Kyou Sohma Application
PLAYER
[journal]sari_15
[age] 32 1/23/1978
[previous characters] N/A at this time
CHARACTER
[series] Fruits Basket
[full name] Kyou Sohma
[age] 16
[gender] Male
[canon point] After chapter 89--the “Sort of Cinderella” play aftermath.
[reference] Fruits Basket Kyou
[personality]Once upon a time, God invited all the animals to a banquet for a great feast. He expressed the importance of not being late to this event, but the mischievous rat thought it would be funny to trick his neighbor, the cat. The rat told the cat that the banquet had been moved to the next day. Believing the rat, the cat slept through the banquet and missed the whole thing. Because of this, the cat was left out of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
Countless generations later, the cat still doesn't forgive the rat and the grudge he holds his very bitter. How exactly do we know this? Because he comes crashing through the roof attempting to defeat the rat at the end of the first chapter, of course.
Cursed with the spirit of the Nekozuki, scorned, looked down upon and neglected, Kyou Sohma is the outcast of the Sohma family. The Sohma are a family who have 14 members of it's large extended family cursed with each animal of the Chinese zodiac as well as the cat and their God. Each person cursed with an animal form will transform into that animal if hugged by a member of the opposite sex that is not one of the other cursed members as well as when their body wears out too much.
The 'worst' curse is considered to be curse of the cat, due to the extra transformation as well as the fact that the cat is fated to live out his day in a small room alone. A bracelet of beads created from bones and blood seals Kyou's third form, if removed he will transform into a 'monster'. The form is a large dinosaur-ish looking creature with large hands and claws. The stench of the creature is so overwhelming that others are known to get sick because of it, likening it to the scent of rotting flesh. Others discovering this form is always something very traumatic for Kyou and the events have always shaped his life dramatically after, depending on the outcome. He prefers no one ever see it, but it is inevitable that if they choose to get close to him, they will have to see it eventually or he won't ever really trust them.
Kyou is just a young kid struggling madly to survive in a world where his 'purpose' is to exist to make the rest of the family members affected by the curse look at him and realize things could be much worse. His fate as the cat is one that places a lot of outside pressure from other family members, both inside and outside the jyunnishi. Constantly ridiculed, looked down upon, and whispered about behind his back, the closest he gets to acceptance is pity from everyone in his family but Kazuma.
Kyou spent the first five years or so of his life being forced to listen to his biological father blame his existence for anything and everything that could go wrong, including attempting to shift the blame to Kyou for his mother taking her own life. Her death was because she gave birth to such a shameful thing, she couldn't stand it. Everyone looked down on their family because he was their son. He refused to take acceptance for his own actions and faults, choosing to place them on Kyou instead.
Kyou himself wasn't able to hold the weight of this burden and without the proper coping mechanisms, did the only thing he did know how to do. In this case, the apple didn't fall far from the tree, Kyou chose to shift the blame he couldn't handle onto another source. Someone he didn't even know, but envied for his lofty position in the family by his birth.
The quiet and shy kid he was prior to this point was replaced with an angry and vengeful ball of emotion. He lashed out at his mother's funeral, threatening to kill 'the rat', thinking that if he was able to eliminate him, it would instantly make things better for the man who had rejected him completely.
Kyou clung to this hatred like it was his lifeline, so when he finally did run into the rat, Yuki Sohma, he terrified the other boy with his complete rejection and hatred without even getting to know him. Being the same age, the two boys crossed paths often through the years. Yuki even became a student at the dojo Kazuma ran and even though Kyou had been studying there much longer, he was unable to ever beat Yuki in a match.
Friendly competition isn't a bad thing, but this was simply out of control. Kyou's self-worth was tied into defeating the rat, which he never could. Every chance he got to place another 'crime' against Yuki, he gladly shoved onto the other boy. After Kyoko Honda's death, there came a point where Kyou nearly broke from the strain of guilt, accepting everything that had been thrown at him for years. Caving under the pressure, he lost the will to live and sunk into a deep depression. The cure for this, was to once again shift the blame to 'the rat', for his part in tricking the cat. Only then was he able to function enough to return to the real world and live his life.
