Anime: Kaleido Star

Creator: Junichi Sato

Author: Cheshire

"IRISH CIRCUS BEAUTY"

Chapter Three: Balls and Hoops

One by one, the performers auditioning made their way up to the hat and chose a piece of paper with their assigned prop. Some of the group were displeased with their results while some cheered with joy at what laid in their hand. Three more people were in line and Nicolette was the last to go with Zachary right in front of her. "Next up, Zachary Holden." The navy haired young man walked over to Kalos and chose from the hat, smirking down at his chose. "Three items of my choice? Alright! Do I have a limit of how many I can use?" He asked and Kalos shook his head, slightly amused. "Use as many as you need." Zachary grinned and winked over at Nicolette before walking over to the cabinet to grab his props, deciding to go with five balls, three swords and three Ping-Pong balls, also grabbing a small wooden stick for good measure. "Nicolette Roberts, you're the last one." Ken said with a smile as she made her way over to Kalos, nodding up at the boss before reaching inside the hat. 'Please let it be something good...' She wished and when she unfolded the paper she couldn't help but scream out in happiness, shocking the other members and causing Kalos to laugh. "Yes!" 'Hula hoops! Thank you circus God!' Kalos rolled his eyes with a smile at the young woman and watched as she grabbed about fifteen hula hoops from the cabinet, curious on what routine she would improvise for him. "Alright. Everyone got a prop?"

The group nodded and he shut the cabinets doors before locking it and turning back to the performers. "You have ten minutes to come up with your routine and we shall be going in alphabetical order. Meaning Edward Alan, you're up first." He said and a blonde young man in the back holding two batons gulped at the fact he was going first but nodded. "Yes, sir!" The tan man nodded and finished. "If you have a song that you would like to use, you may chose to use music or acappella, it is your choice. Ken here shall help you with music is that is your desire. Ten minutes starts now! Go!" The group members are separated and picked different parts of the stage to rehearse in while first, Nicolette went over to Ken. "Hey Ken, I have a song I'd like to use if that is okay." The orange haired man smiled and nodded his head when she handed him her blue ipod. "Thanks! What track?" Nicolette easily turned the Ipod on in his hand and turned it to the right song, Ken blinking at it's name. "Cerceaux? Is that French?"

"Good eye. Yep, it means 'hoop' in French."

"Ha! Well lucky you got the hula hoops then, huh?"

"Better thank my lucky star." She said and the two laughed before she thought up another question. "Sorry, another question. Do you happen to have metal pillars?"

"Metal pillars...?" He asked her confused and she tried to come up with an item that could be similar to what she was asking. "Yeah, or something like a coat rack?"

"Oh! Yeah I think we have some. Why?"

"I would use it for my routine if possible."

"Hmm. Well you seem to be the only one asking for help and you also seem to have your routine planned out in your head." He said chuckling. "Thanks, Ken." She said then happily grinned when he started asking a few technicians that were hanging around the stage to help him find the items. 'You have no idea.'

The ten minutes passed quickly and the group was assigned to sit in the first three rows of the stands to wait for their turn. It ended up that Nicolette wouldn't be the only one using music and she smiled, glad it would bring more variety to the auditions than only her with music while everyone else did theirs in silence. Edward went first and did a nice routine with the two batons he had and others followed after, doing very well considering the circumstances of doing it practically improvised. "Zachary Holden!" At the sound of his name, Zachary smirked and stood himself up from his chair which was next to Nicolette. "That's me. See you afterword."

"Break a leg." She said and he winked over at her before making his way down the stairs and grabbing his props before setting them into strange orders. "What do you think he's going to do?" One of the girl's two rows behind Nicolette asked, the other two curious as well. "He's go so many props that I can't tell!" The pink haired woman ignored their continuing conversation and her eyes locked onto the materials he had. 'Those look strangely familiar... I wonder why...' She thought as he held the three swords in this hand while having his back to the audience as his song began, a familiar drum beat catching Nicolette's immediate attention. 'This is...! Emballa!' The music finally began and Zachary ran toward the center of the stage, doing a back hand spring while holding the swords before doing a no handed back flip. After he landed, he started to juggle the three swords while running around certain parts of the stage, hoping to get the audience riled up with his routine. He moved back to the center of the stage and tossed up one sword out of the three every time he would do chaînés across the stage. After the turns he started to juggle the swords between his legs when he would lift one from the floor, doing the same with the other, surprising some in the audience. "Whoa! He's good!"

