Born in Black and White

Chapter 7

Kairi fiddled with the neckline of her current blouse. It was pale gold, shimmery and flowy with a somewhat high neckline that did this odd little tie off to the side that seemed to flip onto her collar bone and annoy the tits out of her. She glared at it, awkwardly of course, as its almost impossible to glare at your own collar bone, and flicked it this way and that, until she decided to give up.

Her fingers went back to her slick keyboard, a pricey thing, ergonomic and possibly made of black gold for how much it cost. She had to admit that it curved perfectly to her hands. That was hard to do since her hands were smaller than the general population of tall, lanky, or thick boned, male computer programmers. Her fingers glided over it almost effortlessly as she picked away at her most recent project.

Since she had started working for Mycroft Holmes almost a week ago, she had been giving what she knew to be a run through. Most of her assignments were given as tests of her abilities. After a day or two of rather boring tasks she decided to hack into Mycroft's personal email account and printed out a few random emails. She put them in a folder and handed them to him on his way in one day. She had not dealt with him personally after her initial hire, but when he opened it and gazed through its contents, he had taken the time to stop and glance back and her with a knowing smile on his face. Kairi had ever so thoughtfully blacked out just about every other word with a dark marker. She had not been given any pointless, busy work since.

She was currently working on permanently erasing rather tawdry files and emails from a prestigious member of Parliament's home computer when her phone began to buzz. She glanced at the screen and sighed heavily. Sherlock was phoning. Again.

She ignored the phone call, knowing he would never leave her a message, but after about 12 missed calls and numerous limited text messages from the consulting detective over the past week she was growing weary.

She hadn't talked to any of her "friends" within that time. She was hoping that they would think she was abducted. Or dead. Either one would work for her current situation.

She sighed, recalling the previous week's events.

Kairi had slipped out of the sinful dress and plodded into one of her cozy outfits for home. Simple stretchy, fleece lined leggings, a form fitting tank top under a loose sweater, and her worn in calf skin boots. She grabbed her favorite hat and plopped it atop her head and made her way out to the patio with Appa at her heels.

She noticed that her mail was still sitting on the table from the day before so she flipped through it to see if anything was important. Glancing outside, she watched as Sherlock lit up a cigarette, an almost giddy spark in his eyes as he exhaled. His addiction to smoking was most unhealthy.

She chuckled to herself and glanced back at the envelopes beneath her fingertips. Mostly bills, some spam for pre-approved credit cards, and a few letters addressed to the tenant before her. The last envelope was sturdy, made from some high quality card stock, and slightly heavy in her hands. She glanced at the writing and her heart skipped ever so slightly.

The ink was dark and rich, flowing solidly from one letter to the next. The curve to the 'K' in her name sent a spike through her heart and she took a deep breath to calm herself. Her fingers were gripping the edge of the card stock as she walked to the door to her patio. The corners creased ever so slightly and she let out a shuddering breath, frantically smoothing out the crease caused by her panic. As she glanced at the envelope once again, a single tear dropped from her eye and splashed upon the ebony ink. It smeared only slightly and she fought desperately to keep the sob in her throat.

She had her fingers on the handle, not sure where her body was guiding her except that she knew she needed to do something, anything, besides reading the letter.