62nd Night

Beyond the Memories is the sixty-second chapter of the Vampire Knight manga.

On cover: Yuki Kuran

The title is in reference to Yuki Kuran seeing Kaname Kuran's deep past.

Summary
The chapter opens with another flashback showing Juri and Haruka enjoying their infant child, Kaname, talking to him as Rido watches from the doorway. Rido observes that perhaps new life is a good thing after all and Juri asks if he wishes to hold the baby. Rido takes the child, but the baby wees on him. Juri apologises and Rido comments that its because Juri is bad at changing diapers, he tells Juri and Haruka that he intends to clean Kaname himself and change his shirt. Haruka is concerned and follows him out the door, but Rido has disappeared with Kaname.

Yuki continues drinking from Kaname, absorbing the memories with it. Still in the flashback, the ancestor hears Haruka calling for his brother and Kaname. He looks towards the door where a sword lies near. Rido laughs, still lying on the ground, drained by the earlier bite. He tells the ancestor that it would have been better for Kaname to allow Rido to drain him, as the blood and flesh he got from the baby and the blood from Rido were nowhere near enough to restore his flesh. He asks Kaname what he intends to do as Kaname stares at his fleshless hand, he asks Kaname if he will sacrifice Juri and Haruka, noting that Kaname is suffering from a hunger built over thousands of years and he finds it unimaginable. Kaname looks over at the baby's cloth. He closes his eyes and his body seems to disappear. Haruka enters the room, calling for his brother. Kaname narrates that his body was excessively imperfect as Rido had recognised. Haruka looks over to the coffin and finds the bloody baby blanket, he holds it to his face in grief. He looks down and sees the baby in Kaname's jacket, he kneels down and picks up the new baby. Kaname narrates that his body's desire to repair itself was instigating a bloodlust that was overtaking his mind and in order to control it, he regenerated his cells into that of a baby and entrusted his body to Haruka and Juri and put his memories to sleep. Haruka picks up the child and hugs it, he brings back the baby to a sad Juri Kuran.

Yuki Kuran continues to drink from Kaname Kuran as she begins to see the life of Kaname as a growing child. Kaname meets baby Yuki and she grasps his finger, Yuki in the present, squeezes Kaname's shoulder in sympathy. Young Kaname is charmed by the child. In the present, Kaname has lost strength and is laid on the coffin. Yuki leans over Kaname and strokes his face. She asks if he was the person who was sleeping inside the coffin and Kaname confirms it. Yuki grasps his face with both hands and asks if it's alright to ask who he was. She thinks that she wants to know properly. She asks him why he never told her before, why he tells her now. Yuki has many questions, she wants to know why he was sleeping in the coffin. He pushes the hair away from her face and Yuki tells him that to her, he can be the only Kaname, so he shouldn't worry and that he should tell her everything. Kaname tells her to ask his blood, Yuki swiftly bites his neck again. The flashback picks up after the attack by Rido on the Kurans, as Kaname places an unconscious Yuki in the snow telling her he will go and take care of the vampires pursuing them. He tells her that it will be ok and he will take her to a warmer place, but he laments that the next time she awakens, she will not know who he is. Yuki awakens in the snow, but in the form of her older human self with short hair wearing her school uniform. She realises she's in a memory, a shadow approaches, calling out to her, he asks to drink her blood. It is the vampire who attacked her from her memorues, Yuki strikes the vampire with the Artemis appearing in her hands. She wonders if this is her memory. Shizuka Hio approaches. She tells Yuki that drinking from someone also can bring along fragments of their memories with it. As Yuki recognises Shizuka, Rido hugs her from behind as he did in 43rd Night, calling her Juri. Many figures are suddenly surrounding Yuki, they begin reaching for her, demanding her blood. Yuki becomes overwhelmed and screams, then she begins to fall. Kaname's voice is heard telling another person that he doesn't remember his own name, another vampire names him Kaname after their village. Yuki breaks through Kaname's memories like breaking glass. The vampire narrates that the human population has drastically dropped because of the climate change. The vampire tells Kaname its fine if he wants to be alone, that they will go and find others who also cannot die. Two cloaked figures leave, determined that there must be more like themselves out there, she tells Kaname it's ok if he forgets his name as he probably won't need it. Yuki watching, wonders when this past is from. She remember's Aido's lessons as he told her the climate change took place over ten thousand years ago and at this time, the founders of the vampires, who had been scattered over the world, began to realise there were others like them around. A new flashback with changing scenes show Kaname living with some villages. Villagers show their harvests to Kaname, calling him lord and thanking him for his help. Kaname standing over a sleeping woman, before he withdraws her blood. A group of villagers confront Kaname with the rumours of him stealing their blood at night. They call him a monster and unnatural, saying that he never goes out in the sun, that he uses his blood instead of their medicine and he hasn't aged in two generations. Some villagers go after Kaname with makeshift weapons, calling him a freak and demanding that he pay back the blood he took from them, to give them his blood as medicine. Kaname sits alone under a tree and another vampire calls out to him. she tells him its natural for the humans to fear them and says it would be better for the humans and the vampires if they lived separately, she extends her hand to Kaname and tells him to join their companions. Kaname follows her. Yuki realises this is the beginning of the vampire race they know today. She feels faint looking so back at the past and that the figure of the past Kaname who stood alone is alike with that of Zero's figure. The founders express concern over others pointlessly creating too many ex-human vampires, whom they call servants and they do not need to create so many to live, as these servants cannot live off air. A founder gathers more vampires to him, which worries the others, but they are relieved the servants are obeying.

A founder tells a sleeping Kaname to rouse, she notes that he passed out because he refuses to turn humans and is starved, she extends her arm and tells him to drink, telling him not to claim that he's forgotten how to use his fangs. Kaname sits up and she tells him that she will have him return the favour soon. She asks him to lend her his power and part of her face is seen for the first time. Yuki is surprised at the revelations.

Characters
Characters in order of appearance:


 * 1) Juri Kuran
 * 2) Haruka Kuran
 * 3) Rido Kuran
 * 4) Yuki Kuran
 * 5) Kaname Kuran
 * 6) Hanabusa Aido