AN: I had a bit of a busy weekend, which is why this took until today to finish. Warning on this one: I took quite a few liberties with the fairy tale the White Cat. In the original, the youngest son meets the white cat for the first time when he has to find the tiny lapdog, and the three missions last a year a piece. In my version, the eldest son gets the princess, doesn't meet her till the third task, and the missions last three months a pop. Also, the original (well the version I read as a child. it might not be the original) didn't tell us anything about why she was put under a spell, so I basically stole Snow White. As long as you accept that, then this chapter will be fine. Lol. Enjoy and drop a review! I would love to hear what you guys think!

The Palace of the Cats

Once upon a time there lived a princess who was so beautiful, tales were told across the land. Word travelled far and wide and eventually reached the ears of a jealous Witch. The Witch went in search of the princess who dared to be fairer than her.

She disguised herself as a lost traveler when she came across the palace where the princess lived. She used magic to create a wicked storm before knocking on the door. The princess, in her kindness, took pity on the poor woman and invited her in out of the cold and the rain.

Once she was inside, the Witch was able to see how true the rumors of the princess were. Her jealousy took control, and in a rage she revealed her true identity. The princess was stunned when the lost traveler turned out to be an evil Witch. Unchallenged, the Witch cast a spell on the princess that turned her into a white cat. Her attendants too turned into cats, and the palace was frozen in time. The princess was doomed to stay that way for all of eternity, unless she could find a man who was so deeply in love with her that he was willing to cut off her head and break the spell.

Lost. That was the first word that came to Naruto's mind while Sasuke angrily poured over their maps. The blond had been sent away when he first tried to help, having been told that he was "more trouble than you're worth and you're lucky I even deemed you worthy enough to come along with me, stupid prince; never forget that".

In the pirate's defense, it was most likely Naruto's fault they were lost in the first place. He knew the candles didn't work unless the user was fully focused on the destination, and yet he had let his mind stray to the ship and crew he was leaving behind. As a result, they had landed halfway between their destination and source. Sasuke had yelled at him for wasting the last of the candle before ripping Naruto's book and maps out of his hand and plotting their route from there. Alone. Because no matter what, he still refused to let the prince help.

Naruto sighed loudly and kicked a pebble down the path. It bounced its way down before hitting a tree. Bored, he kicked another, trying to hit a tree further along. This continued for a while until a crinkling of paper broke him out of his new world.

"Stop." Sasuke was staring at him over top the books, a murderous gleam in his eyes.

"Well you won't let me help. What am I supposed to do: just sit here?"

"Yes." More crinkling, and then the raven was buried again.

Naruto flopped onto the ground, grabbing a rock with his hand and rolling it between his fingers. He tossed it in the air and caught it a few times before a new game occurred to him. With a sly glance at Sasuke – who was still reading the damn maps – Naruto threw the pebble, hitting the raven square in the chest before turning his head and whistling nonchalantly.

"I will murder you." When Naruto turned his head, he saw the other glared daggers at him. The blond gulped, wondering how the game had seemed like such a good idea earlier when it was clearly anything but.

"Heh," he laughed weakly, mentally beating himself up.

The raven continued to glare. "What could possibly possess you to do that?"

"Um…" Naruto floundered. "I really…don't know."

With what looked like a good deal of mental effort, Sasuke composed himself and stood up. "There's a town nearby. We can purchase horses and still reach the palace just in time."

The raven started walking, and Naruto had to jump up and jog a few steps to catch him. "Who are we racing against? I forgot to ask earlier." That wasn't true; he just hadn't wanted to draw the other's anger any more than he already had.

"The prince who is going to 'steal your princess' and force you to continue to follow me around. If we hurry I can be rid of you sooner. Now shut up and walk."

Naruto immediately regretted asking. They walked in silence the rest of the way to the village and split up; Sasuke going to find saddles, and Naruto looking for where to purchase horses. Naruto found a place easily. Unfortunately, they only had one left.

"She's a good mare," the dealer stated. "And she can probably carry you both to where you need to go, but I'm not expecting a new herd until next week."

