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Thanks to Elly, I also have fanart for SD! ^___^ See it here. Yes, in the SD universe, it IS still fall. Mainly because I've been writing this story in an almost day-to-day perspective and it takes me a week or two to put out each chapter, so that messes up the timeline thing. I'd say it's about mid-October. Fun! I get to stick them in Halloween costumes and send them trick-or-treating.. Anyway, on with the show! * I stared at the door of the hospital room my brother was in, my hands jammed in the pockets of my uniform pants. I had been standing there for a good quarter hour, just looking indecisively at that door as if I expected something phenomenal to happen. Of course, nothing did. I was still observing the door when a gentle, placating hand touched my shoulder. I jumped a good foot into the air. So I was skittish. Sue me. "Mr. Higurashi?" a pleasant voice asked. I turned around and blinked at her, momentarily forgetting that I was garbed in my black uniform and therefore still appearing to be a boy. The girl who had her hand on my shoulder looked around my age, and she had a sticker on her shirt that said simply: "Wazuka". That name sounded fun, and if I weren't as worried as I was at the moment, I would have had the time of my life trying to say it. She blushed prettily and tapped her pen against her clipboard. "Would you like to see your brother, or are you happy just staring at the door?" Her voice held a light, teasing note to it, and I had the uncomfortable and very terrifying feeling that she was checking me out. Pushing away those scary thoughts, I nodded once. She opened the door. As I followed the rather odd girl into Souta's room, a rather frightening thought kept making itself known in my brain. I wanted revenge. Chapter Eleven: Dance with me, just a little bit longer.. by Clara I looked down at my brother, biting my lip. He was sleeping quietly with an IV connected to his left hand and oxygen tubes snaking parasitically up his nose. He looked so peaceful, and for a moment, I had a brief, morbid thought that he looked almost like a corpse. I shoved my fist to my mouth and bit my knuckles, hard. Concentrating on the pain in my hand helped get my mind off my brother. My mother was sitting at the side of my brother's bed, soggy tissues clutched in her hands. She looked up at me, and her crumpled face looked utterly defeated. "Kagome," she whispered in a broken voice. I walked over to her side. "Kagome, what happened?" I stared down at my mom for a long time, wishing I could answer her question. Instead, I knelt by her side. For some reason, for some rather valid reason, I felt like a complete failure. I took my brother's hand in mine, dropped my head onto the bedspread, and cried. * We took my (fully conscious) brother home that night. His injuries weren't as bad as I had originally thought�all he had were a couple of severe contusions and a dislocated arm. Besides that, the doctors just strongly suggested a week's worth of rest and plenty of fluids. One of the doctors had pulled my mother aside while we were getting Souta ready to take home. For what, I'm not entirely sure, but from the expression on my mother's face when she returned, I knew it wasn't something pleasant and most likely accusing. Although I knew the questions they asked were mandatory, it broke my heart to think anyone could blame these heartless attacks on my mother. To get back to the original topic on hand, my mother and I continued to baby my brother for most of the night, rushing to his every whim until he go so fed up with us that he threatened to lock himself in his room for a little privacy. After that, we decided he was healthy enough to stay on his own in his room for the night. That is, after he reassured us that he doubted anyone would climb to his second story bedroom to beat the boogers out of him. Yes, those were his exact words. At around nine that night I was sitting in my kitchen with a cup of coffee. Coffee is a very comforting presence, even though that meant I wouldn't be sleeping for the rest of the night, but I highly doubted I would anyway. As I was wallowing in my highly depressing thoughts, a sharp, shrill ring broke through the air and scared the living hell out of me. Of course, being who I was, I fell out of my chair. My Smurfs mug went flying up, then the laws of gravity kicked in and the mug with the words "I am a rocky mountain smurf" on it splattered back down on my pristine uniform shirt. I'm not graceful, okay?! I lay there for a couple of minutes, listening to the sharp ringing and wondering what the hell it was, while at the same time wondering why I freak out about the scalding liquid slowly eating away my skin. After a few moments of asking the ceiling for the answers of my