Kye Kealoha's Story

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Hiwalani-Noa smiled her dimpled smile in her sleep, rolling over as her dream went on; Her dreams were basically reality. She dreamed often of basking in the rays of the sun on her island, Ukupanipo. She had been visiting the small island since she was a child and nobody else ever went there - With the recent exception of her cousins and Keo's irritating friends. (She was going to fix that issue later.) She had named it after her favorite Hawaiian God - And her father's nickname. But her dream didn't last long, being rudely awakened by her little sister pouncing on her at the same time her alarm clock went off. “Ho`âla, kaikua'ana! Ho`âla, Hiwalani-Noa!”, Lulua‘ina screeched. The brunette groaned and rolled over, taking Lulua‘ina with her as she hit the floor.

“Waiho,” she grunted as she grabbed the chubby little girl by her feet and dragged her out of her room, quickly running back into her room and slamming the door behind her. The small child spent a few minutes banging on the door before giving up and leaving. Noa looked over at the clock and shook her head. What eight year old was up and screaming at seven thirty during the summer?! At least she was going back home today and Noa could get some stuff done without Lulu in her way. She was in and out of the shower in a flash, slipping on her favorite black bikini and a pair of capri sweats before scanning her dresser.

Most women her age had loads of makeup scattered across their room - Not her. She hardly had any hair ties either. Her dresser was covered with pictures and piercings , of which she grabbed a few. An anchor for her navel, a light up one for her tongue, her favorite industrial barbells, and a glow in the dark pair for her shark bites. Admiring her piercings and tattoos, she ran her fingers through her hair and fluffed the knee-length locks before grabbing her Jericho backpack while sliding on her lucky bracelet and heading out, calling out to her father. “A hui hou! Aloha au la ‘oe Makuakane!” She was out the door before her father could reply, knowing he was there to pick up Lulu and was probably fixing her breakfast. The house she lived in was her grandfather's, Kona. More than likely he was already hitting the waves.

She grabbed the keys to the blue ATV parked in the paved driveway, soon peeling out and heading away from her home on the beach and into town. She stopped at several stalls and small shops to pick up things that were placed carefully into her backpack; a couple of apples, some sandwiches, a bottle of whiskey, and a container of cherries; It was all that she needed to start her morning. She made a few other stops to deliver a few things as well. On the days that she wasn't sleeping in, gone camping, or sleeping in the ocean she made herself useful by getting up early to help some of the vendors and shop keepers by delivering packages like groceries to some of the elderly people.

Now? Off to Hiʻiaka Studio to have some “Noa-Time” before she decided to start her day for real. Though, her entire life seemed to just be “Noa-Time”. She was really hoping to go camping on Ukupanipo tonight after the big beach luau that her parents were throwing for the graduates their their friends. Her own last two weeks were spent babysitting her little sister and working at both the studio and her father's restaurant and she finally had free time that she intended on spending well. She parked outside, unlocking the doors and slipping inside where she headed directly for Studio Mano where she taught, beginning her yoga on the deck...

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Joy of joys, His Royal Highness, Lord Keokolo and his groupies had decreed via text that they were going to attend the luau as a group. She wasn't exactly excited per se. She still wasn't sure if staying had been the best idea, nor was she entirely sure that hanging out with Keokolo and his super powered groupies was a keen idea. She couldn't remember the last time that she actually fully enjoyed being around him and to make it worse he had Aliee hanging around him and Quinn had to get powers along with Nate. She didn't mind Dax sometimes and Nate was her favorite besides Rose and Kye. The chance to flirt with Nate was not going to go by though she didn't have high hopes. Keo tended to make a habit of sleeping around with every guy or girl that she actually liked that wasn't related. But Keo didn't seem to much like Nate so it would be fun to get under his skin for once. If only Nate wasn't a package deal with Titan Temper Twin number Two.

Hiwalani-Noa sighed as she lounged at one of the outside tables in front of her dad's restaurant, staring out at the waves as tourists took pictures and swam and attempted to surf. She gave a light smirk whenever one fell off of their board. What she wouldn't give to be out there scaring them right now. Because she hated Haole? Nope. Because it was fucking hilarious. Instead, she had gotten a text from a rather handsome friend that was arriving soon and she had promised him a free meal and a drink. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back so that it caught the sun, the rest of her tanned body shaded by the grassy umbrella protruding from the center of the table. She had to admit that she missed being home in the summer time though. There was no place like home.

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Translations

“Ho`âla, kaikua'ana! Ho`âla, Hiwalani-Noa!” – “Wake up, big sister! Wake up, Hiwalani-Noa!”

“Waiho,” – “Get out,”

“A hui hou! Aloha au la ‘oe Makuakane!” – “See ya later! I love you, daddy!”

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Kye rolled over in bed, still wearing his clothing from work. He hadn't bothered to change when he got home, had just fallen into bed really. He wasn't one to be so tired, but with school letting out just a few days ago and finals and work and the tourists starting to come in, well, his life was rather tiring right around now. Finally summer was here and he could go out more, hang out with the others, maybe try to find another better job.

Kye swept his legs over the side of his bed, sitting up and running a hand through his already messy hair. "First day of a real summer," He mumbles as he stands and goes to his bathroom. He was going to try to go to the beach this morning before coming back to get ready for the gathering tonight. He was taking off from work for a night and hoped it wouldn't effect anything.

Walking downstairs, wetsuit on, he passes his father who was passed out in the lounge chair he had stained with the evidence of his issues. He walks to the garage that holds the family's old jeep and Kye's board. He grabs the green surfboard and makes his way to the jeep. His father wouldn't notice it was gone until that night. He would need to ask Keo for a ride tonight, really just give him a call to pick him up, or any of the others, questions weren't usually asked.

He tucked his board in the back then climbed into the drivers seat. Kye drove slowly, savoring the fresh early morning air with the hint of salt in the air. He looks at the nearly empty beaches as he pulls into a parking lot by his house. He was happy he had a beach by his house, but was also bummed as the parking lot was always filled with tourists during the tourist season. He only drove because of the rocky road and the long winding path. At least with the jeep he could get down quickly without carrying everything by himself.

It didn't take long for him to park, grab his board, and paddle out to the waves. He felt so much better out in the water even if it didn't do much other than cool him off. It was cool already from the early morning, but it still was refreshing. He didn't surf so much as sit out there on the board, looking around and up at his house and around at the world that was good and bad. He frowned, why think such morbid thoughts when summer had finally arrived?

He smiled as he paddled back in, going to the house before he tucked the board in the garage, grabbed a change of clothes, and getting back in the jeep. He sighed as he pulled out of his driveway and headed towards work. He wondered briefly if his cousin, Keo, may or may not be up, probably not or at least with someone else, but still, it was better than just hanging out and doing nothing. His phone buzzed as he pulled up to a stoplight. Kye glances down to see the text from Keo, the luau as the subject. Maybe Keo was up then.

He would have to wait on people for the next couple of hours, occasionally suffering a group of particularly tacky and insulting tourists until he had done three hours worth and could leave. At a red light he managed to send a quick text back.I'll come over in a few hours around lunch.Kye drives quickly, almost maniacally in his rush and frustration. He parks down the street in an overgrown parking he's always parked in, grabbing his bag out of the back of the jeep as he jogs towards the restaurant, hating everything about the short run but the warming air of the day.

He ignores the looks the manager gives him as he slips into the back room that they provide for changing considering the ridiculousness of the work uniform. It's like the workers didn't look Hawaiian enough with their appearances and everything. He always though he looked like Elvis Presley on one of his Hawaiian movies.

Kye pulls the red flowered shirt on, white pants, and the lei, sitting for a moment on the bench between lockers before putting the rest of his stuff in the locker. He would have to suck it up so that he could keep things could, it wasn't a big deal, he just really didn't want to have to be there.

He plasters on a fake smile, clocks in, then heads out to the crowd coming in for early breakfasts. He takes a deep breath to keep himself calm as his boss comes up to him while he's putting in an order. "Hey, Kealoha, we're changing our approach to the tourists, so you think you could maybe play Ukulele?" He asks without really allowing room for argument.

He was a mainlander who moved to Hawaii last year, opening the tacky Hawaiian restaurants for the haole. He seemed to think that every Hawaiian was a firedancer or played the ukulele or surfed. Kye only surfed and therefore his boss though that he did everything else.

Kye shakes his head. "Sorry boss, Don't play Ukulele," Kye says with an apologetic shrug before grabbing the drinks ordered by his customers and heading to deliver them, thankful he avoided talking any more to his boss. After another two hours of the annoying customers and the odd requests that came his way occasionally such as does everything have pineapple?, or could you possibly grab one of those flower necklaces to my son? Surely you have tons. He didn't carry leis with him anywhere and he surely didn't think majority of the menu was made up of pineapple.

He clocks out as early as possible so he can keep his job (being on one of the bosses last straws already) before heading back to the jeep in his early morning clothing he planned to wear the rest of the day. He drove calmly, in a better mood than he had been at work. Getting up at 5:30 in the morning to surf and get ready for work at 7:00 only to clock out at 10:00 and get to Keo's house by 10:30 was tiring though he was sure he could catch a nap at Keo's whenever.

He pulled into the driveway of his aunt and uncle's and put the car in park, climbing out and heading to the door he opens it and slips in, waving slightly at his relatives in the kitchen before going to the counter. He wondered where Keo was but didn't ask, feeling fine just waiting for him to show his face in the kitchen, again or for the first time that morning. When Kye's aunt passed him a few slices of fruit in a bowl, Kye thanked her as he began to eat, staring out the window nearby.

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He had slept most of the thirteen hours it took to fly from North Carolina to Hawaii. During the entire flight the sandman had stolen all of Noel’s valuable sightseeing time. Although there isn’t much one can see so far up in the air, aside from a few clouds, and perhaps water down below. As the announcement rang out that they would be landing soon, Noel gathered himself. The thought of spending so much time in Hawaii was thrilling and he could only hope that he didn’t run out of things to do. This was his first time in Hawaii as an adult, and he had studied the language all throughout high school. This was on the very top of his list of places to vacation to so he wanted to be able to communicate with Natives of the island. It was so much fun being in a new place, surrounded by new people, learning a different language and testing it out for the first time and making new friends. Such an adventure was too good to be true, but it was happening, and he was so thankful.

Noel was a quick learner. He could speak Spanish and English fluently, though one could tell his ethnicity whenever he spoke, due to the fact that he had a mildly heavy accent. Most guessed that he was from Puerto Rico within minutes of talking to him. The beautiful island of Puerto Rico, how he missed it so, and most of his relatives were there. He loved visiting his grandmother who still resided there.

“Excuse me miss,” Noel said softly to the flight attendant, “but do you mind getting me some peanuts?”

“Not at all sir,” the rather busty flight attendant stated with a smile as she swayed down the aisle as if she were deliberately trying to entice Noel. It became even more prevalent when she winked after dropping off the peanuts.

“Thank you,” Noel said with a smile.

“Not a problem, we’ll be landing soon, let me know if you need anything,” the flight attendant stated with a smile.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Noel replied flirting back. It was fun to see the expression on the faces of others when they find out he’s gay. It is like watching a person on a diet each chocolate and not realizing it until someone tells them. It was a guilty pleasure. He enjoyed flirting, it was a pastime of his, but he was selective with who he let near him and who he let into his heart. He was vacationing to have fun, but he also was here to just get away from it all. He had recently broken up with his boyfriend and some eye candy was looking more and more promising. He wasn’t going to shield his heart; he was going to take this adventure for what it was worth. He was going to have a great time and if something happened, it happened and if something deeper happened, he’d welcome it.

The plane began to descend, and slowly but surely it hit the ground and rolled to a halt before the passengers began to unload. Airports were a difficult setting, one that Noel often times dreaded, but he quickly got his bags after spotting them in the terminal and hurriedly made his way towards the limo that would be taking him to the beach house he had rented for the time he’d be in Hawaii. The sights that he saw while the limo driver drove were amazing. Shirtless guys here and there, girls of varying hotness, and beauty as far as the eye could see. This place was amazing. It felt like home here. The plan was simple. He’d get to the beach house, unload, and take a shower. He’d get dressed, and prepare for whatever was to come. He wanted to take a ride out and look at certain places in his tourist guide, and he wanted to test to see if the Natives could tell if he was a “Haole”. He had studied the language, now he wanted to see if he could utilize it.

The driver interrupted his daydreaming as they pulled up to the beautiful island hotel, the Kealoha hotel . Noel exited the limo and gawked at what he saw. The beautiful hotel that he’d be staying in was large. His parents were always living above and beyond and this proved just that. They had changed his rental at the last minute, they had to have, because he didn’t recall renting the most expensive room at this hotel for his entirety here, but as he looked at the paperwork he knew all too well what had occurred here. His father had done this, wanting him to live the lavish lifestyle he did.

“Thanks mom and dad,” Noel said softly as he walked up to the fabulous Kealoha hotel and simply looked at it. “It’s big,” he said with assurance, as if the driver couldn’t see for himself. “Very big,” Noel added with a sigh, “too big for a single college student.... I’m thinking party at some point.” He laughed softly before entering the Kealoha hotel.

“Un.Be.Lievable....,” Noel stated as he marveled at the beautiful the Kealoha hotel provided.

“Your bags sir?” the driver stated bringing Noel back from his state of amazement. Noel turned and realized the man was holding his many bags.

“Umm, right, once second,” Noel stated as he continued to explore the place. “Definitely gonna enjoy this vacation now. I wonder how much they spent?” He questioned as his phone rang. It was his mom.

“Oh my gosh mom, thank you so much for the upgrade,” Noel stated right off the bat.

“Well hello to you too,” his mother began, “and it was not a problem at all darling. Your father was the one who came up with the idea. You know how persistent he is and when he found out you were going to Hawaii, he wanted only the best for you. He also provided the limo, but I was calling to make sure you made it safely. Your father told me to tell you to have fun. You know he’s busy doing what he does.”

“Tell him I said thank you and I love it so much. I love you mom,” Noel said as he made his way upstairs.

“Love you too darling, now have fun and call me if you need anything,” she said as the audible click meant the end of the conversation. Noel sighed. This was going to be extremely awesome.

Noel noticed that the limo driver was still holding the bags and quickly apologized for his short attention span. Approaching the receptionist, Noel smiled.

"Aloha," Noel stated with a smile, "I have a reservation under Riverez." Noel was a polite as could be. His eyes were very charming, an odd blue in color, he got that from his mother's side of the family. His hair, soft and manageable, and his smile, pearly whites that caught the eyes of so many.

After obtaining his room key, his room number being room 5, he quickly thanked the receptionist and made his way towards the room where he opened the door and allowed the limo driver to go in and deposit his bags.

