** This concludes chapter 4.

**Hey!  This is Jeff and congratulations for getting to the end or 
something like that!  

Well, just a few questions to bounce off of you:

- Did the dinner scene seem to progress too rapidly?  Did what Nabiki did 
make sense to y'all?

It seemed to work out just fine.  The only quibble I might have would be the 
walking-out stunt they pulled.  It's not a major quibble, mind you, it just 
seems a bit out of character.  I must say though, I can't think of another 
way of wrapping that scene up effectively, so I'd let it stand ^_^

-Heretical non-Hentai story question: Should Ranma and Nabiki have sex in 
the final scene of the story?  
I think it might be interesting to reconcile what they did for the next 
few episodes.  Then again, that wouldn't really fit in to the Ranma 
universe or the R&N universe.  I wish I could branch this parallel 
universe into two parallel universes, one where they do, one where they 
don't.  Well, I guess I could do that, but I don't want to.

I don't think they should, at least not in this storyline.  I'm not saying 
this out of being prudish or anything.  Like in real life, sex can possibly 
ruin a good thing, and I believe this would be the case.  I'm really 
enjoying this alternate storyline because of the character interactions and 
development, and throwing sex into the picture (interesting it may be) would 
really change the mood.

-The ukulele scene: I didn't make the fanfic a "how to play ukulele" 
instructional, did I?  Teaching the basics of an instrument is very sweet 
in real life but I don't know how well it translated. 

It came out just fine.  In fact, I wouldn't drop it, since it showed how 
Ranma and Nabiki are starting to get along.  A quiet moment every now and 
then helps a story.

Scenes I plan on adding: I'd like to mention Urd in brief, somewhere.
I'd like to add a Kasumi scene.  In case you haven't noticed I've been 
trying to develop her character.  Pretty soon she might resemble a real 
person!  I'd like to add a scene showing Akane is mad but not MAD at 
Ranma towards the end, and I'd like to edit things or add a scene towards 
the end to make Nabiki a little colder towards Ranma...geez they're 
about ready to get married!  Of course at the end of #3 Akane and Ranma 
were about ready to get married...

I'd say that you're doing a good job not only with Kasumi, but with Nabiki 
as well, as far as making them more human is concerned.  They're still the 
Kasumi and Nabiki we know and love, but we're seeing different sides of 
them, especially Nabiki.  Good job so far.

As far as making Nabiki a little colder...I don't know.  Sure, some slowing 
down of the relationship could be useful before things get too far along.  
However, I don't think making Nabiki a bit colder would be necessary.  Just 
pace things out as far as the relationship is concerned and things should 
work out just as well.

If you want chapters 1-3, or any of my other stories, e-mail me or get
them at the raas ftp site.  And be nice now, OK?  [author smiles a
ridiculously happy smile.]  That reminds me...I cooked a damned elaborate 
4-dish meal yesterday for 6 people.  Do I win Kasumi points?

Depends on what's being served up and how good it is! ^_-

Jeff Rutsch

****jdrutsch@ucdavis.edu***********************Jeff Rutsch************* 
"Ranma's not a boy...he's a girl!"
"Akane is MY fiance!  You TOUCH her, and I'll KILL you!"
"Ranma, change back into a boy while I buy you some time."
"But if I seem to act unkind/it's only me, it's not my mind."
"Ranma [sic],/give your heart to Akane [sic]. /Soon,/right away."
**^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^**

Peter L. Ward          falcon@best.com          Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)

"YAY, KEIICHI!!  If you lose your race, you're DEAD MEAT!!" - Urd