*Note*
I've decided to have a lemon near the end of the story, and I'll just submit one shots separately in between chapters to satiate anyone :}
And when I started this, I did think of doing a Howl POV, but I want a consensus. Who wants?
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Lotsalotsalotsa clichés. :D You know how we love 'em.
Thank you for all the nice reviews~~ HOWEVER.
Reviews. REVIEW REVIEW. I've been submitting lots recently right? };
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DISCLAIMER: ALL MAIN CHARACTERS BELOW TO DIANA WYNNE JONES, AUTHOR OF HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. The fanfic is based upon the BOOK, NOT the movie.
Howl's Moving Castle: The Aftermath
Chapter 10: In Which Love Blossoms
"Oh Sophie. What have you done now?"
She stared blankly into the open air that once held Howl, her robe hanging loose from being released of her previous nervous tugging. Kissing his dematerializing cheek was like sipping at the new fizzy drink Cesari's was sporting called 'pop', and then the air had rushed in to fill the space where he had stood. Only seconds had passed by, but it felt like days, and the twittering of the birds floated through her mind, a mind that was most thoroughly detached. The tingle still played across her lips, teasing and tormenting her. Darn Martha, and her absolutely horrible timing. Darn that Edward Atkin. Well, it wasn't entirely his fault. It wasn't as if she sent him signals to imply she was not interested, but at the same time, she didn't send signals saying send her thousands of flowers and invite her to a ball within the span of a day. And then Martha was just Martha, and Martha had no concept of privacy.
Another second later, and the air in front of her made a popping sound. In the next second, an angrily pacing Howl materialized in front of her, guitar-less. He turned on her, his eyes a blazing fury of lust.
"H…Howl?" Sophie's arms dangled at her sides, frozen with the rest of her frame in shock. He didn't reply to her stammered greeting, only moved forward to clutch her into his embrace. Her hands pressed against his chest; he held her tightly around the waist, so tight it nearly hurt, and would've if it hadn't felt so good.
"Sophie," he breathed, only an inch away. His eyes roamed her face tenderly, without dimming their intensity, and he hesitated. Sophie sighed inwardly with intense aggravation. Digging her fingers into his shirt, she pulled herself up closer, standing on the tips of her toes. Only millimeters away, she was still too small to reach him, and could taste his sweet breath enter her mouth. It only took a moment for his uncertainty to snap, and he closed the distance between them, desperately pressing his mouth to hers.
He was so soft, so soft. His lips moved against hers with building intensity, moving from an attempted tenderness to clinging neediness. Not to say she didn't respond with a raw hunger of her own. The dampness of his lips mingled with her own, and they clung to each other. Sophie could feel her lack of air pleasantly suffocating her, the build-up of pressure creating an excitement that amplified their kiss. Her arms freed themselves from between their frames, and stretched out to hold his face in her hands, pulling him closer. All of the tension from the last month was finally acknowledged, finally resolved.
The continued straining of her back and his neck made them tacitly sink to the floor. Howl fell to his knees, leaning back on his heels, and Sophie went with him, pressing into him. She sighed against his mouth, and he pressed a last kiss to her lips. Feeling happy for the first time in a long time, she nestled her face into his shoulder, enjoying his true, un-perfumed smell while she could.
"Sophie?"
"Mm?"
"Who is this Edward?"
Sophie froze in her content nuzzling, her bubble of happiness gone with a single, silent pop. She groaned inwardly. Howl would bring that up right at the worst time, and with one last inhalation of his scent, she leaned back, her arms enclosed around his neck, so that she could sincerely tell him how foolish his worrying was.
"This Edward is just some stranger I met yesterday, who apparently thinks well of me. "
"Enough to send you enough flowers to last you until next spring?" An unhappy frown creased his face, and Sophie found it incorrigibly adorable.
"Howl, really, I merely shared a lunch table with him, and we struck up a conversation."
"I don't like the sound of him. And he sounds familiar, and I don't have many friends."
