In the world of heroes and villains, there are many grey areas of life where the lines of good and evil are determined by laws made by flawed human beings. Servants owned by households in Japan were not considered people, only property to be used and thrown out, but this was not considered evil. In the early days of quirks servants began to be born with powers of their own and rose up against their former masters. There was a revolution, it lasted only a few days, but many people died, both servants and masters. Japan law deemed that only one "homestead slave" could belong to a property to decrease their numbers in case a second revolution began. This caused an effect to take place where only the most wealthy of families could afford a servant of their own, Katsuki Midoriya's family was just such one of those properties.

Appearances were everything to Izuku and Bakugo's parents. Their mother was immensely proud of Katsuki for having such an amazing quirk and was quick to show him off to anyone who would listen. Their father would insist he go to every extra hero training camp and activity he could find despite his child being so young. Although Izuku was quirk-less, they treated him more kindly than they did their more important son. They were quick to baby and spoil him, perhaps because they didn't see the need for him to develop any further as a person, so they were fine with his tantrums.

When Izuku and Katsuki were 5 they went with their parents to choose a homestead slave. The government had placed many restrictions on where homestead slave children could come from, so there weren't many places to purchase these servants anymore, in fact, in Japan there were only two markets left. This was the day Mrs. Midoriya had dreamed of, she would pick the finest servant the market had to offer, maybe her servant would paint as their skill, or perhaps dance for entertainment. Since her husband was promoted in their company their social standing had increased and furs were not enough to show the world how rich she was, a nice homestead slave was the only thing she cared for!

"Mother" asked Izuku "Can I pick which servant we get? I was a tall one to play basketball with!"

Their father, a quiet man of few words leaned in "We are not getting you a playmate, we need someone to keep the house clean and look after your bother when he's done with his trainings." Izuku wanted to argue more, but once father said how something was going to be, there was no point in trying to get your way. Instead, he focused on pestering his mother who was much more likely to give in to his pouting and stomping.

Katsuki watched the exchange between his twin brother and father with little interest. He didn't care what kind of servant they got, although he only a child, the only thing he cared about was training. He kept his hands in his pockets and focused on looking more mature than his brother, he didn't want to be compared to Izuku's childishness.

The slaver's market was a lush and fancy mansion where you could only get in to see the human goods by appointment. Katsuki's quirk was still developing, but the constant training in their backyard was beginning to take its toll on their shrubberies. Their mother didn't work but made it clear that her job was not to clean a yard like a commoner but to be a proper wife by going to town and showing off what a perfect family they had. And so, the Midoriya's made an appointment and decided to use their new wealth to purchase a homestead servant to handle the cooking, cleaning and keep the house presentable to the high-class guests the Midoriya's had decided they were going to start entertaining.

As they approached the building that sold people instead of goods or services and large man stepped out to greet them. Katsuki immediately disliked the potbellied man. His foppish outfit looked like it was straight out of one Izuku's dumb cartoons. He had a black and white suit, white gloves, a tall black hat and white gloves covering hands that seemed too small for his large frame. Katsuki snorted and looked away.

The man was fidgety and hyper, he practically tripped over himself to get the Midoriya's. "Welcome, we've been looking forward to your visit!" He was flanked on either side by pretty girl's in long plain blue dresses. The kept bowed and stayed a step behind the man at all times. Katsuki felt they looked less like people and more like decorations. They followed the bumbling man while he bounced back and forth between his parents talking about various servants that he kept without ever lifting their eyes from the ground. They disgusted him, they looked like adults, but they would get no respect from the child. As they worked their way inside Katsuki decided he didn't want one of these pitiful creatures in his house.

Izuku thought man and his followers were quite funny. "My facility focuses very heavily on a slave's special skill" he was telling Izuku's mother while rubbing his small hands together. Izuku didn't have the attention span to listen to the man and so spent his time trying to get under one of the girls and force them to look at him. No matter how much he tried he just couldn't get them to make eye contact with him. He just couldn't wait to have a homestead servant of his very own to play with.

As they were led into the rather large mansion, the round man bounced all over the place causing his retainers to rush about trying to stay perfectly one pace behind and to the sides of their master. When the doors opened two rows of servants were lined up to greet the family that may be purchasing them. All the women on the left were in the same plain dresses as the fat man's personal valet and the men were all in plain black suits. There were about thirty or so slaves of various ages ranging from teenagers to the elderly. All of them were perfectly bowed with the hands on their sides. Katsuki hated looking at them, he wanted to yell at them for being so weak. He found himself looking anywhere other than the homestead slaves bowing to him. He glanced over at his parents but were busy lifting up the arm of one of the younger male servants, and that only made him angrier. He didn't bother to look at his brother, Izuku got on his nerves no matter what he was doing.

A sudden thud and a small squeak caught Katsuki's attention, after a moment of searching he found the source of the noise. A small girl no older than the young brothers had been peaking from a side room at the buying spectacle and had fallen on her face. Katsuki could tell by her dress that she was servant in training. His father had told him that servants came in as unwanted children and put through rigorous training to become homestead slaves able to be sold off once they were teenagers or older. The girl struggled to her feet seeming almost dizzy from her fall. Nobody else seemed to notice the interloper yet. Katsuki was already losing interest in the girl, but then she suddenly bolted to her feet and threw herself against the wall. The look on her face as she stared wide eyed at the fat man told Katsuki that she was definitely not allowed to be out in the main hall. He didn't think any of the homestead slaves had enough life left in them to break the rules. She ducked quickly back into the room she came from, her long black hair trailing behind her.

"Asuga is of the highest quality we have here, I just can't come down on her price at all I'm afraid" the round man was saying to Katsuki's father. "Surely we can negotiate some on the matter, this is fourth 'highest quality' stock you've shown us so far." his father responded. The two men were deeply engaged in their talks and so Katsuki used this opportunity to slip away and follow the girl.

