When Gurn and Brianna emerged from Gurn's room, Asuka was stood arms crossed, waiting for them. She was more than a little irate. As soon as they had come down the steps she grabbed Gurn by the arm, pulling him, saying,

"You, come with me." Asuka turned and pointed at Brianna. "You, tidy this mess. Come on," she said to Gurn, and dragged him by the arm down stairs to the cargo bay.

"You know," she said, her voice low but angry, beginning to pace, once they were in the cargo bay, "this has to be one of your stupider ideas. She says she wants to help, but you know we can't trust her."

"You don't know anything about what she wants to help me with. Maybe she just wanted to help me get laid, eh?" Asuka stopped pacing and shot him a disgusted look.

"Oh knock it off Gurn. I know everything. I know about the Organisation, I know about your father, I know about you, I know about the painting and," she gesticulated wildly towards the stairs and upper deck, "I especially know about her." Gurn was shocked. He knew he shouldn't be, since he had been hoping not to have to tell her, but even so, somehow it still seemed like Asuka had violated his privacy. He couldn't seem to think of anything to say. He must have let his face betray him because she resumed pacing and continued her quiet but none-the-less venomous tirade.

"Oh, don't give me that look. We both know you were never going to tell me. So I took it upon myself to find out for myself. I pulled in a lot of favours just so I could get you out of trouble, and then I walk in and find you fornicating with trouble incarnate. You really are a piece of work sometimes, you know that?" Gurn managed to find his voice again.

"That's not fair and you know it," he said, also angry and gesticulating, but also trying to keep his voice down so Brianna didn't hear. "She's in trouble, same as I am. She said she'd seen the original plans for taking the painting. All she wants in return is to disappear." Asuka let out an exasperated noise.

"And you believe that cock-a-bull story?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." Asuka stopped pacing again and threw up her hands.

"You're insane," she told him. "You're going to get us both killed."

"That's one of the reasons I didn't tell you anything!" he fairly shouted at her, slamming a fist down on top of a crate, before seemingly realising what he was doing and turning away from her slightly. "I knew this would be trouble. I didn't want you getting bogged down in my mess. I didn't... I didn't want you getting hurt." Asuka wanted to punch him, scream at him or at least jump up and down in frustration. She understood the protect response, but she wasn't a little girl. She new how to handle herself.

"Gurn," she said as calmly as she could. "I told you before, it's not up to you to chose my battles. I know what I'm doing in this big bad universe. I probably know better than you." She scrunched her eyes up for a moment before fixing him with an intense look. "Since we're being all sharing and caring and schnitzel, there's something you need to know about Brianna."

"If this is going to be some kind of 'she's a he' thing, you can forget it. I've seen what's down there, and it ain't a dangler." Asuka glared at him.

"She's my sister, moron."

Gurn's face seemed to take on a glazed sheen as it fixed it's self in a wide-eyed, jaw-dropped expression. Asuka turned away, unsure of what she was feeling, or what she should be feeling, right now.

"Does she know?" Gurn asked eventually.

"I don't know," Asuka said in a more normal voice, suddenly finding the back of her hand an eminently interesting thing. "Unless she's been eavesdropping, I wouldn't have though so. She might remember there was a baby in the family who she never got to see again, she might even remember our father, but it's quite unlikely."

"Are you – we – going to tell her?" Asuka looked up at him, a hard look on her face.

"For the time being, no. I don't think so."

"Oh Gaia," Gurn said miserably. "We really have screwed ourselves with this one haven't we?" Asuka nodded grimly, her shoulders sagging.

"A right pair of dofuses," she agreed.

"So what do we do?" Gurn asked, passing a hand over his face and through his hair.

"We go back to being a team, and not a pair of clowns stumbling in the dark. You've made the promise. And much as I hate it in this case, we don't welsh on deals." Asuka noticed Gurn frowning at her. "Look, just because she happens to be blood kin, doesn't mean I instantly like or trust her."

Gurn nodded. "Sure."

Asuka sighed and continued, "We help her out after she's helped us and every thing's been set square. But first we go compare notes." Asuka stood up from the crate she'd been leaning on, rescued the stuff Dakar had given her earlier. "Lets go and see if we can't sort this mess out, eh?" Gurn nodded and they ascended the stairs together.

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