Hey guys! Told ya I would update a lot this weekend.
I want to once again thank all of the reviewers! You guys have some pretty spiffy ideas. I might think about using some of them.
Well... Here goes!

DISCLAIMER: Me no own CCS... sigh

Previously on Queen of Clubs:

Sakura's first day 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…

Chapter 5 – Midnight Gossip
Before Tomoyo would allow Sakura any rest, she gave Sakura a quick tour of the castle's grounds.

"Since I won't be here after tomorrow, I want to make sure you at least know where to go to sleep, eat, and take showers. I wouldn't want you to aimlessly walk around the property. And believe me: it is very easy to get lost around here if you don't know your way around."

Tomoyo made sure to show Sakura the kitchen, the bedrooms of her Tomoeda friends and the new inductees, the bathrooms, and of course the rooms that Sakura would need to decorate. The tour, to Sakura's relief, ended up to be pretty short and consisted only of two out of the five levels of the mansion.

"The two bottom floors are bedrooms and common areas for the Number Cards – or people like you and me. The third level is just a bunch of recreational rooms – library, computer room, small gym…" Tomoyo explained.

"Gym! There's a gym in this place?" Sakura could not believe it. 'This place really does have everything.'

"Yup," chirped Tomoyo, "The Third level, however we usually do not get to see. The third level of the castle belongs to the Royal Court. The only way for a Numbercard to enter it is through invitation." Sakura nodded in understanding.

"And the fourth level belongs entirely to The Ace," smiled Tomoyo, thereby finishing her explanation of the grounds and heading for her own room.

Tomoyo's room was, of course, in the left wing of the house – the Ladies' Wing. It was a decently sized room, with lavender colored walls and a gorgeous canopy bed in the middle. Although Tomoyo first said that they were to stay in her room, Tomoyo decided they should actually spend the night in the lounge of the newly-added wing that Sakura was to decorate.

"WHY are we spending the night in that wing?" Sakura said with confusion plastered all over her face. The rooms in that part of the mansion were stark-white and unfurnished – without the least bit of comfort in them.

"Because! That way you can look at what you'll have to deal with. Plus, my room is too small for a slumber party, and for your first night here, I wanted our entire Tomoeda group to spend the night together! The lounge of that wing will be perfect for a little sleep over!" beamed Tomoyo.

"Well… I COULD use some pointers on decorating... And I'd love to spend some time with my pals before you get shipped off in the morning," laughed Sakura. Tomoyo only nodded and started to go through her closet. A few minutes later she emerged with an enormous suitcase.

"Gotta pack for tomorrow," she said and began to take out clothes, fold them, and put them into her travel case.

'Packing… Ah! That reminds me!' Sakura quickly turned to her friend, "Tomoyo, where are my things?"

Tomoyo gave Sakura an evil smirk, "They're in storage and you're not getting them back until you complete the first task. I want to make sure you won't take off before you get your furniture. Besides, you won't get your room until next week, either – so there wouldn't be any place to put your stuff anyways!"

Sakura glared at Tomoyo, 'That conniving little fiend – to hold my stuff for ransom!' "But what am I supposed to wear!"

"Stuff that I made especially for you!" beamed Tomoyo and pulled out a pretty pink dress out of her closet. "I've been making dresses, and skirts, and shirts for you for the past three months! I thought to myself – It's Sakura's big debut in The Deck, so she MUST wear special clothes! – and so I made a bunch. I'm glad Meilin agreed to take pictures for me, I'd simply DIE if I'd miss the entire first week."

Sakura stared at her friend in disbelief. Ever since Tomoyo learned how to sew, she's been taking every opportunity at making clothes for Sakura. 'Some things never change…' she thought.

"By the way… What's YOUR task for the week?" Sakura saw Tomoyo open her envelope earlier, but didn't get the chance to ask her about it.

Tomoyo blushed at the question. "I – uhhh – I'm going to London for 6 days to… To help our English Ambassador with some presentations…" Sakura blinked at her friend.

