Our Last Moonrise // Shibi Aburame

Our Last Moonrise

"Tell me the story about how the sun loved the moon so much, that she died every night,

just to let him breathe."

- Hanako Ishii

___________________

"You haven't said a word since we left the Curry of Life Shop," Shibi muttered to Etsukobachi. "It's not like you to be this quiet."

"Hm?"

Oh no.

She was doing it again...Being a terrible date and getting so lost in her own head.

And now Shibi had taken notice of it.

Etsuko knew how much he hated to be forgotten, especially by her, and she felt instantly guilty.

Because despite how it looked to Shibi, her silence was quite the opposite of forgetting him. Lately, she couldn't get him out of her mind, even when he was with her.

And knowing that it was their last night together, before Etsuko returned indefinitely to the Hidden Stone, she knew their inevitable parting had been on Shibi's mind too.

The Aburame was never much of a talker, but he had pushed himself to be more social and outgoing on their dates, just like his other male comrades in the village. Shibi had brought her a bouquet of honeysuckle tonight and made extra effort to be charming company, being the one to initiate all their conversations over dinner. Most of which, always circled back around to bugs, but Etsuko adored that most about him.

Who couldn't love a man so passionate about the rights of cockroaches?

So, it was never that she found Shibi Aburame uninteresting or unbecoming of a gentleman.

It wasn't ever that he wasn't enough for her.

And it wasn't even that he was a little bit of an oddball in the village either.

Etsuko knew that he was trying (noticeably a little harder now, after catching Might Guy helping her carry her shopping bags in the market yesterday), but that could be expected of Shibi. Being a good lover was no different to him than being a good shinobi.

He was always working to get better at it.

Much better at it than she was...

And never before had she put up such an impenetrable wall between them, shutting Shibi out from her innermost troubling thoughts...which always seemed to be for him.

"Are you still feeling unwell?" Shibi asked her.

It was just a little curry and shitake steak, but just the smell of it made Etsuko feel like she was holding on for dear life to the handle bars of a 9-Tail-Fox rollercoaster ride.

"I'm so sorry about ruining dinner," Etsuko still felt terrible. "The curry did look delicious though."

"You had me worried, Etsu-chan. You hardly touched anything."

"Not true. I had a few bites of the winter melon."

"Winter melon, huh?" Shibi stiffened. "You mean the same winter melons Might Guy helped you carry yesterday?"

Etsuko chuckled in awkward embarrassment.

"I know how it looks."

"253 winter melons," Shibi reminded her. "51 grocery totes. 1265 ryō."

"Are you saying I have a problem then?"

"We should get you some help," Etsuko caught the light teasing in Shibi's stoic matter-of-fact voice.