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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or swords of InuYasha. I do own all of my own characters though.

Chapter One: Toward the Road to Paradise

"Gimmie a break Tobias! There's nothing wrong alright!" screamed a very pissed off Eri.

"Bull shit Eri. Then why does your scent reek of depression," stated Tobias.

Eri inwardly sighed. Even after they broke up he could always sense the sadness that she was usually good at keeping hidden from everyone else. Course he was one of the few true friends she could completely trust. This only being because she was a hanyou. It didn't matter that youkai and ningens lived together in peace or that her grandparents were protectors of the shikon no tama and destroyers of Naraku because she was still treated like shit. Not as bad as she could have been but still the fact of the matter was that she was an unwilling outcast. Proof of this has been given to her time and time again. It was starting to get really irritating.

Flashback sequence

It has been the same for the last six months. Eri would go to school, clean the house and wait for her grumpy step-mother to come home and hope she didn't decide to beat her up. She was kind once but all she ever wanted was money and that's what she got when Eri's father died. Spending most of it soon after. Only Eri couldn't do anything to the bitch. They would instantly blame the hanyou for her death, which would be true but no one would believe that Shinwa Higarashi would beat her step-daughter. She had too many connections for that. Eri finishing up her final paper since her last day was tomorrow then she would be done with school. 'Finally for once no more stupid guys planning how, where, and when to rape me and kill the filth left afterward.' That's when Shinwa decided to show up. Eri knew she was in for it because she didn't do the dishes so she could finish up her paper. She could zone out the insults but the only thing that made it worse was that Shinwa was drunk. So her hits were twice as hard as they usually were and Shinwa decided to use her claws. Her only thoughts were 'Tobias…' as the blood from her wounds pooled around her.

End Flashback sequence

Tobias clearly saw the hurt and sadness in her eyes as she let her happy mask fall and turned away from him. 'I swear if so called "stepmother" has been doing what I think she has been doing...' Tobias slowly walked up to her and she flinched at his movement. 'I swear I am sooo going to enjoy threatening her'

"Eri, has Shinwa been beating you lately," Tobias asked cautiously

"Feh, lately, does since my dad died count as lately Tobias. She blames it all on me since it was a hate crime for 'housing a hanyou'. If that counts as lately then yeah" said Eri on the brink of tears. Tobias did a very audible growl and took Eri's hand and pulled her towards his F-350 truck.

"Where are we going, Tobias?" asked a curious Eri

"We are going to your house. Why?"

"Well, why are we going to the last place I want to be right now?"

"So we can move you out of there and into my house." He stated simply. "Doesn't it sound like fun?"

"Won't your father have a major cow with that little subject?"

"Eri, We have 15 bedrooms that aren't being used I am very sure he will be able to sacrifice one of them. In addition to that when I tell him about your little circumstance with Shinwa he will probably do the following things…," stated Tobias.

"And those would be what," asked an uncertain Eri

"One he will welcome you into the house and happily into his arms, only because he sees you as a daughter already, not to mention Rin will be overjoyed to just have you there period," Eri giggled because she thought of going to her sergeant father and mother but didn't because she didn't want to worry them. "And," he continued, "He will scare the living shit out of Shinwa and any other stupid idiot who threatens you if I don't get to them first."

Now this got Eri laughing. Tobias smiled at the fact the scent of depression was slowly being taken over by that of happiness. That was the scent he so loved to know. 'Just like a sakura blossom in the spring. Pure bliss of a scent.' Unbeknownst to Tobias Eri's thoughts were almost exactly the same. 'Why does he have to smell so god damned...perfect. Damn me and liking the beach.' Eri was blushing madly so tried to think of other things. She was used to cursing herself for a while now. She still cursed herself for still liking the Inu.

The car ride was mostly spent in silence. The closer they got to the house the higher Eri's anticipation grew. Even Tobias was getting antsy because of her scent being so strong. Eri was wondering in her own little world when Tobias stopped in front of the shrine steps. He waited a minute but Eri still hadn't come out of her little world.

"Eri…Eri…we're here." Tobias sighed when that didn't work and resorted to the usual last resort. He carefully took one of his clawed fingers and ran it up the furry triangle on top of her head that acted as her ears. 'I love those things.' Eri shivered and purred/growled in delight. "Now that I have you undivided attention," he started, "You ready to go and get your stuff and leave this place behind for now."

"For now? What do you mean"

"Well when you ever want to come back you can and get your house"

Eri smiled," Lets go and get this over with." Eri started up the stairs to the Higarashi Shrine," Maybe I can have a word with a certain Shinwa."

"Sorry love, but I am the one who gets to talk to her first. If you want you can have leftovers." Eri shook her head in defeat and walked toward the door that was at one point in time her true home.