Suzu: I wrote part of this chapter in 2007 and the computer crashed. So-one more time! Seven Days was Sophie by herself, and Howl by himself. They were basically independent entities just barely touching yet. Seven Nights will focus on their adventures together.

Seven Nights

Prologue

-In Which Gossip Is Not Unexpected-

It was just an evening stroll.

No.

Not a stroll. It was more of an errand to run, but you see, dutiful Sophie Hatter had no one to run errands for but herself. Therefore, could you call it an errand?

The town of Market Chipping was still a bustling place full of airy, cobbled streets as well as dank little alleyways in which more than one young girl could get herself into trouble wandering. Occasionally, the next day's story, no matter how exaggerated, would be scrutinized with the utmost self-righteousness by the town's gossips, which had the most voracious appetite for these intangible tidbits. It might have been the young girl's misfortune to land it with the miller's boy, or a street rat with not a cent to his name. However, anything was better than being accosted by a wizard.

Oh yes. Anything but that.

Now, an outsider or a tourist (who knows what one could tour in humble Market Chipping… though Cesari's was always a nice stop, and heavens, the hat shop was making a mint nowadays with Honey back with a rich, business-canny husband) might think that a girl being accosted by a wizard in one of Market Chipping's alleyways was a gossip piece a little too exaggerated for its own good.

The people of Market Chipping, however, knew better.

Did the wizard Howl not live just over those rolling hillsides a little ways off? Once or twice, the shepherds could claim that his rumbling, moving castle had nearly trampled their sheep. It was a common wives' tale that Horrible Howl ate beautiful young girl's hearts without a moment's remorse.

After all, he was a bad, treacherous wizard. Not the legal kind that helped the king with his state affairs or sold common panaceas to the common folk. No, no. Horrible Howl was the like that was in league with the Witch of the Waste.

Still... Three months ago, there was a popular murmuring over at the town's most successful and questionable bar. Georgina Whittling, a poor girl (a little blunt in the head but rather stunning to behold) persistently told stories of how Wizard Howl had come to the hat shop and helped the Hatters through that rough patch during sales. Oh, you know, that time that Honey had left for Kingsbury and the two younger sisters had been apprenticed off.

No one had made too much of it, though. Sophie Hatter was much too dutiful and proper and, well, she was the first-born. A thing like a wizard did not come strolling into the life of the first daughter of three, bring fortune and prosperity along the way. No! If anything like that would occur, it had to be with Martha, the third child.

Therefore, the notion was dismissed vaguely, apart from a few whispers and glances at young (and becoming prettier everyday) Sophie Hatter sitting at her desk sewing on ribbons to bonnets… after the customers had already stepped through the front door and developed the urge and gut to look back and wonder, of course.

Horrible Howl? Sophie Hatter? No.

After all, she was still very much alive and kicking, wasn't she?

Howl would have eaten out any pretty girl's heart. And although the girl might deny it, and although stepsisters are supposed to be ugly, no one in town could deny that all three Hatter sisters were very lovely indeed.

Sophie Hatter? Horrible Howl? Never.

However,

When the first of the little white cards mysteriously popped up at the Hatter residence's doorstep, town gossip revved its gears once more.

It was an errand. For herself, that is. Or for Howl.

Sophie, after all, had no need for baubles or other pretty accessories.

It couldn't have been an errand for Honey. Sophie's stepmother was living prosperously on the wealthier side of town with servants galore, and Sophie had adamantly refused to move in for sentimental reasons and had stayed at the relatively smaller quarters she'd known as a child. There were other implied, secret reasons (like: how would Howl find her at the huge mansion… though, Sophie was sure he did have his ways).

The dress had arrived the afternoon before on her doorstep in an ostentatiously wrapped package, which was larger and heavier than Sophie would have liked, as she had to carry it from the front of the shop into the back where her bedroom was-amidst much local chatter and stares from people on the street.

With it had been another white letter card, which had detailed to Sophie just how she should go about finding some 'feminine' articles to match the snowy white lace and trim of the dress.