"Even I can't juggle that well..." Another muttered and Nicolette continued to keep her eyes glued on the navy haired male, his hands gripping the railing that sat in front of her. 'You haven't seen nothing yet...' Just as she thought this, Zachary began to juggle the three swords through his legs as well as behind his back in a captivating ballad of movements. He did another few chaînés turns with tosses and tossed it up above his leg before jumping up into a eagle split and catching it between his legs. When he landed he turned on his knees and smirked at the audience as he pushed himself back up, continuing to juggle. He then tossed one in the air before a front hand over and catching it, juggling the three faster than before and it a different rotation. "Wow! Look at him go!"

"Incredible!" After he finished, he turned and fell back to his knees with another turn before flipping back twice in order to grab two of the balls and the wooden stick. Once they were in his possession, he started to spin one on his forefinger, the only being held within is other palm. He tossed the two into the air and started to juggle both with one hand until he caught one with his head letting it bounce a few times before rolling it across the back of his next and shoulders. He then started to juggle the three items within his hand, occasionally letting one of the balls roll across his shoulders and when he decided to stop that, he balanced one of the balls on the top of his foot while placing the stick between his lips. After retraining his balance, he placed the ball in his hand on the end of the stick and everyone gasped in surprise when it started spinning.

"Wah, check that out!"

"Amazing timing!" He then used the top of his foot to toss the other ball up and he caught it perfectly on top of the other ball, both spinning in sync as he balanced then between his teeth. When he finished with that, he tossed the stick back onto the stage and grabbed onto the other three balls that rested on the stage, starting to bounce the fifth on his head as he moved forward back to the center. 'He's good...' Nicolette thought, watching as he began to juggle all five balls at once, before bouncing one of his head and juggling the other four at the same time. 'His timing is very precise, something you need with this type of routine.' starting to juggle all five within his hands. 'I just can't believe... He's doing Anthony's scene from Vareki! Has he performed in Cirque before here in America...?' She wondered as she watched him bounce while ball on his head, juggle two in one and spin the third on his forefinger all at the same time. "That concentration!"

"Look at him go! Amazing!"

"I couldn't do that if I tried!"

Zachary finally stopped juggling the four balls and hurried back over to his pile, setting them down and grabbing the three Ping-Pong balls, starting to juggle the tiny objects as he made his way back. As he juggled, every once in a while he would bounce one on his head but they normally were just juggled, although Nicolette was probably the only person who knew what was coming next. He placed one of the balls in his mouth and started pushing it up with his tongue allowing it to fly about ten feet it the air until he caught it again before sending it off once more. "No way!" One of the guys shouted and watched as Zachary placed another ball in, starting to juggle the two about ten feet in the air with only the use of his tongue. After that, he lowered the amount of pushing and started to juggle the two with only two feet, barely giving himself time to push one out after the other but he pulled it off flawlessly causing many to gasp within the seats.

"That's impossible!"

"With only this tongue?"

"Oh I wonder what else he could do with it..." One of the girls said dreamily, but then blushed beet red when she realized that everyone turned over to her in slight disgust. The pink haired woman groaned at the comment and turned back to Zachary who was about to do the last part of his routine. 'Seems he won't be using the hats... That's probably a wise decision.' For the ending of his routine, Zachary started jugging all three balls with his tongue and catching them in his hands before tossing them back in, the speed giving him the effect that looked as though he were juggling five Ping-Pong balls instead of only three. Finally, he caught all the balls within his palms and grinned up at the audience and bowing allowing Ken to stop the music. The applause in the audience was loud and that was just what he wanted, Nicolette could tell when she saw his smirk as he moved himself from the stage, packing away his props back into the cabinet. "Alright, next up is Michael Hopkins!" Kalos shouted from his spot and a red haired young man nodded, standing up from his chair and moving to the audience to grab his umbrella prop. "What did you think?" The navy haired man asked when he sat back down next to Nicolette, crossing his arms over his chest as he relaxed.

