Flower of two worlds

23.- Connection Between Worlds

Your present is the sum of your past. What you choose to do now will define your future. I wonder... What will be the limits of my potential?

The glass shattered into a thousand pieces as she ascended into the sky. In that moment, suspended at the highest point of her leap, she felt a sensation of weightlessness that took her breath away. This wasn't the Konoha on the edge of a precipice, with a sea of trees beneath her feet. Nor was it her starry sky, where finding the constellations could guide her back on course. And it certainly wasn't the peaceful village where villagers shared their family stories before retiring for the night.

"We are strong too, we are your companions, not the children you must care for!"

The image of her team, Tsunade, the nine rookies, and all the people she had shared with in her world flooded her mind. Like her companions in this world, they too had faced their own struggles.

Gravity finally did its job and she began to plummet, straight towards the pool of the adjacent building. She took a deep breath just before impacting the water, feeling the jolt in her left shoulder and a sharp crunch of pain. The wound stole her breath away and she screamed as she sank to the bottom of the pool. With effort, she swam towards the surface and gasped for air.

Looking towards the building she had escaped from, she felt a momentary relief. Although she knew Ilda would probably scold her again, at least the path for the others would be a little easier.

When Sakura jumped and the flames were extinguished by the sprinklers, Ariett took advantage of the moment to throw her pink wool and immobilize the enemies. However, her relief vanished upon hearing a dull thud and seeing Theo against the wall, lifted a few inches off the ground by Todoroki, who held him firmly by the shirt. The surprise on some of his teammates' faces contrasted with the evident anger on Todoroki's face.

"Why did you stop us? Sakura could have gotten hurt in that jump!" Todoroki snapped, trying to contain his anger from him.

Theodoro didn't seem impressed by Todoroki's outburst, which didn't help to calm him down.

"Leave him alone, or I'll take you on!" Ariett intervened, his cheerful personality suddenly disappearing.

"Enough, Ariett," Theo intervened, calming her down without taking his eyes off Todoroki, who loosened his grip slightly. "She said it, it's now. She gave us the most feasible opportunity to separate without alerting the villains to our plan. Otherwise, the odds of being discovered would be much higher."

Although he was annoyed, Midoriya tried to give Theo the benefit of the doubt. Her mind raced, searching for different ways to escape without resorting to what she had done. He came to a surprising and unpleasant conclusion: she had opted for the option with the least risk.

"Why did it have to be like this? Couldn't we have separated from her in a less dangerous way for her?" Tokoyami asked.

"I'm not a god to know what she thought about how to separate us," Theo responded, irritated. Although he hid it, when he saw her jump, he felt like his heart stopped for a second. "In a situation like that, I wouldn't have come up with that idea so quickly. Shinobi sure are reckless."

Finally, Todoroki let go of Theo's shirt and sighed, his anger dissipating into a feeling of disgust. Reluctantly, both he and the others had to agree. Sakura, and therefore her companions from the other world, were too reckless for what they were used to. Although, on the one hand, they admired the analytical capacity that can only be acquired through combat experience. That was what they should aspire to.