Sophie had blushed and worried and ranted to herself all of yesterday over his 'thick-headedness' and 'lack of shame'. But in the end, Sophie had stopped arguing, and told herself to stop looking at the dress and stop thinking about the probable occasion on which such dresses were worn.

After all, she just wanted to focus on the prospect of seeing Howl again. Every single time she pictured him in her mind, though, the moment was quite ruined by another thought. The idea of carrying the name "Sophie Jenkins" made her head spin and her cheeks hot. But most of all, it made her nose crinkle.

He had said one more day. That ruled out yesterday.

So, today was it, no matter how you looked at it.

Howl might be fantastically adept at slithering out of things, but he wouldn't go back on his word. After all, he rarely gave his word on anything in the first place.

At half past six, the evening sky was a beautiful glow of peachy orange and violet with periwinkle residues of the day past. Market Chipping was not a port town, but the main street crossed over with another wide road past the central square and made a stately arched stone bridge over a small river that flowed through a part of town.

Standing on the bridge, you could see the sun set as if into the water, dipping serenely while emitting glowing orange rays. A cool evening breeze might float by if you were lucky, and on summer evenings, the well-to-do's of the town would try boating into the sunset. It was all rather romantic, until you caught sight of a piece of garbage that happened to be floating by. One of Martha's admirers at the café had invited her. Sophie's youngest sister had many jokes to crack about that event, ranging from how he'd tried to kiss her and only ended up nearly tipping the boat to Honey herself trying to break up the boat ride a minute too late. Martha's pretty yellow frock still bore evidence of bad Market Chipping sewage.

Sophie walked past the bridge with a vague smile.

Once she had finished purchasing a few yards of white lace (a decent supply of extra for the hats as well as herself) and a few rolls of matching ribbon, Sophie had valiantly tried to find a piece from the jeweler's in town that she might take a fancy to. Alas, she realized that it was uncanny for her to be seen browsing diamonds and other precious stones as soon as the storekeeper and his assistants started whispering behind the well-set counters.

When Sophie's gaze began wandering towards the engagement rings (although Howl had not mentioned this part in his note), she began to berate herself in earnest.

Really!

The nerve. After all, he hadn't even bothered to propose.

And after causing so much trouble just waltzing into her life (Sophie carefully left out the fact that the hat shop had prospered because of Howl), he decided to conjure little notes at the front door that leave the respectable folk aghast with suspicions.

When would she stop waiting for him? Could you trust someone like Howl, free as the wind, to blow back to a place where he's already visited?

It's not as if she was doing much better without him, though. Everything the past months reminded her of him. Though she'd never admit it to anyone else, Sophie had the sense to know when she was a little helplessly infatuated.

Sophie stopped when she saw the Cesari pastry shop's bright windows and décor up ahead. There were still a few people milling about. Mostly, however, men and women were heading home. Martha said she would be busy all that week, what with preparing for Midsummer's Day Festival and all.

The sky was getting darker at a faster rate now. Sophie clutched her bag of rolled lace closer to her bodice and walked at a steadier pace towards the Hatter shop. There were still men and few housewives finishing up the day's chores on the streets. A few young men and even less girls strolled along the steps crisscrossing main street. It was a little late to window shop, and not one lone girl could be seen during this time of evening.

To say she was mildly nervous wasn't exactly true when she had just descended the steps of the jewelry store. Now, however, hearing the clop of her shoes against the ground at her feet, she began to eye her surroundings nervously.

After seeing only a few people carrying groceries and some others chatting amiably with friends, however, Sophie felt rather a fool for quickening her steps home. As if to prove to her cowardice that it was in the wrong, she slowed down, and let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.

When Sophie reached Cesari's, which was much less crowded now than during midday, she felt the urge to go inside and ask for Martha. However, when she caught a glimpse of the apprentices and various store workers bustling inside, getting rid of the day's leftovers and cooling vast cakes for the Midsummer Festival in a few days time, Sophie felt rather guilty and terribly idle.

How could she be wandering around aimlessly, browsing at accessories in the stores and smoothing out the scrumptious dress in her room and just… and just…

No.

