Night stood her tallest in front of Chea, the Master of the worlds, who was announcing Night’s acceptance into the order as Gatekeeper between the world of the living and the spirit’s world. Chea placed a small crown on Night’s head and bowed a bit to show respect. Star, Night’s 6 year old sister, was grabbing the ends of Night’s dress, a bit scared of what Chea would do.
“Shika, Nighten… You have been chosen to continue the gatekeepers’ ways. Do you accept the responsibility?” Chea asked, looking at Night a bit sternly. Night looked at Chea challengingly, and Night looked to the lower left.
“Oh, I’d had a choice in the matter?” Night said, bowing to Chea. Chea looked down at Night and smirked.
“Smart girl, you are.” Chea looked at the shinigami council towards the ceiling on their floating chairs. Two of them floated down and one grabbed each arm. They both pulled out in opposite ways, and Night separated into the two parts of her soul, and her body was left standing behind. Star pulled on the dress Night was wearing, but the body had no response. A shinigami took Night’s body to an empty floating chair where it was left.
Both Nights looked at the chair, then down at Chea, who was only about three-quarters their size. Chea looked up at them both and pointed a finger at them.
“One of each of you two will stand on either side of the Gates, all right? You both now the laws of your unique side, so don’t screw up.” Chea said. The Night twins looked at each other, and nodded a determined-looking nod at Chea. Chea looked at them as if this was a challenge, then turned around and stomped up the stairs. The twins smiled at each other knowingly, and then both rolled their eyes.
“The stronger twin will be on the soul’s side, and the more brilliant one will be on the side of the living. You have both studied for this. You will both start immediately, got it?” Chea said, resting head on hand. Chea looked at the twins as if they were completely amusing. When Chea laughed quickly and suddenly, both twins jumped a bit and put their hands up to defend themselves. Chea dismissed the twins to separate sides, and left the two to their jobs alone. But Star wanted to be with Night, and she went to the world of the living with the more intelligent twin.

Star walked up to Night in cat form. Star meowed quietly, and stretched; Night just stared at her. Star sat down in front of Night, looking back at her.
“You’ve been at the park again, Star?” Night asked lightly, looking at her new staff. Star nodded, and transformed herself into her most natural form… half-cat, half-human form. She scratched her cat ear with her foot, then yawned, her ears turning back.
“Yup. Humans are so interesting, Night. You should see them, they are so… entertaining.” Star said. Night shook her staff, and poked Star’s forehead with the bottom of it.
“If you continually spend your life with humans, you will gain a connection with them. Don’t forget why we are here.” Night said, looking down at her sister who was sitting on the ground. She sat as if she were still a cat, and she looked up at Night challengingly.
“Oh, yeah?” Star said, looking down at her fingers on the ground. She moved them around, as if testing their abilities, then looked back up at Night reluctantly. “Fine!”
Star bowed slightly and turned back into a cat, prancing away. Night rolled her eyes and put her hand near the stone on the staff, so that it glowed and sent the gate of the worlds spiraling away. She sighed and put her right hand on her hip, the other holding the staff. She disappeared from the sight of living, and quietly went to the Mid-World, where she could find the Chea.
Chea was an unknown creature, a shape-shifter. Chea was very secretive about past experiences, and even close friends knew nothing of Chea or even whether Chea was a boy or a girl. People often referred to Chea as a he behind Chea’s back, but Chea preferred ‘Master of Worlds’ in face to face conversation. Chea’s most natural form seemed to be a human, but everyone knew that this was impossible. The air of the Mid-World was very high in oxygen, and was nearly impossible for people from the present living to be in for more than a few minutes without fainting. Even Night who was born in the Mid-World had troubles staying for more than a few hours.
As Night appeared in front of Chea kneeling, Chea sat back in the Master’s chair and looked directly at her. Chea twirled dark purple hair between fingers, and stood up.
“What can I do for you Nighten of the Living World?” Chea said bowing slightly. Chea allowed the purple hair to surround the crown in a strange unnatural way, as if the hair had its own will. Night stood slowly in front of Chea, and put her hand facing up in front of Chea.
“I wish to speak to the Master of Worlds alone.” Night said quickly, and Chea stood up more strait, the long purple hair beginning to curl itself from the ends. The shinigami slowly disappeared from around them, and a starry sky appeared around the two. Chea looked at Night with one of those looks that says “…What do you want?”
“Are… Are you…” She started, looking at Chea. Chea’s hair began to relax a bit, going back to curling itself around the crown. Night rethought, changing the question. “…truly human?” Night finished. Chea’s hair quickly twisted itself up behind the crown, leaving a few of the weaker hairs hanging down, curled at the bottom. Chea considered the question staring into the nothingness surrounding us, and then all her hair quickly came down from its position, strained itself strait and then curled itself tightly.
“That’s not what you were going to ask. But no, I’m not fully human.” Chea said, looking at Night plainly. Night looked down to the right and put her staff behind her back sideways, so that both hands could hold it in place.
“I’d like to borrow my body.” Night said. Chea raised an eyebrow in surprise, then summoned Nights body, standing.
“Why is this?” Chea asked, looking at Night quickly, and then focusing on the body.
“I want to attend school as humans do.” Night lied; she wanted to test some morphing spells, which can’t be done without a body to change. Chea sensed the lie, and her hair curled a bit, then curved itself around the crown on her but ignored it and put Night back into her body.
“You can practice all you like. There’s no need to lie about it, it is a practical reason.” Chea said as Night recovered. “Don’t stay in it too long though. You soul might be immortal, but your body still ages as you are in it.” Night nodded, bowed, and teleported back to the world of the present living, which proved hard to do because of her body’s weight holding her back. Night turned herself invisible and found her way slowly to the park. She watched the humans, as she suspected Star always did. She looked around for Star, but couldn’t find her anywhere. Night became worried that Star might be looking for her, so she teleported back to her alley where she and Star always met. Right when she arrived, Star turned the corner in her cat form.
“You were at the park?” Night said. Star meowed and stretched, then sniffed at some new grass. Star turned into a full human, and looked up at Night.
“’Course I was, I always am, ain’t I?” Star said, sitting on the ground. “I found a guy sitting all alone on one of the benches so I played with him a little bit. He looked really lonely and so I went up to him.”
“Star! What is wrong with you? He could have seen your true form!” Night said.
“You think I’m dumb enough to show a human that?” Star snapped angrily. She hated being treated like her age; she knew she was smarter than that. Even Night knew that Star was smart enough to beat a ninth grader in the spelling bee.

The boy Star had met at the park peeked around the corner. As soon as he saw Night standing near Star, he freaked out and hid behind the wall. He peeked around the corner again and watched Star in her half form.
“Wait.” Night said. She disappeared in a gust of speed, and appeared right in front of the guy, floating a few inches off the ground.
“Shika, Haruki. Aged 15, attends Lemon Grove Middle School of California. Brown hair, brown eyes.” Night said, looking deep into his eyes. Night’s ears twitched as she read the boy’s life in her head; the boy slid down the wall into sitting, still looking at her. Haruki looked at the girl, somehow unable to look away; ‘because I found her blue eyes impossible to be the dark color they were’ he convinced himself. Night flicked her tail and curled her hair like Chea always did. The boy finally looked down, tired from trying to look away. He felt his face burn from her staring at him so much.
“Night,” Star started, “He can see you!” Haruki finally realized that that they both had a tail, and he looked back up at Night.
“Well then we have a problem.” Night said.