♡Anime: Chainsaw Man♡

You blow out the smoke of your cigarette as you stare out at the city below you. Your hands are still stained blue from the blood of the devil you had killed less than ten minutes ago, however, you hear footsteps approach from behind you.

"Now what?" You ask without turning around, trying desperately to cling onto the lightheaded feeling provided by the nicotine. You weren't always a smoker, but with your occupation you surely would've gone insane long ago without anything to help you escape.

"There's been another devil spotted a couple blocks away. Some hunters from the fourth division were dispatched to handle it but it seems they got held up," a male voice reports to you as you inhale once more before flicking the bud off the roof and shoving your hands into your pockets as you exhale.

The fourth division huh? If you're lucky, you'll run into that guy.

"Alright, let's go!" you say cheerily as you spin on your heels and force a smile onto your lips. Your partner drives you to the approximate area where the devil was spotted. It's safe to say you're in the right area considering the piles of mangled bodies lying on the street.

At some point it began to rain heavily, a somber setting to compliment how grim your job is. You watch the droplets race down the window, tracing their path with your finger. You get a sudden uneasy feeling that triggers your body to jump into action before the car stops. You open the door and hop out, your nose quickly picking up the devil's location and identity.

"Ugh, it smells like wet dog," you proclaim as your partner steps out of the car and covers his nose as he observes the carnage. You hear the pattering of large paws rushing towards your location and pull out your Katana in preparation.

As expected, a large mangled looking devil mutt turns the corner where you stand waiting for him. However, the devil is occupied with another hunter. You watch as a guy with a Katana similar to yours fends off the dogs large fangs and slashes it's nose prompting it to let out a pain filled howl.

You rest your blade against your shoulder and watch their battle unfold. The guy appears to be in bad shape, blood gushes from his side and he spits more out of his mouth. You quickly recall the member of the fourth division which matches the description of a young male with medium length black hair and dark blue eyes.

Aki Hayakawa. You'd been keeping a distant eye on him due to his work keeping the fourth division in line on behalf of Makima's every request. You can't help but feel a bit sour that someone like her got her claws into a man with such promise.

"Shouldn't you help him?" You hear your partner ask as you chuckle and shake your head.

"Why? This was his job. If he can't finish it himself then I'll step in. Though I'm sure he wouldn't want me to, he already owes me a drink from last time," you say casually as the dog devil quickly moves to attack once more. You watch curiously as the devil hunter continues to slice at the devil, an unusual calm on his face despite clearly bleeding out.

You see Aki stumble a bit giving the devil an opportunity to land a paw on him. You let out a low whistle as Aki goes flying into a nearby building. You wait for him to get back up, but his Katana slips out of his hands and his body remains lodged in the wall.

The devil slowly approaches Aki, clearly taunting him before going for the kill. You glance down at your perfectly manicured nails and consider if you're able to do the thing to end this quickly. You press your ring finger and middle finger against your thumb and look through the gap so that the devil dog's head is in view.

"Kon," you mutter as the head of the fox devil you're contracted with appears and bites off the head of the dog devil. You feel a sharp sting as you glance down and notice that your middle fingernail is gone. You should make Aki pay for you to get your nails done as an equivalent for your sacrifice.

"The dog devil huh? Such a nasty taste," you hear the fox devil decipher as you chuckle and slowly make your way over.

"Feel a bit of kinsmanship to your fellow mutt?" you ask playfully as the fox devil chuckles.

"Devils have no loyalty and no sense of kinsmanship,"

"Good, then go ahead and swallow," you tell the fox devil who obliges without a word, vanishing in a cloud of white smoke just as swiftly as she appeared. You sigh and walk over to Aki who had finally slid down to the floor. You squat down in front of him and tilt your head as you observe his breathing. He's still alive, for now at least. Lucky bastard lives to get his butt whopped by a devil another day.

