Apathy's Achilles

Greed Pt. 2

 Mr. Kumohira's POV

I took the lid off of the pot and steam bellowed out wafting the savory scent of stew into the air. Juuji was out of her kimono and in a soft pink sweater and brown pleated skirt waiting expectantly.

“I give you my Durumdall style Irish braise from my homeland to yours.”

“Wowww!” Juuji praised and Saraba walked up.

Saraba was also in street clothes. She was dressed in jeans and a white shirt that showed her midriff and a long sleeved black jacket that stopped halfway down her stomach.

“Well,” she said. “Let's have a peak.”

Saraba leaned her head down and inhaled with her eyes closed, “It smells delicious!”

“It is trust me,” I assured. “I've made it a lot since coming to Japan.”

“So did you come out here by yourself?” She questioned.

“Oh, no. My Japanophile, ninja loving grandfather forced me to move out here with him when I was just a kid.”

Her eyes widened in shock, “He forced you?”

I could feel my insane persona come of as I explained the 'horrors' of my past. “Yes! I didn't want to go with him, but he dragged me onto an airplane kicking and screaming telling me that he was going to turn me into a shinobi whether I liked it or not, and my whole life was turned upside down. He learned all there was to know about the Nabari would and dragged me into it, thinking that we would make some kind of ninjutsu together.”

I looked down and Saraba made a noise of interest. Suddenly we could hear slurping. Turning towards the stew we found a short old man with a brown hat and long gray beard drinking from the ladle.

Irritated Saraba begins scolding the man, “Put that down!” She grabs him by the collar. “What do you think you're doing?”

“Just testing it I swear.”

What the? I was thoroughly confused by this point. “Excuse me, but who are you?”

“I am glad you asked! It's your buddy Kotaru, but you can call me Sumuzikaze Korozimon!” he exclaimed proudly.

“You're Kotaru?” Did I miss something here?

“What's the point of disguising yourself if you are just going to go around telling everyone who you are!” Saraba yells.

“Uhhhh, yeah. You do have a point. I guess I am getting senile in my old age. I have some news you might find interesting though!” he counters.

We all took a deep breath and calmed down. After eating the braise and settling down around the table Kotaru changed back and shared his new Intel.

Pushing a book towards us he began to speak, “It's about the Togakushi. The only information I could find about it is that they are disguising themselves in the form of a Temp. agency. Their office is located in a building in the Nagano prefecture.”

Opening the book I looked towards Kotaru, “So it's a company?”

“Yes, but it's an extremely small scale one.”

“To the outside world it appears to be nothing more than just a regular Temp. agency,” Saraba interjects. “ but, on the inside, meaning in the Nabari world, they do a wide range of business from industrial spying to international espionage. This their current leader. She is also the company president,” she says plopping a book down on the table.

The woman in the photo was smiling slightly and had long navy blue hair.

Saraba gave a brief history on the clan. “Since ancient times the Togakushi have practiced the Izuna fox sorcery of the Shigendo religion. Their kinjutsu is the Izunashingan. The details are kinda hazy, but judging by the name of it, I would say that it has something to do with Izuna fox sorcery.”