Hey sorry that it has been such a long time that I haven't updated. I just want to say thank you to everybody for the amazing reviews and I'm glad that I do have people reading. =]

Disclaimer: Nope, Naruto is not owned bii mii *sigh*

What Lies Beneath

"Have you guy's uhm…mad any uh progress?" I questioned Sakura awkwardly. She looked at me and put her head down knowing exactly what I was asking.

"We haven't chosen a new person…we wanted your input on it. We didn't really know if you were going to come back or not so we just delayed it," she answered me back.

"Oh…" I answered her feeling a wave of sadness overwhelm me. Just then a door to one of the rooms opened and Shino walked out with his glasses characteristically placed on his face. He didn't say anything to me as he grabbed a mug from the cupboard and filled it with coffee.

Looking him over I saw that he was wearing Kiba's pajama bottoms and his oversized High School sweatshirt. I looked away from him as he walked back into the room and shut the door quietly. Looking over at Sakura as she looked back at me I shook my head not believing the shambles that my friends were in.

"How has he been holding up?"

"He's being Shino…he doesn't say much of anything anymore. I don't blame him…I mean Kiba was like his first everything! First kiss…first and only lover…I have no idea how Shino's doing mentally though. He doesn't speak to anybody and he rarely comes out of that room," Sakura answered me. I ran my hand along my face and shook my head.

"Sakura…I just want to make things right,"

"Nothing was ever wrong,"

"No…I want our band to go mainstream…I want the world to hear our songs. They're real…and people need to hear them and be inspired. They need to listen,"

"We need a drummer…"

"And we'll find one. I mean how many people are going to say no to Uzumaki Naruto, former guitarist of Konoha Legend?" I laughed.

"That is true," Sakura told me. I looked down at my hands and felt Sakura looking at me as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug.

"It's gonna be okay," Sakura told me. I looked over at her and nodded seeing as how I was the only one who really knew how I felt. It looked like I had it all together but in reality I was truly breaking apart.

---------

"I don't want methadone," Sasuke said to one of the many nurses at the center. She looked at him as he said this and her eyes widened when she finally understood what he just said.

"Why would you not want the methadone?" she questioned him. Sasuke tilted his head to the side and looked at the wall.

"I want to be totally and completely clean…nothing at all in my system but me,"

"The Methadone is used to help the withdrawal syndrome that you are going to experience,"

"I don't care,"

"You are going to be in a lot of pain without the methadone,"

"I realize," Sasuke answered her unemotionally. She looked down at her charts and then back up at Sasuke.

"I love your band by the way…I had no idea that you were uhm…"

"Addicted to heroin?" Sasuke said bluntly looking at her. She blushed and nodded. Sasuke shrugged and hopped off the examination table and put his shirt back on.

"There's a lot you don't know about me," Sasuke answered her. She looked at him and then looked away as she turned around and got a pair of sweatpants and a plain t-shirt and handed it to Sasuke.

"These will be your new clothes for the time being as you are here. We would rather that you don't have anything with zippers, laces, or any kind of sharp metals or strings," she told him. Sasuke nodded and smirked.

"Afraid I'm gonna kill myself?" Sasuke asked her.

"Not kill yourself per-say. You will see as the treatment begins why it is in fact that we require this," she answered him.

"Okay…so when does it start?" Sasuke questioned.

"Well you can get changed as I step out of this room now and when you are finished I will be back in and then our therapist will evaluate you,"

Sasuke nodded as the woman stepped out of the room and he was left alone. He took his shirt off again and slipped on the shirt that she provided him with. He then slipped on the sweatpants that was provided after taking off his jeans and saw that the sweatpants didn't have a drawstring. Sighing he sat back down on the bed that was provided and waited for the woman to come back.

Sasuke noticed that she was nice and gentle. A caring person to say the least who seemed to smile a lot. He wondered what she would have done if she would have been in Naruto's position. Since she worked at a place like this she would know how to handle it obviously.

