Ayame Sohma

Ayame Sohma, aged 27–29, is the snake of the Chinese zodiac, and Yuki's older brother, the young man with the longest hair in human appearance. Ayame is depicted as vivacious, flamboyant, self-confident, and self-centered, with a knack for annoying Yuki and Kyo (one of the few things they initially agree upon). He sometimes takes damages when under a fight. In an author's note, Natsuki Takaya described him as a draining person to meet in real life. Despite his age, he refers to himself with the boyish pronoun boku. He has gorgeous eyes (gold in the manga, yellow-green in the anime) and silver hair, which Tohru notes is similar to Yuki's violet eyes and grey hair. He runs a shop, named after himself, that sells custom-made "romantic costumes" such as frilly dresses and maid costumes with the help of Mine Kuramae, his seamstress. He is best friends with Shigure and Hatori, who are the same age; Ayame and Shigure like to pretend that they are lovers, while Hatori is the only one, according to Shigure and Takaya, who can restrain Ayame's worst behavior. As the snake, Ayame is especially susceptible to cold. When Ayame was in high school, he was president of the student council, and is proud that Yuki is following him. Ayame fears the "nothingness" of not being acknowledged. When Ayame was young, he completely ignored Yuki, and even forgot Yuki's name once, but during the series he realizes that he will be totally alone with his brother when he gets older. This spurs an obsession with gaining Yuki's love, which he attempts to do by demanding it from Yuki. As the series progresses, however, Yuki accepts Ayame as a brother, and even tries to understand him, When Ayame is freed from the curse, the first thing he does is embrace Mine Kuramae and confess he loves her. Takaya derived the name Ayame (normally a female name, meaning iris, or "blood iris" to be more specific) from the fifth month, ayamezuki or "month of irises," which is the month of the snake, of the traditional Japanese calendar.

Voiced by: Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese), Chris Sabat (English)