Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢 Kuran Kaname) is a Pureblood vampire and Head of the Kuran family, one of the seven remaining Pureblood families. He is also one of the progenitors of the Vampires and the first Kuran, making his estimated age over 10,000 years old. Kaname was Yuki's fiancé and is the biological father of her daughter.

Kaname means "hinge" or "door." The kanji for his last name is a combination of the old-fashioned way of writing ku, meaning "nine," and ran, meaning "orchid": "nine orchids."

Appearance
Kaname has red-brown eyes. He has brown hair that is grown up to his collar with his bangs falling into his face. His face expressions are ususally calm and tranquil, though with Yuki, he is usually seen with a small smille. Kaname is one of the tallest vampires in the Night Class, and has a lean-build. As Head of the Kuran family, he also dresses formally most of the time. Kaname wears the standard Night Class uniform; a white blazer, black shirt, red tie, white pants, and black shoes. He also wears a tie pin over his tie. Almost all the girls in the Day Class (including a few Night Class vampires) find him attractive. Even Zero thinks that he's pretty attractive, but Matsuri HIno doesn't reveal it in the books, but talks about it in one of her articles.

Personality
Kaname is generally a calm, elegant, stoic and authoritative individual. However, he becomes a completely different person with Yuki; to her, Kaname is very gentle and warm.

This disposition bothers the Night Class vampires, who initially do not understand his favoritism towards her. Yuki herself feels confused about how Kaname lovingly cares for her. Kaname expresses occasional jealousy towards Zero Kiryu because of Yuki's connection to him, and is not afraid to show this to Yuki.

He is very strict and often imposes discipline in a fierce way as the Dorm President, yet he is indulgent and kinder towards Yuki. Kaname has acknowledged to Rido that he has a contradictory nature, which leads him to both desiring to lock Yuki up and keep her to himself, but alternatively to watch her protectively while encouraging her to be herself. Kaname never hides the fact that he is not interested in anything else but Yuki's welfare. Every action he makes is towards one goal, and that is Yuki's safety; his greatest fear is losing her.

He is very determined to have Yuki live for all of eternity by his side and not only deeply fears losing her because of the ten years she spent as a human, but also because he doesn't want to experience the same heartbreak as he did the past, when the Hooded Woman sacrificed herself in his place. His solitary nature makes him rather secretive. Kaname has the Pureblood power of controlling vampires, but he chooses not to exercise this power at first. Thus earning the respect of the Noble vampires, as mentioned by Takuma Ichijo and Akatsuki Kain. Sometimes when he is with other vampires he acts particularly cold and domineering, but he usually seems to treat them with detached politeness

History
Kaname the Ancestor

Kaname Kuran is the ancestor of the Kuran clan, one of the founders of the vampire race. He lived alongside another mysterious ancestor known as The Hooded Woman. This woman tossed her heart into the blazing furnace to create weapons forged to kill vampires. Artemis, the Bloody Rose and all the other weapons in the Hunter's Association were all born from her sacrifice. Soon after doing so, her body began to crack and shattered into a million pieces. After having witness this, Kaname put himself into an eternal slumber as he had no more reason to live for until a few thousand years later, where he will be awakened to become the new parent. However, he was reawakened by Rido Kuran, his descendant who sacrificed the life of an innocent baby who was Yuki's actual brother to awaken him.

Revived Kaname


Due to his weakened state after reviving, Kaname transformed his body into that of a baby and suppressed his memories, entrusting his life in the hands of Haruka and Juri, who raised Kaname in place of the son that Rido had taken and killed.

As children, Kaname and Yuki shared a very close relationship even to the point of promising they will marry and live a life like their parents. As a child, Kaname was not especially outgoing around children his own age. He first met Hanabusa, Akatsuki, and Ruka as children, but they did not form bonds until several years later after the deaths of Haruka and Juri. Kaname previously had no reason to live except to become the next parent as he originally planned and because of Yuki, Kaname was willing to forgo his original plans in order to live with her for all eternity. Kaname severely wounds Rido by tearing him apart into pieces which required ten years for Rido's body to regenerate. During the attack on the Kurans, he found himself unable to kill Rido, as he was technically his master who had awakened him from his slumber.

After temporarily dispatching Rido, Kaname took the now-human Yuki to Kaien Cross's house. Kaname himself was taken in by Takuma's grandfather, a man whom he distrusted. During her childhood, Kaname frequently visited Yuki and remained a steady presence in her life. After Kaien Cross built the Academy, he agreed to let Kaname decide everything that involved the school's vampires so that he could stay near Yuki and protect her from afar.

Powers and Abilities
Like all Pureblood vampires, Kaname has immortality and the ability to heal from anything excluding anti-vampire weapon wounds to the heart or head. Like all vampires, he can absorb the powers from vampires whose blood he drinks. Kaname's powers have been listed as immeasurable. However, in the manga, he has stated that when his mind wanders he "loses control," as seen when he accidentally burns a hole in the wall (in the manga) and a tree (in the anime), both barely missing Takuma, and also shatters a window. Like all vampires, he also has enchanced strength and super speed. Kaname has demonstrated the following abilities:
 * Telekinesis.