Thinking back to Naruto, Sasuke couldn't believe that this is where the crazy blonde had brought him. Without him he would never be in this position…ever. He knew for a fact that if it were anybody else there was now way in hell he would be here. Thinking back on it Sasuke wondered where the meaningless sex had gone and how he had become such a…a tool. When did he change?

The door to the room opened again and the woman came back in and saw that he was changed. She smiled at him and took his clothes in her hands, putting it on top of her clipboard.

"Okay, so we will keep these for you while your stay here is completed," she told Sasuke. Sasuke nodded and looked at her.

"What's your name?" Sasuke questioned her.

"My name?"

"Yeah,"

"Tenten," she answered him. Sasuke nodded and looked away from her.

"Is it true?"

Sasuke looked back at the woman and raised an eyebrow.

"Is what true?"

"The things they say about you and Naruto," she answered him. Sasuke felt a stab in his chest, only imaging the things that were circulating about him and Naruto.

"What exactly are they saying?" Sasuke questioned.

"You two broke up. Some say it's a good thing, others say it's a shame. It happened after he smashed the guitar over your head," she answered him. Sasuke didn't say anything and nodded to himself. Of course the media would give their own opinions when it was needed.

"We did break up…but I plan to get him back," Sasuke answered her getting off of the examination table. He walked past Tenten and stood at the doorway. Looking over his shoulder he looked at her and frowned.

"Is this going to work?"

"Is what going to work?"

"This treatment…will it really cure me?"

"It will if you stick by it. If you work hard at it and follow our instructions,"

"Okay…so where's this therapist?" Sasuke questioned.

Tenten walked by him and opened the door walking in front of him so Sasuke could follow her. He followed her along the halls and stopped at a door. She smiled at him, putting a hand on his shoulder and walking away. Sasuke opened the door slowly and gasped not believing what was before him. As the man looked up he was seen to have the same color blue eyes that haunted Sasuke's dreams as well as the bright blonde hair that fell on both sides of his face to frame it nicely. If Naruto were 10 years older, he would look like the beautiful Adonis before him.

"Come in…I take it you are Uchiha Sasuke?"

"Yeah…I am,"

"Good, my name is Namikaze Minato,"

---------

I sat inside my room with the papers spread out in front of me. I scratched my head groaning and heard a soft rapping at my door. I looked up in confusion and quirked my head to the side in wonder.

"Come in," I shouted. There was a pause and then the door opened to allow Shino to walk inside. I put my pen down and looked at him in slight shock. He shut the door behind him and stood in front of it. I moved my papers to the side and motioned for him to sit down. He came into the room and sat down across from me facing the wall as I faced him.

"Hey Shino…" I said slowly. He didn't say anything and just kept looking at the wall. I looked him over and noticed that he was paler than usual and he was still in Kiba's sleeping pants and his high school sweatshirt.

"How are you feeling?" I questioned him. He didn't answer until after a while he finally shrugged. I continued to stare at him and ended up sitting in Indian style. Shino and I sat in silence for a while. I kept staring at him and wondered what was going through his head since he was so silent. He never said much; in fact he rarely said anything at all.

"How do YOU feel?"

My ears perked up at the low voice and tilted my head. Did I just hear correctly? Was Shino really asking ME if I were okay?

"Um…yeah…why wouldn't I be?" I questioned him awkwardly. It was odd that Shino had just asked me that question seeing as how somebody whom he was emotionally and physically involved with.

"It…hurts more when…a person you love is still living and breathing and you cannot be with them, then if the person is…gone," he answered me. I didn't say anything realizing what he was saying and why he was asking me this question. I didn't say anything and nibbled on my bottom lip. I didn't want to say something in fear of my voice wavering. I felt a hand on my shoulder and flinched looking at Shino and seeing his gaze on me.

"Don't let something as good as what you two have pass you by. He cares about you and you OBVIOUSLY care about him. Some of us don't get that choice to have those other people we care for still with us,"

"I continued to look at him and blinked a few times not believing. How could Shino possibly be telling ME to be strong and here he had just lost somebody.