"Who ARE these ambassadors, anyway?" Tomoyo replied, "They're the non-face cards of the Royal Court. You see, The Deck consists of four suits, right?" Sakura nodded as Tomoyo continued explaining, "Well… Japan's part of The Deck represents the suit of Clubs. The headquarters in China represent Spades. England represents Hearts… And America stands for the suit of Diamonds. While the different parts of the society mostly keep to themselves, it's still important for them to interact incase problems arise. So that's why every Suit has ambassadors – they're sort of like the representatives of the other suites."

"I see…" said Sakura. 'That also explains Sirota Tsu's spade on his pin.'

After finishing her packing, Tomoyo got out two sleeping bags and handed one to Sakura. "Let's go! I'm sure the others are already waiting."

Naturally, Tomoyo turned out to be right. When they arrived in the newly added wing, Sakura could hear voices coming from the lounge. They opened the door and found Rika, Chiharu, and Naoko lying in sleeping bags in the middle of the room. They had a few candles surrounding them, giving the room enough soft light to see each of the girls.

"You finally made it!" cheered Chiharu, "Come on in and get comfy!" Tomoyo and Sakura immediately followed Chiharu's advice and laid out their sleeping bags. After all of the girls were comfortably settled they began to chat and giggle just like they used to in their old days.

"So are you and Terada-sensei still together, Rika?" asked Sakura. She knew that her friend has been seeing their former elementary school teacher for a few years now. Rika blushed a bright red and nodded in affirmation, making the rest of the girls giggle loudly.

"And what about you Chiharu? Are you still with Yamazaki?" Being girls, the five friends loved to talk about boys and relationships.

Chiharu sighed, "Yeah we're still together…" All of the girls except for Sakura laughed. "What's so funny about that?" asked Sakura, not seeing anything wrong about the fact that Chiharu and her boyfriend Yamazaki are still together.

"Oh, you just have to see them together," laughed Tomoyo, "Ever since Yamazaki got the position of The Joker, he's being basically given a JOB to go around and tell his outrageous lies. You must remember how it used to drive Chiharu nuts!"

"Yup. And now he has a 'legitimate' excuse for ding it," sighed Chiharu, lowering her head.

"Aww! But it IS a legitimate excuse!" boomed a voice from across the room, startling all five of the girls.

"YAMAZAKI!" bellowed Chiharu, who then ran over to him and started to playfully strangle poor Yamazaki by the neck. "If you ever scare us like that again, I swear to God you will never see daylight again!"

Yamazaki only continued to laugh, making the rest of the group snigger at the scene.

"Wow," said Sakura, "I didn't know that Yamazaki was in the society as well! Our old Tomoeda group really IS back together!"

Chiharu stopped trying to strangle her boyfriend and went back to her sleeping bag, "Yeah… And I guess that me killing off one of the group would not help it." Everyone laughed at Chiharu's cute attempt at appearing tough.

Yamazaki walked over to the girls and sat down next to Chiharu. "So what will you girls be talking about now? OH! Will you be telling ghost stories?"

"Ghost stories!" cheered Naoko, "What a great idea!"

"NOOOOOOO! No ghost stories!" Yelled Sakura, making everyone look at her with a confused look on their faces.

"Oh that's right," said Yamazaki, "Kinomoto is scared of ghost stories, right?" Sakura only violently shook her head in agreement.

"Let's just talk about something pleasant, you guys! OH! Better yet, you can explain something to me!"

"What's that?" the group chorused. "Well…" said Sakura with a pensive face, "When Li announced our assignment, he said that it was to come from the highest ranking female of the society – Meilin. But Meilin is only The Page. Shouldn't The Queen be the highest ranking female?"

"Oooohhh. Sakura has picked a great topic for gossip!" smiled Chiharu. Yamazaki nodded his head and continued Chiharu's thought, "That's true. This topic is nothing short of amusing – even for me."

Sakura blinked at them with confusion, "Hoee?"

