Kinipela Keahi
From Inga no Kusari wiki
| Keahi, Kinipela ♀ | |
|---|---|
 Unseated, 8th Division | |
| Date of Birth | 5th April, 1704 (308) |
| Place of Birth | The shadow of Mauna Kea, Hawai'i |
| Zanpakutō | Asauchi |
| Player | Kinipela |
| Shinigami | |
Contents |
Appearance
If a magazine in the human world was to describe Kinipela’s skin, they’d call it smooth and cocoa in color. Smooth and practically flawless (at least where people can see), it shows no markings of strenuously hard work. She has a few newly formed calluses on her hands, but they are hardly noticeable unless you turn her hands over and look. Her skin shows no wrinkles, and she does not burn very easily under the sun. Her fingernails are short, proof of a lifelong habit she has of biting them.
Lithe and thin, the Hawaiian Shinigami looks capable of blowing away in the wind. A closer examination proves, however, that her muscles are well hidden. She has strong leg and arm muscles. Flexible like a Class A gymnast, she can bend backward and grab her ankles if she was so inclined to. A fast runner; Kinipela’s built for speed and dexterity. She’s not built for heavy combat like the Shinigami of the eleventh division. She’s a little on the shorter side, around five foot one inch on the scale. While she dislikes being looked down upon, her height makes it a cinch to squeeze into small places.
The strangest feature Kinipela has is her violet eyes. Unsure of how she got them in the genetic roulette, she tends to ignore them and the looks they receive. Large and slightly wide set, they almost seem to overcompensate for the small features on the rest of her face. She rarely blinks them and some people who haven’t been around her often find themselves wondering if she can close them at all.
A poet once described Kinipela’s hair as ‘black a starless night and as glossy as a Raven’s wing’. She tries not to be overly proud of herself, but if there is one feature she loves more than the rest, it is her long, flowing hair. When down, it rests around the small of her back, though it can grow to a length where she could sit upon it. She adores the feel of it running through her fingers and loves to spend her free days styling it. Most of the time it rests in two messy buns up on the top of her head, a few inches behind her ears. They're tucked securely in place by dozens of well placed hairpins, though it is possible to pull her hair down by removing just one.
While her eyes are large, Kinipela also has a small nose and mouth. Her nose has the tiniest upturn at the end of it, making it look cute, which she dislikes. She is thin lipped, though not overly so, and has high cheekbones. She has thin eyebrows that tend to make her look surprised, arching up into her bangs. The only problem she has with her face is an abnormally high forehead, and she tends to hide behind her hair a lot. Overall, it isn’t displeasing to look upon.
Graceful is the term most people use for Kinipela. She walks lightly, stepping with her toes first, then she rest of her foot. Her arms float behind her uselessly when she’s walking and fly behind her like they’re about to fall off when she’s running. She stands up straight, though if you placed books on her head, they certainly wouldn’t stay. She has an aura of heat about her, a sort of spiritual pressure that seems to heat up everything around her by a few degrees. Annoying in the summer and comfortable in the winter, it is what influences to keep to herself, since it makes others uncomfortable around her.
Looking at Kinipela’s face always makes even the gloomiest of people happy. She has a constant look of pleasant surprise on her face, eyebrows arched up, eyes wide, a complacent smile touching her lips. It’s almost as if she looks at you and thinks ‘Oh, joy! It’s you! I love to see you!’ every time she sees you. A frown on her face is hard to come by, and it is rarer still to see her crying. She looks happy constantly, almost to the point where it sort of pisses people off.
When at work, Kinipela’s Shinigami uniform tends to hang on her, being a little too big for her tiny form. It hangs off her like it’s on a rack and she has to cinch it with a small white corset style vest around her middle. Even when she gets it just right, it has a horrible tendency to fall off her shoulder. Her Shinigami uniform is modified for her in a few ways, her obi is purple and somewhat longer than other Shinigami’s. It is also frayed at the end and has a tendency to try and trip her up. Her uniform sleeves also have special holders sewn into them for holding hidden throwing knives.
Personality
Kinipela can almost always be seen with a smile on her face. She loves to laugh and will be happy with anyone that doesn’t try to aggravate her on purpose. She is always cheerful and bright. She radiates tranquility, so much so that it rubs off on those around her. It’s hard to be sad when she’s trying to make you happy. She is the gift-giver of her division, always on the lookout for someone to cheer up or laugh with. Her happiness is not the bubbly, annoying kind, she isn’t euphoric and talkative. Her happiness comes in the form of a soft smile and whispered words, not a hyper shout and a spin.
