Three Square Meals Ch. 086

"This is Sergeant David Gibbons, Ma'am," Brannigan said, saluting her respectfully.

"Is this the man, Staff Sergeant?" the Commander asked, rising from her seat. She walked around the desk, studying David with an appraising eye as he saluted her.

Brannigan nodded. "That he is, Ma'am, just arrived from Port Medea."

"A commendation from the Lion..." Commander Wessex breathed, her green eyes gleaming with excitement. "Tell me, what's he like in person?"

***

John stood behind Sakura and Alyssa, watching through the cockpit canopy as the Raptor flew over the lush, beautiful surface of New Eden. The planet had a single huge continent, dotted with glittering lakes and crisscrossed with crystal-clear rivers, the life-giving water keeping the planet green and verdant. They were flying towards the southern part of that continent and Faye dropped down through the clouds as they neared their destination.

"It hasn't really changed in all these years," Sakura murmured, gazing out over the picturesque landscape. "New Eden's just as lovely as I remembered."

Alyssa put her arm around the Asian girl's shoulders, squeezing her gently. "Is it strange to be back?"

"No, not strange... but comfortable, familiar." Raising herself up on tip-toe, Sakura looked out through the canopy, a half-smile on her face despite her nervousness, as she spotted familiar landmarks flashing by beneath them.

Faye glanced at John and announced, "We're nearly there. We'll arrive in just under ten seconds."

Shaking her head, Sakura turned to look at Faye. "I think you've made a mistake. We're still quite a way from Elizabethtown."

John placed his hand on her arm, stroking it gently. "We're not going to Elizabethtown, honey."

"We're not?" Sakura asked him in confusion. "But my parents had the shrine built near Devonshire University!"

"I know," he replied, give her a sympathetic smile.

"So where are you taking me?" She froze as she asked the question, suddenly realising their destination and whirling around to stare out the window. "Home..." she breathed, her voice catching in her throat.

"Come on," Alyssa said quietly, guiding the stunned young woman with her.

Sakura moved in a daze, walking between them as they guided her to the grav-tube, then down the corridor to the forward loading area. Faye had brought the Raptor down into the large garden behind the impressive six-bedroom house and the gunship was currently hovering a foot above the ground. John walked down the loading ramp, then offered Sakura a hand, helping her down onto the well-kept lawn.

"It's just like I remembered it," Sakura said in a hushed voice, gazing around the garden she'd played in as a child. "Nothing's really changed..."

John glanced at Alyssa and asked telepathically, *Any problems getting us permission to visit?*

She gave a slight shake of her head. *The owners were being a bit awkward, so I just offered to buy the place for triple the value. They were a lot more cooperative after that. I asked them to leave the back door unlocked.*

*Do you want to get started?* he asked, sharing a look with the blonde girl.

Alyssa smiled at him and nodded, closing her eyes and concentrating. Behind her, the Raptor slowly lifted into the air, barely making a sound as Faye kept the retro-thruster power to a minimum.

John turned to Sakura who was gazing at the house with a mournful expression on her face. "Would you like to show me around?" he asked gently. "If it's not too hard for you that is."

She nodded, taking his hand and walking towards the patio at the back of the building. When they reached the doors, she hesitated, so John reached forward and pushed down the handle, swinging the door wide open. They walked inside, entering a large lounge with three two-seater sofas facing a big holo-screen on the far side of the room.

"The furniture's different," Sakura murmured, glancing distractedly around the lounge.

"What was it like before?" John prompted her.

She had a wistful smile on her face as she walked across the room. "My father had a single chair in here, which my Mom used to call his 'throne'." Turning around, she looked to the side and gestured with her hand. "Along that wall we had a three-seater sofa. When we watched a holo-movie together, Mom used to sit at one end near my Dad and I'd lie along it, with my head on her lap."

John could see her eyes welling up and he rubbed her back to comfort her. "I'm sorry, maybe this was a bad idea," he said, looking at her with concern.

"No, it was a lovely thought," Sakura replied, turning to look at him with a grateful smile. She brushed her eyes and took his hand, leading him through the door. "Let me show you the rest."