"Mr. Riverez, should you need me I am but a call away. Your father has paid for your entire trip here, and that includes anything you may need. I trust you'll enjoy your stay here at Kealoha hotel. It is a beautiful hotel. Here is my card," the limo driver stated as he gave Noel his card. The limo driver had to be around 21 or 22, and was very handsome. Noel took the card with a smile and read it. "If you need anything just let me know okay?" the limo driver stated with a very quick wink. What was with these people and their winking? First the flight attendant, now the limo driver, this was beginning to get interesting.

"As a matter of fact I do have a question. What's your name?"

"Kani sir."

"Kani, cute, so what's the happenings around here?" Noel asked as the limo driver known as Kani smiled as if he were waiting on that question.

"Sir there's a party I believe going on, and I think you'd fit in."

"You think?" Noel began as he got closer to the guy, extremely close, so close their abdomens touched. "I, umm," Kani began but Noel stopped him by putting one finger to the male's lips, "I'm here to have fun Daniel, and that can mean many things, so are you inviting me to this party?"

Kani was captivated by the sheer eye contact he was getting from Noel. The male's scent was also intoxicating. Kani couldn't think straight, but he nodded in agreement and Noel smirked, "good, oh and by the way call me Noel." Before the boy could say anything, Noel planted a rather exotic kiss on his lips and when the kiss was broken, Noel wiped Daniel's lips with his finger and smiled. Kani stood there for a moment, after realizing what had just happened and left the room with a smile on his face. He would come in useful, he seemed like a nice guy and Noel was here to have fun.

"Now then, let me unpack and get out on the beach...."

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When Keo left his bed partner sleeping and satisfied, it was well into the night and into early morning and he didn’t have a wink of sleep. He propped open the window to air out the room and felt that the morning was cool and dark for a while yet. His partner shifted in bed to curl around the lingering heat Keo left, but did not awake. His partner would be amenable to another round in addition to the two they had earlier, but Keo pulled on a shirt to cover the hickeys and finger-shaped bruises and left without leaving a number. The morning was his alone.

The reception desk was empty. Too early for someone to come in to man the desk, but Keo knew that it was most likely going to be Lea coming in before her classes. The last time when Keokolo had left this German chick in bed, Lea teasingly threatened to tell his parents about his dalliances. Keo laughed it off and threatened to tell her parents about her illicit boyfriend, besides his parents didn’t care as long as it wasn’t their guests Keo was having sex with.

This morning, Keo spoke to no one, not even the bus driver. The window was left open and he let the wind comb his hair into his usual disarray instead of the finger-pulled shape of last night. He dozed a little on the trip and woke just before his stop, the beach.

He headed straight for the water, where the tides are pulled back and the white sand was unmarked and perfect. He stretched away any lingering lethargy from the night and began to run along the waters, making the first feet marks of the day. The sky was lightening, but the sun hadn’t risen. The coastline was empty of tourists and the day was full of potential. He let his mind clear, focused on the steady rhythm of his feet and the quiet just before daybreak, the only noise the breeze through the palm leaves.

By the time he was doubling back, the sun started rising and people had started milling about and invading his calm. The ruined illusion of solitude was inevitable. He threw a smile at an old couple who was admiring the sun rising together, their arms around each other and they were bundled together, relaxed.

There were a group of five young adults setting up a volleyball net, the long poles stabbing into the sand like a conqueror’s flag on a new land. He winced at their loud chatter disrupting his once quiet morning. One of them spots him and hollers a greeting at him. He braves a smile and says, “Aloha. This is quite early for you to play a game.”

A brunette girl with a shirt that says ‘I <3 New York’ responds brightly, “We were planning to spend the day on the beach and wanted to get a great spot before anyone else got here.” Another girl complains at the hour they had to get up. One of the boys interrupts to ask if Keo was a native of Hawaii.

“What gave it away? Was it my tan?” Keo says playfully.

The last girl, holding a volleyball, reprimands the boy, “Calvin, just because someone says ‘Aloha’ doesn’t mean they’re from Hawaii.”

Keo shrugged, watching them as they watch his broad shoulders rise and fall, “I am a native here. In fact, the Kealoha hotel where I work is holding an event tonight around 7 at the Pink Pearl restaurant. We have a lovely singer who does old ballads and hula dancers and you can have dinner and a mai tai and relax after a day out in the sun. It’s a great cultural experience, if you’re into that kind of thing.” Always working, he sells the idea to them with his usual smile, and just for kicks the wind makes his hair whip about like he was some sort of runway model. “Just tell them Keo sent you and they’ll give you a discount.” That’s a lie. As soon as his name is mentioned, their employees will know to give these guys the higher end and higher priced menu.

The young adults looked at each other and shrug and came to an agreement. The ‘I <3 New York” girl seems to be their spokesperson and says, “We’d love to! Where abouts is this place?”

Keo asks them for a pen and writes the details with permission on the arm of a girl named Shirley. He gives her directions with an air of intimacy and concludes with a big wink, “I look forward to seeing you tonight.” She coyly invites him to play a bit of volleyball because they were short a player, but Keo tells them that he’s going to be late for work.

It was about another 10 minute jog to get to the other part of beach where his family’s hotel sat grandly on the beach side. He made his way to the front end of the hotel because the waterfront property, with an unobstructed view of the Pacific Ocean, was barricaded from general tourists to provide their guests an exclusive access to the beach. The front was a lush with green and finely trimmed by their gardeners. He greeted their concierges who were already hard at work. They admonish him for coming in underdressed and they send him straight to the back to get showered and changed into something respectable.

Ever since he got his business management degree, makuahine and makuakane have pulled him from his scattered duties around the hotel and put him mainly in supervising. Today he was to go to their boutiques and have them pull a coordinated thing with their spa department.

Not even halfway into his shift, a customer starts to yell at Melani--one of their customer service representatives at the boutique--that ‘not only was the service shit, there was no way she was a size larger, it must be the outfit that is wrong’ and all manner of fussy things that made Melani looked like she was on the verge of tears. Keo gestured for Wini to take Melani to the back while he dealt with the obnoxious ape of a woman. Keo flirted and complimented her in equal turns about different outfits and gave her a legitimate discount coupon for a free drink and dessert at one of their restaurants. It made him fume on the inside that he had to be polite for this bitch, but he was good at his job and she left satisfied even while she was admonishing him for hiring such an inept employee.

He checked up on Melani and Wini and told them they did well and to take it easy. Melani was usually very good with dealing with irate customers but her pet dog had just died and she was feeling a bit fragile. Keo left pursing his lips and sending out a text to his friends they all just had to go to the luau tonight. It was time to do some planning. It wasn’t a mature thing to do, but they had to do something to fight back to these obnoxious haole.

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"Kye? Ku`uipo, do you want some more of that fruit?" Malie said with a kind smile. "I'm just going to go to my office to finish some accounts. I don't mind if you turn on the TV in the living room. Or if you haven't had lunch already, I can make you something?"

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Translations:
Makuahine = Mother, Mama
Makuakane = Father, Pa
Ku`uipo = Sweetheart (OOC: tried to find a different source because sweetheart may be intended for a lover instead and I didn't wanna have Malie call Kye a baby instead)

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Kye smiles at his aunt before shaking his head slightly. "Thanks `anakê, but I think I'm fine. I'm probably just going to wait until Keo comes home and take a nap in the meantime," Kye says with a smile as he goes to put his bowl in the sink and wash it out. He hung out at his relatives house more so than his own if he could help it. He liked his aunt and uncle and hanging out with Keo was fun too.

Kye went to the living room, laying down on the couch in his early morning exhaustion. "Let me know if you need anything `anakê, I'll just be here," Kye says as he takes the dish to put back where it belongs, carefully helping around the kitchen around his aunt. He smiled at her as he put away the dirty dishes, wanting to do something with his hands. It was different from doing dishes at work, which was boring, and here, which was entertaining and comforting in a way.

"Actually, I might walk down to the beach. I'll text Keo to go there when he comes back. I'll see you later `anakê," Kye says as he gives his aunt a quick hug before walking outside, walking down the road to head down to the beach. A strip of shops was nearby and he could see people sitting inside and outside of restaurants enjoying their meals. Some watched the beach, others watched their plates, while a few watched the people who walked by.

He smiled slightly as he watched the scene for a moment. The walk down to the beach was only a few minutes and easy going. As he arrived, he began to walk, waving at any familiar faces. A volleyball came over to him from a couple school friends and he smiled as they invited him to join. He brought the ball over, laughing at something one of the other kids says as he serves it.
Translations:
`anakê-Aunt

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He looked around the room, taking in the scenery before him. The walls lined with beautiful artwork. Pictures held by picture frames hung delicately upon the wall reminded him of the time he went to the art museum in New York. The hall way he walked through let into the living room area. Small, but good enough for one or perhaps two people. In the living room was a sofa that transformed into a spare bed, two end tables made of what looked like beach wood which fit the theme of the entire hotel, a beautiful coffee table made of the same wood but intricate in design caught Noel’s eye for a moment as he ran a hand along the table. It was polished and free of splinters. Across from the sofa a rather large flat screen tv rested upon a small entertainment center and the tv itself made by Samsung was at least 42 inches. The kitchen was small, fitting for one person, with a working refrigerator and ice maker built in. There was a top of the line stove, with a sink and dishwasher. This was amazing already. Noel was going to enjoy it here, he could already sense it. As he walked back the way he came, a door was on his right, left if he was coming into the room, and when he stepped through the door he entered into the king’s room. The bed was large, very large, a king size bed if you will. The sheets were on the expensive side; probably cost them more for the sheets than the wall paper. Noel smiled and ran his hand along the edge of the bed feeling the comfort of the mattress and comforter. If he were on an episode of “Cribs” it would be the moment he would say, “this is where the magic happens,” but thankfully he wasn’t.

In the room was another door. This door led to the bathroom. It was evident that the hotel had spent some money on this room and the others as well. Every detail was breathtaking. Even the bathroom had detail put into it. A stand up shower, a Jacuzzi tub, and a luxury sink and toilet, all for just one single man. Yes, he knew now that he would enjoy his time in Hawaii, how could he not? He began his unpacking procedure. First he removed all of his clothes, being careful to keep them all folded. He hung his shirts in the closet adjacent to the bed, and placed his pants and shorts into the dresser that lined the wall across from the windows which showed the beach so elegantly. The blinds were currently drawn and the sunlight was minimal in the room, but the artificial light would suffice for now. It took him a good thirty minutes to unpack all of his belongings and the various pairs of shoes, but when he was done he looked at the clock.

“It’s after nine, so if I take a shower and hit the beach I can still have time to meet the natives,” he said to the empty room, void of life except his own. He smiled, the thought of meeting new people intrigued him. He lined out his outfit and undressed right in front of the window, the curtain drawn to keep him out of jail for indecent exposure. All those years of soccer practice and training had produced a well-defined body, but with his high metabolism, it made it fairly easy to achieve goals. Stepping into the shower, he allowed the water to ease away any remaining doubts and stress that he may have brought with him on this trip. The steam from the shower caressed his mind and massaged his body and when he stepped out of the shower and toweled off, he felt better than he did before he got to Hawaii.

Getting dressed was a minimal effort. He pulled on the white tank, the colorful shorts, and the pair of Sperrys that matched the color of the shorts. His phone was tucked away in his short’s pocket and his room key was placed on his finger like a wedding ring. He gave himself a once over, putting on lotion as his abs rippled with each movement. Shades finished off the ensemble, but instead of putting them on, he closed them and hung them off his short’s pocket.

“Well, here goes,” he said softly as he exited the room, walked down the stairs and prepared to exit onto the beach. He passed a few people who looked like Natives and they were gorgeous. “Well this place doesn’t skimp on the beauty department,” he muttered as he walked.

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“Ah, but we're not going to the beach. Too crowded. Instead, I willI will show you a very, very secret and special place. Come on! Wikiwiki!” She twirled out of his grasp with fluid movement so that his fingers trailed her lower back to her side to her stomach. Grinning, she grabbed him by the hand and tugged him over to her ATV, pushing him into the seat before sitting in front of him. Just in time, because her father had only just gotten out of his car. He lifted a brow but said nothing as his daughter waved in a hurried fashion before taking off with the suit wearing young man. If walking was what Gray wanted to do then he'd get plenty of it on their hike to the grotto. She smiled as the wind hit her face, standing up as she sped up a little, swerving around curves and whooping loudly. She was headed northwest, moving away from the city area. The fauna was growing more dense as she turned onto a dirt trail. She showed no signs of slowing down even though the ATV nearly toppled a couple of times because of her sharp turns. She knew what she was doing!

Having been laughing for a while, she finally pulled into a group of large leaves off the beaten path where she parked the ATV. Sliding off, she motioned for Gray to follow before grabbing his hand and tugging him along. Twigs crunched and mud smushed under her feet as they went further into the Hawaiian jungle. “Hold on!” She stopped and moved behind him, jumping onto his back and using her knees to hold herself there. Covering his eyes, she smiled. “Okay, you go!” The sound of loud, rushing, roaring water alerted them that their destination was near.

One moment they had been peacefully walking, the next he was being tugged along behind her. She was grinning wickedly at him and he couldn't help but grin back, it was just so contagious. The next thing he knew was that he was straddling the ATV and was left to grab on to Noa from behind lest he suffer cracking his skull on the ground. As they sped from the city they nearly fell over several times. He wasn't so sure how Noa had gotten her license for the machine at this point because if it wasn't for him shifting his weight, they surely would of fallen. Surely enough he trusted her more than he trusted most.

Grey had no idea where they were headed but he accepted it with an enthusiastic grin on his face. He was always up for new adventures, even in the thickness of greenery now surrounding them. When they had finally stopped and she began tugging on him again he complied and allowed her to pull him. Wearing a suit and dress shoes was not the outfit for this occasion. Absentmindedly he thought to his $600 shoes, grimacing at the fresh coat of mud on them. So much for looking professional. The further they moved into the jungle, the more anxious he was feeling. "Noa, where are you taking me?" When she hopped on his back, he easily supported her weight. The sound of the crashing water ahead of them made him think, Waterfall?

With one arm he held her to him and with his other he reached for her hands to pry his eyes free. The sight before him left him breathless. It was simply amazing. Honestly, this island would never cease to leave him stunned. Looking over his shoulder he smirked, "What now, chéri?"

“Now, we climb.”

Noa returned his smirk with a grin of her own, pressing her nose against his so that their faces were inches apart. “You might want to change your clothes. I will pay for cleaning.” Giggling, she kissed his nose before shimmying down and waltzing off toward the waterfall. The sight was nothing new to her but it still absolutely blew her mind. She threw her head back, giving a loud “Wooooo!” that reverberated and made her smile larger.

