It was dark, quiet - the perfect scenario for Kenji's job. The wiry, black-clad form of the ninja slipped effortlessly through the shadows, just like one that had born to the task. Gliding unseen, soundless as a wraith - he crept along the raised wall surrounding the opulent dwelling that his quarry called home.

It was an impressive wall, by any normal measure. Twenty feet tall, built from heavy stone and carefully worked, its look of luster belying the structure’s strength. Atop the wall were coils of barbed wire, which hummed, near silently, with electricity. Structures dotted the wall at regular intervals - watch towers, obviously - but they too had been constructed to be as little an eyesore as possible. On occasion, a searchlight would sweep through an area that Kenji had vacated a full minute ago. Hours, in the game of stealth.

Kenji was far too skilled a ninja to allow himself to gloat over how easy this was proving to be, however. He had a job to do, and he’d gloat while he was counting his money, and not a moment before. Kenji took another look at the wall. To mundane eyes, it was truly an obstacle, but to the most skilled member of the Harris clan, it was merely a speedbump. Kenji waited for the searchlight to swing by in its predictable pattern, then he made his move.

With a single bound, Kenji flew upward, covering easily half of the height of the wall before he planted a ninja-clawed foot in the mortar, and propelled himself up higher still, altering his trajectory enough so that he landed in utter silence atop the roof of the nearest watch tower. This he used to circumvent the electrified barbed wire atop the wall, dropping almost casually onto the grounds of the manor. So simple.

The building inside of the wall was not as large as might be thought, but the grounds themselves were beautiful. An expansive garden covered the area with green foliage, and graceful bridges arched over the small streams that snaked through the landscaping. Perched at the center of it all was a two-story house, long and wide enough that it could feasibly house the solders that were manning the walls and doubtlessly patrolling the grounds, and still have room for the occupants of the home to live well without tripping over the help. There were plenty of windows, with lovely views of the grounds, which were dimly lit in a very pretty fashion, casting shadows in every direction, from every bush, tree, and shrub.

Kenji made his way forward with all of the haste that stealth would allow for, darting in spurts from shadow to shadow - the few guards that patrolled the grounds were sluggish, obviously tired and sleepy - they were no challenge at all to slip past. The back porch of the mansion was a ninja’s wet dream. Poorly lit, lots of architecture and furniture to cast deep, dark shadows - the kind you could almost feel. Amongst these shadows was one patch that was cast over a window. The perfect entry point. It was too good for Kenji to pass up. It was also where he found something that didn’t really fit in.

He smelled it as he entered the shadow. Something… fishy. It didn’t take long for him to find the source - a mostly-devoured mackerel. The fish had been picked clean from the neck down to the tail, leaving behind what looked like the leftover fish a cartoon cat might find in a garbage can. Kenji squinted at the fish, then dropped it. He didn’t know specifics, but he knew what the sign meant. The guards and the wall may have been a joke, but someone here knew that he was lurking about. This job might just prove interesting after all.

Okay - so he was expected. Kenji would hate to disappoint this so-called counter ninja. In fact, he rather relished the thought of showing up his counterpart by going right through whatever ‘trap’ may have been set for him, and finishing his mission anyway, right under their nose. All this sign did was let him know that he needed to be wary.

With that, Kenji made short work of the window. Digging out a glass cutter, Kenji sliced a circle out of the window, then jabbed the disc out with his fingers. Deftly, he thrust his hand through the opening and caught the cutout before it shattered on the floor. An instant later, the window was unlatched, and Kenji was inside. Immediately, he crouched, looking around, hand on the grip of his ninja-to, leery of an attack.

Moments ticked by in silence. Nothing. Perhaps it was a bluff, maybe one of the guards had left the leavings of his meal by the window, it was hard to say. It also didn’t matter. Job first, musing about a dead fish later. According to Kenji’s source, his mark, a wealthy heiress to a business tycoon, was on the second floor, so Kenji made his way to the stairs warily, quietly - the perfect time to spring a trap on him would be soon, when he’s halfway up the stairs. Knowing this, Kenji began stalking upwards, every muscle tensed and ready to react. But he never needed to. The prime moment came… and went. If there was a counter-ninja lurking about, they must have been a rank amateur . Kenji topped the stairs without incident, and darted down the hallway. His mark was in the fifth room on the right. One… two… three… fou-

Not a normal penguin, mind you. It stood about three feet tall, and was rather anthropomorphic. Large, paddle-like feet and short yellow legs led up to a typical oval of a body, covered in black feathers, with the requisite tuxedo patterning. Its arms were a bit of a mix, not quite wings, but not quite arms either. The creature had noticeable shoulders, and one of its flipper-hands (complete with thumbs, but no individual fingers, as if the creature were wearing mittens) held a large orange cup, which clearly read “Big Chug”. Protruding from this cup was a long straw.

The creature shook its cup, making the ice inside clatter about, a deafening noise in the previous silence that Kenji had been working in. It squinted at the cup in a grumpy fashion. The creature’s head was just as hybridized as the rest of it. A yellow beak poked out of its face beneath a pair of large, expressive blue eyes, which were currently glowering at the cup, as though glaring at it would make it not be empty. Its head was topped by what could best be described as a spiky hairdo, held up by a red headband, which was the only scrap of clothing the creature wore.

