Applications
At around 11-12 years old, Hiro is the youngest member of Sohma family's Jyuunishi--people who turn into animals of the Chinese Zodiac when hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Hiro is the Ram of the Jyuunishi, though at the moment he's little more than a lamb. Overly smart and cynical for his age, Hiro overcompensates for the self-perceived weakness of his youth by being a viciously sarcastic brat. He enjoys talking circles around and criticizing older people who he scorns as being stupid and foolish (because adults are never, ever less than brilliant or silly or allowed to make mistakes).
In the grand tradition of Sohma incest, Hiro is in love with his cousin Kisa, who's a year older and the Tiger of the Jyuunishi. Kisa is very close to Tohru Honda, which makes Hiro's relationship with Tohru more strained--he's extremely jealous of Tohru as a rival for Kisa's affections even as he knows that Tohru has helped Kisa immeasurably in ways that he couldn't. Hiro doesn't really dislike Tohru, but that doesn't stop him from picking on her as an easy target. In a dramatic deviation from Sohma norm, Hiro has parents who are not insane, abusive, neglectful, or all of the above. His mom especially is a sweetheart, albeit a daffy one (Hiro is paranoid that she'll fall over and hurt herself).
Hiro isn't really a bad kid despite his sparkling personality. He's very protective of the people he cares about and wants to be an adult so that he can take care of them. He says blunt things more often from insensitivity and frustration than from real malice. He's trying to be nicer--but old habits die kicking and screaming, and Hiro's had a lifetime of thinking that tact is just not saying true stuff.
This morning my luggage grew feet and tried to eat me before it galloped away into the forest, which has so far been the highlight of my day. So far I've been shot at, pecked by toucans, used as a projectile weapon in ninja practice, and mistaken for an infectious chibi I have no idea what that means.
This is all that stupid Tohru's woman's fault. If she's enough of a fluffbrain to think going to a camp that Akito recommended for her specifically is a wonderful idea, she deserves all the misery from it she gets! Moron! I wouldn't even be here looking for her if it weren't as a special personal favor to Kisa. So Kisa would stop making that woman the main topic of EVERY SINGLE CONVERSATION EVER.
"Hiro-chaaan, where did neeeeee-chan go?"
"Hiro-chaaaan, have you seen neeeeee-chan this week?"
"Hiro-chaaaan, when is neeeeee-chan coming back?"
"Hiro-chaaaan, why did Main House buy a grave marker with neeeeee-chan's name on it?"
"Hiro-chaaaan, are you sure neeeeee-chan's okay?"
Nee-chan nee-chan nee-chan nee-chan nee-chan AAAAAGH! Am I that stupid woman's keeper!? Isn't it that Yuki and Kyou's job to stalk her!? And then the two of them scurried after her and disappeared! They're all such thoughtless, inconsiderate idiots who should know better than to run off like children and make other people worry about them!
I'll wait to look for them in the hope that something really horrible will happen to them first. Maybe my luggage will eat them. It was a very expensive red leather tote, and their blood will give its trim that special shine.
Character: Sohma Hiro
Series: Fruits Basket
Age: 12
Canon: Hiro is the youngest member of the Sohma family's Jyuunishi, who are cursed to turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac whenever hugged by a member of the opposite sex. Hiro is the Sheep of the Zodiac, and such a darling wee fluffy baby sheep at that. Hiro's interior is really as fluffy as his exterior, but he hides it well by being a caustic, arrogant brat. Almost the only person who can stop him from being such a obnoxious little punk is his older cousin Kisa, with whom he's been not-too-secretly in love for years. Hiro is a diminutively towering cynic and pessimist, but he would do anything for the small but gradually expanding circle of people he cares about. He wants to outgrow his frustrating weaknesses and become an adult so that he can protect those he loves--because of course an adult could never be helpless, spiteful, petty, or naive.
Hiro's greatest rival (in his own mind) is Honda Tohru, who has become as close as a sister to Kisa and so takes some measure of her attention away from Hiro. Hiro recognizes that Tohru is a genuinely good, caring person who has helped Kisa and the other Sohmas, including Hiro himself, through some very difficult times. She just annoys the hell out of him anyway.
I made it through the wilderness. Somehow, I made it through. I didn't know how lost I was until the pack of snarling three-headed wolves chased me through a bog and up a tree for three days. Luckily the giant moths chased them away before they tried to gnaw on me and I had to beat them off with a tree branch. The first person who says anything about wool is going to regret it.
I'm not an idiot. These are not real forms of American wildlife. What the hell have you people gotten me into? Is it right that I should be subjected to this even though I'm a minor clearly unsuited for this environment? Is it right for lunatic Americans to conduct freakish experiments on insects and canines in a bid to take over the world or maybe to create tourist attractions? Is it fair that I am related to people so stupid, selfish, and inconsiderate as to disappear for months to another continent with the strangely unnerving blessing of Akito and have the time of their lives or die horribly but either way to not send so much as a postcard? Yes, I mean YOU. You know who you are. Japan does have an actual mail service set up by now, you know.
And on the subject of people with whom I am forced to associate, if that Honda Tohru woman is around, tell her that I'm looking for her not that I ever particularly want to see her again but Kisa had a few concerns. On second thought, tell her that she should be looking for me, since I'm the one who has been wading through kilometers of swamp for days and cannot be expected to wander around an unfamiliar area by myself anymore than I already have. I'm starving and dehydrated and probably dying of scurvy! Tell her to bring me food! Real food, with vitamin C in it! She should not get back in the kitchen and make me a stupid pie, though she's going to do it anyway! (It had better be apple.)