Disclaimer: I don't own InuYasha. So deal with it, or I'll call the cops.
Last Time:
"Say another word, and you'll die with such a slow and painful death that it would make Dad queasy." Inufugesu growled.
Inuhime just laughed. "You know you love me." With that, she jetted away, with Inufugesu following quickly after.
CHAPTER 14: THE BREAKUP PLAN
InuYasha was not very smart. It was common knowledge, and if it wasn't for his friends who were smart, he would have died many times over.
But this time, he was an absolute genius. Souta had told him that many times, so it had to be true. They had thought their plan would have to be thrown out, since Kagome and Sesshoumaru had had that fight, but then Sesshoumaru saved her. There was no way she could stay mad at him now. So the plan was back on full force.
InuYasha carried a jacket, Hojo's, in his hand. Carefully, he wiped it over every surface in Kagome's room, and then stuffed it with the rest of the things he'd stolen from Hojo into the bottom of Kagome's closet. With a smirk, he left the room, phasing into Souta's room. He placed a hand on his shoulder. Part one is complete. Now we just have to make sure Kagome stays out of the room until Sesshoumaru gets there.
Souta grinned. "Leave that to me. Kagome's very gullible when it comes to my problems." He snickered. "And besides, she's having tea with Mom right now, so she probably won't be up for-"
"Good night Mom."
Souta froze. "I'm going, I'm going!" He hissed. "Just get Sesshoumaru in there quickly." He rushed out, and InuYasha started floating with a smirk.
This will be way too easy.
!# Kagome #!
Kagome climbed the steps tiredly. I just need to sleep. That's all I need- "Kagome!" With a groan, she turned to Souta.
"What's up, Souta?"
"I need to talk to you."
Kagome scowled. "Can it wait until morning?"
"No! It's urgent!" He grabbed her arm and began to pull. "Please, Kagome! I need your help!"
With a sigh, Kagome allowed Souta to drag her away. The things I do for my little brother.
!# Sesshoumaru #!
Sesshoumaru watched the boy drag Kagome into the back courtyard. The devil child. I wonder what he is doing this time.
"Sesshoumaru!" The hanyou's voice put him on edge.
"What do you want, half breed?" Sesshoumaru demanded, trying to concentrate on Kagome and her brother.
"It's that Hobo dude! He's in Kagome's room." A flash of silver passed by, and suddenly, Sesshoumaru was gone. With a smirk, InuYasha watched Souta work. Like I said. This is gonna be too easy.
!# Kagome #!
"Alright Souta, what's the problem?" Kagome asked.
Souta squirmed, fidgeting as he tried to come up with the words. Despite what he'd told InuYasha, he really did need her advice. But he just couldn't find the words.
Kagome sighed. "Alright, Souta, if you're not going to talk, then I'm going to go to bed."
"No!" Souta shouted, lunging at her and accidentally knocking her over. "Please Kagome. Just wait a second. I don't really know how to explain it right."
Kagome sighed. "Alright. Just let me up, alright?"
Souta let her up, and Kagome rolled her neck out. Souta took a deep breath. "Remember Hitomi?"
Kagome nodded. "Of course. You told InuYasha that you loved him so you could practice." She stifled a giggle.
"Well, I broke up with her a while ago, but now I want her back, and I'm not sure she wants to get back together."
Kagome gasped. "Souta! You're a swinger!"
"I'm a WHAT!"
"You fall in and out of love with the same person." Kagome sat down next to him. "Time for some serious help."
Dear kami. Souta thought What have I gotten myself into?
!# Sesshoumaru #!
Sesshoumaru entered the room, and instantly found Hojo's scent. With a growl, he started to sniff it out. Several places had enough of the boy's scent to have housed him: under the bed, in the closet, in the bathroom, behind the desk, and in the dresser. Not particularly wanting to look everywhere, Sesshoumaru went for the easy solution: destroy them all until he found the boy.
He flicked a hand, and his poison whip appeared instantly. "Human, show yourself, or this Sesshoumaru will be forced to destroy you."
There was no answer. With a smirk, Sesshoumaru sent the whip flying for the bed. It smashed to bits, and Sesshoumaru scowled. The human was not there.
With a larger scowl, he turned to the desk. Here goes nothing.
!# InuYasha #!
