Itachi finally looked at Shisui, a rather bland look over a suggestion that Shisui wasn't getting it. "She was well. After we politely suggested it would be in my best interest if I never came back to the country, I bought supper and tea and she bought sake and desert. It was a most companionable evening."

Itachi looked back at the forest. "She had valuable information Konoha could use. She's a civilian. It would have been easy to incapacitate her and smuggle her out of the country without anyone knowing it was Konoha that had done it. She knew I was a spy for someone. She knew Sasuke and Hinata, or had met them before and she knows they work for Konoha now.

"I should have brought her back here for interrogation. We need information about the hidden village in that country. If she's connected to Orochimaru, we could know what he's been up to.

"But I didn't." For no greater reason than he had become friends with her. He couldn't think of a time he'd felt more like he'd failed in his duty to Konoha, and all for a girl.