However, I still don't much like the idea of this, because despite your
Author's Notes, I am still left with the notion that the text, from Akane's
first hearing about Ranma's 'free lessons', is done with the singlular
purpose of getting Akane to kill Ranma.

Sorry, Redneck, but I beg to differ. I read the whole thing, and I found it
disturbingly realistic and a very probible conclusion to Ranma and Akane's
marriage. The most probable, in fact, if they don't get help.

(1) Nodoka would EVER give up her katana.

Even so, ultimately it's a sword. Akane could've gotten her own goddamn
katana and the results would've been the same (all other things being
equal). Nodoka's katana was availible, so...

(2) Akane gets more powerful through anger.

Not anger, but all-consuming rage can make someone a deadly opponent, to
whit the Viking Berzerkers. Berzerking is deadlier that most combat
training, simply owing to the fact that a berzerker is 1) unpredictable, 2)
very strong, 3) will ignore all pain, and 4) will fight until they drop,
are killed or the problem is solved. Add in the fact that Ranma is
reluctant to fight back against girls, and he's in major trouble.

Evolution (especially in Arms-Race evolution) makes near-optimal weaponry,
and the Berzerk state is a weapon that's been in the works since the
evolution of unrestricted movement (animals). And not effective? The
Neko-ken is, when you get down to it, a Berzerk state, and it's among the
most effective techiques known to the Takahashiverse. Ask me if I'm
surprised at this.

(3) Akane ever gets as mad as you have her. (This is a major point, you
drill it into the reader's head that Akane's anger has been getting steadily
worse. This seems to me to be rationalization in order to have her, at the
end of the fic, ready to kill Ranma and Ukyou.)

She doesn't start out this way, but she did develop up to this point. (You
missed the first part, remember?) I admit that Zen kinda drills it in, BUT
I do find it realistic, frighteningly realistic. In domestic violence,
especially those aggravated by rage disorders, the anger and violence DO
get steadily worse unless the problem is caught and dealt with.

If the problem is not caught, and the victim does not leave or have the
abuser arrested, spouse beating invariably leads to one conclusion, the
abused spouse is killed. Akane killing Ranma is shocking, but I don't find
it OOC. (She develops to this point; she is not suddenly a raging maniac.)

(4) Akane can so utterly fail to listen. Akane at least -tries- sometimes to
make her relationship with Ranma work... but in this story, she does
absolutely nothing but be a hair-trigger emotional psychopath. In fact, now
that I think of it, she is very OOC by the end of the 'fic, but she has to
be so she can kill Ranma.

**AHEM!**

Akane has _ALWAYS_ practiced the policy of "Hit first and ask questions
later". From day one, Akane assumes it's Ranma's fault. Let's face it,
Akane's ability to listen is small; you need a microscope to see it. Ranma
is very devoted to Akane; I certainly wouldn't put up with that kind of
abuse. {"Sorry, Akane, our relationship is pooched. I'm ending it NOW and
going to Ukyou. Go find someone else, like Kuno. He's a mastochist; you'll
hit it off like a house on fire!"}

Akane does appear to have a rage disorder. People with rage disorders
literally can't control their rage for long; they get touchier and touchier
until even the littlest things can set them off. Before, Akane had regular
and reliable ways to blow off steam (Kunou, the boys, and bricks). Ranma's
insults provided an outlet once the other ways were gone (save the bricks).
It was a reliable source of aggravation, and blew off enough steam so that
Akane's problem didn't get any worse, so the situation was stable.

Once the insults stopped and Ranma tried everything to not make her angry,
however, the rage built up to a point where Akane WOULD be set off by
trivial things. Not only that, her frustration of not being able to make
the marriage work aggravates the problem, leading to the Vicious Circle
effect. Akane's psychopathic behavior develops in a realistic way over a
period of time.

(5) Ranma wouldn't avoid or defend himself from Akane. Ranma's emotional
calm in this fic seems a bit much, but more importantly although he might
not attack Akane, if she attacked him with a potentially lethal force he
would NOT let it hit him.

