Finally a Haruki centered chapter! However we don't get Haruki's POV, I'm saving that for later on in the story when shit rlly goes down LMAO

Omg Also^ Above is the color of Haruki's crystal style!

••••

In tow of recent events, Shikadai, Boruto, and Mitsuki all formed a sort of crime-fighting alliance. Well, a ghost fighting alliance would be the better way to put it.

With Boruto being the only person who could visibly see the odd effects of this 'ghost', Shikadai being right by his side through it all, and Mitsuki being suspiciously compliant with all of the blond boy's actions, the three boys dedicated their free time to figure out just what was going on.

Just like they are right now, Boruto, Mitsuki, and Shikadai were all together on top of a bridge overlooking the lower parts of Konoha, formulating their plan on how to capture the 'ghost' that had been causing havoc within the academy.

It was lunchtime, so the three boys found themselves hanging out together to try and stop this 'ghost' before the seventh Hokage, Naruto could. More like it was Boruto who was pushing that narrative.

As they stood around waiting for the next ghost attack, they all started talking about their classmates. Mitsuki was curious, asking questions about certain kids and Boruto was none the wiser, answering without any qualms.

Shikadai was a bit reserved about spewing details about his classmates to Mitsuki though, he still didn't know just how much Mitsuki could be trusted.

"So, Runa and Haruki are twins?" Mitsuki asked, turning to the blonde boy curiously.

"Huh? Yeah, they are." Boruto responded, turning to Mitsuki as well.

"They must be very similar then." Mitsuki baited, hoping Boruto would go on to speak more of the girls.

The more intel he had, the better.

Luckily for Mitsuki, Boruto had no issues sharing his thoughts and opinions of the two girls he's known since forever ago.

"Runa and Haruki are totally different! Runa is much more of a fighter, and she's insufferable, Haruki is way nicer and doesn't like fighting all that much." Boruto claimed confidently.

"Haruki's the one with white hair right? What makes you say that?"

Mitsuki was intrigued, he sensed both of the girl's chakra already and to his understanding, Haruki was the one with a far more threatening aura.

To hear that she wasn't one for fighting was...intriguing, to say the least.

"Ever since we were little, Haruki wasn't into playing ninja with the rest of us and we would all play outside without her," Shikadai explained, placing a fingertip on his chin as he reminisced over their past

"Oh, that's right! She was always inside with our moms, playing with those stuffed toys." Boruto agreed, also remembering how the white-haired Uchiha never really joined in their roughhousing, unlike Runa who exploited every opportunity possible to try and beat Boruto.

"I see, so Haruki doesn't like fighting?"

"No, she avoids it like the plague and gets really nervous about it sometimes. Remember that one time Runa tried forcing her outside to hang out with the rest of us?" Shikadai asked, turning to Boruto.

Boruto nodded, already knowing the incident his friend was speaking of.

They were all just about six years old, hanging out in the Uchiha household's immense back yard as they did every time they met up like this.

The mothers were all inside, Hinata, Ino, Haru, Sakura, and Temari all gossiping in the lounge area where they could watch their kids from a good distance yet remain in the fresh air conditioning provided by Haru's home.

"Haruki's such a good girl, but I feel bad she's playing all alone." Ino pouted, looking over her shoulder from her place on the couch to take a look at the little Uchiha girl who was playing with some teddy bears by herself.

"Yeah I get that, but she gets nervous whenever fighting is involved." Haru sighed, taking a look at her little girl who seemed very involved in a storyline she's just created between her plushies.

"I told you guys about how recently she's been accidentally triggering her crystal style and it's been scaring her," Haru admitted.

Sakura nodded from her place next to Hinata. "I talked to Shinji about it and he told me it's normal for kids with crystal style to have that happen every once in a while since they don't know how to control it.

I did my own research and found that every one out of two Oshiro kids reported incidents of this happening back from when they were an active clan."

Haru's eyebrows raised at the statistic, smirking a bit at the little sweatdrop Sakura formed because her daughter Hanako was 50% Oshiro, just like Haru, so she had a much higher probability of going through the same thing.

