Baseball had to be declared an extreme sport. That's what Sora thought when her ears stopped ringing and she became aware of her surroundings. Or, more importantly, of Leon hovering over her asking her if she was alright.

Due to what had just happened, and the fact that it was freezing outside, the usual blush didn't reach her cheeks. Leon had spotted her before she had seen him, and thankfully, that drew him to her, giving him a few precious seconds to realize what was about to happen and prevent the wrong from happening. He'd managed to knock her down just as the ball shattered the store screen, and managed to cover her up when the glass shattered and fell on both of them.

She was alright, he knew that. Her tiny form trembled in his arms, but she was alright. Actually…she was rather struggling for a breath since he was pressing down on her with all of his weight, but he was so relieved that for a second he forgot that they were just partner…friendly and indifferent colleagues. So he got up from her and asked her to verify what he was hoping to be true, as his eyes scanned her body for any particular injuries. He himself felt a small pain in his back, but that wasn't going to bother him now…

To his surprise, he soon heard the roar of the ambulance siren, and helped his partner up. Other than the extreme fright, she seemed fine, but her calves and heels were bleeding-the result of all the running she'd done today and his inability to protect her entirely. Leon frowned angrily, and as they waited for the ambulance to arrive (as they couldn't get out of the strange cluster of people around them), he picked her up so that she wouldn't have to press her weight on her injured legs.

During that time, and then their ride to the ER, both were quiet. Not a surprise when it came to Leon, since silence was a second nature to him, but Sora didn't even make an attempt at conversation, which was a rather worrying fact.

"Twice in one day, Sora!" Kate exclaimed as she rushed out to greet them

"I'm fine." She said weakly

"Please stop lying." The doctor said, and her words were enough to make the red-head cringe with discomfort. For God's sakes, she hadn't meant for it to turn into such a fiasco. But one look at Kate had her realize her mistake-her friend wasn't unhappy with her, she was downright angry. Sora felt like shrinking into some deep pit, and made herself as small in Leon's arms as possible.

She had to apologize. For lying to Kate-san, for screaming at her friends and for acting so inappropriately…and she had to thank her partner for saving her. But…she glanced up at him as he waited for the doctors to prepare the examination table for them, he didn't seem like he wanted to talk. Now that she thought about it, he hadn't spoken to her at all other than to verify if she was still in one piece.

Sora bowed her head in shame. Well, it wasn't like she could blame him. They still hadn't talked after their little incident yesterday afternoon, other the few lines they had exchanged before her, quite embarrassing, faint. But then again, when had Leon shown her that he was like everyone else? Sometimes he acted as if he was from another world.

"Hold it!"

"Wait…"

"I said HOLD IT, YOU IDIOT! Do you want me to fall and break a leg? I assure you, I can sue you for more than you can make in your entire lousy lifetime if you hurt me."

"I swear to whatever you want, May-san, I'm not trying to kill you! Please wait until I steady the ladder."

"If you don't hurry up, somebody might see us!" the Chinese woman countered as she started climbing the said ladder towards the second floor terrace.

"Nobody would bother looking if you would just keep your voice down." Ken mumbled

"WHAT'S THAT?!" she screamed, and to the boy's surprise, she had already swung her legs over the railing and was safe from falling off.

"NOTHING!" he yelled back, before trying the ladder for himself. Were all women that weird when it came to their secret obsessions or it was only May?

His ascend was much slower, both because he was heavier and because he didn't possess May's acrobatic agility. However, by the time he was safe on the terrace, she still hadn't entered the room, and was fumbling angry with the lock of the terrace door. When he came closer, he realized that she was holding a hair pin!

"You've got to be kidding me!" he said, causing her to yelp and jump high in the air. However, the fright was only brief and nothing could save him from the incoming torrent of yells.

"What are you doing!" she screeched "You scared the living daylights out of me! What if I were standing on the edge of a cliff!? I would've died!"

"One, we are not standing on the edge of a cliff, and two, if you were, I obviously couldn't accompany you." Ken didn't have time to marvel his newly found quickness of thought because he gestured towards her previous occupation "You can't open a lock with a hairpin! I know it happens into movies, but this isn't some Mission Impossible!"

"I used to open closets like this all the time." May huffed, pointedly ignoring him by picking up from where she had left off "Way before I saw M.I."

