Be proud! You've earned yourself a bonus chapter for waiting so long for me!

Also, this is the second of two updates! The previous chapter is the real chapter, this is just omakes + badge numbers. :)

-._.-

Badge Numbers

(This will be the only place I post this, so refer back to it if you're confused or curious. Most of them correspond to character numbers anyway.)

Gokudera Hayato: 59

Yamamoto Takeshi: 80

Bovino Lambo: 146 (this one is just. a random number.)

Dokuro Chrome: 96

Sasagawa Ryohei: 33

Rokudo Mukuro: 69

Hibari Kyoya: 18

Sawada Tsunayoshi: 27

Reborn: 1

Skull: 22 (the number of bones in a skull. I thought it was clever.)

Kurokawa Hana: 87

Sasagawa Kyoko: 95

Miura Haru: 86

Byakuran: 100

Irie Shoichi: 51

Fran: 666

-._.-

Flames of hxh charas:

Gon - Sunny Sky

Leorio - Sun

Killua - Electric Cloud

Kurapika - Polarized Storm

-._.-

Omake: Badge Numbers

Beans had handed out badges every year since he was appointed the secretary by Chairman Netero, and he took it as time to analyze applicants, potential hunters. Last year had been pretty disappointing, with scary Hisoka frightening/maiming everyone, but he was sure that this year would be better! It had to be.

There had been very… interesting applicants this time though, he had to say. And it was as if some force was guiding him to give out numbers out of order, for some reason. Sometimes he'd grab the wrong ones, sometimes he'd blink and then there would be people stepping out of the elevator and grabbing badges with the wrong numbers, and sometimes they would breeze past him and pick up the wrong number without his permission. What was with these people? He wanted to cry, or at least throw a minor fit, but he held himself back. It was painful though, he had a system and minor OCD and this was screwing with his head.

Oh, 59 is coming! Someone behind him said, and he whirled around to see nothing there but suspiciously shimmery (and slightly blue…?) air. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He reassured himself that no one was there, and everything was fine.

He blinked, the elevator opened, and somehow he found himself handing the badge 59 to the fourty-second applicant, who possessed silver hair. (Yes, he'd counted.)

Beans gave up and banged his head against the wall.

-._.-

Yamamoto, after realizing he's been born again, has the obligatory my-friends-are-dying freakout and then realizes (much later) that he was born to a ninja clan and that. yeah. This is legit a dream come true.

Like, they have secret sword-making techniques, and use kunai, and climb up trees, and are totally silent except for the awesome sound effects in battle. And he can literally master a ninja sword style.

The look on his face as he realizes that is the "oooOOOH YES SUCH A GOOD IDEA" one that Gokudera named. And then promptly smacked him on the back of the head and yelled loudly in his ear that it was NOT A GOOD IDEA. WOULD YOU TURN YOUR BRAIN OFF BEFORE YOU GET US ALL KILLED. So he makes it his goal to be, like, the best ninja ever, and masters the sword style in record time. And "invents" the Shigure Shouen Ryu.

(and in the back of his mind he's just cackling "hahaha wait until I tell Squalo. He's going to try to kill me for years, but it will be worth it. Sooo worth it.")

He trains hard and is put in an elite squad, not to mention sent out to do missions on his own and has a success rate of like 90%. (Because some people he just can't kill or steal from. They remind him waaay too much of his former family.) Everyone is just bewildered how he can be so happy-go-lucky when he has just about the bloodiest record alive in the clan and every time he wants to say "my Sky" but has to hold himself back and he's like, "it's useless to think about negative, pointless things." and laughs. Nobody sees how his eyes dim a little and he dies a little inside every time. And eventually it reaches a point to where he's legitimately suicidal with no one around him seeing and even trying and he's been holding onto this hope for so long but it's really gone now. But every time he closes his eyes he sees Tsuna and his family and he can't for the life of him commit suicide.

The only thing that brightens his day up is getting reactions out of people with his airheaded attitude. It makes him laugh every time (and also cry a bit inside because some of their reactions are really close to Gokudera territory).

