Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

REVISED 5/30/2015

All posted chapters have been revised. This basically involved cleaned up typos, rewording a little dialogue, fixing a messed up name and correcting a continuity error. While there are very likely still errors because I'm not perfect, these should be a little cleaner. I have redone all that was already posted in order to get myself back in the game of writing. I know it's been getting close to a year now since I've last updated, but I am working on it. Life happened and I'm sorry but I'm back. And if it makes you feel better, my little sister is going to be badgering me to update and since I live with this person and I'll want her off my back, it is likely that you will get more frequent updates now.

No Thanks Necessary

Chapter 2

Naruto remembered the first time that Kiba had spent the night at his place.

Naruto had been out late training (or practicing his shuriken tossing and failing miserably and ultimately loosing most of the fickle weapons to the dark…so…training) and had been finally making his way home. He ignored a few pointed glares and linked his hands behind his head (makes it harder to hit) and whistled as he made his way down the roads. The loud whistle blocked out the sound of their whispers so he kept it up only louder, forcing his ears to focus on that.

So he had missed the pounding footsteps.

His breath flew out of him with force as he rocketed off of his feet and to the side, clutching his ribs as he caught his breath and blinked the stars out of his eyes.

Sprawled on the ground next to him was Kiba Inuzuka, a loud boy from his class at the Academy.

Naruto didn't particularly like Kiba. It wasn't so much anything that the boy had done, or failed to do. It wasn't anything to do with the way that Kiba treated Naruto, because Kiba barely had Naruto even on his radar and so treated the blonde the way that he treated everyone else who wasn't part of his group. It was that Kiba acted so much like Naruto. He was loud and brash and in your face. He laughed hard and long and liked to pull pranks. He wasn't the smartest kid in the class and often gave stupid answers in class.

He was just like Naruto.

But people liked him. No one pointed fingers or taunted him. No parents pulled their kids away from him on the playground. Why was Kiba okay, but Naruto wasn't? It wasn't fair!

So he didn't like Kiba and tried to avoid the boy when possible because seeing him caused an ache deep within his chest, and a cold weight would settle making it just a bit difficult to breathe.

But Kiba was crying.

Rivers of tears streamed down the red fang marks on his cheeks as the brunette pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. It was the kind of cry that you didn't want others to see. The kind of cry that physically hurt as it racked your lungs and raged through your body. It wasn't pretty or cute, it was the sort of cry that shouldn't fit inside so small a body.

Naruto was well familiar with that kind of cry.

He darted his eyes around the street seeing if anyone else was around. If anyone saw this right now they would assume that Naruto had done something to his classmate and he would really be in for it.

He breathed a short sigh of relief when he saw that there was no one else about and focused back on his classmate. He was surprised that Kiba hadn't jumped up and yelled at Naruto for getting in his way. Or called him a moron. Or just screamed something pointless and run off.

Instead sobs tore through the boy even as he tried to push it down. The more he fought it, the worse it became.

Naruto reached out a small hard slowly towards a trembling fist clenching into the dusty road, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" the boy growled out, rubbing harshly against his eyes to try and stop the tears from falling.

Naruto let his hand drop hearing the boy's tone. "Oh…okay…"

The pair sat there in silence for a moment, unsure of what to do or how to proceed.

Then Kiba's stomach growled loudly, startling the poor boys but finally working to stem the tears of the Inuzuka.

"Um…" Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Are you hungry?" He pointed up towards a small building at the end of the street. "That's my place if you want something to eat."

Kiba darted his eyes between the blonde and the dilapidated building he was pointing towards, sniffling lightly.

"Your parents won't mind?"

A small sad smile rested on Naruto's face for a moment, "Don't have any. I live alone."

"But you're eight!" Kiba exclaimed, too shocked at the information to remember why he had been upset in the first place.

Naruto shrugged. He didn't know what to say so he just stood up and brushed off his pants before reaching out a hand to Kiba to help him do the same.

The Inuzuka eyed it for a moment before biting the bullet and grabbing the dirty hand. "Alright."

After a meal of instant ramen and cheese sandwiches, Kiba rested his head on the table, feet swinging free, as Naruto cleaned the dishes in the sink, standing on a small stool so he could be tall enough.

Naruto glanced back, placing the last dish in the strainer before sighing slightly. "Are your parents going to be worried?"

Kiba sorted and turned his head the other way so that Naruto could only see the back of his head. "Doubt they'll even notice I'm gone." He murmured.

Naruto tilted his head curiously. He didn't know what it was like to have a parent but in his mind it was someone who was always there to welcome you home. Naruto never felt loneliness so keen as that first moment through the door at the end of the day. The stale air that hadn't moved because there was no one else moving about, the perfect silence punctured only by the cycling of the refrigerator, it would all slam into him at once and he always had to fight to take that first step in because the urge would always hit him to just slam the door and run away. To not face the terror of that empty place all alone. But the moment would pass and Naruto would enter and move about in silence because he had nowhere else to go.

"What do you mean?"

The blonde genuinely could not understand.

"They're fighting." Kiba sighed, "They're always fighting."

"Your mom and dad?"

Kiba grunted. "Mom. Dad. Everybody…"

Naruto bit his lip. "Well…you could stay here tonight if you want…?" Naruto had never had anyone stay at his place before. In fact, the only person other than Kiba that he had ever invited inside was Old Man Hokage. Having made the offer seemed somehow momentous, important to Naruto as one of those things that normal kids did that he had never had the chance to do. Even though he knew that this was not a sleepover like other kids had. He knew that this was far more serious than that, still…he couldn't help but feel some sort of wondrous joy at the thought that he could wake up in the night and hear someone else breathing and know that he was not alone.

Kiba turned his head to face the blonde once more and studied the boy. Naruto fidgeted under the gaze and wouldn't meet Kiba's eyes.

"Thanks." Kiba finally said, settling his head down once more on his arms.

After that, whenever Kiba was scared at home, when the screaming got too loud, or the thunking of tossed objects grew too close to his door, the boy would slip out of his window and head across town, to beat out his little rhythm on the blonde's door, who welcomed him in without question.