Chapter 6
Breaking Point
Sakura smirked inwardly at Karin's red face. It was working. All Sakura had to do was act like a bitch and Karin was breaking. Sakura gave a small sigh at how easy it was. With some people she interrogated she had to be coy and seductive, other's she had to be dark and malicious, and some she just had to make angry. Her personality changed with their personality.
Just like her personality would have to change with Sasuke's when she got to him. She couldn't think about that at the moment, however. She had to remain focused on the task at hand. So she leaned back in her chair with a smile.
"So tell me Karin, what exactly did you do for Orochimaru, besides torture? I mean, I've heard you have such a myriad of skills…" She gave another smirk as Karin's eyes narrowed dangerously once more.
"Don't talk to me like that little bitch! I was one of Orochimaru's most trusted subordinates!"
"Ah." Sakura nodded. "Now we're getting somewhere. As his subordinate, what did you do for him?"
"Like I'd tell you." Karin snorted. "It's not like you could understand any of it anyway. It's technical."
"I'm a medic. Try me." Sakura answered back.
Karin clamped her mouth shut, glaring daggers.
"Ok, ok…" Sakura shrugged. "Let me guess what you did for Orochimaru then…" Her gaze was thoughtful. "No, let's be honest. You didn't do anything for him. You just did him."
Karin gasped. "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"I see why you'd try and jump Sasuke then too." Sakura laughed. "I mean, maybe you wanted to compare snakes, eh?" She winked as Karin's face turned a bit red. She was livid.
"For your information I did not sleep with Orochimaru! I was in charge of his torture experiments! I'm the one who initiated who was suitable for curse seals! I—I—I…" She stopped, her face paling a bit.
Bingo. Sakura laughed silently. Karin was so easy to trick. "I see. Curse seals, that's an interesting topic. Let's continue with that one." Sakura smirked as Karin gritted her teeth. "I know Juugo was used to create the curse seal but could you elaborate for me, perhaps?"
"Go to hell!" Karin shrieked. "You're just an annoying little girl whose jealous because MY Sasuke-kun hates you. You're weak and pathetic and you're ugly!"
Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Finished?"
Karin closed her mouth, unsure of what to say now.
"You're just like I used to be…" Sakura murmured, and her gaze was almost sympathetic. "But chasing after a boy who thinks of you as nothing more than a nuisance is a waste of time. I know, I did it for three years." Sakura laughed bitterly. "Get a new hobby."
She stood and gave an almost imperceptible nod to the one-way glass. She closed the door behind her, ignoring Karin's shrieks.
Anko met her in the hallway and they began walking to one of the back rooms.
"Now that she's clammed up I'll have to use either genjutsu or just physical pain." Sakura shrugged. "And frankly, she's getting on my nerves. It's like looking at my twelve-year-old self." She wrinkled her nose. "I really was annoying."
Anko grinned, "Yeah, it was 'Sasuke-kun this' and 'Sasuke-kun that' you're life revolved around that Uchiha."
"Thank god I've gotten some sense knocked into me." Sakura murmured. "So I'm thinking that we should finish with her for the day, or let someone else take her. I'm going to have my hands full with Sasuke. I'll need to be sharp for that."
"He'll keep you on your toes."
"I suppose I should have tried harder on Karin." Sakura shrugged. Anko out an arm around her shoulders, "It's not your fault, you're just too excited with torturing Sasuke to deal with her."
Sakura snorted. "By the way, what did you observe about Sasuke? Did anything I say ruffle his feathers?"
Anko sighed. "Not really. He didn't like the gay comment, but all he did was give that little 'hn' of his. It'll be hard to get a rise out of him."
"Haruno, Karin's been taken out and the Uchiha is in place." Ibiki walked up to them, his face impassive. "Try to be a bit more efficient with this one. I know you've been looking forward to it."
"Aw don't give her a hard time about Karin. She would have annoyed the shit out of you too." Anko drawled. "We both know I would have already gone for the little hussy's throat."
Ibiki snorted. "I suppose so. I'll let you take over her interrogation Anko. I want Sakura to focus fully on the Uchiha."
Anko nodded. "Yeah. Got it. Do I get to smack the bitch around?"
Ibiki raised an eyebrow and Anko pouted, "Pleeeeeeaaase?"
Sakura just sighed. "Alright, head back. I'll begin in a minute."
"Don't let your emotions get a hold of you in this interrogation, Haruno." Ibiki stated as he and Anko walked back down the hall.
