Sayori Wakaba

Sayori "Yori" Aido (藍堂 沙頼 Wakaba Sayori), née Wakaba (若葉), was Yuki Kuran's dorm-mate and best friend since junior high at Cross Academy.

Appearance
Yori has a petite slender build with short light brown hair, big hazel eyes and a cute appearance. Her outfits are usually very modest and feminine.

In the extra chapters of vampire knight, Sayori is shown to have long wavy hair with side bangs. It is noted by Takuma Ichijo that Sayori has grown beautiful.

By age 67 Sayori has aged well, having a few noticeable wrinkles. Her hair, still wavy, stops right about her ears. Typically, she wears a shawl over her shoulders.

Personality
Yori seems to be one of the few girls who isn't interested in the Night Class. She finds them a bit scary and stated that she would prefer someone from the Day Class. Yori is also very observant, as she notices a lot of things that happen to Yuki Kuran, especially when she gets hurt or is very depressed. Yori has a calm and serious personality as well. She has not shown fear when in the presence of vampires, especially those who hunger for her blood, and is indifferent to the fact that Yuki is a Pureblood. Even when Yori is married to Hanabusa Aido, who would drink her blood, Sayori was never afraid of him; she even noted he drank her blood, he did his utmost to be gentle.

When she revealed her feelings to Hanabusa, she explained that she wasn't infatuated with him because of his looks like the Day Class girls were; it was because she saw the kind of person he was underneath his smugness and insecure moments. Though Yori did voice annoyance at Hanabusa putting off their marriage because Yuki and Zero hadn't; his "loyal dog" complex was one of things she found annoying.

As Hanabusa would note, Yori is strong willed. She refused to be turned into a vampire even if it meant dying long before her friends. Though she briefly considered asking Yuki to turn her into a vampire, shortly after the birth of her son; the realization that she would die and leave her family saddened had shaken her resolve. In the end she refused to give up her humanity; even when her son begged Yori to do it, just to live long enough for Hanabusa to make the cure and age so they could have their twilight years together. Yori had enough foresight to ask her grandchildren to befriend Yuki after her death, to keep her from being lonely.

History
Sayori comes from an old and distinguished family, where she also had a fiance whom she had yet to meet and she is the daughter of Councillor Wakaba.

Plot
Yori's part in the story is relatively small. She spends a lot of time in the first arc worried about Yuki Kuran not getting enough sleep and having nightmares. She also states that she doesn't obsess over the night class like the other girls because they scare her. She teases Yuki when Ichiru Kiryu reveals that Zero Kiryu has an attachment to her and confirms Yori's suspicions, although the whole matter isn't clear to Yuki. Yori finds out that Yuki is a vampire after Hanabusa Aido protected her from a vampire who served Rido Kuran. Despite that fact, Yori still accepts Yuki and appeared to be more worried about the fact that she would lose her best friend. Yori parts company with Yuki when she is taken to a safe place by Aido on Kaname Kuran's orders. After the attack is over, she defends Aido when the other day class girls are afraid of him.

Yori begins the second arc hassling Zero about his stance on vampires and questioning whether he will hunt down Yuki. Yori is one of the few day class students that know about vampires when she and a few other refused to have their memories wiped. After Kaito Takamiya discovers Yori's friendship with Yuki, he helps Yori to go to the vampire soirée, having her stow away in his suitcase, which causes Zero to freak when she appears at the soirée. Kaito and Zero promise to keep an eye on her while she goes find her best friend. Yori has a brief but happy reunion with Yuki before they part ways again.

She is briefly seen again when Yuki reinstates the Night Class, however, the two do not seem to really meet with each other much due to the circumstances.

In the final chapter, she and Kasumi Kageyama went to help to heal the hunters from being injured by the vampires. A few years later, she is married and she has kids and grandchildren that she tells them about Yuki.

Yuki Kuran
Yuki has been Yori's best friend since middle school and in high school, they were dorm mates. She currently still remains as Yuki's best friend even when she discovers that Yuki was a Pureblood vampire and has no contact from her for a year. Yuki pounces on Yori to demonstrate the danger she poses at Yori, but Yori just laughs because she doesn't find Yuki scary at all. This shows that they are still very good friends. Yori even briefly considered asking Yuki to turn her into a vampire, as the realization that she would die before her and Hanabusa Aido shook her resolve.

