Summary: When the Kurosaki children lose their father to the Arrancar Indian tribe, the Vizards bring them into their tribe and raise them as one of their own. The spirits have prophesized that Ichigo has a vital role to play for the future of the village. What will his role be? Does it have anything to do with the Arrancars? And does it have anything to do with the new settlers arriving to the New World?

In celebration of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I decided that I would finally begin writing this story.

Author's Note: this story takes place in the early sixteen hundreds, right around the time the English began colonizing in America, which at the time was known as the New World.

Warning~ this story will contain scenes of violence, murder, blood, possible sexual themes, and character death. I won't tell you who, but I ask that you please not hate me for who I may or may not kill off in this story. Some parts of this story may also be historically inaccurate. I never was able to pay attention in history class.

DISCLAIMER~ Bleach and everything pertaining to it is the sole property of Tite Kubo

A cool summer breeze blew through the forest. The sunlight dabbled the lush green foliage and the birds chirped in the serene, picturesque woodland area. The unhurried rhythm of horse's hoof beats and the easy rumbling of the wagon the beast pulled added rather than detracted from the peaceful scene. The driver of the wagon looked on at the beautiful land around him. The sight put on smile on Isshin Kurosaki's face. The untamed beauty of this forest was uncommon in England. The New World seemed to be a place of uncharted beauty. His son, Ichigo, however, did not care much for the scenery as he sat in the wagon, looking at the road ahead with a scowl while his two daughters, five year old Karin and Yuzu, slept peacefully in the back of the wagon.

"When are we going to get there dad?" he whined. Isshin could only smile. He couldn't be upset with his son for being impatient; he was only eight after all. They had been traveling since early morning and it was quite a ways to their destination.

"It won't be too long now, Ichigo. We're almost there, just relax," Isshin said, calmly. Ichigo could only groan and continue to scowl.

"Where are we going anyway?"

"I told you Ichigo. We're going to deliver this medicine to our friends."

"You mean the Chief Hirako?" Ichigo asked curiously.

"That's right."

Isshin was a doctor. He once resided in England with his late wife Masaki, who passed away due to illness. The loss of his wife hit him hard, but before she died, she made Isshin promise to keep smiling for their children. Ichigo was only six when his mother died and he missed her terribly. Isshin decided to leave England for the New World since Masaki had always talked about wanting to go there and he thought it might help his son get over his mother's passing. They had been living in a small village in the New World for two years now but, Ichigo still seemed bitter about losing his mother. Some of his animosity was directed at his father who was supposed to be a doctor but was still unable to keep his mother alive. That's not to say Ichigo hated his father; he still wished his father could have done something.

After coming to the New World, Isshin came across a Native Indian tribe, the Vizards, while gathering herbs for medicine out in the woods. At first the Vizards seemed hostile to the intruder in their land but after learning that Isshin was a doctor they soon became friends. Their chief Shinji Hirako and his tribe taught Isshin their language and Isshin taught the Vizards English. He also brought medicine to them every month and they provided him clothing and food. The children, at first, were frightened by the Vizards because they wore scary masks made of bone. The family got used to them. After a while, Ichigo even managed form a close friendship with one of them; a female named Lisa Yadomaru.

After what seemed like forever to Ichigo, they finally came to the Vizard village.

Despite the horrifying appearances of the masks they wore, the Vizards were a peaceful tribe. The masks were only worn in case of fighting or rituals, but the Vizards always kept the masks somewhere on their person at all times. The tribe wore simple clothing made of animal skins. Some of the males were shirtless and very few wore protection on their feet. The tribe mainly thrived on their harvest and the river that flowed beside their village and only occasionally hunted animals as a means of survival.

The Vizards gave Isshin's wagon a wide berth, some even stopping what they were doing to wave and greet him. Ichigo watched the Vizards from his seat in the wagon. Some were carrying crops from the field back to the village, while others were fishing in the river by the village. The children broke off their play and started chasing after the wagon with excitement.

Isshin halted the horse in the center of the village. He pulled his son out of the wagon and gently awoke his two daughters before taking them out of the wagon. The chief, Shinji Hirako came out of his tent to greet them. He wore a headdress with two feathers that were red at the tips, indicating his status as chief. He also wore a cloak made of deer skin along with a pair of deer skin trousers.

"Osiyo, Isshin Kurosaki," Shinji greeted with his wide grin. Isshin smiled and gave Shinji a friendly hug.

"Hello my friend," he said with a smile. "How are your people these days?"

"All is well," Shinji said. "The child is healthy thanks to you," he stated, referring to the baby Isshin helped deliver the month before. The village had named the infant Hiyori.

"That is good to hear. I have more medicine for you," Isshin said, leading the chief to the back of his wagon.

