Hello! This is my first story that I am attempting to create. It is a BLEACH fan-fiction, with Ichigo as the main character. This will be a love/action/fantasy story, so enjoy! I'm not yet sure of the rating, but I'll try to keep it away from Mature (the only "mature" thing would be blood and guts...and some language issues, but no sex scenes!). Since this is a fan-fic, Ichigo is going to fall for a girl who is not a BLEACH character. I will be changing a few of the relationships for the purpose of the story, so don't be wooried! And I just spelled worried wrong...Please don't read if you are offended by OC's in stories, but if you REALLY REALLY want to read, don't leave any vulgar reviews. We can be civil human beings and people sound smarter when they don't have to cuss to get a point (except in fiction because it's...well fiction..). So please, leave structural criticism or praise if you so wish to. And, as always, ENJOY! :3

Hope I can do this! :D

~Kotoni Is The Sky~

*Blood Will Bind Us*

1-Seventeen years ago…..

Running. Running. She was always running. Away from family, away from friends, everything. This time she was running to escape the police. This strange, modern world had strange laws. All she had wanted was food to feed her body; how else was she supposed to feed her child if her own body wasn't healthy. As she ran, she thought of her family, the one she had left behind. She had never been close to them, except for her cousin and his brother. However, all ties had been cut when she became pregnant. She had not been married, let alone into the family, and so this illegitimate being was forbidden to be part of the clan. Now she was trying to make it on her own, with this days old baby in her arms. And she running from the police of this world. Running. Running. Running...

She had made it into the abandoned woods, her feet aching from running. Her fiery orange hair was becoming ratted and tangled into the branches. She was just unfortunate enough not to see the ledge that led to a deeper part of the woods. She did not see the root sticking up from the ground and was startled when her foot caught from under it. Sky-blue eyes widened in horror as she fell down the ledge. All she could think of to do was to cling onto the child in her arms as he was sleeping. Her stomach dropped as the sensation of falling came over her. Another unfortunate event occurred as she failed to see the sharp rod sticking straight up out of the junk pile that resided at the bottom of the ledge. She was falling, falling, falling...

A large schlunk filled her ears as she fell onto the rod, piercing her heart. With the strength and instinctive reflexes of a person, she let go of her child to be sure that he would not also be pierced by the broken sheet metal. Blood began to steadily stream from her body as her life began to flee from her human form. The last thing she heard was the shrill cries of an infant child, waking from being roughly handled. Then everything was blank.

Kurosaki Isshin was getting ready to close the family clinic for the night when he received the phone call. An ambulance would be arriving with a woman and child and so he would be the one to treat them. He sighed, and hung up the phone. He began to walk up the stairs to kiss his wife, Masaki, goodnight. Things had been tense between the two of them since the loss of their child. They had been struggling with fertility, and had finally conceived. However, close to the due date, Masaki had a miscarriage. Life had been...distant...to say the least.

After entering their bedroom and placing a small kiss on her forehead, the knock on the clinic door came. He rushed down the stairs to find the young woman. Her bloodied, impaled body was the last thing he noticed- the first was her bright and vivid orange hair. He broke free of his distraction and went to immediately aid the dying woman. Isshin began his work.

.
.

He did everything he could. He really did. But not even Kurosaki Isshin could not save this one life. A deep breath escaped his lips as he cleaned himself from the procedure. When they had first began operating, it had appeared that she would have made it, but everything began to crumble. They had arranged another ambulance to take her to Karakura General Hospital, but she didn't pull through.

He was about to get the other emergency workers to leave when one of them brought out a small, quivering bundle. The object made whimpering noises as it was moved around. When Isshin made his way to the person holding onto the bundle, he caught a full view of a tiny, bright haired baby wrapped in sheets. When he got a better look at the child, he was stunned by the brightness of his orange hair and, when they opened, the large chocolate brown eyes, staring but at him. The infant cooed at him and drifted in and out of sleep. He was transfixed on the boy. He asked the paramedic about the child.

"Nothing. We have nothing on him or the dead woman. We assume she is his mother, due to their hair color. But without any IDs or certificates, we cannot identify the identity of the woman, nor the infant."

The clockworks in Isshin's head began to spin as he thought of the baby boy. He was orphaned. Without any evidence or proof of parenthood, he would become a ward of the state. He then began to think of his wife, their marriage, and the empty baby room in the upstairs. Then it made sense.

He looked at the paramedic and gave him a knowing look...

.
.

It had been two months since the woman had died. Two months of reassuring a grieving wife. And a two full months of court and custody hearings before the orphaned baby was officially adopted by the Kurosakis. His bright orange hair had grown more noticeable since then, and his chocolate eyes shined with a greater light then when he had first been brought to the Kurosaki Clinic. That night, when the couple placed the sleeping child in his new crib, tears of joy fell from Masaki's face. She looked at her husband and embraced, him, whispering "thank you" in his ear repeatedly.

A smile spread across his lips as they left the baby room, hand in hand. They finally had a family, they finally had a child to call their own. Before Isshin turned off the lights, he took one last look at the adoption/birth certificate of his new son.

The document read:

"Ichigo Kurosaki"...