QUOTE
My biggest qualm with the Sessho/Kagura relationship is that it doesn't do anything for Kagura. I mean, her whole goal in life is to be "free", and tagging along with Mister Superiority Complex isn't really gonna accomplish that. Sure, I wouldn't mind seeing the two becoming "buddies", but anything beyond a platonic friendship seems like it would just weigh Kagura down. Like she's exchaning her iron chains for gold chains. Might be nicer chains, but they're chains nonetheless.
Then again, it might work out if Sesshoumaru were to retain his annoyingly apathetic demeanor, and just let her do whatever she wants. But then... what's the point in having a relationship, then, if one side pretty much acts like the other side isn't there?
Hmmm, you've got an interesting point there, Patches but I’m going to have to disagree. Still, I don’t mind people challenging my opinions at all; it makes discussions like this much more interesting. Besides, I'm also fond of playing devil's advocate. :evil:
It's certainly true that Kagura's current goal is to be free from Naraku. However, whilst freedom may be her priority at the moment there's still the question of what she's going to do with her freedom once she's earned it.
Now I certainly don't expect her to go rushing into Sesshoumaru's arms once all this is over (provided that Kagura survives, of course). In fact I don’t expect much in the way of fluff at all with these two. A platonic friendship between them is more what I would expect from Takahashi, with maybe a little hint at a chance of something more developing later on, to please us evil, evil Sesshoumaru/Kagura fans - if we're lucky. :evil:
However, I am a self-confessed evil little traditional-pairing whore. I do think that it is possible for a relationship to develop between them, even though it would take time to develop. Yes, both of them would have to learn to compromise somewhat. Neither would be able to get their own way all the time. It certainly wouldn’t be easy for either character. It’s certainly not the kind of pairing that would be easy to write, heck Sesshoumaru with anyone is extremely difficult to write, given his tendency to show all the emotion of your average brick wall. (I have actually come across well-written Sesshoumaru/Kagura fanfiction before, believe it or not, and will provide a link to it if anyone’s interested.)
Despite these difficulties, however, I do think that a Sesshoumaru/Kagura pairing is possible. Since I have a habit of reading into things far too much, I can’t help wondering if freedom is all that Kagura wants. For all her pride, she does seem to be a little lonely sometimes. When looking back at Kagura’s comment in chapter 351 and some of Rin’s comments in earlier chapters, it does seems that she’s more concerned about Sesshoumaru than she wants to admit, just as it seems that he might be more concerned about her than he wants to admit. For all his coldness, he does have a tiny seed of compassion hidden deep down somewhere, why else would he take in Rin?
Then there’s also the fact that Kagura needs Sesshoumaru’s help to kill off Naraku, which means that she’s at least going to have to co-operate with Sesshoumaru in order to get anywhere. This means having to make compromises and put with him, just as he’ll have to put up with her if he wants her help. And of course this sets the seeds for a platonic relationship, if not a romantic one.
I think that if a romantic relationship were to develop between the two then it could only begin to develop after a platonic relationship had been established. Working together to defeat Naraku would require them to learn to at least tolerate each other a little and learn to put up with each other’s differences. In other words, both of them would have to change a little in order to achieve their common goal together. And whilst it wouldn’t be easy for either of them to change enough for a romantic relationship to be possible, it wouldn’t be impossible either (Sesshoumaru’s changed since the beginning of the series.) On the other hand, they wouldn’t need to change completely, either. I think they’d just be more open and tolerant around each other whilst still remaining closed-up around others.
So to cut a long post short, yes, I do think that Sesshoumaru/Kagura would work despite the difficulties, even though a relationship between them would take a long time to develop.
As for alternative pairings, well I’ve not finished reading Soledad yet but I can see where Thunk’s coming from with the Sesshoumaru/Sango pairing, even if it’s not my cup of tea. I’m afraid that most alternative pairings just aren’t, no matter how well they’re written, since to write an alternative pairing well you pretty much have to start from scratch so they don’t really work outside the context of the fanfic. I’m also an OTP type of person in the sense that if I take a liking to a pairing then I really can’t see the characters it involves with anyone else. I don’t hold anything against people who choose to write alternative pairings, however, just as I don’t have a problem with anyone preferring Sesshoumaru to stay single. It’s not an easy thing to do well, so kudos to anyone who has the talent to be able to do so. However, that doesn’t mean that I think canon pairings are easy to write either. (A well-written, believable, IC Inu/Kag fic is sadly a very rare thing indeed.)