Chapter 7: Autophobia THATWARD HO: Baka the Bakeneko chapter 7 by JollyJoe

At home, there was tension in the air. Static building before the storm. JJ felt it when he shocked himself working on the car. 

 

After the third time of replacing spark plug and wires, the brujo decided the problem wasn't just heat damage or him mixing up wires. Had to be something deeper. 

 

The thermostat was leaking. Or maybe the housing. He wasn't sure why, he had it pretty tight. Tight enough to crack a bolt. Might've been him running water instead of coolant. But water was natural. JJ didn't like the idea of feeding Bettie all those nasty chemicals. 

 

He'd have to replace something. Maybe just the hose.

 

“C'mon girl.” he told his Trans Am. “No seas tan perra. I have two others already, I doesn’t need you too. No tengo ganas de esta mierda.”

 

****

 

JJ collapsed in his chair. He lit a cigarette. He didn't remember ever being so exhausted. Lethargy. Heavy as his leather.

 

A white cat eagerly hopped to his lap to nest. Her fluffy ear twitched. Baka smacked it. It twitched more. She smacked it more, and shook her head.

 

Finger saw JJ. She saw his fatigue. His unusually pale skin. His usually sullen eyes, a little more sunken. 

 

She had had enough.

 

The homonculus zipped to and fro, gathering all the supplies on the coffee table before the brujo. Tecpatl, comb, bell charm, the potted plant, JJ’s blood, catnip, mugwort, ash and oil. No litter. No collar.

 

Her wings buzzed furiously. Her face was stern. “JJ. We need to do this NOW. We need to go back to the grave and perform the corrective ritual.” 

 

“Mm. Tomorrow.” JJ mumbled sleepily.

 

“No! Tonight! Casey gave us everything in a hand basket, and I will not waste the fresh powers of luck and destiny to grow stale because you're too tired and lazy!”

 

Baka's purring hitched. One green eye cracked open. It glowed menacingly. “Master tired. But Baka not. Baka will play with tiny sex toy if she does not leave master alone.”

 

Wings flapped harder before coming to a stop as Finger landed on the table. “As much as I would love to do this on my own, the nature of binding requires all parties present.”

 

JJ was snoring.

 

Baka stretched in her side. “Master sleep. Baka take care of master. Tiny toy won't wake master up.” She shifted to her larger form, quickly covering JJ entirely with her back and bottom, tail wrapping around him possessively. “Master doesn't belong to red-hair or tiny sex-toy. They are jealous and try to take him, but Baka won't let them have master. Master mine. Baka's baka.”

 

The massive bakeneko’s weight pressed JJ deeper into the worn chair. Her fluffy ass and thick thighs completely engulfed his lap and torso. Warm. Heavy. A heavy heated blanket made of horny ghost. Her tail coiled even tighter around his waist, the tip lazily stroking the growing bulge beneath his black denim. Her purrs massaged every inch in his sleep.

 

Finger threw up her hands. “He's dying, and this is killing him! Is that what you want? Do you want to kill him? Because that's what will happen. He will be dead and–” 

 

And his spirit would be trapped. It was entangled with hers. 

 

Baka’s ears flicked back. She ground her hips in a slow, deliberate circle. A low, satisfied rumble escaped her as she felt him twitch beneath in his unconscious state. “Baka makes master feel good. Master likes it. Master gets hard even when sleeping. Tiny toy is just jealous Baka can make him cum without nagging.”

 

The giant feline reached back. Her claws tugged JJ’s zipper down. His cock sprang free. Flushed. Leaking. Baka purred louder. Her slick heat drooled from her furry sex. She rocked her hips, sliding her folds along his length without taking him in. 

 

The friction made JJ’s sleeping body jerk; a weak, instinctive thrust upward into her.

 

“See?” Baka said, smug and aroused. “Master knows. Master belongs to Baka. Baka’s baka.”

 

Finger’s wings buzzed. “You stop that, this instance! You’re draining more of his…whatever you're draining from him, with every orgasm! Look at him! He’s practically a ghost already!”

 

Baka ignored the pixie. She lifted her hips, positioned JJ’s tip against her entrance, and sank down smoothly. Wet heat swallowed him to the hilt. JJ stopped breathing. A strangled moan vibrated against the massive cheek smothering his face. Baka rolled her hips in long, possessive waves. Her heavy breasts were tender. She grabbed each. Her tail tightened even more around his waist.

 

The chair creaked beneath them. It was not made to support Baka's weight. JJ’s hips chased pleasure.

 

“Baka….good wife.” The bakaneko gasped, grinding harder.

 

JJ came hard without waking. His whole body seized in the familiar rigor-mortis spasms. His cock pulsed as he was milked for everything he had left. Baka rode him awhile longer, yowling triumphantly when she reached her own orgasm. 

 

Their ethereal bond sparked tangibly. Around her neck. Around his hand.

 

When it was done, she stayed draped over JJ like he was the chair, purring contentedly. Her rough tongue lazily cleaned his mess.

 

And when she removed herself, the brujo looked worse than ever. Ash gray skin, hollow eyes, absent breath.

 

Finger hovered in stunned silence for a long moment, staring at her master’s living corpse. 

 

Baka took her lithe lady form. She licked his sad mohawk one last time, then rested her head near his. “Master won't leave Baka. Red-hair and tiny toy won't take master from me. I won't be alone.”

