Author's Note: I'm so late with this update and I'm so sorry for it. Please R&R!

Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto seems to be doing a good enough job, so I'm going to leave it that way.

A Storm of Glass and Stone

Katsu yawned as he rested his chin on the butt of his spear. His eyes fluttered with sleep. He jerked them awake for he knew that he shouldn't fall asleep now. The cadet was serving his first night watch over Suna and did not want to fail his orders. In fact, he wasn't really supposed to be up on the cliffs in the first place. A superior asked for him to take his place. Katsu was reluctant to agree, but this was his commanding officer and he couldn't say no.

The young solider looked to his left at his fellow night guard. He had been on many watches before and knew how to stay alert. With his spear at his right side, the guard scanned the horizon off the desert searching for any possible threats. Katsu envied that this man could actually stay awake at this hour. It was midnight, a time that Katsu would already be sound asleep in his cot in the barracks. Oh, how he wished that he could just fall onto that bed.

He allowed his eyes to close, only for a moment. He wasn't going to fall asleep, just rest them for awhile. The other guard seemed to have this watching thing under his control. Now he just had to clear his mind and...

"Hey, wake up rookie!" the guard next to him shouted. "Nap time is over."

"Sorry sir," Katsu apologetically saluted.

The guard grumbled, muttering something about the lack of discipline and experience in soldiers these days. Katsu paid him no mind and went back to doing his duty. The sky was full with stars and looked like snowflakes in the distant when it mixed with how white the sand looked in the moonlight. Then Katsu noticed something. There were two figures walking in the sand coming closer to the cliffs. He nudges his fellow officer and both watched intently as the bodies came closer. They didn't look like much of a threat, but then again you can never be too careful in the desert.

"Go into the watch tower and ring the bell," the superior ordered waved the young officier off. "Quickly before these people enter."

Nodding, Katsu jogged to the bridge that connected the cliffs together. Then there was this weird whizzing noise from behind him. He stopped midway on the bridge, steadying himself by grabbing the rope railing. Turning, he saw the gleam of the metal hooks that latched themselves onto the cliff that he was originally located. The guard that was left there had his spear pointed down at the hooks and was trying to pry them off. He turned his head slightly and did a double take when he saw that Katsu was still there.

"What are you waiting for?" the guard shouted. "Go to the tower no-..."

His demands were cut short when several senbon were planted into his neck. Choking, the man fell back with a thump. Katsu was paralyzed with fear. This wasn't supposed to be happening. The other guards told him that the night watch was usually a breeze. Right before his eyes, a man was killed. He wasn't ready for this. Before he knew it, two men had climbed their way next to the dead body of the officer. Cloaked in black, they slowly rose to their feet and looked like towering statues from afar. Katsu gulped, turning to run towards the tower like he had been asked.

He pumped his legs with adrenaline, bits of dust flying up from underneath his feet as he tower wasn't too far off. He was going to make it. A stinging sensation went up through his legs and caused him to fall. He braced himself for the impact of the hard ground. Slightly pressing himself up, he glanced behind him. The figures were proceeding closer towards him. He attempted to move his legs, but they were of no use. There must of been some sort of poison in the senbon that were thrown at him that made him paralyzed. Dragging his legs, Katsu dug his elbows into the dirt to pull himself forward. However, a foot pushed him back down.

"Where do you think you're going, un?"

The foot twisted on his back and pulled the skin. Katsu grunted in pain, but did not answer his attacker.

"We can't have you alerting our arrival quite yet, yeah."

Shit.Katsu muttered to himself. Who were these guys?

"We can't have any witnesses," another voice spoke from behind.

Katsu could feel the man's foot on his become heavier as if he was leaning forward. "Sorry kid, we're going to have to kill you, yeah."

The cadet panicked as he was lifted by the collar of his shirt. He clawed at his neck in attempt to have himself release and failed. He then found himself looking over the edge of the cliff towards the city. The drop below was significantly high, a nosebleed scenario. He begged the man holding him to reconsider, to let him live, but the man did no listen. Slowly, the man's fingers slipped off of the collar and finally let it go. Katsu let out a scream that he had been holding in for so long as he fell in to the darkness below.

