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Kagura is a girl of deceiving first impressions. Sure, when you first meet her, you may think, "She looks so sweet, what a cutie!" or, "She looks so shy and meek, like a helpless little lamb." If those thoughts crossed your mind, you're one of the many who were fooled by her temperate, sweet side. When we first meet Kagura in both the anime and manga, she's shyly watching Shigure's house from behind the gate. She meets Tohru at the door and asks if Kyou is around. When she's brought inside, Shigure and Yuki are surprised to see her, while Kyou is utterly terrified. Now, why would Kyou, the one who trained in the mountains for months and never backs down from any fight, be so unnerved as to shake in his boots at the sight of Kagura, a simple girl his age? Moved to tears by seeing Kyou, at first Kagura can only emotionally mutter his name. Then her eyes gleam evilly, and as she shrieks, "I wanted to see you!!" she punches Kyou so hard he flies across the room and crashes through the door. Yuki and Shigure, being used to Kagura's temper tantrums, casually duck as Kyou flies over them and Kagura follows, leaping across the room. Tohru is completely shocked by the sudden surge of violence from what seemed like such a sweet girl. Like the other members of the Souma family, Kagura goes much deeper than outer appearance. We find this out immediately after we're first introduced to her. Kagura's extremely devoted to Kyou. So devoted, in fact, that she can't control herself whenever she's around him. She loves him so much she takes all her rage out on him. It's interesting to observe how Kagura never loses her temper around anyone except for Kyou. While around Shigure her eyes might gleam or she might get jealous of Tohru, all of her energy is completely focused on Kyou; she won't lay a harmful finger on anyone else. Of course, that doesn't mean Kagura means to harm Kyou. Often times her crazed rage clouds her judgment and when snaps out of it, she's devastated by the state Kyou is in and hugs him dramatically, weeping for his wounds and ranting, "Who on earth did this to you?!" Kagura's a living contradiction: destructive and violent yet caring and nursing at the blink of an eye. While Tohru is spotless with chores (laundry, cooking, cleaning), Kagura's another story. Kagura, bent on showing Kyou and the rest of the house that she was good at housework, took over for a day. The results of her attempts at housework were disastrous. She managed to overflow the laundry, rip Kyou's favorite shirt, and nearly set the kitchen on fire. Kyou got angry at her for making a mess of the whole house and started yelling at her, his temper flaring. Kagura, in return, was hurt. But she didn't let that keep her spirits down. Instantly her temper flew through the roof also, and she proceeded with beating the living daylights out of Kyou. Kagura and Kyou are quite an explosive combination, you see.
Kagura accepts Kyou for who he is. She doesn't mind that he's cursed by the cat's vengeful spirit. She sees him as a human nonetheless. However, she also realizes that her acceptance is not enough. She knows that Kyou needs someone out of the circle of the Juunishi to accept him. Kagura is well aware that the only person who can heal him, make him feel he's accepted, is Tohru. In that way Kagura gives Kyou up to Tohru, knowing that she's what he needs at the moment. Kagura has a hard time doing this, but knows what's best. Kagura's devotion to Kyou is so deep that she's willing to give him up to someone else's care because it's best for him. I often look through Fruits Basket websites and fan commentaries and realize that people only focus on Kyou, Yuki, and Tohru as possible romantic couplings. A lot of the time, Kagura is completely thrown out of the picture. It's true that Tohru heals Kyou in many ways, but Kagura also helps out. She's always supportive of him, and though Kyou may act like he's annoyed, when it comes down to it he doesn't mind her that much. He tries running away from her, but at the same time, he's still okay with her hanging around. I'd imagine that if Kagura was put into a dangerous position in some way, Kyou would worry the most. He certainly cares about Kagura, and so far it's as if his feelings for her aren't resolved yet. Underneath the tough exterior (the boar's thick skin) Kagura is somewhat a sensitive girl. Kyou might say something mean to her and she might beat him up right then, but later that day she might feel bad because of it. She'll hide those feelings under her momentary rage, and they'll emerge later in the day to haunt her. Either way, Kagura's a strong girl who's able to stand Kyou's temper and not let it get her down for long. It's hard to be constantly rebuffed by the person you care for the most, but Kagura manages it and still leaves Kyou with a smile. Unlike Tohru, Kagura's much more easy-going. While Tohru might worry about offending people or saying something wrong, Kagura's more go-with-the-flow, happy go lucky. She's jokes around more, teases people more than Tohru, who never does so. While Tohru is proper, Kagura is more laid back. Both girls are outgoing and have a great acceptance of people, no matter what kind of oddities they might possess. As the series progresses, the two become closer friends.
Overall, Kagura is a friendly girl who has an easy time getting along with people. She's an explosive reaction to Kyou's flaring temper yet is devoted to him. She's somewhat more of a "normal" girl in comparison to Tohru; she's someone that most average girls could relate to. She has extreme emotions that sometimes get hard to handle; that's why she takes it out on Kyou. She's accepting and goes with the flow. Unlike Tohru, she's not good at housework, but she's willing to work on it for the sake of the one she cares for. She's still growing and while she might be immature with her petty fights with Kyou, at times she's mature beyond her years.
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- - - - - - - - - -> Souma Kagura
However,
that's the strong point in their relationship. While girls like Tohru
get hurt easily by Kyou's careless words (since he has a hard time
controlling his temper), Kagura isn't as affected. She knows that
he's careless sometimes, and while he might not accept her Valentine's
Chocolate, she doesn't get bent out of shape. Instead, she forces him to eat it. When Kyou says something mean in a time of
blind anger, Kagura momentarily looks as if she's hurt. Then she instantly rages with a war cry and beats him up in wild fury. Kagura
is good for Kyou in many ways; sometimes he deserves the
beatings he gets. Kagura is strong and patient; ever since they were kids,
Kagura's heart has been faithful to Kyou.
It's
easy for Tohru's personality to overshadow Kagura's throughout the
series because we see more of Tohru, but both have their good and bad
points. Tohru's more proper, sensitive, and responsible than Kagura.
However, Kagura is more laid back and energetic. She's also not as
clueless as Tohru. These differences emerge from the fact that both
girls grew up in strikingly different family circumstances. Though
Kagura's close family isn't spoken of at all in the anime, it's obvious they were
raised differently in the way Tohru can handle responsibility
better.