Pretty Maelstrom

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Disney's Lilo & Stitch

Before you read: This takes place before the movie, by several weeks, and is also set in the time of the movie, around 2002. Cellphones are rare, and the internet is slow, if you have it.

-Story Start-

Among the Hawaiian islands, the second from the last is Kauai. A picture of paradise to anyone who visited. But to the people who grew up on the island it was simply home. Where they worked and lived, just like everyone else. Including one beautiful native named Nani.

"It's not exactly pornography Nani," Kalea Kawena said nervously under her best friend's glare. "You don't even have to get naked."

Nani Pelekai had been having a horrid year. Currently at the age of nineteen she was struggling with her life. It hadn't been that long ago when her parents passed away from a car accident. With a heavy heart and no time to mourn, she graduated from highschool and got to work, finding work.

Unfortunately the opportunities for a fresh highschool graduate were not good. Themed restaurants and stores were always hiring, but barely gave her enough money to survive. With another birthday and a year of experience later, she still didn't have many good prospects in the way of employment. But she would continue to do her best, for herself and her little sister Lilo.

"If it's not porn, why are people going to pay for pictures of me?" Nani asked with frustration.

"A lot of tourists want that personal picture of a sexy local girl to take home," Kalea answered back evenly. Years of surfing beneath the sun had left her skin beautifully tanned. "Most of these people just want something to show off to their friends back home."

"And the more scandalous the better, right?" Nani stated more than asked. Her friend's nod being all the confirmation she expected. "Where did you even hear about this?"

"It was kind of a friend of a friend situation," Kalea nervously explained, scratching at her short shaggy hair. "I did look into it and it seems legitimate. You take some pictures of yourself and mail them in, and they send you back some money for whatever they can use."

"Still sounds suspicious."

"Definitely. I was kind of hesitant to bring it up, but from what I heard, if you need to pay off some bills, this is the quickest way." Kalea moved next to Nani, throwing her arm around the slightly shorter girl. "You know I'd never do anything to put you in danger. If you decide to look into this, I'm definitely going to be your go between. Cause no one's going to hurt my girl."

"Thanks Kalea," Nani laughed out, wriggling her way out from her friend's hold.

"I've always had your back, and always will," Kalea smiled. "Also, for what it's worth, you could make some good money with this. Your body is way better than those skinny models in the magazines."

The Hawaiian girl was telling the truth. Nani was very pretty, much as her name implied. The prominent curves of her body drew the eyes of many visitors. It also helped that she, like many others, chose to wear light clothing due to the tropical climate. Showing off plenty of her tan skin.

"Here, I want you to borrow my digital camera," Kalea said, pulling out the device and pushing it into Nani's hands. "If you feel like taking some pictures of yourself, fine. If you don't want to, great, but you should at least be able to decide for yourself."

"The answer is going to be no, but thanks for thinking of me," Nani reluctantly replied, slipping the camera into the pocket of her tight shorts.

"If you really want to thank me, how about joining me for surfing next Saturday?" The native exclaimed. Rolling up the sleeve of her shirt, and showing off the wave tattoo that circled her arm. "It's been so long since we've gone to the beach, I'm starting to lose my tan."

"You know I can't with how busy I am."

"Fine, but the next day you have off, we're going to catch some waves. And we'll bring Lilo, it'll be good for her."

"That does sound fun," Nani admitted.

The two spent a few more minutes talking before they went their separate ways. Nani headed towards the open air market, she had heard there was a part time job opening a few blocks over. While working at the restaurant was fine for the time being, she was hoping to find something better. Hopefully a job where she would have some extra time to spend with her sister.

Suddenly a loud noise caught her attention. Near one of the fruit stalls, she saw a couple of thugs yelling loudly at another man. He didn't look to be a local, with his shaggy blond hair and sun kissed skin. His clothes were even touristy, with his long-sleeved flower print shirt, white backpack, and a bandana tied around his forehead, the man just looked like he was from off the island.

"Look pal, we're just trying to ask the granny here if she wouldn't mind giving us some free food," one of the thugs said to the strange man. Pointing his fingers at Mrs. Hasagawa, who regularly tended to the outdoor market.

"And, if I heard correctly, she already told you no," the blond replied.

"Are you gonna fight us over this big man?" another of the thugs asked mockingly. "You think you can take us all on with only one arm?"

Nani was confused, and intrigued. Walking closer to the brewing fight, she took another look at the man. He was average height, and had horrible taste in clothing. Wearing a bright orange shirt covered with blue hibiscus flowers. But the most interesting thing, was that the right sleeve of his shirt had been neatly tucked into his pocket, along with his hand. Making it so that she couldn't see his right hand at all. Even though his left was already curled into a fist.

Nani shook her head. Believing that she was overthinking things. The guy was probably just left handed.

"Alright you lolos, no fighting in the market," Nani called out, moving to stand in front of the man.

"Come on wahine, we're hungry," a thug drawled out, shifting his attention to her.

"Then get a job and buy some food," the local woman retorted.

Whatever the men were going to say back to her, died on their lips as they took a look past her. Nani couldn't really see what the man behind her was doing, but the group in front of her was backing up. Eventually one of the aggressors relented, turning around and walking off.

