Remembrance of Us

-Written by Blonde Writing

Summary: Height is such an important factor in Irken society that two friends had to be split apart after the death of a Tallest due to a point-one difference in stature. Years later, Miyuki meets her old companion once more. SaMIf & SaMIr; Oneshot.

The hallway was hushed from its usual buzzing noises as Miyuki – the leader of the alien Empire called the Irkens – levitated through it in her blue uniform. She had ordered every worker to take the night off, but had purposely forgotten to tell them why.

The hustle of shorter Irkens that ran up and down the halls had started to irritate her. They were always asking her questions, bumping into her, chatting about nonsense and trying to please her by following her around at all times. It was enough to strain her nerves so close to the limit that she could've had a breakdown at any moment. One day of peace was all she needed to regain her composure. And, so, she had made all the servants stay in their quarters for one day and night. It had been very successful: she had stayed in her room the whole day, supplying herself with some snacks and finishing off her work in peace. However, her curiosity to see how the palace corridors looked without the servants drove her to wander outside. They were solemn and undisturbed, the switched off lights meaning that they were almost completely enclosed in darkness. Miyuki had made a quick decision to head off to the palace's food court so snatch a doughnut or two to satisfy her craving for the glazed treats.

Approaching two large metal doors at the end of the hallway, Miyuki slowed down, knowing that the sensors that would send a message to the doors to open were quite sluggish. Once the doors slid open, the Tallest hovered into the food court, where she was met by a shaded version of the usual enormous lilac room with rows of white tables and seats and a long counter running down the side of it, where workers would normally stand, taking the orders and passing them to the cooks in the kitchen.

The food court looked so empty and cold without the faces of other living sentient beings sitting at tables and yelling out for food, gossiping among one another and laughing cruelly at all the short Irkens. It always bothered Miyuki before; made her feel claustrophobic and pressured, but it was almost missed by her, now. Even the absence of the table-headed service drones made her feel uneasy.

Heading towards an Irken equivalent of a vending machine, Miyuki pressed some buttons and pushed two monies into it. After a few seconds, a transparent plastic case containing a doughnut popped out. She took it; with a calm smile made for the nearest table.

From a distance, another shadow was watching her curiously. He was tall and lean, with half dazed navy green eyes and had a technician uniform on, which covered half of his face. Hesitantly, he took a few steps toward the female Irken, who had her slender back facing him. He swallowed; sweat started to form on his forehead; his muscles tensed. He began shambling towards the Tallest, scolding himself for his nervousness under his breath. As he neared her, he managed to summon up enough bravery to talk.

"Uh… my Tallest-" he croaked out, his voice hoarse and weathered. Miyuki instantly swirled around, piercing sapphire eyes glaring at him.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"I know you gave orders and all, but, I want to talk to you while no one can interrupt me…" his eyes became sterner. Miyuki noticed his height, which was so close to hers that she opted for listening to him out of respect.

"…What do you want to talk to me about?" Miyuki slowly questioned.

"Well…" the other Irken pulled down his elongated collar, revealing his frankly unpleasant-looking face. Miyuki immediately recognise him.

"Spork!" she chuckled. "Of course! How couldn't I hear it in your voice? Goodness, it's been ages!"

"Yes… it has…" Spork gave off a welcoming grin with his crooked mouth.

"Come on, sit down! Tell me everything that's happened! We must catch up on each other's lives!" Miyuki patted a seat next to her, inviting him to sit on it.

"Oh, nothing much has come up in my life…" Spork slowly slid into the seat. He paused, his eyes softening as he stared at her soft features. "I wasn't sure if you'd remember me from the academy."

"What? Spork, how could you say that?" Miyuki's smile dropped, "You're my best friend!"

"Yeah, but the Tallest world must be pretty demanding," Spork murmured, almost wishfully.

"Would you have forgotten me if you were the Tallest?" she questioned him.

"Of course not!" Spork felt appalled by Miyuki's query.

"Exactly. Now, come on, tell me one of your adventure stories. I've been excruciatingly bored, lately."

"I haven't got any to offer," Spork replied.

"Don't be silly, you always go on the greatest journeys," Miyuki suddenly realized what Spork meant. "Oh… you mean that you've been staying here ever since I was made Tallest?"

Spork nodded. "I was told I was too tall to be an invader, and was made head technician for the palace. I fix most of the stuff around here."

"You're too tall to be a technician too. Stupid Control Brains. They can even notice that," she scoffed, "but I've never seen you around here?"

"I'm sort of behind-the-scenes, you know? I work on wiring and such," he explained. "How about you? You have to have some story."

