Lady Robin Hood
By Kuroi Koneko
A.N. – THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! Thank you so much to everyone who gave me such great reviews. I was just telling my brother that when I saw and read the reviews I was literally jumping and bouncing around my room in joy and giddiness. Ya know what he said to me? He said, "F . . r . . e . . a. . . k . . ." Wasn't that mean? I don't think I'm a freak. *pouts* Oh well, it's not like I can change his mind.
As I have and always will say, special thanx go out to Barbi-PiXi, The Firefaery, KaKGurlie, Kiwi, and BonnieChan.
On a special note to BonnieChan: I would be THRILLED to have you put my story up on your future site. In response to the review you posted up for From Forgotten Legends (thank you so much for R&R-ing it!) I have indeed read Tamora Pierce's stories. I absolutely LOVE her "Protector of the Small", "The Magic Circle", and her new "The Circle Opens" quartets. I agree with you that she is such an amazing writer. And in fact, I have gotten some ideas for the different Realms and immortals from her "Immortals" series. Thanx though!
To everyone who has read, reviewed or done both, I dedicate this chapter to all of you.
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or the original story of Robin Hood. Please don't sue me for borrowing them, I'm trying to save up money for Christmas presents.
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Chapter Two
As the group of five girls rushed to the gates of the carnival they ran into another group of people, literally. Fortunately for them, the girls knew the other group and no one was angry.
"Sorry, sorry! We didn't see you guys there," Serena gushed out. Her face tinted pink as she recognized the very wealthy women she and her friends had just crashed into.
"It is quite all right, Serena. We were in just as much of a hurry as all of you were and weren't watching our paths either," a lady replied, her knee length dark hair seemingly flowing in an imaginary breeze which brought out the unusual emerald green highlights of her hair. She smoothed out her deep garnet red dress with slender-fingered hands. The deep color of her gown (in the same style as her companions' and the other girls' gowns) complimented her brown tanned skin and matched her deep garnet colored eyes. Unlike Serena's and the others' two-toned gowns, her dress was solid garnet; from the corset/bodice and fabric under it, to the layers of silk under the skirt as seen by the fashionable slit on the skirt's front. On her ears was a pair of garnet stud earrings, the same deep red color as her mysterious eyes. Wrapped around her shoulders was a black shawl that matched the veil she wore over hair to keep the to of the strands from tangling in the wind.
"Yeah, Kitten, don't worry about it." A young woman with shoulder length sandy-blonde hair winked at Serena, her dark blue eyes sparkling with mischief. Her trim yet tall figure was encased in a dark sapphire blue gown with a dark gold colored corset/bodice. The dark blue of the gown highlighted her lightly tanned complexion and offset her hair and eye colors. Her hair was devoid of a hair veil. Instead it was flowing freely across her shoulders and face, dancing every time the wind kicked up. However, she did have around her shoulders a shawl of the same dark gold color as her corset/bodice.
"Setsuna," the girls all nodded toward the dark green haired woman, "Alex," they nodded at the sandy-blonde woman, "Michelle, Hotaru," they nodded to the remaining women, one with a pale green hair color and then one with black hair that appeared to have a deep purple tint to it.
"It's so nice to see the four of you! Hotaru, how has your health been lately? I last heard you had caught a cold," Amy asked politely of the purple haired girl.
The girl, Hotaru, appeared to be about the same age as Serena and the others (16) while her companions appeared to be about a year older. Hotaru turned towards Amy, her deep amethyst colored dress rustling as she moved. She looked at the young woman with her dark purple eyes for a moment before she replied, pulling her white shawl tighter around her shoulders,
"I've been doing better, thank you, Amy."
"Are you sure?" Mina asked with concern. "You still look a little pale."
"She's been doing better, Mina. And surely you remember that she has a naturally pale complexion? No matter how long she spends in that garden, she never seems to soak up the sunlight, unlike her plants," the pale green haired woman replied, amusement rippling through her tone. She casually flicked a strand of pale green hair behind her shoulder, setting it to rest with the rest of its comrades at her mid-back. Her sea-green eyes reflected the amusement she inflected in her voice. As she smoothed out her all-turquoise colored gown she returned the question to the younger girls.
"How have all of you been? We don't get to see much of each other anymore, now that we have all moved to different parts of town."
All nine of the young women gave a slight bow of their heads as they remembered what it was like to see each other daily when they were younger.
*flashback*
Nine little girls of various heights, ages, and hair colors all chased each other around a flower filled yard. Their childish laughter rang out and echoed off of the neighboring buildings, causing a group of older women to smile in happiness as they watched the children's antics.
*end flashback*
"Yes, it has been a while, hasn't it? Well, are you four here to watch the archery contest? We are, and I know we'd all love it if you joined us," Raye said to the group.
The four women looked at each other in surprise before turning to reply to Raye's question.
