The Pursuit of Love

December 24th

Mousse could only smile at everyone, completely touched that they’d gone through so much effort to throw a birthday party for him. A first for him, they didn’t make a big production of it at home the way that they did here. Normally his mother would give him a present and make his favourite meal. He looked at Ukyou and shared a smile with her; she was the reason for the party. Mousse was one of those individuals who was born on December 24. He hadn’t told Ukyou that his nineteenth birthday was coming up, he’d been to shy to, it was his mother sending him a gift that had arrived three days early that tipped her off. She’d swung into action and before he could protest a party was arranged at the Tendo house which all the busy couples and parents had set time aside to attend. He looked around at the slightly tipsy teenagers and couldn’t stop smiling; he was kind of tipsy too.

Ukyou saw Mousse standing alone and went up to him, she wrapped her arm around his waist “you having fun Sugar?” she asked him, slightly tipsy herself.

“Of course I am; I can’t believe you did all this in three days” he said, hugging her back and kissing the top of her head. She watched everyone else exchange covert expressions as if to say ‘told you those two were an item.’ She sighed, if they only knew that in three months their relationship hadn’t progressed beyond hugs and chaste kisses. Yet the gang treated them like a couple, all invitations were extending to both of them and it was just accepted that they would come together. Everyone liked the more mature Mousse and thought they were great together. But they weren’t and Ukyou knew it. The two of them lived together while they both attended school and got along well together. They shopped together; they prepared food and helped each other with homework. There was rarely a time when they weren’t together. Ukyou refused to let Mousse pay rent, but he still threw money at her for bills and food. He was a polite and wonderful roommate, even though Ukyou craved more from him. She had no clue that he did too.

The party didn’t lack for food, Kasumi had put on quite the spread despite being the busy mother of twins. Ukyou had brought her portable grill and was making custom orders of Okonomiyaki and Mousse had made a batch of a spicy chicken ramen that he knew Ranma and Akane favoured and have rented a chaffing dish to keep it warm. He knew all of Cologne’s so-called secret Ramen recipes as they were the same ones that everyone made at home.

Mousse grinned when Kodachi walked in with her new husband, Mikado. “Kuno-san, so good to see you again” he said.

“Hello Mousse is that gorgeous creature really you?” she asked. “Its Sanzenin-san now, just call me Kodachi” she advised him.

Mousse blushed “I’ve made a few adjustments” he replied.

“Better looking then me?” Mikado teased her; he was still as good looking as ever but had abandoned his playboy’s ways in the comfort of marriage.

Kodachi laughed her husband’s mock jealousy “hard to say, you’re both cute but in different ways. Tell me you wouldn’t kill to have those eyes!” she said.

“Sorry I’ve grown rather fond of them now that they work” Mousse joked. Ranma joined them and handed the couple a rum and coke that everyone else was getting pickled on.

“Hi Mikado, you still kissing unwilling girls?” he asked.

“Like she would let me!” he replied, indicating to Kodachi “are you still annoyed about the kiss? It’s not my fault you make a cute girl. You have the distinction of being the only guy I’ve ever kissed” he pointed out.

“I guess that it is kind of funny when you think about it” Ranma laughed. “I always wondered, did you and Azusa ever.....?” Ranma asked ambiguously.

Mikado laughed “no I like my girls a little crazy, not downright nuts. We stopped skating together when she was sent to the mental institution for kidnapping P-chan from Akane. Finding her taking a bath with a naked man and calling him Charlotte was enough to finally convince her parents to have her committed” he explained.

“Hey it was no picnic for me either, you have no idea how long it took me to convince Akira that I wasn’t there willingly. Stupid Jusenkyo curse” Ryoga said, baring his fangs and blushing.

“Aw come on P-Chan, you can’t say that you didn’t enjoy taking a bath with that cute girl just a wee bit” Akane chimed in.

Ryoga blushed ‘between Charlotte and P-Chan, I have to wonder why we hangout with these people” he stated to Akira.

