Chapter 2 of Fighting Addiction. I only to plan to make about three chapters to this story, so there's really nothing special about it. Later on, after I finish my other story, I'll come back and add more chapters, but for now, I'm limiting it to three.

Disclaimer: I only own Lauralie and the plot.


The fire had burned down the entire house, and nearly spread to surrounding houses before being extinguished. Police say that the young Kumori girl was not in the house, however are unable to locate her. Many are questioning if perhaps it was Kumori herself that set the fire, with an intention to set the entire neighbourhood on fire. According to neighbors, she was actually an alcoholic, smoker, and drug addict, forcing the police to look into these claims.

"Damn, I guess Zabuza's screwed over." Lauralie turned in her seat to face the two across from her, who had been watching the news with her. Beside her, a boy her age had been staring at the screen as well, but seemed uninterested in what exactly had been broad casted.

"Fucking hell shorty, what the hell did you burn you entire house down for?!" It was two days after Lauralie had made her escape from Konoha. After driving for nearly four hours, she ended up in Suna, a city that was a fair distance away from her home. Finding the Suna Reformation Clinic, Lauralie had checked herself in, and met the 'Sand Siblings'. To be truthful, it was them that met her...Kankuro meeting her fist. He had decided he was going to grope her ass, and been put in an extreme amount of pain. Temari had introduced them, and they had stuck to her after that. If she were to tell the truth, it wasn't that bad, and they were starting to grow on her.

"I didn't mean to kill the house, just my crap, so butt the fuck out she-male." Two days without drugs, alcohol, or a cigarette were really starting to get to Lauralie. She needed them, but at the same time, she didn't want them. Thankfully, she had the silent support of the three, who were here for the same reason as her, just not as bad. It was around mid-morning, meaning lunch was about two hours away, and breakfast had ended three hours ago. All the 'patients' had gathered in the rec-room, and were entertaining themselves with various means. The sudden appearance of the news cast on her had caught the four's attention, and the TV had been turned up so they could hear.

"Oi, I told you not to call me that! It's paint god damnit, not makeup!" Kankuro had the odd habit of painting lines on his face for no apparent reason. Lauralie just thought that whatever he had done had gone to his head and permanently screwed him up. According to his sister Temari, he had done it ever since he was little. When she asked Gaara about it, he merely stared at her for a moment, and then shook his head.

"Fucking hell she-male, you put on makeup and play with damn dolls, I get every right I want to fucking call you anything!" Now she was sounding like Hidan...maybe she shouldn't have spent so much time around him. And now she couldn't help but wonder if her friends missed her, or were happy she was gone.

"Oh yeah, well if you were any shorter, you would legally be a midget!" Lauralie snapped her attention to Kankuro and growled low in her throat.

"I'm 5'5" you fucking asshole, call me a midget again and we'll see how many of those dolls of yours I can stick up your ass and down your throat!" Despite appearances, Kankuro and Lauralie seemed to get along really well when not screaming at each other. The only real problem is that they both had attitudes, and they clashed quite often. Temari and Gaara tended to ignore these spats, as they ended quickly, with Lauralie either stomping off, or Kankuro groaning in pain on the floor. Today seemed like a stomping off day, as the young brunette got up and walked across the room to the pool table to play a game. Kankuro grinned, and celebrated his victory for a moment, and then turned to his siblings.

"She's going to be going into withdrawl soon." Temari focused her eyes on the young girl across the room. She had an irritated look on her face, and it was obvious she was getting desperate for some type of narcotic.

"Yeah...you have to feel bad for her, she was on a lot more than we were." Kankuro shrugged, and shot a glance at Lauralie.

"You can't unless you know why she was on the stuff. If she was on it because she thought it sounded cool, then it's her own fault." Temari glared at her brother evilly.

"No wonder she calls you an asshole. Something really bad could have happened, and here you are shooting her down." Kankuro turned to look at his sister, a defensive look on his face.

"Hey, we have no idea why she started, so I might be right." Neither seemed to notice Gaara had gotten up, and walked over to the pool table to join Lauralie's game. Settling his aqua eyes on his companion, Gaara waited patiently while she re-racked the balls so they could start their game. Her ebony hair was pulled back in a low ponytail over her shoulder, and she let her bangs hang in her silver eyes. Temari had taken her shopping a few hours after she showed up, so she had new cloths to wear, instead of the two outfits she had brought.

