"Nuh-uh."

"No way."

"Hell. No."

Well, no surprise there. It had been the answer the Host Club expected, not what they wanted, but it was expected from the fuzzy portion of the club, currently spread out on the biggest of Music Room 3's couches and ignoring the request asked of them.

"But you have to do it!" Tamaki whined before them. "We already promised Nekozawa-sempai we would watch his adorable little sister tonight, but since we've been bombarded with last minute plans, you're our only hope!"

"Funny how things always happen 'last minute'," Knuckles grated.

"Especially since this is the first time I've heard of any baby-sitting agreement," Sonic added. "Last time I checked, 'we' meant this whole club, meaning the ten of us."

Tails nodded. "Sonic's right. Baby-sitting is hard enough without being told you're gonna do it last minute."

"Exactly." Sonic waved his hand as if waving away a fly. "So you can go and tell Mr. Dark Magic-"

"Black Magic," Tails corrected.

"Whatever. He can just put her in a zoo for all I care 'cause we're not watching her," Sonic said with finality, and the two remaining Fuzzies nodded in agreement.

A long silence took over, during which the original hosts looked at each other, then to Tamaki who had retreated to his emo corner in a fog of rejection. The non-rejected, nor fuzzy, hosts sweatdropped, knowing just what the King was planning with the whole sitting in the corner, mumbling to himself and looking back at the Fuzzies with pleading little puppy eyes.

Haruhi shook her head. As ridiculous as it looked, those silly little eyes had gotten her to succumb to Tamaki's will a handful of times, but when considering the Fuzzies' hard-headedness it might not work. As said club members laid eyes on the King, though, she changed her mind.

As the silence went on, Haruhi found her rather enjoyed watching the Fuzzies' stone-set rejection turn to mush under Tamaki's hopeful gaze. She enjoyed watching the fox cub give up pretty much instantly, the hedgehog narrow his eyes but give up in twice the time, and the stubborn echidna hold the longest record with crossed arms and his usual unhappy demeanor.

At last, he rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine. We'll do it," he said with no light distaste, then added acerbically, "but we're not going to be held responsible for what happens to the kid, got it?"

"You're the best!" Before the fuzzy tri had time to blink, Tamaki leapt onto the couch to gather the trio in a hug, but said trio scattered, sending the King crashing into the couch, the resulting momentum tipping the piece of furniture and sending His Majesty to the floor in a less-than-graceful manner.

Haruhi shook her head in disbelief as the twins laughed in the background; this club just got more and more insane with each passing day. She didn't know how much more she could take. She supposed it was a good thing that her dad wanted to spend time with her during one of his rare nights off, and that the other club members had their own tasks to take care of.

And with the Fuzzies having a newfound task of their own, tonight was shaping up to be the most peaceful night of her life.

So, with the new sitters found (who were later more than approved by Nekozawa), the Host Club bid farewell to the more colorful of their members and set off for the night without so much as a backwards thought of the Fuzzies, Nekozawa, or his little sister.

Who they had all forgotten was terrified of animals.

Now, imagine, if you will, the scene of a little girl, cute and innocent, walking into a room where she thought she would be in the safe hands of several of her fair acquaintances for the night, but instead finds a trio of her worst fear, in various colors. Chances are, after a long, utterly shocked silence, she'd either scream or cry, but since she was still quite young and couldn't really tell the difference between the two, she did both. At the same time.

Knuckles, who had been the closest to the door at the time the girl walked in, gritted his teeth as Sonic, who had been enjoying a little nap up until a certain little foghorn went off, sat up abruptly (almost falling off the window sill) and glared at the echidna.

"What did you do?" the hedgehog demanded, looking from Knuckles to the girl. "Who is that?"

The echidna shot him an incredulous look. "You're kidding, right? It hasn't even been two hours since we got stuck with this brat!"

"Well, it's no wonder she's crying." Sonic clicked his tongue pityingly. "I'd burst into tears too if I had to see that scowl at her age. Lighten up, Knux. Don't you know anything about children?"

Knuckles scoffed and crossed his arms squarely. "Besides dealing with you and your side kick, my knowledge is limited, sorry."

"I'm only letting that one go because there are young ears around." Sonic glanced at the girl who had taken to fumbling with the lock on the door in a vain attempt to escape. When she saw his gaze, she screamed again, trying with all her might to pry the door free.

"Hah, she's not afraid of me," Knuckles mocked as Sonic jumped from the little girl's din, his ears flat against his skull.

"Can it, Knucklehead," Sonic snapped, and the echidna smiled smugly.

Finally, little Kirimi realized that she wouldn't make it out the door any time soon and plopped on her bottom, screaming/crying at the top of her lungs.

"What is that?" Tails questioned, his head appearing from behind a couch across the room, his face concerned. "It sounds like it's in pain." He hovered to where the tiny blonde cried, her hands covering her face. He studied her for a moment before turning to his friends, asking, "What did you guys do?"

