I updated soon...it only took me like two weeks I think. Thanks so much for your reviews guys. You make me laugh, I'm sorry for being evil, but I think you're going to perhaps get angrier at me before you love me again, but I promise I'll try to make it as short and painless as possible. And so on we go.

At Night

Chapter IX: Aftermath

Kagome Higurashi was having a bad day. She sat at her desk, bleary eyed and irritable, nursing her fourth cup of coffee in the past hour and a half. She was staring, rather blankly at her computer screen, trying force concentration upon her task, but was still finding it extremely difficult. To say that she did not sleep well the night before would be the understatement of the century. She was tired and frustrated, wishing that the storm from the night before had knocked power out for the entire city so she could sleep in for the rest of the day. Thankfully, it was almost the end of the week, meaning she could just sleep in on the weekend. And with Thanksgiving coming up, she'd be able to get out of the city and go see her family, getting her away from Inuyasha for a day or two. 'Inuyasha' she thought, grimacing, unconsciously squeezing her right hand hard, and as her eyes narrowed she heard the audible snap of her number two pencil. She silently cursed and threw it into the trash with a sigh of discontent before grabbing another one from her pencil holder. This was entirely the Inu-hanyou's fault. She was so unbelievably frustrated that even if she were awake she doubted she could concentrate. She let out a slow breath in an attempt to release everything she was feeling, but found it of little or no help. She let her head fall into her hands and her hair fall everywhere messily as she remembered the events of the previous night.

She wasn't sure what woke her up exactly, but it really didn't matter, she supposed. The last thing she remembered was laying down, while repeats of 'I Love Lucy' played on T.V. She was snuggled up close to Inuyasha and his hand had been stroking her hair, making her feel so warm, safe, and protected. She had drifted pleasantly into sleep and then for whatever reason was stirred back into consciousness. Her eyes had fluttered open slowly and in the dark light could only see the dark outline of someone extremely close to her. She felt her breath catch in her throat as she woke up slowly her body and mind still cloudy from the sleep as she became aware of where she was and what was going on. Even before she could see him as her eyes adjusted to the room, she knew it was him. He was frozen above her, and in the dark his golden eyes shone as they looked into hers. She tried to move, but found herself unable to. The best she could manage was a slight squirm and to let out a slow unsteady breath. She absolutely could not tear her eyes away from his eyes, they flickered with some kind of untold emotion and she saw something flash across his eyes. It had been there for just a moment, but it had been there she was sure of it. She managed to swallow nervously her eyes finally able to move from his intense eyes and over his face, his lips, his hair, and back to his eyes again. She wanted him to kiss her…to really kiss her. Silently, slightly afraid, but excited by the prospect she wished over and over, like a mantra in her head, 'kiss me, kiss me, kiss me, kiss me' over and over, again and again, willing it to happen. His face lowered slowly as if answering her call, her face scarlet in the dark in anticipation. "Inuyasha" she breathed out as he closed the distance and placed a kiss on her head quickly.

"Just putting you to bed…go back to sleep, okay, Kagome" he had said with a smile and exited the room in a flash, leaving Kagome bewildered on the bed. What had just happened? Wasn't he about to… she was so confused. She sat up in the bed, noting finally her skirt and blouse…quickly she slid her skirt back to its proper length and buttoned up the top button of her blouse as well. She was glad it was dark because she could feel the heat coming off her cheeks, her embarrassment was so great. Dangling her legs over the bed, she sat silently, unsure of what to do. He had wanted to kiss her…he was sure of it…absolutely sure of it…she had…wanted him in a way that almost frightened her. And then he had just walked out…maybe she had misread him? It was impossible though, she'd seen it in his eyes. It had been in her eyes as well. She wrung her hands in one another so unsure of what to do. She was confused, embarrassed and unbelievably sexually frustrated much to her own chagrin. The experience had been…whether she wanted to admit it or not, slightly arousing and now here she was…alone. She reluctantly rose from the bed to get ready for bed even though she was sure that sleep at this point was going to be all, but impossible. Slipping into her nightgown she threw her clothes in the hamper. She debated going into the bathroom and throwing some cold water on herself, but didn't want to risk seeing Inuyasha on the way. Instead she slid herself underneath her covers and tried to go to sleep.