“We do because we’re both eccentric, so we need other crazy people around us to balance that out” she explained with a giggle.

“So Mousse, do you still become a duck?” Ryoga asked.

Mousse grinned and said triumphantly “not since I visited the spring of the drowned man”

“W-what and you didn’t bring any back for us?” Ranma cried.

Mousse frowned, “sorry I departed China rather suddenly and didn’t have time to grab any. I’ll get a couple of bottles the next time I go” he promised.

The boys relaxed and went back to discussing martial arts while Akane dragged Ukyou into the kitchen on the pretention of seeing to the cake. “So are you actually an item yet?” she asked excitedly, they’d seemed so cuddly that night.

Ukyou took a sip of her drink “If I get one more hug and kiss on the cheek, I’m borrowing paralysis power from Kodachi and having my way with him” she said with a sigh of frustration.

“And you would be most welcome to it, I no longer have any use for it” Kodachi said, she’d overhear the conversation as she’d walked into the kitchen. “I take it that this is in reference to a certain handsome Chinese roommate of yours? Why not just get some lingerie and seduce him? Nothing says ‘take me’ like wearing frilly little nothings” she pointed out reasonably.

Ukyou blushed and then admitted something that she’d never told her friends before “I don’t know how to seduce a man, I’m a virgin” She waited for her friend’s reaction, they just stared at her like she had two heads and Kodachi dropped her drink.

“Ukyou’s a virgin?” Ranma questioned, he'd happened to overhear them as well.

Ukyou turned beet red and Akane scooted Ranma out of the kitchen“honey why don’t you see if anyone needs another drink?” she suggested.

He just stared at Ukyou and said “We’re out of rum; I came to see if you know where another bottle is” he explained.

“Ah, top shelf over the stove, I hid it there from Hopposai” Akane said and literally shoved him from the kitchen. “You’ve had boyfriends and another fiancé. How could you still be a virgin?” Akane asked.

“I vowed to Mousse that I would wait for my wedding night” Ukyou explained. “We got close after Ranma yelled those horrible things at me that day and Mousse comforted me” Ukyou explained.

Akane had heard all about that day “you know Ranma feels horrible about what he said? He’d been frustrated about the situation for a long time and accidently took it out on you”

Ukyou laughed “I know, he’s still apologizing about it to this day. But after that happened, Mousse and I became pretty close. He’s admitted that he had a crush on me. I kissed him the night he left and it was amazing” Ukyou said, remembering how her body had tingled for hours afterwards.

“It seems to me that if you break your vow with the person you made it to, it wouldn’t count” Kodachi pointed out.

Ukyou sighed “it’s more then that in his culture virginity is sacred. If unmarried people have sex, they’re pretty much married” she explained.

“So don’t tell him until after and sort it out then” Akane said.

“Isn’t that kind of dishonest?” Ukyou said.

“Alls fair in love and war” Kodachi said. “Besides, its not like you’re going to insist on marriage, you just want to show him how you feel”

Mousse was wondering why the cake was taking so long, they’d dimmed the lights and made him sit at the head of the table with a goofy hat on his head. When the girls came out singing happy birthday, Ukyou gave him a kiss on the forehead and whispered “you have to make a wish and blow out all the candles in a single breath.” Mousse closed his eyes, wished for the one thing that was keeping him awake at night and blew out all nineteen candles. “What did you wish for?” she asked. Mousse blushed, visions of removing her silky midnight blue top and tight pants dancing in his head.

“You really don’t want to know” he replied.

December 25th

“Hey Mousse, where’s that gravy?” Ukyou called. One year she thought it would be fun to serve a full Christmas turkey dinner in her restaurant for those that didn’t have any place to go or no family. It was such a hit that she continued it every year. She did it as cheaply as possible so that seniors could afford it.

