The annual Winter Hero Gala was an event for the top heroes of the country and their families. Mainly, it was a way to get the press to gush over the heroes again. It was also a way to see if any of the heroes' children were soulmates. There were some of the children that were all for the attention, then there were others than would have rather been anywhere else.

"Dad~," A groan was heard across the front lawn of the fancy venue as a large man was walking up towards the building. "I don't wanna go." the small girl's voice was grumbling from said man's giant bicep with his forearm wrapped up and over her small form.

"Now, Kaiya, we've talked about this," The man sighed. He was used to this from her by now, and truthfully, he didn't want to attend either. As the number one hero, though, it was expected of him to attend. "We will only be here for a little while, then I will take you out for ice cream. How about that?"

Kaiya lit up excitedly before trying to play it off nonchalantly. "I mean…ice cream is cool."

The man chuckled, vibrant blue eyes shifting up to meet her matching pair. " Very cool, now, can I trust you to not run away?"

The girl sighed in an attempt to keep up her nonchalant attitude, yet her small grin defied her tone. "…I guess ."

Her dad gently placed her back on her feet, straightening out the simple yet cute light blue dress she was wearing as well as her wavy blonde hair. His outfit contrasted hers, an eye-catching, bright yellow suit that only he could pull off.

As soon as they entered, heroes and press alike were all over the man. She was used to this behavior – her dad was All Might after all – but that didn't mean that they paid her any of that attention.

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Kaiya POV

Squeezing my way through the crowd, I seated myself at the table that had my father's name listed on fancy little cards placed on equally fancy placemats.

Shortly after, I was joined by a heavily pregnant, quiet woman with white hair and a young girl with the same white hair – though hers seemed to have small streaks of crimson spotting through it.

I was happy to have their company and smiled brightly as I introduced myself. "Hello! I'm Kaiya. It's very nice to meet you!"

The woman offered a small smile. "It is nice to meet you, too, Kaiya," The woman motioned to the shy girl beside her, "This is my daughter Fuyumi, and I am Rei Todoroki." The woman observed me for a moment before speaking again, "You are All Might's daughter aren't you? How old are you?"

"Oh, well…yeah, I am." I felt awkward about the conversation topic because I really didn't enjoy the fame that my dad brought along with his hero title. "And I'm nine."

"You are a bit small for your age, I had thought you were younger," the woman chuckled the tiniest bit, before turning to her daughter. "Fuyumi is seven. I also have two boys," She looked around before her eyes landed on two boys – one with slightly messy, crimson hair and a smaller one with spikey white hair – that stood by a large man with short, spikey, crimson hair, "with their father. Natsuo is four, and Toya is ten."

Not being too great with my filter for my mouth or my facial expressions, I gaped. "You have three already, and are expecting another?!"

At this, the woman actually laughed, though it was still subdued. "Actually, I am expecting two more any day now. The doctors have said I have a boy and a girl."

"You're really brave," I blurted, still looking at her wide-eyed, while Fuyumi giggled.

Moments later, we were interrupted by Mr. Todoroki's growling voice as he thrust a sad-looking small boy into a chair beside his wife. "I can't manage this boy right now. Where is Toya?"

Mrs. Todoroki gained a worried expression as she glanced around. "I thought he was there with you and Natsuo?"

Her husband groaned lowly, but I spoke up before he got a chance. "I can look for him…if you want. My dad will be busy," I glanced at him while he spoke animatedly with people. "for a while, I guess. What does Toya look like?"

The large man inspected me with a gaze that was almost a glare. "Crimson hair."

I blinked dully before turning to Mrs. Todoroki. "What does he look like?" I asked, completely ignoring her husband which led to a heavier glare.

"He has crimson hair and turquoise eyes like his father. He was wearing a white button-up shirt and black slacks." She responded, though her worried eyes were flickering back and forth from her husband to me while he glared down at me. As she finished her description, she bowed her head slightly. "Thank you, Kaiya."

I took that chance to stand and wander around looking for a crimson-haired boy. Sadly, I didn't have luck with finding him, and even after the dinner, he hadn't shown up. Speaking of the dinner, it was seriously awkward. Dad kept trying to make small talk with Mr. Todoroki, which only gained snippy responses, while Mrs. Todoroki was mostly silent other than monitoring her two children that were present.

After what felt like forever, the Gala was finally over. We finally went to leave, and apparently, the eldest Todoroki child decided to join his family after we walked away. I looked back when I heard the angry growls of the father and saw a boy that seemed to be ignoring everything being said to him.

"That family is pretty interesting," I mumbled, making my dad sputter a laugh and then clear his throat to recover from it.

"You are not wrong, Kaiya."

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Around six months later, I was walking up the pathway to a huge traditional Japanese house. Mrs. Todoroki had given birth to her twins, and despite my constant pestering of my dad, we were only able to visit them now, five months after they were born. I had insisted on bringing gifts for the babies, too, so I was really excited.

