Disclaimer: The characters in this story were created by Diana Wynne Jones/Hayao Miyazaki. This is pure FanFic.

Head bent, hair shaggy, Howl stood at the doorway.

"Howl?" Sophie voiced with concern, as Howl was not moving at all. Only after a few moments did Howl start shuffling towards her, still in the same posture, with his head hanging down.

"Howl, are you feeling fine?" There was no response from him, but after a few seconds he was leaning on her in a sudden lurch. Staggering beneath his weight, Sophie ended up leaning against the wall.

"Howl, what is wrong with you?" her voice grew with alarm.

"Oh, Sophie, you're so beautiful," Howl said softly. As Howl took her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes, her breath caught, for even in Howl's seemingly disheveled state, he still looked alarmingly dashing, and his bright blue eyes which never seemed to pale always had a certain spark in them. Silently, she wondered if his eyes were ever used to put innocent girls under a spell. But then, spell or no spell, they were electrifying enough to make one fall head over heels for him.

Her attention was brought back to the situation as Howl proclaimed, with more vigour in his voice, "Sophie, know that I would follow you to the end of the earth and never look back, even if…even if it means I have to give up this whole castle. Not that it's in a very good condition, anyway." He threw up his hands and his head rolled back in laughter.

By now, Sophie was feeling quite dizzy. She did not know what to make out of the whole situation. No one had said such sweet nothings to her before, but Howl acting this way was completely out of the ordinary. For lack of a better response, she pushed him off, saying, "Howl, you're drunk! Calcifer, could you prepare a warm bath for him please?"

"Ha! Drunk? How could the great wizard be?" Howl retaliated.

Sophie wanted to go to her own room to marshal her thoughts, so she simply ignored this comment, but just as she turned to go, a hand caught her wrist.

"Sophie, don't go." It was almost a whisper, a desperate plea coming from the master of the castle. And there were his eyes again, expressing every sorrowful emotion that appealed to Sophie's heart to listen to him.

"Howl, I…" Sophie started. But barely after that, Howl had closed the distance between them in one swift motion and his strong, manly hands now cupped her petite face. She had been looking down in confusion and anxiety, but he gently tilted her head up. He was now looking intently into her eyes, with even more startling intensity than before. Her breath caught once again, and she stopped mid-sentence. Howl took his chance, and bent his head down to hers.

Their lips met, and Sophie reeled back with the force, but strong arms caught her from behind. Howl's hands captured her waist, sending a slight tingle through her back, and slowly helped push her back towards him. Sophie was shocked at the feelings that were running through her, but oh, they were so pleasurable, she was enjoying every moment of it. Nonetheless, though her heart told her not to stop, her head warned her of how strangely Howl was acting. He may have declared his utmost love for her, but he was not in a normal condition and his words could not be absolutely trusted. With inner regret, she pushed him away with considerable force.

"Howl! I do think you need a bath. Well, see you, then." And before another word could escape Howl's lips, she ran up the stairs and shut herself in her room, leaving a sad Howl by the stair.

Sophie sat on her bed, her legs folded up, her arms wrapped around them and her chin resting on her knees. She rocked herself back and forth, as she processed the day's events in her head.

Things weren't right. For the past few days, Howl had seemed to be avoiding her. Starting one morning a few days back, Howl had gotten up earlier than usual, and without saying much, he'd grabbed an orange and headed for the door instead of sitting at the table to have breakfast. When Sophie had protested, he merely muttered something about having things to do and left the castle. Then, he had come back so late, with no explanation once again. The same pattern repeated itself for about three days, with his hours away from home getting progressively longer. Then came that night.

What had come over Howl? Why was he avoiding her, then suddenly – Sophie blushed as she thought about it – going crazy over her? A restless night ensued, and Sophie decided that the only thing to do was to simply confront Howl and demand an explanation the next morning, to iron out all the issues that were bothering him.