Chapter 1: One Jump

A young man ran up to the edge of the building, he has dark black hair tied in the back with a pigtail.

"Stop thief!" yelled one of the palace guards.

"All this for a loaf of bread?" The boy asked, looking at the bread in his hand with his brow raised. Then he jumped down, hitting a clothes line, then an awning then landed in a heap of clothes, then his hand shot out and caught the loaf of bread.

"I'll have your hand for this street rat! You won't get away that easy!"

"You think that was easy?" The boy asked incredulously. He then stood up with a sheet over his head, then ran over to a group of women. "Hey,"

"Morning Ranma, getting into trouble a bit early don't you think?" One of the women asked with a wink.

"Naw, you're only in trouble if you get caught," Ranma said, then turned and ran into one of the guards.

"Gothcha!"

"I'm in trouble," he said his voice cracking.

"And this time…." the guard was cut off, as a teenage girl jumped onto his back and coved his eyes with his hat.

"Ah, right on time Ukyo." Ranma said with a kind of salute.

Ranma: Gotta keep
One jump ahead of the breadline
One swing ahead of the sword
I steal only what I can't afford
( That's Everything! )

One jump ahead of the lawmen
That's all, and that's no joke
These guys don't appreciate I'm broke

Guards: Riffraff! Street rat! Soundrel! Take that!

Ranma: Just a little snack, guys

Crowd: Rip him open, take it back, guys

Ranma: I can take a hint, gotta face the facts
You're my only friend, Ukyo!

Girls: Who?

Oh it's that Ranma's hit the bottom.
He's become a one-man rise in crime

Older woman: I'd blame parents except he hasn't got 'em

Ranma: Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat
Tell you all about it when I got the time!

One jump ahead of the slowpokes
One skip ahead of my doom
Next time gonna use a nom de plume
One jump ahead of the hitmen
One hit ahead of the flock
I think I'll take a stroll around the block

Crowd: Stop, thief! Vandal! Outrage! Scandal!

Ranma: Let's not be too hasty

Lady: Still I think he's rather tasty

A woman with black hair, and a black rose in her teeth lifted him into her arms, causing Ranma to look freaked out.

Ranma: Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat
Otherwise we'd get along

Guards: Wrong!

Ranma: One jump ahead of the hoof beats

(Vandal!)

One hop ahead of the hump

(Street rat!)

One trick ahead of disaster

(Scoundrel!)

They're quick, but I'm much faster

(Take that!)

Here goes, better throw my hand in
Wish me happy landin'
All I gotta do is jump

He jumped from a window, with Ukyo holding onto his shoulders tightly.

"What the hell was that about?" Ukyo asked, her voice a mere squeak.

"Well I had to get away somehow, huh?" Ranma asked with a mere shrug.

"Fine, just don't do it again," Ukyo said.

"What ever," Ranma said, then ripped the bread in half and handed it to his orphan friend. He looked up to see a pair of young kids, rifling through the garbage, and sighed, then stood and walked over to them, as he did they backed away. "it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said coaxingly, offering them the bread.

They took the bread and the little girl handed a piece to her brother, Ranma stood with a smile, and walked away. Ukyo looked guiltily at his bread, then walked over to the kids and handed it to them as well, receiving a hug from the girl.

"No need to get a mushy," she said, then ran over to Ranma. "what's going on?"

"Dunno," Ranma shrugged.

"It's another suitor for the princess," A man said.

"Fifth one this week," another said.

Suddenly the two kids from the alley, ran out and were heading straight for the pompous man on the horse. The horse reared back in surprise. "Out of the way, you horrible brats!" He brandished a whip, and Ranma moving quickly, ran up and caught the whip.

"Ya know, if I were as rich as you, I could afford some manners," Ranma snapped, as he threw the whip to the side.

"You dare speak, to Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder like that, you insolent cur," The prince said. Then he had the horse move forward.

"Look at that Ukyo, it ain't everyday you see a horse with two asses." Ranma called loud enough so that the prince heard him. He stopped, and turned.

"You're just a worthless street-rat," Kuno said snippily, "You were born a street-rat, you will die a street-rat, and only your fleas will mourn you," Ranma went to go say something, but stopped short, when the gateway doors closed in his face.

"I'm not worthless," Ranma said angrily. "And I don't have fleas," then unconsciously began scratching his head.

"Uh, Ran, you're scratching again," Ukyo said with a chuckle. Ranma sneered, then dropped his hand to his side.

"Let's go," they started walking down the road, once they were out of sight of the rest of the town, when suddenly water fell over Ranma's head, soaking him, and instantly, he had changed into a buxom red haired girl, but he kept his dark blue eyes. "I swear, this damn curse just attracts water,"

"Calm down Ran-chan," Ukyo said, as they made their way home, to an abandoned building.

"Riff-raff, street rat. I don't buy that.
If only they'd look closer.

Would they see a poor boy?
No siree."

Ranma took the heated water off the fire, and poured it over his head, changing back into his male form. He then covered Ukyo, or Ucchan, since she was fast asleep.

"They'd find out there's so much more to me."

"Someday Ucchan, things are gonna change," he said. "We're gonna be rich, live in a palace without any problems at all," Ranma said, as he looked out at the palace.

The next morning, at the palace, the prince from the day before stormed into the throne room.

"Ahh, Prince Tatewaki, wh-what is it?" asked Emperor Soun Tendo, as the prince stormed past him.

"Good luck marrying her off," he spat, then turned on his heel, and Soun saw the large rip in the man's pants.

"Akane," Soun said in a growl. He hurried out into the menagerie, and found a teenage girl sitting next to the fountain, when suddenly a small black piglet jumped up at him, part of prince Tatewaki's pants in it's mouth. "Oh, damn it P-chan!"

"Daddy, be nice, he was only playing," the girl said, sweeping, her long black hair over her shoulder. "Right P-chan, you were only playing with that, over dressed, self absorbed, pompous idiot weren't you?"

"Akane, dear you can't keep scaring off every suitor who comes to call." Soun said with an exasperated sigh.

"Daddy, if I do marry I want it to be for love," Akane said running her fingers through the water.

"Dear, I'm not going to live forever, and I just want to make sure you're taken care of," Soun said sitting next to her, she just huffed and turned away.

"I can take care of myself," she said hotly.

"I know, but…..the law clearly states, that you must be married to……"

"A prince," Akane said standing up and walking a bit of a ways away.

"By your next birthday," Soun looked at his only daughter wearily. "And that's only a week away,"

"I hate being forced into this," Akane said crossing, her arms, as P-chan rubbed against her leg. She smiled, then leaned down and picked him up and hugged him.

"Just think about this," Soun said, turning as if he were going to leave.

"No, I won't think of it," Akane growled. "I've never been outside the palace walls, I never had any real friends," P-chan whimpered a bit, causing Akane to laugh. "Except you P-chan,"

"Kami forbid, you should have any daughters," Soun stated, then stormed back into the castle.

Akane, angrily turned toward the large wall to her left. "P-chan, you love me right," the little pig nodded its head. "You know what, I'm going to run away, so that I never have to get married by force," P-chan gave a worried squeal.