Born in Black and White

Chapter 6

Kairi paced up and down her hallway, with her phone in hand. It was later in the day and the sun was setting beautifully this afternoon. She would walk just far enough to glance at the pink, orange and purple sky and then she'd shake her head from the distraction and turn back to the task at hand.

She sighed, looking at the phone, typing in a few numbers, almost pressing send, then exiting out of the call screen before she could complete the call. She did this too many times to count, with Appa behind her, mouth open wide and a happy tongue lolling out the side. She made her way out of her front room, into her modest bedroom and looked around.

Kairi had ordered everything from an outlet store nearby. A dark wood dresser for some of her clothes, an ornate bed frame of the same color with a comfy mattress covered with a beautiful chevron comforter with white, turquoise, bright yellow, and gray lines. Her sheets were also turquoise. The room itself was bright and fun, but didn't hold much personally. She assumed most women her age would have interesting art, photos of their children, photos of their loved ones. She had photos of her dog...And few of them at that.

Photographs just made her hurt more. The memories of her life before the war, before her mother's sickness, it just hurt too much to think about those things. Thankfully, she was wonderfully adept at shutting herself down emotionally. She'd done it when she was younger, then when she finally started dating – those one or two fellows – and after the war seemed to destroy everything she held dear.

She shook her head, trying to shake loose the thoughts trying to cling to her. Faces, smells, sounds, all suddenly became dull and she took a deep, shaking breath. She glanced down at her phone, deciding that she didn't have the balls to make the phone call at the moment. She exited her bedroom shutting the door with more strength than she intended. She walked into her kitchen, stopped an sighed. She picked up her phone and dialed in the number she was dreading to call.

Sherlock's phone rang and he picked it up, glancing at the unfamiliar number. He detested phone calls, but answered it anyway. "Mmhmm." He said simply into the speaker.

John glanced up, intrigued by Sherlock actually answering a phone call and stared for a moment then went back to clicking the keys of his laptop through another solved case involving identity theft.

"Really John," A moment later Sherlock was suddenly behind him and clicked his tongue in disapproval, "Where's Waldo?"

John glared at the computer screen. He wasn't happy with the title either, but he'd been hit with writers block over the case they just solved about a murdered old woman and a missing parakeet, "Its a working title, Sherlock."

"Hmph." Sherlock grunted as he passed by, now obviously off the phone.

"Who was that?" John tried to mention casually as he typed away.

"Who was what?" Sherlock said, sounding rather grumpy as he slouched down in his chair.

John sighed. Sherlock was currently in between cases and still acting bitter and hateful towards the world since they had gone out drinking with Molly, Kairi, and Lestrade two weeks ago. "On the phone."

Sherlock glared at John for a moment, "A contact. Looking into information about Moriarty."

John's interest was piqued, "I thought we weren't getting anywhere on that?"

A low growl formed in Sherlock's throat, "We aren't." He stood abruptly and walked towards his bedroom while John just sort of stared after him, heard some rustling and saw Sherlock emerge from his room with his long wool coat.

"We going somewhere?" John asked nonchalantly.

Sherlock looked at him, dramatically rolling his eyes and giving an exasperated sigh, "Yes. Grab your coat." He groaned and walked towards the door, grumbling something about John's simple mind. John simply smiled and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair and followed Sherlock out the door.