Assumptions

Assumptions
Author: Kaiyrah
Rating: NC-17/Adult+
Word Count: 5217
Warnings: h/j, oral, inc
Notes: …Okay, I will openly admit that the main reason for writing this fic was so that Hinata could perform fellatio on Neji. It’s tragically uncommon in the fandom; though it’s also understandable, given her personality. But I just couldn't shake the idea, so... here you go. =]
Disclaimer: Naruto and characters are not mine.

---

All eyes turned to her as she opened the door. She flushed quickly and took a glance at the room’s occupants – Kiba and Shino, the Hokage, and Neji. Embarrassment flooded through her veins as she realized that as per usual, she was the last to arrive. Quiet apologies passed through her lips as she closed the door behind her.

“Good, you’re here, Hinata. Come, we don’t have much time,” Tsunade’s voice called to her across the office, and Hinata hurried to stand beside Kiba. He shot her a smile, which she hesitantly returned.

“Alright, now that you’re all here, we can begin. I’ll make this quick, as I have a lot of mission briefings today,” Tsunade glanced at the clock. “You guys – Kiba, I mean – have wanted another A-rank mission for a while now. I have a job for you today.”

Kiba let out a celebratory holler, and Shino adjusted his goggles.

Hinata’s breath caught in anticipation. An A-rank? What would the mission entail? Involuntarily she shivered, suddenly feeling very cold. Her eyes slid to the left to sneak a look at her cousin’s face. Neji’s face was blank as usual, save for his eyes, which bespoke the slightest hint of curiosity.

Evidently she was the only one dreading this mission.

“I’ll need you to locate, and if you can, disable or eliminate this target,” Tsunade explained, riffling through a folder until she located a sheet and laid it down on the table for the four of them to examine.

The photo of a man stared up at them. He was young, perhaps in his mid to late twenties, with a strong jaw and dark, thick hair. Unease bubbled in Hinata’s stomach by just looking at the picture. He was handsome, but his eyes… his dark eyes were nothing but sinister.

“This is actually a joint mission with Suna. None of their own have been able to locate this man so far… so they asked for a bit of help, knowing that Konoha has the best tracking and detection team on this side of the world,” Tsunade said with a thin smile. She procured a small plastic bag and pushed it toward Kiba, who opened it curiously. Instantly he covered his nose and recoiled.

“That thing stinks of blood,” he forced out, eyes watering. Hinata rubbed his back as he attempted to suppress his gag reflex.

“He’s been convicted of multiple homicides in Sunagakure this past year. But as you can see from the datasheet, I don’t have any information in regards to his name, abilities, hometown even. Reports from Suna say that they’ve seen him around before, but he wasn’t born there.”

“If his abilities are unknown, would it be wise to attack him?” Shino voiced the question that everyone was wondering. “Isn’t this best left as a reconnaissance mission?”

“I’m leaving that up to you. Suna said they want him, dead or alive. Seek out information first. Attack when the time is right. But only do so if you’re absolutely sure you can handle it, and if you have a solid plan with plenty of back-ups. Don’t go rushing in like a bunch of fools,” Tsunade warned, and something told Hinata that the Hokage wasn’t referring to them, but instead was referring to a certain blond ninja who had a habit of letting his presence be known, intentional or not.

“Very well, Hokage-sama. If I may ask… why have you chosen to send two Byakugan users on the same mission?” Neji inquired, and Hinata turned her eyes to the older woman. She had been wondering the same thing… two Hyuuga on one mission did seem a bit excessive.

Tsunade sighed. “I’d like to avoid it as well. But you’re the only Jounin currently in the village who’s qualified to be team leader for this sort of mission, Neji. Everyone else is nowhere near experienced enough.” She interrupted Kiba’s indignant protests with, “And yes, though you’re all excellent ninjas, you still need a Jounin leading your team. We’ve been through this already, haven’t we?”

Kiba said nothing further and glared at his superior. Tsunade sat back in her chair with a satisfied nod. “Good. You’ll set off in three days. That should give you enough time to prepare. Expect to spend at least two weeks searching for him. I don’t imagine that he stays in one place for too long. Oh, I should mention,” she paused, “The witness reports state that he frequented bars and brothels while in Sunagakure, so… be careful,” her eyes flickered briefly to Hinata.

