Because she grew up and worked as a demon slayer, Sango had a strong sense of responsibility along with a brave heart. Consequently, her personality wavered depending on her feelings. Although she was a compassionate person, she displayed a bit more of a no-nonsense attitude than Kagome.
Sango took great pride in being a demon slayer. Being independent and tough by nature, she did not like people helping her. Sango relied on her advanced fighting skills, never letting an enemy escape once she had her sights on it. She fought aggressively and confronted every enemy bravely. She showed no mercy, and had a very strong sense of obligation towards fulfilling her duties. Sango's fighting will was very strong, and once a fire was lit under her, it was not easily doused. Even if, for example, she was seriously injured, she would continue to advance towards her enemy until she defeated it. She fearlessly battled enemies with no regard for her own life. This was seen when she thought Inuyasha had murdered her family and village; even though she was on the brink of death, she fought valiantly.
Sango had great selfless love towards her younger brother Kohaku. She gave her cowardly brother Kohaku encouragement and continuously showed support towards her brother's decisions. Even when Kohaku was under the influence of Naraku, her unconditional love for him never wavered. She remained positive, believing that someday the real Kohaku would come back to her. In the end, despite going through many trials and errors, her hopes were realized. Sango's love for her brother was seen many times throughout the series. For example, she shielded him from being shot by arrows right after he killed her father and fellow slayers. It was also shown when Naraku attempted to manipulate her into killing her brother at his castle; she refused, loving her brother more than her own life. When Kohaku's Sacred Jewel shard was taken out, Sango was incredibly grief-stricken, sobbing for his loss. Consequently, she was extremely grateful when Kikyō saved her brother's life, despite once hating her.
All of Sango's demon slayer comrades were killed, and her only relative, Kohaku, was under the control of Naraku. After all this tragedy, Sango was consumed with loneliness and despair, resolving to do everything alone and trusting no one. Thankfully, her sadness was healed by the gentleness and kindness of Kagome and her newfound friends. Sango developed a deep sense of fondness and gratitude towards her companions as time passed, because of how they stood by her (even when she betrayed them to save her brother), and gave her hope that Kohaku could still be saved. Since then, Sango's loyalty and devotion towards her closest friends was seen time and time again, feeling protective towards all of them. She finally felt a sense of happiness since the misery she had gone through because of Naraku.
Sango thought each matter through calmly and grasped situations logically. Her words and actions were efficient and accurate, and she always came up with quick solutions. However, once she came to a certain conclusion, she would not doubt or rethink it. One of her faults was dashing into things recklessly. Sango showed great intelligence in battle. In addition to the knowledge of her ancestors, she had experience battling numerous demons. She knew how to dominate a battle by finding a demon's weak points based on their characteristics. Sango always felt love for her brother, responsibility as a sister, and feelings of guilt for her companions. She was usually calm, but when it came to Kohaku she could be distracted and was quick to become emotional. While Kohaku was under control of Naraku, these mixed feelings sometimes manifested themselves as rage towards his actions. Due to her various emotions concerning Kohaku, she had at one point decided to kill her brother and then herself so she could take responsibility for his actions. She couldn't bear to see Kohaku, her kind and fainthearted brother, kill innocent people because of Naraku's evil intentions, knowing that the real Kohaku would never be able to do such things, stating that it "would go against his very soul." She felt responsibility, a brutal love, and gentleness towards him as his sister.
