Warning! You might find Mei to be a bit sadistic in this chapter, but keep in mind that it's all an act on her part.

Disclaimer: Let's just face the facts shall we? The only one who owns Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto. :(

Claimer: On the other hand, I own Hurano Mei and no one has any right to say otherwise! (Pulls out Katana and brandishes them threateningly) Yeah! :D

Sasuke winced in pain as Ibiki backhanded him. He was tied to a chair, bruised and bloody with several broken bones, and from the blood that was streaming steadily from his mouth, he knew that he had suffered some internal damage as well.

"Whenever you're ready to talk brat!" Ibiki snarled. He had grown aggravated at Sasuke's stubborn refusal to tell him what he knew.

Sasuke had long since given up on using sarcastic rejoinders on the chief torturer. Ibiki was not one to be trifled with and Sasuke had the marks to prove it. But he refused to be broken. He could stand the pain and he had resolved never to give in to it no matter what methods of persecution they chose to use.

"Where is Orochimaru? Tell me!" Ibiki roared his fist poised to strike.

Sasuke just shook his head in defiance.

Before Ibiki's fist had a chance to smash into his jaw, the door at the end of the room opened and a woman with short, dark hair stepped inside.

Ibiki turned and looked at her expectantly. "Yes Shizune san?"

"The Hokage wishes to speak to you, Ibiki san. You are to be reassigned to a different mission and someone else will interrogate Sasuke." The woman told him.

Ibiki looked relieved yet surprised. "Oh?"

Shizune nodded. "The Hokage has decided to try a different approach on the Uchiha."

Sasuke frowned. He disliked it when people talked about him as though he were not there. And what is this 'new approach' the Hokage wants to try out? He wondered.

Ibiki nodded. "Very well." He followed the woman out of the room without a word to Sasuke…

Tsunada paced to and fro in the hallway, every few seconds, pausing to glance at the closed door in front of her. She threw up her hands in exasperation. "Honestly! How long does it take for a couple of girls to get dressed and do their makeup?"

Jeraiya smiled. "They've only been in there for seven minutes Tsunada. You must remember that they are teenage girls and teenagers tend to take longer to get ready." (A/n: No offense to any teenagers- I myself am a teenager.)

Tsunada frowned. "Must you always be such a know it all Jeraiya?"

Shizune smirked slightly at their childish bickering. "Well, it is better that they take a little longer and get it right than rush through it. After all, the boy is the Uchiha prodigy and he won't be fooled easily. As it is, Mei is going to have to be very careful about masking her chakura or else Sasuke will know that she is not Sakura."

Tsunada sighed and nodded. "You're right of course, I just wish that they would hurry it up!"

Before Shizune could reply, Sakura's voice rang out from behind the door. "Get ready, here we come!"

Tsunada, Shizune and Jeraiya instantly glued their eyes to the door in anticipation. The door swung open and Sakura stepped out into the hallway. Following behind her came… Sakura?!

The three adults looked from one girl to the other in shock, unable to tell them apart. Both girls were masking their chakura and were identical in appearance.

"Wow…!" Tsunada breathed. "Which of you is Mei?"

The girl on the left raised her hand. "I'm Mei." She replied.

Tsunada smiled. "Congratulations girls! If that disguise doesn't fool the Uchiha, nothing will!"

The girls exchanged grins Mei's hair had been combed to the side to make her forehead appear larger so that it matched Sakura's.

"There is just one thing that bothers me." Shizune said. "What if Sasuke uses his Sharingan? Won't he be able to tell that Mei isn't Sakura?"

Tsunada nodded. "True, he'd be able to see Mei's chakura." She glanced at Jeraiya. "How could we fix that?"

Mei waved her hand as though what they were discussing was a trivial matter. "That shouldn't be a problem." She said airily. "All I have to do is borrow some of Sakura's chakura."

"Borrow?" Tsunada inquired.

