Disclaimer: I regret writing most of this story because of it's bad writing and many, many issues with plot, characters, etc. Read at your own risk, I'm not held responsible for my writing. Feel free to critique and give helpful criticism.

Chapter 1

I stared out the semi-dirty cab window as we rode on the bumpy road. For some reason my cousin chose to live in the most inconvenient place possible. It had taken me forever just to find someone who was willing to take me this far out into the country. I hadn't seen anything but the green of trees for approximately twenty minutes. The cab driver was silent, keeping his eyes steadily on the road, and his silence only added to my anxiousness. He had stopped talking after I zoned out and used only one word answers. I really hadn't meant to be rude, but my mind was on other things.

My hand was in my jean pocket, clutching a letter I had read so many times it was extremely crumpled. I don't know why I had even kept it, I had memorized it after practically the fiftieth time I had read it. My hand clenched around it, making sure my fingers wouldn't tremble.

The looping letters that were printed on the paper were barely legible anymore. The ink ran in places where my tears had fallen on them, and the paper was too crumpled to be of any use.

Dear Miss Thea Hawthorne,

We, of the Phantomhive Manor, have recently heard of your parent's tragic deaths. The master of our estate- Ciel Phantomhive- welcomes you into his home as a guest and family member. You must feel free to stay as long as you need, and may leave when you are able.

We have included plane tickets to London in the envelope in hopes that you will join us on May 29. If so, your things will be sent separately. We hope to see you here soon.

Best Wishes,

Sebastian Michaelis,

Butler of the Phantomhive estate

My parents had died in a car crash a few of weeks ago, a hit and run quote-on-quote 'accident'. A painful death, I was told. The driver had never been caught- never had to see the consequences of his actions. I gritted my teeth subconsciously at the thought.

After they had died, I was in a bit of a situation. I didn't have much family to begin with on either side, and none were willing to take me on because of my... condition. They turned me away just because I was different from the others. Stupid, pathetic people. I scowled slightly to myself at the thought, turning my head towards the window.

The lawyers back home had been at a loss as of what to do with me. They had even considered putting me in a foster home- which I would have promptly run away from. But then news of a cousin on my mother's side I had never even heard of reached us. And so they shipped me off, relieved I expect, to live with someone I'd never even heard of. I had to move from my home state of Indiana to live in far off England. Yeah, I wasn't that big of a fan of that. It almost seemed too perfect, the way it was arranged. I mean, come on. A 'long-lost' cousin arriving just as my parents died and I would have to be put in an orphanage? You cannot get more fairytale than that. But the thing about fairy tales is that they rarely ended happily- well, at least the originals didn't.

The taxi- cab here, I reminded myself- rolled to a stop in front of a large sprawling manor. My mouth dropped open in astonishment. It was amazing. I mean amazing. The manor was surrounded by woods on all sides and the garden was filled with all kinds of flowers I couldn't even guess the names of.

Damn... They didn't tell me my cousin was rich. Absolutely rolling in money by the looks of it. I scowled to myself, he better not be one of those snobby, I'm-so-much-better-than-you people. I don't do people like that. We usually disagree. And by disagree I mean that I usually insult them relentlessly until they get annoyed.

I got out of my cab and mentally prepared myself, before paying the driver and getting my medium sized suitcase out of the trunk. Outside of the mansion, there was a man dressed all in black wearing a traditional butler's wear. I blinked once. Twice. I knew from the letter that Ciel had a butler, but was he actually wearing a stereotypical butler's outfit? That was… slightly sad…

The man came up to the cab, "You must be Miss Hawthorne," the man said smoothly in a British accent. Right now, I was really grateful I wasn't a huge blusher. Because if I was, I would have blood gushing out of my nose in streams right now. He was attractive. Very attractive. He flipping put Loki to shame. (Well, maybe not that attractive). But of course he knew that, so it made him less so- but only a little. He had inky black hair that fell into his strange, wine-colored eyes. I've never seen eyes like that... I wonder how you would get that color?

I shifted my bag on my shoulder. "Just call me Thea, you don't need to be all fancy with me," I said bluntly. Maybe rather too bluntly considering we just met. But luckily he didn't seem offended and did a peculiar closed eye grin. And… that was creepy.

