this is one i won't be doing after all. Why? initial
reaction was polarized. VERY polarized.
i get enough hate mail, thank you very much. i'm throwing
what i had of the concept out there in case bits or pieces
can be used by someone else.

Scarred Past

The change would have been that Kuno had gotten a "lucky"
blow in during one of his early fights with Akane. Her anger
gets her to over-extend, and she isn't quite where he
expected as a result. His bokken slashes open her face.

There's a scar now after all the stitches are removed. Kuno
and the rest of the males drop interest. The Japanese
culture places a heavy emphasis on the girl's face. "Men are
taken at face value, women are taken at value of face."
Kuno's money and ability to beat anyone else at school up
insure that he's feared and tolerated, though even Gosunkugi
won't associate with him.

Akane's training in the martial arts briefly stumbles and
she goes on to other things. When she needed it, her
fighting skills failed her. Her own father won't look
directly at her and at school she's a social pariah. The
other girls are no kinder than the boys.

Nabiki becomes less cold herself, as her sister needs her.
Kasumi comes out more, again because of the needs that Akane
has.

The reaction to the announcement that Ranma would be a
fiancee is a little different.

Kasumi still wonders about the age difference, but doesn't
immediately reject the idea.

Nabiki is fairly enthusiastic about the idea of getting a
boyfriend, not mentioning that if he's a really good fighter
maybe he could humiliate Kuno!

Akane comments that she really doesn't need to be rejected
by ANOTHER boy. Though if this Ranma can help her train in
Anything Goes, she'd like to meet him.

When they meet, Akane is expecting Ranma-chan to say
something about the scar. Ranma does, but the attitude is
more "I've seen worse" than what she's used to getting at
school. Ranma doesn't care that much, makes her look kinda
like Queen Emeraldas or something.

Akane walks into the bath, sees the boy Ranma, and decks him
right there. The usual events follow, however Akane doesn't
start insulting Ranma, and therefore Ranma never
reciprocates.

Akane is after Ranma to train her and throws herself into
relearning her martial arts from the beginning, hoping to
find and correct her flaw. She's much more in control, and
much more dangerous as a result. In some ways, at the
beginning, she considers herself already dead and therefore
has nothing to lose.

Akane begins to come alive again, struggling from the
darkness, when Shampoo enters the scene. The fight is a
*lot* more even. Shampoo gives Akane more respect, not only
is this Akane a warrior, she wears the "stripe of a blooded
warrior"- the scar.

As the two fight, it becomes obvious to someone watching
(probably Ranma, though Nabiki's also a possibility) that
while Shampoo talks about killing- she doesn't take an
opening that would have allowed her to kill Akane. When it
happens again, it is figured out that Shampoo (the fierce
barbarian) isn't by nature a killer.

Nabiki researches the laws and finds that Shampoo *does*
have alternatives that the Amazon isn't aware of. Shampoo
accepts Akane's request to join the tribe. Akane is now
being trained by Ranma *and* Shampoo, and is getting *very*
good. At this point, Akane gives up her engagement to Ranma,
favoring Shampoo. Shampoo knows that she's being scammed at
least a little, but takes the opportunity to be closer to
her new airen.

Shampoo never Xi Fangs Akane. Akane is getting the "Marine
Corps Boot Camp" treatment instead from her Amazonian
sensei.

When Cologne enters the scene, she finds Akane and Shampoo
have developed into friends. Ranma is seen as engaged to
both of them, and all three are actively putting the
resolution of any of "that nonsense" off for the moment.
Soun isn't pushing the engagement as much because Akane
isn't as "zombied out" as she was during some of the really
dark periods. Genma isn't getting reinforcement from Soun.

Akane never gets quite as good at "instantly picking up
techniques" as Ranma, but is getting *very* good when she
schedules a rematch against Kuno.

that's as far as i'd gotten in plotting this, but you can
see (prob) why i ended up dropping this as too
controversial..

-----------------------------------------
http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/

"Chinese Amazon Space Marines? Bwahahahaha
hahaha- gurk!"
     -last words of the dreaded Space Pirate Astergan

ja ne, gregg