universe, the connections clicked and I realized that my phone was ringing. Frowning, I lifted myself from the floor and walked over to the phone, pulling it off the receiver. "Hello?" I asked. Or greeted. How does one categorize that, anyway? Better yet, why do people make a greeting a question? It's like, people are so paranoid that when they hear the phone ring and they pick it up, they have to ask to make sure the person who obviously wanted to contact them was there. Or maybe I was looking to far into it. I was in a weird mood. "Kekki?" A smooth, male voice asked. I almost asked who the hell 'Kekki' was when my heart stopped. That's right... "Yes?" I asked, trying to sound more casual and calm than I felt. "Hi, it's Inuyasha," he sounded a great deal more nervous than he had a few minutes ago, and I could almost hear the blush in his voice. On cue, I started blushing too. Oh hell, I was like a little school girl. "H-hi, Inuyasha," I managed, mentally kicking myself for stuttering. Big girls don't stutter. Well, that's not true. Girls pretending to be boys don't stutter, but I would rather not get into that analogy.. "Um, I was kinda wondering if you would.. ah.. like to go with me to my school's dance.. Kagome might have mentioned it to you or something.." He still sounded so cutely embarrassed. I grinned. "Yeah, actually, 'Gome has told me." I twirled the chord around my finger, pacing in a circle. "And yeah, I'll go with you." "Great!" Inuyasha cheered. He sounded so.. childishly excited that I couldn't stop a small chuckle. "I mean.. ah.. that's cool. Awesome. Anyway, um, is your brother going to? He hasn't told me yet, and I haven't gotten around to asking him.." "Yeah, he should be going." Okay, so I wasn't thinking. I'm an idiot. Let's just say, I screwed myself over at that point. "That's cool. Tell him I said hi, okay? Anyway, I'll talk to you later." "Bye," I said, still blushing immensely, then hung up. I paused, then looked down. Somehow, I had managed to tie myself up with the phone chord. As I was untangling myself, though, I made a couple more connections, then screamed. "I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!!" * "I AM SUCH AN IDIOT!!" Sango blinked at me, chewing on her straw. It was the next day after school and me, Miroku, and her were all walking to our cars from the shopp�. I was still wearing my apron and whatnot, and still freaking about my stupid situation. I think I was the only person I knew who could make the biggest ass out of herself without even knowing it. "Well, yeah, you are.." Sango agreed, drinking from her soda. I shot her a dark glare. "That's not very comforting, Sango," I grumbled, shoving my hands in my pockets. The dance was in an hour and a half, and I was still stuck with the dilemma of being both 'Kagome' AND 'Kekki' for one night. "Well, it wasn't meant to be. How on earth do you get yourself into these situations?" "I.. I wasn't thinking, okay?" I managed feebly as I trudged after Miroku. He was walking a few feet in front of me, deftly maneuvering himself out of our conversation. He was my best friend, but I doubted he knew how to handle situations like these. "Well, that's plainly obvious," Sango retorted. I scowled at her. "You're really not helping." She let out a small chuckle, then draped her arm over my shoulders. "Look, everything will be all right, okay? Miroku and I will help out." "Yeah," Miroku said, finally introducing himself into this conversation. "We can bring two sets of clothes, one for 'Kagome' and one for 'Kekki', and every time something comes up we'll drag you off and change you." " "Kag, it's fall, and we don't exactly live in California..." Sango admonished, rolling her eyes. "Hey, if we're talking about Inuyasha, he won't really care just as long as 'Kekki' is there," Miroku replied, smirking. I elbowed him, feeling my cheeks heat up. "But then again, the ever paranoid Eiji and Kikyo might start to notice that 'Kagome' seems to always be busy when 'Kekki' is around.." I heaved a huge sigh, slumping against myself. "I really am an idiot, you realize this?" "Of course, but we still love you!" Sango squeezed my shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry, everything will work out all right.." "I have an idea..." Miroku cut in, falling in step with us. "This may be totally out of line, but why don't you tell Inuyasha that you're really a girl...?" Both Sango and I gave him a chilly glare. "Ah.. yeah. That was just a.. yanno, ridiculous idea. I have no idea what I was thinking when I said that.." Miroku was good at being sarcastic. He did it discreetly. I straightened my shoulders determinedly. "All right, I can do this. I'm tough. I'm strong! What could go wrong, huh? Nothing!" Murphy�s Law has a sick sense of humor. * I got to the dance at