Disclaimer: We do not own Howl's Moving Castle! The novel is by Diane Wynne Jones while the film was directed by Hayao Miyazaki! So no suing!

Title: 'Bundled Bliss'

Prologue – 'Irritation, Convulsion, then Malaise'

Sophie stormed out of their house and slammed the door shut behind her. She held one side of her skirt with a strong grip and walked with heavy strides, showing an obvious state of deep fury.

Her mother burst out the door after calling out at the top of her lungs. "You come back here this instant Sophie! We're not finished talking!"

Sophie stopped and looked back. She answered back harshly. "Oh yes we are, Mother! I obviously have no say with this so go ahead and do whatever you what! Go ahead and marry that man! It's not like I'm ever going to stop you! I have had enough!" Sophie turned back and continued walking at a faster pace. She heard her mother still calling out to her but she refused to stop.

Not knowing exactly where she's headed, she let her feet determine the destination. She walked briskly, muttering curses under her breath along the streets not caring on the large amount of people staring weirdly at her. Finally her feet brought her to the central plaza of the city. She decided to take a rest and sat down at a nearby bench since her feet where aching from stomping hard on the ground while walking.

It was at dusk and Sophie watched people scurrying to get home just before dinner. "What the hell am I going to do now?"

She stood up and heaved a sigh. Just great. I've wasted so much time. I could have dome a reasonable amount of work for the hat shop. Having that thought her sister, Lettie, came into her mind. Lettie has told her to do something for herself for once since she has always succumbed to their father's wishes. Fine! I'll do something for myself! Driven by her anger, she headed to a place she has never thought of setting her foot upon. A pub. The thought of being surrounded by drunken men made her squirm with disgust. I'll rather be that pathetic place rather than being at home hearing mother's endless nagging.

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Howl was walking along the streets, his mind filled with hopes of getting himself an attractive young lady. With his dashing good looks, it would not be much of a problem but he came out searching at a wrong time. "Where have all the ladies gone? The night is still young! They're probably having their beauty sleep. Oh wait! Maybe I should have one too…" He saw that he was approaching a pub. "Hmmm…. Having a couple of drinks surely wouldn't deform my face in any way."

He entered the bar with so much flourish and class but not one paid any attention to him. He muttered under his breath, "Damn drunks! So ignorant." He looked around and found a figure of a lady sitting on a bar stool hunched over the bar. Intrigued on how she looked, he decided to settle himself beside her.

He ordered a drink and turned to the lady next to him. He greeted her with bravado in a sexy tone. "Hey sweet cheeks, what's your name?"

Not looking at him the lady merely answered. "Piss off."

Howl ignored the fact the he was rejected, although it hurt his ego a bit. He persisted. "Oh, hasty! Had a rough day?"

The lady finally turned to look at him. "What in 'piss off' did you not understand? Are you dumb or something? Leave me alone."

Howl simply smiled at the remark. He had already seen the lady's face. Her face wasn't exactly sculptured with exquisite beauty, but Howl sensed a feeling of attraction within himself to the lady's unique and undefined beauty. He spoke in a sweet tone. "Oh, lighten up. How about I buy you more drinks?"

"That would be fine. Thank you."

"Great! Well since I'm buying you drinks, you can return the favor by telling me your name."

The lady turned her gaze back to her drink and took a gulp. "It's Sophie."

Howl took a sip from his own drink. "So Sophie, what's a pretty lady like you doing in this dump?"

Sophie's speech started slurring. "I'm no pretty lady." She took another gulp, finishing the drink. "Can't you see I'm getting drunk here?" She turned to Howl, jabbing her index finger into his chest while saying, "You know, I think that you are dumb. You kept asking questions when the answers are right in front of your face!" She looked at her empty glass. "Oh yeah, where's my drink?"

Howl laughed heartily. "Coming right up, my pretty lady!" He signaled to the bartender for another drink.

"Could you stop saying that! I'm not a damn pretty lady!" Sophie was once again jabbing her finger into Howl's chest. "And what do you mean by 'my pretty lady'? I'm not your damn property you asshole! Where the hell is my drink?"

"Sheesh lady! Here, take mine while you're waiting." Howl pushed his glass towards Sophie.

"Yuck! I don't want to drink anything with your spit in it!"

Howl gave Sophie a cocky smile. "You know I wouldn't worry about that because we'll be swapping spit soon."

"What did you say!"

Seeing the bartender coming with her drink, he said, "Here comes you drink!"

Sophie took the drink from the bartender and sculled it empty, ignoring the heat and the roughness of the drink going down her throat. She slammed the glass down to the counter and then waved her hand to get the bartender's attention. "Another one please!"

"Whoa girl! You're going to dry up this place!"

Sophie gave Howl a cheeky smirk. "Watch me!"

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The bartender approached Howl and Sophie who were now completely drunk, "Sorry folks, we're closing."

"What!" Sophie shouted in protest, her speech wavering. "You can't close yet! I'm – AHH!" Her butt met the floor as she suddenly slipped off the barstool. She started cursing like mad.

Howl couldn't help but laugh as he looked down at Sophie. All night, with the heavy influence of alcohol, Sophie had acted tough and bossy towards him. Although he was not as drunk as Sophie, he sure was light-headed. He turned to the bartender. "Thanks for everything. Good night or good morning, whatever." He stood up, pointing to Sophie, "And I'll be taking her home." He held out his hand to Sophie.

Sophie still on the floor looked up to Howl and spoke in a childish tone. "I'm hurt."

"Fine. Fine. I'll carry you just out of the pub okay?" Howl helped Sophie up and swept her off her feet into his arms.

Sophie placed her arms around Howl's neck and leaned closer to him. She purred softly, "You smell nice and you're strong too! I like strong men."

