Awakened by the sound of energetic birds chirping outside her bedroom window, Akane Tendo rubbed her eyes as the sun shone through the openings of her curtains. Smiling, she looked over at the small, black piglet sleeping halfway off her pillow, and said, "Good morning, P-Chan." Happily.

P-Chan opened his eyes slowly, and smiled at her. He then stood on his feet and shook like an animal does, but he shook too hard because he tilted off balance and fell backwards, and rolled half way down the bed.

Akane laughed in her usual gentle manner, and said, "You're being silly this morning, P-Chan," smiling with a smirk. She picked P-Chan up off the bed and cradled him in her arms. "I can smell breakfast, do you want some?" She asked P-Chan. P-Chan nodded an affirmative, and together they made there way down to the tearoom where the rest of the household was all seated around the table. Here, Kasumi served breakfast, and everyone ate as a family, or as close to one as they could get, seeing they Akane and Ranma weren't married yet.

After breakfast, Akane returned to her room with P-Chan and started to get ready for school, leaving P-Chan to watch her morning routine. Once she was dressed and collected her homework, she said good-bye to P-Chan and left for school with Ranma.

P-Chan, Ryoga…

Each name sounded unbecoming, but rudimentary. Who was he? Was he one or the other, or was he both? He couldn't decide. Nevertheless, he was cursed; shamefully cursed, and one he had to bare. Ever since he had fallen into the cursed spring of drowned piglet, his life had been drastically altered, and now he had to live a life as two individuals: one as Akane's pet pig, and the other, a frightened young man, hopelessly in love with the girl he had come to know as his keeper. Oh how little she knew of just how much he loved her, he thought.

For years he had wanted to tell Akane just how much he cared for her, just how much he loved her, but in every instance, his stupidity got in the way; he just couldn't think straight when he was around her. He was a coward, plain and simple. However, martial artists' aren't supposed to be cowards in the face of adversity, they're supposed to be the strongest warriors on the planet. And yet, perhaps love is its own battlefield that every young man must conquer to gain strength from? To date, he had yet to obtain victory, but one day, he vowed he would.

As the rest of the household left the Tendo Residence one by one, he watched from the top of the stairs, and soon, after another uneventful morning, he was alone in the house. Every day was the same more or less, however, as he sat alone on the top step, he smiled because now he had the entire house to himself, and he knew exactly what he was going to do. Making his way down the stairs, taking it slow and one step at a time - he was in no rush - he proceeded to the bathroom on the main floor, and hopped on the bathtub edge. Turning on the taps, he adjusted the water temperature and jumped under the spray, and in an instant later, he was human. The curse of P-Chan had been lifted, for the time being.

Ryoga eased back and relaxed as the warm water filled the tub, and soothed his naked body. Once the water was high enough, he turned off the taps. He had been cold as P-Chan; his genitals were constantly exposed to the elements. But being cursed as an animal without fur, it was yet another burden he had to bare. He just hoped the constant exposure didn't affect him having children later on in life, because he wanted a big family.

As he sat in the bathtub, the warmth of the water relaxing him, he thought of Akane Tendo. In fact, she was forever in his thoughts, more so than anyone else he had ever met.

It was funny, when he first arrived in Nerima, he thought of nothing else than killing Ranma Saotome for leading him on a wild goose chase across China, and then above all, caused him to be cursed by falling into the spring of drowned piglet, but the moment he first set eyes on Akane, in front of Furinken High School, his thoughts were forever divided. Now, half the time he thought about killing Ranma Saotome, and the other, he indulged deep in his fantasies of what it would be like to be married to Akane.

He thought it was unfair that Ranma was engaged to her. Ranma never gave her the respect she deserved which just made their engagement all that dishonourable. Akane deserved someone who would treat her right, and Ryoga thought he was that guy. Yet in looking back at all the times he had tried to deviate her attention away from Ranma, he got angry with himself, because he never once ceased being panicky around her. Was it fear? He thought. Or was it a premonition of doing something foolish before the act and thus sabotaging his chances of being with her? He drew a blank on that thought. But what he did know was that he had to get over that fear and start doing things right or she would never notice him.

He had one obstacle, however, and that was Ranma. If he could somehow defeat Ranma in Akane's presence, then that would prove to her that Ranma was imperfect for her, and perhaps she would seek another suitor. But in every match he and Ranma had, victory was constantly snatched away from him; Ranma won every time. He couldn't understand what he was doing wrong. What was he lacking that Ranma possessed?

Several minutes had passed, and Ryoga was deep in thought. He tried to analyse his tactics and come up with a sensible solution to his dilemma, but without success. After a while he came to the conclusion that he would just have to train harder to defeat Ranma. He would have to develop a technique that had the ability to crush him and show Ranma just how insignificant he really was as a martial artist. What that technique was, however, Ryoga didn't know. His Bucsi-Tanget (Breaking Point) technique was getting him nowhere.

"Someday I'll kill you for making me suffer like this, Saotome, mark my words," he said out-loud, standing erect in a confident warrior stance, clenching his fist sin unbridled enthusiasm and ultimate anger and hatred. Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around himself, drained the bathtub, crossed the length of the bathroom, and wiped away the condensation from the mirror; he looked at himself thoughtfully. "You're a good looking guy, Ryoga," he said to himself, "then how come you constantly look like an idiot when fighting Ranma?"

However, it was a rhetorical question, because he couldn't come up with an answer.

Leaving the bathroom, he headed towards Ranma's room. When P-Chan, he hid his clothes there, where Akane couldn't find them, and since Ranma and Mr. Saotome knew of his curse, it was safe to hide them there. Besides, Ranma and Mr. Saotome knew the value of keeping a secret, especially Ranma. Ranma was cursed with the body of a buxom young girl when splashed with cold water, and for a man, losing your manhood was the ultimate shame. And yet, Ranma seemed to have less a burden than others. He seemed to balance both the yin and yang of his curse quite well. It was irksome to see Ranma use his curse to his advantage while others looked upon their curse are a disadvantage and a burden.

Often Ryoga wished how he and Ranma could exchange curses for one day to show Ranma just how difficult it was being cursed as a small piglet, but more often than naught, he wished he could rid himself of the curse all together. For that to happen however, he would need to visit Jusenyko Springs, a series of springs in China, from where his cursed days began, but that was much too far to travel on foot. His sense of direction was pretty bad anyways, and he would no doubt get lost and find his way back to town again after travelling in a circle.

Once dressed, he headed to the front door, going outside. It had been sunny earlier, however now, much like his mood - miserable - he heard the crackle of thunder in the distance, and opened his umbrella before stepping off the veranda. The sky had clouded over, and it looked like it was going to storm. In an instant, droplets of rain gently started to fall from the sky.

"One day, perhaps soon, we can be together, Akane, but until then P-Chan will always be with you, to give you comfort on those lonely days," Ryoga started to say. "Sadly, however, I must leave to begin my arduous training so I can defeat Ranma and earn your undying respect before I ask you to marry me. I'm too weak to provide you with the protection you need from a husband, but I'll return, much like always. One day, I will prove to you that I can make a better suitor than Ranma, but until that day comes, he will protect you from harm."

And with a sorrowful sign, Ryoga walked out into the rain, and out of town.