A/N: This chapter takes place between Good Intent I & II while they are walking to rendezvous with Kisame. Short, but hopefully fun.

For a place called "Water Country," it sure did have a lot of long stretches where the ocean was nowhere in sight. Which was good, actually, because Asaya did not like the ocean. It reeked of fish, the air left a salty residue on her skin that made her feel crusty, and sitting still on a rocking boat for hours to days at a time was nauseating in more ways than one. The vegetation was lovely to look at, but with her limited familiarity she could only describe it as "tropical," or maybe "lush" if she wanted to sound slightly less inarticulate. But at least in the forest she was walking with dirt beneath her feet.

Although, since said vegetation was much shorter than in many non-island regions, the one relief with which walking on land did not provide her was shade. The sun, especially in the late evening after a long day, was hot. Oppressively hot. And more importantly, the ultraviolet radiation burned. Asaya brushed her fingers over her inflamed cheeks and nose and groaned. The skin would start peeling tomorrow. "I'm going to die and dehydrate into a mummy." She grumbled to herself.

Itachi, on the other hand, had a sugegasa to protect him, and even if he didn't, his skin was the type to develop a decent enough travel tan to protect him from heavy sunburn. He glanced over to Asaya and her cheeks were bright red, almost glowing on her otherwise fair complexion like a mad perversion of an antique porcelain doll. "You do look rather ghastly."

"Thanks." She almost sounded sarcastic, but it was clear from the way she heightened the vowel that she wasn't truly offended. Even without a mirror, she knew what she looked like.

"It'd be unfortunate if, despite all your escape attempts, you thwarted us by collapsing to death on the side of the road." Itachi dryly remarked.

Hah, she thought after registering the joke. "Just let the sun preserve me into an auto-icon and you can bring me back to your organization like that. Maybe rig my corpse with some wires and I'm sure you can fool them." As soon as she said it, she nervously regretted it. It was a macabre joke and he probably wouldn't find it funny.

Curiously reminded of something, Itachi said, "There was a philosopher at the University of Fire Country who did that. About a century and a half ago."

The way never missed a beat amazed Asaya. "Had himself made into a corpse puppet?"

"Close. Had himself made into an auto-icon and put on display. His name eludes me, but he founded utilitarianism."

"I think I've heard of him." She said brightly. "The sick man dilemma, right?" She smashed a fist into a flat palm for dramatic effect. "Should you let one sick man die to save five others?"

"I had thought so too, since it's usually brought up as an example of utilitarianism, but that thought experiment was actually invented a century later by a different philosopher." He explained flatly.

"I see, so the two have just become conflated by popular discourse." She spoke just above a whisper.

"Yeah." Itachi said. "Anyway, he also thought that since dead bodies cannot feel pain, it's not immoral to do anything to them." He paused when Asaya squinted dubiously at him, wondering what he was getting at. "For context, scientific cadaver dissections were a controversy at the time."

"Oh." She gave a relieved nod.

"And since he thought it his duty to exemplify his philosophies, he requested that his body be made into an auto-icon so as to help his family and friends better cope with his passing."

"No way…" She breathed.

"If you want, you can see it on display at the university. Although, the preservation of his head was spectacularly botched so it's kept off to the side. Supposedly, there is a tradition of young students sealing the head as a prank." Itachi elaborated.

"That's hilarious." Asaysa's eyes widened with a mixture of wonder and horror. "I'm sure he'd be happy to know his body has kept generations of students entertained."

Itachi did not realize the hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "I take it you agree with him?"

"Sort of." She mused. "I'm afraid I'm too much a moral particularist to ascribe to any one idea completely. I think thought experiments and philosophical dialogues are enlightening, but we don't exist within an experiment with nicely controlled variables and known outcomes, so we're really just discussing 'higher-order truths about chmess.'" She explained. "'The most good for the most people' sounds great when you talk about it in isolation, but in reality there will always be scenarios where it breaks down. What does 'the most good' even mean at any given moment? What if those five healthy people are jerks?"

Asaya's response was more thoughtful then Itachi was expecting. By his question, he'd meant 'you have common ideas of what to do with your corpses' not 'you agree with his school of thought,' but he appreciated It nonetheless. "I believe the typical counter argument would be to call you an ethically irrational flake." He said, but she knew he was teasing.

Fighting the urge to nudge his arm with her elbow, she blushed. "Says the altruist who abducts women for his terrorist organization."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "That makes me a hypocrite, not irrational." She thought him an altruist?

"Hypocrisy is irrational."

"The rationality is that I never said I was perfect." He quickly countered.

"Uchiha-san," Asaya said.

"Yeah?"

"Chmess."

They both gave a small, stifled laugh.

This was the most Itachi had ever spoken to Asaya about anything. She had known he was intelligent, but who knew he would make for surprisingly pleasant conversation? "Do you like philosophy?" She gently asked. "You know an awful lot about it."

"You seem to, as well." He removed his sugegasa as the temperature cooled with the disappearing sun.