Another ninja clan is getting really close to their borders, so they send Takeshi out on an infiltration mission. He arrives half-dead after training for forever and he breaks his sword on the edges of their territory. They find and rescue him and he makes up a story about being thrown out and betrayed by his clan and wanting revenge at any cost so he joins them.

And then Takeshi just has a lot of fun playing the clans off each other (he hasn't really gotten attached to his clan, his family will always be Vongola). His former clan has no idea why the second clan knows their secret techniques and weaknesses, and the second clan has no idea where their food and weapons keep going. He manages to play the innocent, blameless I'm-trying-so-hard guy /perfectly/. But at the same time, even though he's not gonna commit suicide, it's not like he's attached to this life either. So he's really reckless and almost-suicidal in battle, the way Gokudera used to be.

Hanzo is a part of his former clan, and he grows up in awe at Takeshi. Like a role model. But he's also kinda scared, because he's seen Takeshi murder people invading with a smile on his face.

Eventually Takeshi gets bored with the infiltration and playing ninja and killing people for missions. He's about to just up and leave when Mukuro arrives with news of the Hunter Exam.

And Takeshi trains like never before. He doesn't want to end up behind all the others, he wants to impress Tsuna, he has to kill time before he can see his family. Primo, he misses them so much.

-.-_-.-,

Xanxus and the Varia aren't full-time assassins this time (they still go out on jobs occasionally) but they do own the world's largest, most profitable underground fighting ring. (Aboveground being Heaven's Arena.) And they fight in it as a treat for the audience, occasionally. By no means are they rusty.

Fran isn't there - they can't find him until the Hunter Exam/Tsuna brings him back to them - but Mammon is there. She was born as the extra heir for a mafia family but ran away, resenting the restrictions on her Cloudy nature, and made a name for herself as Viper the information broker. She does that in addition to managing the money and bets in the ring.

-._.-

Fran is born the son of two Zoldyck butlers and he's an odd one right off the bat. Mysterious, deadpan, sociopathic, a very quick learner. Nobody needs to teach him how to kill, to tuck away natural empathy. He has a quiet intelligence in his eyes and picks up Japanese a year and a half into life, very early. Odd things happen around him and he's very quick to insult, but he's skilled and the head Zoldyck butlers and Zeno don't want to get rid of him.

He doesn't have any friends, but he stares at people and the walls a lot. He disappears into the forest for long stretches at a time and as long as he doesn't come back dead they don't ask questions (despite the fact he's always atrociously messy. Somehow he always manages to get that messy in regular training for no discernable reason), they don't try to keep an iron hold on him like they do on all the others. For some reason they don't even think about it. He might just vanish like mist if they tried to box him up.

And then one day he turns fifteen and the next week he finally vanishes. No one is surprised.

(Headcanon: Mists are much more like Clouds than they'd admit.)

-._.-

Omake 2

Something that definitely happened sometime during the exam, somewhere:

Tapping the shoulder of the cheery swordsman of the group, Hisoka smiled. Takeshi turned around with a confused expression and waited for the clown to say something.

"How good are you with that weapon?" he finally asked, pointing to the katana on the Rain's back.

"Hmm?" Takeshi considered. "Pretty good, I hope. I wouldn't be any good as a left hand if I couldn't protect my family, after all!" His hand came up to rub the back of his neck as he laughed.

Hisoka just stared at him, hawk-eyed, for long moments before asking another question. "Would you consider showing me sometime?"

Takeshi showed no sign of the usual discomfort from being asked strange questions by an odd, dangerous man. "Ah? Sure, if you want to, I guess!"

Suddenly Tsuna, ex-mafia boss, appeared between them, slightly out of breath, and he straightened his impeccable tie. "What's going on?" he questioned pleasantly in a carefully measured tone.

"I was just asking our mutual friend of ours was any good with that sharp sword of his," Hisoka explained in a very amused tone with sly eyes. "What do you think of his skill level?"