They walked from room to room, with Sakura reminiscing about times she'd spent with her parents and the various things they'd done together. He noticed she deliberately avoided the kitchen, leading him deeper into her old home instead. She paused silently for a long moment at the end of the long hallway, gazing into what appeared to be a study in the east wing of the house. She faltered before entering that room, then turned abruptly and flung open another door in the corridor, which led into a spacious garage. The door crashed into the wall and Sakura had a sad smile on her face at the loud bang, glancing back at the study again with a heavy sigh.

"I've got so many memories here," she said quietly, turning back to look at him. "I keep expecting my Mom or Dad to call my name." Her face crumpled and she began to cry. "I'm sorry, I just miss them so much..."

John gathered her in his arms and held her close. "It's okay, I understand."

They stood together for a long while as Sakura cried against his chest, her tears soaking his shirt. This wasn't the same raw outpouring of grief as the other day, but simply a forlorn sense of loss for her parents that she'd loved so much. They'd been cruelly taken away from her by the passage of time, only a handful of years before she'd finally got her freedom, robbing her of the chance to say a final goodbye. When her tears dried out, she let out a heavy sigh, then looked up at John.

She was about to speak when she caught a glimpse of a soft white light out of the corner of her eye. Turning around she looked at Alyssa in surprise.

"Would you like to see your parents again?" Alyssa asked her gently, her eyes glowing with a radiant white light.

"More than anything!" Sakura gasped, a wild hope blossoming inside her.

*Just relax,* Alyssa thought to her, reaching up to place her hand on Sakura's temple.

"Sakura! Are you wrecking my garage again?" her father called out from the room behind them, his voice echoing slightly.

She whirled around in shock, eyes wide in disbelief as she stared at this image of her father. There he was again, but appearing with an ethereal glow around him and a slightly translucent cast to his features. Sakura stared at him in amazement, seeing the smile of anticipation on his face and watching in fascination as he adopted a stern look, just in time for her own likeness to run out of the garage.

"He was never annoyed, only pretending... for all those years," she marvelled, gazing at him with love in her eyes.

She whirled around, gazing back down the corridor towards the closed door they'd passed earlier. Glancing at Alyssa she had an urgent question in her eyes.

"Go ahead," the blonde girl said, her tone kind and gentle as she removed her hand from Sakura's head.

Rushing back down the corridor, Sakura flung the door open, gazing into the kitchen and stifling a sob that was half-filled with joy and half with sorrow. Her mother was working in the kitchen just as she'd always remembered. Sakura stared at her in wonder, watching one scene from her youth play out after another.

Her mother scolded Sakura for stealing a pastry, a loving smile on her pretty face. The family sitting around the kitchen table eating dinner together. Her parents applauding when Sakura read them the acceptance letter from her University, barely contained glee on her eighteen-year-old face. Even her father uncorking a bottle of champagne after a promotion, the cork hitting the ceiling followed by a geyser of foamy liquid as her mother and a much younger Sakura squealed with laughter.

"How is this possible?" Sakura asked, turning to gape at Alyssa in awe.

"This house is alive with psychic imprints from your family," Alyssa explained, leaning against the doorframe and smiling as she watched a three-year old Sakura bouncing on her father's shoulders. "There were a lot of very happy memories here."

Sakura bit her lip, overcome with emotion. "Thank you so much..."

"Take as much time as you want," Alyssa said indulgently, reaching out to stroke the Asian girl's arm.

John smiled as he watched Sakura turn back to look into the kitchen, the girl entranced by the lovely memories being replayed before her eyes. He glanced at Alyssa and asked, "Can you share them with me, too?"

"Of course," she replied, placing her hand on his temple.

John felt a slight surge as Alyssa opened a bridge into the Astral Plane for him, tethering it against his physical form and letting him see these echoing psychic imprints from the past. He walked with the two girls from room to room, watching Sakura's young life replayed before him in snippets of loving memories of her time with her parents.

A thought crossed his mind and Alyssa turned to look at him in surprise. *You're kidding, right? I've no idea how to do that!* she balked, her glowing cerulean eyes going wide.

*Just an idle thought, don't worry about it,* John muttered, giving her a reassuring smile.

He turned his attention back to Sakura, watching her looking at the psychic imprints with a wistful smile on her face. As wonderful as these memories were, they didn't give her what she really wanted - a chance to say goodbye to her parents.

*John, wait!* Alyssa blurted out, staring at him in shock as she felt him fighting against some towering resistance.

