AN: Hellllloooo Evvvveryboooody!

I own nothing of the Bleach Universe except (currently) the phantom Senna. NO, I don't own Senna, just the one in Kurosaki Ichigo's head. Anyway, this is nothing to do with Senna, as anyone who reads the thingy that tells you who the main characters are… Ha. Anyway, death to the unbelievers and all that jazz. What has Dawn of War got to do with Bleach you may very well ask? Well, Hichigo could probably tell you about the death to the unbelievers part, although he prefers da Orks. Oh well.

That's enough drivel, enjoy, review, etc etc.


Open your Eyes

Ichimaru Gin smiled. This was not in itself unusual. He smiled non-stop. But perhaps the most striking feature about him was that he never opened his eyes, to the extent that some people believed he couldn't. That seemed reserved for special occasions. What warranted a special occasion Matsumoto wasn't sure. It'd have to be pretty damned astonishing, that she did know.

"Matsumoto," he shouted, leaping lightly towards her, lieutenant's, robe billowing out behind him, identical to his old third seat robe except the insignia on his arm "trainin'?" he asked her, looking at her in that disturbingly focused way, despite not being able to see. Well, not see in the normal sense of the word.

How he never tripped over, she didn't know. However, it seemed impossible to imagine Ichimaru Gin doing anything without grace. He walked with almost total silence and left only the barest imprint on the ground behind him. If Gin was around you had to be constantly looking over your shoulder for fear of getting a nasty surprise when he "Oh, so accidentally," made a sharp and sudden noise. He outdated the saying that he walked like a cat, as Gin vastly outstripped a cat. He was also better looking, Matsumoto caught herself thinking. (She wouldn't be one for the Grimmkitty look… No, I'm not talking about Grimmjow himself, I'm talking about that bloody release. Anyone else think that release looks more like a mummy of Tomb Raider: Anniversary? And what's with the ears? They're blue!?)

She on the other hand, eyes or no eyes, always seemed to find herself tripping over something, and made as much noise when walking around the countryside as a cassowary charging through thick undergrowth with a rusty iron leg. She blamed it on being unbalanced in the chest region. It was alright if she could get a sort of rhythm up, but if she wanted to stop or start suddenly, no go.

"Of course," she replied. "Why else would we be out here?" she asked, waving a hand wildly about, the trees, the grass, the mosses and rocks of the uninhabited land around Seretai. Trees rustled faintly in the breeze.

"Well, ya never know, ya may have given up already…" he said. "If ya can't even get Shikai out of Haineko there, you'll never stand a chance against me ya know…"

"You never know," said Matsumoto, looking around the clearing, at the stab marks where Shinso

had overenthusiastically overshot its target. "I could have learnt Bankai for all you know."

Gin snorted. Apparently he didn't think that was very likely. Neither did she actually – while apparently she had sufficient reiatsu (according to the tests by the Research and Development department – Mayuri was running them on any seated officer about a year back), she couldn't imagine the day she could get Haineko to be sufficiently co-operative. Haineko was an irritating, lazy bugger at the best of times, let alone when you were trying to coax something new out of her. She couldn't think of who that reminded her of… Oh that's right. Matsumoto Rangiku.

"Captain Aizen doesn't mind you shirking your duties as a vice-captain?" she asked.

"If it bothers him, he can find a new seat," replied Gin, turning to face the pinnacles and turrets of the city. "Anyway," he continued, waving his hand dismissively, "This is one of my duties…"

Matsumoto smirked. "Are you calling training with me a duty now? You really are getting lieutenanty now, aren't you now…"

Gin seemed to ignore this comment, and began talking about the training again. Matsumoto rolled her eyes at him. He ignored this too. Then again, maybe he didn't notice it, he did afterall have his eyes shut. She gave him the finger.

He stopped mid sentence, and his smile broadened, if that were possible. "Just because I got me eyes shut, doesn't mean I can't see, ya know?" Gin paused for a moment. "Well, actually, it does mean I can't see, but it don't mean I can't tell what you're doin' ya know."

He resumed talking about why she was currently losing during training. Matsumoto sighed. She liked it when he didn't talk so much, which was most of the time. She liked quite men.

"Ya gotta be a bit more instinctive, eh? Don't rely on those eyes of your's too much." He said, pointing vaguely towards Matsumoto's face, with her pale blue eyes framed in orange hair. "Don't just open your eyes, open your senses, your feelings and use everything your mind can lay its hands on in a fight."

"So you're telling me to open my eyes?" she replied.

Gin laughed quietly, almost under his breath, apparently seeing the irony of it. (It was just as well he saw the irony of it. A dead peacock with Dondochakka's backside in its face could see it. Surely)

She smiled slightly, to herself more than anything else. She had improved since last time they'd trained. She'd improved a lot, actually, and she hoped to surprise him. "Practice makes perfect" she replied cheerfully.

"Actually, only perfect practice makes perfect," he commented irritatingly placing one foot towards her, taking up his fighting stance, which for him meant standing casually by, one hand resting on the hilt of his Zanpakutou. (That was a really annoying PE teacher comment. What is the world coming to, Gin?!)

She poked her tongue out at him, and drew Haineko from her sheath. "Let's go!" she shouted, advancing slowly towards him across the grass, her sword held out before her in a two handed stance. Suddenly she leapt, flying through the air towards him, her blade extended towards him. Her pink sashes flying out behind her black Shinigami's robe.

