Ruka Souen

Ruka Souen (早園瑠佳, Sōen Ruka) is a female student of the Night Class, popular among the Day Class males, and is also one of the most faithful, protective and loyal of Kaname Kuran's followers.

The meaning of her name: In Ruka, the ru means "Lapis lazuli" with ka being "good looking" or "beautiful". In Ruka Souen's surname, sou means "early" but the kanji also has an obscure meaning, that of "strong fragrance" while en stands for "garden".

Appearance
Ruka is a fairly tall night class student. She has pale brown hair that falls in waves down to her waist. She is also seen to have orange hair in episode 12 of Vampire Knight Guilty after Rido mentions that Zero could not master all the power of so quickly (although it could have been mistake). Her eyes are a few shades darker than her hair, and she has the same pale, creamy skin tone that all noble vampires have. She posesses the beauty of the typical aristocratic vampires.

Personality
Ruka usually reflects a haughty, bored and uninterested person to the rest of the world, probably due to her noble upbringing. One of her defining characteristics is her love for Kaname Kuran. Since they were children, Ruka has been tied by loyalty and admiration for him, angry at all those who disrespect him and disdainful of all girls who fawn on him. Her possessiveness made her hot-tempered and jealous, but her love for Kaname also brought out a vulnerable, self-doubting aspect of her usually proud personality, which she only expressed to her close friend, Akatsuki Kain. She realized how overjealous and how she was only thinking of her own feelings and matured. Since giving up on him, she has shown a gentler side to her personality. She even gave Yuki, whom she was jealous of before, etiquette lessons and during the ball, told her that she was glad Yuki and Kaname were getting along so well.

Akatsuki has been in love with her since they were children, she seems to recognize his feelings for her.

History
Ruka grew up privileged, as the daughter of a noble family. Her family is part of what is referred to by Asato Ichijo as the "Aido faction," which is comprised of the Kain, Aido, Souen, Toya, and other clans. Not much is known about her parentage,  but her father or mother are possibly part of the Senate or in another high position, as Ichijo refers to her as "The daughter of Souen." Ruka came to Cross Academy to be closer to her long-time idol, Kaname Kuran, with whom she is in love. On their first night at the school, she asked Kaname to drink her blood to prevent him from drinking Yuki's blood which he accepted. He has refused it since, which deeply hurts her, even though she has always expected such. She was roommates with Rima Toya. The Souen family are Pro-Monarchy like the Aido, Kain, and Toya families.

First Beginning
At the beginning of the story, she is very loyal to and defends Kaname and despises all those girls who try to get close to him, especially Triscen to whom Kaname gives special attention to. She tries to ask Kaname to drink her blood after their encounter with Asato Ichijo but Kaname refuses, causing Ruka to be rather sad (although she knew he was going to refuse anyway) as he had drunk her blood on a previous occasion when they first stayed at Cross Academy.

She becomes upset with the fact that Kaname chose Yuki to be his lover and locks herself all day in her room. The possessed Shiki attempted to toy with her but was halted by Akatsuki and afterwards,Takuma. She is seen noting that Senri may not really be himself as she notices his left eye is a different colour. She overhears Kaname telling Hanabusa and Akatsuki that Yuki is his sister and wife-to-be and finally accepts Yuki being Kaname's lover. She even gives Aido a pair of shoes to give to Yuki to wear. She seems much more mature and level-headed now, recognizing the foolishness of her obsessive feelings for Kaname, though she still shows just as much dedication to him as before but with a new calmness. When Rido Kuran's servants invaded Cross Academy and attempted to attack the Day Class students and present them as gifts to their Master, Ruka alongside Kain, worked to defend the Day Class girls. Following the breakup of the Night Class, she, Hanabusa, and Akatsuki returned home to see their families for a little while, because they did not know where he had disappeared to and decided that they would search for Kaname and Yuki after their short visit.