"Osiyo, young Ichigo," Shinji said as he passed the young boy who merely smiled and nodded his head. "And to you as well, little ones," he said to Karin and Yuzu who waved in greeting.

"Ichigo why don't you take your sisters and have some fun around the village while Chief Hirako and I unload the medicine," Isshin suggested.

"Alright. Chief Hirako, where's Lisa?" the boy asked.

"I believe she is by the river," he said pointing towards the back of the village. "And little ones, Hachigen is over there," he said, pointing to a tall and stout man that was sitting in front of fire performing tricks for the village children. The girls smiled and ran towards the village mystic who smiled at them and began performing tricks like turning wisps of smoke into animals.

Ichigo found Lisa sitting by the river. She was making a necklace out of colored stones and a burgundy colored thread.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked, peeking over her shoulder. Lisa smiled at the sound of his voice and held the necklace up for him to see. "Who did you make it for?"

"You," she answered with a smile causing Ichigo to blush.

"M-Me?!" he asked, surprised.

Lisa nodded and tied the necklace around his neck. Ichigo looked it over and noticed a symbol on the center stone.

"What does it mean?" he asked, pointing to it.

"Unali, it means friend," she said with a smile. Ichigo smiled back and looked at the necklace fondly. He didn't have many friends back in his village at home because most of the other children his age were afraid of him because of his constant skowling. Lisa was his first real friend since he came to the New World and he was thankful for her gift. Thankful enough to throw his arms around her in a hug, which she gladly returned.

"Ichigo!" came the voice of Yuzu from behind him. She and Karin came running towards him excitedly, holding something in their hands.

"Look what Hachigen gave us," Yuzu said, showing her brother a shiny yellow spinel. Karin had the same only hers was deep blue color.

"He said the color is a reflection of our spirit," Karin explained.

"He gave us one for you too," Yuzu stated holding up another spinel; this one was black but it had a faint tint of crimson to it. Ichigo took the crystal and stared at it in awe before placing it in his pocket.

"Look what Lisa gave me," he said pointing to his necklace. The two girls stared at it, Yuzu being the more captivated of the two.

"It's so pretty," she said with a bright smile getting closer and touching the center stone. "What does this mean?" she asked pointing to the symbol.

"It means friend," Ichigo answered.

"I want one. Lisa can I have a necklace too?" Yuzu asked with a sweet smiled that the older girl just couldn't say no to.

"Of course. I will make one and give it to you the next to come to visit us," she said with a smile. Yuzu ran up to her and hugged her. Lisa hugged her back and patted her head.

The Kurosaki children spent the rest of the day playing around the village. The played a ball game created by the Vizards with young Mashiro; watched Kensei Muguruma catch fish in the river with a spear; and listened to a song played by Rojuro Otoribashi accompanied by a dance from Love Aikawa.

It was late afternoon when Isshin came looking for them and told them it was time to head back home. The children were saddened when they were told but Isshin promised they would come back soon and that perked them up somewhat.

After he helped his children into the wagon, along with the various pelts, quilts, and baskets of food the Vizards gave him as thanks for the medicine, he bid Chief Hirako goodbye and left the village.

The ride back was full of laughter from Karin and Yuzu, who were playing with there spinels and holding them up to the sun until clouds blocked the light. Ichigo was playing with the center stone on his necklace as he sat next to his father at the front of the wagon.

"What do you have there, son?" Isshin asked after watching Ichigo play with the necklace for a while.

"It's a present from Lisa," he answered with a smile. "The stone says "friend"."

"Really? Lisa must really like you to have made such a gift for you Ichigo."

"And that's not all," he said as he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out the spinel. "Hachigen gave me this," he said, showing the spinel to his father.

"Hmm… strange color for a stone," he said as he examined it.

"Hachigen said that it's a reflection of our spirit," Ichigo explained. "I just hope the color doesn't mean anything bad."

"Don't worry, my boy. Your spirit is young and it has much growing to do," Isshin said. "Give it time and I'm sure that stone will change it's color," he said with a grin. Ichigo couldn't help but smile back and looked at the spinel once more, curious as to how his spirit would grow.

"Papa, it looks like it's going to rain," Yuzu said pointing to the clouds which grew a bit darker.

"Don't worry, my little one. We'll be home soon," Isshin said.

The rain came a few minutes later and the family was still a little more than an hour from their village. Isshin told his children to cover up with blankets he brought with them and quickened the pace of his horse.

After Ichigo placed the blanket over his head, he could have sworn he saw a something moving in the tress next to them. When he looked again, there was nothing so he figured it must have been his imagination. He then heard a twig snapping nearby and figured it must have been an animal. He hoped it wasn't a wolf or anything dangerous. Isshin noticed as well and snapped the reigns to make his horse move down the path a little bit faster.

