Appearences Can Be Decieving

Appearences Can Be Decieving


Summary: Aureli was born and raised in a harem, and one night she decides to escape. What will she learn of the heart thanks to this strange man who saved her?


Chapter One:


Aureli sighed disapprovingly, it was another normal night in Konan's number one harem. She blushed a deep red as she passed a room, a loud moan coming from inside, it surprised her and almost caused the poor red-head to drop the laundry she held. She pouted at the door, contemplating on kicking it, but that would only break it down and her mother would have to work extra hard the next night.
'Jeez... a fourteen year old shouldn't have to work in a harem, especially one that looks like a boy'. she thought, knowing full well how she looked. She was a bit tall for her age, never wore any makeup or female clothing (except at night when she slept in her mother's old night shirt) and her abnormally fire-colored hair didn't even go past her chin. Her sapphire eyes were shockingly electric against her pale skin, which some people admired but others found annoying, she was also constantly made fun of for her small chest. At this thought she lightly touched her chest and huffed. "It isn't that small... I bind it down for work though..." a loud exasperated sigh, "...I totally look like a boy." a scream tore through her thoughts, a few doors from where she stood a man came rushing out, trying to hold his pants up. He was a really fat man from what she saw, but probably an aristocrat, seeing as that's where the best maids were... that's where her mother was. Dropping the laundry where it was she ran down the hallway, women slowly looked out the curtained doors, whispering concerns. Aureli's feet burned slightly at the friction of the red carpet on her bare feet, but she couldn't stop, she had to make sure. She burst open the door screaming her mother's name, not daring to call her mother, after all harem women aren't supposed to have children, she had been an acception. 'No... mom! Mom!' she screamed inside her head as she burst through door after door, startling people inside. As she burst through the last door a scream ripped from her already sore throat. "NO! MOTHER!!" she grabbed onto the limp body of her young mom, sobbing loudly into the open white kimono. A hand placed itself on her shoulder, she slapped it away.
"Aureli..." she recognized that voice. Belonging to the woman who took care of her and her mom since her mom had been forced into the harem.
"T-Tamame..." she mumbled, wiping her face. The blonde woman was holding an object, but it was too dark for Aureli to see. "What...?"
"I'm guessing your mother was hit in the head with this..." she stopped for a second then dropped to her knees, pulling the young teen into her arms. "I'm so sorry, Aureli... I'm so sorry." Tamame began sobbing,
"A-Auntie Tamame... that... that man!" they pulled away, Aureli noticed the other women had begun crying. "The man who had been with my mother! Who was he?!"
"He's... an aristocrat, Aureli..." she looked up into the face of one of the tanned women who stood in the doorway. Another friend of her deceased mother. "You couldn't get to him if you tried... and now that Carela is dead.. you're going to have to take her place..."
"NO! I won't do it! I will kill that man no matter what his power! I will not waste my time working in a whore house and I will not lose my innocence to a man I do not love!" Tamame's shoulders slumped, then she smiled through her tears.
"Then you need to leave... before Lady Boss finds out about Carela... and tries to make you take her position..."
"But... won't... won't she be angry?" the women smiled, all those women who had raised her...
"She'll be angry for a while, but she loved your mom as well, just like a daughter... she'll know your choice and protect it." Aureli smiled,
"Thank you... Tamame..." Tamame held Aureli again, then pulled her to her feet.
"Come... I'll help you pack."


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


Aureli kicked at a pebble on the earthy floor, leaning her back against a tree. She had always hated how the harem had been in a forest, it would take forever to reach a city. She glanced at the dim orange glow of the fire she had created, her mother crossed her mind.
"It isn't as if I can go find my dad... I don't know who he is... or if he's even alive...." she mumbled, drawing her knees to her chest, arms wrapped around them, face in her arms as she sobbed. "I'll never have a normal life... the daughter of a harem maiden..." she growled, turning and slamming her fist into the tree behind her repeatedly. She pulled her throbbing, bleeding hand away, panting from the extert of anger. Aureli felt like crying, but there were no tears left for her to cry. "Damnit... how will I live? I have plenty of money... but... I'm not old enough for a job... I don't look it at all..." another thought crossed her mind as she touched her mostly flat chest. "Boys can work at the age of seven..." she grinned, "I can... work a man's job... I'm strong enough... I look like a boy... I can..." she sighed, smiling, having at least one happy thought before she fell alseep.


