Yuki Sohma/Relationships

## Family

### Mother

Yuki’s mother sold him off to Akito Sohma to become her playmate when he was very small—a decision which lead to Yuki being abused by Akito for years. His mother holds little love for Yuki and only uses him as a tool for her own benefit to achieve a higher status and a luxurious life within the Sohma family. She was also physically abusive towards Yuki and never checked up on him when he was ill or being continually abused by Akito. Additionally, she refused to let Yuki’s words get to her and eventually let them die, which is why Yuki stopped putting his own emotions into words.

Evem after moving out from the Sohma estate, his mother’s has to control his life and make decisions about him without his own consent, which upsets Yuki greatly. However, as time goes on, he is able to stand up towards her and expresses that he will not let her interfere in his own life. He also admits to himself that he doesn’t find her as intimidating as he did when he was a child. So even though Yuki did view his mother as an antagonist at one point, he does not hold any hate towards her, since he doesn’t like to blame his misfortune on other people. In fact, he is somewhat happy and surprised when when his mother tells him to not use his cell phone wastefully, thinking that it was the first time she said anything so motherly.

### Ayame Sohma

Yuki and his older brother, Ayame, have had a strained relationship ever since Yuki was young. Not only are they ten years apart, but because of Yuki’s poor health, he would often be separated from his family for long periods of time, to the point where Ayame almost forgot he had a younger brother. The rift between the two was cemented when a young Yuki tried to reach out to Ayame during the time he was being abused by Akito, but Ayame merely responded by pulling away. While Ayame deeply regrets this and wishes to reconcile with his younger brother, Yuki has shown downright hatred towards Ayame ever since then. He is usually annoyed at his antics and refuses to get to know him or let Ayame get to know him. Despite this, he seems to admire Ayame for the positive traits he himself lacks.

However, with prompting from Tohru, Yuki attempts to learn about his brother by visiting his store, which despite resulting in a large amount of disgust and shock from Yuki, gives the brothers time to be honest with each other, and Yuki realizes how much he can actually see himself in his brother. Since Yuki grew up being treated as a tool by his parents, Ayame is the one who makes Yuki realize that he is his own person and that only he can decide what he wants to do with his life. When Ayame interrupts Yuki’s parent-teacher conference with their domineering mother, he gives Yuki the confidence to reject his mother’s control. Even when their mother calls Ayame a “good for nothing”, Yuki defends him by saying that Ayame is a good brother. After this event, the relationship between the two improve greatly. Yuki, although he is still greatly annoyed by Ayame sometimes, begins to trust and rely on him more and tries to understand and get to know him better.

## Friends

### Tohru Honda

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.

### Kakeru Manabe

Initially, Yuki strongly disliked Kakeru since he reminded him of Ayame. Nevertheless, during one of their first interactions where Kakeru says Yuki is an interesting person, Yuki is happy since no one had said something like that to him before. As time goes on, Yuki and Kakeru develop a friendship, though they sometimes argue due to their clashing personalities and ideals, causing Yuki to grow frsutrated or dumbfounded by Kakeru’s antics. Yuki is also envious of Kakeru since he finds him similar to Kyo in the sense that he is able to socialize and make friends easily. However, when Kakeru explains that he has his own issues too and makes an effort to reach out to Yuki so he can understand him, Yuki is deeply touched and begins viewing Kakeru in a new light, thinking that spending time with him isn’t so bad.

As time goes on, Yuki begins to open up to Kakeru, and even tells him about his relationship with his parents, as well as his true feelings towards Tohru, something he hasn’t been able to confide in anyone about. Kakeru manages to take his worry, relate to it, and be supportive of it. Likewise, Kakeru opens up about his family situation, and it is through Yuki that Kakeru learns about truly feeling alone. Kakeru is able to confide in Yuki how he struggles to understand other peoples’ perspectives, in particular when those he loves have ideas that differ from his. Because of this, the two boys earn much more respect for one another and sees eye-to-eye. Even though Kakeru often teases Yuki, he is always looking out for him and making sure he is alright, which Yuki appreciates. Tohru notes that it is thanks to meeting Kakeru, that Yuki has begun smiling more. Over the course of the year they spent together, they came to know each other very well and Yuki describes Kakeru’s endless support as something that has helped him immensely.

