The months had flown by, and Usagi and her friends' graduation was coming up fast. They were just a bit stressed, no doubt due to their final exams, but they were also eager to be over and done with school. Of course, Usagi still spent time with Mamoru, often getting him to teach her.

On the last day of their exams, the girls were more than overjoyed to finally experience a taste of freedom from the stifling walls of their school, and they were prepared to go to the arcade to celebrate that freedom. As they reached the school gates, Usagi was pleasantly surprised to see Mamoru leaning on the wall, looking every bit the hot boyfriend.

She gleefully jumped into his arms and proceeded to kiss him in greeting, only to have her suddenly and roughly pulled away from her love. Upon turning to find out who the perpetrator was, she came face-to-face with the angry eyes of her father.

"Otousan!?"

The girls gasped, and they worried for Usagi and her relationship with Mamoru. They were well aware of how averse their friend's father was to her being near any sort of boy or man. It could only mean worse for them that Mamoru wasn't just any man, but the leader of the Midnight Rose.

"Tsukino-san…" the girls began to say, hoping to distract Usagi's furious father long enough for the couple to get away.

Before anyone could say anything else, Mamoru stepped forward and bowed at the waist in front of Usagi's father. "Konnichiwa, Tsukino-san. I am Chiba Mamoru, Usagi's boyfriend."

"I know very well what your name is, boy! And no, you are not Usagi's boyfriend. My daughter will have no boyfriend if I have anything to say about it!"

"Otousan! That's not fair! You can't decide my life for me!" Usagi shouted, enraged.

"You keep quiet! I come here to pick you up at the request of your mother because your aunt has come to visit until your graduation, and this is what I see! Do you even know who this man is, Tsukino Usagi!?"

"Why does everyone assume that I don't know who it is I'm dating!? I think you all don't know him very well yourselves! You have no right to judge him like you do! Well, thank you very much for coming to pick me up, but I think I can very well go home on my own!"

Usagi looked back apologetically at her friends, but they only nodded their heads in understanding, sending her smiles of encouragement. Thanking them silently, she turned to Mamoru who understood exactly what she was asking without her saying anything. He took her in his arms and proceeded to bring her home, leaving her father staring, dumbfounded, at the back of his daughter.

"Ano, Tsukino-san," Ami started, "We just want you to know that, well, we understand that you're just worried about Usagi-chan. We were too when we found out about Mamoru-san. But, we also learned rather quickly that he loves Usagi-chan more than anything, and he does everything he can to protect her. Besides, Usagi-chan really loves him. We're just asking that maybe you shouldn't be too hard on them."

"Too hard on them!?" Tsukino Kenji blew up. "That girl just wait till I get home!"

As he angrily stomped off, the girls looked worriedly in his direction. They hoped he'd come to understand his daughter's feelings, because if he didn't it would surely mean a lot of trouble. They knew Usagi would never give up on Mamoru no matter what her father did, and if worse came to worst, that would result in a big falling out of the Tsukino family. They hoped it wouldn't come to that.

When Usagi was about a block from her house, she suddenly stopped, causing Mamoru to look worriedly at her. "Usako?"

"Mamo-chan…" She was scared. She wasn't worried about losing Mamo-chan; she knew he'd always love her and never leave her. He promised, after all. What she was worried about was what would happen when her father got home. She knew she lost her temper with him, but he was being unfair to Mamo-chan. She couldn't understand why it was such a big deal with everyone just because he was the leader of a gang. She loved him, and he loved her. Wasn't that all that mattered?

Mamoru understood that Usagi was troubled and scared about what was to come. He was grateful she had defended him both to her friends and her father. He knew no one else like her. She made his heart skip a beat whenever she smiled at him. One look from her gave him all the strength he would ever need. Her arms around him told him he'd just come home. Her love for him made him feel like the luckiest man in the world. He oftentimes wondered what he did to deserve her love. This was why, no matter what happened, he would never leave her alone.

