I know what some of you are thinking. 'Don't start another story, hoe! Work on your other one!' But this idea has been in my head for eons…and I just had to type it out and post it. I'll update Life's Better With An Uchiha On Top soon….don't worry!

Disclaimer: No own-y the Naruto-y. Too poor-y. Comprende-y? Nor do I own the song 'All Around Me' by Flyleaf. No sue-y.

This is a story about an elevator.

Not a new, fancy elevator; no, this elevator was old and faulty, prone to being slow and frustrating.

Afore mentioned elevator was located in a rather dismal apartment building in the shabby part of town. The owner of this building wasn't very concerned about it, for he owned much larger buildings that required his undivided attention. In fact, he only kept this one building because he hoped to purchase the property next door, tear both places down, and build anew on the lots. But I digress. This is a story of an elevator. And two people.

One was Sakura Haruno. A tomboy of twenty years of age, she was bold and daring, opinionated and obstinate. Passionate about civil rights, environmental issues, and justice, she was often ridiculed for her ways, but held fast. At the moment, she was working two jobs to put herself through medical school. Coming from a poor family, she had no help, and it wasn't easy, even with her scholarship.

So she lived in a tiny apartment, in a shabby apartment building, with an elevator she rode in everyday. She hated three things in life; unnecessary violence, rich and pompous people, and that elevator.

The other person is Sasuke Uchiha. His history is the complete opposite of Sakura's. Born into the Uchiha family, one of the most prestigious and rich families in Konoha, he was spoiled and pampered from infancy. Now, at twenty years of age, he was cold, aloof, distant, and obnoxious. He expected--no, demanded--respect and obedience. Whether it was with one of his numerous women, or in the office, he dominated. So, with a secure position as the CEO of a large corporation, he was very successful.

But he has never been in love. He's had, again, numerous affairs, flings, and one-night-stands, but has never shared special feelings of the romantic sort. But he was content with his life, just the way it was. Until the elevator.

You're probably wondering how someone of Sasuke's stature came to be in this building. Well, it was simple. After a wild party on a Friday night, he went home with a woman; this woman who just happened to have a roommate.

Sakura was used to Karin bringing home strange men; it had become routine. And if they messed with her, she'd shoot them down quickly. After all, she had a mean right hook that sent men's jaws to the floor--literally.

So, on this particular Friday night, she wasn't surprised that, while doing her schoolwork, the door opened and Karin stumbled in with a handsome man.

Now, Karin was pretty, what with her (granted, strange) long red hair, red eyes, and curvy figure. But her 'guys' were usually very average-looking. But tonight there was nothing average about him.

His hair, a deep black, was spiked strangely in the back, but the style worked well on him. She couldn't see his eyes behind his sunglasses, but she had a feeling they were as dark as his hair. He wore a dark blue dress shirt along with black slacks that made him look rich and classy.

Of course, they were both intoxicated. Flushed cheeks, glazed eyes--all the symptoms. Sakura sighed. She wished Karin wouldn't come home drunk. She herself didn't drink; she hated the taste.

Karin halted in her tracks when she saw her sitting on the couch, legs curled up underneath her with several medical textbooks open around her and on her lap. "Oh, Sakura! I thought you were working tonight!" she exclaimed.

"No, I got Ino to cover my shift." Sakura frowned at the redhead.

"Oh, well…" Karin glanced at the man, then back to her. "Uh, Sakura, this is Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Sakura, my little sister."

Well, that was a first. Sakura's mouth opened to belay the lie, then closed it and shook her head. Why waste her breath? It's not like her and this Sasuke guy would last too long, anyways. "Yeah, nice to meet you," she told the silent man distractedly as she gathered up her textbooks. "Look, I have a really big paper due tomorrow, so I'll just go into my room. Did you put my laptop back in my room?"

Karin screwed her face up as she struggled to remember. Even without an alcohol-clouded brain, she had trouble thinking. Then her face smoothed out as a light bulb clicked on in her head. "Oh, yeah! I put it on your bed!"

"Good. Well, good night, then." With one last look at the still-silent man, she headed towards her bedroom.

However, she was juggling six heavy textbooks. So she hadn't taken three steps when the top one toppled towards the floor.

A blink. And a pale hand was holding the book out to her. She blinked again, then glanced up. Sasuke was standing there, having caught her book. Another blink. Then she realized she was staring. "Oh! Er, thank you, uh…."

"Sasuke," he supplied, his face expressionless.

"Right, Sasuke….um, thank you for catching my book." She gestured to the pile in her hands, to tell him wordlessly to place it on top.

Instead, he stared at the cover of the book with interest. "A medical textbook? Are you a med student?"

"Yes, I'm a med student at the Konoha Medical College. Do you know of it?" she asked when he started slightly at the name.

