The Unfortunate Benefit.

Chapter Two.

"You ready Hinata?" Ino asked her smiling,

"Yeah, I'm ready." Haineko smiled back at her.

Bring it on.

It was half way through first period and Haineko was completely bored out of her mind, there was no one interesting to talk to and they were all split into a single seating arrangement. She already aced the equivalent of higher English back in the Soul Society, so the whole thing was just a bore to her, she was doodling in her book all the way through the first half of the lesson. She avoided drawing attention to herself for once so she didn't end up in any more disturbing situations like this morning. She was sitting behind some guy with dark brown hair who looked like a pineapple with a massive forehead and was practically asleep in class, next to her was someone with long pink hair in a short cut dress that was slit at the sides, she was mostly doodling in her books as well. On the other side of her was another guy, he was kinda chubby with separated uppy hair as well, just looked like pineapple bunches to Haineko.

This is insanely boring, how do these people do this every day? The desks are tiny, the boys are boring and this is all stuff from the Grade below? This is barely Higher, everyone here looks bored out of their minds and this teacher is so lazy it's unbelievable he even qualified.

"I need to go and get something from the... The... Main office, I'll be back shortly." The teacher with white hair and a face mask announced before leaving the room. The whole room signed as soon as he left and Ino spoke to Haineko (Hinata) as soon as he left.

"This is so boring! Am I right?" Ino asked her placing her head on her desk,

"This is the worst! How did he even get a job here?" Haineko said leaning back on her chair.

"Hey, Hinata." The voice from in front of her said,

"Hey, I thought you fell asleep because of how bad his teaching was. Huh. I wouldn't blame you, in fact, I'd join you." she said scoffing afterwards.

"You're certainly in a different mood today, what's up with that?" He asked her,

"For the... HEY! Everyone!" Haineko said, officially blowing her cover.

Everyone turned to face her in confusion, it looked like Hinata, it sounded like Hinata, however, it wasn't acting like Hinata.

"Yeah! I'm acting different. I'm much more confident and I'm not in the mood for being asked "are you okay?" all day long by everyone who talks to me, so don't bother. Or else." Haineko said standing up with her hand on her hip again, it was becoming her signature gesture.

"So, if anyone has a problem with this attitude change, then they can go shove it up their bums. Got it?" She said before rolling her eyes and sitting down again. Everyone began talking in friend groups quietly among themselves about, presumingly about her previous action.

"You've really changed over the weekend Hinata, it suits you." The girl with faded pink hair said to her sweetly,

"Thanks, I figured I'd try it out, however it's causing a lot more confusion that I thought it would." she said rolling her eyes, "It was beginning to become annoying."

"It sounds like it would, what you all doing after school tonight? I was thinking about having a get together at my place?" The pink haired girl suggested,

"I've got a better idea!" Ino said all chirpy, "We help Hinata find a new look for her new attitude." She suggested with a Grin,

"Shopping!" The pink haired girl screamed happily,

"I'm so in!" She said waving her hands around like a fanatic, she was going to become annoying to Haineko and she knew this very quickly after meeting her.

"Hinata... You game?" Ino said smirking at her and leaning over her desk,

"Anything to get out this clammy jumper." She said sounding snarly towards the girls.

"Plan! We should totally ask Tenten!" the pink haired girl suggested,

"She'll be busy billboard brows." Ino said to her,

"Stop calling me that Ino." She said grumping at her,

"Then don't be stupid Sakura, come on. She's nothing but busy." Ino suggested,

"It's still polite to ask." The pink haired girl, now identified as "Sakura" said,

"I think we should ask her, she might have an opportunity opening." Haineko suggested,

"Fiiiiiiiiine." Ino said, holding her "i" for far too long in Haineko's opinion. The bell rang to indicate the first class was over but their teach still had not returned, Haineko looked around and saw all the other students packing their things and some already leaving the room.

"We don't have to wait for him to get back?" Haineko asked the girls,

"He isn't coming back." Sakura said picking her bag up, "I'll call later, okay?" she said as she left the room,

"I noticed you've been weird with people lately, are you having difficulty remembering names? You normally have a nickname for Shikamaru yet you addressed him like you'd never spoke to him before in your life?" Ino said, she wasn't dumb despite her behaviour.

