11 Ways

style='font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-language:JA'>Five: Peer

The
first time Sakura treated Kakashi strictly as a peer he was taken aback.

She
was working in the hokage tower when he just happened to be strolling by,
heading down the hall after reporting on a mission.

Sakura
must have been researching a particular medical technique because her arms were
full to brimming with massive texts. Still, she was reaching for another tome
high on a shelf and in the process a scroll slipped from the bunch she’d
already gathered.

Without
even bothering to turn around she called, “Get that for me, will you?”

He
could tell she was addressing him only by the fact that he couldn’t sense any
other chakra signals within easy hearing distance. Otherwise he never would’ve
guessed she’d speak to him in such a manner.

Why,
she’d talked to him as if he weren’t older than her (and therefore deserving at
least a modicum of respect), not to
say her old teacher, but instead was just a peer.

No
greeting, no pleasantries, not even a real request – simply a command behind
the veneer of a question. No respect. No “Would you be so kind as to do class=GramE>me a huge favor and pick that up for me sensei?”

All
right, so they had dropped the ‘sensei’ bit a while ago, but still! She’d
reacted to him like he was…Naruto…or one of her other boys, not the ever impressive and
elusive Copy-Nin.

style='font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-language:JA'>Ah well,style='font-family:Arial;mso-fareast-language:JA'> he surmised. style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Every man must lose a bit of his mystery
some day.

So
if she was going to be treating him on par with Naruto
from now on did that mean she was going to try smashing her fist into him anytime
he did something she didn’t like (which would be quite often considering how
annoyed she could get with that book of his)?

She’d
be in for one hell of a surprise if she tried; while there were some
formalities he was willing to forgo for the sake of companionship, getting hit
by a kunoichi who used to be his student was not something he’d stand for and
she’d learn the lesson one way or another.

But
then again, Sakura always had been the smart one.

He
paused in his walk to contemplate her back shortly. She was still stretching to
get that out-of-reach text on the shelf and wasn’t paying the slightest bit
attention to him, but he knew.

Without
a word he grabbed the scroll off the floor and tossed in on top of the pile
currently bundled in her left arm then continued his way down the hall.

Sakura
never batted an eye.