The Hyuuga heiress swallowed visibly. She hadn’t expected that. “You mean…” she trailed off and steeled herself. “A-Alright. I understand.”

-

She lost track of how long she had been standing there. The cycle was very much the same for several hours; she would stand in front of the door, settle her nerves, raise a fist to knock only to begin shaking as she lost her nerve again and stepped back from the door.

This upcoming mission and their target, she could not rid her mind of either of them. If she returned to her room to lie down for sleep, she would no doubt be fitful and restless in her attempt. Tsunade’s words rang in her head, and the more she heard them, the more her heart raced.

Be careful.

So finally it had come, her first persuasion, as it was termed in Konoha. She was aware that most of the kunoichi her age had already been on one or more of these types of missions, and at seventeen years old, she was fairly confident that her lucky streak would last and she wouldn’t have to do any persuasions.

Her shoulders sagged. With this mission, her luck ran out.

The very thought of it was unthinkable. In addition to the usual pre-mission anxiety, there was the added fear of doing the most private, intimate act that two people could do, and with a complete stranger, a mass murderer at that. Her heart sank. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to go through with this.

Never mind missions, the very act by itself was completely foreign to her. She’d never been with a man (though she had imagined it, several times, her face flushing heavily, thinking of a noisy blond) and questions of the act plagued her mind.

What exactly was she supposed to do? How would she do it? Was there a certain method, a surefire way to pleasure the target? Would that pleasure be enough to distract him, and exactly how dangerous would a persuasion of this level be?

To calm herself, she sat down, back against a pillar, and stared at the shoji door. Slowly she forced her breath down to her stomach and began deep, diaphragmatic breathing.

Never lose your calm. That was one of the fundamental shinobi rules. Outwardly she looked the part. Shoulders back, chest open, deep breathing. But inside her eyes, inside her soul, a storm brewed and bubbled away, slowly eating up her resolve.

Adamantly Hinata shook her head. No. She came here tonight for a reason, and she would not back down. How difficult was it to ask for help, especially from the one she considered her mentor? This was just like asking him questions about her stances.

No, her sensible side argued, they are not the same. Stances do not equate to sexual procedures.

In the midst of her mental argument, the shoji door abruptly slid open and she nearly jumped in shock. Neji leaned against the frame. The shadows under his eyes looked even darker in the moonlight. He sighed heavily, brushing a hand through long, unbound hair. Silently she contemplated how it would feel to run her fingers through it.

“It is late. How long do you plan on staying outside my door like this, Hinata-sama?” he asked, eyes still closed. Her gaze locked onto the exposed skin of his forehead. Not since the Chuunin exam had she seen his forehead – normally he made it a habit to conceal it from her. When she did not reply, he opened his eyes slowly and she tore her eyes away from his brow and forced herself to meet his gaze. His matching white stare was tired. “Something troubles you.”

She said nothing.

“The mission,” he clarified, raising an eyebrow.

Still she said nothing. He had always been able to read her.

“This is not your first A-ranked task, Hinata-sama. Why the unease?”

Hinata swallowed and placed a hand over her heart, willing it to slow its beat to a normal rhythm. “I…” She paused, bit her lip and continued, “I’m afraid that I’m not quite… educated in the ways of persuasion.”

Neji’s head snapped toward her, and her face burned with mortification. If she didn’t have his full attention before, she certainly did now. He cast his gaze aside for a few moments then, much to Hinata’s relief, only to stare at her once more, causing her color to rise again. “So why do you come to me, Hinata-sama? Surely you have a fellow kunoichi from whom you can seek advice.”

“W-well,” she began reluctantly, “Um… l-learning about it through books and… and theory is quite different from p-practice and kinesthetic methods.” Silently she cursed that debilitating stammer.

“Kiba or Shino would help you, no doubt.”

Her flush deepened, if that was at all possible. Yes, she had considered asking her two teammates for help in this matter. More correctly, she had considered asking Kiba. She refused to ask Shino; although they were teammates and friends he was still quite standoffish, and she hadn’t reached the level of comfort with him that was necessary for the act. It would have been much easier to ask Kiba, who felt so comfortable with her that he would unabashedly return to their campsite after a bath in lesser, and sometimes no states of dress (in which case Hinata would go scarlet, turn around and meekly request that he at least put some boxers on). However, if she came to Kiba with her dilemma, she would expect the rest of the village to know by the very next day that they had slept together. The Inuzuka was very kind and protective of her, and he was extremely reliable whenever she was in a pinch… but he could not be trusted with her secrets.