His hatred of Yuki is merely a coping mechanism to handle the strain of his position. In reality, he personally envies a lot about Yuki's personality and will reluctantly admit to this. This protective shell he's developed over the years is used against everyone. He often yells, says cruel things, physically attacks or damages property when he feels threatened or emotionally taxed.
A lifetime of living on the defense is not easy to change, but during the course of the series Kyou manages to do just that. People can get through his armor, it just isn't easy to do. It takes a lot of persistence, acceptance and patience in order to get through to him. Luckily our heroine, Tohru Honda (Kyoko's daughter) has an abundance of each of them. Add a dash of naiveté and personal angst before tossing in your worst enemy. Lastly, lock them in a house where they actually all have to face their personal demons and get to know each other intimately and you have a recipe that even Yuki can't mess up.
Being forced in tight quarters with these two particular people is a bigger punishment than anyone could possibly realize. The only person who even knows Kyou has any connection to Tohru is Kazuma and it is this connection that has Kyou so on edge to start. Deep down he knows Yuki isn't to blame for any of this, Kyoko herself had tried to tell Kyou this when he was younger but he'd refused to listen. The guilt he felt over letting her die and keeping that a secret from Tohru overwhelms him at times.
Emotionally, having any relationship with Tohru is very confusing for him. He has a lot of regrets over things he did and said to Kyoko even without feeling responsible for her death. Her appearance into his life he initially treats as a punishment for his sins. Kyou flip-flops between pushing her away and feeling guilty for pushing her away in the way that he does. The important thing is he fights that instinct to blame others for his actions in his dealings with Tohru so he doesn't have the same regrets with how he pushed Kyoko away.
When he loses control of his temper and accidentally hurts her for the first time, he makes an attempt to apologize. Something he regrets never doing with Kyoko. He may not actually succeed in apologizing, but the effort is noticed by Tohru. When he loses control at school and yells some horrible things at her, he choses to make another attempt to apologize and actually succeeds. Soon he's able to actually stop himself in the middle of yelling at her, before backpedaling and slowing down to think of a better way to get his emotions across. Eventually, thinking before he speaks does become possible for him in all areas of his life as he feels the changes within himself emotionally. It's not an exact science but it works for him.
The changes in Kyou are purposeful, even if he doesn't understand why at first. His only real goal is to just treat her better and the better he treats her the more she trusts him, which in turn makes him trust her more and want to treat her even better...until before either realizes they are in this cycle where their boundaries are almost completely clear from one another. Other than this giant secret he's keeping from her, of course.
Along with learning to trust Tohru, Kyou is forced to actually get to know the person he's been using as a scapegoat all these years. This is probably one of the more difficult things for him, coming to terms with who he really is and being forced to see him as something other than just 'the rat'. That Yuki is actually a person with feelings and insecurities. That his life is not this perfect existence as Kyou always thought it was. Admitting these things is like taking the blame off Yuki and Kyou had trouble doing this but little by little he was forced to take his own burdens back onto himself.
Stereotypically hot-headed and short tempered, Kyou doesn't have much patience or an abundance of social skills. As the series goes, he definitely makes some changes in that regard but he still is very cautious about those he lets into his life.
With most others, Kyou is a little stand offish and isn't comfortable interacting with strangers. There are a handful of people he does allow to see the 'real' him, a kind, caring and somewhat playful nature he hides. He's very cautious about when that side of himself is shown and gets upset if someone other than the person he's with witnesses him acting this way. An example is Kyou pouting and refusing to acknowledge Kazuma, his foster father and mentor, when he first returned from a trip. He sat in a corner and sulked until finally excusing himself. Kazuma soon excused himself and sought out his son which resulted in a very heartwarming welcome home between the two of them. It is the very first time you see a genuinely happy smile from Kyou during the series.
Surprisingly, Kyou is a very straight-laced type of a character, following the rules and getting upset if anyone breaks them. For instance he was upset when Momiji wore the girl uniform at school, because it was against the rules and got mad at Hiro for wearing shoes in the Dojo. He has his own code of ethics he strictly adheres to and does not deviate from this.
