some stories start at the beginning

Some start at the ending

And sometimes,

One person's ending is the other's beginning

Yoshino

Some humans had a keen awareness when it came to death. Most people would call Yoshino a materialistic self-centered woman and maybe it was because she was so self-centered that she knew that she would most likely not see tomorrow.

She realized it the moment her water broke ten days before Shikamaru's due date which was supposed to be the 22th of September. The due date which she had been eagerly waiting for so she could wash her hand off of Shikaku Nara and finalize the divorce she was waiting on.

The bitter and jaded part of her resented that she would die before she could leave the suffocating walls of Konohagakure.

One might wonder if the woman wasn't overreacting about her water breaking early. After all, early labour wasn't exactly all that uncommon. But it wasn't her water breaking that made the woman so sure of her own pending demise. It was the way she had difficulty breathing as Kasuga Nara, Shikaku's damned asshole of a cousin, escorted her to the hospital.

Frankly, Yoshino thought all Nara were assholes. Of course, her darling husband took the cake. Shikaku was the king of assholes and appropriately enough was the newly made head of the Nara clan her mother had married her off to despite knowing how much resentment she held towards all clans within Konoha. Her mother had been lucky enough to pass away before the farce of a marriage happened between her and Shikaku.

Almost one year of arguments, shared resentment and wondering why the hell Shikaku's father even had them engaged and the only thing Yoshino found she had in common with the Nara folk was their shared nihilistic point of view. They barely had that in common, considering Yoshino was more extreme in her nihilistic belief.

Her philosophy was simple: life is meaningless.

"S-shut up," she weakly hissed as the medic-nin around her encouraged her to push.

The baby she was giving birth to was one of the few things Yoshino did not hate. This wasn't to say she loved the boy either. Shikamaru Nara was simply an obligation to her. A duty she had been forced to accept the moment she married a Clan Head.

In a way, she mused, Shikamaru Nara would be a solid proof of how right she was in her beliefs. Shikamaru was going to have a meaningless existent: he would be raised as a clan heir, aim for a minimalistic life like the Nara tend to do and be locked into an arranged marriage where he would have a heir who will repeat the cycle.

He'd probably end up just like his father. It almost brought a smile to her face.

After all the spats they had, after all the biting remarks and name calling she would finally one up Shikaku because she knew that in a darkly humorous way that Shikamaru ending up being just like Shikaku was something the man didn't want at all and maybe that brought a bitter satisfaction in her. A year of mutual disdain led to a parting gift in the form of a son that would burden Shikaku more often than not, because anyone with half a brain would know that shinobi like Shikaku weren't father material.

"Nara-sama! It's a healthy baby boy...!"

If Yoshino was capable, she'd scowl at whoever yelled that. As it stood she couldn't even move her lips properly to inform the medic that she had lost her sight midway through all the shouts of push push and almost there. At least Shikaku wasn't here to see her in this pathetic state. Oh, she also spared him the effort of signing divorce papers he'd undoubtedly call troublesome in that tone she hated.

"Wait, her heart rate..."

"She's..."

"...-san here..!"

Ah.

Her hearing was fading too.

Strange.

Despite all her nihilistic beliefs, she thought there was supposed to be a light.

Nagisa

If one were to look up the definition of workaholic in a dictionary, it would state: a person who compulsively works hard and long hours.

Right next to said definition they'd find a picture of Nagisa Hawthorne, Asian-American biologist in her very late thirties. The picture would show said woman writing down her observations of whatever research her team was busy with.

One would wonder if there was more to Nagisa than her work and maybe once upon a time the answer may have been yes, but for almost two decades her family and what was left of her once large friend group were long used the fact that they would always be second place when it came to Nagisa's priorities.

So it was on the 10th of September, while driving to an important conference regarding geneticist branch of biologists that Nagisa's car was hit by a truck.

It would be a lie to say that her death was quick, but it wasn't exactly slow either. When the woman had regained conscious she was upside down with something metal piercing her lungs.

Each breath she took rewarded her with a searing flash of pain and she knew that this was it for her, yet it was out of reflex that she continued breathing anyway.

A part of her, namely born from her workaholic self, was sad she wouldn't make it to the conference.

The rest of her tried thinking of her family and friends before realizing she hadn't seen any of them in months and that it was all her fault. She had been the one to distance herself more lately and while it wasn't entirely because of work, the cause of the issue was her work ethics.

Always choosing work above else, was a legacy she accepted that she was going to leave behind. At her funeral they would probably talk about how in love with work she was.

She regretted it.

She wished that she could have left behind a better legacy.

She wished it hadn't taken her dying to realize that work...work wasn't everything.

A second chance.

Part of her almost laughed, because she knew that this was it. You only get one life, take it or leave it.

...she wasn't even surprised that there wasn't a light in the end.

Nonō

Nonō stared at her patient as the latter was being questioned by a Yamanaka nurse.

In all truthfulness, Nonō didn't have to be there. She just found this the most convenient place to be to avoid the whisperings going on the hospital.

They were calling her the Miracle Healer because she had revived the dead Yoshino Nara. The brunette almost scoffed at the name. She wasn't some sort of miracle healer or second coming of Tsunade Senju. While her medical ninjutsu wasn't anything to scoff at, Nonō wasn't good enough to bring back the dead and that was what Yoshino Nara was. Dead.

Exactly after giving birth to Shikamaru Nara. After six minutes of trying to revive the woman, Nonō had thrown in the towel. A brain can only go six minutes without oxygen after all. It was midway through ordering her assistants to commence the procedure for dead patients that Yoshino Nara sat up with the ugliest gasp Nonō had ever heard.