### Kyo Sohma

Originally, Yuki did not hate Kyo and actually wanted to be friends with him. But Kyo refused, as he hated Yuki simply for being the Rat. Because of this, both of them are seen sharing a mutual hatred towards one another at the beginning of the story. Whenever they talk or interact, they are always at odds and at each other's throats frequently. At the same time, Yuki is envious of how Kyo has the ability to easily make friends and fit into normal social settings, and is annoyed by the fact that Kyo wants to be part of the Zodiac while Yuki himself wants to escape from the Sohma family and its curse. Kyo is also envious of Yuki, as in how he is "perfect", always able to take advantage of a situation as one should, and how he is accepted into the zodiac family,

Their relationships begin to improve slightly after they meet Tohru. Because of her kindness and both of them caring deeply for Tohru, they begin to soften their attitudes toward each other and are able to cooperate when Tohru is in trouble. Even though they do continue to argue and fight over everything, it is never through physical violence. When it was revealed that Kyo never hated Yuki for who he was, but had been so miserable with his life that he felt he needed a scapegoat for all his misfortune, their relationship became more overly complex.

When Tohru is hospitalized and Kyo refuses to go see because he thinks that she would be better off with Yuki, Yuki is enraged. He consequently beats Kyo up and is the first one to make him realize that he isn't some kind of superhero that can save everyone (as in Kyo failing to save Kyoko), and that he is the only one who can make Tohru happy and that he is more capable than anyone else. Kyo, in return, confesses how he has always wanted to be like Yuki, which struck a chord in Yuki as he has always idolized Kyo as well. After this event, they began to understand and respect each other. Eventually, their arguments and fights mellow down into a gentler air between them and light-hearted teasing from Yuki's side. When Tohru asked Kyo about the reason behind their budding friendship, Kyo replied that Yuki had "beat him up". At the very end, Kyo and Yuki smile while walking past each other, friendly calling each other the usual "stupid cat" and "damn rat".

It is implied that they still remain friends and frequently contact each other in their adult lives, as their sons were raised like brothers.

### Shigure Sohma

Although they live under the same roof, Shigure and Yuki share a casual relationship. Even though Yuki sometimes mistrusts Shigure's intentions and he regularly gets on his nerves, it is implied that Yuki is grateful towards Shigure for freeing him from the main estate and allowing him to live with him.

### Kisa Sohma

Yuki and Kisa have had similar experiences regarding bullying, being ignored, and becoming mute, which makes them able to relate and sympathize with one another. Yuki is one of the people who were able to encourage Kisa to speak, as well as for her to face her fears. He tells her that because they are similar, they would grow from their weaknesses and face their fears together. Kisa is very appreciative of Yuki's words, and it inspires her to try. Although they don't interact much later on, it is visible that both care for each other, as Kisa looks up to him as an older brother, and Yuki dotes on her and praises her for her good work.

### Hatori Sohma

When Yuki was young, he subconsciously despised Hatori and always blamed him for erasing the memories of his first friends. However, as Yuki grew up, he realized the errors in his actions and that Hatori also was affected by circumstances beyond his control, and properly apologized to him. Because of this, they were able to develop a bond again, in which it is seen that Hatori treats him somewhat like a little brother. It is also seen that they bond over the way the view Ayame; Yuki promises Hatori that he will never become like his brother.

### Isuzu Sohma

Yuki and Rin shared a rather cold relationship. She is seen lashing out on Yuki on several occasions, going as far calling him "Akito's toy". She also made sure that he knew that it wasn't by his own power that he was able to live at Shigure's home; it was due to Haru's pleadings that he was able to. Despite such things, however, Yuki does not take it to heart and uses these facts to grow. He continues reaching out to Rin, regularly reminding her that Haru loves her and that she shouldn't shoulder all of her burdens alone. Towards the end, they seem to able to tolerate each other, though Rin is annoyed by the fact that Haru sometimes declares his love for Yuki.

### Machi Kuragi

Yuki initially viewed Machi as a weird and eccentric person, though not to the same degree as Kakeru. However, as they continue interacting with one another, Yuki becomes curious about the things Machi normally thinks about, such as her favorite color and in which way she views the world around her. Yuki begins viewing Machi in a new light and becomes increasingly interested in her when he overhears her admitting that that despite him being labeled as a perfect prince and despite being surrounded by people, she doesn't see him as anything like that at all, instead viewing him as a very lonely person.

Because of this, Yuki begins to genuinely enjoy her company and invites her to events despite her unwillingness and introverted personality. They are also comfortable enough to quarrel in public over a simple thing as Machi turning Yuki’s maple leaf gift into a bookmark, though Yuki mentions that her stubbornness endears to him.

