Kureno Sohma

Kureno Sohma, aged 26–29, is the former rooster of the Chinese zodiac. He appears only in the manga. According to Natsuki Takaya, while he was still cursed, he did not like others to see his animal form, which was a sparrow instead of a rooster. He is depicted as a polite and selfless young man. Arisa Uotani describes Kureno as "like Tohru" because of his over-the-top politeness and scatterbrained idiosyncrasies, and Saki Hanajima and Akito Sohma both compare his selflessness to Tohru's. In his mid-teens, about ten years before the series begins, Kureno's curse was somehow broken, but because of Akito's distress he promised never to leave. Kureno and Akito have a sexual relationship, and when Shigure learned about it, some time before the start of the series, in retaliation he slept with Akito's mother, Ren. Akito keeps Kureno away from the rest of the family to hide that he is no longer cursed, and Kureno does most of Akito's work as the head of the family. As a result, Kureno is so sheltered he is 26 when he first visits a convenience store, where he meets Arisa. Despite their mutual attraction, he stays away from her because, he claims to Tohru, of his promise to Akito. However, when Akito locks Rin Sohma away for stealing her father's box, it is Kureno who frees her. As the zodiac curse begins breaking down, Kureno eventually admits he is partially responsible for keeping Akito coddled and fearful by being too obedient, and Akito angrily stabs him in the back. When Kureno is released from the hospital, he moves out of the Sohma compound with Arisa's help, and in the final chapter, Arisa is preparing to move in with him. In an author's note, Takaya described him as possibly the most lonely of those affected by the curse, because of his isolation. He never blames Akito for his injury and still feels a responsibility to care for her. He says the best thing he can do for her is to erase his existence. Hence his moving out of the Sohma home. Takaya derived his name from the third month of the traditional Japanese calendar, kurenoharu or "late spring"; he was supposed to have been named after the ninth month, the month of the rooster, but according to the author, she mixed up his and Momiji's positions in the zodiac.