All of Me
Summary: After losing her voice in an accident, Hinata gains an unexpected blossoming friendship with the mysterious dark hair avenger without ever speaking a word.
In the beginning, Hinata wasn't really bothered by the loss of her voice as she wasn't much of a conversationalist to begin with. It was only later when the pitying looks and flustered responses started that she realized that people's view of her had changed, she was no longer capable of protecting others but someone who needed to be protected. It was made worse when her family and friends had started to treat her as if she was a delicate piece of porcelain, scared that since she couldn't verbalize her displeasure that they needed to be extra accommodating in her presence. No matter how many times she had reassured them through written words that she was okay but she could see it in their tight and sad smiles that they weren't convinced.
Even though she may have gotten to the fact that she could no longer speak. She would often be reminded of her impediment when people raised their voice at her lack of response, it was those times, she really wanted to explain to them that she was mute but she certainly was not deaf. These occurrences tended to make her feel self conscious of her injury. The combination of their embarrassed and shocked looks when they realized that she couldn't speak along their earnest apologies and pitying looks would make her eyes sting uncomfortably.
When these occurrences overwhelmed her, she allowed herself to run away into the deep forest outside of Konoha. When she reached her favorite tree by the river, she would sink down and pull her knees to her chest before burying her face into her knees. This had been her go to spot since she was young because she liked how the sound of the rushing river helped to drown out her muffled sobs. Her silent sobs were filled with her frustration and disappointment at the world and mostly at herself. In these moments, she wondered what she had worked so hard for all these years, if it was going to end up like this. She had once again become a liability to her family, teammates, friend and most of all...Naruto.
On that particular day, she had been too absorbed in her own misery to notice that she wasn't alone. He was already standing before her when she looked up with her sight blurred by her tears, he was simply looking down at her with his brows furrowed. Her mouth opened to let out a startled gasp at the sight of him but of course, no sound came out her mouth. She knew she must have looked ridiculous with her exaggerated soundless expression with that thought her cheeks instantly redden with embarrassment. The corner of his lip went up slightly at the sight of her blush.
"What cat got your tongue?" the man before her asked, the sound of his voice was steady and oddly husky. She began to shake her head then on second thought switched to nodding her head. Her hands went to her eyes, trying to wipe away her eyes so she could focus on his face, when her sight finally focused, she shrunk back even further into the tree. She recognized her unwanted visitor, Sasuke Uchiha.
He must have noticed her movements because it was then when he crouched down so they were almost eye level, "shouldn't you at least greet me Hyuuga san?"
She lowered her eyes guiltily, wondering even if she hadn't lost her voice, would she even want to greet him? She can tell he was waiting for her response. She bit her lower lip, pondering what she should do next. She let out a small shaky breath, it seemed like he wasn't going to leave her alone until he got what he was asking for. So she pointed to her satchel laying beside her, his gaze followed to where she was pointing.
"Your bag?"
She nodded slowly, she nudged it towards him to open. She watched as he pulled out a sketchbook from the satchel. He flipped to the first page, on the page in neat dark print was the message "I lost my voice."
"How?" he asked quietly, she reached over and tapped on the sketch book, he flipped to the next page, "It was an accident during a mission."
He closed the sketchbook, it seemed like he had all the answers he needed from these two pages. He handed the sketchbook back to her and instinctively she hugged the book to her chest. She watched as he got up to leave, with his back turn to her. His parting words to her were simply, "I can read lips."
Her lips parted in surprise, but he had already left. A dazed look lingered on her face for a moment, why did it matter that he could read lips? It wasn't like they were going to "talk" again or so she thought.
TBC