Author's Note: I have too much stuff going on. Thank you Water-Lily7295, NightWorldPrincess, KagenoNek, BrittMarie, Senrii, Fruitsbasketluver123, paigeydoll, Cauryn Terenky, fyre-mizt, 123-Cat-Cat-321, Howl My Dear and Wake Up and Live for your reviews. You guys make me happy! Cheerfulshadow2, dear, I would have replied to the message you sent, but you've disabled private messages.

Chapter 4: Honey

Haruhi pulled the cursed white dress over her head, in a bathroom on the other side of the school from the first, as she tried to resign herself to the idea of being found out. It was inevitable this time. Meeting with the entire Host Club, all at once, somebody was going to recognize her. Dully she wondered who it would be. Honey or Mori seemed like good bets, they were the only ones left who hadn't yet fallen for her disguise after all, and yet somehow Kyoya seemed equally likely, despite the fact that he hadn't recognized her last time.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, she mused, leaving her bag concealed within the leaves of a large potted plant not far from the music room. Maybe they would all be so embarrassed that they'd let her off the hook. Or maybe their compulsive chivalry wouldn't allow them to exploit a girl. If nothing else it would be interesting. Then again, this might also make things a lot worse. If they didn't let her off the hook then she'd still be stuck with her debt, but now with no way to pay it off except running errands for the rest of her school career. She leaned against the wall and whined softly.

What had possessed her to do this? Why had she promised Kyoya she would? And why did she have to do it anyway? It wasn't like she'd given Kyoya any means of holding her to her word. She could just as easily have gone home, thrown away the dress and never gone to that bathroom again. Or maybe she should have told Kyoya who she was, and then tried to see if she could bargain with it? No, Kyoya was too unpredictable. Better that she not think about what-ifs and simply get this over with. If she actually did get through this meeting, she promised herself she would indeed go straight home and burn this damn dress. It had gotten her into way too much trouble already.

Squaring her shoulders, she pushed off from the wall and began to walk purposefully towards the music room. Her shoes clicked against the floor of the empty hallway in a most satisfying manner, and by the time she'd reached the double doors of the club room she was feeling almost confident.

The doors creaked open . . . to reveal six gorgeous rich boys all staring at her with rapt attention.

There went that feeling.

Nobody said anything. They were all staring at her blankly, with a mixture of confusion and wonder on their faces. Haruhi's face began to heat up, and her eyes switched from host to host, some unknown force keeping them off the floor where she would really have rather put them.

Suddenly Honey's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Haruhi watched as his mouth stretched into an ecstatic grin and his eyes widened to comical proportions. She blinked, vaguely worried that his face would split in half, and also wondering if this meant he recognized her.

"Honey-senpai?" she asked cautiously.

She had expected him to cry out 'Haru-chan!' and confuse the others for a moment until they caught on, but instead Honey darted up to her at full speed and leaped into her arms. On a reflex Haruhi caught him as the force of his jump spun them both around twice. She staggered for her footing for a moment, but at last was able to steady herself and look Honey properly in the face.

Honey's eyes were still wide with a look of awe and adoration. For a split second Haruhi was left to wonder what was going on in his head, before . . .

"Mitsukai-chan is sooooooo kawaii!"

Haruhi let out a half relieved, half exasperated sigh.

"Isn't she though!" Tamaki gushed, racing forward next. "See, I told you all she was the most beautiful thing you'd ever lay eyes upon, didn't I!"

"Did you?" Haruhi asked in alarm.

"He did." Kyoya assured her

"Oh where are my manners?" Tamaki remarked suddenly, passing a hand over his eyes as though pained, "I haven't introduced you to everyone yet!"

Haruhi set Honey down on the floor. "That's ok," she told him lightly, "I already know all of you. Whether you believe it or not, I do actually come here every day."

She looked around the room, nodding to each host in turn. "Kyoya-senpai, Mori-senpai, Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun. And Honey-senpai of course," she said, smiling down at Honey. Honey beamed at her.

Here Haruhi paused, then looked back at Tamaki. "Where's Haruhi-kun?" she asked in a mild voice. She had rehearsed this part carefully. 'Haruhi' had decided not to stay and meet 'Mitsukai', and since he wasn't really in the club by choice in the first place no one thought anything of it. 'Mitsukai' however wouldn't know this, and since she was supposed to come to the Host Club each day and know all the hosts, she would notice Haruhi's absence.

"He went home," Tamaki told her with a wave of his hand, "but let's not worry about him now."

Haruhi frowned slightly, a bit miffed at his cool dismissal of her relevance, but quickly erased the expression from her face.

"Now," said Tamaki, taking her by the shoulders from behind and turning her to face the assembled Host Club, "this lovely young lady tells me that she has been to our club room every day since the beginning of the school year, and has not been greeted once by any of us!"

Tamaki raised one finger high over his head, then brought it down to point accusatorily at the rest of the club. "I am severely disappointed in you all!" he shouted, "How could you all leave this poor, beautiful princess alone and unentertained! You call yourselves Hosts! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!"

"You know, you didn't notice her either boss," Hikaru remarked in an annoyed voice.

"He has a point," Haruhi agreed, glancing upwards at Tamaki.

Tamaki looked as if he might cry. All of the Hosts looked from Haruhi to each other, obviously not sure how to deal with the situation. None of them had ever offended a girl before, at least not a girl they had any interest in making up with. For a while no one said anything, then . . .

