The snow kept falling. Large flakes drifting aimlessly downwards as they were carried across on odd breezes before settling and covering trees and houses in a thick white layer. It fell heavily across parts of the country, turning the city streets to slush as people tried to make their way home through the churned up mud and ash that had been belched thickly from the chimneys of the factories as people changed shifts moving from night to day.

In the village of Konoha people sheltered in their houses as the snow made the roofs creak softly under its weight. Sakura and Naruto sat hunched together with her family by the fire trying to keep warm as some snow fell through previously unnoticed holes in the wood of the roof with a wet thump. Something that had made Sakura's mother mutter to herself as she moved to get some pots to strategically place under the gaps in the roof to catch the snow, Sakura's dad had suppressed a small smile at that.

Sakura sat huddled up next to Naruto as she watched her parents, they seemed so calm, so normal and she knew it wouldn't take long for that to change. Once the snow cleared people would venture out again and find that the body had gone. Then there would be an unspoken consensus to never talk about what happened, what they had all seen, and then there was a good chance that some strangers would come to the village and maybe even take someone away with them.

Sakura wondered what her parents would do, what they'd think when they realised that the man's body had gone, would they try to talk to each other, Sakura liked to think they would but she wasn't sure. She also wondered what they would think if she did one day just disappear like other people were rumoured to, or even what she'd do if one day she had found that Naruto had just vanished as if he never would have existed. No one would even talk about him or try to remember him if that happened.

It wasn't just a fairy story like she had first thought as a child. At one point she had thought it was a way to frighten her and Naruto into behaving, she had been warned when some hooded men had arrived at the village to be good and she thought that her mother way trying to scare her. It had always been that way before, don't say this or do that or you'll be taken away and as she had grown older, cockier, she had began to think that it was all a hoax. And then those men had come and they had started to talk to the families one by one, and then for a time it had gone silent.

And then one day, Sakura didn't know when she noticed, whether it had been the day after or even a week after it had happened, one of the houses was empty. It was only one family that had disappeared in their village, a relatively small number to lose compared to the towns where they were led to believe that people were taken away at an alarming rate for radical thought and conspiring against the great regime that they lived in.

But to their small community it had been a large blow to the rest of the villagers who had believed themselves to be safe so far away from the main cities. They had all talked and joked with this family, gone to the same shops and places and maybe even visited them from time to time, and then they were gone.

And now that one empty house remained in the village as an ominous reminded to the residents of the family that had once mixed freely with the rest of them until one day the house was emptied. Looters came, of course, from nearby towns and settlements and from the village itself, even if it had felt like even more of a betrayal. People had been able to salvage some food and stole furniture and things to turn into firewood. There had been stories of how the house was full of upturned furniture and many personal belongings were just left. It was as if there had been a scuffle as the family disappeared and, hopefully, moved onto escape in a hurry. Sakura didn't like to think of the alternative, that the family she had seen so often and even had with a boy her own age had been taken out into some faraway place and were callously executed.

She could barely remember them, no one talked about the missing family. They hadn't done so as soon as they were aware that they had vanished. It had become one of the many forbidden subjects that everyone knew but never spoke about. So Sakura was left with her own vague memories of them when she was young which had dimmed over time, they had just become a group of faceless people who she could barely remember.

She had some vague recollections of following Naruto to the family's house as he seemed to be close to their youngest son. They had both been older than her so she could remember watching them together outside when her mother had called her in. But she couldn't remember the boy's name, or what he looked like. She wondered if Naruto did, somehow she never wanted to ask.

It was a sad time they lived in but she could never remember hearing someone complaining. Not because they were happy or even because they were content with what was happening but it was more because it was easier to look the other way, to pretend that none of this stuff was happening near them. To complain was dangerous and to even give a hint of criticism about the regime could cost a person their life if the wrong person heard and if you saw something you shouldn't, well you pretended you were never there and never saw it.

Trust was spread thinly and people didn't know who to turn to, to confide in as any one, stranger or friend could potentially be an informer, offering up someone else's life, their happiness and even their entire family in return for false security.

No one was safe and anyone could hurt you. It was something they had all had to learn eventually growing up in the village and the empty house at the end of the abandoned street served as a reminder and a lesson for young children nowadays.

Sakura shivered slightly and Naruto noticed and put his arm around her.

"We'll be alright." He murmured. "We never went back there as far as anyone knows. Everything's going to be fine."

"What about my necklace?" Sakura said softly and Naruto sighed.

"You'll have to forget about it Sakura, you'll never be able to get it back." He said.

"I know that." Sakura sighed. "But what do I tell my mum?" Naruto was silent.

"You'll have to pretend you still have it," he said. "I won't tell if you won't." He added, grinning slightly to try and make light of their situation. As if it was a secret shared between two naughty children.

