Chapter Text
“Stay..” I felt a tug from behind. I turned and saw her hand crumpling a small part of my coat, her face was in distress and I couldn’t blame her after what happened awhile ago. She was shivering from the storm outside, her clothes are all wet and crumpling and so is her hair.. It was neat before the party and now. I couldn’t bare it.. She was a lovely woman before and here she is in a complete mess after what happened, her bright eyes from before just weren’t there anymore and were replaced with shock and trauma. I knelt beside her, and hold her shaking hands tightly. My heart felt a pang when she bent her body to the front and sobbed, it was awful and she weren’t supposed to be like this. Never.
I wasn’t sure at first but then gently I rounded my arms around her wet figure, she seemed stunned at first but then I felt her leaning against my chest and sobbed harder. I felt her tears slightly soaking my chest and how much she was shaken. It would probably took her months or years or even a lifetime to get over it all.
“I’m staying, dear..” I gently whispered to her ear. “I promise.”
=========================================================
Gently, Mycroft opened his eyes and to only be welcomed by the view of white ceiling above his bed. He rolled to his side, tugging the duvet with him to the side where he could see the slight morning sunlight slipping through gaps of his curtains.
I remember. . Thought Mycroft groggily as he tried to start his mind from slumbering. How long has it been?
He turned again so he’s lying on his back and closed his eyes again slightly, breathing in the air.
I wonder how you have been, dear…
==================================================================
Meanwhile in another part of the World
An emergency ambulance rushed towards a hospital downtown. Inside it, a group of emergency team was trying their best to treat the patient lying on her own pool of blood contained by the emergency bed.
“Patient’s name is Tachibana Anko, 42 years old.” said someone from the emergency team as he tried his best to stop the bleeding on the patient’s chest. “Two shots to the chest and a concussion, a possibility of broken ribs as well.”
“We’ll take her to The Central Hospital.” said another person from the team, monitoring the patient’s heartbeat, watching the lifeline on a monitor which goes worse from time to time. “We’re losing her, people..”
“Anko,” said a member of the team sitting just beside the patient’s head that seems to be the leader, he tapped the patient’s shoulder gently. “Please, focus on us. You can do this.” he spoke clearly. He watched the patient’s eyes was becoming more empty and unfocused, she’s still breathing from the oxygen mask but it has becoming more rapid and short.
“Sato-san, we’re losing her!!”
“Sato..” a sound of mumbling was heard. The leader looked down and saw the patient’s eyes looked at him, her arms raised slowly before it gripped his hand weakly. Sato, the leader, was shocked that she’s still bear to do so despite losing lot’s of blood.
“Anko..”
“Listen…” she croaked slowly. Her face tightened, holding down the pain she experienced on her body, she can feel everything from the bullets lodged on her chest, the ringing ear from the concussion and the cracking of her ribs. “Te-ttell Ke-ii..” Sato listened carefully, he did not try to stop the woman from speaking but instead he hold her hand tightly, as if he was trying to give her strength to speak.
“Ttte-eell he-r… Code Red.” the woman managed to speak out before the heart rate monitor goes berserk. She smiled weakly before closing her eyes.
“ANKOO!!”
=====================================================================
A week later: London
The Heathrow Airport was packed with people as usual. Serving at least a hundred take offs and landings in just an hour, the airport was not only filled with the locals but also tourists and not to mention airline crews going back and forth around the whole buildings. Earning itself as the second busiest airport in UK and 10th place in the whole Europe. A figure walked out the arrival gate, a girl dressed in black jacket and ripped jeans. Her hair was black in medium length, tied into a ponytail. She carried a black backpack and dragged a grey suitcase, in one hand and a smartphone in the other hand.
The girl looked around for a vacant bench, as soon as her eyes spotted what she wanted. She sat down on it and rummaged her belongings until she found what she was looking for; a diary.
The cover was simple, black leather with some white trimmings. The girl opened to the last page, and there she saw a written note titled; CODE RED.