around eight that night, half asleep on my feet. Bear with me�I had drunken a huge mug of coffee the night before and was up the entire night. You expect me to be perky and awake the night after? So anyway, I got to the dance and was automatically greeted by a very well groomed, and a very nice smelling Inuyasha. For once his wildly tangled mane of black hair was neatly combed and, of course, I immediately got jealous. I still hadn't gotten over the fact that Inuyasha's hair was longer than mine. Before I get into one of my jealous rages, though, let me tell you what he was wearing. I had to credit Inuyasha, he could dress well. He was clothed simply, wearing a long sleeve white shirt and one of those black, poofy-pillowy vests and black cargo pants, but he could pull 'simple' off well. He looked so dang huggable. I let Sango dress me that night. I don't know why, but for some reason my little posse had good taste. She dressed both my male me and my female me nicely, 'Kekki' wearing a pair of tight dark blue jeans and a simple, for me, scandalous violet tank top. When I pointed out that I would probably freeze my butt off if I stood outside for a couple of seconds, she laughed and reassured me that even the walls would be sweating that night and that I would be fine. So, okay, I have a reason for my actions. I was cold. Inuyasha looked warm. So I latched myself onto him for heat. The beautiful thing was he didn't say anything, just opened that huge, pillowy vest and engulfed me in it. This earned me a couple of catcalls from my dear friends. "Hi," I mumbled into his toasty chest. I could hear his rumbly laughter very clearly from where I was, mind you. "Hi yourself. Cold?" "Just a bit. Could you tell?" "Don't worry, you'll warm up once we get inside." Actually, I was pretty happy where I was at the moment, all wrapped up in Inuyasha goodness, but I wasn't about to say that. I knew I wouldn't get past the third word without turning beet red. We pulled away from each other, mostly because the people around us were getting highly obnoxious. You know, making kissy sounds and barking and whistling and what not. Not only that, but I knew my face was turning an interesting shade of red, and from what I could see of Inuyasha, his was too. Inuyasha kept his arm around me as we walked in. That alone made my day. * What I didn't know when I walked into the gym was that people were waiting for me. A rather large handful of people. A rather large handful of people that I reaaaally didn't want to be waiting for me. Anyway, since I'm foreshadowing a little too much, let me explain a little. Keep in mind that I didn't know about these things until well after the dance, but I think this information is important. Kikyo had asked Kouga to go to the dance with her, and he agreed. This doesn't sound very important now, I realize, but trust me. It's important. A group of people were murmuring to each other, near another group of people who were shouting at each other in loud, rambunctious tones. These people would be important, too. And lastly, the one who ruined my entire night (I'm jumping ahead of myself again, sorry), was standing calmly in the corner. But I'll get to them later. Right now I would like to concentrate on me being in Inuyasha's arms, and him dancing gracefully with me about halfway through the dance. Okay, so I lied. Not gracefully. Decently, though. Well.. "Ow!" Inuyasha removed his foot from on top of mine, looking utterly guilty. "Sorry, Kekki..." All right, so Inuyasha flat out sucked at dancing. But that's okay, really. "Owowow!" Really. Inuyasha stopped dancing, scowling slightly. "I'm really sorry, Kekki, but I never said I was the best dancer in the world.." He glanced over at the disc jockey. "Besides, this music sucks." I rubbed my ankle where he had accidentally kicked me, thankful for the break from dancing. "It's okay, really," I reassured him. "Let's just.. go sit down for a bit, okay?" First dates suck. The relationship with 'Kekki and Inuyasha' hadn't been developed at all during the short time we've known each other, while at the same time the 'Kagome and Inuyasha' friendship had blossomed to the point where we were nearly best friends. So, while Inuyasha only knew 'Kekki' for a short period of time, that would obviously make any future conversations near impossible, even though I wanted to go chattering about this and that and whatnot. I sat down on the bench, Inuyasha pausing in front of me. "Hold on, I'm going to get something to drink. Want anything?" I nodded my consent, smiling widely at him as he hurried away. Oh, hell, who cared if we were having 'first date' awkwardness. He was still awesome. But this was where I started to get my first doubts. I frowned when Inuyasha was suddenly cut from my line of sight, then looked up at