Sorry I haven't updated in a few days - I guess I've been a little lazy. But here's the next chapter! I promis I'll update a lot in the next couple of days. I've been working hard - typing up the next few chapters! proud hero pose
Oh! I think I will not do any more "Previews" at the ends of chapters... It will take me longer to update if I keep doing that. lol
Alright! Enjoy! And don't forget to review! I LOVE getting reviews!

Previously on Queen of Clubs:

"My name is Sakura Kinomoto, and I'm a Two" low whispers bean to circle the room. Sakura figured that it wasn't a regular thing for someone to start out with a rank higher than a One. The looks that everyone was throwing her were mostly that of intrigue. 'Hoee…' Sakura mentally sighed.

"GREAT!" beamed Meilin, "Welcome to The Clubs! And now for your assignments…"

Chapter 4 – The Task

Meilin looked at each of the new inductees and rubbed her chin.

"Hmm... With only eight of you, I don't think this will be too hard." She smiled and stood up from her chair, walking towards the inductees.

"Takahiro!" she addressed the first boy, "Your task will be to clean and keep clean the castle grounds. That includes trimming the hedges, moving the lawn, and watering all the plants."

Takahiro's eyes widened "All by myself?"

"Yes, all by yourself!" chirped Meilin, and before Takahiro could further protest, Meilin moved on to the next boy. "You, Tori, will be in charge of the ladies' cars. There are currently only 20 in use. This means that you'll have to clean the cars inside and out, and fill up the tanks every day for the next week!"

Tori gulped, and slowly nodded, not having enough will-power to try and argue with Meilin.

"Loda… Since you seem to be a man of a few words, I assign you the left wing's attic. Over the past couple of years, the women's side of the building has stored up a lot of things in the attic, and I think it's about time someone cleared it all up."

Loda, liking the idea of working by himself, in a secluded place, nodded in approval.

"And as for you, Seiriu…. I like your attitude! You shall be my errand boy for the week! This, however, means that you won't be just doing my bidding. If the girls of the society give me a list of things to buy, get, or fix, I'll be forwarding it to you!" Meilin smiled.

Seiriu, though a bit intimidated by the task, smiled and bowed to Meilin. He was gracious for being chosen as her errand boy.

Then Meilin turned to the girls. "You ladies I will go a bit easier on, since this IS the females' task…"

Turning to Hitomi she said, "You'll be in charge of cleaning all of the left wig's bath and bedrooms. There are only about two of each, and you only have to dust, vacuum clean, and organize each room, so don't worry!" Hitomi nearly chocked when she heard the enormous task that was assigned to her.

"Mina…. You'll be responsible for all the ladies' laundry for this week! You'll have to wash the linens, towels, curtains, and rugs." Mina made a disgusted face, but silently complied.

"Naoko – you seem like a book nerd!" smiled Meilin. Naoko only shyly nodded in reply. "Well, in that case, I'll leave it up to you to spend this week reorganizing the upstairs library!"

"L-library?" chocked out Naoko, her eyes growing wide with excitement.

"Yes, library…" said Meilin and then turned to Sakura "And you, my dear… You will have a task that's a little different. Since all of us present have no doubt of your 'energetic' nature" Meilin gave her a playful wink as the rest of the crowd quietly laughed, "you'll be in charge of decorating part of the left wing. You see, last year we added five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a small lounge to the ladies' wing of the house. But the added rooms still have not been decorated! So… You have a week to make them look presentable."

Sakura stared at Meilin in disbelief. "That's eleven rooms!" she screamed 'And judging by the size of the castle, I'm sure they won't be small rooms, either…'

"Yes…" said Meilin "And you'll have to paint, furnish, and accessorize every one of them! Oh! Without any paid help, too…"

Sakura thought she would cry. 'How am I supposed to do all that without any help!'

