Fellgrave said:
So, in it Ranma ends up replacing Shirou, going through the fire and getting rescued etc. etc. What I want to do, since I've gotten some plot twists and ideas into my head, is that through some method (the original draft laid the cause at Zelretch's feet) Ranma's cursed form changes into what he would look like as if his mother had been Irisviel.
and while i kind of doubt that the gender-changing curse would survive what amounts to a Hard Reset and Drive Wipe in every sense of the word that would only mean that Kirigitsu would either cure him, excise it from him (remember that Kirigitsu's affinity/trait/origin is severing and binding) or seal/block it and would teach Shirou better than he did in the canon route.
but after the fire everything that makes Ranma, well Ranma is gone thanks to both the conceptual nature of the fire, the trauma involved in it and the fact that for him to be 'saved' Avalon has to be grafted into him.
n fact the only thing that could be... let call it inherited from Ranma would be "Proper way of Breathing and Walking" and that would be a trait that ranma was born with.
in the end you wouldn't have a Ranma who takes the place of Shirou, but a Shirou with minimal extras (and if he retains the curse-at least if the fire didn't burnt it-then he would be better taught or Kiri would have 'cured' him already)