AN: I just want to say thanks to everyone who reviewed or added or even reads my story. Sorry it takes so long between chapters. I'm trying to get some quality stuff out to you guys and, most importantly, finish this story. Tell me what you think of this chapter or the whole story or whatever. Thanks again guys. ~Yuriko Hino

P.S.: I don't own the characters.

Higher Learning

Chapter 3: The Ice Queen Cometh

Layla slipped her books into her locker, careful not to disturb the honeysuckle lining the door, when the white blur sulked past her. She looked over her shoulder and caught sight of her new friend, Usagi. The girl shuffled down the hall, slumped posture dragging her white pigtails on the floor. Layla called out to her. Slamming her locker shut, Layla jogged to catch up with the unhappy rabbit.

"Oh Layla," Usagi wailed when Layla reached her, "it was terrible! They are going to kick me out on my first day, I just know it!"

Layla blinked at the girl for a moment, wondering franticly what horrible thing Usagi could have done to get herself expelled on the first day. She hoped the girl was only overreacting.

"Usagi, I'm sure it couldn't have been that bad. Let's go get some lunch and you can tell me all about it."

Usagi perked up a bit at the mention of lunch. Layla guided her towards the cafeteria, still wondering what had happened. Will and Warren had almost demolished the cafeteria and the teacher's lounge and they had only gotten detention. Surely Usagi couldn't have done anything worse than that…right?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Layla! Bunny!"

Will waved to them from a table already occupied by three other people. Layla rushed over quickly, Usagi following behind at a more sedate pace. She slipped into the seat beside the red-head.

"Hey guys," Layla chirped, "this is Usagi, she's a new transfer student from Japan. Usagi, this is Ethan Daniels," she pointed to the brown-skinned boy with glasses who waved.

"Zach Braun," this time, the pale, white-haired boy who gave her a thumbs up.

"and Magenta Vitz," the purple-haired girl nodded to her.

"Call me Maj," she smirked, sticking her hand out.

"And you can call me Bunny if you like," Usagi grinned as she shook her hand. Layla's friends were really nice.

"So Usagi," Layla turned to her, "what happened today?"

All happiness drained from Usagi's face. The disaster from earlier came rushing back to her, and she choked back a wail. She drew a shuddering breath to steady herself. She grasped Layla's hands, ready to recap every wretched moment.

"Picking up strays, Hippie?" a smooth voice drawled behind them.

She glanced away from Layla, eyes still wavering with unshed tears. Tears that instantly dried when she came face to face with the most gorgeous guy she'd seen in her life. A bad-boy leather jacket, black, fingerless gloves. Long, gorgeous black hair with the hottest streak of red. Gorgeous brown eyes. Gorgeous, chiseled face. Sexy devil may care smirk. Did she mention gorgeous eyes. He was even cuter that Gackt!

Usagi blushed when she realized she was staring. She glanced around hoping no one noticed. Apparently someone did. Maj tossed her a knowing look from across the table. Usagi coughed awkwardly and looked away.

"Warren Peace," the dark god spoke, instantly catching her attention.

"Uh…Usagi Tsukino. Call me Usagi or Bunny," she choked out, "whichever is easier."

"Rabbit of the moon, huh? Cute, goes with your hair."

Usagi flushed again and tried not to squeal in delight. Or faint. Or squeal, then faint. It didn't really matter though, she was already in her happy place: dreaming of their wedding. A pain in her shin brought her back to reality. Usagi frowned a Maj for kicking her, when she noticed everyone else looking at her expectantly. She blinked owlishly at them.

"The terrible thing that happened earlier?" Layla prompted.

It hit Usagi at once. Gasping, she clutched her heart dramatically.

"Oh guys," she wailed, "it was terrible! This may be the last time I see you! Any of you! And we were having such fun, too!"

"Bunny," Will interrupted, "I'm sure it can't be that bad…"

"Oh but it is! It is!"

"Well what happened?" Ethan asked.

Usagi took a deep breath to halt her tears.

