After months of living in Hueco Mundo, Momo was used to the daily schedule. She was only sad about two things. The fact that Aizen would leave on trips for long periods of time, and the other reason was that she was missing her grandma and Toushiro. She hoped that they were doing fine and that the money paid for her adoption into Aizen's family was enough to cover all the medical expenses. At first, when she had become aware of her 'talents' or rather abilities as Dr. Mayuri called them, she had been terrified. However, now she was more confident and tried to keep up with Shirayuki and the others.
There were around ten children. Five of them were still very young, around the age of four, while the rest were around the age of eight like Momo. They all had different abilities and their training was specialised. Shirayuki was the most talented of all, and then there was Kira and then Momo. There were two from their age group who weren't able to cope so well and were often sick and thus separated from them. Even though Momo felt a strong bond with Kira and Shirayuki, she ften felt jealous every time that Aizen came to visit and paid more attention to Shirayuki since she was the high achiever of the group. Aizen was nice to all of them; however he would always spend more time training with Shirayuki. She had the ability to manipulate the water particles in the environment surrounding her, even within other people's bodies. She could also heal herself and others; she was an excellent martial artist and wielded her favourite weapon, the sword as if she was dancing.
Momo worked harder every day to get closer to Shirayuki's capabilities. However the gap was too big. Momo's abilities consisted more of a defensive type. Predominantly, she could block and absorb attacks, transferring the energy she absorbed into bursts of energy. Kira could channel electrical currents and he could deal psychic attacks which would block his opponent's ability to process anything mentally for a short period of time, thus leaving him paralysed and defenceless for a while.
On one particular night, Momo was woken up by rough shaking. As she opened her eyes she noticed Shirayuki who was bathed in moonlight. Her face was paler than usual and looked drawn with concern.
"Get up!" she ordered as she pulled Hinamori out of the bed and threw some clothes at her. Momo was barely dressed when Shirayuki pulled her behind her and out of the room while motioning for her to be quiet. They picked up Kira from his room, where he was waiting impatiently and then they followed Shirayuki silently out of the dormitory. The latter ordered Kira to short-circuit the cameras viewing the corridor and then she picked the lock of the main door of the dormitory. They hid in the shadows and ran towards the lobby. Momo was worried, but she couldn't understand what they were doing. Shirayuki told them to wait before they entered the lobby and she moved forward alone. The guards looked at her in surprise and she killed them instantly. She formed long thin needles of ice from the moisture in the atmosphere and shot them at their vital organs.
She whispered at Kira and asked him to give her some information. "You know the other kids who've been getting sick? It's because of the treatment they give us to keep in control. It reacts negatively with the treatment they are giving us to enhance our psychic powers. The other children from our age group have collapsed tonight. Shirayuki spied them being taken to the basement level for experiments. They won't ever come back up. No one ever does!"
As soon as she cleared the coast, she called the others and they raced out of the facility. They sprinted towards the stables where Shirayuki had already saddled up the horses and they mounted them quickly, galloping off the facility's grounds. However their escape was stopped soon as they reached the wall surrounding the perimeter. There at the gate, they found Mayuri, Nemu and Neliel waiting for them.
"Hmmm… that was very fast and impressive. I'm actually proud of you!" The doctor chuckled loudly as Lady Neliel stared at the kids sternly.
"If I may guess, I'd say that Shirayuki is the mastermind behind this bravado. Am I right?" Shirayuki frowned as her pupils dilated and she launched an attack on the doctor. However, she fell on the ground. Hinamori gasped in fear as she saw blood trickling out of her friend's nose and ears. Suddenly Kira charged his horse forward as a burst of lightning formed at his palms. However, this attack also died as soon as it had formed. He fell off his horse, twitching and thrashing in pain on the ground. Momo was frozen in fear and astonishment as Neliel pulled her off her horse and threw her down. Mayuri pocketed a small remote controller and then hit her across the face, throwing her off balance. Nemu took the horses' lead and took them back to the stables whilst Neliel picked Kira and Shirayuki up, slinging both children on each of her shoulders as if they were a an empty sack. Mayuri pulled Hinamori from the collar of her shirt and dragged her back inside the facility. He then locked her in her room and left her there for three whole days without food. She had only some water and she could only cry and worry about her friends.
On the fourth day, the door opened, but Momo was too exhausted to look up. Someone came in and picked her up gently. It was Aizen and he held a cup of water to her lips. Momo started crying again and he held her tightly. After she had eaten some food and took a bath, Aizen asked her about the attempted escape.
"Why Hinamori? Are you unhappy? Do you need something else?"
"No… I didn't even realise what was happening… I'm so sorry."
Aizen could only frown at her. After a number of quiet minutes, he got up and asked her to pack up. She was going with him to his City.
Momo wiped the steam off the bathroom mirror before she started brushing her teeth. She shook her head to clear it of the unwanted memories. What had happened to those kids? What had happened to change Shirayuki so much over the years? She looked just like a dead doll. She recalled that even Kira had been different when he had rejoined her after some months from the attempted escape. He too didn't recall anything from their past life. She was curious as to what had happened to the two of them and felt just a tiny bit of relief that Shirayuki hadn't actually remembered the past. After all, Momo now held the role that should have belonged to her. The role as Aizen's personal shield and weapon. She was now even more determined to prove herself as capable enough to fulfil this role. However, on the other hand, she was also determined to shed light upon Shirayuki's condition.