Hours later it was still no use, her mind was still racing, she kept tossing and turning and swore she could hear piano music again. It happened every once in awhile, but she believed it had to be from one of the adjoining apartments. Eventually, exhaustion overtook her and she fell into dreamless sleep, only to be woken a few hours late to her blaring alarm clock.

Raising her head from her hands, Kagome stared blankly at the screen, still angry and upset. She had put herself out there and had been so wanting for him to kiss her and he had shot her down. He obviously didn't have these thoughts about her and she had just practically thrown herself at him. It didn't' matter anyway; she was NOT attracted to him. He had just been nice…and there…that was all, nothing else. She decided that her best course of action was to simply never speak of the event again and pretend as if it had never happened. And with this resolute state of mind she barked into her intercom for Sango to bring her more coffee.

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Inuyasha was having a bad day. He was tired, having tossed and turned all night and it seemed no amount of coffee could wake him up, and let him focus on his work. He was currently situated on the couch, a textbook spread open in his lap as he tried to learn about progressive diseases. He stared at the page of the textbook and realized after a brief moment of confusion that he had just read the exact same paragraph three times. Growling he slammed the book shut on the coffee table and sat back forcefully on the couch arms crossed over his chest. It was entirely Kagome's fault as well. Well, that was not entirely true…it was actually his own fault. He didn't know what had come over him. Well, that was not entirely true either. It may have been his fault for not controlling himself, but he didn't want to blame himself. She had just looked so…indescribable. He couldn't do it though, not because he didn't want to because god knows he had wanted to. He just couldn't do that to her. They were from two separate worlds, she was classy and smart a successful ad executive for a prestigious advertising company. She listened to opera and read books and he, albeit in medical school, was not nearly what she deserved. He didn't want to complicate things in her life. If he attempted to start anything with her, it would ruin the plan they'd set up. And that was something he could not do to her. It would be too selfish of him, and he could not repay her incredible kindness with that. He determined that the best course of action was to simply never speak of the event again and act as if it had never happened

Glancing down at the coffee table he noted that aside from the coffee table was the plastic folder that Kagome had given him the night before; the one that had supposedly everything about Kagome in it. Reaching forward he picked it up and laid it open on his lap began to scan down it. "Name...Kagome Higurashi…DOB…February 2, 1982…" he read aloud, for no reason in particular. He continued to read becoming more engrossed as he read more and more about her life. She had a younger brother, Souta, who was in college both of her parents were alive and had been married for thirty years, lived all her life in Connecticut. He knew that she had gone to college and graduate school, at Syracuse University and then Yale. He flipped the page and smiled, she obviously put a lot of work into this. There were pictures of her as a little girl inside waving to the camera as she sat up on her dad's shoulders, blowing out birthday candles, each picture shown to illustrate highlights of her life or as she put it, 'Influential Moments' in her life. The picture with her dad was her favorite memory. Her dad, had apparently just taken her out for the day, surprising her after school one day and taking her to the zoo, (there was also a picture of Kagome roaring at the tigers), the park, and out to dinner at Friendly's. Inuyasha nodded absently as he read Kagome's description of the pictures. It really was a pretty intimate look at her life, set out before his eyes. He adjusted his position on the couch as he bent a little more closely to the pages to study them a little closer. It was actually, quite a surreal experience, seeing her entire life laid bare to him to read.

Looking down at the coffee table again he looked from his text book which lay askew to the pages of the folder he was holding in his hands. He knew he should be reading, but…this was important too. Plus he was thoroughly engrossed in this. He probably would have to burn the midnight oil, but this was thoroughly engrossing. He briefly contemplated doing something similar for her, but then realized that it was only one that would really have to know these things. She on the other hand could say anything she wanted about him. He shot another look at his textbook before throwing his legs up on the couch. He supposed that his other reading could wait for a few hours…

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"Sango…more coffee" Kagome's unenthusiastic, slightly pathetic voice filtered through the intercom connecting her with Sango. Silence followed without the usual confirmation of her request. Pressing the intercom button again she repeated herself again. "Sango…more coffee" she said a little louder and slower in case her request had been inaudible or something. She waited some more and still nothing. "SANGO…COFFEE" she practically shouted just as Sango entered the room stirring a cup of coffee.

