Disclaimer: Not mine, wish they were. This is set during episode six - The Most Important Thing - and is my take on a few things I noticed, and have noticed since. Hope you like it. Once again, I use Australian English, my work is spell checked and everything. Please, read and review, I appreciate reviews. AM, May 2011.


Confused by the Brat

by Angel Mouse

Luka looked at the spoilt little princess of a brat that she was meant to be looking after as she slammed the door on her. She didn't understand that brat, didn't understand her at all.

Sighing, she turned and walked away, heading towards the lounge area she had seen earlier. She needed to talk to Marvellous, get his perspective on things, and see what he thought. He always seemed to see to the heart of things and helped her get back on track.

Luka had found that the time she spent with Marvellous had certainly helped her become more skilled as a fighter, better at defending herself, better at a lot of things. She was already well known when they had first met, but now, now she was better than she was before.

She had come to trust him, well, almost completely, in a lot of things and his opinion meant a lot to her. So she would be interested to get his opinion on this strange Earth family. The father was consumed by money – something she was familiar with but he took it to extremes.

She flopped down on the seat – completely unladylike and she suddenly grinned to herself as she remembered Ahim's endless lessons to try and make her more ladylike, but they didn't take. Luka was Luka, no two ways about it.

Taking out her phone she leaned back and dialled Marvellous, sighing as she did, this was all confusing to her. She needed to talk to someone, someone she trusted.

"Luka, is there a problem?"

"Marvellous, not really, well, kind of." Marvellous laughed as she spoke, immediately making her feel a little better as she said the next bit, looking at her hands as she spoke again. "Everyone sucks."

"Hmmm…" Marvellous knew better than to try and stop her when she got like this. Luka when she got on a rant was hard to stop. He had learnt the hard way long ago. Luka on a rant was a force of nature.

"The girls a bitch. And the Dad's a slave to money." Marvellous couldn't help the smile on his face. Luka could hear it in his voice as she listened to his words.

"That must be something, coming from you." Marvellous couldn't help the grin on his face and the humour in his voice. He knew Luka would pick up on it and it would help cheer her. She sounded down and confused something unusual for her.

"Man, why is that family so despicable?" Luka was confused by their behaviour and turned to the one person she hoped would help her confusion. She heard the others in the back ground as listened as Don told them about his and his find.

"A golden fruit tree?" That was the thing that the father had shown her earlier. It looked good, but was it truly gold? That was something that she could find out later.

"But they were originally just an extremely poor father and daughter." Luka suddenly was beset by memories of previous times.

"Extremely poor?" For a few minutes she thought back to previous times, before Marvellous, until she was brought out of it by her friend's voice from her long silence.

"Luka, you okay?" Luka brought the phone back to her ear. She could hear the concern in his voice, the tone he used just for her. It warmed her heart to hear it.

"Yeah, I will be fine. Thank you Marvellous for listening, it's helped. I will call you later if I need some help." Marvellous nodded even though she couldn't see it.

"Okay, be careful." Luka ended the call and sighed. She wasn't sure what to do next so she decided to try and look like she was a maid that she was dressed as.

Grabbing a duster she began wandering around and suddenly saw the girl standing at the door, watching something in the room where the Golden fruit tree was.

"What are you doing?" Luka then noticed the alien inside the room. "Well, who are you?"

When he answered he was a Zangyack action commander Luka knew that things had gotten more complicated. She grabbed Kasugai's hand and began to run outside, knowing she would need the space if she was to fight him.

Just then Kusugai's father appeared, asking about the golden fruit tree, as if that was the most important thing in the world…. And that made Luka angry but she didn't let it show on her face. That would give her feelings away, so, she decided she would have some fun.

She attacked the Zangyack and then spent the next minute or so bandying words with Kasugai's Father about paying her to defend him. The money was important – sure it was – but there was something else, that she wasn't going to show it.

The million yen would come in handy, it could help resupply and restock the ship – she would give the money to Marvellous later on the quiet, she didn't want the others knowing about it. It would ruin her reputation.

She had quickly fought him off and then watched as Kasugai slowly walked back inside. Deciding she wanted to know what was going through her mind, she followed her and walked into her room.

Asking what was going through her mind and getting the answers disturbed Luka and she finished her chores for the day, heading back to the Galleon. She had a lot to think about.

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Throwing darts at a reasonably well drawn picture of Kasugai she tried to sort out her thoughts and feelings. But memories kept coming back to her, memories of her home planet and the hordes of children she tried to shelter, to feed, to look after.

Frustration welled up in her and she slammed her fists against her legs. Just then Joe came into the room, asking if she couldn't sleep. Once again he asked her about her dream, and once again, she fobbed him off. He left her to it and she sighed, unable to decide what to do next.

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The next morning, she was still musing over the portrait of Kasugai when Navi said that they were being attacked. Marvellous looked at her, and she knew that he would follow her lead on this one. Nodding to him, they headed out to fight.

It hadn't taken that long to fight it off and for Luka to rescue the most important thing to Kasugai and then she watched as the two of them finally talked and reconciled. Luka felt a warm feeling spread inside her as the two family members finally saw eye to eye.

After the battle and they were walking home, she felt a sense of satisfaction go through her. But then Don was saying she worked for free, but she hadn't really. Well, not really, but that was her business.

Grinning she held up her hand with the ring on it that she had scavenged from the fire – the very ring that had started this whole adventure - and laughed as Marvellous just smirked at her. She knew he understood and smiling, they headed back to the ship.

GK GK GK GK GK GK GK GK GK GK GK GK GK

That night, Luka was leaning against the railing as she watched the stars, counting the shooting ones like she did each night. She was still confused a little about what had happened today, but she knew she had done the right thing. And she had still gotten what she had originally wanted, the ring.

"You know, one would think that you have a soft heart underneath that steel exterior of yours Luka." She gave a soft laugh and bumped Marvellous in the shoulder as he stood next to her.

"You're one to speak." They stood together in silence for a long moment, just watching the stars and finally she sighed.

"Marvellous, this lust of treasure and money, it takes us to strange places and worlds and we meet some strange people, doesn't it."

"It does." Luka frowned as she looked at the stars. Finally she spoke what was finally bothering her and she looked down at her hands, absently leaning against Marvellous.

"I sometimes wonder where our journey for the ultimate treasure will lead us. And then what we will do after we find it. Do we go our separate ways? Do we stay together? What becomes of us in the long run?"

"You wonder about strange things Luka but I can assure you, I will never abandon you. " Marvellous paused a moment and then gave her a smile, a softer smile that he normally never gave them at all. "Not you. Not ever." Luka just looked at him, surprised and suddenly she gave a small blush, leaning against his shoulder. Laughing suddenly she grinned at him.

"As it should be Marvellous, after all, where would you be without me?" Marvellous laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him.

"I hope I never know."