Kei, if you’re reading this then you must hurry and save yourself no matter what.
You are well aware that my job has it’s risks and by the time you read this note, the danger has come for me. However, I cannot risk you to be dragged into it. I love you so much that I could not bear if anything happens to you because of me and the world I was plunged into. I created The CODE RED so that I could get you away from whatever danger I was involved in and the only person to know about this is Sato, he can keep you safe for a moment but not for longer than a week.
Follow the instructions NO MATTER WHAT. I know you can be a rebel sometimes, but trust me when I say I could never forgive myself if you ever got in danger because of my job. I had my reasons to leave my parents back in Kyushu, it is the only way I could keep them safe from my job. I couldn’t leave you though, Kei. It would be selfish at one point to leave you with my parents as I am your mother, but it is also selfish of me to brought you up in Tokyo. I thought I could keep you safe as long as you are close to me. You are my daughter, my precious key to my world, the only thing that mattered the most to me. CODE RED would be my last effort in order to keep you safe.
Fly to London and find a guy named Holmes. Once you found him, tell him about me and my name and give him the envelope slipped in this book. He would take care of you no matter what. I know him as a ‘friend’ back in the old days and he probably still keep his eccentric quality by now. He’s a very smart man and a true British gentleman, a man with great capabilities and sharp mind. Almost like you, except you’re way better than him when it comes to playing music probably. He might be unbearable at first, but I’m begging you to stay with him no matter what. If there is someone in this world I trust the most to keep you safe, it’s him.
Don’t look back no matter what, it is for your own safety. Pack your most precious things and never return to Tokyo or even Japan. The people that would bring danger upon me are very powerful people, able to do many despicable things in our country. No matter where you hide, as long as it is in Japan, they’ll harm you as well as they did to me. Thus I am begging you, FOLLOW CODE RED NO MATTER WHAT.
I love you to the bottom of my heart, Kei. I know there were days in your life that are filled with sadness and I wasn’t able to be always by your side because of work, but for the time we spent together are the most precious things for me. Birthdays that are celebrated late, music rehearse that I wasn’t able to attend, and dinners that you’d leave in the fridge for me so I could eat it when I got back at midnight, those are the things I regret to ever happen. I’m sorry for not being able to be by your side by the time you read this note, but I know you are a strong daughter of mine no matter what. I’m also very sorry that I could not explain further to you about.. Well, everything. But I promise you, one day either the answer will come to you or you will found the answer to yourself.
I’m always with you, no matter what Kei. I love you.
-Your Mother, Tachibana Anko
Unlike the first time when she read the note, Kei Tachibana took a deep breath and just close the book. She remembered crying for so long until her eyes hurt as Sato had picked her up from school and drove her off back to her mother’s house to get her things, before finally sat on an express train to Osaka for a safe house. But here she is now, sitting on a bench on another side of the world, away from Tokyo. As soon as she stepped out of the plane, everything felt foreign for her already. Even though she’s already capable in English thanks to her mother forcing her to take English classes back in Tokyo, this was different. She’s alone by herself now, away from home..
She had travelled with her mother each time she’s on holiday, her mother had tried her best to spend time with her as a payback for her late hours at work. Kei only knew her mother worked for the Japanese Government and it required her to be ready most of the time no matter if it’s weekdays or weekends. Her mother had kept the topic about her job away from her, saying that it’s a boring job and she’d not be interested listening to it. Thus, even in the age of almost eighteen she still know very little of her mother’s job.
She did some research before on her smartphone as she waited for her luggage, near the carousel. She searched the name ‘Holmes’ along with other keyword like ‘London’ , the results are many but one in particular has caught her eyes.
Sherlock Holmes , The Private Investigator, has done it again!
Underneath the heading was an article of A local newspaper with a picture of a man in his mid thirties, black hair with slight curl and handsome feature, wearing some kind of a hat she’d recognized as deerstalker. The article tells more of the man’s success as a consultant detective for the Scotland Yard, solving another serial murder cases that has been terrorizing London for the past weeks.
