"Sora! What was with that performance out there? It was unsightly." Layla stormed ahead of Sora off the stage, the applause of the audience echoing behind them.

"I'm sorry, Layla-san." Sora apologized, head hanging in shame as she walked behind her partner. "I thought I would be able to do it when the time came, but I hesitated." The other cast members of Kaleido Stage saw how upset Layla was and sent Sora sympathetic glances before leaving the two leads alone.

"It was an important scene, Sora. Do you want the audience to be disappointed?" Layla said in frosty voice, the coldness of it biting into the Japanese girl.

Sora gasped. "Of course not! You know I live for the audience!" she protested. Layla sighed deeply, knowing it was true. It was what made Sora such a special performer.

Truth be told, as much as Layla griped at Sora's inability to go through with the scene, she was slightly relieved they didn't follow through. They had managed to avoid practicing it at the rehearsals. Today was the opening night of Kaleido Stage's newest production, Pocahontas. Sora played the title character, and Layla played John Smith.

They had been at the part when Pocahontas was showing John the wonders of nature, performing an elegant and beautiful routine on the trapeze. Everything had been going smoothly; Sora and Layla had been in perfect sync after practicing so much together. At the end of the routine, they landed simultaneously on a high platform and embraced, an enormous moon glittering brilliantly behind them and leaves blowing past them.

It was to be the kiss scene. Well, it was supposed to be, anyway.

When the time came and Sora was looking up at Layla with wide eyes and the blonde couldn't help but blush as she leaned down to complete the scene. But at the last second Sora turned her head away and broke the embrace, hands trembling. The audience made noises of confusion and Layla tried to not appear so surprised and flustered and continued with the show.

However, the rest of the show Sora acted awkward and wouldn't really look Layla in the eyes. As a result the performance was more lackluster than they'd been hoping for. And now here they were.

"Sora," Layla stopped walking abruptly and turned around to face the shorter girl.

"Y-yes?" the lilac haired girl answered. They were in a secluded area backstage on the route to Layla's dressing room. The taller of the two stepped closer and lowered her voice.

"Have you never kissed anyone before?" she asked in a straightforward manner.

"EH?" Sora was obviously startled by the question. She blushed and waved her hands in front of her in that awkward way she had when she got nervous. "It's not like that! I mean, yeah, but it's not like it's a big deal or anything! I'll work hard to overcome my weakness!" She proceeded to laugh awkwardly and scratch the back of her head. Layla merely stared at the girl with her penetrating blue eyes that saw right through her, making the poor girl even more uncomfortable.

"Come with me." Layla said promptly, turning back around and leading the way to her dressing room at a brisk pace, a flustered Sora following as best as she could. When they both got in, Layla locked the door behind Sora.

"Um…" Sora hummed, feeling uncomfortable but intrigued. It was rare for Layla Hamilton to let anyone in her personal dressing room. She got the feeling she was going to get majorly scolded, and she already knew the lecture from Kalos was coming later and she felt even more ashamed that she let their expectations down.

"As partners, we need to be more comfortable with each other. I need to be able to count on you in the next performance." Layla said, leaning against her make-up chair elegantly and releasing her long luxurious hair from its low pony tail.

"I know. I'm sorry I disappointed you. I will work even harder at being a worthy partner for you, Layla-san." Sora stated with conviction. Layla smiled a bit at Sora's trademark conviction for overcoming anything.

The star performer sighed deeply as she prepared to say what she was about to say next. "That's why… I hope you don't mind me being your first kiss, Sora." She glanced at Sora's face in the mirror to gauge her reaction. It wasn't the one she had been expecting.

"If it's you, I really don't mind." Sora stated seriously, nodding. Layla looked at her in surprise. The younger girl just smiled sheepishly at her. "Because Layla-san is the person I admire most."

The blonde star blinked and coughed, trying to assume the professional role once more. "Then why don't we get it over with, shall we?" she said quietly, righting herself and walking to stand in front of Sora.

"Now?" It was Sora's turn to be surprised and she unconsciously took a step back into the door.

