Occurs during Chapter 65.
"Thank you!" Sakura says brightly, setting the vases of flowers down on the reception desk so she can take the papers the receptionist is offering her. "Just sign here, Chouji, okay?"
It's good to see him up and walking again, Sakura thinks. Chouji is more of a 'friend of a friend' but he was one of the worst injured during that awful mission that all her classmates went on. They hadn't wanted to release him from hospital until he was eating solid food again, which had taken a while.
Ino had asked her to help shift all the various gifts that Chouji had accumulated. Most of them are flowers she'd brought herself, making arrangement after arrangement. Sakura hadn't quite understood her reasoning. "It's something I can do," Ino had said, comparing two seemingly identical flowers before discarding one. "The only thing that Orochimaru knows about flowers is if they're poisonous. I mean, I know that too, but I also know that they're beautiful."
It had seemed important to her though, so Sakura had helped.
"Here-" Sakura starts to say, before the front doors slam open. She twists, automatically looking for the emergency, and watches as a girl staggers in. She's limping, Sakura catalogues automatically, has several lacerations on her arms and it almost seems like her skin is … pulsing, twisting and distorting before black ink spreads across it and forces it back down.
She steps forward to help, even as Chouji gasps 'Tayuya!' and Ino cries 'look out!'
The girl snarls, hefting a sword that has blood dripping from the edge, and Sakura freezes. They're all weaponless, and she has no idea what to do.
"I'm going to kill you, fatass," she snarls, lunging at Chouji.
Chouji ducks backwards, out of range of the wild swing.
"Leave him alone," Ino shouts. Her hands had automatically gone to her pouch, which just wasn't there. Sakura feels a surge of admiration; Ino will know what to do.
Chouji takes advantage of the distraction, rolling to his feet and catching the girl's sword arm in his grip. Even weakened, he's still strong, and if he can get the weapon off her…
They struggle against each other, Tayuya snarling and heaving punishing blows on his undefended body as he tries to get her to drop the sword. Chouji just grunts and takes it.
Beside her, Ino forms her hands into the triangle seal…
And freezes.
Sakura is only a trainee medic-nin. She hasn't been taught yet, about things like panic attacks and flashbacks. She hasn't been introduced to the concept that sometimes, it isn't a physical injury that stops you. To be fair, that's only a very small part of the training course. But she is smart, and she knows that something is wrong.
Chouji is struggling. Ino is frozen.
The receptionist is only a civilian.
Sakura wastes half a second praying for someone to come and save them – someone, anyone! Even Lee! – but no one comes. What she does next, surprises even her.
Her hand grabs the glass vase on the desk, yanking it forward. Water slops onto the floor and the flowers spill out – a flash of blue catches her eye, iris, heroism – and she hefts it in her grip. She takes aim, pulls back and lets fly.
The glass shatters as it impacts with the side of the kunoichi's head.
It stuns her, and Chouji wrenches the sword from her hand, sending it scattering across the floor.
Sakura is already in motion, grabbing the second vase with white knuckled hands. It takes a single spring, perfect Academy style, to bring her close to the two of them, and her whole body twits as she slams her improvised weapon into Tayuya's temple.
The girl drops like a stone.
Sakura is shaking with adrenaline and fear, hands bleeding from shattered glass, just beginning to realise – I did it, I did it – when an ANBU with long purple hair grabs her by the arms and hauls her backwards.