Because they are fundamentally alike and Yuki can see himself in Machi, he understands her very well. He is aware of Machi’s destructive behavior, and even though people judge her for it and even spreads false rumors about her, Yuki always tries to reach out to her with understanding. He is also quick on the uptake that Machi has a lot of insecurities and self-hatred, and easily deduces that she is bothered by orderly things—“perfection”.

This is why he is always ready to help her out and offer her a listening ear and gestures to make her relaxed; such as rejecting her being something her parents “got wrong” since she worked hard to be the Machi he knows and he’s glad she’s there, promising to make footprints in the snow with her the next time it snows knowing of her tendency to walk through newly-fallen snow, and quietly breaking a piece of chalk and thus creating an imperfection in the room to make her comfortable. Aside from that, he understands trivial things about her; giving her a maple leaf and Mogeta figurines knowing she likes them on two different occasions, and recognizes that Machi likes something if she lifts it up in the air.

It is proven that Machi understands Yuki as well, as she breaks down a door with a chair because she thought he wouldn’t like being trapped in a dark room, and she wears herself out running around the whole school just to say hi to him and give him a paper flower knowing that he was all alone. Yuki later mentions that he was used to being admired from afar and being idolized to such an extent that he was isolated, so the fact that Machi always looked for no one else but him and always thought of him specifically, made him very happy.

## Love interests

### Hatsuharu Sohma

As a child, Hatsuharu resented Yuki without even meeting him, because the adults' teasing him was based on the Rat's use of the Ox in the old Zodiac legend. However, when they finally did meet, Yuki patiently allowed Hatsuharu to scream out his frustrations and then pointed out that he didn't think Haru was stupid. Yuki was the only one in a position to start easing Hatsuharu's distress, and because of this incident, Hatsuharu refers to Yuki as his first love. Because of his love for Yuki, he began sneaking in to visit Yuki when he was locked up in Akito's room even if it meant that he could get in trouble, and their friendship began to develop from there. Tired of Yuki always suffering, Hatsuharu went to Shigure and convinced him to get Yuki out of the main house entirely.

In the present time, Hatsuharu is one of Yuki's closest friends. Even though Yuki gets annoyed at Hatsuharu's clinginess, love confessions, and how tactile he is sometimes, he cares deeply about him and appreciates the fact that he is always looking out for him. Yuki and Hatsuharu share a deep bond; they can confide in each other about serious matters, with Hatsuharu understanding Yuki more than he knows. Yuki doesn't seem to have the same level of understanding of Haru; he certainly tries, but often admits that Haru's leaps of logic and intuition confuse him. Nonetheless, Yuki is always ready to lend Hatsuharu a listening ear as well as comfort and help him if he senses that he needs to. As time goes on, Yuki becomes more vocal about his appreciation towards Hatsuharu, and expresses his desire that Hatsuharu can come to him whenever he has troubles, which he appreciates as well. They regularly keep in touch despite having their own very different lives, and Hatsuharu always makes sure to check up on Yuki.

After the curse breaks, the former Zodiacs gather at the main house, and Yuki says he's glad that they all seem to still feel comfortable together despite the bond being gone. In response, Haru reassures him that he'll always love him.

Towards the end, Yuki and Haru begin dating and become a loving couple.

## Enemies

### Akito Sohma

Yuki has a twisted relationship of love and hatred with Akito. Being the Rat of the Zodiac, it placed Yuki at the top of the Zodiac, making him the closest to "God"; Akito. However, Yuki was emotionally, mentally, and psychologically abused by Akito; Yuki, as a result, was deeply traumatized. In fact, most of Yuki's present issues stem from his abuse from Akito, including how he shut himself off completely and during one point lost his will to live. In the present time, Akito is a source of fear for Yuki, and he will freeze and sometimes quiver in her presence. Despite this, Yuki is gradually able to grow out from his fear of Akito. As such, Yuki is able to calmy converse with Akito and even tells her that he forgives her for everything she has done, because he simply wanted to move on with his life, unbound by the pain of the past. Even when Akito reacted violently, hitting Yuki with a vase and wounding his face, his dedication still stood, meaning that Akito no longer could control Yuki with fear.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 15, Chapter 86
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 21, Chapter 123
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `CH136`
4. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 9, Chapter 49
5. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 13, Chapter 73
6. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 19, Chapter 113
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 21, Chapter 125
8. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 23, Chapter 133
9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `CH132`
10. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 9, Chapter 49
11. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 13, Chapter 73
12. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 15, Chapter 89
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 18, Chapter 102
14. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 19, Chapter 112
15. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 14, Chapter 83
16. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 17, Chapter 100
17. ↑ *Fruits Basket Manga*: Vol 16, Chapter 95