They were spoken for were they? "By who?" Hojo demanded. When it came to personal assets, such as research, laboratories, items of value such as the stone, or underlings, Khamja had a tendency to reclaim them from members that died. It also reserved the right to reclaim them from anyone undergoing an extended absence from clan activities.

They could be willed to particular people, of course, but sometimes that person wasn't capable of handling them, or didn't want to.

"Aizen has twelve Hollow infused underlings roaming the Palace in his absence. They should be studied! Not kept like trinkets on a shelf."

Aizen wouldn't share his research, but studying his successes would reveal something of use.