Once we reached their door, dad knocked while I happily swayed side to side beside him as we waited. After a moment, Mrs. Todoroki answered the door, smiling her tiny smile when she greeted us.

"Hello All Might, what a nice surprise."

Dad gave her his 5000-watt smile, "Hello Mrs. Todoroki! Congratulations on the two additions! Kaiya has been insistent on coming to give them gifts ever since we heard about their birth."

At his comment, Mrs. Todoroki's smile was warmly directed at me. "Well, thank you. Here, come in and have a seat."

We took our shoes off just inside the door and dad thanked her as she led us into their living room before she traveled down the hall, presumably to the nursery. Dad sat on the couch, and he placed the gift he had carried onto the coffee table. I, on the other hand, was too excited and couldn't find it in myself to sit down.

"Kaiya?" at the small voice, we both looked over to see Fuyumi peaking around the corner.

"Ah, Fuyumi!" I chirped happily. "Hello! We heard your baby brother and sister were born, and I just had to make sure they each got a good gift."

A shy blush drifted across her face. "Mom said you could follow me to the twin's room. Shoto is napping though."

Happily following the younger girl, we were led down the hall Mrs. Todoroki had gone down, walking past a few doors on either side of the hallway. Noticing one was partially open, I couldn't help but glance in as we passed. A quick look in the room revealed a pretty plain space, but as my eyes drifted across the bed, I happened to spot the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. A tiny gasp escaped my lips as everything around me seemed to vanish.

Unfortunately, this led to me stumbling over my own feet, and squeaking as I toppled towards the floor.

With my dad behind me, though, he saw my stumble and caught me before I collided with the floor. "Are you alright, Kaiya?"

I blinked down at the floor and nodded. Dad pulled me up to standing, only for all of us to flinch when the door I had looked through suddenly slammed shut.

My eyes darted over to the door then over to the little Todoroki girl. "Who's in that room?"

Her sad gaze had me worried that she might not answer, but after another second of silence, she quietly said, "That's Toya's room. He talks to me a little and plays with Natsuo some. He's…not very sociable sometimes, though, especially right now."

She had continued walking down the hall as she spoke, trying to avoid her seemingly angry brother. "Ever since the twins were born, he's been pretty angry."

Moving on from that heavy situation, we finally reached the twins' room at the end of the hall on the right, the door already open for us. There were two cribs, one on the left side of the room and another on the right. The one on the left must have been the little girl's from the pastel pink bedding, as well as the fact that a small crimson and white-haired baby lay sleeping in the bed on the right with the light blue bedding.

"Kaiya," Mrs. Todoroki's voice drew my attention to her as she sat in a rocking chair beside the window, "Would you like to meet Yukime?"

Momentarily forgetting the strange moment I had before tripping, I beamed at her, "Very much so, yes!" I walked over to the woman and looked down at the tiny, crimson-haired girl that was wrapped up in a blanket. My heart melted into mush as I reached out to offer my finger to the baby that was staring at me with curious grey eyes while she drank milk from her bottle. Her tiny hand left the side of the bottle to wrap around my finger only to drag it over to her cheek, sighing contentedly.

My chin wobbled and I looked up to my dad. "I think she likes me!" The two adults chuckled, and Fuyumi smiled before going back to tending to the blanket that Shoto had kicked off of himself.

A loud slamming noise broke the quiet of the room causing Yukime to startle slightly, but Shoto woke up, crying loudly. Sliding my finger away from the tiny girl's grip – which she immediately returned to the side of the bottle – I joined Fuyumi.

"Can I hold him?" I asked Mrs. Todoroki who nodded, though her smile was strained for some reason.

Just as I went to pull Shoto up from his crib, Mr. Todoroki stormed into the room. "What did you do to him?" he demanded with a glare.

Dad was instantly defending me. "She didn't do anything, Endeavor. Kaiya was simply trying to console the young boy."

Unfortunately, the man's glare didn't waver, and the air was tense until Fuyumi noticed something on my left hand.

"Um…Kaiya, did you hurt your hand when you tripped earlier?" she asked with concern as she gently lifted Shoto into her arms to quiet him.

"Huh?" I looked down at my hands confused. "I don't think I did?" Lifting my left hand, I inspected the strange-looking, blackish-blue ring around my left ring finger.

Since my hand was in full view of Mrs. Todoroki, she was able to notice her daughter and my conversation, as well as see what I was inspecting. She gasped in shock, knowing what was going on, unlike us two.

"All Might!" The two men broke their glare-fight to look at the woman who was smiling brighter than Endeavor had seen her smile in a long time. "She's been around her soulmate!"

My dad shifted his large body behind me and squatted to my level to see what Mrs. Todoroki was talking about.

"Your brat better not have bonded with my infant son, All Might." Endeavor growled with a new level of anger that had me cowering away from him and looking up at my dad.

"It wasn't like that this morning, dad." I began to fear the reaction from the adults in the room if I had 'bonded' – whatever that meant – with a baby. "What does 'bonded' mean?"