"Howl, I doubt you've even met the man. And he makes most of the events in Market Chipping and other places, so maybe you heard of him from one of those." Sophie sighed, and returned to her place in his shoulder. He shifted so that she sat more comfortably, but not without a loud huff.
"I think I might have a talk with this Edward."
Sophie sighed loudly into his shirt, and uttered a muffled threat, before focusing on the wonderful feeling of being in his arms.
"Oh…Sophie?"
"Yes. Howl."
"Shouldn't you…get dressed?"
Her eyes widened from their half closed languidness, and she wrenched herself from Howl's arms, and ran into the closet. Peeking out from the side of the door, she saw with relief that Howl merely smiled bemusedly at her bedraggled state, still sitting on the floor. His mouth was still red and tender, and his hair mussed, his eyes fixated on her with a glimmer of unspoken promises. Sophie swallowed her impulse to run back and make every word Lettie uttered into a reality, but instead she retreated into the hot recesses of her closet in search of more ample clothing.
"It wasn't like you were complaining before…" she grumbled, roughly sorting through her array of clothing.
A half hour later, Howl and Sophie were walking hand in hand down the street towards the castle. Most of the vases had been put in decorative places around the house, and a few were still in the drive, so both hurried away from the mansion, tacitly anxious to get away from the sickly scent of hundreds of different flowers.
Sophie looked up at Howl, the sun shining around his face like a halo. He had been looking down at her, and they both smiled, before looking again towards the castle.
"So, how shall we spend our Sunday, Miss Nose?"
Sophie grimaced at the nickname, and merely shrugged.
"I believe that is under your jurisdiction, Howl Jenkins."
"Well then. You won't mind if we visit Wales?"
"Your home?"
"Yes."
Sophie hadn't been to Wales since she was an old woman, and she'd still always wondered about it. She supposed the curiosity of an old hag still hadn't worn off.
"Alright."
Howl beamed down at her, flexed the hand that held hers, and opened the castle door with the other. They barely came inside, when Howl opened the door again, and Sophie closed her eyes as they went through the thin curtain of darkness.
It was pleasantly warm in Wales, humid, but not as cloying as it was in Ingary. Sophie felt a funny feeling as Howl changed her clothes, and when she looked down, she saw that her skirt had been raised several inches—nearly right below the knee—and the neckline of her top had also taken a cut. And she was wearing some odd sort shoe with lots of holes.
"Howl, what have you done to my dress? And my shoes?"
He had already changed into the blue trousers, and light shirt that looked like underclothing, with sleeves.
"Really Sophie, don't you feel much cooler?"
"Well, yes, but I feel so indecent."
"You didn't complain last time."
"I was a ninety year old woman last time!"
"Oh Sophie," he smiled, and hugged her toward him with one arm. "The carnival is in town, I'm sure you'll love it."
Sophie grumbled at his change of subject, but didn't bring it back up. She really did feel a lot cooler, and secretly wondered why this style wasn't popular in Ingary. It was immodest, but it was a lot more sensible for the summer.
He turned behind them to the small shack that Sophie knew held that awful horse-less carriage.
"Oh no…"
Howl merely smiled at her, before pushing up the door, and disappearing inside. In a few minutes, a loud roar came from within, and the carriage came zooming out as Sophie, frightened, backed up away from the opening. Howl smiled cheerily through the window, and stepped out of it.
"Come now Sophie, I can drive cars perfectly well. You'll be fine." He steered her into the passenger seat, and closed the door on her reluctant face. Walking around to the other side, he got in, and adjusted some sort of knob stick before the car zoomed forward. Sophie clutched onto her seat with her hands, and ignored Howl's chuckles, sure that somehow, they were going to crash into a part of the landscape zooming by.
After a while, Sophie started to relax, and let go of her seat. The scenery to the side was too blurry to watch properly, but through the front window, she could see sprawling grassy hills, and a giant tent with spinning circles around it in the distance.
