Chapter Seven: Experimentation
Flash forward five years. Sherlock and Kai are both in London studying at Uni. Warning: light fluff in the form of women kissing. If it's not your thing, turn the other cheek, please.
Kai slumped heavily into the cane-backed chair in front of the makeup table and stared at her own face in the brightly lit mirror. Progressing into adulthood had given Kai's face a gentle androgyny, a fact that made her drama professor damn near clap his hands and giggle with glee. With the right amount of makeup and her knack for voice manipulation, she could be morphed into a multitude of characters. She smiled back at her reflection. She was exhausted, but happily exhausted. The college's performance of Hamlet was being showcased in three days and the cast was in full blown panic mode.
She moved a bag of makeup sponges aside to take out a thick white envelope. There were two comped tickets inside. Kai threw a sad smile at the picture of her grandmother which she had placed lovingly in the corner of her mirror. One of these would have been for you, sitto. Instead, she had planned on giving one to Sherlock and then pass off her extra to a random stranger the night of the performance. She always had a great feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment when she was able to do things like that. She pulled out her mobile and sent off a text to Sherlock.
Sherlock, I have your ticket for Friday's performance.
She picked up the box of makeup remover wipes and took out a few, scrubbing the stage makeup from her face. Her phone buzzed and she swiped it open.
Dull. SH
Kai frowned at her phone and cursed Sherlock Holmes.
You're dull. You promised me you'd be there. Hamlet!
I am not dull. Shakespeare is child's play. SH
Shut it. You're going.
Kaiiiiii… SH
Tough luck, a chara. You promised.
Fine. SH
I'm bringing your ticket home tonight.
Fine. SH
Go get milk.
Always the damned milk. SH
I didn't use it all for an experiment, Sherlock.
I needed it to solve a case, Kainat. SH
Well now you can finally solve the great mystery of how to use the chip and pin machines.
Fine. SH
She chuckled and shook her head at her phone. How on earth was she friends with the accursed Sherlock Holmes, the terror of London, England, and beyond? Sherlock had—unsurprisingly—made spectacular leaps in his education in the past years. He had honorary doctorates in biochemistry and biology from a few different colleges, published a few theses, and was working on his doctorates in chemistry and sociology now in London. He had also begun to solve mysteries, usually things like thefts or disappearances around campus. He had been badgering the police at New Scotland Yard to let him have access to their cold case files, but they had laughed him out the door. Kai shook her head. This is my best friend.
Kai, like most mortals, was still finishing her bachelor's degree in creative writing and theatre. She had published some of her poetry in a few collections with other writers and had found that being on stage brought a whole new passion to her life. Life, overall, was good.
The door of the dressing room opened and Kai glanced in the mirror in time to observe her fellow actress enter the room. She felt her stomach fill with butterflies as Clara walked into the room and sat down beside her. Clara was also a theatre major and Kai had been entranced with her from the first day she had seen her. Clara's dark red hair, electric blue eyes, and shimmering personality had some kind of magnetic hold on Kai and every time she was around the young actress, she felt herself being pulled in closer and closer.
"Hey, Kai," Clara said as she slumped in her chair as well. The weeks of long rehearsals and set work had taken their toll on Clara too. She had put in extra work doing repairs on their set pieces, painting, fixing lighting, and organizing PR for the show. This was her life and it had been for many years. The work was exhausting but Clara wouldn't have traded it for anything. Plus, she got to see Kai every day since Kai had been volunteering to do some of that work as well.
"Hi, Clara. Listen, sorry about that scene today. There's just something about that line that I cannot remember for the life of me. I'll get it, I promise." Kai had stumbled hard over her lines today. She claimed it was just a fluke, but really, she had been so distracted by the new costume that they'd put on Clara that she totally forgot she had lines.
Clara smiled. "Kai, you've never done that before and you're too good of an actress to let it happen again. We're just tired. We've been going at it for months and the exhaustion is starting to take its toll. This morning I tried to put the milk in the cupboard with the bowls before I realized what I was doing."
Kai burst out laughing. "Really?! Oh gods, Clara, that's hilarious!"
"That's probably nothing compared to what you find in your cupboards," Clara hinted. Kai rolled her eyes. She and Sherlock had been sharing a teeny flat for a few years and the nutter was always leaving body parts and mold cultures about the place. At first Kai had been incensed and thoroughly disgusted, but she had long since given up the fight, merely asking Sherlock to keep the human parts away from the human food. "I found a bag of toes in the crisper last week," she said.
Clara mimicked gagging. "You're a braver woman than I, Kai O' Meara. I don't know how you do it."
"Sometimes I'm not sure either, Clara," Kai responded. "But since I've got no family and no significant other in London, Sherlock's all I've got."
At this, Clara flashed a look at Kai that made her swallow thickly and stirred up the butterflies again. She held her breath as Clara reached across the small space and took Kai's hand in her own. Clara squeezed the thin hand gently, saying, "Well… I can always see what I can do about that."
Kai's heart contracted in her chest and she momentarily forgot how to breathe as Clara stood and then bent her red head towards Kai's. Clara stopped just an aching inch from Kai's lips and whispered, "I've been waiting for so long to do this." Then, Kai's mind exploded with sensation and pleasure as Clara's soft pink lips met her own. Kai reached a hand up into Clara's soft hair, holding her to her face. Clara smiled into the kiss and put her left hand into Kai's own dark curls.
And in the centers of Kai's and Clara's minds… fireworks began to explode with joyous color.