He had allowed her to talk to her friends on her own, and look where that got him. He met her over the weekend, and she tearfully confessed to him how that discussion turned out. He knew she loved her friends immensely, and it pained him to see her crying because they couldn't understand how much the couple loved each other. There was no way he was going to let her have to go through something like that again on her own.

"Usako, I'm not leaving. We'll talk to your family, together," Mamoru whispered consolingly into her ear, holding her tightly in his arms.

Usagi couldn't fathom what she had done in her life to deserve this man. He loved her so much, and he protected her, not just physically but emotionally too. He always seemed to know what she needed to hear, and she knew he would keep his promise about being with her.

"Arigatou, Mamo-chan. Aishiteru."

He smiled at hearing her whispered confession, and he tilted her head so he could kiss her in response. Hand in hand, they walked the rest of the way to the Tsukino household.

Usagi had knocked on the door, and it only took a moment before it was opened by a woman almost the same height as her. The woman had long silver hair tied in the same style as Usagi's. Her smile was gentle, her eyes a clear blue. The resemblance between her and Usagi was uncanny; Mamoru thought she was Usagi's mom until Usagi's greeting proved otherwise.

"Auntie Serenity! You're here!" Usagi released Mamoru's hand to hug the woman before them.

"Hello, my little Usa-chan. I thought you'd be home with your father?" Even the woman's voice portrayed gentleness.

"Well, you see…" At Usagi's hesitation, Mamoru immediately reclaimed Usagi's hand and stepped forth to introduce himself.

"Konnichiwa. I am Chiba Mamoru," Mamoru greeted politely, bowing down at the waist to the woman before him.

A knowing smile crossed Serenity's face as she watched both the handsome man before her and her own niece's loving look cast on him, not to mention their hands which were tightly entwined.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mamoru-san. Oh, how rude of me. Let me invite you both inside. Usa-chan, your mother is in the kitchen."

"Arigatou, Auntie Serenity," Usagi said with a smile. Her aunt always seemed to understand her. It was one of the reasons she was Usagi's favorite relative, after all.

As they made their way inside, Usagi pulled Mamoru to the direction of the kitchen. At the entrance of the said room, she took a breath and called her mother's attention.

Tsukino Ikuko was a petite woman just a bit taller than Usagi. She had wavy blue hair that reached her waist. Her kind eyes and smile spoke much about how she was as mother.

"Usagi, you're home! Oh, where's your father? I sent him to pick you up. Have you met your aunt? She's been waiting to see you, you know," Ikuko fussed over her daughter.

"Okaasan, I'm fine. Yes, I've seen Auntie Serenity; she opened the door for us."

On hearing the emphasis on the plural pronoun, the blue-haired woman raised an eyebrow. It was only then that she saw her daughter's hand clasped tightly in another person's own, and it definitely didn't look to belong to her husband.

Seeing as she caught her mother's attention, Usagi nervously pulled Mamoru into the room to face her mother. "Okaasan, this is Chiba Mamoru, my… boyfriend."

"Konnichiwa, Tsukino-san," Mamoru was bowing yet again.

Oh, Ikuko knew who this man was. That is to say, she was well aware of his reputation around Tokyo. She had heard the stories, of course, but today was the first time she had seen him face-to-face. She took a cursory glance at the man before turning back around to turn off the stove.

"I think we should talk in the living room, don't you?" Ikuko said with a smile, waving at Serenity, who was standing a few steps behind the couple, to join them.

The two ladies of the family led the couple to the living room. Ikuko and Serenity each took a seat on the family couch, while Mamoru pulled Usagi down on his lap on the loveseat. The two older women couldn't help but smile at this display. Before anyone could speak a word though, Kenji burst in through the door, looking every bit like a raging bull.

"Where is that girl!?"

"Kenji dear, what are you so mad about?" Ikuko asked her husband, alarmed.

It did nothing for the man's temper to see his daughter on Mamoru's lap in his home. "Get off him," he said with fury lacing his every word. Mamoru only tightened his hold on Usagi in response.

