Captured Sakura
Once again, Sakura's captor responded dismissively, making it clear that she did not for one minute believe Sakura's claims of ignorance. At the same time, though, her words proved the point Sakura had been making. Even if she did not know the answer to a question, her captor would invariably continue to torture her just in case. After all, did she gain from giving her the benefit of the doubt? Particularly when she was quite obviously enjoying herself.
As Sakura pondered the situation and how to reply, her captor pulled the pliers away, giving her captive some long-awaited relief. Aware that it would surely be temporary, Sakura began to breathe deeply, trying to calm herself and prepare for the next installment of torture. However, as Sakura's captor began to look over the table to find the next tool she wanted to use to inflict pain on her prisoner, she noticed something odd. For a moment, Sakura wondered why the woman had a confused look on her face, until she began to stare closely at the now-closed wound on the prisoner's thigh.
Oh, I see..., Sakura thought as she belatedly noticed that the pain from the wound was gone, and realised that her captor would obviously be surprised at that.
Sure enough, her captor began to investigate, first running her finger along the cut, before raising her eyebrow and giving her captive a sharp glance.
"Oho, now that IS an interesting quirk your body has. That does... make my job infinitely easier, but I am not so certain if this was a fluke or a one off thing like that", she said, reaching for the blood-encrusted scapel and prodding it threateningly against Sakura's calf. "I can always find out firsthand how well this works... or you can save yourself the trouble, and tell me exactly how well it is you can heal so very quickly."
Sakura frowned. As the girl had alluded to, knowing the exact strength of her healing power would make interrogating her far easier. After all, without needing to worry about irreversible damage, she could inflict far more suffering for far longer than she otherwise could. Given that, and the fact that any truthful answer would give far more information than her captor could safely obtain from experimentation, there was no good reason for Sakura to give any reply.
Besides, Sakura herself wasn't even sure. Were her ability to direct mana not limited as it was, she could heal almost anything short of a fatal wound, and most superficial wounds would take only seconds to heal. In this situation, though, it seemed like her healing was slowed down significantly, a small cut taking minutes to heal rather than seconds. More serious damage may not even heal at all. Replying in this situation was just pointless.
Or was it...?
Considering the situation, Sakura had a sudden realisation. Her current uncertainty was almost the best possible answer she could give, and it was the absolute truth. Of course, if she simply responded with that, her captor would not believe her, but she could give additional information. Her healing ability was, after all, being limited by whatever her captor was using to prevent her focussing her mana and performing magical spells. The same spells that could easily allow her to escape.
Whilst her captor clearly had some idea that her magic was potentially dangerous, it was not clear if she knew just how easily Sakura could escape if her ability to perform magic was reinstated, even for a short period. If Sakura told her the truth, then maybe, just maybe, her captor would feel inclined to drop the field, or whatever it was that was preventing her using her magic, either to experiment with her captive's healing abilities or, alternately, in order to heal her captive after a vigorous torture session. And, if she did, then Sakura knew she could take advantage and break herself free.
At worse, telling the truth would result in her captor not believing her and investigating herself. Which, as painful as it would likely be, would still probably be preferable to the torture that would otherwise be inflicted upon her as part of her interrogation. And, it would prove Sakura's point about the futility of telling the truth. So, Sakura decided to, for once, answer her captor truthfully.
"I..it's part of my magic. I can use my mana supply to heal myself", she began, still a little weak from the prior torture. "Normally, it can heal almost any wound but, with my magic restricted as it is, I'm honestly not sure. The wound you inflicted on me before would have healed in seconds normally, not minutes. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on it to heal anything more serious than a superficial cut."
With that, Sakura gritted her teeth in preparation for the coming pain, fully expecting her captor to reject her explanation and begin her own investigation of Sakura's healing power. Still, her words should put doubt in her captor's mind as to how far she could go and, given that she had spoken the truth, her captor could hardly accuse her of trying to act deceitfully over it.