Author's Note : It's not beta read nor do I own any characters but I hope it'll be interesting! Dren's a little more snappy, growly in this interpretation :) also I haven't finished watching the anime, so hopefully it doesnt clash badly with remaining episodes! D: That being said...go ahead :)

Zoey lay on the grass in the woods beside the park and gave a sigh of relief. It was one of those rare days where she felt at peace with herself, the world was quiet for now, Mark was still the love of her life and she didn't even have to work at all. She grinned to herself as she thought about him, her expression showing all the smugness of a contended cat. But as perfect life was, there was something she just couldn't get off her chest...she found her mind wandering onto the strange Alien Dren...wondering why ever he was so interested in her.

Within the fourth dimension, Dren gnashed his fangs together furiously. He'd just lost favour with Deep Blue and now was suffering Tarb and Sardon's sneers and insults continuously. There wasn't much to do inside the fourth dimension except get teased, so he soon retired to his own quadrant to shut out the relentless verbal attacks. Inside his own "room", he pulled out a parasitic alien from subspace. He toyed with it absent mindedly with his short claws whilst his thoughts were in a turmoil, "How can it be little parasite, that she has forgotten who I am?"

The parasite make a "twang" sound as he tugged at the frills of its jelly like body. "That's right, she may have just been too young." He grew a small scowl as the parasite squirmed slightly trying to escape his grasp. "She was only small when I first visited this blue planet...but a vow is a promise. It's a bond that continues after death, through space, and even at the borders of the universe. But most importantly she said yes."

"Is pretty lover boy at home?" Tarb's voice cajoled interrupting his thoughts. The smaller elven figure's head hung in mid air as he peeked into Dren's quadrant, before letting his body follow through the eerie green background.

"He's not home." Dren sighed tiredly, he snapped his fingers and the parasite disappeared into a ripple. "What do you want?" He snapped turning to face the rude intruder.

"Nothing much." Tarb said simply with a grin on his child like face.

"Then go find Sardon to annoy." Dren told him drearily and lay on his back floating in mid air, closing his eyes as he heard Tarb again.

"Actually ,we're going to do recon on this planet for some specimens. And Sardon thought it'd be sensible to tell you not to leave. We can't risk those Mew Mews catching you...because you're so pathetic and everything." And he stuck his tongue out at him as Dren rolled over so his back faced Tarb without saying a word. "Can't risk that pink one breaking your heart now can we?" He didn't get a reaction and added "Later loser." before exiting though a ripple of green.

"Eurgh, creepy little squirt needs a good back hand slap to the face." Dren snarled angrily, bunching his fists up. "He and Sardon don't stand a chance against those Mew Mews. I could...I'd take them both out, one at a time." And he snarled to himself knowing that they were strong partners in battle. "Bah! What do I care? They can tear themselves up as much as they want, that leaves me in clear running to destroy those girls for once and for all. Then Deep Blue will know who's the strongest." Even as he thought wickedly about invading planet Earth deep inside he could feel a familiar twist of his stomach. It unsettled him greatly. He wasn't ill, but still he felt uncomfortable. Biting his lip slightly, he sat up and looked around. It was all quiet...just him and him alone, as always.

Waving his hand in the air, he drew up a sphere of magic and prodded it's centre with his finger. Instantly ripples appeared spreading across it and an image of a girl appeared. There was something so enticing about the way her hair was tied up in bunches, how supple her limbs were as she stretched and how cute her expression was, which was currently smug as she basked in the sun's rays. Feeling a rise of uplifting emotion inside him, he quickly swept the sphere of magic away into nothing with his hand. He felt guilt ridden inside and his hands felt sullied at his spy like behaviour. It was almost perverse but he couldn't help his attraction to her. At most he only ever stole a glance at her for a few seconds before wrestling back into his own nature.

It went against him to be so attracted to her. He should like creatures of his own species...creatures with long elven ears, often adorned with rings and jewels to show wealth and power. The females on his desolate planet were often eye catching, tall, elegantly dressed, feminine and with deadly grace. Yet he yearned for a short, young woman, with stubbly ears unlike his own and a hot temper so unbecoming a female. "Eurgh stop it Dren. You're getting the better of yourself." He thought with a growl of disgust and shook his head rapidly from side to side to clear his mind.

Feeling not much better he thought he'd venture out into the blue planet and do some recon of his own. You never knew, when recon information would in handy.

