The Hydral Minstral

Kuro strode to the training grounds, Vixie following behind her shirtless master, and couldn't help grinning giddily as he fiddled with his new guitar, plucking the strings and tuning it. He even expiramented adding different levels of chakra onto each string like the salesman had suggested to see what neat effects he could create with the simple instrument. "Oh yeah. This is gonna be great. Can't walk around and play it though, I need to focus... Ah I know, Aggro can give me a ride!" Kuro let Vixie bite his hand and summoned the young gray hydra, climbing onto his back as he toured the training grounds and began playing, the sound and sight likely to draw some attention, his loyal vixen curling up next to him and laying her head on his leg. "Some... Say I have no direction... That I'm a circus attraction... but that's a knee jerk reaction... Still... this is the final frontier... and though the future is unclear... To my destiny I steer!" Kuro poured in some chakra into the instrument to make it slightly louder. "But the moment that I start to play, I hear the universe calling my name, And I know deep down in my heart I have nothing to fear... And as the chilling wind blows through my hair, knowing I have so much more left to share, A wandering spirit who's tearing it's way through the cold atmosphere... I fly like a comet... Soar like a comet... Crash like a comet... I'm just a Comeeeet~"

Kuro let the last strum vibrate until it naturally petered out then looked around to see if he'd gotten anyone's attention.

Salzem had just gotten his spider something to eat and she was resting lightly on his back, slow breathing thumping against his spine. her legs occasionally twitched as she dreamed of one thing or another. Most spiders didn't even have brains, therefore were incapable of dreaming, but Zeefalvora was different. Anyway, Salzem was walking throughout the village when a noise caught his attention. No... it wasn't a noise... As he drew closer, it became more defined. It was music from some kind of stringed instrument.

"Wait... WHAT IN HOKAGE'S NAME IS THAT?!" Atop a large grey reptile sat a kid with a blue fox-like creature on his shoulder. It seemed that he was the one who was playing the music. An image flashed through his mind. He had read about giant reptiles such as these. If he was correct, and he hoped he wasn't, that was a hydra. Despite his apprehension, Salzem approached the kid, shrugging his spider awake. She twitched lightly before crawling upwards so that the tip of her head was over Salzem's shoulder.

Alright, You better have a good reason for... She stopped when she saw the giant reptile. Salzem nodded to her, before speaking to the kid.

"You realize you aren't exactly doing the ninja's reputation of being stealthy justice?" Salzem asked him, referring to the Hydra mount he was sitting on.

Kuro looked at Sal and laughed. "Yeah, well, why be that way all the time? Besides, there's plenty of stealthy ninjas. I like hanging out in the open. I guess you could say I make a good distraction for the other ninjas to work around. And I'm pretty good at keeping myself alive. Plus I got cuties like Vixie and Agro to help me out." Kuro patted Vixie and Agro's heads, Vixie wagging her tail slightly while Agro grumbled a bit. "I'm not cute damn it. I'm ferocious! People FEAR me!"
Kuro just laughed and patted his nose. "Yeah, but not me. To me you're just a big cutie! And you can't change my mind."
"What if I eat someone?"
"Nope." Agro grumbled some more hile Kuro turned his attention back to the human. "Anyways, my name's Kuro. Nice to meet you."

Salzem watched the Kid closely as he explained himself. He didn't seem to carry himself like a Konoha citizen. Konoha being in the center of all the other villages often meant people passed through it to get to wherever they were going. This allowed Salzem to observe different types of people, and he had noted that each group from a different village seemed to act differently from here in Konoha. How could he find such a reptile cute? Thinking about it, How could Salzem find a giant 100 pound spider cute? He figured he had no room to judge. He nodded as Kuro introduced himself.

"Well, my name is Salzem and this is Zeefalvora." Salzem said, referring to his spider that rested on his back. Her blue hairs stood on end as He introduced her. Not out of fear, but she had caught sight of the green fox Kuro was patting. Despite having just ate, spiders were opportunistic feeders and ate whatever they detected as prey even if they had just ate. Zeefalvora's fangs clattered hungrily as she stared at the fox. Salzem had come to understand that this was her version of salivation. He would pat Zeefalvora's face, causing her to recoil back down his back, her legs wrapping around his belly and chest.

Stupid hairless ape... She grumbled. I'm hungry... She fell silent after that, allowing Salzem to continue speaking without any unnecessary interruptions.

"If I may ask, why is there a hydra here in the training grounds?" Salzem asked. It was his way of asking to please remove it before he caused a panic or riot.

(Vixie is green)
Vixie, fur stood on end as she sensed what it was the spider wanted, growling slightly and hiding behind Kuro. "Oh, I just got this guitar and wanted to keep moving while I played. I can't walk and play ay the same time yet and Vixie gets mad if I try to ride her, so I asked Agro for a ride. I guess he can head home now though." "Thank you. Finally." The Hydra disappeared in a puff of smoke and Kuro focused his chakra on his guitar, steadily liquifying it starting at the middle and absorbing it's new liquid form into his body through his hands. "There we go, got that thing put away. As much as I love it, I will admit it's big." Kuro then leaned over to his right to look around Salzem and wave to Zeefalvora. "Nice to meet you too missssus?, spider. I'd appreciate it if you didn't bite Vixie, she's kind of the most precious thing in my life. In return..." Kuro turned to Salzem. "What DO spiders like at that size? I mean, bugs are probably too small so... birds? Fish? Which would she prefer? I'm willing to catch anything up to the size of a bear as long as she promises to not eat Vixie. She can sense that sort of thing and I don't like having her worried."