Judging by the looks on the other inductees' faces, Sakura wasn't the only one with that thought running through her head. All eight of them were now standing, looking quite forlorn. Meilin, noticing the bummed out group before her, tried to cheer them up

"Don't worry you guys! Just make sure to give your task the best you can do! Think about this – the harder the task, the greater the reward. If you'll complete your job, you'll receive a pleasant surprise after the week is done. That's just how we do it around here… No good work goes by unrewarded!"

Hearing about a reward DID seem to lift the spirits of the inductees. All of the sudden, there was hope – there was light at the end of the tunnel! Seeing that she managed to calm the newbies down a bit, Meilin turned to face the returning members of the society.

"As the rest of you can see, our inductees will be busy working on the castle grounds and interior. Therefore, I think you will all agree that it will be better to leave the castle and give them as much space to work with as possible."

The crowd cheered in agreement. "Good," smiled Meilin, "In that case I will be happy to announce that all of you WILL be leaving the castle for the entire week. When you go into your private rooms, you will find an envelope on your bed. This envelope includes your task and destination for the week. That's it! Good luck!"

Immediately after the end of the gathering was pronounced over, the room flooded with noise. Many returning members ran straight towards their bedrooms to find their task, and some remained to talk with the inductees. Tomoyo, of course, made her way straight towards Sakura.

"WAI! You get to decorate the new wing! How exciting! You lucky, lucky gal!" Tomoyo hugged Sakura, "You're gonna have so much fun!"

Sakura, however, did not seem to be of the same opinion as her friend. She gave Tomoyo a weak smile, "Yeah… Fun… If you don't take into account the fact that I'll have to do a job for a dozen of men, by myself, in 7 days!"

"Six days," happily corrected Tomoyo, "You have to be done by day seven." Sakura only lowered her head in defeat.

"Tomoyo, this is NOT the task for me! I know nothing about decorating!"

"Oh, don't be silly! Just make sure every room has a theme. Be creative – that'll please Meilin." Sakura nodded when all of the sudden…

"Someone say my name!" Meilin piped as she appeared right behind Sakura. Startled, Sakura jumped and gave out a loud shriek.

Meilin laughed, "Sorry! Didn't mean to sneak up on ya!" Sakura smiled, "That's alright." Somehow Meilin's loud and outgoing nature really put Sakura at ease. In some weird way, Meilin reminded her of Tomoyo. 'Both of them are so cheerful… and hyper!'

"Oh, we were just talking about the task you assigned to Sakura. I must say, I think it's wonderful! There is just one thing that I don't like about it…." said Tomoyo in a sad voice.

"And what's that?" asked Meilin. Tomoyo's eyes became watery with tears, "I won't be here to film and take pictures of Sakura as she does her task!" she cried in utter desolation.

Sakura sighed at her friend's dramatic dilemma. 'Leave it to Tomoyo to think of picture opportunities at a time like this…'

"Pfft! If that's all you're worried about, there IS no problem! I guess I forgot to mention it, but the Royal Court will still be staying in the castle – you know, to make sure the inductees do their work and don't cheat by hiring someone to do the work for them. I'll be more than happy to take pictures of Sakura for you!" Meilin beamed.

Immediately, Tomoyo's eyes were willed with stars instead of tears. "THANK YOU! You're the best!" Sakura sighed, 'They're two of a kind…'

But then Sakura's mind traveled to yet another problem. "Wait! How am I supposed to pay for it all!"

Meilin laughed at Sakura's predicament, "With money from the society's account, of course!" Sakura only blinked at her. "We have an account with enough money in it for everyone in the society to have a card and access the funds. Whatever you will need to get for this task, will be bought with that, so chill!"

Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "Great. And we're not allowed to use ANY outside help?"

Meilin nodded, but added "Well… Not any PAID outside help. If you happen to have friends that are willing to help you out, we won't stop ya."

"Well… Since you're sending everyone except for the Royal Court away, there go MY chances of getting help." said Sakura.

