Author’s Notes: I wrote this for a story contest, but ended up submitting a different story.  I don’t expect many reviews, since this is a one shot, but REVIEW ANYWAYZ!!!  I f you don’t, I’ll send my Yami after you!

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In this Ring of Fire By: Chi Yagami

            “Don’t!” screamed Zoe.  “You will kill the sweet little precious animal!”  Kyrie had seen the rabbit look up as Zoe shouted, and now she was watching it leap out of sight.

            “That is the point, and you just made me lose our dinner!  Are you hungry or not?” Kyrie questioned her sister.

            “I would rather starve than eat a naive rabbit!” Zoe replied bitterly.  She could never understand why Kyrie, a princess of Kombi, would want to hunt.  That was the men’s job.  But then again, if Kyrie had not been with her, Zoe would have probably been dead already.

            “You got us lost!  It is all your fault,” complained Zoe.  “You lead us into these forbidden woods.”

            “Shut up!  You wanted to come along.  I’m sorry we are lost, but deal with it, okay?”

            “Fine,” responded Zoe sulkily.  She was not in the mood to pick a fight.  “Can we at least stop at the clearing ahead?  My legs are killing me!”

            Kyrie nodded.  She looked up at the clearing and saw a bubbling spring.  Somehow, she would have to get there before Zoe did, because she could not drink out of it after her.  That was the law: a princess may never drink from the same body of liquid as someone else.

            Unfortunately, Zoe was thinking she should get to drink from it instead of her sister.  They both ran to it at the same time, but when they got there, it stopped bubbling and dried up.

            Suddenly, a ring of fire surrounded them.  It blazed hot and burned their skin.  Zoe was already sweating, and Kyrie looked distressed.

            “Um…  Is it just me, or is this ring of fire getting smaller?” Kyrie questioned more to herself than Zoe, but indeed, the circle was closing in on them.  “Hey, Zoe, why don’t we use your magical ring and turn this fire into ice.”

            “Sorry, Kyrie, but you know about my ring.  I will die before I use its magic.  A legend says it curses whoever uses it.  It is supposedly a ring which blasts out fire, not ice.”

            “Whatever,” Kyrie retorted.  Then she mumbled something that sounded like “you and your dumb old ring” and turned away.

            The fire was quite close now, and fireballs were beginning to shoot out at them.

            “Look out, Kyrie,” Zoe shrieked, for one was coming right at her.  Zoe pushed Kyrie aside, making herself the target.

            “No!” Kyrie screamed, but it was too late.  Zoe was dead.

            The ring of fire disappeared, and the spring began to bubble again.  Kyrie sat there, looking at her sister, crying, and wishing she were still alive.

            “It is all my fault…  If only I could have known this was going to happen… I could have saved her,” Kyrie sobbed.  Then she became angry.  Why had Zoe left her?

            “I hate you she screamed.  Why did you have to leave?  Why?”  Kyrie’s eyes became daggers, ready to kill with a murderous glare whomever approached her.

            “I left because it was my time to leave,” a soft voice said from behind her.  Standing there was the ghostly figure of Zoe.  “I died to save you because I love you.  That is what sisters and best friends are for: to help each other out.”

            “But…  But I will never see you again!” cried Kyrie.

            “You will.  You will find me in your heart and in your dreams, too.  Here,” she said, holding out her ring to Kyrie.  “Take this.  Keep it close to your heart; that is where you will find me.  In this world of hatred, you are not alone.  In your heart, I will always be.  You can find me… in this ring of fire.”