Well… perhaps he wouldn’t disclose that particular secret so readily, but Hinata was not about to take any chances. She told Neji her reasoning, but didn’t dare look him in the eye.

Only when she was finished rattling off the reasons why she chose him (not to mention the several silent moments that followed) did she muster up the courage to bring her eyes to his face. Her cousin was silent, and he still held that same calm, poised stance, leaning against the door with his arms crossed. His eyes were averted to some ambiguous spot in the bottom left field of his vision, and at times, they switched sides to the right, indicating that he was considering her proposition.

As the minutes passed, her anticipation grew, and she could feel her heart rate rise – could hear it beating in her ears, could feel her blood rushing through her system. She was near the point of bolting from her spot in fear when she heard him say quietly, “Very well.”

Her breath hitched, and she sought her cousin’s eyes in disbelief… but he was completely earnest. To further prove his point, he stepped back inside his room and gestured her to come inside.

This was it. She forced down the lump in her throat and then slowly, hesitantly shuffled inside the dark room.

There was no turning back. The door slid shut behind her in finality.

-

It all seemed so unreal to Hinata as Neji turned away from her to light a single lamp. A dim yellow glow illuminated the room, and she watched as he padded over to his futon and untied the belt that held the fronts of his sleeping yukata together. When the strip of fabric fell to the floor, he fixed his gaze on her expectantly.

She gulped and inched closer. “Um... so…”

“Wherever you think is right,” he answered vaguely, and patiently he waited for her hands to make contact.

Several long moments passed before her trembling hands widened the part of the yukata. Small fingers spread across his shoulders; her thumbs dug into his skin, pressing into his collarbone. She focused her gaze on wherever her hands went, limiting the scope of her vision. This would likely be the only practice she had before the mission, so she would ensure that she remembered everything, that she truly savored the learning experience.

Her fingers drifted over his toned chest, ran the backs of her hands over his hardened abdominals. Experimentally she pushed; there was very little give under the weight of her hands. Her cousin was not very bulky in terms of muscle (at least in comparison to the few other men’s bodies that she had seen), but he was lean, and his torso was sturdy. He was a fine man, that much she knew, and it was no wonder that he had earned his share of admirers over the years.

She stopped at the top of his boxers and felt her blood rising. Her eyes blinked in rapid succession. Any confidence she had before this seemed to have suddenly vanished. “U-Um…”

“It’s alright,” he encouraged, and he stepped closer to her.

“Mm. I… I’m just a little nervous, is all…”

She locked eyes with him then and tried to instill in herself the same self-assurance that she saw in Neji.

I can do this, I can do this, I am perfectly capable. I can do this, I – Her mind completely blanked as soon as his hand guided hers into place and she felt his warmth under her fingers.

Hinata’s gaze shot up toward her cousin, and he gave her a single nod. Just try, his eyes said, and she nodded in response. Slowly her hand began pushing back and forth across the fabric. Stroking, holding, grasping, kneading. She closed her eyes and reveled in her sensory perceptions. The way Neji’s breath slowly became more and more ragged, the way his pelvis seemed to arch right into her hand, the way his flesh pulsed, and grew warmer, grew harder under her palm.

She inwardly congratulated herself for not fainting from embarrassment. Still, some distant part of her brain told her to go the extra step – to try without the barrier of fabric. Her ministrations paused for a few seconds. Neji turned curiously toward her, and as soon as they locked gazes, her hand slipped inside his waistband. His eyes widened minutely at this action for a split-second, only to close at the sensation of her slim fingers sliding up and down his length.

An eternity passed in silence as she concentrated on her task, grasping at his flesh with her all-too-eager fingers, her touch radiating gentleness typical of all her actions, but also a type of firmness and aggression common to all kunoichi. It was a strange balance of pressure, but it was rather fitting of her.

While her right hand continued to tug at him, her left slowly began to inch his waistband down until the black fabric was pooled around his feet on the floor. Neji’s eyes were closed in contentment, his breathing shallow.

