The day a body appeared on the edge of the village was the day Sakura's life changed.

Granted it changed more lives than just hers, particularly having an impact on the sad, dark shape left in the snow whose life and future had been ended so abruptly. Everyone that witnessed it felt that, at last, some change coming to the quiet village that had been largely untouched by the strife and civil unrest the rest of the country had suffered from. And it was not a good feeling; it was a more ominous sick feeling in the pit of the villagers' stomach that something incredibly bad was now coming. This was just a sign of something new and terrible coming upon them.

They knew they had been lucky, having not been frequently subjected to housing armed men, raids on food supplies and fights but they had heard stories and witnessed a few so called "incidents". Many believed that this would mark some sort of change, one that probably wasn't for the better. Trouble was coming to Konoha whether they wanted it or not.

It had been snowing for weeks, and the sudden arrival of a dark shadow by the village square was as unexpected as seeing the all powerful Emperor, ruler of all Fire country, walking through the village.

It was this shadow that changed everything. The person was frozen surrounded by a large stain of red on the snow covered ground. They were unmistakably;

"Dead." The doctor proclaimed wiping their hands. As if they needed an expert to declare such a thing. It was apparent to the whole village that had crowded round to see in the early hours of the morning. No one could bleed that much and still be alive, especially after what seemed to be a night on the ice.

After this announcement people started to move away to discuss this mystery back in the warm. There were large clouds rolling in across the sky and the villagers guessed that they were in for another storm. It was best to stay indoors and bolt the windows and door to guard against the cold.

Sakura stood there for a while longer looking at the dark colour of blood compared to the crisp white snow. She edged towards the body, the corpse, she thought as she moved closer. There was a corpse in her village.

She looked down at it puzzled, the puddle of blood had frozen with the snow and she could see a hand that had turned numb and blue with cold, there were so many colours but nothing could be used to properly describe the scene in front of her. The sad, dark figure covered in snow.

A crunch of footsteps in the snow behind her made Sakura turn, she saw Naruto walk up behind her, his hands buried in his pockets for warmth against the cold winter air.

"Poor bugger, who do you think they were?" Naruto said, his breathe suspended in clouds in front of their faces. Sakura shook her head slightly and stepped back to join her friend.

Despite being a year older than her she had always grown up in Naruto's company. They lived on the same street, had played together, gone to school together and Sakura found herself being able to talk to Naruto easier than the girls her age and it had always been just the two of them.

"He at least needs something," Naruto said softly. "Dying alone out here would be terrible." Sakura nodded. Naruto's thoughtfulness always managed to touch her; he had very little possessions and no family, they had been taken away in an early raid that touched their village, but he often gave food and belonging to other people who were worse off than him, or if anything, people who felt their poverty more.

"In that case," Sakura knelt down next to the body, "I don't know who you are or even if you had any family, a wife or even children." Sakura paused and Naruto crouched down in the red-stained snow next to her. "All I want to say is that-"

She trailed off, her words caught in her throat, choking her; she looked at Naruto unable to speak with her eyes bright with unshed tears.

"We want you to know that," Naruto hesitated as well and glanced at Sakura, who nodded slightly to reassure him. "You're not alone and that we'll remember you." Sakura's fingers traced words into the snow before they stood up and left the body as the others had done before them.

"Is it enough?" Sakura asked as they moved away, Naruto smiled at her, large flakes of snow began to fall again.

"It's all we could do." He replied. With their back to the body they didn't see the two shapes who approached it, their thick cloaks pulled tight around their bodies to ward off the cold and their hoods cast shadows over their faces.

The two figures stopped by the body and looked down on it in silence as they took it all in.

"That's another one gone then." One said finally, their companion stayed silent and went to walk round the body. There was a small movement beneath the hood as they looked down at the snow they had almost trod on, words written into the snow were still visible through the slight snowfall that was still falling and he could read what was written; the date and three words "Rest in Peace", their companion started talking again.

"We need to get rid of the body Uchiha."

"I know," They replied.

"Has anyone seen it do you think?" The first person asked.