"I was with Principal Powers and Diana and some other guy with a really loud voice, and they asked me to show them my powers. So I made it snow and things were going really good, so I thought I'd turn the snow to flower petals. Still good. Then I thought I'd turn the flowers to like a light show, but they turned to fire balls instead. So of course I didn't want to catch on fire, I mean this is my favorite sweatshirt, so I tried to put up a shield. But I put up the flower shield instead of the regular shield so all the flowers caught on fire. So I jump out of the way and I'm flying over the fire and I think "Water will put this out", so I hit is with a blast of water, but it's too much and it almost knocks me out of the air. I'm still not used to this whole flying thing, really. So the water puts out the fire but it completely soaks everyone but me. So then I tried to dry everyone off with a gust of wind, but it ended up being like a typhoon and blows everybody over. I even tore up some of the floor and killed the seats."

"And that's it?" Warren asked.

"That's it?" Usagi shrieked, "I destroyed the gym and nearly killed a teacher, the principal, and my brother's girlfriend all because I can't control my powers! They are going to kick me out!"

"Not over something like that," Maj drawled, "Will and Warren here took out the cafeteria and the teacher's lounge and only got a detention for it."

"And Layla blew out all the windows in the west hall at homecoming," Zach added enthusiastically.

Layla blushed, "Stuff like that happens all the time. Besides, the repair things really quickly, her."

"Yeah," Will laughed, "so nothing to worry about Bunny, you're in for the long haul."

"What powers do you have anyway, Usagi?" Ethan asked.

"Ano, I can make snow and ice, light, some metals, lightning, plants, flowers, water, wind, fire, and these really cool energy blasts. Then I can heal and fly and I used to be able to speed up and slow down clocks, but things got really weird so I stopped doing that. Oh, and I am really good at throwing Frisbees, like really good. Ooh, and I can turn into a cat, but I am not so good at that one."

"Rabbit's got you beat, Stronghold," Warren grunted.

Usagi blushed at the nickname, "Well I just need to work on them. I am really good at some of them, but most I never got to practice."

"I wouldn't stress it if I were you," Maj mollified, "you're here to learn how to control your powers, even if you have five million of them."

Usagi laughed with the group, happy to see her day finally looking up. Who knew she would've met such a great group of people on her first day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what is this for again?" Usagi asked, pulling at the powder blue and orange uniform in mild disgust. Seriously, why'd they make them wear these ugly things. Why not blue and white, or just blue, or even pink. Pink would be so much nicer, she looked good in pink really.

"Save the Citizen," Layla replied absently. Her eyes scanned the students in the bleachers, looking for Will Usagi guessed.

"Yo Rabbit, Hippie, up here!"

Usagi blushed as Layla grabbed her arm, dragging her to where Warren held up a hand. Layla scooted in beside Will, leaving Usagi to sit between her and Warren. Usagi took a moment to calm her blush, or tried to anyway. Sitting beside the hottest guy she'd seen in her life wasn't helping either.

"So," she attempted casual confidence, "what is "Save the Citizen?""

"Don't spoil the surprise, Rabbit," Warren crooned, "You'll see in a minute."

She turned to him and he smirked back. She felt her face heat up again.

"You know," he added with a cocky grin, "you're cute when you blush."

Her ears burned. He chuckled and turned back to the glass-lined area in front of them. Meanwhile, Usagi turned to mush in her seat. She missed whatever happened in the beginning of the save the guy thingy. She was too busy sneaking glances at Warren out of the corner of her eye. She vaguely heard Layla and Will start cheering beside her and saw some kind of scoreboard. Warren finally caught her looking. Smirking, he asked her if she saw something she liked. Usagi blushed and turned to pretend she was watching the action.

"The heroes are getting it handed to 'em," Warren offered helpfully, "That citizen's as good as mulch."

Usagi finally noticed, with alarm, the flailing person suspended above a spiked grinder.

"It's just a dummy," Warren added, "They don't use real people, it got too messy."

Usagi looked at him, horrified at the thought. He looked at her before chuckling.

"Chill Rabbit, I'm just joking."