Sakura stayed in the silence for a moment, sighing. She had physically prepared herself for fighting with Sasuke to bring him back, and she had mentally prepared herself for what she was about to do now.
She knew that Naruto would think it was horrible of her. He would give her that look that said he was disappointed she would stoop to such levels. Kakashi would realize it was necessary, but she'd still see that small sadness there for what she was about to do to Sasuke.
She didn't want to do it but it had to be done. She blinked for a second, before her eyes darkened. No, that was a lie. Sakura did want to do it. She wanted to see him suffer. The thought sickened her, but she welcomed it.
And so she did a few hand signs and walked back to the room. Her hand shook a bit as she touched the knob, before she took a deep breath and walked inside.
Naruto, Tsunade, and Kakashi sat watching the room. Sasuke was sitting, looking as bored as usual.
Anko and Ibiki walked back inside and Anko was grinning. "This is gonna be good." She stopped for a second as she noticed Naruto's worried gaze.
"Hey kid, just remember: that person sitting in that chair isn't your old friend. He's an enemy and a missing-nin. Until he's cleared of all charges at a trial he's a criminal."
"I know." Naruto whispered.
"So don't begrudge Haruno for what she must do." Ibiki stated.
Naruto stared at the two, before giving a nod as the door to the interrogation room opened—and Sakura stepped inside. Naruto blinked a few times, not sure if what he saw was real.
"Sakura?"
Sasuke's eyes widened a bit as she walked inside. He blinked, trying to decide if what he was seeing was real or not.
She gave him a cheerful smile, "Hey Sasuke-kun!" Then she plopped herself down in her chair, put her hands on her knees, and leaned forward with that old smile of her's. "What's wrong?"
Sasuke didn't know what to say to the twelve-year-old girl sitting in front of him. He'd expected Sakura to be cold and aloof, or vicious and biting. But…not warm and welcoming. And not looking like that.
"So Sasuke-kun, we brought you back! Aren't you happy? You're home now…where you belong."
Sasuke snorted. "Stop the charade Sakura."
Sakura pouted. "Sasuke-kun…stop being so mean. Why are you always so mean to me?"
"I said stop it, Sakura."
"You aren't my boss Sasuke-kun." Sakura frowned. "But you're right, we have other things to talk about." She giggled a bit, fluttering her eyelashes. "Sasuke-kun…why were you going to side with Cloud? Konoha could have offered you a better deal, ne?"
"Hn."
"Sasuke…don't you want to go back to the way it used to be?" Sakura asked with a smile. "We're still family, ne?"
"Hn."
She smiled brightly at him. "Sasuke-kun, if you don't tell me what I need to know then I'm going to have to be mean. I don't want to mean to you Sasuke-kun."
Sasuke looked up at her and snorted. He believed that she wanted to watch him suffer just as much as she wanted to watch the Akatsuki burn. She cocked her head to the side, looking at him. "Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn."
"When I ask a question, you give an answer, alright? That's the way it works here."
"Hn."
"Now then, first question: did you ever see the Jinchuuriki that Cloud said they had to lure the Akatsuki?"
…
…
…
"No." It was a harmless enough answer, right?
She gave a giggle. "Oh really Sasuke-kun, you are so gullible. Unless they showed it to you they probably don't have one. How foolish of you. How completely stupid." Her voice had turned into a soft taunt. There was no little girl left, just the appearance of one.
"I guess the Uchiha Clan isn't as smart as I thought they were, ne Sasuke-kun? Maybe that's why they're all dead. If they all had the same one-track mind as you do then I'm surprised they didn't get slaughtered sooner."
"Shut up."
"I suppose it makes sense, you were desperate to go after your brother. I don't see why, everyone knows he's too strong for you. You'll never match his skills."
"Shut up." Sasuke muttered.
She smiled at him. "But then again, you knew that too. We ALL know that you can't beat him. Because even while you've been getting strong so has he. He'll always be five steps ahead of you."
She saw his jaw tighten.
"You know, it was stupid of me to even go after you when we were younger. I mean, I was only chasing the weakling. Maybe I should have followed after Ita-kun. I wonder if he would have taken me with him when I he left." She mused, giving a sly smile.
"He wouldn't have. He doesn't have time for weaklings." Sasuke smirked.
"I guess that explains why he didn't kill you. Too weak to kill, ne?" Sakura asked, unfazed at his insult. "But that is beside the point. We're getting off track. Tell me, why on earth would you side with Cloud when you didn't even know if they had a Jinchuuriki instead of Konoha where you KNOW we had one."
