Keiko and Shizuru had decided to go up to Genkai's temple to see what the old woman had to say about all of this. She always seemed to know what the four guys were up to, and they honestly wouldn't find any more information besides from here.

When they arrived at the temple they found Yukina sitting with Genkai, almost as if they had been expecting the girls to come to them. Shizuru was the first up the stairs and when she saw that Hiei was nowhere to be found either (you could usually catch a glimpse of him around); she knew they had guessed right.

"So where have they gone?" Shizuru didn't feel any less panicked than before, but she was able to compose herself better now. "When will they come back?"

"I'm not sure, but I don't think it'll be long. Perhaps tonight they'll be back, but who's to say that idiot boy and his friends don't know how to clean up their messes properly." Genkai stood up and went inside where it appeared that Yukina had already prepared tea for all of them. "Well, it wasn't entirely his fault this time though... it appears that Kurama is also to blame for this fiasco."

"So how much do you know? You seem to know a lot more than we do, but then again we know little to nothing." Shizuru ignored her tea and instead lit up a cigarette. "If this is Kurama's problem, then why is it that all four of them are involved?"

The old woman didn't say anything for a moment as she sipped her tea, and she seemed to ponder on whether she should really explain it all to them. But she knew the three of them would be worried about all of them, so it persuaded her to go ahead and catch them up.

"You all fell asleep about two or three days ago, I'm sure you've figured out. The reason why is because there were two demons who sent in some plant spores through the water system and other methods. They're obviously not deadly, just meant to put things to sleep. For a demon the spores will only have an effect for a little over an hour or so, but for humans it is much more potent." She sipped her tea thoughtfully as if there was nothing to worry about the fact someone had actually poisoned the water. "Those four had been in Makai when all of this was occurring so of course they weren't affected, but they found you guys when they returned. This was the demon's chance to strike and of course they attempted it, but apparently it their fight didn't end completely in their favor. That's all I know, you can speak with them when they get back."

"What did that have to do with Kurama or Yusuke?" Keiko asked before Genkai could leave.

"The demons wanted their revenge on Kurama, but someone else who hired them wanted revenge on Yusuke for what he did to Kurama. It's really not as complicated if you just ask them yourselves, so please stop questioning me of things I don't want to reveal."

Genkai got up and left the room, firmly shutting the door behind her the three girls looked at each other. None on them said a word at first, but then Yukina suddenly spoke up. "I feel sort of bad for Kurama... He really has no one to talk to like Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Hiei do."

"Well he has the other guys to support him, so why would you say that?" Keiko didn't seem to quite understand Yukina's point, but Shizuru understood perfectly.

"She means that Yusuke has you, Keiko. Kuwabara has me to talk to and I suppose Hiei has gotten better about talking with Yukina now that she knows they're siblings, but Kurama really doesn't have anyone that close to support him. He has his mother, but she doesn't know anything about his demon side or why he disappears for extended periods of time all the time."

The three of them went quiet as none of them really knew what to say after that.

----

"You had no right to toy with their lives like that..." Kuwabara had never really gone up against an opponent like Yomi, and he was reluctant to do so unless it was necessary. "They probably would be alive if it weren't for you."

"No, they would be alive if it weren't for Kurama and Hiei. After all, no one said Kurama had to kill Asch in such a brutal manner and Hiei didn't have to kill Rai either, the boy had lost and knew it." Yomi smirked as he could see none of them were really buying into what he was saying. "Look Kurama, I only really did this for you but if you can't appreciate my gift then I will gladly take back my offer."

"It was never your decision to make Yomi." Kurama couldn't remember a time he felt more pissed off at Yomi, just knowing two other people (well... demons) had died just for Yomi's sick pleasure. "I'll make sure you regret it."

Hiei, Kuwabara, and Yusuke knew what Kurama had in mind, but they had their own anger at the demon as well. This gave them a reason to fight alongside Kurama, as they knew he wouldn't question their motives.

Hiei was the first to attack Yomi in a blur of strikes and slashes with his sword, but Yomi was able to swiftly dodge the attacks. Kuwabara had tried to surprise him with an attack from behind with his own spirit sword, but the S-class demon was not easily fooled and avoided the blow.

Kurama felt frozen for a minute, as he watched his friends begin the battle he remained in his place. He knew he didn't have time to waste as this was a life or death situation, but he felt he needed to let them know... Whether it was truly for them or just some way to relieve his guilt, Kurama couldn't say for sure, but he liked to hope it was for the right reason.

'I'm sorry... I will avenge your deaths, that is all I can do for you now.' Kurama was about to help his companions when his demon half spoke out to him.

'Not this time Shuichi, it is my fault for these events and I shall be responsible for the consequences.'

Without any time to argue, Youko began to force the human body to transform into his own so he could finish what he had started. The fox let out a deep breath as he watched the other three continue to attack Yomi, and then brought out his own weapon. He wanted to end this battle with the traditional weapon of choice, his rose whip.

The others were somewhat surprised when they saw Youko was there instead of the redhead they were used to seeing clean up the fox demon's messes. Hiei wasn't a stunned as Yusuke and Kuwabara, but that moment gave Yomi to get in a clean hit to send Hiei back a few feet.