"Alright." Sakura said shakily.

They both fell silent and Sakura felt comfortable sitting back into Naruto's arm. Watching her parent's talk happily amongst themselves unaware that the body had just disappeared from their village. That someone had come to their village and removed it, without any of them noticing them come and go.

"More people are going to come aren't they?" She said finally and Naruto frowned.

"Probably, if they think that person was here for a reason." He muttered.

"Naruto," Sakura's mother called across to them, "would you like to stay for dinner." Sakura jumped guiltily but Naruto answered her with an easy smile.

"Sure." He said cheerfully, "you know how I'll take any offer for food."

"Well if you and Sakura could set the table then we'll be done so much quicker." She said and Sakura gave her a weak smile. She'd happily take these last few moments of normalcy in her family as she knew things were likely to change soon. As soon as people realised that the mysterious body had disappeared.

The next day, as Sakura had predicted, everything was different. Things were quieter and, even if no one said anything, there was a cloud of suspicion in the air as people wondered who would end up selling out the others to survive. They knew it was almost inevitable that someone else would disappear. The village had been lucky so far, there had only ever been one incident in the thirty odd years of the Emperor's reign over Fire Country but that incident had left them one family short and took years for the void in the community to be filled, or rather less noticed.

And now people were acutely aware of the abandoned house part way down the street as it dominated their thoughts as they began to wonder which house would be empty next. People began to rush past each other instead of stopping to exchange a few words as they used to.

Sakura sat with Naruto again watching her parent's withdrawn faces. She automatically brought her hand up to worry with the necklace that usually hung there and then she sighed when she felt nothing there. Naruto gave her a sharp look and then smiled slightly at her.

"Don't think about it." He muttered and Sakura looked down at her hands, twisting them together slightly, unsure what to do with them now that particular nervous habit had been taken away from her.

"It's just hard Naruto, no one knows what's going to happen from now on." She said softly and he nodded thoughtfully.

"I know." Naruto said "but I'll never leave you not if I can help it."

Sakura nodded. Then she thought of the empty house and the boy, the family she could barely remember.

"I'll never forget you Naruto, no matter what, you're my best friend." Naruto smiled grimly at her.

"Urg! Look at us having this depressing conversation. I refuse to let anything happen and besides there's no way ANBU or whatever will get here so quickly so for the next few days lets have fun." Naruto declared and Sakura gave him a genuine grin.

"Well as great as that all sounds I have a lesson with Tsunade today." She said and Naruto stared at her.

"What?" He said, "That's no good Sakura what do I do with myself now?" Sakura shrugged slightly.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find something." She said ignoring Naruto's pleading expression.

"But Sakura..." He started whining and she glared half heartedly at him.

"I am going to be late." She said and she noticed that both of her parents were casting her worried looks.

"Sakura, I know how much you enjoy your lessons with Tsunade." Her Dad started warily and Naruto rolled his eyes good naturedly, he could already guess that this wouldn't end well.

"And?" Sakura asked a little too brightly for Naruto's tastes, apparently she had guessed where this conversation was probably going as well.

"We just thought that maybe-" He began and her mother interrupted.

"It would be best if you didn't go today, or for your other lessons this week." She said firmly and Sakura stared stonily at them.

"What?" She said in a hard voice. Naruto began wondering if he could make a run for the door and escape before Sakura and her mother, two of the most stubborn people he knew, went head to head. He saw her father do the same but they had already started up again so there was nothing for either of them to do but sit it out for fear of drawing attention to themselves.

"Sakura, sweetheart, we're just looking out for you." Her Mum said in a soothing voice, "considering the state of things at the moment we feel it may be impractical to go and do these things."

"Impractical?" Sakura said, her voice rising in anger. She saw Naruto put his head in his hands out of the corner of her eye and gave him a swift glare before turning to look furiously at her parents. "How is learning to heal people impractical?" She demanded.
"Sakura, we didn't mean it like that. It's just that considering everything we'd rather you'd stay at home where we know you're safe." Her mother said sternly.

"No where's safe." Sakura hissed, "that's the point, they've come to our village what is there now but to wait for more of ANBU to come and cart us all off!"

"Sakura!" Her mother said sharply and there was a sudden intake of breath from her father's corner. "Don't say things like that. You don't know-" She broke off awkwardly but she had said enough already, they didn't know who could be listening in ready to sell them out if it would save their own family. Sakura looked sheepish for a moment and then she recovered her previous indignant look.

"I'm still going to see Tsunade." Sakura said and Naruto shifted uncomfortably as Sakura attempted to stare down both her parents.