"Yes, I do…actually, my family makes regular donations to the college…" he murmured.

Her eyes widened. "So, you're…..Uchiha….Sasuke…?" No wonder the name had sounded familiar. He was filthy rich! That being said, what the heck was he doing talking to her, of all people? Right….about to sleep with her roommate, right…

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke, yes." Now he actually sounded amused. Did he expect her to go crazy-nutso-psycho on him or something now that she knew who he was?

Well, she wasn't. No freakin' way. "Well, thank you again, Sasuke. I hope you have a nice day….or night…whichever." She smiled at him, and he placed the book atop her pile. "Good night." Then she turned around and safely made it to her room.

Dumping her burden on her bed, she went back and shut her door, but not before she caught Karin and Sasuke snogging. For some reason, it felt strange to her, to see them kissing. Shaking away her weird feelings, she closed the door, quietly, and set about rearranging her books on her bed so that she could sit on it, surrounded by them, and type on her laptop.

When she heard the first sound, she almost dropped a textbook she was holding, but managed to catch it. Being a virgin, hearing sex sounds was foreign to her, and embarrassed her. Cursing the fact that Karin's bedroom was right beside hers, she pulled her old iPod out of her bag and stuck the little plugs in her ears. Scrolling through her options, she chose one of her favorites and smiled when the music poured straight into her ears.

My hands are searching for you

My arms are outstretched towards you

I feel you on my fingertips

My tongue dances behind my lips for you

Unconsciously, she began to sing, low at first, then slightly higher and louder. It was an unconscious thing; she wasn't trying to interrupt the two in the room beside hers.

XxXxXx-.-.-.-.-xXxXxX

He was more than a little intoxicated; heck, he hadn't been so drunk in a long time. He could usually hold his liquor.

He was slightly more composed than the woman in bed with him. She was giggling over nothing while she undressed; now, normally he would be helping her get her clothes off, so he could do the nasty and fall asleep or, better yet, leave. But he was distracted by something.

A voice. Singing. One of his favorite songs. Yes, Sasuke Uchiha listened to rock. And Flyleaf was one of his favorite bands. So when he heard one of his favorite songs, by his favorite band, being sung, his attention immediately switched to the wall beside the bed he lay on. "What's on the other side of this wall?" he asked the woman; hell, he'd forgotten her name. Karen? Karrie?

"Oh, Sakura's room," she answered dismissively, struggling to pull her panties down her legs without taking off her skirt.

Then the voice came again:

I can feel you all around me

Thickening the air I'm breathing

Holding onto what I'm feeling

Savoring this heart that's healing

She had such a sweet voice; and when he said that, he meant that her tone was flat. But it wasn't so much how she sounded as how she sang the song. With feeling. Like the lead singer of Flyleaf; nowhere near as good, but still…

"I keep telling her not to sing aloud, but she does it anyway!" Karin--that's right, that was her name--said as she slid towards him across the bed, now naked. "How come your clothes are still on?"

He was suddenly not in the mood for sex. So he said, "I'm tired; I have to get up early in the morning."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. "Wh-whaa--But I thought the only reason you came home with me was--"

"I'm not in the mood." He turned over to face the wall, only to find that Sakura was no longer singing. Maybe she could hear them through the wall.

Karin gave a huff of anger, but didn't pester him. Ten minutes later, her breathing had leveled and she was letting out huge snores. He dealt with this for about five more minutes, then grabbed the pillow beneath his head and slipped out of her bedroom, thinking to sleep on the couch.

Unfortunately for him, it was occupied. No wonder he hadn't heard Sakura anymore; she'd moved back out to the couch, her medical textbooks around her, an old, battered laptop atop her lap, and two tiny ear plugs in her ears, leading to a scratched red iPod lying beside her. And she was still singing the same song.

Take my hand, I give it to you

Now you own me, all I am

You said you would never leave me

I believe you, I believe!

He tapped her on the shoulder, and her eyes flew from the computer screen to him. They were a pleasant apple-green, though her light pink hair was strange….

She pulled the plugs from her ears and said, "I'm sorry, I'll shut up! I just, you know, unconsciously start singing. I love this song, and--"

"Me too," he input.

"--huh?" She blinked up at him owlishly in surprise. "Pardon?"

"You were singing 'All Around Me' by Flyleaf, right? I love that song, too. They're actually my favorite band."

She smiled up at him, a dazzling white smile that almost made him want to shield his eyes. "Mine too! Wow, what are the odds?" Then her smile disappeared as she noticed the pillow he carried. "Um, did you want to….sleep on the couch or something?"

