A/N: Hi everyone! I'm back with a new chaptered story. This story is alternate universe and very OOC for all characters. There will only be one character's point of view per chapter. I guess that it is regency-esque; I certainly had that time period in mind when I started writing the story. I really don't know quite where they are, but feel free to consider it Regency England, or some parallel of that in which Japanese names are normal. I have no idea how long the story will be or how it will end yet, so I hope you enjoy the ride!

Warnings: This story is rated M for good reason. If you are not old enough to be reading M-rated material or simply don't like mature content, then please don't read this story. This chapter is rated T for safety and because there is a brief discussion of adult topics.

Disclaimers: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Rukia's Point of View

I often felt like Cinderella, forced to live in a home where my family treated me as no more than a servant.

My parents had died when I was a young child of a terrible illness, and so I was moved to live with my aunt Rangiku and her daughter Orihime; the only blood relations that I had left in this world. They never took well to the idea of me living with them, and they demonstrated this every day of my life. I was forced to work in their house as a servant, earning my keep of a small cramped room with a hard mattress of compressed straw, a thin sheet to ward off the cold and two small meals of leftovers and table scraps everyday to help keep me alive.

They were well off enough, Rangiku had received an excellent fortune after the death of her husband and parents, and Orihime was in line to inherit that fortune when her mother passed. They lived on a fairly large estate with a grand house to live in. I wasn't much of a financial burden on them as I ate little and worked hard on my chores to try and stay in their good graces, but they certainly acted as though I was a burden to them, and they often let me know it.

"Rukia, would you mind coming over here for a moment?" asked Rangiku loudly in a condescending tone. I had been scrubbing the steps to the staircase in the grand entrance room clean as she had asked me to do when she called me over. I sighed, casting my sponge into the bucket of water next to me and picking up my damp skirts to make my way over to the parlor that Rangiku was waiting for me in.

"Yes, Aunt?"

"Rukia, you know that you are almost seventeen years old, yes?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well please know that on your seventeenth birthday in a month that I will no longer be required to house you and take care of you my dear. You will need to find arrangements with others, perhaps you could be a farm maid in Mrs. Lutte's home a few miles down the road. I am sure that they would take you in and make you earn your living… "

Rangiku continued muttering on about other possible poor accommodations that I could possibly find myself in within the span of a month. My eyes began to water, but I held back the urge to weep in front of my aunt and stayed strong in my resolve. I always knew that they would turn me out of the house as soon as they could.

After clearing my eyes of the tears and waiting for Rangiku to finish with her musings, I asked, "What if I were to be married?"

"Ha ha ha ha!" Orihime cackled as she walked into the room in her fine gown. It was made of pink satin and lace and embroidered with pearls on the bodice. No expense was ever spared for her by her mother. I was merely dressed in a dirty gown of plain muslin; our respective dresses were a clear and distinctive sign of how differently Rangiku valued of each of the two of us. "What man would want to marry you Rukia? You have no money, no prospects, and no beauty. Your hair is an ugly shade of black and purple, you have no bosom to speak of and the hips of a little boy."

I was not as terribly offended by her statements as I should have been, as they were normal and common coming out of her conceited mouth. It was difficult to believe that we were the best of friends as young children; before her mother corrupted her with self-important thoughts and prejudices after her father died. I only inwardly sighed to myself, and waited for Rangiku to speak.

"Oh Rukia, you know that you aren't even a mildly attractive prospect for a man. Even if a man somehow found you charming and attractive, he would be thoroughly put off by your severe lack of fortune and connections. Erase the thought of getting married from your mind as it is a foolish dream. Now, I will also need you to spend all of tomorrow directing all of the other servants to help clean the entire house thoroughly as we are expecting company of the highest honor to come to our humble home. With any luck, he will be begging Orihime to marry him. Now shoo, go back to your chores!"

"Yes ma'am," I said as politely as I could muster backing out of the room and returning to scrubbing the staircase. It wasn't long before tears began streaming down my face, mingling with the dirty water on the floor as I thought about my very near future. What was I going to do? My aunt hadn't let me out of the house in years; I had no chance to try and find good accommodations for myself. I would probably be booted out of the house on my birthday with my few meager belongings to find my way in the world alone, with very little money and few options.

"Are you alright, Rukia?" I heard a soft voice behind me ask. I was quite startled as I hadn't noticed anyone walking into the room, but then again my vision was blurred by my salty tears. I looked behind me to see my only true friend here, Momo Hinamori. Momo was a servant in the household as well, but she usually worked in the kitchen. Momo was probably the reason that I wasn't too frail; Momo would help sneak food to me on the days when I was given very little to eat. She was a very close and trusted friend to me. Rangiku and Orihime were unaware of how close Momo and I were, which was beneficial as I was afraid that Momo would suffer greatly from befriending me.

"Oh Momo, I am to be booted out of the house on my next birthday and I am afraid that I have no place to go. Not only this, but I am afraid that I will never see you again," I said as I burst back into tears. Momo dropped to her knees next to me and enveloped me in the comfort of her arms.

