As Soichiro opened his eyes, he saw...Something laying on his chest. It was Matsuda. His head was laying on his chest, and he had slobbered all over him. Soichiro gently lifted the young man's head, slipping out from under him, and laying his head back on the pillow. He went to the bathroom and washed off Matsuda's spit from his chest and neck. Matsuda was so much like Sayu...Soichiro sighed in sad memory. Where were they now? He wondered. It was a bit more than a month. He closed his eyes, trying to remember.
He couldn't remember even the appearance of his own house. How come? He felt pathetic. He barely remembered Sayu, and Light, and Sachiko. It felt like years since he'd seen Light. He'd never really seemed the same since the Kira case. He knew it was because he was Kira. Kira wasn't like him. He was separate. His Hollow was Kira. And he felt his presence nearing.
"Hello, Tou-San. It's been a while."
Soichiro felt a shiver go through his spine. He saw Kira standing right behind him through the mirror. He clenched his teeth, knocked back the Soul Candy, swallowed hard. He braced himself for battle. One last time.
As his soul separated from his body and he spun around, he saw Kira standing in front of him, all white skin, white hair, and white kimono, looking like a cold marble version of Light. He had Light, his precious son, in a chokehold, with a katana to his neck.
Soichiro roared in choking fury. He pulled out his katanas, crossing them in front of him.
"Strike and protect with the swiftness of wind! Seigi no Kaze!" A tendrilly vine of black wind made its way around Kira's neck, groping and crushing and choking.
Light was free as Kira ripped at his throat, which was being crushed by an incredible force.
As soon as Light was in the relative safety of his father's side, Soichiro closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. He became sharply aware of a blade heading for his chest and a screaming from Kira's location. He flashstepped away from danger, his eyes widening when he noticed that Kira and Light were switched. He had been choking Light, and barely avoided being slain by Kira.
"Pull out your Zanpakuto, Kira." He faced his son.
"Dad! What's wrong with you? I'm not Kira! He is!"
Light pointed at the pale white version of him. It had drawn its blade, aiming it at Soichiro, and was currently flying towards him, a maniacal grin on its face. Soichiro parried expertly, and flash stepped out of the building with his son in his protection, taking the fight into the cool summer air outside.
Kira smirked. He flash stepped behind the Yagami men, slashing wildly at Soichiro's back. Soichiro winced, expecting a blade to strike him down. He was surprised to hear a blade clash with Kira's, protecting him.
Light had drawn a katana of pure light from the air. It was a beautiful sunset yellow, glowing like the dying sun. Its light shimmered on his pale moon face, glinting off his scarlet-brown and black flecked hair, lighting a fire in his lively cedar eyes.
"I will fight him, Tou-San."
"Light...no. You'll get yourself killed. You have so much ahead of you to look forward to. I'm an old man. I'm expendable, and you aren't. Please, Light. I'll fight him."
Light didn't budge.
"Sorry, Tou-San. This is between me and my Hollow now. It's my fight. You shouldn't interfere."
Soichiro was taken aback at Light's statement. But he saw how determined his son was. He let him fight.
He couldn't help but wince when Light-his Light, his pride and joy-was slashed at and attacked by the Hollow, when their blades clashed, when the Hollow kicked at Light and connected.
The kick struck Light directly in the gut, knocking him unconscious.
Soichiro struck at the Hollow heedlessly, ripping his Hollow mask on. His speed almost tripled when he did this. He threw a lightning-quick slash with both blades, and then stabbed with the right while parrying with the left, and then the Hollow struck back at him. The Hollow grinned and pulled a dagger from the folds of his kimono as Soichiro's two blades were occupied blocking a pushing stroke by the Hollow. He sunk the blade into Yagami-San's heart, grinning as the chain connecting the older man's blades covered with blood.
Soichiro closed his eyes in pain, not a single noise leaving his lips. He fell to his knees, staying there for a moment as he tried to remove the dagger from his chest. He grunted as it slid from his body with a slicing sound, and fell to his hands and knees, looking at the blood dripping on the ground from his chest before collapsing into the pool of redness.
"Roar with...the power of lightning...Seigi no Kazeshine." he whispered with his weakening breath. His Zanpakuto didn't transform. It simply sat there, mourning. Its master was slain, his heart bleeding out, his soul destroyed.
The Hollow smiled and turned towards the unconscious Light. A crackling noise made the white-robed man stop in his tracks. As he turned around, a deadly shock of electricity burnt through his body, obliterating him.
After a few minutes, Light got up, and staggered in horror when he saw his father dying on the ground in front of him. Light lifted his father into his arms, holding him close, pressing his soft, smooth cheek against his father's rough stubbly face.
"Tou-San...don't die...don't die, please, Tou-San! I love you! Don't you die on me now!"
"Light...I...always loved you..." Soichiro groaned, his life slowly slipping away from him. He felt himself growing weaker and weaker. Light touched at his father's chest with his delicate fingers, focusing all of his mental strength on closing the wound.
Soichiro felt Light's efforts slowing the bleeding, but it was far too late for that. He was going to die for certain.
"Yagami-San!" A young woman's voice shouted.
Light looked around to find a girl in her twenties with tousled sky-blue hair, pale skin, a black kimono and a beautiful, slightly rounded face running towards him. She looked horrified at the sight of Soichiro bleeding and dying and in terrible, terrible pain. She kneeled next to Light, pressed her hands against the wound, forcing blue Reiatsu through the Chief's heart. Soichiro felt his pulse's strength returning slowly. He opened his eyes to find both Light and Isane placing their hands on his chest, pushing their strong, healthy Reiatsu through his wounded body. He smiled gently, closing his eyes once again and slipping into a gentle, undisturbed sleep for the first time in ages. Light looked at Isane.
"Who are you?"
"Isane Kotetsu, lieutenant of Shinigami Squad 4. You're Light Yagami, aren't you?"
"Yeah. That's me."
"And he's your father. Soichiro Yagami. A real hero many times over."
"I suppose so."
"He's saved the lives of at least a dozen people, and that's just after his death. How can he not be a hero?"
"Yeah. Yeah, he is a hero. I'm... proud of him, I guess."
"You should be. He's an amazing man, Light. You should be thankful for having such a noble man be your father."
Light sighed. He stared at his father's sleeping face, as if it had been the first time he'd seen the man. He noticed his hand sliding over Soichiro Yagami's chest, running over his heart, feeling its strong, solid rhythm reverberate through his own body. He smiled beautifully; a real, genuine smile, not one of Kira's false grins. He kissed his wonderful, brave father on the cheek tenderly, as though he were a tiny little boy who had just fell asleep. Isane and Light hefted the large, muscular man up to the hotel room, and thanks to Isane's flash-step, didn't have too much trouble getting him there.