Disclaimer I don't own anything related to Ouran Highschool Host Club. It belongs to its legal designators.

.:|:.

"Debt-Free"

[Hints of HikaHaru, TamaHaru and KyouHaru]

.:|:.

The six male Host club members stared at their female companion with wide, disbelieving eyes. The Third Music Room was filled with a thick, pregnant silence. All the boys, hold Kyouya, stared down the brunette. The twins looked to one another nervously as if searching for an answer from each other; Hunny gripped the fabric of Mori's blazer a little tighter as his brows furrowed and the tall senior stood rigid with anticipation; Kyouya watched her curiously, wondering how this was going to play by their 'King'.

Said 'King' seemed to have been stoned with shock.

Well, since Tamaki was stunned to silence, one of the less shocked of the Hosts ventured anxiously; "What... did you just say, Haru-chan?" Hunny asked her.

Haruhi sighed out and began speaking again, "I said that I can pay back my debt now. My grandfather was apparently well-off before he passed, and he left his inheritance to me, since I am his daughter's daughter." She said, bringing out her purse from her book bag. She walked over to Kyouya, and suddenly became anxious herself. 'This is it! I'll finally be rid of that pesky debt...!' she thought to herself.

Hurriedly, she took out a large wad of yen bills and handed it over to the club's vice-president. The other Host club boys looked at Kyouya worriedly, but the glasses-character paid them no mind. Taking the sum of money in his hands, he added it up swiftly and gave a nod.

"Well, it's all here..." he muttered, and smiled to Haruhi, "I suppose a celebration is in order? You're now officially debt-free." He said, holding out a hand to shake with the younger girl.

Haruhi took his hand and shook it, grinning to herself in a satisfied manner. Inside her mind though, she was a lot more ecstatic; her inner-self gave some sort of 'happy dance'.

She was free!!

Only there was one problem... rather, there were five of them.

Tamaki was still stoned senseless with shock, and had gone further into his subconscious from the shock upon witnessing the actual transaction of money between his classmate and Haruhi.

The twins and Hunny were a lot less quiet about their disagreement on this situation.

Hunny ran over and hugged her tightly around her lower-waist, bawling his eyes out in her stomach. "Uwaaah! Please, you can't leave us Haru-chan!!" he cried in despair. Mori stood close by, nodding in agreement with his cousin.

The twins joined in with Hunny, grabbing Haruhi from both sides and burying their faces into her hair. "Yeah!!" they cried together.

"Whatever would we do without our toy around to play with?" asked Kaoru.

"It would be way too boring without you around!" Hikaru added.

Haruhi struggled under their hold exasperatedly, finding it difficult to move around. "What are you guys talking about? Stop hanging off of me like a coat-rack!" she said, trying to shake them off.

"The twins and Hunny-senpai have a point though, Haruhi. Now that your debt has been paid off, there's nothing tying you to the Host Club," Kyouya said and Haruhi looked at him, "You could leave now, if you wanted to." Kyouya explained to her.

Over with stoned-Tamaki, something seemed to crack, ever-so-slightly.

"Ah?" Haruhi blinked.

"I'm rather curious about what you'll decide to do with your time now. Are you going to use this extended free-time to focus on working towards your goal... to be a lawyer, was it?" Kyouya mused.

"Oh... Yes, well that is the whole reason why I took the scholarship here at Ouran in the first place." Haruhi answered, nodding.

"Haru-chan..." Hunny muttered, and Haruhi looked down to the senior clamped to her waist. His eyes were laced with fresh tears, "Are you really gonna leave the club??" he asked shakily, more tears slipping out from his chocolate coloured eyes.

Haruhi's heart ached. Hunny sure was good at those crocodile tears... though they weren't fake... she thought they weren't, at least.

"Hunny-senpai..." she frowned, trying to think of what to say to him.

The twins also gave their thoughts.

Hesitantly, Hikaru began, "It's not just because it'd be boring without you around, for us. We want you to stay with us for more than just that." He assured her.

"You're very important to us, Haruhi... the first one to tell us apart." Kaoru let her know. 'She's special...' Kaoru thought, glancing to his brother who was gripping her just that little bit tighter than he was. He was clinging to her, like a life-line. 'She's become a very essential part of Hikaru's and my life... but though we're still in the same class, she'll undoubtedly spend less time with us to focus on her studies; and that would hurt Hikaru.' Kaoru thought, frowning sadly.

