It was supposed to be a nice cool autumn day, and it was. Many people were outside enjoying the weather, and the Host Club was no different, holding their activities in the school courtyard, rather than in the third music room as was typical. Tamaki peevishly announced that he was bored after being pelted one too many times with apples by the twins, shrugged his coat on, and wandered elsewhere. Not long after, a rainstorm broke out, and everyone went indoors. In the ensuing chaos, it wasn't until after the last customer hurried away to try and beat the rainstorm that anyone noticed Tamaki was still missing.

"Where's Tama-chan?" Honey asked, looking up from a cup of applesauce that Haruhi had brought back from the supermarket.

"Maybe he was kidnapped," Kaoru suggested in a serious voice.

Haruhi was about to scoff at that suggestion before remembering exactly where she went to school. Her statement ended up becoming a question. "He probably just got lost?"

"Even if he was kidnapped, the criminals would probably end up paying us to take him back." Hikaru laughed. "But his getting lost is more likely. He doesn't have the best sense of direction. He could probably get lost in his own home."

Haruhi wondered at that. Possibly anyone in the Host Club (excluding her, of course) could get reasonably lost in their own homes.

"In a paper bag certainly. Or maybe even…"

Hikaru was saved from thinking of another possibility when the door opened and a dripping wet Tamaki came in with something wrapped in his coat. He walked over and set it down next to the couch with a sigh and then fell back into the seat.

"Senpai!" Haruhi called. "Where have you been?" She handed him a towel and reached for the bundle in his coat. It was shivering. "What do you have in…" His coat jumped and she found herself holding a puppy. There were five more in what looked like a basket, all of them cold and wet. She looked from them to the one she was holding and finally to the exhausted looking Tamaki. "I think we're going to need more towels."

Lots of towels and a few cups of tea later, Tamaki had recovered and looked more or less like his normal self.

"Kyouya!"

The student in question sighed and adjusted his glasses. "What is it, Tamaki?"

"What am I going to do with these puppies? Even I, with a heart large enough for the whole world, cannot devote all the time and care necessary to nurture six adorable puppies! One of them already almost got hit by a car!"

"Ah…" the twins exclaimed in unison, grinning widely.

"You should've taken better care of her, my lord!" Hikaru teased. "You obviously weren't paying enough attention to her!"

"Hikaru…" Kaoru said softly, "you'd never neglect me like that, would you?" He tilted his head so the tears in his eyes caught the light just so…

"Never, Kaoru." His twin held his chin and gazed at him gently. "I can't bear to have you out of my sight."

"Hikaru…"

"We don't have any customers right now, you two," Kyouya remarked, scribbling something else in his notebook.

Ignoring the argument going on behind them, Haruhi and Honey peered into the now much larger basket, filled with huge pillows and soft towels. The puppies were all sleeping, barely visible amidst the nest of pillows. Honey tucked his stuffed bunny in with them.

"Usa-chan can watch them, in case they get lonely," was his explanation. He still didn't seem completely satisfied with that as protection, and sat there, continuing to watch them.

"Kyouya!" Tamaki complained again. "What are we going to do with them?"

"Put them up for adoption." Kyouya suggested practically.

"I can't give them up to people I don't even know! My poor children! We can at least find people we know will take good care of them…"

"Who?"

"Ah…I'm sorry to interrupt…" One of the girls poked her head in. "I left my umbrella…" she offered as an excuse. As she made her way across the room, she caught sight of the basket. "They're so adorable! It's too bad that they're sleeping, I'd quite like to play with them."

Haruhi turned to look at Kyouya, who merely scribbled something else in his notebook as Mori politely escorted the girl to the door. The moment Mori closed the door behind her, Kyouya merely said, "Three days."

"Thank you, Kyouya!"

Distributing the Puppies Through the Host Club: Day One

"Oh, they're so cute!" was a common refrain the first day. The puppies had recovered enough from their misadventure in the rain to wander back and forth across the Host Club floor, occasionally causing little spills and leaving messes for them to clean up. One of them, smaller than the others, managed to claim the most food for itself and attached itself to one of the girls immediately, refusing to allow any of the other puppies close to her. Kyouya took her aside and asked if she wouldn't mind taking care of it.

"That's one down." Haruhi remarked, as the girl cheerfully agreed. "Isn't that girl one of Honey-senpai's regular customers?"

Distributing the Puppies Through the Host Club: Day Two

Two of them were inseparable, sharing their portion of the food and more or less ignoring the other puppies and people. Except when there was a chance to sink their teeth in something. The girls watched avidly as they played together.

"We're not going to be able to separate those two." Tamaki sighed to one of his customers.

"They're so adorable together! Who would want to?"

"Ah, princess, you are as kind as you are beautiful. Would you be willing to take both of them? They look as though they'd cause a lot of trouble." His shoes had been their first victims.

"We can make do." She smiled. "They're a lot like the Hitachiin brothers, don't you think?"

Distributing the Puppies Through the Host Club: Day Three

On the last day, Kyouya tallied up some percentages and remarked that attendance had increased by about twenty percent total.

"So you're satisfied with the result?" Haruhi asked curiously. The three puppies that were left were quite interesting. One was quiet and observant, watching everything that was going on with interest. Of the other two, one, the girl, was also quiet, though she explored curiously and poked her nose into everything. The other followed it around, as if making sure that she was all right.

One of the girls had a younger sister in the hospital and asked for the quiet one to cheer her up while still not causing much trouble. After ascertaining that her younger sister had a good track record with pets, Kyouya let that one go as well.

After the last customer left, the Host Club observed the two that were left. The girl slid happily across the floor until it tripped and the other raced towards it and whimpered softly.

"Interesting." Mori remarked, and Honey nodded.

The girl recovered and went off on her way. In its haste to follow, the boy slipped and fell down. Haruhi reached for it and picked it up. "I might take this one for a while." Haruhi said offhandedly as she hugged the puppy, which settled down quite happily.

The twins eyed the girl puppy, wandering through the room fearlessly until it bumped into a table and knocked a teacup over and shattered it. They looked at each other, shrugged and left the room.

"I suppose you'll have to keep that one then, Tamaki." Kyouya said. "That tea service was worth quite a bit."

"That's fine with me," Tamaki agreed. "I can handle just one." He watched Haruhi play with the one she had chosen. "Why do you want that one anyway?"

Haruhi picked it up again and smiled. "It reminds me of you."

A/N: Happy Birthday Rene-chan! I hope this didn't go up too late.