Salzem watched as the Hydra disappeared and Salzem nodded in appreciation. He didn't need anymore commotion on his day off. Then, as if on cue, Kuro seemed to absorb the guitar into his body. He was strange indeed. Much more unique than most that came into Konoha. He would have to keep tabs on this kid. When he spoke to Zeefalvora, she produced a loud hissing noise from the holes lining her abdomen which allow her to breath.

You will not address me, human! She snarled through a telepathic link with Kuro. Although she was an ancient spider, her telepathic voice sounded like that of a typical middle-aged woman. Once she had calmed down, Salzem answered Kuro's question.

"Spiders typically eat whatever is her size or smaller, so large lizards, small dogs, birds..." He paused. "And Foxes. Don't worry however. Most of what she threatens to eat she doesn't need immediately. Your Vixe is safe, for now." He said this, however, he knew it the truth of it would most likely not last. Although, she had just ate, her hunger was much larger than other creatures her size. More than one or two meals a day was required, and cleaning up was not a favorable task. Cleaning up corpses drained of body fluid is disgusting as they feel like dry, old paper. Regardless, he would try to keep his spider away from Kuro's pet until he needed to find a new source of fluid for her to drink.

"Well, somebody's grumpy. Grumpy spider. That's adorable." Kuro chuckled at Zeefalvora then nodded in acknowldgment of what Salzem said. "Huh. Well I can't really keep anything like that around on me cause Vixie might eat it herself. That's too bad. Guess we'll just have to trust them to not try and kill each other. Hear that Vixie? Just keep your distance. Not gonna let you get eaten." Vixie growled and nipped Kuro's ankle to get her unhappiness with the situation through to him. Kuro sighed and patted her head. "Man you're lucky Sal, your spider gets upset she can just tell you. Vixie just bites me when I make her mad. Least she's not poisonous though. That would be really bad." Vixie gave a huff and sat down, taking turns between glaring at Kuro and glaring at Zeefalvora."So, I was just playin music, what are you doin around here with that silly spider?"

Salzem shrugged and Zeefalvora scuttled down off his back so that she was squatting by his leg now.

"You wouldn't be saying that if you had her yelling in your mind every time she wanted something. I'd take a nip on the leg any day." Salzem had expected a scathing retort from Zeefalvora but she remained silent, transfixed with Kuro's fox. He was as still as a stone, quieter than the night. If she were not a bright shade of blue, one might've never noticed her. When Kuro asked what he was doing, Salzem shrugged.

"It was my day off. I was going to take Zeefalvora here to train, make her an effective combat companion. Someone I can talk to and take into battle. However, my previous attempts at getting her to do anything she doesn't want to have failed, sadly." He kept a close eye on Zeefalvora. If she made any hostile move towards Kuro or his fox, he would stop her. Unlike most hunters however, she was not moving, she wasn't stalking, she just stared, all 6 of her black eyes transfixed on the fox. She made no noise, made no movements. He was tempted to kneel down next to her and stroke her cephalothorax, but something stopped him. He didn't know what kind of split-second reaction she would have if he interrupted her. Spiders are known for these and these are known to be violent.

Kuro nodded slightly. "That does sound kind of annoying. Ad training does sound smart. Vixie doesn't fight much, but she's really good at seeing things coming. Sometimes it's almost like she can see into the future or something. I've trained her a little bit to scout to see if people are violent or not, she can't read minds, I think, but she can tell what someone is trying to do by looking at them. Really helps since I'm a pretty trusting guy. I tend to assume the best of people until Vixie barks... Is uh... Is your spider okay?" Kuro would crouch down and wave his hand at the spider. "You're not planning on eating Vixie are you? Cause I said no." Vixie would whine as Kuro crouched down to the spider's level, not wanting him to get close.

Zeefalvora tracked the Fox's movements until Kuro got in front of her. She hissed again, this time with greater volume and venom. She stood up on her hind legs, raising her front four up in a defensive posture. Her pitch black fangs would be shown to Kuro, and she would remain this way until he either backed off or was too slow doing so. Salzem, now seeing his spider had gotten aggressive, would crouch down and stroke the top of her cephalothorax, a gesture that often brought her pleasure. Slowly, she would lower herself back down to the ground, legs tensed, but was no longer threatening to attack. Her hiss was replaced by a low rumbling growl. Salzem would continue to stroke her body until she calmed down, relaxing just enough before returning to tracking Vixie with her six eyes. Salzem would look up at Kuro and smile apologetically, still stroking his spider.

"I'm sorry, she's a bit sensitive towards other people. I'd ask however you don't wave your hand in front of her again for everyone's safety, and hers." The anger radiating off Zeefalvora was more obvious than the heat radiating off a fire. Almost everything about her spelled mad, from her posture, to her hair standing up on end. He offered her an arm to climb back on his back, but she either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge it. Finally, after staring for another minute in silence, She crept back around Salzem, climbed up his leg and back onto his back. He could feel her breaths, labored, heavy. Salzem would stand back up to his full height, and rub one of Zeefalvora's legs that was wrapped around his torso.

"She can be loving sometimes. She's just very particular about humans... or anything for that matter."