Short and brief. To be expected from them, especially considering how many of them had already known he was going to receive it. He wasn't one for standing around doing nothing but waiting for a signal for him to step forwards. It had only taken them a few years for them to realize his impatience, though some had figured it out the moment he had decided to assault the Soul Society just because of a person he had barely known at the time.
Ichigo decided to look around at the faces right before the signal came. A smile brightening Juushiro's and Shunsui's faces, a smaller, reserved, smile sitting on Toshiro's, Sajin and Byakuya's faces passive as always, Soi Fon trying her hardest to glare a hole through Ichigo, Renji with his smirk, Kenpachi with his devilish grin, Mayuri nowhere to be found, and last but not least, Retsu's angelic smile beaming at Ichigo.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, would you please come up?"
Ichigo looked up at Gennryusai Yamamoto, whose face was not betraying the slightest hint of what was hidden behind those eyes. Ichigo walked up, forced to wait yet again as he tuned out the rest of the speech, taking the clapping and whistling as cue to take his new uniform from the head captain's outstretched hand. He looked down at the number displayed on his uniform. Captain Kurosaki of the Fifth Division... Ichigo looked back up at the crowd of soul reapers, before giving out a loud yawn.
Silence. Ichigo stopped yawning, looking out at the wide eyes and gaping mouths. He looked over to his left to see the glaring eyes of the head captain, short and hard words coming out of his mouth as he spoke to Ichigo. "Your speech, Captain Kurosaki."
Ichigo sheepishly grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. Suddenly he looked down at his feet, then back at the crowd of soul reapers, a serious glint in his eyes. "I'm not going to lie to all of you, and tell you that I'll be able to protect everyone. I tried doing that myself and things didn't work out so well," his eyes briefly glanced at Rukia, whose smile was tinged with sadness, "I won't say I'm some sort of hero, I'm not. But that doesn't mean there are no heroes. No, its because we're all heroes. Together, unified as a force of good, we are the hero. For those who think you're not ready to become a hero, that's what I'm here for. I've been through the worst, the best, and the alright moments. I know what it's like to watch someone slip through your fingers. Which is why I'm here to make sure that none of you will let that happen. I might be a captain, but you're the ones that will carry our future, and it's your strength that we'll be depending on, so I'll do my best to lend you mine now."
A beat. Two beats. Then the applause. Except, unlike the speech it was long and filled with emotion. Ichigo stood there, astounded that he had even managed to come up with a speech in the first place, let alone one to cause such a reaction. A small smile made its way on his face, as he swept his gaze over the numerous soul reapers and his friends.
However, his smile was soon gone within the next few days, the mountains of paperwork already making him wish he had torn apart the uniform and gone back to his family, already hating his new title with the amount of people calling him "Captain Kurosaki". Captain Kurosaki of the Fifth Division my ass, damn old man probably did this on purpose just so he could get the final laugh! Ichigo smirked evilly as he eyed the current leaning tower of paperwork, a plan already hatching to get his revenge. Or at least, he would have had a small ball of green not smashed into his paperwork, and then continued onwards into him sending him flying through the wall and into the garden outside.
"Itsygo!" But it was too late, Ichigo's conscious was already fading.