this isn't nearly finished, but is posted mainly
because of some repeated questions i've gotten which
are answered at the end. since i didn't want to just
spam, here's a "teaser"

Bet Expansion Set: the Gemini Effect
by Gregg Sharp, Metroanime@mindspring.com
stone (what if Kasumi & Akane were twins) supplied by
Shadow6865
pond supplied by Rumiko Takahashi
        note: this idea started going with the yin/yang
dualism. Feminine/Masculine, Light/Dark, etc. Dual
natures hence the Gemini Effect. In the original
manga/anime, Akane is almost always incompetent at
something traditionally feminine while that is the area
Kasumi excels at. In this ES fic, the attempt is to go
with that yin/yang dualism.


--A drawing room, in an unfashionable suburb of Asgard-
 A little elven man in an upholstered nauga-hide chair
smiles at the viewer and finishes sipping his tea. He
hands it off to a rather rabbitty looking fellow to his
left.

 "Good evening, and welcome to Expansion Set Theatre. I
am Robin Goodfellow, your host. As with all of the
Expansion Set, we have here merely a quick glimpse into
what might have been- a timeline which was not but
might have been.

 "The original timeline was woven from the dreams of
one Rumiko Takahashi and in *your* timeline was then
made into the manga and TV series you are familiar
with. Yet the number of Alternate Worlds are many, and
all it takes is one stone to start an avalanche. So it
was with the stone of a Shadow who altered a timeline
thus. . ."
-----------------------------
 Doctor Matsudeira did his best to comfort the two
grieving would-be parents. Unfortunately he couldn't
allow them time to grieve. "When we were investigating
why you miscarried, we found something that needs to be
taken care of now..."
-----------------------------
 Back in Asgard, Robin Goodfellow raised an eyebrow at
the reader. "Yes, Mrs Tendo's first child miscarried.
The miscarriage was investigated and the cancer was
revealed in this timeline. Mind you, she doesn't die
from cancer in all the timelines. In at least one, she
was raped and killed resulting in the usual
repercussions for the family.

 "Yet, even through death- life. Kimiko continues on
through the bad and the good during the radiation
therapy. Finally, after two years, she is given a
tentative thumbs up. At which point she resumes doing
what she was doing before- trying to have a baby.

 "Ah, you've heard of how multiple births often occur
from the use of fertility drugs? Good. The doctors
didn't approve of immediately trying to have children,
so Soun used a Chinese one that has a few odd side
effects from time to time. Therefore we see twins,
apparently healthy, showing up on the ultrasound a few
months later.

 "A joyous and much anticipated event, wouldn't you
say? However, Soun Tendo has long been a man of
excesses."
-----------------------------
 Officer Junko Watanabe hated her jobs at times. This
was one of them. The heavily pregnant woman who had
opened the door had just recently recovered from a long
illness, and now had to deal with this.

 "Tendo-san?" The thin policewoman bowed to the other
woman. Everyone knew what Kimiko Tendo had gone through
of late. And in Japan, everyone talked to the police.
"Tendo-san, I have some bad news."

 "What is it?" Kimiko knew this would be rather more
serious than the usual "your husband passed out drunk
in the gutter" message just from the officer's
hesitation.

 "From all reports, your husband was out celebrating
the good news from your ultrasound. He hit several
bars, particularly some of the seedier
Yakuza-frequented spots around the Riverside." Junko
made a face. It was accepted that the Yakuza was a fact
of life, and mostly they held to the "gray areas" and
were ignored by the police. Mostly. Didn't mean that
either side was ever truly happy with the various
arrangements.

 "He signed over the dojo again?" Kimiko was almost
hopeful. THAT had occurred a few times during more
stressful periods in the therapy. So far, they had
managed to recover the IOUs and claims.

 "Tendo-san, some of the booze in those places isn't
fit for human consumption." Junko hesitated again, then
just went ahead and rushed it all out. She was really
regretting this transfer from Traffic Division. "Your
husband arrived at Nerima General at 2:35am. He made a
last request before he passed on. Alcohol poisoning."

 "I...understand, officer." Kimiko Tendo held her grief
in,

 The officer held up a note. "These were his last
words. Apparently during his martial arts training he
made an arrangement to  marry one of his children off
to the child of a friend, uniting the Tendo and Saotome
families."

