Diclaimer: I don't own the characters or the series. Amano Akira does. I'm just playing with them for a bit.
A/N: Sequel to Blood-stained Feathers, Clipped Wings, and Death of the Skylark; prequel to Falling Sky.
Expectations on the Entertainment Value
Aria wasn't sure how most people imagined an important mafia business meeting, having personally always known just what could be expected to entail, but she was fairly sure it would have been something a bit less noisy and perhaps less strewn with childhood playground taunts. As it was, she found herself stuck in the middle of various hurled insults, thinly veiled threats, and everyone talking on top of each other.
Of course, she had hardly expected much else. The topic at hand was a sensitive one to begin with, and the size of the meeting, with the heads of most of their allied families around the table, didn't exactly make for peaceful negotiations. Not even angels could have possibly kept the noise level down with all the bodyguards and second-in-commands and other kinds of superfluous participants filling the place, adding a whole new level of tension to the already rather fragile peace that were serious business negotiations. She wasn't exactly sure why Cavallone had agreed to host the event, anyway. It would have been much less painful to simply put a gun to his temple and pull the trigger.
Cavallone himself was trying to do some frankly quite hopeless damage control, carefully keeping away from all the brewing disagreements with what seemed to her like the patience of a saint. Only occasionally did he raise his voice, which was a rather bad idea in that this meant half of the people around them didn't even hear him and the rest didn't consider his more or less peaceful comments important enough to listen to. Granted, it was rather admirable of him to make even such a useless attempt at keeping the noise level down. Lesser men had given up in the face of such overwhelming odds.
For all that she was amazed by Cavallone's poor success at keeping his guests in line, though, Aria's attention was occasionally drawn to the man sitting beside him. Not because he was any noisier or more intrusive than the Cavallone boss, but rather to the opposite; out of all the people in the table, herself included, she was fairly sure he was the only one who hadn't as much as said a word. That had to be some sort of an achievement, considering the chaos that surrounded him. Thinking back, she was fairly sure she hadn't caught his name or even position; the various hangers-on were rarely given that much attention, with the great majority of them being rather insignificant to the other participants and indeed the mafia world at large. All she knew as that he had the Cavallone "C" tattooed on the back of his hand, well visible as he leant his chin on his clasped hands, apparently perfectly at peace with his surroundings. She certainly wished she'd had a bodyguard as calm as he was. She'd already had to stop Gamma from getting into three fights at the very least.
With her attention being on the man, for no particular reason beyond the fact he was indeed the only quiet one in a generally rather noisy group, she wasn't entirely surprised as he stood up. Of course, she doubted anyone else was surprised, either, mainly because they didn't pay much attention. How they could miss someone past two metres in height with numerous scars on a face that might have otherwise been called pretty standing right next to you was a topic she wasn't about to approach right now. She even noticed him slipping some form of a ring in his finger.
However, she was indeed fairly surprised as suddenly half the room was bathed in flickering purple flames. Others were just as surprised; it would have been rather impossible to ignore something like that. The flames, though, went away just as quickly as they had arrived as soon as everyone's attention had been successfully diverted. She rather suspected an illusion might have been involved. That was just about the only reason to explain that amount and intensity of flames, anyway. The only one who might have possibly pulled that off was Don Vongola, and, while present, he was just as shocked as everyone else – and his flames were most certainly not of the cloud attribute.
"Now that I have your attention," the man said, taking advantage of the momentary shocked lull instead of letting them go back to their earlier form of, ah, discussion. "Much though everyone here is enjoying themselves, I'm sure, I'm finding it rather hard to believe that all this shouting and screaming is all that beneficial to us reaching a general agreement on, well, anything. Therefore, you'll have to excuse me for stepping in, speaking on behalf of the host." He nodded briefly towards Cavallone. "This was supposed to be a business discussion, not a shouting match, and besides I'm rather sure of the rule of the louder person being more correct in their assertions doesn't count outside primary school recess, anyway. At the very least, in my opinion it should not, and what do you know, at the moment I'm the only one speaking so obviously I am correct."
Aria rather expected someone to speak up now. There were some attempts, certainly, but none really got past the first malformed syllable as they were already shot down by a cool, steely grey gaze. Defeated as they were, the various figures of power in the mafia world sat back in their seats, disgruntled but listening for the time being.
Cavallone, she noticed, was smiling, the sort of smile that was a mixture of relief at a catastrophe averted and amusement at the method used. She just hoped his hopefulness wasn't for nothing.
"As it appears, the number of people here is definitely superfluous," the man continued, his voice still perfectly even and calm. "I count more than twice the number of families supposedly taking part. It hardly appears to me that it is actually necessary to include so many people who are not actually making decisions. Yes, even if you're sleeping with your bodyguard, Don Esposito, or you promised your wife you'd let your son see the actual way people do business, Don Lotito, or you simply don't dare step out of the house without someone holding your hand, Don Romandini."