Tsuna's Intuition was blaring red all over the place. Abort, abort, abort! Dangerous! "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with," Tsuna said evenly, staring into the magician's eyes and issuing a silent challenge.

The golden, pointed eyes of the other man narrowed in amusement and a bit of condescension. Tsuna's gut clenched and his Flames swirled slightly in offence. Thinks you're not a good enough Sky, they seethed. Show him just how powerful you are.

With long practice, he pushed his Sky Instincts back and smiled tightly, turning to his Rain. "You have to stay with me," he said almost petulantly. "I haven't seen you in so long, and you help everyone keep calm."

"So you are important. My compliments," Hisoka interjected, smirking at Takeshi and musing. On purpose, Intuition pointed out. Not helping, Tsuna pointed out. He's antagonizing, Sky Flames hissed. Unreasonably interested in our Element. Can't be innocent. Plans to hurt Rain.

Tsuna couldn't help it, he let out a small growl. "Let's go, Takeshi," Tsuna signaled, managing to sound perfectly pleasant through gritted teeth by some feat of will.

"Takeshi," the magician purred from behind them. "Taaakeshi."

Tsuna's control abruptly broke. He slipped into Dangerous Protective Sky mode. Instead of being blinded by anger, Reborn had trained him so that he slipped into an analytic, precognitive battle mode, whether political, verbal, or physical. It helped that Tsuna's irritation didn't snap into anger all that often. And when it did, things got Intense.

When he snapped into hatred, the world bowed before him.

Luckily, he wasn't quite to that point yet. Another push or two toward more of his and he would be, but now he was just angry. Which wasn't all that trifling, but.

Tsuna whirled around, eyes glowing orange, and was prepared to punch the living daylights out of this Element poacher, Sky or not.

"Kufufu, Tsunayoshi," he was interrupted by Mukuro, who had the gall to reach out and grab his arm from the side, leaning on his trident. "Think about the consequences of your actions."

"I do. I was," Tsuna rolled his eyes. "You know me, Mukuro. I was."

"Precisely because I do, dear Sky," Mukuro retorted. "Often you don't think enough about your own health. Or others of your family, in this case."

Doubted by his own family, now? But Intuition was giving him another vibe. "I. Am." Tsuna repeated his stance. "What are you trying to say, Mist?"

Mukuro narrowed his eyes at the jab at his lesser status but rolled them a moment later. "Let me take care of this, is what I'm saying. He's usually not this aggressive," he said as an aside to the magician. "You must have done something truly horrendous. Then again, stepping on family will do that to people."

Not going to help, Intuition whispered. But it might be very satisfying and entertaining.

Tsuna was taking deep breaths in his mind, trying to push away the instincts of his frantic, furiously churning Flames.

"Not very nice," the Mist continued. "Then again, what can you expect from someone uncultured and wearing homespun clothing. Honestly I'm not sure where you could even get that sort of fabric? Thus my assumption. Your designer really pulled off the head-turning, extremely revolting look. Give them, our mutual friend, a compliment from me." As Mukuro made to walk past, he stopped and whispered in Hisoka's ear, "And you should really find a more fashionable, practical weapon than playing cards. It's like you don't even care about your reputation. Not like they're not indestructible or whatever, but you've got to blow through them so fast. Can you even win at cards without cheating? You don't seem the right type. Honestly this whole... look and acting part is not even edgy, just clashy and unbearable. Strawberry." Mukuro smirked, flipped his hair, and resumed his sashay away.

Hisoka blinked, in shock from such a petty, parallel speech, before he went into a corner and contemplated his life choices and character design.

(Hisoka doesn't care about most people's opinions, but surprisingly enough, the fashion and style buttons are a little tender.)

(Also, Mukuro finds it very satisfying to be the one calling someone else a fruit for once.)

-._.-

Omake Three:

"Hello," Mukuro greeted the Cloud leaning against the wall coolly, smirking and leaning in to blow into a certain skylark's face.