Despite the rain, Isshin noticed things seemed a bit too quiet. There were sounds of twigs snapping here and there; too many to be an animal and the sounds seemed to be following the carriage. The only thing that could be heard was the pitter-patter of the rain and the horse's hoof beats. There was also this inescapable feeling like they were being watched… or stalked.

There was suddenly a war cry and at least five figures came running out of the trees and bushes. The figures were definitely human and Isshin had noticed they were wearing animal skins. They were also carrying primitive weapons. However, the most distinctive thing about these strange people were the white pieces of bone that sat on different parts of their heads.

Isshin's horse came to startling halt and reared back in fright. One of the figures- all five were male- thrust a spear into the horse. It gave a painful cry before falling on it's side, taking the wagon and it's occupants with it and it's eyes soon became lifeless. Another figure pulled out a tomahawk made of wood and sharp bone. It threw the deadly weapon at Isshin who, luckily, was able to move his head out of the way and the weapon embedded itself in the ground. Isshin looked to his children who were huddled together and cowering in fear. His first instinct being to protect his children, Isshin grabbed the flintlock rifle he kept in the wagon and fired at one of the offenders, effectively ending his life.

"Ichigo, get Karin and Yuzu away from here!" Isshin ordered, now swinging the useless rifle around to keep the attackers away, having wasted the gun's only shot. Ichigo looked at his father in confusion and fear, while Karin and Yuzu clung to their older brother, tears flowing freely from their eyes.

"B-but father…" Ichigo stuttered.

"I'll be fine," Isshin said doing his best to be calm for his son. "I need you to be man and take care of your sisters now."

"I'm not leaving you! I don't want you to die!" Ichigo cried.

"ICHIGO!" Isshin shouted, ceasing his son's crying. "I promise I'll be fine! Now take your sisters and run! NOW!"

Ichigo hesitated at first but quickly nodded and got his sisters standing and ran away from the wagon with them as fast as he could. One of the attackers saw them and chased after them.

"No!" Isshin shouted and chased after them but was blocked by one the remaining marauders.

Ichigo ran along the path with his sisters. Karin seemed to be able to pull her own weight despite the situation, but Yuzu was hysterical and was practically being dragged. The attacker was hot on their heels and Ichigo decided to run through the woods with his sisters, trying to use the trees to slow their pursuer down. It proved to be ineffective, as the man was quite adept at running through the terrain. Karin picked up a rock off the ground and threw it the man. The stone hit the man on the piece of bone that covered his forehead, disorienting him and giving the children time to get further away.

They continued to run, gaining quite a bit of distance, until Yuzu tripped over a root protruding out of the ground and fell face first into the mud. Ichigo and Karin stopped running to help but found that she had cut her leg on the root and could only hobble on one leg. To make maters worse, their pursuer finally caught up to them. He stalked them like a predator, slowly raising a sharp knife made of stone above his head. The children were scared to death and Yuzu and Karin had clung to Ichigo and closed their eyes, while Ichigo continued to look on in fear. The man growled and raised his knife higher before bringing it down with all his might. Ichigo waited for the pain but it never came. Instead he heard a whistling sound above his head and slowly cracked one eye open. The man in front of him stood stock still staring at a piece of wood sticking out of his chest. When Ichigo saw the feathers at the end, he realized it was an arrow. Another whistle was heard and second arrow flew right above Ichigo and into the man's head, right between his eyes. The force of the impact caused him to fall backwards, dead. Ichigo looked on at the corpse, not really sure if it was dead or not. He heard footsteps behind him and quickly turned around, afraid more had shown up. He felt great relief when he saw men wearing full bone masks carrying bows and arrows. The masks had assured Ichigo that they were Vizards.

"Young Ichigo?" one of them asked, approaching the children. Ichigo recognized the voice, even though it was muffled by the mask.

"Kensei?" Ichigo asked. The Vizard removed his mask to reveal that it was Kensei Muguruma.

"What are you doing out here? Where's your father?" Kensei asked, concerned that the three children were alone in the woods with their father no where in sight.

"He's back there," Ichigo said, pointing back the way they came. "We were attacked! Please, you have to help him!" Ichigo begged.

"Calm yourself little one," Kensei said, kneeling down and placing a hand on Ichigo's shoulder. "We will find your father."

"Kensei… he is an Arrancar," Rojuro stated, as he looked over the body. Kensei tensed up and looked at Love.

"Love, bring the children back to the village. Rojuro and I will look for Isshin." Love nodded and then Kensei and Rojuro took off.

"Come children," Love ordered as he picked up Yuzu and quickly led the children back to the village.

When they got back to the village Shinji was surprised to see Love with Isshin's children looking like they had been rolling around in the mud.

"Chief Hirako!" Ichigo shouted as he ran toward the Vizard leader.