"Really? Did that ever happen to you Haru?" Ino asked

"Nah, since I had all those suppressants in my body a lot of my abilities came out later on in life or just wonky. Remember my regenerative ability? That shit barely worked when I was a kid." Haru snorted, taking a sip of her drink.

Thinking back to Haruki, Haru turned back around and frowned, noting that she did look awfully lonely.

"Haruki baby c'mere! Hang out with us!" Haru called out, a smile tugging on her lips as her little girl immediately perked up and stood from her spot on the floor, rushing over to join her mom and aunties.

Haruki sat on the large carpet stretching over the glossy wooden floors, right in front of her mom's place on the couch. She gently placed her two stuffed teddy bears on the ground before getting comfy herself.

"Look guys, she got all dolled up today," Haru claimed, smiling knowingly at the other moms as Haruki settled down in her spot on the carpeted floor.

Hinata smiled as well, knowing of the cute crush Haruki had formulated on her own son, Boruto. And the fact that Haruki insisted on getting all cute and ready whenever he was around.

Hinata understood Haruki perhaps on another level to the rest of her friends, probably because she saw herself in Haruki.

The white-haired girl was just too shy to approach Boruto, and with the blonde boy being none the wiser, Hinata felt like she was watching a mini re-enactment of her own childhood crush on Naruto!

Haruki looks up and smiles at the praise from her aunties who all claimed she looked so cute with her naturally curled hair and pretty dress before returning to her stuffed toys.

Temari smiles fondly, reaching over and placing a hand on Haruki's head. "She's so well-mannered, makes me wish I had a little girl." She sighed longingly, to which Haru laughed out loud.

"Aw, c'mon Shikadai is just like Shika!" She mused much to Temari's dismay.

All of the women looked out through the glass, noting how Boruto and Runa were fighting for what seemed like the hundredth time, Inojin was sitting down and drawing something, Chocho was keeping score of the fight between Runa and Boruto, and Shikadai-

He was asleep.

Temari deadpanned before turning to her friends. "Yeah, that's my point, they're too alike."

After a quick laugh, the women resumed their talking and gossiping as Haruki played silently.

The peace didn't last as long as everybody would've hoped because soon enough Runa was walking in through the sliding glass doors like a woman on a mission. (Albeit, the visual of a six-year-old Runa stomping over to her sister was adorable.)

The conversations all halted, as did the playing outside as Boruto waited for Runa to come back.

"Runa? You want something to drink?" Haru asked, standing up once she noticed how disheveled and sweaty Runa had become since she's been outside playing like crazy ever since Boruto came over.

Runa didn't respond, but she didn't need to as Haru was already on her way to the kitchen preparing drinks for all of the kids outside. Runa approached Haruki and pouted, dropping to her knees to match up with Haruki.

"Ruki let's go outside!" Runa pouted much to Haruki's hesitance. "I don't wanna," Haruki mumbled, clutching her teddy bear closer to her body out of reflex.

Haruki was never one to go outside and 'play ninja' regardless, as she was always found perched on her father's lap even back when he was around meanwhile the rest of the kids were running around.

But now with this new crystal style jutsu that had effectively scared the living daylights out of Haruki, she was even more hesitant to go out there and rough around a bit.

What if the scary crystal thing happened again and she hurt somebody?! She wouldn't be able to live with herself!

"Aw c'mon Haruki! Just one match!" Runa whined, tugging on her sister's hand and effectively pulling her out to their backyard. Runa was stronger and more athletic than Haruki was at that point in their lives, seeing as Haruki practically lived within pillows and Runa was always testing her physical limits.

"Runa I don't wanna!" Haruki flushed, trying to tug her hand out of her sister's grip, but to no avail, Runa beat her when it came to brute strength even as little girls, so it was to nobody's surprise that Haruki was being dragged with ease.

Sakura, Hinata, Ino, and Temari all perked up a bit, noticing that Haruki seemed to no longer be lightly whining, but instead was starting to grow very nervous and afraid. The women were just about to intervene and diffuse the situation, but before they could-

"Runa I said no!" Haruki cried out of pure panic, and there was a small rumble in the ground before a huge crystal spike emerged from her arm, almost accidentally piercing through Runa's torso solely because of their proximity to one another.