"Can you see it Sophie? We're nearly there."
"That's a…carnival?"
"Yes. They have lovely shows, and rides, and food."
She glanced over at Howl, who seemed relaxed and more unreserved than he usually was. He saw her staring, and let go of the wheel with one hand to reach over and hold hers. She made to protest, but the car didn't seem to spiral into chaos, so Sophie contentedly let his warmth mingle with hers.
The distance had seemed enormous, but the car bounced along the road so fast that they were there in less than half an hour. The giant tent loomed into place, and as they came up to it, Sophie saw it was surrounded by a makeshift fence. Howl stopped the car near it, and got out of the car. Sophie looked at her door, and pushed it, but it wouldn't open. Perplexed, she pushed harder, but still it remained closed. Howl looked down at her from outside, and started laughing. He touched the door, and it opened, and offered a hand to Sophie, still laughing. Glaring, she ignored it, and stepped out of the car by herself, but when Howl put his arm around her shoulders, she didn't shrug him off.
"Oh Sophie."
"Hmph."
They reached the entrance to the carnival, and Howl reached into his back pocket to pull out little strips of paper. Handing it to a man in a ticket box, he gave them each a small square piece of paper, and they were let through.
The carnival was full of light, sound, and delicious smells. Howl went directly to a booth, and handed over more strips of paper in exchange for pink cotton on a stick. Smiling, he offered it to Sophie.
"What am I supposed to do with it," asked Sophie. It wasn't as if she was about to spin it into thread.
"Why, eat it of course." As if to make a point, he picked a piece off and put it in his mouth, flicking his tongue at the edge of his mouth. "Come on, it tastes delicious." He picked off another piece, and brushed it against her lips. Immediately, she opened her mouth, and the piece fell in. To her surprise, it melted instantaneously, tasting like sugar. It made her lips sticky, and she licked them.
"Good, right?"
She nodded, and smiled, tired of being right. He leaned down and pressed a kiss on her lips, and she tasted more sugar on his. Taking hold of her hand, they walked further into the fair.
A few hours later, Sophie had tried corn dogs (which, Howl assured her, were not made of dogs), fennel cake, and sauerkraut. She felt incredibly full.
"Sophie, would you like to go on the Ferris wheel?" Howl looked down at her, and pointed to the giant wheel that now shone with multicolored lights.
"You go on that thing?"
"Yes, it's a ride."
"A ride?"
"Yes, like…say if people took turns to bounce around in seven league boots. Because it's fun."
"I'd have to disagree."
"Just try it, Sophie," and he looked down at her with smoldering eyes, tilting her chin up with a finger. All night, it was 'just try it, Sophie', when she'd pushed away the corn dogs, stuck her tongue out at the sauerkraut, and held her stomach as he brought out the fennel cake. She could never win.
"Alright."
"That's my girl."
They waited in line, and when they were first, they waited for the wheel to stop with a swinging seat for them at the bottom. The small gate was raised, and Howl helped her in as she shakily stepped into the swaying bench. He settled in next to her, and tugged her into the crook of his arm.
The ride was nice, and peaceful, and the wheel lazily turned in the air. The breeze was cool, and Sophie snuggled into Howl's warmth, enjoying his hand that gently brushed her arm back and forth. When the wheel suddenly stopped when they were coming back down from the top again, Sophie startled, but they were only pausing the ride. A loud bang, however, scattered her scared thoughts.
"Look, Sophie."
Sensing the excitement in his voice, Sophie looked away from below, and in front of them, where bright fireworks lit up the darkened sky in myriads of sparks and swirls.
"Oh Howl, it's so beautiful!"
"Yes."
His voice sounded thick, and Sophie looked up at him. He was gazing fixedly at her, the lights of the fireworks reflecting exotically on his face. She couldn't look away from his eyes, and she leaned up, never leaving his gaze. They both closed their eyes as their lips met, and the light of the fireworks lit up her eyes.