Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: And here you have it folks: chapter 19. W00T!

When Sasuke looked up, the first thing he noticed was Naruto, lying unconscious, with a large purple bruise on the side of his face. "Naruto!" he cried. Someone chuckled lightly, and a pair of feet came into view. Sasuke knew it was Itachi before he even saw his brother's face. His first reaction was anger and shock. "Itachi!" he growled, and Dai - still pressing him to the ground - shoved Sasuke's face in the dirt.

"Good evening Sasuke," Itachi acknowledged him. He didn't even have the decency to sound happy about all this. Then again, that was the thing about Itachi, wasn't it? He was just getting the job done. "I'm sure you have plenty of questions to ask, and I'll be willing to answer as many of them as you wish, for now. We have plenty of time. Dai's abilities work best when one is conscious, so I'm afraid we'll have to wait until your little wife is awake."

Sasuke tried to raise his head, but Dai growled and pushed on him harder. "Enough, Dai," Itachi's cool voice said. "Let my brother see my face."

"But-"

Itachi cut him off. "I said, enough." Still growling, Dai allowed Sasuke to stand, still holding onto his arms firmly.

Sasuke could feel his eyes burning with the sharingan even before Itachi's face came into view. Itachi's own sharingan eyes glared back; he was not using his mangekyo sharingan yet. It was far too early in the battle for that, and even though they were still feet apart and Sasuke was being held back, it was a battle.

"Brother," Itachi greeted him.

"I hate you," Sasuke hissed.

Itachi paused thoughtfully a moment. "Good," he replied, and he sounded satisfied. Then he turned from Sasuke and looked down at Naruto. "I must say Sasuke, I never expected this. I had always thought you'd had better tastes than that."

Sasuke snarled at him, but the expression on Itachi's face never changed. "So let's make small talk," the crazed Uchiha continued. "What have you been planning to name the babies? What genders do you think they will be? Do you believe they will be identical? And most importantly of all... will they have the sharingan?" Itachi's eyes sparkled at the last question. He stated each question slowly and carefully, as if testing the waters of Sasuke's emotions.

Sasuke did not reply. He hadn't actaully thought of that. The babies, with the Sharingan?

"Very well," Itachi commented the younger Uchiha's silence. "Do you have any questions for me then, little brother?"

"I am not your brother," Sasuke growled. "I will never be your brother."

Sasuke wasn't quite sure why what he had said snapped something inside of his brother, but suddenly Itachi was in his face. "You will always be my little brother," he said quietly. Then he smiled, like he used to, and ruffled Sasuke's hair. "You shouldn't say such things." Then, he poked his brother in the forehead, and it annoyed Sasuke almost as much as it had before, when he was little. He jerked his head away from Itachi's touch. Sasuke could almost hear his own little voice asking his father, "Why doesn't Itachi care about me?"

"So. Questions?"

All was quiet for a moment, with Itachi and Dai waiting for a reply. Sasuke didn't want to do as they wanted him to, didn't want to ask questions, but his curiosity got the best of him, and he asked anyway. "How did you get through the village without anyone seeing you?" He demanded from Dai over his shoulder.

With the way he was positioned, Sasuke could just barely see Dai smirk. "It's a... unique little talent of mine. You see, the people of the village really did see me, they only thought that they didn't."

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

"Perhaps," Itachi interrupted. "you were wondering what Dai's true abilities are? I doubt that in researching him while on your mission to execute him that you found anything even remotely referring to his true power. You see, he can control a person's body... because he can control a person's mind." Itachi stepped forward and ran a hand across Sasuke's cheek. Sasuke jerked away once again, and spat at him. Itachi stepped calmly back, and began to pace around Naruto's unconscious form as he spoke, as if he did not even see the boy laying there anymore. "He can control any part of your body, make it do whatever he wants it to do. He can make you walk through fire, can make the most inflexible person do back flips and handstands.

