Lady Robin Hood

By Kuroi Koneko

All right everyone, I'm starting to make changes. This will most likely sound familiar. That's because I've taken the "intermissions" and the breaks in the 'flashback' chapters and basically squished them together. However, I have made a few minor changes. Nothing extremely noticeable though. Well, read and enjoy. The next part will be up tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have something new the day after.

Without further delay, the "new" chapter six!!

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Chapter Six

Diamond stalked toward the tavern with a grin that could send chills down the back of an iceberg before suddenly stopping in mid-stride. His grin deepened as a thought suddenly struck him. He paused a moment, his foot half raised in step, and followed the thought a little deeper. As a plan grew from this passing thought his grin turned diabolical and he immediately turned around before striding off in the opposite direction.

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"Darien, my friend! I'm telling you you're gone! You still have that silly star-struck look on your face!" a young short-haired blonde shouted good naturedly. His companion, an ebony-haired man who looked to be of the same age, turned and glared at him before responding curtly,

"Oh? And what of you, my friend? This is the first time in over two hours that you have finally managed to stop talking about 'your', and I quote, "raven-haired goddess with amethyst eyes"! And you say I'm gone over a girl! You should speak of yourself, Jadeite!"

The other three men who sat around the table with them broke into gales of laughter at the sight of Jadeite's tomato red face - although whether that was because he was embarrassed, angry, or apparently holding his breath was undetermined. But whatever the reason for his new look it only caused the men to start laughing even harder. Finally, Jadeite could stand no more and stood up. When that did not appear to grab their attention he slammed down his mug of cold ale with a resounding thud that was easily heard over the din of the busy tavern. Well, that got their attention.

With a sudden gleam in his eye he looked at each of the other three men in turn before giving a sly smile. The men visibly cringed away when they caught sight of this smile. They all knew what it meant. And they didn't like it one little bit. Nope, not one little bit.

"So, what about the rest of you, eh?" He turned to his long white-haired companion, "Kunzite, you seemed to have your eye one that blonde in gold, didn't you now?" - twisting to glare at the blonde with his hair in a ponytail - "And you, Zoisyte, had your eye on the one in pale blue." Next he faced the young man with long auburn hair flowing in free waves down his shoulders, "Of course we shouldn't forget our good Nephrite now, that would be bad manners! Nephrite had his eye on the amazon in green and soft pink. And our Lord Darien!" he turned to the bowed ebony head "who had his eye on that - what did you call her? a siren of an enchantress? - who looked quite charming in that unique hairstyle of hers!" After finishing his little monologue, Jadeite promptly sat down in his seat once again and stared smugly at the faces of his now red companions. Lifting his feet to rest the heels of his boots on the tabletop, Jadeite leaned back slightly in his chair as he smugly replied to ebony-haired Darien,

"And it was 'raven-haired beauty of amethyst eyes and with the body a goddess', my lord Darien."

The only response was a slight shaking of heads before all five men burst out laughing.

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In a dark alleyway in a part of Nottingham with a more questionable reputation two dark splotches seemed to stand out. It could be because they were darker than the surrounding shadows, it could be because they were moving every so often seemingly blending into one form and then separating into two. Or it could have been because of the low murmuring emanating from the darker forms.

The shorter of the two forms gave a muted high-pitched laugh before the larger one obviously hushed it. A sense of evil pervaded the alleyway that did not belong in such a quiet little town like Nottingham. A feeling of darkness, a slowly, subtly spreading taint lent an uneasy rub to the air, warning any late travelers to continue on their way and not linger in such a decaying place. Though the alley itself was quite new and relatively trash-free, the feeling that something was off permeated the atmosphere and was only enhanced when a dark voice laced with ill-intent whispered, "I'm sure this will most beneficial to us both . . . "

The wind gave a low whine as it rushed through the stained alley and out into the deserted streets, murmuring incoherently to the buildings' deafened walls of the dark deeds being plotted.

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"MURDER!! MURDER!!! LORD AND LADY LUNAM HAVE BEEN MURDERED!!! SOMEBODY FETCH THE SHERIFF!!!"

A young man looking to be in his early twenties rushed into the tavern, eyes wild with hidden terror, hair disheveled from running across the town to the only inhabited place that he knew of where people were still awake. He cried out his message a few more times to the shocked residents of the inn-tavern before tiredly collapsing into a nearby empty chair.

The five men at the table glanced at each other before turning to the exhausted man. As one began to open his mouth to speak the patrons of the tavern quickly sprang into action and rushed out the door in shock. He grabbed what was left of his ale and shoved it into the man's hand and sternly ordered him to drink. Despite the fact that he was several years his junior the older man (the messenger) gratefully downed the drink. Turning sad eyes to the men left at the table - and the tavern - he mumbled sorrowfully,

"That poor lass, her parents murdered and for no apparent reason! Poor Lady Serena!" His only response was a set of five shocked eyes staring at him in five blank faces, mouths hanging open.

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I'm very sorry that this bit is so short, and I'm greatly depressed that the chapters I had to delete also made me delete their reviews. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!! Please everyone, I had over 100 reviews up-to-date and I'm really hoping to get back there. So will you please take a few moments to review this? You can say anything!!