Hanabusa Aido
The two had very few interactions with each other until Rido Kuran attacked the school. After Yuki asks him to protect the academy, Aido helps to protect Yori from hungry vampires. Since he rescued her, Yori stood up for him when he revealed he was a vampire to the Day Class students. During the extra chapter, Aido blushes when people compliment Yori on how pretty she has become and states that they shouldn't say such things to her. This was the first hint that Aido liked Yori. This was confirmed in the second Vampire Knight extra chapter "I Like You". When Aido expressed his dedication to complete the research Kaname Kuran started of turning vampires into humans, Yori overheard this and told Aido she will assist him. They grow closer during this time and Aido worries about her when Zero tells him that Yori is sick. He also found himself unusually attracted to her blood as he tries to drink her blood on impulse when she gets injured due to an accident. Over time, the two of them have fallen in love with each other. In the 2nd chapter of Vampire Knight Memories, Councillor Wakaba (Yori's father) informed Kaien Cross how Yori came to her father asking him to forget the fiancee he arranged for her since she never met him. She expressed her desire to marry the person she been seeing (Hanabusa). By the end of the chapter, Hanabusa asked Yori for her hand in marriage which Yori happily reciprocates. At Yori's funeral, Aido has his hand on one of their grandchildren. He laments that he is sad that he couldn't have invented the vampire cure sooner and how he was awed by her fierceness in staying human when he asked to change her into a vampire repeatedly. Yori had stated that she had lived a good life but it was time for her to go.

Zero Kiryu
Yori sometimes interacts with Zero, but they are not really friends. However, she knows that Zero has romantic feelings for Yuki. After a pregnant Yuki disappears from the school for four years, Yori said to sometimes meet with Zero to discuss different events. Sixty years after Yuki returns into their lives, Yori is shown teasing Zero on when he plans to propose to Yuki since she knows they continue to meet and she would like to attend their wedding. Zero shares a tender moment of knowing his time is limited like Yori of how long he can live with Yuki. It is shown that they have developed a friendship at last during this time.

Kaname Kuran
Sayori dislikes Kaname and seems to sense something about him.

About Sayori

 * Favorite Fashion: Classy clothes that don't make her look improper
 * Academic Grades: Good
 * Best Subject: ?
 * Good at: Staying calm
 * Dislikes: Kaname Kuran
 * Favorite foods: Everything
 * Taste in men: "Someone I get when I add Yuki and Zero, and then divide by two."

Quotes

 * "Yuki, they're serving pork stir fry." (to Yuki Kuran) 
 *  "We will always be... best friends." ( to Yuki Kuran)

Etymology

 * The name Sayori means "sand" (沙) (sa) and "rely" (頼) (yori).
 * Sayori's surname Wakaba means "young, immature" (若) (waka) and "leaf, plane, lobe, needle, blade, spear, counter for flat things, fragment, piece" (葉) (ha/ba).
 * Her married name Aido means "indigo" (藍) (ai) and "hall" (堂) (do).

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version, Yuki Kuran uses the suffix "-chan" when referring to Sayori (Yuki's best friend) in order to show familiarity.
 * As Sayori's funeral happened 50 years after the battle to restart the furnace, she likely died at the age of 67 - 68.
 * Sayori's death inspired Hanabusa Aido to work harder on his vampire vaccine, while showing Yuki a long life has no meaning if you lose everyone you care about.
 * Sayori seemed to have taken a position in the government at some point as one of Yuki's flashbacks shows an elderly Yori meeting Yuki in an office.
 * Chapter 36 of Memories shows Sayori helped Yuki out vampires and build peace that the Mayor/Emperor ruined.
 * Sayori is mentioned to have needed medicine near the end of her life. Whether this was due to her old age or she caught a disease that hindered her mobility (hence the wheelchair) remains unknown.
 * Her granddaughter Saya Aido was named after her.