"Allow me," said Kyoya, coming forward to kneel on one knee at Haruhi's feet and taking one of her hands in his, "to extend our humblest and sincerest apologies on behalf of the entire Host Club. We are truly sorry for this grievous offense, and beg that you allow us the opportunity to make amends."

Kyoya's eyes had been lowered, and as Haruhi watched he placed a light kiss on the back of her hand before looking up at her. He donned his sly half-smile and turned his head ever so slightly to the side, contemplating at her with intense, slightly frightening interest.

Haruhi blinked, staring at him, and it was a few moments before she even realized she was meant to give a response. "Y-yeah," she stammered hurriedly, "I mean, I came here to . . ."

"To be pampered and adored, of course!" cried Tamaki before she could finish, "why else does anyone come to the Host Club?" He clicked his fingers, and immediately the entire Host Club all scampered off in different directions.

"What . . ." Haruhi began, looking up at Tamaki in confusion.

"We've prepared a special day here, just for you, Mitsukai," Tamaki told her, his voice melting effortlessly into the seductive murmur he used on the Host Club girls.

"No," Haruhi turned, looking up at Tamaki, "I only came to say goodbye."

Tamaki stared at her, obviously confused, and Haruhi frowned. "Didn't Kyoya tell you? This is the last time."

Shock, confusion, pain and panic chased each other across Tamaki's face, and Haruhi felt her heart twist at the sight. Suddenly his head lowered and his expression became unreadable. He took a number of slow, careful strides toward the center of music room, and Haruhi turned to watch as he raised his head and looked out onto the empty shoujo paradise. Then he glanced over his shoulder, a small, knowing smile on his face.

"I see," he told her, his voice soft but not seductive, "I understand now. We've only got one more chance."

He turned fully to face her, his expression determined. "We only have one more chance to find out who you are."

Haruhi swallowed. That was not what she had meant at all. Her heart was beating fast. She did not like this attention. She opened her mouth to say . . . something, but before she could get to words out Tamaki had closed the distance between them and laid one finger on her lips.

"Don't say anything," he whispered, "I promise, Mitsukai, we will find your name."

The other Hosts were beginning to reemerge. Mori and Honey were both carrying large trays of food, every kind of sweet and delicacy Haruhi had ever seen served at the Host Club, and setting them on a large round table that had appeared in the center of the room, like the piano as if by magic. The twins darted about the room, dimming the lights and setting red candles hither and thither which filled the room with the warm scent of apples and cinnamon. Kyoya was fiddling with a stereo in the back, and as he stepped away the vague tune of "Let Me Be Your Wings" played by what sounded like an entire orchestra began playing.

Haruhi's heart was racing. This was all wrong. This was so weird! She could barely stand Tamaki's attention without squirming at the awkwardness, there was no chance in hell she could survive all six hosts scrutinizing her at once! She fought to control her breathing, trying not to hyperventilate. A room full of curious boys with no sense of boundaries was not a good place to pass out.

"Wait!" she cried abruptly, causing all activity in the room to grind to an instantaneous halt. There was no way she'd survive this encounter, she decided, not when all of them merely looking up at her in mild confusion made her feel like an insect under a microscope.

"I can't do this!" she continued, sounding more confident than she felt, "its just too weird. Its like . . . its like a date, or something."

"Yeah, I guess you could say its a date," Kaoru conceded with a mischievous grin.

"After all, isn't it every girl's fantasy to be loved and admired by so many boys at once?" Hikaru finished, grinning just as wickedly as his twin.

"No way!" Haruhi protested in alarm, "I can't go on a date with six guys at once! Its too weird, and not fair at all!"

"How is it not fair?" Honey asked, looking up at her curiously.

"Well," Haruhi began, not really sure how to respond, "I guess, a date is supposed to be about two people who like each other, or even might like each other, getting to know each other better. Its supposed to be about a single relationship, not about a whole bunch of people all . . . entertaining each other. If a girl goes out with a bunch of guys, she can't possibly give each on the attention he deserves. Its just not fair to the boys who all have to compete with each other."

There was a long, drawn out silence during which Haruhi felt the eyes of every single host upon her, and she was just beginning to consider how much trouble in her life could be avoided if she just kept her mouth shut, when . . .

"A splendid idea, Mitsukai-san."

They all turned, surprised, that it was actually Kyoya who had spoken. He was wearing his usual plastic smile that made his face totally unreadable, but gave the distinct impression that he was plotting something almost sinister.

"What's a splendid idea?" Haruhi asked, perplexed, but Kyoya's smile only widened.

"Why, individual dates, of course," Kyoya said, as though this were the only possible conclusion, suddenly sliding the bottom out of Haruhi's stomach.

"In exactly five weeks time the Host Club will be giving a party, a ball, right here in the school. Each Saturday, from now until then, you will go on a date with one member of the Host Club at a time. We'll start with Mori, then Honey, then the twins and then me. Tamaki has already had enough time with you, so I think he can wait for a while. On these dates we will each try our hand at finding your name, or impressing you enough for you to give it to us. Then, on the night of the party, the Host Club will announce you, by name, as the guest of honor. If we win this little challenge, then you will have the last dance of the evening with Tamaki, as well as a kiss. If you win, and we fail to find your name, then we will all be at your service, to do whatever you desire of us."

He looked up, piercing her with his gaze. "Whatever you desire of us."

My life, Haruhi decided, cannot possibly get any more complicated.

Author's Note: Review. With ideas. Please?