InuYasha smirked as he carefully passed Kagome's room. He heard the smash and grinned. Kagome's gonna be pissed!
He waited until Sesshoumaru entered the bathroom before sneaking in. As quickly as possible, InuYasha charged in, grabbed Tenseiga and Tokijin, as well as several of Kagome's shirts, and jumped out the window. He landed outside just as Sesshoumaru reentered Kagome's room. using all the speed he could muster, InuYasha rounded the corner and headed to the Goshinboku. He smirked as he thought of part 2. Those two won't even know what happened.
!# Kagome #!
Kagome heard the boom and turned back to the house worriedly. "What was that?"
Souta hurriedly pulled her attention back. "I'm sure it's nothing sis."
Kagome shook her head. "You're probably right." She refocused her attention on Souta. "Don't be afraid, Souta. If she doesn't like you, then there's something wrong with her." Kagome said with a smile.
Souta looked up, and saw InuYasha gesturing from the roof. With a smile, he turned to Kagome. "Thanks sis. You always know how to cheer me up."
Kagome smiled as Souta ran into the house. With a small sigh, she leaned back, relaxing against the bench. I'll just take a quick nap before dinner. She closed her eyes with a yawn.
!# Sesshoumaru #!
Sesshoumaru stared at the pile of clothing lividly. Someone had deliberately laced the entire room in the human's scent in an attempt to make Sesshoumaru think that the boy was in the room. But who? He growled. Only InuYasha, the miko's teacher, and the two mysterious inuyoukai knew who he was. So who would deliberately try and provoke him?
InuYasha entered the room and stared in shock. "Holy shit, Sesshoumaru! What the fuck did you do?"
Sesshoumaru turned, snarling at his younger brother's ghost. "You did this, didn't you, halfbreed?"
InuYasha looked at the destruction around him. There wasn't a single place left untouched. Kagome's bed was ripped apart, the mattress reduced to fluff and wire. Wood laid everywhere from the former desk and chair. InuYasha was afraid to look in the bathroom, just knowing that it would be totalled. For the first time since he'd become a ghost, InuYasha was afraid. If Kagome ever finds out that I provoked him, she'll kill me.
Sesshoumaru jetted forward, forgetting for a moment that InuYasha was a ghost. He slammed into the wall, leaving a Sesshoumaru shaped imprint on the wall. The entire house shook, and Sesshoumaru walked back, shaking his head to try and clear it.
InuYasha ran as soon as Sesshoumaru moved. Gotta make myself look innocent. He saw Kagome's grandpa on the couch watching TV and smiled. Perfect.
!# Kagome #!
Kagome woke up with the last boom, and frowned. "There is no way that's nothing!" She stood and stormed into the house. "InuYasha, what did you-" She stopped when she saw him next to her grandfather. "Have you been there all day?"
"What?" InuYasha protested. "It's interesting."
Kagome just shook her head. "What's with the booming noise?"
InuYasha nodded upstairs. "It's coming from upstairs. You might want to check it out. Your house doesn't normally do that."
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Right. How perceptive." She chuckled as she ascended the stairs. The chuckle turned to a frown as she saw her bedroom door swing shut. "Who is in my room and why?" She mumbled. She reached the door and pulled it open.
Sesshoumaru stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by garbage, fluff, clothing, wood, and burn marks. Kagome whimpered, looking around her room. Sesshoumaru's ears perked up at the sound, and he turned slowly to see Kagome staring open mouthed at the mess. After a moment, she spoke, so softly that even with his extra hearing, Sesshoumaru needed to strain to hear her.
"I'm going to walk back out. In one hour, I'm going to come back. And if this room isn't exactly the way it was five minutes ago, there will be hell to pay." Kagome slowly closed the door, and headed downstairs.
InuYasha saw her look, and was instantly confused. He'd expected screaming, raging, possibly even curses. He had not expected Kagome to come down smiling, as if she hadn't a care in the world.
"So, what was the booming noise?" InuYasha asked.
Kagome visibly twitched, before returning to her normal self. "I don't know."
InuYasha saw the twitch and smiled. He'd found a very long time ago that when she was the most furious, that was when she started twitching, or acting as if nothing ever happened. She definitely saw Sesshoumaru's mess.
InuYasha settled back down, satisfied with his work. Now he just had to wait.
