Lady Robin Hood

By Kuroi Koneko

Story Preview: What if the story of 'Robin Hood' wasn't the way we were told it was? What if "Robin Hood" was really a Lady Robin Hood, and Lady (or Maid) Marrian was really a Lord Darien? What is their story . . . ?

A.N.: Please keep in mind that the setting for this story is around the 13th or 14th century or some other ancient time period with peasants, and lords/ladies, and monarchies (kings, queens, princes, and princess), and the likes of that. The characters' clothes are made of wool, or cotton, or some such fabric, when I mention trousers I do not mean jeans, I mean those old linen/cotton/wool type pants. K? Enjoy!

Chapter One

"Hurry up, Serena!! You're going to make us late to the archery contest showing!!" a raven-haired young woman cried to a trailing blonde behind her. Her violet colored eyes flashed with annoyance. As a cool wind blew she flicked a long strand of dark black hair behind her ear and pulled her rose pink shawl around her tighter. Her shawl color complimented her dark hair and exotic skin complexion very well, as did the dark reddish-purple, peasant-styled gown she wore with a matching rose pink corset/bodice. The gown had long sleeves that extended a few inches further than her longest fingertips, but it was made of a lightweight and sheer lace type fabric. Not very warm for the current season, even if it was fashionable.

Beside the raven-haired young woman were three other women:

There was a tall amazon-looking woman with chocolate colored hair pulled up into a high ponytail, but still reaching down between her shoulder blades, and covered by a sheer light green veil. Her emerald eyes sparkled with amusement as she looked upon the first two women, her tall height making her the most noticeable one of the five-some group. Her color scheme seemed to be green and pink; a green hair veil, a spring green peasant-styled gown that reached to her ankles with a pink corset/bodice, and matching pink below-the-ankle boots. But there was a little orange mixed in with her colors - a pale (almost white) orange shawl she had wrapped around her shoulders to keep the cool autumn air from settling on her thin-layered wrist-long sleeved arms.

Beside the amazon-look-alike was a shorter, and strangely blue haired woman. Her hair was cut unusually short, about chin length in the back, just a little over her ears around the sides, and falling slightly over her eyebrows in the front. Her clothes' color theme was obviously blue - a long blue dress that fell in gently waves to her ankles, a pale blue corset/bodice, matching pale blue below-the-ankle boots, and a blue hair veil that matched her bodice and boots color. The only items on her that aren't blue are a beige shawl she too wore around her short-sleeves-covered shoulders and a 3-inch satin belt that matched her beige shawl. Her dark sapphire blue eyes looked on with part amusement, part frustration at both of the women, and part resignation, as if this was a common occurrence between the group.

On the other side of the raven-haired female was another blond, her long gold-blonde hair reaching to just below her knees even though part of it was put up into a large gold-colored bow. Her bright cornflower blue eyes just sparkled with amusement at everyone. Her color theme seemed to be light yellow and gold. A gold bow, a gold corset/bodice, a dress that flowed to her feet in several layers and various shades of yellow, her shoe color and style is unknown since they are not visible, and last she had on a dark gold shawl to keep the autumn chill off of her sleeveless arms.

"Oh, calm down, Raye. You'll give yourself a heart attack if you keep this up!" the blonde haired girl said to the raven-haired one.

"And don't forget to breathe! I'm not going to carry you to the show. I don't care how strong all of you think I am, you are just too heavy Raye!" the brunette chuckled.

"Mina, I will not give myself a heart attack," the raven girl, Raye, said to bubbly blonde, "and Lita, I AM BREATHING!!" she yelled at the laughing brunette.

"Please, will you three try not to yell today? I would like to enjoy myself at this event since it only comes around once a year. That, and I would like to go at least one day with out getting a large headache after being in all of your presence for less than two hours. So please, try to behave?" the blue haired girl asked softly.

"Sorry, Amy, we'll try to behave today. And I'd like to enjoy myself at the carnival too," the lagging blonde said to the blue haired girl. As the four women were talking - more like arguing - amongst themselves the blonde in question had caught up to them.

"Oh Serena, look at you! If you had actually been earlier today you wouldn't look like such a mess!" Raye scolded the blonde, Serena. It was true though. Serena's long gold-blonde hair, though put up into an odd style of two buns on either side of her head with the rest of her hair streaming down from them to mid-calf, was tangled and obviously windblown with bits of leaves and dirt in it. Her once strawberry pink gown had little spots of mud lining the bottom of it that was closest to the ground, and her silver bodice was off-center and slightly crooked. Her boots, in the same style as the other girls', were now a mud brown color when they were once a presumably silver color - presumable because spots of silver could be seen around the tops of them. The gown's long sleeves were open and flowing in the passing breeze, waiting to be buttoned up to keep out the cold. Her shawl, which had strawberry pink and silver swirl designs on it, had been wrapped around Serena's neck like a very long scarf. However it looked ridiculous because it was neither the right shape nor the right size since it was thick, triangular, and wide instead of long, narrow, and rectangular as a proper scarf should be.

"Well, it's not like she run back home and change. We'll just have to do our best to straighten her up now, that's all," the ever-bubbly Mina replied. "And she doesn't look that bad. It's not going to kill her at any rate."

