Subject: [FFML] Re: [Ranma][Fanfic] For a Dying Friend
From: "D.F. Roeder" <dfroeder@flash.net>
Date: 5/10/2000, 10:00 PM
To: "FFML" <ffml@fanfic.com>, "Gary Kleppe" <kleppe@mediaone.net>

  			   FOR A DYING FRIEND

  		       Ranma 1/2 manga fanfiction
  			     by Gary Kleppe



  	"I'm afraid there's been no change."

After responding to Doug's C&C, I had a horrible urge to make a certain kind
of joke here, but considering the tone of this, I opted out. :)

I apologize in advance for any redundancy in commentary; I didn't read the
other C&C's.


  	"No... change," I repeated dumbly. The words are a tornado,
  chilling, darkening, demolishing into rubble my walls of denial and
  false hope. No change. Of course there's been no change. Why would there
  be? Trouble rarely goes away when you sit and wait for it to fix itself.
  Yet sometimes that's the only thing to try.

Suggest: Yet sometimes, that's...

[...]


  dialysis machine and eventually transplanted another kidney into her
  body, and she was able to come home. How I wish that were possible in
  this case.

  	The doctor takes a sip of tea.

stray period (take time to mend your fences... :)

There's a resonance between the fact that it's P-chan's kidneys failing and
the importance of water in his life. Nice layering of meaning.


  and wipes the side of his cup on
  his white lab coat. "Akane, this isn't easy for me, any more than I'm
  sure it is for you. But... while we've given him what drugs we safely
  can, he's still in a terrible lot of pain. I need a decision from you."

  	I don't know what he means, and then I do. I remember holding
  him in my arms as we rode to the clinic, how he shivered and trembled
  and stared straight ahead and how in his eyes held

in? Suggest: ...and how his eyes held...


  no recognition for
  me, nothing but pain. There's no way to make him better, nothing to do
  but wait as the poisons build up all over his body, accumulating like
  water on a sinking ship, and I wonder if ending his misery wouldn't be
  the best thing for him.

[...]

  	"I guess it just wasn't hot enough the first time?" I shrugged.

  	"This is not good," Ranma said. "We better go ask the ghoul

I've always wondered in this kind of situation whether or not "ghoul" should
be capitalized: "We better go ask the Ghoul about this."  We are talking about
a specific person.


  about this."


  	After dinner, we walked over to the Nekohanten, and learned just
  how not good it was.

Suggest dropping the second comma. The time reference groups them together.
Also, the 'it' at the end is unclear - looks like it might be referring to the
Nekohanten.


  	Cologne stood on the counter top,

countertop (I think)

  listening intently to Ranma's
  explanation of what had happened. When he had finished, she said
  nothing, her wrinkled face inscrutable.

[...]

  	"Correct, child. It happens with some curse victims; with
  others, it never does. Ethnicity seems to be a factor. It seems to be a
  near certainty for Europeans, while I've never heard of it happening to
  a native Chinese. Most likely some unknown genetic factor is involved,
  though it might just be that the goddesses of Jusenkyo are prejudiced
  against foreigners. As a Japanese, I had expected you to be safe, but it
  appears that I was mistaken."

That's a nice situational switch. Nominally, even though Takahashi takes pains
to avoid showing it, the Japanese are typically prejudiced against Chinese.
This reverses the direction of that sentiment in a particularly poignant way.
Nice.

[...]


  	"A very special underground spring is rumored to exist
  somewhere. The name I've heard for it is zuihouniquan.

Not capitalized?


  According to
  legends, it's capable of changing any creature into a human, and
  removing any other curses regardless of which

Suggest 'what' instead of 'which'.


  stages they're in."

  	"Now we're talkin'!" Ranma perked up. "Where is this
  zui-whatchamacallit?"

:P


  I could tell it wasn't going to be that easy.

  	Cologne sighed. "I've no idea. It could be anywhere in the
  world. Or nowhere. Rumors aren't always true. And if it does exist,
  there's no guarantee that there's enough water in it to effect a cure."

  	Ranma stood. "What kinda help is THAT supposed to be?"

  	"The best I can give," she answered without missing a beat.

  	"Ranma, I try to help," Shampoo said. "Amazon archives have much
  knowledge."

Suggest: "Amazon library tell many thing." or something like that. "Archives"
and "knowledge" seem too erudite for her, either because of her own knowledge
being rather focussed on The Art and her lack of Japanese vocabulary.


