Momo Hinamori

is the lieutenant of the 5th Division, formerly under Sōsuke Aizen.

History
Hinamori grew up in Junrinan, District 1 of Rukongai, along with Tōshirō Hitsugaya. While Hitsugaya tended to be a bit of a brat as a child, Momo found him amusing and treated him like a younger brother. The two have a close friendship, reflected by Hinamori giving him the nickname Shiro-chan (little Shiro in the English dub) although Momo is older and Tōshirō is younger it gives him the best reason to protect her even more the two are very close and will protect each other as a promise they made to each other. When Hinamori entered the shinigami academy, she excelled at kidō. It was there that she met Izuru Kira and Renji Abarai, who soon became her friends and, later, her fellow lieutenants.

Her friendship with Izuru Kira and Renji Abarai began back in the Shinigami Academy on a standard field exercise to the real world to practice performing the konso. The exercise was led by Shūhei Hisagi. Everything went well until a group of huge hollows attacked them. Shuhei told everyone to run, but Momo turned to see Shuhei being attacked by multiple hollows. She ran to help him, and was followed, somewhat reluctantly, by Renji and Kira.

Backup arrived in the form of Fifth Division Captain Aizen and then Lieutenant Gin Ichimaru. Hinamori began idolizing Aizen from that moment. He knew that, and manipulated the system to make sure that Kira, Renji, and Hinamori were all sent to his division upon graduation. He perceived Renji as a threat to his scheme and had him sent out of the divisions he controlled, but sent Kira to the Third Division, which was now captained by Gin. He kept Hinamori in the Fifth, and she worked her way up the ladder to be Aizen’s Lieutenant (through much hard work as noted by Hitsugaya).

Since Momo was the utterly devoted Fifth Division Lieutenant of Aizen, his betrayal to the Soul Society essentially broke Hinamori, and his attempt on her life has had thus far unknown effects on her psyche. Last time she was seen, she was still bedridden in the Fourth Division headquarters. Because of the massive amounts of physical and psychological damage done to Momo, it should not be assumed that Momo is acting captain of the Fifth Division.

Hinamori has recently been confirmed as conscious. After Yamamoto debriefed Hitsugaya on Aizen’s plan concerning the King's Key, he allowed Hinamori to surprise Tōshirō and let her talk to him. Momo still looks a little worse for wear, and has apparently not been sleeping well since regaining consciousness. After she apologizes to him profusely for not believing him and attacking him, Tōshirō pokes fun at her for her baggy eyes and small breasts, trying to make her laugh. Hinamori abruptly asks him if he’s planning on killing Aizen, and when he tells her yes, she begs for Aizen’s life. As she enters a hysterical state, she is knocked out again, and Yamamoto apologizes for Momo. It is obvious that Momo is not in a stable mental condition, and there is some speculation that she will try to find a way to rejoin Aizen at a later date. Hinamori’s mental state isn’t entirely unexpected. The psychological damage she’s suffered at Aizen’s hands is nothing short of incredible. It can only be hoped that Momo will eventually recover enough to see the truth about Aizen.

It is unlikely that she would be allowed to lead one of the divisions opposing him, therefore the idea of her being an acting Captain is a nonexistent one.

Soul Society Arc
When we are initially introduced to Hinamori, she is the first to arrive to the vice captains’ meeting, and is sitting on the floor. She asks Renji if he’s seen Aizen anywhere, and when she admits that she’s noticed him acting weird lately and is near tears, Renji lies and denies the fact that he has just had a conversation about Rukia with him.

Tōshirō Hitsugaya, who is captain of the Tenth Division, has been one of Hinamori’s close friends since they both lived in Rukongai. She still calls him “Hitsugaya-kun” sometimes, and only once does she call him her old nickname for him, “Shirou-kun,” and that is when she is under severe stress. He is worried about Hinamori, and warns her to watch out for Gin before Aizen’s “murder.” As a result, Hinamori attacks Gin when Aizen’s body is discovered, and is countered by Kira. She actually releases her shikai when Kira refuses to let her kill his captain. Hitsugaya arrives and stops both of them in an instant. He orders them to be restrained, and orders them to be imprisoned.