Zoe gave a great yawn and sat up feeling quite stiff. She rubbed at her eyes and looked around blearily. "Wow, Mini Mew I must have dozed off...it's almost six o'clock and I'd better get a move on! Otherwise I'll miss dinner!" The pink fur ball gave a chirrup in agreement and Zoey quickly gathered her school jacket and phone up before heading off at a brisk jog. She reached the bridge joining the parkland and the city, and it stretched majestically with an arch over the lake that ran beneath it. The sunlight was dimming quickly and cast the area into a swathe of warm tones, and shockingly she noticed a figure sat on the short wall of the bridge as it came into view.

He leant perilously forwards, his head tucked low on his chest and between his shoulders and as she slowed to a walk she feared he was going to throw himself head first into the water. Out of curiosity she watched, moving so that she was being a thin berry bush...and he shifted himself a fraction closer to the water. She gave a soft gasp, "Mini Mew...you don't really think he's going to?", and the pink creature flew up to her head height,

"Predasite! Predasite!"

"Oh hush! I want to see what he's going to do-"

"Zoey – Predasite –Zoey!" And she huffed at it moodily and glanced around carefully,

"Look Mini Mew there's nothing around here!" Zoey told it in mild annoyance, "But look at the boy, he's moved even closer! I have to stop him- the waters deep!" And she broke from her cover of shrubbery. She ran full pelt towards him, anticipation fuelling her fiercely. "Hey- Hey stop!" At the very instant she was about to reach for his hand, he pushed himself off the wall. Her instinct ran reflexes were shot into action, ears and tail sprouting instantaneously as she willed herself to move so much faster. And sure enough she caught him clumsily by the wrist within a heartbeat.

There was an angry yelp when they made contact. She gave a gasp as the body she held swung limply above the water. Above everything she saw a very surprised stricken expression gazing into her eyes, before registering the sadness pooled in his eyes.

"Well...hello kitty cat." Dren almost purred, snapping Zoey back to her senses. At once that spark of a connection vanished and she at once let go of his wrist without hesistation.

"If I had known it was you, I wouldn't have tried so hard!" She spat angrily, transforming at once into her Mew Mew form. Dren fell a few inches before letting his magic course through his body allowing him to levitate easily back up to the bridge.

"It's her...it's actually her...what a coincidence." He mused to himself, letting his familiar smug grin spread across his face. "What are you doing here at this time of day?" Zoey asked him harshly, the hairs on her tail and ears stood on end. She knew she was no match for a fusion monster and Dren together...but still she'd have to try. "Well? Where's the predasite!" she asked him fiercely, and Dren gave a low chuckle.

He faded from view and reappeared behind her on his back, casually drifting where she gave a hiss turning to face him. "I'm afraid there is no predasite my sweet." He sighed looking at her through half closed eyes, "I was just here, minding my own business...enjoying the sweet, polluted air of your atmosphere and gazing at the lake."

"Yeah right...as if you have a soft spot for scenery watching." She scoffed and he looked at her with a fanged smile,

"You'd be surprised Mew Mew Zoey, I happen to have a very artistic nature and love all things with life flowing through them." And he rolled onto his front and floated up to her face. His boyish face grinned at her as he said, "Things such as you."

"Eurgh get away from me you freak!" Zoey spat at him, striking out at him with her fist but he faded away again and she hit nothing but air.

"Ouch, your words do sting as always!" Dren chuckled giving her a cheeky wink, "But I do like it." He told her darkly, "Nothing better then a little spat between old married couples I'd say!"His tone brightening up, and he struck out a hand that pinched the end of her nose playfully.

"Get off me!" Zoey snarled slapping his hand away. Dren sat up cross legged in the air, flexing the hand gently,

"Fiesty as always, and exactly how I like you." He laughed at her. Zoey could only feel frustration creep up inside of her with every note of his voice, it was almost too much to bear,

"Stop telling me that you like me! It's all I ever hear off you!" She yelled at him and stamped her foot childishly. Dren looked surprised for a moment and if she saw that, he gave no indication that it had happened.

"I just can't help it kitty. These things have just got to be said, perhaps you'd like me tell you that I'm going to destroy you – or is it that I'm the wrong person saying it?" And he said it with such meaning that it stopped Zoey in the heat of her anger.

"Aha...aha...I don't know what you're on about." She said sheepishly and held a hand to the back of her head while grinning nervously. Already she had a strong blush running across her cheeks and as clear as day Dren saw it.

He scowled and dropped to his feet on the bridge, feeling the cool stone against his hand when he ran it along the wall of the bridge. "So where is precious Mark then? Should he not be here defending you against big bad me?" He asked her loftily and Zoey glared him.

