Chapter Seven: Screamin' Time
The six of them stood in the long line for the roller coaster. It was an estimated forty-five minute wait, and they grew bored. Kagome and Kikyou had come up with something to pass the time. They played a hand slapping game. Soon Kouga wanted to join in, as well as Kagura. So Kikyou played with Kagura and Kagome played with Kouga. Sango was afraid to ask Miroku to play, but she didn't need to ask. Kagome did for her.
"Hey, Miroku, why don't you play with Sango?" she asked with a slight smirk on her face.
Miroku shook his head.
"Do you not know how to play?" Kouga asked, catching onto what Kagome was doing.
Miroku shook his head again. "I know how to play. I just don't want to."
Kagome scoffed. "You're no fun." And she returned to playing with Kouga. Sango didn't mind. She was satisfied with just watching everyone else. The game reminded her of when she was in elementary school, before she had even moved to this city. She thought that if she hadn't moved, then she never would have even met Kagome, Kikyou, Kagura, Kouga, Miroku, and everyone else. A smile came to her face as she thought of this, but no one noticed.
Eventually, this killed enough time to get them to the front of the line. The seating was paired off again, in the same order. Kagome and Kouga in front, Miroku and Sango in the middle, and Kikyou and Kagura behind them. They were on the last car of the train, so the thrill wasn't as great, but it was fun all the same.
The group was buckled in and was checked over for safety, and then they were off. The ride started off at a slow pace, but Sango, Kagome, and Miroku knew what was up ahead.
'This is supposed to make you scream?' thought Kikyou.
The ride then came to a stop, and a speaker next to your ear, which had been playing music, was now replaced with an excited and cheery voice. It began a countdown. 'Five… Four… Three… Two… One… TAKE OFF!'
The train shot out at an incredible speed, and surprised screams could be heard from Kouga and Kikyou. Kagura was laughing, even though she didn't expect the sudden burst of speed. Kagome and Sango were laughing their heads off, and Miroku just kept an amused smile on his face.
The ride ended, and Kikyou, who was never too fond of roller coasters, yelled at Kagome and Sango for not telling her what would happen. Kagome and Sango just continued to laugh, proud of what they had done to shake Kikyou up.
"Oh, come on, Kikyou," Kagome began, "it wasn't THAT bad…" She rolled her eyes.
"I told you that I don't like roller coasters in the first place!" Kikyou yelled back.
"Hey, are you guys hungry?" Sango asked Miroku to change the subject. Miroku shrugged. "Come on, yes or no?"
Again, he shrugged.
"Come on, Miroku. If you're hungry, then we can stop and get something to eat," Sango said.
Miroku gave a gesture that said that either way was fine with him.
"Fine," Sango turned to Kouga. "Hey, Kouga, you hungry?"
Kouga nodded. "I am, actually." He put his hand on his stomach.
"Alright, then we'll get something to eat. See," Sango turned back to Miroku with a playful smile, "a straight answer isn't that hard."
Miroku just smiled.
"Well, there's a place over there where we can eat," Kagome said, pointing to a food place. "But we'll have to hurry if we want to catch the Aladdin show," she added as she looked at her watch.
"Aladdin!" Kikyou yelled out.
"Yes, but food first," Kagome said and led the way.
Miroku ordered his first and paid for his own. Kikyou and Kagura shared one. Kouga, Kagome, and Sango all shared one as well. All of them had ordered the same thing, chicken strips.
They began walking and eating to save time. They made their way all the way across the park to the theater while cramming food into their mouths. After shoving the last bit of food in, the group entered the theater and arrived just in time. They had seats in the second deck at the very top, but it was a good view all the same.
The lights dimmed and the music played. The show began. The six of them watched amusedly, Kikyou, Kagome, and Sango being the most amused. Kagome giggled every time the man playing Jafar would whip his cape around. It reminded her of Phantom. Kikyou was just amused with Aladdin period. Sango always loved this kind of stuff. It was a Disney musical. How could she not like it?
The show ended. Everyone loved it. The exits soon became filled and crowded. It was a good thing that they were so close to one so that they could get out without being trampled. But when they got outside, they saw streams of people pouring from all of the exits. Kouga, Kagome, Kikyou, and Kagura all jumped over the staircase, leaving Sango and Miroku stranded.
"Oh, well, that's considerate of them," Sango muttered. She was small, so she was able to fit in through small gaps, but she also found herself waiting for Miroku every once in a while, who was taller and had a more difficult time among the crowd. They finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and the two of them glared at the others.
"Okay, we've got about… an hour left before it hits 4 o'clock," Kagome informed the others while looking at her watch. "We can ride Tower of Terror! It's right here."
Sango and Kikyou looked at each other with fear in their eyes. They didn't like anything scary, no matter how kiddy it was meant to be. "Um, well," Sango tried to think of an excuse to avoid the ride. "We'll have to see how long the line is. If it's over an hour, then we can't make it."
"Yeah, but I doubt it'll be over an hour," Kagome replied. "Come on, we'd better hurry." She was already beginning to walk off.
Sango and Kikyou both groaned. The six of them got in line.
"I kind of don't want to go on this ride." It wasn't Sango or Kikyou who had said this. It was Miroku.
"If my buddy doesn't go on, then I don't have to either!" Sango chimed in.
"You guys are a bunch of wusses," Kagome remarked. "I could take this ride."
"Well, you're different than us, Kagome," Kikyou argued. "I hate scary things."
