Two Chapters in a day, woohoo for keeping it easy before a track meet!

And A Big Thanks to Nausicaa of the Spirits telling me Sophie's actually 18… keep reading and reviewing! Thanks for reading!

Howls POV:

Why her? Why did it have to be Sophie? Out of anyone I could have fallen in love with and had this happen it had to be Sophie. Someone who didn't deserve what I was asking her to do. She was frozen next to me until she passed out on the bed next to me and I ran to the bathroom getting a wet towel and placing it on her forehead and trying to wake her.

"Sophie, darling – wake up. I'm sorry I was stupid, that idea was stupid, I'm sure Calcifer will find another way out of this." Her brown eyes opened slowly in the next few minutes… and her cheeks turned a bright pink when she remembered what I had asked of her.

"Howl… its not that I wouldn't, I'm just… I'm eighteen and well… you're the first person that's ever felt like this towards me, and well, that's a lot to ask of me! Howl I haven't even been kissed yet!" Oh, well I guess then asking her to have my kid was a bit too much to ask for. I turned my head away from her embarrassed for even bringing up the idea. "Howl," she said as she reached up and grabbed my check with her hand and pulled my face back to her. "I do love you, but…" she looked at my lips and then to my eyes, was she asking for me to?

"Sophie, I love you too." I said so softly that I wasn't sure that it had actually come out of my mouth. I leaned in closer to her face slowly, so if this wasn't what she wanted she could back away from me, but she didn't, she moved closer to me too. Her eyes kept moving from my lips back to my eyes. It felt like it took hours for us to finally get close enough to feel each other's breath. I moved closer so our foreheads and noses were resting on each other's. She had closed her eyes and her breathing had picked up rapidly. She looked so peaceful; I just wish I could freeze the moment forever. I started to move in closer my lips only centimeters away when Markl burst through my door to get Sophie to make dinner.

"Sophie come on! I'm…" he stopped as soon as he saw Sophie's and my positions. "Oh… I should have knocked, I'm sorry Master Howl!" he said as he backed out of my room and closed the door laughing as he ran down the stairs. We were separated now, she was sitting up straight and so was I. I looked at her and smiled and winked at her as her face grew an even darker shade of red.

"Well, that was embarrassing." Sophie said as she fanned her face trying to cool herself down. I smiled at her and grabbed her hand with mine.

"No it's not, Sophie, we're allowed to kiss… we're two adults and we can do anything we want." She smiled at me and I smiled back as I moved in close again but she was quick to jump up and move to the door.

"Sorry Howl, I have to go make dinner. Love you." She smiled as she walked out the door in her long blue dress. I smiled as I heard her gracefully walk down the stairs and I felt the castle shake, as surely Calcifer was happy to see her. When Markl went to bed, the three of us were going to have to talk about Sophie's situation; it was the only thing I could think of.

I walked downstairs a few moments later to see Sophie and Markl laughing and joking with Calcifer. It was nice to see her laughing and joking in her current situation. "Master Howl," Markl said as he ran over to me smiling. "I'm sorry about a little while ago, I didn't think you and Sophie…" his sentence drifted off as I rubbed the top of his head, ruffling his hair.

"It's ok Markl." I said trying to end the conversation before Calcifer go suspicious, because if he knew he would never let it go that we haven't kissed yet, or that Sophie hasn't been kissed yet.

"What's okay?" Calcifer asked from the hearth, right before Sophie sneaked up behind him and placed a pot of soup on top of him ready to be cooked. She looked at me and smiled as I smiled right back at her, I would get that kiss, tonight, whether it would kill me or not.

"Sophie, how long is the soup going to take?" I asked her and she looked at me and blushed a little, hardly noticeable to the average human but Markl and myself could pick it up.

"About an hour or so… Markl, why don't you go up and take a bath. It's been an exciting day, go cool off so after dinner you can go straight to bed." He huffed but looked at Sophie who had her arms crossed meaning business and he walked upstairs. She slowly walked over to me and joined our hands together.

"What did you have in mind Howl?" she said to me as she looked up into my blue eyes, her brown eyes a mix of different emotions.

"Well, I was thinking that we could go to a new portal I created while you were sick…" I trailed on the last part, trying to not mention that, even for a little while. She nodded her head and willing walked with me to the door to the castle as I turned the knob to the new color on the dial and opened the door, stepped out, and closed the door behind us.

Sophie let go of my hand and ran out into the new portal. "Howl, this is gorgeous!" she said as she was running around in the thousands of flowers growing from the ground. I smiled as she ran around like Markl did when I took him here.

"You like it? It's a present for you." She ran back over to me, and hugged me tightly; I felt my shirt start to get wet as I realized she was crying. "So, I guess you like it?" she nodded her head as she still lightly cried into my shirt. I smiled as I peeled her away from me and took her hand and walked to the cottage. "Do you see that? Down there?" I looked at her as she nodded her head. "That's the cottage where I grew up and spent many years studying here alone. This is the place where I sold my heart to Calcifer, it's so peaceful here isn't it?" I looked at her as she looked back at me her eyes wide.

"You were alone?" she asked and I nodded my head as I sat down in the flowers my legs completely covered. I patted the ground next to me as I straightened my legs and leaned back on my arms. It was night here, dark, and late – a time zone difference of course. She sat down on the ground next to me; she was so close to me I could feel her body heat on me. Her hand sat on top of mine her head was lying on my shoulder. "Why is it so late Howl?" she asked me and I smiled at her kissing her temple as she blushed a little.

"We're not close to home Sophie – we're actually quite far away, in a different time zone. Actually in spot in time where my magic actually stops time on the outside world…I would say we could all live here but… Madame Sulliman knows this place very well and this would be the first place she would check." She nodded her head and smiled up at me.

"So we could spend hours out here, and when we walked back into the castle, how long would have passed?" she asked and I looked down to her.

"Hours? Well, maybe a few minutes… it's not safe to spend a lifetime here, and go back though – your mind would be confused." She nodded her head once again and closed her eyes and leaned her head back.

"It's so peaceful Howl." I mimicked her movement leaning my head back and closing my eyes. I heard her shuffle to move but I didn't open my eyes until I felt her hand on my knee shaking me. "Howl…" her voice drifted off as I opened my eyes to see what was wrong. She was sitting there sitting crisscrossed in front of me and I followed her lead and moved into that position too, so our knees were touching. She quickly jumped up and touched my arm and screamed, "You're it." She was the child in this relationship! She started to run away before I could process the thought; I hadn't played this game in years! She was a couple hundred yards in front of me before I jumped up and started to chase after her.

"Get back here!" I screamed and she laughed a hearty laugh and ran faster and faster. "You won't win!" I screamed as she took a hard left turn and almost through herself off balance, which allowed me to gain some ground on her.

"Howl, stop trying, you won't win!" I laughed and started to run even quicker to catch up with her, which indeed I did. I grabbed her waist and pulled her in close to me and put my head in the crook of her neck and brought us down to the flowery ground. She was below me as I used my arms to keep my body above hers. She was laughing so hard and I was right there with her. She looked up at me and smiled as she brought her left hand to my face and cupped my cheek with it. I moved my face into her hand more, trying to get the warmth, and the feeling of her hand into my memory forever. "Howl?" she called me and I looked down at her brown eyes, which showed an emotion that I couldn't recognize in her.

"Sophie? Are you okay?" I asked her, worried that she was going to faint again and she smiled at me and her cheeks turned a little pink.

"Kiss me?"

Would you rather hear this from Howl or Sophie's POV? Or switched up?