the person who had unexpectedly done that. "Hi, Kouga," I greeted, smiling warmly. Although Kouga wasn't that close to me as Inuyasha or Miroku was, he still was an awesome friend and really nice once you got past the 'bad-boy' act. "H-hi, Kekki," he stammered quietly, shifting from foot to foot. He looked so adorably nervous for a moment, before he glanced to the side at an unseen source and seemed to pull his act together. "Anyway, since your date seems to've ditched you, I was wondering if you would like to dance with me..?" "Ditch me?" I repeated, confused. From what I knew, Inuyasha was still at the table, getting us drinks. For a moment, a wave of doubt washed over me. I was one of the boys, too, so I did hear when they chattered aimlessly about beautiful girls and whatnot. But he wouldn't do that to me, would he? Hesitantly, I glanced around Kouga. Inuyasha was at the table all right, leaning casually against it before handing Kikyo a glass of punch that I had an awful feeling was originally meant for me. My stomach dropped to my ankles, and I looked straight up into Kouga's eyes. "I'd like that very much." * Kouga could dance. He didn't step on my feet, not like that moronic, mean, two-timing.. Not like Inuyasha. Kouga shyly pulled me closer, resting his head on top of mine. I was slightly uncomfortable about this situation, but I wasn't about to say anything. Oh no. Especially not when I saw Inuyasha yank Kikyo almost determinedly towards the dance floor and begin to slow dance with her. Grinding my teeth together, I pulled Kouga closer to me. * "They're being idiots," Miroku whispered to Sango. They were dancing close to me, so I could hear every word they were saying. I didn't block them out, though. I wanted to hear what they were saying. "All of them are." "We're the only sane ones here, aren't we, Priest?" Sango asked Miroku, before socking him none-to-lightly in the stomach. "Scratch that, I'm the only sane one here. Keep your hands north of the border, buddy.." Miroku raised an eyebrow, and Sango stomped his foot. "Geez, I swear. You're the biggest pervert I know.." Miroku grinned, then crushed her into a tight hug. "Hey, at least our relationship's more stable than theirs is." He paused, then glanced at me and lowered his voice. It didn't help much. "I think that 'Kekki' and Inuyasha would have been better off being friends first. They kind of rushed into the relationship really fast, yanno? They don't even know each other very well.." Now I know that was intended for me to hear, or else Miroku wouldn't have said something as silly as that. I knew Inuyasha well enough, just not in my 'Kekki' mask. I slumped against Kouga, defeated. Maybe he was right. I glanced out of the corner of my eye at Inuyasha, and almost let out a bitter chuckle when I saw the same defeated look on his face. He heard Miroku too, and maybe like me, he was agreeing with him. I straightened up suddenly. I wasn't going to accomplish anything by dancing with Kouga. "Excuse me," I said politely to Kouga, then released him and hurried to Inuyasha and Kikyo. I examined them for a moment, just sort of standing to the side and shifting from foot to foot. I, of course, felt very out of place. "Inuyasha?" I guess my voice held a rather pathetic note to it, because Inuyasha immediately looked down at me. He frowned, then without a parting note, let go of Kikyo. I didn't miss the vengeful look in her eyes as we quietly walked to the punch table. "I never got my drink," I said with forced light-heartedness. Inuyasha smiled weakly, as if he had a bad feeling. I knew I did. He remained silent until we reached the table. "Hey, Kek, before we sidetrack to far, because I know we will, why don't we just cut to the chase?" Inuyasha said, grabbing a glass and pouring some punch in it before handing it to me. "It's easier that way." "Well, I really like you," I admitted, shuffling my feet. "And I'm hoping you really like me too.." "..I do.." "..but I think Miroku was right." "You heard him too?" Inuyasha asked, then drew a long drink from the punch. "So you think we should just be friends?" He paused again, then looked bitterly at the floor. "I feel like I've just been dumped." "Well, you're silly," I stated firmly. He blinked at me in surprise. "I'm not saying that I don't want to not go out with you or anything. I just think we're kind of rushing into things, and I think we should slow down. You know, to be totally cheesy, get to know each other. Hang out. Play pool." "Play pool?" Inuyasha blinked again, and I was relieved to see a bit of the hurt on his face melt away. "Sure!" I said cheerfully. "Pool. I suck at the game, but I love it." Having nothing better to do, Inuyasha just blinked again. "Oh, come on. You know there's that billiards place by Pop Jordan's.." I stopped, then