Salty Sarcastic Tsundere Trash

He was already starting on the fourth hot dog when he was asked about his training. Yes– this was the perfect opportunity to catch up, and he had been very interested on his progress. ❝About as well as you might think, but I don’t really like to talk about it. I would rather we test our strength instead,❞ he stressed. He had given Raditz a sufficient amount of time, and now he wanted to fight him– and see how long he could hold out on him.

❝Not right now, obviously. But soon.❞

Mouth agape, Mariko listened to Raditz with a touched look as he spoke, her eyes sparkling. Anyone not knowing Raditz well enough would have taken his words as patronising – selfish, even – but she knew better. Her mentor had his unique way of granting words of fondness, and well, those definitely were. 

How did she miss it before? Was it really because she had disaccustomed to his presence? Or was it before she was too deep into her bad mood to realise? Suddenly, “easy to manage” sounded like the most beautiful compliment to her ears.

“Of course it’s that big of a deal!” She exclaimed, a large, relieved smile stretching all the way to her eyes. She blinked, trying to get rid of the bleariness in them. “It’s not for granted! I mean, you are– You–” 

She couldn’t find the proper words to conclude her thoughts, and decided to renounce, to not ruin the moment. She didn’t, however, keep herself from going in for a second fond hug, really not caring about the show she was given to the passerbys.

“Thank you,” she murmured, shoulders tensing as she tried to take in Raditz’ figure in her embrace. “I’m so glad you’re back, really!” 

Raditz gave her a raised brow as Mariko exclaimed that his words were a big deal -- to her anyways. He had been responding in self-defense for his neglect at keeping in touch with his student. Not that he could help it of course, but it seemed like she more than forgave him as she closed the gap between them and began to hug him. This caught him off guard, which allowed her to successfully wrap him in an embrace. 

He blinked a few times before glancing down at the top of Mariko’s head as she thanked him and expressed her feelings of joy for having him around again. 

This was better than he had expected– especially when Raditz revealed all the bags full of hot dogs. The smell alone would probably attract Nappa wherever he was. ❝Excellent– bring them over here.❞ They were outside near the patio, and there they could sit and eat and possibly catch up on what Raditz had been doing while he was away, training.

❝Nappa is here– he should be coming around, soon–❞ he didn’t waste anymore time and eagerly bit into the first of the many hot dogs he would eat that evening. 

“Sure thing, Prince.” Raditz said with a smile and a nod while collecting the bags and setting them on the patio table. For awhile Raditz watched Vegeta eat with gusto for the meat-on-meat wrapped with a fluffy bun before he took one himself and began to eat as well.

Mariko’s lips pursed in a round pout at she listened to Raditz, nodding at each word. “Right. So she was firm!”

She smiled, amused. It was rare for Raditz to say he got along with someone – if he did, he really meant it. She however blushed as he recalled the episode of his kid self running around Conton, lost and confused. 

“I do! Do you?” She asked, baffled. She never knew he had any memory of the event. Gosh, did he even remember how she offered him a meatballs sub? 

“But yes, sure you were cute!” And as she recalled his baby gremlin face, she pressed her lips and puffed her cheeks in an attempt to restrain herself from squealing. “Or adorable, even.” She whispered.

He was actually surprised to see him there– perhaps he had been doing his training like he had promised him. Even better was the treat he had gotten from him. Meat wrapped with more meat? This is why he didn’t want to leave this planet…

❝This is better than I had expected. Any chance we could get more? I’m sure Nappa would like some.❞

Yes! Looks like Vegeta was pleased with the offering. 

“I bought out the five carts that I found, so there should be enough to share.” Raditz handed off the bag he was holding to Vegeta while pulling out a storage capsule from his pocket. after tossing it to his side there was a chest full of at least twenty more bags of bacon wrapped hot dogs.

Mariko beamed at Raditz’ reasoning – yes, it was perfectly logical! She nodded, eyes shining in admiration.

“Yes, right! Both her and Bardock!” She betrayed her admiration for the latter with a dreamy sigh as she spoke his name, but he was quick to focus back on Raditz in an instant.  “And how was Gine with you? Did you get along? Was she sweet? Did you play together?”

She tilted her head with a pondering pout. “There’s so little on books about Saiyan mothers. I guess it’s because they did not have much time to be after their kids? But Gine’s case was different, wasn’t it?” She gave Raditz with a large grin. “I bet you were a cute Saiyan kid, too!”

“You’re so full of questions,” Raditz sighed, but he didn’t seem to mind it much at all and was probably feigning irritation for the sake of appearances. “You would probably consider her sweet, but she didn’t tolerate bad behavior and didn’t mind correcting me when she felt it was needed. We got along.”

Mariko shrunk under the reprimand, her head low. It’s not like she didn’t expect something like that. Really, she shouldn’t have expected anything since the beginning, maybe it would have been for the better. 

But her mentor’s words landed heavily on her nonetheless, drawing a saddened frown on her face. Sure, it made sense. In fact, maybe she even sounded idiotic with her nostalgia – old Saiyans were used to have no emotional attachments to what they left back home on their journeys. Being away for long periods was ordinary, a necessity really, something they grew accustomed to as kids, and letters and updates to their families were completely unusual. No wonder Raditz didn’t even think about writing to her – he never did it with anyone, after all. 