She let her backpack slide from her shoulders, catching it just before it hit the ground. She'd be quite bereft if her sandwiches smushed or her whiskey bottle cracked before they were even touched. After removing her sweats to reveal the matching bottoms to her too, the gray lazy pants went into her backpack and her backpack was tucked within some large leaves. Noa stood with her upper body twisted to view Gray behind her, hands on her hips. “Hurry. I will climb without you, haole.” Despite the name she called him she spoke in a teasing manner, assuring him that she meant no offense. Instead, she strode over to the suit clad young man and gently grabbed the lapels of his jacket, giving her most exaggeratedly saturated flirtatious smile and shoulder shimmy. “Unless you need help.”

She's such a tease, he thought with a smile as she pressed her face to his and kissed his nose. After her comment about him needing help he responded. "I only want help if it involves you helping me undress," he said with a quick wink. Lazily he reached for his tie and loosened it. Reaching up he grabbed her nose and squeezed it, like you would a small child, and twisted away from her to remove the rest of his clothing. Taking his coat off, he gingerly placed it on a low hanging branch. Even if he had a million other suit jackets, he really liked this one. Next was his shirt. He tried hastily to unbutton each button. This, this was one of the reasons he hated dressing professionally, it took so long to disrobe and was generally frustrating when he had a waiting woman on his bed.

As soon as he had the top portion of his clothes off, he began to unbutton his pants. "No peeking," he warned her teasingly. He honestly didn't care if she saw him stark naked. He wasn't ashamed of any part of his body, rather he was pretty cocky about it. Quickly dropping his pants, he slipped his swim shorts that he had brought with him, over his boxers. He was weird like that, layering his swim shorts with boxers, it was just always a quirk of his. Finally ready he returned back to her side, "Ladies first."

“Just try to keep up!”

Noa hadn't peeked, instead blushing at the idea. She only turned when he announced being ready, offering him a smile before taking off to the right. With relative ease she was able to grapple with the perfect hand and footholds that were molded permanently into the reddish brown stone from centuries of others clambering to the top for the thrill of jumping down. She had to hold a bit tighter as the roaring water got louder to her left, spraying her and making it just a bit more difficult to steady herself. The top wasn't too far off and she easily hoisted herself up with a vine.

Turning and kneeling, she got a look at the water crashing down and creating a beautiful number of rainbows. Smiling, she offered her hand down to Gray, leaning over a bit more. “The view is great, huh?” The twinkle in her eye hinted at the double meaning as she grabbed his hand and pulled, a lot stronger than she looked.

Grey had been behind her the whole time, just below climbing where she had once been. So when she had mentioned how great the view was he responded, "It sure was- I mean is!" he finished quickly. After all, her derrière wasn't such an awful view; It was obvious she worked out.

Finally at level with her, he had to admit, she was tougher than she looked, he looked about him. The contrast of the colors from the foliage around them, the rocks, and the water created a kaleidoscope of color. It really was great, he finally allowed to himself. He stood looking down then, "Alright, so I think I should jump first. Ya know, make sure it's safe and shit."

“Don't be such a baby! Come!” Noa made sure she didn't slip on the rocks as water rushed down from the pool of freshwater at the top, grinning. Her hands latched onto Gray's as she made a run for it, throwing them both down the waterfall. The water was warm and them jumping directly into the flow of water only threw them down faster. Noa's squeal of joy from the exhilaration was short lived, cut prematurely by her going under. She had half a mind to hide in the cave behind the waterfall to frighten Gray and make him think she had drowned. But that was just mean. Meaner than throwing him from the top of a waterfall.

Her head broke the surface as she kicked her legs quickly, still holding on to Gray. “That wasn't too bad, was it?” She released him to float on her back, splashing him with her feet. “You sure you'll be able to keep up with me? I don't want to...” She had to pause, her lack of mastery of the English language showing. “Overwhelm you.” She flashed him a smile, turning her head to the side to view him. Water glistening from slightly tanned muscles... Nice.

One moment Gray was overlooking the water, the next he was in it. Breaking through the surface of the water, he cleared the water droplets from his face with his free hand and looked at Noa, "Bad? No. I'm absolutely fine with being cast over a cliff without knowing," he said sarcastically.

When she splashed him he splashed back, but her comment about keeping up proved to tantalizing for him to ignore. "Keep up? Overwhelm me? Honey, is your head screwed on right?" With that he made a lunge for her dragging her under the water, but quickly brought them both back up and held her an arms length away. "Don't go and forget who I am and how unpredictable I can be," he told her sternly, trying to hide his smile but only making him look more boyish with his lopsided grin.

She gave a short scream at being tackled and pulled under but she was clearly enjoying herself. As they came back up she only splashed him again, wriggling out of his grasp and swimming closer to him so that she was leaning against him. “Ah, but you've gotten so predictable. I think you're losing your touch.” She officially issued him a challenge, smirking as she held his gaze, letting her eyes narrow a bit. There was a mocking tone in her voice but still that ever-present twinkle of mischief and teasing dancing in her eyes. “So. Wow me. Unless you've truly gone stale,” she teased some more, patting his cheek in taunting pity, poking her lower lip out in a playful pout.

"Predictable? Ha!" Thinking to himself then, Have I? Then shaking off the thought he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his forehead to hers. Her challenge wasn't going to go unanswered. What had she called him? Stale? No, he was anything but that. Just a hairs breathe away from her pouting lips. "Nah, I'll 'wow' you later." And just like that he released her and swam to the bank where he got out and ran his hand through his sopping wet hair. If she wanted to play this game, then he would to, his way of course. His tactics? Being his charming self of course.

---

---

6:28pm; Mano's Place

Mano and his brood along with a collective of the graduating class had truly gone all out for this particular luau. The ceiling was decorated heavily with streamers, banners, and balloons and the black light brought attention to the various designs painted on the patrons. The class wanted to have a paint party but Mano wouldn't allow it unless they were volunteering to clean it all up afterward, so it was settled that they'd have a black and white black light party. Glow sticks, bracelets, and rings of all sorts adorned almost every teen and young adult there as many shimmied their way to the bar and flashed their stamps that proved they were of age. The few haole who managed to either sneak in or snag an invitation seemed rather surprised that such a traditional town wasn't celebrating with some sort of ancient tribal ritual. The only thing tribal were the tattoos, paint jobs, and some of the signs.

The music playing was about as varied as it came, switching from a bubblegum pop beat accompanied with a cute dance to some metal and rock to sick beats that provoked a number of people to start shuffling, break dancing, and gyrating with one another. There were a few parents scattered around the party, lurking in corners and watching the kids like hawks to ensure no horrible shenanigans would take place and watching the bars to make sure the kid they knew was only sixteen wasn't getting any drinks. Despite the luau being advertised as “Graduated Seniors and Guests Only”, some teens managed to get in with their older siblings. Obviously none of the graduated seniors – except for a few that had been held back many, many times – were old enough to drink, they all had plenty of cool twenty-one and older friends that they wanted to party the night away with; Plus, the graduating class was pretty small so they needed more people to really get the party going. Mano wasn't complaining. It was more money for his business.

“Ho'omaika'i 'ana! You guys have made it this far and hopefully it will get better! I'm honored to have been asked to sing this year's class song – Even though I didn't even graduate with you... Or ever.” Noa stood on the stage with her headset on, smiling as she spoke to the laughing graduates and friends standing before her. Lahaina wasn't exactly huge, the graduating class only totaling to about forty-something kids. But there were a lot of others there. They cheered her on, silencing as she held her hands up. “Even though you guys picked the absolute cheesiest song from the best movie ever. Here we go!” She pointed to the DJ to get the music started and an immediate cheer went out as she started up into singing.

“Aloha e aloha e
'Ano 'ai ke aloha e
Aloha ae aloha e
A nu ay ki aloha e

There’s no place I’d rather be
Then on my surfboard out at sea
Lingering in the ocean blue
And If I had one wish come true
I’d surf till the sun sets
Beyond the horizon

A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
Lawe mai i ko papa he'e nalu
Flyin by on the Hawaiian roller coaster ride

A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
La we mai iko papa he na lu
Pi'i na nalu la lahalaha
O ka moana hanupanupa
Lalala i kala hanahana
Me ke kai hoene i ka pu'e one
Helehele mai kakou e
Hawaiian roller coaster ride

There’s no place I’d rather be
Than on the surfboard out at sea
Lingering in the ocean blue
And If I had one wish come true
I’d surf till the sun sets
Beyond the horizon

A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
Lawe mai i ko papa he'e nalu
Flyin by on the Hawaiian roller coaster ride

Hang loose, hang ten, howzit, shake a shaka
No worry, no fear, ain't no biggie braddah
Cuttin' in, cuttin' up, cuttin' back, cuttin' out
Frontside, backside, goofy footed, wipe out

Let's get jumpin', surf's up and pumpin'
Coastin' with the motion of the ocean
Whirlpools swirling, twisting,and turning
Hawaiian roller coaster ride

A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
Lawe mai i ko papa he'e nalu
Flyin by on the Hawaiian roller coaster ride

Aloha e aloha e
'Ano 'ai ke aloha e
Aloha ae aloha e
A nu ay ki aloha e
Hawaiian rollercoaster Ride

There’s no place I’d rather be
Then on my surfboard out at sea
Lingering in the ocean blue
And if I had one wish come true
I’d surf till the sun sets
Beyond the horizon

A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
Lawe mai i ko papa he'e nalu
Flyin by on the Hawaiian roller coaster ride

A wiki wiki mai lohi lohi
La we mai iko papa he na lu
Flyin by on the Hawaiian roller coaster ride

Hawaiian roller coaster ride”

Her hips swayed and body twirled to the song as she worked her mermaid magic and enhanced her voice. As with all of her performances, she exerted her magic and charisma, pouring her heart and soul into it. The people bent to her will, succumbing to her influence as they danced to the music and cheered with the energy. She could feel herself getting a high from it, a megawatt smile on her face that went from ear to ear as she basked in the glory. Adrenaline was still shooting through her even as her performance ended and she let herself off the stage to let other music be played. Her heart was thumping as she shimmied through the crowd to the bar. “Makuakane – Can I get a bottle of scotch? Please?” She batted her eyelashes rapidly in a satirical manner, knowing full well what the answer would be. Mano kissed his daughter on the forehead and warned her to be responsible before handing her the bottle in question, smiling as she headed out for the beach.

She took a moment to scan what was going on, spotting several people that she knew. Okay. She knew pretty much everyone there because the majority of the people were locals. There were some haole there, obviously, but none of them seemed to be causing too much trouble. She was sure that trouble would come soon enough when they had enough alcohol in their system to let their inhibitions go though. Sighing, she spotted one of the older triplets, Kaniele. There was a light smile on her face but she quickly ducked and moved through the crowd to avoid being seen by him. “Oh! Hey, Noa! I thought I heard you on stage! Wow! Your bikini is awesome! Love the body art. I wish my parents would let me get some tats and piercings.” She accidentally bumped into Ahe, one of the chattiest girls in all of Hawaii. Noa offered her a polite smile and a one-armed hug. “Mahalo, Ahe. Lilo got it for me a few months ago.” She struck a pose to further bring attention to the white bikini that was decorated with a black bow over the top. Her tattoos had all been meticulously painted over so that the designs would glow under the black light.

“I wouldn't hold your breath on that one, though. Your parents are crazy uptight.”

“Everyone's parents are uptight compared to your.”

“True story; I'd love to stay and chat but I've gotta meet some people. Maybe we can dance later.” She gave the girl one more hug before heading out to the designated bonfire that Keo had instructed them to meet at, pulling her phone from the waist of her bottoms to text Gray to meet her there as well. {Hey loverboy! Meet up with me and the crew. Keo'll be there but we both know I'm worth it ;) xoxo} As the warm night wind whipped at her ponytail, she stood obliviously watching the waves lapping the shore, pining for a swim. What she didn't notice was the flare of red hair as a young woman took a seat yards away. While it looked as though she simply wasn't enjoying the party, the woman was watching intently on Noa with a look in her blue eyes akin to that of a stalking predator in the jungle.

---

Translations
Wikiwiki - Quickly
Haole - Foreigner, generally applied to caucasians
Maoli - Natives
Ho'omaika'i 'ana - Congratulations
Makuakane - Daddy
Mahalo - Thank you

---

---

Did his sister really just sing the theme song to Lilo and Stitch? While the movie was popular in Hawaii, Kani could only imagine what the senior class was thinking in choosing that song, but also in choosing Noa to perform it. He watched the performance, his gaze shifting around the luau as he looked for any of the group to see if they were here. He watched Noa, a smile on his face as she sung. Her voice was melodic, captivating, enhanced, but only he would catch that. When the song was over, Kaniele sighed and was about to go speak to his sister when she dipped in order to avoid him. He had noticed her looking around and when she spotted him she ducked down and vanished from his sight. He smirked, knowing where she was heading off to, but he hoped like hell she wasn’t inviting Grayson’s ass. One of these days that kid was going to get it straight in the jaw. As he stood around watching the festivities, he couldn’t help but think about Jabari. His three year old son was home with Kona and no one knew aside from Aliee who was Jabari’s mother. Things with Aliee and Kani had been a little rocky at first, but it all smoothed out and they had a very odd friendship, one that Kani adored. They were close, but not as close as Aliee was to Keo. Kani knew that Noa and Aliee weren’t the best of friends, in fact if you stuck both of them in solitary confinement with each other they’d probably battle like two wildcats. Would he ever tell the others about Jabari? He didn’t know, he had kept it a secret to avoid Child Protective Services from taking Jabari, but he wanted them to know so bad that it hurt him to keep it a secret from his family and friends.

“I’ll tell them one day,” he quietly said as he watched Noel dance out of the corner of his eye, “I wonder how he is with kids?”

Sighing, he smiled at Noel who was enjoying the music, and the decorations. He was conversing with so many of the islanders that Kani simply let him have his fun. Kani had gone to pick Noel up before the luau started. They had been texting each other all day long since he dropped Noel off at the Kealoha hotel. He was sort of surprised to hear from Noel, but then again Noel didn’t strike him as the user type, or the type that judged anyone. In fact Noel, to him, was more laid back and party friendly, but what was the male’s story? He looked to be an islander himself, from another island, perhaps Puerto Rican. He could tell by the tint of his skin, the accent he had when he talked, and the way he kissed him when he first met.

