A/N: well, I was looking at my stories, and decided to write a short oneshot. This story is similar to my story Broken, except without the semi-happy ending. Thank you for reading, and please review to tell me your thoughts.

Disclaimer:I think Tamora Pierce made it quite obvious that Kel and Neal would not end up together, so it is obviously not mine.

Summary: "Kel hated the number six." A tragic little oneshot about Neal's death. Hints of a one-sided KelNeal relationship.

Kel hated the number six. It had been six years to the day since she had first discovered her crush on him. Six days ago he had given her six flowers. Six months ago he married one of her childhood friends. Six weeks ago his wife announced her pregnancy. Six times she had almost confessed her love for him. At six o'clock that morning, he died. It was six bandits who attacked them. Kel was feeling six things at the moment too, sadness for his death, guilt for not taking the arrow for him, shock at the swiftness of his departure, jealousy of his wife; whom he had loved with all his heart, hatred of the same woman, whom Kel had the day before found in bed with a man other than her husband, and relief; that he had never discovered his wife's unmoral ways.

So here Keladry of Mindelan sat, holding the hand of her dearly departed friend. Her face was blank, but the pain held within their depths would shock anyone who caught even a glimpse of the usually peaceful eyes. His skin was pale in the chill of death, his body frozen in time. His lips were slightly parted, as he had spoken his beloved's name on the brink of death. "Yuki," he had whispered, and that single word hurt Kel more than even his death. It was too much for her, that he had whispered his wife's name, who was off with her lover, not even aware of his wound, while she was there, holding his hand, kissing his forehead, begging him not to leave her.

No one had yet cried for him. Most were either in shock, or uninformed. His wife was neither. When Kel had told Yuki, her face showed nothing but indifference, which Kel told herself was just shock, or just a mask to hide her inner sorrows. Deep down in side, though, Kel knew that this woman felt no sorrow at the death of her husband; whose love for her knew no bounds.

After a day had passed, Kel having not left his bedside even once, was dragged out of the room by Dom. She slapped him, telling him he was a monster, and that she knew it was he who was Yuki's lover. She had then collapsed to the floor in tears, everything overcoming her. After a moment, her sobs slowed and she turned her head to gaze at him. "I loved him," Kel had whispered, "I truly loved him." Dom had turned and walked away.

After a while, Kel had finally allowed his funeral to take place, though she let no one but herself touch his corpse. Yuki has worn a black kimono and obi, but once again it was obvious she felt no sorrow. Dom was, of course, standing next to Yuki, his arm around her waist. That day, tears were finally shed.

A week later, Kel packed up and left. Her rooms were bare, spare a folded not on her bed. It told of how she was heading up north to teach children self-defence, along with some of her few healing skills. And that was what she did. She died at sixty years old, on the anniversary of his death, still mourning him. On her grave were the six flowers he gave her six days before her death, forever fresh from a spell he had placed on them before giving them too her.

A/N: soooo...what do you think? too sad, or not sad enough? please review!
Sayonara!
obsessed-reader