Howls Moving Castle

Prologue - Marriage Proposal

"Ok now, all I got to do is ask her. Just say it…. Yesh! I never thought it would be this hard," Howl said as he paced up and down in front of the furnace, scratching his head furiously.

Rolling his eyes, Calcifer watched Howl pace. "Just do it! It's only four little words".

Taking that in for a second, Howl paused and turned towards Calcifer. "Yes yes I know your right". Confused, Howl threw himself into the chair and buried his head in his hands.

"But what if I say it wrong" he continued furiously, "Or the timing is not right… I just want it to be perfect."

"I know you do mate, I know you do…but you will know when the time is right".

Howl pushed a hand through his hair and stood to walk to the stairs. "Yeah, you're probably right. I'll be upstairs".

"Huh? Now you listen to me", Calcifer muttered and reached to nibble on a fresh log.

God, what a beautiful day! Sophie thought as she walked through the front door after a nice long walk through her secret garden. It was so nice to have a place where she could relax and forget about her day to day duties.

Running at top speed with a grin on his cheerful face, Markl ran out of his room, down the stairs and threw himself into Sophie's awaiting arms. "Sophie! Sophie your home!"

Not surprised that Markl was acting like he hadn't seen her in days, Sophie happily picked him up and swung him around, laughing like a hyena.

Woken up by the racket, Calcifer shook his arms furiously. "Hello! Could you keep it down?! Even fire demon's need their sleep you know."

Releasing Markl, Sophie softly turned to Calcifer "Oh I'm sorry Calcifer, I didn't know fire demons slept".

"It's ok Sophie" Markl interrupted, and frowned at the lazy demon. "Calcifer is just annoyed with Master Howl for making him run a bath".

"Well how would you like it if you got woken up to run a hot bath when he isn't even in it?" Calcifer complained.

Blinking as though she hadn't heard him, Sophie stared up at the stairs. "You mean to tell me that he's been in the bathroom for two hours now and he still hasn't taken his bath?"

Nodding, Markl innocently looked up at his surrogate mother. "It's true Sophie. He's talking to himself as well. I think he's using the noise of the bath to drown out whatever he's been saying".

Hmmm, weird Sophie thought. "Well I better go up and find out what this is all about."

Halfway up the stairs Sophie glanced back down at Calcifer with a sly smile on her lips. "Would you mind stopping the water a few seconds after I get up there Calcifer? I'd like to hear what he's been saying".

"Ok, sure" Calcifer started," But later, you better tell me why I was so rudely woken up".

"Deal". Sophie agreed and moved cautiously up the stairs.

Raising an eyebrow, Markl turned to Calcifer. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do? I mean, sabotaging Master Howl so he has no choice but to ask Sophie?"

Nodding his head, Calcifer crossed his arms. "Yes it is the only way. Otherwise Sophie would turn into a real old woman before Howl finally got around to asking her".

Sophie could hear some of what he was saying, but vaguely. It went something like; "I love you so much. So would you do me the honour…". But she just couldn't hear the last part. Getting annoyed, Sophie decided to be sneaky.

No matter how Howl said it, he just couldn't get it right. He'd been trying for hours to get it perfect, but nothing worked. Howl was halfway through his speech when suddenly the door burst open. And there stood Sophie arms crossed and her eyebrows raised as if to say; 'What in the world are you doing?'

Sophie almost burst out laughing. There was Howl, on one knee, in front of the full-length mirror. He looked so cute with the 'busted' look upon his face. And then she realised what he was doing. Howl was practicing how to purpose. It was the most adorable thing she had ever seen. But… deciding she was going to play dumb for some fun, Sophie asked. "Sweetie what are you doing on one knee in front of the full length mirror, using up the hot water for a bath that was ready two hours ago, which you still haven't had yet?"

Completely embarrassed that Sophie had caught him, Howl fumbled for words. "I was…umm…yes…well…?"

"Yes?" Sophie said sweetly.

"Can we go to the bedroom I don't want to do this here?" Howl said quickly, still caught on one knee.

Howl heard snickering coming from around the corner near the stairs and instantly knew what had happened. Damn them! Calcifer and Markl had set him up. If this didn't work he would so get them later.

Shaking her head, Sophie stood her ground. "No here will do just fine".

Howl desperately looked around the bathroom for something to help him escape, and found nothing. Well, here it goes he thought. "Well then I guess here will do". Smiling weekly for a moment, Howl cleared his throat before taking Sophie's hand. "Sophie…. will you marry me?"

Knowing what was to come and where he was asking her, Sophie burst out laughing. She couldn't help it. The love of her life had just asked her to marry him, in the bathroom, where she had caught him practicing how to purpose. This was the best moment of her life.

Howl stood there totally shocked. Sophie was laughing…laughing! He couldn't understand why. All he'd done was ask her to marry him. Did he say the wrong thing; was their something in his teeth? "Umm Sophie love… are you all right?" he continued; trying his best not to sound scared.

Sophie fought to catch her breath. "Yes…I'm alright …just …got… to…catch…my breath. There now, that was a good laugh," she said still giggling.

Confused as ever, Howl continued to stare up at the love of his love, now wondering what on earth was so funny.

"Sophie …love, umm…was that a yes?" Howl slightly cringed looking scared as ever.

Smiling, Sophie placed her hands on either side of Howls face and pulled his head up for a passionate kiss. "Yes, yes I will".

So what did you think? Please let me know, I would love to here you thoughts :)