By Haruka

Zoisite could barely draw breath. If Michiru hadn't been holding Haruka's hand, he wasn't at all sure he'd have known which of the two girls was she.
"Mama, you said if it wasn't me who nearly hit you it would have to be an exact double," Haruka said. "Is this exact enough?"
"I recognize you," Amara admitted. "I'm the one who nearly hit you. I'm really sorry for tearing off like that, but the way you were raving at me I thought you were a lunatic."
"I thought �," Zoisite said, then swallowed and began again. "I thought you were Haruka."
"I was at the arcade playing against him." Haruka gestured at Duo. "By the way, my name is Haruka."
"I'm Duo."
"Hey, wait a minute!" Amara said suddenly. "Duo, you met her and didn't bother to tell me she existed? I might have figured out why the person I nearly hit seemed to know me!"
"I forgot to tell you! I meant to, but - "
"Come on, girls," Michiru said to the Quartet. "There are too many people here, and I think Haruka and her parents need some time."
"Okay, our work here is done, anyway." Jun Jun waved. "Bye Haruka. Good luck."
"Thanks for your help, Jun Jun. And all of you," Haruka said. She gave Michiru a quick kiss and watched her herd the girls out.
"Your name's Duo?" Seiya said. "I'm Seiya, and we should probably clear out, too."
"Okay, I'll see you at home, Amara."
Seiya turned to Amara himself. "Um � heh. What do you know, for the first time in my life I don't know what to say."
"I'd give you my phone number if I knew what it was," she answered with a smile. "I'd like to see you again."
"Look for Kou in the phone book. We're the only ones on this street." Seiya patted Haruka's shoulder and gave Amara a final grin before going out the door.
Amara felt awkward to suddenly find herself alone with Haruka and her parents but she couldn't make herself leave.
Haruka's father was looking at his daughter apologetically now. "Haruka, I � you were telling the truth."
"Yes, I was," she said seriously.
"I won't blame you if you won't forgive me," he said. "You begged me to believe you, but I spanked you, anyway."
Amara winced. Ouch, poor Haruka. No wonder she wanted her to come so desperately. She felt an inexplicable swell of anger toward these two adults she didn't know. They've known Haruka all her life - how could they not believe her when she told them she was innocent? Maybe life was easier when you _didn't_ have parents, like her.
Haruka took a step backwards when her father advanced to embrace her. She shook her head. "No, papa, not yet. Maybe when my butt stops hurting I'll forgive you."
The blonde man looked disappointed, but nodded. He turned his gaze back to Amara, then glanced at the ponytailed person, of whose gender Amara still wasn't certain. "What do you think?" he said.
His beautiful mate nodded, one hand over his mouth. "It has to be. How can it not? But they told us - "
"I know." He put an arm around � him? Her? Then they both looked at she and Haruka. Her look-alike wore a confused expression.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asked.
"I guess we should introduce ourselves to Amara," the one with the ponytail said, and smiled at her. For some reason, there were tears in the green eyes. "My name is Zoisite. Our family name is Tenou. I'm Haruka's mother, and in case you're wondering, I'm a man."
"I'm Kunzite, her father," said the blonde, a smile quirking his lips. "I'm a man, too."
Amara didn't smile. She was still not happy that these people had punished Haruka, although why she should care so much about a total stranger was beyond her. "I'm just Amara. No family name."
"Why is that?" Zoisite asked.
Amara shrugged. "No family. I had parents once, but they died in an accident when I was four. I don't even remember them. The orphanage placed me in foster homes until I was fourteen, then I ran away. I was only on the streets a couple of days when Rogue found me and I've been with them ever since."
"Would you come into the living room and sit down?" Zoisite asked. "We want to talk to you. You as well, Haruka."
"Me?" Haruka said in surprise.
"Aren't you wondering why the two of you look virtually identical?" Kunzite asked. "We think we can tell you why."
Haruka and Amara glanced at each other. Amara thought Haruka appeared nervous, but she herself wasn't feeling much more than mild curiosity. This couldn't affect her that much - she didn't even know these people.
Everyone took a seat in the living room, even Haruka, who eased herself onto the couch beside Amara. "Papa, what's going on?" Haruka asked uncomfortably.
Kunzite took Zoisite's hand and regarded the girls seriously. "We believe there's a strong likelihood that Amara is your twin sister, Haruka."
"But � I don't _have_ a twin sister," Haruka pointed out, looking at her parents as if they were crazy. "There's just me and Yui."
"We never told you," Zoisite said, his voice breaking slightly as tears began sliding down his cheeks. "You were a twin, sweetheart. I carried the both of you to term."
"I wasn't allowed in the delivery room the day you were born," Kunzite explained. "I arrived late from assignment and when I got to the hospital they said there were complications. They had me stay in the waiting room and when the doctor finally came for me he said that only one of our twins had survived the birth."
"We were devastated," Zoisite sniffed, wiping his eyes. "It was a difficult birth for sure, and they'd drugged me for it, too, so I wasn't at all sure what was going on around me, but I had no reason not to believe the doctor when he said one of my babies had died."
"We'd have to do some testing to prove it, but looking at the two of you - " Kunzite shook his head in wonder. "I find it impossible to believe that Amara is _not_ our daughter."
"I can't be!" Amara exclaimed. "I told you, I _had_ parents!"
"But you don't remember them!" Zoisite said. "And you don't even know your family name." He leaned forward and touched her hand. "Honey, you were stolen from us! The doctor had to have been in on it, whether or not he kept you himself or sold you we don't know yet, but we'll find out. The most important thing right now is that we've got you back."
"I can't believe you never told me any of this," Haruka murmured.
"We thought we were doing the right thing," Kunzite told her. "How would you have felt knowing that you had a twin who died? You'd always be wondering 'what if'. We wanted to spare you that."
"You're half-identical twins," Zoisite said. "That's why your voices are different, even though you look exactly alike."
"I want to go home now." Amara got to her feet and headed out of the room.
"Please don't leave!" Zoisite jumped up and hurried after her. "Amara, wait!"
She turned at the door. "This is too much to take in at once, I need time to think." She looked over at Haruka, their forest-green eyes meeting. Haruka averted her gaze first.
Kunzite walked over to stand by Zoisite. "Let me drive you home, Amara."
"No, I can find the way." She opened the door and glanced back at them. "The group home won't be in the book yet, but directory assistance should have a listing for us under LeBeau."
"Hi, I'm home!" Yui greeted as she walked in past Amara. "Hey, Haruka, how are you doing?" she asked, then stopped suddenly upon seeing her sister again on the living room couch. She looked back toward the Haruka in the doorway. "Um � I missed something, didn't I?"
"This is Yui," Zoisite said to Amara. "Our youngest daughter."
"Are you sure?" Haruka asked snidely. "Maybe she's got a long-lost twin drifting around somewhere, too." "A what?" Yui said in confusion, still looking between the two look-alikes.
"I'm leaving." Amara turned and fled the house, leaving Kunzite, Zoisite, and Yui staring after her.

End of chapter 23

(Author's Note: Half-identical twins occur when one egg splits before fertilization and thus are fertilized by two different sperm. This means they have the same genetic code from the mother's side, but not the father's.)

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