PERSONALITY

[possessiveness]

"I am the masters of their hearts and souls. They belong to me."

Akito is presented at the start of the series as a mysterious and looming family head that the rest of the Sohma clan seem to hesitate even mentioning in conversation. The only thing the viewer and Tohru seem to know about Akito, was how she was the reason Hatori and his then girlfriend could not get married, and how he became blind in one eye because of her. She is properly introduced when she first makes contact with Tohru Honda, arriving at the girl's school to introduce herself to the other. She is perceived as a dominating man, perhaps even charming as she compliments the other for being feminine and cute. The charm doesn't last long as she immediately approaches the rat of the Chinese Zodiac, Yuki Sohma, confronting him for skipping out on the family's New Year's festival. His reaction, nervousness, fear, and overwhelming terror indicates that Akito is not someone who is truly kind.

Akito was born to Akira Sohma, the head of the Sohma family, and Ren, a lower class maid. Her mother became obsessed with Akira, detecting his loneliness and desiring to be everything he needs and wants. As a result, when she became pregnant with Akito and saw the other members of the Zodiac approach her upon conception [as Akito was to be the new God of the Zodiac], she became angered and jealous. She demanded Akira raise the child as a boy or it would be aborted. Unwanted since birth and denied her gender, Akito's relationship with her mother and father laid the groundwork for her violent, aggressive, and possessive nature.

One of the most important relationships that influenced how she views other members of the Zodiac, was the one she had with her father. With the best intentions, and knowing he would die young, Akira did his best to raise her with as much love and adoration as possible. To compensate for his wife refusing to even hold Akito, Akira often told her that she was born to be loved, that the others in the Zodiac were destined to love her unconditionally, and how she was a God. Although this didn't affect Akito initially, it did contribute to her short-temper as a child and tendency to throw tantrums. When her father passed before her, and only her, her mother's reaction was the tipping scale for her to become further abusive. Her mother screamed and yelled, 

"I'm not just anyone, I'm someone special. I can do what I want, with any of you. It's my right."
At present day, Akito is shown to be highly abusive, controlling, possessive, demeaning, manipulative, and violent. She views herself as being above others, especially those in the Zodiac. She has openly stated that she is allowed to do as she pleases, being a God and all, and that the others only exist for her sake. As she lives entirely within the Sohma household bubble, Akito is shown to be heavily dependent on others for her day to day needs. She is the head of the household, but is shown to relegate most tasks to others. Per the creator of the series 'Akito only puts effort into existing' and by default, one can assume she puts most of her energy in dominating the men of the Zodiac as much as possible. 

A big source of hatred for Akito, is the one she holds for all women. Her misogyny [both external and internalized] is shown in the way she views her mother, the female members of the Zodiac, and Tohru Honda. To begin with, she views herself fully as a man despite being having been born a woman and openly using her femineity against individuals such as Kureno and Shigure. She is shown to deeply dislike her feminine form, opting to always keep herself fully covered from head to toe as much as possible. She only wears loose kimonos made for men, suits, or tightly fitted clothes made for men. She also is shown to willingly speak and behave like a man, making movements, poses, and sounds associated with men. Her misogyny towards women is shown in the following manners: 

• The way she speaks of other women to men: 
  • When she first meets Tohru Honda, she says to 

One of the biggest weaknesses Akito has and a driving force for the way she is, is her fear of being alone. 

Akito's relationship with the other Sohma's various depending on on their gender, proximity, and how she feels about them personally. Here is a brief breakdown of those who weren't that close to her/showed less interaction with her:

· Momiji Sohma: Akito isn't shown interacting with him much, except during the Beach vacation arc. She is on her way back home but decided to stop by the residence where most of the Sohma family is at [including Tohru]. 
· Hatori Sohma: Hatori is another victim of Akito, but he seems to be neutral in regards to her. He is the dragon [seahorse] of the Zodiac, a doctor, and also has the ability to erase people's memories through hypnosis. As such, he is often used by Akito to control outsiders/wipe their memories if they happen to see the family secret. As such, he feels an immense amount of guilt for the people he has had to wipe their memories.

