Kuran family

The Kuran Family was one of the first Pureblood families from the Vampire Knight series created by Matsuri Hino, and is also one of the few Pureblood families remaining in the series.

Currently, the Kuran family consists of Ai Kuran, Ren Kiryu and Kaname Kuran. Deceased members of the family include Yuki Kuran, Juri Kuran, Haruka Kuran and Rido Kuran.

Overall View
The Kuran family are usually friendly and don't misuse their status, with there being only one exception. The family are known to intermarry, more commonly known as incest. Siblings usually marry each other and the chain continues. Nevertheless, there are exceptions to this practise; Rido was engaged to Shizuka Hio, a Pureblood from another family. The Kurans were royalty until three generations ago when the last King of the Kurans, Yuki's grandfather, created the Vampire Council as a system which allowed vampires to continue existing and maintain balance between vampires and humans. The King's wish for peace also lived on in two of the youngest children, who both associated with humans and wished for peace between the races. Following the destruction of said Council by Kaname, Yuki and Kaname took their place in society as Princess and King respectively.

Other vampires respect them and call them "-sama" which is a Japanese honorific that means the one who calls someone like that respects the person very much.

Appearance
The Kurans usually have reddish brown or brown eyes except Rido Kuran who has heterochromia (his right eye was brown, as with most Kuran members, while his left eye was icy-blue). They also have dark brown hair and dress in an old fashioned style, although Kaname and Yuki, who were born recently (compared to other vampires who have lived very long like Juri and Haruka Kuran, who were their parents and lived about 3000 years or more), are seen wearing more modern attire.

History Before the Series
Thousands of years before the series took place, the Kuran family consisted of Rido, Haruka, Juri and their parents. Although the eldest brother, Rido, had a deep infatuation with his sister Juri, she eventually fell in love with and married the younger brother, Haruka. Rido was instead placed into an arranged marriage with Shizuka Hio, although he never married her. The row over his forced arrangement ended in the murder of his parents by his own hands. Juri and Haruka were shown to have a proactive role in their society, though their good intentions were often somewhat frowned upon by their peers, particularly Asato Ichijo. They are also seen to have a friendship with Kaien Cross, who at the time is an active hunter, and the Pureblood Isaya Shoto.

At some point, Juri and Haruka decided to start a family. Kaname was born into the family a few years later, and the new family were visited by Rido. Believing him to be changing the baby for them, they allowed Rido to leave the room. Rido proceeded to kill the baby and sacrifice him in order to resurrect the Ancestor Kaname, whom the baby was named after. Rido did this so he could drink the blood of the Ancestor to gain more power, but he fails and is almost completely destroyed by the Ancestor. As Kaname's body was incomplete, he had to regress his form into that of a newborn baby, and in the process he seals his memories so Haruka and Juri can raise him in place of their real child.

A few years later, when Yuki is born, Kaname forms an instant bond with the infant and feels the need to protect her. As he grows older, his memories also begin to return. Kaname and Yuki shared a close bond as children and promised each other they would always be together. Yuki is kept hidden in windowless rooms within the Manor, her existence unknown to the outside world, so as to keep Rido from finding out and harming her. However, Rido eventually discovers the truth and returns for Yuki. Despite Kaname's offer to help, Haruka fights Rido alone. Unfortunately, he dies after his brother uses a Vampire Hunter's weapon against him. Meanwhile, Juri sacrifices herself to seal Yuki's vampire side and her memories. After completing the sacrifice, Yuki is taken away by Kaname and briefly left on a snowy mountain, where she awakens as a human without memories. A Level E arrives and tries to feed off her, but is quickly stopped by Kaname. Yuki is then taken in and raised by Kaien Cross, while Kaname is put under the care of the Ichijo family for the remainder of his childhood.

Legacy Following the Series
After Kaname throws his heart into the furnace and goes into a state of slumber, his body is encased in ice. Yuki finds out that she is pregnant and gives birth to their child, Ai. After a thousand years it is revealed that a second child, Ren, was born - fathered by Zero Kiryu. Following Zero's death, Yuki sacrifices herself in order to awaken Kaname as a human, giving him a heart in place of his original one, which is too weak to be used for any sort of cure. After Kaname awakens, with only one fragment left of Yuki in his memory, he is taken under the wings of the children and they tell him stories from the thousand years he'd missed. Ai and Kaname serve as the last remaining full-blooded Kurans, despite Kaname's current human status.

Extended Family
Although at some point he was engaged to Shizuka, Rido does not marry her and puts her ex-human lover on the Hunter's execution list. At some point he met the mother of Senri Shiki and the two had some sort of affair, resulting in the birth of Senri and thus making him biologically Yuki's cousin. However, it's evident that this was planned by Rido so he could use Senri as a puppet later on in life. The Official Fanbook indicates that Rido had another son, but it is unclear who this child is.

Name

 * Kuran (玖蘭) is a combination of the old fashioned way of writing ku, meaning nine and ran meaning orchid.

Members

 * Kaname Kuran
 * Rido Kuran
 * Haruka Kuran
 * Juri Kuran
 * Kaname Kuran (II)
 * Yuki Kuran
 * Senri Shiki
 * Ai Kuran
 * Ren Kiryu