Period 3: Math
Theme 3: Sum
Words: 418
Author: Lillie Bell
It hadn't taken long for Mamoru to know he would have saved Usagi if she were ever in any real danger. In many ways, he was amazed that with all the youma attacks she somehow managed to stay out of the way. She was a walking disaster on a good day, but had effectively stayed far away from the youma hotspots. He thought surely with the youma magnet her friend, Naru, was that Usagi would feel the brunt of an attack at some time or another. But, he rested easy knowing she was safe.
Mamoru also knew that a princess needed his protection. She had made him an insomniac since he was a child. Most children cried for their parents, but he had none. Instead, he cried to his princess. Even if she didn't listen. Even if all she wanted from him was some crystal. He didn't care. She had become something normal to him in a life where nothing was normal. He could always count on her to be there, asking for the ginzuishou, and inevitably needing some kind of protection. And he would protect her with everything he had.
From the minute he had seen Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Kamen had known he would be her knight in shining armor. Sometimes, whether he liked it or not. But his penchant for lurking in the shadows did have its advantages and he was able to leap in just in time to save her. Those were the moments he knew it was more than just a sense of duty. When her hands gripped his cape and her breath was hot against his neck. When he could feel the fear and innocence leaking from her every pour. He could never abandon her. She needed him.
And so, it was with great fulfillment that Tuxedo Kamen found out Sailor Moon was Tsukino Usagi was his princess. The sum of the parts of his heart coalesced and he found that he was stronger for it. He was not stretched too thin trying to protect the three women in his life—no, in fact, his efforts to protect them were combined. Now he could protect them all.
And so, he gladly stood between Zoicite's crystal and its target. Even as the shards ripped through his spine, puncturing organs and filling his mouth with blood, he was happy. As he fell to the floor and felt her tears fall upon his face. Tears for him. He was happy.
Because he had protected them all.