Out of all the Zodiac members, Yuki bore the brunt of Akito’s abuse in Fruits Basket. Yuki’s mother left him with Akito and didn’t care what happened to him because she enjoyed the prestige that came with her son drawing the family head’s attention. Since the Rat is closest to the Zodiac’s god in the myth, all the better for Yuki’s mother. However, behind closed doors, Yuki went through hell. Akito kept him locked in a dark room for most of his formative years and constantly verbally berated him, saying he was a freak who’d never fit in with normal society. Akito also physically abused Yuki and used fear to keep him compliant, as she did with the rest of the Zodiac. Every time Akito was upset, Yuki paid the price for it.
After breaking out of Akito’s prison and living with Shigure, it was apparent that Yuki didn’t quite fit in with the rest of his peers. Though everybody greatly admired him and viewed him as a prince, Yuki was extremely closed off and hyper-aware of how he was perceived. He also admitted that he envied Kyo’s social skills and wished he could have been as personable as him. Yuki felt gravely misunderstood and alone until a few key people entered his life.
Tohru, Machi, Kakeru, and Ayame coming back into his life all helped Yuki recover from his trauma and overcome his loneliness. Tohru’s indiscriminate kindness helped Yuki break out of his shell since she never ran away from him or judged him for turning into a rat. In fact, he came to view her as the mother he never had. Kakeru helped Yuki stop taking himself so seriously, ultimately helping him find himself in the process. Machi was one of the first people to recognize Yuki’s loneliness and never put him on a pedestal like the members of his fan club. Yuki’s growth also allowed him to help Machi overcome her own issues, like how he made accommodations and never judged her destructive compulsions.
Ayame and Yuki’s relationship is much more complicated than the previous three. Ayame neglected Yuki during his childhood and never tried rescuing him from Akito’s abuse, but he wanted to make amends and even stood up to their mother toward the end of the series. Despite everyone else’s help, however, Yuki deserves credit for his own role in overcoming his trauma and loneliness.
Yuki’s Reality Is Much Different Than the Image His Peers Project Onto Him
Other people at school viewed Yuki as a flawless, prince-like figure who could do no wrong. The obnoxiously notorious “Prince Yuki Fan Club” constantly fawned over him and made him seem that much further away from his peers. However, the image of perfection and charm projected onto him by the people around him couldn’t be further from the truth about Yuki.
Yuki used to have zero self-esteem and was defined by his isolation. He never let others get close to him because Akito’s voice constantly reminded him that he was a hopeless freak who nobody would ever want to be around. He didn’t want to let others in because he was afraid of rejection, presenting himself with a friendly but detached attitude toward his friends at school. Yuki not only felt confined to his solitude but also trapped by everyone else’s expectations of him. He was already traumatized, but it was extremely dehumanizing for him to deal with people at school treating him like a prince and putting him on a pedestal.
At the end of the day, Yuki just wanted a friend who could understand him. In the manga, Yuki said, “I don’t care how many people would notice if I disappeared. If just one person noticed, that’s all I’d need. Having one person is an incredible thing. After all, it’s totally different than zero.” This quote was in reference to Machi, but it also sums up how he felt when he was drifting through life by himself.
Yuki Had Lots of Help Along the Way But Ultimately Saved Himself
Perhaps the two most important external factors in Yuki overcoming his trauma were Tohru and Machi. Yuki initially didn’t think anything of Tohru and was indifferent toward her until she started living at Shigure’s place with him. However, that changed when Yuki realized that Tohru was the first person who genuinely wanted to befriend him and saw through the princely lie his peers spread. She didn’t judge him after he turned into a rat for the first time and even asked to continue being his friend if her memories were erased for discovering it. Tohru provided Yuki the source of unconditional support and love he never had growing up.
At first, it seemed like Yuki and Tohru had a possible romance, but they didn’t have the same chemistry as Kyo and Tohru. However, Yuki platonically loves Tohru and admitted that she was basically the mother he never had. Ultimately, Yuki wanted a relationship with equal giving and receiving love, stating that anything else would exacerbate his loneliness.
Meanwhile, Machi Kuragi was the first person to see how lonely Yuki truly was, and she called out his fan club’s ridiculous antics. Yuki initially didn’t know what to think of Machi since he first met her in a disheveled student council office. However, he took interest in her since she wasn’t as boisterous as the other student council members and seemed apprehensive of letting others too close — something Yuki understood all too well.
After Kakeru took Yuki to visit Machi’s apartment, he quickly understood why Machi breaks things. Like him, she had a chaotic upbringing that left her with a fragmented sense of identity and more self-hatred than she knows how to deal with. He also deduced that she hates anything perfect and made accommodations, like breaking chalk out of a new box or promising to make footprints in the snow with her. Machi also noted things that made Yuki uncomfortable, like breaking down a locked door just as Yuki was having flashbacks to his past in Akito’s dark room. Yuki expressed gratitude for Machi, saying that she was the first person who specifically sought him out, whereas others put him on a pedestal that further ostracized him.
Though Tohru, Machi and a few other characters in Fruits Basket helped him along the way, it was ultimately Yuki’s choice to advocate for himself and accept what others were trying to offer him. Recovering from trauma and loneliness isn’t easy, and taking the first step is always the hardest part. Yuki took the initiative to stop letting the voices of his past interfere with the present and hold him back from a fulfilling future. This decision allowed him to get close to people like Tohru, Machi and Kakeru and allow Ayame back into his life. His reliance on others shouldn’t define Yuki’s story because that’s antithetical to how he grew up. It should instead be defined by his resolve to leave his past behind, prove his abusers wrong and forge a new life for himself, whether or not the Zodiac curse broke.
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