"Yeah. Your sister snores….really loud." He shrugged. "But I guess I can deal with it--"

"No, it's quite all right!" For the second time in the last hour, she began to gather up her books and stuff. "I only came out here because I could hear sounds and--" Her cheeks flushed, and she said, "I-I mean--er, since you're sleeping out here, I'll just, er, finish up in my, er, room….G-good night!" Squeaking slightly on the last part, she flew back to her room.

He stared after her for a moment, then shook his head. Just as he was about to lay down on the couch, her bedroom door opened and she came back out, carrying a fluffy pink blanket. "Here, it gets pretty cold this time of year….Sorry about the color."

"That's fine." He took the offending wad of pink marshmallow and even gave her a tiny, tiny, teeny-weeny smile. "Thank you."

"No problem!" And with that, she walked back to her room.

He couldn't stop himself from watching her, admiring the curve of her derrière in the short black shorts she wore…and her pink tank-top had looked good on her, too, hugging her small breasts. Wait, what was he thinking?! He'd always considered himself a breast man, and hers were small. But perfectly shaped…just the right size to cup his hand over….

Pulling his gaze from her swaying rear, he mentally scowled at himself. Stupid horny lecherous thoughts….he didn't even know how old she was!

'She's old enough to be in med school,' he reminded himself. Well, still….

He snuggled up into the cotton candy confection and mused on how his friends would laugh if they could see him now; refusing sex with a sexy woman, fantasizing about her less-attractive little sister, and using a pink blanket. They'd laugh like the hyenas they were…

Surprisingly, he fell asleep relatively quickly, with no dreams….

XxXxXx-.-.-.-.-xXxXxX

When she awoke, it was to her alarm going off. Groaning, she switched it off, then sat up. Usually she was a morning person, but after getting only three hours of sleep after staying up all night working on her paper, she was too tired to be cheerful.

Still, she got up and took a much-needed shower, then got dressed in a pair of charcoal-gray slacks and a white blouse, pulled her hair into a low ponytail with a butterfly clasp her friend Hinata had given her for her last birthday, and slid her feet into black flats.

She opened her door, bag bulging with books and her laptop on her shoulder, and walked into the living room. Sasuke wasn't on the couch anymore; he must have been in the shower, because the water was running, and she could still hear Karin's snores over the sound. Shaking her head, she went into the small galley kitchen and grabbed a blueberry muffin from the pantry.

She had just finished it and was unwrapping her second when the bathroom door opened and Sasuke emerged, hair still slightly damp, but thankfully dressed in his clothes from last night. He managed to make the wrinkled and rumpled clothes look good. "'Morning. Muffin?" She held out the freshly unwrapped muffin as an offering.

"No thanks." He checked the expensive-looking watch on his wrist. "I was supposed to be at work half an hour ago."

"Oh. Will you get in trouble?"

"No. I'm my own boss."

Her lips twitched. "Oh, that's good. If I was even thirty seconds late, my boss would kill me. Both of them."

"You have two jobs?" he asked absently while sliding his dirty socks back on his feet.

Tearing her eyes away from the sight of his foot, which was surprisingly very sexy, being a foot, she answered, "Yeah. I've got a scholarship, but I needed to help pay for this place, and even with a roommate, I needed two jobs."

"I can't imagine having two jobs. One is enough for me," he murmured, now pulling on his shiny black dress shoes.

"They're both part-time, what with me being in school and all. Still, it's very tiring." Some of her usual energy returning due to the second muffin she was chomping, she bounced on her heels. "Well, I've got to get to class. And you've got to get to work. Wanna share an elevator?"

"Are there any other elevators?" he asked, grabbing his wallet from the kitchen table and following her as she left the apartment.

"Nope! Just the one!" she chirped back, practically skipping down the hall. Those must be some damn ass good muffins.

"Hn." Resorting back to his normal form of conversation, he wondered why he was talking so much around her. Usually he was silent and stoic. There must be something about her buoyancy that brought out his inner….talker.

They arrived in front of the elevator, and she pressed the button. And they waited. And waited. In silence. "Dang thing!" She kicked the doors; and they magically opened. She blinked, then grinned. "I am so awesome!"

"Hn." He followed her into the elevator, and she pressed the button for the ground floor.

The ride was arduous. And longer than it should be. She was standing a little too close; why was she almost pressed up against him when there was plenty of space outside his personal bubble for her to stand?

Then the elevator inexplicably lurched, and she fell against him; he twisted to catch her, but there was another lurch, and he fell backwards, bringing her crashing to the floor with him.

Lying on top of him.

Thigh against thigh.

Chest against chest.

Lips against lips.

Wow.

Well, THAT was arduous! Ha ha, j/k. I love it. Reviews if you like. I will add more chapters anyways, regardless of reviews.

Still, review. For me? You see that review button? It's so lonely….TOUCH IT!

…and that was in no way sexual….