Yuki Kuran

Yuki Cross / Yuki Kuran (黒主 優姫 / 玖蘭 優姫|Kurosu Yūki / Kuran Yūki) is the main protagonist of the series, she begins the series as a 15 year old first-year student at Cross Academy, but towards the climax of the first arc, Yuki is revealed to not only be a Pureblood Vampire, but also a member of the Kuran family and Kaname's younger sister and fiance.

Character concept
Hino Matsuri described Yuki as the character who possesses her justice side and that Yuki is the healing and soothing character in the story. Yuki along with Kaname was one of the first characters defined in the story.

Appearance
She was described by the Day Class boys as being small; but one who eats well and is thought of as attractive. Yuki has considerably large brown eyes and the impressive pale skin of a vampire. When she was human, she had shoulder length, light brown hair, Yuki transformed when she re-awakened, her hair growing and possessing a more mature look. She closely resembles her mother, Juri Kuran, so much even Rido Kuran confuses Yuki with her mother.

Personality
Yuki is generally a cheerful and comedic girl. She is considered a poor student because she dislikes studying and falls asleep in class, reason being she stays up all night monitoring the school grounds and night students. She exhibits a strong attachment to her close friends. Her indecisive nature and reticence can be attributed to her insecurity regarding her missing history. As a human, she feared all vampires (because of a vampire that attacked her when she was little) except for Kaname Kuran, because of this fear she rarely left the Cross Academy grounds on her own. Yuki doesn't like to reveal her fears and disguises it with a smile over her face.

Following her re-awakening as a pureblood vampire, Yuki shed the fears she once retained, when a situation asks, she can put in an authoritative face as is expected for a pureblood princess. Yuki's overwhelming fault is the tendency to burden herself with guilt over her ignorance when she learns the sufferings of other characters that they have kept secret. Yuki had never conciously chosen to drink blood from anyone's neck until the 73rd Night where she is shown to lean in to Zero's neck.

Yuki's favorite subject is Physical Education and her favorite foods are the ginger stir fry set and parfaits.

Story background
Yuki was approximately 5 years old when Rido Kuran attacked the Kuran family seeking to take Yuki. To protect her daughter, Juri sacrificed herself to seal Yuki's vampire side and erased her daughter's memory. Yuki's first memory is that of Kaname saving her from a vampire. Yuki grew up as a human in the care of Kaien Cross, who also adopted her. Kaname stayed as a presence in Yuki's life whom she constantly looked forward to seeing and missed leaving, falling in love with him.

Yuki, as a child, had troubled nightmares nightly until Zero Kiryu joined their household and Yuki formed a strong attachment to the boy. Yuki's relationship with Kaname became distant after she witnessed his vampire nature as he fed on a vampire classmate (Ruka) and also as a human, Yuki believed she had no chance with Kaname and began to distance herself from him, but her admiration and longing for him remained and chose to believe that his interest in her was the result of seeing her as a pet or similar.

Vampire-knight-56454.jpg Kiryu
Yuki and Zero became childhood friends after he went to live with Kaien after the massacre by Shizuka on his family. After it is discovered that he is a vampire, Yuki allows him to feed on her even though Zero hates himself for it, giving the two a much stronger bond. Yuki pledges to always be Zero's ally even after they part ways. Zero thinks that pureblood vampires are the worst kind of vampires because they can turn a person on a whim and is disgusted with them. Yuki is stuck in an eternity of suffering because she loves both Zero and Kaname which means her thirst can never be entirely satisfied. After fighting Rido Kuran Zero points bloody rose at Yuki which Kaname was about to kill him for but then just in time Yuki stops him. Before she leaves she tells him why her head is so full of thoughts of Kaname, it's because she loves him and thirsts for his blood. Then Zero tells her that is why he only wants her blood, then he drinks from her and kisses her. Then he backs up and says "The next time we meet I will kill you". Since Yuki knows that Zero cannot live without some thing to go after she says then i will always run away from you.

Kaname Kuran
Kaname has been Yuki's admired savior since he saved her from, what appeared to be a Level E after she lost her memories. Since her awakening, she remembered him as her brother and that they pledged to marry like their parents, however Kaname reveals that he is not actually her brother, but her ancestor born thousands of years earlier.

Sayori Wakaba
Sayori Wakaba is Yuki's best friend and Yuki often calls her Yori-chan. Yori often worries about Yuki and her duties, telling her she needs to rest and jokes about her being a vampire. Yori knows that Zero has feelings for Yuki and ask her about them, but Yuki most of the time has no idea what she's talking about. When Yuki is reawakened as a vampire and vanishes, Yori is worried and tells Yuki that no matter what they will always be best friends.

Hanabusa Aido
Yuki and Aido begin as classmates in the Day and Night Classes, respectively, at Cross Academy, but later, after Yuki is revealed to be a Pureblood vampire, Aido ends up becoming her tutor, companion, and protector attempting to protect Yuki in Kaname's stead. Because of this, the two have become more close than the time Yuki was a human.

Powers
Yuki posseses uncontrolled telekinetic powers, breaking windows on a few occasions when experiencing strong emotions. She possesses the ability of flight using a pair of wings on her back made of blood that resemble butterfly wings. Yuki has the ability to interfere with memory blocking through touch and includes breaking memory spells on herself. Yuki has immortality and the ability to heal from anything with the exception of anti-vampire weapons to her heart or cutting off her head. Yuki is also able to wield anti-vampire weapons both as a human and as a vampire and transforms the Artemis rod into its scythe form, like her mother.

Quotes

 * "It's my duty as a guardian to protect Cross Academy, Day and Night" - Source?
 * "I want to change things and that means I've got to do something." - 58th Night, Pg5 (Chuang Yi ed.)

Trivia

 * Yūki is a combination of yū, meaning "tender" or "kind", and ki, meaning "princess". Interestingly enough another meaning of yūki ( 勇気, yūki) is "courage", whereas Yuki can also mean (雪, yuki) "snow" as well.
 * Officially romanized as "Yuki" in Viz media publications and Chuang yi publications. Fan translations use the accurately use "Yuuki" as the romanji.
 * Yuki's last name, Kurosu is the Japanese pronounciation of the English word "cross." However, kanji has a different meaning, kuro meas "black" and su means "master": "black master."
 * The kanji of her real surname Kuran, is a combination of the old fashioned way of writing ku, meaning "nine," and ran, meaning "orchid": "nine orchids".
 * Kaien Cross knows Yuki's name beforehand. He says to Yuki that Kaname told him that all girls are princesses and thus will name her Yuki and she is Kaien's 'gentle princess.'
 * Yuki's wings are the same wings she is shown to have in the Vampire Knight: Guilty ending.