Tohru's Family and Friends
Tohru Honda
Tohru Honda, aged 16-17, is an orphaned high school student who, at the start of the story, begins living with Shigure, Yuki, and Kyo Sohma in exchange for housekeeping, since the boys there didn't even bother to do it and can't do it either. She loves to cook, describes herself as an excellent housekeeper, and has an after-school job as an office janitor to pay her tuition fees to avoid being a burden on her grandfather. She is depicted as polite, optimistic, extremely kind, and selfless; several other characters, including Kyo, Rin, and Hanajima, tell her she needs to look out for herself and not shoulder everyone's burdens. Tohru's mother, Kyoko, raised her alone until she died in a car accident shortly after Tohru entered high school, a few months before the start of the story. Tohru repeatedly calls Kyoko the most important person in her life and treasures her photograph; when she falls in love with Kyo she feels guilty of being "unfaithful" to her mother's memory.
In the first half of the series, as Tohru learns about the zodiac curse and its effects on those she loves, she becomes distressed, and when she learns that Akito is the "god" of the zodiac, she resolves to break the curse. Only later does she admit that she wants to free Kyo most of all. In the last chapter, she is moving with Kyo to another city so he can continue his martial arts training, and in the final pages it is shown that they had a son and a granddaughter.
In the first half of the series, as Tohru learns about the zodiac curse and its effects on those she loves, she becomes distressed, and when she learns that Akito is the "god" of the zodiac, she resolves to break the curse. Only later does she admit that she wants to free Kyo most of all. In the last chapter, she is moving with Kyo to another city so he can continue his martial arts training, and in the final pages it is shown that they had a son and a granddaughter.
Arisa Uotani
Arisa Uotani, aged 15, is a former gang member and one of Tohru's closest friends. Arisa is depicted as tough, brash, and sometimes violent; she wears long skirts, sometimes carries a lead pipe, and often speaks like a man. Arisa is tall for a girl, and once claims she wishes to reach 6 feet (1.8 m) tall. She is especially competitive with Kyo and bickers with him frequently. Her childhood was troubled: her father is an alcoholic and her mother left him for another man when Arisa was young; Arisa joined an all-girl gang called The Ladies in fifth grade, and idolized Kyoko Honda's reputation from her gang days. When Arisa met Kyoko's daughter Tohru in middle school, and then Kyoko herself, she was shocked by the change from gang-leader into doting mother, but became friends after Kyoko helped her escape from her gang. With Saki Hanajima, she swore on Kyoko's grave to look after Tohru, and in their "parental" protection of Tohru, noted by Kyo and Yuki, Arisa is depicted as the brash and direct father-figure. Arisa works a couple of different part-time jobs during the series; at one of them, in a convenience store, she meets Kureno Sohma and is immediately attracted to him, though she worries about their nine-year age difference. They meet a second time a few days later, when he nearly kisses her after buying her lunch, but after that he refuses to see her again because of his promise to Akito, and she tries to get over him. When Kureno leaves Akito, Arisa helps him move out, telling him that she has been waiting for him all this time, and in the final chapter she is preparing to move in with him.
Saki Hanajima
Saki Hanajima, aged 15, is a psychic girl who has the ability to sense people's "waves" and send out electric "waves", and one of Tohru's closest friends. She is depicted as very perceptive, polite, with a usually deadpan manner, and is often seen eating or doing Tohru's or Arisa's hair when not in class. According to an author's note, in contrast with her Gothic Lolita appearance, she likes shojo manga and novels and bought a copy of Shigure Sohma's works, Heartthrob. Hanajima had trouble controlling her abilities when she was young, and blamed herself for the near-fatal collapse of a boy who was bullying her. Like Arisa Uotani, Hanajima is extremely protective of Tohru, who was the first person in school that truly accepted her, which acceptance helped her gain control of her powers. She wears black fingernail polish and (when not in her school uniform) black dresses, often with a cloak or veil, habits Hanajima started before she met Tohru as a way of signaling her guilt. With Arisa, she promised on Tohru's mother's grave to look after Tohru and in their near-"parental" protection, she acts as the "motherly" figure. She uses her reputation for sending out "poison waves" to shield Tohru from the malice of Yuki's fan club. She has a close relationship with her family, which accepts and nurtures her gifts, especially her younger brother, Megumi, who also has psychic abilities except he is able to curse people. When Hanajima sees Kazuma Sohma when he comes in for Kyo's parent-teacher conference, she calls him "handsome," and later at the class performance of Sorta Cinderella, she seeks Kazuma out to talk with him. Kyo is disturbed enough at the idea of Hanajima in a relationship with his foster-father, that she and Uotani tease him with the possibility. However, in the final chapter, Hanajima is working as a cook at Kazuma's dojo, and it is implied they are in a relationship.
Katsuya Honda
Katsuya Honda is the late father of Tohru Honda and husband of Kyoko Honda. He appears only in the manga in flashbacks. He met Kyoko as a student teacher at her middle school and recognized that her rebellious behavior was as much protection as his own polite manners; in turn, Kyoko initially described his manners as "fake polite". Despite their eight-year difference in age (he was
21, she was 13), they fell in love; he helped her set aside her gangster lifestyle and they married after she finished middle school. Three years after Tohru was born, Katsuya died of pneumonia while on a business trip.
21, she was 13), they fell in love; he helped her set aside her gangster lifestyle and they married after she finished middle school. Three years after Tohru was born, Katsuya died of pneumonia while on a business trip.
Kyoko Honda
Kyoko Honda is the late mother of Tohru Honda, appearing only in flashbacks and photographs treasured by Tohru. In high school, Kyoko was the leader of an all-female Bōsōzoku gang called Red Butterfly Suicide Squad, the name coming from how a motorcycle's tail-lights supposedly look like a red butterfly at night. She told Kyo Sohma she was ignored and rejected by her parents, and fell in love with a student teacher named Katsuya Honda who stood up for her when her parents disowned her after a gang fight. Katsuya and Kyoko married after she left middle school and had a daughter, Tohru, and Kyoko learned how to work through difficulties together with Katsuya. She was devastated by her husband's death and nearly killed herself before remembering her three-year-old daughter needed her. Because of her experiences, Kyoko raised Tohru to believe that everyone needs to feel needed, and helped Arisa Uotani leave her own gang. Tohru calls Kyoko the most important person in her life, and repeats bits of her mother's emotional wisdom throughout the series. Kyoko died a few months before the start of the series when she was struck by a car. Kyo was present at the accident but could not save her without revealing his curse, and heard her last words as "I'll never forgive you." In chapter 135, a flashback of her final moments shows that she held no ill will toward Tohru or Kyo and was in fact trying to say "I'll never forgive you if you don't keep your promise to protect Tohru"--an act of charging Kyo to protect Tohru.