"But…you're…you…I should be giving YOU a speech right now," I told him in disbelief. Shino hugged Kiba's sweater to himself tighter and looked away from me.

"The difference is that I'm not in need of a speech. I know that I will be fine. I may be grieving, but I'll get through it. Even though you try to hide it…it's as if you have a big scarlet letter written on you. My grieving will soon end, but your heart will not mend as quickly," Shino explained to me. I shuddered feeling the tears well up in my eyes.

"How…how are you dealing?" I questioned him. Shino got up then from the bed and walked towards my bedroom door and went to leave but turned over his shoulder to look at me.

"Does it look like I'm dealing?"

I blinked once and the next thing I knew he was no longer there. I didn't quite understand why Shino in fact came into my room to tell me what he did. Hell, the few words we shared was the most I had ever spoken to Shino in a lifetime.

Curling my knees into my chest I thought about what Shino had just told me. Was it true that if someone was alive it hurt more than if they were…dead? I groaned and rested my head against the top of my knees. Lifting my head up in a hurry I knew I had to go somewhere. Getting up from my bed and not bothering to put on real clothing and just put on a jacket and my sneakers and left to go make a visit. I had to clear my head.

---------

Sasuke walked into the waiting room or more so called the common room. He sat down in one of the chairs looking at everything around him. He saw one person shivering in a corner as if they were cold. One person came over to him and sat beside him with a smile on his face.

"Hi,"

"…hn,"

"What's your name?"

"…Sasuke,"

"I'm Suigetsu,"

"What are you in here for?"

"Addicted to meth," Suigetsu answered. Sasuke didn't say anything and looked away. He did heroin and this Suigetsu guy did meth, obviously there were other screw-ups in this place that were far worse than him.

"How long have you been here?" Sasuke questioned him.

"About…4 months,"

"What made you come here?"

"…I almost died," he answered. Sasuke nodded and looked around the room. Everybody had their story as to why they were here. For some it was family, others it was love and for those few they were doing it for themselves. Sasuke looked away just as a girl was walking over glaring at Suigetsu as she came.

"Where is Juugo?" she questioned a bit angrily. Suigetsu shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"How the hell should I know, am I his keeper and wasn't made aware," Suigetsu questioned bitterly. The girl growled and smacked him upside the head as Suigetsu growled at her. She looked over at me and a grin popped up on her face.

"Hey…aren't you Sasuke? Yeah! Oh my god! You are! You're Uchiha Sasuke!" she screamed loudly. Sasuke scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well aren't you a genius?" Sasuke mumbled. Suigetsu laughed and looked over at Sasuke.

"Is there something you haven't told me?"

"Are you an idiot? Sasuke is only the single most hottest guy! Who just so happens to be the lead singer of the hottest rock band Konoha Legend!" The girl shouted exasperated. Suigetsu looked at me wide eyed and laughed.

"YOU'RE Uchiha Sasuke?" he questioned him surprised. Sasuke nodded and Suigetsu rested his chin in his palm.

"So what's the great Uchiha Sasuke in here for? Slumming? Need new ideas for your music?"

"SUIGETSU!"

"I'm here to get clean," Sasuke answered.

"For what? Publicity?"

"No," Sasuke growled out angrily.

"Then what is it pretty boy?"

"Suigetsu stop being rude,"

"Shutup Karin,"

"DON'T TELL ME TO SHUTUP!"

"Love,"

Karin and Suigetsu paused and looked over at Sasuke. Sasuke looked at his hands and then talk up at them.

"I'm here to get clean for love,"

---------

I pulled my jacket closer to my chest since it after all was getting a bit chilly even for L.A. I walked forward a bit and stood in front of my destination and looked down at the engraving.

Inuzuka Kiba, beloved lover and mostly friend. "Ruler of the dogs"

I sat down in front of his grave and looked down at my hands not quite knowing what to do or say. I had seen many people do these kind of things before, but for me to talk to a grave was a bit hard.