"He can take complete control of your mind - simply make your body think that it's doing exactly what you want it to do. He can put thoughts in your head you never would have believed had been there before. He can control your emotions, too. I bet that if he wanted, he could make you hate Ayako, and make you love me." After taking that in, Sasuke cringed at the very idea. "Didn't you wonder why you were getting sick all the time? Didn't you wonder even for a moment why you were having all those convulsions and heacaches, little brother? It was all us. Dai was playing, I was trying to warn you. ...You didn't heed my warnings very well, though, did you brother? And that's also how we got little Ayako here, you see. She simply walked out of the house, right into our open arms."

It took Sasuke a moment to recover from such thoughts, but then when he did, he asked the first question that bubbled up to the surface in his mind. "Well if he has so much power over others, then why did you go through the trouble of capturing us this way? And if Naruto simply walked up to you, why did you have to put that bruise on his face? You could have kept him conscious."

Itachi paused, eyeing him almost... approvingly. Sasuke did not like that look. It was like a master looking down at his dog after the animal had performed a trick. "Very perceptive little brother. Dai's abilities are not so flawless as they would seem. With strong enough emotion, the bond between master and puppet can be broken. When your little wife first saw us, she broke that bond - with sheer fright, I might add - and tried to run. We couldn't have any of that though, so I'm afraid force was the only way to keep her here... and the only way to keep her quiet."

Sasuke snarled at that. Itachi's words were like a punch in the stomach for him. Every syllable was a reminder that Sasuke had not been there for Naruto when he needed him most - he had not been awake in order to stop him from leaving the house. Despite everything, he had not been able to keep him from Itachi. After a long drawn out silence, he then commented in a low voice, "You keep referring to him as a 'she...'"

Itachi nodded. "That's right." His eyes finally shifted back to Naruto. "That is because it is not your little boyfriend I see lying there. I have not come here for your precious Naruto Uzumaki. That boy means absolutely nothing to me." He turned coldly back to Sasuke. "I am here for Ayako Uzumaki." He paused thoushtfully. "Oh, and by the way, I did congratulate the two of you didn't I? Hm, I must not have. How rude of me."

Sasuke snarled again. "You congratulated us enough with that letter you and Dai sent on our wedding night."

Itachi looked thoughtful again. "Oh yes," he replied absently. "It was such a marvelous wedding. I was there, you know. Quite a touching speech, Sasuke. It's too bad that you and your lover are about to die. Otherwise I'd imagine you'd be quite happy together."

"Why are you doing this Itachi?" he burst. He could feel the tears of guilt and remorse rising to the surface. His face burned red. "I've never understood you!"

Itachi's red eyes glittered darkly. "As I've told you before brother - I do everything for my own benefit."

"How is this for your own benefit?" Sasuke demanded.

"Don't you see, Sasuke? I want to be the strongest. I want all the power of the Uchiha. And with the rest of the Uchiha's out of the way, I will have that power."

"So why didn't you just kill me back then? Like you killed everybody else?" Sasuke could feel the burning anger inside of him at the very thought of that fateful night, so many years ago... and he could still feel the intense pain lingering behind it, the pain that he hardley acknowledged anymore.

"Because little brother, you were not strong enough. You were just a boy. There would have been no honor in killing you."

"What about killing your family? You think there was any honor in that?"

"I did not see them as my family when I fought them. I saw them as enemies - enemies with power. Just as I do not see you as my brother, and I do not see Ayako as my brother's wife or boyfriend."

All was silent for a very long moment. Finally, quietly, Sasuke asked, "What are you planning to do with us? Why don't you just kill us both now?"

Itachi smiled. "Simple. I want a fight." His eyes glazed over, as if he were seeing something very far off. "I've waited for this moment for far too long to have it end so quickly and so easily. I want this to be something to be remembered." He paused, and began to pace again. "After all, what point would there be in simply killing you now? Really, where would be the fun in that brother?" He stroked Sasuke's face with his hand again, and then turned back to Naruto. "It would just be too easy. So anticlimactic"

Itachi crouched down next to the unconscious boy, and extended his hand. "Don't you touch him!" Sasuke screamed, and he fought the hold Dai had on him, but barely moved at all.

