Chapter 2: Testing Boundaries THATWARD HO: Baka the Bakeneko chapter 2 by JollyJoe

It was dark, and Finger was alone. Sure, she could try to bother her master again. But he'd given her a direct order, and if he became actually irritated, no creature in hell could be as cruel as JJ. 

 

So she was alone. In the dark. Tormented by the eerie echoes of Baka giggling. Whenever Finger turned, shadows slipped out of sight. 

 

Something splashed on a shard of glass. The drop was a third of Finger’s size. The splash was three times larger. Some landed on her ankle. It was warm and had the scent of iron. Blood.

 

“It–it’s okay. E-everything is g-going to be okay.” She said quietly to herself.

 

Then, more giggling. 

 

****

 

Oil and blood were smeared on the last page of his comic. They were smeared on every page. But this was the last. JJ slipped the issue back in its sleeve and dropped it by the side of his chair.

 

Then he fell asleep.

 

****

 

It wasn't just Baka’s giggling anymore. There was also the laughing of the children. The dead children. And their laughs turned to screams. And Baka laughed.

 

Then there was silence.

 

The cycle repeated. Like a broken record. She tried to shake off her fear. She focused on her rage. It was easy to do as she cleaned. 

 

Finger struggled to lift every piece of silverware and put it in the sink. Picking up and cleaning after JJ was one thing. He was a mess, but he was one person and didn't expect her to keep their world pristine.

 

But that wasn't what this was. Baka was a hurricane. One that left behind hazards. Or worse, evidence. Finger never liked burying bodies. It didn't sit right with her.

 

Besides, when JJ just told them to “Get this cleaned up,” the command wasn't actually about cleaning. It was about Baka and Finger learning to get along with one another. Or more accurately, it was about getting out of his face.

 

****

 

Six cigarette butts sat by JJ’s feet. He held an unfinished can of warm beer. His head hung limply. He was snoring.

 

****

 

In the main hallway, Baka danced naked in circles with a towel over her head. It was unwrapped, and she was trying to keep it from falling. The towel was dripping wet. 

 

It was a simple dance. Hands went up and down in opposition to one another, and her feet did the same. She shook the foundation with her heavy movements, slow and exaggerated. 

 

Finger hissed in a way that was neither cat-like nor cat-friendly. “Stop it! We're supposed to be cleaning! You'll wake him up!”

 

Blood continued to drip from the towel, splashing on the old wood floor. Exact duplicates of Baka's silhouette peeled off her. Countless shadows with the same shape and the same sparkling emerald eyes mimicked Baka’s dance. This went on for a few mesmerizing minutes.

 

Then, Finger realized that she could only see the shadows. The real Baka left her sight once again.

 

Panicking, she zipped all around the house, checking every room. 

 

Eventually, Finger found Baka in the form of a normal white cat. Doing the same peculiar dance on her hind legs, trying to balance a towel. She did it on a coffee table. Right in front of where JJ was sleeping.

 

Finger zipped up to the cat's face. “You are NOT supposed to be here!” she whispered.

 

Baka continued her dance, ignoring the fluttering pixie. 

 

“Listen to me! We were told to clean! You have been spellbound and cannot disobey JJ’s orders!”

 

To this, the cat replied. “Baka is cleaning air. Filthy air. Like master. Filthy.” 

 

“The air is not a priority! And just how is that going to clean the air?”

 

Another sidelong smirk. Baka was up to something. “By getting rid of bugs.”

 

Suddenly, the cat swiped a paw at Finger.

The pixie panicked, and started to squeal, but was cut-off when the paw knocked her to the floor.

 

Finger was sent tumbling, hitting her back upside down against the wall. 

 

Baka pounced. But Finger had already zipped out the room. She flew to the ceiling fan in the common area, and sat on a blade.

 

The cat could take the form of a three meter woman to reach her. In fact, Finger waited for it to happen. But it didn't. Baka didn't follow Finger at all.

 

Confused, Finger waited longer. Only to be surprised when something batted the pixie off the blade. Finger zipped around and found nothing.

