Born in Black and White

Chapter 2

"I'm sorry." Kairi did her best to contain her now dying down giggles and paste a big smile upon her face. He looked absolutely horrid. His face screwed up in confusion and distaste all the while his eyes were bruising more ferociously each second that ticked by - he looked like a constipated raccoon.

She coughed a little awkwardly to disguise a giggle and offered him her case and lighter. When he took it in his hands he did the same thing to her case as he did her body. She sighed slightly, taking another drag off the cigarette and waited for something, anything to be said.

After Holmes had carefully chosen a cigarette and lit it just as delicately with a flick of his wrist, he handed her back her smoking apparatus and took a long, deep inhale. "Nasty habit" He said in almost orgasmic tones.

Kairi scoffed at that. She always knew everyone hated smokers, but in the end she didn't care. It was something she loved - as horrible as it may seem - and one of the only links she still felt like she had with her father. "If you're going to smoke with me at least own it." She smiled slightly and he glanced at her very quickly, "And, hum, I guess I'm sorry for punching you."

"No you're not." He stated matter of factly.

Kairi shrugged, agreeing, "Well, I don't necessarily regret it. You were a total dick." She said straightly. "However, I would have preferred to handle it a bit more maturely."

It almost seemed like he may have wanted to smile at that before he took another hit off the stolen cigarette. "It seems I will be working more closely with you on this case." He stated and Kairi stared at him through a smokey haze, "I predict that means we should be somewhat amicable with each other."

Kairi stared in disbelief, "Amicable? You basically said I look like I just had a baby. Which I have not. So thanks a lot for that. As if it weren't already hard enough for me to feel good about myself." She scoffed, only somewhat jokingly.

"I don't see why. I'm afraid my deduction was cut off prematurely by your right hook." He announced, somewhat annoyed. Kairi looked at him sideways, still smoking and disbelieving. "Though you are single, you are not a mother. The stain on your breast is from coffee. It was too freshly made for me to realize the pigmentation was beginning to show through your sweater." He paused to smoke, "And the curvature of your body is not something to be sneered at. You're in shape, though you don't exercise vigorously. You have muscles, layered beneath the flesh of a happy, well fed woman," Kairi cringed at that. "However, still young, single, freshly moved. You had a family back home that you've run away from." She glared at him slightly and he seemed to ease up a bit, "Judging by your cigarette case - something that's been passed down from generations - usually to the eldest male, but I'm assuming your immediate family didn't have any." Another glare, "Its old, but not ancient. Probably from World War I - your great grandfather purchased it to hold his cigarettes while he was in another country, judging by the craftsman ship I would say Italy or at least somewhere that sold Italian goods. Water and pressure sealed with some slight damage, so he may have been Navy or possibly marines depending on his station. Passed down to your grandfather for World War II, he was young of course. Drafted. Carvings inside the case are about 60 years old judging by the amount of dirt and accumulated rust inside the divots. Then to your father, who served in the gulf and more than likely in Afghanistan or Iraq. Where he unfortunately died, judging by your morose, teary look."

She sighed, taking another breath from her cigarette, "You could at least show some respect before I feel like punching you again. I may not BE military but I damn-well respect them and lived with far too many of them to not learn a few silent and evidence-less ways of killing you. They were fighting so you could retain your freedom of being a complete prat." She growled around the filter.