Almost after seven minutes without oxygen to the brain which by all means should be impossible, but Nonō had reacted automatically and brought up her hand towards the woman's head to inspect her with chakra.

The medic had been caught off guard when Yoshino had grabbed her wrist and mumble something incoherent.

"I'm just using chakra to help you, Nara-san..."

The woman had a dazed look in her eyes before she seemed to comprehend what was being said and allowed Nonō to do her job. Before passing out.

Now here they were, in hospital room number twenty C. A confused Yoshino was being asked questions, to which all the answers were I don't know and Nonō was wondering how exactly the woman was still alive because by simple logic if it obviously wasn't because of Nonō, it was because the woman herself had done something.

However unlikely that theory appeared.

"I think, Yoshino-san, you may have amnesia."

Nonō almost rolled her eyes. It was obvious already that Yoshino Nara had amnesia. It should have been obvious the moment the woman had given them a polite hello instead of the usual brisk nods and entitled attitude.

"...ah."

Nonō almost chuckled, noting how Yoshino had only given that reply for the nurse's benefit. She had also obviously been aware of her current state.

There was an awkward silence before Yoshino coughed.

"Thank you for all of this," she gave the nurse a clumsy bow before straightening up. "I think I'd like to talk to Nonō-sensei now."

Nonō wondered noted how the woman sounded hesitant when speaking, mentally jotting in down as one of the side effects of the sudden amnesia.

The Yamanaka glanced unsurely between them before stalking off in obvious relief.

"...she doesn't like me, does she?"

Despite herself, Nonō gave a small laugh at the woman who was nervously playing with the bed sheets. "Nara-san-"

"Please, just Yoshino."

"Yoshino-san," she skillfully ignored the woman's protests at the honorific. "I think once you start getting your memories back-"

"I won't."

"Excuse me?"

Nonō almost blinked as Yoshino looked her in the eyes for the first time. There wasn't a hint of lie or delusion in the woman's brown orbs.

"Nothing feels familiar. When Yamanaka-san asked me about my childhood, nothing happened. When she told me about living with the Nara, nothing happened. This isn't a temporary amnesia. I am not getting any memories back, because there aren't any to get back."

That wasn't what Nonō had been expecting honestly. Usually a patient experiencing amnesia would be doing anything to get their memories back and it wasn't as if Yoshino seemed afraid to get her memories back. She seemed to genuinely be sure of the fact that she wasn't going to be getting those memories back.

Nonō wasn't sure if it was because of the way Yoshino was looking at her or the fact that the woman had indeed gone seven minutes without oxygen which would in theory suggest that Yoshino truly was experiencing a total memory loss, but Nonō felt inclined to believe her.

"I didn't know Yoshino-san quite well. Not counting today, I have interacted with her a handful of times."

Nonō noted how Yoshino instantly started relaxing. It was odd speaking as if this Yoshino and the Yoshino before labour were two separate people, but maybe they really were since this Yoshino seemed sure about not getting any memories back.

"Each time I checked up on her, she was indifferent, bitter and most of the staff that dealt with her have quite some choice words when desribing her. None flattering in the least."

She paused, giving Yoshino time to contemplate the information before continuing.

"Nara-sama, her husband, only came with her once. While he asked questions about the baby, Yoshino-san was more concerned about how the pregnancy would affect her."

Yoshino frowned at this. "Didn't she want Shikamaru?"

"No, not at all."

Finally, Yoshino's expression gave away into shock. "But..."

Nonō waited for a moment, in case Yoshino wanted to say something. When it became clear that Yoshino didn't want to share her thoughts, the medic-nin continued.

"There's a lot of rumors about Nara-sama and Yoshino-san's marriage. The only real facts I can give you are that the marriage was arranged and they didn't seem fond of each other at all. I'm sorry, but that's all I really know about Yoshino Nara."

It was still odd separating the Yoshino before and after labour as two different people, but Nonō had always been quick to adapt to new situations. A perk one might say of the line of work she did for Danzo.

"I refuse."

Nonō blinked at the woman in front of her.

"At first, I was planning to start acting like her. But now I do not want to be anything like her at all."

Nonō plastered a smile on her face at the determined expression on the woman's face. "Technically, you two have been two separate people the moment you got amnesia." Her face then softened, feeling a bit bad about the next part. "However, the people around you won't be as accepting as I am being. Especially not those who already know or know of the Yoshino-san before today. It will take a while before they accept that you are a different person and maybe some won't ever accept it."

It was the truth, really. Even the Yamanaka nurse who should know to separate a patient's identity when they have amnesia had struggled to look past who Yoshino had been before she died and woke up with amnesia.

Remembering about the Yoshino dying part brought a small grimace to Nonō's face. It wasn't good for her work if people continued to pay attention to her.

"Wait, I just realized something."

"Yes?"

"I'm a mother now."

Ah right.

That was another huge complication in Yoshino's life. She would have to deal with having amnesia and being a mother.

Well, perhaps the mother part wouldn't apply because Nonō distantly recalled a rumor about Yoshino having not planned to stick around after giving birth.

"Can...can I see him...?"

Nonō almost didn't hear that hopeful whisper. Almost.

"Of course."

Who was she to deny a mother their right to see their child?

Later on, as she watched Yoshino carefully hold Shikamaru in her arms with the adoring look only a loving mother could have, Nonō knew that Yoshino Nara was now a completely different person.