As time passed, Sango developed affection for and eventually fell in love with her companion Miroku. This was ironic, since she believed in pure love and held a great deal of disdain and disrespect towards perverts like the monk. Yet every time she saw him womanizing, she was consumed by jealousy and anger towards his shameless flirting. This was in part due to irritation towards herself for not being able to confess her feelings to him, resulting in a conflicted heart, as well as jealousy. One needs to remember that Sango was a teenager without any experience. Being unfamiliar with romance, Sango had trouble dealing with such love and affection towards and from another person, which proved to be a struggle throughout her relationship with Miroku. This goes for also having a black and white view of certain relationship complications, such as her rather bias anger towards Inuyasha over his love triangle situation with Kagome and Kikyō. In this way, she is similar to Kagome and her feelings towards Inuyasha save Inuyasha spends much of the series pretending he has no affection for Kagome while completely missing any affection Kagome shows him. Miroku, of course, interprets any attention as an invitation to blatantly sexual behavior. While Sango is young, she is no fool, and she does not wish to be what she believes will be just another sexual conquest. She is also interested in romance in her own way. In a famous scene where she became intoxicated she overtly flirted with Inuyasha.
While this is played for comedy, the scene reveals some very important aspects. Miroku became very jealous. While Kagome rants as Sango tried to get Inuyasha to play with her a bit, Miroku did not approach Kagome. He remains upset and focused on Sango. In another scene, when Miroku tries to dismiss his continuous proposals as something he does to every girl he meets since he wishes to preserve his line, Sango irritably mumbles that he had never asked her. Surprised, Miroku immediately propositions her, to which Sango snaps, "Spare me, will you?!". The moment is played for comedy, but the scene reveals some of her feelings and perhaps insecurity. As "match-maker" Kagome lamented in a later scene, Miroku simply does not understand "mood" and does not know how to treat a woman he actually cares about. Thus in yet another scene, which Kagome watches hidden with Inuyasha, things seemed to go smoothly between Sango and Miroku. Kagome, who had previously enthusiastically daydreamed about a wedding between the two, eagerly announces that they had "confessed" their love. However, everytime Sango and Miroku almost goes into a romanatic moment Miroku places his hand on Sango's butt resulting in her violent response. Kagome could only lament that Miroku had no understanding.
Their mutual affection becomes, then, an "open secret" for the rest of the gang who mainly blame Miroku for "hurting" Sango. For his part, Miroku occasionally revealed to them his irritation that they think he does not care for her. He surprised them with his flashes of jealousy and concerns that were clearly beyond simple physical attraction. Over the course of the series Sango moves from interest and jealousy to genuine love for Miroku. However, she remained furious with his behavior. Sango hated his lecherous aspects, often directed at herself and other women, since she believed that he was only physically attracted to her and showed little respect towards her as a person. To give an example, when he consoled her in one scene she was very happy until he took her positive response as license to, once again, rub her butt. She angrily wonders to herself why he could not at least start with her "shoulder" before inflicting painful vengeance. In other words, Sango had affection for Miroku, but she is frustrated that he moves too fast which will always suggest he sees her as an object rather than a person. In another scene, when they sit alone together and he behaves very maturely and respectfully, she takes the opportunity to start rubbing his butt. She explains she wanted to make sure it was him and not Shippō disguised as him.
Thus throughout much of the series, Sango wonders about her feelings towards him, wonders if he actually likes her as oppose to viewing her as just another girl, and he seethes in jealousy whenever he, inevitably, "proposes" to yet another woman. When Miroku finally revealed his true feelings to her in a situation when he expected to die, she came to recognize his sincerity hidden beneath his behavior. In this way, she is like Kagome learning that Inuyasha actually cared for her, despite his attempts to hide it. When Miroku proposed marriage and a potential family life, repeating, very seriously, his trademark request that she bear his children, Sango tearfully accepted without hesitation, even agreeing to have as many as 10 to 20 children, although this was probably an exaggeration. This show her unselfish love for Miroku and her strong will to marry with him. That large amount of children may also serve to reinforce the fact that Sango has great maternal instincts as she show many times towards Kohaku as an older sister. She probably would bear as many children as Miroku wants from her, even without hesitation or complaining, showing how motherly she would be, and wife too.
storyline
History
Sango lived in the village of demon slayers with her father, the village leader, and her younger brother. Sango was taught from a very young age in the ways of demon-slaying. She was 10 when she and her clan were called upon by the Lord of Takeda Castle to slay a bear that was harassing his domain. Her skill caught the eye of the young lord, and he vowed to one day marry her. Sango, unfamiliar to romance, reacted shyly to his advances.
