Chie glared evilly at the bucket and cloth she was putting away in the closet, growling to herself. Ever since she got home, everyone stayed well away from you. Every time she passed her mother, Chie could see concern in her eyes. Footsteps neared her when she slammed the closet door.
"What do you want, Masaru?" she snarled, smelling her stepfather's scent.
"To see what's the cause of your mood," Masaru said as he came around the corner. "You're mother asked me to ask if it's because of your father."
"If she's worried she should ask me herself," Chie grumbled, pissed.
"We knew you were going to say that," Masaru chuckled. "Well, you're mother knows that you open up to me more that her when it comes to him. C'mon sit down." He sat himself down in a kitchen chair and motioned her to the one across from him. She growled quietly to herself as she sat down. "Well?"
"I just hate it how he doesn't care!" she screams, unable to control herself, after a long silence. "All he cares about is my strength, nothing else! He doesn't want his reputation ruined by me! That 's the only reason why he even comes by! He wouldn't even care if Mom, Ken, and Seiji die tomorrow!" Tears were pouring down her face before she finished.
Masaru got up and rubbed her back. "That's not true, Chie," he quietly said, "He may not act it but he does care. I've caught him a few times with Jun."
"It's an alibi," she sobs, "I heard him talking to himself when he was leaving the last time he visited. He asked himself why does he waste him time with these mortals and hanyou. He doesn't want you guys to know."
The two of them sat there like that in silence for a few more minutes; Masaru there to calm Chie, while she sobbed quietly, waiting for the tears to run dry. By the time she was done, the smell of salt burned in her mouth. She got up and nodded at Masaru, "Thanks Masa."
"It's what I'm here for," he smiled, "Now you go make sure your brothers did their jobs, I'll go let your mother know you're fine." The two of them parted in the hall.
When Chie turned a corner to her room, Ken and Seiji were there with frightened looks on.
"What's wrong?" she asked, kneeling down to their height.
"Y-you screamed and…" Seiji trailed off as tears formed in his eyes. Oh please don't cry I already have salt stuck in my nose.
She hugged both of them, knowing Ken was scared too, and says, "It's ok, I wasn't in trouble. Sometimes when something's bother you it helps to yell it so you know that you said it." They both nodded and she says, "C'mon it's getting late, you two need to get ready for bed."
"Awwwww," they both whined.
"Hey if you go now, I'll have a surprise in training tomorrow," Chie smiled.
"Really, Onee-chan?" they both asked, their eyes lighting up.
She nods and they ran to their room. "That's is if you beat me!" She runs fast (for a human) and soon got ahead of them.
"No you don't," Ken growled. He tackled Chie's legs and made her fall. Then he got up and ran over her back and Seiji doing the same. She could tell that she was going to be sore tomorrow morning. With a smile, she got up and walked the rest of the way to their room. By the time she got there, Ken and Seiji both had their pajamas on.
They had huge grins on their faces and Chie says, "Ok you win. Now lay down and I'll get Mom."
Chie left the room and met up with her mother halfway down the hall.
"Oh, Mom! The boys are waiting for you," Chie said, a little startled from seeing her so quickly.
"Thank you Chie," Jun said, giving a nod. Chie expected her to go but she didn't. "Do hate your father that much?" she whispered. Chie looked at the ground and sighed. She knew that her mother still, somehow, loved Riku. Chie nodded and her mother said, "Please try and let him in a little, Chie. I know you're upset that he doesn't care, but trust me he does."
She shook her head and asked, "How can you be so sure?" "A parent always cares for their child." Chie gave her a look and then turned and went to her room.
She lays on her bed for a while before deciding that she was bored. Her ears twitch as she heard the front door open. That's strange. I didn't hear anyone knock or anyone leave. She sniffed for the newcomer's scent and her blood ran cold. It was his…
Chie ran downstairs and saw him in the living room, talking to her mother. He glanced over to Chie and she sent him his 'reserved' glare.
"I see you're still playing human, Chie," Riku said.
"And proud of it!" she snarled. Jun looked at her daughter, as if saying, "Please get along". Chie flipped her father off before turning back to the stairs. Before she could reach the stairs, Riku was in front of her in a flash. She took out a kunai just in time to block his sword that he drew with his demon speed. He started to push down and Chie knew that she wasn't going to last long. Quickly she whipped out an explosive note and slapped it on Riku and leaped back.
"Chie!" Jun yelled. Chie and Riku ignored her and he took the explosive note off and crumbled it up into a ball in his hand and it only made a small explosion in his hand. While he was doing that, Chie went behind him and put him in a headlock, pulling him down to her height, and held the kunai to his throat.
"Seems like you're getting rusty, kitty," she hissed with venom.
"I didn't think that you would have an intent to kill your own father," Riku smirked. Chie growls, let him go, and put the kunai back.
"I just thought that it would have been best for you to know that I don't welcome you here," she growled. Before her mother could say anything, she jump to the top of the stairs and went to her room, slamming the door.

