Over 50 reviews! I'm so greatfull! You guys rock! Anyhow... Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Me no own CCS. But plot IS mine, so please don't steal... without permision. :b
Previously on Queen of Clubs:
"Whether I like her or not, she still has to pay for throwing her purse at me!" Syaoran grumbled out loud, mentally adding, 'And for choosing that little boy Seiriu over me…'
Chapter 9 – Have It Your Way!
Shopping with Seiriu turned out to be a lot of fun for Sakura. After spending nearly 7 hours going through several furniture and department stores, they finally got everything that Sakura needed for the rooms. Noticing that it was nearing five o'clock, Sakura quickly filled out the delivery forms for all the large pieces of furniture while Seiriu packed away the smaller items (such as linen) into their car. Finishing their work, the two friends made their way back home.
Getting back to Clubs Castle, Seiriu and Sakura found a rather curious scene. As they entered the front hall they heard loud yelling and cheering coming from the lounge. Going through the large double doors, they found Syaoran, Meilin, Sirota, and Yamazaki watching a soccer game on a large-screen TV. Besides the Royals, a few of the inductees – namely Takahiro, Naoko, and Tori – were watching the game as well.
"Get it you idiot!" yelled Yamazaki, obviously getting very into the game, while Tori and Takahiro cheered in the background.
"Welcome back!" smiled Meilin, noticing Seiriu and Sakura enter the lounge. Upon hearing Sakura's name, Syaoran looked away from the television screen. Seeing Sakura stand close to Seiriu made the jealous feeling inside of him return. Frowning, he attempted to turn his attention back to the game.
"Did you get everything you needed?" Meilin continued.
"Yup! Seiriu was a big help!" smiled Sakura, "The furniture is already on its way… I'll be able to get it all in the rooms tonight!"
"You really think you'll be able to do all that by yourself? In one night?" coldly said Syaoran, keeping his eyes on the TV screen.
"Hoee?" blinked Sakura, "Why by myself? Won't the delivery people help me move the furniture in?" she asked in an innocent tone, turning her head to Seiriu as if hoping he would reaffirm her.
"Need I remind you that the inductees are not allowed to get outside help for their tasks?" stated Syaoran in the same icy attitude.
Sakura slowly gulped. "B-but then how am I supposed to get all that furniture in the rooms?"
"Ask around – no one in this room seems to be doing anything…" said Meilin, adding with a small smile, "I'd love to help you, but like I said earlier – Seiriu and I have work to do…"
Sakura turned to the other people in the room. "Umm... Would any of you be willing - "
Her sentence was cut short by none other than Sirota. "I've been waiting for you to ask, my dear Sakura! I'd love to help you out!" he said, getting up from his seat. But before he could make one step in her direction, Syaoran's voice cut through the room.
"SIT!" Syaoran growled, earning a glare from Sirota. After making sure the ambassador took his seat, Syaoran turned his head to Sakura. "Do you really expect the Royal Court to help YOU?" His voice was low and seethed with arrogance.
"I don't see why not. No one seems particularly busy – so why not help me out?" said Sakura calmly, though she was trying her best not to let her anger flare. 'What a self-centered jerk!'
"Busy or not – you can find your own damn help!" Syaoran growled, still bitterly remembering Sakura's choice. 'She didn't want my help this morning, so she's not going to get it now. Too bad her beloved Seiriu can't help her now!'
"Fine!" yelled Sakura, "Then the Royal Court doesn't have help me! I'm sure my fellow inductees will prove to be more than willing to show common courtesy!" With that she turned to Takahiro, Tori, and Naoko. She was about to ask them to help her when Li's voice once again roared through the room.
"You had this coming since day one - throwing your purse at me without even considering the consequences. And now you dare to talk back to me? Don't think you won't be punished for your insolent behavior!" he barked at Sakura. Turning to the inductees he loudly proclaimed, "No one in this room is allowed to help her! Understood!" The inductees merely nodded in fright.
Angry, Sakura was about to fling herself at Syaoran and strangle him to death, but luckily she was stopped by Meilin's hand on her shoulder.
Leaning in closer to Sakura's ear, Meilin softly whispered, "He only mentioned the people in this room. Loda – the guy working on the attic – isn't in here. He's the captain of the university's weight lifting team. I'm sure he'll be able to help you out."
