The question of when Ranma/Akane fell in love is less important than
when anybody realised it. (If nobody knows about it, it's not very
important yet...)

So the most insightful question to get answered is in Part One, when
Nabiki asks why Akane didn't kill the strange man, she'd just met and
Akane answers (very truthfully) that she's afraid.

At the first sight of each others bodies, Ranma and Akane were left
shaking with emotion.  This is a reaction they never show in response to
anybody else.

Kasumi and Nabiki know Akane much better than anybody else could ever
hope to know any of the motherless sisters.  When they make the decision
for her a little while later, they are simply acting for Akane, in her
own best interests.

Think about it, the three sisters could scorn their father's meddling,
but Akane's sisters give her their inheritances.  That's love.

	Henry J. Cobb	hcobb@slip.net          http://www.io.com/~hcobb