 Kimiko nodded. "He spoke of this once before. It was a
dream that kept him going through some dark times. He
was so happy that he would be able to fulfill that
vow."

 "Tendo-san, if you want a ride to the hospital. . ."

 "Yes, Officer, that would be appreciated."
----------Eight years later------------
 Yin and yang, Kimiko was reminded of when she saw her
two natural daughters. Similar in some ways, yet so
different in others.

 Akane had been born healthy and strong. Extremely so.
Her dark hair was also reminiscent of her father, as
was the streak of stubborness in her. Akane was
forceful in more than just the physical sense of the
word. When she entered the room, her presence could be
keenly felt. Akane was active, a whirlwind of energy,
and could be counted on to tackle any physical
challenge.

 Kasumi had been born frail of body but with a core of
iron. A gentle soul who could hardly bring herself to
hurt another. Physically weak, and discounted as a
bookworm by most of the boys, but it had been Kasumi to
take on much of the cooking duties while her mother
took part time jobs to make ends meet. Kimiko thought
that in nature and appearance, Kasumi took after
herself.

 Kimiko left for her first job, knowing that Kasumi was
capable enough to take care of cleaning and enjoyed the
simple task of fixing lunches and the like. This had
become a point of pride for weak and sickly Kasumi- she
would contribute and she would overcome her weakness
this much at least. And so she had.

 Akane was the warrior. Kasumi the nurturer. Akane the
fighter who was trying to learn martial arts from as
many as who would teach her. Kasumi the artist and
scholar. Yin and Yang. Two halves that fit together.

 Kimiko sighed. Holding down two part time jobs was not
what she had in mind when she had graduated, but it
seemed all she could find and the money was so
necessary. Kimiko hoped she could hold on...
--------------------
 Furinkan High School stood, a testament to the old
idea of "strength through adversity." It was listed in
the Guide For Parents as one of the Top Ten High
Schools You Don't Want Your Child Going To. It was
ranked slightly higher on the Undesirable list than
Tomobiki High and had a very high turnover rate for
faculty.

 Two young girls attempted to run past someone who was
waiting for them.

 "Akane Tendo, I would date with you! Kasumi Tendo, my
love!" Kuno stood outside the school, having decided
that he was indeed man enough for both women. Akane the
fierce tigress, Kasumi the delicate flower, how could
he say no to either?

 "Kuno, please, don't." Kasumi gasped for breath as she
attempted to run into the school and away from the
bokken wielding suitor. "I'm (gasp) promised to
another."

 "Who is this cur? Where may I find him and free you of
this unwanted tie?" Kuno gestured dramatically. Surely
once he had defeated this person, Kasumi and Akane
would have no reason not to return his affection.

 "His name is Ranma...Saotome... and...he's on a
training journey." Kasumi gasped, unable to spare the
breath for speech. She'd developed asthma when she was
younger and it still gave her considerable trouble.

 "Hear me then," Kuno gestured. "I, Tatewaki Kuno, the
Shooting Star of the kendo club, vow to free you of the
evil of this Ranma. THEN you will be mine!"

 Kasumi blinked. She still couldn't believe this guy.
Akane scooped her sister up and ran into the school.

 "Why'd you tell that jerk about that dumb arranged
marriage thing, sis?"

 "I hoped he'd leave me alone," Kasumi managed to say
between gasps.

  Akane shrugged. "With any luck this Ranma guy won't
show and we won't have to bother with him."

 Kasumi nodded, but was thinking along completely
different lines from her sister.
--------------------
 "So, you've come." Kimiko lowered the naginata but
kept an eye on the panda.

 "Oh, he's cute!" Kasumi smiled at the newcomer. The
sad and confused look in Ranma's eyes touched Kasumi's
heart.

 "Soun! You IDIOT!" Kimiko's voice was low in volume
but the amount of emotion made up for it. "I predicted
something like this, now his dying wish and that oath
are both screwed."

 "Mother?" Kasumi blinked, following her mother's gaze
to where the wet clothes were plastered against Ranma's
body. "Ranma's a...girl?" Kasumi fainted.

 Akane moved forward as soon as she realized what was
about to happen but noticed this new girl had managed
to react in time and catch her sister.

