"I wrote him off for the tenth time today, and practiced all the things I would say."

Kata was alone once more, pacing back and forth throughout her humble village home. While the sunset turned to night, she peered out the window beside the front door. Surely, his face would rear its ugly, dashing, swoon-worthy head before long.

Soon enough, the young lady was greeted by a knock on the door, followed by him entering anyways, not needing her to answer.

"But he came over, I lost my nerve. I took him back, and made him dessert..."

'He,' in this case, was someone that Maskerade would really like to forget. The close-knit tribe was always nonetheless open to receiving all kinds of outsiders, welcoming them should they wish to mingle or stay. How else were more Meowscaradas supposed to integrate into the wider population of the lands?

Young Kata was eighteen when she met her first mate, the first man to grab her attention, and her waist. She had been preparing for such an event her whole life, the transformation from girl to woman signified by the advent of motherhood. 

That Man was... Well, the very image of a hunk. One could describe it to the break of day. Kata was a lady with a large and wide frame that nearly towered over other men in the village, but That Man took the cake and ran away with it.

He was everything but fair with her, but she couldn't stop coming back to the little apologies and pure smiles that cleansed her heartbreak.

"Now, I know I'm being used. That's okay man, 'cause I like the abuse!"

Confronted one day by her younger brother, he pointed up at her frustratedly and tapped his finger against her soft belly. It didn't deserve to have That Man's seed swimming within.

"Now, I know he's playing with me..."

She shook her head and posed confidently, hoping that Kin's angry worries would at least be brushed off. Paws on her hips, she forced a wide grin for him.

"That's okay, 'cause I've got no self-esteem!"

Kin, the little brother of poor Kata, was yet a young Floragato of fourteen summers. Two large daggers he wielded against lesser game, always zipping across the woods with the blades held readily behind him, hunting freely and joyfully until sundown. He was the epitome of a good and fun-loving young lad.

Always, he'd return home to eat a much-deserved meal prepared by his loving sister, before hitting the bathhouse. Sometimes their presences didn't really mesh well together, but that was just par for the course as far as young siblings were concerned. At the end of the day, they smiled over what he caught, and what she roasted.

But as of late, Kata's smiles at the table seemed more forced. Then, eventually, muted until there was no smile.

He wasn't a stupid child, he knew what it was. That Man was hurting her. But Kata never listened to Kin's fervent disapprovals.

It was either a shrug or a yelling match, before she went back to bed, and let the sun rise again.

"We make plans to go out at night..."

On that day, she waited and waited at the kitchen table. That Man was supposed to come with her to the hot springs nearby Maskerade Village. They were going to have a lovely time together in her favorite place to bathe, and allow her slightly-curved belly to experience some fun with her. The babies were growing in her, and she wanted them to get the taste of a little happiness! Well...

"I wait 'til 2, then I turn out the light... This rejection's got me so low!"

Kin had been watching in secret for the hours she sat there and waited. As Kata dragged her paws and put out the torches across the walls, he slipped away before she could notice. 

"If he keeps it up, I just might tell him so."

Kata layed in bed, hugging a pillow when she should have been hugging That Man. Her shut eyes spilled over with tears...

"When he's saying, oh that he wants only me? Then I wonder why he sleeps with my friends."

"When he's saying, oh that I'm like a disease? Then I wonder how much more I can spend."

"Well I guess... I should stick up for myself?"

Kin was once more barking, even though it was hard to take the little 'Gato seriously sometimes, he was rather justified here.

"But I really think it's better this way!"

Once more, he was forced to grumble away, Kata far-gone and still attached to the idea that her growing tummy would finally make That Man change heart.

"The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care! Right?"

Kin turned back to her, holding back the urge to roar.

"Yeah..."

And left once more, to take out his rage on his next hunts, and his chipping daggers.

"Now, I'll relay this little bit. 'Happens more than I'd like to admit."

Kata was alone on the loveseat at home, finding it hard to sleep with her kitten-filled womb kicking away all night. It had been seven months of her time as a couple, and yet she felt more attachment to the life inside her than the one responsible for gifting them to her.

"Late at night, he knocks on my door, drunk again and looking to score..."

At this point, Kata was thoroughly defeated in his presence. She's told him that he didn't need to keep pretending to love her. She didn't want to be his puppet, anymore.

"Now, I know I should say no, but it's kind of hard when he's ready to go!"

But that night, That Man loomed over her so thoroughly. When he stepped forwards, she stepped back. But he stepped forwards again.

She might have been large, but he was larger, and she was heavily pregnant. This had to be the worst time to get physical. She had to let him take her by the shoulders.

"I may be dumb but I'm not a dweeb. I'm just a sucker with no self-esteem!"

In bed, Kata was merely his toy, to use and abuse. All the while, That Man drunkenly boasted about how much he loved to make her his plaything.

"When he's saying, oh that he want's only me. Then I wonder why he sleeps with my friends..."

"When he's saying, oh that I'm like a disease. Then I wonder how much more I can spend!"

She could barely move, lest she risk bringing her unborn children into harm's way. He just about confirmed it, what he'd do if she stepped out of line.

"Well, I guess I should stick up for myself... But I really think it's better this way!"

That Man leaned closer to her terrified face, stealing a kiss he had no right to. With his evil grin, he spoke...

"The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care!"

His gaze was cold, sending shivers down Kata's aching spine. But what sent greater chills was what she saw, when she looked past him.

Kin was there. Her brother had heard even the silenced and muted commotion, or rather, was aware of the situation in some way. No matter how, what mattered was that he was there.

Skulking silently and brandishing his blades, nothing but his crimson eyes and daggers glimmered in the windowed moonlight.

Kata teared up, desperately pleading with her eyes, with hope. As if to say; 'Brother, please... Do it! You were right!'

That Man moved his face to meet her drifting stare, persistent in his abuses, and unaware.

"Right?"

And so, Kin ended up right above That Man, having leapt high over him with blades geared at his sides.

"No."

They swished across the darkness, carving a symbol of warning to all who dared break hearts. They were no longer welcome in Maskerade.