Shigure Sohma/Relationships

Unnamed Parents
Shigure has a normal relationship with his parents. While his parents didn't reject him as a Zodiac, Shigure mentions that he never longed for his parent's love, since he did not view it as anything important. They have a good relationship to converse normally as parent-and-child, but Shigure mentions that he is not very close to them.

Akito Sohma
Shigure has a very complicated relationship with Akito. He first fell in love with her before she was even born through a dream he had foretelling her conception when he was around 5 or 6 years old. He, along with Hatori and Ayame, went to greet her with tears running down their cheeks. Although Hatori and Ayame never felt more than brotherly affection for Akito, Shigure's feelings grew past that.

He confessed his feelings for her when they were both still children, and according to Akito was very kind and gentle to her. Yuki remembers seeing Shigure comforting a crying Akito in his arms many times when he was small.

When years later, Akito sleeps with Kureno as a way to keep Kureno close to her through a physical bond because the zodiac bond Is no longer there, a jilted Shigure slept with her mother, Ren, as revenge, knowing that that would hurt her more than anything, which lead to the heartbroken Akito furiously expelling Shigure from the main house. Shigure left the main house without protest and was deeply embittered by the event, he later makes in different moments clear his bitterness at the fact that, to his eyes, Akito had chosen Kureno Instead of him.

Shigure's feelings for Akito are a mixture of intense affection and hatred, unable to let go of his love for her and continuing to endeavor to save her and have her to himself by breaking the curse so as to free Akito from the burden of having to be the God, all his actions geared towards this goal, but treating her very coldly, no longer coddling her when she was feeling down and antagonizing her without hesitation whenever she shows anger towards him, so much so that both Hatori and Kureno are unnerved by how he treats her compared to when they were children, Hatori stating that it looked as if Shigure hated Akito and Kureno begging Shigure to treat Akito more kindly, which naturally only made Akito more bitter and angry towards him, but Shigure purposefully acted so unsympathetically in order to harshly show Akito the truth and pull her out of her delusions, wishing to save her through the blunt truth.

This is also done in order to not be seen as if he was mimicking Akira Sohma, as he tells Hatori "[he doesn't] want to become Akito's father". This has a double meaning: aside from wanting Akito to see him as a man, he also does not want to play the role Akito's father Akira played in her life, telling her over and over how special she is and that the zodiac live to love her, ultimately isolating her from the outside world (in the same way the original God from the myth himself lived, willingly isolated from the world with only the zodiac to keep him company).

It was also later on revealed that his detached attitude was also out of the emotional hurt he felt over their past, to where he even stated that had he not remained calm, he would have exploded on Akito and he also didn't want to believe that she was finally his until it was really true, unwilling to feel the same pain he felt when Akito slept with Kureno. As he says to Kureno, "Don't get me wrong. I love Akito. I love her too much. So much that I want to spoil her rotten. So much that I want to crush her to a pulp."

Shigure himself states he doesn't care how many people that has to be hurt for him to achieve his goals. However, like with the other zodiacs, meeting Tohru has changed Shigure and it reflects itself on his views on his relationship with Akito. He begins to see that while being a member of the zodiac has never bothered or held him back the way it has the other members, he feels that he may be the most cursed of all the zodiac animals because of the strong obsession he feels for Akito that has driven him since day one.

Although remaining as detached and cold as ever around her, Tohru's influence has allowed him to start showing her more kindness: In chapter 101, Shigure coldly and bitterly reminds Akito that she had slept with Kureno first so he slept with Ren out of revenge and when Akito quickly rejects the blame and rails that as the god of the zodiac she has the right to do as she pleases, he looks coldly furious and is about to leave but when Akito kisses him to stop him from leaving he immediately softens and holds her. Although their history drew a wedge between them, he can't resist the pull he feels to her.

When the curse is broken and Shigure gets his wish, Shigure has finally changed and learned fully from the entire endeavor to where he even states he would have let Akito go if she doesn't want him. With Akito having decided to try to atone for her sins, they reconcile (though at least once she does throw a tantrum on him that resembles her old ones), and Akito decides to fully take on her responsibility as the head of the Sohma family. Shigure quits his job as a writer to be there and support her against her mother.

In Fruits Basket Another it is revealed that the two marry and have a son named Shiki Sohma. Shigure typically is in charge of the main house, as Akito is busy elsewhere acting as the family head.

In the 2001 anime, since Akito is male, their relationship is completely different. Shigure instead sees Akito as the dangerous head of the family, but is not afraid of him. He twice stands up to Akito to protect Tohru, even managing to restrain him once. In the end, he thinks that Akito may have changed yet for the better, just like the other Sohmas, but agrees with Hatori to wait and see.