Back on the cliff, the man that released poor Katsu chuckled. He dusted his hands together as he watched the kid fall. His partner came up next to him with dead eyes.

"So can I begin Master, hmm?" Katsu's holder asked.

The other man nodded with a smirk and showed an array of senbon in both of his fists. The one called "Master" ran towards the watch tower with his senbon leaving the younger man at the cliff's edge. The younger man reached inside his cloak and pulled out a few clay orbs.

Looking towards the city he said, "Time to create a masterpiece, yeah."

Sakura stood frightened in the vault room. She had witness a murder and that was not her only problem. The new set of guards might have already taken their shift and there was no other way out of the room that she could tell. She tried to fill her head with ideas of escape, but she couldn't think clearly. Her medical instincts kept bringing her back to the body she saw fall. Maybe they were still alive and need treatment. There would bones to be set and blood to be cleaned. All types of cures were being documented in her mind even though it was a higher possibility that they were dead.

BOOM! The building shook and Sakura saw a fire-like cloud close by the castle. BOOM! Another cloud blossomed near the castle. They were being under attack by someone! She could hear the screams of the people in the city through the windows. The booms were followed by an unusual horn and the running of feet.

This is my chance. She thought, going to the door.

She pulled down on the door handle and opened it remotely. Peeking through the tiny crack she had made, she was relieved when the guards were not there. She opened it to a point in which she could slip out without making much noise. Once out of the room, Sakura decided that it would be best to follow in the direction that she heard the footsteps. They could help her get an explanation to what was happening.

The medic raced down the maze of halls in the castle until she glimpsed a gleam of armor going into a room. She came to the archway that she saw the person in armor enter and went inside. It was the throne room. Soldiers of all kinds squeezed their way into the room, making it difficult for Sakura to move. She was glad when she noticed Shikamaru up ahead. Pushing her way through, Sakura tapped Shikamaru's shoulder and he flinched to her touch. He pivoted and blinked awake.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Not sure. There seems to be some sort of arsonist attack on the palace," Shikamaru explained. He then did a double take at Sakura with wide eyes. "You didn't. Please tell me you didn't."

"I had to!" she whispered so that the soldiers wouldn't hear her. "I know you said that you would tell me if you found something down there, but I wanted to look."

Shikamaru massaged his temple. "You know if they find out that you went down there then you can be arrested for trespassing."

"It was a risk I was willing to take."

Sakura heard the Ambassador mutter something about her being troublesome, but she didn't care. She got what she wanted and there was no reason for her to need to be in the vaults again. However, she did feel bad that she was getting into situations that worried Shikamaru to a point of aggravation. Maybe she should tell him where she believed Sasuke was going, he deserved to know that much after what he had done for her.

"Can I have everyone's attention!"

The entire room turned to the front where the throne was situated. Temari and Kankuro stood side by side masking their worried faces with serious glares. An eerie silence blanketed the area with the exception of another blast of fire hitting a wall somewhere. It shook the building and pieces of sandstone trickled down from the ceiling. Sakura dusted herself off from the sandy dust that had fallen on her.

"We have reason to believe that whatever is going on is an attempt to destroy the city and maybe even threaten the king," Kankuro addressed the state of affairs. "I'm going to need several men to search the city for these attackers or at least pin-point a possible location for them. The King will give us further instructions o-..."

Kankuro looked around him and then at Temari.

"Where's Gaara?"he quietly asked his older sister in a rushed tone.

Temari gave a quick grin to the group in the room before answering her brother. "Don't worry, I sent someone to go and get him. He'll be here soon."

Gaara was a deep sleeper when he wanted to be. If there was something troubling his mind or if he felt like he needed it, he would block out the entire world so that he could have a few moments rest. Usually he had difficulty falling into a relaxing rhythm so that he could sleep. A time he could sleep well was rare. At this moment, he was on the verge of dozing off. One of the maids had recently clean his sheets so that the blankets were soft and cool to the touch against his body. The pillows were fluffed to perfection. Under these beautifully soften pillows was one of the King's deepest and darkest secrets. His teddy bear from his childhood. Temari told him that their mother gave it to him when he was a baby, however she died before he could gave any sort of memory of her.

