This is really well written. Psycho Kasumi is an awesome twist, and I really look forward to seeing the back story on it, and how it gets coped with. I am wondering if Ranma will use what she's learning from Tofu to ask Tasuke about it in the future, or if she even has a way to correspond with her.

I really enjoyed this and can't wait to read more.

Describing the smell of Happosai's room was just nasty

10 chapters1 week! You are going to need a time skip in the future if you want this to be worth reading... seriously at this rate the final product will be 240 chapters!

Awesome, awesome. I love when authors give these characters multiple layers. The Kasumi/Ranma interactions are great, my favorite scenes in the past two chapters have been Ranma trying to grasp exactly what is going on with the Tendos, along with the group trying to piece together the puzzle that is Kasumi.

In general what really allows me to enjoy this story is how well you convey character interaction. Conversations flow really well between the cast, and for me that's what determines whether or not I can like a story. It honestly feels like you put time and effort into writing this. Sure there are flaws, or things people won't agree with in this; but I'm eating it up.

Looking forward to Chapter 11!

Brilliant job. I have a very easy time immersing myself in this story, whenever there's a new chapter. Your portrayal of characters, from varying perspectives, and the depth that you go into is some of the best I've read.

I especially like what you did with Genma, actually coming up with a reason for why he developed the forbidden schools, and is such a glutton. You give the characters depth I rarely see in fanfiction, and put an interesting spin on things.

Can't say I'm a fan of Ranma and Kuno, but I understand where you might be coming from. Ranma hasn't exactly been the recipient of much affection and love, before Nerima (suitors). And Kuno, while idiotic and overly flowerly; strokes Ranma's ego (he/she IS proven to be somewhat vain in the series) and flatters him. Some thing Ranma is not experienced with before the events of the manga/anime.

I read another story (forget the name), where Ranma experiences head trauma and is forced to remain in female form for several months while the fracture mends. Some what like this, Ranma experiments and goes through a lot of introspection and character growth as he is forced to sort out his feelings and orientation.

That was my favorite pure Ranma divergence fiction for a long time, this is my new favorite. I really hope you continue with the story, and see it through till the end.

Interesting story, though I have to admit sometimes the twists and turns are not to my taste.

Personally I do not think Ranma would react with the horror that Kasumi thinks to either Happosai or anything he has done or techniques he has made. Anger, yes. Horror, no. Ranma has by this point seen a lot of insanity and hidden motives that would make a conspiracy nut rave for years, so the idea of martial arts or its founder especially with the nuts s(he) has encountered so far to be insane would not be unexpected. For that matter, given how Kasumi acts, Ranma is probably fully expecting the founder to be related to the Devil or a cultist that took an interest in martial arts. Despite that, I would think Ranma would take this opportunity to completely raid Happosai's scrolls on martial arts and see if s(he) can revise them into a form that is something that goes in the direction that suits her/his choices to use (and to develop counters to anything that is not acceptable).

As a possible example, if some of the scrolls deals with demons, there is the possibility of developing counters to them and maybe even see if there is a way to deal with angels instead. Given how Kasumi acts, Ranma might suspect she is either possessed or turned into some half demonic creature. Ranma might want to mentally check to see if any knowledge he or Genma might have come across includes the more holy mystical side of things or if there might be a way to get that information and compare with what Kasumi does and what is in Happosai's scrolls to develop counters. Maybe Ranma could do some brief studies of mikos and their practices.

awesome story

seems like Kasumi spent a little too long in the Animus, but a great chapter nonetheless.

GREAT :D

Wonderful chapter!

Enjoyed every bit. The Kasumi bit was a bit strange. Me thought of terminator, but still exciting to read.

Great, great, GREAT work!

Oh, this update was a nice surprise. I'm glad your continuing it. It appears Ranma should have looked that "gift horse" in the mouth after all. This blade thing of Kasumi reminds me of the "houzuki" (I think it was) technique from the series "Kurenai". That only came out of the guy's arm though. Darn, I'd have to reread some prior chapters, to get a sense for the changes to canon in this series. I hadn't remembered that Nabiki has an eye patch, so things definately seem more serious. Well, somewhat. Ryouga's his wonderfull, loveable self. P

I look forward to finding out just how Ranma ends up dealing with his curse. Actually, the "blackout" Ranma had reminds me of a much older fanfiction from the old FFML/RAAC days. It had the "spirit" of the drowned girl slowly take over Ranma's mind, until Ranma was basically gone.

Thanks, read you next time.

Daaaamn great stuff. Psycho!Kasumi is cool. I can't wait to see what's in the scrolls. Is Kasumi a better martial artist than Ranma or did she just take him by surprise?