"It's alright Rukia, we will figure something out. I will write to my mother and see what she can come up with. She knows a great many people and can very likely help you find a good place to stay."

"Oh Momo, what will I ever do without you?"

"You won't have to do without me. We will find ways to work out visits and we will always write to each other often. Everything will work out, so don't fret too much over it, alright?"

I stayed in the comfort of Momo for a few moments longer before we both went back to our work. Momo was in a similar situation to me. Her mother was alive, but she didn't have the funds to take care of Momo, and so she was sent off to serve in a great household to make money to support her mother's somewhat lavish lifestyle.

Momo and I were the only servants in the house that could read and write; I had been taught by Rangiku's late husband and I had taught Momo in our spare time. We had no formal education and none of the talents that ladies of society possessed such as the abilities to draw or play an instrument. Despite this we lead good and proud lives. Yes, we were proud to be servants. Without us the social hierarchy that held up society would crumble. We may not like our superiors, but we knew our position in this world.

I was also glad that I was a servant because if there was anything that I learned from living with my aunt and cousin, it was that the rich were snooty, rude, and without the slightest bit of virtue. I knew that I was good person in character, whereas I had witnessed the bad-mannered attitudes and deceit that occurred within the world of high society. I never wanted to be caught up in such trickery and back-stabbing. Being a servant, while not the best situation in life, was at least one with some dignity and decorum of character.

After a long day of cleaning, I was finally released from my daily duties to go to bed. I made my way down the narrow stone staircase that led to the basement. There I entered my small bedroom and dressed myself for bed in my loose muslin nightdress. I looked over to the miniature table in the corner of my room that held what few precious belongings I had, a small painting in a silver frame of my parents, a small worn out doll from my days as a young child, and a silver hairbrush that once belonged to my mother. These were my greatest treasures.

I crawled onto the itchy mattress that I had grown accustomed to and wrapped myself tightly in the thin sheet. I couldn't help but wonder what this man of esteem that was supposed to be doing us the honor of a visit was to be like. He was clearly a man of great wealth, for that was the only attractive feature of a man according to Rangiku and Orihime. It was probably his only redeeming quality anyway. It was to these thoughts that I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up early the next morning, dressed myself quickly, and started to work on my chores again. I knew that Rangiku would want the house to be spotless for the guest, and this meant that I had to work earlier in the day to get it all done. The benefit of having a guest come to visit was that all of the servants were released from work early and told to stay out of the way of the visit, which was perfectly alright with me.

I met with the dozen or so servants that maintained the household and divided up the chores and tasks to be done before our guest arrived. He was to call upon Rangiku and Orihime around noontime, and so the chores needed to be done quickly as it was already approaching nine o'clock in the morning.

"Rukia! Come help me get dressed for our esteemed guest," Orihime shrieked at me from upstairs. I reluctantly climbed the stairs up into her bedchamber to help her prepare her appearance.

"I want to wear that dress over there on the bed," she said as she sat at her large vanity to begin playing with her hair, deciding how she wanted to wear it. I picked up the dress that she pointed to and began to lay it out for putting on Orihime. It was a beautiful deep emerald green embroidered with stones; in fact it was the most elaborate dress that Orihime had. She must really want to make a favorable impression on this man.

"Oh, Rukia, I do hope that he is charming and attractive. I certainly hope to make him my husband," she said as I helped to dress her in the emerald dress.

"Have you met the man before?" I asked, curious.

"No, but I have heard much about him. He has a fortune far larger than my mother's and is said to be terribly handsome. I plan on using my womanly charms to woo him; they have never failed me before."

I thought back to a few years ago, when Orihime discovered that she possessed these womanly charms. It wasn't hard to see where said charm came from. Orihime was exceptionally pretty, she had long flowing orange hair, a large bosom like her mother, and child-bearing hips. She was considered quite a beauty. In fact she had turned down several offers of marriage from men she had been with dishonorably as they were deemed by her to be too poor or not handsome enough.

She first used to use these charms on servant boys to seduce them, bed them, and then send them away once she bored of them. She eventually moved up to seduce men of higher society, to possibly better her chances in bettering her life situation. Just another example of the lack of virtue in high society, but as long as Orihime was enjoying herself; her mother ignored her disgusting and dishonorable behavior. I knew from Orihime bragging about her conquests directly to me that she should probably be wearing a dress of dark brown instead of white on her wedding day, to represent how she had sullied herself over the past several years.

I started to work on Orihime's hair, brushing it clean of tangles and knots, leaving it sleek and shiny. She had decided that she wanted to wear it down for the guest.

"What is the man's name, if I may ask?" I asked trying to make the time pass by quicker.

"His name is Lord Ichigo Kurosaki. Doesn't his name even sound handsome? I do hope that the rumors are true…"

"What are the rumors?"

