Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN – Bleach, any movies/TV shows/books/songs etc used in this

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN – Bleach, any movies/TV shows/books/songs etc used in this...

I DO OWN – My OC's and some of the plot of this story...I think...

Warning: Contains spoilers!

Chapter One – Introductions...

Silver eyes watched over the cemetery, watching carefully for any sign of movement, anything to show someone else was there. The black shadow that the eyes belonged to then moved, quicker then the eye could track to another part of the cemetery, alighting a gravestone, crouching down upon it. A roar then disturbed the silence cloaking the graveyard. As they got to their feet, the moon then moved out from behind the clouds, shining down over the shadow on the gravestone. A raven-haired teenage girl in black robes stood where the shadow had been, one pale-skinned hand resting on the hilt of a sword. Then the darkness returned as the clouds covered the moon again, making the brilliant silver of the girl's eyes seem dull grey. Then she moved again, off that gravestone in the direction of the roar. She moved through the trees, focusing ahead until she sensed the other presence and stopped. Whoever it was, was close by. Footsteps echoed below her and she crouched down in the tree, hiding out of sight. A flash of orange went past the trees, orange hair. Another roar echoed in the air, closer now, yet she couldn't move, couldn't reveal her presence. She was already hiding her reistu as best as possible from others, something she'd learned to do for sometime now. She could sense the reistu in the individual below, strong enough to draw her attention. She wasn't dealing with a human here, from the strength of the reistu she was probably dealing with a shinigami. Her heart seemed to stop dead, as she kept as still as possible. If they found her now...she shook her head, getting rid of that thought.

One last roar and the presence of the Hollow was upon them, her and the orange haired individual below. Yet, she didn't move, to claim her kill. She couldn't be seen, couldn't be sensed by the other below. She'd spent this long in hiding and wasn't going to be found out yet.

The howling echoing in her mind she ignored when the Hollow vanished as it was killed by the individual below. Yet it didn't stop, the dark, illicit whispers of death, of killing the person below, for reasons she couldn't care to listen to.

'Stop it...' Then she fell, her foot slipping as she tried to find a more suitable footing. Luckily, she avoided serious harm to herself from the fall, but the noise she made was regrettable.

"What?" Ichigo said at the noise, turning in the direction of it. He moved closer and then whatever had made the noise sprung from the grass beneath the tree and bolted into the forest.

"Hey! Come back here!" He'd known it had been a person not an animal, as animals didn't wear sandals. Or had swords. And from that and the speed at which they had left the area, he guessed it was a shinigami. He had to shunpo after them, to keep up.

"Come back here!" He shouted after them, wondering who the hell it was out here, when he'd believed he'd been the only one.

The shouting made her move faster, but it just kept coming. The shouts she could hear outside from the orange haired young man pursuing her and the shouting inside of death and bloodshed.

She could feel the mask against her chest, hidden within her robes, a constant reminder of what resided inside of her. But right now, she needed to lose her pursuer.

What she didn't expect though was a tree root sticking out of the ground in front of her, to hook her foot as she tried to jump over it and to crash down onto the ground again. As she got up, she could hear the sarcastic comments inside her mind and footsteps coming closer. He mustn't see her face, otherwise if he was a shinigami he'd recognise her, and he'd be able to recognise her later. Fear was evident in her eyes, as she didn't want her time in hiding to end yet. She looked in front of her, and saw the white mask lying on the ground near her. She had once chance...and she hoped she wouldn't regret it...

Ichigo came to a stop when he saw the person he'd been chasing in front of him, getting to their feet. Then he saw the mask, the white mask they then placed on their face, after speaking something to themselves so quietly he could only see their lips moving.

"Help me escape..." He swallowed and held Zangetsu tightly in his hand before speaking.

"Who are you?"

The question the young man asked was simple, yet his tone demanded an answer. Yet, it wasn't her choice to answer anymore...she didn't want to answer...it didn't want to answer.

"I'll ask again. Who are you?"

Ichigo then saw the figure turn, to look at him, their menacing yellow eyes shining out of the mask on their face. The mask of a Hollow. Red and black designs swirled on the white mask, a fitting contrast, with the normal large grin of teeth where the mouth should be like on most Hollow masks. Yet he couldn't help but feel surprised.