She couldn't say it.

Everything reminded her of it.

Turning her head from Cesari's front doors, Sophie stifled a laugh when she caught sight of the avenue that she'd turned down when she'd first met Howl Jenkins. 'See?' she said to herself. It wasn't merely her own fault she couldn't get his face out of her head. Fate was conspiring against her prudence.

"All right then, if I must escort a lady, let me do it properly."

She thought back to what he had said before he'd casually held out his arm and strode confidently with her in tow to the front door of the hat shop.

Sophie retraced her steps now.

She stared at each footfall, and at her practical brown loafers, at her thin ankles and the way they peeked out from under her manila dress, a definite improvement from the gray one she'd been so obstinate on wearing just months ago.

"Ha, ha. No need to be afraid…"

That's right. Those were the first words he'd said to her, weren't they?

She smiled again, a wide grin that brightened her features and made her eyes wistful as she reminisced. If there was anything she was truly indebted to him for, it was for making her less afraid. Less afraid of what Honey thought of her and what her sisters thought of her and what the townspeople thought of her and what the world thought of her…

In fact, Howl might have been the first man to truly force her to make decisions as just Sophie Hatter, and not as the eldest daughter of the Hatter business who was a studious and unromantic girl, who was a simpleton because of her birth.

No… there wasn't any need to be afraid.

Sophie looked at the spot on the wall where Howl had cloaked himself in shadow to hide from the police. Just what did he do that day, anyways?

But she was afraid.

Sophie knew she was afraid, and this time, Howl was the root of these fears. What did he think of her? Would he really stay true to his vague promises of cakes and receptions?

Sophie continued walking down the street. It was a narrower alley, and a sort of shortcut to take back to the shop.

Now that she thought about it, Sophie realized she didn't really care about fancy parties or his promises of lace and pretty clothing to be worn on special occasions.

She just wanted to see him again.

It had been months.

She wanted to see him smile that aggravating little smirk before he did something rather unforgivable like hold her by the waist and kiss her unabashedly.

She wanted to see the way his hair (would it be black like the time he left or blonde like when they first met?) swept perfectly at his shoulders, and the way his bangs fell into his deep, unfathomable eyes before she looked away in embarrassment.

Oh…

Sophie knew now.

She missed him.

At this rate, she would kill him for making her wait another minute.

He did say today, didn't he?

Sophie was afraid that he would make her wait more countless, idle days before she could see him again. She balled her fists against the bag she carried close as she marched decidedly to the shop. The shop keeper had not done the best job of arranging the lace within the bag, so the whole package blocked Sophie's view of what was in front of her, at least partially.

One time, she almost tripped on a loose chunk of rubble from the narrow walls to her side.

After finally making her way past the claustrophobia-inducing walls of the narrow alley through two buildings, Sophie ended back on the larger street with the hat shop in front of her. She was about to adjust her baggage into a more comfortable position when the topmost roll of white ribbon she'd gotten earlier slipped out of the bag and onto the dirty cobbled street.

Sophie groaned as she hefted her load onto one side and leaned down carefully to pick up the marred white roll of ribbon. Look at all the dirt on the street!

Imagine her astonishment when, just as Sophie's fingers were about to close on the little satin roll, the cylinder rolled with newfound gusto away from her grasp and exactly four foot forward towards the shop door. Seeing as she had to cover that space anyhow, Sophie moved forward to reach for the ribbon again.

Just as soon as she had one finger on it, the whole thing rolled forward a few feet again.

Now, this was quite troubling.

The bag she was carrying was still held tight squarely against her left shoulder with one hand, while her free arm reached out to clutch at the roll of white satin ribbon that was now getting dirtier and dirtier, while rolling at a quickly accelerating pace.

To make a whimsical pun, Sophie quite couldn't put her finger on the whole ordeal.

She contented herself with making soft 'mmphs' of effort and annoyance, while shuffling forward with her torso leaning towards the ground, trying to outrace the primitive cylinder-wheel that was making away with a good few feet of newly purchased lace.