"No." Uchiha replied stepping onto the message to cover it with his foot prints. He knew what would have to be done to the person who had innocently written this message and didn't wish it to happen. Luckily, the snow had covered up the shallow foot prints leading away from the body and there were no other signs that it had been tampered with so the two men lifted the body onto a dark cloth and proceeded to scrape up the blood-stained snow removing all traces of the body.

The person referred to as Uchiha picked up the snow that previously held the message and added that to the cloth before they wrapped up the body. It was unusually sentimental of him but even he could see that it was a pitiful end to be way out here with no one even knowing your name or purpose.

"The resistance is spreading." His companion commented, "And they're getting more organised."

"It's to be expected," Uchiha said quietly. "There's a lot of unhappiness out here, no one in the cities care about what happens in the country." He frowned slightly as he saw a glint of silver in the snow. After glancing at his companion to check that his attention was elsewhere Uchiha gently picked it up. He examined the necklace in his hand; it was on a long silver chain with a flower made of the same metal hanging off it, a cherry blossom if his knowledge of botany was any good.

"That could be considered treason Uchiha," Their companion said.

"Then I'm lucky you aren't going to turn me in right?" Uchiha said and the other man shook their head slightly.

"Right. If I did that I'd get a new partner and they'd probably be too enthusiastic for me."

"If that happened you'd kill them off in a matter of days." Uchiha said wryly tucking the necklace into his pocket. It was a strange item for the resistance member to have but nevertheless he couldn't leave it there, the body had to vanish without a trace.

"There's nothing to be enthusiastic about anyway." Their partner said flatly, "they've changed ANBU too much, what good are we now?"

"We keep the peace."

"That's a text book answer Uchiha." Their companion said scathingly as they picked up the body between them and moved off towards some horses "It's not like people are rioting or calling for a revolution."

"No. Not anymore." Uchiha said firmly signifying an end to their conversation. They both knew the penalties for criticising the regime and had no wish to incur them, even if they thought it was just the two of them out here they both knew it was best to err on the side of caution. Careless conversations got people killed.

The snow was falling faster now, the thick flakes were starting to obscure the two men's vision.

"Let's go." One of them said, "before we get lost in a storm".

The two dark figures melted away back into the snow, leaving the village in a state of confusion of how that body came to just vanish without a trace. It was almost as if it had never been there in the first place and the presence of the two men who had taken it went unnoticed.

As she walked with Naruto back to her home Sakura absentmindedly reached up to her neck to feel for the chain of her necklace. She always fiddled with it when she was anxious and the sudden appearance of a body in her village made her more worried than she'd like to admit. She froze suddenly and she couldn't feel the thin chain around her throat.

"Naruto." She said softly, but the panic was evident in her voice, that necklace meant everything to her. It was a family heirloom, passed down from her mother's side. Naruto half turned to look at her, the snow was falling thicker now and soon they should get inside for shelter. "I've lost my necklace," She continued. "It must have been-" She broke off but Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Let's go back then," He said firmly. "If we hurry it should be alright."

They dashed back to the edge of the village, Sakura running out in front eager to find her necklace and hoping that the snow hadn't completely buried it, for the third time that day she was struck dumb.

"It's gone."

"What the necklace?" Naruto said catching up with her, "I'm sure if we rummage in the snow we could-"

"No." Sakura said, interrupting him, she stepped aside to allow Naruto to see the large expanse of white in front of them. "Everything, even the body, it's gone."

Naruto stared there wasn't even a lump of snow, or a hint that the body had been buried by the white flakes. The ground was flat and clear and no trace of the body or blood was to be found, the area where it had been was completely smoothed over.

He swallowed, feeling uneasy about the whole thing. No one had been out of their houses and anyway no one in the village would clear away the body when they knew the storm was coming, and there was the priest to fetch as well anyway for the last rights, the whole ceremony and in this tiny village he was sure that everyone would want to turn up at the unknown man's funeral to be nosy anyway.

"I think," He said slowly, "We should go back now." Sakura looked like she was about to protest so he took her arm and started to drag her away. "We haven't seen anything Sakura," He said firmly. "There was never a body here and it certainly didn't disappear, you've heard the rumours, if we get involved in this we could disappear next."