'What? A hollow shinigami? Another one?' he thought.

"Who are you?" The voice that came from their mouth sounded creepy, hollow and almost detached from them.

'Couldn't hurt.' "Kurosaki Ichigo."

That name made her think, not that she showed it. It wasn't her in control of her body anymore. She'd asked for it to help her escape and it would do just that. Not without some fun first.

The smirk he could see on their face seemed proud and dangerous.

"And you are?" He asked them, thinking it would be fair game now.

"Sarokai Arianna." She said simply, drawing her zanpaktō.

Ichigo shifted Zangetsu in his hands, ready to intercept an attack. He could feel the reistu of this Arianna strongly now, when he'd felt only a little earlier. Back then, he'd only felt an amount you'd expect a 3rd seat in a squad of the Gotei 13 to have...well, possibly apart from the 11th squad. The heightening of reistu was obviously due to the Hollow. He just hoped he wouldn't have to kill them, so maybe he could learn more as to why they were here exactly. No, she. Why she was here, why Arianna was here. He knew it had something to do with that Hollow side of hers, obviously, but exactly what, he did not know.

"I thought you wanted to escape." he said, remembering what she'd said before putting on the mask. The Hollow side just laughed, that eerie unnatural laughter of a Hollow.

"You amuse me." it said, its yellow eyes flashing dangerously, "She's the one that wants to escape. Not me." The grin on their face, partly from the mask showed him just how much sanity this Hollow had. But what intrigued him was the way the mouth area moved as she spoke, the teeth parting and the mouth moving like it should as it formed words. A long, snakelike tongue flicked out from the mouthpart of the mask, running itself over the upper set of teeth before disappearing back into her mouth.

"I suppose then, you want to fight me." He simply stated, and her yellow eyes flashed again.

"Not fight, but kill."

"Why?"

"She's afraid. Afraid you'll recognize her and turn her in to the Gotei 13. I thought that maybe, I could lessen her fear." The grin stayed on her face, and it wasn't a welcome sight.

"So she's afraid of revealing her identity and yet you told me her name." The two of them had begun circling each other, zanpaktō's at the ready. At his comment, the Hollow seemed to falter in their step for a second before recovering. Ichigo guessed that gesture was from the original occupant of that body, Arianna.

"Also, you say her name and I show no recognition of it." He guessed that if he'd been looking at Arianna's face, he would have seen an eyebrow rise in response to his comment. He could guess as much from what she said next.

"You are a shinigami, no?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Then you should know of her."

"Well, technically, my time as a shinigami hasn't been long, so your comment makes no sense. Who is Arianna Sarokai?"

"Me."

And then she attacked. There was a clash of metal on metal as her zanpakto connected with his, with force intending the strike to be a killing blow had he not blocked it. But sword fighting was no biggie for Ichigo. He kept blocking the strikes from the Hollow, but some of them barely. The speed at which she was moving was incredible, but only a fraction of the speed he had once he'd released his Bankai. Even so...it was a decent sized fraction. And she hadn't bothered to release her zanpakto's shikai yet. After another strike was blocked, the Hollow jumped back, landing a couple of feet away in a tree.

"You fight me with a sealed zanpakto." he said, keeping himself ready should she attack again.

"Correct. I do, don't I?"

"How about releasing it?" The Hollow laughed at him.

"Your's is in its released state, no?"

"Why?"

"I can tell."

"Zangetsu is always in its released state."

"I see." The Hollow crouched down on her perch, her yellow eyes watching him carefully.

"What rank are you?" she then asked.

"Huh? What rank?" The Hollow rolled their eyes beneath the mask...if that was possible.

"Lieutenant, 3rd seat, 4th seat..."

"For a Hollow that wants to kill me, you ask a lot of questions."

"Just answer me, will you? What rank are you?"

"I have no rank." If it was possible, he guessed her brow was furrowed from the confused look he saw in her eyes.

"A rogue then?"

"Not quite. Soul Society owes me." Fear then flashed in the Hollow's eyes, whose yellow eyes seemed to dull to almost silver before returning to yellow again, with black where the whites should be.

'Now that...' Ichigo thought, 'Must have been Arianna...she doesn't control her Hollow much does she?'

