A/N: Hello! This is an Inu/Kag AU fic. Hope you enjoy! =) I will also start this off with an M rating because of events in the next chapters.

Ride the Elevator

Chapter one: Stuck

The silence was unnerving. Almost deathly. Breaking it would somehow ease the tension, right?

"So this is how my young, vibrant, promising life is going to end?"

Kagome's question remained unanswered as she drew her knees closer to her face while she sat fighting the urge to cry or scream. Or cry-scream, she hadn't decided yet. And no, the tension was as thick as the walls that kept her from her freedom.

It was unfortunate, but she was trapped. Literally trapped. Not figuratively like when she had eaten a whole plate of cupcakes she found in the refrigerator and decided to ignore the 'Do not eat' sticky note stuck to the top of the saran wrap, earning her an unavoidable scolding from her mother about those cupcakes being for some work thing. Still, it was worth it.

This, however, was not worth it. She resented getting on this thing. In the previously described situation, she only had the feeling of being trapped. In here she was physically trapped. Trapped in a 5X8 elevator nonetheless.

"Those fucking morons better get me out of here before I kick someone's ass!" A bellowing voice startled Kagome out of her depressing thoughts. The owner of the voice violently hurled his fist at the wall.

Oh yes, there was someone just as hopelessly stuck with her in that tiny, suffocating space.

It was none other than the famous—or rather infamous—Inuyasha Takahashi. He was the billionaire heir to the Shikon Hotels, a popular actor and model, and was even labeled Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine—two years running. He was notorious for being an enormous playboy with an enormous temper to match. The paparazzi went nuts over this guy.

"I can't believe this is happening to me…" Kagome whimpered.

"Shut up little girl. If you hadn't been ogling me so hard when you got in here, you might be in your standard hotel room right now, and I'd be sitting here peacefully waiting to be saved without some annoying brat crying every two seconds," he snapped.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I wasn't ogling. It's not every day that I see a celebrity—no matter how irrelevant a celebrity you are…you're still a celebrity and I was a little awestruck for a teeny-tiny second," she replied, ignoring the urge to punch him square in the face. "Kind of regretting it now though…"

"Irrelevant? You bitch—I ought to fucking show you how relevant I am!" he snarled back.

"Yeah, yeah…" she waved him off, unruffled by his threat. Then it was silence again between them.

The silver-haired heir scanned the girl next to him. His eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness of the room and looking at the girl, he actually thought she was actually rather pretty, with her long, silky black hair, those gray-blue eyes, and long legs. She seemed genuinely nice enough too, as far as he could tell. She had offered to share a small bag of M&Ms with him not too long ago. Of course he refused rudely, slipping in a short insult just to keep up his façade. Inuyasha was not exactly known as a "nice guy" and would never give the poor girl the pleasure of receiving a compliment from him. His callousness was all part of his charm anyhow. Nonetheless, he figured if he was going to be stuck in an elevator with anyone, it might as well be a sweet, kind girl.

As if she felt his eyes on her, Kagome glanced up at him, questioningly. He scoffed and glanced away. "Too bad I didn't get stuck in here with someone hotter," he remarked quickly.

"You know, I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but yup, the tabloids were right about you. You are a class A jerk-off," she said, ignoring his rude comment.

"Besides that ugly brown skirt, I'd say you look, at best, like a C-."

"I'm going to continue ignoring you until they get us out of here. It shouldn't be too long now, eh?" she said, flashing him a very obviously forced smile.

The intercom next to the help button crackled and a male voice spoke. The bickering duo suddenly became alert and sat up, both hoping for nothing but exceptional news. "Mr. Takahashi, Ms. Higurashi? Sorry for the delay, we're still having difficulty finding the problem."

"Well fucking find it already! I have shit to do!" Inuyasha growled.

"How much longer sir?" Kagome asked eagerly, but politely, as she snapped a glare at her rude companion.

"I'm sorry…we're not sure. Everything in the control panel seems to be running smoothly. The fault finder hasn't found any malfunctions. We're having our maintenance people check out the elevator car right now—"

"Can't you just open that hatch up top and pull us out?" Inuyasha interjected.

"There's a little more danger involved with that since the elevator stopped on the 42nd floor. We're hoping that would be our last resort but if all else fails then, yes, we will use the emergency hatch."

Kagome's face faltered. "Well…please keep us updated."

"Yes Miss. I'll be in contact again soon." With that, he was gone.

"Now what?" Inuyasha growled, throwing his hands up in frustration. "I'm stuck here with you for at least another hour?"

