and gasped. It was a white, pink and red rose, the colors of admiration, purity and love. Turning back to Baron, he pulled her into his arms. "I tried fighting it, but it s been no use. You've been the only thing on my mind ever since our great adventure, and our dance together in the Cat Kingdom. I love you, Haru." Before she could respond, he leaned down and captured her lips with his.

Again caught by surprise, Haru only wasted a second before she closed her eyes, threw her arms around his neck and pushed herself onto her tiptoes to deepen the kiss. For her, it was her first kiss and was the greatest one she could ever have.

Parting a mere inch for air, she looked up to his eyes. "I love you too. I have ever since I first saw you," she said before pulling him back to her for another kiss.

Around the corner, neither one of the pair noticed the three humans, the cat or the crow who had followed them. Hiromi smiled as she took a picture of the lovebirds, Tsuge showed a look of pride at a plan going off without a hitch. Muta grumbled about everything being "too lovey-dovey", to which Toto just replied to wait till he had a cat he liked. Machida quickly hushed them before the couple before them could notice, not that he really had to worry.

Haru and Baron finally parted after a few minutes, but stayed in each other's arms. They didn't know where this would lead them. They didn't know what would happen, if they could be together forever, or for just a short amount of time. They didn't know what challenges would pop up to pull them apart. All they knew was that they had each other, and that was all they needed.

And that's my newest fic. I know it's a little technical at the end, but it didn't feel right until I gave Baron a reason to be human and a proper love confession. Hopefully, this won't be taken down by the Copyright Nazi who's been attacking me, but not those who don't put disclaimers. See you later.

Rowena BaronErikandSnapeLover