{my own ramblings snipped} 

	Well, I don't exactly recall instances offhand, but I sort of think
they get  along at least reasonably well.  They do not fight each other all
that often and Ukyou  is more friendly to Akane than, say, Shampoo or
Kodachi.

{{some more of my own drivel snipped}

	I'm a manga person too, and I haven't even seen much of the
anime yet.  I got  the idea kind of like the way I figure Ryouga and Ranma
are friends.  Ukyou and Akane  don't seem to particularly hate each
other, and I think that shows they're somewhat of a  friend.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I guess this is where I disagree with you, then.  I don't believe that mere
civility implies friendship.  Certainly there are people who I am civil to that
I despise.  Simply because I try not to show outward animosity in their
presence doesn't mean that I'm their friend or that they are my friend.   

Certainly, though, I can see the Ryouga/Ranma one a little better though,
because they do sometimes cooperate.  However, I suspect that
instances are less motivated by feelings of friendship than by
concordant goals.  For example, they cooperate in taking on Pantyhose
Taro, Herb, and Saffron not to help each other out, but because their
goals happen to be similar.  The same is true when they try to get to the
nannichuan under the girls' locker room.   And though they very
occassionally help each other when their own goals don't necessarily
coincide (here I am thinking of Ryouga's saving Ranma's life right after
Akane gets "dehydrated".  Though he says he does it to fulfill Akane's
last wish, I suspect that, at some level, he doesn't really want to see
Ranma killed either), it seems to me fairly evident that Ryouga will never
like Ranma as a person, and also fairly improbable that Ranma will ever
really much like Ryouga.  I also think that friendship includes liking the
person who is your friend.  

The same applies to Akane and Ukyou, but even more so.  I cannot recall
off the top of my head any instance where the two cooperated for any
mutual goal.  One possible exception is when Akane helps Ukyou out
when she is sick, but I wonder if Akane would have assisted had Ranma
not been there, too.  Also, as a couple people have pointed out, Ukyou
has tried to harm Akane on a couple of occassions, hardly the act of a
friend in my mind.

Well, that's enough for now, I guess.
Tom