"You guys are overreacting." Haruhi concluded, sighing. "Especially you two," she looked between the twins, "We'll still be in the same class. Though I'm gonna spend more time on my studies –which is more important for me- I'm not going to go anywhere. We can still hang out – when I'm not busy." She told the two.

So don't worry.

Hikaru's brows furrowed in a stifled desperation, and to hide his worried expression he buried his face into the crook of her neck without a word. Kaoru softened, somewhat calmed by her sure words.

With her confidence in her words, who wouldn't be at least a little reassured?

But still... he couldn't help but worry; for his brother's sake.

Haruhi then turned to tend to Hunny, "And I'll pop by the clubroom every now and then, too. So you don't have to worry either, Hunny-senpai." She said with a soft, somewhat motherly smile. Hunny hugged her a little tighter, before stepping back a little, insecurely gripping her blazer's sleeve. Nevertheless, he smiled a little. And that was enough for Haruhi.

Haruhi redirected her gaze to Tamaki next, who had been staring at her almost lifelessly for a while now. His brows were creased with worry and fear. She guessed he was in the middle of an Inner-Mind-Theatre Nightmare session.

She sighed, "The same goes for you, Tamaki-senpai." She said, "And Mori-senpai, too." She nodded to the tallest club member, who nodded with a smile.

Tamaki's brows knitted further together, and he balled his fists lightly, his lips pursed together. Kyouya raised his eyebrows at him.

"You heard the girl. You can stop worrying, now." Kyouya said.

But of course, as the 'father' Tamaki couldn't help but worry about his 'baby girl'. Her words seemed to lift a few weights off the second-year's shoulders, and tears sprung from his eyes.

Pushing the twins away from her, Tamaki took Haruhi into his arms with a firm, tight hug. "I know.... I know.... Daddy just has to accept that his daughter is moving on. It's just hard, that's all...!" he muttered into her shoulder.

Haruhi sighed out irritably, "Hey..." – She wasn't his daughter for goodness sake! She would have thought that somewhere along the line he'd have figured that out but she guessed there was no hope for this guy.

Hikaru scowled at the 'lord', and stepped towards the two prepared to separate them, "Hey, milord..." he groaned, twitching.

Haruhi removed Tamaki by herself though, with a firm grip on the skin from the back of his hand and side-stepping out of his hold.

"So... What's happening now?" Kaoru asked Haruhi gently.

"Well... Now that it's no longer necessary that I show up at the Host Club, I won't be visiting as often; because quite honestly the time can be better spent studying. But I'll admit I don't want to completely leave, either. You guys have all grown on me..." Haruhi told them.

They grinned at her. She had most definitely grown on each and every one of them, as well.

Haruhi continued, "So I'll visit from now and then; perhaps host a little while I'm here. I'm not going to put too much on my plate though, since it's purely voluntary this time." She explained.

"That's perfectly acceptable." Kyouya nodded, "It would be a shame to lose such an asset to our club. However, your visits may prove to hold a good profit as well, as your customers will pay double the price for your rare presence." He mused.

"Hey, don't get all calculative with Haruhi's visits! You don't want to scare her away!" Hikaru complained, grabbing one arm.

"Yeah, she said she'd visit to see us, not to see the customers." Kaoru pouted, taking her other arm.

Haruhi laughed a little, "No that's fine," she shrugged and everyone glanced at her, "I've come to accept it; that being 'calculative' is the way Kyouya-senpai works. And I don't mind it so much anymore." Haruhi admitted.

Kyouya smiled faintly to himself.

'Haruhi seems to be able to understand us all... our quirks, our assets, our faults, our feelings...' Kyouya thought to himself, watching as Haruhi slipped out from the twins' holds and headed towards the door. The other Hosts rushed after her to ask where she was going.

She smiled to them, "Where do you think? To catch up on some well-deserved study time." She told the twins and Tamaki, brushing them off good-naturedly.

They sighed and relaxed slightly, watching as she left down the hallways for the library.

'Our precious little commoner.... what would we ever do without you?'

~owari~

Kin: For the record, I'm rooting for HikaHaru. =]

Just a musing on how things would play out when the time that Haruhi can pay back her debt should come. It seems that the story slipped into the point-of-view of Kyouya when I was writing this. Which isn't a bad thing - I think it came out rather nicely! ^^ I was almost tempted to continue this on to more than a one-shot, but I decided I've got too many big projects on my plate. I might to a series-style story for Ouran some time, but only when I'm not as busy.

Reviews, please? I'd love some feedback. ^^