Sango stopped dead in her tracks to give Kagome a roll of her eyes before placing the coffee down on her desk.

"I think I'm going to have to cut you off if you keep getting so irritable, Kagome" Sango said sitting on the edge of her desk.

Kagome took a sip of the warm bitter liquid making a face, but drinking more anyway. She opened one eye to look at Sango still perched on the edge of her desk awaiting a reply. Kagome sighed and put the coffee down. "I'm sorry, Sango it's not you...I'm just tired...really tired...and coffee is what I need right now"

"Oh...one of those nights, eh" Sango said her eyes going wide as she playfully goaded Kagome.

Kagome waved her hand absently and snorted, "Oh...no...It was just...I can't really describe it."

Sango hopped off the desk and sank down to come eye level with Kagome. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked genuinely, sincerity evident in her eyes.

Kagome looked up and sighed again putting her head in her hands. "It's really nothing...but...kind of" Kagome said peaking up at Sango through the cracks in her hands.

Sango hopped into the chair across from Kagome. "I'm all ears...spill. Is it your boy toy? What did he do?" she asked, the look in her eyes clearly showing that she would cause physical harm to someone if need be.

Kagome gesticulated for awhile with her arms trying to come up with the right words and at the same time completely shocked that she was really opening up to Sango. Their relationship, however, had grown over the past months of working with each other so that Kagome thought she could count on Sango as a friend in and out of the office. "Nothing, really. More of something he didn't do. I mean...he cooked me a nice dinner last night" Kagome began tentatively earning an 'aw' from Sango. "And we had a nice night...we sat and watched TV...I fell asleep and I guess he brought me up to bed and then I woke up and" Kagome started to ramble her arms starting to flail as she began to get upset.

"Whoa" was Sango's response as she popped up from the chair and moved behind Kagome and started gently massaging her back. "It's okay, just calm down a little bit." She said to Kagome speaking quietly to her slightly hysterical boss.

Kagome closed her eyes and sighed again. "Thank you, Sango. This is just what I needed right now. Can I hire you to be my massage therapist too?" she joked lightly.

Sango laughed, "I'm expensive".

Kagome laughed too, "I don't doubt it...you're good".

Sango nodded even though Kagome couldn't see. "Now then...it seems to me like you had a nice evening...what exactly didn't he do...unless...you...you two...you two haven't..."Sango trailed off trying to find a less awkward way of saying what she was thinking.

Kagome craned her neck to look up at Sango. "What do you mean...oh...OH" Kagome said going wide eyed and finally realizing what Sango was insinuating. She wasn't entirely sure she felt comfortable talking about this...even if it was a fake relationship in the office in so many ways it was a real relationship too. And while Sango may have been talking sex, to put it frankly, she could just talk about the kissing aspect of things without much fear. "Okay...look Sango...you can't talk to anybody about this you know that, right?" Kagome said gently gripping Sango's shoulders, stopping the massage.

Sango nodded down at Kagome. "I know that, I would never say anything about this that you didn't want me to." she said and clearly meaning every word of it. To emphasize her point she went and gently closed the door to Kagome's office.

Kagome couldn't help, but smile at this. She was sure she could trust her. She really was a good person. She breathed in deeply prepared to take a fairly personal plunge in this. "Well...no...Inuyasha and I haven't ...done...that...but..." Kagome said. "Last night...he...and ...I mean...I...he...well..." she began to stutter with nervous embarrassment, but Sango kept a cool, calm, and collected watch.

"You wanted him to though, right?" Sango asked gently, displaying wisdom that belied her years.

Kagome managed a brief nod. It wasn't the exact truth...totally...she had definitely wanted him to kiss her, but she wasn't sure how much further it would have gone had he done so. Not at all as a matter of fact. She remembered that she had been in a rather vulnerable position with them both on the bed and ...if they'd started kissing... She shook her head to clear her thoughts away from this possibility that left a tingling sensation in her toes. However, that was beside the point. "Yes" she admitted, simply. "Does that make me pathetic?" she asked a slight air of depression in her voice.

Sango shook her head, "No, of course not. But perhaps you had better explain a little bit more…so…he brought you up to bed?" she asked.