  	"Thanks, Shampoo," I said. She paid me no attention, continuing
  to gape at Ranma, whose eyes were locked with Cologne's. "Come on,
  Ranma. We'll look for information somewhere else." Pulling him by the
  arm, I led him towards the exit.

  	"Ranma, there's an old Amazon saying that you might wish to bear
  in mind." Cologne hopped down from the chair to the floor. "A true
  warrior only fights when fighting is to her advantage."

  	Turning, he looked her directly in the eyes. "His."

Ouch. Yeah, that's about right.



  	She saluted him with a grim smile, and we left the Nekohanten
  for what would be the last time.

Nice that she didn't take offense and actually acknowledged the quasi-jab.




  	An hour later, we had dragged several large cardboard boxes full
  of books and scrolls from Happosai's room into mine. We sat on the
  floor, searching for anything related to what Cologne had talked about.

  	"What's this one?" I picked something out of the box, looked at
  it, and immediately dropped it back. "Eep!"

  	"What was that?"

  	"An issue of 'Shaved Nuns in Bondage Quarterly.' He must've put
  it away in the wrong box."

Hmmm, obviously a lecher of some meager taste... :)



  	"Keep looking. There's gotta be something somewh-- HEY!"

  	I inched closer. "Found something?"

  	"Yeah!" He laid a book on my lap, pointing to the open page. "It
  talks about the curses becoming permanent."

  	"Really?" I read it. *For some victims, the curses of Jusenkyo
  may eventually require hotter and hotter water to undo, soon leaving the
  victim fixed in cursed form. In such cases,*

  	The page ended there. Ranma turned to the next one. I began to
  feel hopeful.

  	 I continued reading. *...there is no known way to remove the
  curse. For this reason, Jusenkyo should be avoided at all costs.*

  	A silence fell over the room. This wasn't the first time Ranma
  had faced the possibility of being stuck permanently as a woman; but
  there had always been a cure, if not within reach, at least in sight.
  This time, we didn't have the slightest clue how to bring things back to
  normal. Maybe, I told myself, we would pointed

we would *be* pointed

  in the right direction
  tomorrow, or next week. But maybe we wouldn't. Maybe this would be the
  last time I'd ever see Ranma as a male.

  	"Y'know, Akane, I remember a story my pop told me once. This guy
  was being chased by wild animals, and they cornered him. There wasn't
  any chance for him to escape. No matter what he did, he was gonna get
  eaten. Then he noticed a cherry nearby, on a vine or something. So
  instead of doing anything else, the guy ate it, and enjoyed how good it
  tasted before the animals ripped his guts out."

  	I stared, my attention caught even though I'd heard the story
  before. A reflection of the overhead florescent light shone within
  Ranma's deep brown eyes.

:j



  I'd never really noticed how handsome he was
  before.

  	"Thinkin' about that story, and this thing with the curse...
  I've figured out something that I didn't really know before."

  	"What's that, Ranma?"

  	"My pop is a complete idiot."

  	From above a sharp bang sounded, like the bursting of an
  over-full balloon. The room went black.

  	"What the heck?"

  	"I-- I think the bulb in my ceiling lamp just blew."

  	For long moments, awkward silence filled the room. I stared into
  the darkness, waiting for the shadows to coalesce.

  	"Um... well, I guess I oughtta be goin'. We can keep goin' on
  this tomorrow."

I thought this was manga, not anime... :P



  	"Uh, sure." I reached out blindly, finding something soft; it
  took me a second to figure out that it was my mattress.

/me pats chest. "Oh, myyyy. That was close."  :)


  I steadied
  myself against the bed. "Tomorrow is another day, I guess."

  	I heard Ranma stand up. Part of me expected -- *wanted--* him to
  drag me onto the bed and start ripping off my clothes. To this day, I'm
  not sure how I'd have reacted. If he'd tried it any other time, I'd have
  clobbered him within an inch of his life. But I still couldn't shake the
  feeling, the fear, that this was the last chance we'd ever have to be...
  together... as man and woman.

  	Light fell into the room as Ranma opened the door. "G'night,
  Akane," he said, and he closed the door behind him.

  	By four in the morning, I was still wide awake. I thought about
  going down to check on Ranma. Just to make sure that he's all right.
  Just in case the impending permanence of his curse was bothering him and
  he wanted to talk about it. If nature were to take its course and one
  thing were to lead to another, well, then that would just be an
  unplanned consequence.