And that was just the work of her hands. She had heard of her fellow kunoichi using their mouths as well… silently she wondered what reaction that would garner. After a bit of deliberation, she knelt down and grasped him once more, the back of her hand flush with his pelvic bone. Briefly he opened his eyes to see her progress, and she colored in embarrassment. Hesitation halted her at first but ultimately her determination pushed through – she parted her lips and dragged moist, pink tongue slowly upward, starting from the base of his cock and finishing with a flick at the very top. Her eyes watched his face so as to gauge his reaction; she was not disappointed. A deep groan passed his throat and his hips jerked violently.

“It… doesn’t look like you need much practice after all, Hinata-sama,” her cousin forced out.

She shook her head, her cheeks flaming again. “No Neji-niisan, I… I’m just going from what I’ve heard, so I’d just like to try it… please.”

He nodded once and shifted his weight. “And do you know what happens next?”

“…I think so,” Hinata tapped her fingers to her lips. Still she could taste his searing hot flesh on her tongue, and she averted her gaze.

Had she been looking up at that moment, she would have seen Neji flash a brief, pleased smile. “You learn quickly.” He shifted his legs once more, and he put a hand to the back of her head. “Whenever you are ready.”

This would be a whole different challenge, and the mere idea of it was somewhat intimidating… but she was determined to do well in this practice, for it meant that she would do well on the persuasion. She fixed her gaze on the object in question and mentally prepared herself for her task. Inhale, exhale… and she leaned forward and took his head between her lips. For a few seconds she paused, just to get used to the feeling of him filling her mouth, and ever so slowly, she inched toward him, allowing more of his flesh to slide forward. Before she knew it, her eyelids slid shut in contentment as she slowly bobbed her head back and forth.

Somewhere above her (perhaps it was in her mind), a low voice was whispering instructions. She obeyed, sliding his cock into her mouth and contracting around him, then pulling back slightly and repeating the action. The more she did this, however, the more she lost herself in the experience. Neji’s groans of pleasure began fading into echoes, and to some extent she felt his fingers curling into her hair, but she paid them no heed.

She experimented several ways – using her hand in combination with her mouth, teasing the tip of the head, taking him in from different angles – whatever she thought would be a good idea, she tried, and before she realized what had happened, her core began to pulse in an unfamiliar way. Something she would only later recognize as raw desire uncoiled deep in her belly, she felt it straight up her spine, and in between her thighs. She let a soft moan pass through her lips, and his pelvis suddenly pressed against her hands, as if trying to push farther inside her mouth. Her chest felt tight (had she forgotten to breathe this entire time?) and suddenly she extracted the appendage from her lips with an audible pop. Slowly her chest rose and fell trying to gain her breath back, she sucked in air through her teeth in attempt to regulate the moisture in her mouth.

A few moments passed like this, and when Hinata was ready to take him in her mouth again, Neji leaned and murmured something in her ear. She started a bit from the instruction and looked up at him wide-eyed. Her cousin’s eyes were dark, glazed over with some heavy emotion that she did not recognize, and he raised an eyebrow at her, waiting.

Self-consciousness began seeping in and she averted her eyes before following his instructions. The sight of her saliva slowly dripping from his head mesmerized her – again she spat and found her mouth to be surprisingly devoid of warmth now that he was outside of her once more. She shut her eyes and closed her lips around him, smiling against his skin when she heard him hiss.

Hinata’s thoughts wandered as she continued to knead him with her tongue. How much of him could she take? Her lips pulled back slightly and once again she engulfed him, working slowly to test her limit. Neji tipped his gaze to the ceiling, rolling his eyes shut as he groaned audibly. His pelvis rocked against her slightly, and she struggled to keep up with his rhythm.

“As deep as you can, Hinata,” her cousin breathed, and her mind was spinning so fast that she barely registered the fact that he failed to attach the usual suffix to her name. All at once he thrust into her mouth just as she was moving forward and his cock hit the top of her throat. Her gag reflex set off – immediately she tore away from him and violently coughed, closing her eyes to prevent tears from leaking through. Neji set a hand to her shoulder to stabilize her.

Her watery gaze met his after a few seconds had passed, and her coughing had subsided for a bit. He wore an apologetic look on his face. “Are you alright?”

Hinata slowly nodded and used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes. Despite the unpleasant choking sensation, she wasn’t quite done yet, and resolutely she grasped him once more.