glanced at him hopefully. He had a small, half grin twitching at the corners of his lips. "Yeah." He shook his head, then sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We did kind of rush into things.." He took another sip of his drink, examining me out of the corner of his eye. Carefully, he pulled the cup away from his lips and set it on the table. "You know, I just realized that this drink tastes like shit." I blinked at him, then grinned. "I bet. Hey, friends can still dance, right?" "Well, yeah.." My grin became more teasing. My heart ached, though. "Lemme guess. The music sucks, right?" "Right." He grinned sheepishly. �Hey, I didn�t do anything to make you.. just want to be �friends� with me, right?� He looked like a kicked puppy. Frowning, I reached over and took his hand. �You didn�t do anything.� I got shy. �But, ah, you�re my first �relationship�, and I just think it would be better if we took things one step at a time, you know? After all, this relationship did spring from a drunk kiss on top of a table.. I really do think it would be better if we took things slower.� He nodded, then gave my hand a quick squeeze before letting it go. We stood their in comfortable, slightly fulfilled silence. I broke the silence first, struck by an thought. "Hey, I gotta go to the bathroom, okay?" Without further 'good-byes', I hurried over to Sango and Miroku. "Hey, I'm going to borrow your date for a moment." I said to Miroku, before grabbing Sango by her wrist and dragging her off. "What's the story, morning glory?" Sango asked as I rushed her to the girl's restroom. "What's up with you and Inuyasha, by the way?" "We're friends," I said shortly, continuing to impatiently yank her to the restroom. "Hurry! Don't you think people are going to start thinking it's kind of weird that 'Kagome' said he'd be here, but he hasn�t even shown up even though it�s been hours since the dance started?" "All right, all right, but I expect a fully detailed story later, okay?" "Right, right..." I shoved her lightly on the shoulder, and she walked into the bathroom. A few seconds later, she walked back out with a smug look on her face. "All's clear, Cap'n." I gave her a wary look. "Why are you so happy all of a sudden?" "Ah, I'm just having fun. Now go hurry and get changed. Inuyasha's probably rooting himself at the punch table, waiting for 'Kekki'..." I snorted at her, then walked in and shut the door behind me. Not bothering to go into one of the stalls, I hurried to where Sango had hidden the small duffel bag containing my 'boy' clothes and pulled it out of the large fern. Quickly, I yanked off my shirt and pants, changing into my 'Kagome' clothes. I glanced at myself in the mirror, flashed a toothy grin (while at the same time glad I wasn't wearing make-up) at my reflection, then hurried out. I had perfect timing, you know. Right when I hurried out of the girl's restroom, a girl walked by with a puzzled look on her face. When she saw me, that puzzled look turned into shock. "What?" I asked innocently, as if boys went into girl's bathrooms all the time. I grabbed Sango by the wrist again and hurried off, silently laughing at the now completely befuddled girl's face as she looked back and forth between then girl's and the boy's bathroom, before reluctantly walking to the male's restroom. �You know, it seems every time you and Inuyasha have an intimate moment, it�s broken up by Kouga, then you and Inuyasha reslove it by becoming �friends�,� Sango said, slightly sarcastic as we headed towards the dance floor. �Maybe he and Miroku will sing to us tonight,� was my easy reply. Sango snorted, and I sighed. �But really, I wish it hadn�t turned out this way. I�d like it a lot more if I wasn�t reasonable. First date�s are not supposed to begin like this, from what I know..� �Well, you and Inuyasha are a pair of a kind. Now hurry up, we�re going to look pretty dang suspicious if we�re walking side by side like this.� She shooed me ahead. I didn't notice a pair of laughing, cat like eyes observing me from the shadows. I never did. Only this time, I didn't even notice the other pair of eyes accompanying her chilly stare from the other side of the room. Instead, I continued to walk easily back towards Miroku, Kikyo and Inuyasha, intent on depositing Miroku's stolen date back to him, even though I made her walk a couple feet behind me to make it look less.. obvious. I frowned, though, at Kikyo. She was standing too close to Inuyasha for my comfort. "Hey, 'Yasha, hey Priest!" I called as I walked up to them. Inuyasha turned, and I had to smile slightly. He was still where 'Kekki' had left him. When he saw me, he grinned. "Oh, it's you. I thought it was someone important." I glared at him. "Just kiddin', man. Anyway, it's about time you got here. Your sister's in the