A/N This chapter is a collection of scenes leading up to what would have been the beginning of chapter one. Each date should be in bold. I'm going to let you know that Toshiro shows up in the next chapter, too.

And please please feel free to point out any grammar mistakes I might have. I don't like messy work, and I don't want mine to be.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of it's characters. But I wish I did...


1½ years ago: November 2010

Fifteen-year-old Momo stepped onto a scale. At 5'0" she was 95lbs. To her, that seemed like a lot for someone of her height.

"Ninety-five pounds? I think I need to lose a little weight," she said to herself.

She began to research some health foods online later that night. If she wanted to loose weight the first thing she could do would be to eat healthier. She also wanted to start exercising more. No one could blame her for wanting to be healthy, right?

Momo wasn't planning on loosing much weight. She decided that five pounds maximum was a good amount. If she could maintain a ninety pound weight, that would be good enough. She decided she would tell Rukia her plans the next day at school.

"You know, I'm thinking about going on a diet," Momo told Rukia casually. They were sitting in English class the next day waiting for the bell to ring.

"Momo, you're thin enough already! You don't need to lose any weight. How much are you talking?" Rukia asked with full attention.

"Not much, just a few pounds. I decided that it was going to be five pounds maximum," Momo replied.

Rukia let out a sigh. "Please don't let it get to your head," she said seriously, "You're beautiful as you are."

"Thanks, Rukia. You're gorgeous, too!" Momo replied dramatically.

"Shut up," Rukia replied teasingly.

Momo went home after school and wrote down a list of some foods she wanted to get from the grocery store that night. A lot of the foods were already at her house, but she picked a few things out and decided to give the list to her mom later that night.

January 2011

"Ninety-three pounds. You've got to be joking!" Momo read the numbers on her scale out loud. "It's been two months since I started dieting, and I've hardly lost anything!"

Momo walked over to her bedroom mirror. She turned sideways and lifted up her shirt so she could see her stomach. It was flat like always, and she knew this. Somewhere inside her head though, she couldn't help but want to shed just one or two more pounds.

For Momo's "diet" she tried substituting her normal breakfast (cheese and bacon sandwich) for a bowl of Special K cereal. Her other two meals for the day didn't change, and sometimes she would still eat a snack in the afternoon when she got home from school. Whenever she wanted something sweet she allowed herself to eat an apple or other fruit.

Any drink she had was either water or something organic. Soda, or any sugary drink was completely out of the question. She enjoyed the organic juice a local market on her street provided. There was an organic farm outside the city of San Francisco that shipped different things to the market on different days of the week.

Momo had also gotten into the habit of running every day when she came home from school. Running gave her a time to burn off some calories she had accumulated throughout the day, but also to spend time alone to collect her thoughts. She'd bring music with her and hum along to the tunes.

For a while, Ami was even glad to see her daughter eating healthier and exercising. It gave her some motivation to get in on the act, as well. Eating better and working out made her feel great both physically and mentally. The problem was that she had no idea Momo was doing mainly so she could loose weight.

One night Momo got a call from Rukia. "Hey, girl! How's your special diet going?" she asked.

"I've barely lost anything, but I'm in pretty good shape right now. Maybe the muscle is what's keeping the weight on," Momo replied nonchalantly.

"Maybe your body is trying to tell you something," Rukia said.

"Maybe it's telling me I'm ninety-three pounds of pure muscle! *" Momo said with a deep, rough voice.

"Grrrrr!" Rukia shouted back. Momo let out a laugh.

"Momo, quiet down! I'm trying to work!" Ami shouted from the other room. Momo poked her head around the corner and gave a weak smile and a thumbs up.

"Tell your mom I said hey," Rukia said over the phone.

"Will do!" Momo promised.

April 2011

"Hey, Mom?" Momo started, "Is it alright if I become a vegetarian?"

"When did this idea come up? You're healthy enough as it is," Ami answered casually.

"I know, but I just want to give it a shot. If things don't work out I'll stop. I promise." Momo looked at her mom hopefully.

Ami thought over her daughter's request for a minute and answered, "Sure, it might be nice. I think I might even join you."

"Great! Thanks, Mom!" Momo hugged Ami and ran off to her room.

Momo decided to call Rukia later that evening and tell her the big news. She'd probably laugh, but Momo thought to call her anyways.