!# Sesshoumaru #!
When Kagome left, Sesshoumaru weighed his options and narrowed them down to two: run away and hide, only to be dragged back and forced to do the room anyway, and lose whatever dignity he had left. Or, he could do the room, lose his dignity, and guilt the girl into something the next time he wanted something.
He rather liked option two. Except for the whole cleaning the room and losing his dignity part. And surveying the room, cleaning it wouldn't be easy. Stupid wench. she didn't even bother to listen to my side of the story.
Like you would do anything different if it was your room. . . actually no. You would do something different. She'd be dead.
I didn't ask your opinion.
Then aren't you lucky that my advice is free to all who ask?
Sesshoumaru mentally growled, and got to work. He quickly found that anything touched by his poison whip was completely useless now. Which meant that half of the room got thrown out the window. The rest. . . Sesshoumaru sighed. This would take a miracle to get right again. It would cost alot to fix, at the very least. At least, it would have in his time. Perhaps it would be easier in the future. He nodded. Yes. Much easier.
Soon all the debris was cleared away, and Sesshoumaru felt a very small twinge of guilt when he saw what was left in the room. Or really, if he was being honest, the lack of what was left in the room. In total, there was a rug, four walls, a lighting fixture, and a few nick knacks strewn about the room. Everything else had been thrown out the window.
Sesshoumaru looked at the thing that Kagome had called "a clock," and saw that only ten minutes had passed. He reached into his pocket, and saw that he had only ten gold pieces. And looking at them, he saw that they were the older coins minted by his grandfather. Worth even less than his own coins.
Souta entered the room then, and stopped dead in his tracks. "Holy shit! What the fuck happened in here!" Sesshoumaru turned to him and growled. "I can't believe it! You totalled her room! I can't believe she let you live!"
"Be silent, human." Sesshoumaru growled. "As soon as we return to my time, I will be able to award funds for the replacement of the room."
"Your money doesn't work here, baka!" Souta yelled, going into panic mode. Kagome would kill me if she knew I was a part of this.
Sesshoumaru started at the mention of his money. "What is wrong with this Sesshoumaru's money?"
Souta looked at it, and his draw dropped. "Holy shit! Where did you get gold from?"
"What else would be used in making coins?" Sesshoumaru demanded, closing his fist around his coins. "It is the only thing of value."
Souta shook his head. "No, you don't get it. In this time we use paper money called yen." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of yen to show Sesshoumaru. "How old are those coins?"
"They are one thousand years old."
Souta nearly choked. "One. . . thousand!" He stopped for a moment. "Do you mean in your time or this time?"
"My time."
Souta nearly fainted. "Fifteen hundred years old!" Souta shook his head. "Do you know how much those must be worth! They're probably worth millions!"
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow. "And where would one sell these coins?"
Souta shrugged. "You could probably go to the museum on twelfth street. They could give you a really good price for them."
Sesshoumaru nodded, and suddenly Souta was alone. "He's not seriously going out like that. . . is he?"
Sesshoumaru was downstairs in two seconds. Seeing Kagome, he grinned. Using a small tap of poison at the base of her neck, Sesshoumaru knocked Kagome out. "I need to be someplace." He said to Kagome's mother.
Kagome's mother nodded dumbly and watched Sesshoumaru leave, toting an unconscious Kagome. She's going to kill him.
!# At the Museum #!
Sesshoumaru moved quickly, eager to get out of the tight modern clothing. He went straight to the front desk. "I have old coins that I would like to sell to the museum."
The front desk person pointed to the manager's office. "First door on the left."
Sesshoumaru walked forward, and was soon accosted by the manager's secretary. "State your business, sir."
Sesshoumaru felt like strangling the woman, but considering how much trouble he was in already, he thought it might be best not to annoy Kagome anymore. "I have some old coins I wish to sell to the museum."
The woman sighed. "How old are the coins?"
"Fifteen hundred years old."
The secretary choked. "Fifteen hundred?" Sesshoumaru nodded. "May I see them?"
Sesshoumaru pulled them out and gave one to the woman to examine. She squeaked as she examined it, and Sesshoumaru heard her heart rate increase in excitement. Obviously, the coins were very valuable. Sesshoumaru extended a hand, and the secretary reluctantly returned the coin. "Wait here just one moment sir. Can I get you anything?"
