A heavy sigh left Sora's lips. She sat on the ground of the trapeze training area, stretching. Her training was over, and so were her cool down stretches.

Now, it was time to clean Jonathan's tank.

Sometimes she enjoyed the time she got to do manual work around the stage, it was relaxing in sense. She enjoyed spending time with her friends, of course, but every so often she needed time to herself. Cleaning Jonathan's tank gave her the time she needed to think, while still having some sort of company around to make sure she didn't go crazy.

This time though, Sora wasn't feeling so optimistic about it.

She dragged herself up from the ground and stood, rolling her shoulders less to stretch and more to buy herself any little amount of time she had. Her feet took her out the door slowly, turning every which way they needed until they would take her to her inevitable doom. Even if doom was a bit of a harsh word to use.

It wasn't like it was Jonathan's fault or anything, it wasn't a problem with him.

Well...

Sora shook her head. Her thoughts would drive her insane before she even got there. The doors were right in front of her now anyway, no turning back and pretending she forgot now.

With both hands she pushed open the heavy double doors to reveal the back area of Kaleido Stage, in front of her, Jonathan's pool.

A giant splash came from the water along with a flash of grey and Sora smiled softly to herself. Jonathan was just having fun and being himself, unawares of her internal battle. And Sora was determined not to let him find out.

The seal was smart, but she was smarter... She hoped.

Silently Sora walked up to the edge of the pool, leaning against it and smiling down into the water, looking for any little flash of grey she could find. Once she had spotted the little grey lump of blubber, she barely had time to react. Jonathan shot out of the water, spraying Sora in the face and making the poor acrobat stumble backward slightly.

Sora spat water out of her mouth and glared at a laughing little seal who was now rolling around on the platform of his tank.

"Ha, ha" Sora said grumpily with a frown. She unlocked her gate and entered, closing the gate behind her and moving passed Jonathan to the button which would drain his tank of the water.

"You won't be doing that again" She grouched quietly. Jonathan seemed to give something of a shrug and scooted off to another part of the tank. Sora sighed again, this was going a long job.

Once all the water had been drained, Sora opened a small compartment, a hatch of sorts in the floor of the platform, and pulled out her mop, bucket, broom, and other sanitizing materials.

It didn't take long for her mood to lift a little bit. She began humming to herself as she cleaned. This wasn't turning out to be so bad. She really wondered why she had been so pessimistic about it in the first place.

Her broom hit Jonathan's little red ball and she paused for a second, staring at it blankly. A small smile graced her features, soon turning into a grin. She picked up the ball and searched around for a couple other toys, Jonathan watching her curiously all the while. When she had gathered two more balls, she turned back to the pup with an enthusiastic expression.

"Jonathan, watch! I've gotten better!" Sora exclaimed as she tossed the balls in the air and began juggling, surprisingly doing a good job "I've been practicing!"

Jonathan, however, didn't seem impressed. He looked on with a deadpan expression. Sora's confidence began to waver with the lack of response. Eventually, she just dropped the balls and her shoulders slumped.

"Right... I forgot I'm not good enough" She muttered as she picked the broom back up and continued sweeping up the dirt and sand before she could mop and fill the tank back up and be done with her job.

That seemed to get a response out of Jonathan, albeit a slight one. He cocked his head to the side and gave a worried expression. Slowly he scooted up to Sora and sat beside her and she barely moved the broom back and forth, a pensive look on her face.

After about a minute Jonathan scooted forward slightly and nudged Sora's leg with his nose. Sora looked down to see a sad look on the tiny creature's face and her own expression softened. She knelt down and let out the third sigh of the hour as she patted him on the head.

"Gomenasai Jonathan. That wasn't fair to you. I just..." She paused, trailing off and letting out a squeak as her emotions got to her. Jonathan nuzzled into her hand and looked up with big eyes, wondering what could possibly be wrong. Sora laughed a little, but it came out wet behind the tears she was holding back.

"Really Jonathan, I'm sorry... I just feel so unloved. I remember when I found you. You were my pet, my responsibility. I cared so much about you... And now, I just don't get to spend as much time with you, and, you like Marion more anyway, and-"

SLAP!

Sora fell back on her but, looking shocked and just staring at Jonathan who stared back with an indignant look.

"Au auu au auuuuu au!" Jonathan barked rapidly and Sora hadn't a clue what he had said, but all the same felt the shame she felt she should have based on the tone of his barking.

After about a minute of blankly staring and blinking at Jonathan (And rubbing her now red and sore cheek) Sora surprised herself when she grinned and hugged Jonathan tight to her chest.

"I'm sorry, you're right, that was silly of me"

"Au" Jonathan barked curtly, with a nod of his head. Sora got to her feet and wiped her eyes. She picked up her broom and began working once again on cleaning. This time with a tiny grin on her face.

"But you could have been less violent about it" She grumbled.