A Bandit's Embrace~*~Chapter1~*~
Disclaimer:No I do NOT own Sailormoon..etc....etc...all the usual disclaimer stuff (hehe lol..not really good at disclaiming)
~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~
Currently on the planet Earth, in the middle of the desert...

Serenity and her mother were in a carriage with a group of guards, on their way to visit the Earth royals. For they always met in the summer, and stayed for a couple of weeks, hoping to create a bond between the earth prince, Diamond, and the moon princess Serenity...both their parents hoping for them to someday marry....

"Serenity, do stop playing with it." She was carefully holding and examining the precious jade comb that was a gift from her long deceased father, on her 11th birthday. He had bought it at the market one day while he was on another of his trips to Earth. The comb was very special to both mother and daughter.

Meanwhile, on top of a cliff a group of desert bandits were getting ready to attack the rich-looking group of travelers coming their way.

"Alright! Let's Go!", said the leader of the bandits, who was diguised in white , from head to toe. His eyes were a mesmerizing, deep midnight blue, his hair was black ebony, and his skin was deeply tanned by the strong rays of the sun. With his good looks and fine clothing, you could have sworn he looked so much like a prince rather than a thief...

The bandits' yells of attack, and the sound of their horses' hooves galloping down to their pray, echoed throughout the hills of sand all around the desert.

Serenity peeked out of the window of the carriage to see what was going on outside, or rather who...."Serenity! Do not let them see you! Pull down the shade!", her mother frantically told her. However, she made no move to do so. She was too curious...

Unfortunitely, the leader had indeed spotted the princess... and was dazzled by her beauty.
"Leave the women and children alone! Do not touch them!", he yelled to the others
He then rode up to the princess and queen's carriage, which startled Serenity to say the least...
In fact a mixture of emotions rose up in her stomach as she took a good look at his face...'he's very...handsome...those eyes...'

The mysterious man took Serenity's hand, and quickly pulled out of her grasp her jade comb, and he winked at her before riding off, with the others following.

In anger Serenity jumped out of the carriage and knocked out a poor bandit off his horse. She pushed him off and quickly rode after the thief who had stolen one of her most precious treasures.

She followed the bandits by tailing them in the back so they wouldn't easily notice her, and stopped when they stopped to look at the expensive jewelry they had successfully stolen.
Then, they finally noticed her.

"Well, well, looky here. We have a pretty girly come to join us. How nice...", said one of the thieves, giving her a sly smile.

Serenity was about to give him a good beating, struggling to remember some of the things she had learned from her self-defense lessons that her senshi had taught her.

Until that annoying bandit showed up again.
"Don't any of you lay a finger on her! She's mine!!" He then rode off knowing that she was safe...for no bandit of their group ever dared touch the leader's woman that he had specifically put claims on....they knew how murderous he could get....

Serenity, as stubborn as she was, jumped back onto the horse that she 'borrowed', and rode after him. "Give me back my comb!!"
They rode across the very hot and dry desert for what seemed like hours...

Until finally the man stopped at a small pool of water.
"We should let our horses rest, and have a drink of water."
He took out his sack full of water and took a few gulps.
"Here, drink.", he said
She did not respond at first, but when he tossed the sack at her, she gracefully caught it, and took large gulps. She was very, very, thirsty.

"What is your name? My name is Endymion. They also call me Dark Cloud. I may not be a cloud, but I'm dark...", he asked again while he flashed her a quirky grin. "On rare occasions, I dress all in white...but usually I prefer black for during the night, it helps for me to become how you say....'invisible'.. I guess you could count that as one of the reasons why they call me dark cloud."

Serenity drank in all of the information he gave her, but instead of telling him her name, she kicked him hard in the stomach, punched him in the eye, and pushed him over the edge of a hill, which sent both rolling over, as he had grabbed her as he began to fall.

Endymion could tell that she was still fussy about her comb...

They continued to play their cat and dog game, until finally Serenity had succeeded in knocking out the poor man, by hitting his head with a large rock. She kicked him hard once more, before collapsing herself, from being dehydrated, and very tired. Then she lost all consiousness.

To Be CoNtInUeD....Kat*=^_^= R&R please?