The penguin put the straw into its mouth and sucked at it again, producing that same empty-drink noise as before, as it - probably a he - turned and began marching down the hallway towards Kenji, his comically large feet making noticeable plop-plop-plop noises as he walked.

Okay. An anthropomorphic penguin. Kenji had seen stranger. Hell, his mark was supposed to be some sort of dragon lady. Was this the counter-ninja? Some sort of pet? Kenji hunkered back, wedged into a tiny shadow formed by a grandfather clock, ninja-to clutched to his chest, his hand on the grip. As soon as this creature came into view, he’d put his blade through it, and the question of what it was doing here would be irrelevant.

The voice was like a gunshot in the game of stealth that Kenji had been playing, and it came from directly overhead. Kenji looked up, and was shocked to see the penguin, perched atop the clock, peering down at him quizzically. Kenji reacted the only way that he knew how to react to being caught by a guard. He spun, unsheathed his sword, and gutted the penguin.

That’s what he wanted to do, leastways. Kenji had performed this exact strike countless times with utter perfection, and had not ever missed his mark with it. Yet, this time the only thing his blade cut was the bottom of the fowl’s drinking cup, which burst open and sprayed melty ice cubes and the last vestiges of soda in the ninja’s face. Kenji spluttered, half-blinded by the unwanted shower. When he could see again, the penguin was peering at him through his now-hollow cup.

Again, the attack missed its mark. Instead of putting out the creature’s eye, the dart struck the penguin’s cup, ripping it out of his hand and pinning it to the wall. Kenji’s eyes widened again in shock. No. He hadn’t simply missed. It had been small, and had Kenji not the quick eye that he did, he would have missed it. When he’d thrown his dart, it had flown true, aimed at the eye peering through the cup at him - yet, once it had entered the cup, the penguin had flicked his wrist, and deflected his perfectly-thrown dart with a paper cup! Kenji narrowed his eyes. This was a much greater threat than he’d realized.

“You must survive that long first, demon!” Kenji barked, thrusting his blade at his foe’s heart. This strike too was evaded by the surprisingly nimble bird, who ‘happened’ to lose his balance right then and tumble off of the clock. Kenji’s blade bit into the wall, and the penguin landed with astounding force on the ninja’s right foot.

In spite of himself, Kenji yelped in pain, both in surprise at the force of the blow, and for the very real fact that he felt something bend in his foot that wasn’t designed to perform that particular verb. He hobbled back a few steps, and leveled his sword once again at his adversary, who was sitting on the ground, rubbing his posterior with a pained look on his face.

The penguin just smiled at this. With great alacrity, he hopped into the air from his sitting position, dodging Kenji’s attack by inches. The blade slammed into the floorboard, just as the penguin landed on the blunt edge of it, then spring boarded upwards, sailing up over Kenji’s head, a flash of steel inexplicably appearing in his hand as he came down, landing neatly behind the ninja.

Kenji stood stock-still for a moment while the penguin wiped a bit of red liquid off of the katana that had somehow appeared in his hands, with a piece of cloth that had shown up with an equal lack of explanation. After a few seconds, Kenji’s body convulsed violently. There was a messy, dramatic burst of blood from his upper body, which bespoke of an unhealthy blood pressure. After this, the ninja’s left and right halves split, and fell in opposite directions, the assassin cleft in twain. After the chunkies and splurties had settled, the penguin put the sword away casually, still grumpy about his poor cup.

Aubrin looked up from his handiwork at the figure standing in the doorway, his eyes moving from the floor up to drink in the shapely curves of the speaker. The lady Caliente was certainly worthy of her moniker. She was an anthropomorphic, drake, clad in candy-red scales from head to toe, with a streak of bright yellow running down the center of her torso, from her chin down to the very base of her tail, with dainty, yet sharp, black claws on each of her digits - six toes, six fingers, two thumbs. She had a slender, draconic face, set with a pair of emerald-colored eyes, and a pair of ivory horns poked out of long, sleep-tousled flame orange hair.

She was about six feet tall, and also gifted with enough curves to make a mountain road jealous. A slender reptilian tail, about four feet long, was framed by a lush derriere , and ended in a fleshy black spade. Higher up, a very generous pair of breasts filled out her diaphanous nighty, the hefty globes (probably E cups) were each capped by a thick black nipple, which could easily be seen through the translucent cloth. Below those visual treats, her trim stomach guided the eyes downwards, to where the drake was wearing a pair of tight-fitting bikini briefs of the same blue coloration of her nighty. Instead of the smooth crotch one would normally expect to find on a female so tightly-clad, the drake sported a prodigious bulge of an obviously masculine nature. It packed the undergarment so tightly that there really wasn’t anything left to the imagination. She was pretty generously hung, apparently, as it looked like she’d stuffed two softballs and an eggplant into her drawers. And while it wasn’t exactly visible past such a bulky package, Aubrin knew for a fact that there were some perfectly functional girl bits in there as well.