The Hunt for the Red Pig-Tail

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2. It is owned by Rumiko Takahashi. I do own Kurtis though.

Kurtis looked at Akane. Akane looked at Ranma. Ranma looked at Kurtis. Akane turned and looked at Kurtis. Ranma turned and looked at Akane. Kurtis looked at Ranma and Akane looked at Ranma's pig-tail. She fainted.

Ranma just barely was able to grab Akane before she fell. He looked fearfully at Kurtis who looked fearfully at him as well. Kurtis nervously laughed. "This isn't good." Ranma laughed nervously as well and nodded.

"That's for sure."

"AKANE!" A voice from behind yelled. "AKANE! RANMA! KURTIS!" The two teens turned to see Soun was running from the steps of the palace to the courtyard where the three of them stood.

"Shit!" Ranma cursed. He turned to Kurtis. "Kurtis! Help!"

Kurtis rubbed his chin. "I've got it!" He quickly took off his cloak and gave it to Ranma and took Ranma's hoodless cloak. "There!"

Now Ranma's pigtail was covered. But Kurtis' eyes were visible. Ranma nodded. "Thanks. Umm. Kurt? Your eyes."

Kurtis cocked his head to the side. "My..eyes? SHIT!" He closed his eyes quickly.

Soun finally made it over to the two of them and he was gasping and wheezing. "What... Happened?" He pointed at Akane.

"Umm.. She fainted. Yes fainted." Ranma replied nervously.

"What happened to you?" Ranma nudged Kurtis.

"Dust. I got.. Dust in my eyes. Yes.. Dust.." A groan from Ranma's direction was heard, causing them to turn to the regaining conciousness Akane.

"AKANE! You're okay!" Soun glomped onto her again, pushing her farther away from Ranma.

"Waah! DAD! Get off!" She tried to push him off put to no avail. He was in crying in happiness mode again. Ranma pulled him off her and Akane nodded in thanks. "Wait! Ranma!" He turned to her nervously. "You have the black pig-tail!"

"What?" He squeaked out. "I... I don't have a pig-tail.. You must be seeing things. I don't have a pig-tail, do I Kurtis?"

Kurtis squinted. "I don't see a pig-tail."

Ranma nodded and turned back to Akane. "See? Even Kurtis said I don't have a pig-tail."

She growled at him. "No. He said he didn't see a pig-tail. I know you have one." She began inching closer to him. "Now.. Just take.. Off the hood.. And.. Prove you don't have A PIG-TAIL!" She jumped at him and tried to push away the hood but Ranma side-stepped away from her. "GAH!" She said as she fell to the ground. She began tearing up as her leg scraped the ground and opened up slightly.

True to Ranma's nature, he hated to see a girl crying. He knelt down to her. "You okay?"

"HAH!" She said as she grabbed Ranma's cloak and pulled it off him.

"SHIT!" Ranma tried to hide his pig-tail from view. He was able to cover it but it looked extremely conspicuous so he sighed and dropped his hands, causing his pig-tail to pop into view.

Soun, Akane, and Kasumi who had just arrived looked shocked. Kurtis tried being surprised. "Ranma! You had the pig-tail! And you never told your best friend." Kurtis shook his head. "Bad Ranma."

Ranma snarled. "Shut up Kurtis. At least I don't have two different coloured eyes." He pried Kurtis' hands away from his face where he had put them so his eyes wouldn't be seen. Kurtis had a strong-looking face as well. He had brown hair tied in a small pony-tail at the back, had the beginnings of a beard on his face, but most shockingly of all, had two different coloured eyes, one blood red, and the other sky-blue.

"Eep!" Kurtis closed his eyes and concentrated. 'Green, green, green!' He grabbed his blade and reflected the appearance of his face off of it. Still different colours. 'DAMNIT!' He cursed mentally. He turned with an apprehensive and slightly scared look on his face as he replaced his blade. "Hehehe..."

Soun, Akane and Kasumi stared in shock. The boy in the prophecy was standing in front of them, Ranma with the black pig-tail. And his friend had two different coloured eyes! "Wha.. Wha.." Soun stuttered. He did what seemed natural at the moment. He fainted.

Kurtis and Ranma stared at each other and laughed nervously. They turned to the two Tendo girls. "Hehehe.." Kurtis laughed nervously again. "Well this is.. Akward..."

