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It was a quiet night at the edge of the Gemberry woods, and a certain albino fruit bat was flying above, looking around for the home of the newest member of the critter crew.
They had moved in a few days ago, into a newly built giant anchor located on the shoreline between the ocean and the woods.
But they were neither smiling nor nightmare, just their own critter.
His name was Ninshark, otherwise known as Ninji.
He was a purple thresher shark that looked very similar to Maggie, his charm was a katana that he wore on the tip of his tail like a piercing rather than a pendant, and his signature scent was maple syrup.
He did wear a rather long red scarf around his neck however, making him look more epic as it flowed in the wind.
After Dogday had given him his welcome bouquet of periwinkle flowers, the ninja had thanked him but requested to be left alone, which Dogday respected, and so told the others to as well.
Most of them obliged, with them only making and leaving him small welcome gifts, like Crafty making him a kandi bead bracelet and Picky making him some Roulade, his favorite food, both which he accepted.
All of them, of course, except for Rae.
As soon as the thresher shark was fully moved in, she was all set to spy on him, to try and get the first scoop on those hot, juicy secrets.
Of course, being a ninja, he spotted her right away when she was hanging upside down from the roof of his house.
“Excuse me ma’am.”
He bluntly said. “Why are you on my roof?”
Rae, who wasn’t used to being spotted, froze.
“Uh… I was just coming to see if…”
She says, trying to think of a good excuse.
She then spots the boxes by the door.
“If you needed help moving in!”
Ninji nods.
“Okay then, come down here and grab some boxes.”
He says bluntly, continuing his moving in.
Rae sighs, coming down from the rooftop and doing so.
For the next hour or so, they worked together to sort the boxes, chatting for a while as they did so.
Rae learned many things about Ninji, such as that they could stay at most a week underwater without needing to breathe, that they could ride a quad bike, and that their favorite tv show was the original goosebumps.
By the time they were done sorting all the boxes, the two had officially become friends.
They decided to take a break before opening all the boxes and taking Ninji’s belongings out, sitting on the front steps and drinking some Sunny D together.
Rae was yapping about how Iggy secretly had a crush on Hoppy, and so was trying to impress her by beating her in a race(Which he still hadn’t done yet), and Ninji was listening and nodding.
Then, who should happen to finish her daily swimming practice for the day, other than the one and only Margarita Mako, who was walking out of the sea.
And when Ninji spots her, he suddenly doesn't hear what Rae was saying anymore.
The shark girl was absolutely gorgeous.
Her blue skin sparkled in the sunlight, and the water dripping off her body looked absolutely ethereal.
Even her large, creepy smile was oddly appealing to the other shark.
Ninji felt his whole body heating up, his heart pounding in his chest and his palms becoming sweaty.
Of course, Rae couldn’t tell Ninji was feeling these intense emotions, because he still looked as stone cold as ever.
“Hello? Ninji?”
She asked, waving their hand in front of his face.
The ninja shark snaps out of it, nodding.
“I apologize.” He says with a small bow. “What did you ask?”
Rae giggles. “I asked if you wanted to assemble the wicker chairs on the outside of the house or inside.”
Ninji thinks. “Outside would probably be better.”
Their talking gets the attention of Maggie, who smiles and walks over.
“Hi Rae.” she says.
They both look over, Ninji’s heart speeding up again.
Rae smiles at her. “Oh hey sugar shark.” She says. “What’s up?”
Maggie smiles her big shark grin at her. “Nothing much. I was just finishing up speed-swimming practice and was about to head home.”
She looks at Ninji. “Who’s your new pal?”
Rae smiles.
“Oh, this is our new neighbor.”
Ninji bows respectfully to Maggie.
“I am Ninshark.” He says. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
Maggie smiles.
“Maggie Mako.” She says. “Good to know you.”
Rae giggles. “I was just helping Ninji here set up his wicker chairs.”
Maggie smiles. “Fun.”
She says.
Suddenly, Ninji gets a call on his phone.
“Oh, I gotta take this.”
He says, walking a few feet away from the girls before answering it.
“Hello?”
“Hey girl, what's up?”
The person on the other end answers.
Ninja smirks a bit.
“Oh, hi Rosie, not much.”
They say.
Rae listens in on their phone conversation.
“D-did they just call him a girl…?”
She whispers to Maggie.
Maggie shrugs. “I dunno.”
“Have you finished moving in yet?”
Rosie asks.
Ninji shakes their head. “Not quite, my new friends are helping me assemble furniture.”
“Need any help?”
Ninja sighs a bit.
“I appreciate the thought, but no, we’re doing fine.”
“Alright, well, I just called to check in on you, let me know if you need any help.”
“Okay, thanks Rosie, bye for now.”
“See ya soon!”
Ninja hangs up the phone, then walks back to Maggie and Rae.
“Sorry about that.” They say.
“Oh, it’s fine.” Maggie says, while Rae just stared at them, confused.
Ninja looks at her.
“Are… you okay, Rae?”
Rae tilts her head.
“Just so I'm not mistaken…”
She looks into Ninji’s eyes.
“Are… are you a woman?”
Ninja shrugs.
“Sometimes I am.” they say. “I’m genderfluid, so I don’t mind any pronouns.”
He steps closer. “I usually use he/him though.”
“Ohhh.”
Rae says. “That makes sense.
By this point in the day, the sun was setting, the shining rays of light sparkling across the rippling water.
“Well, I should probably be getting home.”
Maggie says. “I have speed training again tomorrow.”
Rae looks a bit sad. “Aww, really?”
She says. “Well, see you tomorrow.”
Maggie nods. “Sure, I'll see ya tomorrow Rae.”
She then turns to Ninshark.
“And I hope to see you again too, Ninji.”
She says, standing on her tiptoes and gently booping where their nose would be if they had one, smirking.
Ninji was internally screaming, but nodded.
“I’d like that.”
Maggie giggles, waving goodbye before she starts on her way home.
As the blue shark walked along the shoreline, Ninji could not stop staring at her.
Maggie Mako was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.