For what appeared to be simply lucky shots at various randomly picked men, Aria was fairly amused by the amount of reactions the man actually got. All rushed to protest, of course, but it was more akin to the protest of one who doesn't want to admit the truth than simply a man who has been falsely accused. Either this fellow was one Hell of a lucky guesser, not that it would have been very easy to miss the not-so-subtle touches between Esposito and his precious protector, or she really, really wanted to get her hands on his information gathering system.
"I don't believe I was finished." And, to Aria's surprise, everyone indeed quieted down again. It seemed almost miraculous after all the torture her eardrums had gone through over the course of the day. "Most excellent. Now, in the best interests of actually getting these negotiations to move forward, I want most of you to get out. I'm sure you'll find the door. Only those with the full power to make a binding contract for their family are to remain. If anyone chooses to stay, this will be taken as a claim to such power, and any following arguments or statements treated accordingly. And believe me, we will not fail to make use of your precious little grandson's total lack of a business sense if he chooses to remain to bring ruin to your family, Don Quadrelli."
Now, there was more of an uproar. "You can't do that!" protested one of the bosses, shooting up to his feet and leaning over the table. Of course, the image this short and rather chubby fellow made in comparison with the lean, tall danger of this Cavallone man rather failed to strike fear in the heart of, well, anyone. "You cannot possibly demand us to go unprotected!"
"The aim of these negotiations is a peaceful agreement," said the Cavallone aid smoothly. "I doubt anyone here would dare claim that they suspect any of the others of harbouring any ill will towards them. And as for any threats from the outside... are you perhaps suggesting that the might of the Cavallone family is not enough to keep an ally safe on their grounds?" His raised eyebrows mirrored perfectly those of the actual Don Cavallone. Not that the man would ever agree to such a statement. Accusing Cavallone of such incompetence in this situation would have been a suicide, and not in the nice, social, figurative sense. Had the idiot actually answered positively, he wouldn't have left the grounds alive. Dino Cavallone was perhaps an amiable man in general, but he did have his pride, especially in the matter of his family, and you did not just go and insult the third most powerful famiglia simply because you were having a bad day.
After that, the disagreements were somewhat less loud, though there were obviously still some made. It would have been quite a miracle for them to get absolutely anything done peacefully. However, in the end they did mainly filter out, even though some did require quite a number of threats until they did so.
Of course, it would have taken a boss much less intelligent and experienced than Aria to think that this would be it.
"Don Cavallone, I'm afraid I'll have to protest." The man speaking out was one of the older bosses, one of those who thought it was an absolute disgrace for anyone under the age of forty to call themselves a don and even at forty it could only be if they'd honourably killed their predecessor in combat. Aria usually steered clear of him, mainly because of the lingering smell of what she did her best not to recognize as a hint of urine. "You would make us give up on our aides and guardians, yet keep your own?" He indicated the tall Cavallone man who had, after seeing the last reluctant bodyguard out of the room, returned to his previous seat beside his boss.
"Ah, did I forget to introduce you? My, my. Where are my manners?" Dino Cavallone smiled his perfectly friendly smile at them all, reaching out to cover one of his companion's hands with his own. "Everyone, meet my second-in-command and life partner, Kyouya Cavallone. Some of you might also recognize him as the Cloud Guardian of the Vongola Famiglia. While the good laws of this land hardly permit me to marry him quite as bindingly as I might like to, I would like to assure you that he has every right to speak for the Cavallone Famiglia in my stead and, should the situation call for it, indeed enter the family into a binding contract."
"...Wait." Aria wasn't even bothered to remember who the person speaking right now was, one of the less significant bosses, she was sure. She would have remembered him if he had mattered in any kind of a meaningful way. "You mean... this man is... ah..."
"His gay lover, indeed," the scarred man said dryly, though Aria was sure she spied a certain amount of amusement. "Or, if you have trouble wrapping your merry little Catholic head around it, just another Don Cavallone. And unless you're willing to wage war against both us and the Vongola, seeing how Tsunayoshi Sawada has given his full blessing to our union, that's the furthest you're going to think on the issue."
The following silence rather suggested nobody was going to make any further remarks. Aria found herself smirking. Oh, this was much better than he had hoped.
"...Indeed." Dino Cavallone smiled at them all again. "Thank you for that, Kyouya. Now that we are all better acquaintanced and have gotten rid of the distractions, I hope you'll forgive me if I want to continue on the subject of our original topic of discussion..."
Aria wasn't sure how most people imagined an important mafia business meeting, having personally always known just what could be expected to entail. However, sometimes she found it nice to realize that sometimes, even her expectations could be overturned in the most amusing and entertaining ways.
Now this would indeed be a business negotiation to remember.