Noel had a fun time on the beach prior to the luau. He had done a little shopping, gathering souvenirs from different shops along the beach and simply enjoying himself. The fun part was texting Kani and actually setting up the date to come to the luau. Fitting in wasn’t really a problem for Noel as he did his research prior to coming to Hawaii. He wanted to know all there was because he did want to be able to communicate without a translator. When Kani came to pick him up, Noel felt a bit overdressed. Kani had on a tank top that was black in color, and a pair of orange swimming shorts with a pair of expensive sandals. Noel had dressed to impress with a polo shirt, a pair of expensive shorts and his Sperry’s but in a different color. It was Kani who suggested he change into something more comfortable, and of course Noel made a joke about Kani wanting to see him naked, but Noel had no problem stripping right there in front of Kani in the hotel room. He had gotten dressed in a similar outfit, only his shorts were tie dye in color.

The luau was amazing, and he was meeting new people which he enjoyed. At the moment he was talking to one of the graduating class about the future and college and they were eating it up. He was speaking their language as well, making minimal mistakes here and there, but for the most part it was obvious he wasn’t from Hawaii. Then a song came on, back home they called it a rump shaker, and before he knew it he was gyrating all on Kani’s nether regions, and Kani wasn’t objecting to it either. The two danced for a while before Kani went to the bar to get something to drink. Noel continued to dance, Kani aware that he too wanted something to drink with a kick.

“Wassup pops,” Kani said as he approached the bar his father was serving drinks from. The handshake shared by father and son was unbreakable. His father looked at him with an amused smile.

“So you brought a Haole?” Mano asked clearly seeing Noel dancing with Kani earlier.

“Yea, he’s a pretty nice guy. Name’s Noah and from what I gather he’s from Puerto Rico, but lives in North Carolina.”

“Wow, long flight,” Mano stated as he handed his son the drinks he asked for, two shots of Bacardi 151. Before he handed the drinks to Kani he quickly asked, “Is your friend a lightweight?”

“Nah pops, he’s alright,” Kani replied as he grabbed the two shot classes filled with hard liquor. “Mahalo!”

Mano simply looked at his son and shook his head before returning to whatever he was doing prior to being interrupted by Kaniele. Off Kani went to deliver the alcohol, and as he weaved his way through the crowd of swaying bodies, he nearly dropped the shots twice before making it to Noel.

“Bottoms up,” Kani stated handing the shot to Noel who quickly downed it, making a very ugly face before asking “What was that gasoline?” Kani laughed after downing his and replied, “nah, 151 boo.”

Noel felt the alcohol take over as they shared one more dance before it was time for Kani to depart to the bonfire. He didn’t know how he would break it to Noel, but he had a feeling the guy was going to be alright either way. As they danced, he caught sight of Aliee arriving at the luau, getting a drink and taking one with her in the direction of the bonfire. She didn’t look to particularly pleased to be here, probably because of him, but more directly because of Noa. He knew it was awkward for her to be around him. After all, he was the father of their kid, and yet they were friends, and yet they told none of the “power clique” about this. It was stressful to say the least, but he was certain it would be fine, it had to be, if they were their friends, they would find a way to accept the news when delivered, and respect their decision to keep it secret for various reasons.

Noel looked at Kani who seemed deep in thought and wrapped his arms around the male’s neck staring into his eyes.

“You wanna sit down?” he asked wanting to make sure Kani was okay.

“Nah, I’m cool, you alright?” Kani replied returning the gaze. There was something about this guy, something interesting, something that drew him in and it uneased him a bit.

“Thank you,” Noel said finally as they swayed back and forth.

“For what?” Kani asked with a soft smile as he twirled Noel to the beat of the slow romantic song that was playing in the background. Noel chuckled lightly before returning his gaze to Kani.

“For this,” Noel motioned to everything around them, “no doubt this isn’t a party for any, how do you all say it? Haole? And I appreciate the invite.”

“Hey it’s no biggie,” Kani said, “besides, we’re here to have fun right?”

For a moment Noel felt this moment was right, it was what he was looking for, but it scared him a bit. He had just gotten out of a long relationship, and he wondered what would happen now. He had promised himself he’d not block any outlet during this trip. He would hang out, and see where things went, so as he danced with Kani it became increasingly obvious that there was a mutual attraction there, both physical and mental. Before either knew what was going on, Noel and Kani’s lips were pressed together ever so romantically if only for a brief moment before Kani cleared his throat.

“I...uh....I have somewhere to ummm be and I was hoping I could see you later,” Kani said trying his hardest not to screw it up, or come off as if he didn’t want to be there. Noel smiled and simply nodded.

“It is getting late, and I do need to get back to the hotel, but if you have somewhere to go then go, I’m not gonna stop you,” Noel said kissing Kani on the cheek, “besides, I’ve got some Hawaiian to learn from that man over there,” Noel said pointing to the bartender who coincidentally was his father.

“Good luck with that,” Kani stated laughing softly, “my dad isn’t really the best teacher, but I’m sure you’ll learn something.”

Noel waved as Kani took off in the direction of the bonfire. Noel returned to the party, grabbing a drink and listening to Mano talk and explain some interesting history about Hawaii.

Upon Kani’s arrival at the bonfire, he noticed Aliee right off the bet, he also noticed Noa.

“Good evening ladies,” he said smiling as he hugged his rash sister, and then turned his attention to Aliee, “mi lady,” he said in the best English accent he could muster, giving a bow before giving her a friendly hug, “are you okay?” he asked during the embrace. “Where’s Keo?” Kani asked wondering where the male was since it was his idea to meet here in the first place. They had an interesting relationship, Kani and Keo. They were similar in some aspects but different in others. For instance Keo was indeed a free spirit, and took his sexuality to the extreme while Kani was simply a party guy and loved having fun, he was selective of who he bed, if he bedded anyone at all. All in all Kani loved his family, they all meant a lot to him, every single one of them, even Kye.

---

---

While out in her little corner of the world, Quinn wondered about the luau later that night. 'Is everyone going? I wonder if Kye is...' Kye was one of her best friends here. They didn't hang out much due to him being busy with something, but Quinn thinks sometimes that he is avoiding her. She is older than he is, and that might just put him off. "Well, text him and find out!" She did just that. Unlocking her phone, she opened up a text to Kye.

'Hey, what are you doing right now? Wanna hang out before the luau tonight? :D' Hopefully, he wouldn't take too long to reply.

...

Kye looked around on the beach with a smile before waving to the guys. He needed to head back to Keo's house if he didn't want to miss his cousin. "Aloha everyone," Kye calls as he waves to them, jogging towards the steps leading towards Keo's house. He passed a haole on his wave, giving a slight wave to be friendly as he went.

The following hours he helped and hung out with Keo. Changing to the black and white for the party, Kye worse his white swim trunks and a black tanktop. He was working on getting face paint on in a familiar pattern from Hawaii when his phone buzzed drawing his attention away from the mirror in the bathroom. Using his pinky finger, Kye unlocked his phone to look at the text.

'Hey, what are you doing right now? Wanna hang out before the luau tonight? :D' read a text from Quinn. Kye backed up as he thought about what he just read. He sat down on the toilet, ignoring Keo, though he wasn't sure if Keo was even talking to him at the moment. Quinn wanted to hang out with him. He needed to be cool, he just needed to be cool. Simple? For some people, not including Kye.

Taking a deep breath, he wiped the glow in the dark white paint off his fingers on a towel. He sat back again, smiling as he texted back, 'Just finished with painting my face for the luau. I gotta pick up some stuff for the party tonight, I'll pick you up and drive you to it if you want.'

Kye had to pick up some food for the house and for the party, volunteering to bring food to help his friends from school celebrate. He grabbed his phone and walked out if the bathroom, calling to Keo as he headed down the stairs, "I'm going to go pick up the stuff for the party. Meet you there," Kye finished as he grabbed his keys of the counter and headed outside to the jeep.

...

When Kye texted her back, Quinn was delighted. It means he wasn't too overly busy like he normally is. Quickly opening up the message and reading it made her even more happy. She wouldn't be alone at the luau and be stuck with Keo or her brother. Even more exciting was that Kye was offering her a ride to the luau, meaning he would be there. 'That's really awesome and I would totally love a ride. You're the best, Kye!' After that, she ran home, getting a shower and figuring out what to wear. This would be the first time Quinn was going to a party since she met Keo. Quinn glanced at the time. "He'll be here soon..." Her parents were just getting home. "Hey! Nate and I are going to a luau tonight. We'll be home late. I have someone picking me up in a few minutes." Quinn called to them. Hearing her father's normal grunt and her mother's sigh of acceptance made her squeal a bit. As she was finishing her makeup, she heard a car pull into the driveway.

...

Pulling out, he paused just before going on the road. It was Quinn again. 'That's really awesome and I would totally love a ride. You're the best, Kye!' Kye smiled at the text, sending her back a quick text, 'Thanks, see you soon.' Kye tucked his phone away and pulled out, heading into town and the store. He grabbed a pack of waters and some other groceries that weren't refrigerated and dumped them in the back of his jeep.

If he left for Quinn's place now, he would have plenty of time to pick her up and get to the party in time, or around when it would get fun.

He drove towards her house almost leisurely as he went. He wanted to seem cool if anyone he knew saw him, needed to make them think he wasn't nervous.

Kye pulled onto Quinn's street, seeing her parents' car in the drive way. He looked stupid and probably reckless to most adults, but if her parents knew him at all, they would know he was probably the most harmless of the natives she hung out with. He parked, for out, and walked to the front door. Knocking, he wondered whether she would answer, or her parents, and wasn't quite sure which was better... Or worse.

When Quinn's father showed up at the door, Kye felt the eyes watching him with a small smile. He knew Quinn's father and Quinn's father knew him, slightly less well. "Hi, Mr. Berlin, I'm taking Quinn to the luau," Kye explains with a smile as he stands there easily. He knew he probably looked ridiculous with the face paint, but didn't really know what he could do what with the issues of taking it off.

...

As Quinn was finishing up, she heard her father let Kye in and they exchanged greetings. Her father seemed to like Kye, but didn't show it well enough. Better save Kye from the impending doom that is my dad. She headed down the stairs and as soon as she came into view, her father stopped talking and just kind of sat down. "Hey, Ma-...Quinn." That's right, her father still wasn't happy about people calling her Quinn, but that's the way the world turns. She hugged her father, and nodded in response to Kye's question.

"Thanks again for the ride, Kye. I really didn't want to be stuck with Nate."

"Of course, not a problem," Kye responds with the ever present smile as he gives her father a nod of goodbye. Kye waves back to the house at Quinn's parents as he walks down the driveway with her. He grabs the bag of work clothes from the passenger seat and tosses it in the back to clear a way for Quinn. Once she was seated, he quickly jumped into the driver's seat and started the car. Kye pulled out carefully and drove down the road, looking at a Quinn every few seconds. "So, psyched about the luau tonight?" Kye asks with a smile as he looks at the red light easily. People walked by that he recognized, so he waved to them.

As they were going to the luau, Kye attempted to make small talk by asking about the luau. "I'm honestly a little scared by it, but I'm also hyped about it. The last party I went to was two years ago. I'm awful, aren't I?" She chuckled at herself. She knew Kye would be excited for it, considering the paint on his face.

"Hey, Kye? You seem really tired lately. Are you alright?" Today, for once, Kye seemed okay. But there have been a couple of times when Kye has crashed at her house from whatever he does that keeps him out late. Her home tends to be the closest to the city part of Maui. "It's okay if you don't want to answer me, I understand it's your personal life." Plus, I'm not the easiest person to talk to.

...

Kye was chuckling at Quinn's claim while he listened to her question. His shoulders tensed slightly though he shrugged, not letting the stress stay. "I'm just beat from all the finals and stuff. Now that schools out I'll be able to get a bit more relief. I'm actually working towards a certain job right now," He says with a hopeful smile. He wanted to quit his old one and get one teaching surfing somewhere, but none of the places paid more than the restaurant and tips, which allowed just barely enough money. He didn't want to tell Quinn the whole truth, that work was getting longer and worse with the haole and that he was wishing his mom would and would not come back, but he didn't want to lie, so telling a truth wasn't lying, just not all the truth.

As the two pulled up, Kye smiled over at Quinn as he jumped out and headed to the other side of the car to open her door before going to get the stuff out of the back of the jeep.

Music went on in the building and Kye could see the beach not too far away. "Hey, I'm just gonna drop this off inside. If you want to head down to the beach that's cool," Kye says motioning with a hand to the fire the others had built. Kye went inside, arms full and headed to the bar. He smiled at the familiar faces, giving them a bright hello as he passed them the stuff. On his way out however, he was pushed into someone and slipped. Looking up, he saw a haole he didn't recognize. The guy wore a blue shirt and khakis and seemed to tower over Kye. "Sorry man, didn't see you there," Kye says as he stands with the help of a friend who pats him on the back before disappearing in the crowd. "Enjoy the party as much as you can," Kye says as he gives a slight wave and heads towards the beach.

As he approaches, he smiles at the people, giving a wave to them and greeting them all in general. "Aloha," he declares with a smile and wide arms.

...

Kye was such a sweetheart. He opened up the door for Quinn before she could even get out of her seat belt. Seeing as he was busy, Quinn entered the party with a cautious feeling emanating from her. Kye passed her with a whole bunch of stuff for the party. He told her to head down to the beach if she would like. She headed over to the fire, and it flickered in response to her presence. It seemed everyone was there, but spread out. She wasn't really sure what to do, so she just took a chair near the bonfire. Everything seemed fine, and she saw Kye coming over from across the way.

As Kye approaches the fire, he nods to the few non natives that were around, curious about their presence but not pushing it as he goes to take a seat by Quinn. He looked over at her and smiled as he moved to sit on the sand right next to her instead of the chair, not wanting to sit in the chair.

Quinn snickered a bit at him. "You're an odd one, Kye Kealoha." As soon as she looked over at him, however, she knew he wasn't handling the people's emotions around them very well. She made him get up. "Go over by yourself. When you're ready to come back, I'll be right here. Don't worry about me, okay?"

Kye Kealoha

---

---

Kye shakes his head as he looks down at Quinn. He was not a tall person compared to a lot of people, but was just tall enough to pass the girls. The emotions that were coming over him in waves were not as easily discerned from such a distance and his control was returning more and more.

"I'm doing okay Quinn, really. Just because I go away from them, I'll still feel them for a bit. My control is coming back and I'll be totally okay in just a few minutes. It's better if I just sit down and relax," Kye says rubbing the back of his neck. He really didn't want to go off by himself. "I just need to be calm," he says as avoids looking at Quinn. He felt uncomfortable all of a sudden being so close to her when there weren't a lot of people around, though he was thankful the others weren't there to see it and make fun of him.

Kye looks our at the water and then back at the party. The pounding was nearly gone and all he could feel was that of which was right in front of him, closing of the radius to all but Quinn and noticing her concern more than anything.