Glaring, she swatted at him with a huff. He smirked again, sending her into another blushing fit. She suddenly felt a cold chill run down her spine. Turning around she locked eyes with a glaring blonde a few rows back. The girl's glacier blue eyes were shooting daggers at her. If looks could kill, Usagi was sure she would've dropped dead. Unnerved, Usagi turned back to the arena just as the buzzer sounded and the dummy was ground to splinters. She watched the carnage, happy that Warren had only been joking about the real citizens thing. She should have known better, anyway. They would never use real people for something like this. They were better than that. She was sure of it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Afterwards, Usagi leaned dreamily against the lockers beside Layla's as the girl gathered her things. Usagi must've sighed twenty times before Layla finally spoke-up.

"So I'm guessing you like Warren, huh Usagi?"

Usagi blushed and sighed again, mumbling out a yeah in the process.

"Understandable," Layla said, closing her locker, "he's very handsome."

Usagi turned redder as Layla continued, "Seems like he likes you too. I can't be sure though…"

Usagi felt her heart skip a beat, before the cold chill struck her again. She glanced over her shoulder to see the blonde girl from earlier. The girl glared even harder, if that was possible, before slamming her locker closed and storming off. Weird.

"The only other girl I've seen him with, besides Maj and me anyway, was Wynter Summers."

Usagi looked up to see Layla walking away.

"Who?" she asked falling into step beside the girl.

"Wynter Summers, they danced together at homecoming after everyone got turned back to their real ages. It seemed like a good match, with her being ice to his fire."

"…oh…"

"But they never really talked after that."

Before Usagi could celebrate that news, she was shoved through the open school doors. She stumbled towards the stairs, an arm gripping her waist before she tumbled down them.

"You alright Bunny?" Will asked, setting her on her feet.

Usagi turned back to see who pushed her. It was still that same blonde! What was up with her? She tossed her hair with a sneer and sauntered off towards the busses.

"What was that all about?" Will asked.

"I don't know," Usagi whined, "she has been trying to glare me to death since that save the citizen thingy. I do not even know who she is!"

"That's Wynter Summers," Will added, "the Ice Queen herself. Don't know why she has a problem with you, though."

"Blame Warren," Layla offered, "She froze your backpack, by the way."

Usagi shrieked as she slipped the bag off her back. Now that was just mean! Thanking the universe that she was actually good with her ice powers, Usagi set to defrosting her stuff.

"Don't worry, Bunny" Will reassured, "I had an enemy on my first day, too."

For some reason, Usagi didn't feel very comforted.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Shingo-kun! I'm home!" Usagi called, slipping off her shoes in the hall.

"In the kitchen, Usagi-chan!"

Usagi slipped through the hallway into the kitchen. She hopped onto one of the stools just as Shingo set a sandwich in front of her. She grinned at him and took a huge bite.

"I figured you'd be hungry," Shingo chuckled, "So how was school?"

She paused before taking another bite, "It was ok, I made some new friends!."

"That's always good," he smiled, handing her a glass of juice, "Oh, I have a surprise for you!"

Usagi sipped her drink as Shingo reached down to struggle with something. He finally managed to set it on the countertop with a grunt. She stared at it.

"It's a cat," Usagi deadpanned.

"I know that," Shingo shot back, "He followed me home and I figured you might want a new friend."

"Really?" she chirped, "He's mine? He's huge!"

The cat was indeed huge, easily the size of a small dog. He looked at Usagi with his large, kitty-cat eyes. He tilted his orange furred head to the side and let out deep "meow".

"Oh Shingo-kun," Usagi exclaimed, sweeping the cat into her arms, "he's adorable! I'll call you Kyo, cause you're orange like Kyo from Furuba!"

"Sounds good to me," Shingo laughed, "now tell me all about your first day of school."

Cuddling her new pet, Usagi told her brother the whole story in detail. Well except for the part about Warren. Shingo could be just like their dad when it came to boys. And she couldn't have him scaring away the love of her life, especially before things had really blossomed.