"I can handle myself fine. Mark is safer wherever he is...away from you definitely." She told him stolidly.

"Of course you are." He said with a roll of his eyes and playful grin.

"Why were you trying to jump in the lake?" He asked him sharply.

"Hmm...I wasn't trying to do that. I was trying to look at my reflection." And he grinned even broader. Zoe saw the grin but decided to go offensive anyway, she never knew when a predasite would show up.

"I can take care of myself you freak!" She snarled and lunged at him with a punch aiming at his face squarely. Dren gave a soft sigh, his eyes saw things almost in slow motion as he caught her gloved fist in the palm of his hand easily and without damage. He grabbed it and pulled it to the side of his head, he caught and held the second punch she threw with her spare hand. With her hands incapacitated in his own he pulled them and she was thrown off balance into him with the help of a tactical knock to her leg that sent her flying into the air with such a force that knocked them both to the ground. Dren had cushioned them with a float of his magic so that they lay suspended in the air inches from the stone.

"Isn't this a familiar situation." Dren purred playfully as Zoey bared her fangs at him, he wound his legs against hers, trapping them in a body lock. She struggled ferociously, and even tried to head butt him but with no avail as he simply dodged it and leant forwards to nip her ears gently every time.

After a few minutes of relentless struggling her strength weakened and she was still straddled awkwardly across him, he still had a smug, happy grin on his face whilst hers was beaded with sweat and anger. "Alright Dren...I give up. You're stronger than me. And I know it."

"Well it's about time you realized that little wifey!" Dren chuckled loudly. His lips spread in a grin almost from ear to ear. Once Zoey had stopped moving, she took a minute to look at him. His features were almost of an elven human, long tapered ears and a slim frame. Her Mew Mew senses tingled as she locked eyes with him unwillingly, she could see inside that he was sad and lost just as the other Mew Mew girls had been. It was one shared connection they had, and Zoey would remember that chilling loneliness in his eyes, and it sent the fur on her tail tingling. She wouldn't be able to forget it for a long time.

Dren must have sensed this probing of his inner emotions, and threw her off hastily quickly masking his eyes with his usual confidence sheen. "Kitty cat finally realized how good looking I am?" He asked her loudly, marvelling at his own bravado. Zoe picked herself gingerly off the floor after hitting the wall of the bridge, and muttered,

"I wouldn't bet on it." Dren watched her curiously, she brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked at him with such a serious expression that he had he restrain himself from pulling at her cheeks.

"I've seen inside you Dren." She told him almost ominously. He frowned a little but let her carry on. "You're so lonely...My Mew Mew powers let me sense...and it's so cold inside your eyes. So, so cold." And she gave a little shudder, hugging her arms tightly. "It's like you have no family, no warmth...nothing inside."

Dren was taken aback, with her lips she was spilling everything he had locked away. And he hated it. He gave an almighty hiss and fired a warning shot beside her breaking a great chunk of the bridge inches away from her foot. She back flipped away from striking range and he swallowed hard. Her expression so blatantly told him that she pitied him greatly and he gave an inhuman howl, it was guttural instinct that drew that action. She listened with a fluttering inside her own heart...

"Stop looking like that at me!" He snarled at her after, his pupils dilated with anger.

"I can't Dren – Not until you tell me why you've become like this because there must have been a time-" She whimpered softly.

"SHUT UP!" Dren yelled firing copious blasts of energy from the palms of his hand, he aimed loosely not caring how much destruction he wrecked and Zoey nimbly avoided them.

"I don't want to fight- to talk! You like talking I know it!" She called back at him from the bough of a tree hidden from view, and Drew raced into the forest to find her. He scanned the area keenly and gave a gasp as Zoey pinned him to the floor from above, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

"There must have been one moment in your entire life when you felt happy!" She yelled into his ears. And as sensitive as they were, they were left ringing with her voice as she bounded away onto her feet.

"Happy?" He spat, "I'm perfectly happy destroying and wrecking lives!" And he picked himself up. Zoey cocked her head to the side a little and thought,

"Hmm...I actually think that it's just mischievous behaviour. I know you don't really want to destroy the human race, we could always share our planet!"

Dren grew a wicked smile, "My sweet, sweet naive cat. This planet can only sustain one dominant race. You humans didn't know how to cultivate it well enough and my race should usurp your civilization and nurture it back to it's full glory."

"So you originally...were a nurturing race of aliens..." Zoey mused aloud, "A bit hard to imagine you as a farmer though." And he scowled back to her sheepish grin.