"That's true. I doubt that anyone from the Royals would be willing to help you, considering your treatment of their King," said a masculine voice behind Sakura, startling her yet another time.

Sakura turned around only to find two gorgeous amber eyes staring into her own. She gulped at his sight. His presence was masculine, elegant, and extremely powerful. His entire being seemed to radiate stature. Sakura mentally cursed herself, 'Great. As if my task couldn't get harder. Now I've got the King himself going against me.'

"Cat got your tongue?" Syaoran smirked. He found that he liked seeing Sakura squirm. He could tell from looking into her eyes that she was worried – scared even - about what he might do to her. Though he didn't like knowing that she was afraid of him, he liked watching her expressions. 'Perhaps she does have some sense in her. At least it seems as if she knows when to be afraid…' he thought rather cockily.

Hearing his comment made Sakura huff. 'Is he enjoying this?'

"Aww, come now Li. Let the poor girl be…" slowly said a man, coming out from behind Syaoran. "My name is Sirota Tsu," he took Sakura's hand in his own and gave it a light kiss, "the Clubs' Royal Ambassador to China. And I would be more than willing to assist you in anything."

'Ambassador?' Sakura looked at the pin that Sirota was wearing. It was gold – 'So he IS a Royal' – and yet instead of a number or a letter, a small spade was engraved into it. Collecting her thoughts, she did a slight curtsy and quickly pulled her hand out of his grip. 'These Royals seem to think they have all the rights.'

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Tsu," said Sakura frankly. "Oh, please – call me Sirota," said the man in the same slow voice. His maroon eyes were watching her every move, and Sakura quickly started feeling self-conscious. 'What's with this guy?'

Narrowing his eyes into small slits, Syaoran watched Sirota try and make an impression on Sakura by attempting to get into her good graces. The kiss on the hand didn't help, either. Syaoran glared at Sirota. He did not like his frankness with Sakura at all. 'It's not like I like the girl or anything,' he tried to reason with himself, 'It's just that a Royal should keep up a certain form of address!'

Syaoran loudly cleared his throat, making everyone in the group look at him. Noticing his glare, Sirota took a step away from Sakura, but not before slyly saying, "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around, Miss Sakura."

Syaoran's eyes narrowed even more, and Sakura only gave Sirota an uneasy smile. 'What a creep,' she thought.

Quietly watching the scene, Meilin and Tomoyo exchanged mischievous glances and nodded to each other in unspoken understanding. 'Syaoran has a thing for Sakura' they thought simultaneously.

Having the group's attention, Syaoran began to speak. "I suggest that all of you now retire. You, Tomoyo, have a trip to make in the morning. And you," he turned to look at Sakura, "are to begin working on your task. So get to bed – you'll need the rest."

Though his voice sounded cold, Meilin – who has known her cousin since they were in diapers – could tell that Syaoran was actually fighting emotions that seemed about to burst through. 'He must either really hate Sirota, or he must really feel something for Sakura…' she thought. She smiled at the latter part of her thought. 'It would be too perfect. Sakura is giggly and bubbly – the perfect match for my beast of a cousin. Who knows, she might even make him become more human.'

Sakura nodded at Li, not finding any courage to open her mouth. 'Though I still don't like his attitude, he's probably right,' she though, 'My task isn't an easy one – I should get as much sleep as possible.'

She turned towards Tomoyo, "Umm… Where am I to sleep?" Tomoyo immediately grabbed her hand and beamed. "In my room, for now. You'll get your room later! OH! We'll have so much fun! SLEEP OVER TIME!"

Sakura sighed, 'So much for me getting any sleep…'

They quickly said their goodnights to the Royals before them and Sakura was then whisked away by Tomoyo.

Sakura's first day in the society was now nearing its end. She survived it. But will she survive the next week – with no Tomoyo around? These were the thoughts running through Sakura's mind. However – unknowingly to Sakura - someone WOULD be looking after her in Tomoyo's absence. But looking after someone does not always come in a good way…