A/N: With the exception of A Little Ballerina (which was technically written after this) this is my first attempt to write a TCR twist on an old classic and not on a ballet/fairytale/folklore. This is also the first story where I've played around with a new pairing (although the main will still be Haru/Baron) so read, enjoy, and leave a little review at the end.

Many thanks,

Cat.

ooOoo

Chapter 1: Worlds Apart

"Milady, your mother is waiting for you in the lounge!"

"Hang on!" The young blonde stepped in front of the mirror to admire her hard work once more. Tilting her head, she straightened the wide-brimmed hat so that it partially covered her face. She spun round on the spot to grin at her handmaid. "How do I look, Yuki?"

The smaller blonde just smiled. "As beautiful as always, Milady."

"Milady, your mother is becoming impatient!"

"Alright, Toto! Alright!" The young woman sighed and gave her dress one last smooth-down. "I'm coming." With one hand automatically moving to her hat, she moved out to the corridor. "I'm coming, Toto."

Outside her room, waiting impatiently was a young dark-haired man. At her appearance though, the impatient look fell from his face. "Louise, you look..."

"Like a lady, I know. Isn't it terrible?"

"Actually I was going to say amazing."

"It's just a shame I've got to look like a lady for the Marquis de pomp-and-circumstance..."

Behind her, Yuki giggled as she closed the door. "Really, Miss, you shouldn't talk about the Marquis like that. Your mother wouldn't approve."

"My mother didn't approve of the spaghetti trick that I pulled on the Earl either, but that didn't stop me."

A high-pitched shout was fretfully emitted from the floor below. "Louise!"

Louise sighed. "Talk of the devil. We better get going; Mother's reaching her hysterical stage."

"That's what I've been saying for the last five minutes."

"Thanks Toto," she replied flatly before making her way downstairs.

"Louise!"

"Coming, mother!" She arrived at the aforementioned lounge, with her flyaway blonde hair falling perfectly into place behind her, her two companions following behind. The lounge already contained two occupants; one lady with a face and hair that matched her daughter's, decked out in an expensive looking dress. The other was a young man decked out in equally elaborate clothing.

Louise tried – and probably failed – to hide her distaste.

"Oh, there you are, Louise. The Marquis de Roche is looking forward to the trip into town today. Aren't you, Richard?"

"I'm sure I will enjoy a tour of this quaint little town with such a beautiful escort," the young man simpered, getting to his feet and kissing Louise's hand.

The blonde made an expression of mild revulsion that the Marquis missed, but that the rest caught. "Pleasure," she lied tightly.

As always, whenever she was presented with a new suitor, a plan began to form in her mind.

"In fact, I think I know exactly where I should show you first."

Her mother caught the sly note carefully disguised in Louise's voice.

"Darling, do you think I should come along as well...?"

"I'll have my consort, Toto, and my maid, Yuki, mother," her daughter replied sweetly. "Anyway, I'm sure Richie would like it to be as personal as possible."

The young noble grinned at the lady foolishly. "As you wish."

"See?"

Elizabeth DuBois looked from her daughter to the Marquis, unwilling to make a fuss before the possible suitor. The smile she gave her daughter was as faked as Louise's. "Of course. But, darling, a word before you leave..."

"Certainly. Richie, go and get your coat and shoes; we'll be leaving as soon as we're finished here." Louise allowed her mother to lead her into the next room, giving a simpering smile to the young man as she exited. She kept the smile up as she turned to her mother. "What is it this time?"

"Whatever you're thinking of doing to scare him away; don't."

Louise looked up with wide, blue innocent eyes. "Why would I do anything to scare him away? He looks like a perfectly reasonable young man."

"I'm asking the very same question, and yet you still go through suitors like they grow on trees!"

"Well, there are a lot of empty-headed nobles around; I doubt I'm going to get through all of them unless I up my pace..." she mused, her eyes sparkling now with humour.

"This is not a joke, young lady. You need to stop this... this game of yours and start thinking seriously about finding a husband! How many suitors have you gone through now? Eighteen?"

"Nineteen," Louise corrected idly.