Hinamori is desolate over the death of Aizen, but his last letter to her reaches her through Hitsugaya and his vice captain, Rangiku Matsumoto. Matsumoto points out that if the letter had been found by any of the other captains, she wouldn’t have been allowed to see it. The letter holds Aizen’s “secrets” and his knowledge of the conspiracy. However, it is a sham letter meant to blame Hitsugaya for everything, including his “death.” When Hinamori escapes from her cell, she goes after Hitsugaya, and Gin, who has arrived on the scene, merely laughs. Hitsugaya attempts to deal with Gin, but Hinamori tries to stop him. He hits her much harder than he means to, and in the fray with Gin that follows, Gin traps Hitsugaya in a situation that is either be killed or let Hinamori die. Hitsugaya realizes this too late, but fortunately Matsumoto reappears to stop Gin’s sword. Hinamori is put back into a cell and a spell is put on her cell to keep others from attacking her. It is very difficult to break from the outside, but very easy to break from the inside. However, Hitsugaya didn’t count on Hinamori’s determination to avenge Aizen and break the spell from the inside. She hides her presence and follows Hitsugaya and Matsumoto and is shocked to find the Central 46 Chambers massacred. She is reunited with Aizen briefly, but she is betrayed by him. He stabs her through the heart and she nearly dies.

When Hitsugaya returns to the Central 46 Chambers building, he sees Hinamori’s body, and attacks Aizen. He is easily defeated. The two of them are saved by Retsu Unohana, the captain of the Fourth Division.

Aizen’s reasoning behind killing Hinamori was that he built her to not be able to live without him. He claims to have done her a favor by killing her. He tried to get other people to kill Hinamori, but that failed, so he was left with no choice but to kill her himself. Fortunately, even that failed, and he abandoned Hinamori and Hitsugaya once Unohana showed up on the scene at the Central 46 Chambers.

Arrancar Arc
She is seen briefly talking with Tōshirō Hitsugaya through video monitor. She talks about how Gin Ichimaru is manipulating Aizen and that Aizen really is a good guy, she is quickly knocked out by Yamamoto in which he said she has not gotten over Aizen yet.

Appearance
Hinamori wears standard shinigami robes and her dark hair is pulled into a bun held in a tied cloth. When in her shinigami robes, she wears the Fifth Division’s vice captain badge. We saw her in her pajamas, a plain kimono, and her hair was tied in a loose ponytail. When she attended the Shinigami Academy, she wore the red students robes assigned to the girls and her hair was in pigtails tied at the base of her neck.

Personality
Hinamori is a sweet soul who is willing to give anything for the people she cares about. She has a strong sense of right and wrong and cowardice and sense. She is a master of Kido, and was a part of the top class in the Shinigami Academy. Hinamori is an upbeat and easy-going girl who is generally quite trusting, but also very impulsive, emotionally vulnerable, and naïve. She greatly admires her former captain, Sōsuke Aizen, to the point where she believe's that Aizen is still a good person and that Gin is manipulating him.

Her best friends are Hitsugaya, Renji, and Kira. Those who know Hinamori only want her to be happy. When she is worried, others try to make her feel better. Hinamori has good friendships with many of the captain and vice captain shinigami.

She is a good person and a strong shinigami when she needs to be. She has untapped wells of anger hidden in the depths of her soul, and only goes there when she must.

Powers and Abilities
Kido Expert: Momo, unlike Renji and Kira, excelled at kidō.

Zanpakutō

 * Her zanpakutou’s power is based in kido, the Demon Arts. This makes sense, as Hinamori is a master of kido.


 * Shikai: The command for its shikai is . When its shikai is activated, Tobiume's blade straightens and produces several jitte-like prongs along its length.


 * Shikai Special Ability: In this form, Tobiume acts as a focus for Hinamori's spiritual power, concentrating it into energy bursts capable of cratering floors and breaching walls. Hinamori can also compress her power into massive energy balls and toss them from the blade's tip.


 * Bankai: Not Yet Achieved