Other Worlds to Sing In

A Ranma 1/2 short story by Larry F, based on an original story by an unknown
author.

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko
Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video.

Author's notes: This story really isn't mine-- it's been around for quite a
while already (not as fan fiction, though), and makes the rounds being
passed along through email. I just adapted it using the Ranma characters
because it's a nice story, and I thought people would enjoy it. I wish I
could give proper credit to or ask permission of the original author, but no
one seems to know who he or she was. I hope it's okay... ^_^;;

I'm also hoping I did a decent job on it. Anyway, on with the tale.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

On a hot, sunny summer's day, Ranma Saotome sat on the edge of the engawa of
the Tendo family home, relaxing in the shade.  With everyone but Kasumi gone
for the day, he'd found himself in the middle of an unexpected afternoon of
peace, the likes of which he'd rarely experienced since before Jusenkyou.
He contemplated the yard beside the house, and the koi pond he knew every
square inch of intimately... from the inside out. 'Well, the fish will be
getting a break today, thank goodness!'

It had been a busy year since the fiasco of the wedding attempt, and Ranma
had gone through a lot of changes.  With his mother around, he'd done a lot
of growing up.  She'd insisted that he get better grades in school, with an
eye to passing the college entrance exams, and with her help he'd improved
drastically.  But that didn't stop his father from giving him the usual rude
awaking every morning, and it didn't stop rivals, 'friends', or the
occasional magic prince from showing up to challenge the dojo's serenity.

As he sat, too bored and lazy to think of anything better to do, Kasumi came
into the family room with a tray containing two glasses and a pitcher of
iced tea.  She walked over to him and sat down, placing the tray between
them.  "Since today is so hot, I thought you might like something to help
you cool off.  Would you mind very much if I joined you?"

Ranma smiled at her.  "Not at all, Kasumi-san.  I was just wondering what to
do with myself."

Kasumi poured the tea as she mulled over that idea.  "I suppose it must be
very boring for you with none of your friends visiting.  They're all so
energetic."

Ranma grimaced as he picked up his glass.  "I guess you could say that...
But it's not like I want to fight _all_ the time.  When me an' Pops were on
the road, I had to practice every day, but sometimes in the afternoon, when
it was hot like today, he just wanted to take naps, and I got time to myself
with nothing to do.  I kinda miss that."

"You know, I don't think you've ever told us anything about your travels,
Ranma.  What was it like to wander all over the country?"

"Well, most of the time, it was okay.  There were times when I was tired an'
hungry, and when we didn't have a place to stay, we had to live out of
little pup tents.  But there was a lot of places I'm glad that we went to,
and there were a lot of people who were really nice to me."

Kasumi perked up a bit.  "Could you tell me about them?"

Ranma thought for a moment.  "There are too many things to say, and I ain't
good at telling stories.  But there was one old lady that really stands out
from the crowd, even though I never actually met her face to face."


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

"When I was still six, and we had only left home a few months before, Pops
took me to this little village up in the mountains near Gifu.  We stayed in
a local dojo for a while that had one of the only telephones in the town.
It was a real antique, too; one of those kinds that hung on the wall, and
had a separate earpiece, while the part you spoke into was on the front of
the box.  I remember thinking how beautiful it looked, with the polished old
wood and shiny brass bells on the top.

"I was too little to reach the telephone, but I used to listen when the
master of the dojo would talk into it.  I thought it was like magic. Then I
discovered that somewhere inside it there lived an amazing person, and her
name was "Information Please", and there was nothing she didn't know.
"Information Please" could tell you anybody's number or address, or even
what the correct time was.

"My first time talking to the lady I thought of as being like a
genie-in-a-bottle came one day while Pops was out drinking with the dojo
master. I was playing around a tool bench in a shed around the back of the
dojo proper when I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible,
but there didn't seem to be any reason to cry; partly because Pops had
already begun telling me that only girls cried, but also because there was
no one there to give me any sympathy. I walked around the place for a time
sucking on my hurt finger, before I found myself in front of the phone.

"The telephone!

"I ran and got a footstool from the living area, and put it under the phone.
Then I climbed up and picked the earpiece off the hook and held it to my
ear. "Information Please" I said into the mouthpiece, which was just above
my head. There was a click or two, and then a tiny voice spoke into my ear.

"Information."