  	I sat up in bed. I knew that if I did go to his room, Ranma
  would be a jerk about it. *Can't help havin' the hots for a big stud
  like me, eh, Akane?* How dare he assume just because I was worried about
  him that I was there for... that!

  	Heaving a frustrated sigh, I slumped back down and stared at the
  wall. Just like the last twenty-six times.


  	By eight-thirty in the morning, I rolled reluctantly out of bed.
  The sky outside the window was a cloudless, vibrant blue. Birds sang out
  what was probably a delightful tune, but to my sleep-deprived brain was
  an unwelcome racket.

You threw in an extra blank line before the previous paragraph to emphasize
the passage of time. Why didn't you before the fourth paragraph up?



  	Grabbing a shirt and skirt from the closet, I managed to get
  dressed. I figured on having to drag Ranma forcibly out of bed; but as I
  came downstairs I knew I was wrong.

Suggest:  ...came downstairs, I knew I was wrong. (Can parse awkwardly without
the comma)



  He was already there, talking to
  someone on the telephone.

[...]

  	"I--" I flustered, as the protective walls of formality that I'd
  built crumbled around me. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Saotome." Should've known
  better than to do battle with a master.

  	"That's all right, dear. Now we need to decide what to do about
  Ranma, don't we."

  	"What would you suggest, Mrs. Saotome?" Maybe she would be able
  to help. As the old saying went, with age comes wisdom, or at least if
  you didn't end up as an underwear-stealing pervert.

*smirk*



  	"It is the gods' will, evidently, that Ranma, at least for the
  present, is to be a woman. So, he should learn how to be a woman."

  	"How do you mean?" I asked, not liking where this was going.

  	"Buy him some women's clothes. Take him on 'girls' nights out.'
  Go to a cooking class together."

  	"Thank you, Mrs. Saotome," I said. "I'll give your idea all the
  consideration it deserves." I hung up.

  	I didn't talk much with her after that.

This feels suspiciously phase-opposed to certain other, nominally
well-regarded fics out there. :) I have the sense of several noses being
tweaked. :P

[...]

  	"I don't care," I lied. Actually, it was a half-truth. I did
  care; just not enough for it to matter.

  	"Oh yeah, suuuure you don't. Forget it, Akane. Normal girls just
  don't marry other girls. We can do it i-- when

Suggest going ahead with "We can do it if-- when..."  It tripped me, making me
stop reading to figure it out, even if it is obvious with some thought.


  I get cured so I can turn
  back into a guy again. If you still want to. Until then, just forget
  it."

  	I had the urge to explain to him just how stupid he was being --
  while pounding his head into the floor for emphasis. Normal girls?
  Normal girls didn't fight martial arts brawls out in public. Normal
  girls obeyed school administrators instead of beating them up. What did
  we care what normal people did? And there was no telling how long it
  would take to find a cure; maybe forever.

  	But saying all of this wouldn't do any good. Ranma was stubborn
  enough that none of it would convince him if he didn't want to be
  convinced. And while I hoped he'd eventually accept the possibility of
  never being cured, it wouldn't do any good to rub his face in it.

  	"Is that the only problem you have with this?" I asked. "What
  people will think?"

  	"Um...." He thought for a second. "Yeah."

  	I stood up. "I'll be right back."

  	Running downstairs, I passed Kasumi on my way to the front door.
  "Oh, Akane, where are you going?" she asked. "It's almost dinnertime!"

  	"Save me some leftovers, Kasumi. I need to go see someone right
  away."

My first thought was Akane was going for some Nanniichuan, but naaaw. :)

[...]

  	He examined himself in the mirror. "I suppose I could pass for
  myself if the person really didn't know me that well. At least the curse
  doesn't change my hair color or something stupid like that." He smirked.
  "We can tell people that I've lost weight because of having to eat your
  cooking, Akane!"

  	Taking a deep breath, I decided to let that one pass without
  clobbering him.

Good girl! Or is that "Iiko, Iiko!" (Help me out here - I working purely from
phonetic memory.) :P

[...]

  	The ceremony went off without a hitch; after everything we'd
  been through, it was quite anticlimactic. Ranma seemed almost
  disappointed that no one showed up to demand that he marry her (or him)
  instead. I could almost see his ego deflating. *You're damaged goods,
  Saotome; no one wants you anymore.*

Yeah, that's our Ran-chan, all right. Gah. But we wouldn't want him any other
way... necessarily. /me whistles innocently, handing out a particular internet
address. :)



  	After the wedding, Nabiki went off to begin university studies
  in Osaka. Mrs. Saotome went back to whatever it was she did, and Ranma
  and I went back home with Dad and Kasumi.