"Unless you want to practice this over rehearsal in front of everybody?" Layla challenged. Sora hesitated before shaking her head no. "Then," Layla placed a hand on the girl's cheek and leaned her face closer. "Sorry for the intrusion." She then leaned all the way down and pressed her lips against Sora's.

Both of their eyes were open, Sora's brown ones wide and hesitant, Layla's blues gauging the other, even challenging as their lips remained unmoving upon the other. Then Layla gently took Sora's bottom lip between her own and sucked gently, watching for rejection from Sora. The Japanese girl responded as best as she could, pressing her lips against hers more, her eyes finally sliding shut.

Layla tilted the girl's chin higher and kissed her more fully, her own eyes closing to revel in the feeling. Frankly, the reason Layla had been slightly relieved when Sora hesitated on stage was because she hadn't been sure if she would be able to control herself once Sora was in her grasp. Even now, she felt her cool control begin to slip as she parted her lips and her tongue glanced against Sora's lips.

This was more than enough practice and they both knew it. The script only called for a brief kiss. Surely, Sora was breaking a boundary by instinctively parting her own lips to taste her partner better. Surely, it was very unbecoming of Layla to moan slightly when Sora did so, as she slipped her tongue into the younger girl's mouth and liking it so damn much.

Sora's hands were shaking where they were balled up in Layla's costume. Her mind grew increasingly clouded as Layla's tongue entered her mouth with demanding strokes. Sora's senses were overloading as a pleasant heady feeling made her rub her own tongue against Layla's, exploring in kind and 'Oh my god, I'm making out with Layla! Layla! LAYLA! '

Layla was becoming increasingly aggressive as she lost herself in her own desire, an arm wrapping around Sora's trim waist to pull her closer to herself. Even now they found that they were in perfect synchronization with one another, simultaneously parting to gasp for air before diving into each other again. It was becoming too hot.

Everything was becoming much too hot. Gone was Sora's timidness as she responded more confidently, biting her back hungrily, instinct guiding her to pleasure,

-and the little whimpers she made when Layla kissed her just, like, that

- making heat pool deep down in Layla's core and she just couldn't help but press the smaller girl against the door

- and run her hands over her body,

-the body that held so much potential that rivaled her own,

- to satisfy this increasingly overpowering need and she was losing herself for the first time she was actually on the brink of losing her mind and it was too much and everything was getting out of control but it felt so damn good and, and-

Layla ripped herself away from Sora, taking several shaky steps back to regain composure. Sora's knees gave out on her and she slid down the door, gasping. Layla was panting herself and she turned away from Sora, trying to get her raging hormones under control. She was better than this. She shouldn't be so damn distracted by her co-star's heaving chest and flushed cheeks and swollen lips.

"That's enough practice." Layla said quietly, wiping a hand across her mouth.

"Huh?" Sora was so obviously disoriented. Just a moment ago she had been consumed by an overwhelming, raw desire. Her body had been drowning in pure Layla, and having it taken away so abruptly had her very discombobulated. She couldn't even quite remember the reason they had started kissing in the first place.

Layla cleared her throat eventually, her voice becoming steadier. "You should go see the Owner. He's probably wondering what's taking you so long to apologize like you always do."

"Uh… huh." Sora stood up on trembling legs, her body still not quite recovered from that unfamiliar experience. Layla was still not looking at her. "I'll, um, see you later." she said, fumbling on the lock clumsily. After what had just transpired between them, she was uncertain as to how to act now. She finally managed to unlock the door and step out, taking one last look at the blonde's back before she quietly shut the door.

Layla Hamilton breathed a sigh of relief after Sora left. She covered her face with her hands and looked herself in the mirror, clearly flushed, rampant lust still prevalent in her gaze. "Damn." she breathed.

She had lost her grip of the situation and it flew right out of her hands, going from professional to blazing passion in the span a few moments. How disgraceful.

Sora Naegino had managed to undo Layla Hamilton's composure. Strangely, the blonde found that… Interesting.