"None that hasn't been in the news, no," Miyuki moaned, "I'm going to Vort tomorrow, though. And in two weeks, I need to give this speech to the students training to be invaders. How dull…"

"That doesn't sound too bad," Spork commented dreamingly. He suddenly felt envy overcome him. Since he was a smeet, his dream was to be the Tallest. He trained hard, measured himself every day and worked on his charisma skills. The teachers were so impressed with him that they'd send him on heroic missions to other planets way before he was the required age to do so. He had an odd charm about him, back in the academy – he was popular and was good at persuading people to do as he said without much trouble.

Miyuki was his first proper friend, and one that he quickly grew a strong bond with, a bond that he had never had before or since. But the irony was that his closest friend was also his biggest rival. And it seemed clear now that she had won him. She was the Tallest, while Spork sat with his broken ego and torn up dreams, all his past charisma vaporised from disuse.

"Oh, you don't know how boring it really is," Miyuki exhaled unsteadily.

"Better than hanging around here," Spork pointed out.

"Huh… I guess…"

"Miyuki, I miss you," Spork admitted, "I miss you talking to me all the time, making all those rude jokes-"

"Like why Terrianals have such big mouths?" Miyuki giggled, making Spork chuckle too.

"Or where black holes really take you!"

"And remember the one with the Vortians and how their horns move? We said that's when they're horny!"

The two Irkens burst out laughing, clutching their Squeedily Spooches as the echoing of their amusement travelled through the food court. The old bond between the two was being rediscovered after so many years apart, and the nostalgia that came with the inside-jokes made both of them feel remorseful for the way they had forgotten how warming the presence of each other was.

After their laughter subsided, Miyuki carried on, her voice quiet and peaceful, "…I missed you too, Spork. But now we can meet more often!"

"There's a reason I didn't make 'miss' a past-tense verb, Miyuki," Spork said bleakly, "Both of us are too busy, especially you. It's a miracle that we managed to meet each other again."

"Nonsense! I'm the Tallest, I can say whether or not you or I are too busy, and the rest of the Empire will listen," Miyuki insisted.

"Control Brains wouldn't take that on too well," he pointed out, "duty before personal affairs. It's as good as a law."

"Yes, but," Miyuki persisted, "I can always say I want to talk to you about some faulty wiring."

Spork's eyes gleamed with amusement, "You're not hinting anything about that one door over there," he gestured to the entrance to the food court.

"Well, not really, but you may as well try to fix it. Its sensors are rubbish," Miyuki gave off a smile. "But, honestly, they wouldn't hesitate in giving you a short break if I said that you deserve one."

"Whatever you wish, Miyuki," Spork leaned against his seat, exhaling softly and eyes lowering. Miyuki took her untouched doughnut and tore it in half.

"What some?" she offered him a piece.

"Yes please!" he snatched it out of her hand and sunk his teeth into it eagerly. She giggled, taking a slow, polite bite out hers, watching Spork tuck into his half. Once he was done devouring it, he looked back at her, noticing how slow she was eating her piece of the doughnut. She seemed to be having difficulty holding it, and it was only when Spork looked at her hands did he realize why. "Two fingers can be a bit of a handicap, huh?"

"Yeah…" Miyuki huffed.

"It must've hurt getting the two third fingers cut off," Spork commented, grimacing slightly with the idea.

"Nah, you can get over the pain and blood, but living with it is another story…" Miyuki took another edgy bite, accidently letting it slip out of her hands. Spork quickly grabbed the glazed doughnut before it hit the ground. "Damn it! I don't want to get my fingers all icky, but it's hard not to without making the doughnut fall."

"Let me hold it. You can take a bite out of it that way," Spork suggested.

"You want to feed me, you mean?"

"Like a caretaker feeds a disabled smeet," Spork grinned.

"Oh, really?" Miyuki said sardonically, eyes narrowed in slight irritation. Nevertheless, her temporarily sour voice softened and she gave him a friendly smile, "Alright. Feed me, 'caretaker'."

Spork held the doughnut up to her mouth and she took a large bite out of it, barely able to keep her mouth shut with laughter.

"I haven't had a chunk of food this big in my mouth for ages!" she chirped with a muffled voice. Chewing the doughnut, she soon remembered how her fragile jaw limited how hard she could chew.

"Maybe that's a good thing," Spork teased her as she vigorously tried to break down her food. After a loud and hard swallow, Miyuki gave off a heavy sigh.

"Wow… you can have the rest," she shivered as the food slithered down her Irken version of a trachea.