Sophie wasn't quite sure if she was feeling a little too dizzy from the blood-rushing to her head or the insistent ache in several parts of her body from bending down in her stiff linen dress, or if she was just squinting too hard because the sun was coming down rather fast and the shops on either side of the street cast glowing shadows onto the street.

She could she was almost to the hat shop now, and the proper thing to do would have been to stand up already before she did something truly horrifying like hit her head on the few steps up to the front doors of the various shops. Before she could do anything drastic, though (and Sophie's head was really swimming now), the eldest Hatter daughter heard a soft laugh behind her.

"I daresay you're inviting some men less gentlemanly than myself a chance to do more than accost you, with your bottom up in the air like that."

Sophie froze.

That voice.

Only this time, it was much more real. This wasn't exactly the voice she kept hearing over and over again in her head, although Sophie had trouble settling her heart and telling herself to stay calm.

This voice was richer, more laughing, with a familiar edge of wit and an unfamiliar sense of some new emotion. This wasn't a memory. She would remember if anyone, if he, especially, said something as uncouth as that to her.

Still, uncouth as it might be—it made her strangely happy.

This voice was real

…wasn't it?

"—Although, it is a very cute bottom, lady, under all those petticoats."

Now it all sounded startlingly real. Sophie's face felt like it was on fire. Her gaze locked unseeing on the roll of satin ribbon. Her head was awhirl with conclusions and connections and—oh, how could she be so stupid? Of course no ordinary roll of ribbon would travel so such a long distance without any push unless it was magicked.

Wait! Did possessing magic also enable vision that could see through however many layers of, oh—petticoats?

She stifled a gasp. Then she opted for moving out of her compromising position. It was altogether too embarrassing for words, and Sophie's long reddish ginger hair, which she had tied back neatly that morning at the nape of her neck, had loosened and was falling in fair hanks into her face, which was still fixed on the dirty street.

She heard footsteps as his figure came closer.

'If he dares say one more thing about my skirts…' Sophie grit her teeth. At least that part of her body was still in functioning order.

"It's a good thing there wasn't any other person here on the street right now," Howl remarked in that airy way of his.

Sophie could almost imagine the way his perfect hair, whatever color it was now, would brush against his cheek as he spoke. She didn't know if it was sheer will, a passing muscle cramp, or both… but she was finally able to right herself in a civilized standing position again. He was still behind her, though, and neither could see the other's face at the moment.

Gray eyes searched the deepening hue of the horizon as her consciousness searched for Howl behind her. She caught her breath, finally, and quipped smoothly.

"Howl."

"Sophie," he replied just as easily.

She could imagine his little mock salute, how he would tilt his head a fraction to the side and his fine locks of hair would spill to the side and look perfectly in place anyhow.

"I—"

Sophie cursed herself in her head. That was the worst way to start off the next phrase. She didn't know what she had meant to say. She didn't know what she should say in this situation. It had been nearly three months, hadn't it?

I missed you.

I was waiting for you.

I was ready to skin you for the things you did.

And…

I think I love you.

And, oh, for heaven's sake, I can't stand it.

She didn't need to say anything. Rather, it was that she didn't have the time. Howl picked the moment her words had broken and silence had settled in to put his arms around her waist and, though Sophie had no clue how he managed with the clumsy bulk of lace and ribbon purchases she clung firmly to, press her small frame in one fluid motion to his.

It took her breath away. She didn't try to gasp and get it back this time.

It was like a scene from one of those risqué romances Lettie liked to read. He was embracing her from behind, she had no way to escape with her package held to her shoulder, and the street was uncharacteristically empty of anyone but the two of them.

The moment had seemed to be locked in time for longer than Sophie dared hope. She held her breath through it all until an ache built up in her lungs to match the throbbing ache she felt at her heart.

Welcome back

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" Howl whispered into her hair.

She could feel his breath at her ear, and she could smell his familiar and yet almost forgotten scent, a mix of soft perfume and the smell of the clean breeze and… Howl. A man. A man she knew she had missed terribly when he'd left, no matter how much she wanted to close the thought up within her head.