"Well I'm just as unhappy as you are—if not more so," she grumbled, crossing her arms. She sat back in her corner of the elevator. Her belly suddenly made a very loud, very embarrassing growling noise. Inuyasha chuckled lightly, causing a deep crimson blush to form on Kagome's face. "Plus I'm getting hungry."

A second later, the same sound—but much louder-resonated from Inuyasha's stomach. He grinned sheepishly. "Goddammit. Me too…"

"I want a pastrami sandwich or something with bacon…" she said dreamily. She sat up straight and looked over at Inuyasha. "Hey, I know it hasn't been that long, but do you have a food you miss right now?" Kagome asked, hoping to keep their minds off their current situation.

"Ramen."

"Of all the things you miss the most, you miss packaged noodles?"

"It's easy to make and it's fucking good," Inuyasha answered matter-of-factly.

"What about cheeseburgers and sushi? Oooh or lobster…" Kagome found herself drooling and making a mental note of her next meal.

And then Inuyasha's next comment ruined her improving mood. "Oh by the way, I'm going to eat you if we never get out of here. You're the weaker one."

"See why do you have to make comments like that? What did I do to deserve getting insulted or yelled at every two seconds?"

"You annoy the shit out of me!"

"You barely know me!"

"Well I know you enough to know you talk too much and ask stupid questions!"

"FINE! I won't try to make conversation with you again okay? I just thought it would make this more bearable."

"Keh. I'm still going to eat you."

This was going to be a long day…

Two hours earlier…

He could not believe it. His brother managed to show him up yet again.

His brother's face seemed to be gracing the cover of every newspaper and influential magazine in the stands because of his heroic efforts to save lives. Apparently, along with his colleagues, his brother had successfully developed a new technique for deep brain simulation, which was a neuro-surgical procedure that helped patients with Parkinson's disease. He made the list of Most Influential People in the World, by Time Magazine. People were calling him innovative, valiant, chivalrous, a real-life hero among the people.

These were words they'd never throw Inuyasha's way. No, he was the angry playboy who'd been arrested countless times on assault on paparazzi, urinating in public, and disorderly conduct. So while his brother made Time Magazine, he made the tabloids. The dirty, grimy tabloids. No wonder his dad seemed to favor his older brother. He looked outside the tinted window of his limo, contemplating.

His thoughts were interrupted by his cell ringing in his pocket. He answered it, a little annoyed by the interruption. "What?!" he snapped.

An indifferent voice answered, seemingly oblivious to Inuyasha's tone of voice. "Inuyasha, your father wishes to meet with you for lunch this afternoon at the Hotel."

"Well Naraku, tell my dad I'm busy with work and maybe I'll have lunch with him tomorrow—or whenever the hell I feel like seeing him."

"You know you can blow off your silly photo-shoots whenever you want. This is your father. He just wants a word with you," Naraku replied calmly. If he was trying to convince Inuyasha, he was doing a really bad job at it.

"Honestly, I'd rather have him call me himself instead of having his little minion Naraku calling me to waste my time." Inuyasha hung up before Naraku could say another word. He knew exactly what hotel he was talking about and what his father wanted to talk about with him. And he wanted none of it.

He picked up his phone again. He needed to blow off some steam after his next photo-shoot.

Picking off a number from his contact list, he pressed call and waited. After a couple rings, a sultry voice answered on the other end.

"Hello?"

"Hey gorgeous, you busy in a couple hours?" he asked as his limo neared his destination.

"What'd you have in mind?" He smirked. Just the response he was looking for.

...

"Ahh…" Kagome sighed happily as she threw her body on the soft, down covers of the hotel bed.

"It's not so bad now is it?" Grandpa Higurashi asked his teenaged granddaughter.

"Not at all! I'm so glad we decided to go on vacation…even if it is just two hours from home. Tokyo was a good idea Gramps," she replied, rolling her body back and forth on the soft white sheets.

"You didn't have to pick the fancy suite though Grandpa, Onee-chan isn't that special," Kagome's brother Souta chimed in, jumping on the bed his sister had wordlessly claimed. She made a face when he interrupted her ecstatic rolling around in the bed.

"Well when you finish high school and get into a cool university like me, then maybe Grandpa will take you out too," Kagome retorted, grabbing her brother's legs, causing him to crash down next to her on the bed. "Get off my bed."

Souta chuckled, grabbing a pillow and refusing to get off the bed. "Why'd you pick the top floor Grandpa? It's kind of scary looking down. Plus what if there's an earthquake? We'd definitely be the first to die."