They argued and the line progressed. Eventually, they found themselves almost entering the building.
"Hey, didn't you say you weren't going to go on?" Kagome questioned Miroku.
Miroku shrugged. "I guess I am now."
'Damnit,' Sango thought.
"Clinger!" Kikyou shouted and pointed at Sango. Sango nodded, signaling that she and Kikyou would be 'clingers', which, in this case, merely means having someone else to cling to because you are scared. This way, the scary feeling is not as big.
They were inside, and Kagome began to explain the story to them. Sango had a chill go down her spine as she looked around at the set that was set up inside this 'Hollywood Hotel'. They came to the front of the line and an 'elevator' was opened up for them and the others who waited in line with them. Only a video showed, but Kikyou and Sango were already scared. Kikyou put her arms around Sango, and they looked like a pair of sisters, with Kikyou protecting Sango. The video ended, and they found that there was yet another line for them to wait through. The surroundings were beginning to freak Sango out. She never had been a brave one when it came to things like this.
"Sango, breathe," Kagome tried to comfort her friend while concealing her laughter.
This made Sango realize that she sounded like she was hyperventilating and she stopped. They came to the front of the line, and Sango began to bite her nails.
"Hey, look, both of you are biting your nails!" Kagome pointed at Miroku and Sango. The two of them looked at each other, then sharply drew their hands away from their mouths before crossing their arms. This made Kagome laugh even more, and Kikyou, Kagura, and Kouga joined in as well. "That's freaky," she commented.
The door opened and they proceded. Sango's heart was beating fast, as was Kikyou's. Kagome sat in between the two of them, preventing them to be able to 'cling' to each other. Kagura was smiling and happy, unafraid of anything, just like always. Kouga and Miroku acted cool and like nothing bothered them.
The door shut and so did Sango's eyes. She knew there were going to be graphics popping up, and she hated them. She even drew herself closer together to drown out some of the sound, but she could still hear it. She practically cringed in the corner. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled. Kagome screamed for the hell of it, causing someone else to scream, then another, and another. Then they all began to ascend. Sango and Kikyou were still scared. Kagome enjoyed it, since she had just been on the ride recently and knew exactly what was coming and when. Kagura had never been here, but she still found this highly entertaining and kept smiling and laughing.
Then they dropped. A bright flash was emitted, but Sango didn't know where it came from since her eyes were closed. She felt a tap on her hand. It was Kagome.
"You can open your eyes," she heard her voice. "Look."
Sango opened her eyes slightly and saw that there was a view to the outside. It was only the broad daylight that was shining in. Then the 'window' shut and it grew dark again. Sango once again closed her eyes until the ride came to a complete stop, telling them that it was over.
"See? You're still alive," Kagome snickered.
They all exited and found that the exit led to a shop. Kagome looked at her watch and found that they had plenty of time left. They still had nearly twenty minutes.
All of them wandered around the shop for a while. Kagome found a name tag that said 'I survived The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror' and had a huge blank under it for a custom name.
"Hey, Sango," she called her over. "I'm going to get this for you okay?"
Sango shook her head. "You know, I technically didn't survive because I had my eyes closed the whole time…"
"Fine, fine…" Kagome put the name tag back. The two of them found Kikyou and Kagura. Then they went over to find the guys. "Come on, you guys. Are you going to buy anything?"
Both of them shook their heads and they all left the shop.
"Oh, hey, I've gotta go to the bathroom," Kagome said. "I'll be right back."
"Wait, I do too," Kikyou chased after Kagome.
"Me three!" Kagura ran after the other two.
Sango was left alone with Kouga and Miroku. It was burning up, and Kouga and Miroku were thirsty. There was a small stand nearby where they decided to buy a drink. Kouga bought a frozen lemonade. So did Miroku, but he also added in a soda. Sango stood by waiting for them and keeping an eye out for the other girls.
Miroku placed the bottle of soda in his pocket before opening his frozen treat. Kouga offered some of his to Sango. She shook her head and reached for the water bottle that she had brought from home.
The three of them began to walk slowly towards a shady spot and stopped. A few minutes passed and the other three girls still had not returned.
"Maybe you should call them," Kouga suggested to Sango.
She nodded and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed Kagome's number.
"Hello?" Kagome picked up.
"Hey, Kagome, where did you guys go?"
"Oh, you know where the theater is where we saw Aladdin?"
"Yeah…"
"Yeah, that's where we are."
"Okay. We'll be there in a little bit." Sango hung up. "They're over by the theater where we saw Aladdin," she told Miroku and Kouga.
"Okay, then let's go," Kouga got up from the ledge he was sitting on.
The three of them went back to where they had come from and found the girls standing there.
"What are you doing back here? We were over there," Sango pointed in the direction they came from.
"The closest bathroom was over here," Kagome said. "Okay, we'd better get going. It's nearly 4 and we still have to walk all the way across the park to get back to the entrance."
The made it back to their rendezvous of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"You're late!" Kaede said surprised.
"Yeah, yeah, we know… Kagome made us ride Tower of Terror," Sango explained.
"He made me ride that too!" Kaede pointed at Totosai. "I hated it!"
They all laughed. Miroku and Kouga took a seat next to Kaede on the ledge and finished their frozen lemonade. They only had to wait for the last group, Inuyasha's.
They arrived about five minutes later, and they all left California Adventure and 'hopped' over to Disneyland together.