Kyoko

was the wife of Katsuya Honda and the late mother of Tohru Honda, who only appears in flashbacks and photographs treasured by Tohru.

Kyoko used to be a lonely, troubled, and violent teenager who was also an infamous gang leader called "The Red Butterfly". However, after she met Katsuya, they worked through difficulties in a joint effort, as he helped her leave the gang and her own abusive household. After Katsuya's death and due to her own experiences, Kyoko lovingly raises Tohru to believe that everyone needs to feel needed.

Kyoko died a few months before the start of the series when she is struck by a car. Despite that, Tohru clings to her mother's memory and calls her the most important person in her life, and repeats bits of her mother's emotional wisdom throughout the series.

Appearance
Kyoko was an adult woman with fair skin and a rather slim and tall build. She had short, bobbed, dyed orange hair which appeared to grow darker the further down it went, along with long “M-shaped” bangs usually covering her right eye and framing her face. In flashbacks, she is also seen with longer hair. She had a pair of light-brown eyes with long eyelashes, and was often seen with earrings and pink nail polish.

Kyoko's usual outfit consisted of a yellow long-sleeved short, black pants, and a pair of pink heels. However, she would also wear a black shirt and blue skirt along with her trademark red coat from her gang days.

When Kyoko was young, she had mid-length-back-length hair with straight bangs covering her entire forehead. She also used to draw her eyebrows in, prompting Katsuya to call her “Ms. No Eyebrows”. During her gang days, she was often seen with bandages around her chest area along with black shorts. She would also wear her trademark The Red Butterfly coat as well. In school, she was seen with several plasters and dressed rather modestly; such as long-sleeved, long black dresses.

Personality
In her teenage years, Kyoko was an abrasive, grumpy, ill-tempered, and violent delinquent who blamed everyone for her sadness and took her anger out on those around her. This is due to her incredibly self-centered parents, who made Kyoko hate the entire world and desperate for someone who would make her feel loved and needed. However, after she met Katsuya, who treated her with the love and understanding no one ever gave her before, made Kyoko quit the life of a delinquent, and her personality greatly improved thanks to his influence. As a result, Kyoko became self-conscious about her past mistakes, but also a more lively and optimistic woman who was always smiling. On the other hand, when Katsuya passed away, Kyoko lost all hope, abandoned Tohru for a while, and even attempted suicide. But when she remembered she had a daughter who needed her love and care, Kyoko swore to live for Tohru's sake; eventually becoming an incredibly kind, supportive, hardworking, doting, patient, loving, and gentle mother.

Kyoko was also a very wise woman who extended and shared this wisdom with others around her, including Arisa Uotani, Saki Hanajima, and Kyo Sohma. Even after her death, Tohru relies on Kyoko's wisdom greatly, as she was responsible for shaping Tohru's entire outlook in life, and by extension, her resolve to help the Sohma family through kindness. She was incredibly emotionally intelligent and strong-willed; firmly believing that people often can't mature and become emotionally strong until they have expressed lots of pain and hardships. Exactly because of her own upbringing, she was quick to sense other people's loneliness, such as Kyo’s and Arisa’s, and thus could easily empathize with others and accept them without any hesitation. Aside from her wisdom, Kyoko was a very cheerful, loud, open, inviting, and social woman with a noticeable sassy side to her, who could along with anyone, even if it was a child decades younger than her.

Early Life
Born as, she was born into a cold household consisting of her father who never thought about his family, and her mother who only cared about her husband and the outward appearance of their family. As a result, they never went anywhere as a family, rarely ate meals together, and Kyoko didn't even have a memory of being held by them, resulting in her feeling neglected. Because of her troubled background, Kyoko, at some point, fell into the “wrong crowd” and became an out-of-control delinquent before she even got to middle school. Kyoko was eventually made the leader of a kamikaze squad, a gang, and was described as a tough fighter who could put men in their place. She began doing the wrong things and was delighted by it; including beating people bloody and vice-versa. Her father was infuriated by this and would verbally and sometimes physically abuse her, while her mother couldn't comprehend why she turned out the way she did. Kyoko simply did not care, as she had never been asked to be born. Overwhelmed with loneliness and wanting to reflect, she would ride out on her bike in the middle of night, where she also gained her infamous nickname “The Red Bufferfly”.

