Author's Note: Let's try writing a piece of Kaleidofic that ISN'T Rosetta-centric, shall we? Presenting more of Sabrina's Kaleido Star obsession...and you know, this will make this the third fic I've written for this series, and I have yet to have any yaoi. OR het. Huh. It's a new wave!!!! ...or not. Meh. I'm sooo rambling. Sorry to say this chapter is rather short, since I'm getting the hang of writing these two outside of the Avenue K crackverse...but hopefully it's not totally deplorable. Enjoy, I guess?

Chapter One

The girl had been standing there for a good twenty minutes without seeming to have noticed the leering glances being thrown her way, and Anna began to wonder if she shouldn't go over and help her.

"Anna!" One of the girls beside her leaned in closer, trying to force her attention back to her. "You were telling us about the llama, remember?"

"I finished that story." Anna pause for a moment, then dropped her head as the failure washed over her again. "No one got it...no one ever gets it..."

The girls sitting nearby let out collective sighs, but she didn't notice.

"Why isn't the bus here?" a small blonde with a rather snobbish voice complained after a bit. "It's been fifteen minutes."

"It's like, some of us have been waiting here for hours," agreed another girl sitting beside her, tossing her dark hair petulantly.

Anna wondered again why she was waiting at the airport shuttle pick-up with the others. She knew how to get to the Kaleido Stage easily enough. She'd been there plenty of times, usually heading there right from the airport. Still, she felt like she ought to arrive with the rest of the auditionees, and so here she was, stuck in passenger pickup with everyone else. Not that she really minded. Everyone was friendly, and if she could get a ride instead of having to trudge her way through LA with her luggage in town and no one to keep her company, why not deal with a few whiny wannabe divas?

The girl looked nervous. She kept reaching up and twirling a strawberry-blonde pigtail around her finger, and looking around with steadily more panicked eyes. She wasn't even looking at her luggage anymore. A man actually picked up her suitcase to move it so he could get at something at the stand where she stood, and she didn't even notice. Anna decided she had better do something before someone stole it next time. She hopped off the bench, grabbing her wallet so she could pick up some water or something at the stand while she was there, and glanced over her shoulder at the other entrants. Most of them were busy checking their luggage for the twentieth time or trying to get to know the others before they became competition, but a few were watching her. Smiling, she dropped forward from the waist and swung her arms comically, taking on an ape walk. She snickered to herself as she loped across the rotunda but kept her face slack and dull. When she reached the stand, she turned around and straightened up, watching the group expectantly.

All eyes stared at her with bored disinterest. Anna turned to the side and pressed a hand to her forehead. "Every time. What am I doing wrong?"

There was a giggle at her side, and Anna looked up to see the girl staring at her with sparkling eyes. She clasped her hands in front of her and cast her gaze upward. "Ah, that expression was so cool!"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Hmm?" The girl looked back at her, startled, and Anna noticed her eyes were a quite pretty shade of blue. "Oh! Hello."

"Hi." Anna stretched her arms back over her head and smiled back at the girl. "You know, if don't pay closer attention to your things, someone's going to take them."

"What?" The girl looked down at her suitcases and frowned. "Oh. No, I'm keeping an eye on them. I'm just running through routines in my head."

"Are you really?" Anna continued without registering what she'd said at first. "I mean, that guy came up and moved your suitcase and-"

"Bought something. If he'd taken it, I would've caught him."

"Oh." That stopped Anna in her tracks. She scratched her head and looked away, thoughtful. "If you say so. I was just a bit--did you say you were running through routines?"

The girl just smiled and held out her hand. "I'm Mia. Mia Guillem."

Questions about the girl's words disappeared, and Anna shook her hand enthusiastically. "Anna Heart. You have a nice accent. Where are you from?"

"Holland."

"Holland?" Even as she wondered why the girl was traveling here all the way from Holland, she help up a finger triumphantly. "Elephants in wooden shoes!"

Mia raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "Not ever."

"Gyah!" Anna slapped a hand to her forehead in defeat. "You have got to be kidding me, I thought that was a surefire one!"

Anna stared at her worshipfully and sighed, "Ah, there it is again!"

"Anna!" One of the girls that had been sitting near her stood and waved. "The shuttle is here!"

A flash of annoyance, disappointment, and relief dashed across Anna's face. She turned and took off across the terminal again, waving over her shoulder. "Sorry to bother you! Hope you have a good stay here!"

Mia waved back as the tall girl joined up with the small crowd, and smiled. Taking her suitcases in each hand, she followed behind sedately with a smile on her face.

The hotel was much nicer than Anna had thought it would be. She had assumed that since there were so many of them auditioning and so few that would remain, the rooms would b nice but hardly luxurious. Instead, she had her own room (as did many of the others, save those who had opted to share), with two queen size beds, kitchenette, a small balcony, and more channels on the television than she had back home. Anna threw her bags onto the spare bed and stretched up towards the ceiling, crowing. "Score!"

She hopped a little in place, and turned a cartwheel carefully between the beds and the TV. It was narrow, but there was more than enough room, and the space between one bed and the balcony was large enough to do some practicing, even. Obviously she couldn't do much, but if she didn't do anything that required her to go careening down long expanses...

A booklet on the table caught her eye, and Anna picked it up and flipped through it idly. "All right! Three pools and a full sauna!" She dropped onto the bed and began riffling through one of the duffle bags. After sitting in the airport for two hours before catching her flight and then again after they got in, a swim sounded just great.

