It was a wintry Friday in December, alive with hustle and bustle along the streets. The promise of snow lingered in the air as people scuttled about to do their Christmas shopping. Red and green holly boughs and cheery blinking lights adorned the shop windows and street corners. A Merry Christmas was, indeed, as close as the little painted elves on the signs proclaimed; the holiday was right around the shopper-cluttered corner.

Yet for every excited, jolly person who strolled the busy sidewalks, there was one who was more contained, quieter, and considerably less cheerful. One such young man was traveling that cold Friday evening. The sun had only just set, and the temperature had dropped considerably. An insistent wind pulled at his coat with playful fingers, blowing about his long charcoal locks into a ribbon behind him, but still he walked on, noticing nothing and mumbling little more than an "Excuse me," as he wove his way through the crowds. A local schoolgirl would later retell her experiences to a group of friends over lunch—how they had chanced upon each other in the street, and it was nothing but fate. She would go on to say that he had practically said "Hi" to her, but would add, as an afterthought, that he looked really sad.

That same young man boarded the second-to-last Marta across town and stood solemnly in the back, saying nothing for the entire duration of the twenty-minute ride and exiting at the third stop. His face was expressionless as he walked the remaining two blocks and entered through the automatic double doors of Shelterland Asylum.

It was warm inside. The boy took a moment to stretch his frozen muscles before walking over the front desk. "Hi, Ayume," he said quietly. The redheaded secretary looked up from her computer screen in surprise.

"Oh, hello, Inuyasha. You're here early. Don't you usually wait until two hours after visiting hours are over?" Ayume smiled teasingly, but the gesture was not returned.

"I had algebra homework."

"Okay. I'll call the doctors and let them know you're coming up." She picked up the receiver, dialed a short number, and waited. A moment later she said, in her most secretarylike voice, "Yes, hello, doctor? I'm just calling to tell you guys Inuyasha's here—" She stopped, and her smile faltered. "She is? Again?" Pause. "Of course he's capable of handling it. He'll probably be able to help you calm her down." Pause. "Okay, I'll send him that way." Ayume placed the phone back on its base and turned her eyes to the teenager's seriously.

"You can go on up, Inuyasha, but…"

"But what?"

"It's Kagome. She's in another one of her—er—difficult moods."

"Oh." They both paused, looking at one another. Ayume smiled sympathetically and handed him a free coffee pass for the cafeteria. "It's from Miroku. You're gonna need it," she said, and watched as he strode off determinedly for the stairs, taking them two at a time instead of waiting for the elevator like a normal person.

Four floors and a knock on the double-locked door later, Inuyasha found himself in the familiar hallway of the closed ward. Someone had made an attempt at decorating for the hallway. The chairs in the visiting area were covered with little gift-box bows. Soft cloth tinsel speckled the walls in red and green ribbons, and a small decorated Christmas tree blinked with lights at every other corner. Through the small windows of the rooms, Inuyasha could see a few patients visiting with family and friends. One or two were sleeping peacefully, and some were eating their supper or talking to a supervising nurse. Even the rowdiest patients seemed soothed by the upcoming holiday and the visits from the outside world, and they were all behaving.

So it was pretty easy to find Kagome's room.

Two doctors and a small flock of interns stood outside her door, hovering worriedly and watching through the window as one of the more experienced therapists tried without avail to calm Kagome down. A few of her yelps could be heard even through the insulated walls, but they were too muffled to be distinguishable. Inuyasha quickened his pace and was there in seconds. One of the lingering doctors—a blondish American— noticed his presence. With a look of appreciation (everyone in the hospital knew who he was; in times of trouble with Kagome, he was the most welcome figure), she leaned forward and knocked lightly on the door. A moment later, Miroku the therapist popped his head out. Relief spread over his patiently forlorn features.

"Inuyasha. Good to see you my friend." He stepped out and closed the door. The racket increased.

Inuyasha brushed the familiarity aside. "What's going on, Miroku?"

"Ah…just a spot of trouble. Kagome's convinced she's in another world and we're holding her prisoner."

"Again?"

"Yes, but this time it's…different. She claims she's FROM this world, but that she was just in the Sengoku Jidai. And that I was too."

"You?"

"Yes. And you, a little boy called Shippo, a demonic cat, and a woman by the name of Sango, among a long list of others. Do any of those names ring a bell to you?"

"Well, Shippo's my little cousin. But I don't know anyone named Sango. Or any demon cats."

"I see. Well, perhaps you'll have some luck calming her down. If you can't, I'm afraid I'm going to have to call for some sedatives." Inuyasha nodded seriously and turned to enter, but Miroku caught his arm. "One more thing, Inuyasha. Ayume gave you the coffee ticket, right?"

"Yeah."

"Meet me in the cafeteria when you're finished. I'd like to discuss some things with you."

Inuyasha gave him a curious stare, then shrugged an okay and stepped into the room, closing the door behind.

The yelps had recently ceased, and the room was utterly silent. There was no sign of a delusional, potentially dangerous patient in the middle of some sort of breakdown. The only misplaced object in sight was a small plastic snow globe that he himself had given her last Christmas. It lay on the floor upside down, all the Styrofoam snow settled at the plastic top of the globe. Inuyasha picked it up and righted it, setting it down on the dresser as he passed, watching from the corner of his eye as the white flakes drifted down around the snowman inside.