"...Did you work for Cirque du Soleil?" She asked him bluntly and he grinned, leaning back against his chair. "Nothing can get past you now can it? I did for a while yes, a few years back. I was part of a production for the show 'Vareki' and we were to start touring in a month but my grandmother fell ill so I had to drop out. She died a week later." He said and the pink haired woman gasped, placing her hand over her mouth. "Zachary... I'm so sorry." She said and he shrugged lightly. "It's alright. We knew she was sick, it was, just her time to go, you know? But I was happy that I was able to spend that last week with her and be able to say goodbye. That's all I wanted." He smiled as he finished his sentence and turned back down to the smaller woman, grinning. "How do you know Cirque du Soleil if I might ask? Are you a fan?" He questioned and the pink haired woman chuckled, although she had a slight nervousness in her tone he didn't seem to catch on. "You could say that." He was about to press her more about the subject but heard that Michael was about to begin and it was dropped, the two watching his performance and Nicolette started to feel nervous since her time would be closing in.

"How do you think they are doing, Layla?" A blonde man with a slight tan asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he glanced over at the blonde woman on his right. "Some have been impressive." She started, thinking back at Zachary's performance. "But, most have not." The blonde finished, shutting her eyes in thought as she leaned back into her seat, a purple haired woman on her left grinning as she watched Michael's routine. "For a improved routine, he is doing pretty well!"

"You've said that about everyone already, Sora." A young woman with short red hair said on Sora's left, rolling her eyes at her older friend. "You have to say some negative things as well." The purple haired woman could only groan and fall over the seat in front of her, a small pout on her lips. "But everyone is trying so hard! I don't want to say negative things!" Layla and the red head both sighed at their naive friend and the blonde man chuckled, turning his eyes back to the stage as Michael finished his routine with a bow. "There aren't that many left, maybe someone interesting will appear and blow us away." He commented and the three glanced over at him with confusion in their eyes, a small twinkle in his blue ones. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"Nicolette Roberts!" Kalos called and the pink haired girl gulped, the butterflies in her stomach running rapid and a light sweat appeared on her forehead. "Hey, don't be nervous." Zachary told her, patting her on the back with a grin. "You'll do just fine." Nicolette nodded slowly at his words and muttered a low 'thank you' as she moved past him and down the stairs to the stage, Kalos smirking as she passed by him. 'Just breath Nic... Breath... You've done this routine a hundred times... Breath...' The pink haired girl arrived on the stage and grabbed five of the fifteen hula hoops and set four of them in a diamond shape around the center of the stage. She was grateful to see that Ken and the technicians had found four pillars and she also set them in a second diamond farther upstage. "I wonder what she's doing." One of the girl's asked up in the stands and the blonde who questioned her in the locker room earlier shrugged her shoulders. "Probably nothing too interesting. There's not much you can do with hula hoops."

"I suppose..."

"Hmph." The blonde crossed her arms over her chest and stared down closely at the pink haired woman, still not pleased with how she was treated earlier in the locker room. 'Let's see what you can really do.' Nicolette finished organizing her stage and turned around, making sure everything was in order. 'Okay... four pillars in a diamond, four hula hoops in a smaller diamond, one hoop in the center and the other ten relaxing on the side. Alright, perfect.' With that, she took a few easy stretches to warm herself up again and moved past the hula hoops, nodding over at Ken who waited for her signal. 'Here we go... Don't mess this up.' With a final deep breath, she turned around so her back was too the audience and lifted her arms above her head, allowing them to bend at the elbows like a bird's wings. 'Blow them away!' The music finally began and the pink haired woman dropped down to the ground with her right leg bent while the other moved straight out to her side, her arms moving like leaves in the wind with how graceful they flowed. After a few counts she rolled and did the same pose and movement only this time facing the audience, her eyes piercing those who watched.

She performed another roll and landed in a straddle spilt, before slowly pushing her body through the straddle and up into a cobra like position and then transitioning to a bridge, her eyes still looking at her audience. Nicolette then slowly moved herself out of the bridge and turned to her right, allowing herself to face the left side of the stage as she performed a body roll like movement while on the tips of her toes before spinning out of it and staring down her first hula hoop. Her legs and arms slowly started flowing gracefully around her as she moved toward it and it made her look like a bird that was trying to take its first steps on solid ground without the use of its wings, a captivating move. When she arrived at the hula hoop, she gracefully kicked her left leg back into a beautiful arabesque before pressing her foot underneath and hula hoop and started to twirl it around her ankles allowing it to float up to her knees where she kept it spinning.