"Ichigo? What happened to you? Where is your father?" he asked as he kneeled down in front of the boy, who was ready to burst into tears.

"Chief Hirako, they were attack by Arrancars," Love stated.

"What?!"

"Kensei and Rojuro went to look for Isshin. The children were chased by one of them. We arrived just in time."

"Well done, Love. You saved their lives. Bring them to my hut and find Lisa," Shinji ordered.

"Little Yuzu is injured," Love informed as he carried the girl into the hut.

"I will have Hachigen look at her."

"What about my father?" Ichigo asked desperately.

"Don't worry Ichigo, we will find him."

The children had been given a bath by Lisa and Hachigen had applied some of Isshin's medicine to Yuzu's wound. It had been over an hour since Isshin had told them to run and Ichigo was getting worried. He and his sisters had been given some skins to wear until their father returned. He was pacing back in forth in Chief Hirako's hut, waiting to see his father enter the village. The rain had not ceased, as if it were some ill omen.

Finally Ichigo saw his father's wagon being pulled into the village by Rojuro and Kensei. He felt his hear begin to race. They had found his father.

Shinji ran over to Rojuro, hoping for good news.

"Thank the spirits you've returned. The children were worried sick. Did you find Isshin?"

Rojuro's face fell and he shook his head.

"I am sorry Chief. We found him but…"Rojuro turned his head towards the carriage. Shinji looked from Rojuro to the wagon and looked inside. What he saw broke his heart.

Isshin was lying in his wagon, dead. He had been stabbed and bludgeoned. Blood covered most of his body. Shinji hung his head and muttered a prayer for his friend.

"Those poor children," he mumbled sadly.

"Chief Hirako?" came the voice of Ichigo. He was running towards the wagon with Lisa right behind him. Shinji turned to face the boy. "Where's my father? Have you found him?"

Shinji sighed and knelt down in front of the boy and gently placed his hands on his shoulders. "I'm sorry Ichigo… your father is dead," he said barely above a whisper. Ichigo looked at him in shock.

"You're lying. YOU'RE LYING!" he shouted as he pushed passed the Chief. His heart stopped when he saw his father's lifeless body. Ichigo could only stare at the corpse that was once his father and then when the realization hit him, he had lost his mother and now his father. He and his sisters were alone. He broke down into hysterical sobs. Lisa pulled him into a tight embrace and let him cry into her shoulder.

That night, the orphaned Kurosaki children cried themselves to sleep. Karin and Yuzu had taken as bad, if not worse, than Ichigo. Shinji had given them shelter in hut left the children to mourn their father's death.

The grief-stricken chief called a meeting of all the tribe in the village meeting hut. The meeting would be to discuss burial arrangements for Isshin and the fate of his children.

The Vizards sat around the fire with Hachigen to the right of the chief.

"This meeting has been called to decide what is to become of Isshin Kurosaki's kin," he announced. "We will begin the burial tomorrow and he will be given an honorable funeral. As for the children, I cannot, in good conscience, send them away after losing their father."

There were murmurs amongst the villagers. Some agreed that it was not right to just toss the children aside. Others, although they did feel sorry for them, couldn't get passed the fact that the children were outsiders and couldn't stay. Shinji raised his hands and called them all to silence.

"Hachigen, what do you think?" Shinji asked his spiritual advisor.

Hachigen stood up and began chanting as he pulled some powder out of a pouch. He then tossed the powder into the fire. There were wisps of smoke of all colors streaming out of the flames. Hachigen had closed his eyes and took in a deep breath as he attempted to communicate with the spirits. After several minutes he opened his eyes.

"We must allow the children to stay. Especially Ichigo. The spirits have told me that he has a part to play in the future of our village," Hachigen said.

"What do you mean Hachigen?" Shinji asked.

Hachigen tossed more powder into the fire and waved his hands around in the smoke. The smoke turned red and formed the outline of a face. Then it formed striped patterns on one side of the face along with eyes and teeth. The Vizards all gasped when they realized it was a mask. Shinji watched in amazement and then he began to understand.

"Very well. As of tomorrow the Kurosaki's will live amongst us…as Vizards".

Well, what do you all think?

About the Vizards: I've based them off a mixture of the Cherokee and Powhatan Indians, though I used the Cherokee words because I couldn't find a Powhatan dictionary. Most, if not all of you should be aware of who the Cherokees are. As for the Powhatans, they were a tribe that resided in Virgina in an area that would later become Jamestown in the 1600s. Those of you who are Disney fans might know them better as the Indians from "Pocahontas". The Arrancars, on the other hand are based more off of the Apache tribe. It seemed befitting since the Apaches were well-known for their brutality and the Arrancars themselves are definitely some of the most brutal characters in the series.

As always, please R&R.