The lavender haired girl wandered the hallways in a daze. All the people she passed congratulated her on her performance but she was never able to properly respond. She wasn't really watching where she was going either.

Eventually Ken spotted her wandering the parking lot. "Sora!" he yelled her name as a car honked at her as she walked in front of its path.

"My bad." Sora responded waving the car away absent-mindedly as she continued walking at her own pace.

"Sora!" Ken yelled again, reaching the girl and pulling her by her arm away from exiting vehicles. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?" the blonde boy scolded as he pulled his secret crush away from oncoming traffic.

"Ah, sorry." Sora had the presence of mind to at least look sheepish in the face of her friend's concern. "I guess I was just… Lost in thought." Sora trailed off, her mind obviously distracted. Ken frowned at her.

"Kalos wants to see you."

"Of course he does." Sora grumbled. The last thing she wanted to do right now was talk to Kalos. Her body was still tingling from Layla's kiss after all. It was hard to focus on anything else except that memory.


"You wanted to see me, Owner?" Sora asked when she finally entered the man's office. She looked around in surprise at him being the only occupant of the room. She could have sworn she heard someone else in here before she knocked?

"I trust you know the reason as to why I called you?" Kalos said, sitting behind his large desk. Sora nodded and bowed her head in apology.

"It was entirely my fault. It won't happen again."

"Layla already talked to you didn't she? I'll trust the two of you produce a satisfactory performance tomorrow." Kalos dismissed her, shuffling through a few papers on his desk.

"Thank you very much." Sora said quickly in relief that she hadn't received a serious reprimand from the usually stern man. She stumbled from the room to continue with her dazed drifting.

Kalos sighed deeply as she left the room. "Layla," he said looking up at the ceiling. "I never imagined myself to ask you this but, what on earth are you doing?"

"What a ridiculous question," Layla's cool voice drifted down to him from where she was dangling from the light fixture. "I'm obviously checking the quality of the light bulbs." Kalos stared blankly at her. "They seemed dim a moment ago, but I guess they're up to par." She landed weightlessly on her feet in front of her boss's desk, hands on her hips.

"Ah…" Kalos tone suggested he knew differently, irking the blonde. "Is everything, alright?" he asked, going back to rifling through his papers.

"I have everything under control. Don't doubt my abilities." Layla easily brushed his comment off as she moved to exit the room herself.

"Hmmm." Kalos hummed. He just discovered Layla wasn't as good at lying as she seemed to think she was.


"Sora, why are you still in costume?" Mia asked Sora, who happened to be absentmindedly moon walking by the cast dressing room at the moment.

Sora stopped sliding her feet backwards when she considered Mia's question. She was, in fact, still in her Pocahontas costume and makeup. "Ah, sorry. I forgot." Sora said sheepishly.

"Did Kalos lecture you for this much amount of time?" Mia said, looking at her watch and noting it's been half an hour already since the end of the performance.

"Eh?" Sora's eyes got a little wide and started darting around. "Um, yes! That's exactly what happened! Lecture, lecture, lecture!" Sora proceeded to laugh too hard.

'She really sucks at lying.' Mia sweat-dropped as she watched her friend flay about in her own guilt of not telling her the truth. 'Oh well.'

"Well, let's get you undressed." Mia smiled and forcefully pushed the rising star through the door of the dressing room.

Anna was inside, still removing makeup from her face in front of one of the mirrors. "Hey, you caught a Sora!" she smiled happily when she saw her two best friends enter the changing room.

"Quite the elusive creature this one is." Mia sighed, playing along with Anna.

Sora frowned as she plopped down in a chair. "I'm not an animal." she grumbled while she started pulling off one of her leggings.

"An alien then. I knew it!" Anna grinned childishly, earning a flick to the forehead from Mia. "No good?" Anna appeared devastated at the lack of laughs.

"Anyway," Mia immediately ignored her, making the other girl's posture even more depressingly dramatic. "Sora, how come you didn't go through with the kiss scene?"

The lilac haired girl was so startled by the question she jerked off her leggings too hard, causing her and the chair to fall over.