Ranma nodded. Akane shook her head and smiled. Ranma and Kurtis grew slightly scared. "This is great!" "HUH!" The two boys said at once. She smiled again. "Don't you see? Now we've found the person with the black pig-tail! Now alls we have to do is go to the 'Lands of Sorrow' and we'll have saved the world!"

Kurtis and Ranma just stared at her. Kasumi chided her softly. "Akane, I know you want to see the outside world, but something bad could happen. And besides, what would father say?"

"My baby is leaving me!" Akane joked. Kasumi stifled a giggle and nodded, Ranma and Kurtis just looked at each other with a look that said, 'and we thought we were weird.'

Kasumi grew more serious. "You could get hurt, or worse, killed. And besides, that prophecy could very well be false. It could just be a joke or could have been read wrong or could be fake entirely, made by someone who wanted to make a name for themselves."

"That prophecy is a well-respected legend and truth in my home. It has happened before, several times, and will happen again." Kurtis said wistfully. He sighed. "It happens differently each time, sometimes, the one with the red pig-tail is found first, they could be a guy or a girl. Other times the 'black' is found first, although they are always male." Soun woke up. Kurtis looked to Ranma who sighed and nodded. "And they are always the crown-prince of some kingdom. Ranma's the ex-crown-prince of the Dead Kingdom Tenin." Soun gasped as tears came to his eyes.

"Then.. You are the son of.. Genma?"

Ranma looked at him. "You knew him?" Soun nodded. "Yes, he was my father."

More tears came to Soun's eyes. "OH HAPPY DAY!" He rushed over and hugged Ranma, squeezing all the air out of him. "OH HAPPY, HAPPY DAY!"

Everyone else except Soun was confused as hell. What was he doing? Kurtis decided to ask. "Umm.. Sir? What are you doing?"

Soun looked down and saw a blue-Ranma. He quickly let go but put his hands on Ranma's shoulders. "The son of my good friend, Genma! Is here!"

Akane looked at them. "You knew his father, daddy?" Soun nodded.

"We were the best of friends. We were trained to be kings and martial artists by the master."

"Who was the master?" Ranma asked.

Soun shuddered. "Please. Do not make me tell you. It is better if his name is not known." His face took a happier turn. "Yes we were the best of friends. We even met our wives at the same time. We promised something too." He looked at the them all, although he squared out Ranma and Akane in his mind's eye. "But that is important no longer." He looked at Kurtis. "How did you know about Ranma?"

"Well. I've been with Ranma since he was four. I met him twelve years ago, at the edge of his burning kingdom, where I saved him from a Teres. I was seven at the time. We've been together ever since. He told me of his past and his roots. That's how I know."

"You were six and you killed a Teres!" Akane asked in wonderment.

"Killed! No. I grabbed him and ran for it. I had no weapons and only a small amount of fighting experience. And the Teres was bigger than most of us combined in height."

"Oh... I see..."

Ranma sighed. "Let us introduce ourselves again. I am Ranma Saotome, heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and heir to the throne of the dead kingdom of Tenin."

Kurtis bowed. "And I am Kurtis Kurushimi, Grandmaster to the Himin Higiryuu Kai, and heir to the throne of Kanashimi, the Forgotten Kingdom." Everyone looked at him with shocked expressions, even Ranma.

"You..You're a pr...prince!" Ranma shouted out.

Everyone looked at him. "You mean you didn't know?" Akane asked.

"No... No. He never told me much about his past. Only told me that he cam from a kingdom long forgotten and lost. I never knew he was a pr..prince... Like me.."

Kurtis sighed. "I was three.. Three when I was forced out of my kingdom.. With my sister.. She was two.. I took me her with me for as long as I could, but I had to leave her at somewhere safe, I haven't seen her, for so long..."

"Kurtis.." Kasumi whispered.

"It does not matter if I was once a prince... The kingdom is lost.. To everyone.. Including me, my sister, everyone. There is nothing for me there anyway. 'Sorrow.' The name of the land. A suitable name, for a place where so much death occurred..." He sighed.

"I wonder what my sister is doing now... She would be eighteen now... I'm sure she is doing fine with the ones I left her with... A family of martial artists.. Hehe.." He sighed again.