"Yeah, some are there and some aren't. It's totally weird." Haineko said acting all unaware of her situation,

"I'll give you a heads up them before we go out for break. We're kind of a big group to hang out with." Ino said smiling,

"Thanks Ino!" Haineko said cheering up a little more compared to this morning when she was just angry that she was in someone elses body.

The two girls walked together down the stairs and across the main courtyard towards a massive Sakura tree that was out the front side of the main building, there sat a group of teens all talking, there was the two boys from earlier with them, Haineko immediately got increasingly nervous with every footstep towards them she took.

Ino took this moment to give "Hinata" a memory jog on who all her friends were.

"You've already met Sasuke and Naruto, so other than that, the chubby one is Chouji, the pineapple one in Shikamaru but you call him "Shika" The girl with the buns is Tenten, she's in a relationship with your cousin that you spoke back to this morning." Ino said, "Make sense?" She asked as they approached talking distance,

"Just about." Haineko said smiling as they walked up to the others,

"Hey guys, 'sup Shika?" She said boldly.

"Hey Hina, how's it going? Feeling better?" he asked,

"Much better, thank you." Haineko said moving to be standing behind him, "What'cha reading?" She asking him looking over his shoulders

"It's a strategy story that unfortunately turns into a romance half way through because the two masterminds fall in love." Shikmaru told her,

"Unfortunately? Don't you love a romance? All the stupid things they say to each other? Don't you just find it hilarious?" Haineko asked him,

"I more find it revolting." Shikamaru said to her frowning,

"It'll be because you're reading it all wrong." Haineko said sitting down next to him and taking his book out of his hands, she spoke to him in silly voices as the characters spoke to each other and emphasised their movements and actions towards each other, she made their thoughts seem like scenes from a movie and acted all dramatic when the thought about each other. While they were sitting giggling away to each other in the corner the others could help but talk about Hinata's change in attitude over the day,

"Seriously, Ino, what's going on with her?" Naruto asked her,

"We're not trying to be offensive or nosey, we're just worried about her." Tenten added,

"She's on some anti-social meds from her doctor or something to boost her confidence. She's been on them for years but I guess they finally started doing something since they upped her dosage or something." Ino said, "You can't tell her that I told you that, she'd... Literally kill me." Ino said furring her eyebrows together. "Promise?"

"I promise." Naruto said,

"Me too." Tenten agreed,

"I do too." Sasuke agreed,

"I had no idea it was that serious." Said Chouji, "But I do promise."

"Thanks guys." Ino said smiling widely,

"While you're here Tenten, we were thinking girls night? Do you wanna come?" Ino asked her, almost already knowing the answer she would give her.

"I'd love to! When and where?" Tenten responded, or not then.

"Eh... Sakura said she would phone, I think just straight after school we were going to hit the mall." Ino said in confusion.

"You okay? You seem hesitant." Tenten said,

"I'm fine, it's just, no offence, I thought you'd be busy?" Ino said,

"I was meant to be at martial arts but my coach bailed because of his divorce being finalised in the morning tomorrow, so we cancelled our one on one until next week." Tenten said very positively for talking about divorce.

"Fair enough then." Ino said smiling,

"Think you'll have a hard time getting her away from Shikamaru first though..." Naruto said smirking at her,

"Yeah, if she falls in love with him then we're going to have a problem." Ino said frowning and crossing her arms,

"I was kidding, she's just talking to the guy Ino, giver her a break. It's like the first time in about 18 years she's been able to just... Talk to someone. Let her be happy." Naruto said laughing at her,

"It's still a little suspicious though, don't you think?" Sasuke said to them,

"Not as suspicious when we don't know her medication." Chouji reminded them,

"That's a good point Chouji, there's a lot we don't know even when we do know." Naruto said to them,

"Love birds, flirt later, we got class to get to." Ino said looking at Haineko and Shikamaru,

"Love what?" Shikamaru said to her,

"It's a figure of speech, coming to maths Hina?" Ino said giggling,

"Actually Shika said he wanted company on the roof." She said while point at the roof,

"You're skipping class on the same day that you spoke back to Neji? Do you have a death sentence!" Ino said crossing her arms and shifting her weight to one leg.