The nekomata Kirara was a long-time ally of the family and became very close to the siblings, especially Sango after her father introduced Kirara into her care as a young girl. She and Kirara learned to fight well together, and developed a strong bond. Her love for her brother was strong. She always helped him with training and loved him dearly. By the age of 16, Sango was one of the best yōkai taijiya in her village, using her weapon the Hiraikotsu with ease.
Yōkai taijiya slaughter
On a day not long after the shattering of the Shikon no Tama, Sango slew a centipede demon at a village that requested the demon slayers' help. She figured out after she had slain the demon that it had drawn on the power of a Sacred Jewel shard; she took the shard, along with some of the corpse, as payment. After arriving back at her home, she rested and talked to her brother Kohaku, who was nervous about his first mission as a demon slayer. She told him not to worry, as their family and friends would be there to help and give him strength.
The village's best demon slayers were summoned to a castle to slay a spider yōkai. When they reached the castle, the demon-possessed Kohaku and forced him to kill all the slayers, including him and Sango's father. Sango quickly searched for a reason behind his irrational behavior, and noticed the spider webs attached to Kohaku leading back to the lord of the castle. From this information, she realized that Kohaku was being controlled by the demon possessing the lord, and Sango attempted to attack him. The guards of the castle promptly killed Kohaku and attacked Sango as well, perceiving her to be dead as well. The young lord of the castle proceeded to slay his father, revealing his suspicions that the lord had been possessed by a demon. He ordered the slaughtered demon slayers to be buried in the castle garden. Not long after, though, Sango pulled herself out of her grave and refused to let herself die. Kagewaki noticed her and tended to her wounds.
Kagewaki's advisor reported to the young lord that the demon slayer village had been destroyed and all the villagers killed. He explained that the one who killed them was the hanyō. Sango overheard this conversation, and declared that she would kill Inuyasha for murdering her family and friends. As part of his nefarious plan, Naraku tricked Sango into attacking Inuyasha, and gave her a Sacred Jewel shard to prevent her from feeling pain. Sango soon located and attacked Inuyasha, but he was able to convince her that Naraku was lying.
When the plot failed, Naraku revived Kohaku in order to manipulate Sango's emotions, and attacked the rest of Inuyasha's group. Sango later joined Inuyasha, the miko Kagome Higurashi, the kitsune Shippō, and the monk Miroku on their quest to defeat Naraku and save her brother. Like the others, Sango vowed to destroy Naraku, although her primary goal was instead to rescue Kohaku from Naraku's influence and save his life.
Naraku's barrier
Naraku had plans to absorb Sesshōmaru. He abducted Rin, as bait, to lure Sesshōmaru to his castle. He lowered his barrier and allowed his scent to escape to lure him in. At the same time, she and her friends began tracking the scent to the castle as well.
As they drew close, Kagome began to sense a Sacred Jewel shard fragment nearby. Inuyasha forged forward as Sango, Kagome, and Miroku investigated the shard. Upon arriving at the shard's location, they were attacked by several of Naraku's demons who were guarding Kohaku and the abducted Rin. As Sango battled several of the demons, Sesshōmaru and Inuyasha arrived after having wounded Naraku and stopped Kohaku from harming Rin. Sesshōmaru left with Rin while Kohaku flew away with Kagura.