The next morning, Chie sat up in bed as soon as the rising sun's light shown through the window. Normally, she would have slept in until her brothers woke up, but with Riku's scent in the house she woke up more times in the night than she could count. She rubbed her eyes and stare out the window, wondering how long Riku was going to stay. Last time he was only here for a day or two, so hopefully he wasn't going to stay long. Chie were getting restless so she got ready for the day, wrote her mother a quick note saying she was out, and left the house.
She walked around the village, not really going anywhere. The cool morning air's scent relaxed her whole body. She watched the small amount of villagers go about their business. She almost envied them for their simple lives. Chie let her feet take her to their own destination, which happened to be the training area she used with her friends. She stared at a random tree and then, for no reason, punched it as hard as she could. Her knuckles slightly pained as she examined where she punched. It was a decent size hole, about 3in. in and 3in. wide. She continued attacking the tree, focusing her anger and frustration on it.
She was unaware of the footsteps that approached as she was in blind furry.
"Now, what did the tree do to you?" a voice hissed right behind her. Chie, still in anger mode, punched the newcomer; not even bothering to look at whom it was. She only saw them when they caught her fist. Her pale green orbs met with Orochimaru's golden ones.
"Orochimaru-san," she breathed quietly, finally coming back to her senses. He let go of her fist and Chie looked down slightly, just enough not to look in his eyes, and felt a small amount of heat go to her face.
Orochimaru sat down on a nearby rock and asked, "So what has made you angry?"
"You know why," she says, "Riku came last night." "So you come out to kill a tree for that?" Chie shook her head and said, "I don't know why I just flipped out on the tree, I just needed to let out something, I guess."
Neither of them said anything. To do something, Chie looked at her knuckles and saw them bleeding. Sighing, she began to lick the scratches clean. After she finished, she moved them to make sure her knuckles wouldn't start to bleed again. Finally, she decided that she had enough silence and sat herself near Orochimaru and asked, "If I left the village and came back some odd years later, would we still be friends?"
Orochimaru stared at her for a second before asking, "Why, are you planning to leave?"
"No," Chie laughed, shaking her head, "I'm just asking. So?"
He didn't say anything. She waited patiently for him; he was most likely going over the possibilities of what could happen. "Most likely," he said calmly. "Are you sure you're not planning to go somewhere?"
Chie caught the sarcasm in his voice and laughed. "I just said I wasn't, but… who knows what Riku has planed." She mumbled the last part, but Orochimaru heard it.
"What do you mean?" Orochimaru asked, looking right in her eyes.
She couldn't pull away from the golden orbs; they almost looked like they would give you something if you told the truth. "I'm sure you've notice, but I haven't been aging right lately. I mean I haven't grown in any way since the end of last year."
"Not like a human, where you can notice the change," he said, as if knowing everything.
Chie gave him a confused look and asked, "What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure on this, but being part demon must have some effect on your aging. Demons live for hundred upon thousands for years, while humans only live up to 60-90 on average. Seeing you are half demon as well as half human, you must live for a couple of hundred years. With that, I would imagine that this would affect the way you age."
She stared at him for a minute, digesting the information. Chie smirked/smiled and said, "Y'know what? Sometimes I think you're a god or something."
The snake chuckled and said, "I just have my guesses."
"Very smart guesses," she pointed out, "And the way you put things, they could just confuse an enemy." "Why else do you think I mostly talk like this when Jiraiya's around?" "… Good point."
The two sit there, cat and snake, just listening to each other's fading laughs and awaking birds. Chie started to bat at a blade of grass when she asked, "So why are you here this early in the morning?"
"My, aren't we a curious cat today," Orochimaru smirked.
"And is that a problem?" she asked, not taking your attention away from the blade of grass.
"They say curiosity killed the cat," he chuckled. Chie stuck her tongue out at him and he decided to answer her question. "I usually come here this early to do some warm ups."
She continued to play with the grass, feeling Orochimaru watch her. After 5 more minutes she decided that the grass wasn't much fun and laid down and closed her eyes. She was more tired than usual and could feel sleep pulling at her. Chie was about to fall to sleep, but she smelt someone's scent.
She jumped up and got in her fighting pose, growling. Orochimaru stood up as well and stood there, his fighting pose. She glared at one spot for a moment before her father walked in. Riku looked at Chie for a second and then a glance at Orochimaru.
"What do you want?" Chie snarled. Riku stayed silent and threw a scroll at her. She caught it without taking her glare off him.
"You may want to look at it as well," Riku said to Orochimaru. Chie stole a quick look at it and saw that it was address to her and it looked like it has been opened.
"Chie, why do you carry a human name?" Riku grumbled, loud enough for you to hear, "it's a disgrace."
"Like I would claim your name," Chie spat, "Someone that doesn't even care for his own daughter or the woman who bared his child. That's a disgrace." The two of them glared each other down, waiting for the other to attack almost. Riku turned away and disappeared in the trees. She waited for his scent to go off before relaxing her stance.
She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and opened the scroll. Orochimaru looked over her shoulder, his breath tickling her neck. Chie ignored that and read the scroll.

Kisaruga,Chie,
You are assigned to watch the Village Gate tonight with Orochimaru. Stop any traveler and ask them their propose for coming and make sure they are not lying or planning an attack on Konaha.
Good luck,
The Third Hokage

Well, that was pretty much straight to the point.
"That doesn't seem too hard," she says, "but why would The Hokage pair us up?" Orochimaru shrugged. Somehow, you have a feeling that Tsunade may have had something to do with this… but that's just assuming things.
"I don't think that Sarutobi-sensai wrote this," Orochimaru said. "What do you mean? It's his…" "It maybe his handwriting but look." Orochimaru reached over Chie and pointed to a spot on the scroll.
She looked and saw that it was a corner sticking up. She let out an irritated sigh and ripped the paper off the scroll, reviling the true message.

Hey Chie-chan,
Sorry about the top message, but I saw your father come in yesterday when I was shopping so I had to be careful. I was wondering if you and Orochimaru (I know his there!) wanted to hang out tonight, that way you don't have to put up with Riku. Meet me, and I mean both of you, at the training spot after noon.
See ya soon,
Tsunade

"You got to give her credit for the precaution idea," Chie said smiling, looking at Orochimaru from the corner of her eyes because he was so close to her.
He nodded and looked up at the sky. "You may want to be heading home," he said, "Your brothers should be waking up soon."
Chie giggled quietly to herself and nod. "See you later, Orochimaru-san," she said on her way heading home. He let out a 'hn' and his footsteps went his own way. She smile to herself and headed home.