I'd just like to take a moment to thank all of my reviewers!! I was going to wait and thank you all when I reached my first 100 reviews on a single story, but this is good too. Without all this support, I would probably be dead XD Well, not really. Oh and I'd also like to say that I don't come up with everything in this story. My sister actually helps me with the plot and some funny moments as well, so praise her too!
PS Sorry this took a little while. I was sick. D8
CH 10: My Goodies
"So...we're stuck here then?"
"Well I wouldn't say stuck...more like separated."
"That doesn't change the fact that we're not going back to Las Noches until Aizen reopens Garganta."
"Well what if he takes too long? We can't stay here forever. Retard over here might end up blowing something up in the process."
"Don't say it so loudly. He might hear you. Anyway, if he takes too long to open Garganta, we'll have to use our powers to find another passageway to open."
"If we find one, what should we name it?"
"How about Ano?" Ichigo began to stir from his slumber, the distant laughter coming into earshot. He began to open his eyes, but his body refused to cooperate and he soon fell back to sleep. During this moment in time, however, Nnoitra began his ritualistic walk into the kitchen, his eyes somewhat droopy. In his hand he held a cup of tea, the liquid swooshing with his somewhat sloppy movements. His walk was interrupted halfway however, when he caught sight of the slumbering Ichigo. The Shinigami sat on the ground Indian Style, his back leaning against the refrigerator door. A box of cookies lay at his side, half of the treats strewn across the floor. The part that made the Espada gag was when he noticed Grimmjow, out of his gigai, sleeping in the teens lap.
"What. The. Hell." Nnoitra mumbled to himself, approaching the two. Upon closer inspection, he noticed Ichigo's hand draped over Grimmjow's head, as if he had been previously petting him. Grimmjow's head was where it probably shouldn't have been, one of his hands snaked around Ichigo's waist. Both of them had cookie crumbs all over their faces, explaining the mess that was currently being picked up by Grimm. Still, that didn't help the fact that the longer Nnoitra stared at them, the more he wanted to beat them both into the ground. Folding his arms across his chest, he made a sour face.
"Well you two seem to be enjoying yourselves!" he barked out, startling the sleeping men. Ichigo was the first to respond, his eyes immediately locking with Nnoitra's.
"It's not what it looks like!" He said stupidly, trying to get over the fact that he was just sleeping seconds before. Nnoitra simply glared daggers at the boy, wishing he could just gut him right then and there, had it not been that law Aizen-sama had given them. "Uh...oh...hi..."
"Hello Kurosaki Ichigo." he replied icily. "Having fun down there?" Ichigo opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by the shuffling body of Grimmjow. The Espada opened his eyes groggily, sitting up in the process.
"Ugh..." he muttered, looking around without a real target. "Five more minutes Mommy..." Nnoitra glared at him, his lips pressed together thinly. Looking at him for a few more seconds, he turned his attention back to the Shinigami.
"So he's told you?" he asked flatly. Ichigo shrugged.
"Yeah..." Wasting no time, Nnoitra huffed, turning to leave.
"Figures." Leaving the two behind, the Espada entered the living room where a heated discussion was taking place. Not exactly caring, he took a seat next to Aporro who had just taken his 3rd bath that morning. The rosebud scent was enough to piss Nnoitra off.
"Do you insist on smelling like dog shit for the rest of the day?" he asked irritably, staring hard at the partially conscious man next to him. Aporro growled, turning his back on Nnoitra, busying himself with the towel on his head.
"Do you insist on being this loud for the rest of your life?" he shot back, his words still somewhat slurred together. Nnoitra, unable to think of a comeback, simply glared at the Espada.
"Are you done yet?" Tousen interrupted, raising an eyebrow at the two. "We're kinda trying to discuss our next plan of action..."
"A plan of action for what?" Nnoitra asked, trying to get comfortable on the couch.
"Aizen cut off Garganta. Now we can't go back until he reopens it again." Stark informed.
"Say what?!" Nnoitra exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "Why in the hell did he do that?" An irritated group sigh followed.
