Toshiro was dumbfounded. Sure, he hadn't really expected to be recognised by Ulquiorra but still… he felt disappointed that there wasn't even a 'Hey, don't we know each other from somewhere?'. He knew full well that in reality there really wasn't any way that he could have been recognised by him since Toshiro had had his head in a book the entire four years and barely spoken a word the whole time. Sure he had admired from afar many a time, but that 'far' was very, very far.

He stared up at Ulquiorra with sort of blank eyes, he couldn't see whether or not he was making him uncomfortable though because Toshiro was focused on trying to explain to himself why the hell he was standing here a foot away from him! After a few more moments of the awkward silent stare he seemed to realise what was going on and blinked away, looking down at his feet and shuffling slightly with reddened cheeks. He was usually a lot smoother than this, but right now he was actually acting rather shy and adorable –as all good ukes should act.

Ulquiorra, on the other hand, was honestly rather oblivious to the whole thing. He was not made uncomfortable by the blatant staring, as previously shown by his earlier comparisons of staring to television, so he was completely confused when it came to the suddenly awkward boy in front of him who was beginning to resemble a strawberry flavoured snow-cone. Ulquiorra was perfectly comfortable just looking at the boy close-up and didn't think that there was really any need for dialogue past what he had already said.

He moved his emerald and obsidian eyes slowly over Toshiro's form, memorising each part of him one at a time –why, you ask? Because he could, and to Ulquiorra that was all the reason he needed. First he took in his hair, all the perfectly tapered points that seemed like they were effortless though up close he could see that the boy must really slave over his hair night and day to get it to remain that way, then his eyes drifted downward to his body (He was saving the face for last) and studied the toned muscles that were revealed by the low V in his silken shirt before they moved even further toward the oh-so-tight leather pants and the way that they really left even less to the imagine than that shirt of his. Ulquiorra continued his silent tour of Toshiro's body for a moment longer before dragging his eyes back up to his face.

If he was bothered enough to use his facial muscles he would have done something about that slight frown from before but instead it remained as he watched Toshiro look away from him. What was wrong? Was Ulquiorra not attractive enough? Was he embarrassed about something? Why was he so very red now? Ugh, all these questions and no answers. Ulquiorra's curiosity had increased ten-fold since actually speaking to his little barmaid. "Look up." He said in that quiet, deep, silky voice.

Toshiro started and looked up as ordered, meeting his eyes once more with deep oceans of cyan. Why was he being inspected so? Was something wrong with him? Oh no, was he being even more awkward than he thought? Was Ulquiorra disturbed by his awkwardness?! Ugh, so many questions and no answers. And why was the only sentence being spoken to him just an order? How confusing. "W-Why…?" He asked in a soft tone that could barely be described as a whisper.

Ulquiorra tilted his head a few degrees to the left, "Because I want to look at you." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And to him it was. He didn't care to elaborate at all, leaving Toshiro with only those seven words to go on. Surely it must have been enough, he was curious and so he wanted to investigate. Toshiro appeared to be a little slow on the uptake.

"But… Why?" Toshiro asked again, he was feeling so, so lost by the current situation. He couldn't seem to bring himself to say more than he already had for fear of seeming dimmer than he did already.

There was long pause before Ulquiorra spoke again. "You interest me." He stated in that same tone as before, like it was obvious to everyone but little Toshiro. How did he not understand already? "You continue the same routine every day that I come here and I want to figure out why."

"You…y-y-you want… to get to know me?" Toshiro stumbled again. His day suddenly seemed to have picked up in the best of ways. There was a hint of a smile that pulled now at the corners of his lips and it hinted in his ocean-eyes. He gazed up at Ulquiorra, hoping he wasn't betraying his thoughts too much. In fact, Toshiro was already imagining dates and cute couple things in his mind and it had begun to get out of hand already.

Ulquiorra's slight furrow turned into a full on frown as he looked down at the strange boy. It seemed that his head was away in the clouds now. "That was not what I said, was it?" He says in his cold unfeeling tone. "I wanted to know why you do what you do, that has nothing to do with getting to know you. I don't do the friend thing." He muttered and glanced over his shoulder a little before full on turning and walked back up to his spying booth.

Toshiro was a tad shocked by the abruptness of what Ulquiorra was saying, why was he being so hurtful after saving him? It was just adding another level of confusion to what he already had on his mind. His imaginings of them together evaporated and he returned to the present. "Uh… um, wait, Ulquiorra wait!" He called after the raven haired form that faced away from him now. No way could he be so easily abandoned after having a reunion he had longed for since the day of the senior year graduation.

So he really did know him from somewhere. How else could the object of his curiosity possibly have known his name? Ulquiorra stopped and stood still to contemplate this thought. He couldn't think of a time he had ever seen that face before –surely he would have remembered those eyes. This new occurrence had him wary now and as well as curious.

Ulquiorra turned to watch Toshiro silently with a blank expression, showing he was now also taking his time to be lost in thought. He continued to stare at Toshiro from his perch half-way up the stairs for approximately two or three minutes before speaking once more "You know my name. How?" He said coolly and looked intently toward the boy. Why was he so flustered now?

Yes, poor Toshiro was crushed now. All that Ulquiorra was thinking about was how he knew his name after all that saving and staring and the strange confusing comments. "We went to… to high school together… You were the year above me." He mumbled and looked away toward the table his three bosses were sitting briefly to make sure they hadn't noticed his absence from the bar. It would appear he was safe –for now at least.

High school? How many years had it been since then? Five or six maybe? If he was in the year above and had never had a conversation with this boy, how could he have remembered not only his face but his name as well? That was… unusual. "I do not know you. I have a good memory yet I have not seen your face until after I started to come here." He said and watched as Toshiro made sure he wasn't going to be caught slacking, he was such an awkward individual.

*Oh no,* Toshiro thought, *He's realised I was a total stalker…!* He bit his lip and shifted his weight a little "Well um, that was because… I was always… I liked to… I had…" He tried desperately to come up with an excuse for his creeper knowledge. It was looking like he had no other choice but to admit the real reason; it was the best way to explain himself without seeming like he had a scary good memory for no reason. A part of Toshiro felt kind of reassured by the fact that he knew that Ulquiorra probably wouldn't care either way no matter how it mattered to himself that he had loved Ulquiorra all that time…

Toshiro took a steadying deep breath and looked up at him. "I had a crush on you all through high school."