Chapter Eight: Happiest Place on Earth
"Remember, 11 o'clock we're meeting back at this spot," Kaede reminded them. "11 o'clock sharp."
"Okay, yeah, yeah, we got it…" Myoga grumbled.
"Okay then," Kaede said. "You can run free and wild now."
Kaede had not even finished her sentence and Inuyasha, Myoga, Sesshoumaru, Lokito, Sairo, and Eikichi were gone. She shook her head. "They never change," she mumbled.
"Hey, are we riding Pirates of the Caribbean?" Kagome asked.
Kaede nodded. "Sure! If you guys want to!"
Sango pulled out her map. "Well, it's almost all the way on the other side of the park…"
"Oh, hey, we can ride the most awesome ride here then!" Kagome yelled excitedly. "We can pass through Frontierland and ride Indiana Jones!" She squealed with delight.
Kaede nodded and the others just shrugged as they muttered 'Okay'. Then they were off.
The reached the front of the line and saw that it was nearly a two-hour wait. They were about to grab a 'FastPass' when they realized that the returning time would be between 11 o'clock and midnight.
"We'll be long gone by then," Mika's mom explained. "Let's just get in line. I'm sure they're just exaggerating."
"Can I go to the restroom?" Kouga cut in.
Kaede nodded. "Just be quick."
Kouga began to walk away when Kaede stopped him. "Kouga! Wait! Take someone with you! Who's your buddy?"
"Um, Kagome…" he muttered.
"Oh, well, um, take another guy with you," Kaede said. "Here, take Miroku with you. Do you know your way around the park," she asked Miroku.
Miroku nodded and agreed to accompany his friend to the restroom. The rest of them had to stand there and wait for them. They didn't want to get in line and then allow Miroku and Kouga to cut in front of others who had been waiting. Nearly ten minutes passed, and there was still no sign of them anywhere.
"You guys go ahead and get in line," Kaede told Mika, her mom, her sister, Ayori, Kagura, and Kikyou. "We'll be at the back and hopefully they'll come before we get in too far."
They all nodded slowly and proceeded to get into the long line filled with chattering and anxious people. Kagome and Sango stayed with Kaede and Totosai near the back of the group. They were worried about what had happened to their 'buddies'.
"Where could they have gone? Could they have gotten lost?" Sango wondered aloud.
"No, Miroku knows his way around the park," Kagome said reassuringly. "He's been here before."
"I guess so…"
The two of them searched the crowds for any sign of a familiar face. Then, a few minutes later, they saw Kouga and Miroku struggling to get through the mass of people. Kaede waved her arms and told them to get in quickly. They were lucky that the line hadn't moved much.
They made it through, and the six of them caught up with the others who had gone in before. They weren't far ahead, thankfully.
"Where the heck did you guys go?" Sango questioned.
"Uhh… We… got lost…" Kouga muttered.
"I thought Miroku knew his way around the park," Kagome said skeptically.
"Yeah, well, the genius over here told me to go the wrong way!" Kouga said as he glared at Miroku.
Miroku just gave an innocent smile. "It's been a while since I last came."
"Obviously…" Kouga snickered. "Oh, hey," he said as he turned to Kagome and Sango, but more to Kagome. "I want an Indiana Jones hat." He pointed at a small shop across from the ride where hats that resembled the one that Indiana Jones wore were sold, along with other Indiana Jones collectibles.
"Um, okay," Kagome shrugged. She didn't know what else to say. They all knew that Kouga had a thing about hats. "But those things are expensive."
"Yeah, I know, but I think it might be worth it," Kouga smiled.
The line slowly progressed, and every now and then Kagome and Sango would talk to Kaede, who was still behind them with Totosai, although they were often oblivious to most of the students' conversations.
Kagome and Sango were telling Kaede how their day had gone so far to pass the time. Sango explained what Miroku had done when they were in line for Soarin' Over California.
"Miroku!" Kaede gasped. "I didn't know you actually did things like that!"
Kagome snorted, and Sango knew why. They were in high school after all, and both of their minds had been corrupted.
