Sohma Hatsuharu

Sohma Hatsuharu is the cow in the Zodiac. He is one year younger than Yuki, Kyo and Tohru. He is currently attending the same high school as Yuki, Kyo, Tohru and Momiji. He was constantly made fun of because of his natural black and white hair due to the influence of the Cow spirit that possesses him.

Background
Unable to bear the insults of himself by his body being inhabited by the spirit of the Ox, as well as his own spirit, Haru confronts Yuki, the rat who used the Ox in the legend to steal the place as first zodiac spirit. He gets angry and blames everything on Yuki, stating that it was all his fault that he was labeled "dumb" "stupid" and "a fool".

However, Yuki calmly asks the question, "Is that so? Is that so about you? Are you really... a fool?". With that question in mind, Haru realizes that he doesn't need to listen to others on the opinions about him. He only needed to trust himself and believe in himself for who he is. After that day of confrontation onwards, Haru starts to admire Yuki deeply.

It was said by Momiji that Haru seemed fine with his natural black and white hair, Occasionally, however, he would turn black and beat up the people who make fun of his hair.

Appearance
He has two-toned hair, white with black roots. Haru cares little for what other people think, and in a flashback, Isuzu asks him how he likes middle school and he replies that they do not like his hair or his attitude. He resolves to get piercings just to contradict them. Isuzu (Rin) laughs at this, saying she finds his logic funny. Haru usually dresses in punk/gothic clothing, wearing tight jeans, tanks, and chains.

He makes jewelry for Rin and himself. He is protective over those he cares about which is Rin,Yuki, Momiji and Kisa. It is also mentioned he was made fun of as a child because he looked different (his hair) like Kisa but instead of locking his words away like Kisa he would turn "black" and proceed to chase them around the schoolyard (in the manga, Hatsuharu would actually beat them up like Kyo, however, Kyo's was worst as he would actually beat them half to death.

Personality
Haru has two personalities, black and white (also known as dark and cheerful). Under normal circumstances (when he is "white"), Hatsuharu is laid-back and kind and usually has a plain, straight-faced look, taking everything very calmly. When he turns "black", however, he becomes violent, perverted, short-tempered, rude, and cruel.

He becomes Black if provoked (For example: In  episode 10, Haru goes Black because of Kyo refusing to fight him). Haru will also turn into a full chaotic "black" when something major happens to him such as Rin leaving him. Haru also bottles up his emotions and tries to help others without thinking of himself, usually causing a mental breakdown.

Fruits Basket (Anime)

Yuki comes down with a fever. Although Tohru tries to convince him to stay home, he accepts a challenge from Kyo to a contest: he must win the endurance run at school the following day. Tohru meets Hatsuharu, the Ox of the Chinese zodiac, during the endurance run. It is shown that Hatsuharu also has dissociative identity disorder, and he intentionally trips Kyo during the challenge against Yuki. He has come to challenge Kyo, and the two engage in hand-to-hand combat. However, as Tohru and Yuki watch the two fight, Yuki feverishly collapses. Hatsuharu clasps Tohru, to which he transforms into a cow, instead of an Ox, and is to carry Yuki back to the household residence. Later on, Hatsuharu explains to Tohru why he used to hate the clever Rat for insulting the foolish Ox. However, he further explains how he later forgave himself for being envious of Yuki.

On Valentine's Day, Tohru decides to buy chocolates for Sohma relatives that she had recently met to thank them for everything they've done for her. Meanwhile, Kyo has to deal with Kagura and refuses to eat her chocolate. After a month, the high school was the midterm exams. Shortly thereafter, Tohru decides to work overtime, but to unknown reasons. Later in the evening, Momiji comes by the household residence to invite Tohru to a trip to a hot springs resort for White Day, to which Yuki and Kyo would eventually tag along. Shigure gets a phone call from Tohru's grandfather saying that the fees for her class trip haven't been paid, and Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure then realized that she used her money earned in order to buy chocolates for everyone. Kyo becomes aggravated, knowing that she could have spent all the money for herself rather than for everyone else. Momiji tells a story of a foolish traveler who seemed too generous and was always tricked. He compares the traveler to Tohru, commenting on how she gives so that everyone can be happy even if she is not.

