A/N: If you read these head over to my LJ, you can see the pretty pictures that accompany it. The URL is nyanja14(dot)livejournal(dot)com .
026: CANDLE
The apartment lights flickered a moment, then went out. The computer also shut down with a harsh snap.
"Agh, dammit!" Yukimi banged his palm on the desk, then rolled back in his chair. "That better have auto-saved!"
Yoite watched as Yukimi prowled across the living room, stepping deftly over the piles of junk scattered about, until he reached the kitchen.
"I know I have candles in here somewhere..." Yoite listened to Yukimi's clattering as he fanned out his fingers in front of his face. He could barely find the outlines of his hand; all he could see was a smudge, a sort of haze, where he thought his body ended. In the dark, the boundaries separating Yoite from everything else blurred and dissipated until he wasn't even sure if he was still there.
To Yoite, darkness was not quite comforting but it was close.
"Ha! Found one." Yukimi emerged from the kitchen and strode over to where Yoite was sitting. He shoved a stack of magazines and mail out of the way with one foot, then seated himself beside Yoite. Yoite heard a shuffle of papers, and then a click.
The flame flared a moment before settling into a soft glow. Yukimi set the candle down between them, then propped a notebook up against his knees and started writing furiously. "The editor is going to slaughter me if this isn't done by tomorrow," he muttered around the pen cap he had clench between his teeth. "Don't ever become a writer; the pay sucks and the deadlines suck even more."
"Wasn't planning on it."
Yoite watched Yukimi for a bit, then looked to the candle slowly dripping wax on the floor. He knew that if he was any good with words he could get some sort of symbol out of it- something about candles melting themselves shorter and shorter until they finally burnt out- but instead he just stared into the light until the dark was no more.