Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling.

Hari looks way too comfortable, Naruko thought. Most people would be scared silly at the idea of being stared down by their Hokage, but Hari acted as if it was another Tuesday. She's pretty much unsurprised at this point at his unflappable calm. A bit jealous, really.

Kakashi-sensei, realising that his one-eyed stare wasn't working, dropped the intimidating act immediately, and got straight into business.

"Hari-san," Kakashi-sensei bored his eye into Hari, "I was under the impression that you were a pure civilian that was talented at crafting and pottery. The events of the… Prank War shows that this is not the case."

Hari looked like he wanted to challenge him, but held himself back. "I'm not a spy or terrorist if that's what your asking. I wanted to live a quiet life and forget about my abilities, but," Hari smiled wryly, "Naruko-chan messed up those plans."

Kakashi-sensei became less tense. "Well, Naruko does have a way of disarming people." He agreed.

Naruko totally did not blush at Hari calling her Naruko-chan, with that smooth voice of his. She didn't.

If you say so, kit. Kurama laughed in the background.

"Is it a bloodline limit?" Kakashi-sensei asked.

"My abilities die with me." Hari stated. "Even if your Council tried to pull a Konoha Clan Act on me, I made sure that if I ever had kids, my abilities will never be passed down."

Kakashi-sensei frowned.

"You can even get the Yamanaka Clan to use their truth jutsu." He said confidently.

"Can I ask why you made that decision?"

Hari's eyes darkened. "Ever since I was born, greed led others to try to control or kill me because of my abilities. After my parents, godparents, friends and even my pet died because of it, it kind of lost its magic. There's no way I'm going to let a potential child suffer the same fate as me."

The atmosphere turned heavy. Naruko felt her heart ache at the bone-deep loneliness and grief from Hari's words, and realised that the source of his mystery is the devastation people brought upon him through no fault of his own. No wonder she felt a kinship with him. No wonder his blank facial expressions reminded her a bit of Sasuke. His apathy towards others, disgust towards the villagers' hero-worship- it made a little more sense now.

She looked at Kakashi-sensi, pleading with her eyes to let him off. The war was over, Konoha had strong alliances and there was really no need to force Hari to do something he didn't want to do. Kakashi-sensei sighed deeply.

"Well, I'm not sure if you made my life more or less complicated, Hari-san."

Hari shrugged. "Making the authorities unhappy with me? Pretty much part of who I am at this point."

Even Kakashi-sensei didn't like the implications of that statement. "Well then, unfortunately, for the sake of everyone's mind, I'll have to have some ANBU shadowing you."

Harry looked unbothered. "That's fine. Understandable, really."

Kakshi-sensei shook his head. "You're lucky that Naruko is pretty much your number one advocate."

"I know," Hari smiled at her gratefully. "That's why I'm being nice and complying with everything."

Naruko felt Kakashi-sensei's side-eye, as if saying This is the man you chose? Really?

She ignored him.

"You're dismissed."

Hari stood up, bowing shallowly. "By your leave, Hokage-sama."

After he left, Kakashi-sensei glared at her. "I'm not sure if I should be irritated at you crushing on a guy who has the same dislike of authority as you, or grateful that he at least has manners."

Naruko groaned. "Not you too, Kakashi-sensei! I don't have a crush on him! Why does everyone keep saying that?'

"Naruko."

"What?" She pouted, muttering to herself. She didn't like how serious he was.

"If Hari told you that he fell in love and that he was going to get married, how would you feel?"

Naruko blinked, stunned. It felt like someone smashed a brick over her head before grabbing a hold of her heart and pulling it out of her chest.

"You're Uzumaki Naruko, and you always make the impossible possible. Don't make it so that happiness is impossible to you, alright?"

Dazed, Naruko nodded.

I… What are my feelings towards Hari?

…

The next few day days went by in a blur. Naruko barely saw anyone else, lost in her thoughts as she questioned what kind of relationship she wanted with Hari. She spent most of her days staring at the Memorial Stone, wishing her kaa-chan was alive. She's had superficial crushes before, Sasuke as a child, Shikamaru during the Chūnin exams and even on Neji briefly after her travels with Jiraiya. But she has never felt as lost and jumbled as she did now.

Why don't you just kiss him? Kurama grumbled, Then you can stop pining after him and actually mate with him or something.

Kurama! Naruko screamed mentally. What do you mean, ma- mate?!

Why are you embarassed? He's not a bad choice. Anyone's better than that Uchiha. I'm all for this union.

Naruko resolutely ignored Kurama, trying to not spontaneously combust.

Just kiss him, you coward.

I can't just kiss him out of the blue!

"Kiss who?"

Naruko jumped a foot in the air, screaming. She turned around, and froze at the sight of Hari.

Kami above, she thought, how does he look more beautiful everytime I see him?

Hari came closer, and Naruko had the embarrassing urge to run away. Even though she really wanted to, she wasn't going to avoid Hari when he was in front of her.

"Haha!" she laughed awkwardly, "What do you mean?"

Hari raised an eyebrow. "You said 'I can't just kiss him out of the blue!'. Kiss who?"

"Ahahaha," Naruko's eyes unconsciously traced his lips. "Nothing!" She shouted loudly. "No one!" She coughed, realising she was overreacting. "Um yeah, please pretend you didn't hear that."

"What a shame," Hari sighed before smirking mischeviously at her.

"And here I thought you were talking about kissing me."