Sesshoumaru shook his head, and the woman ran to the manager's office. Humans. As if anyone could possibly understand them. He was waiting perhaps two minutes before the secretary returned.
"He'll see you immediately, Mr. . ."
Sesshoumaru thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Taisho."
The secretary nodded. "You can go right in, Mr. Taisho."
Sesshoumaru walked right past the woman without so much as a glance. He immediately entered the room, and saw the greed in the manager's eyes. He wanted to coins, and all Sesshoumaru had to do was make sure he got a good price for the coins. "Welcome, welcome Mr. Taisho. Please, have a seat."
Sesshoumaru sat in the offered chair, and faced the manager. He pulled out the coins and placed them before him on the desk. The manager's eyes grew wide. "I recently obtained these coins. I would like to sell them to the museum."
The manager picked up one of the coins. "This is a gold coin minted by Lord Yuudai of the Western Lands of Japan. There are only fifty in existence."
Sesshoumaru smirked. "One of my relatives found a large cache of them. I have many more, but I would like to keep them in case of worse times."
The manager sputtered before calming himself. "Well, I can only offer a few million yen per coin."
Sesshoumaru could smell the lie, as well as the greed on the manager's face, and knew he was being lied to. "Well, if that is all you can offer, I am afraid I will have to go."
The manager tripped over himself to stand. "Wait!" Sesshoumaru stopped. "Alright. I'll give you fifty million yen per coin." Sesshoumaru did the math quickly, and smiled at the thought of gaining seven hundred and fifty million yen.
"Very well. We have a deal." They shook, and the manager reluctantly led him to the cashier's office.
!# Kagome #!
Kagome woke up slowly, her eyes blurry. She slowly turned over, drawing her covers around her. Geez, that was a weird dream. My room was completely. . . totalled. With a sudden jerk, Kagome shot up in her bed. She looked around, and was stunned to find her room was. . . clean. Of course, somethings were wrong. Her swivel chair was now blue instead of purple, and everything had a slightly different design than before. But everything that had been broken was replaced. Her room looked normal.
Kagome honestly had never felt so touched in her life. Yes, he'd completely destroyed her room. But he'd done something to get money, and re-bought her room. It was so sweet. But of course, she couldn't make a big deal out of it. She'd just place him higher on her List of Good Guys.
Slowly, Kagome got out of bed, rubbing the back of her neck. She remembered him knocking her out and groaned. Why in the heck did he have to knock me out? I mean really, I would have gone with him. She heard clanging from her bathroom, and cautiously approached it. Please don't let it be something that's going to make me cry. I love my bathroom. She slowly opened the door, and gasped at the sight.
Sesshoumaru stood with a bucket of plaster and floor tiles, growling as he massaged one of his hands. InuYasha stood over him, laughing his ass off. "Aw, poor Sesshoumaru. Can't even redo a bathroom." He collapsed, laughing as Sesshoumaru growled at him.
Souta sat in the bath tub. "You're doing fine, Sesshoumaru. You've only got a few feet left to do."
Sesshoumaru muttered to himself, just loud enough for Kagome to hear. ". . . stupid futuristic devices. What is wrong with simple wood? But no, they have to have these 'tiles' of strange material to plaster their floors with. There is nothing wrong with wood, and its more resistant to poison-"
"But porcelain looks better." The entire room froze. Souta and InuYasha started to head for the door, but a look from Kagome stopped them in their tracks. Kagome turned to Sesshoumaru. "Thank you." Sesshoumaru blinked in surprise. The human was doing. . . what? "I'm absolutely furious at you for destroying my room and bathroom." She shot him a dark look, and Sesshoumaru had to stop himself from shivering. "But you've fixed it, which is much more than I expected. So, thank you, and I forgive you for totalling my room and bathroom."
"Wait a minute!" InuYasha shouted. "You're not going to scream at him?"
Kagome shook her head. "No. There's no reason to."
"But you always yell at me when I break things!"
"Because you've never cleaned up your mess." Kagome smiled at Sesshoumaru. "So I have no reason to yell. Although I would appreciate if something like that never happened again!" The evil in her tone made Souta shiver. After a moment, she smiled. "I'm going to go make some ramen. It's been a while, and I'm craving some."
