AN: Meh, I'm so mad at myself. I can't concentrate on anything... Plus school goes back in two days. NO!!!
But here, another K/D oneshot...
I actually read a couple of Kel/Roalds the other day! The pairing is surprisingly good! But of COURSE Dom is better.
"Ke-el." a sweet call came from outside Kel's room; Kel, recognising her Yamani friend Yuki's voice, hurried to let her into her rooms.
"You do realise what day it is, don't you?" Yuki asked, once she was inside.
A suddenly worried Kel wracked her brains furiously. Neal's birthday? Raoul's wedding day? Yuki's birthday? Midwinter?
None rung a bell...
"Ummmm, no?" Kel shot a quick glance across at the Yamani's face, only to see the corners of her eyes crinkling with amusement. Really, this couldn't be good. What was she laughing at?
"Think," Yuki insisted. "The Yamani Islands... every year..."
It couldn't be anyone's birthday or wedding then, but still nothing came to mind...
"Sakuyo Day!" Yuki's shukusen snapped out swiftly in front of Kel's face; Kel jerked back and then unsuccessfully tried to conceal her surprise.
"Oh, that's right!" Relief filled Kel, she hadn't forgotten anything importa-
And then Yuki's words sunk in.
Sakuyo Day. The day of the Yamani Trickster god. The day-
"The day where everyone must play tricks on one another and all dares must be accepted," Yuki finished Kel's thoughts, the corners of her eyes crinkling again.
Needless to say, Kel was distinctly suspicious of what this could mean for her. "Yes. The day of the trickster."
"So, I, Yukimi of Queenscove," Yuki began- here we go, thought Kel, with some trepidation, "am daring you, Keladry of Mindelan, to go and tell Domitan of Masbolle that you have more-than-friendly feelings for him."
Kel's mouth actually dropped open. "What?" she spluttered, thinking that she surely could not have heard right.
"I am daring you to go and tell Domitan that you love him."
"But- but- I... no!" Kel protested violently, trying in vain to conceal her flushing cheeks. "I don't and I can't and... no!"
"But, but you must!" mimicked Yuki, a surprising show of humour for her. "You can't refuse a dare, not today, Keladry- you know that just as well as any Yamani."
Gulping, Kel flicked through thoughts of how exactly to get out of this. "But Yuki! We're in Tortall now! We shouldn't-"
"In Tortall we may be," Yuki said gravely. "But we still have Yamani days and Yamani customs."
Kel's frantic mind was finding no way to decline this.
"Good!" exclaimed Yukimi, the barest twinkle showing in her brown eyes. "So you will go to Dom, and tell him how you feel, and then wait at least a minute before saying 'Sakuyo laughs'!"
"But I can't do that!" wailed Kel, horrific images filling her mind of Dom laughing at her completely untrue, of course, confession, and Neal teasing her about it forevermore...
"Well, you have to," Yuki informed her stubbornly. "On the day of the trickster, everyone must accept any dares given to them. Even in Tortall. Now let's go!"
The lightest of knocks on his door caused Domitan of Masbolle to look up quickly and shove a piece of paper under his bed covers.
"Come in!" he called, hoping that his voice sounded completely as normal.
The door pushed open to reveal the object of his currently embarrassing thoughts; Dom blushed slightly before recovering his composture.
"Kel!" he greeted her, smiling with honest pleasure. "What brings you to my fine, fine room?"
The corner of Kel's mouth quirked up slightly but she seemed worried. "I, uh..." Her eyes, darting around looking anywhere but Dom, suddenly fell on something rather embarrassing...
Dom's blue gaze, fixed firmly on Kel's face, took in her suddenly wide eyes and slowly flushing face and followed her hazel gaze, turning around to his desk. "What's wrong?"
And then he noticed the object of her attention.
How embarrassing!
A piece of paper that he had sadly forgotten to stuff under his bed when the knock had come lay face up, reading in Dom's distinctive, messy scrawl:
"How you make my heart beat,
Everytime we meet,
You just don't realise,
What your eyes can do to me,"
Kel's eyes, flicking to the piece of paper, back to Dom's slowly reddening face, could only think, Mithros, that makes this dare a thousand times worse- if he actually does have someone else...
And why wouldn't he?
A strange, burning feeling filled her for a moment before she made herself shrug it off.
I DON'T like him anymore. Not after Cleon. Not anymore.
I DON'T!
She forced herself to concentrate on the dare.
It had to be done, the sooner it was said, the sooner she could explain it.
"Dom, I came to say," she began, using some of the words that Yuki had drilled into her mind on the way. "That I really, I uh-"
His blue eyes were gleaming into hers, causing her to lose her concentration abruptly.
I DON'T LIKE HIM ANYMORE!
"I, uh, I like-"
His blue tunic fitted perfectly as usual, his well-muscled shoulders showing through subtly.
I DON'T!
"I, like vegetables and, I, um, kind of like you, too, like a non-friend, no! I like you in an unfriendly way... no! I like you in a more-than-friendly way and I just... I um..."
Her stuttering stopped abruptly as he strode swiftly closer, one hand lifting up in an odd manner, hovering near her cheek.
Instead of concentrating on his close proximity- which, of course, would only lead to worse thoughts, she made herself count the minute.
60...
59...
58...
40...
35...
27...
20...
15...
5...
"Saku-" she began, but then his soft lips descended on hers, covering them entirely.
Kel choked slightly, not quite fathoming what was happening.
Dom... was... kissing... HER?
Was she dreaming?
"What's happening?" an impatient Neal demanded, actually poking his wife in the ribs, who had her eye pressed firmly to Dom's keyhole.
"Shut up!" Yuki hissed, shooting Neal a sharp glare. "They'll hear!"
Neal subsided and leant against the passageway wall. Why did Yuki get the keyhole, anyway, and not him?
"Plan well done," muttered Yuki, abruptly stepping away from the door. "He's kissing her."
"EW!" Neal exclaimed, horrified. "My cousin's kissing my best friend?! That wasn't part of the plan, was it?!"
Yuki slapped him with her shukusen as she strolled past, a satisfied look showing through her Yamani mask. "Of course it was- and grow up, Nealan. A father should be more mature than that."
Neal's mouth opened soundlessly and he stared after Yukimi as she left. "Father?" he mouthed at her back, stunned.
"Now... what were you saying... before I, uh...?" Dom asked, pulling away from Kel, his eyes searching her face for what she was thinking.
All Kel knew was, Domitan of Masbolle, who she had liked ever since she was squire, had just kissed her, and nothing else seemed to matter.
Not even the fact that several minutes before, she had, in fact, been screaming in her head that she didn't like him.
His apparant feelings changed things, anyway.
Except...
"Who was that to?" she made a gesture to the bad poetry lying on Dom's desk.
Dom's eyes shifted for a moment; one hand rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "That, er, well, that was actually for you. I, erm, I like you too, Kel, but you started saying something before I, well, kissed you, and it must have been important, so what was it?"
Her eyes widened as she took this in.
He actually did... feel how she did?
She had kind of guessed, from his response to her earlier words, but to hear it out loud?
Yes, nothing else did matter, not now.
She would fix- or rather thank- Yuki later.
But right now?
"Nothing," Kel mumbled, pulling his lips back down to hers. "I wasn't saying anything at all."