Sasuke's eyes narrowed a bit. "You wouldn't have let me use Naruto as bait."
Sakura's eyes narrowed in return. "Oh?"
Naruto looked to Kakashi and Tsunade, who gave him a level glance.
"It's an interrogation, Naruto. Sakura's talking shit to him right now." Anko supplied. Naruto nodded warily, before looking back at the two in the room.
"She shouldn't be egging him on with the death of his clan though…" Naruto murmured. "That's low."
"It's life." Ibiki grunted.
"Yeah…I guess so…" Naruto whispered.
"Tell me Sasuke." Sakura was standing behind him, her lips next to his ear. "Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right here." Her voice was too soft for the people in the other room to hear, and their backs were to the window, so Sasuke knew they couldn't read her lips. Her voice was filled with a venom he hadn't thought she possessed.
"And why would you do that, Sakura?" Sasuke asked coldly, a bit interested. It seemed as if Sakura had been waiting for this moment for a while, and she wasn't going along with her first tactic of getting to him by being the cute little twelve-year-old he remembered so well. No, she seemed to have thrown that idea out the window.
"I can make it so painful for you." She hissed. "I can inject you with a poison that makes your body literally eat itself from the inside out. And with my medic-nin abilities I can keep you awake through the whole thing. I can keep you alive and heal you after it's done and then start all over again. I can keep you alive for years."
She sounded deadly, and Sasuke didn't think he liked this version of Sakura. She was ruthless and harsh. She sounded as if she'd go through with her threats. He wondered, however, what had gotten her to the point that she'd want to torture him so badly?
"What's she doing?" Kakashi asked as they all craned their necks to see. But Sakura had her back to them and was whispering something to Sasuke.
"I don't know…" Ibiki's eyes narrowed. He looked to Anko, who shrugged.
Tsunade's eyes were dark with worry as she continued to watch the scene unfold in front of them.
Naruto was gripping the arms of his chair tightly, his knuckles white.
"You haven't answered my question, Sakura. Why would you wish to kill me?"
"You aren't the one doing the fucking interrogation, Sasuke." Sakura snapped. "I don't have to answer your question. And if you don't know the answer then you don't even deserve a trial. You should be executed right now!"
"And are you going to be the one to do it?"
Sakura gave a dark laugh. "You really have no clue what you've done, do you?"
"Hn."
Suddenly she was gripping his collar, pulling his face up to meet her's. Her eyes flashed angrily as she yelled. "YOU FUCKING TORTURED CHILDREN UCHIHA!"
Sasuke blinked, eyes a bit wide.
"When Anko, Ibiki and I got there…I…you have no idea what I saw. And then one of them told me. They told me all about what YOU did." Sakura ground out, and Sasuke could see the hatred burning in those emerald depths. .
He had never thought to see Sakura like that. The crazed look in her eyes reminded him of himself. It reminded him of the curse seal.
"I was told that you tortured little children who begged you to stop and you just laughed." Sakura's grip tightened, and Sasuke wondered if she was going to strangle him.
Sasuke gave a small smirk. "Maybe I liked it."
BAM! Sakura slammed him back down in the chair with her insane strength, breaking the legs off of it. Sasuke gritted his teeth as one of the metal legs cut into his leg.
"Dammit, what's she doing?" Tsunade shouted as she stood. "Someone go in there and get her out!"
Naruto was staring, eyes wide at the revelation. He couldn't move. Sasuke had tortured little children? No…no…surely he'd been under some kind of genjutsu, or maybe Orochimaru had activated the curse seal or something! Sasuke would never…never…
Oh god Sasuke…Kakashi stared at his former student as if he didn't know him. This is why Sakura snapped. She can kill, she can torture without mercy, but when it comes to children…to innocent children…
Ibiki was already at the door, he and Anko were trying to open it.
"It's locked!" Anko exclaimed in surprise. "DAMMIT! HARUNO OPEN THE DOOR!"
Sakura looked Sasuke straight in the eye. She was breathing heavily, but she merely let go of Sasuke's collar. She gave a small, dark smile. "Enjoy, Sasuke Uchiha." And then she slowly stood.
Sasuke blinked in confusion, before the world began to turn black. The last thing he saw was Sakura as she walked slowly to the door. Then she disappeared into the shadows. Shadows that began taking form.