"Hey, Rukia," she said, "guess who's becoming a vegetarian?"

Rukia sighed into the phone. "Momo, please don't tell me you're doing this because you want to lose more weight. I hope you remember me telling how beautiful you are right now." She sounded almost annoyed.

"No, no, it's just something I want to try out. My mom even decided to try it with me!" Momo replied excitedly.

"Hmm, if Ami is doing it and my best friend is doing it then count me in," Rukia replied.

Momo was surprised and thrilled at the same time. "Oh my gosh, really? This is going to be so fun. But what about Byakuya? What's he going to think?" Momo asked.

Rukia was silent for a moment. "You know Brother, too busy to ever notice anything I do. I doubt this will be any different."

December 2011

The next eight months passed by quickly. Momo, Rukia, and Ami all stuck to their vegetarian diets like they said they would. Rukia was even surprised that they all did it for as long as they did, but happy. Byakuya didn't find out about it until they were all two months into the diet, but he didn't really care.

Momo had also begun to eat less and less over those months. For breakfast she would eat exactly a half a cup of dry Special K cereal, an apple for lunch, but still a regular dinner. She and her mother liked to cook special vegetarian meals with each other most nights, so Momo ate whatever they made.

It eventually got to the point where Momo had to know exactly what was being used in each recipe. When her and her mom would pick out what to cook that night Momo would look at each ingredient label to see how many calories was in each serving. She did this for every meal they cooked.

Going out to eat became increasingly difficult or stressful, too. When making plans with her friends she had to know exactly where they were going before they left. When she got the name of the restaurant she would Google it and find the lowest calorie item from the menu. She also checked fat, sugar, and sodium.

Kira caught her in the act once. Him and Rukia had come over to Momo's apartment early and Momo was right in the middle of doing her search. While Rukia was going to the bathroom Kira went to see where Momo was. He found her on her computer carefully checking every item on the restaurant menu.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Momo jumped up a little and let out a squeak. "I'm just looking something up. It's nothing, ok?" Momo replied quickly.

"That's not-"

"Izuru, please."

"Alright…"

By the time Momo had reached a weight of about eighty-nine pounds people began to notice. Sometimes Rukia would comment about how she looked thin, and warn her not to let things get to her head. Momo would always respond by telling her that she was done losing weight, she promised. It was always the same answer.

One thing that also slowly began to creep up on Momo was a mild case of OCD**. Normally she was a very neat and organized person, but she had begun to take things to a more extreme level. She weighed herself exactly three times before going to bed, washed her hands more throughout the day, and disinfected the kitchen after she and Ami cooked.

There were side effects of a very serious problem that were beginning to show in her. Although they were mild, Momo didn't realize that the reason she was developing these problems was because she was beginning to develop anorexia.

"Eighty-six pounds… Just a few more?"

January 2012

"Momo, how come you didn't bring your lunch today?" Kira asked one day at school.

"Oh, I forgot it at home, I guess," Momo replied as casually as she could.

"You said that yesterday," Rukia butted in. "What in the world is going on with you?"

"Nothing is going on, you guys. I just forgot my stuff at home. Please don't start something now," Momo begged.

Rukia and Kira stared at Momo for a moment with concerned expressions. After a minute of silence Kira let out a sigh and got up to go to class. As he left, Rukia turned to Momo.

"How much do you weigh?" she asked.

"What?" Momo answered back, caught off guard.

"How much do you weigh?" Rukia repeated, looking straight into Momo's eyes as she did so.

"E-eighty-three pounds…" stammered Momo. Rukia looked away.

"You said you were done…" she said quietly, and got up to go to class. Momo sat alone at the lunch table trying to figure out on earth what just happened.

February 2012

Momo dropped another six pounds within the next month. By February she weighed a mere seventy-seven pounds. Ami had even noticed how thin her daughter looked and questioned her sometimes. At this point, though, they were mostly arguments or accusations.

"Don't think I haven't noticed how thin you've gotten! I know you're trying to lose weight!" Ami yelled at Momo.

"Mom, I haven't lost that much! Please don't make such a big deal out of this!" Momo whined back.

"Why do you think I'm making a big deal? You look like a stick!"

"I look normal." Momo dropped her tone of voice lower. She was beginning to become angry.

"What is 'normal' to you, Momo? Is it so thin that you can see your ribs? Huh?" Ami spat.

