Drabble is drabble-tastic!

Well, I was having a rather heavy converstion with a friend, and wrote this to get back into the mood for my ToS fic. In other words, this drabble is an outlet for heavy.

And also, an opportunity to investigate a side of Gin that I haven't looked at before - the psychopathic side. I'll admit that I sometimes make him far too nice.

Disclaimer: Do not own Bleach. Mr Kubo does.

Chess

He always found it strange, the way people didn't understand.

People would label him – they did so love their labels – because that meant they didn't have to understand, and they found that easier. They were happy and content with their misunderstanding and befuddled consensus. As though once they assigned a word or two, it was instantly the truth.

He knew it wasn't.

There was red on the floor, red blood, it sparkled in the light, sparkled like liquid diamond. It wasn't his, it wasn't his death. He hadn't even been a part of this one.

The sly smile curved up a notch.

It was just that, when something outlived its usefulness, most people would throw it away. Most people, though, with their labels and their lack of understanding, just could not understand why others applied this rule all the way to people, as well. It wasn't that he considered himself above them, using them; he knew he was disposable, too, but when someone no longer served their purpose, you got rid of them. People were a commodity. A commodity in large supply.

He wasn't certain when he would inevitably also be useless. It was all very well to be promised everything, but the chances of it being given? Low. He was a pawn. He'd always been a pawn, but he accepted that, in a way.

It didn't mean he had to like it, though.

It was a strange feeling, being played in the game and knowing that he was being played, like a piece, his life just something that could happily be thrown away if it helped the eventual goal. He both resented it and found it strangely thrilling.

He stepped, stepped, stepped through liquid diamond, leaving a trail of blank red footprints, no shimmer when not pooling on the floor, oh no, in his wake. The blood wasn't his concern. It would only be his concern when it was his life bleeding like diamonds onto the floor, when he had passed his use-by date. Commodities. Just things to be used.

And when it comes, that inevitable moment when he is to be condemned, the pawn sacrificed to protect the king, he goes against the rules of the game, and he turns and paints the king red instead, a change of colour, spilling those beautiful diamonds of red across the sky, brilliant, bright shines in the sunlight, made all the more beautiful by the surprise on the king's face as he realises that, just maybe, his pawn was playing for the blacks the whole time. Or maybe not. But it won't save him.

Because he doesn't want to become a commodity like all the others. He won't be a pawn. But he won't be a king either. The king was useless. He would be the queen.

Either way, all the others would go first. Even his master.

Because Gin Ichimaru is very good at chess, and he thinks it wouldn't be as pretty, somehow, if it was his blood painting diamonds on the sky.

A/N - what do you think? The Winter War is strangely akin to chess. Is Gin black or white?

Reviews appreciated ^^