Authors note: Yay next chapter! I'm gonna try to submit several chapters at once, let's see how that turns out! XD

And big thanks to those who have already reviewed my story so far! Glad you like it! I would also love constructive criticism so I can make my stories even better!

Also, if anyone has an idea for a cool fan-fiction, I would love to try to write it! I found out that I really like writing fan-fiction!

OK I'm gonna stop talking now, ONWARD to the story! XD

Chapter Two: Enemy Revealed

Rukia returned to her brothers manor quickly, worried about Ichigo (Not that she would tell him that though). She entered the room Ichigo was sleeping in, and sat in a chair across from his bed and watched him sleep. He mumbled something and squirmed around in his bed as if he was having a small nightmare. Rukia noticed that this behavior had been happening a lot lately, and because of it, Ichigo always looked exhausted when he awoke. She starred at the orange haired boy with a helpless expression, she wanted to help him but didn't know how or what was wrong.

Suddenly, Ichigo cried out at began thrashing and flailing around. Rukia shook Ichigo trying to wake him up,

"Ichigo! Ichigo! Wake up Ichigo!" She yelled. His eyes flew open and he bolted upright in surprise. Rukia choked back a scream. The whites of his eyes had turned black, and the pupils were a deep gold. They were hollow eyes.

"Rukia?" Ichigo blinked and his eyes returned suddenly to their normal brown color. "What happened?" he asked, breathing heavily and gasping for air. She stared into his eyes for a moment longer, watching as his confusion turned into concern when she didn't answer. Had she just imagined the hollow eyes? They'd only been there for a split second... but she thought he had subdued his inner hollow when he was training with the Vaizards! What was going on?

"Rukia what's wrong?" Ichigo asked concerned. It was a moment before she answered; she was just staring at him in shock.

"N-nothing's wrong, you were just… having a bad dream." Rukia lied. Ichigo stared at her for a moment before laying back down to try to fall back to sleep,

"Well ok then, thanks I guess…" Ichigo said awkwardly. All of a sudden Ichigo's Shinigami badge started screaming,

"Hollow hollow hollow hollow"

Ichigo sighed, "Well I guess I won't be betting any more sleep tonight."he hopped up. Rukia nodded and informed Soul Society that they would handle it. Then they both rushed out of the manor in the direction of the hollow.

"YAHHHHHH!" Ichigo yelled in a battle cry as he cut another hollow in half, "Ugh! They just keep coming!" He yelled as he watched the hollow disintegrate.

"I know, and how have they gotten this far into soul society any way?" Rukia yelled from a few feet away, fighting her own hollow. "Someone or something more powerful than them must be getting them here!" She said as she stabbed the hollow in the mask.

"Ah Ha! So the little shinigami girl finally figures it out!" said a mysterious deep voice. Ichigo whirled around,

"Who's there? Show yourself!" he growled. Insane laughter filled the air. Shadows cast off buildings moved and came together and formed a humanoid hollow with only part of a broken mask on.

"An Arrancar!" gasped Rukia.

"What? That doesn't make any sense! What is an Arrancar doing here? I thought they all went into hiding since Aizen's defeat!" said Ichigo. He looked at the Arrancar; its broken mask covered half of his face. In fact, he looked a lot like Ichigo did whenever his inner hollow took over except the stripes on his mask were wavy instead of straight. The Arrancar smirked,

"Ha! Finally, the great kurosaki Ichigo! The one who singlehandedly defeated Aizen. I've been wanting to fight you for a long time!" He laughed "every time I bring all these hollows here to lure you out, some meaningless shinigami comes instead, but finally I've got you here! I'm going to make sure you don't leave here Alive!" He lunged towards Ichigo with his sword drawn and a murderous smile on his face. Ichigo raised his sword just in time to block the blow, but the force of it pushed Ichigo back several feet. Then Rukia came up behind the Arrancar, her sword raised above her head, ready to deal a fatal blow. But before she could swing however, the Arrancar had used sonido to get out of the way quickly. Rukia's sword slammed into the ground where the Arrancar stood just seconds before.

"Just stay back Rukia, I'll handle this! This is my fight so don't interfere!" Ichigo stated, not taking his eyes off the Arrancar. Rukia was about to retort when the Arrancar reappeared a few feet behind her. Rukia and Ichigo turned to face him.

"Just who are you?" Ichigo snarled

"Oh of course! I forgot that shinigami like to know the name of the person who kills them!" the Arrancar mused "I am known as Nefarious Serpine, and I was sent here to kill you!" He laughed and lunged towards Ichigo again.

"…Sent…?" Rukia thought as Serpine and Ichigo clashed and exchanged blows.

Ichigo had not expected the Arrancar called Serpine to be this fast, given his slightly bulky appearance. He was barely able to block any of the blows Serpine sent his way, and could not deal out any attacks of his own.

"Is that all you got?" Serpine taunted with a little disappointment apparent in his voice. "I thought the guy who defeated Aizen would be much stronger than this!" Serpine smirked. Ichigo scowled, he had underestimated Serpine. He thought he would be able to beat this guy without using Bankai, but was wrong. He stopped and swung Zangetzu forward, the white cloth hanging from the end of his sword wrapped around his arm,

"BAN-KAI!" Ichigo yelled. Black and red spiritual energy started flowing and swirling around him. He was surrounded by a huge and violent whirlpool of dust and energy. Serpine starred in anticipation and heard Ichigo say,

"Tense Zangetzu" and he sung down his now normal black katana from inside the whirlpool, dispersing it. Ichigo stood with his red and black Bankai uniform blowing in the wind. Serpine looked mildly impressed,

"Ha-ha! This is going to be interesting!" Serpine said, but before he could do anything, Ichigo completely disappeared from view in a flash step and reappeared behind the startled arrancar,

"Wha..?" he said as he barely blocked the attack in time. Serpine's feet sunk into the ground with the force of Ichigo's blow. Ichigo swung again and again using flash step to gain the speed advantage, but Serpine blocked all of his blows. Neither opponent was gaining any ground. Ichigo seemed a little faster, but Serpine made up for it with his strength.

Rukia was standing a ways back. She kept on wanting to help Ichigo whenever she saw and opening in Serpine's defenses, but she knew Ichigo would be angry with her. He never wanted Rukia to help him. "It's because I'm too weak to help and would just get in the way." Rukia thought miserably. She just wanted to be able to help Ichigo, like he helped her when she was going to be executed by Soul Society. But she knew that she wasn't strong enough. As she watched Ichigo and Serpine fight, her thoughts wandered towards what the arrancar had said earlier,

"I was sent here to kill you." What did he mean by that? Aizen was defeated, so who had taken charge? Who could be controlling the Arrancar now? She watched as Serpine was pushed to the ground by the force of Ichigo's attack.

"Looks like I'll need to step up my game to be able to beat you! Serpine admitted and laughed as he pulled himself out of the crater he just made. Serpine held his sword in front of him, blade face down (like Byakuya when he goes into Bankai). "Aguijón blanco, hueco influencia." (Sting white, hollow influence) There was an explosion of Reitsu and greenish white light. When the dust cleared, Ichigo and Rukia gasped.

"What is that?"

Authors note: ok so i have to credit the name of this fan-fiction one of my best friends, Miss Perfect Insanity!

Perfect Insanity: WAZZZZZUUUPPPPP! XD

Me: WAZZZUUUUUPPPP! XD

Also look out for my next fan-fiction called Covered in Bleach! Co- written by Miss. Perfect Insanity