Hospital

"Lira.....are you awake...?" Tosh asked through her sobs.

"Hey!" she looked at him, determined. "It's not your fault, okay? Wi-Will... wouldn't you to think that way!"

She smiled at him, shakily. "Thank you for helping us out."

Kotaro shook his head. "Like I said to Renee, anything to help a friend."

Kotaro closed his eyes. "My soul was in his body when the rogue soul was. I would've helped destroy it, but he sent me back."

Lira looked up from her book, looking at Tosh with a worried expression. "Tosh, are you OK?"

"I'm sure he just wanted to save you too," Resha said."He didn't want you to be in danger."

Kotaro opened his eyes and looked at Resha. "He was a true friend." Kotaro felt a red tear going down his face and quickly wiped it away.

Tosh shook her head, she continued to wail into her arms.

She blinked. "Why... are your tears red?"

"Same reason my appearance changed." He said.

Lira got out of the bed and walked over to Tosh. "Tosh, please stop crying. Whats wrong?"

"I couldn't help him at all before his death!! I don't deserve to live......" Tosh weeped.

Lira was confused at first, then it dawned on her. Kotaro had told her about Will. How he had recently died and how everyone was reacting to it. "I'm sorry." Then she heard Tosh's last statement. "Don't talk like that! You know how many people would be devastated if you died!"

"Oh," Resha rubbed her head. "Sorry, I was just surprised."

Tosh continued crying. The last statement was a bit ridiculous.

Kotaro shook his head. "It's nothing. How's your arm?"

Lira placed a hand on Tosh's shoulder. "Tosh, please stop crying. It wasn't your fault Will died. I know I wasn't there, but I thought Kotaro was dead for years. I know what it's like."

"Actually, I really didn't grasp how come you look different," she said, hoping he'd tell her.

"Oh," she looked down at her arm and saw that she hasn't fixed it yet; the blood was already dry and the wound already clotted. "It's okay, it's nothing," she grinned.

Tosh managed to stop crying. She wiped away her tears but had a lump in her throat.

Kotaro nodded. The arm was fine for now. "Weel, then I guess I owe you an explanation." Kotaro tried to gather his thoughts. "I am a clone of the original Kotaro." Kotaro waited to see Resha's response to this before explaining further.

Lira hugged Tosh. "I just met you and I would be sad if something happened. It was beyond your control. Please stop crying."

She blinked. "You're... a clone?" She tilted her head, surprised. "Wow. That's amazing. :O Cloning is tricky and yet you're... like perfected, if that's so. :O"

Tosh sighed, exerting the last of her sadness. "I guess..."

Kotaro nodded. "You never met the original Kotaro. He was killed years ago. They cloned him multiple times, each one a failure. Then they tried something desperate. They attached the original Kotaro's soul to a clone, resulting in my creation. I retained all the memories. But, I developed early. This gave me a disease they called Lost identity syndrome. Every 40 years I would change in appearance. I would also lose my memory of the 40 years. Last time it happened, Tosh was able to reverse the memory cycle. The blood tears are just a result of my early development." Kotaro waited for Resha's response.

Lira smiled at Tosh. "Cheer up Tosh. From what Kotaro told me, he hates seeing you sad. It makes him feel as if he failed you. He really likes you."

"Omg," she blinked. "Wow! That sounds rough on you," she said and played with her hair. "But, I hope you don't mind, but I find it rather fascinating."

She smiled. "Though, I can't help but feel I've heard about this before..."

Kotaro thought for a moment. Resha was a doctor, so of course she would find this fascinating. "Thanks, I guess. And it's no longer a secret. The military has been letting out the truth. So you probably heard it from some soldiers."

She smiled brightly. "You're right. Maybe. But I think I've read something about it. I was invited to work with cloning before but I had my hands full with chim--," she stopped herself, blinking. Oops. "Anyway, you are you, Kotaro." She grinned. "A clone may be a replica but you are yourself as an individual. No one can be the same person as another no matter what."

Kotaro knew she was experimenting with chimera. "I already accepted that a while ago. I may be a clone but it's my soul. I'm afraid it won't be possible again though."

Tosh's eyes widened and then looked down blushing, suddenly embarrassed.

[you knew? how? O.O]