Perhaps it’s because of her heritage, but Kinipela has always been the kind of girl that loves nature. She loves plants and has her own garden in the division. She knows the value of plants such as herbs and aloe. She knows how to grow hibiscuses in a way that keeps mosquitoes away. She will place flowers around the division every once in a while to make things cheerier. She takes more pleasure in watching a sunset or the rain fall down then she could ever take from reading a book or training. She finds nature to be exciting and full of surprises, and she likes to be surprised.
Kinipela has learned over the years that she has to be patient with people. She finds that it is easier to get her way through soothing words and tolerance then through yelling and bickering. It has never been in her nature to yell, she always tries to have a cheerful personality even when she’s exasperated. She’s learned that it’s better to be optimistic then pessimistic. Life tends to be better for her when she’s happy, for obvious reasons. It doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get upset, but she doesn’t get upset enough to get angry. At most, she’ll frown and give an exasperated sigh. Kinipela has a level head, which helps her deal with the stress of her job, among other things.
Kinipela’s biggest flaw is that she feels that she has to please everyone. If a person does some paperwork, she feels like she has to do double the amount to please her captain. Her determination to do well drives her forward, although she tends to be a little blind. She often does too well and ends up making her co-workers jealous, or worse, she ends up hurting herself. Sometimes she’ll tire herself out or overwork herself. She wants to please so many people at once that she’ll tangle herself up in a web of work.
A big problem Kinipela has is that she sees the good in people. Some people wonder how this is a bad thing, but the problem with her is that she weighs the good over the bad. She thinks that everyone has a little good in them. If someone was to bully her, she would still see the good inside them. She believes that all people in the world are good; they just need a little push to be the best they can be. She believes that even the meanest and most self centered people have good qualities to them. It’s easy to see that she’s just a little too forgiving for her own good.
While this characteristic may go hand in hand with her determination, Kinipela is a very stubborn person, given the chance. She won’t cry or show if she upset because she wants to keep her promise to her Mother to always be happy, no matter what. She often believes that things will go smoother if it was done her way and will attempt to persuade others to see it in her eyes. More often than not, she will do things her way and find it is the wrong way before admitting to her mistakes wholeheartedly. She simply needs to prove herself wrong before believing she’s wrong.
History
Kinipela was born on the island of Hawai'i in the year 1704, long before the island was discovered by the Americans or Japanese. She was the daughter of the village storyteller. Her mother was a spirit talker, she could see spirits and help them pass on to the other side. Kinipela also saw spirits, which made her very important in the village. The girl always was at home, helping her parents. She played with other girls, but kept to herself. She loved to go out and surf. If it was up to her, she’d surf all day. Many of the village boys helped her learn how to surf, and she was always out on a surfboard with her Uncles or cousins, even when she was young. She learned how to swim before she could walk and has always at home in the water. The villagers called her a dolphin. She laughed at them and challenged them to swimming contests.
When Kinipela was seven, her parents arranged a marriage between her and a boy named Keanu, who was the son of the local fisherman. Kinipela liked Keanu because he was always at one with the sea. The both of them loved to surf and swim together, even when they were young. They were the best of friends. Kinipela could talk to Keanu about anything that troubled her and he would listen attentively. He loved to hear her stories about ghosts and the history of the village. They were to be married at age seventeen, but it was not meant to be.
When Kinipela was ten, something happened, something very bad. Mauna Loa erupted and destroyed part of the island and village. The village decided that if they threw a beautiful young girl into the volcano, it wouldn’t erupt again. The villagers chose at random, and it was decreed that Kinipela would be thrown in. At first, Kinipela cried, because she didn’t want to die. Keanu didn’t want her to die either, and pleaded the villagers not to kill her. Kinipela’s mother took her daughter aside and comforted her. She told her daughter to be proud of such an honor and to be happy to be chosen. Kinipela pledged to her Mother that she would always be happy, just for her. After that, Kinipela accepted her fate with grace and told Keanu not to worry about her. A month was spent in preparation for Kinipela’s ceremony. On the designated day, Kinipela was led to the volcano’s mouth. Ashes were sprinkled over her as the village chief asked the goddess of volcanoes, Pele, to spare her soul and protect her from harm from her sacrifice, and to carry her on to the other side. Then, with a content smile on her face, Kinipela was thrown into the volcano.
She remembered the burning and the pain she went through, but it lasted only a few seconds. She didn’t even have time to scream. Her spirit floated out of her body, the chain severed by the magma inside the volcano. She took to sitting by the volcano with her mother, who came to visit her and speak with her. Keanu came on occasion, and she would tell her mother messages to give him. He grew up to be a handsome young man and Kinipela saw less and less of him. He was arranged to marry someone else, and he stopped visiting. Kinipela’s mother died and was sent to the other side. Kinipela was left all alone. Even though she was left alone, Kinipela still honored her Mother’s promise and did not cry. It was shortly after her Mother’s death that a woman in a black outfit came to her and told her it was time to pass on. Kinipela was afraid that if she left, the volcano would erupt again. The woman assured her that it wasn’t so, and Kinipela passed on to the Soul Society after sitting on the volcano's edge for decades.