A week was too long. "We'll take her," Naruto responded. He highly doubted Sasuke would be pleased about the lack of two horses, but there was nothing else he could've done. He met up with the raven, who seemed to have similar luck when it came to saddles. Thankfully.

"I was only able to find one –" He paused. "Where's your horse?"

"Well, about that…"

"No." The look of horror on Sasuke's face indicated that he'd figured it out.

"They only had one. The guy said she could carry both of us to the cats' palace," Naruto reasoned.

"We are not sharing a horse."

"Do you have another candle?" Sasuke remained silent. "Then we're sharing a horse."

At that moment the mare – Yuki, the dealer had said her name was – snorted. Sasuke jumped back, nearly dropping the saddle on the ground. Naruto looked from him to Yuki and back again. "Sasuke, are you afraid of horses?"

"No," was the quick reply. Too quick. "I just haven't been around them very much." He admitted when Naruto refused to look away.

Naruto tied Yuki to the nearby post and walked over, taking the saddle from Sasuke's hands. "It's ok, I grew up around them. Don't worry about it."

"Hn." To his surprise, a faint pink blush graced the other's cheeks. Naruto looked away, unsure as to why the sight affected him. He saddled the horse in relative silence, feeling Sasuke's gaze on his back the whole time, then untied Yuki from the post before mounting up and guiding her closer to the pirate.

"Come on." The look on the other's face would've killed a lesser man. "You said you haven't been around horses much, so I'm in front. Just get on behind me."

With on final glare, Sasuke scrambled up behind Naruto, sitting just off the saddle. The prince waited. "What? I'm on. Let's go."

"If I move, you'll fall off. You need to hold on." He felt the pirate stiffen behind him, but he didn't grab hold. "Don't be a girl," the prince challenged. It worked, and the other wrapped his arm around Naruto's waist. The blond tried valiantly to ignore the heat from the contact and spurred the horse into a gallop.

It had to be the most awkward ride he'd ever been on. Naruto could barely concentrate on where they were going with the strangely distracting feeling of Sasuke's arms around his waist and tried to mask his discomfort with pointless conversation. The pirate flat out refused to respond to anything Naruto said, however, so the two rode in silence the whole way. It was almost a relief when they finally reached the palace.

Just as the story said, the entire staff was made up of cats. They had stopped a little ways away and were spying on the palace, and Naruto could make up a few cats that appeared to be tending the grounds. As soon as he thought that, the nearest cat suddenly stood up on its hind legs and grew, its fur falling to the ground to reveal a human.

"No!" Naruto knew exactly what was happening; the spell was breaking. "No!" He yelled again, running into the open. The gardeners looked over in confusion, right as he was pulled back into the trees.

A hand wrapped around his mouth, and he looked up to see Sasuke shushing him. "Be quiet," the pirate whispered. "We don't know who's in there."

Naruto struggled to escape his grip for a few minutes before giving up. When it looked like he wasn't going anywhere, Sasuke relaxed his grip. "I thought you said we had time," he whispered harshly to the other.

"Apparently not. Shut up; they're coming out."

Naruto turned his head sharply and saw a procession emerging from the palace doors. True to the story, the princess was beautiful. But she wasn't what drew his attention. Before Sasuke could react, Naruto had spun out of his grip and was running toward the parade of courtesans.

"Hey!" He yelled as they turned the corner. "Wait!"

The group turned as he stumbled. The blond skidded to a stop directly in front of the princess and her prince. "Naruto?" A voice asked incredulously as he straightened up. He knew that voice.

"Kankurou? I thought that was you."

"What are you doing here? I thought you were off travelling?" The other man smiled.

Naruto was completely thrown for a loop. Kankurou was the prince of the Wind Country and the older brother of Naruto's closest acquaintance, Gaara. He had short, spikey brunet hair and his arm slung around the Cat Princess.

"I am travelling; I've been trying to find a princess."