Endeavor rolled his eyes before speaking to dad again, though he sounded kind of mocking. "You haven't even talked to her about those ridiculous things, have you?"

Mrs. Todoroki was the one to answer me, though. "Most people develop one grey ring around their ring finger when they are born. Some even split into multiple as they get older. These rings gain color when they are around their soulmate or soulmates, and when two soulmates make eye contact they have a reaction."

"A-a reaction?" I asked as my mind floundered in an attempt to think straight. This is a lot of information for a kid to take in, after all.

"Yes," the older woman nodded with a small, reassuring smile.

"A…reaction…" My eyes drifted to the floor as I tried to catch up to the situation, then suddenly I gasped, remembering those eyes that were so beautiful, yet so cold. "I-I think I know what you mean. It's like…like no one else is around, r-right?" My eyes darted to my right slightly.

Endeavor's eyes trailed to where I was staring in a daze, then looked back at his wife. "Toya."

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Toya POV

I had spent the first half of the day begging dad to train me. Of course, he had refused… again.

I glared at the punching bag that was across from me in my room.

Ever since mom told us that she was going to have another baby, dad had started to ignore me again. No matter what I do…it's never good enough. It really didn't help when they found out it was actually twins. I know he's thinking one of these new kids was going to be his stupid 'perfect creation'.

Dragging my hands over my face in frustration, I happened to hear some voices in the hall. 'Must be another groveling idiot,' I thought as I watched through the small space between my door and the frame.

Fuyumi passed first, sparing me a glance and a tiny smile, which I've gotten used to. What I didn't expect was to see another girl that looked closer to my age, maybe. I had barely noticed her long, bright blonde hair before I was drowning in her electric-blue eyes.

I felt like staring into those eyes forever, but I was quickly snapped out of it when the idiot girl stumbled on her own feet and fell. On instinct, I shot up – despite the ache in my sides and arms that were bandaged up from my 'training' yesterday – and had made it halfway across the room when I noticed a large person had reacted before I had.

My eyes widened as I took in the small view I had of the one and only All Might as he spoke, "Are you alright, Kaiya?"

A sudden wave of excitement hit me when I realized what just happened, looking down at the now sunshine yellow ring on my finger, only for reality to come crashing into me like a brick wall.

Now I'll have a use…but not the one I wanted. He'll still see me as weak, he won't train me, I'm just a tool for a quirk marriage when he finds out.

A quiet growl of frustration slipped before I slammed my door shut. "I can't even have my soulmate…" the words whispered into my room hurt me like nothing else my old man had ever said.

About thirty minutes later I heard their footsteps as they passed back by, and I could feel her eyes through the door for a moment. I couldn't hold back a groan when I let my head fall into my hands.

What really didn't help was when the one person I had always wanted to look at me finally was. He slammed the door open and he was looking at me like I held potential…

I hated it.

"Get up," He growled at me as I glared at him. An outsider would think he was angry with me, and well, they'd only be partially right. I could tell by the way he stood in the doorway, his hand not attempting to melt my doorknob, the slight light in his fucking eyes…he was finally happy with me…

I hate him.

My anger was slightly triggering my quirk, which I was thankful for as it evaporated any traitorous tears that built in my eyes. This is all unbelievable.

"Now boy!"

Flinching at his neglected use of my name, I stormed out of the room. Mom was waiting just outside, offering one of her pitying smiles, "Your soulmate, Toya. Isn't this exciting?"

My glare at her was weaker because I knew how much this meant to her, she never did get to meet her own soulmate. Stuffing my hands in my pockets and not caring that the bandages on my forearms were clearly visible, I led the way into the living room. Forcing myself to not look up was easier said than done, so I simply stood off to the side, waiting for this to be over with.

Mom sat on the empty couch, and my old man moved to stand behind her. His fixated gaze quickly turned into a heated glare as he watched me just stand there.

Mom could feel his anger, though, and spoke up before it could escalate too much. "Well…I think introductions would be a good start." Her hope that I would be the one to kick off this stupid conversation was extinguished when my emotionless eyes met hers then slid in the opposite direction of the blonde girl.

"I-I guess I'll start, then," A quiet voice broke the silence, "I'm Kaiya, I'm ten, and I would…I would like to be friends with you!"

I hadn't noticed that my eyes had drifted over to her until she was done speaking. I couldn't believe how naïve this girl was, and snorted. "What they wanted you to say was your quirk, and how happy you'll be to be in a quirk marriage."

"Toya!" My mom gasped, appalled at my words, as my old man growled dangerously.

All Might stood, bringing the girl with him. "I can see now is not the best time. We can talk later, Rei." His eyes met mine and I couldn't hold back a small flinch. He wasn't even angry at me, though I definitely deserved it. His eyes shone with pity and disappointment, and fuck did that second one hurt. What hurt even worse was the small smile my soulmate offered as she passed me.

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