Summary: A year after Tsuna was born, the Sawada family takes in an orange kitten with sky blue eyes. The kitten is immediately attached to Tsuna and they grow up together. But no one will believe Tsuna when he says that Gio-kun visits his dreams at night as a human to tell him about his life and family. And eventually, he stops believing it as well. Semi-AU. No pairings. One-shot.

SkyGem: Kyaa! I just found out that I'm on the favourites list of 506 members! You have any idea how happy that makes me? So, to show my appreciation, I dedicate this fic to the 506 that added me to their favourites, and the 352 that have me on their alerts!

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

Sawada Iemitsu fumbled as he tried to put his key in the lock, a little distracted by the furry little creature that was struggling in his arms.

Finally, he got the key in and stepped into the warmth of his family's home.

No sooner had he taken off his shoes than Nana poked her head into the hallway.

Seeing her husband, she let out an excited squeal and threw her arms around him, saying, "Okaerinasai!"

Iemitsu gave her a quick peck on the cheek before going on to gush about how much he'd missed her and his Tsu-kun.

He was stopped mid-gush, however, when Nana noticed innocent, periwinkle eyes staring at her from her husband's arms.

Letting out another squeal, she reached out to take the kitten into her arms, asking of her husband, "Where did you get him?"

Letting a goofy grin grace his features, Iemitsu said, "I saw a flyer about him on my way home from the airport and immediately contacted the owner, thinking that he'd be the perfect pet for Tsu-kun."

Rubbing her cheek against the kitten's, she immediately agreed with him and pulled him with her into the living room, where Tsuna was playing with some of his toys.

To say that Iemitsu was shocked would be an understatement.

His son had just woken up, and after gushing for about five minutes after he had greeted him with a "tou-san," he had brought him into the living room where their new kitty was.

When Iemitsu had brought it home the night before, Tsuna had been absolutely ecstatic but this morning, he was, if possible, even more delighted to see the fluffy orange furball.

Eagerly leaning towards the cat, he made grabbing motions, saying, "Gio-ku'! Gio!"

And after he said that, everything seemed to hold still for a moment as Iemitsu stared at the brunet in shock.

Battling down his shock, Iemitsu smiled and tried to say in a light voice, "What was that, Tsu-kun? What did you call the kitty?"

Tsuna beamed up at him, exposing his four pearly-white teeth. Gesturing excitedly at the kitten, he said, "Gio'to! Gio-ku'!"

Again, Iemitsu was completely shocked. Where had Tsuna heard that name? Had Timoteo mentioned it or something when he'd visited? But at this age, Tsuna really shouldn't remember something unless it was repeated a lot, right?

Deciding not to dwell on this too much, Iemitsu just smiled at his eager son, saying, "I guess his name will be Giotto, then."

A four-year-old Tsuna closed his eyes, trying to ignore his stuffy nose and pounding headache as he fell into an uneasy sleep, his faithful companion, Gio-kun, snuggled up beside him.

Eventually, the boy's breathing evened out, and he was in a deep sleep.

In his dreamscape, the boy found himself wandering the halls of a magnificent mansion.

All the people were really nice to him, offering him treats or asking if he needed help getting anywhere.

Politely denying all the offers, Tsuna kept on his way to his destination, finally arriving in front of a large set of elaborately carved double doors.

Gingerly pushing open one of the doors, Tsuna poked his head in to see at young man, probably in his twenties, hunched over a pile of paperwork.

The blond looked up, however, when Tsuna stepped inside, and the boy was greeted with a blinding smile.

After being gestured in, Tsuna wasted no time in running up to the man and making himself comfortable in his lap.

"You must be pretty bored, staying in bed all day, Tsu-kun," said the blond, keeping one arm around the little boy as the other continued signing paperwork.

"Kind of," admitted the small brunet in a quiet voice before going to say, "But it's okay, because I get to spend more time with Gio-kun!"

The older male smiled at this, running a hand through Tsuna's hair.

The child just let out a giggle, saying, "Now I know why Gio-kun likes it so much when I do that to him. It feels nice."

Giotto couldn't help but chuckle at this, replying with, "You do know that you're comparing yourself to a cat, right?"

Tsuna just giggled again before replying, "But Gio-kun's not really a cat, right?"

"True," said Giotto musingly.

And, just like that, Tsuna decided he was bored of this subject, instead saying, "Ne, Gio-kun, we don't have all night! Please tell me a story before I wake?"

"Well, okay, if you insist," agreed Giotto, "what story do you want?"

"Tell me about G-kun! You guys are best friends, ne? Will I find someone like that one day too? And why doesn't he like his real name?"

Eight-year-old Tsuna lounged on the plush red couch in the office of the man he'd seen in his dreams for as long as he could remember.

Swallowing the spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, he looked over at the blond, Giotto, who had the same name as his pet cat.

After chewing his lip for a moment, Tsuna said to the man, "Ne, are you really Gio-kun?"

The blond just looked at him with an odd expression, his eyebrow raised as if to ask, 'what brought this on?'

"Well," he started off slowly, "I was Giotto last time we saw each other, right? So I think I'm probably still Giotto right now, as well."

Shaking his head, Tsuna said, "No, that's not what I mean! I mean, are you really my pet cat Gio-kun? Okaa-san keeps telling me that you're not. She told me that Gio-kun is just a cat, and that you're just a dream, and that there's no connection."

Tsuna didn't notice the quick flash of loneliness that flitted across Giotto's blue eyes when he said this.