Ichimaru Gin seemed not to respond to this challenge for a moment, standing by casually, his grey mat of hair flapping in front of his eyes in what would have been irritating had he used them. Time seemed to slow down as she flew towards him. Something know as the superhuman effect, according to Mayuri. Apparently one could have an entire conversation in the time it took for two swords to meet. For normal people, this seemed a slight exaggeration. Well, to Matsumoto at any rate. She reckoned she was a reasonably normal person.

In slow motion, he unsheathed Shinso, his tiny Zanpakutou, and aimed it at Matsumoto as she flew through the air towards him. "Shoot to kill, Shinso." The Zanpakutou extended towards her, faster than she was moving towards him. She couldn't dodge, but rather deflected the blade as it lanced towards her. Suddenly this meant that the blade was beside her and despite not having moved, all he had to do was swing his elongated sword to the right to cut through her. She stopped her lunge to block this swing, but her momentum was gone now, as she was forced to meet the threat from her side.

Suddenly the pressure vanished and as she caught her balance the sword thrust at her again, from its retracted position in its master's hand. His grin never faded. She caught the lancing blade full on the flat of her blade, and the blow flung her backwards up into the sky, where she still hovered a couple of feet above the ground. She managed to stop herself just before flying out of their training clearing (to do otherwise counted as a loss), and sank to the ground.

Gin still hadn't moved. His robes hadn't even shifted in the breeze. His smile hadn't twitched a notch.

She grimaced. It wasn't losing that she minded so much. That was almost a forgone conclusion, as positive as she attempted to remain. It was the way he stood there, never even shifting his pose. It would be a great victory simply to surprise him enough to force him to counterattack one of her own attacks. But she never seemed to be able to get in past Shinso.

But she had a new trick now, albeit she wasn't particularly proficient at it yet. She concentrated and stepped forwards… and yes! She was appeared in an instant directly behind Gin, and went for the knick on his skin that would signify her victory. But the tiny Zanpakutou seemed to know where she would be before she got there. It blocked her… but Ichimaru Gin had to turn to face her. Finally.

"Thought ya 'ad me, eh?" he asked.

"Only for a deluded second," she answered quickly. She swung Haineko again and it clashed into his sword. Suddenly Ichimaru's reiatsu flared, and she felt his sword begin to bite into her own. For a moment they stood there, neither giving way, but Gin's sword cutting a notch into Haineko.

It was Matsumoto who broke the blade lock.

"Growl, Haineko," she shouted. Gin almost stumbled forwards, but caught himself, retaining his stance and his grin. If he was surprised, he didn't show it, and he leapt smoothly backwards. The ash of Haineko followed him, chasing him, flowing through the air towards him. Haineko closed in, any moment he'd have to declare… surely.

And he was gone. There was a slight noise, like the tearing of a page, and she knew where he was. Directly behind her. Shinso swung towards her, and she ducked, and waved the bladeless handle of Haineko towards him. The ash whipped towards him as she stepped backwards.

"Way of destruction: 52, fork lighting." The blinding blue-white demon magic blast shot towards Matsumoto, and she was just able to avoid being hit by fending off the attack of the forking edges with Haineko's fragments and by dodging the main bolt. She recalled Haineko to its hilt, and vanished.

It was the briefest of shunpo, and it placed her directly behind Gin… who was facing her already, sword lowered directly where her face would be. She ducked, and swept her blade up at the same time, sending the extending blade flying up over her head. She moved in close and…

The pair found themselves in a draw. Shinso was mere centimetres from biting into the right of Matsumoto's neck, while Haineko was an inch from Gin's throat.

"Heya," he said. His broad, meaningless smile, which mocked the world, life, the universe and everything, vanished for as second and was replaced with one of genuine warmth. Matsumoto had heard about, and even seen what a bastard the guy could be sometimes. But under all that, the whole time she'd known him, from their childhood, she felt there was something more, something beneath the surface. Some true warmth that remained, hidden deep beneath a crust. She seemed the only one to see it though. Maybe she was the only one who was shown it.

"I didn't see that Shikai comin' I'll tell ya that." he said. "It sorta reminds me of a, duller lookin' Senbonzakura."

"Thanks a bundle."

"Hey, being compared to Captain Kuchiki is a compliment however I put it, ain't it?"

He leaned closer, Haineko brushing his throat gently, a deadly stroke if pushed just a little further.

Neither blade withdrew for a second, but then, as if to clockwork, both swords were lowered to their master's sides, and sheathed with the cold rasp of honed steel.

Silence followed, for seconds that seemed like minutes or hours, all that could be heard was the

"I've got something for ya, Matsumoto," he said, breaking the silence. He placed his hand into a pocket and withdrew something in a clenched fist. He spread his fingers just wide enough for a grimy, tarnished looking circle on a chain to fall between them. He widened his fingers further and the rest of the chain fell through, one chain dangling from a large loop, another chain forming a necklace connected on two sides of the loop. "Recognise it?"

Matsumoto suppressed a gasp. She recognised it all right. "I lost this years ago though…" she said, taking it from his outstretched hand, the heat of the battle forgotten in the heartbeat of memory. "Where did you find it?"

"In a hidey hole," he answered ambiguously.

"Ha. So, did you open it?" she asked, taking the locket from him, and slipping it around her neck. The twin circle on its silver dropped into the depths.

"Did I really need to?" asked Ichimaru Gin. Matsumoto looked up from the locket to his face. No, she thought, you didn't did you…

He opened his eyes.