"She what?" Shikamaru said turning to face her,

"Not that big a deal..." Haineko said getting her hair out her face,

"That's why he's not answered me." Tenten said frowning,

"Look, he was being super rude to me for absolutely no reason what so ever. I wasn't going to have my very relative call me "stupid" for no reason, as if!" Haineko said scoffing at the mere thought of him,

"I would maybe go home at lunch while they're both out and pack a bag Hinata, they'll lock you out again..." Tenten said gently to try not upset her,

"Lock me out? Of my house? Without telling me?" Haineko said pulling a face of pure distraught,

"Yeah... I know it was a really bad experience last time it happened to you, so I'm just warning you, okay?" Tenten said, "Don't be mad at me, I didn't mean to upset you."

"You did no such thing Tenten, I'll just buy something when I'm out and figure it out from there I guess.." Haineko said looking increasingly concerned,

"Ridiculous, you'll be staying with me." Ino jumped in,

"For real?" Haineko said smiling,

"Duh!" Ino said as the bell rang for next class,

"I'll see you at lunch Hinata, take care of her Shikamaru." Ino said as she walked away, the rest of the group said "farewell" to the two and left them by the tree,

"What do we do now?" Haineko asked,

"Oh yeah, you've never skipped class before now. What I normally do is wait until the whole group in indoors so that they don't see where I go. The place I skip class to is sort of private." Shikamaru explained, they waited until the group split their ways into the two buildings and stood up as the second warning bell went for the classes to be filled.

They stood at the tree as the bell rang and Shikamaru walked towards the back of the school building, Haineko followed him cautiously, she felt it was silly to be so cautious of him, he was clearly a good friend to this girl but her natural instincts could help but to kick in. All those years in the Soul Society make her a little bit weary about trusting people.

When they reached the back of the building there was a long ladder attached to the back of the building,

"You want me to go up there?" Haineko asked him,

"Not like anyone will go looking up there." Shikamaru said as he started climbing, "I forgot how troublesome this ladder was." He said as he got to the second step.

"You're two steps up and complaining?" This is going to be proving extremely difficult for you." Haineko said winking at him.

"Yeah yeah, be quiet you troublesome woman." Shikamaru said continuing to go up the ladder, by this point Haineko was already climbing up behind him, she questioned if there was anything really to worry about, he started climbing first, if he was a threat then he would have made her go first.

It took literal minutes for them to climb all the way to the top, when they did finally reach the top of the building there was a small drop down the flat room once getting off the attached ladder. Shikamaru went towards an old chair that was placed in the middle of the roof.

"What's with the couch?" Haineko asked,

"I skip class a lot more than you'd think Hina. Come on, get comfortable." Shikamaru said as he sat on the couch.

"I'm just really tired today, I don't know what's come over me!" Haineko said to him laughing nervously,

"I know something's different about you Hinata, I know there is, it's a fact, there isn't some special medicine that does that to people, it's like all your DNA has been removed and swapped with someone elses. I'm not complaining but I'm not comfortable either. What's going on?" Shikamaru asked her,

"Nothing? I'm just the same as always." Haineko said, as Hinata, in the wrong body,

"You can tell me Hinata, I won't tell the others, don't you trust me?" He asked her, this had to be a test, to see if there were too many changes to make it believable, she didn't have a choice but to tell him the truth. Maybe it was for the best...

I don't have a choice but to tell him, there's nothing I can do now, I'm all alone with him, I can't exactly just change the topic, he'll just keep bringing the topic back up again and I'll run out of alternatives by lunch time.

"Okay, you win but you can't tell the others... I don't even know what's going on properly for myself." Haineko said to him,

"You can tell me Hina, it's what I'm here for. I'm your friend." Shikamaru said so her, placing his hand on top her hers and looking into her eyes, "You can tell me."