 

Then she was batted again. And again. And again. From one part of the room to another, until she was dead center. 

 

Looking closer, she realized what had happened. Baka’s shadows. They were cast on the walls and ceiling. And they giggled. Each and every one.

 

****

 

Sun was up. Hours ago. JJ honked like a pig when he stirred himself awake. He scratched his stomach. Seeing the open beer unspilled in his hand, he finished it. Stale. Sour. Warm. Warm as the room, warm as it would be on a summer day in Cali. 

 

He stretched and groaned. Then went for another beer. Head foggy, he couldn't quite remember how to chill it. JJ shook the can violently. He juggled it while evoking….he couldn't quite remember what he was trying to evoke. Then he cracked it open, expecting something chill. 

 

There was a carbonated explosion of the entire contents. 

 

Messy make-up, sweating in leather, and coated in beer. JJ felt sticky. And gross. Nothing out of the norm. He was comfortable being uncomfortable. It was what he knew.

 

He chugged another can, then put the box in his fridge. Wasn't sure why he hadn't already.

 

Stumbling outside, he blocked the sun from his face. “Ugh.” 

 

Too bright.

 

His custom Pontiac was crooked in the driveway. Her rusted hood looked depressed. The engine purred. 

 

JJ rubbed his open thumb against a key in his pocket. Poltergeist must've started Bettie’s engine. 

 

Wait. There was a depression on the hood. Something was leaning on it. He remembered what he discovered last night, what was haunting the house. It wasn't Bettie purring.

 

“Muèstrate.” JJ commanded.

 

Baka appeared. She was draped over the hood like a babe from an auto-show. 

 

Thankfully, Baka wasn't as large as she appeared last night. That would probably crush the car. But she was still large. Maybe just shy of two meters. Broader though. Curvier too. 

 

A towel was draped over one of her ears like a beret. She was still naked besides that. Some of her fluffy spots were slick with engine oil. She was licking it off her paw. Her tail swayed seductively. 

 

He stepped closer. Their eyes met. JJ saw his reflection in her emeralds. His face. Screaming. Elongated. Less like Munich, more like The Wall. Except it was moving. And, well, he could hear it too. He could hear his screams. 

 

But he wasn't screaming.

 

It was gone after he blinked. Baka smiled innocently. Looking at her naked body, he felt it again. The tug low in his gut. 

 

Her ears perked up. Her eyes sparkled. She sensed it. Baka stretched her stomach over the hood and windshield, arching her back so her breasts pressed against the glass and her ass was well presented.

 

Definitely only one tail. It's tip flicked JJ’s nose, then curled around the back of his neck. 

 

The glass cracked from the pressure. Finger gun. Mist. Baka scrambled over the car to scramble under it. Bettie groaned in protest.

 

“No.” Baka murmured from beneath the car. “Baka says no. No water.”

 

“Baka is testing my limits.” JJ replied. “Baka might need a bath.”

 

She hissed.

 

JJ crouched. Scrawny elbows rested on spread knees. Black denim bell bottoms chafed around the thighs. Cigarette. Match. Light.

 

He peered under the Pontiac. Thin slits peered back. Her massive form was wedged between the tires and frame like a giant breast in a tiny bra.

 

“Out.” he said flatly.

 

Her ears flattened. The hot summer air dropped to zero. Her shadow stretched.

 

“Now. Sal ahora.” 

 

The temperature returned and the shadow dissipated. The bakeneko came crawling out on all fours. Her ears remained flat. She purred defensively, and the body of a giantess tried to curl around his crouching figure. 

 

Baka pressed her head against his shoulder. Then she did it again. “Baka doesn't need bath. Master filthy. Master needs bath.” 

 

Her tongue, rough and long, licked his neck. Sandpaper slowly scratched off beer, sweat, grease, and eye-liner. 

 

JJ took a long drag of his cigarette. He was too mesmerized to do anything. Her nose twitched.

 

“Master like when Baka cleans. Master hard. Baka smells his filth. Baka smells his…..”