"I had that you know," you hear a faint voice complain as you raise an eyebrow, a smirk curling your lips as you stare at Aki in disbelief. His determination to keep fighting is both admirable and stupid.

"Doesn't look like it from where I'm standing," you say playfully as Aki groans and tries to move his body making you reach out to stop him. However, Aki slaps away your hand and hisses as he pushes himself up regardless of your silent protest.

The slap wasn't harsh, nor was it intended to be, but it swiftly reminded you of where the two of you stand.

"Don't baby me Y/N, if I can't pick myself up after fights with smaller devils like that then how can I take on the gun devil?" Aki asks you seriously as you sigh softly and shake your head. You stand upright and turn on your heels to inform your partner to call an ambulance.

"You're insane, you know that?"

"You're one to talk, I don't think I've seen any non-fiend enjoy the kill as much as you. In this line of work, those who are normal don't make it," Aki says as you nod slowly and force a smile on your face as you stare down at him.

You pull out your box of cigarettes and shake one out before squatting back down to place it inside Aki's mouth. You pull out your lighter and shield it from the rain as you light Aki's cigarette for him. You watch as he inhales and lets out a large cloud of smoke making you smirk and you resume your departure.

"Flattery will get you nowhere Aki...you'd think you'd know as much after having a crush on that bitch for as long as you have..." you say while pettily whispering that second part as Aki frowns seemingly confused.

"Huh?"

"Don't worry about it. You owe me two drinks now, hurry up and get better so we can go drinking loser," you say with a passive wave of your hand.

"And the fox devil likes me more than you now, she only took a single nail this time!" you yell back to Aki who sucks his teeth as you chuckle and skip off to the car where your partner waits for you. You get into the passenger's side and feel the happiness slide off your face as if having been washed away by the rain.

"Let's get out of here,"

"Don't you want to wait until the ambulance shows up?" your partner asks as you rest your head on the window and shake your head.

"Aki doesn't need me; he always turns out just fine. Even more so if Makima springs some more random responsibilities onto him that makes him work ten times harder than he already does," you mutter as your partner continues to watch your face instead of starting the car.

"Y/N when are you going to tell him how you feel?"

"Hmm? Feel about what?" you ask as your partner stares at you with raised eyebrows of disbelief.

"About how you're in love with him," your partner clarifies as you do a series of coughing and choking sounds while he stares at you unimpressed and waiting for you to stop.

"Love? Dude, there's no place for love in the life of a devil hunter. Let alone for love between me and someone like Aki, he's obsessed with Makima like almost everyone else in the other divisions," you say while chuckling lightly, however the awkward silence created by your partner makes your façade crack slightly.

"We face the possibility of death every day, more so than any normal person. Don't you want to live without regrets?" your partner asks as you remain silent and go back to staring out the window. You'd thought about things that way of course, but at the end of the day you had to decide which you'd prefer to die with.

Regrets or a broken heart.

***

A few months later

You pace in the hallway outside of Makima's office. It's been a couple of days since your partner got killed by a devil and after a few days of grieving you were called in to be assigned your latest partner. You finally gather your wits before knocking on Makima's door prompting a soft response for you to enter.

You slowly open the door, reminding yourself to remain professional despite your burning hatred for the pink-haired menace sitting calmly in front of you. You enter the room, stopping a few feet away from Makima's desk and trying not to roll your eyes at the fact that she hadn't even given you the courtesy of looking away from her papers.

"You're getting paired with Aki Hayakawa from the fourth division. I hope the two of you will be able to get along. I trust he'll make your integration to the fourth division a smooth one, that'll be everything." Makima announces nonchalantly as you nod while trying not to scream externally.

Aki? Aki Hayakawa?!

You can't tell if she's doing this based off Aki's abilities or to torment you because she somehow knows how you feel about him. You feel your body lurch forward in a bow before turning around and exiting the room. You feel the air get knocked out of your lungs as you step out of Makima's office only to find a familiar guy with a short black ponytail staring out the window with a lit cigarette.