"Really Quinn, I know you'd be fine but I'm fine too. It's nearly all the way gone now and just made a bad headache. Would you like to go down to the water while we wait for the others?" Kye hoped it wouldn't seem cheesy, but he didn't want to sit here while the others talked with their haole friends. It would help and maybe even make Quinn feel more reassured about him being okay.

Why was it that he was always having difficulty with control when it easily not the hardest gift to control. Quinn had to control fire and Nate plants, why was it that his was the one that liked to act up all the time? Maybe the others' did too, but they controlled their obviousness.

Shaking his head inwardly at himself, Kye offers his hand to Quinn to take her to the beach, leaving his sandals behind as he goes towards the water, looking aloof as he walks slowly to give Quinn a chance to come with him.

It was as if all of her prayers had been answered. Kani of all people arrived to the bonfire next. She wasn't sure herself, but it sounded like a sigh of relief that left her lips. Finally someone she at least knows arrived. Well she knows Noa, but to even suggest they were close would be offensive. Aliee was completely fine with being on one side of the fire with the girl on the other. The way it should be. Aliee watched as Kani greeted his sister then worked his way to her. She smiled showing her great gratitude for the other's arrival. The first laugh of the night came from her as Kani greeted himself. She liked the slightly silly side of him. It matched perfectly with her own personality. "I'm fine." She whispered back to him during their brief hug. She wanted to talk more. It's been a while since they last spoke to each other.

She rose an eyebrow as if to ask if Kani was serious about his question. For all they knew, Keo was off with some random. Not that her track record was much better. Anyways, she turned to her friend and smiled. "Can we go somewhere and talk briefly?" There were two things she wanted to talk about. Dax and Jabari. Talking to Keo about relationships wasn't ideal nor was discussing a child he had no knowledge about. Oh! And the third thing would be to discuss what has been going on with Kani lately.

Kani could tell that Aliee was uncomfortable with Noa so close in her vacinity. He often wondered what it was that caused them to dislike one another. It wasn't his place to say anything but he did look out for both of them. His sister was family, and Aliee was family, in a sense. She was the mother of their three year old son, and yet Noa didn't even know that Aliee was Jabari's mother, and furthermore that she was Jabari's aunt. As far as she knew she was Jabari's niece. Nonetheless he looked at Aliee as she smiled at him. She had asked if they could go somewhere and talk briefly and he simply nodded.

"Be right back," he said to Noa before heading off in the far distance to talk to Aliee. He already knew what she was going to talk about, but he also had something he wanted to discuss with her. He wanted to discuss both Jabari and Noel with her. When they were a safe distance away, walking along the beach where the ocean hit the sand, he looked at her and sighed.

"You hanging in there?" he asked clearly worried about her. He hadn't seen her in a few days, probably more like a few weeks, but he thought of her often whenever he saw Jabari.

Aliee didn't hesitate to walk away with Kani. She needed a breather. Dramatic right? She didn't even say two words to Noa, but it was already enough of the girl for one night. She had a feeling he wanted to talk as well. One could say they had the type of friendship where they didn't see each other everyday, but they still maintained their friendship. That's just the way it was. Once they were a good distance away from the bitc-Noa, Aliee downed the rest of her drink to make it through the conversation pertaining to her child. "Define hanging in there?" A small joke to lighten the mood, or at least she thought it had. "Well first, I went to see Jabari last week. I wanted to see him again, but I was afraid it would look weird I keep showing up to only see one child." She paused for a moment finding the topic a little difficult to talk about.

"Kani, he doesn't even really know who I am. How is that...no, I know how it's possible but still." Now she felt the need for another drink. Shaking the thought away she directed her attention back to the topic at hand. "I want to tell him to call me Mom. Do you think it would be too weird though if someone heard him call me that? I mean eventually he's going to have to know who I really am. I don't want to be the 'lady who babysits on occasion'. I want him to call me his mother." It wasn't long before she began to ramble, but she could never talk about Jabari with anyone. If Kani wasn't around she would just have a bunch of thoughts floating around in her head, yet no one to talk to.

The ocean danced around their feet, partly because Kani willed it to do so, but also because of the rising tide. He listened to Aliee speak and while she spoke he could only agree with what she was saying. She had every right as Jabari's mother to feel this way, hell he even felt this way because instead of being called "da-da" or "daddy" he was pretending to be Jabari's nephew. It hurt that the decisions he made prior to had affected his life so greatly now. Jabari was his world, and he knew Jabari was Aliee's world as well. The baby had brought them so much joy and as they watched him grow up it became even more obvious that he was theirs. When it had come time to give Jabari to Kona, Kani had to leave in order to gather his thoughts. Now having to see Jabari in his grandfather's possession with Noa acting as caretaker and Aliee coming around as the "babysitter" it became increasingly painful to observe.

"I get it," Kani said, "I wish we could tell them all about Jabari. I often hold him and wonder what life would've been like if I just let it out that we had a kid, but then I think about the fact that he could be taken by the CPS and lost to us forever because of my stupid actions."

Kani got a little upset whenever he thought of it. Because of him, they had no choice in raising Jabari. Because of his violent streak when he was younger, and because of his record, he was unfit to raise a child, but what about Aliee? Unbeknown to him, her alcoholism would've surely gotten Jabari snatched away before he could even utter a single cry. It was all fucked up, but he planned on telling them one day, one day when it felt right.

"I'm going to tell them," he said softly looking up at Aliee. He exhaled and looked up at the sky, "I'm going to tell them and get Jabari back, but I need time to figure out how to do that. I'm also going to need your help."

He paused for a moment seeing how hurtful the conversation about Jabari was becoming. It was hurtful to see your child nearly every day and not being able to say "hey son" or have them call you by what you really are to them. The thought of his son never calling him "daddy" was heart wrenching and he could only imagine how hurt Aliee was. Still, he had to change the subject, he knew if he kept it on Jabari Aliee would be in tears sooner or later.

"But I know there's something else on your mind, what is it?"

Aliee couldn't even enjoy one of her favorite things, which was feeling cool ocean water run across her feet. No, that didn't matter to her right now. She could tell Kani blamed himself for what was currently happening to both of them, but if he knew about her drinking, then he'd know he's not the only one who contributed to the lost of Jabari for now. Unlike him though, Aliee wasn't exactly eager to tell her friends, namely Keo, about Jabari. Absolutely not. "Instead of telling everyone about him, I wish I could at least let him know who I am." Words couldn't describe how painful it was to deal with the fact your child doesn't even know you exist, even though you see them every week. Sighing, Aliee kicked at the water running between her toes. She could feel her emotions rising as they continued to talk.

"We need a lot more time to figure out how to get Jabari back." There were two major problems. One being Kani's probation and the second Aliee's drinking. If CPS knew about Aliee, then Jabari would never be in her care. Not at least until she can sober up. Who knows when that will be though. "But, if you really want to then I will help you." At the end of the day they were still great friends, so she was going to do her best. A temporary silence fell upon the duo, and she was happy to see him move onto a less frustrating topic. A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips at the thought of the new topic. It was stressful but no where near the level of stress dealing with a child.

"You know me so well. Am I that easy to read?" Aliee joked. "Well the next topic is Dax. I feel like he likes me and I know I like him, but there is like this invisible wall up between us. I have known him a really long time now, but for some reason I can't express my feelings to him. Ugh! This is why I don't date. It's too complicated." Aliee puffed out her cheeks in thought before continuing where she left off. "Should I just be bold and tell him? Or wait for him to say something first?" Aliee always preached to Keo about a steady relationship but she's never had one herself.

Kani was happy to know that Aliee had his back when it came to Jabari and for that he was grateful and thankful. Now the conversation shifted to something more romantic. He listened as Aliee spoke of her attraction to Dax, one of the members of their group. Dax was an okay guy. For all Kani knew the guy chould shift into animals or some crazy shit like that. He was cool with Dax and hung out with him a few times, but that's what guys normally did. To say they were close was an understatement, at most he could call Dax a friend, one of those friends that you talk to, and hang on occasion, but never really had any deep connection or deep conversations with. It was kind of odd that most of the group were his family members, but he was sure Dax and Aliee would make a great couple, the only thing was that they were both too afraid to admit their feelings to one another.

"I'm sure Dax feels the same way you feel about him. How much do you two hang out? Do you two talk to each other at all? Don't wait too long Aliee, life is about taking chances, making mistakes and learning from them. Don't be holed up in your mind waiting for him to make a move. You're strong, your awesome so just go for it," Kani replied, giving rather interesting advice. It seemed that he was better at giving advice than taking it. His own issues were ever so prominent. He hardly dated, but when he did he went straight for it. The last relationship he was in lasted a long time, but apparently being trustworthy was beyond them. The relationship ended with violence as most everything pertaining to him did. Now he had a chance at something new, something fresh, and he was scared to death. He didn't want to mess it up. This foreigner had just met him and he could already feel the mutual connection. Noel had already confirmed the mutual link, but what would this mean? The guy was only here for a short while, there was no sense in getting emotionally connected was there? All these thoughts were running through his head. Should he go for it? Shoudl he leave it alone? Should he be happy, or should he just deal with it?

He looked at Aliee and smiled.

"Besides, if you don't, I'm sure plenty of other girls will fall head over heels for Dax," he exaggerated.


Sure Kani may not know a lot about Dax, but he knew enough for her to ask him for advice. Who did she really have to ask such a question? Not Keo. Not Quinn. Never Noa. Never ever Noa. Kye was too young and dealing with his own romance. She really needed some more friends. Good friends. "I hope he feels the same way about me. Otherwise I would look extremely stupid right now. Let's see, we are around each other a lot. Our moms work together so it's inevitable. Like I said we are good friends so we talk more than most." She tried to answer the rapid fire questions, but it was a little overwhelming to think about it all. On the other hand she could hug Kani right now. He was right. She shouldn't wait! She should just march right up to him and...who was she kidding? Never in hell was she going to be that bold. Nope, not her. Then again she didn't want to waste Kani's advice/pep talk. So many choices. Give up on a relationship and stay friends, or risk your long time friendship. Surely she will make up her mind, but it won't be tonight. Give it a day or two.

"You were doing good with the advice until the last part." Aliee referenced the mentioning of other girls. Enough about her already, she wanted to know more about him. "What about you? Anyone you like or holds your interest?" It may seem weird to most, as to why two people who share a child have no romantic interest in each other. The answer was rather simple. Aliee didn't like Kani like that and he didn't like her like that. It was just a drunken night nothing more. "You know I have to meet the person you plan on dating. Can't just have anyone around my child." Aliee grinned happily. She swung her arm out and wrapped it around Kani's shoulder. "So do tell. Who do you like right now? Who is the lucky person who is just oh so deserving of your love and affection?" She pinched his cheek in a motherly way.

He once again fell silent as he listened to Aliee as she spoke about Dax. In other words Aliee and Dax were quote unquote good friends and apparently neither had the tendency to tell the other how they truly felt abaout each other, well at least Aliee didn't. Perhaps he should talk to Dax, see how he felt about Aliee. That way if he felt the same way he could tell her and she could move things further. Was it really his place to interefere in such a way? Was he really authoried to do such a thing? It was for a good purpose, he wanted to see Aliee happy, and if Dax made her happy then he'd do whatever he could to see if the feelings were mutual. He wouldn't tell her of course, as she would probably disapprove of his actions and tell him not to do it.

"Ya know what, I'm sure he likes you Aliee, I mean what's not to like?" Kani replied as he laughed at Aliee's comment about him giving good advice until speaking of other girls. It was true though. If another girl came by and caught Dax's attention, it would be Aliee's fault that she didn't make a move when she had Dax's attention. It wasn't like Dax was an ugly person. He was actually pretty handsome. He was about to say something when Aliee started asking him about things that were on his mind. Was he that transparent? He sighed and looked out at the ocean, stopping momentarily.

"I, umm, well I met a guy today actually," Kani began as he felt his face heat up a bit, "His name is Noel, he's Puerto Rican I believe, and I brought him to the luau with me. I feel like there's something there, and I can tell he wants to explore more to see what happens, but I don't know. I don't wanna invest in something that will end soon. When I think about it dating a Haole is probably a bad idea right?"

Aliee pursed her lips as she listened to Kani carefully. He gave her some good advice so she should give him some as well. "Thank you, though." Nothing wrong with a little self-esteem boost. Now back to the task at hand. She almost burst with excitement as Kani mentioned meeting a guy today or more specifically tonight. A Cheshire Cat grin tugged at her lips as he continued talking. "Noel you say? If you like him at first glance then that is saying a lot." Aliee gave her friend's shoulder a small squeeze before continuing. "I think you should explore it. Who knows, it could end in a month or ten years. I don't want to hear you complain about 'what if I talked to him more' or 'I should have asked him out'. Nope, I just want to hear 'I gave it my all and now we are still together'. Things can only end badly if you let them Kani." It was a typical Aliee lecture to say the least. "And if Noel hurts you, then I'm here to help you back on your feet. That's what friends are for." She finished it off with a small smirk.

"Now, let's get back to the bonfire. People might think we are plotting against the Haole over here." It was close to a known fact Aliee had no adoration towards mainlanders. None. But for Kani she would make an exception. No one else though. "Come on darling the fire is calling us. It's cold over here." Aliee tugged on her friend's arm back in the direction of the bonfire.

Aliee, or "Myrtle" (as Noa often, teasingly called her) was the first to meander over and Noa didn't bother too much to say anything. The other woman didn't need to speak for Noa to know that Keo was the only reason she was anywhere near Noa. The two didn't associate in public or otherwise unless they had no choice. She was a bit relieved when Kani had come along, smiling and returning the hug. It didn't last too long before me moved on to Aliee, who quickly whisked Kaniele away for a "private chat". Noa bristled, a frown forming against her lips, something most people never saw. She hated that Aliee seemed to simply fucking adore everyone in the Kealoha family - the males in particular - but hated Noa's guts. For. No. Reason. Noa pinned it to jealousy but hardly cared enough to approach the haole for talking to. Yes. Haole. Unbeknownst to the others, as Noa doesn't really ever talk about Aliee, the young woman felt in her soul that she would never accept Aliee as a haole. As far as she was concerned, lineage mattered. The tanned blue blood watched Aliee prance (okay, walk) off with Kani in tow and immediately turned to head back towards the party to check for Gray's arrival. She was already beginning to regret agreeing with Keo to meet with the others. Sipping from her bottle, she looked around. Quinn was there with Kye. There was a knot of disgust that formed in her gut. What the hell was with her generation of male Kealohas and their fascination with haole. Obviously, Hiwalani-Noa herself dabbled with them. But at least none of them claimed to be maoli. She obviously didn't really think that Kye and Quinn had a thing. She just didn't like Quinn and Aliee. Nate was an exception because he obviously did like her. Plus, he was actually fun. 