Meeting Katsuya Honda
Even as a third-year middle schooler, Kyoko went to school so rarely that she could count the number of days she had attended. During one of the rare days she attended school, she met Katsuya Honda, a trainee teacher. When Kyoko lashed out and had a violent outburst towards the other teachers for attacking her due to “disrupting the learning process for the students”, Katsuya took over and began conversing with Kyoko. Kyoko continued lashing out as Katsuya as well and admitted that she hated everything and everyone around her and wanted them all dead, but when Katsuya correctly deduced that Kyoko was lonely and just wanted to be accepted, needed, and loved, she broke down in tears and admitted that Katsuya was right.

Knowing that Kyoko is lonely and feeling like he could relate to Kyoko, Katsuya began spending more time with her, both in and outside of school, where he affectionately began calling her “Ms. No Eyebrows”. Kyoko soon started going back to middle school, and although she didn't attend any classes, she met up with Katsuya every day during lunch. They would talk about everything and confided things to the other person they couldn't with anyone else, as eventually, Kyoko fell in love with him. One day before Katsuya's training period ended and before he left the school, Kyoko confessed that thanks to his influence, she now wanted to become a better person, study and attend high school, and tearfully bids him farewell. However, even after Katsuya left school and got a job at a pharmaceutical company, he wanted to continue seeing Kyoko, and as such, he would help her study and check her homework on the weekend.

Because of Katsuya's support, Kyoko wanted to quit her gang so she could focus on her studies. However, she was beaten half to death by her fellow gang members because of this and was thereafter hospitalized. No one, even her parents, visited her, and worse of all, she missed taking the high school entrance exams. When she was discharged, Kyoko returned home, only to find her father dropping a bag of her belongings in front of her and declaring that he was disinheriting her and disowning her altogether. Katsuya then suddenly turned up and gave them a lecture for choosing to banish their daughter because she “didn't turn out the way they wanted“. He then admitted that he wanted to Kyoko and asked if her father objects, which he doesn't since he no longer considers Kyoko his daughter. Katsuya and Kyoko then left the house, and when Kyoko questioned him why he wanted to be with her, Katsuya confessed that he fell in love with her the moment she cried about being so lonely during their first meeting. He then asks Kyoko to “choose him”, and Kyoko tearfully accepts his feelings as they share their first kiss.

Birth of Tohru Honda
After a while, Kyoko and Katsuya would begin living together by the sea, and they were quietly wed as no one blessed their wedding, except Katsuya's father. They had a very happy married life for several months before Kyoko found out she was pregnant. She broke down and admitted that although she was glad to have Katsuya's child, she didn't have the courage to bear a child and didn't feel like she had the right to become a mother considering she had terrible things in the past, and since she had been rude towards her own mother as well. However, Katsuya comforted her and said that she would be a great mother and that they would be in it together. Thus, their daughter Tohru was soon born, and the three lived a very happy and warm life. One night when Katsuya was away on a business trip, Kyoko noted that Katsuya had a bit of a cold and demanded that he went to the doctor the next day. Katsuya agreed, and they soon happily began talking about giving Tohru a younger sibling. However, the next day, Katsuya passed away, as his cold had turned into pneumonia.

Kyoko, who was only 18 or 19 years old, became absolutely grief-stricken, blamed Katsuya's death on herself, and fell into a deep depression and a trance-like state, where she didn't notice anything or anyone. As a result, she didn't care for Tohru, didn't check up on her, and didn't talk to her. Kyoko was convinced that Katsuya was waiting for her in the sea, so she abandoned Tohru and went there with the thought of committing suicide in order to be reunited with her beloved. When she almost succeeding in doing so, she heard a little girl, no older than Tohru, and her mother fussing about finding a train ticket. This caused her to snap out of her trance and remember that she also had a child. She quickly ran home, wondering how long it had been since she had talked to Tohru, remembering that Katsuya's father had come by a few times to make her meals, but not knowing how often. When she arrived, Tohru was sleeping in front of the door and waiting for Kyoko, and when she arrived home, Tohru welcomed her home with a smile, the same way Katsuya used to welcome Kyoko home. Kyoko broke down in tears and pulled Tohru into a hug, apologizing to her over and over. Tohru broke down in tears as well and hugged Kyoko tight.

Following this event, Kyoko lived with the thought of raising Tohru well and never abandon her again. They also moved from the sea and somewhere along the line, cheered up thanks to Tohru. They were extremely close and spent all of their time together, and Kyoko shaped much of Tohru's character by the wisdom she shared with her.