Shiki Sohma
Shiki is Shigure's son. He does not like Shigure's pervy writer personality, who keeps annoying him cheerfully. It is mentioned by Shiki that his father is a sly and cunning man, but he also mentions that he only has good memories with his parents and that Shigure is a good father who occasionally teases him. Shigure is typically the only parent Shiki has around, due to Akito being busy as the head of the family. When Shiki announced his intention to train as the next head the family, Shigure was over the moon. When later Akito and Shigure received an apology from Shiki for destroying a mirror (due to his pent-up anger and frustration regarding the situation with the harassment that his famiy and especially his mother were suffering), they cheerfully suggested on leaving it broken, as they wanted to remember "the first time Shiki's feelings exploded".

Ren Sohma
Shigure slept with Ren (Akito's mother) as revenge against Akito for sleeping with Kureno. He also got close to Ren in order to try and find out any information about breaking the curse.

Both Ren and Akito thought that Shigure was in love with Ren, but as Shigure tells Ren herself, he was attracted to her only because she looked exactly how Akito would have had she been allowed to live as a woman.

Tohru Honda
Shigure was actually the first of the Sohmas to meet Tohru, other than Yuki at school. His little rocks that he had painted to look like the zodiacs drew her attention. He was also the one to suggest that Tohru stay with him, Yuki, and Kyo as a housekeeper. It is implied that he had faith that Tohru could break the Sohma family curse as soon as he truly got to meet her. It is because of this hunch that he invited Tohru to live with them. He was hoping that by introducing her to all the Sohmas he would be able to catalyze the breaking of the Sohma curse. He knew that she would most likely get hit with backlash from Akito and chose to use her regardless.

Although at first she was just a pawn in his grand scheme to get Akito, he ultimately came to develop genuine care for her, her kindness truly endearing her to him, to where despite continuing on with his plans, he is deep down regretful over what he put her through, to where he even tells Hatori that he feels sick with guilt whenever he looks at her. Shigure has also shown to be overall willing to allow Tohru to be unaware of the curse, only wanting her to be there for the cursed Sohmas to make them realize the happiness they could get by breaking their curse and successfully break the curse, to where he is genuinely uncomfortable when Kazuma wanted to show Kyo's true form to Tohru and was clearly unhappy and concerned for her.

At one point, after being rejected by Akito once more, simply meeting Tohru causes him to snap out of his anger as he reflects on his own cold and unfeeling character, showing uncharacteristic regret and sadness, even wondering that perhaps someone like him should have fallen in love with someone like Tohru instead of Akito.

Shigure recognizes that Tohru is in love with Kyo and sincerely empathizes with her for her inability to reconcile her feelings for him and over the fact that they would be separated as Kyo will be confined to the Cat Room for the rest of his life, especially as it reminded him of how he couldn't be with Akito. Eventually, it seems he finally has had enough of deceiving and manipulating Tohru and decides to coldly but honestly tell Tohru about how all the Zodiacs accepted that Kyo will be confined to the Cat Room for the rest of his life and also prompt her into confessing to Kyo her feelings before it's too late by claiming he finds her nauseating for not telling him about her feelings before their apparent inevitable seperation. This leads to Tohru crying and temporarily driving a distance between them, but ultimately it was Shigure's harsh but sincerely well-meaning lecture that allowed Tohru to finally accept that she loved Kyo. When Tohru accidentally fell because of Akito, despite comforting Akito, Shigure was clearly displeased and even asks Akito with clear cold fury if she was the one who pushed her down before calming down when she told him it wasn't her and told everyone about Tohru's condition. Ultimately, they remain good friends.

In the 2001 anime, Shigure and Tohru's relationship is best described as one of father/uncle and daughter. He is very protective of Tohru and even stands up to Akito twice to protect her. Since Akito is male in the anime, Shigure's dark nature in using Tohru to break the curse never appears. And even though he still teases her, he truly does care about her and would do anything for her. In the end, he has faith that Tohru will one day break the curse, and happily agrees to wait and see, giving her a very dear place in his heart.

Mayuko Shiraki
Shigure asked out Mayuko in the past on a whim. She agreed to go out with him to try and ease her loneliness from her one-sided love for Hatori Sohma. Their relationship lasted only one month and they never touched or did anything that can be considered couple-like. Mayuko says he was "simply there", always just out of reach.

Shigure finds fun in teasing and making her angry. He also did a little match-making to get her and Hatori closer together. Despite everything, he claims that he really did like her a little--although perhaps not in the romantic sense.

Yuki Sohma
Yuki has a strong memory from when he was young of Shigure looking at him with indifferent eyes. Shigure never seems to take much interest in Yuki, but then again, Shigure doesn't have a strong interest in anyone but Akito. Some fans speculate that Shigure's apathy to Yuki may have had to do with jealousy over Yuki's "special" position as the rat, who is always beside Akito. Despite this, however, Shigure did allow Yuki to live in his house after hearing just how much Akito abused him from Haru, suggesting he does care for the boy, and treats him with the same casualness, indicating he doesn't hate Yuki at all.

