A great man is always willing to be little.

Keiko and Karin stood at the bridge between the Commoners and Aristocratic Quarters. This was not a particularly good observation point for admiring the city, but it served the purpose that Keiko and Karin needed.

(There. Over on the aristocrat's side.) Keiko disapproved of being born into leadership: her tribe was ruled by the strongest.

"Hm… The Emperor's castle. That complicates matters."

(Hm?)

"The Emperor is normally a very friendly man. But if the fog is coming from his castle, the source will be unwilling to accept visitors. And the front door is the only realistic entrance."

As Keiko gathered from the front door.

"And just what would your name be when you're at home?" the first guard asked.

"Well, my name is Karin, a student of the Miko powers, and this girl right here is my best friend Keiko. She's an Oina warrior."

Somewhere in Keiko's cloud of rage at being denied something, she felt a small flower of happiness. Best friend, am I? That's nice.

"No visitors to the great Emperor's palace today!"

"Turn around and go home!"

Keiko did in fact turn around; of her own volition. She had heard, with her keen hearing, what the others were too busy bickering about to notice: a mallet. The markings on it were clearly recognisable. Turning into her human form for the first time outside of Kamui, she studied them just to be sure.

She was correct. This was the mallet that had shrunk her to enter Ponc'tan.

"Karin! Over here!" Keiko shouted. Karin ran over to Keiko, blushing slightly. Keiko looked down. The usual wear of the Oina tribe was slightly immodest, but she wasn't worried.

"Not now, Karin. This hammer can shrink its target to the size of little old Miya. We can get into the palace with this!"

"But how will shrinking help us get past that door?"

"That wall over there looks pretty cracked."

"Hm. Well, your call, Keiko. Is it safe?"

"I used it myself before, and to, meet Miya. Seemed safe to me."

"Let's do it."

Shrunken down to the sizes of dust bunnies and on the other side of the cracked wall, Keiko and Karin were amazed.

"To be honest, I didn't expect that to work."

"Neither did I. But hop on my back and let's roll."

"…Nah."

"What?"

"Walk together, for a change?"

"…OK. But first sign of demons, I'm switching. Can't hold off a sparrow in human form."

Keiko and Karin walked alongside each other, exploring the tiny world of the Emperor's garden.

"You know, it's just struck me that we have no way of judging where this fog is coming from down here."

"You're right. Hm… I think I can get up there as a wolf." Keiko transformed, and leaped from point to point. Karin looked down at her feet. On the floor before her was an unfamiliar scroll. She picked it up, noticing the cat sketching.

"Keiko! You may want to come down and read this!" Keiko tumbled down the wall she had been attempting to climb, turning into human form as she did so, and took the sketching.

"Hm… Kabegami, Catwalk. That shape… no, a line from a Kabegami statue, and… awesome. This might help, if…" Keiko's eyes lit up on a cat statue. "Yes! This is so gonna help."

Karin had no idea what Keiko had just read from that parchment. Something about cats, walking and something awesome. She was just about to ask Keiko for an elaboration when she spotted Keiko climbing up the wall next to the cat statue. A yellow path with paw prints had appeared.

"Keiko, what?"

"Karin, this is the brush skill of Kabegami! With it, I can walk on walls. And I have just learned I can use these as a human."

"Keiko, Keiko, Keiko… wait, can I come up too?"

"Probably. Just leap at the wall, and instinct should carry you through the rest." Karin did so, finding the ability a welcome addition to Keiko's skills she had seen thus far. She reached the ledge, and saw Keiko observing the castle. Karin walked up to her side.

"Right there." Two words were all Karin needed. The fog was emerging from about where one might find the Emperor's personal room.

"Well, we're not getting any closer just standing here. Race?" Karin shot off at that word. Keiko followed not far behind.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea."

"Yeah. I'm out of breath." Karin looked around the room. The Emperor lay on his bed, obscured by a door designed to keep out mosquitos. A pathway of spiders appeared at first to be of help, but Keiko lacked the reflexes to use them as platforms. A Catwalk statue lay at the side of the room.

"There."

"One last push before the boss?"

"Nah. Any pick-me-up?"

"I've only got Holy Bones." Keiko ate one for preparation. "They're pretty good… for people."

"You trust it, I'll take one." Karin tried it. "You are totally right. These do taste good considering they're dog food." Keiko drew the pathway to climb the wall, and they made their way to the rafters. Crossing very slowly and carefully, they approached a board that served as an entrance to the fog.

"Well… Miya's friend Issun had a saying for moments like this."

"And what might Issun's words of wisdom be?"

"Leap before you think!"

The two landed in the Emperor's belly.

"I'm thinking that was a bad idea."

"We already leapt. See how it's words of wisdom?"

"Ha-ha. Very funny. But where is this place?"

"It's a stomach, Karin. It's dripping sticky stuff, so it's obviously the human body."

"Granted. But I was under the impression glowing chunks of metal were not native to the human body." Karin pointed to said chunk of metal. A blade.

"So we're fighting a sword. Which lacks a body. No disarming, no killing, what are we supposed to do to dispatch this thing?" Karin looked at her uncertainly.

"It always gets back to killing with you, huh? Ever tried purifying?"

"Purifying?"

"Sure. My Dance of Exorcism is more than enough to take down a sword." Karin took out an exorcism slip, and waved it around, creating sparkles at the tip. Finally, she spun around and threw it, the slip going in such a wide path before smashing directly into the blade.

"And now, we figure out where the exit might be located."

One sneeze later, Keiko and Karin found themselves in the Emperor's ornately decorated garden.

"Hello, ladies. Where may you have come from?" The speaker was the Emperor himself. Keiko took a step behind Karin.

"Hello, my lord. My name is Karin, one of the Miko. And this here is Keiko, of the Oina warriors."

"Shy, considering she could snap off my jaw before I could blink."

"According to Miya, that's normal for her. She's never shown me any bloodlust, and… uh…"

"The Oina are not known for their modesty, Emperor."

"Quite correct, Keiko-san. However, for your courage in rescuing me from the horrors of that curse, I would like to bless you with this."

'This' was a blue-coloured stone tablet. None of the three knew what it might do. Keiko had a course in reading the mysterious language, and would have it deciphered two seconds before its power was needed. Because nothing is ever convienient.

Welcome to more Okami: now with 50% less plugs for Harry Potter!

Yes, now one of these sections talks about the beast: I had a brainwave that my failed intro was supposed to flop, followed by one which said describe only the important events. One will be heeded. I don't know which.

And as for this story, meet the nice Keiko. And the Lucky Mallet. One out of three things I mentioned in the first chapter notes have now been covered, and the other two will be missing until the ending.

Leap before you think!