"Fine." Her mum said eventually, but she didn't seem happy about it. Naruto cleared his throat in an attempt to diffuse the tension between them all as Sakura and her mother continued to glare at each other.

"Then I'll be going now." Sakura said determinedly, "I'll be back this evening."

"Come straight home." Sakura's mother said sternly, in a voice that offered no room for argument this time, and Sakura gave her a short nod.

At Tsunade's the feel of the room was just as grim. Sakura studied the books and herbal remedies she was meant to be learning but, unlike the norm, Tsunade was barely speaking and she wasn't allowing Sakura to leave the room and find the herbs for herself to practice making up the cures. Apparently Tsunade agreed with Sakura's parents and was trying to keep an eye on her as much as possible.

Shizune, Tsunade's other student, was running to and fro attending to something with Tsunade in hushed voices that Sakura couldn't make out no matter how hard she tried. They were both more than just unsettled by the turn of events and having worked together for years they trusted each other enough to talk about the disappearing body in the village, and its implications. They just didn't feel comfortable discussing anything in front of Sakura, whether they didn't trust her enough or just simply didn't want her involved Sakura couldn't tell.

Sakura sighed and turned another page in the medical journal Tsunade had made, it was full of sketches and odd notes and she had encouraged Sakura to make her own, filled with observations and when she was more experienced she would be allowed to try creating her own remedies but for now she was learning from Tsunade's expertise.

Shizune had returned from Tsunade's storage room, she was carrying something new, it looked like a roll of papers and although Sakura strained her ears she could only hear the odd murmur of voices, nothing distinct, but she knew they were concerned, she could hear that much from the tone of their voices.

It was just another set of whispers in the village as people stole furtive glances at each other and hushed their children if they played too loudly in the streets there was an uneasy feeling in the air as people had heard rumours of what would happen next. Passing traders and travellers had passed on hearsay and speculation but they all pretty much coincided.

Someone from ANBU had come to their village to remove someone's body, it didn't matter that the person wasn't local, that no one knew him, next would come more ANBU agents and then interrogation and possibly more disappearances if someone said something the ANBU didn't like. Danger had finally reached Konoha, they had been isolated and relatively untouched for years, they could cope with food shortages and the sharp drop in trade that used to make the village prosper but they weren't safe anymore.

Sakura sat back in her chair and glanced out the window. The light was fading early today but she could still make out the shapes of people dashing about the village, hurrying about their business without pausing to greet their friends. People were running scared already and it was only just the beginning.

Sakura frowned slightly, there was something in the distance that she could just make out in the dim sunlight. People coming towards them from outside the village.

A heavy feeling landed in the pit of her stomach. She had hoped, prayed really, that maybe this would pass unnoticed, that all the speculation and hushed rumours were wrong and that her home would be untouched by the vanishing body, but she had been wrong to hope. It looked like ANBU had arrived in their village already.

Naruto was bored. Sakura had been working with Tsunade all day and no one else would be willing to talk to him. As soon as it had gotten dark people had shut themselves up in their houses. He expected that Sakura would be running home soon but he doubted that she would be able to stop and chat, she wouldn't be able to worry her parents.

Naruto knew that he should probably go home himself too but he stayed out a little longer, watching the sun dip low on the horizon. He shook his head slightly and began slowly walking home, he'd see Sakura tomorrow and he hoped that by then people would be less on edge.

Naruto was so lost in thought that he failed to notice the cloaked figures behind him until one of them reached out and grabbed his arm. He jumped and jerked away from them, whirling round to look at the two strangers who had approached them. He had no idea who they were and he realised that despite his unfailing optimism that trouble was indeed coming to Konoha. In fact it already seemed to be here.

"If it's alright can we ask you a few questions?" One of the strangers said and Naruto took his head vigorously.

"I'd rather you didn't." He said clenching his fists to try and stop them from shaking, he was scared, yes, but he refused to show it.

"Just a yes or no will do," The man continued, "can you tell us if anyone has passed through this village recently?" Naruto's mind whirled frantically. The body, they were asking about the body.

"I have nothing to say to you." Naruto said clearly, "Just leave us alone." And with that he turned and ran. Neither man followed him which confused Naruto slightly, if he had said something the ANBU didn't like he was expecting them to stop him, to turn him into one of the many people that had disappeared across the Fire Country over the years but he seemed to have gotten away with it.

Still, Naruto ran home without looking back. He couldn't believe his luck but he knew that he'd have to be extra vigilant and he'd have to try and warn Sakura somehow. Especially if they had been the ones who had found her necklace.

The man who had spoken earlier looked at his companion.

"He knows something." They said and his partner nodded.

"A small village like this, they all would have seen something." He said, "but it won't be easy getting them to say something."

"No," The first man said, "It never is, is it? No one likes to talk."