As Anna strode off the elevator into the lobby, towel draped around her neck, a voice caught her ear.

"Are you sure I'm not listed? You don't have any record?"

Anna turned towards the check-in desk as the clerk looked sadly at the cute redhead from the airport. "I'm sorry, Miss Guillem, but we have no record of your family calling here."

"Try...try looking in the Kaleido Stage room block?" Mia asked desperately. "That's where they told us to reserve the room..."

"I'm sorry, Miss Guillem, but-"

"Hey there!" Anna slapped a hand onto the counter and grinned at Mia. "How come you didn't say you were auditioning for the Kaleido Stage too? We could've talked on the ride over, I got stuck listening to this guy from Denver griping about airport security the whole way over here."

"Anna!" Mia seemed surprised. "I didn't get a chance to, I-"

"Oh, you're having trouble here, let's fix that first, got it?" Anna rested her arms on the counter and grinned at the clerk. "She's not listed anywhere?"

"As I've been explaining to Miss Guillem, we have no record of her reservation-"

"All right, are there any rooms free now?"

The clerk straightened up and his voice took on a rehearsed tone. "Unfortunately, this hotel is unable to honor traveler's checks or out-of-country payments without both account holders present, nor are we at liberty to rent out rooms to minors withou-"

"So she can stay with me." Anna tilted her head curiously. "That's not a problem, is it? The room's paid for, after all."

The clerk frowned, perplexed. "I...don't see why not..."

"Great!" Anna picked up one of the suitcases at Mia's feet and started towards the elevator. "Come on, I'll show you the room and then you can get changed and come swimming with me."

Mia blinked, then broke into a relieved smile and hurried after Anna.

"That was wonderful!" she gushed as the elevator door closed. "Are you sure it's all right?"

"Of course it is." Truth be told, Anna was far less upset about losing her single room than she'd thought she would be. She was actually quite excited about getting to know this new girl, though she had no idea why. "I have an extra bed. A lot of us do, I was just lucky enough to run into you first I guess."

"If you're sure."

"Yep."

Mia smiled again. "Well, thank you very much."

Anna glanced at her out of the corner of her eyes, and her stomach flipped. Hastily, she changed the subject. "Holland's where they have the wooden shoes, right?"

"Yes..."

"Good!" Anna nodded resolutely. "Then I'll borrow yours and have duck feet for a day!"

"Not going to happen," Mia responded dryly without pause.

Anna turned to her, crestfallen. "Why not?"

Mia's eyes sparkled. "Why not what?" she sighed.

Anna had no idea why everyone did that around her, but it was starting to get more than a bit disconcerting. Someday, she decided, she'd actually ask Mia what it was all about.

The pool area was just as nice as advertised. There was a nice-sized pool for children and families, a small wading pool, and one Olympic-sized beauty stretching out for what seemed like miles and miles that appeared to go outside underneath the walls. There were two different hot tubs, and from the satisfied looks of those filing out through the door to the sauna, it was quite enjoyable as well. Anna dropped her towel onto one of the pool chairs and looked at Mia expectantly. "Coming?"

"I came down here, didn't I?" Mia had taken her hair out of the pigtails she'd been wearing at the airport and pulled it into a bun at the crown of her head, and she reached up with one hand to check that it was still in before slipping out of the robe she'd worn down through the lobby She draped it over the back of the chair next to Anna's and stood there in her simple peach and lavender one-piece at the edge of the pool. "You first."

Anna put a hand on her hip. "Why me first?"

"Because you wanted to go swimming, that's why."

"So did you. No one made you come."

"I'm not used to American pools."

"Oh, come on, that's beyond weak." More in an attempt to distract herself from her quivering insides again than anything, Anna reached out and grabbed Mia's arm, pulling her in an arc around her and into the pool. Mia shrieked as she hit the water and came up spluttering.

"That was a dirty trick!"

Anna grinned maliciously, double-checked that her dark blue suit was still covering everything, and dove in herself. The water felt nice, but it was freezing! She popped back up to the surface and gasped. "Whoa!"

Before she could even shake her bangs out of her eyes, Mia pounced.

Both girls went under the water immediately, and broke the surface at the same time. Anna shrieked in indignation and swept a wave of water into Mia's face. The smaller girl cried out and dunked her again, holding her under this time so that she didn't follow suit. Anna kicked, then wrapped her arms around Mia's legs and pulled her under too. Mia let out a yelp and her eyes at she met Anna's under the water were startled and full of mirth. Anna started to kick to the surface, but when she met Mia's gaze, her legs failed to listen to her. Mia made a face under the water and pointed at Anna, then slashed a hand across her throat. You are so dead.

Then she grinned, and Anna had to laugh for a second. The other girl did the same, sending bubbles up around her face and through her bangs, casting little bursts of light across her face. A few strands of hair had escaped her bun and floated dreamily around her head. For some reason, this struck Anna as absolutely hysterical and she snorted, reaching out to wave her hands over the drifting strands. Mia put a hand up to the side of her head, realized what was going on, and smiled with perplexity at Anna just before the other girl leaned in to kiss her underneath the water.

It was about that time thatbreathing suddenly seemed much less important, and though they were both gasping when they broke the surface, it wasn't from lack of air.