Okay, this wasn't the first DBZ fic. I wrote. But I'm too lazy to put up the other one. And plus, I like this one more. It's more... serious. Yeah. The other one's kinda... yeah. I like writing serious stuff better, but lately I've been writing the really weird, random stuff mostly...

So, anyhows, I don't own DragonBall Z.

If anyone wants to know, the narrator is my character, Samara. She's the sister of Raditz and Goku. She probably won't ever be in a fic. of her own, since I'm in this "avoid-writing OCs-unless-necessary" phase. But she was perfect for this.

This was actually meant to be a one-shot, but then it turned into a project. So, there are eight chapters after this. Every other chapter is from Vegeta's POV. The only chapter without a matching Vegeta chapter is the last one.

So, anyway, enjoy chapter one of "I am the Prince of the Saiyans"! There will be more DBZ-goodness coming from me shortly! And review, please? Please? Okay, thanks!

I don't think you ever really got over your father's death, Vegeta.

I know it isn't the same for you as it was for me; I absolutely adored my father. But even Raditz looked up to our father Bardock to an extent. All of us looked up to our fathers.

You want to know why I think that?

I've been around you for a while now. We were both still young when Freiza destroyed our planet and killed our race... I've practically seen you grow up, just like you've seen me grow up.

And ever since I've known you, you've called yourself the prince of the Saiyans.

At first, of course, that was understandable. You were still young, not nearly old enough to be a king.

But it still went on over time.

You grew older... you grew more powerful. I watched that. You grew more arrogant, more prideful... but for us, they are the same thing. To be an arrogant Saiyan is to be a proud one.

Not much changed about you as you got older, Vegeta. Everything about you just got stronger. You grew in power, you grew more arrogant, you grew more proud. And also, I think, you grew more bitter.

The way you said it never changed. No matter what age I remember you at, the way you said what I think of as your catchphrase is exactly the same.

The only thing about it that changed as time went on, like everything else about you, was that it sounded more arrogant... and bitter... and mocking... and proud every time you said it.

"I am the prince of the Saiyans!"

The sneer you wear on your face when you say it grows a little bigger each time.

"I am the prince of the Saiyans!"

But now that doesn't make much sense. Your father has been long dead, Vegeta. And you are no longer a child. By all rights, you are now the king of the Saiyans.

Well... of the Saiyans that are left, anyway. You are the king of me, Kakkarot, and his little one, the half-child, Gohan.

Yet you still insist on announcing yourself as the prince of the Saiyans.

"Don't you know who you are up against? I am the prince of the Saiyans!"

No matter who it is, no matter what the situation is, that is how you introduce yourself.

And it's true that you have no heir... if you become the king of the Saiyans, there will be no one to replace you as prince. There will cease to be a prince of the Saiyans. But one doesn't need an heir to become king, Vegeta.

Or maybe you want to tell me that it's simply become habit over the years, Vegeta. Tell me that, if you want. But we both know that if you do, you'll be lying to me.

Not that you're not above lying to me, of course. You are the prince of the Saiyans, and I am the low-level daughter of a low-level solider.

But you'll still be lying to yourself.

I know you still truly think of yourself as the prince of the Saiyans. You can't think of yourself as our king, because, in your mind, your father is still king. You haven't accepted his death quite yet.

Do you know how I know that?

"I am the prince of the Saiyans!"

Because I hear it in your voice every time you say those words, Vegeta. Every time you say those seven words, I hear a longing so deep that I want to cry again for the loss of my own father.

"I am the prince of the Saiyans!"

- Kuramastrass -