"Hey…Kiba…how's it going?" I questioned the grave. Of course there was no answer and I felt stupid for even coming here. Wrapping my arms around me tighter feeling cold even though it was nowhere near this cold. I went to get up and felt a tug as I sat back down. I glanced down and finally put my hands in my hair. This was hard and I couldn't just bear my soul to somebody who wasn't there.

"Dude…there's no way for me to say this clearly or perfectly…I freaking miss you! I miss hearing your voice condescend me at everything I do. I miss your laugh which would make everything seem okay even if I was on the brink of having a nervous breakdown…I'm sorry…I'm sorry for the things that I said and for not believing you. I was stupid and wrong…and you were right and I was stupid for not listening to you," I said in one breath. I felt a wind pass by me, enveloping me in its embrace. It didn't feel so much as cold but more so comforting.

"I wrote a song…and I would always run it pass you before it was performed…I wanted to like sing it to you and you tell me whether or not you like it. Just…give me a sign…something," I said slowly. I felt at ease and took a deep breath trying to remember the words to the song that I had written.

Take a breath

Hold it in

Start a fight,

You won't win

Had enough?

Let's begin

Never mind

I don't care

All in all

You're no good

You don't cry

Like you should

Let it go

If you could

When love dies

In the end

I took a breath and opened my eyes to look at the grave in front of me.

So I'll find what lies beneath

Your sick twisted smile

As I lie underneath

Your cold jaded eyes

Now you turn the tide on me

Cause you're so unkind

I will always be here

For the rest of MY LIFE

I pause knowing this is a break from the chorus and the next verse and take a breath, steadying myself before singing the next part.

Here we go

Does it hurt?

Say goodbye,

To this world

I will not

Be undone

Come to life

It gets worse

All in all

You're no good

You don't cry

Like you should

I'll be gone

When you fall

Your sad life

Says it all

I laugh at myself realizing how cruel the song sounds and how much I in fact don't care.

So I'll find what lies beneath

Your sick twisted smile

As I lie underneath

Your cold jaded eyes

Now you turn the tide on me

Cause you're so unkind

I will always be here

For the rest of my life

DON'T

Carry me under

You're the devil in disguise

GOD

Sing for the hopeless

I'm the one you left behind

I paused again breathing and bit back a choke that was itching its way from my throat.

So I'll find what lies beneath

Your sick twisted smile

As I lie underneath

Your cold jaded eyes

Now you turn the tide on me

Cause you're so unkind

I will always be here

For the rest of MY LIFE!

I finished the song and looked at the headstone not knowing what I was waiting for. I waited for a few moments and then felt a tickle under my nose as a few leaves floated over to me. I saw how the branches swayed melodiously in what seemed happiness. I smiled at the headstone and nodded.

"Thanks Kiba…rest easy, I'll visit you again soon," I told the stone as I jumped up to my feet feeling better than how I felt when I had first come to the cemetery.

---------

"So what exactly is all this crap?" Sasuke questioned. Karin raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"Do you mean the sessions?" she questioned him. Sasuke nodded since he assumed that's what it was called.

"Well we basically get together as a group and talk about how we're going with our treatment," she answered him as they walked towards the big room. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"What is it a mental asylum?" Sasuke questioned laughing silently to himself.

"Well they follow a lot of the same practices as a mental asylum. From what I've heard it works," Suigetsu answers.

"Well it better work," Sasuke answered. They walked into a room where there were many chairs and a few people already sitting down in seats waiting for the rest of the group to appear. Karin, sat next to Suigetsu whom sat next to Sasuke as they waited for the rest of the group. Soon enough he circle was filled with one chair empty and it was soon filled with the famous therapist whom they all spoke to at one time or another.

"Hello, how are you all feeling today," Sasuke looked around and noticed that there were a few people looking dazed, as some others consistently scratched themselves and others just seemed out of it completely. Nobody answered Mianto's question as he looked around the room and smiled to himself.