"I hurt my finger!" I cried into the phone. The tears came easily, now that
I had an audience.

"Isn't your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's here but me," I blubbered.

"Are you bleeding?" the voice asked.

"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with a hammer and it _hurts_!

"Can you open the refrigerator?" she asked. I said I could. "Then get an ice
cube and hold it to your finger," said the voice.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

"After that, I called "Information Please" for everything. When I started
school-- since we stayed there after the school year started-- I asked her
for help with my geography and she told me where Nagasaki was. She helped me
with math. When I caught a squirrel in the woods one day, she told me that
it would eat fruit and nuts.

"Then there was the time the dojo's pet canary died. I was really affected
by it, because that was the first time I'd ever seen anything die, and I
loved to sit by the cage and hear it sing. So I called "Information Please"
and told her the about it. She listened, and then said the usual things
grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was heartbroken, so I asked her, "Why
should birds sing so pretty, if they're only going to end up dead on the
bottom of the cage?"

"Then she quietly told me, "You must remember that there are other worlds to
sing in." Somehow, I felt better.

"Another day I was on the telephone. "Information Please." "Information,"
said the now familiar voice. "How do you spell 'fix'?'" I asked.

"All too soon, it seemed to me, we moved on. I missed my telephone friend
very much.  But I never tried to call anyone again. "Information Please"
belonged in that old wooden box back in that small village in Gifu
prefecture, and somehow I never thought that she'd be in the shiny new
phones I saw in other cities.

"Even after I became a teenager, the memories of those childhood
conversations never really left me. Often, when I was confused or depressed,
I would recall the sense of security I had back then. These days, I can
appreciate how patient, understanding and kind she was to have spent her
time helping a little boy.

"Years later, when me an' Pops were on our way west to China, we passed that
way through Gifu.  The village had gotten bigger, and there were a lot more
phones there, more modern ones. I had about an hour to kill while Pops was
trying to scare up a meal for himself, so I looked around and found a public
phone, and I dialed the town operator and said, "Information Please."

"Miraculously, I heard the same small voice I remembered so well.
"Information."

"I hadn't planned it, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me
how to spell 'fix'?"

"There was a long pause. Then came the softly spoken answer, "I guess your
finger must be healed by now."

"I had to laugh. "So it's really you," I said. "I wonder if you have any
idea how much you meant to me back then?"

"I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never
had any children of my own, and I used to look forward to your calls." I
told her how often I had thought of her over the years and asked if I could
call her again when we came back from China. "Please do," she said. "Just
ask for Ikuko."

"When we finally came back, it wasn't quite the way I thought.  We'd been
chased all over China by Shampoo, and we only lost her when we started the
long swim back to Japan. I was still bummed out about the curse, too.  But I
remembered my promise, even though we landed a lot farther north and wouldn'
t be going through Gifu again.  On the road to Tokyo, I scraped up enough
money for a long-distance call, and asked to be connected to the phone
company for that village.  But this time, a different voice answered,
"Information." I asked for Ikuko-san. "Are you a friend?" she said. "Yes, a
very old friend," I answered.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Ikuko had been working part
time in the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago."

"Before I could hang up, she asked, "Wait a minute. Are you Ranma-san?"

"Yes..."

"Well, Ikuko-san left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you
called when she was too sick to work. Let me read it to you."  The note
said, "Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know
what I mean." I thanked her and hung up.

"Yes, I knew exactly what the old lady had meant."


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

When Ranma finished his tale, Kasumi sat as if frozen in place, tears
streaming silently down her face.  Finally, she dabbed at her eyes with her
apron, and then scooted over closer to Ranma.  To his great surprise, she
hugged him fiercely.  "Oh, Ranma.  You know, I usually still think of you as
that brash, conceited young man who first came to our home two years ago,
but now I think I won't anymore.  You just demonstrated past any doubt that
there's more to you than meets the eye.  Thank you."

She released him and stood up, taking her empty glass.  "I'll leave the rest
of the tea with you.  The others should be back soon, and I have to get
dinner started.  But will you tell me more of your stories later?  Please?"

Dazed, Ranma collected his wits.  "Um... Sure, Kasumi-san.  I'd be glad to."

With a sunny smile, she left him to sort out the welter of feelings she'd
raised.  It took him the rest of the afternoon.


	     .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'