"We're not farmers. We're advanced being with powers at our finger tips...we've travelled here before and concluded that this planet would be the easiest for an invasion and regeneration. But of course you were too young to remember seeing us."

"Are...are you trying to tell me that we've met before?" Zoey said, her own voice feeling so distant as she contemplated this situation.

Dren shrugged and gave a sigh, "Cat's out of the bag now Mew Mew. But you have met us before, me specifically." He didn't seem eager to continue, so Zoey spoke up, inside she hoped that they would show a glimmer of his true self. And perhaps he was an innocent being moulded into an evil entity by some other force off this world.

"Tell me when please." She asked him softly. Dren was ready to shoot back a sharp rebuttal, but he met with her eyes and any guards he held up in his mind were dropped. He'd have to treat this weakness of his back in his quadrant, but for now there was a story to be told.

"Alright Kitty cat. You asked for this...it's a heart wrenching, desperate tale of struggle, survival, betrayal and anguish. You'll be crying your heart out after this story of poor orphan Dren." He feigned a pose with the back of his hand against his forehead and heart.

Zoey gave him a cold stare and he smiled lightly. "Well it's partly true..." He mumbled and sat down cross legged on the cool grass. Zoey did the same but there still was a great deal of distance between them.

"I don't suppose you remember being rather young and dressing up as a princess as always?" He asked her, cupping his feet in his hand and rocked slightly, looking as if he enjoyed the conversation he was holding with her.

"I don't remember no, but I do remember seeing photographs of me dressed up in a pink ball gown."

"That's the one, with a lovely pink, glittery bow at the back." Dren said smugly. "You were playing with your cousin in the back garden on the day I landed on Earth. It was a beautiful story you had created, you were a princess locked in a tower far away, and she was about to rescue and marry you."

"And live happily forever after." Zoey said softly, remembering that this was her favourite sentence having scrawled it across all of her diaries.

"Exactly." Dren said with a nod, he pulled himself closer to her before continuing. "Well, I'd crash landed in your garden, and hid behind some tree. I was fascinated-"

"Why...was you here on Earth all the way back then?" Zoey interrupted. Her curious nature was getting the better of her but she couldn't resist the instinctual pull that came with her Mew Mew powers.

"To put it simply, my alien race of people don't age like you my sweet cat. We go through forms of life, for example, there is your birth, then you transform into a child, an adolescent, an adult, death. But these transitions are instant and can take place against will after a certain number of centuries have passed."

"Like... a caterpillar to a butterfly. How...old are you?" Zoey asked tentatively.

"Hmm...two hundred or so years...I lost count." He said with a shrug, and as she stared wide eyed at him he gave a little cough, "But that's not the point gorgeous. What is, is that I was a child when arriving on Earth. We were better suited as our ears hadn't developed so prominently. Like these." And he tugged at one of his own, they were surprisingly flexible Zoey thought with a giggle.

What happened was I watched you and your cousin playing, curious as I always am, but then your cousin had to leave and you threw up an almighty hissy fit."

"I do not do hissy fits!" Zoey hissed and Dren raised an eyebrow almost comically, and she mumbled, "Maybe just a little..." and toyed with the glove on her hand instantly.

"Well what happened was this." Dren said softly. And reached a finger up to the centre of her forehead. He gave a small start as she hadn't realised how close he'd crept to her, they were sitting quite close. Instantly her vision became faded and blurred. Almost as if someone with a bad rubber had smudged the edges to everything.

"WAAAAAHHH! WAAAAAAAAAAHH! WAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Zoey span round to find the source of noise and the blood in her veins paled as she realised she was watching herself. As a bawling child, dressed in a princess costume.

"Oh hush Zoey, you can finish you're game on your own...I have work honey." Her younger mother said, kissing the top of her head before retreating inside closing the door tightly.

"WAAAAAHH!"

There was a loud rustling noise and both Zoey's turned to the commotion. Out stepped a raggedly looking boy, with slightly pointed tips on his ears. "I'd be happy to play the prince if you let me." He said her quietly.

Child Zoey looked at him suspiciously for a moment before deciding finishing the game was crucial. "Okay, you'll have to dress up though." And she held out a long, blue velvet cloak that a younger Dren swung around his neck eagerly.

Zoey watched the two children play, her knees tucked close to her chin. She felt sadness run through her as it occurred that these two happy children would one day grow to be enemies each with a different cause. After a few hours had passed, came a crucial moment that stung Zoey so bad she wondered how she had ever forgotten.

"Aren't you going to say you like me?" Younger Zoey demanded, her face a little scowl. Dren looked at her rather bemused,

"Why would I say that?" he asked naively.

"Because you got to tell me that you love me otherwise I won't marry you!" Zoey explained exasperatedly and jammed a plastic crown on her head.

"Do I have to?" Whined Dren, tilting his head to the side a little.

"Yes, otherwise I won't marry you." She told him firmly. Dren sighed a little, perhaps not fully knowing what he was about to say and looked her in the eye,

"Alright then...I love you Zoey." Dren said so seriously, that future Zoey almost took it as a confession of feelings. However her younger form merely ran round the garden squealing in delight, unaware of how embarrassed Dren looked.

"You know my Prince! I like you too, so let's start this marriage!" Zoey insisted, grabbing Dren's arm and hooking hers through it so that they were linked together. She hummed a loud wedding tune and younger Dren went along with it, confused as he was to human ceremonies.

"Now you gotta ask me if I want to marry you!" She ordered and Dren did as she was told,

"Do you want to marry me?" He asked tentatively,

"Yes!" She answered immediately, "Now I'll do the same to you!" And so she did. The elder Zoey looked at poor Dren who had a rather perplexed expression on him, "Now you gotta kiss the bride!" the younger girl demanded, her small fists bunched up tightly. Even Dren leaned away slightly.

"K-kiss the bride?" He stammered, "Isn't the bride...you?" He said his face growing a strong blush. But the younger girl's face was impassive and she continued demanding as so. "O-okay..." Dren muttered eventually. The two children kissed lightly.

The elder Zoey held her breath, yet she knew this was true. Unconsciously she touched her own lips with her hand. When the two children parted, they shared a moment that was broken almost immediately. Dren became bathed in a blinding white light, it was being emitted from his very skin from each and every pore. And he staggered back looking so fearful, looking frightfully at his hands whilst younger Zoey stumbled back slowly, her mouth agape.

After a short yell from Dren, the light intensified around him and it grew larger. Zoey could only watch with shock as Dren fell to the floor in a heap, her own younger self frozen in fear, clutching her hands so close to her chest. His body was smoking...wafts of it were visible in the still air, and acrid smell hung about and he groaned slightly as he began to stand up.

Clutching his head with a hand he stood up groggily. And Mew Mew Zoey leapt to her feet. This was the Dren she he had just transformed into his present state of adolescent. "Urgh...Z-zoey...are you still there?" Dren asked blearily opening his eye a fraction. He saw the little girl and reached out for her, to ask for help. It wasn't even a threatening gesture. But still younger Zoey screamed, long and loud.

Her parents burst into the garden and shouted at the alien angrily after getting over the initial shock. The alien had no choice but to fade from view, and Mew Mew Zoey watched as her own frail form fainted. "So did this make things clearer?" Dren asked her.

She blinked a few times and found herself looking at the teenage "boy", they were back in the forest and everything was so clear to her now. It seemed as if the teenage looking alien had shown her too much and looked almost awkward drawing away from her a little. "I-I understand." Zoey mumbled. Trying to collect her wits about her.

"Well...the feeling mutual my sweet." Dren said solemnly. He shot forwards and stole a kiss. Zoey didn't resist, her mind numb from shock, her body stiff from the cold. It was a long and lasting kiss, his tongue rasped on her lips so gently and teasingly, so much so that she almost parted them. He drew away satisfied so to speak, at the contact between them and looked at her.

"I...I don't know what to say..." Zoey muttered, her cheeks flushing a dark pink.

"There's nothing to say Zoey." Dren said. He stood up and looked at her in the evening light, "For a creature like me, an alien raised only to invade and fight...a moment like this and a moment back then is enough. You've made yourself special to me, although I've no doubt you already know."

"I...I didn't mean-" Zoey replied feeling so crushed with guilt, that this individual had nothing more than to draw happiness from pleasant memories and but a few snatches of the past and present.

"There is nothing to feel sad about Mew Mew." Dren said his smug expression returning. "You've got other things to worry about." He snapped his fingers and a fusion parasite appeared in the air. He launched it at the thick of a bush and a shocked Zoey leapt to her feet.

"You-"

"Yes I'm devilishly good looking and evil. I know." Dren told her coolly and she could help but fight a smile that was growing. He might be no Samaritan but he had a fighting spirit...that she hoped would one day break free of the force holding him to these evil deeds. And she'd help him...

"Just remember...I do love you." Dren said softly into her ear, before fading from view. And behind her leapt a giant caterpillar predasite...