i had some free time between doing homework for my classes, so i wrote this little baby up. i hope you all enjoy! the chapters won't be very long, which will make them easier to write and i'll be able to update a bit more frequently. sailor soldiers ( which is being written on my other account, xhibit b ) will take longer for updates, so this should hold you guys over in the mean time, in between time.

Elevator Music

By: BrittanyTheWriter

Chapter One

.i do not own sailor moon.

She should have known from the moment he opened his door and stepped out as she did, that today was going to be a very bad day. For the better part of thirteen years, Mamoru Chiba and Usagi Tsukino had never gotten along. If they so much as breathed the same air, verbal insults were inevitable. And when she'd found out that they lived in, not only the same apartment complex, but on the same floor as well, his apartment being only a few doors down from hers, she could have kicked herself for not paying as much attention as she should have when she was looking for a place to call home fresh out of college. But she loved her apartment, it was spacious and had a great view of the park and lake across the street and one Mamoru Chiba was not going to mess that up for her. She'd just decided that she would leave at a different time to avoid him as much as humanly possible.

She'd had every intention of doing so today but as fate would have it, her alarm didn't go off when it was supposed to. Not to mention she'd slipped in the shower and bumped her head against the edge of the tub in her rush to get ready and make it out the door with only fifteen minutes to spare before she was completely thrown off schedule. No doubt if he noticed the bump on her head which she'd tried so hard to conceal with her fringe, she'd never hear the end of it. When she'd finally emerged from her apartment, it was well after eight and she had to be to work in less than twenty minutes. She was going to be late, and if middle school, high school and university had only taught her one thing, it was that being late in the professional world was never a good thing. Especially if no notice was given. She'd have to call her boss and let her know that she was running behind and would be there as soon as possible.

Of course, as she was in the middle of doing just that, she happened to, literally, bump into the one man she didn't want to see. He'd opened his mouth to give some smart assed comment about her paying attention to where she was going, but Usagi would have none of it. She offered a tight 'excuse me' before hurrying on her way to the elevator, her heels clicking against the tiled floor of the hallway as the phone was placed to her ear. She jabbed at the down button to summon the elevator repeatedly, impatiently tapping her foot against the floor as the phone rang. She ignored Mamoru who had come up behind her, she could swear he'd said something about her glaring at the meter wouldn't make it move any faster.

The elevator finally dinged, the doors opening to let passengers in. Thankfully it was empty, and she knew that both she and Mamoru would be going to the same floor so there would be no unnecessary stops along the way. The less time that was wasted, the better chance she had of not being overly late. The phone continued to ring as the car began to move downward, taking them to the motor lobby of the apartment building. She finally got an answer a moment later.

"Hi, it's Usagi," Usagi said into the phone when her boss finally picked up. "Sorry to say I'm going to be a tiny bit late to work today. I had a mishap with the alarm and the shower this morning but I'm on my way now. I'm estimating that I'll be there within the next twenty or so minutes. I just wanted to let you know."

Mamoru could hear a woman's voice speaking over the phone, assuring Usagi that it was fine since they were slow and to get there as soon as humanly possible. Usagi had opened her mouth to reply when the elevator car began to rock before they stopped moving all together and a red light washed over them.

"What the heck just happened," Usagi said, looking up at the lights overhead. "The lights just turned red and we stopped moving."

"I think the elevator is stuck," Mamoru offered. He could hear her boss asking if everything was alright. He shook his head, smirking slightly. "It looks like you're going to need more than twenty minutes before you make it to work, Usa. We might be here for a while."

Usagi wanted to scream but held her composure. She was twenty-seven now, not fourteen. She would act like an adult even if the situation was not the most ideal. Because what honestly could be worse than being stuck in an elevator with your mortal enemy on top of being late for work? At least the elevator music that had been playing beforehand had stopped. That would have only made things worse. Usagi sighed, placing the phone to her ear.

"The elevator's stuck. I'm going to have to call for help, I'll let you know when I get out of this elevator and I'm on the way."

Usagi sighed, running a hand through her loose, golden blond hair. The phone was hung up a moment later, Mamoru had heard her boss tell her that she would send her the documents she needed to go over if she didn't make it there within the hour. It made Mamoru curious as to just what Usagi did for a living. Of course, he could ask. But he was pretty positive, given their extensive history of "hating" each other, her more so than him, she would just level him with her best glare she could muster before going on to ignore the question. He ran a frustrated hand through his unruly ebony hair.

He watched her from the corner of his eye as she crawled over to the emergency phone that was set up in the elevator for emergencies like this. She picked up the red receiver and put it to her ear, pressing the button to try and get someone's attention. The phone crackled to life a moment later.

"Building security, how can I help you," the male said.

Usagi immediately recognized his voice. He was dating her best friend, Makoto. Immediately the blond felt a hundred times better, "Nephrite! Oh thank god it's you. I have a bit of a problem."

"Usagi," the man, Nephrite, answered. "What's going on?"

"Elevator three is stuck," Usagi answered. "I need you to get someone out here to fix it. I'm going to be late for work and I really can't afford that right now."

She heard Nephrite make a sound, almost as if he were agreeing with her. She could hear keys tapping in the background before he spoke again. "Alright, I've just sent an alert to get maintenance out here as well as the police. They should be here within the hour. Just hang tight and we'll have you out of there as soon as possible, alright?"

"How long are we talking," Usagi asked, she could feel Mamoru's azure eyes boring into her back and she wasn't entirely sure she was comfortable with the idea of being stuck in here with him for a long period of time. "I need an estimation, Neph."

"Hard to say," Nephrite said. "We could have you out in a few minutes, or it could take a few hours. It really just depends. So hang tight, alright? We're going to get you out of there."

Usagi blew a breath, sparing a glance over her shoulder at the raven-haired male that stood, leaning against the elevator car's wall with his arms crossed over his chest. If she survived this, she'd never complain again… if she survived.

"Well, I guess we had better make ourselves comfortable," Mamoru said with a heavy sigh. "It looks like we're going to be here for a while."

"Please just stop talking, you're using up all the clean air," Usagi said rolling her eyes, whipping her phone out to text her boss.

Mamoru groaned, it was going to be a long day.