"To keep this scene as short as possible, Aizen was jumped and cut off all possible entries to Hueco Mundo. Now we can't go back until he feels the place is secure once more." Aaroniero informed him flatly. "Really, Nnoitra. You shouldn't be so disconnected with the group when something big like this is happening." Nnoitra sat back down, scowling at the man. He didn't know much about personal Shinigami history, but he was told Aaroniero's gigai resembled one named Kaien something-or-other.
"Well I'm sorry I was busy interrogating the Shinigami that's sleeping on our kitchen floor at the moment..."
"I really don't think that's important anymore..." Halibel said, an ice pack held up to her forehead. "What we should really be worrying about is our stay here."
"Well I say our first plan of action should be to get jobs." Gin said cheerfully, standing up on the coffee table to get everyone's attention. "Since we are not guaranteed anymore Yen from Aizen, then we should at least have another sure way of getting' some."
"How are we supposed to get jobs though?" Yami asked, his brow furrowed. "We don't exactly have qualifications from this world..." Gin stared at him for a few seconds.
"...We can always lie."
"You can't lie on a resume!" Aporro exclaimed. "People check that stuff out you know!" Gin huffed, putting his hands on his hips.
"Well pardon me for trying to find a living. What do you suggest we do then?" Aporro adjusted his glasses before answering.
"Find a job without lying. Or become bums for the rest of our lives." Gin made a face.
"That doesn't sound very pleasant at all."
"So I suppose it's decided then." Tousen pitched in, a dog bowl in his hands and Grimm at his feet excitedly. "We are to find jobs to account for the money loss we shall be experiencing for the next month."
"Oh! Can we go in groups?!" Aaroniero asked excitedly, sticking his hand in the air. "I like groups."
"Fine, we'll go in pairs." Gin ordered. "Sober with Hungover."
"Who says we're still hungover?!" Nnoitra said angrily. "We're all capable of going by ourselves."
"Oh really?" Halibel challenged, crossing her arms across her chest. "Because last time I checked, Ulquiorra has been sitting there for the past 30 minutes, unconscious and unresponsive. He might even be dead and we wouldn't know it happened." Simultaneously, the group turned to look at the Espada in question. The man sat snuggly on one of the couches, his legs crossed heavily. His pale hands were placed neatly in his lap, his head down. Everything seemed so peaceful about him, except for the part where he clearly wasn't breathing. Nnoitra huffed, pressing his lips together.
"Fine...we'll go in groups..." Gin clasped his hands together happily, his trademark grin appearing on his face once more.
"Excellent. Now, the groups are as follows: Tousen with Wonderweiss, Stark with Nnoitra, Yami with Barragan, Halibel with Ulquiorra, Aporro with Aaroniero an-"
"Uh, Good Morning..." Ishida said quietly, emerging from his guest room for the first time that morning. He stood in the doorway, countless eyes on him for a reason he couldn't find. Well, when he thought about it, there wasn't this many people in the house when he had gone off to bed the night before. Some of them looked rather familiar if he stared long enough and all of them seemed huddled up together like a Rugby team. Still, he managed to shrug off his thoughts, even if he did find one or two of them qualified for that type of sport. "...Where's Kurosaki?"
"He's in the kitchen, next to the refrigerator." Nnoitra explained flatly. With that, the group went back to its previous business, discussing things Ishida had rather not find out. It was, after all, not his place to be eavesdropping on conversations that didn't involve him.
In fact, it wasn't his place at all. He groaned, hitting himself in the head for thinking much too hard that morning. Instead, he directed his way into the kitchen, his attention on trying to find his possibly hung over friend.
"Uh, Kurosaki? It's kinda late and I think we should - WHAT THE HELL?!"
Or not.
"Ishida! This isn't what it looks like!" Ichigo exclaimed, trying to get up from his position on the floor. The limp body of Grimmjow was draped over him, drool excessively leaving the larger mans mouth. The Shinigami himself was out of his gigai, his Zanpakuto painfully wedged between his backside and the floor. "He took advantage of me, I swear!"
"Kurosaki, are you blind?! That man has on an Espada uniform!" He paused. "He has a hole in his stomach!" Ichigo stopped, successfully pushing the man off of him and stood up to brush himself off.