"Souta! Please, don't say such things!" Mrs. Higurashi admonished as she walked out of the bathroom. "Please be more appreciative. Grandpa spent a lot of money getting this room. Something he didn't have to do," she continued, directing the latter comment toward her father.

"It's for your sister. Top floor has the best suites in the whole hotel. She deserves the best for graduating high school and getting into college. Besides, it's all stress, heartache, and torture from here on out," he said, smiling lovingly at his granddaughter.

"Thank you so much for reminding me Grandpa," Kagome chirped sarcastically, hopping off the bed and giving her grandpa a quick hug from behind. "Anyway, I appreciate you taking us here. This is going to be fun. Plus you and Mama need to take me shopping in Shibuya for college clothes! He he!"

"I spoil them too much, don't I?" Grandpa commented to his daughter. Mrs. Higurashi grinned.

Kagome walked toward the window and drew the curtains just a little. To her dismay it was a floor to ceiling window. Still, it made the view all the more breathtaking. She placed her forehead against it and looked down. Everything and everyone looked like tiny ants moving around below. They really were awfully high off the ground. She was starting to feel lightheaded and her heart was racing all of a sudden. Her knees started to weaken so she carefully began to step back. Why did her grandfather pick the top floor again?

"Boo!" Hands grabbed her waist suddenly, scaring Kagome out of her thoughts.

"Souta! What the hell?!" Kagome cried, swatting away her brother's hands. He only laughed harder.

"All right gang, let's get ready and go down to the pool! We don't want to waste a single day here!" Mrs. Higurashi called to the siblings as she finished unpacking.

Once everyone changed into their swim attire they headed out the door and down the elevator to the 10th floor, where two of the four pools were located. Kagome and Souta marveled at the view of the majestically designed pools just outside the doors and vowed to swim in all four pools before they left the hotel.

"Oh! We forgot the sunblock!" Mrs. Higurashi observed as the elevator door shut behind them.

"Definitely need to go back for that," Kagome remarked, knowing how easily her skin baked even during some very overcast days. "Souta volunteered to go back and get it," she added, nudging her brother.

"No way! I'll flip you for it!" he returned, pulling a penny out of his pocket.

"Why do you have a penny in your swim trunks?" she inquired curiously, poking at her brother.

Souta shrugged, "It was just there. Come on Onee-chan, flip me for it!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "How convenient. Fine…heads."

Souta flipped. "Tails! I win. You get it!"

"You little..."

Souta smiled as he skipped ahead of the group to avoid Kagome's wrath. Kagome's grandfather and mom followed after Souta as she waved them off, sulkily.

"That little brat," she muttered.

Her mother swiveled around. Kagome's face lit up. Maybe she was going to offer to go back instead so their beloved high school graduate could enjoy the pool. "Oh, Kagome! Can you grab the camera and can you get my laptop too hon?"

Kagome's face faltered. "What do you need your laptop for? It's the pool Mama!"

"Just in case," her mother answered. "Thanks sweetheart!" With that, her mother bolted with the other two. Kagome's shoulders slumped.

In case what? she thought. What did her mother need a laptop at the pool for? Ever since she and Souta pooled money to buy that laptop for their mother, she brought it everywhere. For Kagome, this was another location on the list of odd places her mother brought her laptop. The weirdest was when she brought it with her to the bathroom at WacDonalds…

She trudged back to the elevators grumpily and waited until she heard the little "ding" and the light letting her know which one was available for her.

As she stepped into the elevator, she looked up, her indigo eyes meeting golden ones. For a second, she didn't realize who she was standing in front of, but that moment passed instantly, and she found herself a little dumbfounded and stopped in her tracks.

The boy with the golden eyes was having a seemingly private conversation on the phone, a lingering smile disappearing from his face when he saw hers.

"Oi, you getting in?" he barked.

Kagome cleared her throat. "Uh-um no—I mean yes—"

"It's one or the other. Are you stupid or something?"

Dismissing the rude comment, she got into the elevator and stood next to him quietly. She was about to click on the button to her floor but realized it had already been picked.

I'm standing in an elevator with Inuyasha Takahashi and he's going to the same floor, she thought, a little giddy. Then she frowned, instantly she recalled the last comment he made. He's kind of rude…

"Mhmm…yeah. And what else are you going to do to me? Oh yeah…I like the sound of that. Baby I'm ready to show you what I'm about to do to you…you won't stand a chance…I'm almost there…yeah. See you in about a minute, gorgeous."

Kagome scoffed. One of his many seedy conquests I'm guessing?

When he hung up the phone she turned to him. "Do you talk to all strangers like that? Insulting possible fans and having phone sex right next to them?"

"The dumb fan speaks."