He ignored her though, his eyes glowing with a fierce blue radiance of their own, the lights in the hallway dimming as he gathered psychic energy to him. Crouching down, he placed his fists on the floor, waves of eldritch energy pouring out from him as he soaked up the psychic imprints that saturated the Honami home. *Give me all the energy you can spare,* he ordered both his Matriarchs.

Sakura felt a pang of sadness as she watched her father rolling around with laughter on the floor, being tickled mercilessly by his wife and daughter. She remembered that day as if it was only yesterday. As a joke, she'd faked a bad report, replacing all her A grades with E grades. Her father had tickled her remorselessly for being so naughty, until Sakura and her mother had ganged up on him in return.

The ghostly image began to flicker, becoming more insubstantial by the second until it flickered out. Another psychic memory appeared, but the same thing happened, the scenes with her parents disappearing even quicker that time. Sakura turned around to look at Alyssa in alarm, but the psychic blonde had her eyes closed and was surrounded in a bright nimbus of psychic energy. It was pouring out of her, twisting down her arm and straight into John. Sakura gaped at him in shock, watching as waves throbbing with power rolled out from him, while fleeting images of her family were swept into his body.

She whirled around and watched the imprints of her parents faltering under that onslaught, each one obliterated only seconds after it appeared. "Stop!" she protested in horror, turning around to shake him. "You're destroying them!"

He appeared to be in some kind of trance, totally absorbed in whatever he was doing, no matter how much she shook him.

"Stop, please!" she begged, falling to her knees beside him.

All of a sudden, the waves of psychic energy faded away, dissipating as quickly as John had summoned them.

"Sakura?! Oh my God!"

Lifting her head, Sakura slowly turned around. Her mother's voice was strong this time, not like the faint echoes from the psychic imprints. She stared in open-mouthed shock as she saw her mother and father standing before her, not a day older than when she'd last seen them seventy-five years ago.

They rushed forward, skidding to their knees beside her. "We were so worried!" her father gasped, before his face crumpled and he threw his arms around her.

Sakura let out a shocked cry as she felt the warmth of his arms encircling her. She was suddenly surrounded by that comforting strength which had always made her feel so protected and safe. Her mother hugged her too, kissing her cheek frantically as tears streamed down her pretty face.

"Oh, my little angel! We thought we'd lost you!" her mother sobbed, hugging her fiercely.

John slowly rose to his feet, a smile of satisfaction on his face as he saw the look of pure bliss on Sakura's face. She had her eyes closed as she hugged her parents, not daring to open them in case doing so might end what could only be a wonderful dream.

"How did you do that?!" Alyssa whispered, staring at him with an awestruck expression on her face.

At the sound of her voice, Shiro and Emiko Honami looked up at them in surprise.

*We'll talk later,* John replied, turning and giving Sakura's parents a warm smile.

"Who are you?" Shiro asked, looking up at John. "Was it you that brought our daughter back to us?"

John nodded and replied, "My name's John Blake and this is Alyssa. We helped rescue Sakura from the man that took her from you."

Rising to his feet, Shiro held out his hand and John shook it firmly. "I owe you a tremendous debt, John. Sakura's the most precious thing in the world to us!"

"You don't owe me anything, Mister Honami," John replied, bowing his head to him respectfully. "Your daughter's an incredible woman. It's been wonderful getting to know her."

Sakura's father laughed and shook his head. "Call me Shiro, please!"

Emiko rose to her feet too, with Sakura wrapped in her arms. She let out a choked laugh as she gasped, "I want to hug you to thank you, but I don't think I can let go of Sakura!"

"I don't think she'd let go of you either," John replied, smiling affectionately at Sakura.

"How?" Sakura finally blurted out, gaping at John in awe. "How did you do this?!"

Emiko saw the reverent look that her daughter gave this mysterious, handsome man who had appeared in her home. She stroked Sakura's arm, then leaned in and whispered, "He really is cute! How did you manage to keep him secret from me?"

Sakura blushed furiously, confirming her mother's guess. "We only met a couple of months ago," she admitted, glancing at John with a riot of emotions in her eyes. She was feeling profound gratitude, love, relief, hope, joy, and total bewilderment all at once.

"It's an honour to finally meet you both at last," John said, smiling at each of her parents in turn. "I'm just sorry it took this long; Sakura's told me so much about you."