Rolling her eyes again, she shimmied off into the crowd. There were whispers of a Hilton on the dance floor. Grayson. She couldn't stop the smile that replaced her frown as she headed to find him. It hardly took more than just a glance to shoo away the females gyrating against him, Noa taking their place. He was no D-Trix but he did manage to not look like a stork on ice. Laughs, smiles, and a few passing gropes were exchanged before they shared a slow dance. It didn't take long for that to end and Noa pulled Gray outside to a table, the two passing the bottle of whiskey back and forth. 

Kani walked back to the bonfire with Aliee, smiling and laughing as they shared jokes along the edge of the beach.  He began to sing softly, his voice rather melodic, much better than that of his sisters, at least he'd like to think so.  He laughed mentally at the thought of Noa throwing a fit if he were picked best singer over her.  She'd practically spew flames and shoot venom from her ears at the thought of her brother besting her at something she enjoyed.  Smiling, he saw in the distance Noa retreat to the luau and sighed.  He kind of knew why she was there, after all it wasn't a big secret who had found an interest in her.  Everyone seemed to want to come to him and tell him about her actions and he had had enough of it.  He disliked Gray with a passion, and the only legitimate reason he disliked Gray was because he'd seen guys like him before.  They come, prey on the innocent hearts of beautiful natives and then leave them heartbroken.  Not to mention the guy was a Haole.  Kaniele could've growled if he was an animal at the thought of his sister locking lips with the guy.  He balled his hand into a fist with the thought but realized he was still with Aliee and unclenched his hand.

"Excuse me a moment Aliee, I gotta go check on Noel," Kani stated as he too proceeded to head back towards the party.  In reality he was going to both check on Noel and spy on Noa.  He just had a feeling she had invited him, they had been spending a lot of time with each other lately, and there would be no such connection as long as he lived and breathed.

He slipped into the luau unnoticed and instantly spotted Gray.  He watched from a distance as Gray and Noa danced.  He was touching his sister, his baby sister and it took every ounce of Kani's will not to go punch the guy square in the nose.  How could his father allow such frivolous interaction?  At that moment, Noel having spotted Kani walked over to him.

"You okay?" he asked clearly seeing the scowl on Kani's face.

"Yea I'll be fine, you enjoying yourself?"

"So far so good, your dad is an awesome teacher, I learned a few words," Noel replied with a smile, "but it's getting late for me and as much as I'd love to stay here and chat I really should get to bed."

"Awww come on, you can stay a few more hours," Kani pleaded, "just to dance and drink a bit."

"That's the thing," Noel stated, "I think I'm drunk."

For someone who was drunk, Noel surely carried himself well.  He wasn't swaying or slurring his words, but from the look of his eyes, Kani had a feeling the guy was buzzed.

"Tell you what, give me at least thirty minutes to an hour.  I'll drive you home okay?"

"On one condition," Noel replied.

"What's that?" Kani asked, Noel getting extremely close to him as he leaned forward and whispered into his ear.

"You have to spend the night," Noel whispered, and as he pulled away from Kani he kissed the male again for the third time this day.  Saying it was like fireworks would be a lie, it was more like a TNT explosion.  When the kiss ended, Kani smiled.  "Sure, as long as you're sure that's what you want."

Noel placed a finger on Kani's lips before winking and rejoining the fray of swaying bodies.  Kani smirked as Noel left and then resumed his search for Noa.  It didn't take him long to find her exchanging drinks with Gray.  He walked over to the table and interrupted their little pow wow by slamming his fist into the table causing a rather loud bang that caused some of those closes to the table to stop dancing and stare.

"SO, NOA, WHAT'S GOOD?" he said his voice slightly raised and laced with irritation.

Noa had moved her chair from adjacent to Gray to right next to him, laughing as he told her a few jokes and the two exchanged embarrassing stories from world travels. “So, I really wanted to see it but it was closed for a week. After the show I snuck out of the hotel and slipped through the gates. Guards busted me trying to get out of a different gate. My head got stuck and they had to call an ambulance and the fire department.” She giggled into the bottle as Gray sputtered out laughter until Kani arrived. The bang startled them both but only caused further laughter. “Life. Life is good. This whiskey is good. Gray's body is amazing.” She teased her brother's patience and tolerance with little care or worry, passing the alcohol to Gray and resting her hand on his. “How was your chitchat with Little Mrs. I'm Better Than Everyone?” This caused the two to snicker a little, Noa almost sneering as she spoke of Aliee.

Noa was really testing his patience with her actions and he knew she was doing it to get under his skin.  It was working all too well, and the laughter only added to the  fire.  They were drinking straight whiskey, and while he had had a few drinks, he was sure they were inebriated.  Kani looked around and watched as everyone continued to dance and chat with one another.  Without warning, Kani snatched the whiskey bottle and smashed it on the table before glaring at Noa.

"What the hell is he doing here Noa?  Do you really wanna do this?" He said letting her know he wasn't going to back down and if Gray got involved he'd pop the guy in the mouth a few times.

"You're being irresponsible and you're acting like a little..........." he stopped talking and glared at Gray before his hand tapped  rhythmically against the table.  "Noa I need to speak to you.........ALONE!"

“I'll be back, sweets. Go ask my dad for another whiskey.” Kani breaking the bottle hadn't phased her but she could see that it put Gray on edge. Hiwalani-Noa was used to her brother's tantrums over her flirting. As Gray placed a kiss on her hand and left, she motioned her brother to take a seat. “So. Instead of making a scene, how about you put your big boy shorts on and act like an adult. It's times like these that make it hard to believe that you're the older one.” She was nonchalant, examining her nails as though she had found the most fascinating thing in the world beneath them. “And Gray's here because I've been too busy to ask Nate and I don't really want yours, Keo's, Kamehameha's, or Kahiau's sloppy seconds. We've been over this. I'm twenty. Who I spend my time with isn't your business. Daddy and Gramps doesn't mind. Neither does mom.”

"Why would you invite him when most of your family don't even like him?" Kani replied, "but you know what, you're a big girl, have fun, do whatever the hell you want, just don't come calling me when it happens," Kani stated as he smirked and shook his head, "and by the looks of it I'm sure it will happen again."

“And by "most of the family", you mean you and Keo,” she retorted, unsure of what he meant by "when it happens". What the hell was "it"?

Kani was irritated, but he was here to have fun and at this point he would rather simply walk away and let his father or grandfather deal with this.  He was tired of having to play the roll and if Noa could get herself into the situation, she'd better hope like hell she could get out of it.  He straightened his posture from his previous position and raised an eyebrow to show Noa that he didn't care what she did from this point on.  Turning, he left her alone, waiting for Gray or whoever else she wanted to bring.  Where the hell was Keo when you needed him?  Kani made his way to the bar, noticing Noel having the time of his life dancing with a fellow female native.

"Give me the strongest thing you have," Kani stated to his father who gave him a shot of Everclear, which was 75.5% alcohol.  He downed the shot in seconds before making a ugly face and placing the cup down on the bar, "Something less octanish this time pops," Kani stated with a smirk as his dad fixed him something fruity just to get on his nerves.  Kani took it and shook his head as he decided it best to just have fun at the party.

Gray had come back with a fresh bottle just as Kani left, doing his best to avoid bumping him with his shoulder. “Don't worry about it - The Keo in Kani was just coming out. The whole hypocritical overprotective act. Let's just enjoy the party. I'll even grant you a wish for even showing up.” She and Gray laughed it off and resumed their chat. There was a distant clap of thunder as her irritation surfaced, Noa quickly reeling it in as she took a shot. She was almost thinking that Keo had found someone to fuck and decided not to show up. Not that she was complaining, obviously. Out of the side of her eye, she could see a couple of college kids, haole, getting rowdy with each other. Their lack of having a native in their group made it obvious that they weren't invited. Her nose crinkled and she sighed, shaking her head.

---

---

Upon entering, he had someone bump into him. Half expecting that someone had already come to attack him, Gray stiffened up and got ready to defend himself. Finding it was only an accident, he visibly relaxed. The smaller native, he assumed, apologized and promptly told him to enjoy himself. It took him by surprise and satisfied him deep to the core to have finally met a native, other than Noa, who didn't harbor any ill feelings towards him. Feeling more light hearted, he sat back and truly enjoyed himself.

He hadn't been there for more than ten minutes or had a full drink before Noa made her way to him. After seeing so many grim expressions and having leers directed at him, it felt good to have a beautiful girl beaming at him. And surely it didn't take long before she towed him onto the dance floor. Now he wasn't exactly the lightest on his feet, but he wasn't exactly like his father on the dance floor after a couple of drinks. Trying to muster all his grace, he moved to the beat of the music and much to his surprise, was keeping up with his dance partner. From the corner of his eyes he realized they were being watched and with the proximity of their bodies, he could guess why they were being so closely monitored. Too close for comfort, eh? He thought with a shrug of his shoulder.

As the song ended he was being once again lead by Noa to a set of chairs. He was all too glad to get off the dance floor and onto a seat. Although dancing and being able to get his hands on her had been fun, it felt better to just sit and talk. It took a lot of alcohol to really get him to stay on the dance floor. Ironically as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Noa was passing him a bottle of whiskey. He accepted it all too quickly and smiled his thank you. The two sat comfortably regaling one another with light conversation of world travels and embarrassing stories. To his dismay, he actually told her about the one time he was completely shit faced and was almost seduced by a very female looking male. Had the guy not moved as close he had and Gray had his hand bumped into his nether regions, he probably would of found that bit out much later when they were disposed of their clothes.

Noa was enthrallingly him about a story of her own that was making him split his sides when they were approached by a fearsome looking man whom Gray had seen previously glaring at them. He had expected the big guy to say something that would set him off, what he hadn't expected was his sizable fist slamming on the table, making him, much to his ire, jump a bit. Concealing his emotions with a stiff facade he looked directly at the guy, seemingly unfazed by the earlier interruption.
With Noa's next words, Gray finally put two and two together. Had he not been so disgruntled, he would've noticed the similarities. This was the great and powerful Kani, Noa's sister. At this startling revelation, Gray leaned back in his chair to allow Noa to deal with this sibling dispute, mentally thanking this parents for only having one child.

Gray thought it wise to keep his mouth shut, but when Kani broke his precious whiskey bottle, sending shattered remnants in every which way, almost hitting Noa, he had to summon all his will to keep his fists at bay and not knock some sense into him. When the brute glared at him, he met his glare with one of his own, his temper rising. Keep cool Grayson. Just do what your therapist told you to do and count. One. Two. Three- his mental thoughts were cut off as Kani shouted. At this, Gray clenched his mouth so tight, he thought his teeth would break. The tick at his jaw was also becoming more prominent, a tell-tale sign that he was on the verge of exploding. Amazingly though, he remained seated flexing his hands in and out of fists, watching the scenario take place.

After Noa's suggestion of getting a new drink, he jumped to it, not taking a chance to stick around, lest he at took a step at lunging for her brother. Wouldn't want to start any more problems with the Kealoha family more than necessary. He begrudgingly got another drink, more for Noa than himself, not wanting to drink into a further to a state of reckless abandonment. Out of earshot, he strained himself to hear the rest of the argument, giving up when he saw the fight leave Kani's eyes. Kani began to retreat towards the bar where he was. Taking the high road, Gray made a wide arc to avoid him and made his way back to Noa. Setting the bottle on the table, he studied Noa's face, wanting her to make the first attempt of conversation. Let her come to him first when she was ready, so to speak. At her first words to him, they both laughed it off and he tried to rid himself of the tension that had welled within him. "He's got your temperament," he mentioned nonchalantly. Taking her hand into his large one, he turned her palm upward and traced the lines of it. He was watching her closely and at the sight of her delicate nose crinkling up in annoyance, he smiled. "You know, we don't have to stay here." Arching an eyebrow in question, he continued to look at her.

---

---

---

Kye smiled at what Quinn said and tried to keep the butterflies in his stomach from flying skyward at her touch. He could feel every point of contact and looked out at the ocean to use the shadows against his reddening face. He looked down as he compared her legs to his, pausing only momentarily before nodding his agreement though it was rather obvious.

Kye felt better and better the closer he got to the water and was relieved to feel it lapping at his bare feet. He nodded as she spoke of the beauty. He remembered a time years ago when his mother had taken his hand and had taught him how to appreciate the water when he still not in school. The memory nagged at his heart and he smiled a little more as he thought of his mother, wondering how she was doing. Maybe she would call tonight, or tomorrow.

Kye looked down almost surprised when Quinn said he probably didn't agree. He looked down at her, facing her head on, his back to the open ocean. "There are few things I find more beautiful than the ocean," He says, wondering if his face was getting cooked from the fire Quinn held, or the heat that turned his face into an inferno. He wasn't sure if she would catch the underlying words, but he had put them out there. He had been rather serious. Maybe she did get it. Maybe she would hate it. Maybe she would run screaming, but she didn't, and it put a seed of hope in Kye.

Kye didn't look up from Quinn's hand as he nodded so the only way she could possibly tell was the small brush of his bangs on her head. He could feel Noa, Ailee, some friends of theirs, and... and someone he didn't know. He frowned as he tried to read their emotion but wasn't quite sure what it was. "Kahi ia ʻaneʻi" Kye whispers very quietly, more to himself than to Quinn.

He looks up, searching in the darkness far away for someone he doesn't recognize, this time with his eyes. "Someone else is here," He translates quietly as he spots what might be a person. He looks back down to Quinn and smiles. "I'm sure it's nothing and they just wanted to see a native up close. That's what usually happens. If it makes you feel better, I'm sure Keo is almost here," Kye says, half hating himself for trying to comfort a girl by telling her his cousin was coming. He wished he was the one that people relied on for protection, but he knew better than to believe he was the one people relied on for protection.

Only then did Kye realize how close he was ad back up, stepping down further into the water and now standing just below Quinn's height, having to look up at her eyes. Kye looked up at Quinn and whispered, "Au manaʻo aloha pumehana," before realizing what he said and laughing. He was pretty positive Quinn's hawaiin wasn't that good and he was safe, but he hated himself slightly for being too coward to say it out loud. "Want to go back to the others?" He asks normally.

---

---

---

Kye Kealoha

---

---

Kye smiled at Quinn's back stupidly for a moment before hearing someone shouting. "Oh no..." Kye mutters as he jogs towards it. A group was getting closer and closer and he saw more and more of his relatives in the fray. "Quinn, get out of here," Kye says as he goes up to her before getting tackled from behind.

He rolled with the haole for a few seconds before the haole got on top of him. The guy was drunk, but obviously older and stronger than Kye. The two were closer to the larger group now than Quinn and Kye yelled at her yet again, "Get going Quinn." Kye just hoped that she would go since he couldn't find her out of all the other intense emotions around him.

