Inu Yasha and Kikyo:
Pros: He said he'd protect her, and has actually "chosen" her. She wants him, to take him to hell with her. Also, before she died they were in love. Not many other reasons for them to be good together, though.
Cons: Inu Yasha's in love with Kagome, not Kikyo any longer. She wants to kill him, and he only protects her because he feels that it was his fault that she died. Probably.
Inu Yasha and Kagome:
Pros: Kagome has admitted to herself that she's in love with him. They get jealous over each other, Inu Yasha with much violence and foul language. When they think the other person's dead, which happens a lot, they cry or get really angry depending on the situation. Without Tetsusaiga, Inu Yasha can only hit Sesshoumaru when he's defending Kagome (generally). They have lots of pictures together, which is always a sure sign that they're "meant to be". Inu Yasha occasionally hugs Kagome or puts his arm around her, and she occasionally holds his hand or hugs him. A typical scene with them is chapter 265, in which when Kagome thinks that Inu Yasha is dead, she gives him a hug when he turns out to be alive. He hugs her back. She asks him if he's okay, and he apologizes for making her worry. Even Kouga doesn't try to interfere.
Cons: Kikyo, Kikyo, and oh, did I mention Kikyo? She's a huge problem with this relationship. Inu Yasha obviously feels a great deal of duty and guilt about her, so she's trouble. Kagome might just up and decide that she's tired of Inu Yasha breaking her heart with Kikyo time after time and run off and marry Kouga or something like that. And there's the whole time-travel thing. There's a good chance that Kagome will decide to stay in her time after the Shikon no Tama is completed and never see Inu Yasha again, though I don't think that will happen.
Inu Yasha and Sango:
Pros: They're friends, and they fight together and protect each other. He didn't kill her when he had the chance, and rescued her though she was his enemy at the time. And he encouraged her to stay with the group even after she stole Tetsusaiga. She called his back "so warm" the time he was carrying her. I think that's about it.
Cons: They've never shown anything but platonic affection towards each other, and Inu Yasha's been so preoccupied with Kikyo and Kagome and all the entanglements therein that he's probably never even thought about anyone else.
Inu Yasha and Jakotsu:
Pros: Jakotsu's in love with him. Sort of.
Cons: Inu Yasha doesn't swing that way, for a start. And they try to kill each other. And Naraku's pulling Jakotsu's strings, though I suppose that Naraku's pulling everyone's strings so that's not really that much of a problem. And Inu Yasha's having too much trouble with the whole Kikyo-Kagome thing that he's not even thinking about other girls, let alone psycho undead bishounen. Oh, and did I mention? Jakotsu just died - this time for real.
Kikyo and Naraku:
Pros: Onigumo's heart, inside Naraku, is still in love with Kikyo from when he was still completely human.
Cons: They try to kill each other and refer to each other as "kisama" (which is quite possibly the rudest thing they could call each other; it means "you bastard/bitch" with the connotation of "you lowly worm"). Inu Yasha would not be pleased at anything happening between them. Kikyo told Inu Yasha that she "won't let any man besides you [Inu Yasha] touch a hair on my head". She was actually talking about Naraku specifically, too.
Kagome and Kouga:
Pros: He protects her, and she protects him from a jealous (read: enraged) Inu Yasha. He thinks she's his woman, in other words is in love with her.
Cons: She's in love with Inu Yasha, and has said that "Kouga-kun" is just a friend. Inu Yasha would go absolutely off his rocker at any romantic developments between them, maybe even to the extent of going full-youkai. And an enraged, possessive daiyoukai after you is not a good start to a relationship.
Kagome and Hojo:
Pros: She goes on a date with him occasionally, and he obviously really likes her, even saying that she's the only one for him (puh-leeze). And he obviously thinks she likes him back. He sort of represents the connection to her time.
Cons: Oh, get real. She only goes on dates with him when she's particularly angry with Inu Yasha, and never finishes them because she gets worried that something's happened to her hanyou. She obviously has no feelings for him whatsoever.
Miroku and Sango:
Pros: They help each other out, both in battle and at other times. He always talks to her about the Kohaku mess, and it looks like he's really helping her deal with it. He never asked her to bear his child, as opposed to every single other pretty girl he meets. He said that "More than any other girl, having you worried about me makes me the happiest." She gets jealous over him regularly, and it's her "duty" to whack him over the head with Hiraikotsu whenever he gets lecherous with the village girls. And, in the newest chapters, Miroku and Sango give irrevocable proof that dying is preferable to the other's death, and that dying together is preferable to leaving the other to die. They say it. And that's really all the proof you need unless you want them to turn into Miaka and Tamahome (who, for those who haven't read or watched Fushigi Yuugi, were making out by the third manga volume and promising to stay together forever by the sixth).