"Let's get out of here." The nervous voice spoke in its mind, of the one that had released it.

"Not until I kill him." Was the hissed thought spoken reply.

"I said to help me escape! Not to fight him! Can't you listen to me?"

"I'm doing just what you asked. You said help me escape. And I am. With him dead, we can leave here safely."

"But...but..."

"No buts! Now be quiet and leave me in peace!!" Ichigo watched the Hollow curiously. For a moment, her head was turned to the side as if looking towards some beside her. Almost as if, she was discussing something with...Arianna. It seemed the girl didn't want to kill him, but wanted to just run and hide. The name Airanna Sarokai was unfamiliar to him though. He hadn't had much to do with Soul Society for a little while now. All he knew was of a new 5th squad captain, but that wasn't an Arianna Sarokai. No, that was a different, older woman. This Arianna was a lot younger, but older them him obviously.

"Well, maybe to make this more challenging, you could release that damn zanpakto of yours. Or make things fairer. Your choice." Ichigo knew that Rukia would say that saying things like that would get him into trouble, but he couldn't care right now. Maybe he could help the young soul trapped by that Hollow.

"Yes, I could, couldn't I? But I wouldn't know anything fairness though."

"What?"

But the Hollow didn't answer. She just stood there for a moment, before she moved her or should he say, Arianna's zanpakto so its point was facing to her right, dead straight, making a 90° angle with her body. Her arm was stretched out in the same direction of the zanpakto, her head bowed as she spoke the words to release her zanpakto.

"Strike Moeagatteimasu Hebi." The moment those words passed her lips, fire appeared at the hilt of the sword, before shooting down the sword, the head of it looking like that of a serpent as it twisted into the air slightly, like a snake poising to strike. Once the fire had dissipated, he looked at her released zanpakto and raised an eyebrow. For half a second, he thought it was Zabimaru, but realised that it wasn't. The blade was long and in a similar style to Renji's zanpakto, but instead of several blades coming out of the main blade horizontally, there were only two, right at the end that looked like they might be like the fangs on a snake. There was no guard above the hilt, which was now curved slightly. The edge looked like gold when it shone in the moonlight that filtered down through the trees. The tree that she now resided in seemed out of the light, and the only thing he could see was the light reflecting of her zanpakto and the glow of her yellow eyes through the mask. He could only see the outline of the mask itself and this made him tighten his grip on Zangetsu. He just hoped he could get out what he'd now gotten himself into.

"Like it?" the Hollow hissed, hidden in the dark. Ichigo just shrugged.

"It's a zanpakto, in shikai form. I've seen another like it." The Hollow's eyes flashed dangerously.

"What?"

"Abarai Renji and his zanpakto, Zabimaru. I'm sure you've heard of him, lieutenant of the 6th squad. Yours and his look pretty much the same. And if I'm right, they work the same way." The Hollow's grip tightened on the zanpakto, the grin gone from its face, replaced with fury.

"Problem?" Ichigo said, smirking.

"WE ARE NOT THE SAME!!" she suddenly screamed and he just managed to brace himself as she sent the zanpakto straight at him, with the blade extending much like Renji's. He blocked it, sending it away, but it came straight back...again, and again and again and again and then a final time before she drew it back to her. He watched it go back, expecting it to slide back into place and become more swordlike again. But it did no such thing. Her wrist twisted round and round as she spun the zanpakto beside her in circles, like one could do with a lasso.

"Huh?" he said, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"You see. That fool Abarai's zanpakto and mine look similar but that's only as the spirits of them share one common feature. Snakes." Ichigo had only seen Renji's zanpakto spirit once, when he was training to achieve bankai and it looked like a baboon with a snake as a tail. He wondered what her zanpakto's spirit was if both shared the common feature of snakes. Maybe since the name of it was Moeagatteimasu Hebi and that meant Flaming Serpent, it must be that of a snake.

'So, her zanpakto is more like a whip or lasso and doesn't withdraw like Renji's. Unless it does, but much later. I'll just have to keep an eye out.' He mentally sighed, 'This is gonna be harder then I originally thought.'

He looked up when he heard Hollow Arianna speaking again.