  	At first, we were both scared to try anything resembling sex.
  For the first few weeks, all we did was kiss, and cuddle in the dark
  until we fell asleep. Neither of us had any experience, and the fact
  that we were -- physically -- both women only made it more difficult.
  Especially for me. My every instinct told me that this was wrong, that I
  should be disgusted at the thought of touching another woman in that
  way.

  	Eventually, we finally

Using both modifiers of similar meaning feels redundant... unless you were
going for an effect. Even if for effect, it still automatically parses like an
amateurish mistake. Only I am allowed to make those and get away with it. :)



  worked up the courage to explore each
  other by touch. We bumbled around blindly, learning by trial and error,
  and one thing led to another. I learned to look past the deceptions of
  sight and feel and see Ranma as the man he really was -- as he'd always
  been -- and make love to my husband.

  	It was strange to think that the change in Ranma's curse had
  brought us together. But then, that was how life worked for us
  sometimes. I've often thought that Ranma and I were connected by a
  Chinese finger band -- the kind that grips tighter the harder you try to
  pull apart. Instead of taking us to the Cave of Lost Love in an attempt
  to break us up, Ukyo should've just arranged for everyone to leave us
  alone for a month.

  	Having inherited the family dojo, Ranma and I looked over the
  family finances and found that they were an absolute mess. There were
  debts that should have been paid and tax returns that should have been
  filed ten years ago, and bonds that should have been cashed in. There
  were shoeboxes full of savings account statements that hadn't been
  opened. We spent a lot of time organizing it all, figuring out what
  needed to be paid and where we could squeeze the money from.

And, incidentally, putting the lie to a certain fanfic convention. :P

[...]

  	"Oh, thank you so much. I baked two big tins full of cookies for
  a meeting tonight, and I must have forgotten to bring them."

  	I wondered what kind of meeting she was talking about. Kasumi
  always went out on Thursday nights, and never told anyone where she was.

A brothel owner in the audience winks at the panning camera...

Oh! Wrong fic! :)

[...]

  	"Likewise. That sister of yours is an angel, she is. She even
  lets Koji here beat her at checkers."

  	"Hah. That's nothing," Koji said. "She listened to Ichiro's
  stories about his grandkids, and laughed. Now *that* takes a saint."

:j

[...]

  	For a moment, Ranma hesitated. Then he sprang up. He
  somersaulted in midair, so fast that he could hardly be seen. Six...
  eight circles, and he landed effortlessly on the floor, arms
  outstretched. The audience gaped, then erupted in applause. I joined in.

  	Next, Ranma picked up a bowl of fruit from the table and tossed
  the contents high into the air, then leapt up to intercept them. Twin
  knives, one held in each of his hands, slashed out at the fruit, cutting
  faster than I could see. Slices of apple, pear, and orange

peeled it too?! Wow! :)



  tumbled down,
  landing with precision back in the bowl. Instant fruit salad. Ranma
  grinned as he lifted the bowl for everyone to see, like a magician
  showing off the results of a trick; the oranges had landed on top,
  arranged to form a smiley-face.

  	The audience went wild. Cheers erupted and whoop-whistles
  blared. Kenichi banged against the wall with his single arm, forever
  settling the question of what one-handed clapping sounded like.

Sorry, but he was pounding with it. :j



  Koji
  excitedly described what Ranma had done to Ichiro,

Parsing problem. Suggest: Koji excitedly described to Ichiro what Ranma had
done,



  whose mouth fell open
  in amazement.

Well, and then you have to rewrite the next clause to compensate. :P



  	For the next hour or so, Ranma and I mingled with the group. He
  told them about his battles against Herb and Saffron, of his fight
  against the eight-headed serpent of Ryugenzawa, always managing to avoid
  mentioning his curse, also not mentioning that he'd had help in those
  battles.

Of course not. ^_^


  And the group, in turn, told their stories -- of entering a
  board meeting of the Takasugiru company uninvited to demand wheelchair
  ramps in their department stores; of marching back and forth in front of
  the company that had fired Ichiro, carrying picket signs, until they
  gave him his job back.

RANMA:  ACK!! I'll take the Orochi ANY day!

