Yukiru

Fruits Basket

**Yukiru** is the ship between Yuki Sohma and Tohru Honda from the *Fruits Basket* fandom.

## Canon

In the beginning, Yuki did not pay much attention to Tohru and only viewed her as a strange classmate. Inviting her to live with him and Shigure was mostly because she was in need, but also because he wanted to be rebellious against the Sohma family. However, after Tohru begins reaching out to him, accept him without any hesitation, and offer him friendship, a listening ear, and unconditional support without expecting something in return, Yuki develops a very protective, kind, and considerate attitude towards her. He also holds great trust in her, since she is able to awaken his desires to be himself and helps him admit his inner insecurities.

Yuki becomes well-aware from the early stages of their friendship that he loves Tohru deeply, especially after finding out that she had unknowingly helped him when he was young and had given him the hope to live on, as well as after she had reappeared in his life when he once again had become “weak”. However, he also knew what he felt wasn’t romantic love. Since Yuki never had a functioning relationship with his mother, the thing he craved most was unconditional love, support, and acceptance from someone that would never reject him. This is what he found in Tohru, as she had been giving him everything his mother didn’t.

However, flustered by his childish longings and feeling like it was weird to see a “mother-figure” in a girl the same age as him, Yuki tried to persuade himself that he was love with Tohru; he flirts with her on several occasions and even confesses his “love” for her at one point. However, Yuki is later able to come to accept his real feelings.

While Kakeru mentions that some people like having motherly girlfriends and think that it is an excuse from Yuki’s side to give up on Tohru, Yuki denies this, saying that a relationship where he only gets to receive will only make him lonely. He vows to find an equal relationship where he gets to receive as much as he can give, and wants to use the maternal love, warmth, and gentleness Tohru has given him as a base to truly find himself and a relationship that will make him feel complete.

After this, the weight on Yuki’s shoulders is lifted, and he acknowledges that Tohru is precious to him in his own way, and wishes for her to be happier than anyone else and find a place where she can truly be herself. Even though Yuki slowly starts distancing himself from Tohru due to joining the student council and finding his own friendship group, he remains just as protective of Tohru and mentions that he would never forgive someone if they hurt her. For this reason, Yuki often scolds Kyo when he unintentionally treats Tohru coldly or hurts her.

At the same time, Yuki becomes very supportive of her relationship with Kyo; he sees the sincerity in their well-balanced relationship, and even beats Kyo up for not visiting her in the hospital and for thinking that Yuki would be better off with her. Yuki makes Kyo realize that he is the only one who can make Tohru happy and that he should not make her cry.

Towards the end, Yuki finally confesses to Tohru that she has been like a “mother” for him. Although he is a bit embarrassed about his true feelings, he expresses immense gratitude towards her for granting his wishes without asking for anything in return and helping him grow as a person. In fact, Yuki states that it is thanks to her coming into his life that he was able to become the man he is. Lastly, he finally calls her “Tohru” as opposed to his usual “Honda-san”, moving Tohru to tears. In adulthood, Yuki and Tohru are still close friends, as it is known that they occasionally meet up with their respective spouses despite living in different cities, and since their respective sons are as close as brothers.

## Fanon

The ship sailed as a result of a lot of ship tease between the two over the seasons. Being the heavily teased ship between the protagonist and the main heroine resulted in its huge popularity among the fans. Its main ship rival is Kyohru, although with this one getting more development and moments.

Being the ship between the first protagonist and main heroine, it gets a lot of attention from the fans, and as a result, a lot of fan arts and fan fictions. It's the most written ship for both characters on Archive of Our Own.