"So now, Kurosaki Ichigo," The crazed, dangerous grin returned, malice and bloodlust in those yellow eyes. "you die." With a flick of the wrist, her zanpakto was sent at him again and he moved to side to dodge it, and it hit the ground instead. He blocked the next hit from it and sent it flying away. He smirked as he saw it withdraw back, resuming its original form. This was his chance. He charged at her, leaping into the air as her zanpakto withdrew. He brought Zangetsu down, to slice into her shoulder...and she moved. Stunned, he didn't notice her zanpakto finish sliding back into place and turned his head to see her smirk and bring the end of the blade down, the metal biting deeply into his shoulder. With a cry he fell back, the blade wrenched free from his shoulder and he managed to land safely on the ground, blood streaming from the wound on his shoulder. She jumped down from the tree, her shinigami robes billowing around her before she landed, zanpakto beside her.

"Guess you underestimated me. Kurosaki." The deadly look, that look of pure confidence, seeing it made anger bubble up inside him.

"This one needs to be taught a lesson Kurosaki...we're just the ones to teach it..." He pushed the voice away and charged at her again, blocking her as she attempted to slash at him while he came at her. She managed to catch his blade between the two prongs on the end of her blade, stopping his strike and he withdrew his blade before striking again. The two battled back and forth, offensive to defensive, defensive to offensive, stuck in a constant rhythm of blocking and attacking each other.

Then they stopped, both a couple of steps away from each other, both panting from exhaustion, both with various nicks and cuts on their bodies from unsuccessfully blocked attacks. Neither was ready to give up, with Ichigo ignoring the screams of the Hollow inside him and Hollow Arianna ignoring the screams of the real Arianna to stop this worthless fight and run away, retreat to fight another day.

"Leave it! He's not worth all this trouble! Just leave now!!"

"NEVER!!"

With that cry in her mind, the Hollow attacked, snapping her zanpakto back and then shooting it forward to attack him. Ichigo dodged and weaved the incoming attacks, as it came at him repeatedly.

"Find a weak spot Ichigo, and I will finish this..." The voice he heard was not that of the Hollow within but of Zangetsu.

"Don't worry." he replied, "I will."

He gritted his teeth together as he blocked another strike and calmly focused on his enemy.

'I'm sorry for this Arianna...whoever you are...'

He then started fighting back, forcing her back, making her unable to use the special ability of her released zanpakto and forcing her to keep it swordlike to intercept his strikes, which were coming at her faster and faster.

'Damn you Kurosaki!!'

And then she misjudged one of his attacks, which made her movements too sloppy and he got the weakness he needed. He swung Zangetsu upwards, slashing diagonally across her front, and his hand, curled around the hilt of Zangetsu, hit her mask knocking it askew on her face. The malice-filled eyes, shone through titled eyeholes, only part of the eyes showing. He managed to get another hit to the mask, almost knocking it off, before she began hitting back, obviously furious. It seemed the Hollow wasn't taking much notice to the damage to its body; the slash he'd delivered it earlier was bleeding, staining the front of her shinigami robes with a deep red. Their swords then connected, and they were so close they were almost face-to-face.

"Give up and maybe I'll spare you." he said to them, in a hope that in the depths of her mind, Arianna would hear him, and come to her senses.

"Never..." was the hissed reply back, and she slid his sword along hers, so it was caught between the two prongs at the end again. She used this to then flick his sword away, something he didn't expect. As her blade swung across to slash him across the stomach, he grabbed the cord at the end of Zangetsu and pulled. The blade came flying back to him, slicing across between them, almost hitting the Hollow, who had jumped back just in time.

He brought Zangetsu back to his hand, held it in front of him and cocked his head, waiting for her to attack again. She stood opposite him, her head bowed and her shoulders heaving as she drew air into her lungs, panting heavily with exhaustion. They had been fighting for sometime now, and both were showing signs of fatigue, hers in some cases more obvious then his own. His chest heaved, drawing air in himself. It seemed this fight was continuing, until both or either of them collapsed.

The head rose, that same malice and fury in those yellow eyes, the mask on their face still askew.