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
-Four Days Later-


"So where are you from anyway?" Aureli glanced at the old man who had been kind enough to give her a ride on his hay cart. She smiled sweetly, tucking some hair behind one ear.
"It doesn't matter... I am from the South however so please, do not see me as an enemy to Suzaku." he smiled warmly in reply,
"How do you plan to work, young women like yourself would have too much trouble?" she giggled, waving a hand.
"Sorry, sir... but... I'm a boy." she lied, trying hard not to burst out laughing at his surprised look. He then laughed himself, a croaky, but hearty laugh.
"Such a beautiful boy, you must come from some sort of money... even as a servant at the least?" she smiled again,
"Yes, I was an aristocrat's servant... well really my mother was, I was her servant in turn."
"Then hopefully you are good at your job... then a new one will soon come across to you." she only smiled, facing towards the sun.


"Thank you!" Aureli called, waving to the old man who waved back as his cart went forward on the road. She decended the stone steps, into the hustle and bustle of Konan's main city. Looking up, she could see in the distance, the Emperor's palace. She made a thoughtful noise and headed in that direction, holding tightly onto the small bag she carried with her, holding no more than her coin purse, night shirt and several books and pens. Along with a scroll painting of her mother. She bumped into many people, most smiling happily, she apologized to each one, sometimes recieving questions of her age and if she was lost, she only replied that she was the son of a servant in the palace and that was where she was headed. She sighed when her stomach growled loudly, several people glancing in her direction. 'I really don't want to spend any money yet... but...' she found a food merchant and bought a dumpling, munching on it happily. Her stomach was basically a black hole so no matter the circumstance, food was a neccessity.
"Hey... you're cute." she gasped as her arm was grabbed tightly and twisted behind her back. She dropped her bag in the painful grip.
"Damn it..." she turned slightly to see a balding ma holding her tightly, several younger (but not better) looking men were behind him. "Sorry, dude... I'm a boy.." he chuckled, one of the younger men stepped forward and tightly gripped her chest, she yelped in pain.
"Definately a girl... small chest though..."
"Probably holds her breats down." the balding man behind her licked her cheek, she grunted and attempted kicking him, he kneed her in the back. His thick hand went down to search between her legs, her shirt had a long tail and thus hid thefact she was wearing pants. He made a disapproving noise, brought his hand up and under the waistband. She screamed louder than she had those four nights before when she found her dead mother, trying to wrench away from the perversions. "Aha, an innocent, huh?" tears ran down her cheeks and she screamed for help even louder. Suddenly the hand pulled away and she heard something like the breaking of her bone, she expected pain, but realized it had not been her own. She turned and had to move quickly out of the way of the knocked out baldy as he fell forward. She gulped, seeing his four other men were knocked out as well, she looked up into golden eyes. It was a man with orange hair and a fiery look, a steel fan in the sash at his hip.
"You alrigh'?" he asked, she stood shaking for a minute before bursting out in sobs. It certainly surprised him cause he jumped nearly ten feet. "Yo! Kid! You're safe now!" he tried calming the screaming girl, he sighed, grabbing her shoulders and making her glance at him. "Not like they'd do anythin' to a boy 'cept sell 'im..." she looked him fully in the eyes,
"Still... it... it's scary..." he looked down, her shirt had come open and he could see the top of a bandage.
"You hurt yerself?" he went to touch it when she screamed for him to stop and slapped his hand away. She blinked with a gasp.
"Oh! I'm sorry... it... I'm... I mean..." he smiled at her,
"Nah, it's okay, but yer kinda weak fer a boy." he looked like he was thinking, then he snapped, surprising her. "Ya know what?" she shook her head, "I'll take ya back wit me! I'll teach ya ta fight and ya can even work fer tha Emperor and the preistess o' Suzaku!" her eyes widened and she threw her arms up in the air.
"Really?! Thank you, sir!" he waved a hand.
"Nah, nah, nah... no "sir" business. I'm Tatsuki." she smiled,
"I'm Aur-" she stopped, Aureli was too female. "A-Aurem." she concluded, he grinned and slapped her back in a friendly way.
"Then its off ta the palace fer us!" he grabbed her bag and lead the way.


0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0


Okay soooooo..... yeah here's the first chapter... I'll update very soon, so please give me a good review!