She laughed when Mousse came out of the back; he helped her out by acting as a waiter when he could. He was wearing her Christmas gift to him, they’d both decided that the theme would be tacky sweaters and she'd succeeded. His was green with a stoned looking deer staring out on the front, that wrapped around his body to where its butt showed in back. “It matches your eyes” she said cheekily to the horrified looking Mousse. He wore that with a pair of black slacks and a black nose, with a pair of felt antlers on his head. He was quite the sight.

She was wearing his gift; it was a red sweater with a huge wreath on the front that actually had twinkling lights that worked off a watch battery attached to the hem. “You look nice in red” he said smugly. She wore that with a Santa hat.

Mousse came out holding a pot “which delicious young thing needs gravy?” he asked. “I bet it’s you Mrs. Ikeda” he teased and ladled more gravy over her mash potatoes and turkey.

The eighty year old, delicious young thing blushed and observed “such a flirt, I’m surprised that you two aren’t breeding like rabbits yet”

Ukyou blushed “N-no, we’re just friends” she stammered.

Mrs. Ikeda replied “I was just friends with my late husband for years and we had eight children”

“We’re not married” she said, as red as her sweater. Mousse stood beside her, struggling not to laugh at her embarrassment.

“Well young man what're you waiting for? Ask her to marry you” Mrs. Ikeda demanded.

“Sorry, my wife died recently and I’m not ready for that step” he said honestly.

“Oh, I’m so sorry” Mrs. Ikeda said, mollified.

Ukyou escaped into the kitchen, glad that the night would be over soon. Mousse joined her “you okay? Sorry she put you on the spot like that. You’ll marry when you meet the right guy” he offered.

She leaned against the counter “how about you? Are you ever going to remarry? After all you’re really young to be a widower and you have loads of time to meet someone else” she pointed out.

“I doubt it, perhaps someday” he said with a shrug.

“Yes perhaps” she agreed. “So what do you want to do for New Years, feel like going to Kuno’s party?” she asked to change the subject.

He winced “actually I’ll probably stay home; I don’t much care for going out on New Years. Wadding through wall to wall drunks isn’t my idea of fun” he explained.

“Well Sugar, why don’t we get dressed up, grab some bubbly. get take out sushi and have our own party”

“I don’t want to ruin your fun, you could still go out” he offered.

“Bite your tongue, as if I could ever have a bad time with you! I hate going out single on New Years, all my friends give me sympathy kisses on the cheek or drunken guys stick their tongues down my throat, no thanks.”

“Sure if you want to” he replied.

“So what do you do for Chinese New Years then, go to see the dragons on parade in China Town?” she asked.

“Hell no, I’m usually the dragon’s head in the parade” he replied.

December 31st

Ukyou went to slip into a nice white cotton blouse with black slacks and then remembered what Jiro said about wearing a dress. She put them back in her closet and pulled out the short plum coloured dress that Akane had insisted she buy the last time they were shopping together. She’d never worn it before. It had thin straps, was form fitting and came to mid thigh. She pulled it on over her chest bindings and panties. It fit like a glove, but she could see her bindings, so she pulled it off and removed them. She went to pull out a bra and then paused and put it back. She pulled off her panties and went to replace them with a thong and then put that back too. Blushing she stepped back into the dress with nothing on underneath, she did up the zipper and shivered. The silky lining rubbed against her bare skin and made her feel quite naughty. Her nipples instantly went hard as she looked at herself. The absence of anything marring the lines of the dress was quite suggestive and she looked stunning in the colour. Feeling bold, she pulled out the kiss proof lipstick that she had bought for Akane’s wedding and put it on, it matched the dress almost perfectly. Then she took down her ponytail and backcombed her hair to tease it into a slightly messy volumized hairdo.

She met Mousse coming out his bedroom and smiled in appreciation at his well tailored black dress shirt and dark grey slacks. “Wow” he said when he saw her.

“Thanks I felt like being girly tonight” she said.

“It becomes you very well” Mousse said and pushed her chair in, he’d already arranged the sushi on their plates. He quickly sat down and placed his napkin in his lap to hide his erection, hoping she hadn’t seen it.

“Champagne?” she asked innocently.

