A/N: I own nothing, this is a fanfic, DWJ is supreme goddess of Howl's world, all bow down and pour libations to her. Lol. Enjoy, read, and maybe review (pweese).
MangaMazoku
Calcifer was relaxing in his grate when he was disturbed by the sound of the castle door slamming and a pair of feet hurriedly pounding up the stairs of the castle. Raising himself up a little from the wood, he could just see a soaked female form disappear into the hallway toward the bathroom leaving a trail of puddles behind it.
"Didn't I say it was going to rain? Nobody ever listens to me." The door to the castle opened a second time and the poor fire demon was annoyed to find Howls head come into view, soaked and dripping with rainwater.
"Lots of hot water, I'm taking a bath and getting out of these soaked clothes before my cold comes back with a vengeance. Quickly Calcifer." The soaking wet wizard began to ascend the stairs to the bathroom and carry out this course of action when Calcifer called out from behind him.
"Howl, Sophie's up there right now, you're going to have to wait for once. She won't take two hours like you do anyway."
"I'm soaked to the bone, I need a hot shower or the cold will return and all my beauty will be spoiled with illness." The look on Howl's face gave away his true intentions all to easily to the fire demon, though Calcifer guessed he wasn't really trying to hide them from him anyway.
He popped and sparked, "She'll kill you." Howl grinned and began to stalk up the stairs again, his lecherous intent more obvious than ever, as well as his determination.
"Oh, no doubt of it. Worse yet, she'll probably switch my cosmetic potions on me again." He looked back down into the main room of the castle and placed a hand over his heart solemnly, "But that, my friend, is a risk my hair and I are willing to take." With that, Howl disappeared behind the landing and over the rush of the hot water filling the claw footed tub, Calcifer heard the door open, close, and finally, the click of the lock turning.
"The man is suicidal." Calcifer declared, fizzled and popped for a bit with indecision, and finally flew up the chimney and out over the wastes. Lucky for the demon, the rain had come to a drizzle and soon stopped, leaving him safe to avoid the castle for the next couple of hours. Leaving Howl and Sophie to battle in privacy. The nature of which Calcifer was curious to know and hoped get the gossip out of the house spiders later that night.
Sophie turned the decorated knobs on the tub and began to fill it with steaming water. She had contemplated trying the shower stall again, but past experiences left her suspicious of the contraption. The first time she'd tried it out, she had been an old woman and standing under the hot water, while it had felt good, was nothing to compare to relaxing in the bath.
The second attempt at the shower stall had been only a few nights ago, and she was still unsure as to what had exactly happened. One moment the water had been hot and running over her skin as she lathered up her newly white hair. The next, her steaming hot rain had turned to ice water and caused her to run screaming out from under it, suds getting in her eyes, and causing several very unladylike words to come forth from her mouth. After rinsing her head under the facet and drying off, she found out from Calcifer that Michael had just flushed the downstairs toilet and that was what had caused the water to suddenly run cold. As to how that would have any connection whatsoever with her shower and the temperature of the water, Sophie was confused at best. She had eventually decided that it must be some black magic of sorts and resolved never to attempt use of the shower stall again.
Over the splashing of water from the facet into the tub, the sound coming from the bathroom door opening, closing, and the lock sliding into place was drowned out. Not that Sophie would have heard anything that Howl hadn't wished her to hear anyway. He was still a wizard after all. The young woman remained still blissfully unaware of her intruding as he began sliding out of the sleeves of his blue and silver coat. The same coat Sophie had first met him in. At the time it seemed rather flamboyant, but now it just looked like a sopping wet pile of fabric as Howl kicked it into the corner by the door. He began to under the buttons at the collar of his white shirt, before thinking it over for a second, shook his head, and sent a spray of water droplets around the bathroom. A few of which struck Sophie's cheek.
The hatter jumped, and turned quickly to find that she wasn't in the bathroom alone as she'd originally thought. Her eyes went wide with surprise and her lily white cheeks flushed with embarrassment to find Howl there only two feet behind her, water falling off his long black hair that was now plastered to his head, his white shirt of black pants following a similar trend and clinging to his body in all the wrong places and causing young Sophie to blush even brighter. His bright blue eyes glinted with the same love that had filled them moments ago out in the heather, but now they also had a predatory glint to them. A look that both frightened and thrilled Sophie in ways that she had heard of, but was too lady-like as the oldest of three to admit to having. Howl smiled.
"I got back first, I get the first shower." Sophie made to move towards the bathroom door and force Howl back out the door. However he just leaned on the wall and grinned that mischievous grin that told her he knew he was in trouble and didn't care one bit. 'That's the thing about wizards, they are always so full of themselves.' Sophie thought to herself.
"Do you really think I would let you beat me to the bath before me if I had not willed it as such?" Howl lifted himself off the wall and pulled his wet housekeeper towards him. "I do enjoy the chase, especially if it's you I'm pursuing." he grinned wider and kissed Sophie's forehead gently.
"At least I'm the only one your chasing then, you snake. Are all wizards as lecherous or is it just you Howl Jenkins?" Sophie's flare of anger at Howl's perversion chased away some of her blush, enabling her to recover the scolding tone in her voice that her aged alter-ego possessed.
"Now now, Sophie, don't be like that." Howl chided and kissed her again. This time pressing their lips together and inching her backwards toward the overflowing claw foot tub. Sophie relented a little, returning the kiss and eventually meeting his impatient tongue with her own timid one as Howl deepened their kiss. The two were dancing on clouds when to both their surprise, they landed with a splash in the hot water of the tub.
Sophie's dress rode up around her thighs the already open collar of her top ripped the rest of the way open as Howl landed full force on top of her in the water, exposing the tops of her small breasts to the open air. Howl crouched over her in the water, the puffed sleeves of his white shirt sagging heavy with water and through the thin material Sophie glimpsed patches of Howl's pale pink skin.
"Well, here we are." Howl grinned and leaned in again for another kiss.
A/N: okay, took some artistic license on how Howl's bathroom plumbing was connected, but hey, if anybody knows why the water runs cold when you flush the toilet I'd be curious to know, because that is a regular occurrence in my building too! Hope you enjoy, hee hee, ain't I evil leaving this as it is though. Story on a brief hiatus for a week because I'm going camping, till then, read and review. As always,
MangaMazoku
