The last chapter was named 'Silent Protector'. All the suggested titles I got were great, but this one really illustrated the whole of that chapter. Thank you everyone!

LE GASP! Could it be true? A happy chapter? Here's your happy ending, SailorMoonLvr and anyone else who's been waiting ) This one is basically the previous chapter but Usagi winds up with Mamoru in the end. It's not as good quality as the last one, though.

Ring

Word Count: 1,726

"Isn't it just gorgeous?" Usagi said, holding out the huge diamond ring on her left hand. Set on a diamond embedded silver band, the diamond was surrounded by smaller ones.

Mamoru cleared his throat as he left go of her hand, seeing enough of the ring he could never afford himself, although he was a doctor. "It's nice."

She furrowed her brow adorably. "You don't like it?"

He shrugged, not really wanting to tell her the truth. "It doesn't seem like you. It's like it was picked because it cost millions of dollars, not with consideration for the woman who would wear it."

Biting her lip, she played with the ring. "Well, I'll admit it's a little more than flashy, but I love Seiya and he loves me."

The knife in his heart plunged deeper. "He doesn't love you, Usagi."

She frowned and glared defiantly. "Of course he does! Why would we be getting married if he didn't?"

"Plenty of reasons," He growled. "Money, power, you body, he needs a trophy wife—"

"I will not be a trophy wife!"

He stood abruptly from the couch he was sitting on, walking over to tower above the short blonde. "What has he done to show he loves you as you truly think he does? Oh wait, he hasn't. He's been too busy cheating on you on those mysterious week-long meetings!"

The next thing he knew, his face was turned to the side and his cheek stung. Glancing at Usagi, he saw that she was crying but angry, her hand still raised.

"I have had enough of you trash talking Seiya! You've been trying to pull us apart since we started dating, and I can't stand it anymore! I love him, Mamoru, and we will be happy together. He is a wonderful, faithful man who would never do such a thing to me. He loves me, I know he does. He's good to me and makes me happy. You always say that you want the best for me, so why can't you see that this is what I want? Please understand that I am marrying him and I don't need you to watch out for me anymore. I'm not the klutzy, crybaby fourteen year old blonde girl you met nine years ago. I grew up, Mamoru, I did. I can make my own decisions now. I don't need you anymore." She sniffed, wiping her face while pushing past him to the door of the condo Seiya had rented for her until the wedding. "Please leave."

Without meeting her eyes, he walked past her, stopping just outside the door with his pack to her. "If it means anything to you, there was a reason I didn't want you with him." He looked over his shoulder. "I…I love you."

He heard her gasp as he walked down the gaudy hallway to the elevator, not once looking back.

Mamoru moved through life in the next seven months stoically. He buried himself deep in his work, barely ever coming out of his shell. He ignored all calls and messages from Usagi who wanted him to still come to the wedding.

The thought brought rage to him as he sat in his usual booth. How could she expect him to come to a ceremony that unified her to a man that wasn't him, especially after confessing his feelings to her? He was already heartbroken as it was! He might as well kill himself now so he won't have to suffer when she has the other man's children.

"Going so soon?" Motoki asked, though it wasn't really a question. Mamoru had been leaving the Crown Arcade early for the last seven months before Usagi would show up.

Mamoru nodded, placing his coffee cup on the counter as he walked out.

Mentally, he froze when he spotted a group of girls coming his way, his favorite blonde in the middle, looking rather solemn. Her eyes widened when she spotted him, her friends appearing unsure about the situation.

"Mamoru-san," Inwardly, he cringed. What happened to Mamo-chan? The girls separated, forming a line on either side of them. "I-I have something for you. Please take it." She handed him a white envelope with a gold 'S&U' printed on it.

"Thank you," he said politely, stuffing it in his pocket. He already knew he wasn't going.

"Mamoru—" When she touched his sleeve, he wrenched his arm away from her as if her touch burned him.

"Leave me alone," he snapped coldly, and took off in the direction of his apartment.

But there was one thing he heard before he rounded the corner:

"I'm sorry."

He ripped open the envelope like a savage beast as soon as he was in the dark lair that was his home. The place was a mess; it looked as though it hadn't been cleaned in weeks, but it was the result of some tantrums he had gone through in the last week alone.

