Love & Hate

SasukexHinata

Rated T

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its extensions

Love & Hate

Sasuke Uchiha had known love once in his life. He knew love because of his beloved mother. Mikoto Uchiha loved him dearly as any mother that loved her child. She loved him unconditionally and didn't favor him over his older brother. He was her baby boy and she had loved him dearly. He also knew love from his older brother Itachi. He loved his older brother and idolized him, would want to follow and do whatever Itachi was doing. And being the indulgent brother that he was, Itachi would let him and didn't mind. Itachi loved his little brother and would protect him at all costs, and in return Sasuke loved him. Yes, Sasuke had known love once in his life.

Sasuke also knew hate, one that he associated with his father, Fugaku. Fugaku would never acknowledge Sasuke or any of his accomplishments when he had been growing up. Even with him being the best in his class among his peers, it wasn't good enough. In fact, it was never enough because for Fugaku, it wasn't like Itachi. It was obvious Fugaku favored Itachi to Sasuke, and nothing Sasuke could and would do would ever be favorable in his father's eyes. Even when it came to his father's company, it was obvious Itachi would be the one to inherit and run it, while Sasuke would be beneath his brother in said company. It was a perfect example of 'the heir and the spare', and Sasuke was the spare, not as important to Fugaku as Itachi, if he even was important. Sasuke had always resented his father for his obvious favoritism, and that resentment later turned to hate, especially after the death of his mother. When Mikoto had died in a car accident, Sasuke had been with her and had been survived. And though Fugaku grieved his wife, he did not once check on Sasuke, let alone acknowledge that he had survived. Instead he blamed his son for his wife's death, telling him more than once that it should have been him and not Mikoto. Sasuke had never hated his father more than that day when it became more than apparent that his existence didn't matter to his father. Yes, Sasuke knew hate well too.

Those two emotions followed him throughout his life, hate being the more prominent. He hadn't felt love again after his mother's death, as his brother had departed from home not long after she was buried, leaving the country altogether. It wasn't until he met what could only have been an angel sent to bring meaning back into his life did he begin to feel and know love once again. And that angel came in the form of his business rival's sweet cousin, Hinata Hyuuga.

Hinata Hyuuga, cousin to one Neji Hyuuga and firstborn daughter of the head of Hyuuga Corporation, Hiashi Hyuuga. She was very different from the rest of her family, and she didn't stand out among them. In fact, she seemed to prefer to stay in the background, something Sasuke thought stupid considering the family she derived from. He had believed that her sweet, innocent personality was really just a ruse to bait unsuspecting people in before going in for the kill to get what she wanted. She was also the only girl to not throw herself at him shamelessly in an effort to get his attention. Though he respected her for that—it showed she had dignity and self-respect—he also hated her. He hated her because her family was trying to tear down his in the business world (with no success luckily), he hated her because of how close she was to her cousin, the same cousin that would take every opportunity to take a jab at him and badmouth him and his family name, and he hated her because she made him feel when he didn't want to.

Both Sasuke and Hinata were in the same business major class and they sat next to each other in said class, though neither exchanged any words throughout that entire class until they were paired up for a final project. That was the first time he had ever spoken to the young woman and it was the moment his life began to change from the bleakness he was used to and dwelling in. It had honestly started out as nothing, Sasuke mostly annoyed with the shy, quiet Hyuuga. But as time went on with them working on their project, he found that Hinata was actually very smart and that her kindness was true. Even with the many harsh words he had spoken her way, she simply gave him a kind smile in return, a smile he knew he did not deserve. Before he knew it, she had become a good friend to him and thus found himself saddened when the semester was over.

Hinata however, wasn't ready for their friendship to end and offered for them to meet up and spend time together outside of school. To say that seeing them together was a surprise was an understatement. It had been the entire talk of the college, so much so that when word of it reached Neji, Sasuke found himself cornered and threatened with his life by the brunette man, saying that if he for whatever reason hurt Hinata, he wouldn't hesitate to kill him, as well as say that she was too good for the likes of him.

It hadn't just been her cousin to threaten him behind his friendship with her. Many others that knew Hinata personally would walk up to him and do the same, threatening him with bodily harm or worse. It happened so often that Sasuke found himself hating Hinata once again for having him go through the humiliation of being threatened just because of their friendship. However, he found that he couldn't bring himself to continue hating her for that, and thus their friendship carried on. It wasn't until their graduating college did he come to hate her once again, hate her for an emotion he wanted to so hard to not feel again, but yet she had made him. Sasuke Uchiha realized that he was in love with Hinata Hyuuga.

He didn't know when it happened, when he had fallen in love. All he knew was that he had. Upon realization of this, he avoided her heavily, ignoring all calls, texts, and emails from her. He had been successful in doing so for a long while, but finally had to face her when not only Neji, but his and Hinata's mutual friend Naruto Uzumaki confronted him about his apparent desertion of their friendship. They had told him how hurt the kind young woman was about his silence and how much she missed him. Neji even went so far as to tell Sasuke that his cousin had openly admitted that she was in love with him but chose not to confess or pursue anything because she knew Sasuke would reject her and the idea completely, and she would rather have his friendship than any hatred he had for her following such a confession.

Sasuke hadn't wasted any time in finding Hinata afterwards and following their reconciliation, he too admitted that he was in love with her and would like to take her out on a date. One date turned into two, two turned into four, and four turned into many more following. It hadn't taken long for either of their fathers to find out that they were dating, and thus called a meeting with each of their individual children. Hiashi had demanded Hinata break things off with Sasuke, and Fugaku had demanded Sasuke either break things off with Hinata or use his relationship with her to move up the cooperate ladder. Both Sasuke and Hinata refused their fathers and continued their relationship with each other, no ulterior motives or anything that wouldn't be true to them.

Their relationship, though rocky in the beginning and tense from opposing outsiders, stayed strong throughout the two years that they dated. Seeing them stand strong together and obviously very much in love brought their friends around that didn't originally accept or understand their relationship, having not really been able to even before they began dating. And on the night of their two year anniversary, Sasuke asked Hinata to be his wife.

That had been a year ago, and now here Sasuke was standing in a very dapper tuxedo at an alter with a parson, waiting for his bride to walk down the aisle. Itachi stood by his side as his best man, the two of them having had their own reconciliation in the past year. Neither Fugaku or Hiashi were in attendance of the ceremony, both of them still refusing to acknowledge that their children were marrying one another, but that did not bother Sasuke. He no longer hated his father, but instead pitied him. He had been surprised when his fiancé had told him she was sure Hiashi hated her for not becoming the type of Hyuuga she was supposed to be, but she still loved him regardless. In his stead, Neji was walking his cousin down the aisle to him, giving her away only on the promise that Sasuke take care of her.

The sound of fanfare brought him out of his musings and he looked down the aisle to see two people standing at the end, one of them being Neji dressed in a tuxedo and looking very handsome, though not as handsome as the groom. And on his arm was the bride herself, dressed in a beautiful ivory wedding gown, her eyes shining with a bright smile gracing her lips. And as she made her way towards him, Sasuke couldn't help but smile in return, thinking he'd never be at this point in his life if he had never met Hinata.

Sasuke Uchiha knew love, and he knew hate. Both emotions directed to certain people, some deserving and some not so. He had felt both love and hate for Hinata, hate being the first for him to feel for her. And yet, he no longer hating her for his hate had turned to love, and that love would bless them for the rest of their married lives, as Mr. and Mrs. Sasuke Uchiha.