Kagome nodded her head, "Yes, I think so anyway. And I woke up and he was there and I was on my bed…and…I thought …but he didn't…" she trailed off lamely, unable to actually articulate the circumstances of last night. They were still too real, too fresh. "Did I do something wrong then?" she asked with the same air of depression.

Sango shook her head 'no' again. "No, he's just a man. Sometimes these things just need to be spelled out for them. It seems to me, from your convoluted description, that he's just respecting your boundaries. I really wouldn't worry about it so much, Kagome." She said leaning into to give her friend/boss a hug and then continued seriously. "It seems like from everything I've heard about him so far…that he's a good guy. It'll happen when it happens. Okay, Kagome?" she said seriously.

Kagome looked at Sango, slightly astonished. "When did you get to be so wise? I'm supposed to be the older and wiser one" she laughed slightly.

Sango smirked happily, "Yeah, by like three years. And just because I'm younger doesn't mean that I don't have good advice. I'm good at this whole advice thing anyway. I'm in college, every two seconds there's a girl in your room crying about this or that…I'm sure you remember."

Kagome gave her a wry smile, "Are you saying I'm a whining college girl?"

Sango gave Kagome a gentle push, "You know I didn't mean that."

Kagome laughed aloud, "I know, I'm just teasing." She stopped and gave Sango a quick hug, "

Thanks for the pep talk, Sango, it really helped. I'll take you out sometime to thank you properly".

"Hey, that's what I'm hear for, secretary/coffee getter/emotional crisis specialist" the younger girl joked.

"Am I interrupting a Kodak moment or what?" a voice intruded in on the office.

Kagome and Sango's head's whipped around to see Miroku leaning against the doorframe.

"What do you want?" Sango asked a hint of nastiness in her voice.

Miroku smiled charmingly and took a step into the office placing a stack of papers down on Kagome's desk. "Merely to drop off these, my dear Sango. And to see your lovely face before asking you to accompany me to lunch."

Sango rolled her eyes, "No, I told you that already. Now go AWAY" Sango all, but growled at him and snapped her head back to Kagome, her hair swishing angrily as her head whipped around. Miroku smiled meekly, yet dejectedly and turned to leave, giving a slight nod as he exited.

Kagome eyed the two back and forth for a moment. "Trouble for you two?" she queried.

Sango watched with a sour expression on her face as Miroku left, and snapped out of it as Kagome spoke to her. "Huh…no" she said looking bewildered for a moment and then smiling. "I like to pretend I'm mad at him every once in awhile. That way he's extremely nice to me for a few days"

Kagome looked scandalized, "That's EVIL".

Sango simply shrugged her shoulders grinning a rather frightening smile as she swung her legs back and forth.

Kagome just shook her head, glad that Sango was her friend and not against her. She could only imagine what horrors her enemies faced.

Sango continued bouncing her foot finally looking at Kagome. "You want to have lunch?" she asked.

"I would love to" was her reply as she nodded affirmatively.

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Kagome arrived home later that night to discover Inuyasha in his usual position, asleep on the couch, one foot up one foot down, his textbook cracked over his chest. She watched him sleeping peacefully and the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest. She gently placed her coat on the hook and continued to watch him some more, much to her realization the way that he must have watched her sleep the night before. She debated whether or not to wake him up in her customary way, or to simply let him sleep. She shook her head as she often did to purge these thoughts. If she wanted things to retain their air of normalcy than she couldn't act any different around him. She had already resolved to act as if nothing had happened and if the status quo was ever to be attained again, she would have to make the first step.

Chewing on her lip she tried to think of a creative way to wake him up. She had thrown things at him, shouted at him a few times, thrown water on him on one occasion in which hilarity did not ensue. She smiled to herself as she came up with an idea, and striding over to her stereo system turned it on, glancing back anxiously at Inuyasha and hoping that the noise from the system awakening wouldn't wake him up. She had had a few circumstances earlier on where his sensitive ears had been set off by her early attempts to catch him by surprise. Thankfully, his eyes remained closed, and his breathing the same. Cuing up the song to the exact moment she wanted, she slowly cranked the volume to the speakers, preparing for what she hoped was going to be a sublimely hysterical reaction. He looked extremely content as he was sleeping, his nose twitching every once and again.

