Disclaimer: Inuyasha does not belong to me- I'm just borrowing them for this fic and I promise not to lend them to anyone else, get a single stain on them, or shrink them in the washer. So Takahashi-san and I are cool (see Prologue).

Setting: Takes place sometime before the Shichinintai arc

Author's Notes: Hey all- this is my first time on ff.net and this is my first fic, so as a typical newbie who is eager to get feedback, I ask that you simply scroll down to the bottom and click on the "submit review" button (reading the story first is recommended). Anyway, this story is different from my usual writing style, but then again, writing styles change and I'm still experimenting. I hope you like it though. So yeah, without further ado, on w/ the fic!

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Prologue

"GO KIRARA!!!!"

The ground shivered as the cat youkai, more deadly and powerful than ever before, carved out a path of destruction before her. The group of five kept their eyes on the charging predator, wide-eyed and breathless like five NBA coaches watching the ball sail steadily towards the hoop. She was headed straight for the figure dressed in the baboon robe, and this time, he did not have enough time to escape...

With a thundering roar and a single sweep of her paws, she severed the figure in half. The cat youkai landed gracefully on the ground and looked expectantly at Inuyasha, who immediately took up Tetsusaiga and aimed it at their fated enemy.

"KAZE NO KIZU!!!!" It was all over in an instant.

When the smoke and debris had cleared like the morning fog, they found a barren wasteland not unlike the first time they had encountered Naraku. The baboon himself wasn't to be found.

Nearly turning blue from holding his breath for so long, Shippo whispered, "Is he dead?"

Kirara only growled in satisfaction.

Miroku was the first on the scene. He motioned for Inuyasha to follow him, and cautiously bore his right hand in front of him, ready to strip off the rosary and dispose of any unwanted waste in an instant. The two girls watched as the monk kneeled down in the battlefield and pulled out a charred unidentifiable object. The others waited silently for the verdict.

All of a sudden, Miroku fell over. "Houshi-sama!" Sango exclaimed, rushing to his side. The monk stood up again, wearing a funny expression on his face. "He... he's gone," he said, sounding as if he had had one too many cups of sake.

Sango gasped. "You mean... he's dead?"

"No. He got away again. We were fighting another puppet."

The silence hung awkwardly as if Kaede had suddenly appeared, danced around the battlefield, and then disappeared into the air. And then, several things happened in succession...

"What???" cried Kagome.

"Nooooo!!!" Shippo wailed.

"It can't be!!!" Sango exclaimed.

"Mew!!!" Kirara hissed indignantly, thinking to herself that just when she had been the one to get the glory for her actions, the Naraku she had fought had turned out to be fake.

"%#@$%!!!" Inuyasha exclaimed, and whacked furiously away at the ground with Tetsusaiga, bellowing out every dirty word and curse he could think of, and when he had gone through his entire vocabulary, he started to make up some new ones.

Miroku, as the level-headed member of the group, started to calm everyone down, but then decided against it as he was honestly getting tired of the "Hey, there's always next time" spiel he delivered every time Naraku got away. He sat down and began to meditate, hoping that the storm would be over soon.

Meanwhile, Inuyasha was shouting angrily at the sky, shaking his sword up in the air like a deranged old man. Kagome was forced to sit him at this point. The hanyou sprang back up from the ground, clearly not amused. "Kagome, what the hell did you do that for?"

"I know that you're upset," Kagome scolded, "but I can tell you that you're not the only one. Don't you think that everyone is as disappointed as you are? And you don't see me or Sango-chan or Miroku-sama screaming like that."

"This is completely screwed up," he mumbled, glowering at her. "We should've killed him this time, and now look what happens! He gets away AGAIN. It's been, what, five frickin' times this has happened? And nothing ever changes, either! We just go on our little travels and we're always one step behind. What kind of a $%#@&*^ plot are we following, anyway?"

There was dead silence as Inuyasha spoke those last words. The birds were no longer chirping, and the dramatic music that had been playing in the background had stopped. Everyone stared in amazement and horror at Inuyasha, whom they were sure would be struck by lightning at any given time. No one- not one of them- had ever complained about the plot. Inuyasha's other blasphemies were nothing compared to this.

It seemed as if Inuyasha was regretting his words too, as he suddenly glanced around him nervously, half-expecting something to jump out and make him suffer. Then, Miroku spoke up also. "I actually have to agree with Inuyasha. There's been almost no character development in the entire time we've been together. I haven't changed since Day 1."

"Yes, that's true," Kagome also admitted. And not to mention that we haven't had any relationships develop, she thought to herself sadly.

Sango sighed. "This really is tiring sometimes. We've all suffered and lost so much just to hunt Naraku down and take him down."

Shippo jumped onto his feet and waved his arms in excitement. "Yeah! We need to do something about it! We can't just sit around and be forced to do something someone else wants us to do!"

Kirara mewed in support, and Inuyasha grinned broadly. "All right then. Do we all agree to leave the main plot for now? We haven't had a break in a long time."

Everyone nodded their assent.

"Then here we go!!!!!"

As Inuyasha swung Tetsusaiga down, the blade shimmered a fiery red. The deadly edge sliced through the air. It was a brief and swift cut, but it was effective. Almost immediately, the air tingled and seemed to melt into a colorful mosaic. A plot hole immediately opened up, and without a second thought, everyone hopped in.

Meanwhile, in the studio…

"Hey! Wake up!"

"Huh? What? Is this scene done already?"

The director slapped his hand to his face, irritated at the crewman who had fallen asleep. He grabbed the poor man by his shirt and pointed a shaking finger at him. "Now listen to me- it was your job to make sure when to switch the camera and change scenes! Look at that screen over there! They're gone already!"

The crewman glanced at the large monitor in front of them. The screen showed a desolate barren wasteland that the gang had left not long after they had discovered that the Naraku they had fought was a fake. True enough, the Inu-gumi was nowhere to be found.

"I don't believe it- I should've fired you a long time ago. Now ratings are going to go down again if viewers are left staring at a blank screen," the director was muttering.

"Ano…"

"Don't make any excuses!" he shouted.

"Ano… I already checked with the other members of the studio, and they haven't seen them either. They're just…gone. They might've already left the TV realm by now…"

"WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!"

"I don't believe this," Takahashi-san murmured in distress over the phone. "How can my own characters that I've created do this to me?" It was early in the morning, and she was about to work on some more chapters for the next volume of manga. It worried her to think that something like this would happen.

"Please don't worry," the director said to Takahashi-san over on the other line. "We promise to get this situation under control immediately. However, we've just received word that they're currently in the fanfiction realm."

"Oh no!" Takahashi-san moaned. "Now they'll never come back to the main plot! There are probably thousands of fanfics all over the internet- how are we going to persuade them to get back to where they belong?"

The director sighed. "Well, this calls for some drastic action," he said.

"Hmm? Yes, I understand, Takahashi-san. Don't worry, I'll handle the situation. All right, yes. So I have your permission then? Thank you. All right, take care."

The call had been completely unexpected, but I didn't mind. As I hung up the phone, I grew excited. I had just received permission from Rumiko Takahashi to use whatever means necessary to convince the cast to get back into their usual jobs, after all.

I turned to my computer and opened up a new blank document. After pausing for a second, I typed, "Attack of the Filler Arc, by Sky77."

I grinned. So Inu-tachi had some complaints about the main plot, huh? This was going to be very interesting, indeed…

A/N: No, this isn't a self-insert fic. The rest of the chapters are…well, you'll see ^-^

Edit: 2/17/04