Takuma Ichijo

Takuma Ichijo (一条 拓麻, Ichijōu Takuma) was the vice-president of the Night Class in Cross Academy. He is an Aristocrat vampire and is good friends with Kaname Kuran, whom he is close to and respects.

Character Concept

 * Ichijou can mean a ray or streak. The kanji for Takuma is a combination of taku meaning to cultivate, and ma, which is the kanji for asa, meaning hemp or flax a plant with blue flowers.

Appearance
He is tall, lean-built, thin with a slight pale complexion, bright green eyes, and blonde hair. His hair is a few shades lighter than Hanabusa's and is slightly neater. Ichijo often dresses in his Night Class uniform and, if not, dresses casually like Kaname. Like all vampires, he is described as being quite attractive.

Personality
Takuma appears very un-vampire like with his cheerful, enthusiastic, and caring demeanor whether it be towards humans or vampires, while capable of being deadly and determined when the situation requires. His constant smile and upbeat attitude, even in dark or painful situations sometimes make it difficult to tell what he’s really thinking or feeling.

Kaname grew up in his house and as a result Ichijo understands and is more comfortable with him than most other vampires. He seems to understand the burden that being a Pureblood can be, and is not particularly reverent or afraid of them. Takuma is also clever at mentioning the flaws or negativites of Kaname's character or decisions without getting him angry and is the only one who can name Kaname without honorifics.

In school he took his roommate, Shiki Senri,under his wing and looked after him, becoming quite close to both Senri and Rima Toya as a result. He is very loyal to his friends and will protect and stand up for them no matter what. Although Takuma usually possesses a carefree attitude, it can be shown that he understands complicated scenarios with an air of maturity, though occasionally showing an immature side.

Takuma's hobbies are reading (manga, mysteries, dictionaries), playing rakugo, and performing tea ceremony. Takuma is a master when it comes to tea, something that both Kaname Kuran and Sara Shirabuki seem to like. He likes his rose tea with rose jam.

Background
The Ichijo family is the one of the highest families of the vampire aristocrats below the Pureblood families. Takuma's father is an actor and his mother is the head of a flower arranging (ikebana) school. It is most likely that Takuma was raised by his grandfather, Asato Ichijo (The Head of the Vampire Council), who educated him and has high expectations of him. Asato appeared to have ambitions of marrying him to a member of the Shirabuki family.

Plot Summary
His grandfather asks him to spy on Kaname, but he refuses out of loyalty and attempts to break free of his grandfather's mold. Takuma attempts to protect the possessed Senri Shiki, forced to go against Kaname in order to protect all his friends. Following Shiki's freedom from Rido's possession, Takuma has rejoined Kaname's side, where he appears in time to stop Kaname from killing his grandfather and instead insists on being allowed to handle the is sue. It is strongly hinted at that Takuma intends to end his life along with his grandfather, saying "Together, let us put an end to the Ichijo line." But it is revealed that he never got his wish, as he was discovered unconscious afterward by Sara Shirabuki, one of the only known Pureblood vampires, who said that she always wanted "to have" Takuma, as though he were simply a doll or a toy. He is currently in the hands of Sara Shirabuki, who is torturing him to extract information about Kaname.

After the one year time-skip, he seems to be living with her and is quite healthy physically. But as time progresses, he starts to lose his luster. The smiling, cheerful Takuma that was shown in the beginning is now a lot more serious and stern. He seems to be more distressed as he sees the terrible things that Sara is doing. It seems that she is using his name and face to control 'The Ichijo Group' in the background to get what she wants. He also sees that she is keeping humans locked away, forcing them to agree to let her turn them into vampires. He vows to stop her as soon as he gets the chance. While it can be speculated that while their relationship was all right in the beginning of the year time skip, the more he sees of her cruel behavior, the more he distresses and wants to leave. It can also be speculated that she has used her Pureblood control to keep him where he is or tell him what to do.

Sara Shirabuki
Takuma seems to have become quite close to Sara Shirabuki during the one year time-skip, although the nature of their relationship is still unknown. Despite the fact that Sara likes to treat him as her personal slave, Takuma comes to her defense when Rima Toya and Senri Shiki ask if she has abused him. Interestingly enough, Shiki wonders if he has fallen in love with her, which Rima thinks is foolishness, Shiki does acknowledge the fact that she has him wrapped around her finger, in contrast to Rima, whose first thought was that Takuma was being controlled by some Pureblood power.

Sara treats Takuma with disdain and is mildly abusive toward him, punishing him when he talks to Yuki too much about Sara's doings and she force fed him her blood to maintain control over him.

Kaname Kuran
Takuma and Kaname spent ten years together as constant companions after Kaname's parents died. Since Kaname got Yuki back, Takuma has kept his distance.

Senri Shiki
Takuma and Senri are very close friends and were roommates at Cross Academy. Sometimes, Senri rests his head on Takuma's shoulder while he reads his manga.

Powers
Like all other Aristocrat vampires, Ichijo has accelerated healing (though this ability has not yet been shown from him). His vampire power is to disintegrate matter to a molecular level, which is to break up the form of an object. He is also very talented with the katana sword, showing swordsmanship.