Unspoken (Sasori x Reader)

Hope

Stupid. Stupid.

Stupid little girl.

"(Y/N)?" Deidara snapped you from your reverie. You blinked heavily, trying to rid yourself out of your daze. You pressed a hand to your forehead with a sigh, and Deidara rubbed your back. The dull voice of your professors droned in the background, his talk of fractions lost on your exhausted mind. "Didn't get enough sleep again, yeah?"

"Yeah," you agreed in a monotone, trying to roll a kink out of your shoulder. "I think I'm coming down with something." Deidara raised an eyebrow at your despondent tone, fidgeting with his pencil. You didn't need to look at him to know math class bored him out of his mind. You didn't share many classes together, but one thing you did have in common was that you both sucked at math.

"So that's why you blew me off last night?"

"Yep."

Deidara pursed his lips, but didn't press the subject further. You were glad. You didn't want to talk about the real reason for your sour mood. Frankly, the further you could distance yourself from yesterday the better. Just the mere thought of thinking of his eyes when he caught you made you feel ill.

Ultimately you felt childish. Childish in your assumptions and expectations of the people and things around you. Despite your mother's best efforts you still remained poorly socialized, and yet there still stood people like Deidara and Kankuro who cared for you despite it. Then, there were the people who expected things of you. People who were eager to in time thrust even more burdens upon you. It was inevitable that the time would come where you couldn't run from your familial responsibilities any longer.

Your mother had put her best foot forward in grooming you into the next monarch of your family fortune. Fussy formal dinners, pretentious meetings and worst of all the occasional blind date to a man also in line to have his own fortune. All of it, in your mind, was a failure. You fought tooth and nail against everything you were made to conform to, and yet here you were suffering regardless. Not only has this paid a toll to your present state of mind it also permanently indebted your future.

It made you immature, and you knew that. Hiding behind your books and music had only weakened your heart, and now you would be punished severely for it by struggling in the mud of social tact.

You left the moment your professor officially dismissed you, and ignored Deidara's concerned calls as you ghosted the corridors. You had worked yourself into another emotional fit, and you couldn't stand anyone to catch your tears.

You sought refuge in the restroom, splashing icy water against your splotchy skin. The paper towel stung against your skin as you tried to wipe away your remaining sadness. Your eyes reflected red back against you, and self-consciously you ran your fingers through your hair. You looked nothing like the woman he bailed on you for, and couldn't even pretend to hold a flame to her inert gracefulness.

"(Y/N)?" You startled at the feminine voice, and looked frightfully over your shoulder. Hinata stood halfway in the door way, a stack of books clutched against her chest. Her soft eyes reflected concern at your ruffled appearance, and you turned away in embarrassment. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," you breathed, stricken with nerves. "Just a little... overwhelmed."

"Oh," she regarded you thoughtfully before stepping in and closing the door behind her. "Midterms are coming up, I understand." Hinata rested her books on the counter so she could ruffle through her beige backpack, little charms dangling from the straps. She passed you a chilled can of tea, and you cracked a tiny smile.

"Hinata... Did you ever doubt Naruto?" You asked timidly, fiddling with the tab on your drink.

"What do you mean?" She asked, concern lacing her delicate voice. You tried to keep the desperation out of your voice.