The Emperor's Last Consort

Prologue

So I love to scribble random things and just this morning, I was watching this video on an old Chinese series I used to watch when I was a kid (good times...) And somehow, a feudal era ByaRuki plot just constructed itself in my head and I found myself writing for a bit after that and I just thought to upload it anyway. It was really easy to write, I did not strain my brain or hand much... but I do hope you enjoy it. This was written fast as well... so there might be corrections needed.

Cheers. Hope you enjoy. :)

WARNING: ByaRuki AU story

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Bleach series or its characters. But I do own this thing, whatever you want to call it.
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The cold wind whipped around the field as the frosty snowflakes fell from the sky. It would have been a pretty sight in winter... if not for the tiny young girl backing away from the advances of a terrifying man.

"You have no money, nothing! Just my bad luck to try and rob a beggar! I should just kill you and be done with it!"

Rukia focused her eyes on the sharp dagger in the man's right hand and whirled around, starting to run. The snow was falling in thick sheets, it was very hard to move. Rukia felt her bare feet sink into the snow but she could not be bothered about the stinging cold, her life mattered more. Or maybe, she should just let this man catch her up... and end her miserable hard life...

'No!' Rukia shook her head. 'I want to live, because I will soon live a better life, a better life than this one!' She chanted the words to herself, words she had been chanting everyday for her eight years of miserable life.

Rukia heard the man crashing in the snow behind her as he chased her, and silently prayed that he was having more trouble than she was moving. She did not turn around as she ran, knowing that the precious few seconds doing so might be enough to cost her her life. She looked down at the ground, hoping that she wasn't going to have any bad luck of running into a ground trap covered by snow.

"OUCH!" Rukia felt herself hit something hard, and fell to the ground. In the few seconds that she had looked down, she had ran into something, probably a tree judging by its firmness. In her confusion, Rukia hurriedly tried to get back up.

"I could say the same for myself."

Rukia looked up in shock at the male voice. The tree that she thought she had ran into... was a boy. A young boy slightly older than herself, with black hair tied up into a ponytail at the back and very piercing grey eyes. He was dressed in thick expensive-looking clothes, with a pale blue scarf around his neck. Looking at him in his comfortable clothes, Rukia felt the harsh coldness sting at her bare arms and legs and her own thin clothes.

"You are missing shoes." The boy spoke again, and Rukia looked back up at him. He had been scrutinizing her as she did him. Rukia hurriedly got up from the ground. She heard the sounds of the man running in the snow in the distance.

"I have to-"

"Are you in trouble?"

Rukia looked back at the boy. He spoke simply, but with an air of authority.

"Y-Yes. That man, behind me... I really have to-"

As if to reinforce her hesitant statement, the man shouted "I WILL KILL YOU, YOU WORTHLESS RAT!"

Rukia turned back to the boy in a panic. She did not have time to feel embarrassed, she was in danger. But the boy was gazing into the distance, looking mildly interested. Then he turned to her.