Second Beginning
Following the one year timeskip, Ruka has been aiding Aido in training Yuki in order to turn her into a lady. Later, Kaname sent Ruka and Kain to monitor the Hanadagi estate for any signs of movement. Upon returning to update Kaname, Ruka troubled by their upcoming plan, gives Yuki a cold response, who concerned by the out of character response, asks Kaname if he has done something to Ruka. Ruka later takes care of Kaname after his hand is damaged by wielding the anti-vampire sword.

Along with Akatsuki, Ruka follows Kaname in his new mission, though its not clear if she is happy with their new course as she has some gloom about her nature, but she appears determined not to leave Kaname's side. Kaname told Akatsuki when the time came, he would force Ruka to leave. Ruka and Akatsuki arrive at Cross Academy with Kaname, and the two run into Maria, who is carrying Handagi's servant. Maria attempts to attack them, but Aido shows up and he attempts to start a fight with Akatsuki, but he and Ruka leave. Ruka then uses her power to make the Day Class fall into a deep sleep. The class president, along with Yori and Shindo, are caught outside, and the class president recognizes her, although the feeling is not mutual. After sending them back inside, Kaname calls her and Akatsuki.

They arrive to see Yuki and Kaname fighting, and Ruka allows Kaname to get away by creating an illusion for Yuki to believe that Zero shot her. She later apologizes to Kaname.

During Kaname and Zero's fight in Chapter 82, before Kaname can strangle him, she jumps in the way, Kaname's sword injuring her. Akatsuki attacks Kaname in anger for hurting Ruka, but she stops him, claiming that it was her fault for acting so impulsively. Kaname considers this as an act of betrayal and severs his ties with her. After he escapes from Hunters, Yuki offers her blood to Ruka to heal her wounds. But Akatsuki sucks the blood from Yuki's wrist and gives it to Ruka through a kiss. It is then that Ruka realizes that he was in love with her.

Ruka is later seen with Akatsuki fighting alongside the Hunters against the Pureblood vampires to protect Kaname before he is sacrificed to forge new anti-vampire weapons.

Powers & Abilities
Ruka's power is stated to be manipulation through illusions, and has used the technique against Yuki. However, as Yuki was able to see through the illusion it is unknown what Ruka's true power lies. She is also apparently able to control Level E vampires into making them destroy each other, as demonstrated in the anime.

Kaname Kuran
Ruka has had an unrequited love for Kaname since she was a child, having a crush on him even before she met him and remains one of his most loyal followers. Kaname remains aware of her love and in return respects her. She decided to set aside her feelings for him after she learned of Yuki's true identity. In the second arc, Ruka is one of few trusted allies of Kaname; however, Kaname severes his bond with Ruka when she protects Zero from an attack from Kaname. (Chapter 83)





Akatsuki Kain
Akatsuki is Ruka's second cousin (both are direct cousins of Hanabusa) and they have been playmates since they were children, remaining very close ever since. However, while she cares and respects him greatly, Ruka was unaware of Akatsuki's unrequited love for her until he kissed her in chapter 83.

Hanabusa Aidou
Hanabusa is also Ruka's cousin and has known her since they were young. Although the two do love and care for each other, Ruka is constantly seen getting into fights with Hanabusa.

Zero Kiryu
At the end of chapter 82, Ruka blocks an attack from Kaname that was meant to hit Zero (Zero says that this attack was not meant to kill himself in Chapter 83). It's still not quite clear why Ruka does this. Even Zero himself asks Ruka, "Why..."

Quotes

 * "Why does Kaname-Sama show consideration to a human like you? I can't allow it."


 * "We have nothing to fear. The Senate is indeed the highest governing body of our world... but they are not our sovereign."


 * "Hmph. Even you guys are here as his loyal greeters. Are you that afraid of that old geezer in the Senate?"


 * "Kaname-Sama... you haven't reprimanded me yet... you're a kind person Kaname-Sama... you rescued Aido from Ichiro, didn't you?"


 * "You know... Kaname-sama wouldn't drink my blood."


 * "Lord Kaname, you seemed awfully interested in that girl."