 "Uhm. Put her down here." Akane grabbed a futon and
spread it out. "So...while we wait for Kasumi to wake
up, you study kempo, right?"

 "A little. Is she going to be alright?" Ranma's eyes
kept flicking back to the girl who had just fainted.
She had been so excited and seemed really happy to see
him, then came the discovery that he was a she, and her
expression was similar to someone who had just gotten a
death sentence. Then she'd just collapsed. Ranma didn't
know that these were protective instincts thousands of
years old kicking in, he just knew he was concerned
about this girl.

 "Oh, she'll be fine. Kasumi does this all the time.
Frail constitution." Akane shrugged. There would be
other times for sparring, after all. "Hey, those
clothes are pretty damp. Shouldn't you change?"

 "Yeah, I guess." Ranma continued to watch the girl who
had fainted. She had been so light and looked so
helpless...

 "C'mon, I'll show you the furo." Akane gestured for
Ranma to follow. "Y'know, she was really looking
forward to this, but I'm kind of glad you're a girl."

 "Oh, really?"

 "Yeah. I mean, family honor and dying wish and all
that sorta crap, but I really hate boys. They're so
immature and act so stupid. You know what I mean?"

 Ranma blinked and had no idea what this girl was going
on about. She wasn't looking forward to this bath as
much as she had a moment ago. "Uhm, not really."

 "Oh, all-girl's schools? Must be nice. Trust me on
this, they're all perverts and worse. Here's the furo.
I'll check on Kasumi."

 "OK."

 Akane came back a moment later, checking on her
sister. Kasumi was beginning to show signs of revival.

 Akane grabbed an extra set of clothes in her room.
"Well, I might as well get a bath too." She entered the
changing room, noting that Ranma had tossed her clothes
in an untidy heap.

 Kasumi's eyes shot open as she heard a scream. "Oh
my."

 The scream's source ran past, grabbed the dining room
table, and whirled towards the hallway. "I'll drown him
in the bathtub!"

 "Akane, what do you..."

 "There's a pervert in the bathtub. Who knows what he
did with Ranma?"

 "Uhm," an unfamiliar voice began. "I'm Ranma Saotome.
Sorry about this."

 "Oh my." Kasumi looked at this boy and stepped
forward, "accidently" blocking Akane's path.

 Kimiko stepped out of the kitchen with a man of about
her age. "Oh good. You've changed. Well, let's get this
over with."

 "Uhm, but it's a question of honor, I mean. . ." Genma
quailed slightly as Mrs Tendo turned a look at him that
would've curdled milk.

 "I heard you." Kimiko sighed. Her husband's dying
wish, a promise made long ago, and now one of her
daughters was to married to Ranma. "I have *serious*
reservations about this."

 "B-b-but the houses *must* be joined." Genma found
himself desperately wishing that Soun was here to back
him up.

 "Are you really her? The girl that was here earlier?"
Kasumi felt like she was going to faint again but held
it off.

 Akane glared at the boy but decided not to say
anything.

 Kimiko looked over the three children and frowned.
"You've told me about *this*. You've managed to get
yourself and Ranma cursed. Who knows what other
problems you've managed to accumulate? I will *not*
have you disrupting their school or lives with more of
this. Come back when Ranma's graduated high school and
we'll talk."

 "But we, but I can't. The honor of the families."
Genma wasn't quite sure how to handle this. Kimiko
Tendo had changed over the years from working two
part-time jobs and being the single mother taking care
of her twin daughters.

 "Excuse me, mother." Kasumi spoke in a quiet voice,
but it carried. "Ranma, do you have anywhere to stay?"

 "Well, no, we've been mainly livin' off the land and
stuff." Ranma fidgeted a little under the looks that
the mother and Akane were giving her. This Kasumi,
however, looked mainly curious. "I suppose we'll just
continue on with that."

 "What about your mother?" Akane grumbled, still
wanting to hit something. All this dialogue just didn't
satisfy as much as action.

 "Don't know. Think she died when I was younger." Ranma
blinked at that as he realized he didn't actually know.
Genma kept quiet and prayed that the matter would be
dropped.

 "Mother, I would suggest we put Ranma up then." Kasumi
turned to her mother. "Ranma can help around the house
and teach Akane more of the Anything Goes style. It
_is_ her heritage, after all."

