Chapter 2: Hand In Hand

We walked hand in hand through the forest. Every so often he would step closer to me as we walked. But it may have just been that he wanted to avoid standing in something. My mind was too preoccupied for me to check.

"Where are we going?" I asked. He looked down at me and smiled.

"It's a surprise princess" He answered. His tone was teasing. He knew I didn't like secrets.

I fell silent again. I wasn't worried about being lost anyway. Robin knew the forest like the back of his hand. We walked a while longer, our hand still linked together. His touch sent me butterflies but that was probably the feeling any girl would get if their best friend was a boy.

Suddenly, he stopped walking and he let go of my hand. The butterflies however, stayed with me.

"It's just through those trees now" He turned to face me.

I remained silent, confused by the way he looked at me. He stepped forward as I stepped back. My back hit the small of a tree trunk. He stepped forward again.

"Princess" He muttered. I could feel his warm breath on my face.

"Robin?" I managed to let out as a small gasp.

He looked deep into my eyes. His face was soft and I could tell there was something in his eyes that I had never seen before. Something that looked a lot like love. It must have been simply because I was his very close friend right? Or could it be more? Could it be possible that the great Robin De Noir had fallen in love with a simple girl like me. No. he could have any girl he wished. He was after all the Coeur De Noirs son. But even if he did feel that way about me, did I feel the same?

The silence remained before he grabbed my hand and pulled me on.

"Come on princess" He whispered.

I couldn't trust what would come out of my mouth if I spoke.

"Maria? Are you ok?" His voice sounded worried.

"I-I'm fine" I replied. I was desperate to change the subject. "How much further did you say it was?"

He smile came back. "Just through those trees"

I pulled my hand from his and reached up to his hat. I took it off of his head and stepped ahead of him. He stood still, shocked. I'd never taken his hat before I didn't know what his reaction would be.

"Come and get it" I said teasingly. I ran through the trees he had pointed out earlier. He ran after me then. I knew he would catch me and so did he.

Once I was through the trees, I saw the place Robin had wanted to show me. Before me lay a wide river. The water was clear and beautiful. Something about the place made everything seem so pure. The trees were greener. The grass was fuller and the sky had no clouds daring to break up the block of blue. It was amazing.

"Do you like it?" A voice appeared beside me. I turned to face it.

"Oh Robin it's beautiful"

Then I realised I still had his bowler hat on my head. My hand went up to check it was there. Robin saw my action.

"By the way" He grinned "If you don't mind, I'd like that back"

"Why?" I asked "It suits me better" I backed up away from him.

"My head feels awful lonely" He bent into a stance which suggested he was about to start running.

I turned and ran up the bank of the river holding the hat on my head. I heard his footsteps behind me as he ran. I could tell that he was speeding up and before I knew it he'd grabbed me from behind the waist and took the hat from my head.

"Thankyou" He teased. His smile was wider than ever.

"Am I not allowed to wear your hat Robin?" My smile grew to match his.

Robin looked at me with an expression I couldn't place. He raised an eyebrow. "Hmmm" Was all he said.

We spent the rest of the day playing in the water and sitting on the grass and talking.

"We should be heading back now" Robin said "It's getting late" I agreed and we set off walking hand in hand. With Robins free hand he reached up to his hat. He slowly lifted it off of his head and placed it gently onto mine.

So are things interesting you so far? As you can see I have no reviews, but several of you have followed and/or favourited. Please review. I need to know if my stories good enough or not. Thankyou.

Also, I don't really know how to introduce Marmaduke to the story, so if I could have some suggestions on that please?

It'm not sure whether the whole Robin/Maria thing is good in this chapter. I'm not good at all that sort of fluff thing but I hope this is okay. More will come, i promise. I need suggestions on that too x

RebinDeNoir:)