Sasuke stared down at his hands. No. Oh god. No. No. No…The crimson moon above him shined brightly, and he knew what was about to happen. This may have only been a replica of Tsukiyomi, but without his ability to dispel the genjutsu…
And that was when the corpses of the Uchiha Clan came into view and the smell of blood drifted to his nostrils. He felt sick and he wanted to scream.
No! Sakura no!!
But the nightmare didn't stop.
Sakura opened the door calmly, even as Sasuke began yelling, trapped in the genjutsu hell she had created for him. She had snapped. She wouldn't be surprised if Ibiki fired her. But she just watched as they busted into the room.
"What the hell was that about Haruno?" Anko roared. "Get him out of that genjutsu!"
"It'll wear off in a while." Sakura answered back blandly.
Ibiki looked at her, then at Anko.
"You wanted me to break him, right?" Sakura snapped. "I'm just doing me job, goddammit!" Then she slammed the door behind her as she stormed down the hallway.
The door to her left opened and Naruto, Kakashi, and Tsunade walked out.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto looked at her, his gaze troubled and a little frightened. "Why…I mean…how could you?"
"He isn't twelve, Naruto! He's a sixteen-year-old bastard who enjoys torturing little children for fun." Sakura yelled at him. "I'm ashamed to have ever loved that…that…thing!"
"Sakura…" Kakashi and Tsunade's voices were soft.
Sakura merely shook her head, stuffing her hands in her pockets as she heading out of the Interrogation base.
I've got to get away. I can't stand it in there anymore. She was ashamed with herself. Sakura Haruno, emotionless kunoichi of Konoha, had lost her cool. She'd given into anger when she'd promised herself she'd never do that again. She clenched her eyes shut, gritting her teeth as she walked into the cool night air.
She wondered how long she'd been walking. She found herself sitting down on the bench once more. She eased herself onto the cold stone, giving a soft sigh. She was so pathetic. Even now, Sakura Haruno had given in to emotion.
The smell of your skin lingers on me now
You're probably on your flight back to your home town
I need some shelter of my own protection baby
To be with myself and center, clarity
Peace, Serenity
Sakura laid her head back against the back of the bench, eyes closed. She had to calm herself down. She had to regain back that mantle of uncaring aloofness that she'd thrown about herself so many years ago.
I hope you know, I hope you know
That this has nothing to do with you
It's personal, myself and I
We've got some straightenin' out to do
She clenched her hands into fists, feeling the nails dig into her palms. She needed a cigarette. Or maybe a beer. She didn't know what she needed only that she needed something. Something to forget everything.
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry
Because no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, deep down somewhere she still loved that bastard and it was killing her. She'd seen what he had done and she hated herself for loving him.
Don't cry
Don't cry
Don't cry
I fucked up. She thought bitterly. I've been fooling myself all these years. She ignored the stinging at the corner of her eyes. No. She wouldn't…she would give in. The path that I'm walking
I must go alone
I must take the baby steps 'til I'm full grown, full grown
Fairytales don't always have a happy ending, do they?
And I foresee the dark ahead if I stay
Because if Sakura gave in then she would never be able to look at herself in the mirror. She would hate herself even more then she hated herself now. And she couldn't live with that.
If she gave in she would be the one thing she'd sworn to destroy.
She would be a traitor.
It's time to be a big girl now
And big girls don't cry…
Sakura shook her head vigorously. She would rather die then become a traitor. She wouldn't love a traitor. She'd kill him first. She'd make him suffer for what he done to everyone.
Sakura gave another frustrated sigh. I wish…I wish that he'd just died.
Don't cry…
She then did something she hadn't done in a long time. She wrapped her arms around herself and rocked softly back and forth.
Don't cry…
He would go on trial. Because of what Sakura had said about his torturing of little children, she doubted he'd get out alive. He'd be executed.
Don't cry…
When Naruto found her, she was curled up on the bench, asleep. He picked her up gently, holding her close to him as he began walking back down the dark road to her home.
He never wanted to see the pain he'd seen in Sakura's eyes ever again. Ever. He wondered, even now, if he could forgive Sasuke for what he'd done…
(A\N: Eh? The song was by Fergie, and even though I don't really like her, I thought the words of the song fit. So there's my explanation. Well, now you all know why Sakura snapped. It will be elaborated on further in the story and don't worry, as impossible as it seems, Sakura and Sasuke actually will get together by the end of this. It just may be a while.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed it.
See ya!
Lady Hanaka
Pick-up line: I'd buy you a drink, but I'd be jealous of the straw.)