Neji’s hips bucked when she repeated an earlier action and ran her tongue along his length, right before she eagerly took him in again. Her pace was languidly slow at first, then she gradually built up the speed and bobbed her head to and fro, continuously filling and re-filling her mouth with his cock. Her tongue circled about the tip of his head, and at this point he was crouched over her, fisting his hands in her dark hair, his form trembling slightly.

He was fighting to hold onto his control, Hinata realized, he was almost done, and at his command, she stopped and pulled away from him. She watched in awe as he grabbed his flesh and tugged at it fervently. A white substance began to shoot from his tip, and some instinct she never knew she had told her to open her mouth. Repeatedly he struck her tongue with his shaft and she closed her eyes; relished in the warm, slightly salty taste as he spilled himself onto her lips, into her throat until he was finished.

The only sound in the room then was their ragged breathing. Hinata’s knees finally buckled and she fell to her rear, her cheeks flushed in exertion. She reached up with her sleeve to wipe at her mouth and watched as Neji struggled to catch his breath. A shy smile stretched across her lips when he met her gaze. “So… how did I do?”

He nodded in approval, the corner of his lip turned up. “Good.” His chest still heaving, he reached down for his belt and quickly wound it around him to re-tie his yukata.

Meanwhile, Hinata’s mind raced from the memories of everything she had just done. Indeed she had learned much today… but she had heard of other things, other methods that her fellow kunoichi used on persuasions. If there were other skills she had to know, wouldn’t it be best to learn them now?

Softly Neji’s voice floated to her ears, “Go ahead and wash up, Hinata-sama. You did an excellent job.”

“Nii-san,” Hinata began hesitantly, licking her lips. His aftertaste lingered on her tongue. “T-That’s not all there is to it, is there?”

Neji blinked at her.

“On a persuasion… there are much more possibilities than what we did just now… right?”

“That’s right.” His tone reflected curiosity as to where she was going with this train of thought.

“Then…” she paused and brought her eyes to him, her cheeks burning, “Could you help me with that as well?”

A long stretch of silence passed and he said nothing. Briefly Hinata wondered if he hadn’t heard her, but that same dark expression in his eyes, the intensity of his stare said that he knew precisely what she had asked of him. She blinked hard but did not break her gaze.

After what seemed like forever, Neji finally knelt down to her eye level. Her heart rate spiked a bit at the close proximity. “Hinata-sama… a man’s pleasure is not always a result of his stimulation alone.”

When she blinked confusedly at him, he reached out to rub her bottom lip with his thumb. “You might be touched here…” His fingers gently trailed down the column of her throat. “Here…”

His palm, large and warm, traveled over the front of her yukata and closed over her right breast. Her breath caught. “Here…”

His touch continued to move downward, and finally he cupped her where she was most sensitive, right between her thighs. A strangled whimper escaped her throat. “Here,” he finished, his voice dropped down to just above a whisper. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

The yukata was thin, and she felt every slight movement of his fingers, the ghost of his touch as he stroked her sex. He pressed a finger into her fold and her hips arched up. “Yes,” she gasped, and in that moment, she wasn’t quite sure which one she was affirming – his question or his touch. Perhaps it didn’t matter.

Her cousin stood then and pulled her to her feet; she stumbled a bit, disoriented.

His smile was barely detectable. “Then we should get you washed up, Hinata-sama.”

She didn’t trust her voice and merely nodded as he led her to the bathroom.

-

They never spoke of that night thereafter. The initial lesson in Neji’s bedroom was her clearest memory (perhaps simply because the time spent in that room was her first exposure to this business), and she had learned quite a few new things, chalked up several mental notes. By now she was fairly well-versed in what elicited the most pleasure for the male in terms of procedures and positions, and in the process she had discovered exactly what made her writhe and squirm about.

Any time she passed by her cousin in the hallway, he just gave her a curt nod and greeted her politely. When she looked into his eyes, she saw none of that smoldering darkness that was evident in his bedroom. It honestly should not have surprised her as much as it did; Neji always exuded a sense of poise and composition. She could not have expected him to ravish her the moment they saw each other again (at this thought she immediately turned scarlet and tried to turn her mind elsewhere).