After a while she spun it up to her waist to chest to neck before beginning to bourree across the floor while still all owing it spin on her neck in sync with her footwork. When she found the right spot to stand on the stage, she spun the hula hoop from her neck onto her right wrist, continuing to spin it there while she did some small leans and movements with her free arm. Still having her eyes locked on her audience, Nicolette used her left hand and grabbed her left ankle, bringing her leg up against the side of her head and placed the hula hoop around the center of her foot, beginning it spin it above her head. "Whoa!" Some of the fellow performers shouted as they watched her routine, some more intrigued by her grace than the tricks she was performing. "I've never seen anything like that before! Especially with a hula hoop!" One of the guys shouted as Nicolette started to transition her leg into a straight scorpion, still spinning the hula hoop with her foot. "That is some intense concentration..."

The pink haired girl released the grip on her leg and stood balanced on her right foot with her back leg still in a perfect straight scorpion before placing her hands on the ground, the hoop still spinning. After taking a few minutes to breath and catch her balance, Nicolette lifted her ground foot up from the ground and manuerved her legs into a split above her head, balancing only on her arms with the concentration of the hula hoop still spinning in sync with her foot. She then slowly lowered her chest to the ground and her legs moved in a scissor like movement before pressing her right foot against the ground in front of her head, positioning her body to look like a letter 'h'. She then did a second scissor like movement with her legs and pushed back on the ground, sliding her chest across the stage and bent back to grab onto her straightened leg which still spun the hoop. The pink haired woman then rolled herself across the stage and lifted her hips so only her back was against the floor and started switching her feet in and out of the hoop, allowing to spin on both her feet like a juggling effect.

After she placed it back on her left leg, she positioned it straight in the air while she performed a backwards body roll on the ground into another roll that landed her on her back. She pushed herself into a bridge with her leg still straight and once again made another 'h' shape but this time her legs were in a over split. Too show her audience that her balance was very concentrated, she started to use her free leg to spin her body around in a circle while the leg head continued to spin the hoop and Sora couldn't help but squeal at the routine. "Wah, sugoi! I want to do that too! Looks like fun!" The purple haired woman said happily and the red head at her side nodded, her arms crossed over her chest. "Her flexibility is quite impressed as well as her balance and concentration. Something you would greatly need to be a profession gymnast." Layla decided to remain silent through out the rest of Nicolette's piece and watched as the pink haired woman pushed up out of her 'h' and grabbed onto her straight leg which now rested against the side of her head again and grinned at her audience as the next part of her routine began.

Before moving to grab another hula hoop, Nicolette released her leg and moved her arms in another graceful movement while her left head stayed completely straight against the side of her leg, her muscles working hard to keep the balance. She then grabbed the hoop from her foot and jumped into a beautiful stag leap before starting to dance across the stage while spinning the hoop with her wrist. She then went into a graceful pique and tossed the hoop into the air before doing four chaînés turns and catching it, tossing it again to perform a perfect scorpion leap. Nicolette once again began to spin it with her wrist and moved over to the center hoop that sat waiting for her; she used her ankles and spun it up to her knees allowing it balance it there before she grabbed her leg leg again and brought it back up to her head. While the second hoop continued to spin on her knee, she placed the first hoop back of her foot and some gasps were heard as both spun in sync while balancing perfectly on her right foot.

A few times she transitioned the first hoop to her wrist while her left leg moved into arabesques but finally she put leg back to the ground and spun both hoops around her waist and then to her neck she she grabbed them. The pink haired woman then started to spin the two hoops in front of her head that caused the effect of a large circle of wheels to form with the speed of the spins. She tossed one up into the air and kicked her leg perfectly up to her face before catching it and bending back into a deep back bend while the two spun on her wrists. She then rolled one of them away from her and did another pique while moving to the diamond of hoops and spinning the hoop on her wrist again. One by one she started to spinning the three hoops from her ankle to her waist until she had one of her wrists, one of her chest, one of her waist and the other at her ankles while she spun in place, the hoops gracefully following her every movement. Once she finished spinning, she turned to the foot metal pole and tossed the wrist hoop over to it, watching as it landed perfectly before doing the same with the chest hoop onto the other metal pole. When she did it with the waist and ankle hoops also she grinned over at her audience before performing a series of back walk overs in place.

