A/N: Hello everyone. I've decided that this will end up being a Moana x Maui fic. Moana is probably about 19 or so in this story, if she were 17 during the movie, and is therefore not a legal minor. I apologize in advance if I portray Maui wrong, or maybe he's a bit OOC, but I'm doing my best. Thank ya'll for reading.

Chapter 4: 8 Years Old, Mortal and with a Hero Complex

If there was one thing Moana had forgotten, it was that when Maui got involved, it was always a mistake to go after him. Not only had she been nearly killed by Kakamora in the first few minutes of meeting him, but she had also nearly got eaten by Tamatoa, and burned to a crisp by Te Kā the fire demon upon reaching Te Fiti. Maui was a trickster, and had lots of enemies.

So it came as no surprise to find him trapped in a cave with an eel the size of a coconut grove. The thing was slick and slimy, glowing luminescent like the rest of Lalotai as its eyes (and fangs) were trained on Maui. He looked fine, as he always did, but his hook was nowhere to be found. Slipping to the cave unnoticed, Moana began to search for the instrument as she held her oar close to her,

"Really, tuna breath, I didn't mean to take your girl from you. Really I didn't,"

Maui wasn't really making the situation better as the eel's throat rattled, and there was a yelp as Maui was electrocuted by its horrible tail,

"R-really, Sina wasn't even that in to me! Honest,"

Moana stopped at the mention of her mother's name, but shook her head from side to side. It was impossible. Her mother Sina was not the same Sina from the legend Grandma Tala had told her as a little girl. Frowning, Moana glanced over the top of a low rock. This was probably the eel from the story, the one which had fallen in love with Sina, but was killed and buried by her lover after he stared at her the wrong way,

"Maui must have been Sina's lover," Moana whispered to Mini Mo, who was shaking her head from side to side. Moana agreed and continued forwards around the cave, searching for Maui's hook as he continued to make the situation worse with the eel,

"Come on tuna breath, we had tons of good times, right? I mean, coconuts are pretty tasty am I right-yip!"

Moana winced slightly as Maui was shocked again, and wiggled in the eels grip. She did feel partially sorry for Maui, but she also felt sorry for the eel. Rolling her eyes, Moana nearly cried out as she tripped on something unseen, causing the conversation to go quiet as the eel turned in her direction. Moana didn't even want to breathe, holding two hands over her mouth as the eel listened,

"I-I think you're just hearing things," Maui stuttered, yipping again as the eel was once again preoccupied,

"At least I'm not the bait this time," Moana whispered to her shoulder, looking down at what had caused her to stumble. Maui's Hook. It was a bit dirty, and had probably been tossed aside during some kind of fight, but here it was. Now all Moana had to to was get it to him. Squinting at him from a distance, Moana noticed a particular figure missing from a space on his chest,

"Ok Mo, I have a plan,"

Leaning in, the little tattoo girl listened to Moana carefully before nodding and hopping into her canoe. Soon, she was gone from the circle on Moana's shoulder. Watching Maui, Moana could see her arrive on his chest, where she snapped the border of her tattoo to get his attention. Immediately the man looked confused, then shocked, then confused again as he looked at the rock where Moana was hiding. Carefully, she pushed his hook out into the open with a foot,

"Oh, great eel, I swear I didn't like Sina for more then a day," he said, turning back to the creature as Moana ducked along the stones behind it. Finally, she was staring at the curve of its neck, as it was floating back first. Grasping her oar, Moana flew from behind the stone,

"CHHHEEEHOOO!"

Moana's mighty cry (and terrible imitation of Maui) echoed through the cave as she smacked the creature into the nearest wall, causing stones to collapse down on him. In the excitement, Maui had been dropped and quickly hurried to pick up his fish hook, transforming into a hawk and flying towards Moana. Before she could protest, her shoulders were being grabbed by monstrous talons as they soared upwards and splashed into the ocean ceiling.

Urging the sea to spit them out, Moana yelped in panic as she was suddenly flying through the air and landed not far from the shore. Coughing, she waded up onto the hexagonal stones shore, flipping thick black hair out of her face and wringing it out into the ocean. Nearby, Maui was getting out of the water too, his lavalava dripping from the soak,

"'Bout time you got here, Curly," he said with a sigh and a smile, also wringing out his long hair before pulling it up. Smiling back and rolling her eyes, Moana remembered she was mad at him and folded her arms,

"I didn't come for you," she stated, though failed to sound at all angry, "in fact, I'm actually mad at you right now. So, pfft,"

Moana stuck out her tongue as Maui lifted one of his highly expressive brows. When he didn't say anything, Moana opened one of her eyes to see him staring at her,

"You look different," he finally admitted, "did you do something to your hair?"

"Maui!"

"Kidding, kidding," the man stated, holding up his hands, "so serious. How long did it take you to get your tattoos?"