Tohru, Yuki, Kyo, and Momiji go to the Sohma hot springs resort. The group is startled by the hostess of the host springs resort, and she later apologizes repeatedly for her actions. Tohru eventually learns that she becomes lightheaded when in the hot springs bath, especially when Momiji helps her sing with him. The hostess later reveals to Tohru that her son is a member of the Chinese zodiac. Later on Tohru plays ping-pong with Kyo, but she misses the ball served by him. As Yuki leaves the room, Tohru follows him, discovering that he admits he would have been ashamed to laugh in front of Kyo and Momiji. He then surprises her with a gift for White Day, two gold hair ribbons fit for a real princess. Afterwards, Tohru finds out that Momiji and Hatsuharu will be enrolled for high school the following semester, much to the surprise of Tohru.

Momiji and Hatsuharu begin their first year in high school. Kyo saves Tohro from two high school boys while they were looking for both of them. Kyo sees Momiji wearing a female uniform, much to his chagrin, and sees Hatsuharu wearing a male uniform, much to his relief. The student council president, Takei Makoto, arrives to rant on about Momiji's outfit as well as Hatsuharu's natural black and white hair, however Hatsuharu defends against Takei. Akito comes to the high school and introduces himself to Tohru. Yuki is terrified when he sees Akito with Tohru, assuming he threatened her, or did something else. Akito then confronts him about skipping the banquet held on New Year's Day. He threatens Yuki about his past, to when he was whipped constantly in an isolated room, which physically and mentally traumatizes Yuki. Tohru interrupts to push Akito away, however feeling awful for doing it, in order to excuse Yuki to go back to class with her. Akito takes his leave soon thereafter. Tohru, Yuki, Kyo, Momiji, Hatsuharu, Arisa, and Saki all plan an afternoon playing badminton, in an attempt to cheer Yuki up. Meanwhile, Hatori philosophically mentions to Shigure that if Yuki could be hurt by Akito, then he could also be healed by Tohru.

During a downpour, Hatsuharu introduces Tohru and Yuki to Kisa Sohma, the Tiger of the Chinese zodiac. Kisa is mute due to being bullied as a child. Yuki begins to have sympathy over her after he learns that Kisa ran away from her home and stopped attending middle school. Kisa's mother later arrives, worried as to why she ran away from her home. Tohru responds by saying that Kisa might feel rejected by her mother if she knew about Kisa being bullied at her school. Kisa is agreed to stay at the household residence until further notice. During that time, Kisa seems to be clinging to Tohru, following her wherever Tohru went. Tohru and Yuki meet with Momiji and Hatsuhara after school, figuring out that Kisa was bullied at her school for her hair and eye color. After Hatsuharu receives a letter from Kisa's middle school, Yuki reads it to her. Yuki and Hatsuharu encourages her to speak and later to attend school again, after they explain that one must be accepted by others before one can be accepted by oneself.

Fruits Basket (Manga)
It is revealed in the manga by Rin that the reason that Yuki is living in Shigure's house is because Haru made a deal with Shigure that if Haru called him sensei he would let Yuki live with him, the reason Haru did this is because Haru wanted Yuki to escape from the Sohma main house.

He first transforms in the anime/manga when Yuki falls from his weak lungs after falling sick and after an intense endurance physical run with Kyo at school. Haru hugs Tohru in order to transform into an Ox so he can carry Yuki on his back and bring him back to Shigure's house easier and not realizing how ridiculous it looks for Yuki to be riding on the back of an Ox.

