At 9PM on the dot Bushido climbed into bed.She settled back against her pillows and pulled her diary onto her lap, her daily schedule written down neatly. Tomorrow was an especially busy one and she needed to be prepared. As always there was meditation in the morning, afterwards she would make breakfast for her siblings and prep everyone a healthy lunch. Then school with kendo practice directly afterwards, then she would have to make a beeline to the late soccer practise on the field near the school. By the time she got home, she would be starving but Zen always cooked up something delicious.
After dinner she would do her homework and then it was bedtime where she allowed herself half an hour to prepare for the next day and relax. Her life was busy, busy, busy.
“Bushido,” the soft voice was accompanied by a polite knock on the door as Mossflower let herself in. She was dressed in her satchel and a scarf, twigs still in her hair from when she’d gotten home only an hour before. “I’m heading back out, darling but I wanted to say goodnight.”
Bushido smiled warmly and put the diary aside as she accepted a quick kiss on the cheek. But her mother had glanced down, her gaze resting thoughtfully at the neat writing that spelled out Bushido’s day.
“Don’t push yourself too hard,” was all Mossflower said before she left, knowing better than to tell Bushido to try relax a bit more.
In the morning Bushido woke up, meditated in the garden with the early birds and the sun lazily beginning to creep up the horizon. Then as planned she made her way into the kitchen to plan a bento box lunch for each of her siblings and herself, while pulling together a quick muesli breakfast. If she left them to their own devices all they would eat was sugary cereals.
As the day went by and she completed each item in her diary, she came again to sitting in her bed. Tomorrow was calligraphy and fencing with Blade Waltz.
Bushido was trying so hard to master so many skills and she was decent at most of them from sheer dedication. But none of them were her purpose, she knew that, she could feel it in her gut.
Weeks passed by.
When her friends needed her she was there, knocking a bully into the dust. It was dishonorable to hit someone once they were downed and so she stepped back, waited for them to rise again but instead of fight back, they slunk away.
When Mossflower asked for her help, Bushido was there without complaint despite knowing she would miss out on visiting a friend.
When her a sibling hurt themselves, Bushido was there with soft comforting words and the first aid kit.
When she doubted herself, Bushido kept training, kept fighting, kept her head held high.
That was her purpose. It was something so simple. It was in being herself, in being dutiful to her family, a pillar of strength, someone they could lean on. It was being honourable and self-sacrificing, giving up her own joy in order to make sure her friends and family were happy and healthy.