"Firstly... My name isn't this "Hinata" people calling me, I'm Haineko, I'm the Zanpakutō of Rangiku Matsumoto, I normally have short ask brown hair, different clothes and have a much better tan. I'm from the Soul Society. I spoke to an abandoned Zanpakutō during a training trial with the captain and he put me in this girls body." Haineko explained to him, during her explanation his hand slowly fell off her own and fell into his lap, his face was blank and he was speechless.

"I don't understand... If you're Haineko... Where's Hinata?" He asked her,

Wait! I tell this kid I'm someone that he's never heard of from a place he doesn't know exists and his first question is where the other chick is? What's with this guy, he's smart and funny and romantic and he's into this girl? What's going on with this place? Everything is so backwards.

"I don't know." Haineko told him truthfully,

"That's not good enough, I want answers." He snapped at her,

"I don't know them! I don't even know where I am, how am I supposed to know where she is?" Haineko told him standing from the chair,

"I'm all alone in this crazy town full of people who think I'm someone else with no way of contacting Rangiku or the Captain, I've absolutely no spiritual awareness what so ever and all people can do is complain about me not being able to know what the total stranger is like!" She said to him speaking above average speed.

"Haineko, calm down." Shikamaru said to her reassuringly,

"You called me by my name." She said softly towards him.

"Well... You're not Hinata." He said smiling,

"You're not... Scared?" She said confused,

"Well, a little but probably not as scared as you are, seeing as how I'm the only one who knows, we're probably best keeping it that way, okay? Everyone else will think you're crazy and get you locked away or something, any "stupid questions" that Hinata would know the obvious answer to, you might want to ask now." Shikamaru said to her very calmly,

"Where are we? What's this place called? This... Town." Haineko said to him,

"We're in the Hidden Leaf Village, there are many other villages surrounding us, they all however look very different, our neighbouring village is the Wind, after them there's Sand." Shikamaru explained briefly.

"The Leaf Village... Okay, have you ever heard of the Soul Society?" She asked him, maybe it was just really really far away?

"Not at all." Apparently not.

"Well... This... Hinata girl, what's she like? Normally?" Haineko asked him,

"Why do you care?" Shikamaru asked her,

"Well, I better try to make this cover half believable since I've already blown it big time." Haineko told him, almost ashamed or herself,

"Well, she's normally super shy, with a stutter, she's smart, top of nearly all her classes, straight A's every test, cousin to Neji Hyuua, his family took her in after her parents died, she's an excellent friend, supportive of everyone she talks to, loves to read, hits on Naruto all day long and doesn't notice how not obvious it is she's in love with him, she's determined, she's loyal, she's... The perfect friend." Shikamaru told her,

"And you're secretly in love with her and can't tell anyone because the girl with four bunches is into you?" Haineko asked him,

"How'd you know that?" Shikamaru asked her,

"Your phone has rang 4 times since we've been up here and it's been a picture of a girl with four bunches in her hair every time." Haineko said,

"Yeah... That's my girlfriend Temari, she lives in the Sand village." Shikamaru explained to her,

"If you love Hinata, why not just leave Temari?" Haineko asked him,

"I can not. I know I feel strongly for Hinata but I feel ever stronger for Temari." Shikamaru told her.

"What's a Zanpakutō, anyways? Never heard of it." Shikamaru asked her,

"Nah nah nah Shika, you don't get to change the subject so easily, tell you what. I'll skip until lunch and we can get to know each other properly. What do you say?" Haineko said smiling at him widely,

"I think you got yourself a deal." Shikamaru said as he felt his heart warming up to this Haineko who was posing as Hinata. Honestly really was the best policy.

End of Chapter.

I'm super tired but I'm kind of in the middle of talking to someone who I think has fallen asleep, it's 2AM and I don't want to sleep now. ;-;

I'm sitting with Bleach on silent on the TV to have something to look over to and see but I'm listening to the Studio Ghilbi soundtrack... I'm the worst kind of person.

I'm actually really beginning to like the idea of this story but I don't feel like I'm a good enough writer to actually make it sound as good as I want it to.

Which kills my happiness a little, however, we'll see where it takes me.
I'll also post like 3 chapters a weekend but then abandon the story for like... A month.

Just a warning.
Until next time.
~ .07~