Kasumi put her hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Kurtis." Only she saw the lone tear that fell from his eye. He blinked and looked up at them all. They all except Ranma gasped. His eyes were now green!

"How.. How did you do that?" Akane asked, shocked.

"Magic. I was born with a blue and red eye, when I was four, I was given a power to change my eye colour at will. Although they turns red and blue when I fight."

"And they turn black and white when you are have overly active emotions." Ranma muttered, but still loud enough for Kurtis to hear.

"Black and white?" Ranma nodded. "I never noticed them do that before..."

"Well usually when you get over-emotional you beat someone up and your eyes turn red and blue. But those rare times, you don't beat on someone, and your eyes go white and black."

"Like what do you mean, white and black?"

"One eye is completely white, no pupil or anything, and the other eye is completely black, like it's just the pupil."

"Weird." Ranma nodded.

"I first saw it when you were sleeping one time. Hey did you know you sleep with your eyes half open?"

"It's so I can still keep watch in my sleep. It's just natural now."

"Oh. Anyway, your eyes were half open and I saw you begin to shake and squirm. I walked over and your eyes were white and black. I shook you and you woke up quickly, sweating, and they quickly changed back to green."

"Oh, well. Neat. I never knew that."

Soun was just watching by now. "Well... We've had quite a day. Who says we go inside and get something to eat then discuss what we do next. After all, we've found the one with the black pig-tail, we need to decide what to do next." Everyone nodded.

They began walking back inside when a large object flew over everyone's heads, and smashed into the back of Kurtis'. "GAH!" He fell over in a daze. He got up with his eyes quickly reverting back to red and blue while still looking slightly swirly. He just barely dodged another object when a voice was heard.

"You JERK! How dare you leave me with those. Those.. ASSES! Do you know how long it took me to find you?" Kurtis shook his head to relieve the dizziness and looked at the figure.

She was a pretty girl, with long brown hair tied in a half pony-tail, with the top half in the pony-tail and the bottom hanging loosely on her back. She wore a strange frilly black dress, that hug her body loosely and reached down to her ankles. She wore well traveled brown shoes and held a large mallet in her hands, her face tightened in fury and her grey eyes blazing with anger.

"JERK!" She came running at Kurtis who was still confused and shocked as hell, who simply dodged the swing of her mallet.

"Do I know you?" He asked calmly. She stopped dead in her tracks.

"You don't remember me?" Tears bagan forming in her eyes.

"I'm sure I would remember someone as pretty as you." He replied, still calm.

Her tears stopped and she looked at him and giggled. "You shouldn't be hitting on me you know."

He began to stutter. "I.. I wasn't... I didn't.. I wasn't hitting on you. I was just stating the truth."

She giggled again. "You always did know how to cheer me up."

He looked at her with a confused look again. "I'm sorry, but I've never seen you before. You seem familiar, but don't look familiar. Who are you?"

She stepped up close. "It's me, Heather." She whispered.

"HEATHER!" He yelled out in surprise. She nodded, causing him to smile. He grabbed her in a hug. "Heather!"

She laughed and then coughed. "Air please." He looked at her sheepishly and let go.

"Who is this young woman?" Kasumi asked in a slightly strained-sounding voice.

He smiled at them all. "Guys! I would like you to meet my sister, Heather Kurushimi, Princess of Kanashimi." Kurtis swore he could hear the crickets.

"SISTER!" Everyone yelled at once. Kurtis nodded.

"Yep, my sister I told you about, Heather. And I know it's her because she's the only girl I've ever met with grey eyes. Although I don't know where she got the mallet from." He rubbed the back of his head in memory of the pain.

Heather laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about that. I was mad at you for leaving me with those people so I released my anger with how they taught me, with my mallet. I may not like them but they sure had good anger-management ideas..." Kurtis sweat-dropped.

"Riiiight. Anyway. What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you." She whispered in his ear. "I need to tell you something later, in private." He nodded and turned to everyone else.

"Well come on, we still need to plan what to do next." He walked off towards the entrance of the castle with his sister on his heels. The remaining group looked at each other, shrugged and followed the two reunited-siblings.

My good friend Heather asked to be in this story so I complied, and she helped with her summary.

Kurtis' fighting style is completely made up by me. So if it similar to anything from anywhere else, I apologize.

Please R&R. Thank-you.

Oni Tsubasa