Disclaimer: It looks as if I'm playing World's Stupidest Questions. Okay then, I pick Answer B: None of this is mine. That is my final answer.

I started writing this a while ago and I originally planned on it being just a one-shot. But then I changed my mind and changed the plot majorly, so now it's going to be a multi-chapter story. I absolutely love the Kel and Neal pairing. Some people might disagree, but I think Neal and Yuki don't belong together at all. They just don't seem right somehow. They barely even interacted with each other, so how can we know it's really love? Okay, this author's note is getting a bit lengthy, so I'll stop talking so you people can just get to the story already.

Chapter One - Regrets

Neal felt the moving muscles of the horse beneath him, and the slight breeze that played with his hair. He sat in the saddle and stared ahead, not really seeing anything. There were just his thoughts.

He knew they were going to the palace. With each step closer, he dreaded his arrival there more and more. He dreaded having to see her. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that seeing her just wasn't a pleasant and exciting thing anymore. He felt no anticipation, no joy. He only felt confused.

Yukimi. They would be married in a matter of months. But Neal wasn't sure he was ready. Perhaps he would never be ready. Being married to someone was a huge obligation. It wasn't a matter to take lightly. And once he married her, there was no going back. Was he ready for such an obligation?

He felt that he really didn't know Yuki at all. He had spent time with her and had gotten to know her, but did he really know her? Sometimes she still seemed like a stranger. He wasn't sure if he could spend the rest of his life with someone he really didn't know.

He had thought he was truly in love this time. He had been so sure of it. But now he wasn't so sure anymore. He had fallen in and out of love with so many girls over the years. Was Yuki really any different from all of those other girls? He had felt more strongly about Yuki than any of the others, but it could still turn out to be only infatuation. Just a very deep crush. Something that he would get over in time. He didn't want to marry someone if he was just going to get over her and lose interest.

His friends had been shocked when they learned of his engagement to Yuki. They didn't think Neal could ever be serious about a girl. And maybe he couldn't. Maybe he was just as shallow as he always had been. Yuki was beautiful and could make him laugh, but that meant nothing. A pretty face and a sense of humor didn't mean love.

He had to face it. He was losing interest in her. He no longer wished to marry her. He would have to break the news to her and wasn't looking forward to doing it.

Someone rode up alongside him. "Someone doesn't look very happy today. What's with the frown?"

Neal looked and saw Kel riding next to him. Kel was always there for him, no matter what. They had been through so much together as friends. She always steered him in the right direction, taught him right from wrong, told him to eat his vegetables. She helped shape his character and helped make him who he was. He didn't know what he would do without her.

She meant a lot to him. If he married Yuki, Kel would no longer be able to help him and point him in the right direction all the time. It would be Yuki's job to do that, but Yuki had never done anything like that for Neal. She was unworthy of such a position.

"Neal?" Kel said softly. "You're being quiet, which isn't like you at all."

Neal turned away. He couldn't look at her. "It's nothing."

"Well, I know there's nothing I can do to make you tell me, but it's better if you talk about it."

"But it's nothing!" Neal insisted hotly. "I'm fine!"

"You're not fine," Kel said matter-of-factly. "Yelling at me and behaving like a Meathead isn't going to do any good. No offense, Neal, but I've never seen anyone who's worse at hiding their emotions than you are."

Neal sighed dramatically. "Why are you always right?"

Kel smiled grimly. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't." She looked intently into his green eyes. They were definitely the most beautiful shade of green she had ever seen. She felt herself getting lost in their bright depths. She could stare into them forever. What would it be like to be in Yuki's place and be forever faced with those amazing green eyes first thing in the morning every day? She almost wished she could experience that.

She shook her head. She was being silly. She had gotten over him a long time ago. But did she really? Maybe she had merely put him aside for a bit. Maybe her feelings had only been buried, and they were ready to be unearthed once more. Her relationship with Cleon had fallen apart, and she was glad of that. A relationship with Dom had never existed and she wasn't sure if it ever would.

And now she was thinking crazy thoughts about her best friend just because their eyes had met. Could such emotions and feelings really come just from looking into a person's eyes?

As Neal looked at Kel, his green eyes met her hazel ones and he felt comforted. Kel was so sensible. She always fixed his problems. Yuki wasn't sensible like that. Neal was so dramatic and irrational sometimes, and Yuki would probably unintentionally encourage those moods. Not like Kel. Yuki just wasn't sensible and down-to-earth like Kel.

They rode side-by-side in silence until they arrived at the palace. As he dismounted his horse, Neal felt his pulse quicken with nerves. Could he really go through with it? Was he even really sure he wanted to break off the engagement?

Yes, he decided. He had had plenty of time to think it over. It was what he had to do.

He went into the palace without speaking a word to anyone and set off to find her. She was in her room, sitting on her bed and playing idly with her fan. When she looked up and saw him standing in her doorway, she did not smile. Lately she had been noticing a lack of affection he showed towards her, and it bothered her a little bit. He didn't seem to pay much attention to her anymore and he hardly ever looked at her or spoke to her. She didn't like it all. She loved Neal and she didn't know what she would if something happened to their relationship.

Neal couldn't look at her. He looked at a corner of the wall instead. He felt tingly with nervousness and desperately wished he could just turn around and run down the hall. But he couldn't do that. He had to face this.

"Hello, Neal," said Yuki. "Come in."

He didn't have any choice now. He walked into the room and shut the door. He paced back in forth in front of her bed, running a hand through his hair. He was the very image of anxiety. "Er, I missed you," he said. The words came out sounding rather awkward. He winced at the sound of them.

She nodded. "I missed you too." She tapped the bed with her fan. "Sit down if you want to. I know you're probably sore from the saddle." She made a face. "I don't know how you Easterners manage to sit in those saddles of yours. In the Islands, they're much more comfortable. They're..." She trailed off and suddenly looked a little sad. She quickly made her face emotionless though, but not before Neal was able to see the brief sorrow.

"Is something the matter?" he asked.

"I'm just homesick," she said. "I'm sorry I'm being so ridiculous. But I just miss home. I grew up in the Yamani Islands and it's the only thing I've ever known. Sometimes I'm not sure I can really leave it."

"Maybe you don't have to," Neal said without thinking. He wanted to kick himself for his stupidity. What in the name of Mithros would he say something like that for?

Yuki looked at him. "What?"

"Never mind." He looked a little uncomfortable, and Yuki looked at him carefully. "Well, um, I'd better go now, Yuki. I never got a chance to say hello to anyone else yet." Neal gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, only because he felt it was the right thing to do, and then fled from the room. Yuki touched the spot on her face where Neal had kissed her. It didn't feel like a sincere kiss. She didn't like it. She rubbed at the area with her hand and looked at her hand in dismay. What had she done that for? She lay facedown on her bed and furiously shut her eyes. Nothing made sense anymore.

The next chapter is ready to be posted, but I'll wait until I get some reviews for this one before posting it.