"Well it's good to know that you all are feeling so well. How about we start going around and share hm?" Minato said. He looks at Karin.

"Karin let's start with you, so you can get the ball rolling," he said with a grin. Karin looked surprised and then looked away. Sasuke looked at her and saw as she didn't make eye contact with anybody.

"Well uhm…my name is Karin and I have been clean for 92 days and well it hasn't been easy. I'm here because I am addicted to Ecstasy. My treatment is getting…better, the after effects are getting worse…but I suspected that…I just sorta…miss everything…everyone who well…used to be there…and I…I…" Karin stopped then as a tear fell onto her hand. Sasuke saw this and looked at Minato then. The tears continued to fall from her eyes as Minato looked at Suigetsu and smiled encouragingly at him to go on.

"You all know my story. Suigetsu, clean for 121 days, so yeah, I'm not perfect. It almost killed me. I think that I'm done, I know that I've progressed…and I'm done, I can go now!" Suigetsu almost growled his eyes flaring.

"Now Suigetsu you know that's not up to you to decide. We've spoken about this," Minato told him.

"And I'm DONE speaking!" Suigetsu shouted angrily. Minato looked at him calmly and noted some things down on his pad and looked back up at Suigetsu.

"Now with your constant mood swings do you think that you will be an okay member to society?"

"What I think is that I'm clean. I think that I'm free and good enough to be a respectable member to society. I think that you need to let me out of this hell hole,"

"You can leave any time you are welcome. You know that. We are not forcing you to stay here as well as you have chosen to come here," Minato told him calmly. Suigetsu didn't say anything as he looked away from Minato. Minato then looked over at me as I scowled and the smile on his face widened.

"Well Sasuke…you're new to this, how about you introduce yourself to the group, and tell everybody what you're here for," Minato told him. Sasuke scowled and looked around himself at the all the inquisitive stares.

"Well yeah, I'm Uchiha Sasuke lead singer of Konoha Legend. What I'm addicted to is none of your business," Sasuke looked at Minato has he said this next line and smirked, "and no matter what you do…you're not going to get me to cry,"

"Our mission here is not to get you to cry Sasuke,"

"That may not be your mission, but I bet you pride yourself on that,"

"Now why would we pride ourselves on that?"

"You probably see it as them advancing in their treatment, which is honestly a load of bullshit," Sasuke answered. A few people in the group narrowed their eyes and a few others gasped at his mention of a curse.

"Why do you say that Sasuke?"

"Because it isn't right that somebody who is an emotional basket case is considered to be further along in their treatment opposed to somebody who doesn't express themselves emotionally well,"

"Like you?"

----------

Later that night Sasuke started to feel the first effects of withdrawal. He was unable to sit still and sweat started to coat his body unceremoniously. He couldn't fall asleep for he was drenched through. He ended up opening his door to catch the attention of a nurse who came towards him then. He shivered slightly and wondered why he felt so cold when he was in fact sweating bullets.

"Yes Mr. Uchiha?" she questioned him.

"Is there a…reason wh-why it's so cold?" Sasuke questioned. The nurse gave him a somber smile and continued to look at him.

"Actually Mr. Uchiha, it is not cold at all. We are at regular room temperature. You're body is now reacting with the simple withdrawal symptoms," she answered him.

"So…soo-soon?" Sasuke shivered. She nodded and continued to look at him.

"People experience their symptoms at different times and stages," she answered him. Sasuke shivered again and crawled into the bed as he felt himself becoming cold. He pulled the covers over himself and tried his best to stop sweating and it wasn't working. He felt aches in his bones and knew that this had to be a part of the withdrawal. He felt something clench in his stomach and knew that something was coming up. He knelt over the bed and threw up into the provided bucket and groaned. This was worse than he had expected.

---------

Hello, yes I know it has been a long wait and I'm sort of rushing the entire rehab process a bit. I know that in reality you do not start feeling withdrawal on the first day but just go with it. Okay so yeah, ya know the drill. Drop a review! =]