By Haruka

Amara pushed the food she'd cooked around on her plate idly. She wasn't in the mood to eat, although she didn't know why. She thought she'd been hungry while she was making it.
"Amara, sugah, are ya sick?" The sexy Southern woman named Rogue gazed at her worriedly. With a brilliant white stripe decorating her long auburn hair, beautiful Rogue always drew attention in public, but there in the dining room she was only concerned for her charges. She didn't dare touch the younger girl's forehead to see if she was warm. Her mutant power of absorption would drain the poor kid and make her feel worse.
"I'm okay, I think," Amara replied, and tried to eat a bite of food for the benefit of everyone watching her. At the moment, 'everyone' consisted of Rogue, Remy, Maria, Kanna, and Inuyasha. Duo hadn't come home for dinner.
"You should eat more than that, Amara," Kanna told her, her own plate heaped high. Of course, redheaded Kanna needed the extra fuel. At nearly six and a half feet tall, Kirishima Kanna was an expert martial artist and bodybuilder. She had better muscles than most men Amara knew.
Except possibly Remy. The Cajun was studying her with concern and felt her forehead as Rogue couldn't. "I don' tink she has a fever, chere," he said to Rogue. Amara was used to looking into his unusual eyes by now - they all were. She remembered how it had freaked her out the first time she saw the mutant's red pupils against the black background that would have been white in a normal person - even Inuyasha's eyes hadn't startled her like Remy's had. Still, as odd as his eyes were, they were kind.
"May I be excused?" she asked, getting to her feet without waiting for an answer. "I think I'd like to just go lie down for a while."
"Bien sur, petite," Remy said. "We will check on you soon."
"Perhaps I should have made dinner in her place tonight," Amara heard Maria say as she left the room. "I would not have told her to do so if I'd known she was ill."
"Hope it's not PMS time again," Inuyasha muttered. "She made life a living hell last month."
Amara went up to her room and lay down on the bed. What was wrong with her all of a sudden? Was it delayed shock from that near- accident? All she knew was she'd lost her appetite completely and was feeling really down. She guessed she'd feel a lot worse if she really _had_ hit that person in the parking lot, but she hadn't. Not even a dent in the car to worry about.
So why was she _crying_?!
She hated showing weakness, even when she was hurt she tried to fight it - but here she was with uncontrollable tears sliding down her face. And for nothing!
"Hey, Amara, how goes it?" a cheerful voice came to her doorway and she looked up at the purple-eyed, longhaired persona of Duo Maxwell. His big grin faded when he saw her face. "Girl, what's the matter? Is that _you_ crying?"
"Shut up," she growled, wiping her eyes. "Where were you, anyway? You're missing dinner."
"So what?" He went in and pushed his long brown braid out of the way so he wouldn't sit on it. "What's got you in tears?"
"I wish I knew!" she hugged herself. "God, Duo, I feel miserable and I don't know why."
He nodded sagely. "PMS again, huh?"
Amara booted him right off the bed. "Jerk! Get out if you're not going to be helpful!"
"Sorry, sorry!" he said, pulling himself up and rubbing his rear. "Well, if that's not it, maybe it's just the move. These things can be traumatic."
Amara snorted and brushed at her moist eyes. "Not for me. I wasn't leaving anything behind."
"True," he agreed, then grinned. "Maybe you just missed me while I was gone today?"
Her dark look told him what she thought of _that_ idea.
"Duo!" Rogue called up the stairs. "I hear ya up there! Ya wanna get yer hiney down here and eat somethin' before it gets cold or are ya not eatin' tonight at all?"
"I'm coming!" he called, then sighed. "Sorry, Amara, guess I wasn't much help."
"That's okay, go eat. I'll be fine." She lay back down on the bed and pulled a pillow into her arms.
Somehow I doubt that, Duo thought, and headed downstairs. It wasn't until he reached the bottom when he realized he'd forgotten to tell her about the girl at the arcade who looked just like her.

"I guess everybody's here who's can come," Yui said, and stood up from her deck chair. Between herself and Taiki, they'd managed to call up everyone and arrange to meet in Hawk Eye's back yard. Even the curious Quartet were there, although they didn't really know the person who generated all this interest.
"Michiru _wanted_ to come," Kurama said with a sigh. "It was all I could do to hold her back earlier. She knew Haruka was in trouble and wanted to go to her in the worst way. She called your house, Yui, and argued with your mom. I caught her trying to sneak out and stopped her for her own good, but it wasn't easy. She was close to hysterics."
"I heard about the call," Yui said. "Unfortunately, she was right. Haruka was in trouble, and she still is."
Yaten sniffed, folding his arms. "I didn't see everyone getting all upset when _my_ butt got kicked!"
"That's because you actually _did_ the thing you got punished for," Fish Eye pointed out. "Haruka didn't - she couldn't have."
"No, she didn't," Yui said firmly. "Taiki can confirm this - we both saw my sister telling my parents the truth and she was sincere. She was in the arcade at the time of the near-accident, but the problem is that the only one who can corroborate her story is a stranger."
"Damn." Hawk Eye scowled.
"All we really know about him is he has really long hair he was wearing in a braid," Yui said with a sigh.
"Like Nuriko?" Jun Jun grinned.
"Well, we know it wasn't him," Taiki said. "But someone with hair just as long, and in the same style."
"So the plan is to hunt down this guy?" Seiya asked.
"It's pretty much the only chance she's got to prove her innocence, isn't it?" Tiger Eye said quietly.
"She doesn't even know his name, unfortunately," Yui said. "I asked her for a better description after you left, Taiki, and she said his hair was brown, he has bangs, purple eyes, is about my height, maybe even an inch shorter, and was very friendly and cheerful."
"Well, good," Yaten said dryly. "So at least he won't punch us in the face when we stop him and say 'hey bud, you don't know me, but I need you as an alibi in an attempted manslaughter case.'"
"Yaten!" Taiki scolded.
"I hate to say it, but he's got a point," Fish Eye said. "Yeah, on top of his head," Seiya murmured.
"_No_, Seiya!" Fish Eye looked at him. "It's going to be hard enough approaching a stranger with this kind of thing, we have to be careful not to scare him off."
"Don't worry." He smiled. "I promise I'll tread lightly."
"Okay," said Yui, "so starting tomorrow we're going to make a point of scanning the crowds everywhere we go, especially near the arcade. I'm going to go there myself first thing in the morning and talk to whoever is on duty there. They might actually know who this person is and save us a lot of time."
"Is Haruka grounded?" Seiya asked.
"No," Yui replied. "She was supposed to stay in her room until she apologized to Mama, but my parents know she won't do that now." She frowned. "Besides, she's being punished enough."
Kurama put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. She smiled at him gratefully, then took a deep breath and addressed the others. "That's about it, guys. Thanks for any help - Haruka needs it."

End of chapter 17

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