Kagome smiled wickedly as she pressed the play button on the stereo and the final strains of the 1812 overture rang from the speaker system and into the sensitive ears of the sleeping half demon. The reaction was instantaneous, Inuyasha sat bolt upright as if he'd been electrocuted on the couch, the expression on his face one of utter horror, confusion, and panic on his face. After staring around wildly his eyes finally landed on Kagome who was standing smugly by the stereo system, arms crossed as she grinned cheekily at him. Inuyasha's eyes narrowed as he held his ears with his hands in an attempt to drown out the sound.

"TURN IT OFF" he said trying to talk above the volume of the music.

Kagome gave him an innocently confused look, daintily placing a hand to her ear and mouthing, 'What? I can't hear you?' to him.

Inuyasha glared at her, flopping back down onto the couch his hands still on his ears. Removing one of his hands his face scrunched up as he somehow kept the ear that had come uncovered folded down and he grabbed a pen that was lying idly on the coffee table. Two seconds later it sailed across the room, and struck the stop button on the stereo system, effectively shutting the sound down.

"Hey" Kagome said turning to look at the stereo system and to pick up the pen that was lying on the floor. She smiled the same devious smile as she tossed the pen back at Inuyasha, and watching it bounce off his knee and back to the floor. "I was listening to that" she giggled leaning back again and wiggling her eyebrows.

Inuyasha's response was to yawn and stretch out on the couch, hooking his arm around the back of the couch. "Why do you insist on doing that to me?" he asked, a bemused expression on his face.

Kagome smirked and laughed, "Because you insist upon falling asleep on my couch".

Inuyasha leaned back and closed his eyes again. "Touché" he said and the two lapsed into silence for a little while. Opening his eyes he looked up at Kagome and the two just looked at each other. The silence became uncomfortable as Kagome laughed every once in awhile.

Neither knew what to say. 'Shit', Kagome thought, 'This isn't how I wanted things to go…say something…anything…it doesn't matter….'. She desperately tried to think of something to break the intolerable silence. However, it was Inuyasha who broke the silence.

"I never knew your favorite color was green…I always figured you as a blue kind of person" he commented.

Kagome tilted her head, confused. "Wait…what? First of all, how did you know, and second, why do I seem like a blue person?" she asked.

Inuyasha smiled, "I read it in the report thing you gave me" he replied, pointing to it on the coffee table.

Kagome's eyes followed Inuyasha's hand and finger, and true to his word, the file she'd made was there, laying next to a copy of TV Guide. 'Huh" was her initial reply.

"And I thought you'd be a blue person simply because I think you look nice when you wear the color blue" he stated quietly, almost contemplatively.

Kagome was not sure what to say as she shifted her weight uncomfortably, but this conversation had just entered a place she did not want to go. She desperately wanted to steer the conversation away from this, but at the same time she found herself intrigued too. 'Damn these conflicting emotions' she thought to herself briefly, but found herself saying out loud. "What else did you find out?"

Inuyasha swung his feet down off the couch and touched them to the floor. He looked like he was going to get up for a moment as his arms tensed, but then suddenly eased again as he remained sitting. "Well…I see how much you love your Dad. It's all throughout this thing of yours. You know that almost every significant event in your life that you pointed out, involved your father in some way. Not to say that you love your Mom any less, but I always figured you for a Daddy's girl." He commented.

Inuyasha was incredibly insightful Kagome realized. Instead of simply listing another fact that he'd memorized, he'd made an insinuation based on what was there. Now that was scary. It was a strange enough experience having him, apparently now know so much about her, when she knew very little about him in the grand scheme of things, at least in terms of something as intimate as he had revealed of her. She was really starting to feel uncomfortable. She needed an exit to change the subject, without it seeming too abrupt, but thankfully he had provided it.

"Yes, that's me" she admitted nodding her head and giving him a smile. "Speaking of family though, I did tell you that I'm going home for Thanksgiving, right?"

Inuyasha's ears perked slightly, "Oh" was his response, a surprised expression on his face. "No…I didn't, but that's fine, I have some things to do on Thanksgiving anyway."

