Vegeta awoke to the shrill tone of an alarm. He had set it to shake him out of his sleep at sunrise. As he peeled himself from the sheets, he quickly realized that his body ached with fatigue. He had trained twice as long as he had intended the previous day, after all. In addition, he had staved off hunger with chocolate instead of a proper dinner.
Bright light filtered into the ship through the main window. Immediately, Vegeta became painfully aware of the fact that the sun had risen hours before. The alarm he had set, apparently, had not sufficiently disturbed his sleep. However much he hated to admit it to himself, he had this problem constantly. He had developed the problem as a child, and it only grew worse as he matured. Nappa had to answer for him to Frieza on more than one occasion. While the gap between their power remained small, Raditz would tease the young prince about it.
Vegeta had always despised Raditz vehemently. It did not matter that the long-haired Saiyan had never exceeded the Prince's power or skill level; Raditz seemed to remember one thing only: that he was seven years Vegeta's senior. This difference, of course, mattered most while Vegeta was still a child. When Frieza had destroyed Planet Vegeta, the young prince had not yet reached six years of age. Raditz, on the other hand, had reached twelve. The relationship dynamic resembled that often seen between brothers, but entirely lacking in affection.
"Hey. Wake up, kid." Raditz kicked the young Vegeta just above the base of his tail. "You're scouter's been screeching since the dawn of time. Make it shut the fuck up."
Vegeta grumbled. "Since you are so impudent as to wake me now, why did you not do it an hour ago? You would have saved yourself the annoyance of the noise, idiot."
"Nappa told me to let you sleep. And I sure as hell wasn't going to touch your scouter. Who knows where that thing's been?"
The young prince rolled his eyes. He got up, and went to retrieve his armor.
"You don't have to suit up," Raditz interrupted. "We've still got a few hours."
"Then why have you awoken me? I severely doubt that you did it just to do me a favor."
"Why do you doubt me, Your Majesty?" Raditz bowed before Vegeta with a dramatic gesture of the hand. "I live to serve you, my Prince."
"For what have you awoken me? I order you to tell me at once!"
"I've visited the next planet before. It has some decent-looking females." A slimy gleam shone from Raditz's dark eyes. "I managed to record a bit of action last time I was there. Don't you want to see?"
"I've seen enough of your hideous hide already." Vegeta had begun tidying his hair, moving flyaway strands from his eyes.
"It's not about me, Vegeta. It's not like I focused the image on myself. There's no fun in that."
"Bestiality holds no excitement for me. You disgust me, Raditz."
"How would you know, kid? Don't tell me you've lost your virginity already... you're what, eleven or something? And here I was thinking that you're only now just realizing you have a dick."
"Heed my words—you have no right to inquire into the business of your superior. I am not so naive as the child I once was—"
"So you have done it! Really!"
"Silence! I am not so naive as the child I once was, and I will no longer stand for your insubordination. You will address me properly, and you will only speak to me unless I command it. Frieza would not mourn your loss, I assure you. He may even reward me."
"Shit—now I know why Nappa wanted to let you sleep. Just calm down and I'll show you the pretty ladies. I'm a nice guy."
Vegeta's face reddened with frustration. "Do you think of nothing but your basest urges? You are no warrior, but a common lecher. If you will not conduct yourself respectably, then at least recognize that I am not the same as you and therefore deserve your deference." The young prince had powered up and had backed Raditz into a wall.
"Come on, Vegeta. I'm not meaning to disrespect you. I'm just trying to get you to loosen up. I think you'd be happier if you got out of your own head a bit. Life is what it is. You don't have to lock yourself in the training chamber all day just to think about how bad everything is." Although Raditz smiled and spoke softly, his eyes betrayed fear. "Don't take everything so seriously." He shrugged.
Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "What will you have, Raditz, when you have fallen, when death catches up to you? You'll have a few tawdry memories, and none will remember you. Do you not think of your people? Your legacy? That has meaning. Meaning is better than happiness, pride better than pleasantry."
"Nappa shoves your nose way too hard into those Saiyan legends. He only does it because your father was crazy about them. They're just a bunch of stories with fancy words in them. They don't matter anymore."
"Do not speak of my father." Vegeta grinned mischievously. "I will wait until I have become a Super Saiyan to kill you. That way, you will know how truly devoid of meaning your existence was. I will have become legend, and you will have remained an undisciplined fool."
"Sure. I'll be waiting." Raditz relaxed slightly as Vegeta powered down. "In the meantime, do you want to see the pretty ladies? Or are you afraid you'll like it and turn into an 'undisciplined fool' like me?" He sighed. "Oh, fuck it. Just look." Raditz removed his scouter from his face and held it in front of Vegeta's eye.
"I gave you no authorization to touch me!" Before Vegeta could step back, however, he had seen what Raditz's scouter displayed. The young man's eyes widened, and his jaw slackened with shock. "What the—fuck. Is that—is that Zarbon?"
A violent fit of laughter had seized Raditz.
Vegeta bolted across the room. "Raditz! Liar! Foul, obscene—!"
"The pretentious little prince's face turned red! This is legendary. You're legendary, Vegeta!"
A blazing fist struck the older Saiyan's nose. Blood gushed into his mouth. Before he could recover, Vegeta had plowed a knee into his gut, sending him to the floor.
Vegeta smiled to himself as he remembered Raditz choking on his own blood. Nappa had intervened, preventing Raditz's dismemberment and murder. The long-haired Saiyan had not dared to provoke him again in earnest until years later, when Vegeta lay incapacitated in the infirmary. Now that he thought about it, Raditz's outlook on life did not, at least on the surface, differ so much from Kakarot's. Perhaps the similarity explained in part why Kakarot made him seethe.
Vegeta stood at his ship's navigation console, preparing to relocate to the opposite shore of the lake as he had intended. Before he initiated the launch sequence, however, he noticed that Bulma's tent no longer stood beside the ship. He could still sense her energy nearby, but she had indeed moved. The woman had some sense after all, he mused. He didn't bother relocating. Instead, he donned a pair of tight-fitting shorts suitable for swimming, and he stepped outside, looking forward to whatever comfort the warm waters had to offer his sore muscles.