Again, I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! AOYAMA-SENSEI DOES!

--*Chapter 3*--

Shinichi knew only pain and the unique presence of Ran next to him for the next day. After that, his mind seemed to be able to think around the pain, to hear things going on around him. He could hear Carlisle say "It's almost over, Shinichi. There's just one day left." He knew that he was awake, somehow. Shinichi remained in that state for a good ten hours, before the fire slowly started fading from his body. The only problem with that was that the fire was not fading; it was focusing in his heart. He felt it beating furiously in a desperate effort to keep him alive. The pain became more and more unbearable, his heart racing faster and faster, until it stuttered and stopped entirely. The burning stopped too, although now Shinichi was terribly thirsty. 'I must be dead. I heard my heart stop beating.' He opened his eyes slowly and stared at the room around him. Carlisle was next to him. "Am I dead?" He asked.

"No, you survived. Let me explain to you what you are later. For now, the basic principle: We are vampires, and now you are one as well. I will tell you later. For the time being, you should probably go out hunting. Edward, Alice, and Jasper will take you and teach you the major points. You should leave upstairs, as Renesmee is downstairs, and you are a newborn; it will be hard to control yourself."

"Do I have to drink…?"

"Human blood? No, there are alternatives. We are 'vegetarian vampires', we drink only from animals. Most vampires laugh at this way of life, but we try to defy our nature as monsters."

"Couldn't I just eat human food and live the way I did before?"

"No, I'm sorry. Vampires are not compatible with human food, except for half-vampires like Renesmee."

"Fine, I guess I'll try hunting animals then."

"All right, you can go hunting with Alice, Edward, and Jasper."

In an instant, the vampires were standing in front of Shinichi, as if they had always been there. In the same fraction of a second, they were off running with him at a speed he never thought he could achieve. They must have been going at least sixty miles per hour through the house, yet somehow Shinichi could see every minute detail along the way He wanted to ask them everything in his head all at once, but the burning ache in his throat overcame his curiosity. At the window, he was confused. "What, are we going to jump out?" He asked.

"Yes, we are. Don't worry about landing badly; you will have plenty of time," Edward replied, and simply stepped out of the window, making a graceful landing. Shinichi followed him, and it was ridiculously easy to do so. He ran around the back of the house, heading for a distant but clear sound of heartbeat, ten or twenty miles away. He jumped the river and continued on, surrounded by the three other immortals, Alice leading the way. When they got within two miles of the scent of blood, Edward ran off. He returned from the opposite direction two and a half minutes later and nodded. At that signal, the group continued on, into a meadow where there were plenty of deer. After taking down four or five, Shinichi's shirt was a mess, but his thirst was sated somewhat. 'What am I?' He asked himself.

"Now that you have had something to satisfy yourself, let us explain this new world to you," Alice said. "We are vampires, Shinichi, and now you are one as well. You may have noticed that we are considerably faster and stronger than humans. Contrary to human beliefs, we sparkle in sunlight rather than burn in it, we do not sleep at all, let alone in coffins, and the wooden-stake theory is false. We can only be killed by being torn to pieces and burned. The human blood part of the legends is true, but there are alternatives, as you have noticed. Some vampires will choose to drink the blood of animals, such as ourselves. You will eventually give in to the stronger appeal of human blood or choose our ways. No one will blame you for whichever path you walk."

"Can you tell me-?"

"If you mean about the Volturi that Carlisle mentioned during your transformation, they are the law of our world, a coven led by the three Volturi brothers, Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They are several millennia old, quite likely the oldest still in existence. They have no tolerance for humans who know our secret unless they are going to die or join us," Edward told him.

"Sometimes a vampire will bring with them and enhance through the transformation some of their strongest traits from their human lives," Jasper added. "For example, I am capable of controlling people's emotions, Alice has visions of the future sometimes, and Edward has the power to read the minds of others. Some are more subtle, like Bella's ability to prevent anyone from mentally attacking her, and Esme's kindness."

"Do I have a gift like that?"