InuYasha watched her go, horror written on his face. "She's. . . evil."
Souta glanced at InuYasha. "Do you think she knows?"
"I think so." InuYasha said with a small whimper.
Sesshoumaru listened closely, and heard Kagome encounter her mother. "Hey mom, I was just talking to Souta. He said he's over his video game phase, and he wants to give them away."
"Oh thank goodness. He was getting a bit obsessive."
Sesshoumaru smirked as the two of them continued. Yes, I'd say she knows.
!# The Next Day #!
Sesshoumaru searched everywhere, and was getting thoroughly annoyed now. Tenseiga and Tokijin had been in the room, but after he'd trashed it, they had disappeared. He hadn't even found it when he'd cleaned it.
"Sesshoumaru, let's go!" Kagome shouted.
Sesshoumaru growled, turning away from the steps. He started walking over to well and froze as the scent of his swords reached him. In a flash, he stood beside the Goshinboku, where the two swords lay beside the Goshinboku.
"Sesshoumaru, what are you doing?" Kagome asked, coming to stand beside Sesshoumaru. She saw the swords and glared at him. "What are they doing here?"
Sesshoumaru crouched beside the swords, and sniffed around them carefully. The first scent to assault his nose was Kagome's, which made sense considering that they had been in her room. But he couldn't detect a second scent. "Woman, did you move the swords of this Sesshoumaru?"
Kagome shuddered. "Have you even touched those swords. I mean Tenseiga, sure, I could move around if I wanted to. But Tokijin? I'd rather keep my sanity, thank you." Sesshoumaru cocked an eyebrow, and Kagome sighed. "Tokijin might as well change its name to Evil, because its completely made up of it. I wouldn't even be able to touch it without having a major reaction. My miko powers would probably overwhelm me trying to purify it. There's a reason why I stay away from your swords."
Sesshoumaru nodded, then turned back to his swords. Taking a large whiff, he found the scent he was looking for. "InuYasha." He growled.
Kagome sighed. "What did he do this time?"
"He placed my swords here after drenching them in your scent." Sesshoumaru. "I would presume to have us fight, and break up any chance of unity."
"We're united?" Kagome asked. "Cool." She frowned as Sesshoumaru gave her a look of incredibility. "Wait a minute. If he's trying to get us to fight, then did he do something yesterday?"
Sesshoumaru hesitated, then shrugged. "The scent of the human boy was in the room, and in many places were large enough to suggest a body was hiding there. I was attempting to find the human before something regrettable happened." He growled at the memory. "It turned out to be a bunch of piles of the boy's clothing."
Kagome's eyes became slits. "I'm willing to bet that a certain pair of boys got together to plan something like this."
Sesshoumaru nodded. "InuYasha and the devil child."
"The devil child? Do you mean Souta?" Kagome asked. She giggled. " That's actually a good name for him." she sobered. "But I'd agree with that." She smirked, and Sesshoumaru found himself amused at seeing such an evil smirk on the miko's face. "Well, what do you say we get back at them?"
Sesshoumaru held out a hand, which Kagome quickly shook. "I believe that to be a very good idea, miko."
!# InuYasha #!
InuYasha sat in front of the screen, trying to make himself solid enough to play the video game. "Come on, come on, come on."
"What are you doing, InuYasha?"
InuYasha jumped as Kagome entered the room. "Geez, you can't scare me like that." InuYasha snapped. "And for your information, I'm trying to play the game."
Kagome walked over slowly, amused by his attempts. "I'd be careful, InuYasha. You wouldn't want to break it."
InuYasha rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to break it."
Kagome walked over, and patted the controller and Xbox. "I"d be careful, InuYasha. Souta would never forgive you." Then she walked away, leaving the room quickly. She practically raced to her room, shutting the door quickly and turning to Sesshoumaru. "Antidote please."
Sesshoumaru extended a hand, and dripped the antidote to his poison onto her hand. "You completed your task?"
Kagome rolled her eyes. "I just had to put your poison on Souta's Xbox. I'm not likely to mess that up."
Sesshoumaru gave her a look that told her that he had no faith in her abilities, before heading out to do his part. He quickly found Souta at the breakfast table. While Souta finished his milk, Sesshoumaru rifled through the cabinets. "What are you doing?" Souta asked suspiciously.