Mount Hakurei
Following the Sarugami's clue that Naraku had fled in the direction of the Ox-Tiger, Sango and her companions arrived at Mount Hakurei, a mountain with a purifying barrier so strong, it knocked out weak, evil yōkai and turned a hanyō mortal. After encountering the Shichinintai who were resurrected by Naraku through shards of the sacred jewel, she along with Miroku decide to go deep into Mount Hakurei after Miroku suspected that Naraku is concealing himself in there to recover; only to discover Kagura with a huge number of Naraku's yōkai inside it. When Sango attacked Kagura with her Hiraikotsu, she saw Kohaku standing across her and on a higher level of the mountain; causing her to be unaware of Kagura striking Hiraikotsu back at her, which knocked Sango unconscious. After re-gaining consciousness, she found herself lying below the unconscious Miroku with his right hand unguarded and sees a bunch of Naraku's yōkai on the way to attack them. She realizes he's used his Wind Tunnel in order to save her while carrying her along with Hiraikotsu; which caused him to be poisoned by the poisonous insects thus cries because Miroku has protected her yet again, despite hurting himself more by doing so. Not long after that, Miroku awakes and tells Sango to leave him alone to escape by herself, but she rejects the idea and tells him that she prefers to die together with him; though she forgot what she said after finding out that they were safe and being protected by the mountain's barrier from the group of yōkai. They then proceed and encounter the reanimated Hakushin.
The Most Dangerous Confession
The gang learn from an old man of a village inhabited by women only who have skinned a person, and happen upon a young man named Shinosuke, desperately searching for his fiancée named Wakana. Eventually, they are welcomed by the women in the village, and Sango expressed envy for Shinosuke’s devotion to his fiancée and is frustrated by Miroku who was delighted by a village of women and starts flirting with one girl. While staying in a hut for the night together with Kagome, she blushes as Kagome asked her if anything happened with Miroku while they were alone in Mount Hakurei but denies being in love with such a womanizer whom she describes as irresponsible, a delinquent and a guiltless liar, and the two see him outside with the same girl he tried to flirt with, which upset her. Consequently, later during the night, Sango goes on her own to follow the women leaving the village until reaching a river and is suddenly captured by the women coming out of the river who drag her to a cave underwater, where she is forcefully fed a salamander egg by the village elder. Although the yōkai responsible for the women being manipulated using salamanders that hatched in their stomachs was revealed and destroyed by Inuyasha, the women were still possessed and Sango emerged having become possessed herself. She proved to be a though match for Miroku who made the women spit the salamanders by punching them in their stomachs with sutras, and mercilessly injures him but eventually has the salamander egg out of her.
While alone (although Kagome, Kirara, Shippō and Inuyasha eavesdrop), she apologizes to Miroku who admits it was his lecherous behavior that was the cause then confesses to her that she is very special to him but feels that he can’t love her as a woman. As she was tearfully about to leave, Miroku asks her to live with him and bear his children (10 or maybe 20) if they live through their battle with Naraku and the curse of the Wind Tunnel is broken, to which she happily agrees and asks him to promise not to flirt with other women, but he replied with a nervous silence.
Kohaku and the Endless Demon Rats
While dealing with Princess Abi whom Naraku helped collect human blood to dilute the poison of a venomous demon that her mother Tekkei had ingested in exchange for creating a path to the Border of the Afterlife in which a sacred jewel shard is, Sango finds Kohaku in a castle where he had been charged along with Kanna with guarding the Infant who posed as the newborn of the lord and Lady, and is shocked to see that he killed the castle’s staff under Naraku’s orders to retrieve the Infant because Abi turned against Naraku and attacked the castle, at the suggestion of her mother correctly believing it to have a connection to him. While confronting her brother, she mentions to him that he killed innocents again, which makes him regain his memories, although he is taken away by Kagura before she could realize it and she was unable to follow him. Heartbroken and not wanting him to commit further crimes, she wondered if it was possible to save him.
