Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢) is one of the main characters of Vampire Knight and a Pureblood vampire, who saved Yuki Cross from an attack by a Level E when she was five years old. Kaname is one of the main male protagonist. Prior to his re-awakening by Rido, Kaname was the ancestor of the Kuran family, one of the founders of vampires. He is over ten thousand years old and does not recall the name he was born with. He is born in the year of the Rooster. His height is 184 cm (6'1") and shares a similar appearance with Haruka and Rido Kuran.

Personality
He is normally a stoic and authoritative individual, but is very kind, warm, and gentle to Yuki. This disposition bothers both Yuki and the Night Class vampires, who do not understand his favouritism towards her. He is very strict and often imposes discipline in a fierce way, yet he is indulgent to Yuki. Kaname has acknowledged to Rido that he has a contrary nature, which leads him to both desiring to lock Yuki up and keep her to himself and 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 because of the mysterious loss in his past. He seems to frequently plots things in secret making him rather secretive.

Background
Kaname Kuran is the Night Class president, both feared and respected by the other Night Class students. While he is cold and authoritative towards his contemporaries in the Night Class, he is always kind and sweet to Yuki. Kaname has shown that he cares for Yuki in a romantic sense and that he had fallen for Yuki ever since they were children. He wants to be closer to her, but senses how shy she is about it. Since he adores her, she is reluctantly accepted by the Night Class. He has attempted countless times to expand intimacy with Yuki. He is also Yuki's fiancée and Yuki knows him as her brother. He shares the Chairman's goal of peace between vampires and humans. He worked with the Chairman to create the Night Class at Cross Academy and with his presence, allows the Night Class to be kept in check. Although he is too old to be attending school, he attends to keep authority in the Night class and mostly so he can be closer to Yuki and protect.

As a Pureblood, Kaname is capable of controlling lesser vampires, but he chooses not to exercise his powers, thus earning the respect of the Noble vampires. In the fanbook it is stated that he is all powerful. Even his shadow mirror is capable of beating up another pureblood, he can create different shapes that monitor Yuki, such as a wolf or bats.

Plot Summary

 * Main Article: Plot Summary for Kaname Kuran

Kaname informs Zero that he only allows Zero to exist by Yuki's side in order to ensure her safety. He eventually reveals to Yuki that he loves her.

He kills Shizuka Hio, so he could become more powerful to protect Yuki. Kaname offers Yuki the chance to remain by his side, to become his lover and a vampire. He also convinces Zero to drink his blood to stave off insanity, slowing Zero's descent to Level E.

As Rido's presence becomes threatening, Kaname bites Yuki in order to awaken her vampire nature and feeds her his blood to restore her memories as a Kuran and as his 'sister'. He reveals that he is not Yuki's true brother, but the first king and founder of the Kuran family who had been revived by Rido Kuran. As such, Kaname is unable to kill Rido, his "master", he can only injure him. As a child, Juri and Haruka Kuran raised Kaname as Yuki's brother in place of the son that Rido took, and Yuki and Kaname planned to marry when they were children, following the example of Juri and Haruka who were also brother and sister, but still married.

When Rido is revived, Kaname tries to take Yuki to safety, but she refuses. He goes to the Vampire Council and kills all the summoned members, except Asato Ichijo. Following Zero's threat, Kaname keeps from killing Zero to prevent Yuki from hating him. Kaname takes Yuki to their childhood home and vows to take responsibility for. A year later, Kaname has solidified his leadership of Vampire Society. Kaname accepted Yuki's request to stay by his side in spite of her attachment to Zero, he impressed upon her his attachment to her preferring to be killed than losing her. Rido's remnants now haunt Kaname and he admits to facing an internal conflict of his existence.

Kaname the Ancestor

 * Main Article: Kaname the Ancestor

Kaname, the "true" brother of Yuuki, was taken by Rido (elder brother of Haruka and Juuri), who sacrificed the newborn Kaname to resurrect the Ancestor Kaname. Rido did this so he could drink the blood of the ancestor to gain more power, but, he fails and is knocked out by the ancestor. Ancestor Kaname's body was incomplete, therefore he had to turn himself into a newborn baby, and in the process he erases his memories so Juuri and Haruka can raise him in place of their old child.

Therefore the Kaname we know is the ancestor of the Kurans, one of the founders of the vampire race. He is over ten thousand years old and was named by another companion after he could not recall the name he was born with. He waged war on the vampires who sought to turn humans into their slave army. Kaname put himself into an eternal slumber after he found himself to be the last companion left.

Yuki Cross

 * Main Article: Yuki and Kaname

Yuki is everything to Kaname. Since her birth, he has promised to protect her warmth and always be by her side. When Yuki's memories were erased, Kaname became very sad knowing that Yuki wouldn't remember who he was. He spent the next ten years watching and protecting her. Several times he made it clear that he cared about her, and this made the night class students puzzled. After Yuki was changed back into a vampire, he knew he'd spent the last ten years waiting for her to turn back. To impress upon Yuki how much he loved her, he told Yuki that he couldn't let her go and would rather kill her or that she kill him by her own hand. And once she woke up for the first time in ten years of being human, he let her drink his blood, and told her they were engaged.

The Hooded Woman
Kaname and the Hooded Woman had some kind of relationship in the story. The Hooded Woman found and met Kaname years earlier and upon discovering he couldn't remember his name, she named him after her village, she asked him to join her companions, but he declined. After Kaname was run out of the village, he joined with the Hooded Woman who sympathized and urged sympathy for the humans who must fear the stronger vampires. Kaname joined the Hooded Woman and they worked together to find a solution to the problem of vampires creating too many "servants". When Kaname found a way to kill humans, she took his discovery and sacrifice herself to create the hunters and the anti-vampire weapons. Kaname lamented that he had not done it himself so he would have more time with her.

The relationship is not well defined. They shared a kiss and appeared to be living together, Yuki sensed Kaname's desire to treasure the Hooded Woman and asked Kaname if he was looking to replaced her, Kaname refuted it as silly, as it is impossible to replace a person. Because of the loss of her and her sacrifice, Kaname carries with him the fear of losing Yuki in the same way.

Gallery
=See Also=
 * Yuki and Kaname
 * Zero and Kaname
 * Kaname and Takuma
 * Kaname, Yuki, and Zero
 * How did Kaname become Yuki's brother?
 * Kaname the Ancestor