Meeting Kyo Sohma
After settling down in a new neighborhood and finding a job nearby, Kyoko met Kyo Sohma one day, who felt like he couldn't go straight home after school and therefore spent time in the neighborhood. Kyoko instantly took an interest in Kyo for being cute and having an odd hair-color, but Kyo was harsh towards her as he was not used to people wanting to interact with him. But Kyoko's persistence broke eventually through, and Kyoko understood and emphasized with Kyo's situation with his parents, which made him think of her as a ray of hope in his otherwise dark life. After their first meeting, Kyoko told Kyo to visit her again, which he began doing many times. They developed a friendship and talked about all kinds of things; including her past as a delinquent, how she met her Katsuya, how she almost gave up when Katsuya died, and how she now was determined to keep living for her Tohru's sake. Kyoko also talked fondly about Tohru to Kyo, and thus, the young boy developed an interest to get to know her.

One day, Tohru went missing in the neighborhood which caused Kyoko great distress. Kyo arrived at the scene and promised Kyoko that he would bring Tohru back home safely. However, Kyoko later informed Kyo that Tohru had already been rescued by another boy who had a hat in his possessions. Kyo was enraged when he realized that Tohru's rescuer was Yuki Sohma and called him a “bad guy”, and Kyoko calmly told him that he shouldn't spend his time fixating about making someone the bad guy when he was a cute child himself, but Kyo, feeling betrayed that Kyoko had apparently sided with Yuki, ran away. In spite of Kyo's insults towards her, Kyoko brushed this off and gleefully shouted that Kyo had to keep his promise to protect Tohru. After that, Kyoko and Kyo never saw one another again.

Meeting Arisa Uotani
Arisa was also a Yankee, and she idolized "The Red Butterfly". She bumped into Tohru and Tohru told Arisa about how her mom was Kyoko Honda. Arisa threatened to punch Tohru, but didn't, and went to Tohru's house after school to meet Kyoko. They were walking home when Kyoko jumped out and hugged Tohru. Arisa was introduced to the retired Yankee. Arisa was disgusted on the fact of Kyoko being cute, and motherly.

Angry, Arisa left Tohru's house. Then, Arisa realized she wanted a life like Tohru's the more she hung out with her. Arisa, brave and scared, told her gang members that she was leaving the gang, and she would take whatever punishment. The gang started to beat up Arisa, then Kyoko, wearing her "Red Butterfly" jacket, came in, and saved Arisa, bringing her back to their house with Tohru waiting. When Kyoko died she gave her Red Butterfly jacket to Arisa.

Death
Every morning, when Kyoko left for work, Tohru would say "Come home safe!" The morning Tohru overslept from studying and wasn't able to wish her mother to return home as she always did, Kyoko died in a car accident.

She was at a traffic junction, waiting to cross the road. Kyo had been standing behind her but out of guilt could not talk to her due to his rashness when they went when he was younger. Apparently, as she crossed the road, a car sped at her (it was said that it seemed like speeding towards her only). Kyo could have dragged Kyoko away, but he couldn't because it would reveal his curse in turn. Kyoko gets knocked down by the car and lies on the road, slowly bleeding to death as an ambulance was on the way.

As she accounted for the life she had lead up until then, Kyoko wished that she had loved Tohru even more, wondering whether she had given enough love to Tohru to make up for the love that Katsuya couldn't. Kyoko knew she couldn't die just yet. Tohru had just entered high school, something she couldn't do. She wept as she could feel her life sweeping away, knowing that Tohru would be left all alone now.

In the afterlife, she was shown crying in her middle school form. She, however, started to cry tears of joy when she finally 'reunites' with her late husband, telling her she has done a good job of raising Tohru with love that he could not.

Trivia

 * Her nickname "The Red Butterfly" originated from the legend of how the tail lights on her motorcycle danced like a bright red butterfly when she rode at night.
 * Kyoko never re-married after Katsuya's death.
 * Kyoko disliked wedding ceremonies, to the point where it “sent nasty chills down her spine”.
 * Kyoko never wanted a wedding ring, since she was afraid to lose it. Rather, she wanted simple things such as blenders to help Katsuya.
 * Kyoko mentions to Kyo that when she abandoned Tohru for a while, her parental custody might have gotten a little “dicey”, but that she was lucky she had Katsuya's father to take care of Tohru during that time.
 * She was apparently quite infamous as a delinquent, as Arisa recognized her as a legend even though she had quit the gang lifestyle years ago.
 * Her grandson, Hajime Sohma, is seen to have worn her red butterfly coat from her gang days.
 * She shares her 2001 English voice actress with Okami Sohma.

Kyoko Honda Kyoko Honda