Because Sasuke never calls Kakashi 'sensei' and inquiring minds want to know why.
Title: Honorifics
Author: desolate butterfly
Genre: general, ficlet
Pairings: mild KakaSasu hints
Rating: PG
Summary: In which Sasuke is a typical teenager and Kakashi is anything but typical.
--
The first time Sasuke neglected to call Kakashi by his title, he watched carefully to see what the other man would do.
"Kakashi," Sasuke said, leaving a wide hole of silence where the "sensei" was supposed to be, letting it hang in the air, unsaid, mocking.
"Kakashi," meaning, 'You are not my superior. We are equals. You have nothing to teach me.'
The copy-nin only smiled with his visible eye and cocked his head to the side, and Sasuke sighed and tried to decide whether he felt elated by the victory or disappointed at the ease of it.
A second later, Sasuke found himself pressed into the dirt, his arms bound behind him with trap wire, his legs sprawled out behind him, pinned with kunai through the fabric of his shorts. Kakashi was a warm weight against his back as the man sat, casually flipping through the pages of his favourite smut novel.
Sasuke must have made some sort of sound, because the page turning stilled and a masked face was suddenly in front of him.
"Sasuke," Kakashi said, softly, affectionately--as if he were amused by the entire situation, as if Sasuke were some crookedly drawn picture presented to him by a well-meaning toddler.
A hand touseled his hair and Sasuke seethed.
"Let's go meet the others," Kakashi said, snapping the wires holding Sasuke's arms with a quick movement of the wrist, and easily ducking under Sasuke's furious swing with one of the kunai he'd snatched from the ground. "We have training to do."
And Sasuke watched him walk away, eyes burning uselessly with the Sharingan.
That was the first time.
These days, Sasuke stills says "Kakashi" with a pause.
But even he finds it difficult to determine just what that means.
--
Fin.
Any commentary is appreciated.