 

From the front door of the house, Finger shot out like an angry horse fly. “JJ! I told you! The binding is bad! You're letting her control you!”

 

Baka wrapped herself fully around JJ. She shrank closer to JJ’s height, looking even less like a threat. Again, she was fuller in her figure. She clutched JJ’s face, burying it in her breasts. Her chin nuzzled the top of his mohawk.

 

She purred louder. Vibrations rolling straight to his groin. He exhaled. Smoke rose from her cleavage.

 

“She’s fine.” JJ said, his voice muffled.

 

Finger threw her hands up towards the larger pair. “This is not fine! This is dangerous! Do you know what will happen if we don't do something right now? She'll–” 

 

The pixie was interrupted by the sound of a fire crackling. Smoke spilled from Bettie's closed hood. Baka unwrapped herself, her face worried and confused.

 

JJ rose. He opened the car door and grabbed another unfinished beer waiting on the console. He opened the hood and poured the hot beer over a cold blue fire. 

 

The engine hissed and sparked with electricity. JJ closed the hood. As he did, he was shot with a chaotic expulsion of magic. 

 

The blast sent the brujo flying. His back collided with the house. He hit the ground. There was no longer a cigarette between his lips. It was completely disintegrated by the blast.

 

JJ grunted. It was a long grunt. His everything hurt.

 

“Huh. Dunno what that were. Weren't what I were expecting, though.”

 

“That was the cat, you idiot! She's testing the leash! How much she has to obey you, if she can hurt you, if you have to obey her.”

 

Another grunt. Everything hurt. “Finger. Did you clean the kitchen, like I asked?”

 

Whatever anger and aggression was in the homunculus was now gone. Replaced instead with rising anxiety. Finger wasn't bound like a familiar. She wasn't enthralled or compelled to obey. Familiars are tied by a spiritual connection, they pool energies together with their master, adding to each other's power. But that power is also a contract. 

 

Homunculi however, exist as a manifestation of their master’s power. So Finger’s leash was made solely by the consequences decided by the Lord her God.

 

“Well–uh. I–uh. I started to…well–uh, we started to. Because you did say both of us. You did tell us both to clean it. But then–uh…well she–”

 

“Finger.”

 

“Y–Yes, JJ?” 

 

“That was my last cigarette.”

 

“Oh….was it?”

 

“It was.”

 

“Oh….” She still wasn't sure where the conversation was going. “....would you like me to make more?” 

 

“Later.”

 

“Later?”

 

“Later.”

 

A pregnant pause. JJ held out his left hand. The one missing a middle finger. The one he used to smoke. He looked at her expectantly. 

 

Finger fluttered over and landed his palm, favoring the gap edge. She nervously struck a pose in her short leopard dress that went just past her waist. 

 

He modeled her after a super model. She knew he was still feeling horny from the bakeneko’s manipulations. Finger would try to appeal to that. 

 

Try, and hope it would weaken his ire.

 

Suddenly, the brujo tilted his hand, and snatched Finger’s legs between his thumb and index. 

 

“Eep!” She squeeked. He brought her tiny feet to his lips. Then he closed his lips on her shins. JJ inhaled slowly.  

 

Finger's wings spasmed. Her insides felt like they were on fire. Something was being drained from her, but she wasn't sure what. It didn't feel good. 

 

She tried to scream, but nothing came out.

 

Her voice. He took her voice. 

 

When JJ exhaled, he blew up her dress. It folded up, exposing her own naked form. It was beyond humiliating, and she knew Baka was watching.

 

To make matters worse, JJ deliberately focused his breath between her legs, forcing a strong gust of wind directly inside her. Uncomfortable, painful, and…..well….it fanned the fire inside her.

 

Inhale. Exhale. She had absolutely no control of her body. Finger was being used as a

living cigarette.

 

JJ lifted Bettie's hood and went to work to please her. Beside him, a normal white cat watched with something between hunger and interest. She was jealous of the car. And jealous of the cigarette.