Sesshoumaru pretended annoyance. "This Sesshoumaru must find the ramen of which the miko speaks. She will not leave without it."
Souta smirked. "That's great. Why don't you ask InuYasha where it is?"
"InuYasha is too involved with that 'Xbox'." Sesshoumaru hissed. "He's going to end up breaking it. Or so the miko says."
Souta stared at him for a moment, then stood and bolted. Sesshoumaru smirked. Much too easy.
!# InuYasha #!
InuYasha was in full panic mode. He'd been trying to get the Xbox to work, and all of a sudden, it had started to sizzle. He watched in horror as the entire thing seemed to collapse in on itself. "No, no, no, no, no!" He shouted, trying desperately to get it to stop.
"InuYasha, what are you-" Souta froze in shock. "No! my Xbox!" He lunged for it, trying desperately to save it, but to no avail. Furious, he turned on InuYasha. "How could you!"
"I didn't do anything, I swear!" InuYasha shouted. "It just started smoking-"
"I hate your guts!" Souta yelled. "Get out and never come back!" Souta ran, tears filling his eyes.
Kagome and Sesshoumaru watched him fly by, and while Kagome felt a small twinge of guilt, she couldn't help but laugh. "Think they'll ever figure out what we did?"
Sesshoumaru smirked. "Unlikely."
Kagome laughed. "You actually have a good sense of humor. Dry, but refreshing." She pulled her bag over her shoulder. "Any chance of helping get out the window?" Sesshoumaru sighed before picking her up and running out the window.
As soon as they were through the well and on solid ground, he dropped her. She landed with an oomph, and glared up at him. "I suppose you thought that was funny."
Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. He went to turn away, when something wet smacked him in the back of the head. Slowly, he raised a hand to touch the back of his head, and pulled away a hand covered in mud. Slowly, he turned to Kagome, who was running in the opposite direction, slowed by her backpack.
Kagome ran as fast as she could, even though she knew she wouldn't be fast enough. Two seconds later, she found herself dangling upside down by her feet. "Miko, do you find sullying this Sesshoumaru to be funny?"
Kagome gave him a blank look. "I have no idea what you're talking about." The look of innocence on her face convinced Sesshoumaru of her guilt. Mentally smirking, Sesshoumaru spoke. "Well, if you are innocent, then I suppose I should let you go."
Kagome smiled, until she realized what he meant. "Don't you dare-"
Sesshoumaru let go, dropping Kagome straight into the mud. "AH! Sesshoumaru!" She wiped the mud from her face so she could give him the full force of her glare. "I'm gonna kill you!" She tripped again. "I bet you think this is funny too!"
Sesshoumaru cocked his head as she struggled to stand, but tripped over herself. With a smirk, Sesshoumaru walked away, leaving her to scream at him alone. Once she was out of sight, he smirked. Yes, I do think that's funny.
"Bad Dog!" Sesshoumaru slammed down, and growled slightly. A vindictive Kagome walked past him. "Now that is funny."
"Miko-" Sesshoumaru started.
Kagome chuckled nervously. "Um. . . bad dog?" As Sesshoumaru slammed down, Kagome started running. "It's a joke!"
!# Palace of the Gods #!
"So. . . did Unmeikeirai do good?" Unmeikeirai asked.
Amaterasu smiled. "Very good. They're joking with one another."
"I'm telling you, that's cheating!" Inugami insisted.
Amaterasu smirked. "No it's not."
"How is this not cheating?" Inugami demanded.
"Because I"m in charge and I said so." Amaterasu turned her attention back to Unmeikeirai. "So what are you doing with those rebels?"
Unmeikeirai smiled. "Well, here's my idea. . ."
Inugami left then, grumbling about the unfairness of it all.
---------------------Author's Rant---------------------
Sesshoumaru: What is with the stupidity at the end?
Obsessive_Goddess: The two of you are bonding, you know, having fun. It's all part of the plot to bring you closer together.
Kagome: That was Souta and InuYasha's big plan?
Obsessive_Goddess: If you had been a tiny bit angrier, it would have worked. But I've made you very mature in this story.
Sesshoumaru: She threw mud into this Sesshoumaru's hair!
Obsessive_Goddess: Well, most of the time, at least.
---------------------End of Author's Rant---------------------