And now, to that, she had to sum the burden of having disappointed him, showing she didn’t become anything close to the tough Saiyan warrior she always planned to be. She wasn’t sure what had mislead her from that perspective, whether the absence of her mentors, her human side taking over… Or maybe, simply, she never had any hope. She was never meant to become a tough Saiyan warrior.

She was still mulling over those thoughts when Raditz muttered something low – so low she barely heard it. She glanced up at him, confused.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear. Did you say–”

Then it dawned on her – as if it had echoed in her head and took some lag to be processed by her mind. Her eyes went wide in a baffled look, her cheeks warmed up slightly.

“Uh– You– Really?”

“Yes, really! Don’t try to have me say it again,” he hissed with a cross look on his face. “Is it really that big of a deal? Haven’t you heard a word I said? I told you I was among ingrates most of the time I was gone. Arrogant fools who thought they were too good to receive my advice and assistance on their rookie missions that were more on their level.”

“I… Didn’t say anything…”

Mariko blinked at that reply, sinking her teeth in her lips. Did Raditz sense her annoyance? Was it really so blatant? 

Then again, he was the one meant to teach her how to handle sensitive situations while on mission – a training he wasn’t there to complete in the end. And while Mariko could have tried to find someone else to fulfill that lack of skills, she never did; she was too busy grieving the absence of her mentors to ever think about replacing them.

She sighed and lowered her head. She wasn’t sure what kept her from being honest about her disappointment with Raditz. Maybe the fact that, despite his mighty look, she had always felt a hidden fragility in him, an elephant in the room that he always indirectly addressed with his attitude. It wasn’t like Vegeta, whose pride was neat and genuine; Raditz always felt as if he was trying to compensate for something, and Mariko never dared to make him feel like he ever lacked anything to her eyes. Also because truly, he never did.

Not until that day. 

“It’s just… Why didn’t you ever tell me why you were gone?” She murmured, her eyes still low. “Not a letter, just… A text, a word…”

And with that, she finally managed to raise her look at him, praying he wouldn’t read what was in it as disappointment – just a honest, deep sadness. 

“I’ve missed you lots. I had been waiting for you to come back for months.”

As Mariko expressed some of her feelings of neglect, Raditz started to frown. Though if it was from his own guilt or dissatisfaction with her for showing such emotions was left unaddressed. “Saiyan warriors rarely have time to send letters when they’re on missions, Mariko. Being gone for years is an expectation. So don’t take it personally.”

The sudden scolding made her recoil a bit, but didn’t scare her – Mariko was usued to Raditz’ harsh ways. Although, to be honest, she had never seen him getting that annoyed. 

“Ah! Alright! Sorry!”

She held her breath, waiting for her answer. When it came, she gave a side glance to her messy locks, pulling one to inspect it.

“My hair?” She said. “Huh. I guess it does have a bit of a Saiyan touch in it.”

And that was why she liked it. Not like her mother, back on Earth, who kept telling her how unruly it looked. 

She glanced back at Raditz with a curious smile. He had gone back to his usual sulk, as if nothing had happened. While knowing that investigating further on that unusual reaction would have been insensitive, Mariko was dying of curiosity. She leaned towards Raditz with wide eyes, ready to know more.

“So she was strong,” she went on with an eager smile. “Am I as strong as her? How was her fighting style like?”

Raditz quietly watched as his student inspected her locks of wild hair and made her comments. Then she turned back to him with more eager questions that Raditz couldn’t answer on his own. 

“That would probably be better questions to ask my father,” he begrudgingly replied when Mariko inquired about his mother’s strength and fighting style. “She didn’t fight much after becoming a butcher.”

Mariko nodded as Raditz enlisted all the facts, her eyebrows knitted in an attentive look. She smiled; so Gine was soft hearted. Somehow, it made sense. And while Raditz claimed only Goku had inherited this trait, she liked to belive that he, too, had a bit of that somewhere in his heart. After all, he was kind to her, in his own cranky way.

When Raditz turned at her, Mariko answered his look with a curious one. He seemed focussed, as if trying to remember something. What he said, however, took her completely unprepared. 

“I do?” Her eyes went wide and she blinked, baffled. 

She kept staring at Raditz as he got lost in his thought, wondering what similarities he could have possibly seen in them. Her chest started bubbling of excitement. She shuffled closer to him at the question, her hands closed in two fists. 

“Similar how?” She asked, eyes wide with curiosity. “Why? Is it the way she looked? Or because of her personality? … It’s not her fighting skills, though, right?” She added, midly concerned.

Raditz was quick to get defensive as he corrected Mariko in an annoyed tone of voice, “It’s not that she lacked the fighting skill, she just couldn’t make the kills. That’s what defines a Saiyan warrior who can go out on missions.”  Maybe he was being a bit too harsh on the girl but he wouldn’t apologize for it.

Once that was said, he returned to his usual tone of voice and continued to clarify why he said she looked like his mother. “It’s your eyes. And your hair is similar. That’s all.”