Memory Two – The Gathering Of The Lost
Around 20 Years Ago
Matthew woke up, in a state of shock. He looked down at the rest of his body, or what was left of it, and snarled. He had the top half of his torso, one arm and his legs, which weren't attached to his body. He looked around for the rest of his torso and other arm, but couldn't find them, so had to focus his power into regenerating.
He yelled in pain as new tissue started to rapidly grow where his body should have been, until it finally touched his legs, fusing to them through the blood vessels and nerves that lay scattered on the sand. He then screamed as a bud of an arm started to sprout from the lone shoulder, it growing much slower than his torso did. When it had finally finished, he looked to admire his new body, and was surprised at the arm he now had.
"A reptilian claw?" he asked, bemused. "Whilst it fits with my theme, it looks out of place when it's surrounded by normal flesh..." He stood up slowly, getting used to his new body. "I hate this resurrection thing, especially when I've been ripped to pieces. And Soul Society is to blame, of course. If they had taught me properly, or actually cared to watch out for their squad members, I wouldn't be an arrancar!"
He looked around. It was the same Hueco Mundo as before, before Usaitar's dimension had set up shop in his exact spot. "Damn..." he spoke softly, "this place is always the same... dark and depressing..."
He suddenly smirked. "That's it. I need some more action," he laughed. "And what better way to do that than to invade Soul Society again! That will get them for making me like this!"
"I did it... I finally became an arrancar..." she said softly. Kotomi lay on the desert, staring up at the sky, blankly. "Now I can take revenge on those bastard adjuchas that killed my clan..."
She jerked her head to the right suddenly as she heard a dark voice answer her. "Ha! As if you could defeat an adjuchas, girl! You're pathetic!" it mocked. Kotomi brought her hands quickly to her head and slammed them against her temples.
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" she screamed. "I'm tired of you! Stop mocking me!" She stood up quickly. "Well, if you want to see, I'll do it, just watch! I'll kill every last one of them!"
"You'd better, otherwise all of your clan will disown you once you pass on," the voice continued, "you'll be nothing. You'll have no-one, just like now."
"Shut up, voice!" Kotomi screamed, slamming her hands into her head. "I'll do it, just you wait and see!"
Five adjuchas were gathered in a circle, toying with a smaller adjuchas, it attempting to dodge their half-hearted attacks. They chuckled darkly as it squirmed, it eventually tiring out and stopping in the centre of the hollow-made circle.
They laughed as they all charged their ceros, aiming them at the small adjuchas. They blasted them forward, vaporising the hollow in seconds. They started to laugh loudly and uncontrollably, until one fell to the ground, dead.
The other four looked at it, it having been decapitated swiftly. They looked where it once stood, to see Kotomi fingering her sword coated with the hollow's blood. She smiled, making her seem slightly unhinged.
"Well, well, well..." she mocked, "you five had me go through some trouble to find you. But I did it! And now I can kill you all for massacring my clan!" She then heard the voice again.
"Please, that was one adjuchas, and it was an attack from behind," it laughed, "you need to do something much more impressive to make me quiet down!" Kotomi growled.
"Don't you four hear that voice?!" she yelled, "how irritating!" The four adjuchas merely looked at her, confused. Kotomi stared at them, realising. "You don't? Huh..."
She snapped out of it, glaring at them. "Never mind, I'll kill you now!" She used sonido, appearing behind one, slashing her sword up its spine, severing its skull in two. The other three growled and lunged at her, but she again used sonido to escape, making the hollows collide into each other.
They fell into a heap on the sand, and Kotomi laughed. "I didn't think it would be so easy!" she laughed. "You killed my clan? Ha!" She lowered her sword-wielding arm, then opened her mouth.
She readied herself and charged a cero. A ball of violet energy formed at the tip of her tongue, and she fired it, incinerating the hollows on contact. She smirked and praised herself for her work, when she heard a slow clapping behind her.
"Very nice work there," he said, moving towards her, "very nice work, indeed." Kotomi was cautious. "Who are you?" she asked, worried. She had never seen another arrancar, and was nervous as to what he would do.
The arrancar finally stepped out of the shadows. It was Matthew, now with a jawbone over his reptilian shoulder to accent his stronger spiritual pressure. "I like your style," he continued, ignoring her question, "would you like to join up with me?"
Kotomi blinked a few times, surprised. The voice came out again. "Don't do it, you bitch! You can't possibly be strong enough for anyone! You're a pathetic excuse for an arrancar! Listen to me!"
Kotomi ignored it, her eyes focused on Matthew. 'He's... awesome...' she stated inwardly, finding herself starting to blush, which she quickly got embarrassed about, causing her to blush more.