Out of boredom, Kagome poked Kouga in his belly button area. He emitted a sound that sounded like a squeal, but not really.
"Wait, wait, do that again," Kouga said as he smiled sheepishly.
Kagome eyed him strangely, but did as she was told. She poked Kouga in the middle again.
"Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoooo!" Kouga made the sound that the Pillsbury Doughboy makes.
Kagome and Sango laughed, half expecting something crazy like that, but at the same time, not expecting it to actually happen. Now each time Sango or Kagome poked Kouga in the middle, he would make the same sound. It proved to be quite amusing for some time.
"Let's see what happens when we poke him here," Sango said as she poked Kouga's left side.
This time he let out a loud squeal.
"Was that you, Sango?" Kagome looked at the two of them.
Sango burst into laughter. "No, it was him!" She pointed at the cringing Kouga.
"Wow, Kouga," Kagome chuckled. "You squealed."
"Shut up…" Kouga replied, but with an awkward smile.
"Oooh, hey, if he squeals on his left side, I wonder what his right side does…" Kagome was about to poke him there when Kouga stopped her.
"Wait, I have to think of something for that first…"
Kagome rolled her eyes at his lame remark.
"Okay, okay, I got it," Kouga said after only a few seconds. "Poke me."
Sango did it first before Kagome got a chance to. Kouga rolled his tongue in a way that sounded like he was coming onto a girl. Kagome and Sango backed away from him, scared. But they were amused at the same time.
"Hey, let's poke Miroku and see what he does!" Kagome suggested in an excited and girly tone.
"Okay!" Sango attacked Miroku with a poke and he cringed. She did it again and this time he muttered something that sounded like a 'Stop it'.
"What was that?" Sango had heard him, but she continued to poke him anyway.
"No, no," Miroku couldn't help but grin as he tried to prevent Sango from poking him anymore. "Ste-ap it."
Kouga laughed. "That's not how you get them to stop. You do this." Kouga grabbed Kagome's hand and made her poke him on his right side. He rolled his tongue again, and Kagome backed away.
"No, 'ste-ap' that," she said, imitating Miroku's odd way of saying stop.
Sango poked Miroku again. This time he gave a different response.
"Gimme all your money!" he said, imitating a thief.
They all laughed, and the girls continued to poke the guys. Eventually, Sango's poke had no effect on Miroku. Either that, or he had built enough control to keep himself from struggling.
"Here, let me." Kouga jumped in between Miroku and Sango and jabbed Miroku with his finger.
"Oww!" Miroku bent over and moaned in pain, but laughed at the same time.
"You're a wimp, Miroku. I didn't poke you that hard." Kouga rolled his eyes.
"Yes, you did!" Miroku stood straight again. "You practically stabbed me with your finger!"
"I did not! Here, I'll do it again." Kouga lunged forward, but Miroku curled up and prevented Kouga from touching him.
Kouga laughed. "You're cowering, Miroku!"
Miroku took no notice of this comment. He slowly returned to his normal stance. Then Kouga lunged forward again, this time hitting his target. Again, Miroku groaned in pain, but laughed as well.
"Kouga!" Sango yelled at him. "You're hurting him!" She poked him on his left side. He squealed.
"Hah," Kagome finally chose to speak after watching the scene amusedly. "My boy toy can beat yours."
Sango stuck her tongue out at Kagome. "And mine listens to me," Kagome added in with a smirk. She tapped Kouga on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear.
"Something evil, no doubt," thought Sango.
Kouga looked at Sango with an evil grin, as did Kagome. Kagome poked Kouga in his right side. This time, he let out that same noise, but also added in a strange walk, which made him appear as if he were literally chasing after a girl. And he was. The girl was Sango.
"No, get away from me, Kouga!" Sango walked back as he walked forward, emitting that strange tongue rolling sound that she found creepy coming from him. Kagome poked him in his right side again, and he stopped.
"See, my boy toy has moving action!" Kagome grinned gleefully, proud of what she had just done. But she knew she was going to regret it at some point eventually.
At last, Kaede noticed the four of them again. "What are you guys doing?"
