Ardent Hope: Chainsaw Man x Male Reader Insert.

2. It burns.

Strings unraveled, tethered among skin and flesh. Like the swing in the hands of a puppeteer and looking down from atop the concrete buildings, she ran her fair fingers through her hair and put her reddish bangs behind her ears. The squeaking of countless rats congregated at her feet, squeaking, speaking, murmuring and talking. One single mice crawled her long, soaked trench coat and above her shoulder, its dirty paws clawed on her skin and neared its snout to her ear. And then it spoke, it whispered, in ways no one could understand but her.

"Interesting..." her soft voice murmured to no one but herself. Even though her veins felt like burning, the rain made her feel cold, so she shielded herself among the comfort of her trench coat. The structured uniform of the Bureau made her feel deeply constrained, even more so among these primal feelings.

Her unease was not unfounded. Something was set in motion that evening, she felt it as soon as the very first raindrop of the damned downpour fell from the sky, an intermittent warmth that rushed through her thighs and heart, seared into her veins and coursing amidst blood. Tokyo looked up at her. Urban concrete oceans devoid of color, miles away from the touristic resorts and waypoints that westerners tend to fantasize about when thinking about the beautiful Japan. The rain only seemed to make it just a tad bit more depressing than it usually was.

She raised a hand that seemed to try and reach for the skies, and stretched her index finger up higher and higher like pulling an invisible string that reached far below into the darkness of an alleyway among the buildings she stood above. The deafening raindrops helped masquerade the wet, loud slaps of naked meat and blood gushing creeping below, like something was crawling its way out of a narrow hole and was tearing itself apart in the painful process, like she had brought something. Suddenly, all noise stopped, like the deadly silence that surrounds a predator in the middle of a forest. The trap was set, only thing left was to wait for the little mice to run into it.

"Live, protect and love." Was the last thing the devil said, and (Y/N) understood the condition of their exchange. Yet, he found himself wondering about whom exactly. (Y/N) always felt that a life without a motivation or meaning is a nothing but a miserable existence.

"Where...?" He tried to talk to her one last time, stuttering to get the right words out of his dry mouth. He got to his feet once again with a newfound strength, and tried to search for his savior in the middle of the dark alley. But she was nowhere to be seen, and only then it dawned on him; comprehension brought by a deep burn beneath as he pressed a hand into his own chest.

A heartbeat, strong enough to beat for two people at once. The renewed life that was found in its chest burned in the fury of a thousand lives. Yet, he could feel the sooth of its warmth, and that was something he wasn't used to. The ever so calming sensation of a burning desire, soothing sensations of a heart being filled by flames that poured into it, a conflagration deep beneath his own soul.

A longing fulfilled, there was something at the back of his mind that struck the neverending emotion, sparkling under a thousand flames in a realm reborn, of a need whose requirements of fulfillment were finally met. Deep into his new heart, burning and aching profusely with every beat, he realized this was the something he yearned, like the missing piece of a puzzle. 

But then again, who was that person he needed to protect and love? He wasn't even remotely sure, but the sparks of fire he felt through his heart gave him enough determination to realize this was the kind of motivation he needed in his life.

The alley started to feel imprisoning, so (Y/N) rushed out of there as quick as he could, even though he very well knew this side of town wasn't exactly a welcoming place, he prefered it over the darkness of this place. He squinted as his eyes were flashed by neon, like bracing for impact, but was surprised to see not a single soul roaming around the dark streets tonight. Tokyo felt damp under his bare feet after the storm had passed, and the soulless, blinding lights illuminated the night like an artificial starry sky forced to shine over the intricate streets of the stone jungle. This part of southern Tokyo wasn't exactly pretty, but the rain washed out the streets from its filth and roamers, making things perhaps a little too quiet. Only a light breeze ran down and swept his bare skin, sending a cold chill that made him shiver at once.