"Oh, I could always teach you to swim. Everyone should know how to swim. What if you fall into a stream or something and drown, and then where would your Danna-sama be?" Without a very valuable servant. Itachi babbled easily again. "Really, though, I'm older than I look." Itachi nodded solemnly and took a sip of tea. It didn't taste as good as it should.

"I have only ever been told not to drink," Itachi admitted. When he'd jumped the ranks so young, it had been seriously impressed on him by many people while his comrades would trash their livers, he should not. He'd never really liked the idea of drinking anyway. "Now, that sounds like something from a tale or a play--the maidservant trading letters with the...the...young lord of some land thinking they'll never meet, and then they do and it's instant love."