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The sun was sinking into the sea while a city shrouded in shadows looked on. The port city state of Karyd was covered in a soft blanket of darkness with night fast approaching. Only one shadow moved. Atop a tall building in the business district a black figure crouched in the shadows, waiting patiently. Once the sun had fully retreated and night fell upon the city the figure let out a sigh. Then swift as an autumn breeze the shadowy figure leapt from the rooftop and landed on an adjacent building slightly lower than the first silently. There it paused in the dark before jumping to the next building and retreating to the dark soot covered chimney there.

This rooftop however was already occupied. Crouching in behind the lip of the roof was another dark figure. This one was smaller and more visible than the first. It was a scrawny young raccoon boy clothed in a tattered cloak and other clothes that looked too small for the even for the figure. He was peering down into the street hoping for an opportunity to slip down to a windowsill and steal into the building. Surely this place for all its reputation would have enough to loot to feed him for the rest of his life. No more scrounging the streets for him he thought.

By this time the streets were clearing. Once darkness overtook the land the denizens of the day hid away safe in their homes while other creatures took their place. These occupants took solace in darkness, they preferred to remain unseen. It was their main defense against the strict City Guard and the justice dispensed by it. A patrol of four city guards traveled along the street underneath the raccoon. They chatted casually but remained ever aware of their surroundings. Karyd was renowned for its persistent Guard and its ever vigilant Captain, Kyra.

At last the guards rounded a corner and the street was empty. Now it was the little thief's chance. Readying himself the raccoon clambered onto the edge of the roof. From under his cloak he drew a grappling hook and a rope. Careful to stay silent the youngster set the grapple and tested it. Satisfied it would not come loose he checked the street again. All clear.

Before could start to descend an arm wrapped around his middle and a paw fell across his mouth stifling his yelp of surprise as he was dragged back onto the roof. He was roughly hauled face first to the ground. He lay there with the weight of someone on his back with their knees on either side of him pinning his arms against his body, making it impossible to get to his dagger, and a silk covered paw over his mouth.

"Foolish child," said a smooth masculine voice from the figure above him. "Do you realize what you were about to do? This is High Elder Brunin's personnel storehouse. Had you entered you would have tripped so many traps and alarms it would have been better for you to just jump of the roof. Probably preferable to what the Guard would put you through." The paw over the youth's muzzle receded but he could still not look back far enough to see his captor in more detail than a black shadow in his peripheral vision.

"I know where I am," hissed the cub, "I also know I am better than any traps in there."

"Your mind only thinks far enough ahead to see the profit."

"I gotta eat don't I?" As if on cue the raccoon's stomach rumbled loudly. "Some of us have to do things like this to survive," replied the indignant raccoon.

"You don't want to just survive. You want luxury," the ninja scolded.

The raccoon snorted and said, "I want to be able to know where my next meal is coming from." Another loud rumble filled the night air but this one didn't come from the 'coon. "Hey, that was your stomach!" he exclaimed.

"What? Nonsense. It must have been a gargoyle or maybe an alarm you already set off, yeah that's it. Now come we must go," the figure explained rapidly.

The mysterious figure unhurriedly got off the boy and stood over him waiting. The boy turned to the stranger and examined him slowly. He wore all black clothing in some foreign style the 'coon had never seen before, it looked like cotton. There were dark sashes tied around his ankles, wrists and even one around his waist that held a strange curved sword. On his feet were odd boots that had a single split in the middle. His head had a hood with his ears poking through and his muzzle was covered with a cotton mask. The figure looked like a canine, fox from the look of the long bushy black tail. In fact all the fur, what little was uncovered, was completely black. His eyes were a deep green that seemed to be able to see into the boy's very soul. There were rumors and stories of figures like this one, ninjas they were called, secretive and dangerous.

"I am not leaving empty handed," said the 'coon.

The ninja huffed, "Stubborn boy, the morning sun will find you hanging in the square."

The boy would not relent however, "I can do this, I know the defenses and I have come prepared." As an afterthought he said, "And it's Lassun, not boy,

Not wanting to argue further the ninja sat back on his haunches, "Alright ringtail, you get in without alerting the Guard and I will personally help you lighten the High Elder's purse. Otherwise you come with me."

The raccoon agreed eagerly his tail twitching excitedly. Finally my chance had come, he thought, I will live in luxury after tonight. With that he leapt to the ledge and again checked the street. It was still empty. The ninja fox sat and watched wordlessly, watching the street with practiced eyes while the raccoon tested his grapple.

"Back in a flash," he said with a wink as he quickly descended to a window ledge.

The fox smiled underneath his mask. This was very dangerous, one mistake and they could both end up at the end of a tight rope in the city commons, a warning to other thieves. He knew that Brunin, being apart of the Council of Elders was immune to their own so called justice. The ninja also knew what lay hidden inside the warehouse. Brunin was deeply involved in schemes and activities in the cities underworld, too many Councilors were. They had become overly bold and confident that the law could never catch up to them. After all they were the law. Yes, this would be an exciting heist if carried out properly and if not the Council's retaliation would be swift and deadly. Still such danger was the ninja's life and he held no remorse from thwarting corrupt leaders' plans. He had his own plans for the storehouse and if the raccoon botched them tonight there was always other methods of foil the crooked Councilor.

