Reunion

Ukyou at twenty seven was a bright, attractive independent single mother of a five year old. Yoko was the product of a one night stand with Ranma. On the night before his marriage to Akane, she'd made a bargain with him that she would leave Nerima and never bother him again if he spent one night with her. He had agreed and her daughter had been the result of that night. Ukyou hadn't even known about her as she stood up with Akane as bridesmaid and then sold her restaurant and left Nerima for good. The restaurant had sold for a tidy sum and she'd opened another in Osaka, this had done so well that she'd opened another and then another until there was a chain of Uuchan's all over Japan. She was now quite wealthy as result and now pursued her dream of becoming the best okonomiyaki chef in the world. She'd won many competitions, including the one that she was flying back from.

She held her daughter's hand as she tried to find their seats on the plane. Yoko had Ranma's features, Ukyou's hair and eyes and unfortunately her father's stubbornness. It was fairly late and she was tired. Finding their seats, she sat down beside what appeared to be a tall, slim Japanese business man. She helped Yoko get comfortable and fastened her seat belt before turning to exchange a polite smile with their seatmate. He lowered the magazine that he had been reading, architectural today, to reveal features that were almost too pretty for a man and emerald green eyes. Ukyou frowned at how familiar he looked and then his identity snapped into place. She pictured a younger version of the same face with thick, round glasses and exchanged the navy blue suit for a white robe. "Mousse?" she asked tentatively.

"Ukyou?" he questioned back having arrived at her identity in a similar fashion.

"Oh Kami it is you" she said. The years had been good to him, that was obvious. The more mature Mousse had polished good looks that the younger, more unfinished Mousse had lacked. His face had leaned and his body had filled out. "What happened after you left Nerima?" she asked.

He smiled at her "Shampoo and I married and returned to the tribe. Unfortunately it didn't work out as we were incompatible. So I'm divorced and share custody with her for our children, we have a boy and a girl." he explained.

"This is my daughter Yoko. Say hi to Mousse, he's an old friend of Mommy's" she said to Yoko.

Yoko looked at him shyly, said "hi" and gave him a gap toothed grin.

He smiled back and said "why thank you, I love meeting lovely young ladies" This caused her to grin because she unfortunately had her father's vanity as well.

They spent the next half an hour getting caught up, until Ukyou plead exhaustion and lay back on her seat with Yoko's head cushioned in her lap. When she woke up she became aware of body heat and a strong arm around her, she looked up to find that her head was on Mousse's chest and his arm wrapped around her. She blushed and quickly straightened up. "I'm so sorry" she stammered and straightened her rumpled clothes.

He smiled in amusement "its okay, the arm was digging into your hip so I moved it and you kind of shifted this way. No harm done" he said. "I've been keeping an eye on Yoko" he said gesturing at her daughter who was silently playing tic tac toe by herself.

When the plane landed, Ukyou undid Yoko's seatbelt and prepared to lift her into her arms. "May I?" Mousse asked and held out his own.

"I don't want to be a bother" Ukyou said heaving her duffel bag with one arm while trying to balance a half asleep Yoko.

"It's no bother, carrying sleepy little monsters to bed is my specialty" he said and swept up the small girl expertly, she just sighed and snuggled into his strong arms. Ukyou was struck at the familial image they presented, anyone seeing them would think they were a married couple taking their exhausted girl home. Yoko had never met her father so she'd never been carried like this by a man. She had her small arms trustingly wrapped around him. Mousse was curious at the intensity of Ukyou's gaze "can I give you a lift? I have an airport limousine booked" he whispered over Yoko's dark head.

"It's probably out of your way" she said with hestiation in her voice.

"Try me" Mousse said. She told him. "That's only out of my way by twenty minutes" he said and started carrying Koyo decisively in the direction of the limousine dock. Ukyou could only smile at how authoritative he had become, the sixteen year old Mousse had been such a doormat. She scurried after him.

Mousse let her get into the limousine first and then handed her Yoko, who shifted so that she was cuddling her mother. Her thumb slipped into her rosebud of a mouth. Ukyou was surprised when Mousse bent and carefully fished it out. "Bad habit, my daughter used to do the same thing" he whispered.

"I've been trying to break her of it for years. How did you suceed?" she asked.

"Lily is vain like her mother, I just told her that no one is going to want to date her if she had rabbit teeth. She stopped immediately" he said smiling at the memory. Ukyou thought that that just might work for Yoko, she marveled at his parenting skills.

When they arrived at Ukyou's modest house, she thanked him. She wished that she didn't have to get out of the limo. She hadn't had a man in her bed for a long time and Mousse was really good looking. "I guess this is goodbye" she said examining the attractive man beside her one last time.

"It doesn't have to be, would you both care to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" he asked and handed her his card.

It read:

Mu, Kimura & Ito Ltd.

Mu Tzu M. Arch

"You're an architect?" Ukyou said in surprise.

"I'll explain over dinner tomorrow if you agree" he said with a grin.

"I accept" Ukyou said and grinned at her old friend.