Howl looked down at Sophie with a leering smile. "Oh, do you?" He started walking out of the pub. "Well I like pretty ladies like you." He stepped out of the pub and brought Sophie back to her feet.

Sophie lost her balance, having her knees all wobbly. Howl caught Sophie, he face close to his. They stared into each other's eyes for one moment, and then shared a passionate kiss the next moment, their hunger for each other evident. Howl broke the kiss and asked, "Your place or mine?"

Sophie, not wanting to prolong the delay, answered, "I don't remember where I live."

Howl grinned. "Okay then. My place." They continued their kissing which became more passionate and fierce after every second.

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Lying in bed, Sophie awoke with the sunlight, peering through the windows, glaring at her eyes. Squinting her eyes from the brightness, she suddenly felt a numbing pain in her head. She let out a hushed whine. "Gah! How much did I drink last night?" Taking her attention away from the pain, her eyes paced around the room. Where the hell am I? This is definitely not my room. She suddenly shivered from the cool breeze that wafted inside the room. Why is it so cold? It's not as if I'm not wearing any clothes. And then she realized, Why the hell am I naked!

Sophie rambled on with what she remembered from last night. Facing the side edge of the bed, she felt a movement behind her and heard a soft snore. Being very nervous and curious at the same time, she turned to the other side of the bed slowly and came face to face with a man. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a loud ear-splitting shriek "AHHHH!" Knowing that she was naked underneath the blanket, she hurriedly got out of the bed pulling the blanket with her. She now looked at a naked torso of a man, who just woke up puffy-eyed, lying on the bed. She let out another shriek. "AHHHH! Who in the seven dimensions of hell are you!"

"Damn girl! Burst my ear drums, why don't you!" The man said sarcastically, while massaging his ears. Now realizing that his naked body was fully exposed, he sat up and grabbed a pillow to cover himself waist down. He continued on with his sarcasm. "And bloody, take my blanket, why don't you!"

Sophie clutched the blanket tightly. She reprimanded loudly, "You didn't answer my question!"

"You don't have to shout you know! Well then, to answer you question, my name is Howl." He examined the girl standing in front of him closely. "Oh! You're that lady I met last night at the pub!" He sported a questioning look. "What exactly are you doing in my room, possibly naked, and wrapped with my blanket?"

"You tell me! I freaking woke up like this!" Sophie gave Howl with a remorseful look. Her face now wore fear and disgust. "Oh shit! Don't tell me that we… Oh my goodness! No!"

"You know you just lost me there. I don't what you're talking about and I certainly don't remember anything that happened last night." Howl suddenly saw Sophie jerk up and place one hand over her mouth. He pointed to his en suite bathroom. "Toilet is right there."

Sophie ran to where Howl pointed. She found the toilet and immediately ducked her to vomit in a way she never had before. She felt that she was going to vomit out her guts soon. She cried in defeat. "This is so horrible! I'm never going to get drunk ever again!" The fact that she didn't remember anything at all from last night scared her at a terrifying level.

Hearing Sophie vomiting rather harshly made Howl delirious and caused his headache to go for the worse. Deciding on starting a new day of womanizing, he slipped out of bed, found his trousers hanging off at the edge of a table and put them on. Not being able to find his shirt anywhere, he left his bedroom half-naked and his hair completely messed up. Surprisingly, Howl did not take notice of the state of his hair. If he did see his hair's untidy state, he definitely would have freaked out and find himself in filthy green slime. Howl descended the stair groggily.

"Woah! Someone got busy!" The fire demon, Calcifer, said sneering at Howl.

"Yeah. Yeah." Howl proceeded to the kitchen finding something to eat.

Calcifer continued on. "It was sure one hell of a night! And I meant literally hell - for me that is! During that time of the night, it should be peace and solemnity that should take over not maniacal screams of pleasure! Look at the bags under my eyes! Look! Look! I was up all night! How am I going to do my daily duties?"

"You'll do fine." Howl found some bread and cheese.

"Hey Howl. Could you tell me – again – why I decided to stay with an inconsiderate bastard?"

Howl shrugged and went back up the stairs to his room. Walking in haze, he suddenly saw a blur of a fast moving figure that went past him. Looking back, he saw a running Sophie. Confounded, he asked, "Why is she running? There's surely nothing scary in my bedroom now, is there?"

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Sophie ignored the fact that Howl saw her running. She ran down the stairs and ended up in a foyer with several doors. She grimaced. "How the hell do I get out of here?"

"Take the door on your right." Calcifer spoke out firmly as he watched Sophie curiously from the fireplace.

Sophie turned around and sought the owner of the voice. She hoped it wasn't Howl's.

Calcifer pointed to the door at Sophie's right. "That door will surely get you out of here."

Sophie stood agape seeing the fire speaking to her. She snapped out of her trance quickly, muttered a small 'thanks' and took the door she was told to take hurriedly. Running out as fast as she can, she thought, The fire was talking to me and I actually replied to it! How did I end up in some madhouse!

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Howl ran out of his room, seeing it empty. "Calcifer, did you see a lady running down the stairs?"

"Yeah, she just left." Calcifer looked at Howl with an accusing stare. "Stole yourself another heart, huh, Howl? Looking at how she ran off like that, it seems like you pretty much deflowered her as well. Naughty. Naughty."

Howl shrugged. "Oh well. It's not as if I'm ever going to see her again."

The fire demon, however, knew more than the great wizard did. Or maybe he just wasn't in denial, unlike the blonde standing in front of his fireplace. Calcifer knew what Howl felt deep down inside his rhythmically beating heart...

Howl wanted to see that lady again.

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A/N: Soooooo….what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Tell us! REVIEW PLEASE! We don't want flames, but constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated!

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Chisakami Saiyuki & elena-maria