It was a late stormy night. A little Onibi peaked outside, watching the rain fall. He knew Kyuubi was already asleep, he was sleeping with him previously before he woke up and heard the rain. Quietly slipping out of bed he went to watch the rain.

He thought it was nice until he heard a loud noise and a flash of light in the sky which scared him. Running back into the bedroom he tugged on one of Kyuubi's tails, waking him up.

The kitsune turned over to look at his little flame, "..Onibi..why are you awake? What's wrong" He sat up and picked up the shaking child.

"Scary.."

"What is?"

There was another loud noise. Onibi gripped Kyuubi's clothes tightly, crying and shaking more at the noise.

"It's just thunder"

"Light..?" he sniffled.

"Mm, you saw lightning too. Were you trying to watch the rain before you got startled?"

The child nodded as Kyuubi hugged him gently, trying to comfort him. They got settled back in bed, Onibi refused to let go of his caretaker's clothes. The fox stayed awake until his little flame calmed down and soon after fall asleep again. He chuckled, wiping away the few tears left on Onibi's face and fell asleep himself.

. . .

"Onibi, time to get up"

"Wha.." he muttered, rubbing his eye and looking over.

He had gone to wake up Kyuubi, but the fox refused to get up and told him to sleep with him. Of course he didn't pass up the chance to sleep next to him. But now he was the one being told to wake up. 

"Did you have a nice dream?"

"Yeah, but it was more like a memory" Onibi replied, sitting up.

"Oh?"

"When I was little and I got scared of a thunderstorm"

"Fufu, it was the first thunderstorm you experienced. You were still frightened by them for a while. But now you don't seem to be" Kyuubi chuckled, patting the younger boy. "You've grown up a lot"

"Yeah and now I can protect you too!" he smiled with a look of determination.

Even though he knew the kitsune was strong enough to defend himself, he still wanted to take care of him too. After years of being taken care of, he wanted to return the favor. Regardless if Kyuubi told him that he didn't have to.

"I see, do your very best to keep me safe then. I'll protect you too like I always have. Now go play with your friend"

"Right! We'll come by for ramen later!"

"..Don't cause to much trouble.." Kyuubi said seriously.

Onibi laughed nervously at how serious Kyuubi could be sometimes. But it was obvious that he was just worried. That and he didn't want trouble from the Katanashu.

He got up from the bed and ran right out the door to meet up with Kamaitachi. Kyuubi sighed and made his way out of the house as well to set up his ramen stand. No doubt Uta would be visiting soon after for his daily ramen.

. . .

Once Momiji had made it back to the station, he immediately went to find Uta so he can tell him about his plan to invite Madoka to join them. One thing was for sure though, he would not tell anyone about how Ungaikyō basically abducted him for the night.

It wasn't that it was a bad experience though. Aside from knocking him out and seeming cold, he didn't try to actually hurt him. As well as keep his word and let him go in the morning. Still why did he insist they were enemies.

It only took a few minutes to find Uta already making his way to go to Ramen Kuzunoha. 

"Uta, hold on a minute"

"Eh? Morning Momiji! I'm about to go get ramen, want to go together?"

"Yes. But I'd like to also invite Madoka to join us"

"Madoka? Why?"

"Kamaitachi seems to have a crush on him. So I suggested that we could try bringing him along so they can interact"

"I'm not sure if he'll accept..But let's give it a shot!" Uta replied happily.

He was quick to agree to the plan that it actually surprised Momiji. Though with his help it might be easier to convince Madoka. Hopefully he just accepted or they might end up forcing him to instead. 

They had to look around quite a bit just to find Madoka but eventually did find him walking around outside. The two quickly walked over to him with Uta calling out to him. He seemed confused as to what they wanted.

"Madoka come eat ramen with us!" Uta said.

"Why?"

"You don't need a reason to eat ramen!"

"I'd like a reason for why I need to join you though. Doesn't Momiji join you?"

"We wanted to invite you to join us today though. The ramen Kyuubi sells is quite good and he seems to like socializing with us"

"..You two aren't going to leave me alone until I agree aren't you" Madoka sighed.

"No" both replied.

So Madoka reluctantly agreed and the three made their way to Ramen Kuzunoha. None of them really bothered to talk as they walked down the path and into the town. Uta seemed happy to have another ramen buddy though. 

"Mm? Who's this with you Uta and Momiji" Kyuubi asked curiously, watching them walk up to the stand and sit down.

"This is Madoka!" Uta replied.

"Oh, so you're the one those two talked about"

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Well if you want ramen you can make your own"

"...Don't you run this stand? Why open it if you don't make the ramen?"

"And dirty my tails? Either make your ramen and eat or leave. I don't have time for window shoppers" Kyuubi said in a serious tone.

Uta laughed, standing up and began making ramen. It looked like he was preparing ramen for all of them. Madoka and Momiji watched in silence. All while the owner stood by fanning himself, not particularly interested in striking up a conversation with them.

Once Onibi and Kamaitachi got back from their daily trip to the human world, Kamaitachi would surely be surprised. Perhaps he could ensure his newest customer didn't leave before they got back. After all they had been planning on a way to interact with Madoka, so why pass up such a perfect opportunity.