Megumi Hanajima

is a minor character of the Fruits Basket series. He is Saki Hanajima’s younger brother and a middle-school student, who, similarly to his older sister, only wears black clothing and has “powers”; apparently being able to cast “curses” on people.

He reappears in Fruits Basket Another, now as a teacher at Kaibara Municipal High School, the homeroom teacher of Sawa Mitoma, and the uncle of Rio Mosca.

Appearance
Megumi is a young boy of average build and height with a light complexion, and a pair of purple, droopy eyes. He also has short, slightly wavy black hair which goes down to his ears, and noticeably messy bangs that covers most of his forehead. He is always seen dressing in black clothing.

As an adult, he has grown much taller and developed a much leaner and larger build. He has sharper eyes and a defined facial structure. He also continues to dress in black, in this case, a black suit with a black shirt underneath.

Personality
Megumi is a very quiet boy with a rather ominous personality. He is quite eccentric and frequently catches people off guard with the things he says. He is also somewhat sneaky and shady and is sometimes associated or somehow involved in these types of situations, especially when it comes to scaring off the Prince Yuki Fan Club. He is also highly mature for his age, not only in intelligence and behavior but as well as in sexual maturity. Arisa states that he acts more like a “lecherous old man” rather than a middle school student. Megumi himself mentions that he becomes especially flustered when he is around older women.

Despite this, he has his own moments of kindness, consideration, and loyalty. He has always cared about Saki and any friend of hers, and admires her very much and is willing to do anything to help her. Megumi, for his part, has been called Saki, Arisa Uotani, and Tohru Honda’s “bodyguard” and seems to consider himself as such as he goes through a good deal of trouble to aid Arisa and his sister in their guarding of Tohru. He is also wise beyond his years, as upon hearing the plan of the Prince Yuki Fan Club girls, he gives them a speech about how they're being selfish by forcing their one-sided affections on Yuki Sohma and that he would come to hate them for driving away the people he allows into his life. His words even reach Saki, who had been suffering from her own mild jealousy of Tohru’s friendship with the Sohma Family.

Early Life
Megumi was raised in a very loving household, living with his older sister, his parents, and his grandmother. When Saki was being bullied and ostracized at school due to her powers, Megumi supported Saki and prayed that one person who would love and accept Saki would appear in front of her as quickly as possible. Eventually, his prayer came true, because as Tohru and Arisa enter her life, they accept her for who she is despite her powers and background.

First Year Arc
Megumi is briefly seen with his family on New Year's Eve, all watching TV.

Second Year Arc
One day, the Prince Yuki Fan Club visits Saki to find out her weakness since they consider her as Tohru’s main weapon against them for Yuki's affection. When the three members of the fan club sit in Saki’s room with Megumi by her side, Motoko Minagawa tells them that Saki and Megumi look so much alike, though Megumi denies this. When he talked to them with Saki, he said that forcing love on someone is not supposed to be taken lightly and the other party might not like it. It is soon revealed that Megumi eavesdropped the Prince Yuki Fan Club members' conversation and succeeds in learning their individual names. When later Megumi explains to the girls that he can cast curses on people by knowing their names, they are horrified and runs away from their house. Saki told the girls that Megumi had cursed the three of them, and told them that the curse would take effect in 3 days. However, this may have been just to scare them, as there was no change in them.

Arisa Uotani told him he sounded like a lecherous old man when he said her mini-skirt looked good on her.

During his sister's Cinderella-ish play, Megumi went to Kaibara High to watch it. When Megumi passes by Hiro Sohma, the latter is scared by Megumi's ominous aura and how he passed by him without even leaving a presence.

Together with his sister, they fetch and rescued a stunned, crying Tohru (after learning more about Kureno Sohma) on a pavement and bring her to their house to rest.

Fruits Basket Another
Megumi has become a teacher at Kaibara Municipal High School and is Sawa Mitoma's and Riku Sohma's homeroom teacher. He is first seen scolding Sawa for coming late, but does not press on it.

It appears that he has formed some degree of friendship with Makoto Takei, and when Megumi found out from Takei that Sawa had become a student council president, he told her that he could "curse" the people that bothered her, though he mentions that he joked and wouldn't do that since he is a teacher now.

When he later finds out that Sawa had met his nephew Rio Mosca, he was happy and hoped that they would get along. He also told a brief story of about his sister and brother-in-law married, putting a bright smile on his face.

Saki Hanajima
Megumi and Saki are very close and are described as being "two peas in a pod". Unlike other siblings in the series, Megumi only calls her as "Saki" and not any variant of "nee-san", signaling how the two views one another as equals, and how the two are much closer to being twins that normal siblings. Megumi is very protective of Saki and will comfort when he senses that she needs to, but he will not hesitate to be honest with her.

Although Megumi denies being anything like Saki, it is implied that he started wearing all black and began studying the art of curses because he didn't want his sister to be the only "weird one" in the family. He admires Saki and loves her extremely much, and joined Saki in her predicament so that she would not be alone in her sufferings. When he found out about her sister's powers, he always supported and encouraged her unconditionally, stayed by her side the entire time, and never fell into the false rumors and accusations about her.

In Fruits Basket Another, the siblings are still as close as ever, as Megumi talks very fondly about Saki and her husbands love-story, and is happy that they are happy. Additionally, since Megumi is close to Saki's son, it is implied that Megumi and Saki meet up often, too.

Tohru Honda and Arisa Uotani
Megumi is very fond of both Tohru and Arisa, and since they are friends of Saki's, Megumi considers them good friends as well. They often spend time together and get along very well. Arisa and Tohru also note that Megumi and the things he says doesn't match up with the fact that he's a middle-schooler; such as saying that Arisa looks good in a mini-skirt and that being around Arisa and Tohru, them being "older women", makes his heart race. Despite that, he does treasure the two, and with Saki, looks after Tohru and protects her.

Rio Mosca
Megumi is a very loving and doting uncle towards Rio. Although it isn't explicitly seen, Rio is proud to have Megumi as an uncle. Megumi cares for Rio and it is implied that they regularly meet up. When Megumi found out that his student Sawa Mitoma had met Rio, he hoped that she would be friends with him and take care of him.

Abilities
Like his elder sister, Megumi possesses supernatural powers. However, Megumi cannot read "waves" like Saki. Megumi has never actually been seen using his power to curse anyone. When the Prince Yuki Fan Club attempted to weaken Tooru's defenses by finding and using Saki's weakness, Megumi joined his sister in scaring them away. His dark demeanor and his ability to "guess" the girl's names frightened them from the house. The next day, Saki mentioned that the girls would all be cursed in three days time. While it seems possible for Megumi to do this, since he claimed that all he would need were the girls' names, the manga never shows what happens, so Saki could have been bluffing.

Trivia

 * He likes odango.
 * Like his older sister, he has a charming smile, but he hides it.
 * According to Hiro Sohma, Megumi’s presence is very light, as he couldn’t even feel him passing him by.
 * Megumi’s name (恵) means “blessing”, which is ironic considering that Megumi himself studies how to put curses on people.

Megumi Hanajima Megumi Hanajima