Yuki Kuran

" For the peace of Cross Academy, for the people she loves, the "tender princess" offers her pure heart."

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, where she is also a member of the Diciplinary Committee, along with Zero. 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.

Character outline
Hino Matsuri described Yuki as the character who possesses her justice side and that Yuki is the healing and soothing character in the story. Her name was given to her by Chairman Cross and it means "gentle princess"

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

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 had a fear of vampires which meant she rarely left the Cross Academy grounds on her own, because of the attack. Yuki doesn't like to reveal her fears and disguises it with a smile over her face. Her favorite food is ginger pork stir fry.

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.

Appearance
She was described by the Day Class boys as being small; but one who eats well and is considered attractive by a few. When she was human, she had shoulder length 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 so that Rido Kuran confuses Yuki with her mother.

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.

Zero 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, giving the two a much stronger bond. Yuki pledges to always be Zero's ally even after they part ways.

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 both her tutor and her companion, attempting to protect Yuki in Kaname's stead.

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.

Name

 * 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". 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 usually use "Yuuki".
 * Kaien 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.'