Taking a breath to calm herself down, Sakura faced Meilin and gave her a grateful look. Then, throwing Syaoran a cold glare, she said in her most biting manner, "Have it your way, your majesty." With that she left the room and went straight towards the attic.
Walking over to Meilin, Syaoran grabbed her by the shoulders and asked, "What did you tell her?"
"I merely told her of a way to get the task completed, you moron!" said Meilin, brushing his hands from her shoulders. "Nice going, by the way, "she added with sarcasm before walking away from him, "The way you're acting, she'll fall in love with you in no time."
For the umpteenth time that week, Syaoran let out an unpleasant growl and stomped over to the mini bar to pour himself a drink. Noticing that the rest of the people in the lounge were throwing him odd looks, he angrily said, "What are you looking at? Get back to the game!" Needless to say, every face in the room immediately shot back to the wide-screen television.
After finding her way to the attic, Sakura began to wonder if Loda would really be willing to help her out with her dilemma. Although she had seen him around a lot, she was never able to strike up a decent conversation with him, so they really didn't know each other well.
'It's worth a try…' Sakura told herself and approached a working Loda, who was currently moving large boxes from one side of the attic to the other, obviously almost done with his own task of cleaning the attic.
Noticing Sakura approach him made Loda stop, still holding a heavy box in his strong hands. He looked at her questionably.
"Ummm…" began Sakura, "Hi there!" Loda nodded in response. 'Really not the talking type,' Sakura noted mentally.
"I-I know that this will probably be too much to ask for, but…" Sakura's heart began to race. 'What if he says no!' she mentally screamed. "But… I have a big problem with my task. I need to move all the furniture into the rooms tonight so that I'll be able to finish my task by the end of tomorrow, but I have no one to help me. Meilin told me that you're the captain of the weight lifting team and that you might be able to help me. S-so I was wondering if - "
Before Sakura could continue her nervous rambling, Loda's strong voice cut her off. "I'll do it," he said simply, putting down the box and reaching into his pocket to fish out his cell phone. "I'll call my team-mates to help."
"Y-you will!" Sakura blinked up at Loda, "Thank you so much!" she finally cried, overjoyed.
"But there's one catch," added Loda in the same calm manner. Sakura blinked at him, "Hoee?"
"If I help you, you'll have to get your friend Naoko to talk to me," he said as if it was the most obvious demand in the world. Sakura blinked a few more times.
"Naoko? You want me to get Naoko to talk to you?" Suddenly she noticed a slight blush creeping up on Loda's cheeks. 'Oh, my goodness! He likes Naoko!'
"Oh, my goodness! You like Naoko," she echoed her thoughts, making Loda turn bright red.
"S-she's quiet… and doesn't talk much... So will you do it?" Loda said, quite embarrassed.
"Sure!" beamed Sakura. 'This is great! I get help to finish my task, AND I get to set up one of my friends with a nice guy!'
Loda dialed a few numbers on his cell phone, mumbled something into the receiver, and moments later spoke up to Sakura. "Five of my team mates will be here in a few minutes. Let's go and see the wing you've been working with. You can explain to me where you want everything to go." Sakura happily nodded and led the way to the new wing.
After showing Loda around the rooms and explaining some of her ideas, Sakura heard a loud knocking on the front door. Figuring it was either the delivery man or Loda's friends, Sakura rushed to the front entrance.
"I'll get it!" she screamed to no one in particular as she ran towards the door. But by the time she made it to her destination, she saw Syaoran opening the door for whoever it was that was knocking.
"Hi! We're here for Sakura!" she heard a cheery, male voice from outside the doorway. A smile appeared on Sakura's face as she neared the door.
She saw five, extremely tall and well-built young men standing on the doorstep, waiting to be let in, while a grim-looking Syaoran threw daggers at them with his eyes.
"Hi there!" greeted Sakura, "I'm Sakura! You must be Loda's friends!" The five men smiled and nodded.
"Yes," said one of the boys, a friendly smile showing even in his crystal-blue eyes, "Loda called and said that you needed help. So he ordered us to come and help you out." The four guys behind him only nodded in agreement.