"Still, this isn't some toy chest or a dressing-table. You can't just…" there was a sharp click and May slid the door open, grinning triumphantly "…open it so easily?"

"You should put more efforts into security." She said, cheekily, before stepping into the apartment. Ken couldn't help but agree. Next time Kalos asked him for any suggestions on improving the dorms, he would tell him to put better locks. Ones that opened real hard. And probably back-up ones too. People couldn't leave their precious possessions in a badly guarded place. "Are you coming?" the woman's voice resonated from inside and he reluctantly followed in.

The room was just as he remembered it. The boxes of confetti and chocolates were gone, making everything look even emptier, and the floor made a treacherous creak under their legs every time they moved. May was looking around, awestruck to finally be in Leon's room, but Ken couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that this situation would somehow turn around against them. If the man in question returned (a rather unlikely possibility since he was instructed not to come back until he found Sora), they would pay greatly for invading his personal space.

Such fears did not reach May, who was already walking towards the desk and was ruffling over its countenance.

"What are you waiting for?" She scolded him "Check the kitchen while I cover the bedroom."

"I…I don't want to."

"What?" she turned around, black eyes wide with shock "Why not?"

"I…I have a bad feeling about this. What if he returns? What if someone hears us? What if we're discovered? We've already suffered a lot from your impulsiveness." Ken said, crossing his arms in front of his chest in an attempt to look more serious and intimidating. Only, in his case, it was more like the try of a stubborn child to hold back tears. Literally.

May, however, refused to be touched, and shrugged in a blasé manner before turning her attention back to the desk. "Suit yourself then."

"What? You're not going to try and encourage me into a life of crime?"

"Whatever." He could almost hear her roll her eyes "It's not like your doing nothing would save you if we get caught. If it helps you sleep at night, don't help me. I could've just entered here by climbing the water pipe. But…" she threw him a cheeky glance "Don't expect me to use my super-breaking-in skills to let you into Sora's room."

"As if I would!" he exclaimed "Unlike you, I have respect for other people's private space."

"Other people doesn't include Leon." She huffed, flipping over a book.

And after a few minutes of watching her rummage through his personal things, he found himself following her lead. After all, this was all for Sora's sake, and the future they would undoubtedly have together. Strangely, being stranded with May in an island of social isolation had given him enough courage to not only wish for a miracle, but believe in it. Surely, this was for the best-he and Sora were like two peas in a pod, both cheerful, easy-going and devoted to their jobs. Their life together would be bliss, and as soon as Leon was…ahem…made see that too, he would realize that he and May were also a match made in heaven. The Chinese acrobat was overly confident, but a little air couldn't harm Ken, who was so crushed by reality that it was painful to watch him.

It was a shame that whatever arguments they had in their future (apart from each other, naturally), they couldn't toss anything that would help their case in their way. Leon's apartment only held the basic necessities-table and chairs in the kitchen along with a stove and a few cupboards, another chair, a desk and bed in the other room. Impersonal, sterile…the only thing that proved that somebody lived there were the books and letters scattered about.

May peeked into the ones that were open and then checked the addresses of the other ones, careful to leave them as she found them lest he suspected the intrusion. Not like he would care, really-everything there was as dull as it could be. Announcements of incoming shows; invitations from former partners that he came on a premiere that were both pleading and cold at the same time; uniform letters from former couches who kept in touch with him; formal notes and letters of business…Either Leon was a busy man, or he didn't trust letters to carry his innermost feelings. With their luck, even if they found something, it would be in French.

"Honestly…" she mumbled, eyes roaming over the different papers, looking for something that would look conspicuous "Who uses snail mail anymore!"

An idea flashed through her mind wickedly and she looked over the drawers again. Leon HAD to have a laptop-Kalos had made sure that the top performers got one when the profits from Swan Lake came, and the bastard had to have used it, because…well, who could deny a free computer and access to the Internet. May herself had exhausted the limit given to her in a day when she first got hers. Sora, of course, had insisted that she didn't need one, and after many pointless discussions (how can anyone bear get a gift if the main star doesn't accept it), they had compromised on her swapping her decidedly more expensive one for Mia's. Not that their main play writer didn't have a better use for it, but…come on, who wouldn't use one?