He fell in love with and became engaged with a member of the clan, asking Akito for permission to marry her. As Akito views all members of the Zodiac as her property and all women as competition, she threw a tantrum and broke the mirror in her room. With a broken shard of glass, she stabbed Hatori in his left eye, leaving him permanently disabled as punishment for his betrayal. It is unknown why she specifically attacked Hatori instead of his fiancée, as she is shown to have attacked the women in this scenario in the past, however it was possible she did to get his partner to feel guilty as she immediately blames her for the attack. Unfortunately it did work, and the two ended up breaking up with Hatori having to wipe her mind of their relationship completely. 

Despite this, he doesn't show any anger or resentment towards Akito, preferring to look to the future on a positive note and to work hard to protect others from the curse. As for Akito, the few times she is shown speaking/interacting with him, she has openly spoken of him as a slave rather than a family member. An example of this was when she was feeling sick, and asked Shigure to call for Hatori. Shigure scolded her, telling her that she shouldn't rely on him so much. In response to this, she said 'why not? he lives and breathes for me, he only exists for me.' Another interaction shown between them is later on in season 2 during the 'beach vacation arc' where he comes to check up on her, and she openly gives him physical affection, even sitting on his lap. Essentially, Akito just views him as another member of the Zodiac that obeys her without pushback, and that he only lives to serve her. 
· Kyo Sohma: Akito is shown to hold a tenuous and strained relationship with Kyo, and despite pretending and showing him some level of her 'love', she secretly detests him and is eager to lock him up for the rest of his life, once he graduates from High School. As the cat of the Zodiac, she excludes him from most events (except the family's New Years gathering), and has only really ever spoken to him two or three times directly. The first time, they make a bet that if Kyo is able to beat Yuki in a fight before he graduates high school, he will be allowed to join the Sohma family properly, and not spend the rest of his life locked up. The second time Akito willingly meets with him, is to essentially re-affirm his place in the Zodiac hierarchy and to emotionally torment him. She asks about the wager they made, taunting him and stating he will never be able to beat the rat, and that he was 'made to be inferior'. 

She views him as a piece of filth, openly telling him this when the bet was placed. She also shows this by excessively washing her hands after their interaction, desperate to rid of herself of his 'filth'. She often reminds him and others that he was responsible for his mother's suicide and that the one who should have died should have been him. Her hatred of Kyo comes from two important things: in the old Zodiac tale, the cat was tricked by the rat and did not show up to banquet the God was holding, therefore insulting the God and cursing the cat for eternity. Additionally, Kyo's true form is a large monster that reeks of sewage and comes to life if Kyo removes his protective bracelet. In this meeting, Akito shows the love she has for all members of the Zodiac, saying that he won't be lonely when he is locked up, and that she will visit him often. Whether she truly feels this, or it is a reflection of the spirit of the God in her, is unknown, but given her actions after the meeting, it seems she says this out of some sense of obligation. 

