Studio Ghibli Oneshots

The Castle? Howl x Reader [Howl's Moving Castle]

Howl x Reader

The sun was raising and you quietly shut the front door, locking it while doing so. Without a word, you went down on the street, foreward to the destination you headed to. You exhaled deeply when you were far away from your house. "Thankfully they didn't hear me..." You whispered slowly, walking with light steps. Your family would be out of their minds if they saw that you sneaked out this early, and not to do any chores either. You simply wanted to take deep breath, alone. As well getting away from everything stressfull around you. So your resolution to that, would be sneaking away in the early morning. Mostly you'd go on a walk, but today you didn't feel like it. Doing this have been going down to daily bases now, because it's about every morning you wake up early. 

Today, you felt like sitting down on top of the hill, which was outskirts of town. Near the oh so mysterious mountains. You knew that it wouldn't be the best idea, from what you'd usually hear from your friends. Due to the rumors, many people barely went to the mountains anymore. The rumors have gone from ear to ear around in the society and almost everyone knew about it. You knew it to, but it's not like it would stop you from going up there. Even if the supposed Howl Pendragon was up there, you'd never know. And his Moving Castle? So far, there's no one that have been that close to it. Howl Pendragon... the one you should be keep your heart hidden from, huh? 

When you finally were outskirts of town and spotted the hill, you smiled. You ran up to the hill, with your boots while the wind gripped your clothes. It was pretty warm outside, so you only had a dress you'd usually wear, mostly because it suited the best for everything. You sat down on the fluffy grass, giving out a small sigh while doing so. You closed your (eye/color) eyes slowly. The sun slowly rose and you felt a small breeze tickle the bridge of your nose. Slowly but surely, you drifted away in to your sleep.

When you woke up again, you felt the rain pouring down on you. Oh no... you were as wet as if you just bathed. You puffed out your cheeks childishly and stood up. "What am I going to do? They can't see me with wet clothes! They'll definietly know that I've been out then!" You argued with yourself in an exhausted tone. Maybe it wasn't the best to think about that now though, because there was no way the bad weather was going to end anytime soon. So there was no chance of you making a run for it back to town. You slumped your shoulders and started to look around for shelter. There has to be some kind of shelter up here, right?

After a while of walking around, you spotted something in the distance. You instantly smiled brightly and ran to it. Whatever it was, it'll work! Though, that view of it changed when you saw what it was. As the mist from the rain cleared out, you could see a huge house of some sort. It wasn't a normal house though, it was much more. It had all these kinds of "decorations" and stuff on it, things no one could ever imagine. Could this be the moving castle? Doesn't seem like it though, since it was standing still on the same spot. You peaked around your shoulder, before you quickly ran up to the castle. You sure wasn't afraid of the mighty wizard, in fact, he might be a great help right now! 

You hesitated at first, but they grabbed the doorknob and twisted it open. Once opening it, you carefully walked up the stairway. "Hello? Is there anyone here? I'm sorry for intruding but I need a shelter." You said. No one replied and your voice echoed through the house. You scrathed your neck curiously. "I guess no one is here then..." You whispered to yourself walking further in to the house. Weird enough, you found an burning fire in the room, in the stove. No one checked it? Wow, the person living here must have incredible confidence about fire, since leaving that is pretty dangerous to any normal person...

You shrugged your shoulders and sat down on a chair by the stove. Your wet (hair/color) hair started to dry, as did your clothes. You felt the warmness raise in your body. It felt pretty nice sitting by a fire like this...

"Hey! You! How did you come in here, girl?" 

 You froze and you shifted yout eyes to every possible direction the voice came from. When you saw that no person entered the room, you raised an eyebrow. "Hello? Is it a ghost I'm talking to or so?" You asked nervously. The voice grunted a little. "No, I'd prefer the term demon instead, young girl!"

You gulped. A demon?

"Haha, don't be nervous!" The voice said, "And please look at me while your speaking!" it added. You shifted your attention to everywhere in the room, but the voice always said that it was the wrong direction. Your neck started to hurt, so you gave up and turned your focus back to the fire. Even if it was a demon, still can't hurt more than a neck ache.  Then suddenly you saw something peculiar in the fire... was that eyes? And a mouth?

You backed a little. "You're the fire?!"

The voice chuckled deeply. "No one less. My name's Calcifer, how about you girl?"

You doubted it a little but nodded. "I'm (y/n), nice to meet you Calcifer. Could I ask you one thing, where am I?"  

Suddenly the dorm shut open, not waiting on the demons reply. You shuddered from the ice cold wind blowing in to the room. In to the room came a tall, young man with an exhausted expression. He didn't even look at you or Calcifer before he skipped up the stairs. It was quiet, beside the water heard from the upstairs bathroom. You sat frozen in your place. A small blush graced your cheeks. That was indeed the person you had in mind. Howl Pendragon. This was his moving castle. The rumor was true, it did exist. But the other part of the rumor? Him stealing your heart? Nope, not yet, at least you aren't going to give in on that. But the crimson color on your cheeks said otherwise. "I'm guessing that this is Howl's moving castle?"

The demon smirked and laughed. "Couldn't be more correct." 

You lowered your shoulders and stared around in the room. Hearing from the rumors, you'd thought that the castle would look a little more fancy. The castle was in fact the most dustiest thing you've laid your eyes on. You scrunched your face when an idea popped up in your head. You did after all come here uninvited... 

It only took some hours, but thanks to you, the castle wasn't as dusty anymore. At least not the main room. Weird enough, nobody seemed to complain or stop you while you cleaned, as if they wanted an stranger to clean in their house. You tilted your head and sighed an exhausted sigh. Why you got the idea to clean? Because this way your clothes could get less wet and this way you could repay them for using the castle as a shelter.

It ceased to rain, so you shrugged your shoulders and said goodbye to Calcifer. Once you were down on the last steps of the stairway, someone grabbed your hand and waist. You didn't turn around, but you knew who it was. He slipped on a ring on your finger. "This way you can find your way back here again." 

"Why?" you said slowly and shy from the closeness.

He smirked jokingly. "So you can find shelter and clean for us once again, of course." 

You tilted your head and puffed out your cheeks. So you were supposed to clean for him, huh?

He seemed to notice your expression so he chuckled a little. "Use it when you have nowhere to go." 

Your breath hitched and you turned to him, feeling yourself blush. He invited you to come over more times? 

He held out an umbrella for you to take. "I know you'll find us again." 

With that, you were outside the castle. Now you stood on the grass again, staring at the castle moving away. 

What if he did steal your heart after all?