There was a telltale lump in the sheets where Kagome was hiding. The lump shivered and contracted as she breathed; the sounds of a half-whimper, half breath whistled through the hole in the sheets every few seconds. Inuyasha sighed quietly and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Kagome?"

"You're not real," he heard her whimper. "None of this is real. I'm dreaming."

"No, you're not. I'm real."

"You're not there. I'm imaging everything."

"Kagome, I'm right here. It's Inuyasha."

That seemed to get her attention. She sat up abruptly, and the covers fell down to reveal her pretty face, even paler than usual, and her wide, frightened brown eyes. Inuyasha closed his eyes quickly, willing the sadness to stop. He had to be firm but gentle with her, to get rid of her latest fantasy like all the others and remind her of what was real. He couldn't think of how painful it was to see her frightened, uncomprehending like a small child. He couldn't think of the time before she'd come to the asylum. If he did, he'd be too distracted to help her.

"Inuyasha!" She flung herself into his arms and sobbed something too muffled to be heard. Inuyasha patiently wrapped his arms around her shoulders, trying to soothe her tears as he had so many times before. Once she had come to him sanely with her sadness, her normal teenager problems. He had helped her as a friend. Now he was lucky that she recognized him at all. There were times she didn't.

"It's all right, I'm here." He pulled away and looked her in the face. "Kagome, do you know where you are?"

"N-no. I'm so confused. Miroku wouldn't let me out—"

"He can't let you out," Inuyasha said wearily. How many times had he explained this to her? "You can't leave for good until you're well and thinking clearly again."

"But I AM thinking clearly! Why am I in this asylum, Inuyasha? I'm not crazy! You know I'm not!" She paused, in mid-rant, and asked distractedly, "Where are your ears?"

This was new. Inuyasha blinked, then pulled his hair back. "My ears are right here," he said, feeling a little stupid. Kagome looked him over, and still more confusion came into her face.

"But you're in human form! It's not the night of the new moon, is it?"

"I don't think so. What are you talking about?" But she didn't seem to be listening.

"Why did those people outside call Miroku 'Doctor?' And where did you get those clothes? Did Momma give them to you?" Oh boy. Once again Inuyasha's eyes clamped shut, trying to figure out the answer to all of her questions at once. But she had asked the one question that was always the hardest to explain.

"They called him doctor because he's your therapist, Kagome." He swallowed, making his voice as gentle as he could and said softly, "And your mother…Kagome, your mother's been dead for two years."

She gasped. "N-no. That's not true. I just saw her yesterday."

"Kagome, she's gone. She died in a car accident. I was there, remember?"

"No!" Kagome shouted. "Momma's fine! I just talked to her! And you couldn't have been there, because I didn't even know you two years ago, I hadn't traveled through the well yet!"

"Ssh." It was so hard to speak evenly and calmly when those tears were rolling down her face. How he hated it when she cried. "I was there. Don't you remember? You and I were on our fourth date, and we got a call—" She was shaking her head no, weeping, but Inuyasha forced himself to speak on, to be composed. "I know it's hard to accept, Kagome, but you've got to—you can't keeping pulling into your fantasies."

"I'm not," she wailed. "I'm not crazy! This isn't right, I shouldn't be here! I want to go back—"

"Kagome!" he said her name so sharply that she flinched in surprise and her crying faltered. "Listen to me. We'll talk about this as much as you want and I'll explain it the best I can, but you have to stay calm. If you don't, they're going to have to come and give you sedatives, and we both know how much you hate the needles." He took her hand gently in both of his, and his voice shook slightly. "I don't want to see you drugged any more, Kagome…" It was the worst feeling in the world to sit by her bedside with those foggy, uncomprehending eyes watching him, and knowing that she wasn't lucid enough to be the friend he knew.

Through her sniffles, Kagome nodded and whispered a feeble, "O-okay."

Inuyasha managed a small smile, and responded when she leaned forward and buried her face in his shoulder. "It'll be okay," he assured her. "You've gotten through this before. I'll help you."

Over his shoulder, Kagome's face changed again to baffled uncertainty at his words, but she said nothing, only nestled against the soft curtain of his hair that fell over her face. At least he was close.

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Inuyasha left the room a few minutes later looking exhausted and forlorn, brushed past the last of the lingering interns, and headed for the cafeteria. He got a cup of free coffee and went to sit with Miroku at a table near the window. They were silent for a few minutes, sipping the hot drinks, before Miroku finally asked, tactfully, "Did you manage to explain everything?"

"No, I told her I'd come back tomorrow." He shook his head. "You were right—it's different this time, Miroku. I don't know what it is, but it's different. She seems lucid, just confused. She wasn't raving at all. And she didn't throw anything at me."

"Yes, it seemed the way to me as well." The therapist took another thoughtful swig of his tea and then stood. "Well, I'm sorry to cut our visit short. My break is over. I suppose we'll just have to see where this goes." Inuyasha nodded and watched as Miroku left. A few minutes later, he returned the cup to the cafeteria workers and left for home.

Tailz: Woo-hoo! Not only am I updating, but there's a hot new ficcy for you guys! Again, super-sorry it's been so long. Forgive me?

Sanji: Pleaaaaaaaaaaase?

Tailz: Yesh! Anyway, keep an eye out for the first chapter of Anime Asylum Strikes Back, which should be out just in time for my birthday (December the 6th!) Yayyyyyyy!! Toodles, everyone!