"This ain't worth it, come on guys." The thug gave one last look over his shoulder. "Don't get comfortable haole, we'll remember you."

Nani rolled her eyes, not even wanting to dignify the group's departure. Only watching long enough to see them cross the street, before turning around to face the strange man. Who look absolutely normal.

His blue eyes were vibrant and he wore a wide smile. Although she noted that his shirt was so loud that she had missed the whisker tattoos on his cheeks. Outside of him still keeping his right hand in his pocket, there was nothing strange about the guy. Nani didn't believe it for a second.

"Okay, what did you do?" she asked the man, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I didn't do anything. I was just trying to get them to stop harassing this old lady," the man said, taking a step back from her glare.

"I'm not talking about that," Nani stated. "I'm talking about how you scared those guys off. The way they were acting it was like you pulled a knife."

The man waves his one free hand in the air. Showing he wasn't holding anything. "I don't have any weapons on me," he insisted, swinging his backpack from his left shoulder. In an impressive show of dexterity he clutched the bag with his one arm, while pulling open the zipper to reveal several books. "See, I was on my way to the library to return some books, but got lost. And when I saw what was going on over here, I kind of rushed over without thinking."

While the blond was leaning over to show the contents of his bag, the market attendant who the man had protected, walked over to the pair. Placing a large orange, that matched the man's shirt, right on top of the books inside his bag. With a smile and a wave, the older woman left, going back to watering the produce.

The man blinked in surprise, apparently not having expected a reward for his efforts. Although the round fruit quickly began to roll from its spot. Causing the blond to desperately try and catch it before it could hit the ground.

While he was successful in catching the fruit, he lost his hold on everything else. With his refusal to pull his other arm from his pocket, he had been unable to keep his tenuous hold on the bag. Letting it drop to the ground, where one of the books fell out. Landing beside Nani's foot

"Sorry about that," the stranger said, trying to scratch the back of his head while still holding the orange. "I'm still getting used to using my left hand."

Nani sighed and knelt down, rolling her eyes when the man couldn't see them. Picking up the book, and surprisingly heavy backpack, she intended to return them to the man, but stopped as something caught her eyes.

"Polynesian Myths," she read the book's title aloud. "I read this back in school."

"Really?" the man questioned excitedly, leaning in far too close. "If you know about those stories, would you mind helping me with something I'm working on?"

The local woman took a step back, surprised by the blond's sudden question. Not really sure what to make of the man. With his energetic actions and seemingly good intentions, flying in contrast to her normal interactions with tourists. They normally just wanted to know where the beach was.

"Oh, how rude of me," the stranger suddenly said, breaking Nani from her thoughts. Evidently her nervousness had shown on her face as the man started backing up. "I'm sure you're busy, but if you could help me for the afternoon, I would be willing to pay you for your time."

Now that had Nani's interest. Her finances had been tight for over a year, so any chance for extra money would be swiftly welcomed. "Alright, I'm free until this evening," the woman said.

"Great! this will help me so much," he said enthusiastically. "My name"s Naruto Uzumaki."

Once he had finished introducing himself, he seemed ready to pull his right hand from his pocket, but stopped. Leaving the appendage where it was. Instead choosing to hold his left up for a fist bump.

"Nani Pelekai," she answered back. Hesitantly brushing her own fist against his. As she became slightly more unsure about the man she would be helping.

With a smile, Naruto swung the bag back over his shoulder, and began to look around. "If you don't mind, could you lead the way to the library," he said, embarrassed. "As I said, I got lost on my way back there."

Nani rolled her eyes again. "Come on, it's not far." She waved her hand for him to follow her, as she began walking down the sidewalk.

She didn't care about what was going on with the weird blond. If he wanted to pay her to answer some questions about some books she read back in school, she wasn't going to complain. Helping this guy was way better than selling pictures of herself, naked or otherwise. Although the native woman still made sure to guide him towards the library through populated streets. Even if the two of them could have saved a few minutes if they had cut through some of the alleyways.

"There it is," Naruto called out once the building came into view, before quickly entering.

Nani gave her head a shake, before following after. Wondering what she had just gotten herself into. Whatever it was, it was better than doing porn.

-Chapter End-

This story has been in the works for a long time now, and it's nice to finally start writing it. Instead of just adding to my notes. When I originally came up with the idea for this story I wanted it to be a cross between Naruto, Lilo & Stitch, and Moana. The Moana stuff got cut, but some of its influence remains. I'll elaborate more in a much later chapter.

Definitions:

Nani: pretty. A little on the nose from Disney, but it fits.

Kalea: filled with joy. I wanted a short, memorable, name, and found this word to fit her.

Lōlō: crazy. Nani uses this word in the movie to refer to people, mainly Lilo.

Wahine: woman or surfer girl. I was planning to use the word for girl (kaikamahine), but felt it was too long for the conversation.

Haole: off-islander. This can be, and in context was, used as a slur.

Final note, David is not in this story. Because I wanted to keep this story short I opted to not have a romantic rival, and instead gave Nani a gal-pal in the form of Kalea. I imagined that their relationship would be something like Kurenai and Anko, with Kalea always wanting to go do something fun, and bring her best friend with her.

Thank you for taking the time to read this story, I hope you all enjoyed, and stay safe.