"You know this was all your fault Youko. It began with you blinding me and ended with you killing those two imbeciles, and you're all to blame." Yomi smirked as he thought his taunting was successful, but Youko didn't allow it to faze him.

Perhaps if it had been Shuichi Minamino fighting that kind of thing would have made him hesitate, but for Youko he knew there was no time for mercy or regret. Yusuke called for the fox to get out of his way as he was going to use the technique dubbed 'shotgun'. At this same moment, Hiei decided to unleash his dragon upon Yomi completely overwhelming the demon even with his power.

Youko knew the attack wasn't enough to kill Yomi, but he knew the combined power of Hiei and Yusuke would be enough to injure him severely. He launched himself at Yomi as the dust began to settle and wrapped his rose whip around the demon's neck. He fell to his knees as Youko tightened the whip around his neck enough to suffocate him, but didn't kill him quite yet.

"Do not get the idea in your head that I need you to save me, Yomi." Youko stood over Yomi only showing how much of a disadvantage the demon was at.

"Don't flatter yourself Youko... It wasn't entirely for you, I was hoping for this fight to settle the score of you stealing my eyesight. But it seems it has back-fired on me..." Yomi laughed as he felt Youko grow angrier, "Listen fox, I know when I'm beaten, so release me."

"You sacrificed two other lives and you expect me to merciful to you? I think you're mentally unstable Yomi, because when did you ever get the idea that I would leave you alive this time?" Youko smirked as he saw Yomi's expression change ever so slightly, "Goodbye, it's over now for you Yomi."

With a small adjustment of his wrist, the rose whip began to slowly cut into Yomi's neck showing it's strength. The demon didn't fight his death which didn't surprise Youko, Yomi at least knew how to handle his defeat.

Kuwabara chose not to watch and instead turned his attention to the motionless body of Rai. He gently picked up the demon and waited as he heard a sickening thunk. Yusuke had also decided not to watch it happen and had turned away from the display, but Hiei was watching Youko intently.

That's when Hiei figured why he had fallen for Shuichi, the human, rather than Youko. They were both unmatched in their looks, but Shuichi had something Youko had never really had. Even though Hiei considered it what made Kurama weak at times, he knew it was also the reason he loved the redhead.

It was his heart... Something Youko had never been allowed to have, and even Hiei himself lacked it but something about it in Shuichi had drawn Hiei in.

Not long after finishing off Yomi, Youko transformed back into Kurama. The redhead quickly turned away, and went over to Hiei and his friends. "Let's bury Rai and then go home, I can't stand this place any more."

They did bury Rai beside Asch, and immediately left for the only place they could feel at peace. Back with their other friends and family, most blissfully ignorant of what they were constantly up against in the double lives, while others able to understand all of what was happening.

Almost automatically the four went to Genkai's temple first, where they found the old woman standing outside as if waiting for their arrival. She sighed, and the four girls who had been waiting for them to return came out of the room. They were all astonished to see all of the girls awake already, but not too astonished to not enjoy their reunion.

Right after Keiko hugged Yusuke and told him how she had been so worried, she began to scold him. Kuwabara received the same treatment from Shizuru, but Yukina just smiled warmly at Hiei as she knew better than to attempt to hug him.

"I'm glad you're all back safe and well."

Hiei had a small blush as he still had a hard time dealing with Yukina knowing of their relationship to each other. But Kurama elbowed him into saying something, what it was Kurama couldn't be sure since it just came out as some sort of mutter.

After a while Yusuke had offered to take Keiko home which she accepted gratefully, and Kuwabara and Shizuru went off as well. Kurama was heading back to his family himself when Hiei joined him suddenly.

"Shouldn't you stay with Yukina? She must've been really worried about you being gone." Kurama tried to sound as if that was what he really wanted Hiei to do, but it wasn't convincing enough for the demon.

"You're such a stubborn fool Kurama!"

This made Kurama stop and his emerald eyes met Hiei's crimson ones. Hiei pulled on Kurama's shirt to make him come down a bit, just enough so he could steal a kiss from the redhead.

"I know you're going to feel all guilty about everything that's happened, and I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to be alone!"

Kurama touched his lips and smiled, and then suddenly laughed at the earnestness of Hiei's statement.

"I suppose the saying goes... misery loves company, right?" Kurama smiled and stole another kiss from Hiei, "I suppose I'll share mine with you."

----

Sorry to any Yomi fans out there! I wasn't really intending to kill him off in the end, but I suppose that's just how my mind wanted this story to end. Just to make sure everyone does understand this is the final chapter of Misery Loves Company, but I will have you all know this won't be the end of my HieiKurama fics.

After all there might be a sequel to this, probably with a bit more yaoiness in it, but it's only a maybe for now. (Which means that more than likely I will.) Anyways, I hope everyone was satisfied with this ending!

I'll be posting the series as Complete, as it techinically is, but there's still a chance of that bonus chapter. Unfortunately I have quite a bit going on, so the chapter might not come out for a long time... or ever. But I made sure to at least give an ending I thought decent and hopefully you guys thought so as well. So I do apologize if the bonus chapter never does come, but I have a lot of stuff going on and I'm only going to get busier...

Please R & R (for the last time)!

Shari Maxwell