Author's Note: This was actually the first side story I wrote, so it's a bit - well, not my best work, really, but I still kind of like it if only because YAY ANKO. Everything needs more Anko!

Recruitment

It was all because she'd forgotten to look for her seal first.

If Murasaki had remembered to get the seal before she sat down to write the letter, then she wouldn't have had to get up and look for it, and if she hadn't had to get up and look for it, then there wouldn't have been time for someone to knock on the door just as she lifted the seal from the letter.

As it was, she got up with the letter in hand and went to answer the door.

"Yo," Mitarashi Anko said, giving her a little wave.

Murasaki inspected her thoroughly, but couldn't spot any signs that it was a transformation jutsu or some other trick; she said, "Well, this is a shock - I thought you'd been too busy lately with your baby boyfriend to socialize."

"Oh, shut it," Anko said, but with a smile. "He's not that young, and you know everyone's busy now, ANBU or not..." She glanced down at the letter - Murasaki quickly vanished it up the sleeve of her jacket - and the smile faded. "And you're going to join the nots, huh?"

"Yes, well," said Murasaki. She shrugged and ran her fingers through her rough black hair in the ever-futile effort to smooth out some of the frizz. "With work the way it is, I just haven't had time to concentrate on my real job..."

Anko said, "Bullshit, Sei-chan. You always said you got the best ideas when you were out in the field and up to your neck in missions - what the hell's different now?"

"The pressure's just been getting to me recently," Murasaki said, leaning out of the door to look past Anko as if she were checking the weather; barely moving her lips, she whispered, "Root."

"Well, damn," Anko said, as if she hadn't heard, "I was kind of hoping - guess it doesn't matter now. Still, if you're just going to quit anyway, think you could spare the time to get lunch?" She stretched, cracked her knuckles, and let her hands fall casually into the Horse seal. "There's that great place near the hot springs we used to go to..."

"I remember it." Sei stepped back inside her apartment. "Meet you there in ten minutes? I have a manuscript I need to drop off, too."

"Sure thing, see ya in ten," said Anko, her grin reappearing, and she vanished.

Eleven minutes later Murasaki jumped down from the trees and balanced on one of the fence-posts surrounding the paddock. The horses within, accustomed to sudden shinobi appearances, paid her no attention.

"You're late, yanno," Anko said. She was leaning on the next post along the fence and watching the horses. "Maybe it's time for you to retire after all, huh?"

"I told you I had a manuscript to turn in," Sei said, gracefully stepping down from the post. "Don't make me kill you off in the next one."

"Yeah, yeah, you always say that," said Anko, waving the threat off. "What's this one about? Monster stories again, or -"

"Enough, Anko," Sei said. "I know you didn't drop by just to say hello, or we'd be getting lunch now. What do you want?"

"I'm trying to put a team together for Itachi."

Sei rolled her eyes. She should've known; she'd been waiting for years now for Anko to get over Orochimaru and fall for someone else hard enough to be obnoxious about it, although Sei had been convinced it would be Kurenai. "Not a chance," she said. "I'm not interested in babysitting your boyfriend - he's more than capable of looking after himself, from what I've heard. I'm getting out of ANBU while I can; maybe you should tell him to do the same."

"It's not just about him, okay?" Anko snapped, standing up from her slouch. "This is about Konoha, too! You said 'Root' - you're quitting because of them, aren't you?"

"If you were in ANBU, so would you," Sei said, and had to make a conscious effort to keep her voice down, which only irritated her more. "I'm not some rookie with a head full of Academy ideals, but there's something off about them and I don't like it. And they've been getting more and more involved - perfectly good teams are getting split up so they can squeeze in a Root member, and the Hokage can't do a thing about it when we can barely handle the number of missions as it is. It's not the same ANBU, and I don't want any part of it."

Anko's eyes narrowed. "So you're just gonna give up and let the assholes win?"

"I won't help split ANBU when things are this bad and getting worse," Murasaki said.

"Then don't," Anko said, leaning in closer to her. "Look, Sei-chan, I'm not saying you should start a rebellion or something, but you're not gonna change things if you just run away, and I know you know that." She hesitated - well, that wasn't like Anko at all - and then said, "That's the only reason Itachi's still here. Well, and his bratty little brother, but mostly because he knows there's crap going down, and leaving ANBU won't fix it."

"I've already told you, I'm not interested in taking care of your boyfriend -"

"And I already said this isn't about taking care of him!" Anko shouted. "This is about protecting Konoha from the Root, don't you get it? Danzo's trying to get his followers into power, he's trying to get himself into power, and is that the kind of Konoha you want to live in? No one else has the guts to go against Root, it's just Itachi, and he can't do much just working on his own and getting sent on solo missions all the time. If you'd rather quit than work for Konoha, fine! Just quit!"

Murasaki sighed. Honestly, this was what came of making friends with younger shinobi... "Pipe down before the whole village hears you," she said, forcing her voice lighter. "And you've got to work on that speech a bit; no one likes getting yelled into taking action, as dramatic as it is in theory, and especially not by their friends." She thought she might use it in something, though - after some tweaking, of course. "Count me in. If nothing else, sounds like it'll be good inspiration."

Anko stared at her, and then her whole face lit up. "What, seriously? You'll do it? Sei-chan, you're the best!"

"Just don't yell at me as if I were a genin again," Sei said, elbowing her. "I mean it. For that, you're paying for lunch."