Her arm moved and he jumped aside to dodge her zanpakto as it shot out at him once again, but wasn't so lucky dodging it as it curved back at him, the edge nicking his side. With fatigue, his movements were growing slower, and he hoped that the fight wouldn't go on much longer otherwise he won't have been as lucky as he had been. Her zanpakto swiped through in front of him, and he brought up the flat edge of Zangetsu to block it and it raked across the blade instead of his front. He then heard the laughter of the Hollow, as it brought the blade back again, pushing him back, forcing him to keep dodging and blocking her attacks, which were now coming from all sides. The zanpakto would come from one direction then curve back, before curving again and finally going back to come at him again from another direction. The next time it came at him, he sliced at it, knocking it back so he could have a clear shot at her. She barely managed to bring her zanpakto back to stop him, by swiping it through between them again, to stop him in his tracks. She circled the long extended blade above her head, her breathing in short ragged gasps.

"Get out of here! Leave this for another day..."

"No..."

"You're fucking bleeding! He's wounded you! GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE BEFORE HE KILLS US!!"

"He's weakened..."

"I don't care! Just stop!"

"You never learn..."

And then that Kurosaki kid was talking to her again, so she pushed the protests in her mind aside.

"Stand down." He said, "It didn't have to be this way."

"Didn't have to be." she hissed back, "But it just is..." And then she brought the zanpakto circling above her head down, her arm moving like she was cracking a whip and he brought his blade up once again to divert it from him. Then he charged forward and she swung it at him again, but he batted it away again, and then another time and this cycle kept repeating as he gained ground and she became more and more desperate to keep him at bay. Then he was upon her, sword slashing through the air, the screams of the girl echoing inside of her mind. It nicked the side of her face as it swiped across the mask, through it and she could feel it cutting into her cheek on the same side it nicked and she fell back, on her arse on the ground, her control fading.

The mask clattered to the ground, the white inside of it stained with red, from blood. He brought Zangetsu down to rest by his side and looked down at her sitting on the ground, her robes stained with blood and dirt. The moonlight filtered through the trees, reflecting of their blades, his beside him and hers on the ground near her.

It took her but a second to realise what had occurred, before she'd grabbed her zanpakto and the cracked, split Hollow mask and bolted, running away as fast as she could, her black hair fanning out behind her.

He let her leave and then collapsed to his knees in the dirt, Zangetsu stabbed into the dirt beside him. He stared into the distance, watching her become nothing more then a silhouette in the moonlight filtering through the trees, the reflection of her zanpakto soon disappearing as she too disappeared into the darkness. He heard two sets of the footsteps behind him and then a gasp he guessed was from Rukia when she saw the damage done to his body, especially the nice gash in his back when he didn't deflect one of the back strikes as well as he should have had.
"What the hell happened to you!" she shrieked, before her tone then softened, "Was it the Hollow?" "No."

"Then what was it?"

"Something else."

"Something else? An Arrancar?" He shook his head. He slowly rose to his feet, using Zangetsu to support him, his gaze still fixed in the direction she had left, as if he could still see her, running through the trees, her bloodstained robes whipping about in the wind, her silver eyes wide with fear. Rukia's gaze drifted in the same direction as his, as if she was hoping to catch a glimpse of what he had been looking at. There was short flash in the distance, which caught her attention and his, but only he knew what had caused it.

"A Hollow shinigami." He didn't even turn to see the look Rukia was giving him; he just continued staring into the forest.

'Fight it Arianna...I just hope that you'll no longer live in fear...for whatever reason you fear shinigami and Soul Society for...'

Some Random: Well, that's the first chappie, I hope you enjoyed it. And yes, you will find out who that new 5th squad captain that Ichigo was talking about is soon, possibly next chapter if I'm correct. I'd really appreciate reviews so I know what people thought about it...hopefully it's not too bad. And I must confess...I'm not exactly the most informed Bleach person, my friend's watched further ahead then I have, but I've read a few things (which I possibly shouldn't have) and yeah, but it didn't spoil anything...

And Hollow shinigami may or may not be the right classification but it's the one I'm using for this fanfic, so don't flame me about it!!

Anyway...PLEASE REVIEW!! (puppy dog eyes) pretty please...

Translation for the name of Arianna's zanpakto:

Moeagatteimasu Hebi - Flaming Serpent

Hopefully that is right, it was according to the translator thingy I used…don't flame me about it please!!