"Thank you for coming! You don't know how much your help means to me!" smiled Sakura, grabbing the boy who spoke by the arm and dragging him inside the mansion as the rest of the gang followed.
Watching Sakura get all friendly with the newcomers made Syaoran glare even harder. 'Great! Thanks to my stupid revenge I threw Sakura into the arms of FIVE other men' Syaoran mentally cursed himself.
As the weightlifters entered the mansion Sakura asked them for their names.
"I'm Koishi." "I'm Nakuto!" "My name's Jihau!" "Taron here!" "And you can call me Zhiko!" The boys introduced themselves one by one, finishing with the blue-eyed young man.
"It's nice to meet you all," said Sakura giving them a small bow, "And you can call me Sakura."
Syaoran loudly coughed to make Sakura acknowledge his presence.
Sakura's emerald eyes shot towards Li. "Oh, That's Li," she added in an emotionless tone, "He always looks this grumpy, so don't mind him."
Li growled and glared at Sakura. 'Why do I like her again?' He was angry at her cold attitude, despite knowing that he was the one that pushed her to it.
Sakura turned away from him and brightly smiled at the weightlifters. Seeing her smile, made Syaoran regret his previous behavior, 'Oh that's right… That's why I like her.'
"Ah! You're here!" said Loda, entering the front hall. He smiled to his pals as he came closer. "And just in time," he pointed outside.
While the group was talking, two large trucks pulled into the driveway of the castle.
"How much stuff did you buy!" said Loda in disbelief. Sakura blushed slightly and rubbed the back of her head.
"Hey! I have to completely furnish five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a lounge! That's a lot!" she said in mock defense.
"Well, then we better get to work," Loda calmly said and nodded for his friends to follow him to the trucks.
The six weight lifters walked towards the huge vehicles, helping the delivery men unload all the furniture. Sakura ran after them and, despite the men's attempts to convince her to let them do all the work, she began helping them unload some of the smaller things.
Li watched Sakura as she fussed around the unloaded furniture, trying to figure which room each piece of furniture belongs to. Seeing her happily converse with Loda and his friends made his jealous heart ache to be close to her. His fists tightened as his amber eyes softened in longing. 'Stupid pride…' he thought to himself.
"I bet you're regretting yelling at her just about now," said a mischievous voice behind him. He turned around and found Meilin staring at him with an I-told-you-so smirk on her face. Her arms were folded across her chest and one of her feet was rhythmically tapping on the hard-wood floor.
"I had no other choice," Syaoran tried to rationalize with his cousin as well as with himself, "She doesn't seem to know how to properly speak to or act around a Royal."
"I see nothing wrong in the way she interacts with me," plainly stated Meilin. Syaoran could only avert his gaze. He knew that his cousin was right, but being the hard-headed King that he was, he would rather die than to admit it.
"Well, what's done is done," he said calmly, "No need to fret over something that can't be changed." His eyes were still intently watching Sakura, which did not go by unnoticed by Meilin.
"Then perhaps you should stop staring and figure out a way to get into her good graces again," she said, giving him a hard pat on the back.
Syaoran nodded, turned away from the sight of Sakura, and closed the front door before him. Sighing, he slowly made his way back into the lounge while Meilin turned on the flash on her photo camera and walked outside to take pictures of Sakura just as she promised Tomoyo.
Once the two cousins exited the room, the front hall became deathly silent. Suddenly, slow footsteps sounded through the empty room, coming closer and closer to the front entrance. The large door squeaked as it was opened just enough for a person to see through to the drive way.
Sirota's maroon eyes watched through the crack he made with the front door. He watched Sakura moving around the boxes of furniture, talking and laughing with her newly-made friends, trying to hide from Meilin's camera. His eyes narrowed in dislike.
'Li has made a bad choice, surrounding her with men like that,' his mind seethed, 'With the six of them around, I'll never get the chance to get her by herself.' He slowly closed the crack of the door, but continued staring at the wood as if he could simply look through it. "I guess I'll just have to wait until she's alone," he whispered out, an eerie smirk forming on his thin lips. With that finishing sentence, Sirota stepped away from the front entrance and walked in the direction of the lounge.