Kagome immediately felt as if she had done something wrong, but was unsure of what exactly. "Football?" she asked him, grinning at him in a 'boys will be boys' manner.

Inuyasha smiled, although it didn't reach his eyes. "Of course…can't have Thanksgiving without football" he added.

Kagome decided to probe further. Something was still amiss and she wanted to find out what exactly it was. She would have to be as nonchalant as she could, because knowing Inuyasha it wouldn't be long before he picked up on what she was doing. "Anything else?" she asked.

"Hm…what? Well…yeah, some other things too. Nothing to bore you with though." He said, trying to be casual and waving his hand as if to disperse the air around the conversation. She had definitely touched on something, but how to proceed.

"No, I'm actually curious. I don't want you to be bored to death here." Kagome skillfully countered.

"Really, it's nothing. Nothing at all, I've just got somewhere I need to go for a few hours, but it's no big deal. I don't want to talk about it" Inuyasha said, waving his hand some more and becoming more and more visibly uncomfortable and agitated.

Kagome knew she was treading on dangerous ground, but she needed to know. Inuyasha was never so cryptic and that scared her. She would get this out of him, no matter what the reaction was. She smiled again, tilting her head to the side in a teasing manner. "Oh come on, tell me. I want to know. Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me" she began to chant over and over again, Inuyasha interrupting every few seconds to tell her to stop.

Inuyasha kept waving his more and more vigorously. "Kagome…stop it…stop it…Kagome…" he tried in an attempt to get her to leave the subject. Finally, he couldn't take it any longer. "KAGOME KNOCK IT OFF" he shouted angrily at her standing on the couch, his eyes ablaze.

Kagome gave a slight yelp of surprise and stared at him wide eyed. She had not anticipated a recreation like that.

Inuyasha immediately regretted his actions. He hadn't meant to scare her. She had just touched a nerve. He breathed slowly and deeply a few times, his eyes cast down to the floor. "I'm sorry, Kagome" he said after a few seconds. "As you can see…it's kind of a sore subject".

Kagome said nothing, it didn't seem right. She'd done enough talking so she would simply wait for him to continue should he choose.

Inuyasha sensed this and felt he did owe her an explanation of his momentary outburst. "I visit my father's grave on Thanksgiving because it's the anniversary of his death." He paused to look up at her. "My father died on Thanksgiving five years ago."

Kagome let out a slight gasp and put a hand up to her mouth. She would have never guessed. An overwhelming sense of guilt hit her as realization dawned on her. She felt so selfish. Memories of how she had been looking forward to Thanksgiving to get away from Inuyasha. Thanksgiving was a time for family and Inuyasha had no one. She had never felt so small or so ashamed. With resolve she stepped forward. "Wait here" she told him and disappeared upstairs for about twenty minutes. When she came back downstairs she announced to him that she would be staying there for the holiday. He had initially protested, but she had silenced him with a hand over his lips. She had then wrapped her arms around him and held on tightly, whispering apologies to him over and over about how ignorant and selfish she had been. There had been no more protests. On Thanksgiving Day, the two visited the grave together and she had held his hand tightly for support. The weather had turned slightly warmer, but the weather was rainy and dull. He stood and talked to the grave site of his father, even introducing her as his fake girlfriend and explaining in slightly hushed tones about her and what had happened, announcing that he was back in med school and doing well. He had left flowers on the grave and the two had departed back to Kagome's apartment to eat their own Thanksgiving dinner and watch traditional thanksgiving football with one another, Inuyasha and Kagome rooting for separate teams to add to their enjoyment of the game. As Kagome watched both the game and Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye she knew that not falling for him was going to be far harder than she thought.

To be continued…

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So there we go…a tad shorter than the last one, but originally the last part of the last chapter was going to be the first part of this one. However, I do hope you enjoy the fact that this update came quickly. I hustled my butt off to write this because actually I'm rather excited about writing the next two chapters that I have planned in my head. I hope this doesn't mean that this chapter has suffered. Ack, enough of my ramblings. Once again, thanks for all my wonderful reviewers and please do the same with this chapter. I love them and they make me feel good on the inside. Next chapter coming up as soon as I can get it written and done with. So until next time…

StarvingArtistinNY

My famous words of wisdom:

"Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity"