I didn't put this fic into the Crossovers section for a good reason. Admins, if you're reading this, please don't move it. This fic is something like 70% Death Note, and 20% Bleach, and 10% original content. There isn't a great need for you to have watched Bleach before, however, if you've watched through the first 100 episodes or so, it'll be something of a bonus treat. The only real requirements are having watched/read Death Note.
I wish I owned Death Note and Bleach, but noooo...I don't. Shonen Jump owns both.
So...Let's get started, shall we?
Summary:
When people die...where do they go? It's said that a Death Note user goes nowhere when they die. To nothingness. What is that nothingness? What happens when you die with Shinigami eyes? Do you become a Shinigami? (In what way?) Does Soichiro ever realize that his own son is Kira? Who would Kira go after if he could kill one more person? Near? Matsuda? Soichiro? Read on to find out! I'm horrible at summaries!
Soichiro Yagami awoke to agonizing yet dull pain. He slowly opened his eyes and saw... He saw his panicked son in front of him, thrusting that accursed notebook of death at him. He saw Matsuda behind Light, tears welling up in his soft brown eyes, begging the police chief to hold on. Soichiro couldn't hear what Light was saying...or was it that he didn't want to? He remembered now, where he was. He had been shot by one of Mello's henchmen, and severely wounded by the debris from Mello's explosive charges. He was in a Tokyo hospital.
He felt a pen shoved into his grasp. He guessed what Light wanted him to do, but he couldn't bring himself to do it... To write down "Mihael Keehl" in that God-damned notebook. He could never bring himself to kill another soul, as long as he lived. He saw Light's eyes tear up as he pleaded his father to write the name. And before his soul slipped away from his mortal body, he realized that he could see Light's lifespan hovering above his head, and he felt slightly more at peace. As a single tear fell from Light's eye, Soichiro Yagami departed from the realm of the living, and entered an entirely different world.
He could no longer feel the pain, of that much he was certain.
As he opened his eyes, he felt strangely at peace. There were no more mechanical contraptions gauging his vital signs, no more IV drips, no more bandages, no more pain. Although that physical pain would be nothing compared to the emotional pain he felt now. He saw his son standing alongside a body laying on a hospital bed, tears streaming from his eyes. He looked at the body in the bed, and realized with horror that it was his own. He looked about the room and saw his closest friends, Matsuda, Mogi, Aizawa, and Ide, clustered near his lifeless corpse. Matsuda was in tears, and the rest wore sombre expressions of grief and melancholy. Soichiro wanted to reach out to Light and Matsuda and everybody else, and tell them that he was no longer feeling pain, that they didn't have to cry over him, that he had died without resentment towards any of them, that he loved them all like family. He staggered towards poor Matsuda, who had comforted him so many times when he was struggling with L's accusation of his beloved Light. But when he reached his arm out to wrap it around Matsuda's shoulder, it went straight through him. He was dead. He was certain that nobody could see him, that he was just a ghost of his former self. He couldn't comfort his grieving friends. He couldn't hold his wife, Sachiko, or his daughter, Sayu, and tell them that everything would be all right. Now he truly knew the pain that came with death. It wasn't something they taught you to deal with in the police academy. It was different, it was the feeling of helplessness while your friends were suffering.
He walked down the stairs from the hospital entrance, passing through crowds of people. Every now and then, someone would stare at him for a moment, and then they would rub their eyes or blink or mutter to themselves. Soichiro noticed this, as his usual observant behavior was in no way muddled by the sudden shock of realizing his own death. He walked home, but only halfway through his walk did he notice that there was a strange weight to his chest. He looked down and noticed that there was a metal chain, about 2 feet long, attached to a plate on his chest. His body was otherwise intact, like it was before being pumped full of lead. That was some comfort at least.
He saw his house at the next intersection. He trudged up the steps to the house and entered the Yagami household-his house-for what would most likely be the last time. A tear rolled from his eye as he saw his wife, Sachiko helping Sayu with her homework, oblivious to the fact that her husband had just died in a Tokyo hospital a few miles away from where she was now. Soichiro Yagami slumped down to the ground, his back against the wall. He still couldn't bear the thought of leaving his family alone like this. How Sachiko would respond when she realized that her husband of 29-no, 30 years (their anniversary would have been next week) had died was anyone's guess.
The phone rang and Sachiko said, "Now you try solving this one yourself Sayu." Soichiro held his breath (did he even need to breath? he was dead, wasn't he?) as Sachiko picked up the phone. "Mrs. Yagami, is that you? This is Aizawa, from the police station. I have some news for you. You might want to sit down."
"What? What is it? Is it about Soichiro? Kira? Did you catch him? Oh god, don't tell me it's about Soichiro..."
"I'm sorry to have to tell you this...Sachiko, your husband is dead..."
No, no, no... This can't be right... There must be a mistake... All of those thoughts flew through Sachiko's mind. But she didn't blurt them out. She just bit her lip and sighed deeply. "Aizawa... Are you sure of this? Are you certain?"
Aizawa bit his lip to keep himself from tearing up as he told Sachiko that yes, he was certain that Soichiro Yagami was dead. Sachiko wanted to scream. But she didn't. She stayed composed, for everyone's sake. Especially Soichiro's. She knew that he was watching over them, and she knew that he felt their pain.
Sachiko thought back to when her mother died. It was very difficult for her to stay composed back then too. But she did manage to keep herself together, somehow. And she knew then, as she knew now, that Soichiro shared her pain. So she held together for his sake.
Soichiro was observing all of this, and could hear, somehow, what Aizawa was saying. He was so proud of Sachiko for holding herself together at such a difficult time. "I'm really sorry for your loss, Sachiko. Just remember that we're as hurt by his death as you are. We're here for you."
Sachiko hung up. "Mom, who was it? What happened? Why are you...oh no...it isn't Light, is it? Did Kira kill him?"
Sachiko shook her head no. "Oh god... It's Dad, isn't it?"
Sachiko nodded. Sayu sobbed and hugged her mother.
Soichiro could no longer bear to watch the people closest to him in such agony. He turned around and left the house as quickly as he came in. He wandered about aimlessly until he suddenly felt exceedingly tired. There was an empty park bench nearby, and he felt sleepy, and it was a warm, starry night. So he stretched out on the park bench and gazed up at the stars and contemplated the recent whirlwind of events. Soon, he fell asleep, arms crossed over his chest, looking perfectly at peace. Not at all like a man who had just gone through the most painful day in his life.