"Oh yeah, I remember your dad mentioning something about that. This one's taken already though." The other prince, who couldn't seem to stop smiling, pulled the princess closer to him.

The girl, who had been silent up to this point, smiled at Naruto. "My name's Elayne; it's nice to meet you."

But something Kankurou had said rubbed at Naruto the wrong way. "Yeah, charmed. What was it you said about my dad?" The last was addressed to the other prince.

Kankurou gave him an incredulous look. "He sent me on this mission. Didn't you know that? I asked him for advice on the mission my dad sent me on, and he told me about this palace." That threw Naruto completely for a loop, and he didn't know how to respond. He stayed silent for too long. "Anyway, we have to get going. I should probably tell my father that I'm engaged, you know? You're coming the wedding, ok? Gaara would kill me if I didn't invite you. See ya!"

The princess nodded politely to him, and the group walked off to where Naruto could now see carriages waiting for them. He stood, gazing slack-jawed, as they disappeared into the distance. What finally drew him from his stupor was a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Sasuke looking at him with something like pity on his face.

"Let's go." The pirate turned and walked up the path to the palace. Oh yeah, Naruto had completely forgotten the main reason the other was here.

Sasuke tossed him a sack once they were inside, and the two of them went systematically from room to room, taking anything the raven deemed useful. Naruto would've ordinarily been scandalized at the thought of pillaging another person's palace, but the conversation he'd just had with Kankurou filled his mind instead.

Why would his dad send someone out to rescue a princess when he knew Naruto was trying to do just that? Wasn't that counterproductive? Maybe, he thought as he shoveled a pile of books Sasuke pointed out, his dad was being controlled by someone else. His kingdom might be in danger! He had to get home, he had to help them, he –

"Idiot prince," Sasuke addressed him, jerking Naruto from his reverie. "Move it."

By the time they had cleaned out the rooms of anything Sasuke deemed 'worthy', it was nearing sunset. Naruto was ready to call it a night, say 'screw it', and sleep in one of the rooms upstairs, when Sasuke found a small black candle. Naruto went outside to untie Yuki and let her go back to her owner, while Sasuke went through the rooms once more to check.

It was cool outside, the full moon casting light across the path. The silence did nothing to distract his thoughts, and Naruto found his mind wandering back to his father. It wasn't completely unheard of for a king to send people off on journeys to break curses, even when it wasn't in the land they governed. In that sense it wasn't unusual. So did his father not remember that the Cat Princess was a tale in his book? Or maybe he'd heard that there was a palace that was under a curse and sent someone to break it since he couldn't get a hold of his son. It was entirely Naruto's fault his father couldn't send him, he reasoned. He was the one who had continued on without telling anyone where he was going after the adventure with the dragon.

He reached the spot where they'd left Yuki and began unsaddling her. Perhaps he should send his dad a letter telling him that he was ok. But what would happen if someone found out that he was sailing around the world with a wanted criminal? He liked Sasuke's crew – and the pirate himself wasn't so bad, he supposed – and didn't want to accidentally have them sentenced to death or given a life sentence in prison because of him.

Naruto brushed Yuki's hair and untied her from the tree. She whinnied softly at him before trotting a little ways away and grazing. So sending a message was a bad idea; magic could trace the letter back to the source. Naruto turned back towards the palace, knowing Sasuke would leave if he stayed out here too long.

"Took you long enough." The pirate was waiting for him just inside the door, both bags by his feet. Naruto didn't respond, picking up the nearest sack and throwing it over his shoulder instead. "Think of the right destination this time, idiot." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's elbow and there was a rushing sound as the palace disappeared from view.

The moon was at its peak when they appeared back on the ship. Neji was the one standing watch, and he simply gave them a nod before turning back to the sea. Naruto helped Sasuke carry the sacks down onto the storage deck before mumbling something and running off. The raven knew he was headed back to the brig to angst about not getting the princess and decided to let him be.

