Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢) is 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, Kaname was the ancestor of the Kuran family. 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 and mysterious. Kaname sacrifices everything for her, he wanted her to at least stay by his side even if she rejected his sins and later refuses to reject her and declared he would rather die than lose her, to show how deep his love for her is.

Background
Kaname Kuran is the class president of the Night Class, 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. But the real reason Kaname agreed to attend the academy is so that he can be near Yuki and protect her.

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's existence by Yuki's side 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 a Level E vampire.

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
Kaname is the ancestor of Kuran, one of the originals vampires. During his original time, he despaired to such great heights, he chose to lay down in a coffin and never awaken, waiting to turn into dust instead. During this long sleep, his hair continues to grow, but when he awakens he is a rotting corpse. Kaname makes references to the loss of a love who sacrificed herself for a lost cause and the loss of this person is probably the cause of his despair.

Awakening the Ancestor

Rido disappeared with Juri and Haruka's first child, also named Kaname, inspired by the fact they shared a name, he sacrificed the baby to awaken the Kuran ancestor. Rido wanted to awaken the ancestor because he wanted to be the one to tame the beast and drink its blood, through this act, Rido became Kaname's master. However, upon his rising, Kaname instead attacks and drinks Rido's blood instead. Rido was hoping Kaname would attack Haruka because Rido and baby Kaname's blood was not enough to staisy his intense bloodlust. Instead Kaname resists his hunger and forced his body to regress into a baby again, a form which doesn't require blood. Kaname entrusts his life to Haruka and Juri. Kaname also put his memories were put to sleep hence why he has deja-vu when playing with Aidou as a child. He might have also turned himself into a baby out of guilt for Haruka and Juri.

Kaname was raised as Juri and Haruka's son in the place of their lost child. Until Haruka's revealed otherwise when he was dying, Kaname believed Juri and Haruka thought he was their true son. Kaname appears to lose part of himself, though he remains aware of himself as the ancestor in this time and how he came to be. He declares that he has regained his former self by the time that he destroys the council, perceiving that the essences of vampires have not changed since his time of going to sleep, stating enigmatically they are continue to build the same invisible cage. Prior to going to sleep he had mysteriously decided a course of action, which he put off and went to sleep instead. He states that he will now continue that course and that the council is his first step.

Start of Manga

After Yuuki's memories are sealed by Juri, Kaname was trying to take the unconscious Yuuki to the Chairmans house. While escaping, they were being pursued, so Kaname had to set the unconscious Yuuki down so he could fight the vampires. When Yuuki wakes up she is all alone in the snow, her first memory as a human. Kaname barely makes it back in time as Yuuki is attacked by a rogue vampire

Appearance of Purebloods

Many humans die following a big climate change more than 10,000 years ago. The first vampire appeared sometime around then all over the world. Initially two purebloods sought out Kaname and asked him to join them on their journey to find others like themselves but Kaname refuses. One of them gives him the name Kaname as he has been alone for so long that he has forgotten his own name.

Kaname instead choses to live among the humans. He helped the local villagers by teaching the farmers how to imporve their crop yieldand improve harvest. He secretly at night gave them his blood, to help the sick and taking a little of their blood using syringes to avoid turning them into vampires. The villagers called him their lord. But eventually the villagers noticed that Kaname wasn't aging and he avoided the sunlight, so they came after him with pitchforks insulting him and calling him a monster. They demanding he repays them with his blood.

After being chased out by the villagers the hooded pureblood again invites him again to join the other purebloods which he finally accepts. The group of purebloods are concerned because there are other purebloods have been turning lots of people into vampires. The group disagree with the attacks, saying turning this many people is not necessary for survival. The group wants to go against this, and asks for Kaname's help. The hooded pureblood offers their blood to him because he's weakened from having gone so long wth so little blood, saying that he can repay them by lending them his strength fighting for their cause.

Trivia

 * Kaname means "hinge" or "door", and the kanji for his last name, Kuran, is a combination of the old fashioned way of writing "ku", meaning "nine" and "orchid".
 * The Kuran Ancestor was named "Kaname" and Juri and Haruka named their son "Kaname" too.

Unanswered questions

 * How did Kaname become Yuki's brother?
 * How did the 'old' Kaname become 'young' Kaname?

Gallery
=See Also=
 * Yuki and Kaname
 * Zero and Kaname
 * Kaname and Takuma
 * Kaname, Yuki, and Zero