"Yes, we are. I'm must say I think I speak for all of us when I say we are very surprised though. Weren't the five of you going to enter? You certainly have the skills to beat any of the men here," Alex said, confusion and surprise lacing her tone as she gave a small frown.
"I agree, the five of you are probably the best archers in Nottingham, so why haven't you entered?" Hotaru asked.
"That mean old sheriff, that's why!" Raye said in a huff of remembered anger.
" 'Ladies such as yourselves are delicate creatures that shouldn't be wanting – let alone allowed – to practice a man's art like archer! Now why don't you all go back home to your mothers and learn your proper places?' " Serena did a near-perfect imitation of the Sheriff, Diamond. Her voice was laced with scorn, not only mimicking what the Sheriff had said, but also with her own scorn for the sheriff himself.
"Oh I was so mad! If he wasn't the Sheriff I swear I would have shown him what this 'Lady' could really do!" Lita growled in a low tone.
As the girls were conversing they had slowly made their way towards the entrance gates. A quick smile at the guards, plus a few winks from the more flirtatious girls of the group to the dubbed 'cuter' guards, and they easily got in without having to pay the "necessary" fees. These "necessary" fees were supposedly spent towards better conditions for the towns, but everyone knew that their hard-earned tax money went directly towards King John's hoarded treasury. Anyway, as the group of nine hurried as fast as was proper to the archery site they were rewarded when they saw that only one man had gone. He had just finished, too.
The girls looked at the other men in the line-up and most of the girls instantly started to drool over them.
"Ooohhh! Look at the one with that long white hair! He is so dreamy!"
"If he has white hair, doesn't that mean that he is old, Mina?" Alex teased.
"Well look for yourself Alex! He's no older than you are I'd wager, he just happens to have white hair. It's probably from all the sun he gets – "
"How do you know that?"
" – Because he has a tan."
"He's cute, I guess, but the one with that long auburn hair is definitely cuter!"
"No way, Lita! The one with the short blonde is definitely the cutest."
"I like the one with long blonde hair in a ponytail, myself."
"AMY! You actually LIKE a guy!" all the girls cried. Poor Amy turned a red that matched Setsuna's gown and mumbled something that sounded like 'keep my mouth shut'.
"I think that they are all very handsome men, but none of them catch my eye," Setsuna added. Alex, Hotaru, and Michelle concurred with Setsuna's statement.
"How about you, Kitten? See any men that catch your fancy yet?" Alex teased Serena. All the girls knew full well that Serena's parents (specifically her father) were trying to push her into getting married. Serena was fully against the idea of marrying for any other reason than love. She was constantly proclaiming that any man who could best her in a sport she chose would be the man she might marry. Since many men were after her hand in marriage they often overlooked the 'might' part, not that it mattered since none of them had even come close to besting her.
"Alex you know full well that I'll never choose a husband based on looks alone-"
"Not that it would hurt to have a handsome husband," Mina butted in.
"- but on whether he is good enough for me. And that I decide in a manner of my own device," Serena finished, completely ignoring the statement Mina had made.
Suddenly an unwanted, unpleasant, and uninvited voice broke through the girls' conversation,
"Well, then I just may be the one to prove myself worthy of you, my dear Lady Serena," purred the voice of none other than the Sheriff himself, Diamond.
The girls quickly masked their matching expressions of disgust before turning around to face the speaker. None of them liked the Sheriff for several reasons. One, he was a cold-hearted man. Two, he was the king's right hand man in Nottingham. Three, it was because of his decreed increase in taxes that many of the families in the town were poor (many of the families had been their friends). And four, he was after Serena for three only reasons: her undeniable beauty, her family's wealth and influence, and she was the only woman who had ever refused him in any manner before.
"Hello, Diamond. What a surprise, I wasn't expecting to see you here. Are you looking for new recruits?" Serena said in a forced tone of pleasantness. Her smile was clearly strained but Diamond took no notice of it as he attempted to get closer to Serena.
"No, actually, I'm not. Rubeus has entered the contest and I came to watch him win it."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Sheriff Diamond. That young gentleman," Alex stressed the word 'gentleman' to subtly show her opinion that Diamond was not one, "has just beaten Rubeus's score," she finished as she casually maneuvered Serena out of Diamond's reach and range. She gave a slight smile as Diamond frowned at the move and Serena gave a small smile of thanks.
It was true. Rubeus was apparently cocky enough to think that he didn't need to concentrate in order to win, all his marks reflecting this attitude, as they were two levels outside the bulls-eye. Thus, when an ebony-haired young man came up to aim, he got all of his arrows within the bulls-eye's ring, but not on it. The young man was the last to go in the first round, and the judges decided to take a break before beginning the second round.
When Diamond saw what had happened his face darkened with an anger infused scowl. His voice was tight, clipped and strained as he excused himself from the group and stormed off to yell at his right hand man, Rubeus.
"Thank goodness that hideous man left! I really cannot stand his presence!" Mina cried in disgust once Diamond was out of earshot.