For her grand finale, Nicolette butterfly jumped over to the ten hula hoops that waited for her at the end of the stage and she grabbed onto them before allowing them to fall back making a cage like effect behind her head as she moved back to the center, grabbing the four hoops that relaxed on the poles. She then placed all fourteen hoops around her waist and started spinning them, the hoops making a beautiful wave of silver water appearance on her body and finally she let them fall to the ground, performing a deep bow for her audience and breathing heavily as Ken stopped her music when her bow was completed. The performers and even some of the Kaleido cast members all started to cheer loudly for the twenty year old and she grinned happily before collecting her props and placing them all back into the cabinet before walking back over to Zachary, smiling at all the 'good jobs' she received on her way up.

"What the hell was that? That was awesome!" He shouted when she arrived back at her seat and he gently slapped her against the back, grinning down at her. "How the hell did you come up with something like that in ten minutes?" She laughed at his question and said. "Let's just say that not only you have prepared pieces in your head." The navy haired man grinned mischievously at his smaller friend but the two quickly turned back to the stage when Ken started to call for attention.

"Alright, listen up please!" The orange haired man started as Kalos stood up from his chair, glancing over his notes and turning over to the men and women auditioning. "That was the last performance for the first round. You all will get a ten minute break until we start the second round. This time, you will be performing your prepared routine you brought to show us." Many 'yes' ' could be heard around the stands and the head of Kaleido nodded before sitting back down in his chair, writing more notes on his clipboard. "You have ten minutes to stretch and prepare for your pieces! Please give me an songs you may have!" Some of the men and women started to move from their chairs and Nicolette only continued to watch Kalos, interested in what he was writing. 'Is he writing about me? Did he like it? Did he not...?' She thought sadly. "Come on, Nicolette. Let's go on the stage and stretch." Zachary offered and she quickly nodded, snapping from her thoughts. "Yeah sounds good." She grabbed his outstretched hand and the two moved down to the stage to stretch, but the pink haired woman couldn't help but keep stealing glances at Kalos. 'Keep your spirits up, Nic. Don't let his expressions taunt you! Make him want to watch you... Catch his interest... Blow it out of the water!'

End of 'Chapter Three: Balls and Hoops'

Next... 'Chapter Four: Of Wheels and Fire'

Here you are everyone! Chapter three of Irish Circus Beauty! Finally we get some gymnastics in here, huh? Haha. Of course I would love to thank my reviewers for their comments and support! Thank you Anjyu, The Phoenix Feather, and Nitrogirl! Thank you all so much and I can't wait to have another chapter ready for you! But I also want to answer a question by one of you as well since it might be what all three of you are thinking. :)

* The Phoenix Feather - "Uuu I like this more and more! An orphanage, huh? I have some guesses concerning that, but I'll keep them to myself. I just would like to ask you when is this all happening... During the time Sora is pursuing her dream to becoming the star or much after that? ;) Update soon!"

To answer your question dear, my fanfiction takes place about three years after the second season! So it continues to have Leon and May as well as Layla and Yuri who continued to stay with the stage! Layla did have her injury at the end of the first season but it has been about four years since then so it has been able to heal and she has had surgery on it which she will talk about later in the story! But I felt like I couldn't have a story without the main cast of the first season so everyone is here! I hope that answered your question! If you have any other please feel free to ask it!

Also, if you would like to see the routines that were performed by Nicolette and Zachary in this chapter please feel free to check out the links to the two Cirque shows Alegria and Vareki! Both I have seen live and have on DVD as well! Check em' out they are amazing performers! Hope to see you again in chapter four! Please read and review!

Cirque du Soleil - Alegria: (Nicolette's routine) Copyright Elena Lev ~ Alegria 2005.

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Cirque du Soleil - Vareki: (Zachary's routine) Copyright Octavio Alegria ~ Vareki 2001.

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