"Yes, Mina has a point. Let's just get to the contest first and then handle Serena's appearance, alright Raye?" Lita agreed, looking down at her favorite and best friend with kindness and slight traces of amusement in her eyes.

Serena smiled gratefully at her friends.

With all the five girls together in a group you could see similarities among them. They all appeared to be around the ages of 16, they all wore the same style of gowns (peasant styled) and foot wear (below-the-ankle boots), their gowns were made of an obviously high-quality and expensive fabric, and if that were not enough to show you that they were obviously women of wealthy backgrounds, then the earrings they wore would have. Each girl wore a single gemstone stud earrings, but each wore a different gem: Lita wore a pair of Emerald studs, Mina wore a pair of yellow Topaz studs, Amy wore a Sapphire studs, Raye wore Ruby studs, and Serena wore studs made of Moonstone (a silvery colored gemstone). Only people of wealth could afford such gems, and by wearing their 'trademark' gemstones it marked the group of young women as ladies of wealth.

Suddenly everyone started rushing to afore said carnival as the sound of trumpets were heard in the distance.

"Oh no!!" all five girls cried, and in a flash they were all running toward the gates, well, as fast as they could run in long-skirted dresses anyway.

"Darien! Darien, come on! You're up next!" a man cried. His long white haired was hanging loosely around his shoulders and hung down to the middle of his back. He looked around the tents in the area, his ice-blue eyes worried and frantic. He walked through puddles of mud and dirty water alike with no care for his once highly-polished leather boots, which were now splattered with mud halfway to the top of their knee high rims. He appeared to give no notice to his disorderly appearance - his rumpled black trousers, his untucked and untied (at the neck) pale yellow shirt, and even his hair was slightly tangled. Despite his attire's 'rumpled' looks, he was clean-shaven, recently bathed (as was apparent by his still slightly dampened hair), and of a wealthy background which you could tell by the quality of his clothes and boots.

The young man, who appeared to be no older than 17, rushed up to another man in a similar state of dress, but was clearly less panic stricken.

"Nephrite! Nephrite, have you seen Darien anywhere? He's up next in the archery competition and I can't find him anywhere!" the white haired man cried in a strained voice.

The man called Nephrite, who also appeared to be no older than 17, simply shrugged his shoulders while flicking a strand of his long auburn (reddish-brown) hair behind him, the hair falling to a bit further than mid-back. His pale green shirt and dark brown trousers were not as crumpled as the other man's, and his knee high leather boots weren't as mud-splattered, but it seemed a bit apparent that he had been doing some kind of work.

"No, Kunzite, I haven't seen Darien anywhere recently. Have you checked the archery range? He could be there already," Nephrite replied, his voice a deep baritone, it's velvet tone soothing and calming Kunzite visibly.

"You are right, I haven't checked there yet. It is quite possible he is present already. Thank you Nephrite." Kunzite's voice had returned to it's natural baritone pitch, just a bit deeper than Nephrite's, and no longer strained and high(er) pitched. "Why don't you come join me and the others at the field? We were going to cheer Dare on. Not that he needs it, of course," Kunzite chuckled.

"Very well, then. Let's go before we can't find any good viewing seats though." Nephrite quickly started to walk off in the direction of the archery fields before he heard Kunzite's reply. When he heard it though, he slowed down his pace.

"Easy, Neph. Jadeite and Zoisyte are saving us spots. They have a really good vantage point too. They wouldn't tell me how they got the spot though," Kunzite shouted after him, chuckling a bit as he trotted to catch up to his friend and remembered what his other two friends had replied to his question.

flashback

"How on earth did you get this spot? It has a fabulous view!"

The two blonde men looked at each other before the one with his long light-blonde hair in a ponytail replied,

"Now, Kunzite, if we gave away all of our secrets where would we be?"

"You aren't going to tell me are you, Zoisyte?" Kunzite answered back, giving a mock glare to the other man.

"Of course he's not, Kunzite! You're not having difficulty understanding subtleties, are you?!" the man with short honey-blonde hair replied in jest and mock fear. "Quick, Zoi, I think Kunzite needs a check up! The man with perfect understanding of everything needs - "

"Jadeite!" Kunzite yelled, cutting off whatever the man was going to say.

end flashback

Nephrite followed Kunzite as he walked to the spot where two other young men - who also looked no older than 17 years old - were saving spots to watch the contest.

"Hey Neph! You and Kunz are just in time to watch Darien go and take his first shot!" Jadeite told the two new arrivals.

"See Kunzite, I told you he would be here. You had nothing to worry about." Nephrite glanced at the obviously relieved Kunzite as the four men sat down to watch the commencing of the archery competition.

That's it folks! The end of Chapter One of "Lady Robin Hood". So what did ya think of it? Leave a review and tell me! Please?

In the next chapter: The archery competition begins and trouble begins to brew as an unexpected, uninvited, and unwanted 'guest' arrives at the carnival.

Find out what happens in the second chapter of "Lady Robin Hood"!!

I don't actually know what Moonstone looks likes, so just imagine that it looks silver, kinda like the Silver Imperium Crystal, K?