"Nothing!" the other two Fuzzies exclaimed. They shot each other looks, then Knuckles continued. "She just walked in and started screaming. I didn't even notice she was there until that racket started." All this said rather loudly, considering Kirimi got louder with every word they said.

They had resorted to covering their ears, confusion plastered on their faces. "They better add this to part of our debt repayment," Sonic shouted mockingly.

"Come on, guys! She's just a little girl! How hard can this be?" Tails rebutted, trying to get to her side to comfort her. But when she noticed him moving, she screamed and scampered to the corner of the room. She hid behind a table leg and cried.

"I dun' like animals," she whined, falling back on her rump and covering her face. She resumed her sobbing, but it was much quieter now that she was a little further away.

The three Fuzzies stared at each other in disbelief. They knew the other members weren't exactly the smartest people, but missing that one tiny fact went beyond stupid. "What do we do about that?" Tails asked, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Nothing, just leave her alone," Knuckles responded, resuming his comfortable position on the couch he was on.

"They won't appreciate coming back with her crying all over the place. At the rate she's going, the room'll be flooded in an hour," Sonic explained, tapping his toe.

"It's not our problem." Knuckles' eyes were closed, his head resting on the armrest of the couch. He was trying his best to ignore the hedgehog's annoying banter and the little girl's even more annoying noise.

"But, it is, Knuckles," Tails butted in. "We promised."

The echidna opened one eye and shot a glare at the fox, who flattened his ears defensively. "Fine," he muttered. "But you guys think of something. I'm not that great with... children."

"Fine," the other two Fuzzies agreed. "But you're still gonna help out eventually," Sonic pressed. As response, Knuckles grunted.

"So, what're your ideas, Tails?" Sonic questioned, noticing the contemplative look on the kit's face.

"Well, going near her is out of the question, obviously." The fox's tails twitched thoughtfully as he paced in a small circle.

"Obviously," Sonic echoed, glancing Kirimi's way. She'd stopped crying, realizing they weren't going to come after her, but squeaked when she noticed his glance. Her face crumpled, and the hedgie looked away, forlorn. "Jeez, kids."

"Are there any leftover sweets in the back room?" Tails asked hopefully.

"How should I know?" Sonic shrugged.

"I bet she'd like some cake," Tails clarified, giving Sonic a look. "Soon."

"Oh, right." With that, the hedgehog zipped to the back room where they stored the snacks and appeared just as quickly with a strawberry shortcake, already sliced and ready to be eaten. "Kids like cake," he said out loud, as if to explain it to himself. They put a single piece and a dessert fork on a plate, Tails inched it to where the little girl sat. After about a minute of getting virtually nowhere, Sonic grabbed the plate from the fox and zipped it to her side.

Kirimi felt the gust of wind and shut her eyes tightly. When she opened them again, there was cake in front of her. She giggled excitedly and gripped the fork with her whole hand, stabbing the strawberry on top and devouring it in one bite.

The Fuzzies watched her smile and relaxed a bit. "But we can't just give her cake all night," Tails explained.

"Sure we can. Just watch." Sonic had gotten a whole pile of plates from the back room and was preparing the rest of the pieces. He watched as Kirimi finished her cake and ran to replace it. She felt the gust of wind return, and laughed excitedly. This repeated until the little girl had eaten three and a half pieces of cake. While Sonic waited for her to finish her fourth, a pout spread over her face and she lay on her side, grasping her stomach and whining loudly.

"Told you," Tails rebuffed.

"Makes me worry about that kid you're always hanging around. He could eat that, easy." Sonic tapped a finger to his chin. "Maybe she'll fall asleep?" he wondered aloud.

And, miraculously, she did after a few minutes. Right there on the floor. As did Knuckles, who was snoring quietly on the couch.

"We gotta get her off the floor," Tails mentioned, as Sonic was getting comfortable in his windowsill again.

"What for? Sleeping on the floor builds character." He waved his hand through the air and through the fox's idea.

"Sonic," Tails pressed. The hedgehog opened one eye in his direction, then sighed.

"Fine, but I wanna have fun with this." He grinned as he ran to her, lifted her gingerly in his arms, and placed her on a couch.

A few hours later, most of the Host Club returned, either to check up on the babysitting trio, or to laugh at the outcome. Tamaki squealed excitedly, noticing that the Fuzzies had actually done something right, and hugged Sonic tightly, thanking him from the bottom of his heart and promising to make it up to them. Honey bounded straight to Tails and thanked him too, explaining what fun he had that night and that he really wanted some cake.

The twins meandered to the couch nearest the door and snorted, holding back their laughter.

"He said he wasn't good with kids," Kaoru mused.

On the couch, sleeping peacefully, were Kirimi and Knuckles. The little girl was snuggled against the echidna's chest. They both had little smiles on their faces from dreaming nice little dreams.

"What a little liar," his brother seconded. They whipped cameras from their pockets, a mischievous gleam shooting through their eyes. All's fair after being tied up in a closet.

Ta-daa! The first of our promised shorts for OHAH has arrived! :D :D :D DID YOU LOVE IT? You'd better cause there'll be more to come! ...eventually XD Please R+R ;)