He made his own way back to the captain's quarters, trying to ignore the dull ache of guilt in his stomach. It wasn't that he didn't know they were pushing it, it was just that he never expected it to be that close. He opened his book to the tale and read through it again, trying to see where he went wrong. Usually with these, he read the end, found the date, and ignored the rest. It barely took him any time at all to see where he'd misjudged; apparently the engagement announcement would happen the next day. The prince – Kankurou, Naruto had called him – had already developed a relationship with the princess nearly three months ago.

Sasuke slammed the book shut, telling himself that it wasn't his fault, and replaced it in the secret drawer once more. The feeling of responsibility didn't dissipate, and after a few minutes of pacing around the cabin, the captain remembered that he'd just used the last of their black candles. He went above deck and found Lee steering the ship.

"Adjust the course so we're heading east," he ordered.

Lee jumped, clearly having not heard him walk up. "Yes, captain. I didn't know you were back already." Slowly he turned the wheel. The creak of the ship under their feet announced the change in direction. "Why the sudden change, sir?" Lee asked when Sasuke didn't immediately leave.

The captain leaned back against the edge of the ship. "We have a Witch to see."

Once there was a king who had three children who were equally capable of running the kingdom. To decide who he would leave the country to, he set up a test. The challenge was to find the smallest, sweetest dog in the world who could play lapdog to the ailing nurse who had raised the children after his wife's death. The three children went in separate directions: the eldest son to the south, the daughter to the north, and the youngest son to the east. The king gave them three months to complete the mission.

When they returned, the eldest had found a small puppet lap dog that was made of wood and controlled by magic. The creature had scared most of the household staff, and the king had sent it away, declaring it would not do. The daughter returned with a wild mountain cat, instead of a dog, declaring that lapdogs were weak. The cat had attacked the palace guards and was finally released back into the wild, much to the princess's disappointment. The youngest son had returned with a large raccoon, having forgotten entirely what the mission was about.

The king was so distraught with their failure that he sent them on the second mission. He wanted them to find the finest silk in the world that would one day clothe their future child. With another three months to search, the princess and princes went the same way they had before. The results of this journey were just as disappointing as the first. The eldest returned with string used to control puppets, the princess with a thin, sharp wire, and the youngest with a gourd filled with magic sand.

The king, now wondering if any of his children would ever be fit to succeed him, spoke with the neighboring king for advice. The other king told him that the most successful journey was one where their futures were decided. Inspired, the king returned to his children and gave them the third task: find a companion suitable enough to sit on the throne and rule alongside them.

This time, when they left, the eldest son rode to the king who had given his father advice to ask for some too. The second king told him of a palace that had been under a spell for as long as he could remember and suggested that the prince start there. When the prince arrived, he saw that the castle had indeed been placed under a strange spell and that all the people inside had been turned to talking cats. The cats were kind to him and let him stay the night, and he was able to meet their leader. The cat he met had the most beautiful white fur he'd ever seen and sat with him at dinner. They spoke of many things the next day, and the white cat allowed him to stay another night. The three months passed in a blur, and soon the day he had to return with his wife had come.

He revealed this to the cat, but confessed that he wished she were a human for he had never met someone he could connect with like he could with her. She told him that if he truly loved her, then he would cut off her head and tail, killing her. The prince fell to the floor in a panic, not wanting to harm her, but after much persisting, he caved. With tears flowing down his cheeks, he sliced off the cat's head and tail, and to his delight she transformed into the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen in his life. The prince immediately fell to his knees and begged for her to accept his hand in marriage, to which she gladly agreed. The two of them left the palace together, smiling at the staff who had now all returned to their human forms.

The other siblings had already made it back and were waiting for him to return. The prince looked stunned when they revealed that they hadn't gone on the journey, instead travelling around for enjoyment. The king was beside himself with anger at the two children who had dared to deny his task and refused to come out of his room. Finally, the staff convinced him to at least greet his eldest son, who had completed the mission, and he emerged. The king was immediately filled with joy that his son had found a princess who had both beauty and wisdom and gave them his blessing when they revealed their engagement to him. The other two siblings were forced to prepare the royal wedding for the new couple, and they all lived happily ever after.