Tears were beginning to cloud Momo's eyes. She didn't bother to hide them. Let her mother see just how upset she was.

"No," she choked.

March 2012

One night in March Momo found herself looking up signs of anorexia on the Internet. She had no idea what compelled her to do so; maybe it was just out of curiosity. As she read through a list she did a mental checklist in her head.

"Exercises excessively to burn calories." Check.

"Eats abnormally small portions of food." Check.

"Cuts food up into tiny pieced to make it appear eaten." Check.

"Has a thin appearance."… Check.

"Has dry skin."… Check.

Momo continued to look at the list on the site she found. Out of eleven it mentioned eight matched her. Even still, she couldn't bring herself to actually believe she had a problem. There was absolutely no way she was anorexic.

Sitting up on her bed she ran her fingers through her hair. A few strands fell from her scalp and onto the bed. Momo stared at them in confusion. Why in the world was her hair falling out? (That makes nine signs.)

April 2012

"Momo, I bought you this to eat." Rukia held a biscuit up to Momo's face. Momo tried to push her hand away.

"Uh, no thanks. I'm not hungry," Momo said shyly.

"Dammit, Momo!" Rukia shouted angrily as she threw the biscuit into the trashcan. The whole lunchroom became quiet, and Kira tried to calm her down.

"You do this every single day, Momo! It needs to stop!" Rukia continued.

Everyone in the lunchroom was staring at them now. Momo had no idea how to respond to Rukia's surprise attack, so she just stared wide-eyed back at her. Rukia finally got her book bag and stormed out of the cafeteria.

"R-Rukia, wait!" Momo started to get up so she could go after her friend.

Kira followed her out of the cafeteria in a futile attempt to get her to calm down and let Rukia do the same. Momo wouldn't listen, and began to run. After a few steps she noticed her vision become blurry, and felt dizzy. Not too long after that she toppled over, and felt Kira grab her so she wouldn't smack her head on the concrete.

"Momo, Momo!" Kira said frantically. She was beginning to black out.


"That's it, tomorrow I'm scheduling an appointment for you to go to the doctor. Something is wrong with you, and you need help," Ami said seriously.

"Nothing is wrong with me, Mom!" Momo cried back.

"Oh, really? Then explain to me why you collapsed today in the halls! Plus, it's seventy degrees outside and you have on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt." Ami crossed her arms over her chest.

"I didn't collapse. I passed out because we ran two miles in gym today and I was tired." Momo made an attempt to lie.

"Don't lie to me, Momo. You run every single day. I know you can handle a simple two miles. Plus, Rukia called today after you went home, and she's worried sick. She thinks it's her fault."

Momo suddenly felt sick to her stomach as a huge wave of guilt consumed her. "Rukia…"

"Izuru also called and wants to know how you're doing. He told me everything. That's why I know you're lying." Ami turned to face Momo and look her in the eyes. Momo couldn't look back at her.

"Explain your clothes."

"Freedom of speech," Momo said after thinking of an answer for a while. "It's in the first Amendment." She left it at that and stormed to her room.

The scale in her bathroom read seventy-four pounds. Momo couldn't believe she had a serious problem, even if the numbers on the scale were dangerously low. Looking in the mirror she saw someone bloated and large.

The next day

"Momo, you have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. I called them and said I wanted you in as soon as possible. After that I think we need to check you into the hospital," Ami told Momo the morning after the big incident.

"What? Are you joking?" Momo yelled, bewildered.

Tears formed in Ami's eyes. "This is for your own good. You have a serious problem and I want you to get better. Rukia, Izuru, and your other friends would want this for you, as well!"

"Didn't you ever think to ask me what I wanted before doing any of this?" Momo spat.

"You're a minor! I don't have to ask you!" Ami cried.

Tears began to pour from Momo's eyes, and her face turned red. "I hate you!" she screamed, and ran to her room.


A/N Emotional, huh? What'd you think? I feel bad for Momo. I know what it's like to be Rukia because last year I had a close friend who started to develop symptoms of anorexia, and it scared me half to death. Luckily she got some help before things got too bad.

* That's an inside joke between a friend and I, but I couldn't resist working it into my story.

** If you didn't know, there are a lot of mental side effects that can come with eating disorders. OCD happens to be one of them.

Let's try and get this up to 10 reviews. It's not a lot, but I need to start somewhere.