The answer? Leon Oswald. May felt like eating her socks off when she found the package, hidden in the very bottom of a drawer behind a bundle of trash. The only proof that this man was real, too, because with his strange behavior she wouldn't have been surprised if he was as neat as a surgeon. She pulled out the box and opened it though, hoping to find it empty, or, better yet, containing some juicy little secret she could use to blackmail him with.

No such luck. The laptop lay in there, as if it had just been taken out of the store. Had he even unpacked it? The cables were carefully rolled on the side, but there were no traces on them, showing a continuous usage. Sighing, she was about to put it away when a flash of color made her look down again.

There. She carefully undid the safety straps and lifted it up, then smirked.

Underneath, there was a stack of pictures. Young people in the middle of a performance, some smiling, others didn't. Different costumes, colorings, hairstyles…one thing in common. Leon.

She went over all of them, quickly noticing the pattern-there was always a woman by his side, always tall, unrealistically beautiful in their revealing outfits, and always holding onto him possessively as they beamed towards the camera. So the Grim Reaper had a sentimental side to him? He did keep pictures of all the women he'd gone through (somehow, May hoped that it had been only in the way he was known for). She knew, of course, that she couldn't take them, but at least now she knew they existed. She recognized Emma on one of them, and there was a decided difference between the bitter harpy she'd met one year ago on the circus festival and the lovely, blooming young woman there.

May also noticed that in one of the packages reserved exclusively for cables, there was a small silver locket. Even before she pulled it out and examined it, she knew that it was the very same one Sora had brought back from their trip a few days ago. How it ended up in Leon's possession, she did not know, but the theories that she was having were better left unsaid

"Have you found anything yet?" Ken called from the kitchen. His counterpart embarrassedly stuffed the locked into the pocket of her jeans before returning the computer and the pictures back behind the pile of trash.

"No." she lied quickly "You?"

"Not really…"

"Then let's get out of here." She resolved, hoping that she didn't sound too angry. Ken emerged from the kitchen, a disbelieving look plastered on his face, but she only pulled him out of the apartment, after turning off the lights and locking the glass door again. The ladder, however, was gone, much to their displeasure.

"What the….What's the meaning of this?" she screeched while he paled like a dead man

"Oh, no! Somebody saw us! We're doomed!"

May huffed and stared out in the darkness, as if she expected to shoot killing looks at the perpetrator. However, that didn't happen and she quickly switched to thinking machine mode. They had to react quickly, otherwise they were going to get definitely caught. Swinging over to the other apartment was out of the question, since the dorm was probably locked already, and going back in wasn't a good idea.

"Ken…" she finally said "You're going to have to do something you're not supposed to do if you want out of here."

"There you go." All traces of bad humor had left Kate as she finished cleaning up the cuts on Leon's back. Despite the man's constant assurances that it was fine, she had insisted on removing the glass that was stuck in him, and he couldn't help but comply when Sora had also timidly suggested that he should submit to treatment. Since then, the young doctor had never stopped enjoying the annoyed and resigned faces that her patent was pulling while she treated him. Apparently, his little partner was rubbing off on him and he wasn't too happy about it.

Something about an annoyed Leon reminded her of an angry wolf cub-it showed its teeth and growled, but it couldn't do much damage and in the end looked incredibly cute. Not that the Frenchman was short or covered with soft, fluffy fur, but the look on his face was pretty close to it. Poor guy-he didn't like it when somebody controlled him.

She pulled the curtain that separated the room, removing the semblance of privacy the two partners had had as they had received treatment. Sora was still lying on the cot, covered by the thick blanket, her eyes closed in what could've been mistaken as a doze, but Kate knew better than that. While she had bandaged her legs, and upon gaining her reassurance that Leon was still outside, the young starlet had gushed forward about the things that had bothered her lately, from her partner's behavior to Yuri's strange offer to the real reason she fainted today (the former not without blushing like a tomato).

The young doctor had listened with a peculiar kind of bemusement, but had been completely serious when she spoke.

"Firstly, Sora, I have to congratulate you for having the courage to talk to me about this. But, surely, you must be more careful when you're talking to strangers on the Internet."

"Yes. I know that…I guess I got too carried away."