Meanwhile the young thief balanced on the small ledge outside one of the third story windows of the warehouse peeking inside. There was no movement or light, only boxes and crates. He carefully produced a glass bottle filled with a clear gel and a piece of cloth from his bag of tricks.

Placing the cloth over the window he saw that it covered every bit of the window, he had prepared well. He then unstoppered the bottle and began placing dots of the gel all over the cloth making sure only one side was completely covered and that he didn't get any on himself. When it was done the raccoon placed the gel side of the cloth against the window and pressed on every bit of it making sure it stuck there firmly.

With the cloth now tightly stuck to the glass the boy unsheathed his dagger and struck the window with the pommel. There was a slight crinkle and as he sheathed his dagger and pulled on the cloth the broken window came with it still stuck to the cloth.

The way into the warehouse was now clear. A young raccoon thief had easily penetrated it and now had his pick of valuables. He was so elated with his success he forgot about the traps and hopped into the room.

Without warning there was a sudden flash of magic and a continued high pitched whine that left the boy momentarily blind, disoriented, and stumbling at the window. He was done for now, his muddled mind thought. The alarm still emitting the high pitched sound would rouse the Guard and he would be executed.

Upon hearing the alarm the ninja, leaning on the edge of the building, instinctively jumped off. The moment his feet hit the windowsill he grabbed the boy and without a second thought throw himself out into empty space. It was all instinct that guided the ninja's actions now. He not thought about the way in which he had acted, that would have wasted too much time and gotten both of them caught.

With a lot of effort the ninja landed the ground and rolled forward, careful not to crush the raccoon in his arms. He could hear shouts of the guards coming from several directions. The fox urged the recovering boy to his feet and half led half dragged him towards a dark alley. The ninja now had a challenge before him. He had to evade the Guard while pulling this boy along behind or face a swinging death and fed to the crows. He smiled. This will be interesting he thought.

As the two would be thieves fled into the alley a patrol rounded a corner behind them and spotted them. They yelled out informing other patrols in the area of their location and gave chase. The fox produced a bag from his clothes and up ended it onto the ground behind them, spreading the contents all over near the entrance to the alley.

The raccoon, now fully recovered from the trap, stumbled along beside him his eyes wide with fear. They ran on to the next turn but the guards had appeared at the entrance to the alley and saw them turn to the left.

The first guard, a tall stallion rushed into the alley and immediately whinnied in pain and stumbled, falling to the ground and held his wounded feet. Close behind him was a raptor who also stepped on something sharp but remained upright, hopping on one foot. Pulling the object from his foot he hollered to his approaching comrades, "Caltrops!"

Next into the alley was a grey wolf femme. She heard the warning shout and saw the offending spikes on the ground. She put on a burst of speed and with a fantastic leap cleared the caltrops and the other two furres and continued running after the thieves. The last guard stopped and helped his fellow guards with their wounds.

Hearing the guards' cries the fox knew time was running out, the stumbling boy was too slow and quickly becoming winded. They were passing piles of trash and waste so if they lost sight of the guards they wouldn't be able to sniff them out.

Up ahead he saw a chance at escape. "Listen up kid," he said, "at this next crossing turn right and head towards the waterfront."

"But what-"

"No time, just do it!"

No sooner than he said that than they had come to the intersection where the fox practically pushed the raccoon to the right and kept running straight ahead. It was just in the nick time as the wolf appeared just after the raccoon was out of sight. She saw the retreating black figure rushing off and redoubled her efforts. No criminal would get off so easily, she thought. She hadn't noticed that there had been two of them before so when she passed the street she didn't even check both ways for other runners.

The ninja chanced a glance behind him. Only one guard, he thought, too easy. He fled down the alley until it ended at another intersection. He used his instincts again and turned left. The wolf guard was surprisingly fast as she was quickly catching up to the thief. She turned left at the intersection to follow him but stopped short seeing the empty dead end. No criminal and no doors so where did he go? The only things breaking the emptiness of the alley were small midden heaps which covered up all other scents. She cautiously walked forward checking all around her. She saw him turn here but where was he?

She glared at the piles of dung, they were too small to conceal someone and they rendered her nose useless in the search. Her instincts screamed of a trap. Seeming to sense something she dove sideways and narrowly missed getting hit in the back with a small dart. She rolled and regained her feet quickly and looked up from where the dart had come from. Sure enough there was the thief on top of two story building with no apparent way to climb up.

His arms were crossed and a small blowgun was in one hand. He chuckled. "You have the instincts of a ninja. You have my respect," he said giving her a low bow.

The wolf growled menacingly, "I'll see you in chains for that!"

The fox tilted his head to the side and studied the wolf below him. She wore a leather uniform of the Guard that clung tightly to her attractive curves. Her grey and white fur was ruffled from the chase. She had piercing brown eyes that blazed with determination. "It is already too late. I have made a clean escape up here while you are still stuck in the alley. How will you get up here? You do not look like you have magical talent." Then the wolf spied the badge on her uniform and it donned on him who this was. "You must be Captain of the Guard, Kyra, right?"

