I think I've been lucky, never experienced it once even from the sidelines

Hang around long enough, and someone/something will burn you - I think its just the nature of the beast. Of course, being kinda on the sidelines as you are (minor characters get so little love, unfortunately :-/), I do hope you'll be able to avoid it.

I don't even have a good idea of what they do, but it sounds terrible. :(

Think of every popular high school girl you've ever known, and how they treated others they thought of as 'less than'...then multiply by a factor of ten and sprinkle on 30-40 years, and you'll have it.

Granted, how Dokuga treated me (and continues to treat me, actually, even though I haven't *thought* about S/K since February, which I find most amusing) is not necessarily the norm...but I've seen plenty of unhappy people nonetheless.

I've been so busy juggling all my half-baked ideas and I need to find some time to just sit down and enjoy it.

I know what you mean - most of my upcoming free time is going to be devoted to writing, because 1) I miss it, and 2) I'm so far behind it's embarrassing o.O I was very lucky to find that story during a winter break from school when I was the only person home during the day! :P