"You see," Yamazaki began to explain, "Syaoran Li comes from a very wealthy clan in China."

"Ok…" said Sakura, still not getting the absence of a queen.

"Well. Since Li is the only boy in the family, he is destined to inherit his family's wealth and business. However, before his family will be completely comfortable with him running the family business, they want him to find a bride…"

"WHAT!" hollered Sakura.

"…or at least a steady girlfriend," laughed Yamazaki. "They want to make sure that he can stay committed to something. You see, Li has had many flings in his time, but he has never had a serious girlfriend. His lack of commitment worries his clan. Therefore, they want him to prove that he can stay committed to something or someone before they give up the family business to him."

"Weird… But it makes sense," Sakura nodded her head, "But that still doesn't explain the lack of The Queen."

"And that's where The Ace comes in" happily smiled Yamazaki.

"The Ace?" questioned Sakura. 'This story is getting weirder and more complicated by the minute.'

"Yup!" piped in Chiharu, "The Ace also happens to be Li's uncle."

"Ohh..." said Sakura in mock understanding.

"That's right," continued Yamazaki, "His uncle was appointed by the Li clan to help get Syaoran a partner – or basically a girlfriend."

Sakura could not help but laugh at that. 'The mighty Li Syaoran being helped with his love life!'

Yamazaki calmly continued his tale, "So every year The Ace would appoint a girl to be The Queen of Clubs, in hopes of Li taking a liking to her. But every time Li absolutely refused to even be civil to the girl. By the end of each year, the girl would be begging to leave the society."

Sakura stared at Yamazaki in disbelief, "Is he really that bad?"

Yamazaki laughed, "Not really. But he can be very stubborn. And since he had his mind set on not getting with any girl that his uncle tried to set him up with, the girls really had no chance to begin with."

"That's true," said Rika, "But did all that change a couple of years ago?"

Yamazaki nodded, "Yup. Li's uncle grew tired of trying to hook Syaoran up with girls, that he told Syaoran that from then on he'd have choose The Queen himself. That was over two years ago. Needless to say, the society has not seen a Queen since then."

"Man… What does Li have against girls?" asked Sakura. "Haven't any of the girls that he was set up with been any good?"

"Many of them were quite wonderful," said Yamazaki gaining a glare from Chiharu, "But Li is kind of arrogant… and untrusting… and demanding… and stubborn. It isn't easy to make him like you. For example, there are only four people in the entire society that are allowed to call him by his first name."

Sakura's eyes widened in horror, "Only four!"

"Yup! The Ace, Meilin, Eriol, and myself. He likes to keep his group of friends small."

"I guess so…" muttered Sakura. 'Li must be really tough to get along with… What and odd person.'

After that the girls continued talking about different things – their initiation tasks, ghost stories, Sakura's fear of ghost stories, the upcoming school semester, and so on… Eventually the group became tired and after forcibly kicking out Yamazaki, the girls blew out the candles and went to sleep.

Yet Sakura, though exhausted from the day's excitement, found it difficult to fall asleep. A certain amber-eyed boy kept occupying her thoughts. 'I wonder why Li has so much trouble being friendly? His cousin Meilin seems to be quite outgoing, so why is he so selective in his friends?'

'Bah!' Sakura tried to shake Syaoran out of her head, 'I shouldn't be thinking about that cad! He's rude and arrogant – it's really no wonder he only has four friends in the society. And yet…' Sakura's eyes softened as she thought about Li's cold exterior. 'I wonder what could make a person be so untrusting...'

Trying to set her mind at ease, Sakura decided to simply be more careful around the egotistical King. 'It will do me no good to keep fighting with him. Arrogant or not – he IS The King. And who knows? – He might just forget about little ol' me…' Reassuring herself of Li's complete lack of interest in herself, Sakura drifted off to sleep. Yet her thoughts turned out to be just the opposite of reality, for as Sakura went to bed thinking of the bigheaded King, Syaoran tossed and turned in his own bed, trying his best to NOT think about the emerald-eyed inductee.