"Ideas pull the trigger, but instinct loads the gun." - Don Marquis
Tsuna did his best not to shuffle his feet. It had been a half a year already since he inherited the role of the 10th boss of the Vongola family. He had yet to get used to the large and mostly empty rooms that took up the vast space of the Vongola manner where he now resided. Pale orange eyes stared down the long oak table and to the dark wood doors that lead to the hall.
Thin fingers fiddled with the large ring that rested on his middle finger. The tinkling of the chain that connected the main ring to the one around his pinky sounded softly through the massive room. Today was to be the first of many meetings that will be held by him in this room. But it seems that the planned meeting will have to be delayed.
Tsuna's dull orange eyes flashed as his intuition rang warning. The heavy doors slammed against the wall and Tsuna's head tipped to the side. The bullet that had been aimed at his head brushed passed him, and into the wall behind him. He stared calmly at the large group of men dressed in dark suits much like his own flooded the room and blocked all the other doors in the room.
There was a moment of silence as the lone Vongola boss stared down the group of intruders. Shifting his stance so his hands were lazily resting in his suit pockets, his shoulders lifted higher as he straightened his back.
"Well then Vongola scum, got anything to say before we gun you down like you did to my men last week?" The thick-set man stood in front of him on the other side of the table. Tsuna recognized the man from one of the many pictures in the file he had been reading earlier today. He would recognize that poorly done handlebar mustache anywhere.
This man was the head of a small mafia family known as the Torcia Blu that had recently started in Chieri. The family had grown fast surprisingly and they had started to spread and gain territory in Turin. Turin had been under the protection of the Vongola for decades so when they had started trouble, the men from Vongola stationed there had acted without relaying back to him. They had gone off on their own and gunned down a dozen of the Torcia Blu men.
The meeting that was going to be held today was going to be about that exact incident. He had hoped that he could work out a treaty for the Torcia Blu so that they could have a free range of Turin if they kept a low profile. But it looks like the Torcia had pulled the trigger before he could sign the page.
"I can promise you, that there is a perfectly good explanation for what happened. If you would lower your guns we can sit and talk about this peacefully." He hoped they could see reason to this. But knowing the cruel world of the Mafia he doubted it, but at least he had tried.
"Your words mean nothing to me." His thick accented voice paused as he spat on the table that stood between them. "When you slowly bleed out, remember it is you who gave the word first, la sporcizia. Gun him down." A snarl ingrained itself in the thick folds of fat on the man's face.
Tsuna closed his eyes and released a deep sigh through his nose. The sounds of guns clicking filled the room. An orange flame on his head flickered to life, as the kind and caring man was replaced with a quiet and calculating mafia boss. Blazing orange eyes revealed themselves from behind his eyelids. "Have it your way then, but there is no going back from here." He warned, pulling his hands from his pockets, revealing his X-gloves lit and ready.
"You can't do anything now, Si pezzo di merda. Shot the fool already men." The chubby man growled and pulled out his own gun from under his pinstriped suit jacket. Turning off the safety and pointing it straight between the Vongola's eyes "Besides what are you going to do you miserable little man, you have no one but yourself with two dozen guns pointed at you. You don't scare me, you make me laugh." A sick grin stretched across his face as he pulled the trigger with a loud bang. The bullet flew through the air and right into the light that hung on the wall, causing the glass bulb to shatter. The Torcia boss blinked in surprise to find his target gone.
"You should have accepted my offer when you had the choice." Dread filled the short man's body at the voice that sounded behind him. Slowly he turned his head to gaze into the calm orange eyes. "Vi prego di scusarmi Torcia."