Also, for someone destined to spend the rest of his life locked in a room alone, he is quite studious and does well in school--even though he probably doesn't need to. That being said, sometimes his temper gets the best of him and his judgment is impaired making him seem like more of a trouble maker than he actually is.
One other small quirk is his gullibility, Kyou tends to take most of what people say at face value. He was very sheltered as a young child, he has trouble distinguishing what is the truth and what is false if someone is teasing him. He takes things too seriously sometimes. Whether it is believing 'Jason' is a bear in the woods to DVD's having the ability to broadcast video of him as the prince in a play to national TV, he's a pretty easy one to fool. Things often go over his head though, especially if they concern love and romance.
Kyou's biggest flaw is probably his inability to deal with pressure and when backed into a corner that he feels he can't escape, he runs away. From leaving for four months, to finding a way to blame others for things to literally running off to be alone for awhile (even if just to the roof or in the woods), he's definitely perfected the art of avoiding your problems.
[orientation] Heterosexual (Tohru-sexual? Can you only see one person that way?). He just doesn't really grasp that there could be any other way and if he does understand, he chooses to think those people are just joking around. Which normally in the world around him they just are. Even at the end of the series, when Haru and Yuki are starting to grasp the concept of Shigure and Akito possibly being a couple prior to Akito's femininity coming out, Kyou still just doesn't get it like his cousins do. They finally just tell him not to worry about it and change the subject to something he would understand. But more than anything else as proof, he marries Tohru Honda at the end of the series and we see them still happy and in love in the final chapter, which shows their grandchild running around looking for them.
[appearance] N/A
[wish] To spend the rest of his time in freedom with Tohru. He’s already given up his wish to beat Yuki at this point in the series.
[requested house] Nannai House
[misc notes] He wears a bracelet already to suppress his third form. I imagine he’d need a jade bracelet to suppress both curses.
SAMPLES
[sample 1#]
[Smut Drabble]
The hesitation he felt about doing this sort of thing with Tohru quickly melted away, forcing it back to the corner of his mind. He couldn’t think about that now. He was determined to get through this without worrying about the regrets that would surely haunt him when he was done. Touching her was an amazing sensation and he couldn't seem to get enough. It was taking a little getting used to after finding out the restrictions of the curse had been suppressed here, but Kyou was discovering the benefits.
Fingers clenched in the fabric of her shirt as he explored the warmth of her mouth with his tongue. Kyou deepened the draw his mouth pulled on hers. The sudden urge to have her near overwhelming him. Groaning, his hips pressed up against hers as he carefully closed the gap between them, hands shaking as he fumbled with the buttons of her blouse. Reluctantly he abandoned her lips to focus on the task of removing her shirt, which wouldn’t happen if he couldn’t undo the butons.
This is what she wanted. I can’t worry about everything else.
But there was a nagging voice in the back of his head whispering about his selfishness. She doesn’t know the truth. If she knew, she would never allow this to occur between them. Guilt shadowed his gaze as he finally made eye contact with her again. She smiled softly, fingers threading into his hair before dragging him down to capture his mouth. Kyou’s stomach flipped from excitement as the heavy thoughts trailed from his mind again.
[sample 2#]
[Network Post]
[Video]
[It took him about ten minutes to figure out the communicator, which was about three minutes past his normal threshold of patience. It was actually quite a surprise that he didn't end up throwing the device across the room. Maybe if he’d actually had the foresight to read the directions first, it would have been easier. He’d still managed it though, even if the muscles of his shoulders and back were tense from the frustration and anxiety making him looked like a cat with his hackles up. He supposed that was only natural, it wasn’t as if his curse was gone.]
Okay. This is a joke, right?
[Hands clenching the communicator tightly, Kyou frowned. This is not happening to me. His amber eyes narrowing as he glared at the screen.]
It has to be a joke because no one in their right mind would ever think that I would be good at this sort of thing! I’m not doing it. Find someone else. I’m not interested, got that? Not that anyone would anyway...
