Hmm

Dororo turned, tipping his head up to the sky and the Pekoponian girl falling through it. She landed silently on the tips of her toes, and settled neatly against the ground with her hands already held together behind her back.

“Hello, Lady Koyuki,” Dororo nodded politely.

“Ah, you noticed me! I guess I shouldn't have expected anything else...” She laughed, green eyes squashed by the vibrant good nature of her smile. However, her laughter faded more quickly than it would have normally, and her smile might have shimmered as always, but it was restrained in size. Dororo noticed these tiny shifts as well as he had her leap from above, and he believed that Koyuki would once again expect as much. Still, if her discomfort was great enough to dishearten her attempts at concealment, he needed to voice his concern.

“Is something the matter?”

“Oh... Well, I think you know more about that than me,” She offered a more awkward smile and shrugged, but a slight sadness capped the motion. Dororo only blinked.

“Ah... Lady Koyuki...” He sighed, “Please do not trouble yourself needlessly. There's nothing you need to worry about.”

She bobbed her head, forcing her usual bouncy cheer into the motion, “I know, Dororo. But since you're so worried about something, I thought I'd just let you know that I'm here if you need me!”

Dororo's mask didn't shift as he opened and closed his mouth underneath it, but it was clear that he had reconsidered an attempt to speak. He closed his eyes calmly, lowering his head with carefully held serenity. Koyuki allowed him his silence, patiently waiting with her own nervous smile maintained. When he at last replied, it was with hushed coolness, a voice he might have reserved for a victim he didn't want to assassinate, “I appreciate that... But I cannot allow you to do this. As I have said, I cannot allow you to needlessly-”

She cut him off, kneeling before him and raising a hand in his face. He stared at it blankly, his own gaze plainly troubled as she merely shook her head. Her calm was peculiar, one that should have belonged to someone more experienced for its understanding. “I'm not worried. I trust you, so I know it will be okay! But I just want you to know that...”

He snapped up to face her, the movement strangely jarring for both of them.

“I apologize...” Dororo murmured, slowly dropping his gaze again before continuing, “You have skill, Lady Koyuki, and I believe that should be recognized. But this is...”

“I'll support you as much as I can. I think you're the one who needs to relax, y'know,” She told him, her perkiness seeming somewhat renewed.

He hesitated once more. His fingers clenched slowly into a fist, eyelids slipping to sharp slants over narrowed pupils. A display of determination, as opposed to any kind of threat. If she was going to trust him, when he had deceived her, then he surely owed her similar trust. Whether it twanged painfully in his chest or not. “I suppose you need to be nearby in order to do that, and... If it is your wish, truly, then I will not stop you.” His heated confidence startled her, but he was not completely content, and so it faded for a moment. “I would ask that you consider what you may be joining, however...”

“I'm sure about this!” She nodded, and even her sense of finality had happiness about it. “Thank you, Dororo!” She fully intended to uphold her commitment, because as far as she was concerned, she already had the intelligence she needed for it. If it would help Dororo, then that was fine.