 Akane brightened at that, having forgotten her plans
on learning the family Art for the moment. She'd long
wanted to practice her family's style of martial arts,
but as there were no surviving teachers Akane had to be
satisfied with what she *could* learn. Now, however,
there were two practitioners she could learn from.

 "Well, Kasumi, it's your decision. If you're not too
upset with this, you can be engaged to Ranma." Kimiko
thought about this and wasn't too upset. She'd long
thought that Kasumi needed someone attentive to her
health. "You two can decide if you want to go through
with this after Ranma graduates."

 "HEY! I don't," Ranma began, then saw the pleading
look in Kasumi's eyes. "I don't, I mean, I, we ought to
get to know each other maybe, yeah that's it."

 Genma was about to say something about how disgraceful
it was for his son to start falling apart because a
girl was smiling at him, then remembered he was
*trying* to get them together.
-----------------------------------
EYECATCH SEQUENCE:
 Yin Yang symbol dominates screen flanked on upper left
with "Ranma 1/2" and on lower right with "Gemini
Effect."

 Symbol flicks with a "camera shutter" sound effect
showing male Ranma upright on the Yin side, female
Ranma upside down on the Yang. Symbol flicks again with
same sound effect  for Kasumi/Akane, then again for
Kimiko/Genma.
------------------------------------
 "Well, I still think this arranged marriage stuff is
crap." Akane grumbled at her sister. "I know that
you're okay with it. Couldn't you get someone a bit
better, though? At least someone who doesn't come with
curses?"

 "Oh, give Ranma a chance, Akane." Kasumi smiled as she
finished making the lunches. "At least with Mister
Saotome gone, there won't be an immediate marriage."

 "What a jerk. Gets his son and him cursed, drags him
all over the damn place, then makes arrangements to
enroll Ranma at *our* school. No word prior to this,
but you *know* damn well that he had to have sent the
records and things on prior to his trip to China."

 "Hmmm. Yes, that does seem likely. You can't push a
school enrollment through overnight." Kasumi paused to
glance outside at where Ranma was moving through a
swift kata. "I have my own doubts about this, Akane,
but you have to admit there are worse boys to be
engaged to."

 "Just because he's at least as good as any of the
Furinkan crowd doesn't mean he's got any quality to
him. He's a conceited jerk."

 "I think he's just got some rough edges."

 "Rough edges don't even start to cover it," grumbled
Akane. "And the whole arranged marriage thing is just
*so* Stone Age."

 "It's not that uncommon in Japan, China, or a number
of other countries, Akane. Look at the Western
countries without it, they have an even higher divorce
rate..."

 Ranma left off his kata to enter the house, and the
two dropped the conversation through an unspoken
agreement.
------------------------------------------
 Ranma kept his silence, glancing occasionally at the
woman walking on the street below him. He wouldn't
admit it to anyone else, but he was confused.

 Kasumi would glance up at him as well, her gaze
clearly questioning a thousand things and unsure of
where to start.

 Akane still grumbled slightly about the whole thing.

 Ranma was uncertain about all this. He'd thought this
arrangement was stupid, and this Akari (or was it
Akemi? Atane?) girl seemed to agree. Ranma KNEW his
father was dead set on it. Mrs Tendo had reservations
about this but apparently none about the entire
arranged marriage concept. And this Kasumi was a nice
girl who apparently was willing to give it a try. He'd
*expected* the girl in such an arrangement to be
hostile. That she wasn't seemed to take a bit of the
wind out of his sails. After all, if she was hostile,
he wouldn't have any trouble returning that hostility.
Nice he wasn't sure how to handle.

 This was a fight on completely unfamiliar ground to
him, and Ranma wasn't even sure what the battle was at
this point. He was confused and completely at a loss
here. What were the "Terms of Engagement" in this
battle? That stricken look, when she'd thought that he
was a she, continued to haunt him. He was both afraid
to talk to her, and afraid not to talk to her.

 Akane was in many ways worse. She'd made it quite
clear that she thought of him as an intruder on their
family. She didn't like him one little bit but was
willing to tolerate him for her sister's sake.

 "Uhm," began Ranma, feeling the silence accumulate an
uncomfortable weight.