He didn't speak after that. Why are you doing this to me, I don't deal well with silences! After a moment's silence, I shifted awkwardly, "So... What's your name?" Nice Thea, nice. Real smooth.

"Sebastian Michaelis, Miss Hawthorne." I sent him a glare out of instinct, but then quickly rearranged my face to a more pleasant expression. After all, we had just met. But he caught the quick look and smirked at me. I looked down and shuffled my feet together.

"The young master will be down in a moment, you won't have to wait long," Sebastian said probably out of pity, noticing my anxious look. I smiled quickly at him before my face settled back into its worried expression. I was on edge- what if he didn't want me in his home? If they sent me to a foster home I was running away right then and there, no question. I'd heard stories about those places.

"There's no need to wait," a British male's voice said dryly. I slowly turned to face him and I almost face faulted. Okay, this is so not fair; everyone is attractive in England- I'm convinced of it!

"I'm Ciel Phantomhive," he said. Ciel had navy blue hair- which I wondered if he had dyed- that fell into his sapphire colored eyes. Technically eye- since one was covered with an eye patch like a pirate. I wonder what's the story behind that? I bet it's an interesting one.

He didn't seem to be that much older than me, and I was sixteen. For a moment, I wondered why Sebastian had called him 'Young Master', they didn't look like there was much of an age gap between them. He had a more slender build than most boys I had seen- but let's be honest, I haven't met many boys in my life. Or even girls for that matter.

I couldn't bring myself to say anything besides an unladylike, "Uhhhhh..." He smirked at me in amusement with a glint in his eye. Then he turned around and started walking toward the manor at a steady pace.

"Well, are you going to stand there all day or do you want a tour of the place you're staying?" Ciel asked, tossing his head over his shoulder. I like him already. I grinned slightly before jogging after him, throwing a regretful look at Sebastian, who was left with my luggage.

The first thing I said when we got to the entrance was, "Wow." If the outside had been beautiful, then the inside was spectacular. The foyer had a black and white parquet flooring and the ceiling extended many floors. There was a grand staircase right in the middle. It looked like one of those staircases that parents didn't allow their children on unless it was Christmas or something.

Ciel didn't pause and continued to walk straight to the left, down the hall. I quickly stumbled after him rather ungracefully. When he stopped rather abruptly at a door, I ran into his back since I wasn't paying attention.

"Sorry," I muttered before regaining an appropriate amount of distance between us. As you can see, I am extremely clumsy. I was so flustered I missed the smirk that made his way to his lips.

"This is the main room." My eyes widened as I gawked. The room was huge and was filled with any kind of entertainment you could want. I saw a chess table in the corner, and I made a mental note to ask Ciel if he played. There was a huge flatscreen TV that took up the better part of the wall and an enormous cream sectional that looked extremely plush and comfy. It took all of my self control to not swan dive into it. Seriously, that was really tempting.

"Important question," I said, unintentionally cutting him off mid sentence, "Do you have wifi?" Ciel arched an eyebrow.

"No," he replied shortly. My eyes widened to the size of saucer plates.

"What?" I asked in a choked voice. No, I can't stay here. They don't have wifi! How will I survive? A small smirk tugged Ciel's lips.

"I'm only joking," he said in a teasing tone. Putting a hand to my heart, I glared at him.

"You just gave me a heart attack!" I cried, reprimanding him. I took deep breath calming myself. It was slightly pathetic how much I reacted to that simple statement. Then again, I can't survive with the internet for more than five days. Even that was stretching it.

"... We also have Netflix here so you can watch-" I didn't even realize he was talking until he mentioned Netflix.

"You have Netflix here!?" I interrupted. He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes..."

"Yeah!" I double fisted the air and Ciel gave me a strange look. I lowered my arms. "What?" I asked, giving my most innocent look. "I just love Netflix." He was still looking at me like I was crazy. Which I probably was, as a matter of fact. He cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"Anyway, there are other rooms that you should see," Ciel said. True to his word, he showed me around other important rooms except one major one. The kitchen. I love food and I won't lie about it. Food if one of the major joys in my life. Especially chocolate. YES. Chocolate is love. I was high on excitement for the first time in weeks, and I couldn't find it in myself to care.

"Hey Ciel?" I ask. He turns his head over his shoulder with an eyebrow cocked in question.

"Yes?"

"Where's the kitchen?" I ask. He paused for a moment before answering.

