"That's just silly," Ashiko actually wrinkled her nose at him. "Danna-sama sees to my every need, ensures I can protect myself, and takes great pains to keep me in the pink of health." She drooped slightly at that last point. "...though I don't always make that easy for him. I caused Danna-sama a great deal of inconvenience not too long ago," she confided. It wasn't sensitive information, only her own shame, so she had no trouble parting with it.

"The point is," she continued, shaking off her momentary funk. "Danna-sama is the greatest kind of master a Kuzuryu could hope to have. By any measure, he takes excellent care of me. Oh." She glanced up at his face, briefly, then squeezed his fingers. "If your worried about your village or lord or band or whoever it is you serve, don't. Iori-kun is the very picture of discretion. I'm just very good at identifying possible threats to Danna-sama; the Kuzuryu clan originally served nobles, after all, so identifying shinobi where they aren't meant to be is something drilled in during childhood."

She paused, thoughtful. "It's a pity about your pack. I was intending to sample the sake here, tonight. If you buy the tea, I wouldn't mind sharing that with you, after. If you have no objections, at least."