Warning!! The examples below include MAJOR spoilers for the manga. If you have not finished, proceed at your own risk.
In General
Yuki and Haru
- Haru often hits on Yuki, usually while in "Black" mode.
- Not to mention Haru tells Tohru that Yuki is his "first love", and Yuki implicitly supports this by warning Haru not to mention it again.
- In the manga, Haru reassures Yuki that even though he's in a relationship now with Rin, Yuki will always be his "first love". Yuki is still embarrassed by it, and nervous over the Death Glare Rin's giving him when Haru, while right in front of her, once again tells Yuki so.
- Haru is very enthusiastic about allowing Momiji to wear a girl's uniform to school.
- And all of the students, boys and girls, were overjoyed to see Yuki cross-dress.
- When Yuki makes a public reference to the number of times Hatori (the Sohma family doctor) has seen him naked, the girls listening are seemingly horrified... and simultaneously strangely fascinated.
- There's the Belligerent Sexual Tension between Yuki and Kyo. The two are locked in The Masochism Tango with Shigure once even saying that Kyo and Yuki's arguing makes them sound Like an Old Married Couple.
- Their fighting can enter into Does This Remind You of Anything? territory. In the 2001 dub of the anime Kyo and Yuki start almost all of their fights by shouting let's do it! and clenching the fronts of each others' shirts. One of their first fights begins with Yuki saying he's going to give Kyo exactly what he wants and that he's not going to hold back ... right before undoing a couple of his shirt buttons.
- Then there's Tohru's "what would happen if Kyo and Yuki got along" fantasy with a lot of Bishie Sparkle.
- Kyo's obsession with Yuki is typically hostile, he expresses blatant worry at times when Yuki is vulnerable. When Yuki collapses from an asthma attack, Kyo ceases his fight with Haru to see if he's ok, and when confronted by Akito, Kyo can be seen watching from afar with a frown. So while Kyo's resentment and jealousy drive their relationship, he does care for Yuki's well-being deep down, or at least does not want to see Yuki hurt by anyone other than himself.
- Ayame is a never-ending generator of Ho Yay:
- Shigure and Ayame intentionally start up suggestive conversations nearly every time they meet, as part of some sort of Running Gag between the two.
- Kyo wakes up to find Ayame sleeping next to him in bed. He goes into a shocked state and Ayame mumbles "I'm still sleepy", grabs Kyo and tries to cuddle with him. After being beaten by Kyou, Ayame states he snuck into Kyo's room because Yuki had locked him out of his room when Ayame tried to sneak in.
- Later, Ayame tells a story about how he volunteered to let all the boys at his high school... express their desires with him.
- Apparently, when he was Student Council President he claimed that if needed, he'd give himself to both men and women alike.
- Ayame has a great deal of admiration for Hatori and listens only to him because of it. As a Running Gag whenever Ayame believes he's made some sort of accomplishment, he immediately needs to inform Hatori. Despite the grief that comes with overseeing Ayame, Hatori never minds much and will offer him his advice. Though Ayame doesn't joke around with the same Homoerotic Subtext that he does with Shigure, he has stated seriously before that he likes Hatori.
- Waiting in the visitation room to see Tohru, Kakeru meets the the trio. Upon Ayame sneezing, Kakeru suggests maybe getting it checked out since they're already at a hospital. However, Ayame declares that the only person permitted to see his body is Hatori. An irritated Hatori replies Ayame needs to get his head examined, but doesn't actually deny it.
- Takei Makoto the Student Council president at Yuki and Tohru's school is shown to have a crush on Yuki, blushing whenever he is around and imagining him wearing a girl's uniform (skirt included) with a smile on his face.
- To convince Takei that his hair is naturally black and white, Haru drags him into a closet and presumably gives him firsthand proof that the carpet indeed matches the drapes.
- Also, in regards to the girls Hanajima Saki's and Arisa Uotani's and affections for and devotion to Tohru seem to go much deeper than simple sisterly friendship. They constantly protect her and threaten people that bother her.
- When Hana "collapses" at the start of their endurance run, Tohru expresses blatant worry and comes to her aid and they both hold hands while looking into each other's eyes.
- While initially hostile towards Tohru, even biting her hand, Kisa begins clinging to Tohru upon hearing her encouraging words after finding Kisa, who'd run out from Shigure's home. Kisa goes on and on about Tohru, and tells Hiro that whenever she's around her, she feels all warm inside. It's no wonder why Hiro considers her a love rival.