He closed his eyes for a minute, lifting the sheets over his shoulders and curling into a fetal position. As he was about to fall asleep, he could hear the slight creak of the door. No one entered and he did not hear the door close. Someone cleared their throat and it was at a high-feminine pitch. He smirked into the pillow his face rested on for he knew who it was. It was his favorite servant, the one that he had with him almost all the time.

"You can come in Matsuri," his deep voice muffled. "You know that right?"

"S-sorry your Majesty, but you are needed in the throne room right away," the young woman stated stepping into the room a little farther. "There has been an arson attack on Suna."

"What?" he shouted, sitting up.

Why didn't I hear it? He thought. He then mentally slapped himself. Of course, I had my room modified with sound-proof walls so that I could sleep better.

Gaara grabbed the tunic that he had been wearing that morning and threw it on himself as he strapped a sword to his side. He told Matsuri to follow him as they ran down the halls to the place he was summoned. He felt like a fool of a king for not being there sooner. What good king sleeps when his city is under attack?

The two came to a corridor that was entirely covered by windows on both walls. It was sort of a bridge that connected the royal residential suite with the governmental offices. Below was a sad excuse of a garden that the servants pursued to grow. It was green, but few plants grew there. They were halfway across when Gaara caught something flying directly at them. He pulled Matsuri back towards him and fell back towards the residential area. As the object struck the corridor, the King wrapped himself over Matsuri's body to protect her.

There was a small explosion of fire and glass that pelted the two. Matsuri shouted in fear, ducking herself under Gaara. The red-head felt the heat cover his back and pieces of glass and stone hit either himself or an area around them. When he felt that it was safe enough, Gaara rolled himself off of the servant and sat on the sandy ground. Thankfully he had gotten both of them out of any real danger for there was a large gap in the corridor. A person could easily fall and break their neck from falling through the large hole in the floor. The King shifted to check on his companion. A few cuts and despite the fact she was crying, Matsuri was fine. He looked down on himself. He had some wounds and his back that felt like hell, however he seemed to be fine enough to continue on. He started to rise, but Matsuri immediately stopped him.

"Your Majesty, you mustn't get up quite yet!" she advised him, taking his arm. "The wounds on your back are too bad for you to move right now!"

"Nonsense, this is nothing," he grunted with a seemingly blank expression. "And please call me Gaara. It's a lot quicker to say than 'Your Majesty' or 'Your Highness'."

Gaara continued to stand, but Matsuri tried to counsel against it. She didn't want him to push himself in his condition.

"Please Your Majest-I mean Gaara," Matsuri said, her voice tinted with worry for her King. "At least let me help you sit in a better spot for me to attempt to tend to your wounds."

"Matsuri, I said that-..."

"You better do as the lady says, yeah," a voice interrupted.

The two looked across the way to the side of the corridor where the government offices were. A man, not much older than Gaara stood at the edge of the hole in the floor. His hair was pulled back into a high ponytail and bangs covered his left eye. When the wind blew in from the gap in the hallway, an eye-patch could be seen over the left eye. The man was grinning in a way that made Gaara wary. In his hand was a small clay ball that he rolled maniacally and occasionally threw up. The man's stare had the King place a protective arm over his servant.

"Who are you?" the King asked with venomous authority.

"Me, hmm?" the man said with an enlightening smirk. "I'm Deidara, yeah."

Author's Note: Sorry it took so long. I hope you like this chapter and all, so please review! Oh, I'm working on a way for you to do a contest if you guys are interested and...SPOILER ALERT BELOW.

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OMG! Did any of you read the latest chapter of Naruto? I cannot believe that Hinata finally did it! I hope Kishimoto didn't kill her off. I would just cry if he did (okay not literally, but still).