"Are you going to play, or stare at me?"Gaara blinked, and then glared at Lauralie as she smirked at him. Leaning over the table, he hit the cue ball into the stack of other balls, and watched them bounce off each other. Lauralie leaned over the table, and hit the cue ball off one of the colored balls, sending it into a hole.

"Why are you here?" Lauralie blinked, and the looked up at Gaara. His red bangs were hanging in his eyes, and he was staring at the table, looking for a move to make. The black circles about his eyes made him look gothic, and he went with the look with his cloths. A black tank top, and baggy black jeans were his clothing of choice for the day. Usually, the only thing that changed about his outfit was the color of his tank top, so he didn't have much variety.

"Same reason as you, I'm addicted to drugs, alcohol, and smoking." Gaara didn't respond, instead hitting one of the striped balls into the top left corner hole. Lauralie scanned his face, looking for any sign of a reaction. Normally, she would be distracted by the tattoo above his left eye, or the fact he had no eyebrows. Right now though, he was more interested in why he was questioning her.

"Why are you addicted?" Damn, he kept them short, sweet, and right to the point. Taking her turn, Lauralie shot another ball into a hole, and focused on the game rather than Gaara.

"My parents died in a car crash when I was 14. Four years later, my boyfriend of nearly five years broke up with me for a bimbo. After that, my friends didn't come around much and my problems started. It got worse over time, and I thought everyone was against me. I let down a lot of people, and that's nothing to be happy about." Gaara didn't respond, and waited for his turn to shoot. When Lauralie leaned back, he searched the table and found his shot. Taking it, his eyes slid from the ball to Lauralie, who was watching him thoughtfully.

"You guys never told me why your problems started." Gaara shrugged a single shoulder, and leaned back to let her take her turn.

"Various reasons." Lauralie sighed and nodded, knowing it was the best she was getting at that point in time. The game continued on for nearly an hour, the two talking about various things as they played. Eventually she learned the three were orphans like her, their mother died giving birth to Gaara, and their father killed himself two years back. Gaara was rather anti-social, but over time he made his answers longer, and was more willing to answer. By the time the lunch bell sounded, Lauralie knew more about Gaara than anyone besides his siblings. After abandoning their game, the two walked to the lunch room with Temari and Kankuro.

-_-_-_-Two days later-_-_-_-

Lauralie shifted in discomfort as a decent shock of pain ran up her spine. It was now four days after she checked into the clinic, and she really needed something to end the pain. The pain started yesterday afternoon, and had been getting worse since. She knew by the time she went to bed it would either end, or she would be screaming her lungs out in pain. Gaara seemed to understand what was going on, but wouldn't let her take any pain killers. According to him, she could get addicted to those, and have to go through withdrawal again; he had done it himself. Temari recommended she lay down and try to sleep, but she didn't have the patience for that. After explaining her reasons for being there, Kankuro didn't start as many spats, and seemed to have more respect for her.

"Lauralie, it's time for dinner." Nodding her head, Lauralie attempted to get out of her seat. A wave of pain raced along her body, and she winced slightly. Gaara, who had come with Temari to retrieve her, helped her out of her seat and down the hall to the cafeteria. Kankuro had saved them a table, and they quickly joined him after getting food from the server. Lauralie quickly ate, and then stood slowly to go to her room. The pain seemed to be getting worse, and she didn't want to be in front of everyone when it came full force.

"Night guys." The three bid her good night, and she quickly shuffled down the hall to her room. Closing the door, she practically ran to her bed and collapsed on top of it. After pulling over a pillow, she stuffed her face into it and screamed as loud as she could, but it was muffled to a dull level. Lauralie held the pillow close, and sobbed into it as the pain started coming more and more frequently, and at a higher intensity. Reaching for her end table, Lauralie fumbled for a moment, and then remembered her phone was now nothing more than a charred piece of plastic. Why had she done that again? Was she really that stupid when she was high? It didn't matter now, there was nobody here to help her. She wanted Shino, he always made things better when they were bad.

