Fruits Basket - Fan Book (Neko)

Kureno Soma

[I alone am free
I can go anywhere
I can love anyone
But
But
For that very reason]

12shi - Bird (Rooster)

Box:
Sohma Akito's private secretary
Nickname / Kureno
Within the Sohma's, he lives someplace especially close to Akito
The 12shi bird
But, his curse is already gone.
He almost never goes outside of the Sohma home
Name's Origin / From the name of the month (3rd month - Kurenoharu)
Setting Spring

The last of the 12shi to appear before Tohru. Akito's favourite and normally stays by the clan leader's side. Akito dislikes being separated to the level of illness so he almost never goes outside the Sohma residence and as a result has never gone shopping at a convenience store.

He was possessed by the spirit of the bird but his curse has already been released. Because of that, his transformation has never appeared in the story. Akito's the only one who knows that he's been freed from the curse. While the instinctive sense of deep attachment towards "God" has disappeared, he sympathised with her utter solitude and can't leave her. Just as Akito wishes, including having made love to her.

Personal Clothing Concept
He doesn't wear white shirts to the point of almost avoiding them (school uniforms aside). Somehow, it's as though his feelings avoid white. As much as possible, being non-individualistic, it's a way of expressing his feeling of not asserting himself. Also, not putting him in suits very much is because he might get mixed with Hatori... (laughs)

Kureno's Lines:
"I'm sorry... I'm always hurting others (strangers)... Even so, this is the path I've chosen, the path I, myself chose." to Tohru

"It felt as though my field of vision suddenly opened up and there was only "myself" inside me. The sky was so blue. And when I thought that I'd no longer fly in that sky, it made me so sad and so happy." to Tohru

"I won't see Arisa again. From hereon as well, I will continue to be by Akito's side. It was only twice; only twice. My meeting Arisa and talking to her was but a small... the slightest of meetings. If things end this way without our seeing each other again, it will become the slightest of memories and will one day disappear."

"...It was the first time since I became "human" that I myself felt that I liked a woman (person)..."

Words to Kureno:
"If so, then why don't you smile more happily...?" (Arisa)

"That's someone else... Kureno-san is more the "out of it" type. He seems like the type who wouldn't even notice if he stepped in dog doo..." (Arisa)

"But, even so, as long as you're alive, things will continue to happen so..." (Tohru)

"That's right, I absolute despise you. You should be grateful that I make it so clear. You can act as disappointed as you like right?" (Shigure)

Keyword 1:
Special Treatment

Caption: Fearing that Kureno's secret would be discovered, Akito doesn't allow him to meet with the other 12shi.

Kureno has earned the suspicion of the other 12shi. Whether that's from Akito's special treatment, or possibly that the spirit within them is telling them that he's no longer one of them...... Shigure especially seemed to vaguely sense that he'd been released from the curse.

Keyword 2:
Within the Enclosure (Compound)

Kureno feels loneliness from his separation / distance from the other 12shi. However, he doesn't try to abandon Akito. Needing Akito's permission even for to go out for a short while, he silently accepts this strictness.

Keyword 3:
Ignorant of the World

"Inside" the Sohma residence, Kureno who serves Akito, given Akito's dislike of letting him go too far away, lives virtually locked up. Because of that, he's become ignorant of society. He's extremely ignorant, not even knowing how to use the baskets that are set aside for use at convenience stores.

Caption:
Arisa's shocked when Kureno says that he's never gone shopping at a convenience store before.

Keyword 4:
The same as Tohru...

Kureno dropping by a convenience store, met Arisa there. Arisa feels a certain affinity for him as he has a similar atmosphere as Tohru but... By the way, that happened to all the snacks he'd bought?

Caption: Carrying so much as to no longer be able to see, and in that manner bowing, Kureno. It's the same sort of blunder as Tohru had committed.

The girl that he himself thought he liked

Caption:
The woman who chased after him, she left a very strong impression on Kureno's heart.

He couldn't forget the face of the girl he'd met late at night at the convenience store. When they happened to meet again a few days later, she'd ran after him getting all sweaty. Looking so happy when she laughs, and when she gets angry, she doesn't worry about what others think, and is very angry. Kureno found Arisa's abundant emotion and directness very dear. For Kureno, Arisa was the first woman he'd truly felt that he was attracted to. However, he suppresses that feeling and decides he will not see Arisa again. Kureno is unable to abandon solitary Akito.

Caption:
Arisa gets annoyed and yells at Kureno who's given up on his own true happiness.

"I want to see her... I want to see her... I want to see her but... It was only twice but..."

As long as your alive, hope doesn't disappear. Even if it's not right away, someday the wish might be realised...

Caption:
Kureno states that he will not see Arisa. Those were words he was also telling himself.

Sohma Kureno - Family Tree

Mother --- Father

Firstborn son: Kureno

Kureno was also attracted to Arisa. Arisa was the first woman Kureno, as a human, had come to like but, he smothered those feelings, and chose to remain by Akito's side.

Blue sky, Distant Eyes

Caption:
In order to prove that his own curse is gone, Kureno hugs Tohru.

Caption:
When the curse was released, Kureno saw the world for the first time with his own eyes.

"I felt like I became "human"
Finally

Kureno was apparently released from the curse when he was a little younger than Tohru is presently. That day came all too suddenly. The cause is also unknown. Akito, the "God", soon realised what had happened, and ends up chaining Kureno almost to an unhealthy degree.

Because The Curse is not There

When Akito realised Kureno's curse was released, Akito clung to Kureno and cried. "God" who lost the bond with the 12shi would no longer be a God. She would lose the reason for her existence. Akito feared that. Kureno couldn't leave her like that. But, Shigure thinks that it would have been better to have abandoned her.

[To live
For this girl's

sake...]

Caption:
Distraught Akito wailed almost as though begging for her life. Akito understood. God and the 12shi are bound solely by the strength of the curse.

Caption:
Akito realised what had happened simply by looking at Kureno's eyes. That what had tied the two together, the curse, had disappeared......

Caption:
Fragile, easily broken Akito. Kureno chose to live for her, and loved her. However, his decision at that time ends up hounding her.