"Hai." Mei replied. "The Hurano bloodline possesses the ability to share and manipulate one another's chakura. Sakura and I can simply fuse our chakura and Sasuke won't be able to tell the difference."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Hai, it's a fairly simple process and is excellent for confusing one's enemies."

"How long does it take?" Tsunada inquired.

"About twenty minutes. And it lasts for three days." Mei replied.

Tsunada nodded. "In that case, fuse your chakura tonight and Mei can start her interrogation first thing tomorrow morning."

The Hurano cousins bowed and turned to leave when Tsunada's voice arrested them. "Mei!"

The said girl paused and glanced back over her shoulder at the Hokage. "Hai Tsunada san?"

Tsunada looked her firmly in the eye. "I gave you permission to mess with the Uchiha. However, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from going too far unless I should tell you otherwise. You see Kakashi is in the process of tracking down the older Uchiha and having Sasuke may come in handy later on."

Mei nodded slowly. "I understand. You want me to keep him alive right?"

Tsunada nodded.

"Do you want me to limit his beatings as well?" she inquired.

Tsunada shook her head. "Nah, we can always heal him if his wounds get to bad."

Mei nodded. "Anything else?"

Tsunada smiled. "Nope, that's it. Good luck."

Mei returned the smile. "Thanks. See ya!" the two cousins turned and exited the office.

Jeraiya let out a chuckle. "What's so funny Pervy Sage?" Tsunada snapped at him.

"I was just thinking, it's a shame that we won't be able to be there for the interrogation. It's bound to be a riot!"

Tsunada smirked. He had a point; it would have been interesting to see how Sasuke reacted to the "new Sakura"!

Sasuke had been dozing lightly in his chair but he came awake instantly as the door to his cell swung open and the bright spotlight above him was switched on. Sasuke was momentarily blinded by its intensity. He squinted into the shadows where he could sense someone standing. The person had masked their chakura well. He activated his Sharingan. Wait… He recognized that chakura!

"Sakura?" He asked in mild surprise slash distain as the said person stepped out of the shadows. "Don't tell me that you are the one they asked to interrogate me! Do they think that after the chief torturer was unable to break me, a weak, clingy fan girl can convince me to talk? Pssht! How pathetic!" he eyed her coolly.

She wore a short, kimono, quite similar to the burgundy one she used to wear except that this one was navy blue, over a pair of black leggings and a long sleeved shirt of black fishnet. Her Hatai-ate held back her bangs in its' usual style. Her emerald eyes gazed calmly at him while a blue mask, closely resembling that which Kakashi always wore, concealed the lower portion of her face. A black, leather belt, heavily loaded with all sorts of sharpened blades as well as a couple of scrolls and syringes, most likely filled with extremely toxic fluids rested on her hips and she wore black fingerless gloves with razor-like, metal spikes on the knuckles.

She stood silently for a long time studying him, her green eyes seemed to be piercing his body and reading his very soul.

Sasuke frowned slightly, since when did Sakura's gaze make him uncomfortable? He shook off the feeling and his face twisted into the cocky grin that he knew annoyed her. "What's with the mask? He sneered. "If you're trying to hide that ugly face of yours you should have covered your forehead, not your mouth."

Sakura's eyes remained impassive, but she slowly began to approach the chair to which he had been chained. Her footsteps made absolutely no sound whatsoever as she drew nearer. She finally came to a halt not a foot away from him. Reaching up, she slowly removed the mask from her face and let it fall to the floor. A sardonic grin stole over her features and her eyes glittered with malevolence. She leaned down so that her face was less than an inch from his' own. "Welcome back Sasuke kun." She hissed chillingly.

Sasuke didn't know why but a sudden sense of uneasiness washed over him. He masked it well enough. "This is a heck of a welcome home party!" he snarled.

She smirked. "What did you expect? A fanfair?" She asked in breezy amusement.

He returned the smirk. "Well why not? I used to get it often enough from all my fans." He looked at her pointedly. "From one pinkette especially."