[journal]sari_15
[age] 32 1/23/1978
[previous characters] N/A at this time
CHARACTER
[series] Fruits Basket
[full name] Kyou Sohma
[age] 16
[gender] Male
[canon point] After chapter 89--the “Sort of Cinderella” play aftermath.
[reference] Fruits Basket Kyou
[personality]Once upon a time, God invited all the animals to a banquet for a great feast. He expressed the importance of not being late to this event, but the mischievous rat thought it would be funny to trick his neighbor, the cat. The rat told the cat that the banquet had been moved to the next day. Believing the rat, the cat slept through the banquet and missed the whole thing. Because of this, the cat was left out of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
Countless generations later, the cat still doesn't forgive the rat and the grudge he holds his very bitter. How exactly do we know this? Because he comes crashing through the roof attempting to defeat the rat at the end of the first chapter, of course.
Cursed with the spirit of the Nekozuki, scorned, looked down upon and neglected, Kyou Sohma is the outcast of the Sohma family. The Sohma are a family who have 14 members of it's large extended family cursed with each animal of the Chinese zodiac as well as the cat and their God. Each person cursed with an animal form will transform into that animal if hugged by a member of the opposite sex that is not one of the other cursed members as well as when their body wears out too much.
The 'worst' curse is considered to be curse of the cat, due to the extra transformation as well as the fact that the cat is fated to live out his day in a small room alone. A bracelet of beads created from bones and blood seals Kyou's third form, if removed he will transform into a 'monster'. The form is a large dinosaur-ish looking creature with large hands and claws. The stench of the creature is so overwhelming that others are known to get sick because of it, likening it to the scent of rotting flesh. Others discovering this form is always something very traumatic for Kyou and the events have always shaped his life dramatically after, depending on the outcome. He prefers no one ever see it, but it is inevitable that if they choose to get close to him, they will have to see it eventually or he won't ever really trust them.
Kyou is just a young kid struggling madly to survive in a world where his 'purpose' is to exist to make the rest of the family members affected by the curse look at him and realize things could be much worse. His fate as the cat is one that places a lot of outside pressure from other family members, both inside and outside the jyunnishi. Constantly ridiculed, looked down upon, and whispered about behind his back, the closest he gets to acceptance is pity from everyone in his family but Kazuma.
Kyou spent the first five years or so of his life being forced to listen to his biological father blame his existence for anything and everything that could go wrong, including attempting to shift the blame to Kyou for his mother taking her own life. Her death was because she gave birth to such a shameful thing, she couldn't stand it. Everyone looked down on their family because he was their son. He refused to take acceptance for his own actions and faults, choosing to place them on Kyou instead.
Kyou himself wasn't able to hold the weight of this burden and without the proper coping mechanisms, did the only thing he did know how to do. In this case, the apple didn't fall far from the tree, Kyou chose to shift the blame he couldn't handle onto another source. Someone he didn't even know, but envied for his lofty position in the family by his birth.
The quiet and shy kid he was prior to this point was replaced with an angry and vengeful ball of emotion. He lashed out at his mother's funeral, threatening to kill 'the rat', thinking that if he was able to eliminate him, it would instantly make things better for the man who had rejected him completely.
Kyou clung to this hatred like it was his lifeline, so when he finally did run into the rat, Yuki Sohma, he terrified the other boy with his complete rejection and hatred without even getting to know him. Being the same age, the two boys crossed paths often through the years. Yuki even became a student at the dojo Kazuma ran and even though Kyou had been studying there much longer, he was unable to ever beat Yuki in a match.
Friendly competition isn't a bad thing, but this was simply out of control. Kyou's self-worth was tied into defeating the rat, which he never could. Every chance he got to place another 'crime' against Yuki, he gladly shoved onto the other boy. After Kyoko Honda's death, there came a point where Kyou nearly broke from the strain of guilt, accepting everything that had been thrown at him for years. Caving under the pressure, he lost the will to live and sunk into a deep depression. The cure for this, was to once again shift the blame to 'the rat', for his part in tricking the cat. Only then was he able to function enough to return to the real world and live his life.