Spork frowned, "But you bit it…"

"So?"

"It's the equivalent of kissing, you know, with all that the saliva you left on there," he pointed out.

"Then just put it back it the box, you sissy," she said dismissively. Spork did so, before looking back at her.

"Then again…" he started, before noticing that what he was planning to say would steer this conversation into an awkward zone, "…never mind…"

"What? What were you going to say?"

"That… the doughnut really shouldn't be wasted," he lied.

"It shouldn't, but I know you. You're not a big fan of dirt and such," Miyuki lowered her antennae sleepily. She gave off a tired yawn, "I'll need to recharge any day now."

"If you want to quickly charge-up your PAK now, you can go," the male Irken told her.

"No, no. I'm fine…" she hesitated for a while, an apprehensive expression on her face. "Spork, I want to ask you something… do you think it's possible for an Irken to fall in love?"

"W-what do you mean?" he could feel his PAK scream to him to sway away from the question immediately.

"Us Irkens can't even reproduce, and the whole idea of love is looked on like its taboo, but," she paused, "this one Vortian scientist was talking about his wife to another Vortian, and I overheard him… I believe that I have experienced those feelings he described before."

"Well, I don't know…" he shrugged.

"I had them whenever I was with you."

Spork gaped at her in shock. "Seriously?"

"Yes. When we first met, I already had a connection with you," Miyuki admitted, "and, call me a defective if you must-"

"You're not a defective," he shook his head. "Because that would mean that I… am… one." Miyuki looked at him curiously, her soft eyes confused. "Well… who knows? Maybe I am."

"Wait, are you saying that you-"

"Love someone? Huh… I don't know. All I know is that I never felt so close to someone before… and that I only realized that once she had left."

"She?"

"You."

"Ah…"

"At least this can't get any more awkward…" Spork chortled uneasily.

"So… you love me?" Miyuki looked up at him. He was about to answer an 'I don't know', when he held himself back from doing so. He gazed at her round, calm face, sparkling, heavily lashed eyes and curled antennae. She was far more attractive than him; he had a short, square face and small, round, green eyes that certainly didn't make him look remotely attractive – his eyes just seemed to blend into his equally green skin. Why would she ever like him? Well, it didn't matter; at least he had an answer for her.

"Yes… I do," he nodded, trying to make his voice sound as unruffled as possible. Miyuki beamed.

"Wow, really? Spork, I never thought you would actually…" she started, before shaking her head, "you know what, who cares? The point is… you love me!"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes," Miyuki blinked at him fondly. She leaned in closer to him, and kissed his lips softly. Spork was taken aback at first, but he slowly lifted up his arms and wrapped them around her waist, kissing her back. They stayed in that position for only three seconds, embarrassment making them slightly uncomfortable, as well as the show of affection that was adopted from another alien culture. As they pulled away, they looked into each other's eyes, blushing. The silence in the food court seemed to almost act as a shocked audience. Spork cleared his throat.

"I guess you could say we took our time…" he joked. Miyuki smiled.

"Destiny has no stopwatch."

"You believe in destiny?"

"Now I do," she replied softly. A beeping noise interrupted the conversion. Spork looked down at a metal band on his wrist.

"The elevator's malfunctioned again," He peered outside at a small window with the view of a cropped sky. "It's dawn. That's means everyone'll be back to their normal routines. I better get going, then."

"I'll see you in two days, when I'm back from Vort," Miyuki told him.

"Alright," Spork stood up. A nervous smile grew on his face, "So… bye. I'll see you soon. Have a nice trip."

"Bye, Spork." She watched him walk out of the food court. She took the last half of the doughnut and started nibbling on it. By the time she was done, one of her advisors had entered the room.

"Tallest Miyuki, it's time to leave. The Vortians have the final design of the Massive ready for you," he called out. She fiddled with the plastic box for a while, almost sentimentally, before throwing it into a nearby dustbin.

"Okay. Let's get this over with."

A/N: I don't know if I really like this. =/ I am IN LOVE with the couple, though. But… I had a few problems making this… mainly with how I was going to make them look. I decided on the colours because their concept art looks the best in those hues, but I was wondering if I should make Spork more handsome than his concept art shows his as. But, in the end, I thought that his strange look made the couple even cuter. It goes along with my number one rule for love: screw looks, the soul's what counts. Plus, I want to keep it more canon.

I hope you enjoyed the fanfic =D Please review – constructive criticism is appreciated – and I hope you have a LOVE-ly day. xD

Oh yeah, and I don't own anything. I never said I did. =P