[Ranma][FanFic] Yaki-Imo
Jan Story
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Jan Story
Characters (C) by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, etc.
/*I wish I could go to school.*/ Kasumi-oneechan was learning about
reading and writing and numbers, and Nabiki wanted to learn too. She
already knew how to count; she had learned the number words by watching
Sesame Street and counted everything she could find. Numbers
fascinated her. They were so ordered, so perfect. Words didn't always
mean the same things, she had learned. Words were slippery things.
They were things that grownups used to get you to do stuff you didn't
want to do. But there was nothing changeable or slippery about
numbers. They were, and that was that.
"Come on, Nabiki-chan. Let's go to the market now so that we can be
back when Kasumi comes home from school."
That meant that Oneechan got to help Okaasan cook again, and *she'd* be
stuck minding the baby. Someone always had to keep an eye on Akane
because she had a habit of sneaking out to the dojo and if she wandered
in there during class she could get hurt. Keeping an eye on Akane was
boring.
The market was boring. Okaasan went to all the little booths and
smiled and talked to the shopkeepers, while Nabiki had to keep Akane
from wandering off. She tried to make up a counting game but Akane
wasn't interested. Her legs were tired, she was chilly and thoroughly
cross.
"I'm hungry, Okaasan," she whined. "I'm cold."
"Me too," Akane echoed.
"Oh my," Okaasan said. "Then let's hurry and go home so we can get
warm. You can have a snack when Kasumi gets home from school."
Two dispirited little girls dragged themselves homeward after her.
Nabiki had to hold Akane's hand because Okaasan needed both hands to
carry her packages.
They passed a small yatai, which gave off a delicious smell. Okaasan
stopped. "Oh my, yaki-imo!"
"What's yaki-imo?" Akane asked.
"They're good! You were too little last year," Nabiki said.
"Am I still too little, 'Kaasan?"
Okaasan thought for a moment, then led the girls over to a bench and
sat down. Nabiki looked at her in amazement. It wasn't like Okaasan
to do this.
Okaasan rummaged in her purse. "Nabiki-chan?"
"Hai?"
She handed Nabiki a piece of paper that had the number 100 on it.
Nabiki knew it was money. "Give this to the man and ask him for two
yaki-imo. You and Akane-chan can share one. And you can keep the
change."
"What's change?"
"The money he gives you back, because this is more than the yaki-imo
cost."
Nabiki didn't understand, but obediently she went over to the vendor's
cart, the hundred-yen note clutched tightly in her hand. "I'd like two
yaki-imo, please," she said, full of importance at being allowed to do
something so grown-up.
"That's eighty yen, little miss," the vendor said. She handed him her
bill and he handed her back some coins. She put the coins in her
pocket.
"Thank you," she said and skipped back to Okaasan.
Okaasan broke one of the yaki-imo in two pieces and handed one to each
of the girls. "How much change did you get back, Nabiki-chan?"
Nabiki dug the coins out of her pocket. "Oh, I know how much this is!
This coin is five yen, and this one is another five yen, and this one
is ten yen!"
"And how many yen is that?"
Nabiki thought hard. It was harder to count without the TV. Five
yen... and another five... that was the same as ten. And another
ten... "Twenty yen, Okaasan! I have twenty yen!"
"That's right, Nabiki-chan. You can keep the twenty yen because you're
such a bright girl."
"Arigatou, Okaasan." Nabiki put the coins back in her pocket and
munched on her sweet potato. When they were finished they started for
home again.
"Okaasan?"
"What is it, Nabiki-chan?"
"Where do yen come from? How do you get more yen?"
"Otousan gives me the money, so that I can buy food, and clothes for
you girls, and the other things we need."
That wasn't quite what Nabiki wanted to know. "Where does Otousan get
the money?"
"From the students. The students pay Otousan to teach them kempo."
That was a factor Nabiki hadn't considered. She had always more or
less ignored the students. Kasumi was a little scared of them, and
Akane called them all "niichan" and made herself a nuisance tagging
after them, but to Nabiki they were just a bunch of big, loud, smelly
boys. Now she saw them in a different light: as the source of things
like yaki-imo, as well as food and clothes... /*and maybe other stuff
too? Like the talking panda that Okaasan said cost too much money?*/
"This is really good, 'Kaasan," Akane piped up. "When I get big I'll
have lots of students so I can buy yaki-imo every day!"
"I'm sure you will," Okaasan laughed, ruffling Akane's short
hair. "Well, I think we've all rested and warmed up enough, so why
don't we go home now?" She picked up her packages.
Akane skipped along merrily, her hand in Nabiki's. "Yaki-imo, yaki-
imo," she chanted softly.
Nabiki clenched her fist tightly around the twenty yen in her
pocket. /*When you have stuff that people want, they pay you money for
it. So you get more money by having more people want what you've got.
Then you can get the stuff *you* want.*/
That was almost like magic. It was like yen were the magic that made
the whole world turn around. But it needed lots more than twenty yen.
It needed even more yen than Otousan got from the students. /*How can
I get that many yen? Maybe I can find out when I go to school.*/
/*I wish I could go to school.*/
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NOTES, EXPLANATIONS ETC.
Yaki-imo are roasted sweet potatoes. Street vendors sell them in fall,
and they're a fairly inexpensive treat (though I guessed at the
price).
My kids learned to count from Sesame Street, and nearly every country
has its own version.
Niichan means big brother. Chibi-Akane probably *would* look on the
students as a bunch of older brothers.
I wrote this as kind of a companion piece to "First Steps." If you
want to connect them, this takes place about a year earlier.
This, and all my fics, also available at http://www.storyanime.com/.
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.