A detective...? asked Kei to herself. The girl thought about how her mother could be acquaintances to such man, if her mother has work with something as dangerous as risking her life having a friend that is a detective seems to be a reason to do so. But how would they know each other anyway? She scrolled down again, further reading the article until she finally found an address of the one and only Sherlock Holmes. Kei wrote the address quickly on a piece of paper and slid back the book before grabbing a cab at the airport’s cabby area.
“221B Baker Street, please.” she told her driver as soon as she got in. As the cab speeds through the streets of London, she eyed the surroundings carefully. Memorizing or rather savoring all the new environment that she knew she will have to get used to.
Heck, Kei doesn’t even know how she feels anymore. The past few days was horrible, filled with fear and shock. The danger that her mother mentioned in her note was constantly haunting her, even if she doesn’t know what it actually is. She have tried to persuade Sato so he would tell her, but the man would say that he has promised her mother not to tell Kei and to keep her safe until CODE RED was ready to be carried on. But he did mention one thing;
“Your mother is doing a favor for your father.”
That was it, the only thing she knew what her mother is doing and the first thing she ever knew about her father.
“Father.” spoke Kei to herself, looking over the window.
She never knew about her father, her mother talked about it just as much as she talked about her job; almost none. Kei was born and raised in Tokyo, and all she ever knew was her mother and her grandparents that lived in Kyushu island. But they never visited their grandparents, Kei’s mother would tell her when she was little that they are busy with their vegetable farm in Kyushu. Only when she reach teenage year that she found out that they had disowned her for having a fatherless child. The role of father never was in Kei’s life. When she was little she’d watch other kids going home by getting picked up by their parents, a mum and a dad. While she wait for her mother to pick her up or Shinda, her mother’s assistant at work. The only male adults to play the closest role as a father was Sato, a doctor that happens to be her mother’s acquaintance, while Shinda would be a big brother to Kei. The two men are great, Sato was around her mother’s age and living next door of their apartment, after work he’d make sure I was alright and arrived home safely from school. Shinda was funny and he knew Kei’s trait more than anyone else. As a matter of fact, he’s probably the closest thing she’d ever call a ‘friend’. Despite being ten years older than her, he’d listen to all her worries and would lend Kei a shoulder to cry on when days gets tougher. The two of them were on her side most of the time, while her mother wasn’t.
Nor was her father.
The word ‘father’ sounded strange to Kei’s tongue, she wasn’t used to it at all. He’s never there physically, but Kei knew a part of him was in her. She looked at herself in the mirror and raised her hand to her eyes, carefully and gently Kei took off a contact lense on her right eye. She looked at her eyes in her reflection, one was dark brown and the other was light blue, almost gray in fact. It was a rare sight for anyone to have gray eyes in Japan, thus there were cases when she’s in kindergarten where she made other kids cry because she stared into their eyes for too long. The other kids described her as a ghost for it, and tends to turn her away. Despite her mother has made her wear colored contact lenses, the nickname ‘ghost’ still stuck with her until now. Her mother’s eyes were brown, thus it only leaves that Kei’s eyes were her father’s.
The word ‘favor’ that Sato mentioned earlier still intrigues her. If it is true, then Kei’s father must be someone with a strong power that even her mother is doing something for him and risked her life. Hell, she even shipped her daughter to London for safety.
Kei sighed and leaned back to the cabby’s couch, soon enough she was watching the scenery from the window like it was a movie being fast forwarded. She closed her eyes briefly, wishing everything was a dream, a nightmare she could just wake up from. She was tired, from the flight and from what had happened to her life in a blink of an eye, her last wish was that she was awakened to only continue what has been laid out in front of her.
A gentle tap on her arm woke her up then. She opened her eyes and saw that she has arrived upon her destination, she pay the cab with the money Sato gave her back in Osaka and there she was eying a row of building in what seems to be a housing complex. In front of her, a door that says 221. She’s here in Baker Street.Kei gulped and tightened her grip on the suitcase handle, dragging it to the porch. She gulped and sighed again before knocking on the door with the doorknob placed under the number 221.