The crystal was clear in color, technically white like a diamond with rainbow/holographic sparkles flashing through the sun's reflection as Haruki was effectively pulled outside before the crystal appeared.

Everyone from the Oshiro clan had their own unique colors when it came to crystal manipulation, Shinji's being a bright blue and Haru's being a ruby red. It was to their amusement that their little Haruki had her own rainbow fairy colored crystal!

The fairy part was added by Haruki herself, even within her own terrors she couldn't help but add the enchanting twist.

Virtually all the women sprung into action as soon as they saw the crystal emerge from Haruki's arm, with Temari & Ino jumping to Runa's aid and Hinata & Sakura jumping to calm down Haruki.

Both girls were crying, Runa out of shock because that really big sharp sparkly thing almost murdered her and is stuck on her sister's arm, and Haruki because she was absolutely terrified of this exact same situation even happening in the first place.

"What the hell is going on?!" Haru gasped, rushing over to the scene to console her now very frantic daughters.

Boruto watched from afar with widened eyes, and the scene was so disruptive that Shikadai had woken up moments prior to witness the whole thing go down.

Haru immediately picked up Runa and hugged her close, quieting her down like it was magic before turning to Haruki and trying to soothe her as well.

Runa wrapped her arms around Haru's neck and shoved her face in the crook of her shoulder, whimpering out of fear

"Honey it's fine! Everyone's okay! Look Runa is fine!" Haru exclaimed, trying to convince Haruki that she hadn't just severely hurt her own sister.

Haruki was tucked into Hinata's arms with big tears streaming down her cheeks while Sakura was tending to her outstretched arm encased in crystal.

"Haruki you need to calm down a bit okay? Then the crystal will go away." Sakura gently claimed, the medical ninja stored within her springing out to try and soothe Haruki.

The only way the crystal could disperse or break in the first place is by Haruki's own doing, or a very skilled swordsman at work. With no swordsman in sight, their best option was to try and calm her down.

Since Runa's face was tucked into her mom's shoulder, Boruto couldn't see the tears running down her face. However, he did in fact see Haruki crying, and he didn't hesitate before running over to try and help.

Again, he was only six, had zero clues as to why there was this giant diamond spike encasing her arm, but he still dashed over to her with zero hesitation.

"Haruki! Are you okay?" Boruto exclaimed, shifting his way between all of the moms to get to his own mom who was holding Haruki. All of the women froze, turning to the two with widened eyes.

Everyone was ready to protect Boruto and get him away in case Haruki freaked out further but to their surprise, she paused as well. With tears streaming down her face, she blinked confusedly at him.

He slowly glanced between her face and the crystal before tilting his head. "Why're you crying?"

Of course, she didn't answer, more like she couldn't. She was Tongue-tied, caught between really wanting to respond and trying to figure out what to say.

Haru and the rest of the moms shared glances, seeing as Haruki was starting to calm down a bit.

"She's crying because the crystal showing up was a little scary, but everything's okay now right Haruki?" Ino asked, bending down to reach their height with a wide smile, knowing Haruki herself wouldn't answer the blonde.

Boruto took a step forward out of concern for Haruki, seeing as her tears weren't letting up despite her nodding to Ino. "Scared? But I think it's really cool!" He exclaimed, shifting his focus to the sparkling diamond encasing her arm.

Haruki's dark eyes widened at his words, a reddish color suddenly flooding her cheeks at the compliment as if her cheeks weren't already colored enough from him being near her in the first place.

Haruki looked away from Boruto, tucking her face into the crook of Hinata's neck for some sort of moral support, to which the Hyuga gladly offered by gently playing with her hair.

"Haruki what do we say when we get compliments?" Haru asked, a knowing smirk on her lips as she rubbed circles on Runa's back.

Haruki didn't look up from Hinata's neck but still managed to squeak out a small 'thank you!' that had everyone saying their "awwwws" and Boruto's eyes widening in surprise.

Although it wasn't necessarily directed at him.....it was still for him right?!