Itachi rubbed Naruto's pregnant belly, and when he spoke he seemed to be speaking to himself, lost in thought. "I want to kill these precious little Uchiha's with my own hand...." He raised his voice then. "At first I had considered keeping them, you know. I wanted to let them grow, and wait for them to become strong. Just like I did with you, Sasuke. But then I thought, I have no time for babies, and I have become bored with waiting. It's best just to kill them now, before anyone even knows they are alive."

Horrified by the words pouring from his brother's mouth, Sasuke was speechless. Here was a madman, a demon, who wanted nothing more than to kill any and all of Sasuke's happiness. If there were a way for Sasuke to be content with life, Itachi would come along and destroy it. Just as he was about to do now. And Sasuke wasn't sure that he could stop him.

It was then that Naruto began to stir.

"Ah, the sleeping demon wakes," Itachi said quietly. He took his hand from Naruto's belly and stood.

It took a few moments for Naruto's eyes to open, and Sasuke noticed that one of them was badly swollen. He was pale, and looked so weak. Sasuke tried to remember when the last time it was that Naruto had eaten. The boy stared directly upward for a time, looking up at the clouds and the treetops and the sky, but then, slowly, he turned his head, and looked directly at Sasuke. "Sasuke!" he exclaimed quietly, as if surprised to see him. His voice sounded hoarse and came out as a mere whisper.

"Naruto!" Sasuke cried. "Naruto you have to run! Run!"

"Sasuke...." His brow furrowed as if in concentration. "I can't... move."

Sasuke turned to look back at Dai, and the man began to laugh. He was holding Naruto down! "Let him go!" Sasuke demanded, but Dai only continued to laugh. He laughed like a madman. He's as insane as Itachi! Sasuke thought.

"Dai." Sasuke turned back to his brother. "You know what to do."

Suddenly, Naruto gasped in pain. It was a gasp Sasuke recognized almost instantly. Then he gasped again. "Let him GO!" Sasuke screamed, much more fiercely this time. "Let him go! He's having contractions!"

Then, Naruto's water broke, and Sasuke thought he was going to be sick. The babies were about to be born.

"It's too bad we do not have a medic-nin here with us today," Itachi said calmly, as if he saw the birth of a newborn child everyday. "Fortunately for us I have studied childbirth using the sharingan, and I'm sure I can manage this on my own. I am positive the babies will survive."

Sasuke turned pale. Itachi was going to deliver his and Naruto's babies. He was going to assure that they survived, only so that he would be able to slaughter them later. "You're sick," Sasuke whispered. Itachi only glanced at him.

"Dai," Itachi said. "Speed up the birthing process. I want these babies born within the hour." Sasuke's eyes widened. The girls of Konoha had all told him that child labor for just one baby almost always took several hours, not just one.

Naruto began to scream.

"Naruto!" And with an extreme act of will and force, Sasuke pushed himself free of Dai's grasp...

...only to fall flat on his face to the ground.

Sasuke's stomach rolled. He suddenly, literally wanted to puke. His forehead immediately broke out in a sweat - he could almost feel his skin turn pale. He tried weakly to stand, but his body felt frozen and overcome with nausea. He was vaguely aware of Itachi crouching down by Naruto again, this time preparing for the deliveries.

"No," Sasuke gasped, and he stretched one hand forward. It took a lot of effort just for his arm to move those few little inches, and he knew then that it was Dai messing with his body, just as at the same time he was messing with Naruto's. Sasuke was weak as a kitten now, and so the most that he could do with his outstretched hand was claw at the earth. Naruto continued to scream and scream. Sasuke pushed his reluctant body forward, feeling the dirt push in beneath his fingernails as he dragged himself across the ground. "Naruto!" he gasped. His voice was frozen too. "Naruto." Tears filled Sasuke's eyes. It all seemed so useless....

And so, Sasuke struggled to move himself forward while Naruto screamed and Itachi worked. It was the most agonizing time of Sasuke's life - which was surprising considering all the horrible things that he'd already been through. Sasuke knew that he would find himself reliving that unbearable, excruciating moment time and time again for the rest of his life, if he even survived this day.