Shiro smiled at his daughter with a raised eyebrow. "That's odd, because she hasn't told us anything about you..."

"Well, as I mentioned earlier, my name's-" John started to reply, but Sakura interrupted him.

"This is Vice Admiral John Blake," she said proudly, slipping out of her mother's arms to walk over to John. "He's been honoured with the Stellar Cluster twice and is the bravest man in the Terran Federation. He's saved billions of lives, including mine!"

Her parents looked stunned, unsure how to react to such an august figure standing in their lounge.

Sakura beamed in delight as she added, "He's an amazing cook too! And he's like a real-life Samurai, fighting against evil men using his wits and his sword." Putting her arms around John she added, "And I love him with all my heart!"

John smiled at her, hugging her back. He glanced at her parents, and a look of shock, then a flicker of understanding crossed both of their faces. "I love your daughter just as much," John said quietly, looking at Shiro then Emiko. "We haven't got long, but there is something I wanted to ask you."

"Haven't got long?!" Sakura asked in alarm. "What do you mean?"

Shiro and Emiko walked over to their daughter, reaching out to hold her hands as John released her.

"John brought us back to say goodbye to you, my beautiful little angel," Emiko said, brushing her fingers against her daughter's cheek.

"We'd love to stay with you forever, but our time has passed," Shiro agreed, giving her a wistful smile.

"No, you can't go!" Sakura pleaded desperately. "I've only just got you back!"

"You'll always have our love for you," Emiko said in a hushed voice. Her face lit up with a beautiful smile as she continued, "You brought a joy to our lives that neither of us knew was missing, until you arrived and turned our world upside down."

Shiro looked into Sakura's eyes and his tone was earnest as he said, "I'm very proud of you, Sakura, I always have been. I treasured every moment we had together."

Shiro and Emiko both hugged the sobbing girl, Sakura overwhelmed by the tsunami of emotions.

When her tears had abated, Emiko turned to smile at John. "I believe you had a question for us?"

John nodded, the expression on his face earnest. "I've fallen in love with Sakura. She's a brilliant, charming, beautiful, lovely woman, who completes me in so many ways. I promise I'll protect her and keep her safe, and always do my utmost to make sure she lives a long, happy, fulfilling life. We haven't had a chance to discuss it yet, but my dearest hope is that one day, she will consent to be my wife. If I should ever be so fortunate, would you give us your blessing?"

Sakura let out a strangled squeak, her eyes like saucers as she gaped at him.

"Do you love him, too?" Shiro quietly asked his daughter, a gentle smile on his face.

She managed to fight through her shock and nodded as she gazed into her father's eyes.

Emiko grinned at her daughter, looking overjoyed. She hugged her tightly, then leaned in to whisper in her ear, "If we say yes, we want lots of lovely grandchildren!"

"Mom!" Sakura exclaimed, blushing furiously.

Her parents shared a tender look, then turned back to John and smiled at him as they nodded.

Shiro held out his hand and John shook it. "I can see how much you love my daughter. I won't ask you to look after her, because I know you will."

Emiko gave Sakura a gentle maternal smile. "We have to go now, but always remember that we love you."

Her mother glanced at John, who walked over to Sakura and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's time to say goodbye now."

Sakura bit her lip then rushed over to her parents, hugging them both tightly. "I love you both so much! Thank you for giving me such a wonderful life with you. I'll never forget you!"

"We love you too," they said, hugging her back. "Goodbye, Sakura."

"Goodbye..." she whispered, holding onto them as long as she could before they stepped away from her.

They waved her farewell, loving expressions on their faces as they slowly faded away.

John and Alyssa were there for Sakura then, both embracing her. She leaned against John's chest with her eyes closed, listening to the steady beat of his heart and feeling too emotional to trust herself to speak. They stood together for a long while, until she slowly raised her head to gaze at him.

"How much of that was real?" she asked quietly, a look of real vulnerability in her eyes.

"All of it," John replied, the sincerity in his voice convincing her of the truth to his words.

Sakura looked back at the spot her parents had been and she whispered reverently, "I'll never forget what you did for me today." When she turned to look at him again, there was a fierce gleam in her eyes. "I'll always be at your side, for as long as you want me. Whatever happens, I'll be there for you."