MUSCLES 'N SCALES |K. HATAKE

of the wind and earth

風と地球

Kaida Chirashi considered herself a generally happy person.

Of course, in the beginning she lived in a tragedy but after meeting the right people she faced a fork on the ride and chose the remainder of her story. It would've been easier to live bitterly and she had every right and reason to but she couldn't do it. She refused to give someone so much power and credit for ruining her life.

She did enough of that on her own.

Finding a means of living manifested her biggest issues, but coming from a spiritual clan she found her purpose in temple after years of prayer. Kaida learned so much about herself in those rigorous sessions she spent alone in the abandoned house of worship on the grounds of her late clan. She decided on three purposes that she revolved her life around:

1. Serving others
2. Serving herself
3. Serving her gods

In that particular order.

Her gods weren't like secular religions where they required specific behavior and characteristics of their followers, in fact they were rather low maintenance and didn't require so much attention. The benevolent gods would protect her no matter how often she prayed just as the malevolent ones would curse her no matter how often she prayed. She mainly used them as a means to remove thoughts circling her brain and bounced ideas off of them.

Coming from the Chirashi clan there were two she spoke to by nature— Fujin, god of wind, and Sarutahiko Ōkami, kami of the earth. Of course Kaida identified with and worshiped more but these ones in particular were staples within her clan. They tended not to speak with her in comparison to the younger deities because it was rare that someone like her, someone still weak in mind, would catch their attention.

So she focused a lot on herself until she could reach their level. She spent hours out of the day attempting to link her mind, body and spirit as well as gaining a pure and sincere heart.

She served others to try to achieve that and she genuinely enjoyed it. Most of her life she attempted to give more than she received. Of course, there were a couple of dark years when her life turned sour but she always returned to her original path. Anger didn't sit well in her. Maybe copious amounts of sass but never anger or hatred.

A stranger could scream the darkest, most heinous speech at her and she wouldn't so much as bat and eye. People couldn't get to her—to a fault in fact. She came off as boarded off or passionless in that regard and it frustrated people who didn't know her. In reality, she just didn't care for the opinions of people she didn't respect—she wished them the absolute best though.

She had too much love to give and rode too hard for the people special to her in her life.

Kaida lived her life with her head in the clouds but her body completely grounded.

Or so she thought. She might've been more out of touch than she realized but she knew she was at the very least self-aware.