Matthew noticed this and spoke to break her from her trance. "Well?" he repeated, the atmosphere now substantially more awkward. Kotomi smiled. "Hell yes! Sign me up now! I'm yours!" she exclaimed.
Matthew inwardly sighed. 'Brilliant...' he thought, 'the first member of my team and she's infatuated with me... are the rest of the team going to be this irritating?'
Around 15 Years Ago
Eiji slowly removed his sword from his arrancar opponent, and smiled as his opponent's blood ran down to his hand. His opponent slumped to the ground, dead, and he turned to his allies.
"So, you two done?" he asked. "Can't we stop now? I'm getting a bit bored..." His two companions, a male and a female, turned to him.
"What are you saying Eiji?" the female asked, surprised. "You're the one who brought up the idea of taking down Yusuke Kumo's clan. Is it because he escaped that you're feeling down?"
Eiji shook his head. "No, it's just the moon in the sky... isn't it picturesque?" he asked. "It has a calming effect over me. I don't think I can kill at a time like this."
The male arrancar growled and grabbed Eiji by the throat. "You can kill any time of the day," he threatened. "You're Eiji Kitadani, remember? You were one of the few hollows that were infused with immense spiritual power when that giant void blew up 5 years back. If you don't feel like killing, then you don't deserve to be alive."
Eiji sighed. "Alright, I get your point..." he answered, calmly. "Let's kill some more then, huh?" The male then smiled and released his grip around Eiji's throat, allowing him to breathe easier.
As he turned to leave, he felt a sword plunge through his back and out of his chest. The female arrancar let out a cry of surprise, and the male looked down to where he was pierced.
"My sword seems to be coming out of your chest, my friend," Eiji mocked, keeping a straight face. "You did say for me to keep killing, so I went for the closest one possible: you."
The arrancar stammered and gagged on his own blood. "Y-you bastard..." he managed to cough. Eiji then smiled a dark smile. "Yes," he replied, "I think I must be, mustn't I, to do such a thing without a moment's hesitation."
He removed his blade from his companion's torso and looked at the moon. "The moonlight is intoxicating... beautiful yet dangerous..." He looked up at the female. "Just like yourself, isn't it?"
The female arrancar started to sweat. She had never seen Eiji like this, nor did she like it. "Well, I suppose I could let you live, but you would have to devote yourself to me..." Eiji mused. "Although, since I'm the one who just killed your boyfriend, that would be disrespectful to the dead, would it not?"
The female just stood still, frozen in shock and fear. "So, logically, I should kill you and reunite him with you..." Eiji continued, trailing off. He then disappeared before stabbing the female through her chest, bringing their faces close to one another.
"It is such a shame though," Eiji spoke, "I could have shown you some incredibly beautiful sights... in Hueco Mundo and the Human World. A shame you have to die..."
He pulled his blade out, forcing blood to rush out of the female's wound, killing her instantly. She slumped to the ground, and Eiji turned to leave. He was stopped as Matthew and Kotomi walked towards him, overlooking the scene.
Matthew spoke first. "That was... unforgiving," he admitted. "The way you brutalised even your closest friends, that is what I'm looking for." Kotomi tilted her head slightly, looking Eiji over.
"I don't know, my Lord," she answered, "he looks a bit insane to me. Did you hear him? He's more interested in sights than killing, yet will kill without even being provoked. That could be dangerous."
Matthew laughed slightly. "And you're not insane?" he replied, making Kotomi blush. "N-no..." was all she could say. "T-the voice is r-real... you j-just haven't heard it yet..."
Eiji looked at them, bemused. "If you're offering to allow me to join your clan, then I accept," he interrupted. "I seem to be lacking one now, and there's always safety in numbers."
Matthew looked at him, suspicious. "Alright then, welcome aboard, Eiji Kitadani," he said, smirking. Kotomi sighed and then smiled, overjoyed. Eiji also smirked. 'I feel that I can trust these two... but why is that? It's not like me to trust...'
Around 13 Years Ago
"So where is Matthew again? The Human World?" Kotomi asked, irritated. Eiji nodded. "That's where he said he was going," he answered, looking up at the moon. "He said he needed more souls, and humans seem to be his addiction."
"Oh, that's alright then!" Kotomi smiled, slamming her palm into her temple as her head-voice told her to 'die already'. Eiji sighed. "Although he did leave us something to do again," he added. "We need to find a new clan member..."
Kotomi sighed. "Really?" she answered, surprised. "I thought the three of us would be a big enough clan for Matthew to lead." Eiji sighed, slightly annoyed.
