This is a well-written story, making great use of Kodachi's perspective.
Unfortunately, I have some serious believability problems with it:

Adrian Tymes <wingcat@soca.com> wrote:

"UKYOU?"

"W...wait, Ranma, I can explain..."

There he is.  You know, I do not think I will ever forget the look on his
face as he kneels next to Ukyou, or when he stands up and snatches the
bloody spatula from Akane's hand.  He just looks too cute like that,
thinking that his true love has just murdered his best friend.

"Don't bother."  Correction.  His FORMER true love.  "I thought I knew
you, but obviously I was mistaken."

"It's not what it looks like..."

"Have you ever believed me when I said that?"

No she didn't, but what does that have to do with anything? I really
can't see Ranma judging Akane guilty at the drop of a hat like this; and
this line makes it almost seem like he's getting revenge for all of her
petty malletings by letting her take the blame for a murder. "You're
gonna fry in the electric chair, Akane! NYYYAAAAAHH!"

And now, the moment I've been waiting for.

"CAT!"

I do not have to see inside to know what happens.  Aside from Ranma
himself - herself, now - there is only one object in the room that can be
a target for Ranma's cat-fist.

*CRUNCH*

Correction.  Could have been.

No. No. No.

First of all, being trapped in a room with one cat isn't enough to
trigger the cat-fist. (Remember that Gosunkugi needed a whole room full
of them, plus a tiger.) If Shampoo is smart enough to stay out of his
face (which she is), this shouldn't have happened.

Secondly, Ranma isn't Nastassia Kinski. He doesn't have to kill when
he's a cat. What's more, he retains his basic attitudes towards people,
so he would've been at worst indifferent towards Shampoo. If he did feel
the need to sharpen his claws, the wall would've done just fine.

When your father is the principal of a school, getting approval for one of
that school's students to stay home is easy.  Especially when something
genuinely "bad" has happened, like witnessing the murder of two close
friends.

With THIS principal, you need to get a special form that's hidden in a
pineapple somewhere...

"You have demonstrated, time and time again, that you would stop me from
having Ranma.  This will end in a few minutes.  Do you recognize the rack
that you are strapped to?  Oh, that's right, I didn't invite you to my
last use of it.  Pity...it was only yesterday morning, too, and you would
have so liked to have been there.  I'm sorry I didn't invite you."
Gesture to the remains.

Yes, she does recognize Happousai.  Or, rather, the pieces of Happousai.
Somehow, she does not seem as thrilled as I had imagined she would be.

I hope she's just deluded about this, 'cause Happosai is tougher than
that.


Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe