Bitter Truths

Beginning with a Whimper

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: In response to a challenge sent to me.

It was the time of day Kisa hated the most. She could smell the food coming up from the kitchen and her stomach did a somersault.

"Kisa, it's time to eat," her mother called out cheerfully.

She obeyed hesitantly. Her mind was screaming for her not to go down the stairs. Her body ached though. She had only eaten a banana for breakfast this morning.

She stared at the plate in front of her. Was her mother trying to make her fat? The plate was loaded with rice, beef, and vegetables. There were even spring rolls and a few cookies.

Nervously she began to chop up her food.

You can do this. You can do this.

She ate slowly. Each bite was a forced down vigorously. She wanted to run. She wanted to hide. She just wanted dinner to be over with.

The panic soaked into her bloodstream. She had to get away from this table. She wasn't going to be Kisa the fat tigress

She wanted to be pretty. She wanted to be beautiful. She wanted to be thin and she was going to be damn it! She was going to achieve her perfect weight and then she would show those girls at school that she worth it.

Kisa had been trying to avoid them all day. Everyone at school knew Kimiko Yamoto and her friends. They were the most popular girls at school. Rumor was that Kimiko, commonly known as Kimi, had managed to seduce several of the teachers. Consequently, her victims had no safe place to go. Kimi's family had money, power, and the ability to sweet talk their way through complications. If Kimiko Yamoto didn't like you then chances are you would be alone, friendless, and abandoned.

The other students would treat you as a leper. You, alone, had to defend yourself.

Yamoto's reach was great and Kisa Sohma knew she didn't have a chance.

The little click circled her like vultures over a fresh carcass in the cafeteria.

"Isn't Kisa Sohma," Suki Harashi sneered.

"My, my, little Kisa aren't we going to be as round as a blob of grease," taunted Saki Yin. "You have enough food there to feed an army."

Kisa just moved backwards. She didn't have that much food. Her serving was the same size as everyone else's.

"You know how strange you are," Saki continued. "You're not even beautiful. You're just weird with your eyes and hair."

"A freak," Suki declared.

"A freak that isn't worth anything. Worthless," Kimiko Yamoto said as she turned her back on Kisa.

The tigress felt the room pull away from her.

Dinner ended and Kisa waited for a while to head to the bathroom. She watched as her mother just went to lie day. Kisa was always careful. She didn't need to be caught.

She stared in the bathroom mirror for a long time. Why couldn't she have been born normal? Why did she have to look so different from everyone else? She knew it was a problem all of her cousins had faced but it stung Kisa more than it should have. Maybe it was because Kagura and Rin looked normal. People didn't look at them with disgust as they looked at Kisa, Kyo, Kureno, Hiro, Haru, and Ritsu. Ayame and Yuki were too beautiful for people to care if their hair and eyes were strange colors.

Slowly she grabbed her toothbrush off the counter.

When she was twelve she had gone silent. She had ignored the hateful comments by just sinking into herself. She couldn't do that now. She wanted to prove to those girls and the former junishi that she was good enough. She would be the best. She would beat those girls at their own game.

She would become popular.

You can do this. You can do this.

She grabbed the toothbrush quickly. The sooner she did this the sooner it was over. She jammed the toothbrush down her throat and poked further than she thought possible.

She felt her stomach rebel as the bile rose up her throat. Chucks of food entered the sink as she purged. The taste was horrible and sickening but Kisa didn't stop. She wouldn't stop until every last bit of that disgusting dinner was out of her stomach.

She hated eating. Food in general would cause her to nauseous. She hated the sweetness of ice cream going down her throat. She hated beef and pork. She hated food in general.

It wasn't that she liked purging. It made her feel disgusting as she forced herself to throw up. She would rather just skip eating in general but then her mother would notice. It made her sick but she had already lost ten pounds since she started this routine three weeks ago. She wasn't going to stop and until she had proven that those girls that she was better than them.

Kisa continued to empty the contents of her stomach. The smell was unbearable and she felt herself become sicker.

She never heard the door open or the sharp in tack of breath. She didn't know any one was there until strong hands pulled the toothbrush away from her. Her head was jerked up suddenly and she found herself facing angry grey eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?"

To be continued….