"Oh...well yeah, that too." He gathered his thoughts together, trying to ignore the astonished look on Ishida's face. "See, last night this idiot decided to wake up and come look for a snack or something. Me, still being completely sober despite the odd display of affection and molestation last night, decided to see what he was up to and to find out of my hunch was really correct. It turns out that, your friend Jacques is actually Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, the 6th Espada. Because of your previous statement, I had also found out that you deliberately lied to me, so i just assumed you knew before I did and that he threated you to not tell me about anything. Am I right?" Ichigo grinned triumphantly, watching as Ishida regained his composure by adjusting his glasses.
"Actually Kurosaki, he told me to lie to you because of a deal we had. I never questioned his reasons why he wanted to keep his identity to a bare minimum, but it appears the reason was as follows: Once you take a look at his gigai, he doesn't appear to look much different, so the only assumption I can come up with is he didn't want you to dwell on any idea that he could possibly look like himself in his Espada form." He gave a small smile. "The threat still remains however, so you got that part right." He frown returned as he gave a sharp look at the body of Grimmjow. "But one question still remains. Well, two; what does he want and is he the only one here?" Ichigo scratched the back of his head slowly, his eyes scanning the floor.
"I dunno...I'm still trying to get over the fact that you figured out the plot so far in a matter of seconds." Ishida smiled.
"I'm just good like that."
"Clearly...so, what should we do now?"
"Well, there are a lot more people here than I remember form last time. Since Grimmjow's here, I have a feeling we should investigate." Smiling, Ichigo walked past the Quincy, heading for his gigai that he realized he had misplaced.
"Sounds like a plan."
.:A2345678910JQK:.
"So...what are we doing again?" Grimmjow asked 2 hours later. Ichigo shrugged, walking down the sidewalk next to the Espada.
"How am i supposed to know? I'm just following you to make sure you don't do anything even remotely evil or diabolical." Grimmjow growled, throwing his hands up in the air.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm on vacation. V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N. Want me to spell it in Spanish now or are we good?" Ichigo rolled his eyes, expanding the distance between himself and the Espada. A couple of hours ago, the two were unexpectedly paired up to go job hunting. It was something about not having contact with someone but Ichigo didn't press the issue. Instead, he agreed to follow Grimmjow around to find a job. He was going to make sure it wasn't an evil one.
"That gigai makes you look fat by the way." He muttered, casting a quick glance at Grimmjow. Grimmjow stopped, his face turning a deep shade of red.
"YOU LIE!" He yelled, pointing a finger at Ichigo who had continued to walk ahead.
Meanwhile, in another part of town, Nnoitra and Stark were looking over a Help Wanted board in front of a building.
"How about a Bartender?" Stark suggested, pointing to a small slip of paper that was tacked on the board. "That sounds like a good job for you."
"It sounds like a good job..." Nnoitra muttered, leaning on the board with his arms crossed. "But what is it exactly?" Stark read the fine print on the slip, but ended up shrugging.
"I don't know."
"Well that doesn't sound like a very fun job now does it?"
"Not really."
"So find another one." Stark did as he was told and again found another slip of paper tacked to the board. Like that wasn't a big surprise.
"How about a clown for Juveniles in the local Correctional Institution? You get to wear a wig." Nnoitra sighed, considering the evil undertone of the job.
"...How much do I get paid?" Stark pulled the piece of paper from the board, flipping it over and over again to find the desired information.
"Uh...it says it varies. I guess you have to be really good to get paid a lot." Nnoitra sighed once more, plucking the paper from Starks fingers.
"I'll consider it..." he said flatly, folding up the piece of paper and sticking it in his jeans pocket. "Do you see anything else for me or you?" Stark took another good look at the board, stroking his soul patch in thought and concentration. In a matter of minutes, he had found a piece of paper that struck his interest. Pulling it from the board, he read it over, a smile on his lips. Nnoitra gave him a weird glance. "...what'd you find?"
"A good job." Nnoitra made an irritated sound, getting up from the board and began to walk away.
"Don't get smart with me...I didn't even want to do this..." Slipping the piece of paper in his pocket, Stark followed after the lanky Espada, letting out a load yawn. Resisting the urge to strangle the rest of his breath out of him, Nnoitra's attention was suddenly caught by a familiar sight a couple of yards ahead. "Wait." He held out his arm, Stark bumping into it out of surprise. He stepped back, rubbing his chest.