 "Yes, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi blinked up at him. She was
reminded of nature documentaries with wild animals
being approached by humans. Corner them and they were
hostile, but they *could* be coaxed in certain
circumstances, even domesticated in some cases. No
doubt Ranma was atop the fence to maintain some
psychological distance.

 Akane grumbled. Kasumi didn't seem too upset with
this, but she still had serious doubts. Well, soon
enough, he'd see the reason Kasumi would welcome this.
"Rama, if you're gonna protect Kasumi, now's the time
to start."

 The crowd started pouring out of the school. Akane
broke into a run. It was normal for her to get into the
mix of things, defending her sister and beating these
idiots. This wasn't just her fight though, it was
Kasumi's as well though Kasumi didn't normally get
involved. Well, NOW Kasumi had a champion of sorts.
Akane would just have to see how well this boy could
do.

 "What the heck?!" Ranma watched the boys beginning to
swarm over Akane and saw three of the boys break off in
order to run towards Kasumi. They were raising weapons?
They were going to hit a noncombatant? "No way!"

 Ranma intercepted them, a flying snap kick that broke
straps and caused the hockey player's helmet to shatter
at the point of impact. A tiger paw blow flattened the
baseball player's nose. He merely took the boom box
away from the third and clubbed the dancer of the head
with it.

 More boys left Akane's battle to go towards this new
threat. Ranma threw himself into it. This was a
physical battle, using martial arts in its simplest
definition- breaking things and beating people. It was
a welcome diversion.

 Akane glanced over, noted that Ramen wasn't doing too
badly, and concentrated on her own fight.

 As Akane was uppercutting the last of her opponents, a
rose was hurled her way.

 Akane caught  it, gave a long-suffering look, and
crushed the offending flower in her hand.

 "Who are you to interfere in this battle," Kuno said,
stepping out into the open and glaring at Ranma. "When
today the two daughters Tendo accept the joy of being
mine?"

 Kasumi stepped forward, ready to try a new approach.
She snapped a paper fan out of her sleeves and recited.

 "While it's yet to dawn,
                     (yo o komete)
  Try as you may the cock crows,
  (tori no sorane wa)
                   Thus to hasten the morning,
  (hakaru tomo)
 Neither the Gate of Osaka,
 (yo ni Osaka no)
                   Will let you in, nor shall my heart!
                   (seki wa yurusaji!)"

 Kuno blinked, speechless for a moment. A traditional
Japanese waka used to indicate that Kasumi was not
actually his? She must be quoting the wrong verse, poor
confused Kasumi. His eyes focussed on Ranma again after
the shock passed. "Who are you, to harden the poor
maiden's heart against me? Wait, should I not introduce
myself first? I am the <WHAM!>"

 Akane delicately interrupted Kuno's speech with a
front kick that connected with the kendoist's chin.
Just to make sure, she followed up with a punch that
terminated three finger's width below Kuno's
breastbone. "Come on, you two, we're gonna be late!"

 Ranma winced in sympathy at the way the would-be
samurai was curled over and making wretching noises.
"THAT'S gotta hurt."

 Kasumi shrugged and smiled at Ranma. "Well, THAT he
had coming."

 A few minutes later it began to rain, but fortunately
everyone was inside by that time.
-------------------------
 Flanked by two Tendos, Ranma was finding school to be
rather strange at the least.

 It wasn't until lunch that he found himself once again
facing Tatewaki Kuno.

 "FIEND! What hold do you have over the fierce Akane
and the fair Kasumi?!"

 "Oh, you're that Tapioca Kola guy, ain't ya?" Ranma
nodded,  Akane had told him about this guy. Weird name.
Some kinda psuedo-samurai locked in a private fantasy
world.

 "THAT'S TATEWAKI KUNO!"

 Akane sighed and got up from the seat she'd had on
Ranma's right. "Ramen, you should know that Kasumi has
this tendency to get names wrong."

 "That's RANMA." Ranma frowned. Akemi was always
getting his name wrong.

 Kasumi frowned from where she was sitting on Ranma's
left. "I'm sorry, but it's Akane who has the problem
with names."

 "ENOUGH! For attempting to distract my loves from
their rightful worship of me, I cannot forgive you!"

 Akane growled. Kasumi covered her eyes and groaned.
Ranma blinked.