Whimpering to herself, Lauralie felt shakes start to accompany the pain in her body. It was unbearable, and she suddenly realized what was so stupid about her addictions. This was nothing, if she could get through this, then she could make it the entire way. But she knew, if she hadn't stopped, if Ino hadn't woken her up, she could have easily died. She owed her blond friend her life, and would never be able to pay her back. A cry of pain tore it's way from her throat as a particular nasty wave raced up her spine.

Curling up into herself, Lauralie decided she was going to wait it all out. Even if she was alone, she would make it through this. Closing her eyes, Lauralie tried to force herself into sleep. Her eyes snapped open when she felt herself being pulled up, and a pair of arms wrapping around her waist. Glancing behind her slightly, she caught sight of a lock of red hair, and knew instantly who it was. Gaara was helping her a lot lately, but she was grateful for it. Leaning back against his slightly larger frame, Lauralie closed her eyes and promised herself she would endure the pain.

-_-_-_-A week later-_-_-_-

The rec room was filled with murmurs of irritated patients who had been woken at 7:30 for breakfast. Gaara and the others sat at the back of the room, Lauralie nibbling on the muffin she had stolen from the doctors lounge. They didn't get muffins, instead they got oatmeal or cereal. Hell, not even eggs were served, and when there was no eggs, she put her foot down. If you don't give her eggs, she'll take whatever it is you get. For example, the nice banana muffin she had swiped from them. A couple days ago a new kid named Sai had shown up. He, like Temari, was three years older than Lauralie and Gaara, but he was cool. In fact, she had conned him into hanging out with them, and he was teaching her to draw. Not that she didn't already know, thanks to Deidara and his boyfriend Sasori, but he was teaching her the way he drew, with only a few lines.

"Damn it shorty, how come you always get the good food?" Lauralie looked up from her muffin at Kankuro curiously. Now that she had finally gotten the drugs from her system, her eyes were a lot clearer, and a much more startling shade of silver than they thought. They weren't as dark as they thought, in fact, they were extremely light. She stared at Kankuro dully for a moment, and then smirked.

"You gotta take it dude; they'll never just give it to you." Kankuro huffed, and turned away in defeat.

"I'm not a thief like you." Gaara looked up from the hand held game he had been playing. After staying with her last week, the two were a lot closer, and had a large respect for each other.

"Shut up Kankuro." Kankuro slouched, but did respond; you never spoke back to Gaara, it was just a rule. In fact the only one who ever got away with it was Lauralie two days ago when he had told her to stop yelling at Kankuro. She had then yelled at Gaara, and the older siblings had expected him to do something. They were astounded when he only glared lightly at her, and then 'hn'ed.

"Yeah she-male, shut up." There was no rule about talking back to Lauralie, however.

"Did you just order me around midget?" Lauralie smirked, and put down her muffin.

"Yes I did, are you going deaf now, too?"

" What did you say? I couldn't hear you, your mouth is too far away from my ear." Lauralie stuck her tongue out at Kankuro and went back to her treat. Just because he was 6'2", he loved to hold it over her head. Temari looked up, and smiled at Lauralie.

"I'll get him." Reaching over to her brother, Temari smacked him upside the head. Kankuro flinched, and rubbed against the bump lightly.

"I'm always getting ganged up on." Lauralie smirked, and glanced over at Gaara curiously. He had gone back to his game, and was playing it silently as they talked. Leaning over his shoulder, Lauralie watched with fascination as he played, destroying every enemy that presented itself to him. He had only stiffened slightly when she had leaned on him, and relaxed again when all she did was watch.

"Panda, what exactly is so fascinating about that game?" Gaara flinched at his nickname, and refused to answer. They had all evidently earned nick names with the now cheerful brunette, Kankuro being She-male, Sai as Belly Boy, him as Panda, and Temari as Bun-bun. Kankuro had dubbed Lauralie herself Shorty, as it was the first thing he had called her.

"It's entertainment." Lauralie blinked, and then shrugged.

"Making fun of she-male is entertainment, that's just boring." Gaara smirked slightly, and went back to his game as Lauralie started yet another spat with Kankuro. For some reason, he felt he wasn't going to be shaking her off to soon, and he really didn't want to. She was entertaining, and she kept Kankuro in line. Glancing back up, Gaara stared at Lauralie and then went back to his game. He could really imagine spending a long time with her; the only thing to do was to convince her of it.


There, chapter 2. This is going really fast, but I'm going to be coming back later and rewriting/adding on chapters.