Disclaimer: I do NOT own the anime/manga of Naruto. Just like every other person that has written a disclaimer for their story. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto.

I'm so sorry this took so long. As soon as I got near the end of this chapter, I couldn't think of anything. But It's here now!

Prismatic Shadows

Chapter 2: Shifting Sands

Gaara couldn't suppress it. He was surprised. He thought that nothing could ever surprise him, and yet, here was this letter claiming that they were the eternal mystery. They wrote that they were the epitome of hell.

Clearly they're exaggerating.

"What a load of bull." Gaara muttered. After taking a small glance at the moon above him, he got up and left.

Gaara returned to his village where he quickly spotted his brother and sister, Kankuro and Temari.

Temari and Kankuro were having a drink. They were drinking in silence, which made the situation very different. Usually when Temari drinks, table dancing was very common. And Kankuro? He wasn't much of a drinker, so that would mean that Temari had persuaded him to come with her. They already had something serious to talk about. Gaara walked over to them to tell them about the message.

"Nani?!" Both Temari and Kankuro shouted at once.

Temari stood up. "This is fucking mass murder! We cannot allow our shinobi to go. We can't Gaara." She was angry. And she had a reason, her feelings weren't feelings of Every time she returned to the village she would take the time to visit some families in Sand. She had grown so close to Sand's population, she couldn't possibly send the people to be massacred.

Kankuro was surprised but unlike Temari, he never made time for his village. He took care of his genins and that's all.

But Gaara had already made the decision. The only reason why he hadn't made an announcement yet was because he would have to go through with the formality of disclosing it to Sand's council.

After an uncomfortable silence, they all left for home. The council would hear about it then they would prepare.

Sand isn't weak. We have to prove that. Temari must have more faith. We won't lose anyone, because we won't lose a match. With that final thought he turned himself to his paperwork as every Kazekage should do.

Temari continued on her way home. She began to drag her feet on the ground. Tired and in shock. Not a good combination. She already knew Gaara had made up his mind. Not the answer that she would have liked though. she knew her brother wouldn't back down from a challenge of that scale. What could she say? He was Gaara.

Kankuro stayed in the bar. He knew it was weird for him to stay there, but he just kept on drinking. If he was more like himself maybe he would have noticed the shadows darting between the houses and shops of downtown Sand.

Gaara woke up the next day. He didn't waste anytime getting ready since he fell asleep at his desk. The moon was still outside evem though it was close to noon. The sands wern't really blowing either. Strange. He head towards the counsil building and stopped to look behind him. He was sure of a presence, but all traces of the chakra had subsided.

He walked into the building, took his spot behind his desk and waited for his siblings to arrive and for the counsil meeting to begin.

The coucil was made of seven people. Each person the head of a district in Sand. Only one was a bit strange, but none the less she had risen through the ranks quickly. Risa

Slowly but surely the coucil members took thier place in the coucil area. The seats started to fill in and Gaara was going over what he wanted to say in his head. He knew he would be challenged, hopefully Kankuro and Temari, especially Temari, had seen his side and would express their oppinion the same as his.

"We shouldn't obey these commands."Temari started "We clearly do not have any information about the organizarion to make this a valid invitation to a damn bloodbath!"

Gaara was shocked. Temari always kept calm.

"Temari-san, sit down." Temari glanced at her younger brother and sat down. To regain her composure, she sat down, closed her eyes and interlaced her fingers.

"What if this is Orochimaru's doing?" a voice spoke up.

"What if it's a prank?" Another one chimed.

"What if..." the questions were abundant.

"What if,"Spoke a calm voice"...we ask the other villages to see if they received a letter without disclosing the information that we have one?" The clear and calm voice came from the middle of the table.

A girl about 19 with medium length light green hair was the owner of the voice. She had orange pupil-less eyes. There were no joy in those eyes. She was dressed in a rough red material, it wrapped around her small curves tightly. It continued down to about her knee where it stopped with a knot at the end.

The room went silent. The council members were thinking it over.

"But Risa-san, If the other villages get involved and it's a prank, we will look like imbeciles. Can we risk our reputation?" A coucilman said.

"Of course we can. Our reputation won't mean anything to us if we're dead." stated Gaara."What kind of reputation do we have right now? It's not something to be bragging about."

With that last sentance, the council decided to vote. After, the votes were looked at by a neutral party and the results were announced.

A lone blond was sitting in a garden. It was beautiful. Something that looked like it would last forever, but then when winter came around, it would disapear.

"Nothing lasts forever, yeah." Deidara took a seat under a leafy green tree and wrapped his black and red Akatsuki cloak around him. He sat there for a hours, staring at the plants and wildlife. Suddenly, for a brief moment, he felt someone else's strong chakra. He recognized the chakra imediatly. He stood up completly aware of who was going appear.

"Deidara-san, you should...move." came a calm and controlled voice.

"Why? I'm supposed to be here, yeah!"

"Hn." Was Itachi's only response. Itachi sat down a fair bit away from Deidara. "This was found on the Akatsuki'd door. Our main entrance." Itachi paused. He betrayed a small moment of irritation. How did someone get so close, right on our doorstep, lettiraly. Itachi closed his eyes. Did...he just, make a pun...? He didn't want to think about that. Just, no.

"I found this." Itachi took out a piece of paper, like a letter, from the inside of his cloak. All traces of irritation gone. "This was also sticking into the door."A kunai appeared in his left palm.

Kisame came out of from behind a tree to the rear of Deidara.

"Hey kids. What'cha doing?" He swung Samehada onto his shoulder and took a small pose.

"Oh, fuck off!" Deidara rolled his eyes. Itachi kept looking down at the letter in his hand.

"What's that?"asked Kisame

"A letter, yeah."

"What type of letter?"

"A challenge." calmly replied Itachi. He was impressed. Of course he would never let it show, but he was none the less.

"We'll have to take it to fearless Leader" laughed Kisame.

Sand is a little more productive than Konoha.

I need recomendations for the first few matches!! I have more OCs then characters actually from Naruto, so take some wild guesses who they are. Most OCs will be introduced dead. dead anyways...

Also a couple pairing recomendations! (They might not happen, but I need some anyways.) You know, Filler chapters? Doubt I'll need fillers though.

Thank You Reviewers!:

darkewaken: I'm being descriptive enough? Thank you! And about Sasuke, that will be disclosed through flashbacks, and when team 7 reunites. Sasuke is back, but why? (ooohh...)

Isis101: Hey! And you can correct it only if I have the story at school. :P (Like you did!)

Yui Kunoichi no kage: Here's your update!

Guys, this is gonna be a long story, know what will make me feel better? REVIEWS!