Anko's Addiction
If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door. - Paul Beatly

Anko sat perched on a stray tree branch, watching the activity below. She snacked on a dango given to her by Riku in exchange for helping move his cart. With over half of Konoha destroyed – both in population and property – the remaining residents were shifting to the one district still whole. The Uchiha compound.

Anko giggled and took aim as she finished the treat. The wooden stick flew through the air and impacted against the wall a considerable distance away. Her eyes passed over the couple passing in front of her target. The Uchiha symbol was briefly covered by the two armed civilians. They annoyed her to some extent, but the two people laughed and kept walking. Deep inside her heart, Anko wanted that. She wanted a friend to talk to and laugh with, maybe a boyfriend who wouldn't mind a little blood in bed. The ninja had known plenty of people who were into that kind of thing, or at least known of them. It never happened.

Only a precious few would talk to her, and that was only in the professional sense. She was Orochimaru's cast off and not worth the trouble. Her seal was evidence of that, even though it only gave her pain and not power. Ostracized as a genin, Anko had no one to turn to but herself. Her sensei had left her, and god knew what happened to her teammates. With no one to confide in; Anko practiced her skills alone.

At first it was only something to do in the hours of solitude, but then it grew into something more. She flitted from shadow to shadow as she followed her targets. Sometimes it was the same person for days on end that she stalked. Anko learned everything about them from their dreams to their worst enemy. Then she moved on to teh next person. Many of those that she haunted she didn't like. The people that she did like would never know. Anko Mitarashi was an outcast and so would become anyone she associated with. Her quiet watching was her only means of human contact, and she craved it.

Slipping into the role of stalker, Anko silently hopped down to follow the civilians. Her ears listened for names and were soon rewarded.

"Sasaki, do you think we'll get missions like real ninja?" The man asked his girlfriend. He toyed with the sword strapped at his back, a family heirloom he knew how to use but never did. Anko was surprised at the quality of the blade. Most civilians lacked any useful weapons.

The female of the group shrugged. She was visibly armed with a bow and arrows. Anko decided archery must have been a hobby of hers before everything went crazy. "I don't think so, unless we ask of course. The mandate is just to help with security. I heard that everyone that doesn't know how to use any weapons are having to take a crash course in Shinobi skills."

"Everyone?" The guy asked surprised. Anko slipped behind an empty trashcan. This was a couple, in the more literal sense. She suspected they were house hunting; it was a first come first serve basis now. People were claiming the empty stores and homes of the Uchiha compound at a fast rate. It was justice in a way; with no more Uchiha, the clan's wealth was shared between all the villagers. The only reason it had remained untouched during the revolution was because there was no one in it to kill. Anko smirked. If that Uchiha brat ever returned he'd have a heart attack at the sight. The ninja cleared her thoughts and paced the two.

"Not really, old people don't have to – and the sick – but everyone else, yeah. While the adults don't have to learn the jutsu, they have to master a single weapon or be proficient in several. Basic taijutsu is being taught by that kid with the huge eyebrows and his sensei is teaching the real ninja."

That's right... Anko's thoughts wandered to the two green clad shinobi. Rock Lee was teaching the civilian adults' basic hand-to-hand and Gai was holding classes in the morning for the rest of them. She herself had gone to one of the ungodly early sessions only to have her butt handed to her. Anko rubbed her backside at the memory. Every time she tried to fight the guy, she ended up landing on her ass. I'm just glad he didn't go crazy when he got back from that escort mission. He must really love his students to go with the flow like that...

Anko blinked at the blood dripping to the ground. Thinking about Gai had made her think about her own sensei, and she hurt herself in her anger. Black painted fingernails dug into her palms leaving red scars. Anko sighed as her targets selected a house – medium sized with many windows – and disappeared inside. She calmly licked her hands clean and jumped away.

"I should probably look for a place too." Anko muttered darkly to herself. "But what's the point? I don't live with anyone and taking care of a big place would be time consuming. My old apartment went up in smoke... along with the owner. Now that was fun." She smiled wistfully at the memory. Miss Nari could scream really loud when she wanted to.

Immersed in her musings, Anko almost didn't sense the person running around the corner. Swerving, she managed to avoid contact with the Hyuuga coming. Hyuuga's don't run... wait. This is the 'branch' member. They don't care as much about decorum. That reminds me, I ought to find Hinata-chan. We could have some interesting conversations…

Intrigued, Anko exercised her stalking skills and tracked the white eyed man. He didn't have the byakugan activated, but Anko kept her distance just in case. To her surprise, he stopped at the newly built gates, where Ibiki of all people was doing mission screening. She spread her jacket and found a comfortable position on the wall. This might prove interesting.

Ibiki was listening to some stranger talk about family issues and how his brother hated him. Blah blah blah. Just kill him already. The client wanted to commission them as guards. Apparently he thought his brother would send bandits after him for some inane reason Anko didn't bother listening to.

"...so you see why we need help. We can pay for a B-rank."

Ibiki started laughing. Anko blinked. What could the former examiner be laughing about? She glanced over the scene, and saw the faint shaking of the other interrogation specialists. Her eyes narrowed. They were laughing too, but trying to hide it.

