This is as soon as the movie is over…

Disclaimer: unfortunately I don't own any of Mayazaki's masterpieces… but I do own this story! Ha, Mayazaki! This is one thing you don't have!

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Sophie gasped, pulling her lips apart from Howl's. "I… I'm sorry!" she said, turning away as her cheeks stained crimson. "I didn't mean to do that!" Sophie tried to reassure him.

Howl smiled wryly at her. She looked so cute when she was nervous. He ran a few locks of her now silver hair through his fingers, savouring the scent. "I know you didn't…" his soft voice rang through her ears. He leaned his head closer to her neck but before he could even touch her…

"Help!" came a cry from downstairs. "Sophie! I need more wood or my flame'll go out! Quick!"

Sophie turned too quickly in alarm and accidentally hit Howl on the nose. "Oh! I'm sorry! But I really have to make sure Calcifer doesn't die out!" she ran out and soon as she could, leaving the wizard to struggle with the minor injury.

"She wants me so bad," he said over-confidently after making sure he wasn't bleeding. He retraced Sophie's footsteps downstairs. He sat at the top of the stairs and watched as she handed a small log to Calcifer and smiled as he grabbed it hungrily.

Howl sighed deeply, longing to lay his hands on her again. So he thought that's exactly what he'd do; Howl stood and walked over to Sophie, who didn't really take much notice at that moment.

"Sophie," he began as he approached her.

"Yes, Howl?" she turned to him, standing up straight.

He stopped in front of her and looked down into her eyes. He brought his hand up to stroke her soft hair and slid the other around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Sophie gasped as he forced their lips closer and closer.

"Hey! Break it up!" Calcifer said, before their lips could come in contact.

"Howl…!" Sophie struggled out of his grip but he proved much stronger than him.

The door flung open. Howl was caught off guard and Sophie took this opportunity to jump out of his arms – which annoyed him a lot. "What's for supper, Sophie?" Markl asked, running in with the dog by his side.

"Supper?" she said, flustered. "Oh! It completely slipped my mind! I'll get on it right away!" she ran away to rummage for whatever food she could find.

Howl grunted, mentally cursing Markl for interrupting.

"Master Howl," said Calcifer. "Don't you think you're going a tiny bit too fast for Sophie?"

"And what makes you say that?"

"How about the fact that she wanted you to stop trying to kiss her?"

Howl sneered. He folded his arms and had a really arrogant look on his face. "She's just nervous. Give her time and she'll realise how stupid it was to resist me…" then he just stood there and sighed with the same expression still plastered on his face.

Calcifer waited in silence before looking up at his master. "… So, um… when you said 'give her time', how much time did you have in mind?"

Howl waited a second longer. "… I think that's more than enough time, don't you?" he glided off to Sophie, who was stressing about what everyone would like. He lay a hand on her shoulder and felt her shudder in fear under his touch. "What's the matter? Are you scared of me?"

Sophie felt his breathe travel down her spine and fought against another shiver. "No, of course not." She walked away from him, pretending to go over to the bacon – which she had no intention of cooking.

"Then why do you keep running away from me?" he smiled wryly.

"I am not running away! I'm… just busy…" she half lied, grabbing a loaf of bread to try and hide the truth. She was scared; scared of what he might get up to.

"you don't have to worry, Sophie," he casually walked towards her, this time not attempting anything. "I won't do anything if you don't want me to. I just want you to feel comfortable around me."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "… it's not that I don't already feel comfortable around you, or that I don't want you to do anything with me. I'm just worried about… well… about the baby-"

"BABY?!" he choked then struggled to laugh. "no! no, babies are out of the question!" he tried to laugh it off. "no babies, Sophie," he stated, clearly.

She looked offended. "what's wrong with having a baby?!" she clenched her fists defiantly and stamped her foot.

Howl took a step back. "um… it's not that I don't want a baby with you, I just thought that, you know, it'd get in the way of our lives, that's all!"

"oh, so an innocent child is a burden to you?!"

"no!" he found it very difficult to try and defend himself with all his words coming out wrong. "I mean, we don't have time!"

"you have time to go out flying around doing nothing important but no time to look after a small baby?!"

"stop twisting my words!"

she grunted angrily before storming off to her room and shouting. "you can cook your own supper tonight! Or don't you have time?!" she slammed the door shut.

Markl and Calcifer both stared at Howl, who stood dumbfounded. "I think she's upset," said the flame, just stating the obvious.

Howl hummed like he was surprised. "must be the raven hair she doesn't like…" he suggested, running a hand through his locks.

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yeah, that's the first chapter and I'm still debating with myself about what's going to happen later on but I promise it'll be good! Well… I hope it'll be good anyway!

Please review!!