"Oh yeah, I heard." Anna said. "I was performing below you guys at the time so I didn't get to see."

"And after I had graciously written it into the script just for Sora." Mia sighed.

"Give me a break." Sora said to the ceiling, begging sympathy from anywhere. Then something Mia said made her pick her head up. "Wait, what?"

"What?" Mia asked.

"You said you had written that… scene in… for me?" Sora said quietly, looking up at her orange-haired friend from the floor questioningly.

The writer and director had the decency to look apologetic. "Well, yeah. I figured I was doing you a favor."

"F-favor?" Sora repeated in disbelief.

"But if you can't go through with it, we can leave it out." Mia said quickly, thinking she was placating her friend. "It really isn't Kaleido Stage's style anyway. And you haven't kissed anyone before, am I right?"

Sora's face erupted red at the memory of the intense first kiss she had experienced just moments before and she couldn't speak for a moment.

"Thought so." Mia said, thinking the blush confirmed her suspicions. "Don't you worry anymore, Sora. I will announce to everyone tomorrow that the kiss is out!"

"W-wait, that's not neces- " Sora tried to say, struggling to stand from the floor. At that moment the door flew open once more.

"Yoohoo!" Sarah called out energetically to the room. "Great job out there guys!" she exclaimed, smiling brightly at them. She turned to Sora. "I thought you would have been more than willing to kiss your idol!"

Sora fell over once again as if Sarah's words were a boulder that landed on top of her.

"We were just talking about that." Anna responded. "Apparently we're not going to do that scene anymore."

"Awww," Sarah looked genuinely disappointed at the news. "But it would have been really hot!"

"I know, right!" Mia exclaimed, her enthusiasm matching the singer's. "But we really shouldn't impose on Sora." she pointed out and the trio peered at the rising star looking miserable on the floor.

Sarah scoffed at Mia's choice of words. "Impose? I thought you were doing her a favor."

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Sora asked in a distressed tone.

"Ah, sorry! You know we're just teasing you right?" Anna looked down at the girl, a good-natured smile on her face.

Sora sighed. "I know." She couldn't help but also smiled up at her friends. "You all can go ahead to the dorms. I'll catch up later."

"Alright!" Mia was eager to start making adjustments to the script. "When you get back, we'll have a small party to celebrate opening night!"

"Sounds good." Sora picked herself up off the floor to wave at them. Mia and Anna waved back as they walked out of the room.

"Hey," Sarah said in a slightly more serious tone. "Is anything bothering you?" she inquired.

"Oh, please don't worry about me!" Sora waved her hands in front of her modestly. "I'm just tired is all."

"Okay. See you later, lover girl!" Sarah made a kissing face at her before leaving.

Sora stared blankly after the founding member of Kaleido Stage. 'My image of her will never be restored, will it?' she thought with a sigh. Of course, she wouldn't trade in her friends for anything.

'But,' Sora looked at her mystified reflection in the mirror. 'I don't think I can ever tell them what happened between me and Layla-san.' She started to remove her costume.

"When you feel troubled, a good shower can always clear your mind." an unexpected voice made its presence known beside Sora's ear.

"GWAH!" Sora leaped and swatted on instinct, sending Fool flying with a scream. "Fool, what are you doing in here?" Sora yelled at the Spirit of the Stage, covering herself protectively with her hands. Fool peeled himself off the far wall in indignation.

"As your guardian spirit, it is my duty to look after you during troubling times." the foot-tall man huffed. Sora snorted in disbelief.

"By sneaking into the dressing room?" Sora glared at the tiny man. A perverted grin and blush covered Fool's face at Sora's words, making her gasp in realization. "Y-You watched my friends undress, didn't you?" Sora yelled, grabbing hold of the nearest chair.

Fool now looked panicked, as he knew exactly how violent Sora could be. "Wait! I'm jesting! I'm jesting!" he screamed for mercy, hands moving to protect his masked face. When no chair came he hesitantly peeked from between his fingers. "Ah, I see you've calmed down." he remarked, hovering closer to Sora who looked too occupied with her own thoughts to punish him.