Seeing where this was going, Serenity immediately took charge. "Kenji, sit down. Let them explain before you go off into your overprotective anger."

"Explain!? EXPLAIN!? They explained just fine to me a while ago in front of her school!" Kenji exploded even more.

"Sit. Down." Serenity's calm voice beheld authority and brooked no room for disagreement.

Although he wanted nothing less than to sit down, Usagi's father did so as he was unable to do otherwise at Serenity's tone. Once he was seated, the silver-haired woman faced the couple, compassion and understanding in her eyes. "Usa-chan, would you please explain what's going on?"

Strengthened by Mamoru's presence and her aunt's understanding, Usagi began to speak, telling her family about how she met Mamoru, how he protected her, how her friends accepted him, and how much she loved him. As she ended her tale, there was a minute or two of silence.

"No, I refuse to accept him!" Kenji shouted out.

"Otou –" Usagi started, but Mamoru put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sir, I understand that you are worried about your daughter. You do not want her to associate herself with me because of my background and reputation. Indeed, I cannot assure her a stable life, much less a safe one." Usagi tried to protest, but Mamoru squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"However, I love your daughter very much, and she loves me as well, more than I deserve I'm sure. Although I cannot say that she will always be safe, as has been proven to you in the stories of past events, I would do everything in my power to make sure she remains unharmed in any way. I'd rather die than have something happen to her." Mamoru chanced a glance at Usagi before pushing on with the hardest part of what he had to say.

"When I say that I would make sure she doesn't get hurt, I mean it both physically and emotionally. I have promised Usako that I will never leave her, and I intend to keep my promise, whether or not you approve. I am almost sure that, should you try to keep her away from me, Usako would just as well leave here to be with me than to stay here, living miserably. I would rather, though, that she not have to make such a decision as she loves her family very much." Mamoru looked lovingly down at the girl in his arms, while she too smiled at him and buried herself in his embrace.

"So, Sir, I am begging you to please consider your daughter's feelings. I am sure that, above all, you want to see her happy," Mamoru finished, looking directly at Kenji.

Serenity couldn't stop the smile from creeping across her face. Pride towards her niece, for not only choosing a man who loves her so completely, but for standing up for her love, filled her heart. She also felt immense joy at the words of the man spoken so sincerely to convince Kenji of his daughter's, and ultimately, the couple's feelings for each other. If her niece's father still refused to accept them, she'd make sure he did.

Ikuko, on the other hand, had tears crawling down her face at the love so blatantly displayed by her daughter and her daughter's chosen love. Although she would be lying to say she wasn't worried for the safety of her daughter, the man's sincere words and his expressions of love for Usagi were all the proof she needed to know that he would do everything he could to take care of her. Her husband was a stubborn man, to be sure, but if he screwed this up, he would have hell to pay with her.

Tsukino Kenji was oftentimes a proud and stubborn man, but he was definitely not stupid. He knew that, despite his anger at this man for taking his daughter away from him, Mamoru spoke the truth about Usagi's course of action should he reject their love. He also knew that his wife wouldn't let him hear the end of it, and Serenity would surely force him to accept the couple than let him destroy her niece's life, even if it was all supposedly for her best interest. With a heavy heart and an even heavier sigh, Kenji knew when to accept defeat. Looking up into Mamoru's straightforward eyes, he supposed his daughter could've chosen a worse person to be with. With this in mind, he reluctantly gave his approval.

Usagi gasped, utterly delighted when she heard her father's acceptance of her relationship with Mamoru. She hurriedly got off Mamoru's lap and threw herself on her father in a hug, a million thanks rushing past her lips. Her father patted her kindly on the head, a caring smile directed towards his only daughter. Serenity and Ikuko soon joined in gathering the small blonde into a hug, congratulations bursting forth from the two women. And, while all this was going on, Mamoru stood to the side, watching his now official girlfriend, an unmistakably loving look in his eyes.