Thank you SO much for the reviews, guys! tear of joy I wasn't sure if I should go on with the story, but thanks to you, I'll make sure to continue writing it! o So keep on reading!

Previously on Queen of Clubs:

"Tomoyo… What are you up to?" she asked in a low voice.

"Oh, only something that will change your life forever" – once again, that little smug smile – "Say, Sakura, you like playing cards, no?" Tomoyo threw her another smug little smile and watched Sakura's face fill with confusion.

Chapter 1 – How to Play the Game

Sakura blankly stared at her friend. 'She… must be going insane.'

"Cards? Tomoyo, what are you talking about?"

"Just bear with me! I know it may seem weird, but cards – yes, regular playing cards – actually have a lot to do with my "secrecy" as you put it" Tomoyo gave her a reassuring smile and Sakura felt herself relax. In the long years of their friendship, Sakura learned not to take Tomoyo's advice for granted. If she says cards are important, then cards are important.

"So… Cards, huh?" Sakura tried to guess what her friend was getting at. "Are you trying to tell me that you developed a gambling problem?"

Tomoyo nearly fell out of her limousine seat, "NO! I most certainly did NOT!" Sakura only chuckled at this and motioned for her to go on. "Well, in that case, just tell me what you mean by it."

Tomoyo gave her friend a sly smile that once again send a chill down Sakura's spine. 'God, what is she UP to?'

"It all has to do with The Deck." Tomoyo calmly replied.

"The deck? What deck?"

"THE Deck!" Tomoyo made a dramatic pause, "The society of the elites that call themselves The Deck".

Sakura stared at her friend, obviously not getting what she was saying. 'Society of the elites? What in heaven's name is THAT?'

Tomoyo, sensing her friend's confusion, decided to take the opportunity of the silence and continue her revelation "The Deck is the reason for my lack of time and my lack of openness. I'm really truly sorry for not having told you about it sooner, but I just wanted to make sure the society was proper enough. Besides, if I gave away all of its secrets to you, you wouldn't enjoy finding them out for yourself and I wouldn't have as many opportunities to record your surprised face with my new video camera!" at this, Tomoyo dished out a brand new digital video camera and laughed.

Now it was Sakura's turn to nearly fall out of her seat. "Oi, Tomoyo… You don't mean you're still not over your 'I-want-to-film-Sakura-doing-anything' phase? Wait!" Suddenly Sakura noticed something odd about what Tomoyo had just told her, "What do you mean by 'you finding out for yourself'?" Something told her that this is exactly what Tomoyo has been up to and exactly the reason why her best friend was holding her personal belongings for ransom.

"Why! You're going to find out everything about it during your initiation!" Tomoyo smiled happily, as she turned the camera on and proceeded to film Sakura, "Ah! Here's Sakura's Surprised Face #1!"

"M-my initiation? You mean I'M going to be initiated into that society of yours!" Sakura couldn't believe her ears. Not only was she going to have to get used to a new city, and a new university – now she would also have to get used to an entirely new aspect of her life – an elite society.

"Yes, Sakura! You're joining! In fact, you'll be starting today." Tomoyo smiled happily.

"T-today! But how? When? Why?" Sakura was still at a loss of words.

"Yes, today. How? Easily! Today all you'll have to do is get the final approval of your initiation from the Royal Court. When? In a few hours… We'll get to the society's headquarters soon enough and then you'll get to meet the Court and the rest of the group. Why? Because I signed you up!" Tomoyo gave Sakura another one of her bright smiles. It's as if she was talking about Sakura getting lunch, not about Sakura getting initiated into a society that she knew nothing about.

Sakura's first instinct was to shake and scream at her best friend, yet noticing how joyful Tomoyo looked she decided to at least consider joining. She WAS worried about fitting in at the university, right? And joining this society would give her a place to belong in. The least she could do is give it a try.

She sighed in defeat "Alright. I guess I'll be joining your society…"

"YAY!" Tomoyo squealed with delight, "You'll love it!"

"Yeah, yeah… You say so." Sakura still had some trouble believing that this would be an easy thing for her to deal with, but how could she disappoint Tomoyo? 'Look at her!' she thought, 'She's practically jumping for joy!'

"Just tell me one thing, Tomoyo… Who's "The Royal Court"?" Sakura thought that since she'll be joining this society, she might as well get to know something about it.

"Oh! The Royal Court! Well, you see, our society is structured after the hierarchy of a card deck – that's why I said that playing cards are actually quite important in what I'm going to tell you. Well… As an inductee, you'll be starting out as the lowest ranking 'card' – the One."

"Ok…" Sakura stared at her friend. 'This doesn't sound so complicated' "And it goes up all the way to…?"

"The Ace! The Ace is the head of your group… I haven't met him personally, I'm only a Ten myself. Only people of the Royal Court – or the Face cards – are allowed to openly interact with The Ace."

'Well...' thought Sakura, 'at least that explains the ten on Tomoyo's pin.' She once again gazed at her best friend's brooch. It was quite a beautiful piece – a silver pin shaped like after the clubs symbol, with a 10 engraved into it. Sakura pointed to the pin, "Is that how you differentiate people of different ranks?"

"Yes! The ten signifies my rank. The Royal Court's pins, however, are made of gold… I guess that's the easiest way to tell them apart."

Sakura nodded. 'Not difficult at all…' "So… The Royal Court consists of the King, the Queen, and the Page?"

Tomoyo shook her head in agreement "Yup! But there are also people in the Court that aren't quite Royals…"

"Huh?" Sakura frowned "But those are the only face cards!"

"Uh-uh-uh! You're forgetting the Joker!" smiled Tomoyo, "But there ARE people in the group that aren't face cards – or any cards, for that matter. But you'll learn more about them later!"

Sakura dumbly nodded. She didn't quite know what else to ask, besides… "How do you go up in rank? You said that you start out as a One, yet you're already a Ten!"

Tomoyo laughed with delight "I see your competitive nature is already coming through, Sakura. You go up in rank by gaining the favor of someone from a rank higher than you. The higher the rank of that person, the higher your reward will be. Since I'm only a Ten myself, I'd only be able to promote you up to a Nine."

"Oh, I see. And how do you gain someone's favor?"

Tomoyo threw Sakura a mischievous smile, "You'll find out…"

The rest of the drive passed in Tomoyo pestering Sakura with questions about their home town and Sakura's excitement about a fresh, new school year. Yet the closer they drew to their destination, the more nervous Sakura became. She knew that once they arrived, she would have to face the members of the society.

Sakura once again looked out the window of a moving vehicle and thought about her near future as her heart began to race.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

All of the sudden, something outside the limo's window caught her eye. A very, VERY huge something. Sakura's eyes widened in shock.

Tomoyo chuckled at her friend's amazement "And that, my dear Sakura, is the Clubs Castle – Japan's headquarters of The Deck."

Preview of Chapter 2

She took the first thing she could lay her hands on – her purse – and threw it, yes THREW IT, straight towards the once again retreating form of the young man.

With a loud 'thwomp' the purse hit the brown-haired man right in the back of his head making everyone around them gasp in shock and amazement.

"Cad!" Sakura spit out through clenched teeth and turned to walk away herself. When she turned around, however, she found her friends looking at her with fearful admiration.

"S-sakura… That was The King!" stuttered the shocked Rika.