Surf is life (open)

Hale watched him surf as he had for several weeks. Each time previously deciding to allow him his peace. To allow him to come to him. This time however he moved into the water swimming towards him like a torpedo unleashed. His aim was true his target had no time to do anything except simply be. Which was all he had wanted in the end. He knew that for all his strides in the end he was a dead man. He had to have not only their obedience but their hearts.



Turning over the board he grabbed the man to keep him from needing to flail. From needing to keep from sinking. To not have a need to fight the waves. Holding him against the waves against the world and its demands on them. “You’ve been missing from the meetings at least its to do something important.” Was all he said it was all that at one time had been needed it was all that should have been needed. It was an acknowledgement of what had taken place and what was sacrificed to get here.



Hale had fought like a man willing to be killed for his vision and Darren had fought like a man unwilling to leave the fealty of the pass. Accept he had been unwilling to kill Hale to accomplish it. Living in the past sacrificed the future but Darren had been unwilling to actually kill Hale to do so. It was noble sacrifice and one Hale would never forget. Even with him leaving himself open several times Darren had not been willing to pull the trigger. While Hale had been able and willing he wouldn’t shed unnecessary Streak blood to achieve his goals. He was trying to bring them into the light of the future and yet the adherence to the past was costing and would cost them so much more. So they’d stopped both realizing it would only be Hales death that would stop him from fighting for it.



And he wanted Darren by his side. He wanted Darren’s big heart beating for the streak embracing what would either come or what would be still born.

He thought shark at first then he was airborne and then the ocean swallowed him and he was in Hales grasp. Everything in him wanted to lash out to fight to thrash but that would only bring shark. He went docile and sighed the man had ruined his last respite." yeah well the surf is every thing bra its there when even your blood turn its back. What you need me at them muckety muck future of the streak meeting fo any ow? I tole you I just follow you won you da king Im jus a peasant who live here"

He wasn't trying to be an ass about it but its just how he felt they could be cool but he wasnt gonna be skipping along happy bout it.

His words stung but that was the cost he would pay his pride was huge it was nearly all encompassing but there were portions of him that was willing to be human. Parts of him that would not stop caring. Not lusting, not craving, simply caring and it was those parts despite the beatings, the lectures, the punishments unfit for the worst of one’s enemies that refused to die. "If you believed that you would have killed me when I gave you the chance. Don’t sulk. I need my Rishi. I cannot defile the past properly to build tomorrow without that big old heart beating just underneath, hoahānau"



Everything except hoahānau said with a mirth he didn’t honestly feel but willing to risk himself for. He knew Darren was still butt hurt but he needed him it was a cooperative venture with his hand at the wheel. He was willing to try he was willing to flout the past even in this. Normally a beaten Tiger was punished within an inch of his life and forced to toe whatever line was imposed. He’d allowed his rishi to not only live but to go his own way to lick his wounds and to simply be. He was dedicated to the better that was just beyond the next crest of the wave. He was willing to kill die come back and kill again if needed. He needed Darren and was unwilling to go forth without him.

"Nani was watching her heart would habe broke if I killed you"

He said that but Hale knew him better "you gon keep holdin me like Im a babt bra or let me go I can swim not gonna swim away"

He knew he'd have to coperate hed already proved he wasn't gonna kill hom. So he'd tow the line and do what was asked. Big chest rising and falling he'd even polight declined all of uli's invites.

"She gone outlive all us and then some. She is tougher than you think?" Hale said as he let go of Darren. Touch was a tool and he was willing to go without its use. Begrudgingly. He knew Darren didn’t approve of his tactics of his goal hell of him most times. Even now he could feel the resistance. Sighing he didn’t want the world he was building without Darren and had offered his neck as sign of his trust in him. He wouldn’t be made to feel like the Tu kai continuously. Strongmen made hard decisions. He knew what he ‘d need to do but still hadn’t.



Hale sighed addressing the elephant in the room "No you’re right I can’t keep holding you. You’re looking better on the climb I guess all the practice out here is paying off." Hale swam and surfed Ho’okipa generally and had been able to easily give Darren his space. He would continue doing so as he had no choice. He would need to either end the man well and truly or banish him. He wouldn’t do either Darren was family, he was blood and what would tomorrow be if he did what was expected of him. If he was the monster he was brought up to be.



Rebuffed well and truly Hale turned to swim back to shore.