- After Tohru's initial encounter with Kisa, with the latter following the former around for the duration of her stay, Kyo cracks that it would bug the crap out of him. Tohru stops walking and Kisa bumps into her, Tohru squeals and glomps her. After Kisa leaves, Tohru mentions her slight sadness at not having her around.
- Scenes from the manga show where other characters are talking, little hearts can be seen floating into the more serious panels, revealed to be emanating from Tohru and Kisa hugging each other. Every time they see one another, Tohru has the same squeal-and-glomp reaction.
Anime (2001)
- Akito where he's male instead of female like in the manga in episode 8, he gets really close to Hatori following inflicting Eye Scream on him trying to make him feel better and asking him what's wrong and later getting really close to him again and caressing his hand up his tie.
- Akito and Yuki in the anime where Akito is male, not like in the manga where Akito is female have a very messed up relationship that can be seen as a twisted form of this, as shown when Akito gets close to Yuki and caresses his face with his hand but Tohru picks up a threatening atmosphere about him and pushes him away from Yuki.
Manga & 2019 Reboot Anime
- Shigure and Akito had loads of suggestive scences together until Akito was revealed to be a woman.
- It's more than strongly hinted that Saki in particular is suppressing deeper feelings for Tohru.
- The chapter revealing the circumstances behind Hanajima's transfer into the school. After being being greeted "good morning" by Tohru, Saki is flustered that a fellow classmate would actually be happy to see her. Tohru becomes embarrassed she's said something wrong while Uotani playfully asks if Tohru made a Love Confession. When she flees after accidentally unleashing her powers on a classmate confronting her about rumors from her past and tells Tohru not to associate with her anymore, Tohru begs for them not to separate and how much she really likes Hana-chan.
- During the play where she's cast as Cinderella, instead of mooning over the prince (Kyo), it's Tohru her "evil" stepsister she obsesses over and gets rather possessive about. Near the end, after Exploiting the Fourth Wall to confront Kyo over his future with Tohru, Cinderalla ends up running a Yakiniku shop with her older sister.
- Yuki is Vitriolic Best Buds with his student council vice president, Kakeru Manabe. Though he frequently teases Yuki about his girly good looks, and has no problems calling him by his Affectionate Nickname "Yun Yun", Kakeru can drop the joker act and show he's as capable of being an understanding friend, but isn't afraid to give Yuki a Quit Your Whining.
- After Hatsuhara sees how relaxed Yuki is around Kakeru while they bicker, he requests Kakeru take care of Yuki. Kakeru accepts it, as if a father granting permission to marry his daughter, swearing to keep her happy.
- Word of God says Mitsuru, Shigure's editor, neither knows nor cares what gender Ritsu is.
- Kyo mentions worrying over losing Tohru to Rin, and it seems he has good reason to. Despite Rin's apparent resentment over an outsider's interference and lack of true understanding of the curse, her emotions are actually conflicted regarding Tohru.
- As internal dialogue reveals, even from their first meeting, Rin possessed the same desire many other Jyuunishi develop; to fall into Tohru's arms and be comforted. Eventually Rin's physical distress, despair and torment culminate in her breaking down sobbing in Tohru's embrace.
- Her previously aggressive behaviour softens and it is clear she cares for Tohru deeply. Kazuma commented that Tohru became Rin's first friend, being the first one outside of the Sohma house to become worried about her.
- See also: Tohru's reaction after seeing Rin naked (post-transformation). When going to get some clothes to lend to Rin, Tohru thoughts are of how Rin's not just a beautiful woman, but an alluring at that. She then worries about how her clothes won't fit someone with such a nice figure.
- Akito is worthy competition as well seeing as how, even though it might be an act in the manga, she's really affectionate with Tohru and they eventually become close friends.
- Natsuki Takaya stated in a bonus extra chapters that, had Akito actually been a male, she felt more compelled pairing Tohru with Akito instead. It goes to show that all it would have taken for the two to be a couple was a simple Gender Flip.
- Towards the end of the manga, it's revealed in a huge fight that Yuki and Kyo both really admire each other and always have. Yuki explicitly says to Kakeru that all he wanted was to be friends with Kyo when they were younger, but Kyo already hated him. While their frustrations stem from mutual dislike built on a lot of pain, it also stems from envy, and they eventually do become friends by the end of the book.
