JGE: Well, this is yet, again, another one of my strange stories. I was sitting up at 2:21 A.M. when this idea hit me. I think that it is about Little Mako learning how to be gentle with things. If it makes no sense… sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Sailor Moon. If I did, I wouldn't be sitting in a cold state. Hawaii sounds good right about now…

Living Things

The five -year-old brunette picked it up her little treasure and ran with it. Makoto's green eyes were filled with happiness and excitement as she dashed across the sea of grass toward the tall man clad in black. It was the first day they had spent together in a long time and she wanted to surprise him with what she had managed to find.

"Papa! Papa!" she exclaimed as the squad 13 captain looked up from his hands.

A smile overcame his features as he looked at his adopted daughter. She skidded to a halt before him and would've fallen if he hadn't of caught her shoulders in time. "What is it that has you so excited?" he queried, kneeling down eye level with the girl.

Makoto lifted up her clasped hands for his inspection. She slowly opened them to reveal a shiny, black cricket caged within her fingers. "Isn't it pretty, Papa?" she asked, her innocent, emerald eyes looking up into his darker ones. The little cricket jumped around in Makoto's hands, trying to find some sort of escape from the darkness in which it had been enveloped.

Jushiro smiled sadly and placed a hand under Makoto's while the other gently opened her tinier ones. The cricket fell from his soft prison and onto the larger, calloused hand and jumped off into the grass.

The girl looked at him, confusion and sadness replacing happiness on her face. After a few seconds, she asked, "Why did you do that, Papa? Didn't you think it was pretty…?" She had thought that the idea to give her father such a pretty little thing would make him happy.

"It wanted to be free," he said, looking at her cherubic face. He sat gracefully down on the grass beside her and motioned for her to do the same. When she complied, he went on: "All things need to be free to live. From bugs to souls, each thing needs to be able to do what it wants or needs to do to survive."

"So," Makoto began after a few moments, "if it is living, it needs to be free…?" As she puzzled this out in her young mind, an idea hit her: "So, if I squish it, will you want it then?" Jushiro managed to grab the little girl before she was able to put the bug to rest for eternity.

She obviously didn't understand. "Well… what if someone put you in a room and wouldn't let you out? Wouldn't you be scared?" At her nod, he added, "That is how the cricket felt."

The brunette's face changed once more: her lips pouted, her eyes squinted, as if searching for something, and slender brows slanted downwards. "Okay Papa… I try not to put a cricket in a room…" Makoto stated, finally back to normal. "I'll put him in a cup next time!"

Jushiro Ukitake sighed and smiled as his daughter went back to searching for more of her little treasures that she loved so much. He was sure that she would understand some day.

JGE: Yeah… yet again, sorry. I was up late writing this and I am tired. Good night, sleep tight, and don't let those nasty little hollows take a bite out of your soul while you're asleep.

Later