Later, after returning from the border of the afterlife with the sacred jewel shard that Naraku failed to obtain, a swarm of endless yōkai rats, whom she immediately recognized as Zushinezumi’s and was aware that they multiply if they are cut, were unleashed devouring anything in their path by Hakudōshi for the purpose of luring Kikyō out. Knowing the rats would disappear if the shrine from which they come out is destroyed, she searches for the shrine together with Miroku and Kirara, and after seeing numerous villages devoured by rats on the way, finds Kohaku with the shrine thus believes him to be responsible for this massive slaughter, much to her disappointment. She tries to destroy the shrine but Kohaku closes it and flees with it, for despite having regained his memories unbeknownst to her, he is being watched by Saimyōshō and is resolved to feign remaining loyal to Naraku in order to destroy his heart, which leads to another fight with her brother with a vain attempt to reason with him. But as the rats eventually attack Kohaku, she tries to save him only to be overtaken as well, although Kikyō and Inuyasha quickly destroy the shrine causing all the rats to disappear. As she and her brother wake up injured, she tenderly caresses his cheek, but Kohaku bolts away from her as he was still being watched and she tearfully watches her brother being carried away by Hakudōshi.
While recovering in a hut, she tells Miroku that although Kohaku’s sins can hardly be forgiven, she cannot hate him.
Reforged Hiraikotsu
While worrying about her brother being with Sesshōmaru and Miroku’s health, she and her friends learn of a female demon that has been attacking people and removing their bones from their skins and together with Miroku tries to track her by themselves as Inuyasha couldn’t be of help during the black moon, but the two are eventually led to her hideout as Hiraikotsu made of compressed bones of various demons would be a suitable medicine for her father. Consequently, as she and Miroku were powerless and at the mercy of the bone demons, Sango had to make the harsh decision to sacrifice Hiraikotsu by applying a demon slaying poison onto it that dissolved the giant headed demon as well as she threw the dissolved boomerang onto it.
In order to have Hiraikotsu restored, Myōga brought the gang to Yakurōdokusen who instructs Sango to slay demons within a jar so the poison around her weapon in another jar will turn into medicine or else it will dissolve completely and disappear. Much to her surprise, she realizes that what she faces are the demons that made up Hiraikotsu which made her not willing to fight them and ask them to fight alongside with her, so the demons asked to promise not to use poison again on Hiraikotsu, to which she answered that she can’t swear it for the sake of Miroku and that she doesn't plan to give up her life, which together with Miroku’s decision to drink a poison that would make him not feel pain while using his wind tunnel for Sango’s sake, convince the demons who turn into bones and merge again with a reforged Hiraikotsu.
Shortly after seeing Kohaku with Sesshōmaru’s group while fighting Shishinki, she confronts Naraku who tries to kill Kohaku and take his shard while Sesshōmaru is absent and taunts her saying that only death can save her brother who’s been avoiding her because she reminds him of his past horrific actions, only for her to say that she knew and they won’t die until Kohaku overcomes his pain, and she gets to test the reforged Hiraikotsu and witness its surprising new power to absorb and break demonic aura apart which forces Naraku unable to reform to flee.
Final Battle
Everyone except for Shippō and Kohaku who were ordered to stay behind, confronted Naraku's huge spider body. Since Rin is inside, Sesshōmaru didn't hesitate to enter, with Kagome and Inuyasha going in right after and Sango, Miroku, and Kirara follow after them, but not before Miroku tells Sango, "Once this is over, let's have our wedding". Once inside, they realize that the whole body is completely Naraku, and no matter how many parts of Naraku's flesh they attack, tentacles and clones keep coming back. Eventually, Naraku splits their group up by moving Kagome and Inuyasha to another location.
Sango and Miroku continue, trying to find a way to get deeper into Naraku's body since that's where Kagome sensed the jewel was, and they're caught in an illusion by Naraku that shows the scene of the day Miroku’s father was sucked into the Wind Tunnel; which breaks down Sango crying, not wanting Miroku to share the same fate. Thereafter, they are attacked by tentacles, and Miroku was forced to use his Wind Tunnel to protect her, much to her protests. After his Wind Tunnel whirred but eventually calmed down, Miroku fearing it would tear open at any moment, bids her farewell and distances himself from her to avoid sucking her in as he believes it would be more painful than death. Sango tried to follow on Kirara but cannot find him.