He didn't know what made him chase after the small girl, but despite his nonchalance at the world he was still had a childlike curiosity to him, and he couldn't resist meeting the servant girl who was willing to break the rules. He snuck in past the crowd and into the small room.

"What were you thinking child?!" Harshly whispered a very old woman to the girl, she was wearing the same plain dress as the rest of the servants, but Katsuki felt she looked like the oldest grandmother he had ever seen. "You normally behave so well, why would risk a beating just to see a few strangers?" She was saying.

Katsuki was finally able to view the young girl better and her face made him flush. Her eyes, looking sadly up at the old woman were large and almond shaped, they carried more sadness in them than a child's eyes ever should. The proportions of her face gave Katsuki the impression of royalty rather than servitude, her skin so pale it looked like satin. Her hair was so dark it almost seemed metallic and flowed neatly down to her knees. He unconsciously reached out to touch it when the two women finally noticed the boy in the room with them.

"Young master! I do apologize! Please, forgive us for disturbing you." The elderly woman bowed so low Katsuki thought her old frame may break from the exertion. Her willingness to bow to someone only a fraction of her age once again reminding Katsuki of his anger.

The girl's eye grew wide in wonder looking at the boy and she leaned in to get a better look at his face. She stared so intently and innocently that Katsuki had no choice but to look away, his cheeks reddening. The older woman quickly grabbed the girl's head and forced her into a bow, but her eyes stayed up, locked on Katsuki. He didn't like seeing the curious girl bent over like that. "Wanna play? I'm bored." The words rushed out of mouth a flimsy excuse to get the women separated from each other.

The older woman looked mortified by Katsuki's proposition. "Young Master, no, it is not appropriate, she is here to serve. Again, I apologize on her behalf!".

Small explosions began to unconsciously pop from his clenched fist causing the woman to take a step back in terror. Secretly the boy enjoyed the power his small quirk gave him. Most adults let him have his way when his explosions started going off, not realizing he could do no real harm with them yet. The girl let out a small "ooh" and her eyes grew only wider. 'Weird' Katsuki thought, she didn't seem intimidated, only ever more curious. This made him want to play with her more.

"If she's a servant and I'm a master" he said, sizing up the situation "then, can't I demand she play with me?"

The elderly woman was perplexed by his question, her beady eyes darting around looking for an escape from the boy's logic. She stammered out a few words before bowing deeply again, her joints creaking with effort. She gave one last look at the girl, almost as if saying sorry with her eyes and ran off leaving the children on their own.

"What's your name?" Katsuki asked, now excited for the chance to see what kind of girl this servant was.

The girl suddenly remembered her station and threw her hands to her sides in respect. "Hiromi" she answered quickly, now trying to stare blankly ahead instead of directly at the boy. Katsuki laughed out loud and her failed attempt to look proper, she reminded him a soldier getting reprimanded by a superior like in the movies.

She looked confused by his laugh, but the hint of a smile snuck through for just a moment. "C'mon, I was serious, I wanna play with you." He reached out a grabbed her hand pulling her along. For a second she resisted, but when he turned a locked eyes with her, a big toothy grin took over her face and she ran alongside him, letting him lead her around the room.

They chased each other around the room for quite some time, being careful not to laugh too loud and draw attention to themselves. They climbed over the lavish chairs and under the large wooden table in the center of the room. They didn't say a single word to each other, each child understanding the fun was in the chase. Katsuki didn't get to play like a child often. His parents let Izuku play wherever and whenever he wanted, but for their gifted child, it was round the clock tutors and training. At preschool, the other children followed Katsuki as if he were an idol, but they didn't dare play with him like an equal, they knew their places as extras in his life. This girl however was playing normally with him, even after seeing his awesome quirk and despite that was literally a slave to be bought. How funny, he thought, the irony not lost to young but intelligent boy.

Katsuki didn't want their private play session to ever end, but a voice interrupted their play. "Whoa! A girl!" Katsuki recognized his twin brothers voice right away.

Izuku skipped into the room and without hesitation ran straight up to the girl and put his face in hers. "Wow, you're pretty! Are you a homestead servant too? What's your name? Do you work here or are you for sale? What's it like living in this big house, because our house is big, but it's nothing like this place!" Questions spewed out of the excited child faster than the poor girl could keep up with.

Katsuki didn't want to share Hiromi's attention, after all, they were having a good time alone and Izuku got to play around all the time and didn't deserve to take away the one moment of childhood his brother has been able to enjoy. Hiromi seemed overwhelmed by the boy's line of questioning but stood silent waiting for the barrage to come to an end.

"Go away loser" Katsuki interrupted, "Nobody wants you here! Go back with Mom and Dad."

Izuku didn't turn away from the girl whose hair he was now playing with causing her to stiffen up and stare straight ahead again "Don't wanna, they've been out there arguing about prices the whole time. Ya know, I don't think we're rich enough to buy a servant, but I really want one, they seem like fun." Izuku circled the girl examining every inch of her like a living doll he wasn't sure how to play with yet. "Where did you find her and how do you make her talk?! I wanna play with her too, what's her name?"

"Hiromi" the girl repeated for the second time. She smiled gently at Izuku then bowed politely, keeping her eyes on the ground. Her hair was so long it swept the floor and Izuku laughed, never had he seen such a pretty girl do something so silly. He grabbed her canopy of hair and ducked under it to look up at the girl and squealed in delight at her shock at suddenly having a face under hers.

Katsuki had seen enough of his brother's amusement at Hiromi's expense. He clenched his fist and sparks began to explode in the air around him, he stomped over ready to hit his brother when door to the room flew open and all eyes turned the fat owner of the slave market.