"Oh, really now?" he asked, trying to keep his tone light.

"That's right," said Tsuna, his tone matter-of-fact. "She says that my brain made you up, because I love you so much and I wish that you could talk to me."

Giotto seemed to take comfort in the fact that the brunet loved him so much, but was still a little depressed at his words. He had known this was coming; he had known that as Tsuna grew up, he wouldn't believe in him as much as he used to when he was a kid. But that didn't make it hurt any less; it didn't lessen the loneliness in the slightest. In fact, it made him, if possible, even lonelier.

"Well, then," he said, trying to keep his voice even, "I guess you don't want to hear the story of the time Knuckle became the first guardian to make Asari get mad for real?"

His eyes widening, Tsuna frantically nodded his head, saying in an eager voice, "I wanna hear it, I wanna hear it! Please tell me, Gio-kun!"

Giotto smiled amusedly at this, his intelligent, sky blue eyes twinkling merrily, reminding Tsuna so much of a certain orange furball.

Thirteen-year-old Tsuna leaned on Giotto's desk, his elbows propped on the smooth dark wood as he stared curiously at the form that the blond young man was filling out.

"You know," he said in a musing sort of voice, "I never really understood how that worked."

"Well," began the amused voice of the man sitting behind the desk, "I pick up this pen here, and use it to sign my name on this piece of paper and-"

"Not that!" replied Tsuna, laughing. "I meant, how can you be signing documents that have words that I don't even know the meaning of?"

"Well," started Giotto again in the same voice as before, "you are still a teenager. What makes you think you could know words that mafia bosses use in their contracts?"

Tsuna frowned, "Well, even if you are a mafia boss, you're still a figment of my imagination, right? So I should know everything that you know…"

Giotto tried not to flinch at these words, hoping the hurt didn't seep through his cheerful façade. "Then tell me, oh all-knowing one, why is it that you don't already know all the stories that I tell you about my guardians?"

Tsuna merely waved his hand dismissively, saying, "It's probably because my mind just makes them up as you tell them to me."

Giotto smirked, and Tsuna frowned a little as he noticed that it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well then, you have quite the creative mind, oh powerful one."

"I'd have to have, if I could think up someone like you," retorted Tsuna, and felt oddly relieved when the sadness in Giotto's eyes disappeared.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"My real job is to make you a mafia boss."

When Tsuna heard that, the first thought to come into his mind was a certain blue-eyed blond and the stories he'd been told of the arcobaleno, the world's strongest infants.

Quickly shaking that ridiculous thought out of his head, Tsuna opened his mouth to tell the kid to stop kidding around, but what came out instead were two words. "What family?"

The infant just arched an eyebrow questioningly before saying the one word that turned Tsuna's world upside down.

"Vongola."

The brunet blinked once before spinning around on his heel and immediately running out of his room and down into the kitchen, where he knew his pet cat, Giotto, would be sleeping in his basket right about now.

When he got there, though, Tsuna was met by a most terrible sight.

There lay Gio-kun, curled up in a ball like usual, his eyes closed and looking for all the world as if he were sleeping….if it weren't for the fact that he wasn't breathing.

Running up to him, tears in his eyes, Tsuna collapsed to the floor, picking up the orange furred tom in his arms, and feeling his heart break as he realized that his faithful companion was no more.

That night, Tsuna went to sleep early, wanting to see that man again, the man that looked so much like him, the man that had told him all those fantastical stories of the vigilante group turned mafia that was known as the Vongola.

When Tsuna opened his eyes in the foyer of the familiar mansion, though, he felt a cold wind blow through him.

Wondering if this could be an omen, the teen walked through the halls, heading towards the office he spent most of his time in when he was here.

On his way there, though, he was worried to find the halls strangely deserted.

Gone were the kind maids who offered him a treat when they saw him, and neither did he see the cheerful guards that occasionally ran through the mansion, searching frantically for one guardian or another.

Trying to put this thought out of his mind, Tsuna quickened his pace until he arrived at the familiar double doors.

Quickly walking up to them, the brunet didn't hesitate in pushing them open and walking inside.

What he saw there, though, frightened him to no end.

For the first time in his life, that big desk was completely devoid of all paperwork, and the cheerful blond wasn't waiting there to greet him as usual.

Giotto's office, like the rest of the mansion, was completely empty.

Collapsing to the floor, Tsuna allowed the tears to overwhelm him, crying his eyes out.

After that night, he was never able to visit the Vongola mansion in his dreams again, and he never saw his lovable ancestor again either.

Sometimes, though, when he was tossing and turning from the nightmares he saw in his sleep, he would wake up to the feeling of ghostly lips brushing against his clammy skin, and a well-beloved voice whispering comforting words.

And when he woke up in the morning, he wouldn't remember a thing.

SkyGem: Wow. I honestly have no idea where this idea came from, but I think I'm particularly attached to it. Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought, ne? And I can already guess what some of you are going to say. "Please make this into a multi-chap!" And I can totally see why. This does have the potential to be one, but right now, I really don't have the time for that. If some of you want to take this up, though, I'd be totally fine with it! Just let me know beforehand, and send me a link when you're done, ne? Well, that's it for now, thanks so much for reading this and don't forget the review!

P.S. Please vote on my new poll! Lately, I've been really obsessed with wanting to know what the answer to that is for some reason.

P.P.S. I'll try my best to update at least one of my fics before the weekend ends, but I can't be sure!