Kyoya tried to look unaffected, but he instinctively flinched away from the breath. Then he decided the pineapple was going to be insufferable about it anyway, so he fanned the polluted air and pushed away the Mist's face. The whole gesture reeked of "ha, I can touch you now," and Mukuro considered whether he'd regret following around Kyoya for a good portion of two years and being as annoying as possible, but he couldn't bring himself to. He had the memories to get him through whatever Kyoya's revenge would be. The only sad thing was that the Cloud was immune to blackmail, since everyone knew that Mukuro haunting Kyoya wasn't far-fetched and they'd seen every reaction so far.

Then Kyoya looked down and something caught his eye. "Hooker boots," he stated, staring.

Mukuro looked down as well and peered over his boots again. They had a truly extravagant amount of buckles, belts, and chains (both thin silver necklace and traditional jail chains) almost covering the entire surface. "Ah, yes," he preened. "One of my better ideas. They're truly beautiful, are they not?" Tilting them this way and that, the Mist prattled on about his wonderful new accessory. "They make a delightful, attention-grabbing jingle wherever I go, so that I have the proper amount of attention, and they're mid-thigh length, plus surprisingly comfortable and effective armor."

As soon as Mukuro finished his speech, Kyoya burst into dark little chuckles that sounded amused. Bloodily cruel, amused, mocking, and deriding. "Hardly subtle," Kyoya noted after his chuckling had subsided, unimpressed. Mukuro was also unimpressed. He'd put a lot of effort into choosing and perfecting the boots, not to mention learning to stroll in them just the right way!

"I'm not subtle, darling," Mukuro refuted with a lazy smirk, recovering from the insulting laughter of the Cloud quickly and reaching down and clinking some chains together. "That's Chrome's thing. I'm hardly that type of Mist. I love flashy and dramatic, you know this."

Kyoya stared back with an expression that said "all too well." "Don't call me darling," he settled for saying.

"Of course, darling," the Mist purred, his smirk only growing at the hard slap across the face from a tonfa that earned him. "I live to serve." He pivoted on his heel and finger-waved back at the Cloud as he strode away, conjuring a few sparkles around him.

Kyoya just let out a few more chuckles and observed the rest of the exhausted but content and newly enthused pack. Deeming them safe, he slid his eyes shut to relish the moments of peace he had now.

-._.-

So I find myself burdened with many KHR/HxH crossover ideas and a very sparsely populated crossover category. I had so many ideas that I could fashion a HxH/KHR week! What do you think? If I posted the (pretty specific) prompts on ao3 or my Tumblr (under the same name as the ffnet username), would you be interested in following the week to see what content gets produced or even participating in it? Let me know!

Go check out my other stuff! Family, Love (and sometimes letting go) is a pet project of mine, based on Nana having a family she could rely on, and in turn being a much better mother and teaching Tsuna more about love and family. Unfortunately, it's been a flop, not gotten much attention. But the family feels are in that story are very similar to the ones here, and I explore Nana and Iemitsu's relationship and how it came to be, especially with a Nana with more sense about relationships and what she wants in a family. Sonder is like this, though a bit more tragic, and Gilded Sky is a K/KHR crossover based on the idea of someone else noticing Tsuna's potential and training him in a better environment. There are more stories coming.

There were a lot of amusing things this chapter, so let me know what you liked best, and especially if something made you laugh! Mukuro with hooker boots is an old headcanon of mine, and I planned to incorporate it into the story from early on. Unfortunately, when Mukuro was introduced in ch 3, Tsuna was more focused on his family coming back together and hadn't the mental space to notice the hooker boots. Sadly. He'll notice later.

Remember the review and writing offer!

And, guys. Thank you so much! Without you, I never would have continued this fic, published anything else, or known what a joy it is to be a writer. Your feedback means so much to me it's not even funny. And I almost cried seeing how many favorites and follows this story has gotten over time. Really truly, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Y'all are amazing.

~OperaEagle IcelynLacelett