Born in Black and White

Chapter 20

Kairi woke up slowly, her eyes fluttering against the light coming in from the Venetian blinds of her small window. The light was at an angle that made her realize it was extremely early in the morning, just a little while after sunrise. She was blissfully naked, sleeping peacefully for the first time in months. Her body had that sort of stiff, luxurious feeling after receiving a quality orgasm. She turned her head, looking towards the other side of the bed and found it empty, except of course for her fluffy dog-beast lying on his back, his head twisted to look at her with his large doggy smile.

"Oh god, please, please, please don't tell me I imagined last night and I had an orgasm from my dog..." She shifted again, glancing around her bedroom, "Oh god, please don't let me be that pathetic." She whimpered and pushed herself up onto her knees and looked around. Her dress was still on the floor in the corner. Her undergarments were strewn across the opposite side of the bed. She reached for her phone but saw no notifications.

She stood slowly, Appa leaping off of the bed and stretching lazily at her side, and padded over to her garments and looked at them closely. There was obvious evidence of her excitement and a ripped seam that she seemed to remember a particular Consulting Detective making in haste. She dropped them on the floor and walked over to her closet and pulled out a maxi dress with a built in bra and slid it over her body, forgoing underwear for the moment. She walked into her front room and looked around the entire expanse. The kitchen was empty, all the chairs were uninhabited, and the fireplace still held some small embers from the raging fire the night before. Her frown deepened and she went back to look in her bathroom and found it empty. She walked further in and stared at herself in the mirror.

Her hair was a mess, scraggily and knotty from sleep and other activities. Her frown was deep and painful so she tried desperately not to focus on it, and her eyes dropped to her mouth, small remnants of the red stain were there and she brought her fingers up slowly to trace the line of her full lips. They were still slightly swollen and felt mildly bruised when she pressed them. Her stomach started to churn pleasantly when her eyes traveled to her neck and shoulders which were exposed by the thin straps of her dress. She gasped slightly, seeing the pale marks left on her skin in small bruised ovals and the shape of teeth along her shoulder. She dropped her face into her hands, the realization that last night was, in fact, real.

Giving him the benefit of the doubt, Kairi took in a shuddering breath and exhaled, "Sherlock?" She said a bit pathetically, hoping that the tears threatening to form would stay away.

There was silence. Complete and utter silence.

She took a deep breath and walked back into her bedroom, pushing down the nausea she felt as she stared at her disheveled bed clothes. She couldn't look at it. She couldn't touch it, not without remembering the night she shared with Sherlock and the unending pain she felt, realizing that he had left her. Her face was back in her hands as her anxiety grew to alarming levels and her chest constricted making it hard to breathe.

She shook her head and tried to dispel her negativity. Sherlock wasn't completely heartless. She knew that he cared for her, even if just a little bit, he wouldn't have been in her home last night if he didn't care. He wouldn't have reacted so drastically to her date with Lestrade if he didn't care at all. She took a calming breath and tried to refocus.

A case! That was it! Sherlock must have been called to a case early in the morning. He must not have wanted to wake her, so he had left as quickly and as quietly as possible. She dropped her hands and noticed something on the floor by her hastily discarded dress. She walked over, squinting her eyes and trying to see just what it was.

It wasn't until she knelt down and picked it up that she realized it was a round black button. It belonged to Sherlock's suit, and she realized with a blush, that it must have fallen off the night before during their more aggressive moments. She stood slowly and grabbed a pair of her fleece lined boots and slipped them on. She pulled out one of her thicker hoodies and wrapped it around herself, placing the button in her pocket and making her way to her door. She paused at the mirror by her entrance and grimaced at the sight of her reflection. She zipped the hoodie all the way up to her neck to hide the love bites and ran her fingers through her scraggily hair to tame it as best she could. She chuckled at her make up and decided to run into her bathroom to quickly swipe away all left over traces with a moist towelette. She put her hair in a loose braid at the base of her neck since it refused to behave. Nodding at herself in the mirror she decided it was good enough since, hopefully, no one would see her.