 "Is this guy for real?"

 "Akane, maybe you've hit him in the head a few too
many times."

 "Maybe I haven't hit him in the head enough."

 "Excuse me! I'm making a dramatic speech here!"

 "Weren't you listening earlier?  Teriyaki Kuso this,
Teriyaki Kuso that, can't you just leave me alone?"
After dealing with Kuno and his speeches for the past
year, Akane was beginning to show the strain.

 "THAT'S TATEWAKI KUNO!" Half the cafeteria shouted.

 "What hold do you... Are you THAT Ranma Saotome?!"
Everyone present could hear the click as Kuno made the
connection. "You are the one that the fair (if
confusing) Kasumi Tendo spoke of? The vile one who uses
familial honor to steal her away from her rightful
place at my side?"

 "What'd he say?" Ranma turned in confusion to Kasumi.

 "Tanuki asked if you were Katsumi's fiance through
that honor agreement between our families."

 "Oh. Yeah, I guess. That wasn't *my* idea, though!"
This last was proclaimed loudly to the entire student
body.

 Kasumi frowned. "So?"

 Kuno blinked. "You admit it?! You SCOUNDREL!"

 Akane backhanded Kuno so that he crashed into the next
table. Her comments, however, were directed towards
Ranma. "Hey, you baka! Don't you go putting on airs.
Kasumi's willing to tolerate this arrangement, and if
you hurt her I'll break you in half!"

 "That isn't what I meant!" Ranma paused. "Oh yeah? I'd
like to see you try!"

 "Excuse me!" Kuno came back up.

 "BUTT OUT!" Ranma and Akane simultaneously struck Kuno
in the face.
--------Eyecatch#2-------------------
 Akane leaps from stage right and executes a rapid
series of martial arts strikes, then goes into a
"ready" stance.

 Ranma leaps from stage left and does a similar
performance.

 Kasumi walks in from stage left with a tray of milk
and cookies. Akane and Ranma facefault.

 Logo in background reads "Gemini effect."
----------------------------------------
 The lounge in Asgard shows the young elf, Robin
Goodfellow aka Puck. "Ah, welcome back, friends. Yes,
as you can see, yin and yang dualism is embodied in the
Tendo Twins."

 A picture of this variation of Kasumi appears, dressed
in a kimono and smiling.

 Robin gestures at the picture with a smirk. "Gentle,
kind, sweet, feminine. Intellectual and of a
healer/nurturer nature. On the downside she's
physically weak and subject to fainting spells."

 A picture of this variation of Akane appears, dressed
in a gi and frowning.

 Robin continues to smirk as he gestures at this
picture. "Fierce, protective, tempramental, tomboyish.
Physically oriented and of a warrior nature. On the
downside, she's not too comfortable with her feelings
and tends to lash out without thinking of
consequences."

 The image changes to Tatewaki Kuno, looking puzzled.

 "And what of the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High? He
loves Kasumi's gentle nature AND Akane's fierceness. He
also falls for the pigtailed girl, as you might expect.
There is no Nabiki to sell photos to him, but Gosunkugi
and Ryonami manage to cover Nabiki's absence.

 "However, the two must be more circumspect. Akane has
been known to cause serious damage to those who would
harm her sister. " Picture of Akane now shows Akane
standing on Gosunkugi and lifting Ryonami over her
head. "And yet the siren call of easy yen draws
Ryonami, while Gosunkugi himself cannot stay away from
Akane.

 "There are only minor differences between the world
you know of, and this, until a little over a week after
the Saotomes came to the Tendo dojo."
----------------------------
 Ranma glanced around. Courage, he told himself. A true
martial artist should show no fear. Should act when it
is time to act, to withdraw when it is time to
withdraw, to be strong when strength is required.

 "Ka-ka-ka-Kasumi, er, well, uhm, there's a movie over
at the..." Ranma's voice trailed off and he found the
floor quite interesting.

 "I think Rambo''s trying to ask you out," noted Akane
from the other side of the table. She attacked the rice
as if afraid it was going to try and get away from her.

 "About time," grumbled Kimiko.

 Kasumi brightened considerably. "Really, Ranma?!"

