His songbird [R. Kyojuro × Oc! Reader]

二 | The Encounter

3rd person pov

"A phoenix lived deep inside a cave under an inactive volcano. They say if you ask nicely the creature will heal any wounds and curse.
It will ask you to keep its place as a secret and if you anger it, it will force you out with fire, or even worse... " the crow of the flame hashira said the tale again.

"Under an inactive volcano..." Rengoku Kyojuro mumbled, "but which one? Bring me to the village where you heard the rumors."

The crow, Kaname, did as told and brough him to the said village.

He asked the villagers where to find the phoenix but they all said they never heard of the phoenix nor about the tale.

Even the children played along...

"Hey kid, do you know about the tale?" Kyojuro asked.

"Yes!"

His face light up, "do you know where they live?"

"Nope!" the kid ran away.

"Why do you want to find the phoenix? It's only a tale." he heard an old male voice behind, turning around, it was the village elder.

Kaname did tell him beforehands that they won't admit the existence of the phoenix to any outsiders so he explained honestly; "Someone I know is under a curse and only the phoenix can help him."

The village elder apologised saying that it was only a tale and none of its content were real. Until the boy tugged his sleeve gaining his attention.

The boy whispered to the village eldery: "But he says the person is cursed..."

The village sushed the boy to be quiet.

Kyojuro: "But aside from that, I have another reason. The phoenix might be a demon."

At this every villager eyed him and so did the village elder, "Is that so? But like I said it's only a tale so no need to make theories..." with that he left and the villagers continued doing their thing.

"Seems like, I need to find them on my own..." Kyojuro muttered and before he left he glanced at the child who looked at at a specific direction before he left too.

The hashira silently thanked the boy and walked towards the direction the boy was looking earlier.

The path was dry and the temperature rised as he got closer and closer to his destination to the right volcano. It took him some hours to find the entrance of a cave and he finally found it at sunset.

He entered the cave and reached the large chamber of the cave. He looked around and he found it strange that there was fog in a cave and as for the ceiling, the stalactites seemed to fall off soon...

Kyojuro's pov

A movement behind the fogs caught my attention and I spotted two bright yellow orbs that weren't looking at me at the moment.

"Hello?" I announced my presence.

The yellow orbs immediately shifted to me, intensely staring at me.
"It's the fifth in this month," the feminine voice muttered, "How did you find this place?"

"I found it on my own! Thanks to the tale, it says underneath am inactive volcano!" I said, it was the best not to drag the villagers in.

"A tale?" the creature spoke to herself, "great.... Just great. Now this place will turn into a tourist attraction..."

"Uhm excuse me, can you really heal wounds and cure every curse?" I asked carefully.

"How am I supposed to rest then?" the phoenix continued to talk to herself, "If I could just leave this place but no because I can't find shit!"