It starts with a question: Where is love?

Love is the arms of Mikoto, the Uchiha Matriach who once held him as a child.

Her hands were always gentle, and so was her voice, whenever she would heal the cuts on his fingers with salves and balms that she bought in the market after he tried his best to practice with sharp shurikens and kunais.

"Too dangerous for a four year old," She said, "...but adequate for an Uchiha."

xxx

Love is in the approval of Fugaku, the head of the Uchiha clan.

As a child Sasuke would try his best to master the basic clan jutsus, fire techniques and try to awaken his Sharingan; Just to see his father smile at him, or just to hear the words, 'That's my son', but whenever Uchiha Fugaku would look at him with recognition in his eyes, his father's gaze would always shift to his older brother and the Uchiha patriarch's smile would widen.

And he would mutter silently, the words embedding themselves into Sasuke's heart,

"Be like your brother"

xxx

Love is in the actions of Itachi, his older brother.

When they were still children, Sasuke would always beg for his brother time and time again to help him train with shurikens; Sasuke already knows what his brother is going to say next as Itachi gently smiles at him and pokes his forehead.

"Maybe next time little brother."

Itachi always says this, but he keeps on asking anyway.

And he would look at Itachi as if to say something, but he doesn't, because even as a child, he had pride.

You are the person that I want to be aniki.

xxx

Love is in the smiles of Naruto and Sakura, his comerades, his friends.

Two people. A loud boy with blonde hair and blue eyes who would always dare to fight with him, even if he repeatedly loses, and a girl with bright emerald eyes and pink hair who would always try to win his affections.

At twelve, he would always shrug his assigned team off, but they would always come to him anyway no matter what he does.

So at the exams and during missions, he tries his best to protect them.

He doesn't care if he bleeds by doing so, because after years of being alone, it feels quite good to have something to protect.

It feels quite good to feel that people care for you.

So when he left them behind to find Itachi, they did little else other than to get stronger and find him.

xxx

Love is in the actions of Itachi pt 2.

Just when Sasuke thought that love doesn't exist anymore, and there is nothing else in this world besides power, vengeance and hate, he found out from Tobi the truth about the Uchiha massacre.

Itachi had been innocent, and he pleaded to the council to spare Sasuke's life.

Because he's Itachi's precious person.

So when Sasuke closes his eyes, their final battle would always replay itself into his mind.

He'd see Itachi's chin dribbling with blood, his fingers slowly moving its way up to Sasuke's face, only to poke his forehead. Then he'd see Itachi smile.

And he wonders to himself how much he had fallen into the darkness.

And he starts to think about what would have happened if things weren't the way they were.

xxx

Love is in the eyes of his children, their faces, their giggles.

Their little hands would always reach out for him, and he would always touch them and hold.

Two of his sons have dark eyes like him, but the youngest one has white ones inherited from their mother.

But Sasuke loves them just the same.

He knows the mistake that Fugaku made when he raised him and Itachi. And he knows never to repeat that mistake.

He remembers when he first held his eldest child in his arms, the babe still a bit sticky with blood from labor, he looks upon the chubby cheeks and closed eyes, and his gaze would soften and become unfocused, and he would smile.

And for the first time in years, Sasuke dreamed about the future.

xxx

Love is in his wife, the now Uchiha, ex-Hyuga.

Hinata's eyes are pale and white, but Sasuke sees in them something that nobody else does.

There is determination in her eyes, hidden strength and gentleness. He used to hate soft people for they only pity him and he thinks that someone as strong as him doesn't need that, but when their eyes met for the first time, he saw no pity there. There was only a genuine happiness for his return.

When Sasuke and Hinata first kissed, she almost fainted, and when he officially courted her, her father disapproved due to Sasuke's dark past.

"It will not do well with the clan" Hiashi said. "The public will not like it."

Months would pass and Hinata would always walk in the compound with stooped shoulders, as the clan elders would always look at her with disapproval and disappointment.

"Another scandal." They would say.

"What would you expect from a failure?"

But when Hinata decided to step down as heiress and pass the title to her cousin Neji, she ran into Sasuke's arms and he almost didn't understand what she's saying because her face was too pressed against his shirt.

He asked her to repeat, and she looked at him, her opalescent eyes so happy and wide, "We can be together Sasuke."

Sasuke's heart threatened to break away from his chest, and he had not remembered feeling this happy since he was a child.

And as he continued to stare at her eyes, he knows deep down how foolish her clan must be in letting her go, for they do not know how much this girl is capable of.

And as he touches her face, his fingers involuntarily trembling, he knows that there are things about her that is unknown to everyone else. And he feels grateful, and he thanks the gods and promises to himself that he will never make the mistake that everyone did.

So when they finally married and first moved in into a small apartment,

He had first said "Tadaima." Saying the word felt foreign to his tongue.

And she looked at him and greeted, "Okaeri."

His mouth twitched upwards into a smile,

Because he had never done that in years.

xxx

Sasuke Uchiha had his share of mistakes,

There was a lot of pain in his life, even though he was still young.

He has a lot of regrets, and things that he wished to change.

But when he holds her hand, Sasuke doesn't think anymore of what could have been.

...::You are very much loved::...

Hope that you guys like my little one-shot of Sasuke and Hinata.

I didn't really expect this to become Sasuke-centric. It just became one.

I'm trying to get over my writer's block on my NejiHina fanfic, although I will force myself to write it tomorrow since the inner-me is nagging me to continue it. Like, right now.

Oh, please leave a review so that I know that I'm doing a good/okay/bad job at writing fanfics.