The Tale of the Duck

A/N- Hey! It's been a while huh? Anyway, I hope this chapt works for yah guys! I have dedicated this to my best friend in the whole world! Happy 19th Jenn!!

Disclaimer- Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, I can only play with the characters, T.T Sniffle, anyway, I don't own anything but the plot and story...

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A New Friendship

After a moment the door slid open, Kasumi had been brewing some tea when she heard the doorbell but when she opened the door, what she saw caused her to drop the pot that was in her hand.

"Mousse!"

From the look of things, these last two years had been good on him. Kasumi couldn't help it as her eyes began registering all the differences that she could see, indeed, Mousse had changed a lot from when she had last seen him.

His face had leaned out and from the way his zip-up jacket hugged his form, his body had too. His hair was fastened back in a rather high ponytail and he was wearing a pair of plain button down jeans, upon his feet were some laced up running shoes but what caught Kasumi's eyes the most was the fact that Mousse wasn't wearing glasses, yet he was interacting with her without any problems what so ever.

She watched in awe as Mousse caught the pot and stood, he smiled gently at her, "hello Miss. Tendo, it's been a while…umm, do you know where Ranma is, I'd like to speak with him if I could."

Quickly taking the pot from Mousse, Kasumi smiled embarrassedly, "Oh! Uh…Kasumi, please…umm Ranma is out at the moment, but if you want…I will keep you company…" Mousse could only continue to smile at the kind tone in Kasumi's voice, her eyes were gentle and an equally gentle smile graced her lips, it seemed that some people never changed.

"I'd love to, I know you have lots of things you would like to ask me and I would like to do the same…after all, it's been two years and we never really talked then. I really regret that…"

Kasumi stepped to the side as she motioned for Mousse to enter which he did, once they both were inside, they both sat down and began to talk and what Mousse told Kasumi shocked her.

"So…you're no longer cursed?" Kasumi lead Mousse into the kitchen, she had decided to prepare some rice balls for lunch, since it would be a couple hours before Ranma and Akane returned from school.

Mousse let a gentle smile cross his lips, reaching down he sild down the zipper of his jacket, once he had completely removed it and set it upon the ground nearby he turned to face Kasumi again. The look on her face was priceless, her eyes were wide and a slight blush stained her cheeks as she appraised the way Mousse dark blue t-shirt showed off his rather muscular chest, "yes…that and as you can see, I have no more need to wear glasses…thank goodness for that."

Her blush deepening, Kasumi smiled at Mousse's gentle words, "that is good to hear…but…ummm…" raising an eyebrow as he removed his watch, Mousse peered at Kasumi out of the corner of his eye as he walked towards the fridge. "Yes?"

Shaking her head, Kasumi moved after him and came to a stop at his side, "I just wanted to know why you took off your jacket and now removed your watch…"

A soft chuckle passed Mousse's lips, "I'm going to help you prepare the rice balls…after all, I am the guest here, so I need to earn my stay…don't you think?"

Kasumi immediately brightened at that, no one had ever offered to help her before…well, with the exception of Akane trying to cook something for Ranma but that didn't count.

"Thank you Mousse…I am very grateful for your help but…I am curious, I thought that men only cooked when they had to…"

Opening the fridge, Mousse pulled out the leftover rice and some pickled plums plus some other flavorings, "true, but over the past two years I have been all by myself and had to cook everything myself, at first I found it troublesome and annoying. But I found that I actually have a knack for cooking, it has a calming effect on me and makes thinking much easier."

Setting the bowl of rice and other ingredients upon the counter, Mousse removed the lids and took out a big scoop of rice, "anytime that I need time to think or make a decision…I cook," Mousse could already feel himself relaxing as he molded the rice ball in his palm.

"I see…I find the same comfort in cooking as well and I want to let you know, you are welcome to come here and cook with me as much as you want Mousse, in fact I hope you will…it does get rather lonely here while everyone is out…" as Kasumi's voice trailed off, Mousse turned towards her to find that Kasumi was shaking as silent tears flowed down her cheeks.

Kasumi didn't know what had come over her, but as she watched Mousse molding the first of what was to be many rice balls, she couldn't hold it in any longer and the dam that she had took the time to build about herself broke. She didn't know why, but somehow she felt that she could show this side of herself to Mousse, his presence and friendliness made Kasumi feel like she was the safest person in the whole world…and with that tears that had been long overdue began to fall.

Immediately Mousse placed the rice ball onto the counter and pulled Kasumi into his arms, wrapping her within his protective and comforting embrace, "if that is the case Kasumi, I would love too. After all, what are friends for?"

At that Kasumi raised her head and gave Mousse a teary smile, "thank you Mousse, I really need a friend…ever since mother died, I've been all alone it seems even with father, my sisters, Mr. Saotome and Ranma. There's never been someone that I could sit down and talk with, I am glad you came back Mousse, its good not to be alone."

Chuckling to himself, Mousse used one of his sleeves to clear away all of Kasumi's tears after he was done he released her and shoved her towards the counter, "so true, but I believe that we have some unfinished business to attend to, ne?"

Kasumi smiled at Mousse's playful tone and started to laugh at herself, "Yes…you're right, let's get to it, shall we?" Mousse began to laugh as well, "By all means, lets."

Time flew by as Mousse and Kasumi talked, they had finished making the rice balls and decided that they wanted to cook more so they went on making cookies, rice cakes, pocky, and in the end, they had decided to heck with it and made dinner.

It had just entered the afternoon hours when the doorbell was heard and a very interesting discussion of Mousse's worldly travels was brought to a halt, a sad look crossed Kasumi's face as she got to her feet to go and answer the door, she had been enjoying the company of her new best friend and was worried that he might leave now that someone had shown up.

But as Kasumi neared the door she heard Mousse's footsteps behind her and turned to find that Mousse had taken the liberty of washing the dishes, a smile lit Kasumi's face at that, it meant that Mousse wasn't going anywhere for a little while longer.

Happy with this turn of events, Kasumi opened the door and was surprised at what greeted her eyes.

Before her stood a steaming Akane, a smug Nabiki, and a female Ranma, "welcome home, what happened?"

Nabiki smirked as she strode inside only to freeze once she was in seeing distance of the kitchen, Akane ignored Kasumi completely as she gripped Ranma by the pigtail and stormed inside, dragging a wincing Ranma after her. But as they got to where Nabiki stood, they froze as well, all three pairs of eyes were trained on the kitchen and Kasumi let out a dejected sigh as she shut the door. The day was about to get very hectic.

Striding past her sisters and Ranma, Kasumi walked into the kitchen and smiled as Mousse handed a towel to her, Kasumi started to silently count down from three as she took up a place next to Mousse and began to dry the dishes that he handed to her.

'three…two…one…'

"What the heck is going on here Kasumi?!" Came the angered voice of Akane.

"Yeah…who is this hunk?" That was of course Nabiki's comment, the girl had eyes for anything male and muscular.

"M…Mousse?!" Now that caused Kasumi to stop drying the bowl she had in her hands and Mousse from washing a plate, they both turned to lay their stunned eyes upon a very uncomfortable and embarrassed looking Ranma.

"What do you mean Mousse? It can't be…he…" Akane's eyes widened as she recognized a face she hadn't seen in over two years, she just couldn't believe her eyes.

A/N- Evil cliffy isn't it?! Sorry…it's just that the chapter was getting way too long and so I decided to divide it in half. The next chapter is about a 1/3 finished, but it's actually coming along really well…right now I have very bad writers block and I had to take a slight break from my other fics to sort of cool off…but I will still be continuing them, so no worries! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and see yah next time! Ja Ne!