That shocked him Hale backing off it made him pull his board to him and kick in. Getting out of the water he took off the leash leaving the board and looking at the retreating man" Why do you even want me roun you act like I gotta be a mindless man and just let you have your way... I don wanna fight any more bra but Im not gonna tap dance and kow tow an you wouldn't have me if I did. Why is me saying ok do you not enough huh? Why I gotta boot lick to make you happy thas not friendship or family that's a slave and you know damn well Im a warrior not a slave"

He pounded that big barrel of a chest though it hurt because of the cracked ribs that were slowly mending, He could have shifted and healed them faster but had refused to change for the entire time since the fight as a show that he accepted that hed been beaten.

"That's bullshit,"Hale began. Finding the words as he went."I want you by my side.I've shown you everyway I can aside from slitting my own wrist that I am willing to die for this dream of unity, this dream of never having anyone go through what I went through." Sighing as he was digging up far too much emotion and the skies darkened to match his mood.

"You are the King they want. As you were blessed by the past. I am the bastard they got. And I am the bastard they made. But I refuse to be their blind beast holding on to what was preying on my own and diablerizing the future. I need you the whole of you especially your heart your warrior's drive. But I need that fire working towards the gospel of the better future I see. We both know I'm living on borrowed time. They will turn against me for daring to drag them into the light for daring to see the good in them and their enemies."

Hale had tried everyway he knew to keep from saying it out loud. Saying it now made it truer than he wanted to see it as. Giving Darren his back as he scooped up his clothes. He went on,"I need you fighting for me not against me as you are the king in their eyes and they will accept the nirvana I would bring at your hands. They know what was done to me and see everything I do as a trap. They can't understand that even with all that has happened I love them. I want the absolute best for them but when they see me they see the wrongs they've done and would do again with the very next half breed."

Walking towards the shower he left the words on the wind. He'd bared his heart and knew it wasn't enough. He knew Darren wouldn't accept what he was offering wouldn't see the bigger gamble and that was fine he would simply do his best and in the end when he stood before his maker he would spit in his face as judgement was passed and say he at least tried to change the world.

Darren watched him and rolled hi eyes the man had always been a drama queen. Clapping " ok I'll mail you the oska you got best actor down bra"

He said it and kept following he'd not let Hale be a diva" you call it paradise or nirvana but who for? ya ever stop and think da kine of life you think is bes maybe would be hell for them Hale maybe das why they fight you on it. Im willing to back you but some stuff man you gotta think on you gotta realize you cant throw all of it out or they wont support you or me because you are doing to much. Maybe baby step man one thing at a time change show them that one thing not so bad and then show them another like a baby eating a new food you give him a hot dog firs time he choke bratha small pieces blend it up first then we can swallow it"

He was trying to show Hale how to do it how he could work with him and have his back but not give up the whole past. Hoping the man would listen to reason.

Hale ignored the dig. It was par for course, which was why he rarely opened up to anyone. It was why he played everything close to the vest. Why he let no one in why he mavericked his way through things.

He could tell he'd struck several nerves and Darren wouldn't leave well enough alone until he'd said his peace. Hale stopped outside the showers listening to Darren and insuring they were alone.

"Baby steps?" Hale shook his head a mirthless smile dancing on his lips as his tiger peaked out of his eyes. "I've taken nothing but small steps with you and with them. I've gone slow. I've fought myself to go slower and still notvslow enough. My personal life has become reason to fight and still I hold back yet even the subject of their gossip and I am still not slow enough.They don't want baby steps they want no steps. And whether you know it or not you are their champion."

Hale was sure Darren hadn't thought of why they were burdening him with coming to Hale. Why he was so fit to be the one who spoke to Hale with their concerns. Hale had meditated on it he'd analyzed it from every side he could. He knew better than they did why Darren. He was the last truly pure blooded blue born with no defects. No rage issues. No emotional issues. No developmental issues. Hale while younger was not a pure blooded blue he considered himself the only green tiger in the world.

He knew that they needed Hale to cling to their image of purity. It was also another reason why having Darren was so important. He was the last truly healthy born blue. It was him that would determine the next generation in truth.

Hale wanted him to embrace an inclusionary life for the clan if he did the war between the past and Future was over. Love would rule out.

"Your personal life..personal life? you should know its streak above all you get no personal life and the only reason it's a fight is because she's chang of her own group if she'd just been some titleless red it might not have mattered or been even tolerated because she'd not be replacing our women in the blood line. That's why they are upset they feel that you are denying what your mother was by falling for and wanting to unite us with some one who breaks the line of succession. Fine unite the streaks if you must I know the trend. Ibirth the not quite right inbreed blue tiger cubs and watch them either never see adult or need to be put down because they are to angry to much like your fiery reds for no reason. I will talk to them see if they will understand a more practical reason for this uniting and less of an emotional one. Trust for them and they for us will not come easy and I pray to the goddess that the bloodshed will end if you do this because if even one more blue warrior dies after this...uniting. My word, my blood, my standing will mean nothing and they might just kill us both then"

