Kaname Kuran

Kaname Kuran (玖蘭 枢) is a pureblood vampire, who saved Yuki Cross from an attack by a Level E when she was five years old. Kaname is also a main male protagonist. Prior to his re-awakening, Kaname was the ancestor of the Kuran family. He is born in the year of the Rooster. His height is 184 cm (6'1") and shares a similar appearance with Haruka Kuran.

Personality
He is normally a stoic and authoritative individual, but is very kind, warm, and gentle to Yuki. He is very strict and often imposes discipline in a fierce way, yet he is indulgent to Yuki, even though she tends to put herself in danger. Kaname never hides the fact that he is not interested in anything else but Yuki’s welfare. Every action he makes is towards one goal, and that is Yuki’s happiness. Kaname’s love for his sister cannot be reached beyond the depths of the abysses in the monster world they live in. The brotherly love is only a faint reflection of the intensity of feelings and bliss he feels whenever he is with her. Kaname sacrifices everything for her and this shows how deep his love for her is. He is very determined to have Yuki live for all of eternity by his side and deeply fears losing her as he did for the ten years she spent as a human. He was 13 years old when his family was attacked and Yuki was 5 years old. He seems to frequently plots things in secret making him rather secretive and mysterious.

Background


Kaname is the class president of the Night Class, both feared and respected by the other Night Class students. While he is cold and authoritative towards his contemporaries in the Night Class, he is always kind and sweet to Yuki. Kaname has shown that he cares for Yuki in a romantic sense and that he had fallen for Yuki ever since they were children. He wants to be closer to her, but senses how shy she is about it. Since he adores her, she is reluctantly accepted by the Night Class. He has attempted countless times to expand intimacy with Yuki. He is also Yuki's fiancée and Yuuki knows him as her brother.

As a Pureblood, Kaname is capable of controlling lesser vampires, but he chooses not to exercise his powers, thus earning the respect of the Noble vampires. He shares the Chairman's hopes for peace between vampires and humans. He worked with the Chairman to create the Night Class at Cross Academy and with his presence, allows the Night Class to be kept in check. But the real reason Kaname agreed to attend the academy is so that he can be near Yuki and protect her.

Plot Summary

 * Main Article: Plot Summary for Kaname Kuran

Kaname informs Zero that he only allows Zero's existence by Yuki's side to ensure her safety. He eventually reveals to Yuki that he loves her.

He kills Shizuka Hio, so he could become more powerful to protect Yuki. Kaname offers Yuki the chance to remain by his side, to become his lover and a vampire. He also convinces Zero to drink his blood to stave off insanity, slowing Zero's descent to a Level E vampire.

As Rido's presence becomes threatening, Kaname bites Yuki in order to awaken her vampire nature and feeds her his blood to restore her memories as a Kuran and as his 'sister'. He reveals that he is not Yuki's true brother, but the first king and founder of the Kuran family who had been revived by Rido Kuran. As such, Kaname is unable to kill Rido, his "master", he can only injure him. As a child, Juri and Haruka Kuran raised Kaname as Yuki's brother in place of the son that Rido took, and Yuki and Kaname planned to marry when they were children, following the example of Juri and Haruka who were also brother and sister, but still married.

When Rido is revived, Kaname tries to take Yuki to safety, but she refuses. He goes to the Vampire Council and kills all the summoned members, except Asato Ichijo. Following Zero's threat, Kaname keeps from killing Zero to prevent Yuki from hating him. Kaname takes Yuki to their childhood home and vows to take responsibility for. A year later, Kaname has solidified his leadership of Vampire Society. Kaname accepted Yuki's request to stay by his side in spite of her attachment to Zero, he impressed upon her his attachment to her preferring to be killed than losing her. Rido's remnants now haunt Kaname and he admits to facing an internal conflict of his existence.

Kaname the Ancestor
Kaname is the ancestor of Kuran. Rido stole Juri and Haruka's first child, named Kaname and sacrificed the baby to awaken the ancestor. Rido wanted to awaken the ancestor because he wanted to be the one to tame the beast, through this act, Rido became Kaname's master. Kaname was raised by Juri and Haruka, though they never told Kaname earlier, Haruka was aware he wasn't really their son. The atmosphere that he portrays is very heavy, but the one thing that never changed was that he loves his sister. Like Kaname says in 37th Night to Aido and Kain was that "[Yuki] was born to become my wife".

Trivia

 * Kaname means "hinge" or "door", and the kanji for his last name, Kuran, is a combination of the old fashioned way of writing "ku", meaning "nine" and "orchid".
 * The Kuran Ancestor was named "Kaname" and Juri and Haruka named their son "Kaname" too.

Unanswered questions

 * How did Kaname become Yuki's brother?

Gallery
=See Also=
 * Yuki and Kaname
 * Zero and Kaname
 * Kaname and Takuma
 * Kaname, Yuki, and Zero