"You're not doing any favours for yourself, young lady. Word is beginning to get out that I've raised a daughter incapable of keeping a suitor for more than a week."

"Maybe I've just got a mother who's incapable of picking guys with a brain..."

"That Count was intelligent. He had extensive knowledge about architecture..."

Louise rolled her eyes. "Mother, I'm not going to marry a guy who thinks that boring a girl to death about key stones and foundations is flirting. Thanks to him, I know more than I ever want to on the subject. Although," she added, smiling to herself, "it was useful in making up a story about how the house was prone to collapse at any moment. He was out of there pretty quick after that..."

Elizabeth clenched her mouth shut; afraid that she was going to shout if she tried to speak. Grimly, she said, "Alright, go and take the Marquis on the trip round the town. Don't scare him off."

Louise grinned wickedly. "Would I ever?"

Before her mother could answer (probably in the affirmative) Louise moved to the hallway, where the other three were waiting.

"Thanks for being so patient everybody," she thanked sweetly.

"Anything for a beautiful lady," gushed the young noble. "I wouldn't miss this outing for the world."

Louise smirked. "Oh, I promise you that you won't forget today for a long while yet..."

ooOoo

"Haru, are you ready with those sponge cakes?"

"Yeah, Mr Cesari. I'm just getting them from the ovens." A young brunette, with her hair tied back and oven gloves muffling her hands, retrieved a tray from one of the bakery's extensive ovens. Carefully balancing it so not to burn herself, she blew a stray hair out of her face and headed to the front of the shop. She was quite slim and pretty – in a practical sort of way.

"Hi, Haru. I'll take those." One of the other workers came up to her – a blonde girl by the name of Lettie – and collected the cakes.

"How are things selling?"

"Very well indeed actually. Oh, and your friend – Hiromi – has come round. I asked her to wait in the storage room while I fetched you."

"Oh. Thank you." Wondering what her friend would want, Haru hurried to the storage room, sidestepping round the counter and slipping into the cluttered room.

"Hiromi? What are you doing here in work hours? Shouldn't you be at your mum's shop?"

"Actually, I was wondering whether you could fill in for an absent worker tomorrow," the lighter brunette said eagerly.

"Hiromi... you know Sundays are my only free day..."

"It'd just be for half the day!" Hiromi added. "Please? Clara had to pull out because her younger sister has caught something nasty and she needs to stay home to look after her. We'll pay and we're already down to minimal staff because Miss Anya is off getting married and Tony has moved out to the next town..."

Haru didn't look too happy. "I don't know. The past week has really put a strain on me and I was kind of needing the rest..." The rest of her tired protests trailed off. "Oh, for goodness sake, yes I will fill in. Hiromi, stop with the puppy eyes already! But you owe me one, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. You're the best, Haru!"

Haru was given a quick hug from her friend before Hiromi skipped out of the room. Haru was left alone sitting on one of the boxes, rubbing a hand over her eyes. "You're welcome."

The other worker peered in – the same one as last time. "Are you alright, Haru?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The brunette stretched and got to her feet. "Just a little tired, that's all."

"You look like you could have some time off. What about if you leave early today?"

"Really, Lettie? I couldn't do that. Cesari pays me to be here from seven to–"

"I can handle everything. Haru, I insist. You look dead on your feet. If I let you carry on, you'll probably accidently set fire to the shop anyway. And that would definitely spoil Mr Cesari's mood."

Haru laughed lightly. "Yeah, probably. Thanks, Lettie. I owe you a favour."

"Don't mention it. You've played the Good Samaritan quite enough times for the rest of us. Now go."

"Okay, okay, I'm going. Are you sure you can handle...?"

"Of course I am, otherwise I wouldn't have offered. Now are you going to go, or am I going to have to haul you out myself?"

Haru moved to the door. "I'm going already. I'll see you on Monday."

"Get some rest!"

Haru chuckled as she exited the bakery. "I'll try." She gave a last wave of thanks before heading down the cobbled road and pulling her cloak close around her. Summer may have arrived, but that didn't stop the thunderstorms from occurring. And if she wanted to get home before the rain started, she would have to hurry. As she hastened along the road, the clean shops of the highway gave way to smaller buildings, which then dissolved into squat houses that crouched on the uneven path. Dank and gloomy, these buildings contained none of the openness of the previous buildings; this area was a blot on the town map. No one of any importance came here if they could help it...