When Kinipela got to the other side, it wasn’t what she expected. They wanted her to wear odd clothes, because her skirt and top were burned. She was required to wear an itchy kimono and sandals, which she never even heard about. Then, they gave her a number and sent her to a district called Rukongai 42 south. She didn’t like the place where she was sent. She couldn’t surf, and it was crowded and smelly. She was put in a family with a lot of older kids, who beat her up and picked on her because she looked funny and talked funny. She ran away after a few months of living there and ran to Rukongai thirty 32 south instead. She met a bunch of orphans there and they taught her how to steal and beg for money. She began doing tricks for people. She would eat fire like the village boys taught her, and she’d dance. Her dancing got her where she is today; or at least her first step there.
There was a family in the Seireitei called the Keahi family, and they were one of the lesser noble houses in the Seireitei. Striving to be the best of the lesser nobles and possibly be accepted into higher standards, they were always on the lookout for some new way to be impressive. Their newest idea was to philanthropically adopt a child they could raise and nurture. Lanai Keahi was the clan head at the time. One day she passed through the Rukongai and spotted Kinipela dancing in the street for coins. Motherly by nature, she felt an immediate bond between herself and Kinipela. She asked Kinipela if she wanted to be a princess. Kinipela, full of joy, said she would like that very much. She was adopted into the Keahi house. Kinipela was not able to be an heir to the Head Of House position unless she did something very noble, then she would be considered a true member of the Keahi house. Kinipela knew that she wanted to be head of house and strived to be the best at everything she did.
Kinipela, under Lanai’s tutelage, learned how to cook and clean and dress herself and others in very formal robes. She learned how to dance like a geisha, but at the same time learned how to dance better from tutors who had also lived in Hawai'i when they were alive. Soon, she grew to be a graceful and lithe young woman. Lanai was growing weak in body, passing the age to bear children. She took Kinipela aside and said that, even though Kinipela was her only child, biological or not, that she could not inherit the title of head of house unless she was to bring great honor to the family. Lanai was very upset because her daughter could not inherit anything, but Kinipela still did not cry. Instead, she came up with a plan. She asked Lanai if she could become a Shinigami, and Lanai gave her a blessing.
Kinipela decided that she would honor the Keahi family with the greatest honor of all: She would become a Captain of the Shinigami.
Kinipela realized that becoming a Shinigami was harder then she expected. She barely passed the written exam into the school, scoring second lowest in the class. The classes were hard and she wasn’t the best at anything anymore. She strived and her hard work paid off, she began to climb higher and higher in the class rankings. She trained more than anyone in her class. If someone preformed Kidō fifty times, she did it seventy for good measure. She worked with her Uncles in Keahi house on her swordsmanship. By the beginning of her fourth year in the Shinigami academy, she was in the top five percent of her class. She was already bringing honor to the Keahi family.
It was during her fifth year of the Shinigami academy that Kinipela started having strange, unexplainable dreams. She’d wake up in a cold sweat, feeling like she was on fire. Something inside of her kept calling out to her, trying to get her attention. She became distracted at school by this strange entity that kept calling out to her. She began to get feverish and people around her started to feel hot, like the temperature actually rose when she was around. She began to fear that Pele was angry at her for leaving her place at the volcano. The dreams she couldn’t remember kept carrying on and she finally gave up on figuring them out. She allowed them to continue and, even when her sleep began to suffer, did nothing about them.
This carried on even after she graduated and joined the Eighth Division. Trying to get her mind off the stresses of her Mother’s failing health and the uncomfortable heat that kept surrounding her, she turned to knife throwing as a pleasant distraction. She was even happier to figure out that it was a skill that she could use in combat. Until now, however, she received no merit in her division for anything, even though she’s been trying hard to get recognized for something, anything.
Combat
Strengths
-Graceful and flexible. She can cartwheel away from attacks, if she wanted.
-Good cardiorespiratory endurance. While her enemy is gasping to keep up, she’s still going strong.
-Doesn’t let emotions get to her. Insulting and goading go unnoticed.
-Silent fighter. She isn’t one to scream or yell during fighting, even when she’s hit.
-Has a few tricks up her sleeve. Like knives.
-Willing to test new weapons and tactics. Bold would be the correct term.
Weaknesses
-Weak when it comes to physical strength. Not good at heavy lifting or kicking down doors.
-Gullible. She’s always falling for feigned moves.
-Overheats a lot due to her reiatsu.
-Fights too long and overworks. Has a hard time grasping when she’s simply outmatched and needs to back down.
-Hasn’t had a lot of experience yet.
-Too willing to test new tactics, including ones doomed to failure, even in theory.
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