Akiko's Note: Later on in the manga Miroku actually proposes to Sango, which of course she agrees to. She also said that she would even bear 20 of his children!
Cons: He gropes her, umm... the curse is a little bit of an obstacle to real emotional entanglement, though that's gonna be nil once they kill Naraku. Come on, there are almost no others.
Miroku and Kagome:
Pros: He said she was beautiful, several times, and asked her to bear his child. She told Inu Yasha not to kill him. They fight together and Miroku has protected Kagome several times, though not as often as he's protected or been protected by Sango or Inu Yasha has protected Kagome.
Cons: They're really just good friends, I think. Plus, Kagome loves Inu Yasha and Miroku most likely loves Sango, so there's practically no chance of them developing a really romantic relationship.
Miroku and Koharu:
Pros: She agreed to bear his child. He gave her a hug, I think twice or thrice.
Cons: She only appears in maybe two chapters of the manga, and is a very minor character. And she didn't even believe him when he told her about the curse. And he doesn't seem to care about her that much: he wanted to get away from her as soon as possible. Plus, did you see how tiny her soul was? She is such a wimp!
Sango and Takeda Kuranosuke:
Pros: He proposed to her and told her he loved her, with "aishiteru" and all. She said she was happy when she heard that.
Cons: Takeda Kuranosuke was invented for the purposes of falling in love with Sango and making Miroku jealous, thereby giving S&M some waffy moments. Ye think I jest? Watch episode 78.
Shippou and Satsuki:
Pros: He protected her, and they really got along well. Everyone teased him about having a crush on her, and he called her his "first love". So CUTE!
Cons: Unfortunately, they're both still little kids, and I'm willing to bet that Shippou's going to be a little kid for a lot more time that Satsuki will. There has to be some aging difference between humans and kitsune.
Shippou and Rin:
Pros: They're about the same age, and both are under the protection of powerful inuyoukai who are, incidentally, mortal enemies. (Sesshoumaru and Inu Yasha.) They'd be kind of cute together, and it would bring Rin into the "family".
Cons: Did they ever actually meet? Plus, do you think Sesshoumaru will ever allow someone from Inu Yasha's group to go after his Rin?
Sesshoumaru and Rin:
Pros: She tried to help him when he was recuperating from one of his fights with Inu Yasha, he resurrected her, let her travel with him, which implies that he wanted her company, and also saved her when she was kidnapped by Naraku. He exposed his back to Jakotsu, risking his life, to save her from Suikotsu. He doesn't let Jaken be mean to her, and Jaken realizes that if anything happened to Rin he'd die for the mistake. The Shichinintai considered Rin to be Sesshoumaru's weak point because he won't let her die. As for the age difference, Sesshoumaru is not going to age like Rin, so by ten years from now she'll be around sixteen or seventeen and he'll look like he is. Then if she finds some way to live forever (and believe me, I can think of a couple) they'll be happy ever after.
Cons: Well, some people think Sesshoumaru and Rin have more of a father-daughter or big brother-little sister relationship. That and Sesshoumaru says that he wouldn't stoop to falling in love with humans like his father and Inu Yasha. But I'm sure that his father and Inu Yasha said the same thing at some point.
Rin and Kohaku:
Pros: She worries about him, and they seem to get along well. He tried not to kill her, and protected her from youkai once or twice. They're both human, and four or five years isn't such a big age difference. It would bring Rin into the Inu-gumi family, sort of.
Cons: I frankly don't think Kohaku's going to live once Naraku is gone, not to mention would Sesshoumaru really stand for the little brother of one of Inu Yasha's companions going after Rin?
Kouga and Kagura:
Pros: He will need someone to console him when the inevitable happens and Kagome and Inu Yasha get together. She wants freedom above all, and he could probably help give it to her. They're both full demons. They would be SO cute together.
Cons: He hates her because she killed a bunch of his fellow wolf-demons, but she was acting under Naraku's orders at the time and didn't have a choice. She is being forced to try to kill him, but then, she's being forced to try to kill everyone. Also, poor Kagura-sama is likely to die at some point in the story.
Sesshoumaru and Kagura:
Pros: She doesn't want to kill him, and actually asked him to kill Naraku and free her. Also, she did comment on what a "pretty man" he is. He theoretically wouldn't mind having a relationship with her because she's a full youkai, and probably quite a high-ranking one as well.
Cons: He turned down her request to free her from Naraku, and doesn't seem to really care about her. Though it's true that the only person he's ever been the slightest bit affectionate towards was Rin, so that doesn't mean that he hates her (Kagura). And I think that it is, unfortunately, likely that Kagura-sama will die at some point in the storyline.
Thank you so much Aya, for writing this all up! You're the best! :)
-Akiko