She smiled pleasantly. "Well, you know how it is. Things change." She looked him over calculatingly and a triumphant gleam appeared in her eyes. "Lots of things have changed." Her eyes narrowed and her voice grew cold and menacing. "But enough chitchat, It's time I got down to business." She threateningly fingered the blade of one of the kunai strapped to her belt. "I assume you are familiar with Konoha's interrogation processes."

Sasuke smirked haughtily. "You are going to interrogate me? Don't make me laugh! You and I both know I won't answer anything you ask me."

Sakura smiled icily. "Perhaps I should give you a bit of incentive." In the blink of an eye she pulled out a kunai and held it to his abdomen. "I suggest you tell me what I want to know."

"Oh, right! Like you'll be able to do anything to hurt me! Wasn't it you who used to freak out whenever anyone would do something to make you think I was hurt even if it was the weakest of genjutsus? Hah! You were so gullible! Wait- why did I just say that in the past tense? I bet you're just as weak as you were back when-"

CRASH!!!!!!

Sasuke slammed into the opposite wall. Had the chair he was chained to not been metal it would have been broken to bits from the impact of the crash. Sasuke found himself lying on his side, the pain of the collision coursing through his body. Slightly dazed, he looked up in surprise at the kunoichi standing over him.

"Don't assume Uchiha. You have been gone for too long and many things have changed. I'm not at all the same person I used to be. The weak little girl you knew doesn't exist anymore. You don't know me at all."

Sasuke glared coldly up at her. "Oh? Well then prove it." He challenged.

Sakura grinned icily down at him. "I intend to." She lifted Sasuke's chair so that it was right side up and stood squarely in front of it. Bending down she picked up the kunai that had fallen to the floor during her rage. Now she held it's sharpened blade to his neck, just beneath the jaw line. "Alright Uchiha. This is how it's gonna be. I'll ask a question and you give the answer. No lies, no trickery, no refusals."

"And if I should refuse?" He dared.

Sakura smiled threateningly. "Well then we'll just see won't we? But I suggest, for your own sake, that you tell me what I want to know and don't test me." Her free hand drifted to one of the several syringes strapped to her belt. "I wouldn't want to have to kill you so soon. Not that you don't deserve death- and a very painful one at that. But Tsunada might be slightly miffed if I were to kill you so quickly. After all, they are expecting to get some information out of you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You might as well kill me then, cause all your threatening is just a waste of time. I'll never tell you anything."

Sakura smirked. "We shall see. You don't have to worry though, I don't intend on letting you live very long, but I've waited a long time for this and I want to make my revenge last a while." Her eyes glinted with a sort of crazed viciousness. "You have no idea how much I'm going to enjoy watching you suffer Uchiha!" She gave a sadistic laugh.

Sasuke frowned. She was acting really strange. "Well, someone certainly has gotten bitter. And they labeled me an avenger. You're the one who's gone crazy with vengeance."

Sakura smiled evilly as she traced his jaw line with the edge of the kunai blade leaving behind a long cut from which red blood streamed down his pale skin. "True…" she murmured. "I guess that's what I get for spending so much of my time around you. Can you blame me if I've become a bit of a revenge fanatic, after all, I learned from the best in that field."

Sasuke shifted slightly. Sakura's unexpected, creepy behavior was really weirding him out. "I'm kind of getting the impression that you've taken it a step further than I. I, at least, was able to keep from going insane!"

Sakura grinned at this statement. "So you're calling me insane huh?" She leaned down and hissed into his ear, "You have no idea!"

She straitened abruptly and held the kunai to his throat bowl. "Now will you tell me what I want to know, or do I get the satisfaction of torturing you?"

Sasuke set his jaw and glowered at her. "I take it you're going to go with the latter. Good!" She grinned and pulled from her belt, a silver rod about a foot long that was glowing with a strange red energy. "That was my first choice too!"

So what do you guys think? Poor Sasuke doesn't know what he's up against!

Thank you to "Smooth Secret" for your review on the last chapter!

Review and let me know how you liked it! :D (No flames please.)

Until next time,

~MidnightAnimeAngel