"Yeah, that voice you hear is in your head, Kotomi, not in the air..." he replied, making Kotomi look, spooked, in the sky. "Oh..." she said, slowly. "Well, luckily I haven't heard it as often as of late. It may be because I have family now."
Eiji sighed yet again. "But the damage has still been done, I fear..." he muttered. "That logical part of your brain is definitely defunct now."
Kotomi shrugged off what he said and stood up. "Yeah, let's find a playmate!" she yelled, punching the air, making Eiji groan slightly in embarrassment.
Sakura wandered throughout the blank desert and sighed sorrowfully. "Why doesn't anyone stay with me?" she said to herself. "It is because I'm such a loser? Was it because I was thrown out of my own clan?"
She sat down on the desert, her legs throbbing in pain. "I've been walking for what seems like decades..." she moaned. "And yet everyone I meet disappears after I speak to them. I don't know why that happens... do they not like me?"
Through her blurry vision, she spotted two figures ahead of her. She tried to get up, but stumbled slightly. "Others! Maybe they will like me!" she yelled, overjoyed. She ran up to them, but fell back as one swiped at her.
They were two hollows, both of high-adjuchas power, and both sneered at her. She cowered back, afraid. "I'm sorry, I just thought you'd like to be friends!" she yelled, frightened.
"Friends?" one hollow laughed. "No can do, miss. But we will like to kill and eat you. That would be a favour from a friend for a friend, how about that?"
The other nodded. "Yes, it would," he continued. "You see, we are beaten down all the time by vasto lorde hollows, so if you, as a friend, gave your power to us, your friends, you would be able to give us enough power to kill them," he explained.
Sakura looked at them, then reached for her zanpakuto. "Would you like this?" she asked. "This is where my power comes from, so maybe it can do the same for you..." Both hollows looked at each other, then reached out for the zanpakuto.
They were just about to touch it when Kotomi and Eiji rushed in, severing their hands from their arms. Both hollows screamed and fell back, holding the giant wounds that had been made.
Sakura looked in surprise at her saviours. "Who are you two?" she asked, cautious. Kotomi smiled at her, sincerely. "I'm Kotomi Izayoi, and this is my fellow clan-member Eiji Kitadani," she replied. "And we don't like it when arrancar are being bullied."
"Bullied?" the first hollow asked. "You've got it all wrong. She was going to kill us with that zanpakuto of hers! You should stop her before she kills you too!" The second hollow nodded. "Yes, please! She's a monster, you have to believe us!"
Eiji and Kotomi looked at each other, confused. Sakura interrupted their lines of thought. "Shut up! You're lying! I'm not a monster, people just disappear when I'm around! It's a coincidence!"
"Disappear?" Eiji echoed. "Why would they disappear?" Kotomi grinned wide. "I should do that, shouldn't I? Kill them both with my resureccion... that would be fun," she answered to her head voice.
As they were preoccupied with their own thoughts, the hollows readied their ceros to launch at the party of three, until they stopped in fear. "That spiritual energy... what is that?" the first gasped.
Eiji and Kotomi looked back, seeing Sakura surrounded in a pink spiritual energy. "Back off, you filth," she spoke to the hollows, confidence now in her voice. "Or I'll slice your feet off too."
The hollows backed off slightly. "But, how can you have been that scared girl we saw before?" the second asked, struggling under the pressure. Sakura smiled darkly.
"Well, I now remember why everyone disappears when around me," she replied. "It's because those who are weaker are crushed to death by my spiritual pressure. It seems that every time I saw it happen, I erased it from my memory as the sight was so disgusting..." She stalled. "It seems I had some type of split-personality, huh?"
The hollows screamed as she piled the pressure up, which started to crush them down into the sand, breaking them apart. After a minute, they were down to knee level, broken masses of flesh and bone.
Kotomi snapped into focus. "Hey, girl, want to join our clan?" she asked, impressed. Eiji was staring at the moon, unaware of what had happened. Sakura looked at her, before returning to her softer facial expression.
"You didn't die by me being with you..." she answered. "Of course! I need people to speak to, and you two are perfect!" She grabbed both of them around their necks into a hug of some kind, something that Eiji was particularly awkward about, and attempted to push her away.
And that is how Matthew's team was rounded up. Well, the majority of it. It seems that before their team fell apart, they at least had some respect for each other. Also, expect the rest of the chapters to be up after similar sized waits, as uni work is dragging me down.
Next Memory: Matthew's team hadn't been completed by this time, and it's last member would be Ryo Sakai. However, he was already a part of the 'Desert Mafia' with Yukari Nosaka and Kiseki Kiryu, so how would Matthew have persuaded him to leave his decades-long clan?