You never cease to amaze and intrigue. As if adding a world of possibility to the curse suppression that I had completely accepted as one of those random, unexplained and interesting insertions that skew the balance from canon to fan-fiction, you throw in this positively delicious mechanic explaining the counterbalance of obtaining super-human levels of martial skill.

I really can't thank you enough for sharing your work with us.

You're the bee's knees!

I love your re-examination of the canon Ryoga introduction scenes. Same details (aside from the retconning of Ryoga's familiarity with martial arts rhythmic gymnastics) but finally applying "show, don't tell" as it means for prose rather than comic panels. Nice job on the retconning too.

You did equally well on the Ranma-Akane-Job scene, but redoing canon scenes stands out much more because so many people just take them as they are, parroting observable details from the manga, rather than actually converting and adapting to what prose calls for.

The revelation of the true nature of Ranma's curse lock is interesting, but I'll have to withhold my judgement until I see where you're taking it. Assuming you don't let the "imminent doom" factor ruin the mood the way the original Kashimashi manga did for me relative to the anime, then I'll give it the thumbs up. The existential crisis it's touched off is definitely the most entertaining exploration of Ranma's self-image I've read in a long time.

What you're doing with the Kasumi-Ranma scene though, the "limit break" concept ruins it. Up until that point, it feels like a high-quality, immersive world. As soon as Kasumi starts talking about "limit breaks" and "triggering", the apparent quality takes a nose-dive. Unless you've set up a story where gamers are expected to be characters, people just don't talk that way. The whole scene wavers back and forth across the line between "works" and "just doesn't fit the fic" because of that issue. To put it another way, "It's supposed to be a talk about psychological abnormalities, not video games. It needs to feel like what it is."

The final Ryoga scene and the "A village in Shikoku" running gag at the end were great though.

I suppose one way to put it is that you're doing an excellent job of characterizing Ranma, Nabiki, Akane, and even Genma in what little time you spend on him, but for some reason, you're failing with Kasumi.

Based on my experience as a beta, my best guess is that you're having a harder time wrapping your mind around your vision of her character than the others and, as a side-effect, you're having to write scenes by puppetting her on strings for some of the paragraphs rather than letting her come alive... especially when you write a scene that incorporates pieces that haven't been fitted together into the same whole yet.

My other guess would be that your skill at characterization simply has trouble with certain kinds of personalities.

In both cases, I could try rephrasing some of the sentences in this chapter to give you an idea of what I'm talking about if you're interested. In the former case, if you want someone to discuss your idea for Kasumi with, I could also probably at least help you identify where you're getting stuck getting the elements to merge. Whatever you decide, let me know but I won't be able to do more than chat until November 1st when I've finished my exams and remaining coursework.

Sorry for my earlier comments about chapter 10. I think I ended up coming across more negatively than I intended. But the Ranma/Akane stuff especially bugged me for whatever reason - disproportionately so, really. In actuality, it's quite a solid chapter on the whole. So good work, my friend!

...And you've sorta lost me on this chapter, I'm afraid. I'm kind of getting whiplash over how quickly and dramatically everyone's relationships keep shifting. I'm speaking in particular of things between Akane and Ranma. What was the point of doing that, really? I mean, I get that Akane might be pretty sensitive when it comes to her mother, but her cruel and utterly insensitive outburst was not what I would call believable. Nor was the level of resentment that Ranma displayed over it, frankly. (Honestly, since when does Ranma hold grudges of that magnitude? Her name's Saotome, not Hibiki.) It felt like what it was: a pretense for driving a wedge between them...for no especially apparent reason. So they've gone from meeting to being basically best friends to hating each other to sort-of-but-not-really-at-all reconciling in, what, a week's time? Like I said, whiplash.

Then there's that whole "switching the cursed body for the real one" thing. So her situation is essentially a mind over matter thing? Eh, okay. Color me unconvinced, but I defer to you on that. At least it provides a logical justification for why cold water can't hit her.

On the plus side, Ryoga's introduction was pretty great. And Akane's temper over the "yuri/Yuri" thing was actually quite plausible. Also, the progress on the blackout issue is intriguing. The pivotal confrontation with Kasumi was fascinating and rather bizarre. But yeah, I have to admit I was less thrilled by the way things went in this chapter than in any of the previous ones. Not that I've lost faith in your story by any means! It's still easily in my top five ongoing favorites. I'll be eagerly awaiting the next installment - it's just that there might be a dash of apprehension mixed in with the anticipation.

P.S.: The "bisexual/bicycle" pun is fine. In fact, I can think of at least one anime to use that very pun based upon the Enlish words. (That would be "Clannad.") So no need to justify!