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

Hari was strange.

Naruko noticed that he never had his back to the door. She noticed how his eyes would flit about and catalogue an area, as if always searching for a threat. Before sitting down to eat at Ichiraku's, his whole body would stiffen minutely, before relaxing as if nothing happened.

Naruko had the oddest feeling that Hari might- just might - have been in a war.

But then he'd smile charmingly at her, and that thought would leave.

…

One time, Naruko saw Hari wearing glasses.

Her mouth was wide open, left hanging, as she struggled to process this new development.

The glasses were thin and round, and rested on the bridge of his nose as if it was meant to be there. The thin sheet of glass didn't even affect the vibrancy of his emerald eyes.

Then, he looked up at her.

Naruko started. The glasses made him look younger. Almost boyish. She wondered if he used to wear them when he was younger. He looked a little too comfortable with them on. Almost nostalgic.

"I didn't know that you wore glasses," she said curiously, walking up to his desk.

He had the weird little half-smile on his face again, and his eyes were looking at something far away. "I used to." he admitted, not offering any more information.

Naruko tilted her head, even more curious. He never talked about his past. Ever. "Why are you wearing them now?"

Hari stared at her a bit, assessing. Then he leaned back in his chair, sighing.

"Do you ever feel like you're missing something? Something that was so integral to your identity that after you finally shed it and grew up, a part of you wants to crawl back again, even if it hurts?"

Naruko's heart pounded. If she could go back to the time when her greatest worry was the villager's acknowledgment while wearing that garishly orange jumpsuit? If she could see jiji and the pervy sage again? If she could go back to that time even though everyone hated her existence?

"Yeah," she said, revising her opinion on Hari, "all the time."

Hari looked deeply into her eyes, deep into the recesses of her soul. Then, he nodded, and something in the atmosphere dissipated.

Then he smiled at her, a little more open than before, his eyes dancing with mirth. He tapped his glasses. "It's why I'm wearing them now."

Then, after all of that, he went back to his paperwork.

…

"Don't you ever get tired?"

Hari had a strange look on his face as he talked to her, the slightest hint of general disdain in his eyes whenever he caught sight of the villagers. Naruko saw him by coincidence in the market, and ran over to him, inadvertently bringing a group of her adoring fans with her. He didn't look very impressed with them.

Naruko walked closer to Hari. Oddly enough, the group let her be as soon as she did, and she looked up at him to see a facial expression she'd never seen before. The kind of facial expression she would attribute to nobles who came across a group of peasants. His whole body language radiated an intense dislike and his emerald eyes were hard and sharp. As if telling the villagers that they better not come near him if they know their place.

It was quite… disconcerting. She didn't forget about his question though.

"What do you mean?"

He glanced at the villages currently peering at their interaction.

"Of them."

Naruko tilted her head, and her hair fell over her face. She tucked it behind her ear, not noticing that Hari was observing her every move.

"Sometimes, but it's not all bad."

Hari raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, looking quite unimpressed.

"You don't resent their attention? Their need to constantly see you? Judge you?"

Naruko didn't like where this conversation was going. He wanted to uncover something that she struggled to bury deep into the recesses of her mind, thoughts and whispers that she never wanted to acknowledge.

Like how the villagers don't deserve-

Naruko shrugged. "I don't really think much of it."

He stared down at her, and seemed to find something in her expression. His eyes softened slightly with understanding, and he sighed. He reached out his hand, and patted her head.

"As long as you have your people."

Something in Naruko's gut tightened.

Why does this man always see right through her?

…

Naruko was taking a walk. She stuck to the outskirts of Konoha, where she saw more trees than she saw people, and pondered the newest enigma in her life.

Hari.

She realised she didn't know a lot about him. She knew that he was attractive, had pale white skin, dark, messy hair, and the most emerald eyes she had ever seen. She knew that he probably worked out and took care of his body, judging from the flex of his muscle whenever he moved his arms. She knew that he disliked the villagers, or more specifically, their hero-worship of her, and didn't seem interested in getting closer to anyone. She also knew that he had the feel of a soldier who fought in a war, because his actions reminded her so much of herself, that she sometimes felt like she was looking at a mirror image.

But there was something more. Hari sometimes acted like he understood her burden. Like he was intimate with that kind of responsibility. The kind that said you're the only one who could save the world.

But how could he notice and understand when no one else did?

She heard the sounds of children playing, and realised she was nearing her old orphanage. She smiled a bittersweet smile, and almost turned around until she saw someone.

It was Hari.

His lips and eyes were alight with laughter, and he looked genuinely happy as he played with the children. He was wearing a thin t-shirt and knee-length shorts, and had two children sitting on his shoulders like they belonged there. The twins were shrieking in delight as Hari was being chased by a group of kids, and even though he was drenched in sweat, Hari didn't look tired at all.

After a while, he stopped playing with them. The matron - someone she didn't recognise, thankfully - came up to him and thanked him gratefully.

"Thank you, dear. You just made their day. I've never seen them so happy before."

Hari smiled at her. "It was no problem, ma'am." He absentmindedly ruffled the hair of a child that was latched onto his leg. "They deserve it."

...

Naruko learnt something new about Hari that day, something that she desperately dreamed of too.

Hari longs for a family.