 * Erasing memories.


 * Creation of a familiar in any form he chooses, such as a bat able to convey messages and a wolf from which he can receive information instantly, and used to watch over Yuki when she left the Kuran Mansion. His familiar is also strong enough to carry another person and wields his telekinetic powers.


 * Transformation of his body into a weapon.
 * Controlling Bloody Rose through his voice.


 * Control of multiple vampires by his command against their will.


 * Changing the physicality of his body i.e. changing his body into an infant.
 * Manipulate another Pureblood (hiding Toma inside his familiar).
 * Ability to turn a Pureblood vampire into a human.

Weapon
Kaname wields an anti-vampire sword and was the original wielder of the Bloody Rose and Artemis.

Yuki Kuran
Yuki and Kaname have a complicated past that goes back to when they were children. Kaname loves Yuki very much, though he oftens treats her like a child and is very overprotective of her. When she was reawakened as a vampire, she refuses to hunt for a prey and stubbornly rejects her vampire self for the past six months of living together. Her actions leaves Kaname worried and wonder alot. He has also tried to make her call him just Kaname instead of Onii-sama or Kaname-Senpai. Kaname takes a gamble and decides to reveal the truth of her real brother and also about his history. After learning the truth, Yuki begins to see Kaname as someone more than just a brother and admired savior, but as her fiancé. Yuki wishes to start over with Kaname after she knows his secret and Kaname agrees.

Kaname respects Yuki's decisions and puts her feelings as his top priority even before his own. She was his only exception to everything. However, Kaname knows that half of her heart is still with Zero, but despite this, she still chose to be with him which is clear to him that she truly loves him with her heart. Kaname reminds her that, because of her feelings for Zero, she might have to suffer forever. Kaname originally did not mind waiting until her heart changes for him but it grew on him to think if the path of a vampire was right for her. During this time, Kaname works ridiculously hard to establish laws to maintain peace between the vampires and the hunters, in order to give Yuki the freedom to roam freely around in the outside world without putting her life in any danger. However with the reappearance of Zero, Yuki's heart wavered. Kaname decides to take a step back and puts them through a test. Kaname told her to wait at the Kuran mansion for him until he returns to start anew together. However, Yuki defies him and it resulted in him to begin executing the original plan of the Ancestress to eliminate all Purebloods. He began doing the things that will make Yuki hate and doubt him even though he cherishes and loves her more than anything in the world. After Yuki has unfolded the truth behind the series of events and has successfully caught Kaname and confronts him once again, the two of them make up after he assures that he will not leave her, and they both make love in 89th Night.At the end of the manga, Kaname's words greatly hinted that he never wanted her to revert back to a vampire. He just wanted to watch over her until the time came for him to depart from her. However, she who has lived as a human has became a radiant existence to him that gave him hope to keep living this timeless eternity with her.

Due to the fact that he never allowed her to go visit her friends, Zero or have any form of communication with the outside world as well as always drinking large amounts of blood from her, many of the fans consider their relationship to not be one of romance but one of abuse. Kaname even states that she's never smiled from her heart when she was with him, implying that she wasn't truly happy with him but that because she always felt like she should repay him for saving her life as well as always feeling inferior to him shows that although she loved him, she never felt like they were equals.

Kaname tears out his heart to the furnace, for the vampire hunter weapons to continue to be strong again. Yuki goes to him asking him in tear why he had to do that, and that she didn't want to be in a world where she could no longer hear his voice. In her moment of grieve as Kaname dies, she says that she wished she was never born, so that the Kaname of today wouldn't have to go through this. He tells her that he doesn't regret any of the mistakes that he has made, and that she musn't say that, since it makes it sound like he didn't recieve any happiness. He says "It's not that I didn't recieve any happiness, because there's a light at the end of the journey." Before he "dies" he says he also has to atone for the mistakes that he has commited by his own choice alone.

Kaname tells both Yuki and Zero that he wants them to be together saying "I've always been squinting my eyes at the radience... That's why I've come to understand... You two should be together... I want you two to be together" as Zero and Yuki are shocked by his statement and he finally falls into a deep sleep, with Yuki cries. Yuki is in shock after his "death" and shows no emotion when Zero reveals his feelings for her. He tells her that she can take her time, years or even decades, but that she must say her feelings for him eventually when she has overcome her grieve and guilt over the actions that Kaname decided to undertake.

A thousand years later, Yuki reveals that she had a life full of happiness with Zero and her children (fullfilling Kaname's wishes at the time of his death). Yuki, in the last pages of the manga, reveals that although they found a method to turn a vampire into a human due to his research, he wouldn't be able to wake up from his eternal sleep nor endure the effect of the "treatment". Yuki, instead, decides to give her life to Kaname to turn him into a human.

