On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, Thomas Schmidt wrote:

<snip> 

Having him sneer in Nabiki's dying face would give the game away, and
possibly be ooc. ;)

Well, that's true.  After all, the scene doesn't make it at all clear 
that Ranma did the killing, and Nabiki certainly wasn't acting 
especially rational and careful beforehand.  For all we know, he 
stumbled upon her after an accident.  

And even if he did do it, as Chris Angel said, he was most probably 
motivated by fear.  We've seen how this Ranma responds to things he's 
afraid of before -- remember what he did to that poor cat?  
Nabiki came really, really close, and when Ranma is afraid he lashes 
out.  I'm not sure that makes the murder (if there was one) any less 
"evil," but there it is.

BTW, I'll be really dissapointed if Nabs turns out to be not quite 
dead.

And can we be really sure he was there at all?  Nabs is frightened, hit
by a car and probably dying.  Her vision may not be all that good at
this point. With Ranma so firmly fixed in _her_ mind as the worst 
villain to come down the pike since Jack the Ripper, if she saw anyone
wearing a red top and black pants (or a skirt) she would assume it was
him.  

Nabiki took a dislike to him from day one, so her take on events 
castes him in the worst possible light.  For example, earlier in this
chapter, when Ranma gets a frightened look and stops threatening her with
the knive, she starts wondering what outside factor scared him off. It
is in the realm of possiblity that at this point he realized he had lost
control and that he was frightened at what he was doing and what that
could have lead to. 

I honestly think that the jury is out on this one.  Yes, the chat bit
was frighting, but it was just talk.  For all we know, he bought off her
agent(? lackey?).  If you look at it from a "Ranma is the good guy" POV,
it was a clever way to comfirm his suspicion that she was involved in the
the most recent attempt on his life.  After all, he had just threatened
her _if_ she interferred with him and his relationship with Akan, Nabiki
(and the Habikis and Shamps) are the ones actively trying to kill him.
    
I am eagerly awaiting Chapter 10.  

Peggy