Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Yu-Gi-Oh!
Oh no...
Here it comes...
"Itachi? Could you help me in here?"
Already in a tux, Itachi stepped inside the master bedroom once more, to see his wife couldn't reach the back of her dress, which laced up. He came over and kissed her neck as he deftly tied it at the bottom, which was hidden by a sash. "You're nervous about something, Misao. What is it?"
'He's only asking because he knows I've been dodging it the past week since he told me that even if I was deathly ill, I'd be going to this ball. Seto's just as adamant, so I'm sure that this dream will be ending tonight. I'll be forced to choose between them, or left alone with a heart in a billion pieces.'
'I warned you from the very first, and bringing Itachi here was the biggest mistake. They would've met eventually, or one of them would find out because of a slip. You can't be a perfect wife for both of them.'
'I know, you were right all along. I'm greedy, wanting the love of two men when I should've been happy with just one. Itachi was perfect, yet I had to be selfish and covet Seto too. I'm the lowest of low, even worse than a whore.'
'After this is over and you have no one, perhaps you should stay single for the rest of you life and begin anew in the dimension you've avoided ever since you brought Nanase to Kaiba.'
'I'm sure that neither of my original dimensions will accept me, now that I've run from Konohagakure no Sato and committed the ultimate crime in Domino City, so yeah, I should start over from there. But I won't run away if either of them wants me after this, even if I have to endure the hatred of the other for the rest of my life.'
'You haven't thought of the worst-case scenario.'
'Which is that?'
'What if they both want you, despite what you did? You can't split in two.'
Misao winced mentally as Itachi led her out to the car, Sasuke behind them, one of her clones staying to babysit. 'It would be brutal. I don't think I could watch as they progressed to have a tug-of-war or worse.'
'If that happens, you'll have to do what's best for everyone and give up both of them. This will prove to be quite the scandal, considering their positions in society. Both of them unknowingly sharing the same woman and fathering two children each with her, and you know what staying would do to them, even if they refuse to let you go.'
'Yeah. It will end tonight, as painful as a dull knife hacking out my heart...'
Itachi stopped the car and got out with his brother, before coming over to her side and opening the door for her. "Let's go, Misao."
She nodded and let him help her out, her face determined.
"Whatever it was that was bothering you, it seems to have been solved on the way here. Will you be all right?"
She smiled at him and gave a small nod. "I'll be fine."
"How long has it been since you've seen Kaiba Seto?"
"The Battle City Tournament, five years ago." 'Only a few more lies before the truth comes out.'
"We'll be meeting him as soon as possible, along with his wife and younger brother. Sasuke, I hope you don't make a bad impression on them."
"Why don't you say the same to Misao?"
"I won't because she knows to be on her best behavior at all times. She doesn't have the tendency to be rude to strangers."
"I won't, Nii-san."
"Well then, we'll see."
Sasuke scowled as he looked around, then gestured towards the refreshments table. "There's our host now, if the description is right."
'Seto...'
And she came face-to-face with her second husband, clone and brother-in-law. Seto was confused as all get out, Itachi had his Sharingan on at once in unison with Sasuke, while Mokuba looked between the two Misaos, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Misao, you owe all of us an explanation, now," Itachi bit out tensely. "Cancel the jutsu, Sasuke and I can see through it."
Not even blinking, the Shadow Clone dispersed, and she looked down, lips pressed in a grim line. "Of course you do. This is all my fault, no one else's."
Seto looked just as miserable as she did when he murmured, "Let's go somewhere private, before people begin talking."
They went into a side room and Misao sat facing her two husbands while the brother-in-laws guarded the door against eavesdroppers. Itachi's eyes were furious yet his face was professionally blank, while Seto mirrored her look, utterly devastated in the face of truth.
"Talk."
She flinched as if she'd been slapped by the cruel tone that her first husband had adopted, like she was a criminal he was interrogating. Seto's eyes narrowed as he growled, "Don't treat her like she's one of your criminals, Uchiha-san."
Itachi's eyes, still Sharingan, pierced the other man's skull, as Seto had not turned to look at him. "She's betrayed me by being with you."
"You don't know who she married first, so you might be wrong about that."
Itachi turned back to Misao, who hadn't changed her expression, nor moved at all. He saw how heartbroken she looked and compared it to the memory of her at her most joyful, when she'd given birth to Sotaro. She'd cried, she'd been so happy to see her son after a difficult delivery. This was caused by his fury towards her, so he softened his gaze enough that he could smile a little. "Misao, please tell us the truth."
Sasuke and Mokuba were intent on the conversation and knew that this would affect them as well.
"So...did you suspect anything fishy going on with Misao?"
"No, and I'm a ninja. I'm trained to think outside the box."
