Sohma Ayame

Sohma Ayame (草摩 綾女) nicknamed "Ay" by Shigure is the biological older brother of Yuki. He is possessed by the Snake of the Chinese Zodiac. Ayame is best friends with Hatori and Shigure, and the three of them make up the Mabudachi Trio. Unlike his little brother Ayame is mostly rather happy, loud, and flamboyant.

Background
Ayame, Hatori and Shigure grew up together. They were all inseparable while living in the Sohma family. Sometimes they are called the "Mabudachi Trio". When Yuki was a young child due to his weak bronchial tubes, Ayame barely ever saw him in person. Ayame even almost had forgotten his name completely. The two made no contact whatsoever, and Ayame often saw their mother slapping Yuki for wanting to be outside such as when it came to playing with outsiders. And when young Yuki once tried to reach out for help, Ayame took one look at him, and just brushed him off by slapping his hand away with his elbow. He then walked away right afterwards. Ayame mostly regrets what he did to Yuki since then.

Personality
He is extremely flamboyant and overconfident, by often speaking of himself in a much brighter light tone than others, while in truth he just wishes that he and Yuki were closer. One of the few things as brothers that Yuki and Ayame have in common, is that they both enjoy annoying Kyo. A few of the names that Ayame calls Kyo are "Lucky Kyou" and "Kyon Kichi", both of which he calls Kyo to annoy him, which he succeeds at doing.

Ayame is constantly trying to get closer to Yuki due to their separation as children. He once told Tohru that he "was vaguely aware that [he] even had a brother. By the time [he] realized it, a deep gap had grown between [Yuki and Ayame]". Yuki also once admitted to Tohru, "I wouldn't say I dislike [Ayame]. He just gets to be too much for me sometimes, is all".

Ayame and Shigure pretend to be a 'yaoi couple' and often pretend to do little bromance' scenes where at the end they say 'All right!' and flash a thumbs-up, much to the dismay of Hatori, Kyo, Yuki, and the confusion of Tohru.

Appearance
He has long silver hair, and gray eyes (yellow green in the anime). He is often dressed in rather flamboyant outfits, most of which he designs and tries on, then sells to his customers. His casual clothes seem to reflect a Chinese design, much like Yuki's.

Chinese Zodiac Sign
Ayame is cursed by the spirit of the snake of the Chinese zodiac. As such, he is sensitive to heat and cold like a cold blooded snake. Whenever the surrounding becomes too warm or cold for him, Ayame would transform even without being hugged by a girl.

Hence, when he steps outside, he always carries an umbrella to shield himself from the sun﻿ and during school days, he would make the Sohmas ferry him to school in a car to avoid transformation. It has been shown that even a slightest wind can cause Ayame to transform, and needs warm surroundings to transform back. Ayame also gets colds and the flu easily due to this.

Fruits Basket Manga
The shop he owns and works in is a lingerie/costume store, in which he says he sells "romance". He and his coworker, Kuramae Mine, appear to be in a relationship, but when Yuki asks him if she knows about the Sohma curse, he quickly changes the topic to a rare "Mogeta" doll he is holding. When Yuki and Tohru go to visit him, Tohru is extremely fond of his dresses, whereas Yuki is utterly disgusted.

Fruits Basket (2001 Anime)
Later in the debut episode, Ayame asks Tohru to go out with him for lunch, and she agrees. As they walk home, Ayame tells Tohru that he can die if it becomes too cold. When they arrive home, it is shown that Ayame had been in snake form and had crawled into Tohru's shirt. Yuki becomes angry at him, but Ayame just laughs.

The shop he owns and works in is a lingerie/costume store, in which he says he sells "romance". He and his coworker, Mine Kuramae, appear to be in a relationship, but when Yuki asks him if she knows about the Sohma curse, he quickly changes the topic to a rare "Mogeta" doll he is holding. When Yuki and Tohru go to visit him, Tohru is extremely fond of his dresses, whereas Yuki is utterly disgusted.

Quotes

 * Do my eyes deceive me?

His mother
Since Yuki and Ayame's mother has always used Yuki as a tool to land herself in high social and financial status, she thinks Ayame is a 'good for nothing'. She can't handle his regal airs and superior behavior, and anyone with eyes could see she hates him.

Sohma Yuki
Since Yuki was isolated as a child due to his weak bronchial tubes, Ayame barely ever saw him. Ayame even almost forgot his name. The two made no contact whatsoever, and Ayame often saw their mother slapping Yuki for wanting to be outside. And when young Yuki once tried to reach out for help, Ayame just brushed him off. By the time they both grew older, there was a great rift between the two.

