“Hula is the language of the heart, the heartbeat of the Hawai’ian people.” – Kalākaua

Chapter One:

Aulani Beach

Piper opened the door and peeked outside. It was a beach. A small, quiet beach, with only the birds chirping and the water moving up and down the sand. It had been only recently advertised to the public. It was slightly rounded with rocky shores on the East and West sides. On the top of the hill, there was a road, a shave ice stand, and the small cluster of jungle on the other side. Piper and the Doctor would be two of the first visitors to come there. Piper squealed a little with excitement.

“How many words for ‘beautiful’ are there?”

The Doctor stepped out from behind her and locked the Tardis door shut. He was in his blue suit, with a purple undershirt and his red and white converse shoes. However, he still had his coat over his arm. Piper was wearing a very light, see-through white coat, an orange, white-dotted bathing suit with straps with a frilly skirt that went down to her knees, and finally blue swimming goggles on her head. She slowly breathed in the salty air. It was warm, and there was an ocean breeze blowing through her hair.

“I will never understand why you would want to come here, in 2008 Molokai, Hawaii to see a Hula festival. Wouldn’t you fancy seeing an authentic one?”

Piper squinted as she saw the Doctor had caught up with her.

She shrugged. “I like comparing time periods. Besides, you can’t get shave ice in ancient times.”

The Doctor shrugged. “Fair enough.”

“Come on then!” Piper cried, grabbing his hand, “Let’s get closer to the water!”

.

The two time travelers barreled their way down closer to the climbing water. Piper let go up her uncle’s hand and ran ahead of him when she noticed there were shells. She eagerly picked one up.

“Oooh!”

The shell she picked up looked like a crisp, but with swirling browns and whites.

“A scallop shell” the Doctor observed.

Piper quickly put it into a brown satchel she had around her waist. She turned around to look at him. He didn’t seem as excited about the shell as she did.

“Have you ever just…spent a day at the beach collecting shells before?” Piper asked.

“Of course I have!” The Doctor exclaimed, “Dozens of times. Just…eventually saw all the shells that were to be seen.” He leaned forward and said in a whispering voice, “But I’d like to see you try and get the best.”

Piper grinned. She looked back out into the sea.

“I wonder if I could find a sand dollar. I’ve always wanted to find a sand dollar.”

“Oooh,” The Doctor winced, “You can try. You have to get deep into the water to find one of those.”

Piper beamed. “No problem! Back in a jiff!”

And with that, she took off.

“Just don’t go too far!”

“Of course, Uncle Doctor!”

He chuckled, shaking his head. He took his coat and laid it out onto the sand, then sat on top of it.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Piper continued searching the sea bed for about twenty minutes, then walked back to shore in defeat. She crawled onto the sand, then lied down back-first into it. She sighed, the water crawling back up again and going up her back and head. Next time she opened her eyes, the Doctor stood over her.

“No luck?” he asked.

Piper sighed. “Not even a turret snail shell” she reported disappointingly.

“Well, they’re not easy to find” The Doctor added, “It’s always a pain to try and find those.”

Piper pouted sticking her lip out and sitting up.

“Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” she wailed.

“I didn’t want to spoil your excitement” the Doctor defended.

“You’re mean!”

.

Suddenly, in an instinctual motion that Piper wasn’t fully aware of until it was too late, she dipped her hand into the water, and flicked it right at the Doctor! Most of it got in his face and he was surprised. Piper froze, going pale. The Doctor took his suit sleeve and wiped his face off, silently. She wanted to quickly say sorry, but was speechless. Then, he looked up at her.

“So that’s how it’s going to be” he said in a low voice, raising an eyebrow.

Piper was a bit frightened as to what the Doctor would do next.

.

Then, the Doctor rolled up his sleeves, and flicked water back up at her. Piper ducked her head down, squealing. When she looked back, the Doctor was smiling mischievously at her. He splashed water on her again. Piper screeched again, this time playfully. Not looking at him, she splashed water back. She ran deeper in the shallows.

“Oh, now that’s not fair!” The Doctor cried.

Piper smirked. “Ha! Jokes on you! You can’t catch me!” She called back.

The Doctor looked down and around. He seemed to be pouting in defeat, but still looking around for some way to get even.

Then, he snickered.

“You wanna bet?”

Suddenly, he galloped into the water, getting himself completely soaked, and waded after her.

“Crap!” Piper squealed.

She tried to run further into the sea, but the water was getting higher and higher. Until finally it was up to her shoulders. She turned around to see the Doctor was getting close. With quick thinking, she put on her swimming goggles, held her breath, and dove into the sea.

.

The Doctor caught up to her position (him being much taller than her by two feet, the water wasn’t rising as high as him). But when he felt for her in the water, she was nowhere to be found.

“She must be trying to swim back for shore” he thought.

He waded back towards the shore, then stayed around in the middle. Wherever she turned up, it wouldn’t take far to get her. A few seconds went by and Piper didn’t show. He looked around, wondering where she was. Seconds turned into minutes. He wasn’t used to his companions never coming back out of the water.

Then he remembered, “Oh! Piper’s a timelord. Stupid Doctor. Respiratory bypass system! She’s probably going to attempt to stay under in the all of 10 minutes” he thought, “Blimey, she’s going to get bored after five.” 

.

The Doctor’s playfulness was beginning to die down. Six minutes went by and no show. He was beginning to get a little worried. He moved a bit to the left, attempting to feel for her again.

“I wonder if there are any stray sharks about” He thought out loud.

That thought caused him to worry more.

“Piper?”

No answer.

“Did she go back to the beach?”

But when he looked back to the beach, no one was there.

“Piper!?” He called, a bit louder, “Piper where are you?”

No reply.

“Is she stuck under some corral?”

His imagination was starting to run from him a bit.

“Piper? Piper!?” He called.

No answer.

The Doctor waded back closer to shore, where the water was lighter and easier to see through. He was debating whether or not to get his sonic screwdriver from his coat pocket and scan for her.

.

Suddenly, when he turned to look at the beach, something jumped up with a loud growl and locked around his neck. He lost his balance and fell in. Water filled his ears and flushed inside his lungs. When the thing let go he sat up and hacked all the salty water out. He winced disgusted. All the while, Piper reappeared, and nearly died of laughter. He rubbed the water out of his eyes. Once he regained his senses, he began laughing as well.

“Alright, alright! You win, Piper Dominique!” He announced.

.

They got back onto the beach, the Doctor soaked to the bone in his soaking wet London-weather attire.

“In all seriousness, I’m sorry I splashed water at you” Piper stated, “But in my defense, you went into the water yourself!”

“Yeah” The Doctor mumbled, examining the state of himself, “I’m going to have to change into a new suit.”

Piper giggled. “I’ll go get us some shaved ice. Any particular flavors?”

The Doctor shrugged, “Eh, surprise me.”

Piper nodded. He unlocked the door and went inside the Tardis, while Piper strolled up the mountain and down the road slightly to the shave ice stand.