Chapter 48

"We've got a cat-stalker."

"What, that small stringy cat?"

That bothered Naruto? It had been stalking them for some time now, but Sasuke paid it little heed. Until it grew poison fangs and gained a few feet, it'd remain that way. Naruto looked back over his shoulder to the cat, who all of a sudden decided that it had to wash itself. Typical cat behavior. But Sasuke knew that this cat had more intelligence than the average shinobi (Naruto being the example he based this on), and he suspected some sort of summoning contract between the janitor and the cat. Naruto glared at it and smirked.

"I think it belongs to that civilian janitor. Wanna see what happens if I -"

"No, I don't," interrupted Sasuke. "In fact, I'll be over here, oblivious to what you're doing over there."

Naruto stuck out his tongue. Always the mature one.

"Party pooper. Go hide in a closet, scaredy cat."

"Truly the master of insults," scoffed Sasuke. "If you wish to scare a cat, go right ahead."

The cat annoyed him too, but not enough to go after it. The janitor would find out, and it'd compromise the mission. But as long as Sasuke was on the other side of the castle, he could claim ignorance and let his teammate deal with the fallout. Naruto felt he had to justify his desire, because words kept on coming from his mouth.

"I don't like the way it stares at me. As if I've done something wrong by walking here."

"Well- " began Sasuke, but Naruto interrupted him.

"Don't, Sasuke. People've looked like that at me all my life, and now I can do something about it."

Ah. The guy went down that path again.

"… Fine, go scare your damn cat."

Throw him a bone, else Sasuke would have a sulky Naruto on his hands. And he didn't want that one bit, not when an interesting book waited for him back at their room. Sasuke could picture the foxy grin growing behind Naruto's mask.

"I will scare my damn cat. Not my cat, but, you know," Naruto said, and abruptly turned around. Sasuke made good on his escape and ignored the surprised cry from the cat. Time to not be here.

"Give me your wand."

It was a command, but Naruto was used to not following those, so he made a rude gesture and continued reading the scroll. Sasuke scowled. He had read about the Priori Incantatem-spell, and he wanted to test it out. But to do that he needed another wand. And since Naruto was the closest (and the only one who in this place who he could trust)...

"I said: give me your wand." Sasuke didn't like repeating himself, especially when he asked his teammate for help. Why was Naruto being so stubborn? He asked, demanded, it nice enough. No insults or anything.

"It's for a spell," explained Sasuke, but that didn't convince Naruto either. Another thing Sasuke didn't like was being ignored, like Naruto did to him right now.

"Give me your wand before I come over there and take it."

His tone grew more threatening, but still no reaction. Well, he had warned him...

Sasuke swiftly jumped up on his bed, bent his knees and pounced. Naruto was on to him, but reacted a second too late, and they both went tumbling down onto the hard, stone floor.

"I think I broke something," groaned Naruto and coughed weakly. Sasuke didn't buy that for one second. He rifled through his teammate's pockets to see if he kept his wand there, but stopped when his hands didn't encounter anything wand-like.

"Do you even have it on you?" asked Sasuke, but Naruto coughed once more for added effect. Sasuke allowed himself the luxury of an eyeroll before flipping his teammate on his back and standing over him. It'd be more threatening if he wasn't already wearing his nightshirt, but he let his killing intent dress him.

"Last time, Naruto. Where. is. your. wand."

"Or what? You're gonna pummel me some more? I quiver, lord Sasuke."

Naruto's words rang true. They beat each other up at least twice a week, if not more often, so any threat of bodily harm was useless. But Sasuke had knowledge something Naruto hadn't bothered learning about... Magic.

With a wicked grin Sasuke pulled out his own wand and aimed it at his teammate. Naruto grew still, and Sasuke almost saw the (rusty, rusty) gears in his head turning. Naruto had seen Sasuke perform magic before, and learnt about the effect of spells through his bunshins. So if Sasuke pointed his wand at him... He could do stuff. Nasty stuff. And Naruto had no defense. With a dramatic sigh he relented.

"It's in the leg pouch on my pants."

Sasuke smirked, stepped off him and then proceeded to ignore all of Naruto's questions. He finally had Naruto's wand in his hands, and tapped it with his own wand. Carefully he redirected his chakra flow, and said clearly: "Priori incantatem."

Some smoke drifted upwards, but then poofed out of existence. Sasuke scowled. That wasn't supposed to happen. Did he do something wrong? He repeated this process three times, but all he got was smoke with no discernible shape. Annoyed he looked up at Naruto, who had taken the opportunity to climb back onto his bed.

"Have you even used your wand?" Sasuke asked in an annoyed tone, and Naruto grinned sheepishly.

"Maybe, kinda, err - no, I haven't."

At Sasuke's raised eyebrows, Naruto felt he had to defend himself.

"It takes way too precise chakra control! And you know I suck at that. Besides, half the spells you try melt something or blow up in your face. Why would I want that to happen to me?"

"Maybe because there are tons of useful spells?"

Sasuke knew that Naruto often needed an example before he got a concept, so he pondered over what was important to Naruto.

"You can make water boil in an instant, for example."

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