She snarled, "In the fur. Now give up before I have you hunted down for thievery, trespassing, assaulting guards, and attempted escape." She heard other guards all around yelling directions of where to search. It seemed they had lost the scent among all the garbage and waste. "My guards are all over this area. You will be caught and you will pay for trying to harm me," she stated.

The ninja simply put away his blowgun and bowed deeply again. "My apologies Miss Captain, I was merely defending myself. I don't fancy myself at the end of a rope." He placed his hand on his chin and examined the wolf. "You know, Madam Captain, you look a lot prettier than everyone says. More so than I would think an authority figure would be."

Kyra showed her sharp teeth in another growl, "You impertinent cutpurse! I'll flay your hide and feast on your innards!"

The ninja straightened up and smiled behind his mask watching the infuriated Captain. "It was a harmless compliment Miss Kyra. I meant no offense. In fact I hold nothing but the deepest respect for you and your job. Though now that I see the fire in your eyes, those pearly white choppers and that ashy fur you look absolutely gorgeous," he said calmly.

Kyra raged at what he said, her eyes bore into this common crook that dared to treat her in such a way. "You'll hang before night's end! I'll feed your eyes to the birds then I'll throw your carcass out to sea for the fishes to devour!" she screamed her tail twitching in anger.

"Sadly that would be against my best interests," the ninja sighed. "Yours also it would seem. I have helped you more than you know. I make your job a lot easier, quietly taking down gang leaders and protecting the city from organized crime" he told her spreading his arms out and indicating the city. "Speaking of best interests, you seem high strung. Am I not helping enough? Perhaps I could help you with your superiors; their illegal activities make them so irritable. Do they make your job stressful?" He held up one hand his pointer finger extended as another thought came to him, "I got it! You haven't been yiffed in a while! That's it isn't it?"

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. This thief had just claimed he helped her job, insinuated that the Council was involved something illegal, and insulted her on a personal level. With a scream of rage Kyra Flung herself at the wall and vainly attempted to claw her way up, all the while cursing and bellowing at the ninja. More guards, having heard her yells started to show up in the dead end. Some had hand crossbows and tried to shoot the ninja who simply disappeared over the top of the roof and called down, "Until next we meet oh captain of my heart!"

When Kyra had calmed enough that she wasn't screaming incoherently she whirled on the guards before her. They all knew of her temper and how she acted when a criminal got away so they all seemed to find something interesting to look at besides her. For some reason they could not understand she had gone completely berserk at this mysterious ninja. She had never lost control like this before. "I want his head on my desk by morning!" she yelled at them.

She stormed off thinking to herself as all the guards scattered trying to find a way to catch the ninja. Many things the fox had said unnerved her. Quietly taken care of gangs, the Council involved with crime, respect for her. What was this masked thief trying to do? He had indeed escaped when she had discovered him so why stick around and enrage her? Was that his intention?

One other thing he said struck a nerve in her. In truth she hadn't been yiffed in a while. She held her station above all else. She couldn't let crime run rampant just because she wanted to have a romp with a cute male. She had many relationships end because her job always came first. She couldn't fall for another guard who would have understood her quandary because fraternizing with a fellow guard would end in disaster. Sooner or later something would happen to one of them because they were always putting themselves in danger fighting for justice.

So the Captain of the Guard did what she always did when she was angry. She went to the training grounds of the Guard to pulverize dummies and hotshots that thought they could take her in a fight. There were always a few up at this hour, getting some extra practice in. It was a painful night for many upstart guards.

Near the waterfront the black fox was crouched on a roof searching below for the raccoon boy. He had distracted the Guard enough to allow the boy time to escape and hide. He thought about his conversation with Kyra. He said those things partially to waste time and taunt her but he also tried to enlighten her and get her to ask questions. Perhaps she would try and discover why he had tried to aid in theft of a High Councilor. The ninja had enormous respect for the Captain; by all accounts she was relentless in her pursuit of justice and was in no way corrupt. She was pure of heart and deed, doing all in her power to sustain order and hand out true justice. A rare quality in Karyd.

Unfortunately she worked for the Council of Elders and if you were apart of the cities underground you knew many of them were corrupt and were probably working for them. They were ruthless and they only tolerated their own activities. Some were involved with the market in some way, backing a certain salesperson for a profit and many competitors found themselves on the wrong side of justice. Whether guilty or not all those that the Council named as criminals were sentenced severely.

After a few years living in Karyd the ninja had finally come to the attention of the Council for the wrong reasons. They would order his death simply for disgracing their Captain. The fox had lived in darkness all this time following his own moral code. In his mind he and Kyra were on the same side. They were each trying to make the city a better place, they just had different methods.

The ninja's growling stomach interrupted his thoughts. He needed to find that kid so they could both find a place to hide and get something to eat. Then they could continue doing what they needed to do to survive.

But now their survival was endangered by a corrupt Council and their own personal City Guard.