Peggy blinked at that, watching him for a few moments. "The two of you are closer than I thought," she said, half to herself.

Youko heard her anyways, one of his ears flicking towards her.

"Hm?" He half turned to look at her. "You mean Shuichi." He shrugged just a little. "We are not so different. We are, after all, the same person. Just... different facets."

"Huh." Peggy considered that for a few moments. "Hadn't thought of it like that before."

"There was never truly a Shuichi to begin with," Youko said. "It was always my spirit in this body. Slumbering, yes, but still me. Shuichi was a sort of... mask, you could say. To blend in with the rest of these mortals."

Peggy was quiet for a few minutes as she mulled that over. "Of course, both aspects are rather alive now," she pointed out. "There are differences."

Youko nodded.

"We are, yes," he acknowledged. "Still. Not as different as most assume." He glanced at her. "I'm surprised, I hadn't expected you to catch on to that so quickly."

"I've been spending quite a bit of time with him. You? That's gonna get confusing." Peggy briefly made a face. "Anyway, there are differences in mannerisms especially."

"I'd imagine there are," Youko agreed. "Shuichi did grow up largely without my direct influence. And it would be inconvenient to be myself all the time in this world."

"Inconvenient?" Peggy looked at him and tipped her head to one side. "How inconvenient?" And because she wasn't watching where she was going anymore, she promptly tripped over something.

Youko raised an eyebrow and smirked a bit.

"I'm not known as a thief for nothing," he pointed out. He saw the moment she tripped, and reached out to catch her before he knew what he was doing.

"Thanks," Peggy muttered, turning red. Because of course she would nearly fall flat on her face. Of course. She righted herself carefully, though she didn't actually move away from him.

Youko let her get back on her feet, and then let her go.

"Be careful," he said. He smirked a bit. "I'll never hear the end of it if something happens to you."

Peggy snorted at that and grinned. "Yes, well, everyone involved should know I'm not the most graceful person," she said. "And my night vision isn't nearly as good as yours, which should also just be an accepted fact now."

Youko gave a dramatic sigh.

"Then I will just have to keep an eye on you," he said. He smirked just a bit.

Peggy snorted softly at that. "Such a chore," she agreed with a dramatic sigh of her own. "I'm such trouble, I know."

Youko chuckled a bit.

"You have not seen trouble," he replied. "Believe me, I have met others who are trouble. You are merely... intriguing."

"I suppose that's a step up," Peggy agreed, carefully making her way along again. "I'm generally not in the habit of getting into too much trouble, after all."

"Well, that's just no fun," Youko said as he walked with her. "Being trouble is one thing. Getting into trouble is something else."

"I did say too much," Peggy pointed out. "I specified too much trouble." She grinned a bit. "A little bit of trouble is fun."

Youko blinked at that, and then grinned.

"Indeed," he said. He studied her for a moment. "Would I be correct in assuming you would appreciate a tour of one of my gardens?"

Peggy smiled slowly. "You would," she agreed. "As long as nothing tries to eat me, anyway."

"You'll be fine," Youko replied. He changed direction slightly, heading towards a different section of the forest.

Peggy headed after him, managing to keep up with him without tripping over anything again. She was definitely eager to see this.

Youko led her to a particularly dense section of trees. The trees obediently parted as he approached, and he let Peggy go first into the clearing-turned-moon garden.

Peggy stepped through the trees cautiously and then had to pause. His garden was gorgeous, full of plants she had no idea the names for, and probably not normally seen outside of Makai. "Wow," she breathed.