SPOILER WARNING

• Being born cursed and seeing the god born bringing gravitas to his curse
• Did not have prior issues with abuse and negligence and confinement as the younger zodiacs
• He is probably very close to Akito as a child; as he is younger than Hatori, Shigure, and Ayame, closer in age to Akito, they must have spent a lot of time together, with Kureno's pleasant personality; his curse breaking thus must have been particularly traumatising to Akito
• The tragedy that he can no longer fly
• “The life he’s learned to live in and make sense for 15-16 years suddenly doesn’t make sense anymore, and he’s free to live independently, and he’s still just a kid”
• Formative years staying with Akito and not interacting with others
• His choice to stay by her for her benefit?
• Did he love her? Of course, he did
• His weird attachment to her, leading her to make him a substitute parent, and then eventually, a substitute Shigure
• There must be some things that need to be unpacked about the fact that this is Akito's first relationship with someone who is not cursed (i.e., a normal man); someone who quite literally she has no divine power over, who has more human motivations, someone who could have feelings for her as an equal
• On the other hand, there's something to unpack about Kureno staying regardless, staying and choosing to follow her blindly
• There must be attraction in knowing Akito's vulnerabilities and fear
• Falling out of love midway? Thus, falling in love at first sight
• His choosing to look the other way, with the box, with the abuse
• Guilt that his curse broke and others’ didn’t
• Why can’t he leave her?
• He felt sorry for her, but he stayed not just out of pity but out of complex attachment, guilt, obligation, love, care
• He did not admit to Shigure that he made the wrong choice; did he still think it was the right choice?
• His role is vital to upholding the bond for Akito
• Shigure is mad at him for staying in a relationship that makes neither party happy; for him, he caused the lost years Akito could have had
• Akito and Kureno are so similar—attached at such a young age when they did not have their own identity, have little interaction outside
• Akito and Kureno are similar because they don’t know the alternative to their weird symbiotic relationship inside the Sohma estate
• In the box arc, while Shigure's scheming to bring about change, while keeping his hands clean and sending others to do the job, you see Kureno at the heart of the mess, sullied by this show of passivity: he learns about the box, but chooses to close the lid, in a way abandoning Akito to her delusions. This gives Akito's later accusations so much more weigh: "Why didn't you tell me?"
• In comparison, Shigure's visceral detestation towards the embodiment of Akito's prison of lies and self-denial is something. Being the one who pushes the most for the others' self-actualisation, his character is as much about truth as it is about freedom... Which is ironic considering he's probably the character who lies the most... but never to himself. His lies, be it his words, his attitude, or even his clothes, are always external. From here
• Akito stabbing Kureno must have been a mix of complicated feelings; hurt for lying to her and perpetuating a world where she did not know any better; anger for not protecting her better; feeling betrayed for being the locus of the pain, the beginning of the end