Ruka Souen

Ruka Souen (早園瑠佳, Sōuen Ruka?) is a female vampire, popular with the Day Class students and one of the most faithful and protective of Kaname Kuran's followers.

Personality
Ruka grew up as a noble vampire, and this gives her a self-important air. She reflects this persona to the outside world: haughty, bored, and uninterested. She is beautiful, though hot tempered, and is easily jealous, especially of Yuki Cross because of Kaname's feelings for her. She is tied by loyalty and admiration for the Pureblood, Kaname. This love for Kaname brings out a vulnerable, self-doubting aspect of Ruka, which she only expresses to Akatsuki Kain. It also brings to light her possessive, moody, and extremely stubborn attitude. There is a running gag in the bonus chapters where Hanabusa Aido and she compete in showing who is more devoted to Kaname Kuran.

Although Kain is in love with her, she appears to be oblivious to his feelings for her.

Appearance
Ruka is slim, with a pale complexion. She is dainty, elegant, and very ladylike. She has the same ethereal beauty that the rest of her race possesses, with delicate features and light eyes that are a dusky-rose color. She has wavy dark peach-orange colored hair that falls to her waist. Her height is 169cm.

Background
Ruka grew up privileged, as the daughter of a noble family. Her family is part of what is referred to by Asato Ichjio as the "Aido faction", which is comprises of the Kain, Aido, Souen, Toya, and other clans. Not much is known about her parentage, but her father or mother is possibly part of the Senate or in another high position, as Ichio refers to her as "The daughter of Souen". Ruka came to Cross Academy to be closer to her long-time idol, Kaname Kuran, with whom she is "in love" with. On their first night at the school, she asked Kaname to drink her blood to prevent him from drinking Yuki's blood, but he has since refused it, which deeply hurts her, even though she had expected him to refuse her blood.

Plot Summary
She becomes upset with the fact that Kaname chose Yuki to be his lover, but finally accepts Yuki when she discovers Yuki is Kaname's pureblood sister. She even gives Aido shoes to give to Yuki to wear. She seems much more mature and level-headed now, recognizing the foolishness of her obsessive feelings for Kaname, though she still shows just as much dedication to him as before but with a new calmness. When Rido Kuran's servants invaded Cross Academy and attempted to attack the Day Class students and present them as gifts to their Master, Ruka alongside Kain, worked to defend the Day Class girls. Following the breakup of the Night Class, she, Aido, and Kain returned home to see their families for a little while, because they did not know where he had disappeared to and decided that they would search for Kaname and Yuki after their short visit.

Following the one year timeskip, Ruka has been aiding Aido in training Yuki in order to turn her into a lady.

Trivia

 * In "Ruka", the "ru" means "lapis lazuli" while the "ka" means "good-looking," or "beautiful." The "Sou" in Ruka's surname, "Souen", means "early" but this kanji also has an obscure meaning of "strong fragrance." The "en" means "garden".
 * She is roommates with Rima Toya.
 * In the anime, she possesses the ability of mind control. In the manga, her powers have not been shown yet.
 * The Souen family are pro-monarchy like the Aido, Kain, and Toya families.
 * The alternative spelling of Ruka's name is Luca, as published by the official Vampire Knight fanbook Japanese release.