"I guess she had us completely fooled. I never thought she was married to another man."
"I noticed sometimes she seemed to be fighting an internal battle, but never something like this. I wonder what could've brought her to fall in love with both our older brothers."
"Hey Sasuke."
"What?"
"After this mess is over and done with, do you wanna go get something to eat?"
"Sure, maybe the arcade will still be open."
"I could even show you KaibaLand."
"We're just a couple of kids inside, aren't we?"
"Yeah we are. Friends?"
"Friends."
They shook before turning their eyes back to their brothers and sister-in-law.
Misao gritted her teeth and let out a hissing breath she'd been holding ever since they'd entered the room. "I intended to go on forever like this, although I never started out with a plan to have two husbands. I was just like any other girl with a dream of finding the perfect man, and the instant I met you, Itachi, I knew I'd found him. Those three months I spent with just you was like a paradise that I never wanted leave. But then, the Akatsuki came seeking the Kyubi, and you told me to leave."
Itachi's teeth bared in a grimace as he snapped, "If I knew this would happen, I would've made you stay! But we both knew that I couldn't concentrate on defending both you and Sasuke at once!"
"Sasuke had his chakra suppressed, I had access to all mine plus Kitty's, even if it was hiding. I could've taken care of myself if you'd trusted me. I'm not a Jinchuriki for nothing. Kitty had its chakra hidden for a reason, so they couldn't track her. Why do you think they never found me when I was there? To them, I was just another ninja. That's why your mother and father refused to accept my existence during that time, to protect my identity so I wouldn't get captured and the Nibi extracted."
"Will you let her continue instead of arguing with her?" Seto interrupted. "You tell her to talk, then you interrupt. You obviously are asking for a fight with her, aren't you?"
Itachi fell silent and nodded for Misao to continue.
"So I left for Domino City, where the Battle City Tournament was in full swing. When I first met you, Seto, we got off on the wrong foot because of my American mannerisms. You must've hated me during that time, since you had me sign a contract to be your personal maid for three months after the tournament ended, even though I'd never intended to stay past that. I only wanted to help Onee-chan bring Rishid and Marik to their senses. In that endeavor, I nearly lost my life and use of my arm, but the Nibi saved me, but the pharaoh succeeded when I could only watch. He and I were good friends after that, especially since the Sennen Tauk had been taken from me, thus making my way of traveling to this place impossible unless I retrieved it. I heard that you'd lost your sight because of an accident and because of my fearlessness of you, I was chosen to care for you, where I got to know you in a more intimate way than I'd ever had with a man, and slowly, I fell in love with you. Kitty instantly protested, since I'd already promised myself to Itachi, but I was already in too deep to resist, no matter what it did to curb my feelings for you. When you proclaimed your feelings for me, I knew I had to have your promise that I could have you too."
Seto took her hands when she paused, encouraging her to go on.
"I returned to Konoha, and Itachi, you were like a breath of fresh air to me, I fell even deeper in love with you, even if you'd taken the initiative and planned our wedding without informing me."
Seto shot a glare at his rival in love. "You forced her to marry you?"
"She had plenty of time to refuse, and she didn't," Itachi stated flatly.
"You bastard. I'm sure she was so shocked by the sudden change she didn't even have the state of mind to protest!"
Sasuke snarled, "Did you just call Nii-san a bastard?! I'll kill you!"
"Sasuke, you will stay where you are," Itachi ordered.
"But Nii-san—"
"You heard me."
Sasuke huffed and crossed his arms. Mokuba shot a glare at his new friend. "Don't threaten Nii-sama like that."
They noticed they were both protective of their elder brothers and grinned at each other.
'Mokuba was right that he and Sasuke would be good friends.'
"I was accepted into the Uchiha Clan because of it and the marriage raised morale amongst the Allied Ninja Forces," Misao continued, as if she'd never been interrupted. "Plus if I hadn't married him, he would've had to have an arranged marriage and I couldn't have done that to him when the alternative wasn't so terrible. We had our newly-wedded bliss period for nine months, and I got nervous that I was pregnant, but Sakura told me I wasn't and told me to go on my way. At that time, the Akatsuki attacked, and Itachi told me to leave again, so I did.
"Very soon after I arrived in Domino City, you proposed to me, Seto. We had a week of calm before Kitty told me I was pregnant, but not only that, with twins. It insisted that I choose between the two of you or there would be consequences, but I didn't listen, not wanting to give up either of you. So Kitty retaliated: it shut off all chakra it had been feeding the babies. Because of that, I began dropping weight dangerously fast and vomited for four months straight. I was hospitalized, and the doctors had no clue if I'd actually survive. I was able to make peace with Kitty, so I was able to recover. When I was about to give birth, I staged a grievous injury so I could escape beforehand—"
Seto's eyes widened. "You mean...you weren't hurt?! How could you put me through that?!"