Kagome felt her blood boil. Who was this guy? She couldn't believe the same guy who played the gallant, kind hero on-screen was one of the rudest people she'd ever encounter in her life!

"Dumb fan!? Wow, you are such a conceited pig! And my brother thinks you're cool. Well, wait till he hears what a complete jerk-off you are."

"Geez, calm down I'm just joking," the one called Inuyasha chuckled, flashing a brilliant smile.

Kagome couldn't look more displeased. "I'll tell him you're not so funny in person either."

"What's your name sweetheart? I'll sign whatever you want me to sign. You can show your brother. Or keep it all to yourself…" he said, the last comment sounding a little suggestive. She watched as his eyes roamed her body greedily.

Kagome looked at him in disgust. "Ew. No thanks. You are the worst! Insulting me then hitting on me, what is your problem dude?"

"Hitting on you? You must be out of your mind to think I'd go for a short, plain chick like you. I've been with dozens of gorgeous women. In fact I have a beautiful model waiting for me on the 52nd floor, mind you."

"I see you're collecting STDs. Good for you…"

"You stupid brat—" his comment was cut short by an abrupt jolt.

Kagome's heart skipped a beat. "What was that—" before she could finish the single jolt was followed by a series of convulsions and jerking of the elevator. The two were knocked against each other to the floor. Kagome screamed as she felt herself get thrown onto the ground, against Inuyasha's chest. She could have sworn her life flashed before her eyes as she hit the ground.

Kagome had heard of elevator horror stories from the news and from her Grandpa. The stories ranged from people trying to escape through the emergency hatches and freefalling to their deaths to the elevator itself freefalling and crushing everyone inside from the impact of the fall. She even heard a story about an unfortunate man whose body was stuck between closed elevator doors and had his body shredded in half as the malfunctioning elevator rose rapidly before the victim could escape.

The convulsions continued as she held onto her elevator companion, trying not to think about anymore horrible elevator stories. The lights flickered ferociously. Inuyasha was unaware that his arms were wrapped around the young girl just as hard as she was holding onto him. Kagome clamped her eyes shut, only minutely comforted by the strong arms wrapped around her.

"Earthquake! Souta was right—he predicted the earthquake. We're going to die!" she cried, shaking violently in his arms. He felt his heart racing just as quickly as hers probably was. He shut his eyes as well as he pulled the girl tighter against him.

"We're not going to die. It's going to be okay," he said calmly. His voice was comforting and brave and so different from his tone of voice throughout their brief interaction earlier. Though his voice was steady, she could see his face become pale and his eyes fill with dread. Still, in this moment of pure terror, she was a little grateful for the stranger's efforts.

Then just as abruptly as the quakes started, they ceased. The lights in the elevator flickered once more before the room turned pitch black.

"It stopped," Inuyasha breathed, slowly releasing the frightened girl against him. She glanced over at him and her face turned a light crimson, realizing she had been holding onto him for dear life, just mere seconds ago. She scooted away from him to the opposite corner of the elevator, staying on the ground. It was a nice thing that the lights turned off when they did or else she would have noticed the blush that formed on the hotel heir's face as well.

"What the heck happened?" she asked, slowly getting up onto her knees.

Inuyasha stood up and steadied himself on the elevator walls as he reached for the help button. "Hello? Hey, someone out there? This is Inuyasha Takahashi. I'm stuck in this elevator with—"

"Kagome Higurashi."

"—some girl. Can someone tell us what's going on? Was there an earthquake?"

There was silence.

Kagome stood up, walked over to where Inuyasha was and pressed the button again. "Excuse me! Can someone help us please? We're stuck in this elevator!"

Then a voice. "Hello? Did you say you were stuck in one of our elevators? That's impossible—"

"It's FUCKING possible because we're stuck here jackass! Now find a way to get us out!" Inuyasha bellowed, slamming his fist against the intercom.

"Was there an earthquake?" Kagome couldn't help repeating Inuyasha's question quietly.

"No Miss. It must just be some small malfunction with the elevator. Are you both okay?"

"We're fine, just a little shaken up from the jerking. The lights have gone off too," Kagome responded, trying to calm her wildly beating heart. At least now they both knew it was not an earthquake. Still, Kagome felt a little uneasy about that news. She glanced over at her elevator companion. She could just make out the angry features on his face in the dark room. She figured she might have to do all of the communicating with the hotel worker, otherwise she feared they might consider delaying the rescuing process due to Inuyasha's rudeness and incessant cursing.

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience. We'll get you out of there in just a couple minutes. Twenty minutes, tops. Hold tight."