"What are we doing here?" Grimmjow asked Tia as he followed her around the small gift shop they found a few blocks away from the cafe.
"I don't know…" Tia replied, picking up a child's place mat with a map on it. "Something told me I should try and figure out how close Japan is from here."
"You're right. That would be a smart idea as Aizen-sama wants us to join him once he gives the signal for us to arrive at that one town or what ever." Grimmjow reached over Tia's shoulder and picked up his own place mat-map. "And we are in Scotland… here and…."
Nnoitra and Szayel walked in the doorway of the small shop just in time to see Grimmjow fall to the floor in a dead faint.
"What is with him?" Szayel asked, making Tia turn around.
"I think he fainted." She replied, tapping Grimmjow's shoulder with the toe of her shoe.
"Oh, he just looked at this map." Tia handed Nnoitra her map, pointing to their location as she spoke. "See this here is Scotland and-"
"That...that idiot put us in the wrong-Location!"
"No way!" Szayel ripped the map out of his hands. "How the hell are we supposed to get from here to Japan?!"
"I have no clue." Tia was baffled for the first time in her existence. "But I know we only have eight-hundred dollars left from the ten thousand Aizen-Sama gave me to take care of."
"What happened to the other seven thousand?" The two gasped, moving out of the way so Grimmjow could sit up.
"What...happened?" He asked, looking around rather clueless for a moment.
"You fainted." Tia reached and hand down and helped him to his feet. "Japan is not that far away.
"Oh… yeah, sure…" Grimmjow gingerly rubbed the right side of his face, the shock slowly wearing off. "Ow…my head hurts."
"That is what you get when your mask gets slammed into the ground, Grimmjow. Anyhow… I don't know exactly what we should do." Tia sighed. What a mess she was in. What a mess she had to get them out of, more like. The Espada had only been in the World of the Living for a week and more than half the money was gone. "Starrk used it to buy beer this past week. He kept stealing from the stash and as he is my superior, I couldn't reprimand him."
"Damn old man..." Nnoitra grouched, vowing the next time he met up with Starrk, he was in for it.
"You said it," Szayel paused to brush a piece of pink hair behind his ear. "Give him a good kick in the ass will you? I cannot believe he could spend so much money. I hardly ever spend anything unless-"
"It is for a new piece of over-priced technology." Tia poked him in the face as she spoke, "don't think you got away with one thousand two hundred dollars with out me knowing…"
"Well. It was worth it and besides, I reprogramed it to my liking."
"What can you do with it now?" Nnoitra laughed, "Make us dance the tango?'
"No. I reprogrammed it with a Reiatsu tracker and many other programs that will be quite useful to us." Sazyel replied, hating the idea of trying to make them all dance gracefully when the other Espadas had no sense of movement. "Now, Miss. Tia, have you any ideas of what the heck we are supposed to do?!"
"…None at all, besides that we need to somehow make enough money to buy our way to Japan." Tia glanced to her right hearing a loud knocking sound, only to Grimmjow resting his head on the shelf. "Still hurts, huh? Anyhow, I looked at the price of travel in the Real World and we don't even have enough money to send one person to Japan. But the good news is that we have enough money to rent a flat for a month. As for food, we will hopefully have enough for a few meals until we find jobs."
"Jobs?!" Nnoitra screamed in her ear, making her wince. "For how long?! I don't want some dumb-"
"I don't know for how long as I don't know today's date. Just a moment." Tia left the three others and went over to the clerk behind the gift shop counter. "Hello sir, what day is it?" She asked in English, cringing as the sound echoed in her ears.
"Uh…" The gentleman glanced at his wrist watch, "April thirteenth."
"Thank you sir….and…What year?" Tia figured it didn't hurt to ask; it would give her a clear time frame.
"Um… it is two-thousand and nine."
"You mean, two-thousand and ten…right?" Tia corrected him.
"Nope… Two-thousand and nine."
"What?!" She screamed, making everyone else in the store freeze for a moment. "Two…Thank you sir. I'll will see you around." Tia Harribel bowed and quickly made her way back to Sazyel, Grimmjow and Nnoitra who were now arguing.
"No, no… I don't think that's even possible."
"But it is!" Grimmjow complained, having done it himself.
"I'm with Szayel here." Nnoitra leaned his back to the wall behind him. "No one can finish a five thousand piece jigsaw puzzle in one hour. It's just not done."
"Yes it is, and once we get back, I'll prove it!"
"So…" A smile crept onto Szayel's face, "You can't possibly do it in your Whole Costume. And so, it is not… Humanly possible."
"Seesh…Shut up you two… you're making my head hurt more."
Before Nnoitra and Szayel could razz him any farther, Tia returned, much to Grimmjow's relief. "Did I seriously hear you almost scream?"
"Yes… men, I have some unfortunate news. I think you should all sit down."
No one moved.
"That's an order!" Tia snapped and a second later the three other Espadas were sitting at her feet. Grimmjow was playing cat's cradle with Nnoitra and Szayel was looking at the her through a miniature telescope.
"No!" Tia snapped, "Seriously. Put down the toys and listen the hell up!"
"Yes sir!" The three saluted and fell silent.
"Good. Now, I have just learned some good news and some bad news. Good news is… we arrived here a good while before we need to get to Japan. Bad news is… Aizen-sama sent us here a whole year behind. But, that gives us time to make enough money to get to where we need to be."
Tia watched Grimmjow raise his hand in the air.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Permission to speak, sir?"
"Granted."
"That is good news… but what in the world can the four of us do for money? I mean… there is no way I am working at McDonalds like Mr. Gloomy and second off, how are we supposed to…blend in?"
"We won't. As you and I, Grimmjow have no possible way to keep fully undercover. Where as…" She gave a look at a pair of devastated Arrancar, "They do. Now. Tell me what talents you have, Nnoitra."
"Excuse me…" Szayel cut in, kind of taking note of what Tia wasn't.
"What is it?"
"Don't you think that we should not hold a meeting in a middle of a gift shop where…" He glanced to his left where a bunch of angry tourists were staring at the four odd people hanging out, talking.
"I suppose so." Tia gave a gesture and the four of them headed outside to the street corner where they could talk in peace. "Now, we must get you two into the work force so we can make money."
"And what?" Nnoitra was anything but pleased, "You two are going to sit on your-"
"No. We are going to manage the house hold and the money. Now tell me, would you two rather be out and about or at home cleaning and cooking?"
"Work!" the two yelled, realizing they were going to be having it easy.
Author's Note: Oh yeah...he did! We get a whole Year of these Espadas in the World of the Living. Thank you so much my readers for following along with this story. It makes my day and hopefully this story makes yours as well. Next chapter we begin the Great Job Search!