"I had to, because Kitty had done something that would've had me found out quicker than I had: one twin was yours, the other was Itachi's. I called my firstborn Kaiba Nanase, the second, Uchiha Oki."
All four of the men looked at each other, then realized the truth. Seto set his lips in an accepting line. "I see. So the other twin didn't die before it was born."
"No. She's alive and well, living with her real father. When I returned to the Allied Forces Camp, where they were prepared to move out after their victory against the Akatsuki. I informed you of Oki's birth, Itachi, and the Kumo ninjas began to track down the Nibi in earnest. I told Naruto about the Nibi's existence, because he's a fellow Jinchuriki. We returned to Konoha and lived there peacefully until I got tired of hiding and revealed that I was the Nibi Jinchuriki, which caused a big mess—"
"The worst she could've caused," Sasuke put in.
"—and because of it, we decided to come here to get away from all the tension. I knew that my secret would be even harder to keep up than before, now that both of you lived in the same city. I revealed Nanase's existence to Seto, and he was overjoyed that she'd lived through my 'accident'. Things went rather well for three years, during which time I had two sons: Uchiha Sotaro and Kaiba Ichiro. Yet very soon after this span of time, Oki revealed that she'd activated her Sharingan, and a secret that I never would've found out in a million years if she wasn't so open with me: Nanase had taught her how, because she'd already awakened Sharingan five months before this, but had hidden it well. Seto had issues once he found out, but for now, Nanase's ability has been sealed. You then told me about this event, and I knew the cat would be out of the bag as soon as you two met."
She lowered her head and closed her eyes. 'Now is the moment of truth. They're both geniuses, so it won't take long for them to digest all of this and make their decision.'
'Yeah, and even if Kaiba chooses you and Itachi doesn't, I won't get in the way.'
'Thank you.'
Seto sat back, fingers steepled as he stated, "Well Uchiha-san, it seems we have a situation here."
Itachi speared him with a glare, his fists clenched on his knees. "Did you acquire the gift of understatement naturally, or did you have to buy it from someone?" he quipped heatedly.
The blue-eyed man's expression didn't change as he replied, "Let's at least try to stave off the violence for a few minutes. As I said, this is a rather complicated situation, and we have to resolve it."
"How about I slit your throat, leave you in the gutter and set your carcass on fire?"
"I wasn't sure that Neanderthals had discovered fire yet."
"I'd be happy to demonstrate."
"Wow, did you just learn that word today? Your mommy must've given you a big gold star for that."
Mokuba cut in with the comment, "Should a police chief threaten a private citizen with murder?"
Sasuke shook his head. "Kaiba-sama, isn't this schoolyard bickering beneath your station?"
Both the elder brothers fell silent in shock at this display of sibling betrayal. They then turned to their shared wife and Seto asked, "Who would you choose if forced, Misao?"
Misao's head jerked up at the question. 'They're not both dumping me?! And here I thought...'
'Well, this better than what you'd imagined, isn't it?'
"I can't choose!" Misao burst out. "It's impossible! Why do you think I married you both in the first place?!"
Seto steepled his fingers again as he thought out all the variables of this problem. "I suppose this tradition dictates we have a contest of some sort." He crossed his arms. "I hardly think chess or go would be sufficient for a matter of this gravity."
"I'm still liking the idea of a fight to the death," Itachi countered. "Your death."
"Too bad you dismantled Death-T," Mokuba added in an offhand tone.
"Death-T? What's Death-T?" Sasuke asked right after, interested, neither of the younger brothers thinking their elders were listening to them.
"The most accurate description is that it's an amusement park designed to kill."
"Really? Why would he make something like that?"
"It is a long and complicated story."
"Try me."
Just as Mokuba was about to begin, Seto interrupted.
"Actually Mokuba, I think you might be on to something."
Seto related the tale of Death-T to the group.
"Child's play," Itachi sneered.
"For a man of your capabilities, yes. To ensure an adequate challenge, Misao and Sasuke will assist in designing and selecting obstacles for you to overcome. If you succeed, I will be waiting to begin a fight to the death."
"Why not just fight me now?"
"If I did that, I'm quite sure that you would have an insurmountable advantage, Uchiha-san."
"I can deal with that."
"How about we duel instead of fight?"
"What's the difference?"
"How long have you lived in Domino?"
Seto's got a point there, Itachi... lol
What did I tell you guys? The jig's up, so who are you rooting for? Seto Kaiba or Itachi Uchiha? *looks around as crickets chirp*
*shrugs* Oh well, let's allow this chapter to close!
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