Title: Alone
Author: Hairann
Prompt: LOL
Rating: T
Genre: Drama
Word count: 291
Characters: Jaken/Sesshoumaru, Lord and servant relationship, not a BL story.
Summary: Part 50 of Jaken's Ballad.


Night descended upon the group bringing with it the first freeze of the year and long before the sun would even begin to rise, the crisp, white dew was glistening off of the leaves and grass around them. Even though it would still be many moons before the snow actually began to fall, Jaken was not looking forward to the day it arrived.

Though he was in fact cold blooded, and the winters did not effect him as they might others, winters were a family tradition in his clan. Each year for the three moons of winter, each family within the toad clan would be hidden away within an underground room in their homes, bundled up with each other as their elders told tales of long ago during the day and they slept wrapped up in each other during the night.

There was only one thing that toads feared more than predators and that was being completely alone in the world, without family. The toads are a very family oriented demon clan, because they had to rely on each other to survive and defeat those that would threaten them; no toad could do it alone. But now Jaken found himself completely alone, for even if he remained at Lord Sesshoumaru's side for the rest of his very long life, he would never be beside family again.

Jaken laughed out loud before quickly catching himself and glancing over to make sure he did not disturb his lord. Seeing that he hadn't, or at least Sesshoumaru was pretending to not notice as he knew he did not sleep, Jaken sighed to himself. Family or not, this was the life he had chosen, he would simply have to relearn how to do everything solo.