Haru paused as she saw four silhouettes making their way down the pothole-ridden road. Haru made to move out of sight – being caught on her own in the street was never a good idea around there – but then saw that they looked like nobility. She still made to move out of the way, but one of their company – a young lady – saw her and moved to intercept her. The lady was talking animatedly to one of her companions, a young man a few years her senior.

"–and you wouldn't believe the crime rates around here," the lady gushed, throwing her hands up in the air for dramatic emphasis. And I don't just mean here, I mean all over the town."

"Everywhere?" her well-dressed companion asked timidly.

"Oh, yes," asserted the lady. "I mean, you could ask anyone and they would tell you all about it... Take this young woman for example..."

To Haru's surprise, the lady grabbed her wrist, somewhat dragging her into the discussion.

"How high would you say the crime rates are around here?" Haru felt the cold touch of a coin being pressed into her hand. "Exceptionally high, aren't they?"

There was subtle pleading in her expression for Haru to play along.

"Um... yeah, I suppose."

"See?" The lady turned to the young man. "I mean, the worst thing is that you have to go through this area every time you want to get from one place to another. Utter nightmare. I always need a consort whenever I go out of the house for reasons of safety, and this is a good time of the year!"

"It... is...?"

"Uh-huh." The young lady was on a roll. "And for the fair that's happening in a week or so, they've cleared the area up. Usually it'd be much worse than this!"

"It is?" squeaked her companion.

Laughing quietly to herself, Haru pulled the cloak close around her and left the lady and her poor suitor (and the other two) to their own business. She came to one of the run-down houses on the side of the street and let herself in.

"Mum? Mum?"

"Here. You're back early."

"Lettie gave me some extra time off." Hanging her cloak up, Haru moved across the three-roomed house and dropped the coin into a box in the corner of their shared bedroom. "Oh, and Hiromi's asked me to help at her mother's shop tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? But that's your only day off..."

"I know. Believe me, I know. But every penny helps." Haru kicked her shoes into the corner by the door and entered the room that tripled as lounge, kitchen and dining room. Across the room was strewn quilting materials; patches, patterns and new patterns in the process of being planned out. Several other materials for other craft creations hung about the room; a second- (or possibly third- or fourth-) hand spinning wheel was set up like a skeleton shadow beside the table and several threads pushed into convenient corners and gaps of the room.

"Haru, you're always taking on odd jobs in addition to your work at the bakery; you're going to burn yourself out anytime soon..."

"Mum, I'm fine."

Her mother, who was sitting at the table, leant back to get a better look at her daughter. "Uh-huh? So why did Lettie send you back early?"

"Perhaps because she feels she owes me?"

"Perhaps you should start to take things easy..."

"I can manage, mum. I always have, haven't I?"

"I'm just worried that you're working yourself too hard..."

Haru smiled tiredly and hugged her mother. "I just... don't want to spend the rest of my life here... I want to be able to see the world and travel–!"

Naoko laughed. "You and your big plans."

"It's why I work so hard. You know that."

"Yeah, I do. If it were down to hard work alone, you'd be earning more than all those pompous nobles put together."

Haru's smile tempered slightly. "Yeah, but unfortunately life isn't that fair. I live in hope though."

"That's true." The redhead hugged her daughter again. "Don't ever lose hope. You deserve some luck."

The brunette just laughed in response. "Luck? Don't make me laugh. What lucky happenstance could change my life around?"

ooOoo

A/N: Firstly, I apologise for the double-A/N plaguing this chapter, but I just wish to warn you that I am currently suffering under exam stress (as a few, unfortunate, reviewers can probably attest) so any review replies may be late/absent/written in a sugar rush and I wholly apologise for that now.

Also, I feel the need to express a HUGH thank you to whomever recommended me on the TvTropes page - I don't know how long ago that was, but it was a fantastic pick-up from the pre-exam cramming and has utterly made my day.