You take a deep breath to regain your composure before slowly walking over to Aki. He doesn't turn to face you, but his hand reaches over and offers you the cigarette which you gladly accept. You inhale deeply, savoring both the nicotine as well as the indirect kiss you shared before blowing out the smoke and passing the cigarette back.

"I'm sorry about your partner," Aki says after a few minutes of silent smoking. You nodded slowly; your partner was too normal for this line of work. He tried to use things like reason when it came to trying to understand the motives of devils, he was too rational and took little risks.

"Thank you...have you heard the news though?" you ask as Aki nods and turns around to finally face you. His cool blue eyes stare deeply into yours before shutting as he bows down in front of you.

"I look forward to working with you Y/N, I won't die on you," Aki says in a monotonous tone that makes you roll your eyes and crack a smile.

"Of course you won't, I'll probably be busting my ass saving you as always. If anything, you'll be the death of me," you remind Aki jokingly as he stands upright and shakes his head, an unusual amount of determination in his eyes.

"I won't hold you back, I promise I'll protect you Y/N," Aki says seriously, his tone and the seriousness in his eyes making your heart flutter at his declaration. You know that he meant that strictly as his new partner, but your mind can't help but imagine that for a second he meant that in a different way as well.

"I'll look forward to it then,"

***

"...and then Aki got smacked dead in the chest by the devil and went flying into a nearby building!" you relay the story as a handful of fellow devil hunters chuckle with you. You glance over at Aki who hugs his beer close to his chest and pouts at you cutely.

His face has softened from its usually neutral or annoyed expressions, his cheeks lightly flushed pink from the alcohol. You feel comfortable joking around with the other devil hunters, but your eyes remained on Aki the entire night.

"Do you have to tell these stories everytime Y/N?" Aki asks in light retaliation as you nod and lean forward, propping your head on your hands as you smile warmly at Aki.

"Of course, you're so cute when you need to be saved by me," you say honestly as you feel the eyes of the others switch between yourself and Aki. Even after saying your piece, you can't find the strength to pull your eyes away from him after getting this close.

The past few months that you've had Aki as your partner have made every grueling day worth it. Though no matter how many flirty passes you made he seemed to be blind to all of them. It's been exhausting having your feelings for him grow stronger but still having an invisible wall between the two of you.

"We face the possibility of death every day, more so than any normal person. Don't you want to live without regrets?" your former partners words come back to you now, though this time you feel as if the regret of not taking this chance will be a fate worse than death.

You watch as Aki brings his drink back up to his lips, admiring the way his lips plump up ever so slightly as they come into contact with the cup. The sound of his gulps followed the movement of his Adam's apple as he swallows. Every detail seems to appear before you in HD quality.

You allow yourself to be influenced by your liquid courage as your lips part to speak. Goodness knows the next time you'll be able to drink together like this. You have no problem rushing towards a devil with intent to kill, but you hesitate when it comes to speaking on your feelings.

You won't waste this opportunity to do something truly risky.

"Hey Aki..." You start before noticing the group around you grow uneasy. You lean away from Aki and follow their gaze to where Makima stands waving over to your group. You feel your heart plummet into your stomach as you quickly turn around and see Aki's eyes widen with adoration for Makima.

"Ms. Makima, please sit," you hear Aki say as he quickly shoots up to his feet to greet her. Makima heeds Aki's greeting and sits at the head of the table. Your mood quickly crashes and you lift your drink and down it in one gulp before motioning for the waiter to provide you with another.

You're not sure how many more drinks you plow through, but at some point you excuse yourself to get some air. Your legs can barely hold your weight and you stumble into the night while willing yourself not to cry.

Sure Aki's grown more comfortable around you and the two of you have a solid friendship and good partnership, but in the back of your mind you know he'll never dote on you as he does Makima.

What is it about her that has all the devil hunters so enthralled? You feel as if it has malicious backing, but that could just be your pettiness speaking. Your impromptu walk brings you to a strip mall where multiple different groups of people rush past you.

