For JustShai.
I went with "Satsuki" because it still sounds enough like Sasuke to
be easily recognizable while still being feminine. Sasuke is a very masculine
name, and in my opinion his family seems traditional enough that the idea of
giving a girl the name of a legendary male ninja wouldn't come to them. I suppose
if they had legendary kunoichi she might be named after one of them instead,
but a) I don't know any and b) then the name would be harder to remember. Satsuki
works well enough.
"Let me get this straight. Naruto is housing a monster."
"Yes."
"I'm pregnant with what could be a monster spawn."
"Yes."
"But aborting it would take the Hokage five minutes."
"Yes! And then we can just forget about this whole mess. This isn't something that should take you ages to figure out, girl!"
Satsuki's eyes narrowed, focused on the angry Councilman out of the dozen of clan heads gathered in the room. "We?"
"... What my esteemed colleague meant to say was, I'm sure you'd like to forget the whole debacle as well. It is a bit... embarrassing."
She tilted her head, slowly, considering.
She ought to thank that old asshole Kagami. She would not have... panicked, of course, but she'd been feeling a little close for comfort. Not anymore. No, she felt very calm now.
"What if I don't want to?"
Silence. Mouths gaping.
"Well -- of course you can't, girl, don't be silly. Do you think your future husband would want to have to deal with a demon-bearer's bastard? The egg is barely attached right now, just knock it loose and let's put this matter behind us."
She started to smile, soft as silk. "My husband will have no problem with my children."
A shocked look. "Don't tell us you -- no! You are not marrying Uzumaki!"
"No," she agreed, even though if there was one man she might have considered it was him. "I'm not marrying anyone."
She pushed up from her chair, away from the table. Her smile fell like a dropped blade.
"Not now, not ever. The Uchiha clan is mine. You can send your hopeful young studs back where they came from. I'll breed with civilians and worse before I allow--"
"Uchiha," came Tsunade's voice, cutting her off, and Satsuki twitched, grabbed for her calm, tried to force it like a lid on the rage simmering underneath. "Let's not burn our bridges yet, hm? Come with me."
Tsunade whisked her out of the room before the men at the table were done sputtering. Satsuki went, back ramrod straight and teeth clenched.
Sakura was waiting in the little room Tsunade led her to, eyes wild and panicked. Of course none of the councilmen had felt a civilian-bred nobody was someone they needed to talk to; even Uchiha Satsuki herself was merely someone they needed to talk at. Fuck them, fuck them all. Satsuki closed her eyes and allowed the girl to cling to her and shake, and cry. It meant she didn't notice when Satsuki trembled with her.
She was pregnant, she wasn't supposed to get pregnant yet, not before she killed Itachi. Not before Itachi. She couldn't fight pregnant and she couldn't risk her own life a mother, not with a child depending on her -- but her dead, they depended on her too. Bringing them justice was her duty just as much as the continuation of the clan. She knew what anyone, everyone, would expect her to choose -- as a rule kunoichi were only ever ninja on borrowed time, waiting for their real life to start.
She'd spent her life so far placing the other choice first.
She could choose abortion. (She could choose to end more of her family.)
"They'll be siblings," she said instead.
She touched Sakura's belly, with just her fingertips. How strange the thought was. After a long, stunned moment, Sakura gathered herself enough to nod back. "I -- yes? They -- heh."
Satsuki nodded slowly. Gave Sakura a long, searching look.
Her teammate; the mother of her child's sibling. Bonds strong twice over, maybe enough to compensate.
She still had her revenge to take. But she'd wait to take the risk. Until the child was born, until she was sure of how good a surrogate mother Sakura would make.