Kei felt her heart stops for a moment, fear crept to her. What if this wasn’t the place? Or if it is, what if he’s out? The questions just keep on popping on Kei’s mind.
“Coming!!” she heard a muffled call. Kei sighed in relieve, at least someone is home..
The door opened, revealing an elderly lady in her sixties. Short figure, around Kei’s shoulder, short blonde hair with most of it turning gray already and was wearing a purple dress that goes over her knees. Her smile reminded Kei of the old grandmother that sells vegetables near her neighbourhood back in Tokyo, minus the green apron.
“Hello, dear.” she smiled brightly at me. Yes, definitely a nice old lady.. Thought Kei. “How can I help you?”
Kei was silent for a moment, being awe of the woman’s smile before finally realized that she’s been staring too long. Her cheek blushed as she shook her head with an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry.. Yes, I am looking for Mr. Holmes. Does he live here?”
“Ah yes of course, everyone in London would know where he lives.” smiled the woman. “Come on in dear, it’s chilly outside and yet you are wearing a ripped jeans.” she greeted her warmly as she opened the door wider so Kei could come in with her baggage.
Kei came in and was glad to find the inside was warm, “Thank you, Mam..”
“No problem, dear. You seemed to have travel to see Sherlock, I assumed? He’s upstairs with a client in the 221B. You’d have to wait for them to finish up first before you can see him.” explained the woman. Just as Kei about to go upstairs with her baggage, the woman added “Oh just put you baggage here, dear. It should be safe than you bringing it upstairs through the bloody stairs.”
Kei nodded and smile, thanking the woman again before stepping up the staircase. Her hands gently traced the wallpaper and the stair’s handle as she ascended. Once she’s on the second floor, she saw the door with 221B sign. Kei approached and just as she’s about to knock on them, the door flung open.
“Boring, get out of here. Next!”
Kei stepped aside as an elderly couple walked out, crying and yelling curses in English. It was as if they were pissed by whoever kicking them out of the room, well Kei does think they have the rights to do so as if it was pretty rude. As soon as they disappeared from the sight, Kei heard the sound of melody coming out of the room. Peeking in, she saw a tall figure standing by the windows playing what seems to be a violin. The melody however confused Kei, she can feel it was happy and full of excitement before suddenly it goes deep and filled with complicated notes and-
“Hello,” a voice surprised her. Kei turned to the side and saw a man smiling at her, around early thirties with medium build and blonde hair neatly combed. “Sherlock likes to play the violin. Says that it helps him thinking at times.”
Kei nodded in understandment, still eying the man playing the violin. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the melody he produced. She spent years in Piano rehearsals and recently guitar, she’s well aware of classic pieces for instruments like pianos and violins but.. She never heard these piece before.She opened her eyes when the music stopped abruptly, she frown a bit as she was starting to enjoy the confusing melody a little. She saw the exact man in the article, looking at her with the violin in his hand. He stared at her deeply, Kei could tell. His eyes looking at her as if they were x-rays, looking outside and inside her looking for something.
He’s a detective,Kei. she reminded herself. Kei gulped nervously at the man before deciding to say something.
“Why did you stop?”
The man raised his eyebrows, most likely was surprised for Kei to know that it wasn’t the end and that he had stopped in the middle of the song. “I haven’t figured out what to add next.”
“You mean, you made that piece by yourself?” asked Kei in surprised. “That was good.. A bit confusing though with the-”
“You play?” asked Sherlock. Kei nodded. “What instrument?”
“Piano, 7 years.” said Kei. “Classic and electric guitar currently, though.”
Kei saw Sherlock frowned, “Odd for such abrupt turn.”
“Call it a teenage year decision.” said Kei, looking at the man’s face softened a little as he put away his violin.