"With that aside, you should know that your body's reactions are neither shameful, nor irregular. For a girl your age, it's a little strange, but if you've never been attracted to someone…" she made an off-hand gesture "Well, it doesn't matter. But it is important that you don't panic and try and live with these emotions. Eventually, they will settle and become a part of your routine."

"But what about…ugh…Leon-san. And…Allegro."

"Sora…this may seem strange coming from a woman like me, but at your age, one doesn't generally know what they want. With a few notable exceptions, you aren't any different. You mustn't embark on anything hastily, and you shouldn't jump to conclusions all of the sudden. So…as far as Leon is concerned, you should not mistake love for curiosity. And as for Allegro…I would advise you to give it up. It's rare that the people we meet so suddenly on the Internet are with good intentions, and by the way you describe him, he's either too good to be true or…simply dangerous."

"Of course." She nodded, although there was some misery leaking through her façade. Luckily, that was when she went to invite Leon in to mend him, so Sora was left alone to curl up and think under the peaceful disguise of sleep.

However, when Kate left them to see if there were any spare rooms that could accommodate them for the night (with Leon pointing out that even if they returned to the dorms, they would be locked up), she couldn't put it off anymore. Slowly sitting up in the cot, she wasn't too surprised to see her partner staring at her questioningly.

"I…" thinking that it was best to get it over with quickly, she gushed "I'm sorry. I've acted very foolishly. Please forgive me." Bowing her head repeatedly as she did so. Leon's reply was a slightly quirked eyebrow.

"What should I forgive you for?" he asked, halting the stream of words and making her look up "As far as I know, you have not done anything to offend me."

"I haven't, but…" she blinked owlishly "Aren't you angry at me? For…screaming today?"

"As I recall, your…outburst was not directed towards me exclusively." He said calmly "It is not to me that you should be apologizing. IF you think you should be apologizing at all."

If? As if seeing the question in her eyes, Leon sighed and elaborated:

"I'm not angry at you for yelling today, Sora. Actually, other than a few inaccuracies in your speech, I hardly detected anything that was untrue or said in the wrong place. You are under a lot of pressure daily and it doesn't help when people freak out around you. I find it rather healthy to let your feelings go every once in a while."

"Wow…" he heard herself say "That almost sounds hypocritical coming from you."

To her surprise, he merely chuckled "I can see how you got confused here! However, there is a difference between staying indifferent and forcing a false expression on your face just so that everyone else wouldn't worry. One is tolerable. The other is simply masochistic. In any case…" Leon leaned forth on his elbows "…I am not the one you should be apologizing to. I'm sure that no matter what they do, your friends would much rather know how you feel than have you deceive them with a false appearance. They were very worried."

Sora stared at her feet in despair.

"I know. I just…I wish I could be better, but…"

Leon sighed and she looked up to see him staring at her again, with that weird, singular look that always made butterflies flutter into her stomach and her legs to malfunction. It took her a few seconds to realize that he had posed a question. She asked him to repeat it.

"Why should you be better? Or, maybe I should say how do you think you could be better?"

"Umm…" Ok, what was it about Leon that always made her feel inadequate and/or stupid whenever he asked a question? How hard was it to answer? Breathe in, breathe out, use your vocal cords and mouth to form the words that your brain just came up with. Easy… "To chicken with love…"

Ok, maybe not that easy.

"By…being a stronger performer and not making them worry?"

Leon huffed.

"You mean by acting perfect. Should I really tell you that this is a very wrong logic, Sora?" What was it about him saying her name like that? Had his manner of speaking changed in the last few months? Sure, there wasn't the hint of distaste laced with it now, but he hardly called someone by their name (often settling with 'you!' in its place) that it had become a cause for celebration when it did happen.

Or grief…depending on the situation.

Since he didn't get an answer from her, he went on: "You may think that being the Kaleido Star makes you different than others. Well, it doesn't." Sora blinked owlishly, startled by his rash tone "You just have a lot of attention pointed at you. You're not perfect, but it's the people's expectations that make you obliged to be. It may be harder if you fail than it would be to others, but that doesn't make you less human. As such, you make mistakes. It's painful, but not unforgivable."

"You've had a lot of time to thing about this, haven't you?" she mumbled, but he didn't answer because Kate-san walked back into the room.

A/N-Hope you liked it.