It seemed to take hours. Itachi would sometimes get frustrated and growl at Dai over his shoulder, and Sasuke had simply taken to putting his face in the dirt and crying silent tears, trying not to think about it.

Suddenly the sound of a baby crying erupted into the night, for it had grown dark by now. The sun was completely set. Had Tsunade and the other villagers noticed their absence yet? Sasuke could only pray it was so.

"Oh ho!" Itachi exclaimed loudly. Other than sounding a little out of breath he did not seem disturbed at all by the fact that someone was giving birth right in front of him. "Baby Uchiha number one has arrived!"

Sasuke glanced up, worry and hope in his eyes. He wasn't sure why he should feel that hope. He knew that his babies were going to die. But still, they were his babies. His and Naruto's. The ones that he and Naruto, and all the villagers, had fought so hard for. And sure enough, when he looked up, there it was; one of his children. From where he was lying he could not see if it were a boy or a girl, but at the moment he didn't even care. In that one instant, he was just glad that it was alive. Sasuke wanted to cry some more; not from suffering, but with relief.

"And here comes another!" Itachi exclaimed. He set the one baby off to the side somewhere - Sasuke couldn't see where, and he worried for it. Would Itachi just leave the baby lying in the dirt and leave it for death? Itachi prepared for the next birth.

Another agonizing thirty minutes or so, even more agonizing now that one of the babies was alive and crying.... That probably bothered Sasuke more than anything. He writhed in pain and was unable to move as Naruto continued to scream his lungs out. Sasuke cried many tears - more tears than he had ever suspected he had in him. Except he was sobbing now. Sobbing louder than he ever thought it was possible for an Uchiha to do. He hoped that his own crying would drown out the sound of his child crying, but it never did. Instead the tiny baby's little screaming voice echoed madly in his mind, driving him insane. When Naruto screamed, Sasuke screamed... when the baby cried, Sasuke cried. It seemed to go on forever.

It felt like an eternity before another little voice pierced the night. "What's this?" Itachi said idly. "Well, well." And Itachi set the other baby aside as well. Then he turned his back on Sasuke and began to work with the children, seeming to completely forget about Naruto for a time.

"What are you doing?!" Sasuke demanded, and he gasped as another wave of nausea rolled through him. "What are you doing to my babies?" he gasped. Was Itachi going to simply murder them now and be done with it?

It was the longest ten minutes of his life, but at least Naruto has stopped screaming. The Kyuubi container had fainted.

When Itachi turned back around, the newborn babies were... somewhat cleaner. They still looked alien-like, but still... they were cleaner. And they were also wrapped in little bundles of towels in Itachi's arms. (Where had the towels come from? Sasuke wondered). Itachi turned to Dai. "Let him stand," he said. "But don't allow him to move one other muscle than necessary."

"Yeah," Dai gasped, and he sounded either in pain or very tired. It must have been a lot of work for him, but he also sounded satisfied.

What a marvelous idea Itachi had just had. Sasuke had just been about to do exactly that. Or at least, that was what was going through Sasuke's head. It was as if standing were suddenly not an issue at all, and that the hour - or had it been longer than an hour? - of rolling around on the ground in pain had been simply something he had wanted to do. Sasuke stood stiffly, but without any other problems at all. He didn't feel the least bit sick anymore. He wanted to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but he just... well, it was as if he didn't want to make his arm move, not necessarily that he couldn't. It was Dai, putting those thoughts inside his head.

For the first time, Itachi smiled. "Sasuke Uchiha, little brother... may I introduce you to your daughters.... Now, what shall we name them?"

A/N: Yes I realize that the part with Dai and the whole speeding up the birthing process thing may have been a bit overdone - I mean, come on, two healthy babies born in a single hour? Is that even possible? You know what, I don't even know enough about pregnancy and childbirth to know if it's possible or not....

I doubt it though. I heard it takes a very long time just for one baby. Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway. I'm updating soon, but I do have school in the morning so... sleep is kind of necessary.