On Mon, 3 Aug 1998, Gary Kleppe wrote:

		      HEARTS AND MINDS PRELUDE FOUR
		 HIBIKI RYOGA AND UNRYU AKARI: THE GIFT

Ryouga and Akari?  Is this why the abbreviation for Hearts and Minds is
HaM?

	"Try to do the honorable thing, son," Genma said. "A true
martial artist doesn't hide himself inside the form of an animal."

Now *this* is good, from Genma...

	Ryoga stretched his arms out in front of him, his palms facing
outward. "SHISHI HOKODAN!" He dug into the black depths of his pain and
depression, pushing forward until they coalesced into a solid mass. The
energy erupted toward the pig-tailed boy, driving into a tree with
hurricane force.

	Ranma stood, dusting himself off. "I'm talking about Akari,
idiot! She's been looking for you."

It sounds like the blast missed Ranma, and hit the tree.  However, in the
next paragraph, you state that Ranma stands up, and dusted himself.
Perhaps make the actions in this area more clear?  Does Ranma get hit, or
does he not?

And Kuno... he ran off to Jusenkyo. Ranma didn't see how
that one could be called his fault -- he hadn't exactly been in good
enough mental condition at the time to do anything about it -- but he
still wished it hadn't happened.

This seems out of place.  Why would Ranma care about Kuno at this point in
time?  After all, he's been nothing but a bother.

	Akari came out onto her porch. She saw Ryoga and got a look in
her eyes, like she was starving and Ryoga was the main course.

There was a rather amusing spamfic, that had Akari after P-chan solely for
the meat.  I don't recall the title or author, though.

	"Goodness, it looks like some sort of animal," the little old
woman said. "I'm afraid I hit it with my dishwater and got it wet. We
ought to find out who owns it."

The front door goes straight to the kitchen?  What kind of house is this?

	But he was so tired of walking....

Nice line.  Better than a rant-list of counterarguments.

	Ranma remembered a time when he had suspected that Akane had
known the truth about P-chan all along. He dismissed the thought now,
just as he had back then. It didn't really matter anyway.

I just love those times when everyone calls Kuno an idiot for not
realizing that Ranma and Onna-Ranma are one and the same...

	"I guess we should be going." Akari took Ryoga by the arm. "I'm
trying to scrape up enough money so that we can honeymoon in Hawaii.
I've got an uncle who's really crazy about the place, and he says he can
get us cheap tickets.

	"Tell me," Kaede continued, "does Ryoga harbor a lot of negative
emotions? Hate, anger, that sort of thing?"

Why should this matter, if it's a family curse?

	It couldn't be, Ryoga thought. He leapt up toward the direction
from which Kaede had come,

...after getting redirected several times.

Out of curiosity, have you read the Xanth series?  Just something I've
been wondering.

All in all, pretty good, though I liked it a little less than the others.



-Natsume Ranma Ranma
-------
The sardines weren't worth the trouble.  A few more shots, then 
Ryoga-san would overheat and explode.  Ducking around a corner, 
I managed to lose him as I entered the ramshackle residence of 
my Anime supplier.

One look at his face and I knew that I was betrayed.  "Tell me."
I insisted.  He refused, so I slammed him against the wall.
"Last chance.  Where can Ranma-Ranma find good fanfics?"
"Try Jason Liao." he whispered, before he slumped to the floor.
I heard the sounds of a door splintering as I left through the 
window, one step ahead of Tendo Heavy Industries...