I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or any of it's characters. I only own Daelyn, David and any other characters I create along the way.

No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow. ~Euripides

Gravity

Chapter One

It was dark when I stirred awake. I opened my eyes for a moment before yanking the blanket over my head and rolling over. Yet sleep evaded me. I listened to the familiar creeks of the house in the darkness. The wind blowing at the torn screen of my window. Wooden floors settling. The ticking of the clock in David's room across the hall that lulled him to sleep on stress filled nights. I could hear his deep breathing through my cracked door.

The wind rattled at my window, rustling the tree outside. I pushed my head back up from the blankets and cuddled further into their warmth. The air outside was cold, and it crept through the room like a vengeful ghost. It would be snowing soon.

I finally settled down into a comfortable position and matched my breathing with David's from the other room. I listened to the clock, counting the ticks as the seconds passed.

Tick. One.

Tock. Two.

Tick. Three.

Tock. Four.

Tick. Five.

Tock... Six..

I was wearing black. The lace dress was long trailing on the ground, with a slit in the front that came to my upper thigh so when I walked it would drag like a train behind me. The boat neck of the dress fell to the tips of my shoulders with a single layer of lace for sleeves that came to the ends of my thumbs. I twirled, taking in the beauty of the dress. I hadn't ever worn anything like it before.

I looked around me, the smile on my face fading. The black was a stark contrast to the blinding white around me. There was no definite up or down. Just nothingness. I took a step forward, then another, looking around for anything through the white. It felt as if I wasn't moving. I was just floating through the white.

There was no sound around me. Only the sound of my breathing reached my ears. Even my heart sat silent in my chest. I could feel no familiar beat on my ribs. The silence was deafening. My ears were ringing at the lack of noise, straining to listen for some form of life in the blankness.

I slowly sat down bringing my knees up to my chest. There was no where to go. I was alone. Completely, totally, alone. I shut my eyes to block out the bright white and rested my head on my knees. My body hummed at the relief of the harsh color.

Where was I? Was I sleeping? Was this all a dream?

Through the ringing in my ears, I heard music. My eyes snapped open and I jumped to my feet. My eyes darted all around me, looking for the source of music when they finally landed on a black form that was a pin prick in the distance. I ran for the figure, the white still stagnant around me. Though it felt as if I wasn't moving, the figure grew closer until I could see the broad shouldered frame was facing away from me, a black cloak covering everything, and the good drawn up. The figure was standing next to a simple music box with the lid opened to reveal a tiny porcelain figurine of a woman with long curling black hair and a white ball gown.

The figure started to move away.

"Wait!" I called out. I tripped over the length of the dress, falling to my hands and knees. "Wait. Please don't go.." I trailed off, my own black curls cascading over my vision.

Before I could brush the hair from my face, a warm hand did it for me. I sat back, my legs tucked under me. The figure was crouched in front of me. The open front of the cloak showed the man wore Chinese fighting style clothes, the loose fitting pants black, and the top a pale blue. The hood hid the upper part of his face from my view, leaving only his mouth to be seen.

"I won't leave you," he spoke, his voice deep and resonating.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Your subconscious. Or what's left of it," he answered, his elbows resting on his crouched knees and hands hanging between his legs.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confusing drawing my eyebrows together.

"They plan to take your life from you today," he answered. "Your soul is preparing itself."

"I'm going to die?" I asked quietly, though alarm was piercing through my veins.

He reached one of his hands up to my cheek. His thumb caressed my skin softly as a handsome smile appeared on his face.

"No. I won't let you. I need you."

Before I could answer he drew my face to his and his lips pressed into mine.

0000

"Daelyn!"

I shot up, narrowly missing David's chin with my forehead as he ducked away from me. My heart was pounding in my chest as I glared at my brother who returned my look with a scowl.

"What?!" I snapped, trying to ease my racing heart.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me and crossing his arms over his chest. "Have a bad dream? What did I tell you about watching those late night scary movies?"

"Shut up," I snapped at him, throwing one of the pillows on my bed at him. He caught it and threw it back at me, hitting me in the side of the head.

"Get up," he told me, clearing across the room to the door before I could retaliate. "It's seven o'clock. I have to leave for work soon and I don't want you lazing around all day."

"I don't want you lazing around all day," I mimicked him in a whiney voice as he made his way down the hallway. "Ass," I scoffed, flopping back down on my bed and drawing the blankets up to my chin. I attempted to go back to sleep, but my mind was wide awake. I laid there for a moment before sighing and opening my eyes to stare at the wall. I lifted my hand through my blankets, and traced across my lips where I could still feel a whisper of the strangers lips. Shaking my head I dragged myself out of bed. It was just a dream.

I started undoing my braid that I usually wore in attempt to tame the curls that lived life in rebellion as I walked down the hallway to where I could hear the TV in the living room.

"I have to work a double today," he said as I walked passed him on the couch and into the kitchen. "I won't be home til after midnight."

"Okay," I said, opening the cupboard for a coffee cup.

"I'd really like it if you went and applied for some jobs today," he said from the kitchen door way as I closed the cupboard.

"Yes, David," I said rolling my eyes and moving to pour hot water into the cup for tea. "I have been applying. But its hard to find a decent job in Tokyo without a degree." He sighed and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes again as I turned to face him, seeping a tea bag in the water.

"I told you that you needed to do better in school," he said, crossing his arms.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not a prodigy like you and had difficulty in school," I aimed back, blowing on my tea as I brought it to my lips. "If I do remember correctly I also had a full time job when I was originally barely passing school. So forgive me if my grades weren't good enough for you and any other scholarship out there."

"I told you to quit that job," he narrowed his azurite blue eyes at me.

"Yet you never turned down any money I gave you when we needed food on the table," I shot back, narrowing my own matching blue eyes back. "I wanted to keep this house as much as you did."

"Don't blame this on me," he said, his voice huffing.

"I'm not," I said turning my eyes away from him. "But maybe you should have been a brother back then and helped me study instead of trying to parent me into curfew."

"You were fourteen," he stated. "You needed a parent."

"No," I stated back, meeting his gaze again. "I needed a brother. I needed a friend."

"Whatever," he scoffed, pushing himself away from the door way and disappearing into the living room. "I have to get to work."

I didn't say anything as I continued to lean against the counter and listened to him gather his things. I heard the jingle of keys, and the door open, then close. After another moment, I heard his car start in the driveway and he was gone.

I let out the breath that I didn't realize I had been holding. I stood there for another moment before I sat the cup down on the counter and walked back to my room. I changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top. Making my way back into the living room, I yanked on a jacket as I stepped into my shoes. With a huff, I grabbed the black gym bag that I left sitting next to the door as I opened the door. Stepping out into the cool autumn air, I locked the door and headed on the side walk.

Tension tightened my muscles as David re entered my mind. He was such an ass. He knew I tried my hardest in school. But after our parents were killed, we had to find a way to eat and keep a roof over our heads. I offered then to drop out completely as he continued to go to school, but he would hear nothing of it. He doubled up on his courses, graduating medical school in four years instead of eight, and had been in residency for three and a half years, drawing near to the end before he became a full time doctor in the hospital. He was going to be the youngest doctor in the hospital at twenty-six.

School was always his thing. Straight A's since kindergarten. It was never mine. I was always more interested in the arts. Especially dance. My mom had signed me up for a dance class when I was four and I had been hooked ever since. But there wasn't many schools that provided degrees for that. My only hope for dance was to be noticed by someone in a try out for some play or music video and go that route. But David didn't understand that.

I shifted the bag on my shoulder as I walked out to a busier street, greeted by the morning office people walking to work, and cars trying to navigate through the crowds. The people walking bustled passed me like their tailored suits were on fire. I watched them go by with stress and worry etched into their faces. David had that face quite often.

I understood why he wanted me to get a job. I wasn't angry at him about that. I had lost my waitress job a few months earlier when a customer threw a glass of water on me for their food being wrong and they felt that I wasn't giving them enough attention. In retaliation I took the piece of chocolate ganache cake that I had been carrying to another table and smeared it on his Gucci suit.

Needless to say, it had been pretty hard to find a job after that.

I crossed the street and walked a few more blocks before reaching the studio that my old dance instructor let me use when she didn't have classes. She was thrilled that I was still interested in dance and gladly gave me a key to come and go when I felt like it. I pushed open the door and let it shut behind me as Ie took a deep breath, taking in the smell of wood polish and glass cleaner.

I let the worries run off of me as I dropped my gym bag and went to the stereo to turn on music. I laid my jacket down with my bag as I moved to the center of the room and let the music move my body for me.

It was afternoon time before I locked the glass door behind me as I left the studio. The streets were bustling again as the same office workers I had seen this morning were on their way home. My body was loose with satisfaction from leaving my built up stresses behind. I had a layer of sweat on me that I was ready to get home and wash off before I settled down for the evening.

I decided that I would make David's favorite dinner, kake soba. It was easy enough to reheat that he could eat it when he got home. I knew what I said to him earlier wasn't among the kindest things I had ever said to my brother. But he was just able to get under my skin in a way that no one else knew how.

My dad used to say that when the first Matthews came around they never learned how to say sorry so it wasn't in our DNA. We would simply do something nice for each other or someone else and call it good. It was up to the other person if they decided to accept it.

With a new found good mood I waited patiently at the cross walk that I had walked over earlier to get to the studio. I stood back from the crowd of eager business men and women who were ready to get home to their families and evening rituals.

When the sign flashed green for them to go, I waited a few moments before following suit. I had almost made it to the curb when I heard gunshots. One. Then two more.

I heard screams around me as people ducked and frantically looked around, before their eyes fell on me, fear frozen on their faces. The pain hit me all at once as I fell to my knees. My vision started blacking over as I looked down at my chest to see three holes in the center of my chest. With each failing heart beat, more blood soaked my white tank top.

I fell to my back, not feeling as my legs twisted painfully beneath me. I barely heard the screams around me as my blackening vision stared up into the sky. The sun had started to set. A gradient of blues and reds floated above me as my vision finally went black.