"May I suggest removing your clothes and taking a shower? A cold one, considering what you just did with Layla in her dressing ro- AHHH!"

Outside the door Ken had been in the process of psyching himself up to knock on the door to give Sora a bouquet of flowers and congratulating her. He hesitated when he heard a large crash coming from inside the room followed by several more. Accompanying it was Sora's angry voice roaring "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU PEEPING SPIRIT!"

Needless to say Ken was effectively scared off for now.

That night Fool experienced his most bizarre punishment yet. He was coated with honey, rolled in birdseed and was left tied up and hanging from Sora's balcony. But he was happy as long as he had his memories. Even as the pigeons started gathering.


"Listen up people!" Mia called over all the other cast members voices. "There will be few adjustments made to Pocahontas after last night's performance."

Layla stood at the back of the group, arms crossed under her chest and listening with an air of impartiality.

"Starting tonight, we'll eliminate the kiss scene between Pocahontas and John Smith."

Layla's cerulean eyes snapped up to Mia, surprised.

"Also a few minor alterations will be made on set to accommodate Anna's group's routine." Mia continued listing off things to tweak between this morning and tonight's performance. Layla had stopped listening soon after the first sentence, gaze fixed on Sora who was standing towards the front of the group near Mia.

'Did she ask her to remove that scene?' the Hamilton thought with a hint of anxiety. She honestly did not know how she felt about that.

"Well, that's about it. Let's make tonight perfect, shall we? We're not going to let Yuri put an end to Kaleido Stage!" Mia declared, receiving a few woots for her efforts. Layla turned on her heel and walked towards the practice rooms, her pace a bit faster than usual.

"Layla-san!" Layla's pace faltered the tiniest bit at Sora's voice calling out to her, so she stopped. She felt Sora quickly catch up to her and standing slightly behind her out of sight. "Um…" Sora's voice sounded sincere and Layla's heart beat a bit faster. From the warm-up Layla just had, obviously.

"Do you want to rehearse our routine today?" Sora asked shyly, a tinge of hope in her voice.

Layla was silent for a moment before answering in a cool voice. "I see no need. We already know the routine quite well. We just need to edit out the kiss and adjust the timing as such."

"But," Sora spoke up a bit breathless. "We should still practice,"

"I said I see no need." Layla snapped at her harsher than she had intended. She felt Sora flinch a little behind her. "Practice by yourself if you feel so insecure." With that the blonde walked away, effectively giving the younger performer the cold shoulder.

'Now, I wonder who is being the insecure one?' Layla thought to herself in annoyance at her own behavior. She shook her head. She wasn't one to doubt herself.

Sora watched her idol walk away with sagged shoulders. "Layla-san…"

"Damn, she mad at you." Anna commented, patting Sora on the shoulder. "If you want, you can practice with us!" the boyish girl offered. Sora brightened up slightly.

"Thank you, Anna! If I'm not imposing."

"Of course not! I'm sure everyone's attitudes will improve if you're with us."

Sora looked back to the private practice rooms where Layla headed to. 'Could Layla be… avoiding me?' She considered the thought all of three seconds. 'Yeah right!'


Layla landed on the net under the practice trapeze breathlessly. She laid there for a few seconds until her breath evened out, just glad that she had the room to herself and no one had seen her mistake.

'My body is distracted.' It was easy to come to that conclusion. Ever since last night when she had shared that kiss with Sora, her body had been humming with new energy. It had been several hours since she had started practicing, but she was getting further away from her usual perfection and had been making small mistakes. Mistakes other people would call normal, but Layla the perfectionist considered herself anything but.

These mistakes were unacceptable. There had to be some way to relieve this unnatural tension that had taken over her mind and body. Perhaps it was time for a short break?

Carrying a water bottle in her hand, Layla made her way over to the adjacent larger training room where the rest of the cast members busied themselves. The star leaned on the door frame as she observed the occupants of the room, not going unnoticed as she was hoping but she was used to the attention by now.

