Kyoko Honda

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Kyoko Honda in a photograph. That is Hiro Sohma's thumb in the lower right-hand corner.

Kyoko Honda (本田今日子 Honda Kyōko), née Kyoko Katsunuma, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Fruits Basket.

Kyoko is the late mother of Tohru Honda. Since she is not among the living, her appearances are through flashbacks.

Contents

1 Role in the story

1.1 Family
1.2 Relationship with Kyo Sohma

2 Death and legacy

Role in the story

Family

When she was young, Kyoko caused trouble and cut classes, and was disowned by her parents. She was also the leader of an all-female gang/suicide squad called 'The Red Butterfly (Suicide Squad)', the name originating from the legend of how the tail lights on her bicycle trailed like a bright red butterfly when she rode at night. However, Kyoko later moved on and got a job.

She fell in love with student teacher Katsuya Honda which contributed to her leaving her gang. They shortly married and had a daughter— Tohru. Katsuya became a positive influence in her life, and they worked through difficulties in a joint effort. When he died from illness, however, Kyoko descended into depression, neglected Tohru, and almost committed suicide. Eventually though, Kyoko came to her senses and vowed to never again disregard Tohru for whatever reason. She raised Tohru by herself, not to mention the care she offered Arisa Uotani and Saki Hanajima, Tohru's best friends.

When Tohru disappeared one day as a young child Kyoko was in hysterics, even going so far as to threaten the police if they did not find her. After she was eventually found by Yuki, who had heard Kyoko's description of Tohru and lead the confused girl home, Kyoko was overjoyed.

Relationship with Kyo Sohma

Sometime in the story, Kyoko met Kyo Sohma when he was young and mentioned a word about 'a man's promise', asking him to look after Tohru. This could explain Kyo and Tohru's growing bond. Over the years Kyo remained friends with Kyoko. He was even there when the car hit her. Though he saw the car coming, and had the chance to save her, doing so would cause him to embrace her. It was either his secret or Kyoko's life. Kyo swears that he heard her say "I'll never forgive you," as she was dying, something that still haunts him to this day.

Death and legacy

Near the initiation of the series, when Kyoko's past had not yet been revealed, she died in a car accident one May morning, and her daughter Tohru went to live with her grandfather (Katsuya's father), and later, Shigure Sohma's house. Tohru holds Kyoko as the most important person in her life (which causes her an immense amount of pain later in the series) and always carries a photograph of her. At times, she talks to her mother in her mind, recounting the day's experiences or simply basking the memories they shared. Later, it is revealed that on the day of the accident, Kyo (whom she had met years ago) was standing nearby and spotted the car. He was about to pull her away, but that would involve embracing her, which would turn him into a cat in front of many people. So he did nothing, and Kyoko was hit. The driver of the car (who was the father of Kakeru Manabe's girlfriend) died instantly and Kyoko died later at the hospital. Seeing her lying on the ground covered in blood, Kyo swears he hears her say "I won't forgive you." He then ran to Kazuma Sohma and trained in the mountains.

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