Hale smiled and gave Darren a beat to wrap himself up he listened intently for the one twist of logic that Darren speaking for the Liéren Yú Hei'án Wáng had not accounted for. He was not bedding Madeline and while yes he would love to take that redheaded vixen to his bed he had not. Even once he had the chance to do so he would not be installing her as the Chang of the Liéren Yú Hei'án Wáng. It was a shame that they would rather him bed a tigress who was no match for him an easily trumped waste of time versus someone who had as many pressing concerns as he. Someone who matched the metaphysical strength he brought to bear. He shook his head he was tired of this if he was a lesser man he would pack up his things and disappear from the islands he would turn his back on them as surely as they turned their hearts against him.



In the end as things were they would never see let alone embrace what he was seeking. He had a choice to make he could reach out to the few black tigers he knew and had trained calling them back to the island acting as his guard and enforcers forcing the Liéren Yú Hei'án Wáng to toe the line and declare war on his own people for their best interests or allow them to continue stagnating. To allow them to welcome the oblivion their adherence to the past was bringing.



While neither path was easy he wanted neither of them as an option and each day it became easier to look at the latter as a viable solution.



“Look kaikua`ana, everything I do is me ka aloha but for most of the clan I will always be the bad guy the one who is blind to what the needs of the ohana are. But it’s the needs that I am tending to the wants can go hang themselves. They want things to be the same nothing ever is. They want a pure-blood Liéren Yú Hei'án Wáng who is as blue as the sea and what they got is me whose heart is as blue and shifting as the sky. So in the end I need you to back my play no matter what to take a step back and see what could be from what I am doing. Give me a chance to fail without trying to trip me up. To be my Rishi in truth blood for blood and beat for beat knowing that I am willing to steer the boat through the roughest of waters to get to the otherside. Or simply kill me in one bite so that I don’t bleed out from all the million little cuts. You’re the only one that can the choice is yours because I am willing to die to keep the Liéren Yú Hei'án Wáng from fading into the sunset.”

Eye narrowed " get the coconut outta your ears I said Id back you Also said what you didn't want to mention..which is if it does fail then even I their precious blue warrior will be nothing to them so it better not fail"

sighing" I didn't trip you up we went to talk to the person who could and you got angry with me for havin your back and keeping you from doing something dumb and showin her how she could turn us on each other that was you na me and den I get beat for it on top of all dat den you come here and still wan me fight at your side..so tell me how I trip you huh?"

Arms crossed waiting nose still not quite as pretty as it used to be every bruise or bump was meant to remind them what hed done for them in taking Hales temper tantrum. Which had he been thinking wasnt helping Hales case for not being a bullie.

Eye narrowed “You know the theory of ‘Fine’ in business? Fine means that you’ve lost if you aren’t hearing honest full-fledged feedback you’re the walking dead. You were giving me fine I’ll do it and that’s not what I need you for. As for dealing with Uli… She is a vampire as old as the islands themselves and if she thinks for one second that I am weak enough to be completely cowed and not fight for what is ours she would not give as little respect as she has for us. She has been worshipped as a goddess made flesh for as long as the streak has been around we need to show her we are warriors well and truly. My threat of destruction was true and real bit she knew I would rather not. Look at the men in her Kiss they are all strong warriors that she has bent to her if we couldn’t offer her very nearly the same she would have done away with us or worse allowed her enforcer his way with us as he’d had before."



He knew Darren wouldn’t understand out of hand but he went on. “Trip me up, that was in taking any stance in public that says I’m wrong. You can pull me aside when the moment permits and say whatever you need to. In front of anyone save us I need to be your king not your kaikua`ana. We have to play the role of the old even as we’re not we have to convince them all of them that no matter how differently we view things in private that we are one mind one heart in public. I don’t want you blindly jumping to. I want you, eyes opened prepared for the fall on this rollercoaster. Enjoy what you can and help me full heartedly. They’re going to be ups and downs just hold on stay with me and I guarantee you will get through it even if I don’t"



Hale wanted to look away from Darren not because he was wrong but he didn’t like seeing his handiwork. He was sure part of Darren wore the bruises as a badge of honor. He’d lost and won the people’s hearts all the same. Hale was jealous yes but he wouldn’t let that sway him or change his mind. He loved Darren he loved the Streak his ohana and wanted the best for them sadly they had him as their champion as their leader as their king even if they wanted someone else. Hell even if he wanted someone else. He knew he was just enough of an outsider to do what was needed and just enough Ohana to do so against all odds. The thought of abandoning them to their gruesome end was tempting but he despite all he’d lived through wouldn’t turn his back on his family even if they had done so to him years ago.