"What is so funny?" The man demanded.

Ibiki stopped laughing and stood, behind him a young ninja brought fourth a kunai and eyed the possible client. "First off, you lied at least six times during that whole tirade. I'm also certain you don't even have a brother. There's also the fact that we've heard rumors of someone stealing the jewels of a noble woman who was traveling between countries. Get out of my sight before I let Hirata here do some target practice." Ibiki stated coolly while his understudy smiled.

The man ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, incidentally dropping a pouch containing a large ruby as Hirata launched his kunai. Anko leaned back satisfied; it was quite a show. Ibiki had volunteered for mission sorting after their first meeting. He was quite good, and even took sick pleasure in watching the clients squirm under his gaze.

By this time the Hyuuga was speaking to Ibiki in tones low enough Anko couldn't hear from her spot. To remedy this she padded over to the gates and pretended to read the posted list of available missions. To her astonishment there were very few D-rank listed, the majority being B-rank. Only one A-rank was listed and it was an assassination that the snake summoner contemplated accepting. She wouldn't mind a vacation to the Cloud.

"Ibiki-san, Hinata-sama wishes to know if you and your team have any preference in rooms." The Hyuuga crossed his arms and waited for a reply. Ibiki's scarred face turned to Hirata who shrugged and said that he didn't think anyone else cared either. "I see. Your rooms will be ready by tonight then."

Anko blinked and walked over to Ibiki who was writing up mission briefings. "What was he talking about?"

"You don't know? Tsunade and Iruka came up with the idea that all shinobi are to have their own room in the old Uchiha Mansion, regardless if they use it or not. As Tsunade-hime put it, 'We'll be like one big family.' I think they already did yours." He said and went back to work.

Anko walked away in a daze. A family? She knew they no longer had ranks, and that the civilians were now getting combat training but this arragement was news to her. Together they had taken over Konoha, but just now everything was finally sinking in. She had joined in on the fighting last week because she needed an outlet. She had to see the blood and inflict the pain she felt on others. Now it was like someone came in and turned everything she knew upside down. A family?

Thinking back on it, the last Mitarashi realized just how much like a family they were. They had no official leader, and yet they still functioned. Every week, all the shinobi could come to a meeting at the Hokage tower, and put in their thoughts. Heck, even a few civilians came and spoke up. I still don't understand how that old ramen chef got voted as official foreign liaison. How is he going to deal with the other Kages?

They came up with a surprisingly simple system. Every week there was a meeting to deal with the various issues that had come up, and everyone was invited. For the long term issues such as construction and treaties, a group consisting of all the clan heads discussed it and voted with majority ruling. All of them. Anko, as the last of her line, was part of that group but she generally didn't care what happened and therefore didn't go. Shibi Aburame, Naruto Uzumaki, and Hinata Hyuuga were three of them she knew. There were over thirty of them.

Suddenly Anko stopped walking. She was in front of the old Uchiha Mansion that was being converted into the main ninja residence. It was a big building and could house probably five hundred comfortably. Plenty of room to grow. The kunoichi pushed past the iron gates and slid open the door. Almost hesitantly, she started down the halls, reading name plates as she went. Shikamaru. Neji. Ino. Tsume. Hana. Shizune. Anko froze. Tiny tear drops gathered in her eyes. Anko. Her own nameplate hung on the door by a small silver chain. The kanji shined in the polished wood, fenced in by several carved dangos.

She slowly turned the knob and entered. It was a small room, granted, but felt so much more inviting. There was an actual bed in the corner and a radio. There was no private bath, but she had seen a rather large one on down the hall. A small fridge hummed away in an adjacent room, which also contained a stove and sink. Anko sniffled, and remembered she left the door open when a blonde head poked in.

"Are you okay Anko-nee-chan?" The boy asked.

Anko blinked away her tears and smiled at Naruto. He looked different, but she didn't care. Yeah. A family. "I'm good, little brother."

Naruto beamed and Anko swore he could light up the room, if he wanted. "Okay. Just checking." And with that he was gone to do whatever hyperactive fox-boys do. Anko got up and left her quarters. She didn't feel like being alone; happily spinning a kunai on her finger as she stepped out into the afternoon sun.

Occasionally people walked by, but Anko found she didn't have the urge to follow them from the shadows. She didn't need to; they returned her greetings with a smile. Now, where is Iruka? He was HOT strangling that bitch.

END

A/N- Kakashi, by the way, isn't dead but he wishes he was. Remember Ibiki's not-genjutsu-torture method? Yeah, Hinata altered it specifically for Kakashi. Ha ha ha! Old man Ichiraku is in actuality a retired mob boss, kinda like Gato but not evil. And not dead. He can easily take a situation and turn it in his favor, plus I just want to see the other ninja leaders be confused/shocked/outraged that they have to talk with a normal person.

They're two seperate ruling groups, one is both shinobi and civilians that deals with the internal affairs of the vilage, such as family dissagrements and village expansion. The second group is composed only of clan heads, which includes even the families that only have one member. They deal with foregin affairs and the lord of Fire country, voting on things where simple majority rules.