In the final chapter, it was revealed that Yuki had a daughter with him (whom looks like Yuki and resembles Kaname), whom gives him a message with her half-brother (son of Zero and Yuki) from Yuki (their mother) to Kaname that said, "I want to give to you, whom I love, the world that I saw when I was a human". As Yuki gives her life to turn Kaname human, she reflects "The long and endless journey... You, who existed with that thirst, may your thirst be quenched." Kaname finally says after the message and looking into the light and touching a butterfly (a memento of Yuki), "What a beautiful light..."

The Hooded Woman
The Hooded Woman, also known as the Ancestress, was a progenitor from Kaname's ancient past and was the leader of a resistance. She was also the very first significant person in Kaname's life who gave him an identity and has ever felt attachment towards. It was mentioned in Kaname's point of view - through Yuki- that she was a very important person to him and that he regrets losing her, despite mentioning that he never intended to have feelings or be involved with anyone. The two shared a really unique and special relationship. In most of Kaname's past, she was his reason to keep on living after being driven out of the village he lived in as the villagers saw him as a monster after realizing that despite many generations and decades has passed, he never aged.

The Hooded Woman was the one who gave him a name (with the same spelling of her hometown) and a purpose- to eradicate all Purebloods who harbours the intent of turning humans into submissive slaves. She shared her past and ideals with Kaname, telling him that she really liked humans. It was also shown in his memories that he was a scientist for a period of time as he researched for a way to kill Purebloods. In those memories, it was revealed that she had some kind of authority over Kaname, as he allowed her to push him around to get jobs done. She became the first parent of the anti-vampire weapons after she threw her heart into the furnace. Her death devastated Kaname silently, as he intended to be the sacrifice. In her name, Kaname fought the Purebloods for decades, slowly losing his will to live and emotions as he felt that the weapons only desired to kill more vampires. When the battles ceased, he decided to enter a slumber that he had no intention of ever awakening from.

Zero Kiryu
Kaname and Zero have disliked each other since their first meeting. One could say that they are arch nemesis of one another due to different perspectives and methods. They both show very strong feelings towards Yuki and envies each other from time to time. Due to this, they also share a limited amount of tolerance to one another when Yuki's safety is concerned. From the beginning, Kaname planned on Zero being one of the cursed twins and devouring his brother, Ichiru, so he could become a vampire killing machine. In 93rd Night, he entrusted Yuki in Zero's hands and said that he wants Yuki and Zero to be together.

Hanabusa Aido
Hanabusa is Kaname's loyal friend and right-hand man. Their relationship is quite comedic and purely adoration in Aido's perspective. However, this relationship was shattered when Kaname murdered Hanabusa's father Nagamichi Aido in front of him. After this act, Hanabusa remained at his sister Yuki's side as her guard and tutor, eventually renouncing Kaname as his leader when he sent Ruka and Akatsuki to suppress the Day Class. Hanabusa stated that he wouldn't let the Pureblood do as he wish and take advantage of Yuki's kind-hearted nature.However, later in the manga, it shows that Kaname never killed his father and he only went into a slumber.Hanabusa reconnected with his father and came back to Kaname's side after he understood Kaname's true intentions.

Takuma Ichijo
Kaname lived with Takuma after his "parents" death and since then they have become great friends. It would seem that Kaname trusts Takuma to a certain extent and seems not to worry about him, despite Takuma's affiliation with Sara. After Kaname was entrapped with ice, Takuma watches over his tomb for a thousand years.

Ruka Souen
Ruka aime tous les deux et admire Kaname cependant, il ne retourne pas ses affections. Malgré cela, Kaname confiance et la respecte. Ruka et Akatsuki sont les deux classes Nuit des vampires qui Kaname a choisi de garder à ses côtés et l'aide à ses plans après la mort de Nagamichi Aido. Il est également explicit que Kaname et Akatsuki avaient un accord que le moment venu, Kaname aurait Ruka quitter son côté, par la force si nécessaire.

Quotes

 * "Some things are better forgotten." (To Takuma)
 * "You're so scary... Mr. Disciplinary Committee." (To Zero)
 * "I've always been alone. The only one that can bring warmth into my life... is you." (To Yuki)
 * "You could never betray her because you are under her obligation. You are being allowed to live because of that, Zero. By me." (To Zero)
 * "Aido, I think I would like to discuss our dorm's rules with you again." (To Aido)
 * "Yuki, the safest place is beside me." (To Yuki)
 * "No one can be a replacement for another person. That is why...farewells are always difficult." (To Yuki)
 * "Return to the world filled with light, Yuki. Even if you forget about me I will still continue to remember you... You're more suited to be under the sunlight." (To Yuki)
 * "Yuki... I'll say it once again.. It's not that I did not recieve any happiness, it's because there is light at the end of the journey." (To Yuki)