Anna's group was going through their routine, Mia directing them and making comments when needed. Their group has really shrunk since Yuri had left and taken half the stage with him.

Layla finally spotted Sora practicing off to the side alone on the balance beam. The Japanese girl seemed to be the only person in the room who hasn't noticed the Kaleido star's presence. Layla found that to her advantage as her eyes watched her intently.

Sora did a couple of back flips on the beam before making an impressively fluid jump over to the next beam over.

'…Does she always wear that baggy shirt when she practices?' was Layla's only relevant thought in her mind.

"Hey, Mia." Anna nudged her friend during an interval in their routine. "Is it just me, or does Layla have a perverted look on her face?" she asked, pointing out the blonde in the doorway who was watching Sora practice like a lion stalking a lamb.

Mia glared at Anna. "There is no way, and you aren't funny." she deadpanned. Anna was mortally wounded and she fell to the mat on her knees dramatically. Some of the other girls around her took out their cameras to take pictures of the beautiful pose.

"I wasn't trying to be funny that time, but that hurt." the wannabe comedian said amidst the admiration.

Layla left the room quickly when the attention was diverted away from her. 'I do NOT have a perverted look on my face.' she thought grouchily. She disregarded her trembling limbs and ache in her chest with a disciplined practice of maintaining a professional front at all times. She decided to continue her own practice, lest she breached dangerous territory in her treacherous brain once more.


"Curtain rises in T-30 seconds!" Ken called out to alert the small troupe of performers.

"Er, right!" Sora responded gracelessly. She was usually more excited to stand on the stage, but having Layla's stony presence standing next to her as silent and intimidating as a goddess who just had a bad day was very unnerving to Sora.

The younger girl shook herself from her uneasiness and turned to the taller blonde with a strained smile. "Let's do our best, Layla-san!" she chirped, trying to at least coax a reaction from her before they had to get on stage as lovers.

"If you're not bringing your best onto the stage to begin with, don't bother appearing." Layla replied fleetingly in typical Layla Hamilton fashion, if not a bit colder than usual.

"Right…" Sora muttered. Even though she was used to this kind of behavior from her senior she couldn't help feeling hurt. After what had happened, did Layla honestly not feel differently towards her? Was that kind of intimate contact normal between two people?

The Japanese girl didn't know how she felt about all this. Or rather she was feeling so much she didn't know how to decipher it all.

"Are you going to hold up the entire production?" Layla's voiced snapped Sora from her musings to find that the curtains were up and ready for them.

'I can't afford to lose focus over this!' Sora jumped a few steps behind everyone else.


Sora and Layla trudged backstage, the sound of thunderous applause and hoots barraging them from the audience. They were both staring at the ground in front of them, the air about them unapproachable and heavy with unspoken words.

"Er, good work today." Ken approached the two stars hesitantly. They had an untouchable aura to them that would make any outsider hesitant to break the tension.

"Huh?" Sora looked up at her friend a bit blank-faced. "Oh, thanks." she walked on after Layla, who had not paused in her retreat.

"I guess they're both a bit shell-shocked from what happened on stage." Mia said coming up beside Ken.

The young man nodded. "It was surprising for everyone. But they themselves seem even more surprised."

"Can't complain, though." Mia whispered with a small gleeful smile. "Even though I said we didn't have to do the kiss scene, this was ten times better!" she giggled behind her hands.

Ken stared at her with a frown. "I don't see what was so great about it." he muttered tersely. "By doing what they did and improvising they screwed up the timing of the entire stage. Making it last a full two minutes was just overkill." he fumed.

"But it was so freaking hot and sexy!" Mia protested. "The audience obviously loved it!" she pointed out, the applause still audible behind the curtains.

"Hmmm," Ken acknowledged with a slight growl. It was so obvious he was jealous that Mia took pity on the boy and stopped talking about it.

Until Sarah jogged up to her a second later. "Oh my God, did you see it?" she exclaimed excitedly.