Still, as the remaining two days passed and the hours before their departure for the mission ticked by, her anxiety rose and she forced herself to be calm, forced herself to remember that she’d had plenty of practice and she would know exactly what to do when the time came.

“You guys ready?” Kiba asked as their group left the gates.

Shino and Neji gave their quiet agreement.

“Hinata? You? You excited?” The Inuzuka grinned at her, and Hinata looked up. “Hm? Oh… yes.”

She avoided Neji’s eyes for the sake of her concentration. The mission had begun, and if she even so much as looked at him now, all she would think about was the fact that even now, three days later, she could still feel his pressure between her legs.

-

Several days had passed by the time Shino received word back from his kikaichu. Hinata watched from across the fire as the insects landed on his index finger, which he raised to eye level. The symbiotic relationship between the two never ceased to amaze her, and the same could be said for Kiba and Akamaru.

“The target is approximately eighteen kilometers northwest of camp.”

Neji nodded. “Good work, Shino. Let’s rest here for a few hours first, and then we start moving at o’ two hundred. Is that clear?”

The group chorused their understanding. Hinata’s heart thudded painfully in her chest, and the contents of her stomach turned. This was it. She stood and only hoped that the warmth from the fire camouflaged her reddened face. “Then… shall I go on ahead and induce the… the persuasion?”

Kiba and Shino blankly stared up at her. Neji made no indication that he had heard her speak and sipped from his teacup.

Embarrassment began to bubble up inside the pit of her stomach. Why were her teammates staring at her like that? They were right there during the mission briefing, they knew exactly what she had to do… was her timing off?

For the longest time, no one said anything, and Hinata was close to sitting back down and timidly asking that they forgive her mistake and forget what she said. Clearly that wasn’t going to happen.

“That’s not necessary, Hinata,” Shino said finally. She shifted uncomfortably under his gaze – the dark glasses only made it that much more unnerving.

“Yeah, not for this mission,” Kiba added with wary smile.

She froze. What were they talking about? But before she could contemplate any further, Neji polished off his tea and set the porcelain on the ground. “Kiba, Shino, go in and rest. We must be alert when we close in on the target.”

The two exchanged glances and shrugged. Shino ducked into the tent without a word, Kiba bid the cousins good night first before following.

When the both of them disappeared into the tent, immediately Hinata turned to Neji. “Um…” she began, her brows knitted together in confusion. She struggled to find her words, “Why exactly… why were they acting like that? They knew from the start that this would be a persuasion. I know that they’re worried… but I can handle it. Really.”

Her cousin then gave her the same blank stare that her teammates had given her earlier, but his eyes narrowed just slightly. “Hinata-sama,” he spoke quietly, “Every ninja knows that persuasions are never to be performed on targets with unknown abilities. To do so would be extremely risky – and foolish.”

She opened her mouth to say something only to close it once again. Then, “B-but… Hokage-sama told me – she warned me…”

“Warnings are not always orders,” he clipped right back, raising an eyebrow at her. Her head spun in confusion. Wait, all of them (except for her) knew that it wasn’t a persuasion… did she miss something important in the mission briefing? And if that was the case, why did Neji agree to help her? She turned her gaze to the other Hyuuga with the intention to question him but she stopped when she saw the slow, victorious smile creep across his face. Her spine went shock-still as realization dawned on her.

“Shinobi Mission Rulebook, Item twenty-nine: ‘Any mission that entails elimination or persuasion must be clearly stated and verbally discussed, not suggested or implied.’”

Her knees turned to jelly and she collapsed to the ground.

Neji did not bother with concealing his amusement as Hinata stared up at him wide-eyed. “I certainly remember Hokage-sama speaking about elimination on this mission… she said nothing specifically about persuasion.”

“B-But – !” Hinata stammered. She had come to him all those nights ago for practice… and he knew? Right then and there? It suddenly was becoming very hard to breathe, and it was even more of a challenge to hold herself upright and not faint from humiliation; she could feel herself getting lightheaded. “W-Why?” she asked weakly, and she couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. Her eyes rested on his feet instead. “Why did you agree to help me in the first place? Why did you never tell me out right that it was not a persuasion?”

“You can make your own assumptions if you’d like,” Neji answered, and he approached her and knelt down, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear. She violently jolted from the contact, forcing her to look up and meet his eyes. He smirked. “After all, you seem to be quite good at that.”


End.