 "Er, ah, kinda, I guess, I mean, well," Ranma scowled
and took a deep breath. If this had been a martial arts
fight he'd have been knocked out the ring by now.
"There'sanew JackieChan movieatthecineplex.
Wouldyouliketogoseeitwithme?"

 "What language was that?" Akane frowned.

 "He asked Kasumi if she wanted to go see the new
Jackie Chan film," Kimiko said with a weary sigh. "A
martial arts film, of course, though at least it's got
comedic elements."

 Kasumi hesitated only slightly. She didn't practice
the martial arts but watching it was not terribly bad.
"Of course, Ranma!" Her smile brightened the room.

 Being hit with the full focus of that smile caused
Ranma's knees to wobble slightly. "Oh, er, okay. That's
settled then."

 Kimiko merely shook her head. It was a good thing she
was a patient woman, she decided. Kasumi seemed to find
something to like in the boy, but he had so many rough
edges. He was ALL rough edges at some times. Kasumi's
kindness and patience SEEMED to be winning the boy
over, but would that be enough?
=================================
okay, here we go with the yin and yang. the Chinese
drug had some rare side effects resulting in severe
changes and the twins embody that dualism.
             physically, Akane has a strength and
endurance similar to Ryoga's. Likewise she's got a lot
of male mannerisms, an even nastier temper, violence
comes easily to her, etc.  She's also got that trick of
mangling names. Doesn't even try to cook or do anything
traditional feminine.
             physically, Kasumi is very weak and frail.
Prone to fainting spells, asthma attacks, delicate
digestion, etc. Very intellectually-oriented, and
nurturer type.  Doesn't do well at all in a combat
situation, that's seen as Akane's province.


now on to answering the questions that have repeatedly
hit my e-mail.

1) No, i'm still on "vacation" as far as the FFML is
concerned. The deluge of mail when i only read two or
three pieces wasn't worth the time. i *do* still check
the archives on a weekly basis, more or less, in case
one of my sempai writes something.
2) Featherbrite's Tale, A Very Scary Bet, The Expansion
Set, Mirrors Reflected, etc. are *not* abandoned and
fallen by the wayside.  Same with "Karaniichuan" - all
still being worked on but FT is the current priority
for now.
3) if you want copies of anything that's a month old or
more, check the RAAC archives or do a websearch. i
haven't got it. my system crash caused me to lose a
*LOT* of work that i didn't get archived or backed up.
if it's a month old and i *do* have it, it's backed up
on a zipped floppy kept at a second location. expect it
to take at least a week for me to get it, unzip, and
send it. (ie, you gotta be one of my sempai for me to
go through all that.) my HD ain't that big, folks.
4)  if you wanna do a Bet story,  keep the basic
concepts in mind and just go ahead and do it. i came up
with the concept, but because this is fanfiction, i
don't own it. You can even do like "Genma Ascendent"
(which didn't include the Amazon mom much because it
was supposed to be a piece centering around a virtuous
Genma) and go off on a completely different flavor - in
the above mentioned piece it isn't Genma-centric, the
change being about Nodoka, Genma, Soun, and *his* wife
all changing at the same time. Other people write
Akane-centric fics all the time, so i don't. If you
minimize her "screen time" in a manner similar to what
happens to Nabiki and Kasumi, all that's left is the
violence. After some of the shots i've taken from the
Akane-fans, i'm much less likely to write anything
positive about her anyway. The exception being Scarred
Past, which is a pro-Akane piece that will not be
released to the ML.
5)  Yes, i have given Skysaber permission to use any
Bet setting he wants as part of the dimension hopping
saga in use. i'd extend that to almost anyone who wants
to,  with the exception of those who want to muck with
a happy ending just to have an Akane-Ranma pairing.
6) Anime continuity almost all the time.
7) No, i am *not* planning on having Akane rescue Ranma
at the end of Featherbrite's. Akane ended up with
someone far better than canon Ranma so what these
people's beef is, i don't know.
8) Expansion Set stories are because i wanted some
closure on the original Bet stories that had caught my
imagination a bit more than others and weren't taken
over. Of course, now that i've lost all those notes, i
have little idea which stories exactly are being
written by others. Gemini Effect, Illegal Aliens In
Nerima, Kimiko's Legacy, Angel 1/2, Paradigm Lost are
all *planned* Expansion Sets.

take care,

gregg



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ja ne,
gregg