And now his apartment would endure another tantrum as he read the date of the wedding.

"Two weeks?" He screamed.

Two weeks and his precious Usako would no longer be his.

His fist hit the wall with a sickening sound. Glass objects broke into oblivion. Pictures were ripped to shreds. Fluff spilled out of the couch. His hands bled but he didn't care.

He missed his bunny.

It was all over the news. Bigshot Kou Seiya was getting married.

Today.

The past two weeks had gone by faster than the argument in which he had confessed. He had locked himself in his home the entire time, taking a 'vacation' from work. He had uncharacteristically drunk himself to despair.

But he wasn't doing that today. He was determined to watch the wedding of his beloved on television.

Finally, the time came.

The camera was set on the entrance to the villa they were marrying at. Mamoru scratched at his growing five o'clock shadow, once again thinking that it wasn't like Usagi to want to have the ceremony take place at a villa.

"Breaking news! Kou's fiancée, Tsukino Usagi, is late for her wedding. Where could she be? No one knows, and we can only hope that she shows up for the wedding that could possibly be grander than William's and Kate's."

Where was she? What did Seiya do to her? Was she dead somewhere? Was she hurt? He swore to whatever God that was out there that he would kill the man if Usagi was hurt.

He was extremely surprised when there was a knock at his door. Wondering who it could be since everyone he knew was attending the wedding, he threw on a shirt and opened the door.

He stopped breathing.

There, on her knees wearing a dirty wedding gown with makeup smeared down her face and heels in hand, was his Usako.

"I couldn't," she cried. "I can't marry him." She latched on to his legs, sobbing. "I'm so sorry. I should've listened to you."

Using one hand on the door to brace himself, he stood there stunned. Eventually, he fell to his knees in front of her, grabbing her shoulders and crushing her to him. He buried his face in her vanilla and strawberry scented hair, his hands running up and down her back and arms, assuring himself that she was really here, in his arms, and not at the altar.

"Usako," he breathed. She sobbed harder into his chest. "I missed you so much."

She raised her head, her face tear soaked. She kissed his face; his chin, his cheeks, his eyes, his neck. The butterfly kisses heated and tickled his senses. "I found him in bed with another woman. I confronted him about it, and he didn't care! He just said, 'Get used to it.' You were right, he doesn't love me. He never did." Her hands rested on either side of his face. "Not like you."

Her lips pressed against his, and as soon as their tongues touched, she gasped and her warm mouth disappeared from his. "S-sorry! I-I didn't know what I was doing. I'm sure you don't love me any—"

His head dipped to kiss her again, a hand playing with loose curls at the nape of her neck. An arm wrapped around her waist possessively, pushing her against him.

"I will always love you, no matter what." He told her, and kissed her with every ounce of his soul. She kissed him back with just as much fervor, tangling her fingers in his black hair.

Breathless, she pulled away. She smiled through her tears. "I love you, Mamo-chan."

"I love you too, Usako. But I want to make sure the world knows that you're mine now."

Her brow furrowed, just like it did seven months ago. "What do you mean?"

Mamoru shifted uncomfortably. "I know it's a little soon, but maybe we—"

Usagi's eyes brightened like they used to when she won a game at Sailor V or a chocolate milkshake was on the house. "We could get married?"

He nodded, and she hugged him tight, squealing. Mamoru smiled; it was just like when she was a teenager, when there was no Seiya.

"Stay right here," he said, running to his bedroom. Coming back out, he presented her with a little black velvet box. She screamed in delight, tackling him to the ground. Usagi was barely able to keep still as he slipped on his mother's wedding ring and kept the old one to sell.

Arriving at the villa, the girls snuck them inside, just like they had snuck Usagi out. They were apparently happier with her marrying Mamoru than Seiya, and the paparazzi, along with Seiya, were certainly confused why everything at the wedding was being taken to a park.

He laughed when she came up with the idea of him walking down the aisle instead of her.

And he never seen anyone so surprised as everyone in the audience. It was if you could hear the nation's gasp from where he now stood at the altar.

Too soon, it was over.

For Seiya, that is.

Because Usagi was his Mrs. Chiba.