DAILY ANIME CHARACTER INTRODUTION : ZERO KIRYU OF VAMPIRE KNIGHT

Zero Kiryu (錐生 零, Kiryū Zero) is one of the main characters of Vampire Knight and the only Vampire Hunter/Vampire in the entire series. Zero is Yuki's childhood friend and the only other Cross Academy Guardian. As a Vampire Hunter, Zero wields the Bloody Rose as his main weapon, an anti-vampire gun. 

Appearance

Zero is a tall, lean-built young man with silver hair and lavender eyes, the latter varying in shade from the manga to anime. Zero is a casual dresser, as his clothes are picked out by Yuki, and is usually wearing his school uniform incorrectly with the vest and red tie exposed from under his black jacket. He also wears five silver earrings,three on his left ear cartilage (top) and two on his right (bottom). Zero bears a tattoo, the Hunter's Seal, on the left side of his neck originally used to suppress his vampire side, and later used to tame him. He has grown muscular and taller as the series progresses.
Zero is considered to be attractive by a few girls from the Day Class although his cold nature scares most of them away. Shizuka Hio even stated after meeting him as an adult that he had become very handsome.
He is also considered to look very similar to The Hooded Woman. But currently both her hair and eye color are unknown so it is difficult to determine whether they both have the same. 

Personality

Zero is generally a composed character, though occasionally he can act with coldness and hostility, especially towards Kaname. Zero is a gentle person though appears otherwise. Due to his childhood, he builds barriers around himself rather than opening up to Yuki when they first got to know each other, a trait that is still evident even in the latest chapters of the manga. Yet despite this, he has a kind heart, who longs to protect humans, and will never betray the one he holds dear (Yuki).
As a child, Zero was a quiet and gentle boy, to the limit where Ichiru questioned whether or not he was even capable of being a vampire hunter. However after Shizuka's attack, Zero developed a strong distrust of vampires. Zero is a tsundere character, he sports a scary aura that makes most of the Day Class students wary of him, he can also glare in a way that even Kaname Kuran calls it scary. However, his innate nature is to protect humans, and his cold attitude towards those he loves is likely to push them away and keep everyone at a distance. He also happens to be a stickler for details, as he doesn't consider himself as an adopted son of Kaien's family with Yuki, or holds all the details about how vampires and humans can be similar in their own ways. As told by Ichiru to Kaien, Zero's favorite food is vegetable soup, but also enjoys shio ramen.
Following his full awakening as a vampire, Zero harbors a great disgust towards himself because of his inability to control his hunger and reliance on Yuki. His dismal outlook on his future and fear of what he might do, causes him to give up and he almost kills himself with his anti-vampire gun, the Bloody Rose, but Yuki arrives just in time to stop him. He ignores his hunger to the point of starvation rather than go to Yuki. He tries to help Yuki resolve her own problems and then impresses upon her that its alright for her to burden and use him because she owns him.
Zero is hostile towards the Night Class vampires when they threaten him, however he adopts his standard tsundere attitude when engaging them one on one, retaining a level of civility. Zero expresses a great deal of anger towards Purebloods because of their mechanisms in his life in particular, and because of this, he extends this hostility toward Yuki as well after she turns into a Pureblood vampire. In spite of this, his sense of duty overrides his issues ensuring his reliability and trustworthiness.
A gifted hunter, intelligent, athletic and good-hearted, Zero nevertheless has a difficult time thinking of himself or any vampire as anything but a monster. He struggles both with his desires for blood and lately, his equally strong desire to kill vampires. Because of all this, Zero can be very closed off, and sometimes difficult to understand or be close to, especially since he has a habit of not expressing his true feelings. He hides his true feelings behind a “tsundere” personality. He has a lot of attitude, is not at all impressed or easily controlled by higher class vampires, and carries a positively burning hatred of all Purebloods. He often acts as if he doesn’t care about anything in order to hide all the scars and pain inside him that have nowhere to go. When not about his duties or in class, he can frequently be found in the Cross Academy stables with the fiery horse, White Lily, with whom he seems to share a special affinity. He is also quite a good cook.

History

Zero was born to a prestigious Vampire Hunter's family. Zero, along with his identical twin brother, Ichiru, and Kaito Takamiya, was trained as a vampire hunter by Toga Yagari who frequently looked after the twins when Zero's parents were out hunting. Yagari lost an eye protecting Zero, when the still naive Zero made himself vulnerable to an ex-human vampire when his teacher turned wild and tried attacking Zero due to her Level E state. His teacher had ran away from an aristocrat. This was Zero's first lesson on the danger of seemingly innocent vampires, Zero promises Toga Yagari that he will never regret losing his eye to protect Zero.
Four years ago, Zero and Ichiru found Shizuka Hio sitting in a tree, whom Zero immediately recognized as a vampire and told Ichiru to stay away from her. A few days later Shizuka attacked his family. She bit Zero and killed his parents; Zero passed out believing she had killed his brother as well.
After that attack Zero was taken in by Kaien Cross. Yuki approached him carefully and cared for him although he was cold and hostile at times to her. Zero kept his affection for her to himself due to her loving Kaname Kuran. Zero failed to reveal that he was going to turn into a vampire after Yuki revealed she was afraid of all other vampires. Over the next four years, the two became friends and constant companions, sometimes Zero will act as Yuki's "protector".

Plot

Powers and Abilities

Zero is a highly talented vampire hunter and possesses the standard abilities to sense vampires from a great distance, accelerated healing and in spite of being a vampire, also able to wield anti-vampire weapons. Since he became a vampire, Zero is able to distinguish Purebloods from other vampires and has gained improved healing abilities. Kaname Kuran explains that after he eats Ichiru he would become the world's strongest hunter.
 He then explains that he has the blood of Yuki because she was a Pureblood, Kaname and Shizuka as well. After completing the fragment Zero is able to transform his gun, Bloody Rose into its evolved state,where it literally becomes a part of his body. However the cost is using a high amount of his blood. In the manga and anime, Zero had used Bloody Rose to kill Rido.
Zero's Beast Form made its first appearance in chapter 40 after he drank the blood of the dying Ichiru. It's shadow was seen on the wall. In chapter 82, the beast form is released in a new attack from Bloody Rose when Zero fights Kaname shortly after drinking Sara's blood.

Equipment

• Bloody Rose (gun that he holds behind his school uniform blazer)