"Ow, why did you stop?" Before answering his question, Nnoitra grabbed the man by the arm and pulled him with him in a nearby bush. It was shaped like a Sumo Panda. Crouching down, Nnoitra dug a hole through the Panda's stomach, peering through while Stark regained his senses. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He hissed, rubbing his head.
"I'm spying." Nnoitra answered. "Look at that." Sighing, Stark did as he was told and looked through the grass, the scene familiar.
"Look at what? All I see is commuters and shops." Exasperated, Nnoitra pointed towards a pair of men walking down the sidewalk towards their direction.
"No, dumb ass, I meant those two." Stark squinted, trying to get a good look at the two odd looking people in question.
"You mean...Grimmjow and Ichigo? Well what about them?"
"Don't you see how...content they are with each other?" Nnoitra growled, clenching his fists. "This morning I found them all over each other like there was no tomorrow. It's like they don't even take into consideration my feelings about their togetherness." He fell silent for a few minutes, watching as the two walked right passed them and up to the Help Wanted Board. Ichigo pointed to a few ads and began to talk to Grimmjow, their conversation out of ear shot. Nnoitra assumed Grimmjow had said something funny though, because Ichigo began to laugh, the sound painfully echoing in Nnoitra's eardrums. His brow furrowed deeper by the second, his expression slowly changing from anger to pure, utter disgust and fury. "Those bastards...don't you agree Stark?"
"...Stark?" He looked to his side, expecting to see the higher Espada play Peeping Tom along with him. Instead, he found him curled up on the ground, fast asleep with drool coming out of his mouth. "DON'T FALL ASLEEP ON ME NOW RETARD!" he yelled. Grabbing him by the collar, Nnoitra furiously shook Stark, trying to get him to wake up again. When Stark refused, Nnoitra huffed and dropped the man back onto the ground in a heap. Standing up, he began to brush himself off. "Ugh, whatever. At least you're out of the way now." Stepping over Stark, Nnoitra tried to get as close to the other two as possible without being detected. In the meantime, Grimmjow and Ichigo were in a heated discussion at the Help Wanted Board.
"Look, all I'm saying is that you'd look cute in a swimsuit."
"Oh, so now you think I'm cute? 10 minutes ago you said I was fat!"
"No, I said your gigai was fat. There's a difference you know. Besides, if you take this job, you can work it out. You know, make it fit again instead of having it look like Sloppy Joe."
"Who the hell is Sloppy Joe?" Ichigo shrugged.
"I dunno. I think it's a type of food in America or something like that..."
"Oh..." The two fell silent after that, either staring off into space or at the board. After a while, Ichigo opened his mouth to say something when something cut him off. Blinking, he looked towards a set of bushes that stood a few feet away from them, watching them busily decorate the front of an office.
"Hey Grimmjow, did you hear that?" Grimmjow turned to look at Ichigo, then at the bushes in question.
"Hear what?" Ichigo strained his ears, trying to catch the rustling noise again. Instead, all he heard was the breeze. "You do realize you sound crazy, right?" Ichigo shook his head, erasing the suspicion from his mind.
"Never mind then. Come on, let's go find another Help Wanted Board." The two took off in another direction, unaware that another Espada was following them in the bushes. Still, even as they continued on their search for a job for Grimmjow, Ichigo still managed to grow suspicious once more of the environment. Every once in a while he'd turn around, searching with his eyes through the bushes and shrubbery for some kind of follower. But every time, he found none.
30 minutes later, he found himself waiting for Grimmjow outside of a fast food restaurant. He had sent the Espada in to have a talk with the manager and see if he could land a job. What he didn't expect was Grimmjow to run out of the front door and off towards the house. Wasting no time, Ichigo ran after him, quickly matching his speed.
"What the hell happened?!" Ichigo yelled, trying his hardest not to run into anyone. "Getting that job was supposed to be easy!" Grimmjow gave him a quick glance, his expression somewhat worried.
"Just shut up and keep running! I'll tell you about it later!"
"Did you kill someone?!" Ichigo asked frantically, assuming the worst. Grimmjow was, after all, known for having a rather short temper. Grimmjow took a sharp turn, ending up in a sort of food court with his speed never faltering. In fact, he was getting faster.