"I know, and what's worse is that lately he's been trying to get me alone. I don't know whether he would try something or if he just plans on marrying me by default through ruining my reputation," Serena shuddered, just the thought of the possibility to have marry Diamond was enough to give her the chills.
"You know, Serena, that gentleman Alex was speaking of before was actually quite good," Hotaru slyly mentioned to her friend.
"Oh? I wouldn't know, I wasn't paying any attention to the contest since I was focusing on trying to stay out of Diamond's range," Serena replied flippantly.
"Well that's a pity," a deep voice said behind the group of women.
All the women gave a little squeak and a jump. They hadn't expected anyone to be behind them let alone listening in on their conversation. Although they didn't recognize the voice, it would be disastrous for them if it happened to be one of Diamond's men. As it turned out, it wasn't one of Diamond's men, but the man (and the men the girls were drooling over) they had just been talking about!!
"Well, hello! I'm Mina, and these are my friends Raye, Amy, Lita, Serena, Michelle, Alexandria, Setsuna, and Hotaru," Mina chirped as she pointed to each of the girls in turn. Her eyes were glued on the white haired man she had been admiring from before, although her voice was directed at the young ebony haired man who had spoken. "Aren't you gentlemen going to introduce yourselves?"
"Of course! Where are my manners?" the man replied. "My name is Darien Shields, and these are my closest and most trusted friends Kunzite," he pointed to the white haired man, "Jadeite," the short-haired blonde, "Nephrite," the auburn, "and last but not least, Zoisyte," the long-haired blonde. All of the girls gave a little curtsy in greeting.
"Pleasure to meet you," the greeted in unison. The men stared at them in a state of slight shock. The girls just giggled at their expressions.
"Do all of you practice doing that?" Jadeite asked. He was smacked in the back of his head by Nephrite for his question, even though the other four men wanted to know the same thing.
"No, actually, we don't. It's just a habit we seem to have picked up over the years that we've known each other."
Just then the call for all the archers to prepare for the second round was given, and the men gave their good-byes. Just as they were about to leave however, Darien turned around, grabbed Serena's hand, said, "Maybe you will watch this time, my lady?" gave her hand a quick kiss, and then walked away towards his companions. All before Serena had a chance to react.
"Well, that was interesting," Lita commented slyly, watching as Serena's face turned cherry pink.
"Very," Michelle agreed.
"Hey, hey. Enough you lot. Leave Kitten alone and go watch the archers." Alex gave the others a glare as she pulled Serena into a one-armed hug. Then she steered her towards their previous viewing location so they could continue watching the rest of the contest.
(I'm going to skip the details of the carnival and just give you a quick summary of it for all of you since I'm too lazy to spend all the time writing it out. K?)
The girls watched as the contest moved into it's third, and then final (fourth) round, cheering on the five men they had met before and cheering even louder as all of them made it to the final round. Diamond's right hand man, Rubeus, had only made it to the second round where his luck had apparently run out; he missed the center and hit the outer rings every time.
The final placing of the contest were as follows: Sir Thomas – seventh place, Sir Clansen – sixth place, Lord Zoisyte – fifth place, Lord Jadeite – fourth place, Lord Nephrite – third place, Lord Kunzite – second place, and Lord Darien – first place.
All of the girls were thrilled at the placing the men received. Although they would have gladly gone to congratulate them on their winnings, they realized the hour was getting late and they had to return to their respective homes. The girls walked until they had to part ways, all of them glad to have seen each other at the carnival's archery show. They were especially grateful to have not seen anymore of Diamond or his lackeys and made a promise to each other to meet again tomorrow for a picnic, to better reacquaint themselves and to catch up on what they had missed in each other's lives.
As they all parted ways, Mina and Serena walked together since their families were very close friends and had moved to the same area (they were neighbors). The two women talked of trivial things, of the archery show, and about the doings of the town. They walked in relative peace, not expecting in the slightest what was awaiting them in the shadows. Therefore, when the shadow-hidden visitor was revealed the girls were caught unaware and screamed–
"Aahh!"
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*insert evil laughter* I deliberately left it as a cliffhanger so all of you would wait for the next chapter!!
Some comments on the characters & their descriptions before I get complaints on them. Michelle is Michiru (Neptune), Alexandria is shortened to Alex (for later story purposes) who is Amara in the anime and Haruka in the manga (Uranus), Setsuna is Trista in the anime (Pluto), and Hotaru is the same (Saturn). I have kept Setsuna and Hotaru's original Japanese names because 1) I like them better, and 2) I wanted to make them exotic (later on). Now, I know I said that Alex had shoulder length blonde hair – for the time being, she does. She cuts it to a 'guys' length later on.
Anyone with any other comments on the story so far, please either leave a review about it or EMAIL me, my email address should be working on my author ID page now, K?
Until next time!!
And please, don't forget to read my other stories!! I won't be posting another Chasing The Moon chapter until From Forgotten Legends gets two more reviews. Please??