Sohma Isuzu
Haru's only love interest is Isuzu 'Rin' Sohma, an on/off relationship that has been going on for several years. They first became friends after Rin was hospitalized due to vicious beatings from her parents. When Rin's mother visited her to tell her not to come home, Haru became furious and demanded that she apologize to Rin. Since then, Haru and Rin were best friends. Years later, Haru began to visit Rin at Kagura's house very frequently, asking her to accompany him on walks.

When Haru was about 13 and Rin 15, he asks her to kiss him. When she asks why, he says because they love each other. Rin, worried about what Akito will do to them if he finds out, tries to talk Haru out of it. Haru, however, believes it is because she loves someone else and questions her about this. Rin, unable to find anything to say against it, kissed him. They then began their secret relationship.

After dating for a few weeks, Haru asks Rin to make love with him. She says no at first but then gives in. After they made love, she sat and cried while Haru stared at her. Haru asks if he hurt her, and she replied, no, but now they're marked with each other, that if he left her she would die. He said he would never and they kiss. They soon began making out, keeping their relationship discreet for each others safety.

Rin dumps Haru when he visits her in the hospital after she was thrown out of the window by Akito, afraid that Akito might do the same to Haru, or even worse. Haru wrecks a classroom in frustration, and is only soothed by talking to Yuki. Haru walks in on Yuki and Rin, overhearing Yuki asking Rin why she broke things off with Haru. Haru kisses Rin and tells her he would rather die than be apart from her, she blushes, prompting her to slap him and run off. Haru, upon learning that Akito had placed Rin into the cat's confinement room, confronts Akito and curses at her several times, attempted to punch her but "missed". Before leaving, Haru threatens to kill himself if he cannot see Rin.

After leaving the Sohma Estate, he goes in search of Rin, and later found her unconscious on a sidewalk. Haru goes to her side to help her. Rin wakes up and believes that she is dreaming. Haru tells her she isn't and picks her and carries her on his shoulder. She tells him to put her down, but he ignores her and tells her that he is strong enough to carry her on his shoulder. He goes on to say that she isn't a burden, and that when she isn't strong enough to handle anything, he will help her stand and carry her home. She cries and says she is 'Home'. They embrace and get back together. At the end of the series, Haru and Rin embrace and kiss after they feel the Jyuunishi curse has been lifted.

Sohma Yuki
Haru didn't like Yuki when they were kids because of the old Zodiac Legend. People would make fun of Haru, for the Ox being used by the Rat. Haru had never talked to him before. One day, Haru saw Yuki standing by the window and took all of his anger out that had always been hidden. He yelled at Yuki, saying he hated him and that it's all his fault then Yuki replied, "Is that so? Is that so about you? Are you really... a fool?" Haru said he wasn't. Yuki said "I didn't think so" and smiled at Haru. Hatsuharu considers Yuki his first love.

Sohma Kisa
Haru tends to act somewhat like an older brother to Kisa, often making Hiro extremely jealous. This is shown when she first talks, he hugs her in relief. In Somewhat Cinderella, Or Cinderella-ish, he picks her up, like a brother would do, causing Hiro to become super jealous.

Knownable Relatives

 * Sohma Isuzu (girlfriend)

Trivia

 * In the manga, the author says that Haru is caught up by strange things, which is proven when the author says that he was going to confess his love to Rin when his height surpassed her's. It is also proven when he is talking to Rin about how the teachers in his middle school didn't like his attitude or his hair, so he had no choice but to pierce his ears. Rin responds by saying, "Your mind works in an odd way, Haru".
 * Haru shares the same English voice actor as Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho and Raditz from the Dragon Ball Z. All three can be violent also.
 * In episode 13, when questioned, Haru shows the Student Council President that his hair color is indeed natural. The exact method of how he does this is never truly revealed, but it's implied that it was highly lewd.
 * Yuki said that Black Haru is "much worse than Kagura".

Voice Actors
Japanese :

English :