His hatred of Yuki is merely a coping mechanism to handle the strain of his position. In reality, he personally envies a lot about Yuki's personality and will reluctantly admit to this. This protective shell he's developed over the years is used against everyone. He often yells, says cruel things, physically attacks or damages property when he feels threatened or emotionally taxed.
A lifetime of living on the defense is not easy to change, but during the course of the series Kyou manages to do just that. People can get through his armor, it just isn't easy to do. It takes a lot of persistence, acceptance and patience in order to get through to him. Luckily our heroine, Tohru Honda (Kyoko's daughter) has an abundance of each of them. Add a dash of naiveté and personal angst before tossing in your worst enemy. Lastly, lock them in a house where they actually all have to face their personal demons and get to know each other intimately and you have a recipe that even Yuki can't mess up.
Being forced in tight quarters with these two particular people is a bigger punishment than anyone could possibly realize. The only person who even knows Kyou has any connection to Tohru is Kazuma and it is this connection that has Kyou so on edge to start. Deep down he knows Yuki isn't to blame for any of this, Kyoko herself had tried to tell Kyou this when he was younger but he'd refused to listen. The guilt he felt over letting her die and keeping that a secret from Tohru overwhelms him at times.
Emotionally, having any relationship with Tohru is very confusing for him. He has a lot of regrets over things he did and said to Kyoko even without feeling responsible for her death. Her appearance into his life he initially treats as a punishment for his sins. Kyou flip-flops between pushing her away and feeling guilty for pushing her away in the way that he does. The important thing is he fights that instinct to blame others for his actions in his dealings with Tohru so he doesn't have the same regrets with how he pushed Kyoko away.
When he loses control of his temper and accidentally hurts her for the first time, he makes an attempt to apologize. Something he regrets never doing with Kyoko. He may not actually succeed in apologizing, but the effort is noticed by Tohru. When he loses control at school and yells some horrible things at her, he choses to make another attempt to apologize and actually succeeds. Soon he's able to actually stop himself in the middle of yelling at her, before backpedaling and slowing down to think of a better way to get his emotions across. Eventually, thinking before he speaks does become possible for him in all areas of his life as he feels the changes within himself emotionally. It's not an exact science but it works for him.
The changes in Kyou are purposeful, even if he doesn't understand why at first. His only real goal is to just treat her better and the better he treats her the more she trusts him, which in turn makes him trust her more and want to treat her even better...until before either realizes they are in this cycle where their boundaries are almost completely clear from one another. Other than this giant secret he's keeping from her, of course.
Along with learning to trust Tohru, Kyou is forced to actually get to know the person he's been using as a scapegoat all these years. This is probably one of the more difficult things for him, coming to terms with who he really is and being forced to see him as something other than just 'the rat'. That Yuki is actually a person with feelings and insecurities. That his life is not this perfect existence as Kyou always thought it was. Admitting these things is like taking the blame off Yuki and Kyou had trouble doing this but little by little he was forced to take his own burdens back onto himself.
Stereotypically hot-headed and short tempered, Kyou doesn't have much patience or an abundance of social skills. As the series goes, he definitely makes some changes in that regard but he still is very cautious about those he lets into his life.
With most others, Kyou is a little stand offish and isn't comfortable interacting with strangers. There are a handful of people he does allow to see the 'real' him, a kind, caring and somewhat playful nature he hides. He's very cautious about when that side of himself is shown and gets upset if someone other than the person he's with witnesses him acting this way. An example is Kyou pouting and refusing to acknowledge Kazuma, his foster father and mentor, when he first returned from a trip. He sat in a corner and sulked until finally excusing himself. Kazuma soon excused himself and sought out his son which resulted in a very heartwarming welcome home between the two of them. It is the very first time you see a genuinely happy smile from Kyou during the series.
Surprisingly, Kyou is a very straight-laced type of a character, following the rules and getting upset if anyone breaks them. For instance he was upset when Momiji wore the girl uniform at school, because it was against the rules and got mad at Hiro for wearing shoes in the Dojo. He has his own code of ethics he strictly adheres to and does not deviate from this.