Nodoka made him promise not to piss off Akane, and Ranma eventually lost
his abusive tounge by the end of the first part. And Ranma is not
emotionally calm, not by a longshot; he's in turmoil! He can't figure out
how to resolve their relationship and he is becoming more and more afraid
of Akane.

The notion that Ranma would avoid deadly force makes sense but is wrong. If
this were true, then women would run away from their abusive husbands more
often. It's simply survival instinct and common sense. But this doesn't
happen. The women have a) convinced themselves that they deserve everything
they get, b) running away angers the spouse, c) their love and desire for
continuing the relationship overrides their survival instinct and common
sense.

Ranma might have the skill to avoid all Akane's blows, but he can't do that
if he thinks he deserves punishment for any wrong (even if he doesn't know
what it is). Also, dodging adds to Akane's anger (as explained in the fic),
so it's best just to get it over with. (Getting the heck out of Dodge and
leaving Akane to cool down is a better option, but he doesn't think of
that.) Ranma loved Akane more than anything else, and would not desert her
for anything. Physically, he had the ability, but emotionally and
psychologically, he had nowhere to go.

As a story in general, this is very good.

As a story about Ranma and Akane, it doesn't wash. Not for me.

It does for me. I can already see the beginning signs of Akane's spouse
beating. Sure, Ranma's insults are biting, BUT I don't believe that he
deserves to get literally flattened for it. And you seariously think this
problem will get any better when they get married? PLEASE! These problems
just don't correct themselves on their own. If anything, it gets worse,
especially if R&A assume that it will get better on its own and they find
differently.

I've always thought that if R&A did get married, they would either a) get
some serious marriage counceling, and stop fighting or at least calm down,
b) simply resolve that this is the way that their relationship works, and
their marriage remains just as violent as their engagement, but doesn't get
any worse, c) cause a breakup, or d) kill Ranma. Zen, unfortunately, beat
me to the punch, but he did a good job of it. Bravo, Zen.

Try again for a 'Ranma gets Akane' fic, but this time instead of assuming
that it will be a disaster, assume that BOTH of them will work to keep it
going, bad good or indifferent.

His goddamn fic. And Ranma and Akane do try very hard to work it out. But
it still doesn't correct the problem _unless_ they get outside help. Akane
deals with the problem the only way she knows how: blame Ranma and hit him.
It always worked before, so why not now? Ranma was trying to identify what
was making Akane mad and deal with it. The problem is that AKANE is the
problem; she can't aknoweldge that some things _aren't_ Ranma's fault, and
a great deal of them aren't _anyone's_ fault, plus that her temper is out
of control.

Most couples with abusive spouses _do_ want to make their relationship work
(as Akane and Ranma did), but it's something that they can't do on their
own. They're too close to the problem. Ranma and Akane are stubborn as
mules; 'help' is a bad word to them. It took Ukyou to identify the real
problem and she had to browbeat (bad choice of words) Ranma into getting
help. And it worked for a while, before Akane blew up about it once she
found out.

I can think of a dozen different ways R&A's problem could've been solved,
but that doesn't mean that they can. We're on the outside and can easily
see the whole problem and make solutions; the characters aren't so lucky,
and no one can think of EVERYTHING.

{So, Akane. You found out that Ranma was going to a battered spouse support
group. And you beat the shit out of him. I donno, sounds like spousal
battery to ME.}

                           ---------------------
##   ## ##   ## #######  ##   ##  AKA Tom Jefferys, Time Lord for Hire
##   ##  #   #   ##   ## ### ###    "Have TARDIS; Will Travel."
## # ##   ###    #####   ## # ##  Weilder of ANVIL and SPAM!
### ###    #     ##  ##  ##   ##  <wyrm@mail.utexas.edu>
##   ##   ###   ###   ## ##   ##    <JEFFERYSTR@rascal.guilford.edu>

Darwin was wrong: Man is still an ape!