:P



  	I stayed mostly by Ranma's side during all of this conversation,
  occasionally correcting his memory of the facts (what else is a good
  wife for?) I could just imagine what was going through his mind. These
  people had missing limbs, couldn't walk, couldn't hear, but they didn't
  sit around moping about it. They simply carried on with their lives,
  working, helping each other, and even enjoying themselves. And now here
  was Ranma Saotome. Ranma, who had a body most anyone would envy. A body
  with which there was absolutely nothing wrong except that it happened to
  be a different gender from the one to which he was accustomed. And what
  did *you* have to complain about, Ranma Saotome?

  	Eventually, the crowd began to thin out. Ranma and I made our
  goodbyes as we drifted toward the exit. Kasumi waved at us. "Byebye!"

  	"Kasumi..." A smile crept onto Ranma's face. "Thanks."

  	With eyes wide, she looked back at him. "Oh my. For what?"

Oooo. You just love leaving us hanging about the state of Kasumi's
obliviousness, don't you?

:)


  	It wasn't quite a week later that I came home from a trip to the
  grocery store to hear a familiar voice from the dojo. "No, of course
  not, Ranma."

  	I hadn't even given a thought to Ryoga in the past few months.
  Out of sight, out of mind, I guess. I'd just assumed that he'd gone back
  to his parents, or to Akari, or to wherever he spent most of his time.
  It was a little unsettling to realize that I didn't know all that much
  about him -- that I hadn't really even tried to find out.

Ouch... for Ryouga, that is.



  	"Look, I'm not having her throwing away her whole life because
  of me. She deserves better than that. Just tell her that I had to go
  away. Tell her that nothing is her fault, that she's a wonderful person
  and all that but I just can't marry her or even see her anymore. It's
  just how things are, and there's nothing either of us can do about it,
  and she shouldn't wait for me because I'm not coming back."

Hmmm...



  	What sort of trouble was Ryoga in? It wasn't nice to eavesdrop,
  but I couldn't tear myself away. Besides, he wasn't exactly making any
  attempt to lower his voice, unlike Ranma whose responses were too quiet
  to hear.

  	"Damn it! I don't want you feeling sorry for me. I've done that
  enough for myself. I'm empty. There isn't anything left anymore. It's up
  to you now, Ranma. You've got to look after Akane. Akari, too. Find some
  other guy for her. Someone who can beat that pig of hers so that her
  father will approve."

  	My arms sagged, and I noticed that I was still carrying a bag
  full of groceries in each of them. With an undignified grunt, I lugged
  them into the kitchen and began putting them in their proper places.
  Maybe I had no right to know what Ranma and Ryoga were talking about.
  Maybe it was something personal between them, something that I had no
  part in unless one of them decided to confide in me.

  	Then again, I thought, it was possible that I'd been excluded
  simply because I hadn't been home when Ryoga had arrived. It was true
  that when it came down to it, I didn't know him very well; but he was
  still a friend, and one of the nicer people that I knew. If he was
  leaving on a long trip, I wanted to at least say goodbye.

  	With the groceries stowed away, I headed back toward the dojo,
  mentally rehearsing what to say. *Oh, hello, Ryoga! Would you like to
  join us for dinner tonight?* Hm. Too Kasumi-ish. *I was just passing by
  and heard you talking and wasn't eavesdropping when you were talking
  about leaving. Really.* Okay, strike that last part.

  	The outside of the dojo was silent. I slid the door open and
  walked in. My sandals klacked on the wooden floor, the sound echoing
  through the empty room. I never heard Ryoga's voice again.

Nice choice of ending phrase, and exactly true, as it will turn out.


  	It wasn't until two months later that someone else came back,
  someone who

whom(?) (an object of some kind(?))


  I hadn't expected to see again.

  	"Hey, Akane, close your eyes."

  	"Huh?"

  	"Just do it. It's a surprise." Ranma had just gone to the front
  door to investigate some odd noises. Now his face was bursting with a
  grin so infectious that I couldn't help smiling as well, even though I
  had no idea what was going on.

  	"All right." My eyelids flipped shut.

  	"Now hold out your hands."

  	"Honestly," I grumbled, doing as asked.

  	Something squirmed in my arms. I shifted them, trying to balance
  whatever it was. It squealed, and I knew what I was holding.

  	"P-CHAN!" My eyes flew open as I squeezed the pig excitedly.
  "Oh, I'm so happy to see you again!"

  	Ranma chuckled. "Geez, squeeze him to death, why don'tcha."