"Kaede! Look! We have boy toys!" Sango and Kagome said at the same time with the same playful smile on their faces. Kaede returned a confused and scared look.
"Look!" Kagome poked Kouga in the middle and he made his 'Pillsbury Doughboy' sound.
Kaede cracked up.
"Wait, that's not even the funniest one!" Sango poked his left side and Kouga squealed. This made Kaede laugh even more.
"No, wait, look what Miroku does!" Kouga grinned evilly and attacked him.
"Ste-ap it!" Miroku cowered again.
Kouga laughed. "It's cowering Miroku!" And he poked him again, hoping that he would say his second phrase, and he did.
"Gimme all your money!"
Kaede smiled, knowing that Miroku had never done things like this at school before.
The four of them were quite entertained by this for over half of the waiting time. Soon they stopped the poking for a short while, and Kagome and Kouga were engaged in their own conversation.
Sango felt like doing something evil. She crept behind Kouga and poked him in his right side.
He squealed at first. "Oh, wait, that was the other side. This side was… Oh! I remember!" He was facing Kagome, so what he had done to Sango earlier, he now did to Kagome.
Sango giggled. "That's what you get, Kagome. Stop teaching your boy toy to do bad things."
"No!" Kagome yelled at Kouga. "Stop, boy toy!" She poked him in the middle, and he obeyed. Both Kagome and Sango snorted.
"Wow, you make one hell of a master," Sango remarked.
Kagome scoffed. "Your boy toy's no fun… He says 'Ste-ap it' and 'Gimme all your money'."
"And he cowers!" Kouga demonstrated by poking him again, and Miroku did, indeed, cower.
"That's because you drill your finger into him like this!" Sango poked Kouga hard.
"Owww!" Kouga squealed and groaned in pain.
"See?"
"Yeah, well…" Kouga didn't know how to finish his sentence. He didn't know that Sango would actually poke him that hard. "Well, when it comes to defending Miroku, I guess she can do these kinds of things."
More time passed as the four of them talked about nothing. Well, it was more like the three of them. Miroku didn't talk much, though he did chime in every now and then.
"Hey, we're almost there!" Kagome informed.
"Wow, really?" Sango looked at Kagome's watch. "That didn't seem that long."
"That's because we were playing with our boy toys," Kagome smirked.
They all made it inside, but found that there was another wait. It wasn't long, though, before their turn came. The four of them sat in the front row of the car, with Kouga 'driving'. Miroku and Kouga sat at the ends, with Sango and Kagome in between them, since the two girls didn't like being at the edge. Kikyou, Kagura, Kaede, and Totosai sat in the second row.
The ride began. Sango wasn't scared. She was too amused by what had happened when she was in line to be scared. Their car jerked, and Kaede, who was frightened easily, screamed. A silhouette of hundreds of spiders crawling on the wall appeared. Kikyou screamed the loudest here. She hated spiders.
The ride continued on bumpily, and they came to a bridge surrounded by fire.
"FIRE!" Kagome, Kikyou, and Sango all yelled at the same time. They were all known to be pyros and have an obsession with fire.
Then a giant mechanical, yet live-looking, snake appeared. It lunged forward as if to strike them. Almost everyone screamed except for the four of them in the front row. Sango took a quick glance behind her and saw that Kaede was hanging onto Totosai with her life. She was terrified. This made Sango laugh even more. It was always entertaining to ride amusement park rides with Kaede.
"Duck!"
"What?" Sango heard what Kagome had said, but she didn't know what she meant by it.
"I said duck!" Kagome repeated herself, and Kouga, Sango, and Miroku all listened to her and ducked.
"What's going on?" Sango asked Kagome.
"They're supposed to be shooting over us, so we're supposed to pretend to be trying to avoid them."
"Is that it? I thought it was something more—"
Sango was cut short by a sudden jerk. The car had stopped and they came to the giant boulder. It began to roll, and the car dropped into pitch darkness.
They saw light, and the car came to a stop again. The ride had ended. Everyone had to agree with Kagome. That was the best ride ever. Adventurous, heart-thumping, and entertaining, when you're with this group anyway.