She nodded weakly, and he laughed again. His laugh! Yes, she'd nearly forgotten that, too. His laughs in the hollows of her memory did not compare to the real thing, soft and vibrant and characteristically belonging to this wizard.

Howl stopped laughing and seemed to pause awhile before he spoke his next words.

"Can you hear it?"

Sophie swallowed. Blinked. Spoke.

Where were you?

"Hear what?"

He didn't have to answer. She heard it.

She heard it and she understood the moment she had voiced her silly question. Of course.

Of course.

His heartbeat.

Sophie imagined it would be soft and rhythmic and soothing normally. But now it was a jumping, face-paced drumbeat against her own. Pressed up against him, she could feel everything he'd tried to convey to her with words and had failed.

Thmpthmpthmp

He was nervous. He was elated. Happy. Terrified. He was everything she was at the moment and more.

He was human.

So human that it frightened Sophie as much as it endeared him to her.

Howl smiled against her ruddy hair, as if he could feel the exact moment both their heartbeats matched up and started beating in unison too. Sophie relaxed and tried to hide her wide grin, but failed miserably.

Did you think of me?

They stood there for the long time as the shadowed lengthened and engulfed the whole street, listening in wonder at the rhythmic concert in their own bodies and wondering at the fragility and the beauty that it entailed.

I thought of you

"Howl…" Sophie whispered into the pleasantly cool night air that contrasted with his warm arms around her, and her own burning skin where they touched.

"What is it?" He shifted his head, and Sophie turned hers an inch to see a lock of Howl's hair. It was blonde again. She smiled wider. At least it wasn't blue, although she had half expected it to be.

"Did you… why did you… no… I… what I mean is…" she murmured hesitantly, afraid to break the sound of serene silence around them, afraid to ask the question, no, the questions, she'd been wondering for so long.

Why did you send that dress?

Did you really have to leave for so long?

Why did you go in the first place?

Why…why are you back?

Are you back for good?

Why did you choose me, of all people?

So many thoughts

Howl tightened his grip. "I know that whatever I have to say still sounds insincere, but I really am here, Sophie, for you."

So many thoughts I can't keep track of them all

Sophie blinked back whatever emotion was leaking at the corner of her eyes. She didn't do this. Not the simpering, emotional heroine of Lettie's favorite nove. This wasn't her at all. Although now, she had a much better notion of why they cried when their sweethearts came home.

She wasn't even sure if Howl could be counted as a sweetheart. She wasn't really sure of just what the two of them were. But she knew one thing.

Though, mostly, I just missed you

She let her load drop. She never heard the bag hit the floor, and she thanked Howl's reflexes and his quick magic for that, as she spun around quickly and nearly tackled Howl to the ground with her force.

I missed you

Howl seemed rather shocked at first, but his eyes grew soft and he encircled her again after a moment.

"Welcome b-back!"

Sophie hiccupped through her words. She flushed hot, and hoped he wouldn't notice. Too late. She could see a rogue's grin form on his lips.

"W-welcome back, Howl!"

He patted her on the back, as if to a child. Sophie certainly felt like one at the moment, and contented herself with sniffling into his impeccable clothing that she failed to notice at the moment. She would get to worrying over her dignity in the morning.

Right now, nothing else mattered.

Tell me you missed me, too?

He really was back. She welcomed back everything, every part of him. And, as the sky darkened, Sophie could not see if the stars had come out. She was too busy basking in his radiance, as banal as it sounded.

Howl chuckled again softly. She blessed the sound.

"I missed you, too, Sophie."

.

.

.

Suzu: I'm sorry! I couldn't resist having their fateful reunion start off by Howl remarking on Sophie's butt, though. It was too good of a laugh to miss out on, so I typed it in as fast as I could… before my rational side told me some people might not appreciate it.

I can't believe I'm a junior in high school already. Sadly, though, it'll mean that I'll be busier than ever. However, I'll do my best with this story. Unlike Seven Days, this is relatively planned out from the beginning.