bathroom." Sango walked up from behind me. "Yeah, she told me to tell you guys that she had a horrible, horrible headache and she should be out in a bit," Sango said, lying through her teeth. "But you know Keks, hating to be around people when she was in pain and stuff.. She should be out in a bit, though." Sango was a good liar. I was very, very glad she was my friend. Inuyasha nodded, looking slightly worried. "She's okay though, right?" Awwww. "Yeah, she'll be okay," I reassured him, privately melting on the inside. He was worried. Christ, being just �his friend� was going to be hard. "She always gets these kind of headaches, but don't worry about her." "So," Miroku said, grinning suddenly like a Cheshire cat. My stomach dropped, but this time because Miroku had a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Bring a date?" "Since I know soooo many girls around here," I said sarcastically, shoving my hands into my pockets. Partially because I had just realized I was wearing the same ring I had been wearing while I was 'Kekki', and I didn't want that to be noticed. I used my thumb to pry it off my finger, wondering if I inherited my absentmindedness from my grandfather. Suddenly, to my utter shock, a pair of arms snaked through my arms and around my waist from behind. I froze. "You know me, don't you?" A very feminine, very familiar voice whispered teasingly in my ear. Eeeeek! I just got molested by a girl! That was a gross exaggeration, of course, but let me tell you, was I freaked. Like a bullet, I sprung away from the girl and hid behind Miroku. My eyes got all buggy, then I blinked a couple million times. "Wa.." Wait, what was that girl's name again? I knew it started with a 'Wa'.. "Wanaka?" The girl scowled at me, then smiled again. "That's 'Wazuka'." She squealed, then, clapping her hands together. "I'm so glad you remembered me!" Oh. Lord. .:end chapter eleven:. Kagome is straight. Inuyasha is straight. Things will get resolved, don�t worry! There is a reason why Kagome decided to suddenly break the relationship with Inuyasha , and that�s because I just realized how underdeveloped the Kekki/Inuyasha couple was. Yes, they�re relationship is going to be rocky with many conflicts, like this one, but that�s how they are in the story anyway. I'm going to answer this review here because it needs to be addressed. Long author's notes this time, skip if you don't want to read it ^__^;; Chris-san: k, better review. I LOVE THIS STORY, IT'S HILARIOUS, AND CUTE, AND SERIOUS, AND GREAT IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY!!! Thank you very much ^____^. Actually, thanks to everyone. I really appreciate your support and patience. If you want me to get nit picky...well then... First off, Yura's continuing re-appearance is just confusing. Has the IY group been re-born AGAIN? I dunno, however, the part about the "sit" and Hypnosis was just genius. The dream Kagome had WAS a little weird, and truthfully just spur of the moment. I guess you could say they were reborn again, even though that doesn't make any sense timeline-wise. I just like her character, which is why she keeps reappearing. She's kind of a funny bad guy, and she was mandatory for the hypnosis scene. I plan to expand more on the dream�maybe in a side story or something. ^___^ Second, at the start of the story, you said that Kagome had driven 8 hours to get to the school, and then she ends up living only a few miles away... maybe someone's already told you this though, so I'll just shut up now. My explanation for that is that I'm dumb. -___-; This is the longest story I've ever written in my life, so it's hard for me to remember all the past details, as bad as that sounds. I think I should take a creative writing course next year or something�maybe that'll teach me to write down all the details I can't remember. Eight hours?! I'm crazy. That's gunna put a severe block on my story. From now on, Kagome only lives an hour from the school. -_-; I'm going to fix that in the previous chapters. I have NO idea what I was thinking when I said she lived EIGHT hours from school.. What I really want to commend you on are the characters! Somehow I can SOOO see Kagome's Grandpa as a baseball freak, switching teams every week. And I can see Miroku driving like a maniac, and I can see, well, just about everything. You've not only portrayed the characters, you've added to them in a believable but fun way, it's excellent! I'm going to shut up now...this is sooooo long... Once again, thanks so much! ^___^ I appreciate it, and I doubly appreciate you pointing out my mistakes. It's good for future references. *hug* You're wonderful. Chapter twelve should be out soon, DEFINITELY not as long as it took me to get this chapter out. I�m really sorry about that! I had really bad writer�s block! |