Kyo Sohma
Shigure and Kyo appears to have a normal casual relationship, to where he enjoys teasing him. He also doesn't have any negative view towards, curse or not, simply solemnly accepting the fate of the Cat and seeming to have some pity for him. He also recognized that Tohru and Kyo loved one another and while he may have had Akito's freedom and happiness as his main priority, it was shown that he was supportive of Tohru and Kyo having a relationship, to where he genuinely was against Kazuma's willigness to expose Kyo as the Cat to Tohru out of disapproval and concern that it could damage Kyo's relationship with Tohru, being pleased that it only made them closer. He would regularly give Kyo advice on both how to deal with his temper and treat Tohru better and even went as far as to forcefully make it clear to Tohru that she has to recognize and tell Kyo her feelings for him directly and before it's too late, showing he does have a degree of care and compassion for Kyo, likely as his circumstances reminded him of his and Akito, and wishes for him to find happiness in Tohru at least before he may have to be confined in the Cat Room.

Hatori Sohma and Ayame Sohma
The group of Hatori, along with Shigure Sohma and Ayame Sohma is known as the "Mabudachi Trio". They are very close friends who have known each other and have grown up together since childhood, also sharing all their school years until graduating from high school, in which they were elected to lead the student council. Shigure says that Ayame respects and desires to be more like Hatori. Shigure also respects Hatori and seems to know a lot about him. Hatori thinks of Shigure as annoying.

Isuzu Sohma
Shigure and Rin seem to have an unusual relationship compared to Rin's relationship with the other Sohmas: They both appear to be aware of the other's efforts to rebel against Akito and break the curse, to where Rin even believes he may be the only one willing to tell her information about the curse, specifically how to break it, going as far as to be willing to sexually offer herself to him, while Shigure is quite willing to casually make it clear he is aware of her own efforts and while Rin is definitely not aware of Shigure's desire and love for Akito, it becomes apparent she is aware that Shigure, in spite of his seeming casualness, actually is planning to rebel against Akito and Shigure himself clearly is aware of this and doesn't make any effort to hide it, to where he is even able to talk to her about things that would be considered as treason against Akito freely and allows her to seek him out without actually doing anything to stop her.

Unlike her condescending and antagonistic treatment of the other Sohma, Rin seems to have actual respect for Shigure to where she treats him with politeness and respect and even calls him "Gure-nii" (Big Bro Shigure), possibly as Shigure has been exiled from the main house and Rin also aware of Shigure's more rebellious efforts towards Akito to some extent resulting in her respecting him for being the only Sohma who doesn't bend to Akito. Shigure avoids her each time not out of exasperation and condescension but because he doesn't want to disappoint her as he does knew the curse is breaking but isn't sure whether it's really true or not. Shigure also refuses when Rin sexually offers herself to him, clearly not only because he isn't actually interested in her but because he doesn't want her to give up on her love for Haru to where she would willingly sell her body to someone as long as she can break the curse. When he finds out that Rin was imprisoned in the Cat Room, Shigure is shown to be concerned enough towards her to come visit her and out of pity eventually finally tells her that the curse is already breaking so she doesn't need to be so desperate, likely as they both wanted the curse to be broken so they could be with the love of their lives, causing Shigure to view her as a kindred spirit of some sorts.

Kureno Sohma
As children, Shigure and Kureno had a pleasant relationship. Kureno looked up to Shigure and followed him around and Shigure indulged him as if they were brothers.

Much later, however, Shigure comes to harbor deep resentment and hatred toward Kureno for taking his place by Akito's side, since he loves Akito with both obsession and despair. Whenever they cross paths, Shigure looks at Kureno with cold hatred and when forced to speak with him, speaks sarcastically and bitingly, even when Kureno shows how one-sided the resentment was and always treats Shigure politely.

For a long time, Shigure had suspicions about Kureno's curse being broken. Even after he becomes certain of the truth and Akito's reasons for keeping Kureno by her side, he seems to have jealous insecurities about her feelings for Kureno. He also resents Kureno for not leaving Akito because his decision to stay caused her to hold on to the curse stronger than ever and kick-started the degradation of her mental state.

Despite this resentment and anger towards Kureno, it was shown that Shigure did still have some care for Kureno left, likely as what remained of their old friendly, almost brother-like relationship was enough that he never wanted him to be actually hurt or dead: When he hears about Akito stabbing Kureno, he was genuinely concerned and immediately called the main house to check up on him and find out what happened. The incident seemed to have a very large effect on him, maybe making him realise the depth of his feelings.

Momiji and Hatsuharu
Shigure mentions that he views Momiji and Hatsuharu as his younger brothers, which is why he wants them to have a good education and lead their lives right. He is also always looking out for them.