Akito also uses this meeting to remind Kyo that no one could ever love him, and that he is unworthy of love. In an effort to protect his love interest, Tohru, he agrees with Akito and leaves. Kyo is perhaps one of the few Sohma family members that has openly laid their hands on Akito in a more aggressive manner without extreme punishment.  
· Kagura Sohma: The boar of the family, Kagura seems to be spared completely of Akito's verbal and physical abuse. It seems that this is possible because Akito refuses to engage with the women of the Zodiac unless forced to, and generally avoids other women. One can assume Kagura has done nothing to enrage Akito [despite the fact that she used to openly say she was in love with Kyo]. 
· Kisa Sohma: Being the youngest member of the Zodiac, the tiger, Kisa has been a victim of Akito's physical violence. Ritsu confessed his feelings for Kisa to Akito, and Akito beat the girl up in response to the point where she had to be in the hospital for two weeks. After this, they are not shown to interact much outside of Akito telling her [and the group she was with] that she was happy to see them and that she loved them. 
· Hatsuharu Sohma: Haru is unaware of what happened to Izusu for a good portion of the series, keeping a peaceful but distant relationship with Akito. In the few moments they were shown together, Akito is shown giving him affection and resting on him. 
· Izusu (Rin) Sohma: Akito has been shown to have very little interaction with the girl prior to Hatsuharu dating her and consummating their relationship. When Akito catches wind of their relationship, Izusu confronts Akito and takes the blame for it, telling the God that she was the one who seduced him. As a result, Akito pushed Izusu out of a second story window, causing the girl to be in the hospital for a long period of time. It is during this interaction that we see Akito openly saying misogynistic things and expressing her hatred of women. "You're always so impassive, but when you want something, you pounce. It's frightening. This is why I despise Women, devious creatures." 
· Ritsu Sohma: Akito is not really shown to have a relationship with Ritsu, but being the monkey of the Zodiac, she shares she same thoughts as others in the Sohma family- that Ritsu is useless, an idiot, and worthless. He is shown to have also dreamt of Akito's birth, making him slightly older than her, but he was too young to truly remember. 
· Ayame Sohma: Despite being one of the oldest members of the Zodiac, Akito is shown to have zero relationship with Ayame. She actively avoids him and does not want to be around him. As for Ayame, he seems to hold no ill will towards Akito as he has not been a victim of her verbal or physical abuse, but he does seem to be aware of what she is capable of. He hides the relationship he has with his shop assistant and actively avoids mentioning what kind of relationship they have. Despite this, when speaking with Hatori about his relationship and how it ended, he seemed to avoid blaming Akito for why that happened. 
· Hiro Sohma: Akito has not had much interactions with Hiro, outside of when he confessed his feelings for Kisa. He is a victim of Akito in the sense that she retaliated by hurting the one he loved. 

The three Zodiac members she is the most closest to and is shown to have the most intense relationships with are:

· Shigure Sohma

"You deny your femineity, and yet you're always ready to use it as a weapon against me".

One of the most difficult and interesting relationships Akito has, is that with Shigure, the dog of the Zodiac. Like the older members of the Zodiac, he also had a dream about Akito's birth and the reincarnation of the new God. However, unlike the others who felt a simple sense of happiness about it, Shigure directly expressed he was in love with the God and wanted her all for himself, despite being a child. When Akito was born, Shigure decided to keep her real gender a secret and often fawned over her as she grew up. All of her temper tantrums were usually handled by him, and Yuki recalls seeing Shigure often comforting her and holding her closely. Around the same time, before Kureno's curse broke, Akito asked Shigure if he loved her. Shigure, with a camellia flower in hand, confessed that she was always on his mind and that he loved her more than anything in the world. To Shigure, this was a confession of deep and profound love, but possibly due to their large age gap [nearly eight years], Akito interpreted this as affirmation that as the dog of the of the Zodiac, he was loyal to her. That their love was held up strongly by the bond, but that it was not a romantic love. 

This is important because it leads to a series of misunderstandings between the two as the series progresses. When Shigure finds out that Akito is having a sexual relationship with Kureno [not understand that she did it as a means to keep him around vs being genuinely in love with him], he sleeps with Akito's mother and brags about it to her. As Shigure is someone Akito does not quite physically abuse or mistreat, all she did was kick him from the main estate, forcing him to live on the 'outside'. Since then, she is under the assumption that he is in love with her mother. Despite this assumption, she is shown asking why he isn't being as nice to her, seeming to forgive their transgression. However, she assumes he isn't as loving to her as he was because he is in love with her mother. 