"I did, I did!" Mia squealed back. They grabbed each other's hands and hopped around a bit, much to Ken's annoyance.

"I really thought they weren't going to do it," Sarah let go of Mia's hands to relive the glorious moment. "But then Pocahontas grabs John Smith into the most passionate kiss ever on Kaleido Stage history!"

"I almost couldn't perform watching them!" Mia admitted with a blushing laugh.

Sarah nodded her agreement. "Maybe now Layla will finally lighten up a bit!"

"Wait, what?" Ken suddenly turned to the duo with a look of bewilderment. "What do you mean 'lighten up'?"

Mia raised an eyebrow at the boy. "Well, come on Ken, you have to admit that Layla is a bit… uptight."

"She has a stick up her ass." Sarah said easily. "I tried suggesting intense sumo training for relaxation like me, but she wouldn't go for it." Sarah sighed like it was the greatest misfortune.

"So we figured the only cure for it was a little loving." Mia said with a conspirator smile.

"And Sora was the one who had to give it?" Ken shouted, gripping his hair in anguish.

Mia and Sarah stared at Ken like the answer was obvious.

"Well, yeah." Mia said.

"Layla has changed the most after Sora joined Kaleido Stage, did she not?" the singer asked Ken.

"Well," Ken couldn't deny the truthfulness of those words. It was obvious that Sora softened Layla up if only slightly. "I guess that's true. But I still don't support your little scheme."

Mia scoffed. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. We were just speeding up the process."

At that moment Anna ran up to them. "Hey, did you guys see that freaking steamy kiss between Layla and Sora?"

"We did!" Mia and Sarah squealed simultaneously and the three girls proceeded to hop around girlishly at the developments.

"I'm going home." Ken deadpanned as he walked away. No one noticed.


-One month later-

"I think we're starting to really get this down. But I think we should go through it repeatedly until its perfected and can no longer practice." Layla observed critically.

"Er," Sora shifted from where she was resting next to Layla. "Pocahontas has been over for a couple of weeks now so I don't think this qualifies as 'rehearsal' anymore…"

The two of them resting on one of the exercise mats covered in sweat was not a new sight. The two of them being naked and covered with love bites while resting on an exercise mat was.

"You're right," Layla admitted reluctantly. "I'm sorry I keep saying insensitive things like that."

"Oh, it's okay!" Sora quickly responded, jumping onto Layla's lap. "I kind of like it when you get all serious on me…" Sora's face reddened and she could barely bring herself to finish the sentence.

Layla raised an amused eyebrow at the girl in her lap. "You're strange."

Sora didn't know if that was a compliment or not. "Thank you?"

"But I suppose that is what made you stand out in the first place, so I can't complain."

"Right…" Sora looked around the large practice room. "So we've tried the trapeze, the balance beam, and the trampoline." she listed off the areas where they've 'rehearsed'. "What now?"

"How about the tight rope?" Layla suggested.

Sora winced as she imagined how tough that would be to pull off. "I want to try that!" she said with the curiosity that has gotten her far in the business. Her face suddenly lit up with an idea. "Do you think we can use that rocking ship from Arabian Nights?"

Layla stared at Sora for a second. "That sounds interesting." she with the blazing eyes that signified how fired up she was for the task.

"And do you think we can light it on fire?" Sora asked with a hopeful, yet reluctant expression.

"I'll call Jean right away!" Layla was already grabbing for her phone, the slim cell slipping from her hands a couple of times from her excitement and haste before she was able to dial the right number.

"This is going to be really hot." Sora said as she started vigorously stretching on the mat in preparation.

Overheard and out of sight, Fool was dying from a continuous nose bleed. "I-I love my life."

END


A/N- I case you couldn't tell, this takes place during season one. I was going to make this take place after the series, but I guess I wanted to tease the serious Layla from this time. So please use your imaginations and pretend they had time to do a Pocahontas production!

Also I can't believe how little fics of this pairing are out there! I mean, c'mon, imagine all the crazy impossible acrobat sex! (gets shot for being a pervert)