Friends

Miroku is not alone in his quest to defeat Naraku. He has many dependable friends who are helping him in his mission to destroy his kazaana, because this is a Miroku shrine I'm not going to write profiles for all of them. Instead I'll give you a brief overview of Miroku's relationships with his friends.

Inuyasha...

At this point, I the relationship between Miroku and Inuyasha is like that of two brothers. The pair compete, and bicker quite frequently but there is a deep seeded trust between the two, and they are always there to support each other in battle, despite the fact that Miroku takes a back seat in combat more and more often. When Miroku and Inuyasha first met they immediately didn't trust each other, Inuyasha's black-and-white ideas of justice were shaken by our rogue monk's "shades of grey" outlook (And Miroku groping Kagome didn't help). At the beginning, the two are more then willing to go their separate ways, Inuyasha upset because Miroku seems to have caught Kagome’s affection, and Miroku because he doesn’t want to get attached to anyone knowing its more than likely his kazaana will swallow him up, and even potentially take them with him. He tells them he’d rather travel alone and they go their separate ways. Of course, later on, Kagome goes to Miroku for help when Inuyasha has trouble dealing with the hell painter Kotatsu. The trust developed quickly between the two after Miroku proved his value in battle. The trust takes a more permanent form when Miroku and Inuyasha discover they are on a similar quest. Over time, Miroku finds that more and more demons have defenses against his wind tunnel, making him slightly obsolete in battle, however, by this time he is so completely integrated into the group that there is no way he would be removed. Miroku tends to drag Inuyasha into trouble with the ladies, much to the dismay of Inuyasha, Sango and especially Kagome. Miroku has a lot of respect for Inuyasha (even if he doesn't always let on) because of Inuyasha's merciful heart, and courage. Inuyasha also has a respect and friendship for Miroku, he always calls him useless and stupid, but you’ll also notice that Inuyasha is always diving in to save him too. Miroku plays the wise voice of reason with Inuyasha, especially when talk of Inuyasha becoming a full demon is the topic of conversation.

Kagome...

The relationship between Kagome and Miroku is firmly in the category of friendship. They both have relationship hurdles to jump with their respective love interests. (Though, to be fair, Miroku causes his and Kagome’s is Inuyasha himself). Kagome is desperately trying to be the match maker between Miroku and Sango. She can clearly see how much the demon slayer likes Miroku and is just as clearly exasperated by the fact that Miroku either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care about Sango’s feelings. Kagome has her victories and her failures at her match making of course and so she tends to get frustrated with Miroku because he just doesn't seem to understand how to be in a relationship. What Kagome doesn’t understand is why Miroku is constantly pushing Sango away. Despite this frustration, the two get along really well. Miroku and Kagome speak to each other with a high level of respect, Kagome calls him "Miroku-sama" and Miroku calls Kagome "Kagome-sama" this prefix in Japanese is usually reserved for lords, or for people who are highly respected. The formal way of speaking to each other, notwithstanding, Miroku and Kagome are really close and trust each other a lot, they are both the more reserved of their partner in battle. They also tend to stick together during demon attacks, because both have either ranged attacks or not the power to really get into the fray, they usually stand back and either cheer, or pass on advice to Sango and Inuyasha (the ones who are usually properly in combat.) When Miroku and Kagome first met Kagome immediately trusted him, and even after the first groping Kagome still states that she "Thinks that Miroku seemed very trustworthy" Once Inuyasha finally accepts Miroku and the monk joins the group Kagome and Miroku tend to side with each other on things (to the extreme irritation of Inuyasha more often than not) and work together. Kagome and Miroku are both much more deep thinking than Inuyasha is and so this leads to a certain amount of time spent with just the two of them talking. This close relationship slows once Sango enters the picture but the two are still very close, just not in a romantic way.

Shippou...

Miroku is rather like a mentor to Shippou, (even if it often seems like Shippou is more mature then Miroku). Shippou really looks up to the monk, as Miroku is the only real father figure around who doesn’t constantly beat up on him and pick on him. The pair also tend to join forces to be the comic relief, this happens more often before Sango enters, once she joins the group Miroku drifts away from Shippou. The pair will often 'join forces' to play jokes on Inuyasha. Shippou and Miroku are quite close and often consult each other, though, as stated earlier once Sango joins the group Shippou kind of gets shunted to the side. On Shippou's first meeting with Miroku he does what he usually does and agrees with Kagome. He says Miroku looked really reliable and they should have stuck with him. Once Miroku does join the group Shippou often sits on Miroku's shoulder and generally agrees with him. Even though Shippou doesn't understand Miroku's sense of humour or perversion Shippou has a lot of respect for Miroku. I think Shippou's biggest vice with Miroku is that he sees what Miroku doesn't. Shippou notices that Sango gets really sad when he asks random women to bear his child; Shippou doesn't get how Miroku can't see this.

Sango...

The relationship between Miroku and Sango is a complicated one, but mostly like a romantic couple. Sango likes Miroku a lot, despite the fact that she doesn't want to admit her feelings to anyone, least of all herself. Miroku also likes Sango a lot. I think the best time where this is demonstrated is in "Target Sango: Only You" as much as it is obviously paining him he wants Sango to be happy. (However as soon as the threat is gone he goes right back to his old ways...). Miroku does tend to grope Sango a lot, but she's not the type to just let him take advantage of her, she's not afraid the smack him across the face, or whack him with the hiraikotsu (I've always wanted to know why when demons get him with the hiraikotsu they get cut down the center and die, yet when Miroku gets a smack he hardly blinks...). The entire Miroku Sango relationship is not just grope-slap-grope-slap... etc etc. If it was Miroku and Sango wouldn't be together for very long. When Miroku and Sango are alone (or think they're alone 9/10 times Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippou are all in the bushes watching...) Miroku can be sweet and caring (although he *is* known for ruining it at the end) but Miroku is always there for Sango when she needs someone and Sango is there for Miroku. When Sango and Miroku first met Sango was trying to kill Inuyasha because she thinks he distroyed her village, when she discovered that Naraku had killed her village she joined the group. For awhile it seemed that Sango liked Inuyasha more, however, slowly, over time Sango's affections shifted to Miroku.

Hachi...

Hachi has a kind of Master-Servant relationship with Miroku. In this respect Hachi is the servant and Miroku being the master. Miroku tends to treat Hachi as lesser then himself. The pair obviously has a long history together which we will probably never learn about. Miroku trusts Hachi a lot and as far as we can tell Hachi trusts Miroku to some extent. When Miroku is going to get his Kazaana fixed by Mushin he only tells Hachi (who flies him there). Although Hachi is not a major character he does show up whenever Miroku needs help and is very reliable. Even in the (somewhat un-canon) second movie, when Miroku no longer has his kazaana its obvious where the power lies between the pair. No one really knows when these two first met. I like muffins.