Also, for someone destined to spend the rest of his life locked in a room alone, he is quite studious and does well in school--even though he probably doesn't need to. That being said, sometimes his temper gets the best of him and his judgment is impaired making him seem like more of a trouble maker than he actually is.
One other small quirk is his gullibility, Kyou tends to take most of what people say at face value. He was very sheltered as a young child, he has trouble distinguishing what is the truth and what is false if someone is teasing him. He takes things too seriously sometimes. Whether it is believing 'Jason' is a bear in the woods to DVD's having the ability to broadcast video of him as the prince in a play to national TV, he's a pretty easy one to fool. Things often go over his head though, especially if they concern love and romance.
Kyou's biggest flaw is probably his inability to deal with pressure and when backed into a corner that he feels he can't escape, he runs away. From leaving for four months, to finding a way to blame others for things to literally running off to be alone for awhile (even if just to the roof or in the woods), he's definitely perfected the art of avoiding your problems.
[orientation] Heterosexual (Tohru-sexual? Can you only see one person that way?). He just doesn't really grasp that there could be any other way and if he does understand, he chooses to think those people are just joking around. Which normally in the world around him they just are. Even at the end of the series, when Haru and Yuki are starting to grasp the concept of Shigure and Akito possibly being a couple prior to Akito's femininity coming out, Kyou still just doesn't get it like his cousins do. They finally just tell him not to worry about it and change the subject to something he would understand. But more than anything else as proof, he marries Tohru Honda at the end of the series and we see them still happy and in love in the final chapter, which shows their grandchild running around looking for them.
[appearance] N/A
[wish] To spend the rest of his time in freedom with Tohru. He’s already given up his wish to beat Yuki at this point in the series.
[requested house] Nannai House
[misc notes] He wears a bracelet already to suppress his third form. I imagine he’d need a jade bracelet to suppress both curses.
SAMPLES
[sample 1#]
[Smut Drabble]
The hesitation he felt about doing this sort of thing with Tohru quickly melted away, forcing it back to the corner of his mind. He couldn’t think about that now. He was determined to get through this without worrying about the regrets that would surely haunt him when he was done. Touching her was an amazing sensation and he couldn't seem to get enough. It was taking a little getting used to after finding out the restrictions of the curse had been suppressed here, but Kyou was discovering the benefits.
Fingers clenched in the fabric of her shirt as he explored the warmth of her mouth with his tongue. Kyou deepened the draw his mouth pulled on hers. The sudden urge to have her near overwhelming him. Groaning, his hips pressed up against hers as he carefully closed the gap between them, hands shaking as he fumbled with the buttons of her blouse. Reluctantly he abandoned her lips to focus on the task of removing her shirt, which wouldn’t happen if he couldn’t undo the butons.
This is what she wanted. I can’t worry about everything else.
But there was a nagging voice in the back of his head whispering about his selfishness. She doesn’t know the truth. If she knew, she would never allow this to occur between them. Guilt shadowed his gaze as he finally made eye contact with her again. She smiled softly, fingers threading into his hair before dragging him down to capture his mouth. Kyou’s stomach flipped from excitement as the heavy thoughts trailed from his mind again.
[sample 2#]
[Network Post]
[Video]
[It took him about ten minutes to figure out the communicator, which was about three minutes past his normal threshold of patience. It was actually quite a surprise that he didn't end up throwing the device across the room. Maybe if he’d actually had the foresight to read the directions first, it would have been easier. He’d still managed it though, even if the muscles of his shoulders and back were tense from the frustration and anxiety making him looked like a cat with his hackles up. He supposed that was only natural, it wasn’t as if his curse was gone.]
Okay. This is a joke, right?
[Hands clenching the communicator tightly, Kyou frowned. This is not happening to me. His amber eyes narrowing as he glared at the screen.]
It has to be a joke because no one in their right mind would ever think that I would be good at this sort of thing! I’m not doing it. Find someone else. I’m not interested, got that? Not that anyone would anyway...