Yuki Kuran

Yuuki Cross, or Yuuki Kuran, is the adoptive daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy. Yuuki is a first year student at Cross Academy and is a member of the school's disciplinary committee, which is a Guardian for Cross Academy. In her capacity as a Guardian, she is responsible for the nightly duties of monitoring and protecting the Day Class. Yuuki carries the anti-vampire weapon, the Artemis Rod.

Personality
Yuuki is generally a cheerful and comedic girl. She exhibits a strong attachment to her close friends. Her indecisive nature and reticence can be attributed to her insecurity regarding her missing history. She has a fear of bad vampires which means she rarely leaves the Cross Academy grounds on her own. She is protective over Zero and fears the fact that he might become a level E.

Appearance
Yuuki has brown hair (similar to that of Kaname's) and brown eyes. She has always been short for her age, about five feet tall. As a human she was noted to be underdeveloped. Following her transformation to a vampire, her body has started to mature and her once short hair grew long overnight.

Background
Yuuki was approximately 5 years old when Rido Kuran attacked the Kuran family seeking to take Yuuki. To protect her daughter, Juuri sacrificed herself to seal Yuuki's vampire side and erased her daughter's memory. Yuuki's first memory is that of Kaname saving her from a vampire. Yuuki grew up harboring deep feelings for him and the two had a close relationship.

Yuuki had troubled nightmares nightly until 4 years ago, when Zero Kiryu joined their household and Yuuki formed a strong attachment to the boy. Yuuki's relationship with Kaname became distant after she witnessed his vampire nature as he feed on a vampire classmate and as a human, Yuuki believed she had no chance with Kaname and began to fear him a little, but her admiration for him remained.

Yuuki's best friend is Sayori Wakaba whom Yuuki calls "Yori".

Plot Summary
Following her discovery of Zero's awakened nature as a vampire and his subsequent struggles with blood lust, Yuuki chooses to go against taboo and allows Zero to feed upon her in secret. In order to prevent Zero running away, Yuuki promises that she will be his ally and that she will kill him if he becomes a level E vampire. Yuuki then meets Shizuka Hiou disguised as Maria Kurenai, who offers to allow Zero to drink his blood, thus preventing him from falling to level E, in exchange for either Yuuki's blood or Kaname's life. After dancing with Kaname during the inter-class ball, Yuuki decides that she cannot kill him, and that she will instead let Shizuka have her blood. However, Zero stops Shizuka from biting Yuuki, saying that he does not want Shizuka to take anything away from him.

Troubled by the gap in her memory, Yuuki attempted to ask Kaname to reveal what he knew. Kaname bargained the answer in return for her becoming his lover. Yuuki admitted she loves him and agreed to his proposal, but when she didn't get an answer, she attempted to remember on her own, causing herself waking nightmares, at one point almost suffocating Zero. Kaname then bit Yuuki and re-awakened her as a pureblood vampire and drinking his blood brought back the complete memories of her past. Yuuki was reunited with Kaname as his sister and his betrothed.

Returning to her vampire self, Yuuki exhibited the uncontrolled return of her vampire powers return and physical changes also occurred. Yuuki chose to break her friendship with Zero, aware of the new antagonism between them, however Yuuki retained her friendship with her best friend, Yori. Yuuki began to sense the danger of Rido's revival and Kaname attempted to remove her from danger. Yuuki refused to leave the school, but convinced Kaname to continue his own mission. Yuuki's ignored the Artemis Rod's attempts to reject her vampire nature until finally it morphed into a new weapon as a scythe.

Yuuki finally confronted her uncle, Rido, and almost fell prey to his words. Zero interrupted them by attempting to kill Rido. Yuuki reconfirmed her vow to be Zero's ally despite being called his enemy. Though Zero attempted to remove her from the fight, Yuuki managed to score the killing blow on her uncle. When Zero announced his intention to kill all purebloods, including Yuuki, she decides to defend herself. Both fail to attack and Kaname interrupts their confrontation. Yuuki prevents Kaname and Zero coming to blows and Kaname leaves.

Yuuki confirms she is the same person she has always been and tells Zero that she only desires Kaname's blood. Zero confesses that he only desired her blood, and she allows him to drink her blood again. Zero reiterates his intention to kill Yuuki and she declares she will run from him to give him a reason to continue living.

Yuuki breaks down in despair over the position she is now in as Zero's enemy and she finally realizes Zero's true feelings for her. As she cannot change what she is, she resolves to lock up her pained heart instead. She collects her things including the Resin Rose, finally recalling Kaname's promise. She later thanks Kaname for remembering the promise she forgot. She leaves the Academy with Kaname for an undisclosed location but not before seeing Zero carrying his brother's body.

Later, it is seen that Kaname confesses all his sins to Yuuki. Yuuki overlooks Kaname's deeds saying she loves him even though he thinks himself to be tainted. In a flashback it is seen that Yuuki refuses to use her fangs to drink Kaname's blood even though her thirst for his blood is vast. Since she feels she is not worthy of Kaname she constantly tries to punish herself, such as not allowing him to kiss her. But, Kaname explains that he welcomes anything that she gives him even if its pain. He then tells Yuuki that she should drink his blood as the punishment she wanted from him.

Trivia

 * Her first name Yuuki is a combination of yuu, meaning "tender" or "kind", and ki, meaning "princess".
 * Cross or Kurosu, means "black master."
 * Kuran, is a combination of the old fashioned way of writing ku, meaning "nine" and ran meaning "orchid".
 * As Kaien knows Yuuki's name beforehand, he says to Yuuki that Kaname told him that all girls are princesses and thus will name her Yuuki and she is Kaien's 'gentle princess.'
 * Yuki and Yuuki are completely different as they have different meanings and writing.