Takahashi disclaimer...


	Akane stared fascinated at the screen as the katana pierced two 
hearts as one.  Tears were forming in her eyes again, as they often had 
for the last hour and forty-five minutes.
	This was possibly the most moving TV show she had ever watched.  
Apparently, most of the rest of Japan agreed with her, as "The Last 
Drop"'s first two episodes had been the highest-rated ever for a 
miniseries.  She and Nabiki had practically glued themselves to their 
seats for the duration.
	Ranma, on the other hand, had watched the first five minutes, 
decided it was "touchy-feely emotional crap" and bailed.  Oh well, 
thought Akane, he probably would have hogged the snacks anyway.  Not that 
she'd touched them in the last twenty minutes.  She returned her full 
attention to the screen.  
	The touching funeral scene wound to a close, followed by a 
harrowing finale of the murderer in an insane asylum, clearly unable to 
understand what she'd done.
	As the credits rolled, Akane grabbed a handful of tissues and 
blew her nose, then grabbed another handful to wipe away the tears. 
	"Wasn't that the saddest movie you've ever seen, Nabiki?" she 
asked her older sister.
	"Well, yeah.  There were some obvious plotholes, and it looks 
like there was a completely different writer for the final episode.  I 
mean, look at the characterization.  The best friend is just as bad as 
the wife until this episode, then suddenly she turns into this angelic 
creature who never has any bad motives.  The wife's sanity takes a 
nosedive, and absolutely no one seems to notice anything's different.  I 
know *I'd* notice if someone in my family suddenly went cuckoo.  And the 
husband's mother...she acted like no Japanese mother-in-law I've ever 
heard of.  
	"Overall, the writer just ignored anything established in the 
previous episodes that might have made things better and directly 
contradicted others to ensure his desired conclusion.  But still," the 
red-eyed girl sniffled, "it was *damn* sad."
	Nabiki has gotten really annoying to watch TV with ever since she 
started taking that Drama Criticism class, Akane mused.  But she's right, 
some of the things that happened in the show were awfully unrealistic.  
They'd never happen in real life.  She nodded to herself.  Never.

	The next day, Akane caught Ranma naked in her bedroom, on her 
bed, making out with Shampoo.  (Well, that's what it *looked* like...)
	"Ranma, how *could* you!"
	"Shampoo make husband oh so happy!"
	"I-it ain't like it looks!"
	"Oh, it exactly like it looks!"
	"RANMA YOU JERK!"
	"You are so uncuuu..." whined her fiance as he exited the window 
head first.  At least this time it was open.
	Shampoo smirked.  "Violent girl drive husband away.  Soon Ranma 
realize Shampoo only wife for him."  She ducked out the door before Akane 
could think up a suitable retort.
	"Oooh, she makes me so *mad*!  I could just kill--I could just 
kill..."  Suddenly, a scene from "The Last Drop" came back to her mind, 
when the husband, through no fault of his own, got into a compromising 
position with a female admirer, and the wife had beaten him senseless 
without even bothering to hear him out.
	Akane caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.  But the wife's 
face was superimposed over her own.  "N-no..."
	It couldn't be like that, could it?  Could it?
	But memories came back to her, of hitting Ranma for things that 
weren't entirely his fault, or not at all.  Of not listening to him when 
he tried to explain things.  Of going into rages when he was with other 
girls, even though she didn't lo-uh, own him.
	"Oh, gods, am I going to end up like *her*?"  That funeral scene 
played in her head again, the husband and best friend together forever in 
death, the wife locked away, quite mad.  
	That wasn't the future Akane wanted.  Not at all.
	"But what do I do?  How can I stop it?"
	Then the answer came to her.  It was so blindingly simple, she 
couldn't believe she hadn't already thought of it.
	She'd simply have to learn to control her temper.

			JUST LIKE THAT
			yet another fic idea...

	Okay, for anyone who's still around....
	Sounds like a good idea, doesn't it?  Buut...this isn't meant to 
be a WAFFy "Akane gets better and gets Ranma" fic.
	Akane is, sadly, starting from a false premise here, that her 
losing her temper is entirely her own fault, and all she has to do to 
make things better is stop.  So she's determined, no matter what comes, 
not to lash out violently, or insult, or even raise her voice.  And she's 
just stubborn enough to carry it off.
	The bad news is that her foul temper is caused as much by 
external factors as internal ones, and just because Akane's made a change 
in her behavior doesn't mean that the outside pressures feel any need to 
let up...especially as she doesn't bother to tell anyone what she's up to.
	Probable reactions...:
	Ranma is fine with "New Akane" for a couple of days, assuming 
she's in one of her better moods (there are long stretches of the manga 
where Akane does *not* act excessively hostile to her fiance, remember.)  
But then she doesn't react to something that he knows should have set her 
off, and he starts worrying.  Ranma tries a couple of insults, and Akane 
just grits her teeth and replies mildly.  Ranma jumps to the illogical 
conclusion that Akane has lost interest in him, and escalates his 
teasing, only to get seeming indifference.  He starts trying ever more 
stupid plans to get Akane's attention, ala "Desperately Seeking 
Shampoo"... 
	Nabiki, meanwhile, not wanting to be like her counterpart in "the 
Last Drop", notices Akane's unusual behavior, and assumes that her little 
sister has gone off the deep end.  But what to do?  So she starts setting 
up "clever" plans of her own to "get Akane some help."
	Ukyou only got to see parts of "The Last Drop", due to having to 
work, so didn't fully grasp the story, but *did* spot the parallel to 
R&A, and is determined to pry them apart before disaster occurs.  
Unfortunately, she's not nearly as angelic as her counterpart...
	Shampoo didn't see the show, but knows an opportunity when she 
sees it, and is only too eager to help Ranma make Akane jealous.
	Kunou remains his oblivious self, but does worry when Akane 
doesn't punch him out anymore.  He blames Ranma for "crushing the 
tigress' spirit."
	The other irritants remain much the same, including Akane being 
unable to make any advance in her weak skills.  (This story would fit in 
some time between "The One to Carry On" and "An Akane to Remember"...)
	And since Akane isn't able to release her negative emotions 
outwardly anymore, they turn inward and she starts having medical 
problems... 

	If anyone would like to take this up, feel free...

SKJAM!