Chapter Three - Naughty Little Dream

Later on, it was time for supper. Kel's green dress was rumpled from her earlier activities with Neal, and so she had to change into a lavender one. She ran her fingers through her brown hair and decided that there nothing wrong with looking entirely like a "real girl". She fished a lavender ribbon out of a drawer and tied it in her hair. Satisfied, she left her rooms and headed for the great hall.

When she entered the hall, none of her friends had arrived yet and she sat alone at the far end of one of the tables. A couple of minutes passed, and suddenly a hand tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped slightly. She turned around and was faced with a familiar pair of green eyes.

"Tag. You're It," Neal said.

Kel scowled. "You know I don't like surprises, Neal."

"Well I do. Especially when the person being surprised is you." He was in the process of taking a seat next to her, but Kel grabbed a hold of him and prevented him from sitting down. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I just want to sit beside my best friend in the whole wide world. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Why don't you take a seat next to your lovely fiancée?" Kel asked, hating the sound of those words. They made her heart ache. "I'm sure Yuki would rather have you beside her instead of beside me. Now be a good boy and run along."

But Neal didn't "run along" just yet. "Maybe I don't want to be a good boy. I haven't been one all day, and now isn't the time to start."

Kel felt her face turn red. "Neal, the incident that occurred earlier is to be entirely forgotten. Don't you understand? Now go to Yuki right now."

"Fine, but you'll mourn the loss of my company. I really am an asset to the supper table, you know. A meal just isn't complete without a Nealan of Queenscove to grace the table."

"Get out of here," Kel said, trying hard not to smile.

Neal trudged away and didn't look back at her. She realized that she was watching him and hastily looked away. This nonsense had to stop. Neal wasn't the man for her and she just had to face that. It should be easy. It wasn't like she was in love with him or anything. She stole a glance at the table across the room and saw Neal seated beside Yuki. A horrible feeling flooded her insides and she longed to yell and throw something. Yuki was her friend, but right now, the sight of Yuki made her hands clench into fists.

"You're not looking very jolly right now," a voice beside her commented. She looked over and saw Owen standing in front of the table. He took a seat next to her.

"It's nothing, Owen," Kel said. "I'm perfectly fine."

Owen was soon joined by Merric and Kel only pretended to take part in their conversation. She did not eat very much and excused herself from the table as soon as she could. She just wanted to be alone. She wanted to go to bed. If she slept, then she could forget about everything. Yes, that was a good plan. She headed for her rooms.

She was about halfway there when she thought she heard something moving behind her. Before she got a chance to turn around, she felt a hand being slipped into her own. "Hello. Fancy seeing you here at a time like this," a horribly familiar voice drawled.

Kel took her hand out of his. "Neal, what are you doing here? You should still at be at supper."

"I should, eh? Why should I? Maybe I was becoming bored with the people around me and decided to seek different company. If you can leave supper early, I have to right to do so too. Lady knights don't get special privileges, you know."

Kel walked faster. So did he. "Why are you here, Neal? Why are you following me? Isn't Yuki missing you?"

Neal made a face. "I hope not. What do you think would happen if I tried to ship her back to the Yamani Islands?"

"That's not very nice."

"Don't you see, Kel? I don't love her. I wasn't even the one who started this relationship. It was all her. She went and gave me her fan on the day I passed the Ordeal of Knighthood and she kept pursuing me afterward. None of this was my fault. I didn't intend on being seduced. It's just something that happened, but I've snapped out of it now."

"Well what do you propose on doing about it?" Kel asked, keeping any emotion out of her voice. She couldn't let him know how much it excited her to know that he had fallen out of love with Yuki.

Neal sighed. "She's still in love with me. If she didn't love me, then things would be so much easier."

"Get her to fall out of love with you then."

"Well how am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know, Neal. This is your problem, not my mine. Fix your own issues yourself. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go to my rooms now." They had arrived at her door and halted in front of it. A silence grew between them. Kel, hating the silence, broke it by quickly saying, "Well, good night. See you tomorrow." She opened up her door but did not go inside just yet. Neal was still standing there. Kel raised an eyebrow. "I don't need a watchdog, thank you very much. I'm fairly sure no one will try to assassinate me tonight."

Neal nodded. "Yes, well, see you tomorrow." Without warning, he moved towards her and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. "Good night," he whispered, and then walked away.

Kel touched her lips and watched him leave. She had a feeling that this was only the beginning, and that things were going to get worse from here on out.

x-x-x

She was outside the palace and walked across the slightly damp grass. It was morning and the dew got onto the bottom of her skirt, but she didn't care. The sun shone on her face and she hummed a tune quietly to herself. It was a beautiful morning and nothing was going to ruin it.

As she walked past a large tree, something suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her behind the trunk. "What-" she started to say, but she was silenced as lips met her own. She closed her eyes and shivered as the kiss deepened. When the kiss ended and the two mouths were separated, Kel opened her eyes and took a step backwards in shock. Unfortunately, that little motion caused her to trip over her skirt and she landed with her bottom on the wet grass.

He got down and crouched beside her and put a hand on her shoulder so she couldn't get up. "Why?" she demanded.

"Why not?" he said, his green eyes boring into hers.

"Neal, I've told you so many times. This isn't right."

"I know it isn't," he said softly. "That's the fun in it." He ran a finger down her cheek and then cupped her chin in his hand and gave her a lingering kiss on the mouth. When he pulled away, Kel found herself wanting more. She pulled him back to her and their lips met once more. Once that was over, Neal was grinning at her. "So you want me after all."

"Yes. No." She looked away from him. "I don't know."

He took her by the hand and looked her in the eyes. "You don't have to be afraid anymore, Kel. She's gone. She got on the ship early this morning without saying a word about it to anybody. I'm finally free."

Kel picked at the grass and tossed the little green blades aside once she had plucked them from the earth. "So?"

"Well? What will your choice be?"

She gave his hand a squeeze. "You know what my answer is." She pushed him down so that he lay on his back on the soft grass, and then she sat beside him and kissed him while running her fingers through his hair.

"Well this feels discriminating," Neal said. "Why do I have to be the only one laying down? Just because you're a lady knight doesn't mean you can sit while others lie." He grabbed hold of her waist and swung her up on top of him. "There. Much better."

"Hmm... you're right," Kel murmured. "But something still needs to be fixed."

"And what would that be?"

She undid the top button of his shirt. "This. But it still needs more fixing." She undid the next button. "Still more." And the next button. "Just a bit more." Soon all of the buttons were undone and his shirt was in the grass beside them. "That's better now."

"Well if you get to fix me, then I get to fix you. It's only fair." He undid the lacing of her bodice and soon had her dress stripped off. "Anything else you'd like me to make repairs on, my dear?"

"Well of course," she replied. "There are a whole score of things that need to be put right." She undid his pants and soon they were off. They were only clothed in their loincloths and in Kel's case, breastband. "What next?" Neal said softly. "Am I all fixed now?" He eyed her breastband. "And what about you? I believe there are still some things that are horribly wrong with you. I'm terribly sorry about that, love. Let me put you to rights." Her breastband was off and lay nestled on top of the pile of clothing.

"It looks like there's only one little flaw that needs to be taken care of," Kel said.

"I'll take care of you. You take care of me. Deal?"

"Deal."

His hands tugged at her loincloth and she did the same to his, and then—

x-x-x

Kel opened her eyes as quickly as she could and sat up in bed, her heart pounding madly. "Oh gods, what was that about?" She looked around the dark room and saw that she was indoors and that it was nighttime. She was safe in her bed. Alone. No morning sunlight, no tree, and definitely no Neal.

She threw off the blanket and got out of bed. She was still terrified by that dream and couldn't stand to be in her bed anymore. Why would she dream something like that? Why? It wasn't even an innocent little fantasy dream. No, it was just downright perverted. She felt dirty and ashamed of herself for dreaming such a thing. Of course, she didn't desire anything like that. She wasn't some common harlot who only cared about having a man in her bed every night. So why did she have that dream? And why was it with Neal?

She paced up and down the room furiously. She couldn't possibly love Neal. Just because they had kissed a few times didn't mean love. If she let herself love him, she would only be hurt. Neal most certainly didn't love her, and he would marry Yuki and everything would work fine.

Except for the fact that Neal didn't love Yuki.

She stopped her pacing and got back into bed. She didn't want to think about this anymore. It was only confusing her and thinking these things was making her depressed. She pulled the blanket up to her chin, closed her eyes, and prayed that she would not dream again.

This probably will not become M rated, but I can't make any promises. Also, this probably won't be updated very regularly, since I'm spending most of my time working on my Lord of the Rings romance and that leaves little time for my other stories.