"That he is in want of a pretty wife, and I will be that wife," Orihime said with determination. After all, what Orihime wants, Orihime gets. "He lives about ten miles away on the grandest estate in the county. It's said that the entire household is made from marble, and that it rivals even the King's own palaces. His father has recently died, leaving all of his large fortune to Lord Kurosaki. He apparently also takes care of his sisters now that both of his parents are dead. I have heard through several people that they are well-mannered young ladies, and that it probably won't be too long before they are married off. They are to inherit quite large fortunes themselves."

"Does getting married mean that you will stop using your womanly charms?" I asked after she had finished relating all of the circumstances of Lord Kurosaki.

"Of course not! He will likely seek ladies outside of myself for pleasure, and I plan to do the very same for myself. It is quite common in high society, but I suppose that you wouldn't know that, would you?"

"No ma'am," I said inwardly sneering. She already plans to cheat on a man she hasn't even met yet? The nerve of it! But who am I to trifle in the sins of such a world?

"Oh, and be present while our guest is here, in case one of us need to be served something or other," Orihime demanded. I suppose that I wasn't going to have a nice break like the rest of the servants after all…

I walked ahead of Orihime down the staircase and into the parlor that they were to receive the guest in.

"Is everything to your liking ma'am?" I asked to Rangiku, who was already seated in the parlor waiting for the guest to arrive.

"It's good enough I suppose," she responded lazily. "Oh Orihime, you look beautiful!" she exclaimed as her daughter entered the room. "You will ensnare his affections with your beauty alone. I wouldn't be surprised if he proposed to you on this very visit my dear."

As Rangiku continued to fawn over her daughter a knock on the door was heard. Everyone looked to the door as it was opened by a servant to allow the guest in. The servant then came into the parlor.

"Announcing Lord Ichigo Kurosaki," he proclaimed as the lord entered the room and with great flourish bowed to the ladies in the room.

"Shoo, shoo!" Rangiku scolded me as she and her daughter rose from their seats to curtsy to the man. I curtsied as well meeting the man's eyes and quickly walked out of the room, hiding behind a curtain that separated the parlor from the small library next to it, where I could still hear them in case they needed me, but I couldn't really see them.

The rumors were true; in fact that man was immensely handsome. I only saw him for a quick second, but I noticed his bright orange hair, lighter in color and brighter than Orihime's, and his stunning amber eyes. Making eye contact with him for the split second I did had sent a shock through my body. The gaze that he had given me was one of intensity, and maybe even curiosity? No, I must be exaggerating the event to myself; there was no way that he looked at me like that.

While immersed in my thoughts and coming to my own conclusions about Lord Kurosaki, I almost didn't hear the bell dinging from the parlor. I knew that this was my signal to come into the room and serve my aunt in whatever way she wished. I had been so immersed in my own thoughts that I hadn't even been listening to their conversation like I had planned.

"Is there something you need ma'am?"

"Yes, fetch Lord Kurosaki a glass of water and then please go down to your room and stay there for the rest of the evening," Rangiku ordered. I went to fetch the glass for Lord Kurosaki, filled it with water from our well, and came back with it in hand. I brought it over to the table next to our guest and set it down gently.

"Thank you so much," he said to me, making eye contact with me and even smiling and winking at me. There was a twinkle in his eye, something that I couldn't put my finger on. It was the awareness that my aunt and cousin were in the room that jolted my shocked state, forcing me to curtsy in reply and leave for my room downstairs.

Who does that man thinks he is anyway, smiling and being gracious to service staff? No one ever did that in high society. Servants were seen as dirt, as being lowly and obedient, barely human even. He must be a terrible flirt to show such attentions towards me, which is a perfect match for Orihime. The two can live happily ever after being sinful, flirtatious and adulterous together for all I cared.

I marched down to my room as I was told to do, only to see my dear Momo there.

"Oh Momo, you will not believe what the man upstairs is like! He is a determined flirt; he even dared to flirt with me in front of my aunt and cousin! His nerve! It's a good thing that he has such a grand fortune or Orihime wouldn't even consider having him. Well maybe she would, he is quite handsome after all."

"Is he? What does he look like?"

"He looks quite peculiar actually. He has bright orange hair, is very tall and has amber colored eyes. But it certainly works well for him. He dresses quite well too." I also proceeded to relate the rumors I had heard from Orihime about the man and his circumstances to Momo as well.

"Really? It's a shame that he is orphaned at such a young age. If half of that is true then I don't see why he would want Orihime. Orihime, while to inherit a good fortune, seems almost impoverished compared to the level of Lord Kurosaki. Not to mention that her personality leaves… something to be desired," Momo giggled.

"Indeed. Perhaps he only cares about her beauty and that she will likely bear him sons to pass down his great wealth and power to. That seems to be the only care in the world of people of the upper social circle."

"That and feeling like they are better than they are,"

"But of course!" I giggled.

Momo and I continued gossiping in this manner late into the night until we both fell asleep on my mattress.

I hope you enjoyed it! Please review! –Kin'iro No Tenshi