"You might. If you do, it will make itself known sooner or later."

Just then, Alice totally froze, statue-still. Her eyes filmed over for a few seconds, before turning to the others and saying, "Ran is coming to the house. She will be there when we get there, and she is going to wait there until she has spoken to Shinichi. I prepared some blue contact lenses for him when the transformation was almost done; they're in the bathroom. We need to get up there."

"Damn, we need to get there unnoticed. We can probably jump back through the window."

They ran back to the house in silence. When they arrived, the group went around, took a few steps back, and leapt up and through the window they entered from. Alice took Shinichi's arm and pulled him into the bathroom. There, he took a quick look in the mirror, and stared in horror. His eyes, normally a calm cerulean, were now blood-red. "What happened to my eyes?" He asked her quietly.

"Oh, during the transformation, your body absorbed all your human blood, and it made your eyes change color, red with your own blood. In a few months your eyes will be like ours, golden when satisfied and black when thirsty. Now here, slip these in. They will dissolve in a few hours, so change them again before then," she answered, handing him a case containing two contact lenses. He put them in, and followed Alice downstairs when he was certain they were in correctly. There, in front of him, stood Ran, her face worried. 'Not surprising, last time she saw me, I was screaming on the floor upstairs.'

"Where have you been, Shinichi? I was worried about you!"

"Did you miss me?"

"No, of course not!"

At that, some hidden alarm went off in his head. It seemed to signal that she was lying. So he did have a gift, and a very powerful one for his line of work. He decided to just run with the lie, however.

"Now where have you been, Shinichi? And what was Carlisle talking about, about Conan growing into you?"

"I'm sorry, Ran. I can't tell you yet. I promise that as soon as I can, you will know everything that has happened."

"Could you at least tell me why you were in so much pain when I came to you two days ago?"

"I'm sorry; again, I will tell you as soon as I can."

"I missed you, Shinichi," Ran cried, running to him.

The scent of her blood was so appealing, his thirst took over, and he started to lunge for her, only to snap back to reality. Looking to either side of him, he found Emmett and Jasper grabbing his arms, restraining him. Ran was staring at him in terror, as if she knew that if he had been allowed at her, she would have died.

"Shinichi…?"

"I missed you too, Ran. I have every intention of coming back to Tokyo, although I will probably remain here for a while," Shinichi said, clearly dismissing her. His friend understood, and walked out of the house and back to her cabin. When he could tell that she wasn't coming back, he turned to the other vampires and quietly asked, "What just happened?"

"You lost control for a second; you let your thirst overcome you and tried to kill her."

'I will not let that happen again! I am not going to allow myself to become a murderer!' Shinichi thought. He slipped out the contact lenses, exposing his real eyes. He decided that he would stick only to the 'vegetarian style' of eating.

(=^_^=)

Over the next few weeks, Shinichi stayed with the Cullens, learning how to act human flawlessly and conceal himself. He also discovered his gift and how to use it. It turned out that he could tell when people were lying and see things normal vampires might not. To hide among humans, he would wear blue contact lenses, at least until his eyes turned like liquid gold. Tokyo was often sunny, so he would have to wear makeup to cover for his sparkling problem. It would also help with the issue of his pale skin. He prepared to leave with enough contacts for a few months, some new clothes, and makeup to last him a good five months. When he was ready, he took a private plane back to Japan. In a few hours, he was standing in front of what had been his house during his human life. He was greeted by an explosion from next door. From inside, he could hear Haibara as if she were right next to him, saying, "I told you not to do that, hakase." He headed inside through the smoke to find a very upset Haibara scolding Agasa-hakase. The not-child raised her head to look at him. "Kudo-kun? When did you get back, and what happened to you?" She asked.

Shinichi could feel it, his eyes would be blackening. He couldn't put these two in danger, so he called a "Long story, I'll tell you later," over his shoulder and disappeared before they could blink. Looking back, he laughed at Haibara's expression of shock.

Here ya go, Ryoko!

A/N: Love it? Hate it? Please tell me!