A/N: Inspired by an article on Yahoo called '10 tips to get out of debt'. ;)

Haruhi Fujioka's Ten Ways to Pay Back Debt

#1: Keep a log of all your expenditures.

"That'll be another three hundred thousand yen added to your debt, Haruhi."

Haruhi sighed and took out a simple blue notebook and a mechanical pencil. With a click of the pencil, she scribbled something into the book and shoved it back into her bag. When she looked up again, she met the gaping faces of four of the six other hosts.

"It couldn't be…" gasped Hikaru, clutching his brother's arm.

"No way!" exclaimed Kaoru, equally as shocked.

"S-she – my precious Haruhi – my little girl looked like –" stuttered Tamaki, seemingly scared out of his wits.

"Kyoya!" the three of them breathed in terror, looking from the Shadow King to the crossdressing girl so quickly it looked like their heads might snap off. While Haruhi was shaking her head in exasperation, she felt a tug at her sleeve and looked down to see the smallest host watching her in concern.

"Haru-chan? Are you feeling okay? Do you want to hold Usa-chan?" Honey held out his bunny to her, and Haruhi rolled her eyes, kneeling so that she could be level with him.

"I'm feeling fine, Honey-senpai," she said, with a little snort. "I just figured that since Kyoya-senpai basically controls my debt, I should at least get to see how I've managed to accumulate so much and learn to stop that from happening, right?"

"I have to admit, it's an ingenious idea," Kyoya added from behind his laptop, not even looking away from the brightly lit screen.

It was quiet for a moment in the third Music Room – an extremely rare occasion – before sound exploded again.

"I CANNOT ALLOW THIS!" Tamaki exclaimed, rushing to Haruhi's side and taking her by the shoulders. He held onto her as if she would better understand the importance of what he was going to say the tighter he gripped her. "Let Kyoya take care of the boring math work, Haruhi! You can stay here and Daddy will take good care of you and we can do all sorts of fun things –"

"Senpai, let go of me!" Haruhi struggled in his vice-like grip, trying to free herself.

"Hey, come on, Tono, let go of her!" shouted the twins in unison, and ran to their king, pulling him forcibly off of the small brunette. Tamaki let out a wordless cry of despair at being pulled away from his 'daughter' and, in a quick moment, was crouched in his corner of woe, muttering nonsense about 'shady twins' and 'just want some daddy-daughter time'.

"Haruhiiiii…" chorused the twins, advancing on her now that Tamaki was out of the way.

"Don't worry about your debt," began Hikaru, leaning on her left shoulder and looking up at her pleadingly.

"We can distract you, if you'd like that," finished Kaoru, appearing at her right and whispering in her ear. They held her close between them, and mischievous smiles lit up their faces. Haruhi rolled her eyes and shook them off.

"Leave me alone, you two," she snapped, crossing her arms across her chest. "If I do this, I have a chance at knowing how to reduce my debt and then nothing that'll happen around here can be blamed on me."

The twins shrugged and looked at each other. "Your loss."

She turned away from them and was about to walk out of the Music Room before a large hand touched her shoulder and she was forced to stop. Honey ran under his cousin's outstretched arm and skidded to a halt in front of Haruhi, blinking up at her with innocent eyes.

"Are you sure, Haru-chan? Don't you want to stay with the host club?"

"Mm."

"That's not it, Honey-senpai," Haruhi reiterated, shaking her head. "I just want to be able to get out of my debt, all right? I'm fine with the host club, I just don't like owing people –"

"You like the host club? OH, HARUHIIIIII! MY PRECIOUS LITTLE GIRL LOVES HER FAMILY!" The blond stood so quickly from his corner that he knocked a table to the floor.

"So touching!" two voices added, sniffling together.

"That's cute, Haru-chan!" piped the oldest behind his bunny rabbit.

"Yeah."

The small girl was surrounded by four bodies pressing in against her in a tight hug. She struggled to get out of it, but she only managed to be released a full minute later. With an exasperated sigh, she brushed herself off and found herself a corner alone, taking out a book so that she could study.

"By the way, Haruhi," a cool voice sounded from behind her, and she looked up to see Kyoya standing over her, his ever-present ledger under his arm, "you'll have to be more careful with what you say. When you announced your love for the club, Daddy broke our newest tea set. That's another half-million added to your debt." His eyes glinted behind his glasses.

Haruhi sighed and half-heartedly wrote the cost down in her book. At this rate, she'd never be free of the host club.

Way #1: FAILED.