"It's going under construction."

"Alright then." Something in his voice made me not fully believe him; but hey, it was his business, not mine.

"Here's your room," Ciel announced, opening a door. I gawked at my room. One, it was huge for one. I mean like triple the size of my old room- which was a good size to begin with. Two, it had freaking built in book shelves.

"Oh my God!" I practically screamed. I ran past Ciel into the room to gawk at the shelves. They were made of dark wood and they covered an entire wall. An entire. Freaking. Wall.

"I think I might actually be able to fit all my books onto these!" Ciel gave me a confused look.

"It's an entire wall, you only brought a suitcase," Ciel said bemused. I gave him an almost pitying look.

"Darling," I drawled, "You didn't really think I brought all my books with me in a suitcase did you? If I had brought all my books, that cab wouldn't have been able to move an inch. I do believe that they're shipping them separately." Turning my attention from him back to the shelves, I sighed in happiness, daydreaming about all the books I might be able to buy to fit on it.

"You like to read then?" Ciel asked. I turned around and beamed at him, my first real smile in weeks.

"Like? Reading is my life! I read dozens of books a day." Smiling slightly at that, Ciel showed me around my new room, including my bathroom which I squealed over.

"I'm guessing that you're going to stay," Ciel said with a smirk when I gazed with wide eyes at my new bathroom. Turning to face him, I rolled my eyes.

"I don't exactly have anywhere else to go, now do I?" I asked dryly, indirectly referring to my 'condition'. Ciel tilted his head and gave me a bewildered look.

"What do you mean?" He questioned.

"How do you not-" I stopped suddenly and looked down at the floor, afraid I had said too much. I didn't like to talk about the accident.

"What?" Ciel asked.

I raised my head to give him a confused look. "You really don't know?" I asked incredulously. Ciel shook his head, cocking his head to the side, looking curious. I was suddenly nervous and looked at the floor again. What if the only reason he agreed to take me in was because he didn't know? Would I ruin the chance to stay here if he found out? I didn't have anywhere else to go. And even if I refused to tell him right now, he would find out eventually.

Seeing my nervousness, Ciel said, "It's alright if you don't want to talk about it. Everyone has their secrets."

Smiling slightly, I ran my hand through my brown bangs, brushing them back. "No, it's not that... it's okay. It's just when I was about nine I got in an accident and my right leg was completely crushed. They had to remove it and I got a prosthetic." I lifted my jeans up a little to show the wood of my leg. "It's a shitty piece of work, but I'm used to it," I shrugged like it was no big deal- but it was. Ciel had a cryptic look on his face.

I look down self consciously. What if he didn't want me here now? Most people didn't want to 'take care' of someone. But they didn't realize they didn't have to. I can take care of myself, thank you very much.

After several moments of silence, I looked up at Ciel. He was gazing at my leg with a mixture of emotions that I couldn't define. But not revulsion, like most other people. It was more of sympathy and… understanding. Slowly, he simply nodded as I released my pant leg to cover up the wood once more. Somehow his silence spoke louder than words, and I was okay with that.

I grinned to myself, unable to keep the smile from flitting across my cheeks. Someone wasn't just telling me I should do my best to become what I was before. Somehow, his silence was more accepting than anything he could have said.

"Thank you," I said with a small smile- even though he hadn't said anything. But there was something else about him… He acted as if he had knowledge of this. He had lost something in his life, you could tell just by the way he held himself.

"There's nothing to thank me for," Ciel said stiffly, "You must be tired from your plane trip here. You can rest up here for the rest of the day if you wish. Dinner will be at 7:30, but it can be brought up here if you so choose." I nodded, showing I understood.

"Thank you." Ciel nodded at me and left my new room, closing the door behind him. I turned around and sighed in contentment. My room was beautiful.

The walls were painted a rich, dark blue and there were glass doors that opened up to a balcony overlooking the woods. Somehow I had a feeling I would be spending a lot of time out there. My bed was a queen and was covered in a very fluffy looking comforter and a load of pillows.

I dropped my purse on the floor and looked side to side mischievously. No one was looking. I got a running start and swan dived into my bed. Yes, I think yes.I could definitely get used to this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(A/N)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, this is my first story on Fanfiction, I hope you like it! Give it a try, I'll try to make it good.

Please R&R!