“Have a seat and we’ll talk about your case.” said Sherlock as he sat down on his sofa. Kei saw the other man motioning her to sit on a wooden chair before sitting down on his sofa which was the opposite of Sherlock’s.
“Thank you Mr-”
“Watson. John Watson.” the man nodded with a brief smile.
Kei bowed and sat on the chair, she felt four eyes were looking at her now. But Kei turned her eyes to Sherlock Holmes only, as she pulled out her mother’s book.
“My name is Kei Tachibana.” Kei began.
“A Japanese.” nodded Sherlock, giving her a que to go on.
“You knew my mother.” stated Kei. “Her name is Anko Tachibana.”
Sherlock looked at me, for a second I saw his eyes flinched and a flash of confusement in his face before it was replaced back with a neutral expression. “I don’t know anyone by that name.”
Kei’s eyes widened, “But… she mentioned you in her note. She-” Kei swallowed, feeling her heart beating faster. “She said she was your friend in the old days and that-”
“I have no ‘friend’, Miss Tachibana.” stated Sherlock simply, eying Kei very carefully.
“But-but..” Kei grew nervous, what if it wasn’t him? What if he wasn’t the man her mother mentioned in her note?
“A letter.” stuttered Kei. “My mother told me to give a letter to you, she said you’d remember her.” Sherlock raised his eyebrows in interest in which Kei quickly pulled out the envelope inside the book and handed it to him.
The girl watched him ripping open the letter carefully as her hands clenched tightly to her mother’s book. John in the other seat watched Sherlock closely as well, “What is it Sherlock?”
Sherlock scanned the letter quickly, Kei watched his eyes moved from each line written there but then she saw his eyes twitched once it reached the last paragraph of the letter. The man bit his lips briefly before putting down the letter, eying me much more carefully than before.
“Sherlock?” asked John. “What is it?”
Still having his eyes on Kei and not speaking a single word, Sherlock pulled out a phone and quickly dialed a number. His hand held the letter tightly, he was tensed.
Something in the letter has caused Sherlock to feel tensed than ever before.
==================================================================
In another place
Mycroft sipped his brandy quietly as he watched the view from a window of the room he was standing in. The Diogenes Club is a place for true silence, as minds come together and indulged themselves in silence. It was his prefered place to drink in the noon, as he got a room to himself all the time. Enjoying his liquor in silence.
The slight vibration in his suit pocket however disturbed him from the silence. He tilted his head slightly in annoyance, before reaching out for the Blackberry. The caller’s id had him occupied for a moment, deciding to answer it or not. In the end, he decided to press the answer button.
“Funny how you already call me at such early hour, brother mine.” said Mycroft icily.
“Mycroft, get here right now.” he heard his younger brother growled through the line.
“Heavens, Sherlock. What’s the matter this time?” asked Mycroft motioning his brandy glass in circle, swirling the golden brown liquid inside it.
“Anko Tachibana.”
Mycroft stopped his hand suddenly, leaving the brandy inside his glass still swirling gently. “What about her?”
“It’s about her and I don’t care if you are meeting The Queen or someone important from your world. But you need to come here right now!" said Sherlock before ending the call. Mycroft put down the Blackberry as he eyed out into the distance, the name has certainly made him think about her at once. Mycroft Holmes has known many women throughout his life, but Anko Tachibana was another case.
He finished his drink in one gulp and grabbed his umbrella as he head out from the club. At the door, he saw his assistant, Anthea, already waiting with his car.
“Anthea, cancel all meetings I have today.” said Mycroft before going into the car. “My brother has gotten his hands on something he wasn’t supposed to..”
==================================================================
Back in 221B Baker St.
Kei watched the detective put down his phone, his eyes are still on her. The way he talked on the phone was scary for her, thankfully she wasn’t on the line with him. But just by hearing them and how he looked at her now were almost as scary as it would be on the line with him.
“Sherlock what is going on, honestly?” asked John looking as confused as ever. He turned to Kei “Miss Tachibana?”