"Hey man, come on," Kye manages as he grapples with the guy. Kye manages to push him off as he tries to avoid a broken bottle aimed at his head. Kye backed up, his hands up, not really wanting to throw a punch until he saw Noa taking them. If she was punching people and getting punched back, he probably should too.

Kye stopped backing up but was unfortunate enough to be grabbed from behind by two of the guy's friends. Kye struggled before ducking a punch from the original guy. "Oh come on guys," Kye says as he was pulled back up until he was punched in the stomach, keeling over, out of breath.

"Okay, fine," Kye mutters as he gives the guys behind him all his weight and kicks up with his right leg, nailing his main attacker in the stomach, sending the guys behind him reeling.

Kye ducked as someone swung his fist over Kye's head. Kye swung as the other guy came at him. Soon enough he found himself in the middle of the group of haole that he really didn't want to be with. He stuck out like a sore thumb with his glow in the dark hawaiin face paint design.

Kye groaned inwardly at the obviousness of the trouble he and his relatives were in. They couldn't just use their abilities against these guys, and girls, but they couldn't just get beaten to a pulp.

Kye avoided hitting a girl, but was kicked by another and had someone else punch him. He really didn't want to hit a girl. Not because he was trying to be polite, well there was that, but also that he didn't want to hurt anyone really. Then again, they were hurting his family and it really did piss him off.

Kye called out Noa, "I'm going to jail, going to jail at seventeen," Kye called, somewhat frantic in his youthful worries. His dad wouldn't care though if someone heard that he, the son of his mother, had been arrested... well, that would be really really bad.

Someone swung what must have been a beer bottle at Kye and he felt it his his cheekbone hard. It hurt and he was stunned for a moment before he was able to restrain the guy who hit him, pushing him to someone else's feet and moving to dodge another attack. It was getting out of hand.

If the cops showed up, he wouldn't resist arrest, but he sure as hell wouldn't be entirely conscious at this rate either. He bet he'd wake up the next morning in a cell if things went the way he believed they would.

---

Keo was keeping up the friendly conversation with Mona, occasionally chirping Nate in a friendly and flirtatious way while they brought in the chairs. He was just about to take the rest of the chairs from Nate and let him take Mona to introduce her to the rest of the party when he saw in his peripheral vision, Noa glaring daggers at them.

"Uh oh, don't look now but Noa's spotted us." He was sure she was going to come over and ream him out for his hypocrisy letting a tourist into the party and then he'll get into argument about her sleeping with the enemy. Seriously the guy is hot and all, but his family is trying to buy them out, you'd excuse him for a little bit of caution if he doesn't welcome the spy guy with open arms.

Instead, Noa lured Gray away like some siren and Keo rolled his eyes, "Poor guy." He shared a look with Nate and then explained to Mona, gesturing to the couple, "My cousin, Noa, has the face of an angel but she's like a shark. If I didn't have family who will miss me if I'm gone, I'm pretty sure she'd have drown me by now. Now they're probably going to go make out and scandal all our elders." And a little to get back at me, but Keo didn't say that out loud.

When Keo looked back again, Noa was actually moving away from Gray and heading towards a group of extremely drunk haole. "Don't confront them, don't do it." Keo muttered under his breath picking up his pace to close the gap between them, distinctly aware that Nate was following him. Keo's been around here for endless summers and had a greater tolerance for obnoxious haole than Noa. His way was to exact revenge discretely and at little risk to himself, but this was quickly going to dissolve into a clusterfuck.

As he predicted, after a few sharp words, Noa was getting assaulted by a drunk redhead, quickly followed by enraged frats that were all stupid with drink. On the way, he yanked and shoved one or two boys away trying to get to Noa. Then he saw Kye get in the fight and then smacked with a beer bottle.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Keo roared at the assailant, the sound magnified by his powers like an angry force that subtly pushed them back. He used one of the chairs that still had in his hands and smacked the frat boy with the bottle right in the ribs. He hit another frat boy this way before throwing the chair at a particularly drunk and vicious looking female with alarmingly long nails. She looked like she was going to get up and claw his eyeballs out as soon as she was untangled from the chair for round two when he exerted an abnormal amount of air pressure over the chair to keep her down with just a quick glance at her general direction.

But as he was distracted, a foot kicked his knee out and then an elbow knocked back his jaw painfully. While he was down he yanked someone's foot that was about to kick him and gave a great wrench that fell them with a thump. Most of these guys were flailing with uncoordinated limbs and from what he could see, some of them were even hitting their own friends instead of his family as he got up and thumbed away the blood from when when his teeth knocked into his lip.

Someone must have called the cops by now.

“So, do you bring all the guys you’re trying to bed here?” Noel asked with a smirk as he swayed to the beat of the music, obviously intoxicated, but still aware of his surroundings. He was intoxicated just enough to have a good time, but still coherent enough to answer questions about his life. Noel looked at Kani who looked rather pissed off at the moment. “Is everything alright?”

Kani hadn’t even heard Noel, he was too busy watching Noa out of the corner of his eye, and as she took off with Gray, it made him even more irritated. He really couldn’t be mad at her for wanting a Haole, after all, he was at the luau with one. Still, his protective nature often times got the better of him and honestly he would do anything Noa asked him to. It was going to be hard when the time came for him to leave Hawaii and travel abroad. It was something he had been saving up for, and he was going to take Jabari with him, something he had been working on behind closed doors. Kaniele could hear his name being called and quickly snapped back to reality.

“Kani, Kani are you okay?” Noel asked as he placed a soft hand on Kani’s face, as if to draw him back to reality, back to what was going on around him. Kani blinked a few times, but smiled as Noel kissed him softly on the cheek. “Ya know we don’t have to stay here, we can go back to the hotel.” Noel wasn’t throwing hints or anything like that, he was straightforward, if he wanted something he would get it with time.

“Nah, it’s cool,” Kani replied as he pulled Noel closer to him so that their bodies were literally so close a penny couldn’t breach them. “I am really enjoying myself with you Noel,” Kani added as he looked into the male’s eyes. Damn there was something about his eyes, they captivated him, they drew him in, and they took him places he hadn’t been before. Was there more to this guy than Kani first realized? A slight fear crept up his spine, as he realized he was getting way too into this guy without even knowing him. Nonetheless, in his current state, and with the music playing so soothingly, he found that he really didn’t care at the current moment. All of that would come as he spent more time with Noel. Noel was smiling and the kiss that they shared after that smile sealed the deal for them. They were officially dating now, officially talking to one another even though they knew nothing about one another, the kiss showed they were willing to try.

Suddenly, as they were kissing, Kani heard his name again. This time it wasn’t Noel saying it, but it sounded like a scream. NOA! Kani broke the kiss and looked at Noel, “I’ll be right back,” he said hurriedly as he kissed Noel on the cheek before darting off like a lion protecting his territory. When he arrived on the scene of the brawl, he didn’t know that Noel had followed him. Noel was hiding behind a large rock watching the fray, wondering what was going on, but daring not to get involved. It wasn’t because he couldn’t fight, but he didn’t know why they were fighting in the first place. Kani could see Gray and Noa as well as a bunch of his own siblings in the fray. He noticed Gray attempting to protect Noa and for that he was thankful but then his mind wondered and he couldn’t help but get angry at Gray, he was probably the cause of this fray. Damn Haole. He eventually saw Kye and Keo join the fray and he was the last to join.

Coming in like a wrecking ball, Kani landed knockout blows to a few of the guys attacking his sister. Even after a fight with her, he would still protect her because she was his sister, she was there for him and he was most certainly there for her. Amongst the brawl, Kani was getting a few well-placed punches in, knocking the haole that faced him out cold, but the more he knocked out, the more that seemed to scurry in like roaches. At that moment he heard Kye speak, saying he was going to jail at seventeen.

“Well at least you’ll be in there with family,” Kani stated as he ducked a punch but caught one in his sides.

Noel wanted so badly to help Kani in this time of need, in this time of whatever one would call it. He gritted his teeth and sighed, “fuck it.” Noel hurried into the fray just in time as two guys were holding Kani and the other was punching him. Noel was thankful for the years of martial arts he took back home. With a swift and powerful kick to the chin, the guy who was punching Kani fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Noel punched the other guy holding Kani before he could react and Kani finished off the other assailant. Kani was shocked to see Noel there, but now wasn’t time for exchanging of pleasantries, all Kani could say, or rather mouth was “thank you” before he entered the fray yet again, knocking over the haole like a bowling ball tumbling pins.

The sound of police alarms could be heard as surely someone had indeed called the cops. Kani looked over in Noel’s direction, as the male was handling his own against the frat guys. He quickly moved over to him.

“You have to get out of here, the police are coming.” Kani said.

“What about you?” Noel replied clearly worried.

“I’ll be fine, just stay hidden and after the police leave come out,” Kani stated as he pushed Noel into a hiding spot before returning to the fray of kicks and punches.

Noel blinked a few times wondering what had just happened. Was Kani protecting him? What was that all about? Nonetheless he listened to what Kani had to say and hid just as a police car came strolling up.

Aliee made her way back to the fire and took a seat. Of course she meant back on mute in order to not have a conversation with Noa. it was doubtful the girl would even try to talk to her. they both understood they had nothing to talk about and it would only aggravate them more if a words was spoken to either. Aliee's attention was caught once she saw a guy known as Gray come waltzing over. She could only imagine how Kani and Keo were going to react to this. Noa only invited a haole to their supposed group meeting. However, the duo didn't stay long as they walked off to go do who knows what. It wasn't like either would be missed though. It was a service to Aliee that they both left. Speaking of leaving, why was she even here at this little gathering? No one else was here. Kani left to probably go be with the new star in his sky, Keo wasn't here yet, and she didn't know where Kye was either. Sighing she rose to her feet having every intention in mind to leave this gathering. She had no business being here when she had to start her new job in the morning.

As she walked across the sandy beach she spotted Kye in the distance. Oh so he was here, and it looked like he brought Quinn with him. It was so clear he had a crush on her, and Aliee wasn't so sure Quinn knew that. She didn't particularly like the girl, but she was better then Noa. that little bit of information says a lot on its own. It was cute to see Kye like someone though. It took everything in her not to constantly tease him about it. However, it looked like Kye was bothered by something. She wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it probably had something to do with the yelling coming from the bar. By the time she made her way to Kye he already found his way into the fray. Really? Could they get through one party without some type of drama? Sometimes she really felt like she was dealing with a group of kids.

Aliee continued to get to Quinn and pulled on her arm a little once she arrived at the girl's side. She wasn't too fond of her like currently noted, but she still had that motherly side of her. Quinn and her brother were a part of the group, so Aliee wouldn't just stand aside and let Quinn get hurt. Even though Quinn could hold her own with her power and all."Hey, it isn't exactly a good idea for us to be right here." Aliee knew all too well what it meant to be around while the Kealoha family got into any type of fight. A nice black eye was all it took for her to learn her lesson.

She had multiple concerns about the current brawl. One being her friends were getting injured. They had abilities, but that didn't mean they were superhuman and couldn't feel any pain. It hurt her that she was just standing aside like she was, but Aliee truly abhorred violence. It was childish to her. She much rather talk it out instead of trying to punch people in the face. Somewhere in the fray she saw Kani speaking to some guy as if he was thanking him for something. That must be Noel. There was no way Kani would just talk to some random dude in the middle of a fight like that. "We can't all get locked away tonight." Aliee mumbled as she started maneuvering herself and Quinn away from the fight and to where Noel was standing.

"Hello, my name is Aliee. I'm a good friend of Kani's." It was an awkward time to introduce herself, but she didn't want Noel to think she as some stranger. "It was a good idea to separate yourself from all of this. With this family you just have to let them fight sometimes." Aliee ignored the annoying feeling of worrying about Kani and the fact he was on probation. Out of everyone he was the last person who should be involved with all of this. He had much more to lose then the rest of them. 'Goodness Kani.' Aliee knew she wouldn't be able to stop him without getting involved and someone had to bail them out. Well not all of them. Noa and her boy toy would have to figure it out on their own or let someone else from their family bail them out. Aliee certainly had no intentions on helping either of them out. The sirens of the police cars became louder and Aliee knew it was only a matter of moments before they cops would break up the bloody brawl. She could always break up the fight by using her power, but doing so in public was too risky. There was no way she was going to risk the chance of getting caught like that.

---

As the shouting carried though the wind to Kye and Quinn, Kye automatically tensed. Quinn wasn't really sure what was going on and before she knew it, he was gone. He told her to leave, but he was her responsibility. She could just make out Kye getting into a brawl and was about to go help out until Aliee arrived. Quinn was still dumbfounded about the situation occurring around her. What was she supposed to do? Could she really just stand by and let things happen? She glanced at Keo as his voice raised with the help of his ability. Unfortunately for Quinn, the closest fire was the bonfire, and she really didn't want to make a scene out of her power, even if the witnesses were drunk. She didn't have time for that. Aliee was also waiting for her to respond. "Yeah, let's go. We can come back once everything has settled." Her accent was thicker with the frustration and fear she felt. Bad habits don't seem to die, do they?

Aliee pulled her to a safer location and they met another person there who was hiding away from the police. Aliee introduced herself, and Quinn followed suit. "I'm Quinn, a not so close friend of Kani and Aliee here." Her mind was torn in different directions. Clearly, this wasn't something she was used to, even though she's been in heated arguments before. But an actual fist fight? That would be too much for her. Speaking of too much, Quinn had a thought. Where was Nate? She thought he came along with Keo and Mona, but she couldn't be sure. She just hoped he would be alright. His plants would protect him if he were in any real danger.

Reaching into her pocket and sighing with a bit of relief, Quinn stepped back a bit. She didn't smoke too often, but she did have some cigarettes with her for party purposes. She always forgot about that damn lighter, though. Can't be freaking out the new comer now, can we? Pulling out the ancient lighter from England, she breathed in the relaxing but hazardous smoke. The breeze was coming against her, so it shouldn't have bothered Aliee too much. "What do we do now? I don't know if it's a good idea to stay put for much longer. We don't need the cops on top of us." It wouldn't be that hard to transverse down the beach. Quinn knew it like the back of her hand. "Our best bet is going along the beach. Cops will be busy looking for people up there." Quinn motioned towards Mano's Place. Uniforms were already swarming the restaurant. People were getting dragged out of that place. This was a prime example of why Quinn didn't want to drink, ever. Taking another drag, Quinn waited for Aliee to answer her proposition.

Fuck this.... That was all Jackson could think of as the party kept going. Seriously, the frat boys had buggered off, the sorority girls had buggered off - everybody that he had known from a previous party basically had taken off save a few. Where they went was beyond him, but he did see a few heading towards a location that looked a little shifty - not to mention, probably illegal. Jackson grudgingly finished off his beer and packed up his things, intent on ditching this place for a cruise. Hell, anything was probably better than sitting around this native party, looking more white than a blank canvas. So far, his luck was shot: he had hoped to find a new group of friends or something at this party so he could ditch the frat boys for a group more akin to his tastes, but it looked like he would have to try again tomorrow.