This all comes to a head around season 3, episode 2 where the two have a jealous confrontation regarding Shigure attending a family dinner with a coworker. Waiting for her in her room, Shigure comments on how masculine Akito looks. They both argue about how Shigure truly doesn't love Akito, how he slept with her mother, and how Shigure only did that as revenge because she was sleeping with Kureno. Once he openly admits and affirms that the only one he truly loves is her, they both have sexual relations. It is unknown if they had been intimate in the past, but subtle hints in the series may indicate that it was possible. 

· Yuki Sohma

As the rat of the Zodiac, Yuki seems to be Akito's favorite as a result of the story where the rat tricks the cat on missing the banquet, and tricks the ox into becoming the first in the Zodiac because of how stupid he was. To the God, the rat is seen as intelligent, cunning, trickster, and worth of God's favor due to being the closest to God, and similar to her. Yuki was sold at a young age by his mother, as she demeaned him a burden being the second child she had born under the Zodiac curse. When they first met as children, with Akito being five years older, Yuki cried before the God. Akito embraced Yuki and at first treated him rather nicely, but expressed annoyance at how sickly he was. Yuki comments that Akito already had a bit of a temper during that point, but things became darker when Kureno's curse broke (at this point, Akito's father had passed and hadn't quite affected her as much yet). 

When the curse broke for Kureno, it seemed Yuki, due to proximity, became Akito's victim of the majority of her physical and verbal abuse. She was still a child when this began, and due to them spending the majority of the time together, she would have her mental breakdowns before him. She would verbally assault him on a near daily basis, reminding him that he was sold to her, that he was worthless unlike her, that the rat is despised by everyone, and that the only one who cared about him was her. He was kept isolated by Akito, gaslighted into believing she was his only source of love and comfort, and his parents were okay with this due to a financial incentive.

Despite spending much time together, Yuki was unaware that she was really a girl and not a boy. Due to how close Akito and Yuki were, Yuki's relationship with Kyo was very strained and tense for many years. 

· Kureno Sohma

Being one of the oldest of the Zodiac, Kureno was around sixteen years old when years old when his curse broke. He is about four years older than Akito, so when Akito was a child, he often took on a brotherly role with her. He is shown to have played with her as a child and had a relatively normal relationship with her. Things began to change when the curse broke. As the God of the Zodiac, the bonds Akito has with the other members are only held up by the curse. Without the curse, there would be nothing to keep Kureno around. Akito's reaction to Kureno's curse is one of the few times we see her in a truly vulnerable and desperate situation. She broke down before him, crying and pleading for him to not leave her. This was the start of Akito's behavior and abusive becoming significantly worse. 

The way Kureno treated Akito could be the reason why she became worse over time. He became an enabler, and despite not needing to have sex with her to stay, he decided to engage in a sexual relationship with her. The relationship became extremely toxic as Akito grew older and she became extremely controlling of him, isolating him, forbidding him from speaking to anyone else, and replacing him with Yuki as the person who is by her side most of the time. Once he agreed to remain by her side, Akito began to control him to the point where she noticed every little thing he did. If he did something as simple as open the door when he was in the same room as her, she would immediately ask him where he was going. 

In return, Kureno is shown to resent Akito, wanting to escape the relationship, but at the same time enabling her abusive behavior. Instead of stepping in to stop her from attacking anyone or being verbally abusive, he often scolds her instead as if she were a child. It could be interpreted that he took on the role of her father with comments made by Shigure to him. He also has mentioned that he views her as a hurt child who is deeply wounded, and remains by her side out of a sense of obligation/guilt towards the others whose curse has not broken. Additionally, it seems Kureno is one of the few characters in the series who can get away with more than others as he is seen occasionally helping other members of the Zodiac without punishment. 

As the series shows that Shigure was kicked out of the Sohma estate around the same time he found out Akito was sleeping with Kureno, and it is shown he had been kicked out at least 1-2 years prior to the start of the series, it is truly unknown when Akito began to be intimate with Kureno. Shigure found out, but it isn't clear if it was the first time they had been intimate or if they already had been intimate. If she had used sex as a means of keeping him bonded to her, it is possible the affair began when she was a minor.