"I said I'll tell you later!!" Not wanting to lose him, Ichigo continued to follow him, his mouth closed tightly. Many growing feet behind them, Nnoitra gave chase.
Damnit, why are you running so fast?! He thought furiously to himself, giving up on hiding and instead simply ran in the open to keep up with them. Because he was totally focused on catching up with the two, he couldn't avoid running into a few people, mostly the elderly. He followed the two through crowds, around corners, over bridges and in and out of stores. Not knowing why they were running or where they were going, Nnoitra soon began to get very tired and slowed down considerably. "Damnit..." he huffed, his heart thumping wildly from the sudden need to run. Before long he lost them and found himself leaning over with his hand on his knee. His other hand was on a wall as an attempt to keep himself from falling over. Beads of sweat formed on his brow, his mouth hanging wide open to help him gulp down much needed air. After somewhat catching his breath, he stood up strait again and began walking off in his previous direction. "How do they do it...?" he muttered to himself, his feet shuffling slowly across the crowded, cement walkway.
"Hi Noi." Nnoitra blinked, looking over to his side just as Stark rejoined him. The shorter man smiled up at him, despite the obvious permanent bags under his eyes. He raised an eyebrow at the sudden company.
"Where'd you come from?" Stark thought about the question for a few seconds before shrugging.
"I dunno. You were just easy to find I guess...so where are you going?"
"I was following Jacques and that bastard, but I lost them not too long ago..." Wiping his brow with the back of his hand, Nnoitra took a break by a shaded wall, leaning against the corner portion. Stark followed suit, resting right beside him. Stark smiled, staring as Nnoitra tried to breathe normally.
"You're not a very good runner, are you?"
"Shut up." Stark chuckled, changing the subject.
"So, did you find out where they were going?" Nnoitra shook his head. "Are you gonna give up?"
"Are you crazy?!" Nnoitra shot back, causing Stark to jump at the sudden outburst. "Like hell I'm gonna let those two have their alone time! Ichigo's gonna take advantage of him again and brainwash Grimmjow like he did last night!" Stark let the information sink in, somewhat considering them.
"But Jacques was drunk last night."
"Well I'm going to make that bastard pay for what he did. Maybe do something to make him jealous or something like that..."
"You're not making any sense you know..."
"I don't ca-"
"I think we lost them." The two turned towards the sudden familiar voice. At first they only saw the small groups of people that leisurely walked by them in to hurry. Then they saw the familiar blue hair of Grimmjow. The flustered Espada emerged from the corner of a large building, followed by the ever so tired Ichigo. The two started to walk in their direction, both of them out of breath. Before he knew it Nnoitra began to panic, trying to think of something to follow up with his plan to make Grimmjow undoubtedly jealous; And then it hit him.
"Hi Jacques!" Stark called out happily, waving his hand in the air to grab the mans attention. Looking up at his name, Grimmjow gave Stark a small grin, tiredly walking towards him with Ichigo in tow. "Long time no se-" Without warning, Stark was cut off as Nnoitra grabbed him by his shoulders ans forced him into the corner of the wall. Before he had time to register what was going on, Nnoitra closed the gap in between them, forcefully kissing the stunned Espada on the lips. Time seemed to slow down for every single bystander as they watched Nnoitra and Stark share a deep, questionable kiss together. Mothers covered the eyes of their children, the elderly attempted to resist imminent heart attacks and Grimmjow simply stood there and stared. Even Ichigo was appalled, trying to find a reason behind the sudden hormonal urge by the tall lanky one. The situation wasn't improved on the other side. Starks eyes widened as he stared into Nnoitra's, a look of horror written all over his face. Nnoitra ignored him however and gave him his best commanding stare.
Then finally, after a long, painful 5 seconds, Nnoitra broke the kiss, his hands still tightly gripping Starks shoulders. Grinning, Nnoitra turned to look at Grimmjow.
"That was the best kiss ever." He said slyly, watching Grimmjow's expression change from blank to what seemed to be anger. When he finally regained his senses, Grimmjow turned in the other direction and stormed off, Ichigo humbly following him and disappeared in the crowd. Nnoitra widened his grin, hardly noticing the harsh punch to the face that sent him toppling to the ground in an unconscious heap.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"
Yay! Chapter 10 is done! Please review! Thank you very much!