  	"Sorry!" I loosened my grip to took

take



  a look at P-chan. His limbs
  were much scrawnier than they'd been, and his once-plump belly had
  thinned. "Oh, Ranma, look at him!"

  	"He probably ain't been eatin' very well. Food's gotta be hard
  to find when you're a little pig. Especially when you're tryin' not to
  be dinner for someone else." Ranma's tone was sympathetic, not at all
  derisive. "Don't worry; we'll fatten him back up. I think Kasumi left
  some stuff in the fridge from dinner. I'll go check."

  	"Thanks!" I petted the back of P-chan's head, and he wheezed
  contentedly. "Oh, I didn't see you for so long! I thought you were lost
  forever!"

  	"Nope," Ranma said. "He was. But he's home now."

Ah, I think I just now caught something. Ryouga was already sick when he and
Ranma were speaking in the dojo. That's why he couldn't stay with Akari - she
wouldn't have minded taking care of him when permanently cursed. P-chan's
wheezing and physical state - Ryouga was too strong and starved too often for
that to effect him, well, usually, anyway.

[...]

  	The whole thing seemed ludicrous. What on Earth was Ranma
  thinking? But the look in his eyes said that this was the most important
  thing in the whole world. I didn't understand it, but I had to trust
  him.

  	With a nod, I silently promised. Within seconds, Ranma had
  zipped off, leaving me alone in the empty house. Barely audibly, P-chan
  whimpered. Poor, defenseless little P-chan, who'd been my companion and
  friend of sorts off and on through high school; P-chan, who was slipping
  away from me like sand through my fingers and there was nothing I could
  do about it. And Ranma was behaving in a way that I just couldn't
  understand. Even after all these years and everything we'd been through
  together, sometimes it seemed like I didn't really know him at all.

Mmm. Secrets kept too long to be revealed.



  	The drone of falling rain intensifies slightly as the outer door
  to the clinic slides open, bringing me back from my little trip down
  memory lane. A figure staggers into the foyer; water drips from its body
  into scattered puddles on the floor.

  	"Ranma?"

  	"Mister--" The clinic receptionist carries a towel over to
  Ranma, staring at his ripped clothing, at the opened breast bindings.
  "Mister... Saotome?"

  	"Akane, I found it!" he says, ignoring the man staring at his
  revealed cleavage. A sealed Freezerware container rests in his left
  hand. "I don't know if it's enough, though. Where is he?"

  	"Huh?" I take the towel and begin to dry him off. "Why haven't
  you--"

  	"Where's the PIG?!" Not waiting for an answer, he darts down the
  corridor, popping his head into one room after another.

  	I follow behind him. There had better be a good explanation for
  this. "Ranma, what are you...."

  	He runs into a room. Inside, next to the examination table, Dr.
  Tanaka looks up. Ranma tears the lid from the container, and water --
  not more than a few spoonfuls, from the look of it -- splashes onto the
  doctor's patient.

  	For a moment, flesh color coexists with the black of piglet
  skin, two images superimposed onto the same photograph. Then I rub my
  tired eyes, and the spell is broken and just as before it's P-chan lying
  on the table, stretched stiffly out like some porcine zombie.

  	"No!" Ranma cries. "Damn it, no!"

  	Dr. Tanaka reaches down to touch the pig, then looks up and
  shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Akane."

Even the sacrifice of his cure is in vain. That's the kind of thing that can
steal the light from a person's eyes forever.



  	My husband collapses into my arms. I embrace him with all my
  strength; his shirt squishes, and I can feel the wetness seeping into my
  dress, and I don't care. Ranma begins to sob, like a girl, I want to
  think, but that's not right; like a human being, one who's just lost a
  friend. Perhaps I'll never understand what was really between them, a
  friendship so strong that Ranma was willing to give up his one chance at
  a cure to save his friend's life by making him a human.

  	Maybe none of us can really understand. Maybe all we can do is
  to plow ahead, taking whatever life gives us. I don't know. I'm too
  tired to think anymore.

  	I look at Ranma, and notice that he's fallen asleep in my arms.
  I want to join him, but one of us needs to get us back home. I glance
  down at the table for a final look, one final snapshot for the scrapbook
  that was my memory. Goodbye, P-chan.

Well, your ending comments answered my phase-opposed comment. :)

Very, very nice, Gary. Hope this helps.

Ja ne!
Dave

*******************************************
D.F. Roeder
FanFiction - http://www.flash.net/~dfroeder/index.html



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