AN: OH MY GOD! Positive reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed the prologue and added it to their alerts, it really does mean a lot to me! I love Fan fiction, I've only just discovered it and it is such fun reading and writing, so there will be more…
Chapter 1: Newspapers
Another day, another newspaper. Funny things, thought Sherlock, ever so inconsistent. Always with a new story, a new opinion. Not like good old boring books. A bit like Sherlock really. Not the books, the newspapers. Nothing boring about this genius. Sherlock was happy. Too happy. No-one had tried to kill him today. That was nice. There was a sodden echoing as John Watson climbed the stairs and entered the room. Sherlock knew this without even looking up. John had a very particular way of walking up the stairs. He heard the man walk in and strip of his wet coat. Sherlock sniffed. John cleared his throat, and attempted a start at conversation.
"It's rain-"
"Yes John, rain." Sherlock effortlessly interrupted. He was bored, and John would listen. "An intriguing phenomenon of absolutely no interest to me whatsoever, considering I live in a house with a roof unlike cavemen. I imagine to whom rain would have bothered. For that matter, said rain is slightly sulphury today. Is sulphury even a word? No matter, I don't care, because if you haven't noticed I live in a lovely little apartment with an adorable lady who takes my money on a regular basis. She does have a tendency to get angry if I miss a payment though. However, I digress, I merely meant to point out that she is enough bother, but I put up with said angry little lady so I have no need to put up with sulphury rain."
"-ing…" John finished lamely,
Sherlock was reclining on the sofa with a boiled egg stood in the small cup holder balanced precisely on the arm of the sofa.
"Good morning Dr Watson, has anyone tried to kill you today?" Sherlock started again, after an awkward silence.
"Erm, no, Sherlock I…"
"That's good, there's still time though. Remember Moriarty is still after us with a vengeance…"
"Yes, very good, but Sherlock…"
"Or maybe not a vengeance. As he said, he's very changeable." Sherlock continued, ignoring John.
"Indeed, however I was going to sa-"
"He might want to be friends." Sherlock mused. "Probably not, as he is an evil genius but…"
"SHERLOCK!"
Sherlock paused in his tirade just long enough to take in the excited look on Watson's face.
"Yes…" He seemed to only just realise John had been speaking.
"I got a very interesting email last night. A rich Russian has made an offer we can't refuse."
"I can't believe you just said that… I take it said Russian is Dmitry Baranov, the rich Russian owner of Coldstream International whom has expressed a desire to challenge all half competent chess players in the world and win?"
"Yes. Maybe it would be good if you got in a warm-up round against me before you inevitable accept in order to bolster your already huge ego?"
"When you put it like that John, yes I would like to play you. Are sure you understand chess though? Maybe I-spy or Snap are more suitable games for you?" Sherlock's lips hinted a smile, eyes twinkiling with amusement as John rolled his eyes.
"Ha…Ha. I knew you would like that."
A game had already been set up by Watson. He had perfectly predicted Sherlock Holmes reaction to his goading. As they sat down, Sherlock smirked.
"John, you do remember which one is the pawn?"
"Very good. Is it that one?"
"No!"
"Hang on, no that is the pawn, stop messing with my head!"
Sherlock smirked and bowed his head, calculating the whole game in an instant, and how to beat Watson in 2 moves, taking into account exactly what he would do in his opening moves. They were all set to go, Sherlock being confident in his victory when their game was interrupted. Although, technically it hadn't begun but these were details Sherlock was willing to overlook, as the game had been interrupted by a large shard of glass flying across the floor, accompanied by the rest of the window. Something had been thrown through the window.
"Oh look!" grinned Sherlock, "Someone's trying to kill us! How marvellous"
Watson grabbed Sherlock by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him as he dived through the open door and down the stairs, followed by a fairly small explosion.
"Oh! Maybe they aren't! How depressing, I need a few assassination attempts to wake me up in the morning…"
AN: Right, I've got a teensy-weensy bit of writers block, so Chapter 2 may take a couple of weeks. I wrote this one at the same time as the prologue, hence the speedy release, but don't get your hopes up for a chapter every other day Please take time to review, even if it's just a word to describe what you thought of the story… It tells me people read it and like it. Keep your eyes peeled…