His steps were a little uneasy, but he regained his footing as the alcohol slowly began to subside: it had been a while since did that shot contest, so he should be good to skate for a while. Avoiding the dirty looks he got from a few of the native adults, Jackson slinked into the background, getting out of the sand and such until he got to pavement to put his longboard back down. With his backpack secured, Jackson began to take off along the pavement, the party sounds dying ever so slowly. What in the hell was he supposed to do now? Jackson gave a sigh of defeat as he looked at the three beer bottles in his left hand, two of which were empty. Not only was he leaving without friends, but he was leaving the party with more alcohol than he had intended to have.

It was then that he heard shouting and angry voices beginning to get more powerful than the sounds of the party. He had barely left the party, and already he was hearing something that was piquing his interests: a brawl. Instantly, Jackson dismounted his board and began to search for a vantage point to assess the fight. Not a few moments later, Jackson could see the fight breaking out not far from his his position, and guess who was part of it? Those college frats and sorority girls that invited him to the party, of course! Seemed they were pissed off at the natives for some stupid reason, but not that it mattered: Jackson's blood was starting to get pumping. Drunken brawls were by far one of the most fun things that could happen to him. Now, he doesn't condone violence as fun all the time: no, Jackson is always a mello guy who would rather not fight. But when it comes to alcohol and bar fights, there is where he makes an exception. He isn't violent, he just loves a good brawl where nothing makes sense and you get knocked out by a random fist. Something is just thrilling about it - certainly didn't help that he was exceptional at it either. The gang got into brawls like this almost daily, so they were just something to get used to.

First thing first, however: Jackson emptied everything in his pockets and placed them in his backpack, to which he then stashed in the bushes. Jackson knew that if he got caught by the cops, the last thing they needed to see him with was a fake ID and booze. He also assessed the situation, noticing that the sorority girls seemed overly pissed off at the one native girl, while the dudes were duking it out with each other. Now only armed with his empty beer bottles (and that full one) Jackson began to walk from the brawlers, making it look like he was only passing by and trying to avoid the fight. The reasoning was simple: he didn't just want to invite himself to a party, he needed an invitation. And he got it. "Jackson! Fuckface! Whatever, get over here and help us with these crazy assholes!" The shorter of the fratboys, a little shorter than Jackson and named something weird like Ken, yelled out in the spare moments. A glimmer of excitement appeared in Jackson's eyes, and he yelled back as he ran. "Whatever you say, broseph!"

Jackson bolted it to the fight to a smirking fratboy, happy with the new reinforcement, only to have Jackson clothesline him with perfect accuracy. Sure, the guy was built and everything, but how could one expect the guy you thought was a friend to literally deck you into next week? With that, Jackson let out an excited yell and joined the lovely fray - he hadn't been this keen to fight since his last brawl, which was a few weeks before leaving for this trip. He didn't really care who he hit, though he did avoid hitting the natives as often as he could: didn't need to have his only source of new friendship pissed off because he broke their nose. But, in all honesty, Jackson let his thinking go out the window as he punched random folks for fun, or smashed a beer bottle over that one super tall guy's head just because. From where he grew up, beer bottles could only be brought into a fray if they were personally drank by the fighter, so Jackson made sure to down the third one before using it. Oh the joy of brawls.

Nate was grinning as he enjoyed laughing and flirting with Keo, though he made sure to still keep Mona involved. Truth be told, Nate was still curious and part of him still wanted to sleep with Keo. However, there was that issue with Noa. She was the first of the group to fully accept him and his sister and she bailed him out of jail. He knew all too well how she felt about her friends sleeping with her cousin. He could argue that he had met Keo before he met her but he knew that wouldn't stand with her. Besides, he liked her too and wouldn't mind getting a bit closer. It was a problem, these relationships. It seemed that one way or another, he was losing.

He didn't know which of them he wanted more and there was the risk that he'd lose one if he chose the other. He knew Keo. Keo wanted casual sex. That was fine because Nate was still just curious. And he knew Noa. She was more of a long term relationship girl. It was a hard choice to make and he didn't want to hurt or anger anyone, especially since he didn't feel completely accepted as a maoli yet. And he didn't want to be the one to further damage the Kealoha kids' relationship that was already on the rocks. At this point in time, he was fine with just being neutral ground.

He was torn from his thoughts by Keo mentioning Noa and immediately his flirting shut down, giving an involuntary cough. He turned his head and expected to see Noa march up to them but was sadly mistaken when he instead saw her on the arm of Grayson Hilton. Her attention turned from he and Keo and Mona, back to her date as a smile took over her face and she sat in his lap, squirming into his shirt. The Brit's jaw clenched as he watched. Jealous? Maybe a little. But Noa was his closest friend and he trusted Gray about as much as Kani and Keo did. If he so much as made her cry, Nate would kill him by strangling him to death with his own bare hands. Still, he couldn't help but to pout a bit watching her.

The scene grew uglier by the second as she approached some college kids obviously on summer break that were uninvited and getting out of hand, pushing around one of the smaller locals. Her saving him had come with the cost and she was soon attacked. Like the Kealohas, it was reflex to jump in and start cracking heads. It was something that you learned really quick in Lahaina - Maoli took care of their own. No matter how much they might fight with each other they would always stand up for each other.

When Nate first asked Noa why she bailed him out, she told him “No kekahi o kākou ka pilikia malaila pu kākou a pau. It's the Kealoha family creed. It means "Should one of us get in trouble we will all go that way". We will always stand for the people we care about. Whether Keo and Aliee like it or not, you and Quinn are one of us now. You're maoli.”

Nate was vicious in the fight as he always was. He had dropped his chairs with little warning and threw himself in, hitting anyone that he didn't immediately recognize. He could see nearly all of the Kealohas there, just the ones without a bedtime, all of them fighting tooth and nail. Even Lilo seemed to have decided to stay for the summer. Nate ended up headbutting someone to keep them off of her, offering a grin. He didn't know her personally but Noa talked a lot about their older sister.

However, bright lights of red and blue were flashing and he could hear Noa screaming for Grayson to get Kye off the scene. As he looked up, he could see the haole practically carrying the smaller Kye away from the fray with Kani and Noa's siblings seeming to move in a way that would prevent the police from seeing them flee. Before he knew it, Nate's hands were being cuffed behind his back and he was being escorted to one of the eight cop cars there. A glance to the side showed Keo and all the other Kealohas being escorted more like royalty than anything. He knew their family was important in Lahaina, but really? He'd been to small towns where everybody knew everybody and he'd never seen cops treat even their own children this way. He was going to ask about that later.

A turn of his head and he could see Dax waving apologetically. He hadn't even tried to fight with them! Nate made as if to lunge for him even though he was a good fifty feet away, only to be roughly shoved back into the police car, squished against some drunken sorority brat. He hoped Quinn was okay but he knew for sure that he was getting kicked out after this. He growled under his breath and placed his head against the window, watching faces pass by as the caravan of law enforcement officers drove through the streets on their way downtown. People watched while checking their phones, news of the fight spreading quickly. He could only hope Kye was lucky enough to not be caught on camera. Grayson could suck it. Figuratively, of course.

---

Noa sighed in the backseat with Lilo, her older sister's arms wrapped around her. Both of them were pretty beat up. Cuts, bruises, busted lips. No doubt they'd have a black eye or two later. Noa pressed her fingers to her lips and sharply inhaled. Someone had ripped out her piercing. Her hand went to her navel to find that one had been ripped out as well, blood leaking from her flesh. Luckily her strange blood with a light blue shimmer blended in with her paint. The young woman closed her eyes and curled her hands into a fist as the car came to a halt and she was escorted inside where she was lined up to get her mugshot taken. The bright flash of the bulb caused her to wince, a groan coming from her as she was escorted to a cell.

There wasn't much trouble in Lahaina except during tourist seasons so they didn't really have a fancy jail but Noa and Lilo were shown to a cleaner cell, sitting down to find that their cot was quite plush. When Lilo was called out to make their one phone call the deputy had already dialed their father for her. She returned with a light grimace. “Dad has too much to handle to come and get us now. Mommy is at home with the little ones. They're sleeping.” Noa whined, slumping a little. No doubt their grandfather was fast asleep too. Jabari had been pretty active today. But Lilo continued. “But dad gave someone some money to come get us out.”

Noa looked up again with a lifted brow. “We can't get on good faith. Normally, upstanding citizens of the law, especially locals, can get out on good faith. But with Kalani's election coming up and this fight being so huge. You know the haole are going to make a huge deal and if it looks like there's any nepotism it won't go well. The press is all over her. So. We have to pay... And Aliee is coming with the money. And Quinn...” As if her night couldn't get any worse! Noa whined again and prayed that those two wet blankets wouldn't pull a bitch move. She figured they'd let her sit there for a while.

---

---

Kye Kealoha

---

---

Kye was standing for a few more seconds, holding on to be okay and being totally fine for a second before his vision blurred.

Seconds later he felt himself get picked up as if he was nothing, getting carried away by the haole that Noa had been with earlier. He knew that they were trying to get him out of there and was thankful. If his mom heard about the fight, he'd be grounded for a month and wouldn't be allowed outside... That would really suck.

He saw that Keo was there, had actually shoved off one of Kye's attackers too. Then he remembered the haole carrying him. Why was he carrying him? He could probably walk straight, most likely. He felt everyone's excitement, fear, concern, and anger as he was pulled along and felt his chest tighten. He found it more and more difficult to breath, or maybe it was just that he was so woozy from the brawl...

When they were far enough away from the fight, Kye looked at Grayson, his voice quiet. "I can walk man... Just put me down..." Kye managed, not liking that he was so easily carriable. Was that a word? He didn't really care did he?

Kye wanted to check on his cousins, his friends... but he didn't know where they were. He wondered how many got arrested and whether someone was gonna go bail them out. Would they wait until morning? He probably would have gone to get them right away, but he couldn't really go get them out since he didn't have any money on him.

Kye looked back to see everyone being led to cop cars. A lot of his relatives were being led as well as Nate. "Shit... How are they gonna get bailed out anytime soon?" Kye says, wondering if Quinn was among the crowd that had escaped, or if she was in a car already.

Kye sighed and sat down on the sand. "I... I think I should go home..." Kye says, tired and dizzy from the night. He was trying hard to stay in control of his consciousness though he couldn't tell how well he was doing.

Only then did Kye realize what just happened in full. He had just fought with tourists. If he was caught on camera... he was dead. Everyone would know and it would hurt his mom's campaign. He just hoped nobody caught him on camera, ans his family got out of jail the next day at the latest.

was hiding, hiding as Kani had instructed him to, but he heard someone approaching from behind and he quickly turned to see two females standing there. One started talking to him and he could only blink a few times before registering that she was saying she was a friend of Kani’s and that they should get out of the vicinity, unless they too wanted to spend time behind bars. Noel couldn’t agree more. He had come to Hawaii to have fun, not spend a night in jail. Before he could turn and go along with the girls, one of the brawlers, a female yelled out to get Kye out of the vicinity. Noel didn’t know who a Kye was, but he assumed it was the guy on the ground that looked like a native, and resembled Kani a bit. The girl who yelled resembled Kani as well and Noel quickly put two and two together. They were family. She was telling some guy to get Kye out of there and Noel was very much intrigued by all of this, as well as concerned. It would’ve made an awesome thesis for a research paper. “How to beat the hell out of tourists in less than ten minutes.” A catching title indeed, but one that would certainly get him an F.

For a moment Noel could only pray that Kani didn’t get himself killed along with his sister and relatives, but they seemed to be doing quite the number on the tourist, all of them except one. Kye. Kye was out cold after getting hit in the head with a beer bottle. Noel didn’t know him, didn’t even know his name, but he couldn’t just let the guy lay there on the ground unconscious like that. Kani was still punching guys left and right, kicking and putting frat guys in headlocks, but he wasn’t immune to the bruises that came from a brawl. He was sure to be sore in the morning. So far he had sustained a busted lip, a cut right under his eye and his head was bleeding from a bottle that was smashed over his head. He did manage to cause some serious injuries to the tourists though. One of the guys with a beer bottle in his hand, had come into the fray swinging. At first Kani didn't know if he was fighting for them or the frat guys because he was hitting mostly tourist, but when the guy smashed the beer bottle over Kani's head, it was over. Blood had trickled down and Kani punched the guy in the nose, probably breaking it, but he couldn't tell because he was swarmed by more frat guys soon after. All in all Some would have bruised ribs, some would have broken noses and the others would have bruises and black eyes. All were consequences for messing with one of the Keolohas. The lights started flashing, red and blue, it was the cops. This was bad; they needed to get out of there and quickly. Kani was looking around noticing the cops walking up, and he realized then that he had royally fucked up. Jabari was on his mind as the cop came and cuffed him. Noel could only look from Kani to Kye and he sighed. Kani was going to jail; there was no doubt about it. Quickly, before the cops could see, Noel followed behind Grayson as he carried the limp Kye out of sight of the cops. He was sure the two females who had introduced themselves as Quin and Aliee would be following close behind.

When they were a safe distance away, Noel watched as Kani was loaded into the back of a cop car, a look of concern written all over his face. Kani sat there cuffed in the back of a five o. He hated this part. They would drive him to the police station, along with his family, and they would book them until one of their family members came and got them. Kani was restless the entire trip. He was annoyed that he had actually let it happen. Jabari’s future was now at risk because he had to jump in a fight, a fight that his sister and a bunch of haole started. Shaking his head, he lowered it for a moment before throwing it back and sighing. This was one for the record.

“Sorry about that, I’m Noel,” Noel said apologetically as he looked at Aliee and Quinn, “we should probably go bail them out.” Still a little inebriated, Noel wasn’t the best at thinking of what to do at the moment, but he was sober enough to comprehend that what had happened was bad. He looked at Kye and Grayson, “Kye is it? You alright?”

Upon Kani’s arrival at the police station, they booked him in, but because he already had a record, his probation officer would be called and he would be in more trouble than the rest. They sat him in the cell with his brothers, and cousins, and friends. He was irritated, but he said nothing the entire time he was in the cell. He could hear talking, but he didn’t register anything his brothers were saying. They were all bragging about how many frats faces they messed up, but Kani was silent, very silent, so silent that his brothers stopped talking and looked at him.

“Kani, you alright bro?”

Kani didn’t respond. He sat there his head down, face emotionless. His brothers looked at each other in a concerned manner before touching Kani’s arm, but Kani was unresponsive.