Asaya could have rolled her eyes. He was like a cat the way he evaded straight answers. "It's an interest, but I'm no scholar."

"'Chmess' isn't exactly a casual reference." Itachi noted.

"Maybe." Her voice shyly diminished. "I sometimes dream about being a scholar. If I weren't a shinobi, that is. Would you like to be a philosopher?"

"I've never really thought about being anything different. It's not something I've prepared for." A rational answer.

Asaya simpered knowingly as he walked beside her. I'm going to interpret that as a 'Yes.' Since he wasn't comfortable speaking of himself, she shifted focus. "Tsuta, the boy I watch, wants to go to the Imperial University to study music. He wants to be a composer."

"Isn't he the Tsuchikage's grandson? He's not going to follow family tradition?"

"Nope. Couldn't if he wanted. He has hemophilia." Asaya explained. "Tsuta was destined for a more noble purpose than us."

An interesting choice of words, Itachi thought, but he wouldn't read too much into it.

"I'm jealous of him for it- that he gets to be whomever he wants. That kind of freedom is rare." She said in tacit acknowledgement of her own desires.

Itachi could tell she was anything but. "Sounds like a good kid." He watched her demeanor melt with affection as she thought of the boy. This was the first he noticed, however subconsciously, how kind her eyes were. How they seemed to illuminate tenderly with the settling twilight.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew him. He's kind of a brat." An inkling of worry swirled around her. "He's got a good heart, though. Eventually he'll grow out of it." Asaya turned her head towards Itachi and said, "You seem to enjoy a lot of freedoms yourself. What's your favorite place you've visited?"

"I think, Kagami-san," Itachi said pointedly, "that you are trying to be charming in an attempt to get me to lower my guard so you can try and escape again."

Mischief flashed across Asaya's face. "Guilty. But I also think it'd be more pleasant to travel in conversation than silence."

Itachi eyed her suspiciously, but conceded. "You said you wanted to be a scholar. What would you study?"

"Hmmm… Using my wiles against me?"

"Maybe." He smirked.

"Anything? I don't know. Mathematics and linguistics are closest to what I do now, so not those. And not philosophy, because I get frustrated only ever reaching the end of a loop. Something in the humanities, probably."

"That's not a very well thought out dream, then, is it?"

"You know, it's not very nice to make fun on people's dreams, Philosopher-sensei." She wryly teased back.

"I refer back to my statement on hypocrisy."

"Sure," Asaya chuckled. "So, where is your favorite place you've visited?" His profile was partially obscured by his cloak, but she found herself momentarily gazing at the clean lines of his nose and brow before quickly looking back at the horizon.

"There are a series of islands in south-eastern Water Country where the shores are seasonally home to bioluminescent phytoplankton that glow blue when agitated. They light up the beaches at night when the waves meet the sand. The locals and tourist traps call it 'The Sea of Stars.'" Itachi said.

Finally, an answer. "Interesting. That's a much dreamier place than I was expecting from you." Asaya looked up at the sky as twilight dissipated. Little stars just began to emerge through the coming darkness.

"That's because it's not, but I thought you'd like the answer anyway."

Asaya's mouth fell open for a moment before saying "…I should have known when you referred to it as a 'tourist trap.'" Throwing her hands up, she softly yielded, "Fine! I give up. You win." And she amicably fell silent.

"Good game." Despite the sunburn, Itachi could see a tint of amusement flush her cheeks. A lightness flickered within his chest before he quickly dismissed the feeling as insignificant. "Next time."

Looking forward to it. Asaya's thought, her stride a bit more confident.

A/N:

The utilitarianism philosopher is Jeremy Bentham. He is on display at the University College London's Student Centre.

The "Sick Man Dilemma" is meant as a substitute for the Trolly Problem invented by Philippa Foot.

"Higher-order truths about chmess" is a quote by Daniel C. Dennett.

I contemplated changing "chmess" to "shmogi" (shogi) to make it canonically fit better, but I decided against it. I don't think chess is too unbelievable for the Naruto universe (?) and I think it makes more sense to the reader. I don't expect anyone to immediately understand the chmess/chess shmogi/shogi wordplay.

The philosophers' names are omitted and the way I have referenced them has been constructed to make the dialogue work canonically as it does not make diegetic sense to have them explicitly name Jeremy Bentham and Daniel C. Dennett. And there are no trollies in-universe, so I had to rework the problem. I wish I could have written this dialogue with them discussing Japanese philosophers, but I don't know enough Japanese philosophy to do that, so here we are.

So, the idea with this chapter is that this is the first time they realize that they maybe have common interests and enjoy talking to each other? I know the lack of epic action might be boring, but this is a romance, and I think conversations are important in facilitating that, even if they are a little pretentious. (.;) I tried to get across that Asaya is still a bit shy/awkward and Itachi is still rather reticent (even for him), though some level of compatibility is there. I tried to avoid them coming off as *too* familiar with or comfortable around each other, as it's too early for that. Hopefully I was able to portray that.

P.S.

Dear California,

I'm sorry I was an ass to you all those years ago. You were never anything but kind to me.