When a small dot of light returns to the corrupted Shikon Jewel following Magatsuhi’s demise, Sango and Kirara follow a fake light cast by Byakuya leading them to an illusion of Naraku holding an unconscious Rin, and for the purpose of puring the light from within the jewel, Naraku taunts Sango into making the harsh decision to throw her Hiraikotsu in hope of saving Miroku at the cost of Rin's life. Fortunately, thanks to Kagome having thrown an arrow that reached and severed Naraku, Byakuya was simultaneously severed, causing his illusion to disappear and Rin to fall just in time to miss being hit by Hiraikotsu, and Kohaku with A-Un save Rin before falling, although Sango was repentant by the fact that she was willing to sacrifice Rin to destroy what turned out to be an illusion, to which Sesshomaru learns upon showing up. Sango tells Sesshomaru that he can kill her if he wants but asks him to wait until after Naraku has been defeated, and everyone heads off to the light as Naraku's body falls apart around them.
As soon as Rin wakes up in Kohaku’s arms and miasma starts pouring into their path, Sango gives the child her protective mask while apologizing to her, then rushes off ahead. Sango finally reaches her comrades, glad to see Miroku is still alive; she hurls Hiraikotsu, breaking through Naraku's shield and seriously wounding him, but Naraku counters by blasting her with a powerful stream of miasma. Both Sango and Kirara fall unconscious through a hole and Miroku jumps in after them. She wakes up upon hearing the sound of Miroku's Wind Tunnel, and while holding her beloved close, asks him to let her die alongside him when the Wind Tunnel would suck him in, which causes the sacred jewel to become pitch black once more, much to Naraku’s expectations. However, Miroku tries to save her and realizes his wind tunnel is becoming quieter due to the damages Naraku received from Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, and the two of them as well as Kirara are saved by Shippo.
As everyone gather and face Naraku, the small light returns to the sacred jewel and Sango receives her mask back from Rin before leaving Naraku’s body. After everyone escape Naraku's body too, Sango watches as the Meidō Zangetsuha sends Naraku's remains to Hell; however, Naraku's head gets to the Bone-Eater's Well before vanishing with the Shikon Jewel. And much to her relief, Miroku discovers the Wind Tunnel in his palm is gone, thus the Wind Tunnel curse has been lifted, which confirms Naraku's death. However, Kagome is suddenly sucked into a Meidō and Inuyasha goes after her in another.
Sango, Shippō, and Miroku often switched roles throughout the days, waiting for the Well and Inuyasha and Kagome to come back. Three days later, the Well reappears with just Inuyasha who tells them Kagome is safe on the other side of the well.
Epilogue
After Naraku's death and Kohaku's rescue, Sango married Miroku and retired as a demon slayer to become a housewife, although it is implied that she continued to maintain her warrior skills as Hiraikotsu and her other equipment are shown in their house. She soon became the mother of three children, first twin daughters named Kin'u and Gyokuto, followed later by a son named Hisui.
Hanyō no Yashahime
Six months later, she briefly emerged from retirement to help fight Ne no Kubi alongside her friends, ironically leaving the otherwise quite active demon slayer Kohaku to babysit her children.
Four years later, she, her children and Kagome came to Rin's home for the birth of the twin hanyō daughters on the night of the lunar eclipse.
Years later when he became old enough, Hisui was trained by Kohaku to be a demon slayer and Sango passed Hiraikotsu onto him. She would later relocate to the old village where she established the Memorial Tower in honor for all the tragic death of her former comrade and father and build a house to make protective masks for Kohaku's demon slayers, and is currently waiting for her husband who has attempted to achieve enlightenment and divine power through one thousand days of intensive training. She continues forging weapons and equipment for her son and the other demon slayers.
As the Degenerate Age comes with the Grim Comet's arrival, Sango comes out of retirement once more, using her new Black Hiraikotsu to slay demons attacking Kaede's village and later to help contain the Grim Butterfly within a quarantine zone that Miroku and Kagome have set up.