Moana suckled a lip as she rubbed a hand over the back of her neck,

"Actually, about that-"

Before Moana could explain herself, Mini Maui started running around frantically, pointing at the spot where Mini Mo was supposed to be on Maui's chest. He frowned and poked the empty spot,

"Gone again," he said, "I swear she's just like you-"

Maui looked up just in time to see Mo on Moana's shoulder, tying up her canoe as she waved happily and hugged the girls skin,

"...oh..."

"Yeah. I kinda...have a tattoo problem,"

"Did not see that coming," Maui mumbled, flicking a silky curl from his eyes as he looked to Mini Maui, who was busy staring with heart eyes at Mo, who was busy with her sails, "well. It was good to see you, curly,"

Just like that, Maui was transforming into a hawk. Realizing he was leaving again, Moana panicked and threw up her arms, catching the bird in a wave and dragging him down into the water. Soon, he was spit back up onto the stones with a frustrated expression on his face,

"Call the ocean off," he stated, "I have mortals to please-"

"Why are you running!" Moana insisted, folding her arms, "I thought you would help me with my little problem?"

"So you have a magic tattoo. Not much can be said about that. Bye,"

Maui transformed into a shark and dived into the water, only to squeal as he was once again pulled back and spat out by Moana's movements,

"Maui, please! I need your help with this. I don't know what happened to me-"

"Ugh, fine. Let me see,"

Maui held out his hand to look at Moana's arms, only to grasp her and chuck her body into the water. Submerged, Moana let her anger get the better of her as she rose up again ferociously and shot a stream of ocean towards Maui. This knocked him backwards into the mountain, causing it to crack. Shaking out of her daze, the water left her dry as Moana placed her hands over her mouth,

"Oh my gods, I'm so sorry, Maui. I don't know what came over me!"

"How...?"

Maui stood up and adjusted his lavalava, walking to Moana as she rubbed the side of her arm where her new tattoo was. Lifting her other hand, she opened her grandmothers necklace, revealing the blue stone,

"I found it the other night. The Ocean gave it to me. I woke up this one morning...and was like this," Moana motioned to herself, "Can you believe Mo and I just met a few days ago?"

Moana looked fondly at the little sailing tattoo, who swung her oar expertly before setting it down again,

"That, Moana, is a very powerful artifact. You really shouldn't have it," Maui complained, "you have a thing for the hearts of gods, don't you?"

"The what's?"

Maui poked at the blue stone with a square finger, heaving his fish hook up over one shoulder,

"This, princess, is the Heart of Tangaroa. Sea God? Ever heard of him?"

"Well..." Moana looked at the stone and closed the necklace over it, "that explains a lot,"

"It does?"

Moana nodded as she jumped into her canoe and opened up the hold, only to find Heihei sitting inside the bowl of fruit,

"I have this...new connection with the ocean. One that I can't explain. And my oar, it's pretty strong now. If you couldn't tell when I knocked that eel straight out of Lalotai,"

Moana flipped her oar expertly, only to wince as she accidentally knocked her face with it and groaned. Maui, for once, seemed contemplative,

"Well, princess. Looks like you've got a bigger problem then just a few magic tattoos,"

"How so?"

Moana untied the canoe from Lalotai mountain as Maui hoped aboard, sending the craft away from the shore as Moana pulled the sail and caught the wind,

"I'll just go give it back to him. No big deal, right?"

"Wrong, princess," Maui stated, laying across the deck as Moana maneuvered the small canoe back towards her island, "see, Tangaroa is in a bit of trouble right now with another God. A guy named Auahitūroa. From what I heard, Tangaroa swallowed up one of his favorite stars. They got into an argument, and bam! Auahitūroa wants revenge,"

"So what does that have to do with me?"

Rolling over onto his stomach, Maui looked at Moana as she navigated,

"Well, Tangaroa was so afraid that Auahitūroa would take his heart, that he ripped it out and gave it to the Ocean to hide it. And because the Ocean is a 'friend' of yours, it sent the heart to you. No doubt you'd need a few assists in protecting it, as a mere mortal like you can't protect...well, anything,"

Moana deadpanned as Maui smiled (smirked, actually) and grabbed a mango from the hold,

"So the heart gave you a few assists. Water powers, a conscience, and probably a bit of immortality dashed in there somewhere,"

The canoe jerked slightly as Moana lost her focus, looking up at Maui with her jaw practically on the wooden deck. Even Heihei had stopped pecking at a small knot of the canoe to stare,

"W-what did you just say?"

"Immortality? Yeah, you didn't expect the Ocean to trust an 8 year old mortal with a hero complex to protect the heart of Tangaroa from a god, did you?"

Moana was silent as she stared at Maui, sitting down slowly at the stern as her face became ashen. What had she gone and gotten herself into now?