 

Then Finger snapped back.

 

“You want this, don’t you? You’re not even trying to stop. If he dies like this, his ghost gets chained to you forever. That’s the plan, isn’t it? Drain him until there’s nothing left but a spirit stuck as your personal toy. No more running off in that stupid car. No more red-hair. Just you and your ‘baka’ for eternity.”

 

Baka’s emerald eyes gleamed darkly. She didn’t deny it. Instead, she nuzzled closer to JJ’s pale face, purring softly. “Master doesn't love Baka. But master would have to love Baka. Forever. The tip of Baka's tail caressed his missing finger space.

 

Finger felt sick. “If he dies, then he will be stuck on your leash. Forever. And if there's one thing JJ actually likes in this world, it's his freedom. If you take that away from him, he’d hate you. Forever. And he would make you feel more alone than you ever have before. He would make sure of it. If you think you're lonely now, just wait until someone you love treats you like less than a person. You have no idea what you're doing. JJ gave you a fitting name, you're a fucking idiot.”

 

Baka’s lady form flickered, revealing flashes of fangs and glowing eyes. A pair of ears that flattened sharply. For a moment, he looked ready to swallow Finger whole. A selfish hunger warred visibly across her face. She wanted that eternal leash, she wanted JJ’s ghost bound and dependent. Someone to love her and keep her company forever in the afterlife. 

 

But the words struck deeper than Finger could know. Baka's eyes flashed with an old pain. Then they shifted into something harder.

 

“Baka knows. Baka not stupid.” she hissed, “Even if master is lazy filth who smells like nasty and nasty cigarettes.” She clutched JJ tightly to her chest. Her lithe form rippled, as if fighting the urge to grow massive again. “Master is mine.” 

 

Her tail tightened around JJ’s wrist like a shackle. “Baka doesn’t care if master hates Baka. Hate is here.”

 

Finger stared at her, wings slowing. “...You’re really that terrified of being alone again. Baka, JJ…he…he was here for a month before he ever noticed you. He….that's how he lives. He drifts. Neglecting everything until it takes more effort to ignore than to solve. If something breaks, he wraps it in duct tape and moves on. His car, relationships, spells, even his own body. Each a mess from his last adventure, to be ignored in his next. That’s his whole life. You're jealous of Casey, but it happened with her. She wasn't the first. She won’t be the last. Same as you. But Baka, him being a ghost….that isn't the answer. He'll hurt you. ”

 

Baka bared her teeth, a low growl in her throat. She clearly wasn’t convinced. The idea of a damned and dependent JJ still appealed to her far more than letting him be free to drift away.

 

But then the brujo stirred. It wasn't much. Just a single question, spoken in his sleep. “What lies behind the sky?”

 

It was a question in his dream.

 

“Baka. We're going to fix the bond. If we do it right…you'll get to come with us when he leaves. You won't be alone.”

 

Baka hissed. Her tail lashed. Her glowing eyes flicked between JJ’s near-lifeless face and the ritual supplies. She growled.

 

“Fine. Baka will help. BUT. If tiny toy fails…Baka will push toy deep inside womb. Tiny toy can spend eternity feeling every purr and every thrust while master’s ghost keeps Baka company forever.”

 

Baka’s hand drifted unconsciously to her belly. There was a faint, hungry smile tugging at her lips at the thought. Almost like she might make good on the threat no matter what.

 

Finger blanched but held her ground. “...Noted. Now move your crazy ass before he actually dies.”

 

Baka rose, cradling JJ’s limp body like a groom carrying his bride through the threshold. She shot one last warning glare at Finger before carrying him out to the driveway.

 

****

 

Baka gently laid JJ across the backseat of Bettie before climbing in herself. She arranged his head in her lap. She stroked his mohawk. Her purrs were low and anxious. 

 

After repacking the supplies in the trunk, Finger fluttered to the driver’s seat and immediately realized a problem. She was barely the size of a Barbie. Her feet couldn't reach the pedals. And she might be able to steer the wheel if she used her entire body. 

 

“Baka. Can you drive?”

 

The cat’s ear flicked. She hissed. 

 

“I'll take that as a no.”

 

Finger zipper around the front in frustration. The sigil on the hood. The altar in the trunk. There was an obvious solution, but not one she wanted to resort to. She could call someone. The entire car was customized for such a purpose.

 

But there was one other option. She could call someone else. She studied a crumpled note at the bottom of the floor. Then she flew up to talk to the cat. 

 

“Baka. Stay here. I'll be right back.”  Finger said, before zipping to the landline in the house.

 

A while later, Casey sat in the driver's seat. She looked in the back toward Baka and JJ. “You just can't do anything yourself, can you?” She said like a disappointed mother. “Finger, did you guys at least get the collar and litter?”

 

“No.” Finger reported. “We just happened on the grave after we left you and went home.” 

 

“Figures.” 

 

Casey turned the key to start the ignition. Nothing. She tried again. There was a squeal, then it puttered out. She tried for a third time. “Can't this kid take care of anything?”

 

She looked at the hood. That was Leraje's sigil. She sighed. It took fourteen tries before it started. “Alright. Let's go grab the last two items first. Then we'll go dig up her bones.”