"Aomi!" Rio called through Aomi's locked bedroom door as he knocked. "Aomi! You're going to be late for work!"

Aomi's eyes shot open and she sat up in bed quickly clutching the sheets to her. "I'm up!" She yelled back to her brother.

"Okay. I made breakfast. If you get ready fast enough you should be able to have some before you leave."

"Um, yeah," Aomi answered wiping sleep out of her eyes. "Thank you."

Rio, standing outside Aomi's room had expected her to come dashing out in a rush to get into the shower to get ready. He hadn't even heard her get up or run around the room in a hurry.

"Aomi, are you okay?" He asked a little worried. "Are you sick?"

"No," Aomi said looking down at the sleeping Eden beside her then quickly changed her answer. "Yes. Yes, I am. Rio could you call Mr. Connors for me and let him know I won't be in today. That I'm not feeling well." She added thinking quickly. It would be the only way for Rio to leave her alone the rest of the morning until he left for work. Rio was always paranoid about germs and would not insist on taking care of her if she was sick.

"Yeah, sure," Rio said a little suspiciously not really believing his sister but decided not to question her. "Do you need anything? I can bring you something during my lunch."

"No, I'll be fine. Thanks."

"Okay, I hope you feel better soon," Rio said as he walked away.

Aomi sighed in relief laying back down and looking back at Eden again who hadn't woken up yet. She placed her arm over her eyes and sighed again. She didn't regret what happened last night. She had wanted Eden, as much as he had wanted her she found out. Everything had happened so fast last night. This wasn't the first time Aomi had ever done this but somehow it was different with Eden to her. Doubt had begun to set in her mind of Eden's intentions. Especially after what he said about learning where the Hikari artwork that Dark had stolen was hidden. She hadn't taken him seriously but now she began to wonder if she should have.

"What's wrong with you?" Dark asked Rio. "You're too quiet today."

"I'm always quiet," Rio responded testily.

"You're even more so than your usual self," Dark pointed out.

"Shut up," Rio told him with no emotion behind it. "It just seemed like Aomi was acting a little weird this morning." Rio finally confessed.

"Of course!" Dark exclaimed. "She just hasn't gotten over our big night we had together. Do you want to know what happened?" Dark asked cheekily since Rio couldn't help but know what happened.

Rio groaned at having to go through this conversation again for the tenth time with Dark. But he couldn't help bringing up one point each time. "Why did you have to kiss her? Do you know how embarrassing it was to just be in the presence of that?"

"Yeah, yeah, who cares about that? Look, I want you to do something for me. You have to help me make some arrangements for our next date," Dark said excitedly.

Rio rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You know you and Aomi sigh the same way," Dark commented off handedly.

"What do you want me to do?" Rio asked ignoring the comparison and just wanting to get this over with.

Eden, finally able to tear his self away from Aomi, walked through the front door of his mother and father's town house. He knew he could have cancelled their weekly brunch they always had as a family but there was something he wanted to speak to his mother about. He found his parents on the balcony already seated and waiting for him. He inwardly sighed not sure what kind of reaction he would receive from his mother when she heard what he had to tell her.

"Are you sure?" Eden's mother, Kiora, hissed. "Are you sure it's the other half of The Artist's Muse?" She turned around to face her son glowing. It was one of those rare moments when Kiora smiled and looked happy. She looked ten years younger and Eden enjoyed the youthful expression the news brought to his mother's usually stern demeanor. But he knew it was only temporary. Eden nodded in response to his mother's question which caused her smile to broaden but an evil glint in her eye took the joy away from the moment for Eden. He began to regret telling his mother about The Artist's Muse.

"Do you think you'll require Krad to retrieve it?" She asked hopefully.

"No!" Eden said quickly. "It won't be hard to get a hold of it." He hated that his mother had brought up Krad. The thought of Krad emerging made his heart race with fear. He hated inheriting Krad. He hated what Krad did to his body those times he had emerged. The last time had put Eden in a coma for a month and after that he vowed never to allow Krad control and put an end to the pursuit of Dark and Rio. So far it had worked and Krad had remained dormant for almost six years now. Eden knew, deep down in his soul, that if Krad had an inkling of what was going on he would take control with full force and end up killing Eden in the process.

"Eden!" Kiora said with disgust as she approached her son. "I don't understand why you find it so difficult to co-exist with Krad. I was able to. As were the other tamer's before me. Why can't you?" The cold unapproachable air that always hung around his mother had reappeared and Eden took a step back away from her in fear.

Eden had inherited Krad from his mother. She was the only tamer of Krad who had been a woman and the two together had been successful. Countless times they had been able to save many pieces of Hikari artwork from Dark and his previous tamer. But with Eden as Krad's tamer, Kiora's and Krad's success had been rendered useless. Dark and Rio ended up stealing everything they had worked so hard for to protect. It was something Kiora could never forgive her son for. She was disappointed in his weakness and unwillingness to accept Krad.

"I won't go into this again Mother," Eden shouted angrily clutching his fists. "He nearly killed me. Is that what you want? To see your only son destroyed by Krad." He looked at her with pleading eyes hoping that just maybe she could forgive him and forget about his reluctance to accept Krad.

"Eden," she said softly but her eyes still held him in contempt. "You're my son. I love you. Of course I don't want anything to happen to you." She embraced her son putting as much love as she could muster into the embrace. It wasn't much and Eden could tell but he buried his head in her shoulder to get what he could from it but was soon pulled back quickly.

"Now bring it back quickly before it's worn. It'll be harder to get after that. Then you will require Krad's assistance."

Eden knew his mother spoke the truth and nodded in agreement.