“I-I.. I have no idea.” shook Kei shakily. Sherlock’s eyes were sharp on the girl, he was scanning her as if she was some kind of nuclear bomb, a big threat.
“Where are you from?” he asked Kei.
“Japan.” answered Kei. “Tokyo.”
“Why are you here? Where is Anko Tachibana?” asked Sherlock again.
Kei felt the air in her chest has gotten stuck, as if Sherlock’s eyes had made them freeze there. Suffocating her slightly in results. As if John noticed it, he spoke “Sherlock, you’re pressuring her.”
Sherlock did not answer, “Answer me!”
Kei closed her eyes slightly and breathed, feeling her chest could burst at any moment due to the furious thumping of her heart. She opened her eyes and spoke shakily
“Tokyo Central Hospital, she’s in comatose.”
Kei felt a tear coming out of the side of her left eye, it was as if a huge needle has been pulled off her chest, it hurts but a brief comfort in the same time. She brace herself to look at Sherlock in the eyes, “She’s in comatose and told me to come here looking for Mr. Holmes.”
Sherlock’s eyes softened a little but still sharp on me, “What happened to her?”
Kei swallowed, “I don’t know.”
“You have to do better than that, Ke-”
“I DON’T KNOW!” yelled Kei for the first time since all the things happened to her. She eyed Sherlock in distress, she has had enough of everything. Her mother dying, a danger coming after her, and right now a detective gawking at her as if she was something dangerous and must be destroyed. The emotions mixing and swirling inside Kei was fuming as she felt another shot of her tear came out, this time from the right eye.
She knew nothing after all.. Nothing at all.
“She’s dying, Mr. Holmes..” said Kei weakly, feeling her world has taken it’s toll, crumbling underneath her feet.. “And whoever hurt her is sure to come after me next...”
Kei felt weak all the sudden, the burdened thoughts she had has been released. She felt her body slumped sideways and arms caught her body. She felt so weak and tired, from the corner of her eyes she can see John calling out to her and knelt next to her. She couldn’t see Sherlock anymore, but Kei was sure he still has his eyes on her even if she was already in the dark, swallowed by the shadows..
===============================================================
“For God Sake, what happened here?” asked Mrs. Hudson coming into the room. In instant, she saw John placing the girl’s body on the sofa near the wall. “What happened to her, John?”
“Exhaustion, Mrs. Hudson.” answered the doctor checking her eyes. “My guess is that she haven’t had a meal for at least a day and a good sleep.”
“Oh dear..” gasped Mrs. Hudson. “I’ll go grab something warm for her.”
“Please do, Mrs. Hudson.” pleaded John, checking Kei’s temperature.
“Just this once, I am not your housekeeper, alright.” said Mrs. Hudson before heading out of the room. “Ah, Mycroft!”
“Mrs. Hudson.” nodded Mycroft briefly before eying Mrs. Hudson running past him to go downstairs. Once she was gone, the elder Holmes walked in and immediately met his brother’s eyes. “Sherlock.”
“Anko Tachibana.” spat Sherlock all the sudden, standing up from his seat. “Who is she?”
Mycroft pinched his eyes as he walked into the room, he spotted John attending what seemed to be a fainted client of his brother. A girl around seventeen or eighteen years of age, wearing black attires. But he focused back on his brother seemed to be uptight more than ever, even more than when he met Eurus.
“She’s an old acquaintance of mine.” spoke Mycroft carefully. “Has something happened to her?”
Sherlock handed him a letter that Kei had given him earlier. The younger Holmes walked passed Mycroft, “Last paragraph.” Mycroft sighed and read the last paragraph of the letter just like what his brother told him to.
Mycroft, I entrusted you our daughter from now on. Keep her safe by your side no matter what..
-Anko Tachibana
“That girl on the sofa,” said Sherlock motioning to the girl that John was tending. “Is Anko Tachibana’s daughter.”
“And yours as well.”
To be Continued