They ate and moved into the living room to watch the red and white song festival and got more progressively giggly as time went on, neither one used to drinking champagne. “So as you are part gaijin, do you kiss in midnight?” she asked as causally as possible.

He blushed “I haven’t really in the past” he admitted.

“Would you like to? All we have to do is count down the seconds to midnight and kiss” she explained.

“I know how it’s done. Sure, why not?” Mousse said, not seeing how an innocent little kiss could hurt.

She turned the TV onto a weather station that showed the time and they both counted the seconds out loud. Then he leaned over and kissed her just as softly as before. Her lips tasted of champagne, and the contact set off a spark in his body that made his head spin. She looped her arms around his neck deepened the kiss, she felt intoxicated in a way that had nothing to do with the champagne. His arm tightened around her waist as he drew her closer, suddenly crushing her to his chest as a surge of adrenaline raced through his veins. She moaned as his tongue parted her lips and explored the hot depths of her mouth. Suddenly they were both on broad, long couch together, past the point of all reason. Lust had conquered them. Her hands caressed his back, his arms, his chest, and he gloried in her soft loving touch. No woman had ever touched him like she did, like he was the most wonderful treasure. With trembling fingers she undid the buttons of his shirt, until she pushed it from his shoulder and he let her. While he undid the zipper of her dress and pushed the top down, with a sigh he gazed with reverence at her breasts and then took one in his mouth to lave the tender bud with his tongue. She moaned and then gasped when his hand slid up her supple thighs and a finger slipped into her. She was so wet, Mousse’s self control was gone; it was all that he could do not to simply throw her down and rut her hard. He straightened so that he could slip her dress over her head, revealing to him the treasures that he’d fantasized about for two years.

Ukyou nervously undid his pants and helped him removed them, her mouth dry at the sight of his hard slim body. He kissed her hungrily this time, his fingers slipped back inside her as his thumb strummed her clit. He went to move down her body to taste her, she had a delicious smoky taste.

She gasped “please, I need you inside me” bracing herself to be penetrated for the first time in her life. Pushing her back, he settled himself against her and gently but firmly pushed himself inside. He was puzzled for a second when he felt resistance, and then he was inside her hot silken sheath. She gasped as if in pain, there wasn’t much because her hymen was in tatters from her years of martial arts but there was enough to cause a sharp intimate pain. He realized that he had just taken her virginity and went to pull away. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and wouldn’t let him “don’t stop” she almost begged and kissed him hard. All good intentions flew out the window and he began to move inside her with slow, powerful strokes until she started mewling with pleasure and moving with time with him, like they were old lovers. He bit his lip, she felt nothing less then glorious, and her pussy was soft, wet and tight around him. He leaned back so that each stroke rubbed against her g-spot while his pubic bone rubbed her clit. Her walls started convulsing at her approaching orgasm; she dug her fingers into his back and cried his name as she peaked. He bit his lip again; she came so hard that he wanted to burst into her, but managed to hold back. He started pounding into her and was rewarded with her cumming even harder this time, his cry echo hers. The came together as one and it was perfect. His triumph was that it was his name that she screamed, him that she wanted and him that she desired.

He held her perfect heaving body in his arms for a few seconds and then he realized how monumental what just happened was. He’d just made love to Ukyou, a girl that he’d wanted for years and it had been the best sex he’d ever had. She’d been so passionate yet tender at the same time. It was ludicrous, it was a stupid thing to do as it could wreck their friendship yet it had felt so natural. Then he started to panic, he hadn’t used any protection, what if......? He raised his head and looked into her eyes, searching for signs of regret, but saw only happiness and contentment there while she held him like he was the most precious thing in Japan. “Ukyou?” he questioned.

She searched his eyes as well; she’d shaken him she realized. He was the sort of person to whom causal sex was almost a foreign concept. His eyes had lost the guarded expression that he normally had; leaving him looking softer and more vulnerable, reminding her of the younger Mousse who’d told her that love was the only thing worth fighting for.