With Haruki thoroughly distracted by the fact that Boruto was so nearby, she didn't even know how she managed to break apart her crystal, having it disperse into thousands of glittering pieces.

Boruto gaped at the sight before mindlessly grabbing onto Haruki's hand and tugging her out of Hinata's hold, pointing to the falling sparkling pieces in amazement.

"You did that?!" He gasped excitedly, failing to notice the way Haruki was seconds away from fainting because he tugged her right into his side and she had never been this close to him in her life!!

Before she could virtually die in his arms, however, Temari was to the rescue already seeing that this was wayyyy too much for Haruki's sensitive heart to handle, and she picked her up whilst ruffling Boruto's hair.

"She did! Hehe, let's go back outside hm?" Haru smiled, reaching out her free hand that wasn't holding onto Runa to Boruto.

Boruto, always the little boy with a massive crush on his dad's old teammate, nodded obediently and took her hand without any hesitance.

He didn't forget about Haruki however and turned around to wave at her goodbye, the last thing he remembered from that day being her shyly waving back.

As Boruto recalled the events from many years ago, Shikadai nodded along.

"That was probably the only time we ever saw her use those crystals. She's even like that now, She just chooses not to fight whenever she doesn't have to," Shikadai stated.

"So Runa's the one who fights more often?" Mitsuki asked in intrigue, Shikadai & Boruto both nod in unison.

"They couldn't be more different, Haruki is the type to let someone win even if she has the upper hand, and even if she wins she beats the other person as gently as possible. But Runa's really competitive." Shikadai sighed, resting his chin on his hand as he overlooked the streets beneath the bridge they're all on.

"In our physical exams, Runa and Haruki got the same time on everything though," Mitsuki claimed, confused.

"Yeah, that's cuz Runa would never let her fall behind. So Haruki just matches up to her so that Runa won't complain." Boruto replied, telling Mitsuki a bit more about the interesting dynamic of the twins.

The topic of the twins eventually shifts onto other students, and to avoid looking too interested in the Uchiha girls Mitsuki went along with the change.

However, his curiosities would only be piqued by what would happen next.

"Hi, Mitsuki right? Can I speak with you?" A soft voice suddenly spoke up, causing the three boys to whirl around in surprise.

Boruto literally almost choked on thin air at the sight of who the voice belonged to.

There she was, Haruki Uchiha who stood around the same height as the rest of the boys, looking directly at Mitsuki as she spoke.

She had a fire lit up under her ass from her previous confrontation with her own sister and Sumire at the grocery store, but she quickly found the fire dwindling into sheepishness as she stood across from her three classmates.

She had no clue that they were all talking about her moments prior, all she knew was that Mitsuki is someone she wanted to consult on her issues.

She was fiddling with the straps of her pastel-colored bag as she awaited Mitsuki's response, biting her inner cheek out of pure habit. It was a lot for her to walk up to Boruto's group of friends without Inojin around as her moral support, but she needed someone to talk to.

And she sensed that Mitsuki could be the one who'd believe her.

She then glanced over at the bewildered faces of Boruto and Shikadai before flushing a bit herself. "Alone."

Now Boruto's relationship with Haruki has always been a bit complex.

Ever since they were babies, Haruki found herself smitten with the blonde Uzumaki boy. She didn't find it hard to be, with his pretty blue eyes and bright smile, she was confused as to how Runa didn't feel the same way!

She'd always shy away from him though, apparently even as a baby!

According to her mother, Haruki would always hide in the crook of her father's neck whenever Boruto came around for a visit, displaying an adorable father-daughter moment.

Embarrassingly enough, or sweetly enough? Haruki didn't know, In her baby years/fairytale phase she was a firm believer in the fact that Boruto was who she was destined to be with, her prince charming!

In today's time, well she could only hope it was true...

Haruki kept her lovestruck dreams and hopes to herself, never ever showing Boruto an ounce of how much she actually liked him, and as a result, Boruto has been led to believe she simply hated him.

How could he not? They've never shared a word after a lifetime of being in each other's lives!

And yet-

He couldn't help but be a little charmed by her.