Dumbledore stood up at the podium after Jushiro gave his little speech. On the table next to him were several awards to be handed to the students. The entire process took a long time because Dumbledore would call up a person and they'd give a speech and present the award and then again and again. Risa, Jake, Jen and Jack received various awards. The members of Risa's Soul Reaper team who had expanded to include Momo, Izuru, Toshiro and Rangiku received several awards as well.

The members of the SRU had put together a scholarship for both Jen and Risa unknown to them and after Chris Warrington and Angelina Johnson were awarded the Quidditch MVP award, Ed Lane, the SRU team leader went up to the podium.

"As you all know," he began. "A team needs a decent leader to function. The events at the ministry would not have turned out as favorable for us as they did if it wasn't for these two young ladies. At only eighteen both of these women have shown more courage in a single night than most of you will ever do in your lives, the Strategic Response Unit One would like to award both Arisa Uchimani, Gotei-13 division nine taichou SWAT Unit Nine dash one and Jennifer Bletchley, Gotei-13 Division six san seki SWAT unit nine dash one, with a five hundred dollar scholarship. Congratulations, you two."

Risa and Jen looked at each other blankly and walked up to Ed to receive their awards. They shook his had and accepted their envelopes. After Ed sat down Byakuya came up.

"I think it would be appropriate to give these awards now after Mr. Lane has given his speech because I feel they fall under the same category," Byakuya said. "The Gotei-13 is made up of 13 divisions each headed by a captain. As one myself I can tell you that it is not an easy job. This year I took up an extra responsibility with this whole situation. Along with myself three other younger captains took up the same amount if not more than I did. So that is why I would like to award, Jacob Emmerson, Division three, Arisa Uchimani, Division nine and Toshiro Hitsugaya, division ten with a scholarship."

Jake Risa and Toshiro rose and accepted their award and Risa took the podium again.

"Being a captain is by no means a walk in the park," she started. "But compared to being a lieutenant it's a breath of fresh air. I was a lieutenant before I was promoted to captain but I would always be in charge of my division. When I was promoted I swore not to use my lieutenant as a dumping ground for all my problems. But I did and I know I'm not the only one, so that is why I as a captain of the Gotei-13 as well as my fellow captains would like to award, Izuru Kira, division three, Renji Abarai, Division six, Momo Hinamori, Division five, Shuhei Hisagi, Division nine, and Rangiku Matsumoto, with scholarships as a way of saying 'thank you for putting up with me.'"

After the lieutenants were given their awards, Izuru and Renji stayed up.

"IF being a lieutenant means you get your captains problems dumped on you then being a san seki is a lot harder because they get their captain and lieutenant's problems dumped on them," Izuru said.

"I especially want to give this award out to my san seki because I give her more crap than anyone else and I see her never waver in her resolve to punch me in the face so, Jen and Jack, this one's for you two!" Renji said.

After a few more awards were given Dumbledore was back at the podium calling up Risa for her closing speech as the valedictorian. She approached the podium cautiously for fear of tripping in her high heels.

"Hello," she said with a small wave. "I'm Arisa Uchimani, I was up here before awarding the lieutenants for putting up with us and I had written this really great speech last night and after Jushiro spoke I realized I wrote a ton of garbage. I was going to tell you all about how this year changed my life and then I figured you guys don't want to hear about me. I thought that this year was going to be the best by far and I was so wrong it's not funny. The year was so bleak at times that I felt like giving up at what I was doing…to throw my hands up and scream 'I quit' at the top of my voice. But I couldn't so many people were depending on me to pull them through this tough year. But how could I expect to pull them through if I couldn't myself? I received a pretty big slap in the face then. 'These are the times that try men's souls' I can't find a truer statement. The pressure from this year to be the valedictorian, to lead the team through the quidditch match, to pull the squad out of the ministry alive, it's not easy. When I was promoted to captain the one thing I thought I would miss about being a lieutenant was the togetherness, the fact that sure I was D-13 but I could always call someone if I needed help. As a captain it took me a while to realize the same thing. There may be thirteen of us but we defend each other. The one thing I can walk away with this year is that it's ok to ask for help if you need it. And to the team sitting behind me, thank you for helping me realize that."

The hall burst into applause and Risa felt herself blushing when Jushiro and Byakuya stood up causing the entire Gotei-13, then the SRU, followed by the parents and the students and the class behind her to stand. She walked to her seat between Ichigo and Jake and sat down embarrassedly as Dumbledore stood at the podium to deliver the diplomas.

Risa and Jake walked forward as the Valedictorian and Salutatorian and received their diplomas and shifting the tassel on their caps. Jen followed as well as Jack, Shuhei, Renji, Izuru, Momo, Toshiro, Rangiku, Ichigo, and Rukia. After every student had received their diploma and shifted their tassel they pulled off their caps and threw them in the air.

Risa's eyes were streaming as she hugged person after person, including all the g-13 captains the SRU members and everyone on her team. The hall was cleared and set up for the dinner and Risa found she was able to pull off her robe and toss it to the return box. She leaned against a wall outside of the hall a bottle of butterbeer (very, very little alcohol content) when Ichigo had managed to escape the crowd to find her.

"Hey," he said. "I thought I'd find you here."

"It's too crowded in there," Risa said sipping her butterbeer. "Way too many people commending me on my use of irony in my speech."

"I liked it," Ichigo said leaning next to her. "Did you really throw out the first speech?"

"Yeah, I bullshitted that entire thing, I seem to get more PR if I do that," she laughed. Ichigo wrapped his arm around her waist and in one fluid motion pulled the blonde captain into him.

"Remember when I said that this was the stupidest thing I had ever heard of?' he breathed in her ear. "I was wrong. I'm glad I came on this mission with you."

"Why is that?"

"Because, you showed that you are a person, imperfections and all and I realized that that's why I fell in love with you in the first place. We survived a year of utter chaos and still came out alive and together so that must mean something."

Risa opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by a pair of soft lips pressing themselves against hers. Train of thought forgotten Risa closed her eyes and put her arms around Ichigo's neck and he pulled her in closer.