Ayame is now trying to renew 'the bond between brothers' with many flamboyant methods including tactless demands and clothes embroidered with phrases such as "I live for my older brother". In the manga, Ayame seems to have succeeded in 'renewing the bond' because at one point Yuki seemed to have gotten used to Ayame and thanked him for protecting him from their mother (chapter 72).

Sohma Hatori
Ayame, Hatori and Shigure grew up together. They were inseparable. Sometimes they are called the "Mabudachi Trio". But Ayame, being an outlandish and often insensitive person, eventually realized that there were many qualities that he desired that could be found in his friend Hatori. Out of his respect for Hatori, and his desire to be more like him, selfless and noble, he, without hesitation, does anything that he says, as commented on by Shigure. Because of Ayame's respect for Hatori, Hatori is one of the only people who can boss him around.

Sohma Shigure
Shigure and Ayame have a strangely playful and jokingly homo-erotic relationship. The friendship they fostered through their childhood has remained into adulthood. These jokes are frowned upon and are taken as annoying by Yuki and Kyo, but Shigure willingly plays along to their long running inside-joke.

Sohma Kyo
He and Shigure love teasing Kyo alot, which annoys him.

Kuramae Mine
Mine is Ayame's assistant in his shop that sells "men's romance" (according to him).

Ayame and Mine live together in an apartment on the second floor. She is the only person that truly accepts him, and Yuki often wonders how she puts up with him.

It is unknown if Mine knows of Ayame's zodiac curse. When Yuki asked this, Ayame changed the subject abruptly, implying that she does know but Ayame does not want anyone to know that.

Ayame comes to really trust and depend on Mine when he has troubles on his mind. It shown through the manga (especially chapter 110) that he has strong feelings towards her. At the end of the series when the curse is broken, he confesses his love to Mine saying "I was born to love you" and embraces her.

Manabe Kakeru
Kakeru or as his Mine and Ayame call him, 'Flying Pot-kun', (this is Kakeru's nickname because of the kanji that make up his name. According to Kakeru, "it's written, 'the true pot flies'".) considers Ayame as his idol. The two are very much alike, and Kakeru calls him 'Commander', and Mine 'Vice Commander'. Kakeru has been friends with Ayame ever since Yuki's parent-teacher conference, when Ayame showed up.

Knownable Relatives

 * His mother (Mother)
 * Sohma Yuki (Little Brother)
 * Sohma Hatori (Best Friend)
 * Sohma Shigure (Best Friend)
 * Kuramae Mine (Wife)
 * Sohma Hibika (Daughter)
 * Sohma Chizuru (Son)
 * Sohma Mutsuki (Nephew)

Trivia

 * Unlike most members of the Zodiac, Ayame isn't harmed, both bodily and mentally, by Akito. This is due to the fact that Ayame is one of the two Zodiac members that Akito cannot stand.
 * There is one other theory why Akito doesn't harm Ayame. A Japanese superstition explains that a snake is a sign of wealth and fortune, meaning that harming one would bring bad luck. Being viewed as a god-like being, Akito is likely superstitious and would be careful when dealing with Ayame.
 * Ayame's snake form is white, like that of an albino snake, but instead of having red eyes, Ayame has gold. It is unknown precisely what kind of snake he takes the form of.
 * Like Yuki, his casual clothes reflect a Chinese style; this might be a way Ayame is attempting to grow closer to his younger brother.
 * Like Shigure, he is shown to be flamboyant and a pervert; for example, when Tohru and Yuki visited his shop, he said any dream could be completed, such as the dream of seeing a woman stepping out of a bathroom; the result of that was Yuki shouting, "That is a crime!"
 * His personality much resembles Tamaki Suoh's from Ouran High School Host Club. Both have some things in common: Both are a little perverted, but have good intentions, are quite idiotic and clueless most of the time, and both are very, very, very flamboyant.
 * He is voiced by Christopher R. Sabat, ironically Sabat is known for playing macho or manly roles such as Vegeta, Yamcha and Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z, Kurogane in Tsubasa Chronicles and Zoro in One Piece.
 * Ayame talks like Team Rocket member James from Pokémon.
 * After he becomes a normal human, Ayame wears snake's skin shoes, seen when he is searching for a new home for Yuki in the last volume of the series.

Voice Actors
all information on Sohma Ayame came from http://fruitsbasket.wikia.com/wiki/Ayame_Sohma
 * Japanese : Mitsuru Miyamoto (2001 anime), Takahiro Sakurai (2019 anime)
 * English : Christopher Sabat (both animes)