A/N: Naruto is not mine. Nor is the book from which the title is taken. Which is nothing like this story either really.

The first time was on full moon. Iruka remembers that quite clearly.

Earlier that day, Naruto had been pulling yet another one of his inane pranks. It had been something silly; putting glue on the chalk or something. But it had been a long week, with mishaps abound and sleepless nights and the anniversary of his parents' death around the corner and Iruka lost his temper.

It took him exactly four minutes and twenty seconds to reduce Naruto into a silent trembling wreck in front of the whole class. The boy didn't cry but it was a near thing. The students were meekly obedient for the remainder of the day and Iruka carefully avoided looking at Naruto as he finished the lesson.

After the class was dismissed, Naruto disappeared out a window before Iruka had a chance to talk to him, to apologize. Cursing his slowness, Iruka shoved his papers into a drawer for later and hurried to chase after the boy.

He looked everywhere but Naruto had always been surprisingly good at sneaking about when he wanted to despite what his typical dress and demeanor might suggest. After five unsuccessful hours, exhausted and defeated, Iruka trudged back home to get some long delayed rest.

Iruka was nearly asleep when he heard the soft shuffling sounds of someone disabling the traps on his window. He jolted up, kunai in hand and ready to throw before he froze. Naruto, halfway through the window he had just opened, did the same; the full moon behind him giving him almost an unearthly glow.

They stared at each other for a long moment before Iruka slowly placed down the kunai and Naruto just as slowly climbed the rest of the way in. Hesitantly, he walked over and settled on the ground next to Iruka's bed. Iruka stared confusedly down at the blond boy curled up on his floor, mind still hazy with sleep before laying back down and pulling up the covers.

He lay in the dark for several minutes, sleep tugging at him but too uneasy to fall all the way asleep. It suddenly occurred to him though that the ground was not a very comfortable place to sleep and he sat back up. He slurred a soft Naruto down at the boy and practically ordered him onto the bed. He handed Naruto an extra blanket before wriggling back under his own covers and finally, finally falling back asleep.

It occurred to him the next morning, with the sun shining from an open window and Naruto already gone, that Iruka could probably have just given Naruto his old bedroll instead.

As if that night had been an invitation though, Naruto continued to sneak in through Iruka's window. Sometimes it would be days and sometimes it would be weeks in between, but Iruka learned to recognize Naruto's familiar footsteps outside his window. He took to keeping an extra blanket handy and now tended to sleep on the left of the bed, leaving a space just large enough for a young boy to curl up on the right.

Naruto never said a word during those nights and Iruka could never quite bring himself to break the silence. They don't talk about it during daylight hours either; the one time Iruka tried, Naruto had rather neatly deflected his questions and ended up convincing Iruka to buy him dinner.

When Naruto left for his training trip with Jiraiya, Iruka found himself sometimes waking up in the middle of the night, sense straining for the familiar shuffle only to be met with silence.

The day Naruto finally comes back to Konoha, Iruka pulls out the new blanket bought (Naruto had grown so much) and stays up for hours, staring out his open window and waiting. He nearly dozes off half a dozen times when at long last Naruto lands softly on his window ledge.

He doesn't say a word, just hands Naruto the new blanket before settling down and closing his eyes. Iruka smiles as he listens to Naruto do the same beside him. It was good to have him home.