Families with young children, older and younger couples alike clinging to each other to brace the cold of the night. The spirits around you feel light and energetic, countering your depressive state as you try to figure out what the communal good vibes are about. Your eyes trail up a large building with a countdown to the new year.

"Oh shit, it's new years eve," you mumble to yourself as the dam holding back your tears breaks at the realization that you've somehow survived another to see another new year. Your brain tries to grasp onto the positives, but admittingly the only thing you can recall is being partnered with Aki.

The tears cascade faster down your cheeks as you begin to sniffle. Passersby glance in your direction as you collapse to the ground while covering your face in embarrassment. You've never broken down so shamelessly before, and certainly not in public.

Despite your surroundings, the tears continue to fall. All you want is for Aki to look at you with the same eyes that glorify Makima. For him to treat you as if you're the only one he wants and to protect you as he promised he would.

"Y/N! Y/N where are you!" You hear a distant voice yell making you lift your head to look for the owner of the voice. You wobble to your feet and search through the crowd until your eyes spot a ponytail that sticks up defying gravity.

Your heart leaps as the crowd clears somewhat and Aki manages to locate you. The relief that fills his eyes fills your heart with joy as he rushes over to you. You awkwardly wipe away your tears as Aki pulls you into an unexpected hug.

"Why did you run off idiot? You had me worried, you can't just wander around drunk and alone," Aki scolds you before pulling away from the hug and notices your tear streaked cheeks and puffy eyes.

"Were you crying? Did some asshole touch you?! Do I need to call them an ambulance?" Aki asks growing enraged as you quickly shake your head to diffuse his anger.

"No, nothing like that happened. I just couldn't stand being in there anymore," you explain as Aki frowns.

"What? But you love drinking with the guys, you seemed to be having so much fun earlier," Aki says as you laugh bitterly and push him away lightly.

"Yeah that was before Makima showed up. You were so busy tending to her every need that you didn't even realize I hadn't said a word since she arrived," you inform Aki who's face drops in apparent surprise.

"I'm sorry Y/N, I didn't realize there was bad blood between the two of you..."

"God you're so blind it's infuriating!" you yell abruptly startling Aki. Your usual defense mechanism is to laugh and joke everything off, but not this time.

"Whenever she comes around you follow her around like a little puppy dog, you don't even realize how much she's just using you!" You begin to ramble on as a crowd of onlookers slow down to observe your drunken breakdown.

"I don't know why you and so many of the others are so obsessed with her despite her treating you like pawns in a game. Why won't you..." you pause, realizing that the next words you utter will undoubtedly put an awkwardness in your relationship and possibly end your friendship altogether.

"Why won't you realize how much I care about you? How much I look forward to work just because I know you'll be there, how much I enjoy messing around with you or just sitting around smoking together after a shitty day. Why won't you love me?" you continue as the tears threaten to make a comeback.

"Y/N I'm sorry. I didn't realize..."Aki says as you processes his words, stuck in between knowing that it'd play out this way and having the little hope you had for a different outcome shattered. His sentence trails on as his eyes avoid yours, you dreaded the awkwardness that would come from your guaranteed rejection. You glance back up at the new years countdown above your heads.

"I'm sorry to dump my feelings on you like this, I know how much you like Makima. You don't have to reciprocate my feelings, but...at least let me do one thing to help me bury my feelings before we ring in the new year," you say as you step closer to him.

Aki doesn't flinch away from you as you cup his face gently. His skin is cold but smooth to the touch, his eyes don't look at you with pity but maintain the same level of care he's always had for you. You try to savor this moment as much as possible before it becomes nothing but a distant memory.

You lean forward, terrified of being pushed away both physically and emotionally. However, Aki remains completely still as you press your lips lightly against his, neither his lips or body seem to welcome the kiss but they don't outright reject it either. The kiss is quick, nothing but a soft peck followed by a sad smile that crosses your face.